Let's take our Bibles this morning and turn to Luke chapter 24. been some weeks now since I've been preaching in Luke chapter 24 as we come to the conclusion of these 24 chapters of Luke's gospel after about 10 years. So before I read our text, which is going to begin at verse 44 this morning, I just want to remind you of the setting. Just going back to the beginning of chapter 24 of Luke, It was the day on which Jesus rose from the dead. And this was the evening of that first day of the week. On that day, Jesus had risen, and we have the account of his resurrection in verses one through 12 of Luke 24. And then he revealed himself to two disciples on the road to Emmaus. And that account is in verses 13 through 31. And then those two disciples, late that day, at the beginning of the evening, ran all the way back to Jerusalem, about seven miles, and they reported the news of Jesus' resurrection to the other disciples who had already heard about it from some of their own number. And then Jesus appeared to them all in the room where they were staying. And as we come up to verse 44, Jesus had just eaten a piece of fish, not because he was hungry, but to demonstrate to them that it was really he, he was a real man, he had flesh and bones, as he said. And now he begins to give them some instruction. And so we will read verses 44 through 49 of Luke 24. Then he said to them, these are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. and he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then he said to them, Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. and you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. Let's pray and ask for the Lord's blessing upon us as I preach the Word of God and as we all hear it. Let's pray together. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ. And now ask that as we look at this portion of that gospel, and especially see it summarized here in this passage, that you would open our minds just as Jesus opened the minds, the understanding of the apostles and other disciples there on that day in that room in Jerusalem. May we know the ministry of the same Holy Spirit who opened their understanding, and we ask it to the end that Jesus Christ, your Son, might be glorified, and so we ask it in his name, amen. Perhaps we all listen to the news lately with more than the usual level of interest. I mean, we want to find out, for instance, if we can go outdoors on a given day. But I listened with great interest this past Friday when I heard comments about what Christians would be doing on the day that some call Easter Sunday. There almost seemed to be delight that many of God's people throughout the world would not be able to gather together in the normal way on such a high holy day. Now we don't regard it in this church, what some call Easter Sunday or others Resurrection Sunday, as a high holy day. We look at it this way, there are 52 High Holy Days in the calendar every year, because every Lord's Day, the first day of the week, the Church of Christ observes or celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, because it was on the first day of the week that Jesus rose, and the Bible only designates one day on which that day should be observed, and that is every seventh day Every time the first day of the week comes around, we commemorate and rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord. But as I said, there almost seemed to be delight that the Church of Christ would have to have a great upsetting of their regular practice of all meeting together on that day. For our part, here at Trinity Baptist Church, we wish we could be together. But while we may be temporarily homebound, we bless God that the Word of God is not at all bound. So this morning we will look at verses 44 through 47. I read all the way through verse 49. I may or may not even reach all the way to the end of verse 47, but that's where I'll make my attempt to land as we end today. My outline for verses 44 to 47 is Jesus reminds the disciples, Jesus enlightens the disciples, and then third, Jesus commissions the disciples. We begin with verse 44, where we see that Jesus reminds the disciples. It says, Then he said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning me. So what does he remind them in verse 44? Well, he reminds them of a few things. First of all, he reminds them that they had heard about these strange events before. Even if on this day they were not acting, or had not been acting up to this time, as if they had actually heard Jesus say He was going to die, but also rise from the dead. He reminds them that they had in fact heard these things before. And notice what he says. He says, he speaks about these words. These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you. I would paraphrase it this way. What has been happening today what you have been experiencing over these last few days. These things that you have seen and experienced over these last three days are just what I have been saying to you over the last two to three years. We won't look at every place in Luke where he had spoken about these things in advance, but let's just turn to a couple of those places back in chapter 9, verses 21 and 22. We've gone through this exercise a number of times now, and maybe this will be the last time as we're in Luke's Gospel. But this is what Jesus is reminding the disciples about. First, verse 21 of chapter 9, and he strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one. This was right after Peter had confessed that he believed that Jesus was the Christ of God. In verse 20, he says, to tell this to no one, saying, the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised the third day." Jesus had told them all about this. And then also let's look at chapter 18, verses 31 to 34. And here the words are even a little bit more reminiscent of what Jesus, we just read in verse 24, in chapter 24, I should say, in verse 44. Chapter 18, beginning at verse 31 and going through verse 34. Then he took the twelve aside and said to them, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For he will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon, and they will scourge him and put him to death, and the third day he will rise again. But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken." So we see a couple of dynamics here that led to the apostles not acting as if they had heard these things before when they actually came to pass. One is the thing we heard in the Sunday school class this morning from the book of Lamentations. Jeremiah had predicted the devastation of Jerusalem at the hands of her enemies. But to see those terrible things come to pass was devastating to Jeremiah, even though he had been the one to predict that they would come to pass. And then the other thing is, that unlike Jeremiah, the apostles didn't get it when Jesus first said those things. Their understanding was not working. They understood none of these things, it says in verse 34. This saying was hidden from them. Thus, what we have there later on in Luke 24, that it says, Jesus opened their minds. But back to where we are. He reminded them, first of all, about these things that He had said before. And notice what it says. under this heading that they had heard about all these strange events before, Jesus mentions that he had said these things, look at the first part of verse 44, while I was still with you, as if that was in the past, as if right now he was not with them. Well, the reality is he was, but he also wasn't. When he says, while I was still with you, he meant during the time of my public ministry. He meant during my normal, commonplace, ordinary human life on this earth, which he was not living anymore as he spoke these words. He still had flesh and bones. He could eat a piece of fish as he just demonstrated to them. But as a resurrected man, he did not belong in this world anymore. It's as if Jesus were saying this, this period of days, beginning with my resurrection day, is an anomaly. It's abnormal. This time between now and the resurrection, these days are unusual. But in reality, you should see it this way. I'm gone from you now. I don't belong here on this earth anymore. I'm here because I'm condescending to your weakness, and I'm helping you get through these difficult days, and I'm going to give you some instruction before I pour out the Holy Spirit upon you all, and then you'll really get all these things. But I belong in heaven, where I'm going very shortly. Those past days when I walked among you, those former days, those days are over. That's why he speaks this way. So Jesus reminds the disciples, that's what we're looking at in verse 44. First he reminds them that they had heard about all these strange events before. Second, he reminds them that these events were the purpose of God. In other words, just as we heard in the book of Revelation a few moments ago, that God had planned all of this. When Jesus came into this world, he was deliberately fulfilling everything that God had planned. And Luke, when he wrote this gospel account of 24 chapters, scholars say that he had filled up a typical scroll size, and part of the reason perhaps why he was able to condense everything he said at the end and the way he did was perhaps because he had to do that, but he did it exceptionally well. That's what I was struck with this week as I was going over these verses. He wrote with this very thing in mind that Jesus was carrying out all of God's purpose. So our second heading here under Jesus reminds the disciples that these events were the purpose of God. I say that these events were the purpose of God for three reasons that I see here in verse 44. First of all, because they were fulfillments. You see that? It says, these are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled. So they were fulfillments. Let's go back again, probably one last time, to a text that I've turned you back to perhaps more than any other in Luke's gospel throughout the course of these messages. It's chapter one and verse one, the very beginning. Jesus says that these things were fulfillments of something. Well, they're fulfillments of the purpose of God. Remember how Luke wrote it. inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which are most surely believed among us, a better translation for that, as I've pointed out over and again, are those things which have been fulfilled among us. That's a literal translation. What is it that has been fulfilled? Well, from the perspective of God's plan, it is God's plan that has been fulfilled. God planned everything about the life of Jesus, especially the death of Jesus and the resurrection of Jesus, and Jesus is saying these things are the fulfillment of God's plan. Notice also in verse 44 here that these are things that Jesus says had to happen. They are things that had to happen. These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled. It's that little Greek word, de or de. That is, it had to happen. It is necessary. It should happen, not just it was going to happen. Look back to verse 26. Jesus made a similar point, talking with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. He says there in verse 26, "...ought not the Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" He doesn't say, didn't he do it? He doesn't say, wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if he did that, or wasn't it a wonderful thing that he did that? He says, ought not he to have done it. It was something that was necessary. And that was the kind of language that came up over and over again during the course of Jesus' life in ministry. We won't turn back there for the sake of time, but in chapter 13, Jesus said these words in verse 33. He said, I must journey. today, tomorrow, and the day following. For it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem." Jesus was constantly thinking in these terms. I came into this world for a purpose, to do everything that God had said I should do. And as we're going to see now in the third place as to why I say These events are all the purpose of God because they were written in advance in the scripture, as he said in verse 32. It cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem. The third thing we notice, the reason we say it's the purpose of God, is because these are things that were foretold in the scriptures. They were foretold in the scriptures. Again, verse 44. These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning me. Now they were in the hidden counsel of God, we could say. They were in the mind of God before there ever was such a thing as scriptures, before there ever was such a thing as this world. And Jesus knew what was in the mind of God. But here Jesus is also saying this, it's not just some secret plan of God I came to fulfill. It's the plan of God that has already been outlined and stated, for you Jews at least, in the Scriptures, the Old Testament. Jesus and Luke, we could say. And the other evangelists frequently pointed this out during the course of his ministry, just as we saw a moment ago in chapter 18, verse 31. He said, all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. And when he said they're written by the prophets, what he meant was in the Old Testament. Because every writer of Scripture is technically a prophet. It's someone who's speaking, and in the case of Scripture, writing the words of God for God. And Jesus is saying that here. And when he uses the designation here for the Scriptures that he does, he's saying the whole Bible. He says, they're written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning me. Now sometimes when Jesus was referring to the Old Testament or other writers either in the Old Testament or the New were referring to the Old Testament, they would just say the Law. Sometimes they might say the prophets, as Jesus said in chapter 18, verse 31. Only one time in scripture do we have them say Jesus or anyone else, the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms. And probably what he means there is the five books of Moses, the prophetic writings, which for the Jews were even a little bit more than just what we call the major prophets and the minor prophets, but I won't give a lesson on that now. And then it could be that he's using the Psalms to designate all the rest of the Old Testament. I can't say that for sure, but I think that's probably what it is. The Jews still to this day have the Law, the Prophets, and not the Psalms, but the Writings. And the Psalms are perhaps the most prominent among the Writings. But regardless of that, I do believe Jesus is saying here it's in the whole Old Testament So what happened here when Jesus told them, what you've experienced over these last few days is what I've told you and what has been written in the Bible, we have something very similar to what Jesus did earlier in that day, not with a whole room full of disciples, but with just two disciples out on the road to Emmaus. Let's go back there to verses 25 to 27. as he's walking along with these two men, who didn't even know who he was at the moment, we read, then he said to them, oh foolish ones and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. In other words, if you disciples were around in some of the many times when I said these things were going to happen, that's one thing. But he's saying, they're told in the Bible, the Old Testament. And then he goes on, verse 26, ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. One of the best Bible studies ever, I am sure. And I can't say to you, here are the passages that Jesus used, because if it's in all the prophets, in the Law of Moses, in the Psalms, it's everywhere in the Old Testament. But let me just make a few suggestions about some of the ways that we see this in the Bible, how Jesus Christ and his work are foretold in the Old Testament. Let's start back with Genesis 3.15. what we focused on last week in the Sunday school class, chapter 20 of our confession, that the seed of the woman would have its heel crushed by the serpent, but The seed of the serpent, the devil, would have his head crushed by the seed of the woman, the Messiah, the Son of God. It was the first preaching of the Gospel, the Proto-Evangelion. That's what it was. And there's the first announcement, we could say, of the fact that the Son of God would be coming into the world and he would suffer, his heel would be bitten. but he would inflict far more damage on the one who bid it, the serpent himself, the devil. He would destroy the works of the devil by his coming into the world, and he would save his people. Moses himself was a picture of the Lord Jesus, and Moses himself said in the book of Deuteronomy that one day there would be coming into this world a prophet like him, One who was face-to-face with God, who spoke with God, who heard the words of God from God's own mouth, and would tell it to men. That was Jesus Christ, as we're told in Acts chapter 3. And in all those books of the law, the books of Moses, we have all the instruction about all those sacrifices, all the bloody worship, we could say, of the Old Testament religion. That was a yoke which neither the Jews nor their fathers could bear. But it all taught something, didn't it? It all pointed forward to something. Yes, it did. It pointed forward to the Lamb of God who would be slain for the sins of this world. And then there was the Son of David who came onto the scene. And promises were made to David and to God's people through him that he would have a son who would one day reign upon his throne. And he would conquer all of his people's enemies. And he would bring a reign of peace and joy and glory forevermore. Now who might that be talking about? Jesus Christ. And then just to speak of one of the prophets, how about what Isaiah wrote in chapter 53 of his prophecy about the man of sorrows. Why would he be a man of sorrows? Because he had to come into this world from heavenly glory. He had to put up even with believers like the disciples who didn't get it. And Jesus would say, how long do I have to put up with you? And he had to bear the weight of the sin of the world upon his shoulders. That's talking about Jesus Christ. All that the Old Testament taught about Jesus, he's saying here in this passage, all that it taught, in a sense, converged and came to a head in the cross and in his resurrection. That's why he said it this way. These are the words, the things that you have experienced in these last three days. These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. There's a sense in which he's saying, go to the Old Testament and pull a thread anywhere. You may not see anything specifically in this text or that text that is a prediction about me, and that I would come, and what I would do when I came. But you pull a thread anywhere in the Old Testament, and you keep pulling long enough, and what you're going to see is my life written out. and you're gonna see my work written out, you are going to see the purpose and the plan of God foretold. So Jesus reminds the disciples, he reminds them that they'd heard about all these strange events before, he reminds them that these events were the purpose of God, but then thirdly, he reminds us that it was all about him. It was all about him. You see how the wording goes there? That all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. In other words, all the things that really ultimately matter can be summed up in one word, him. They're written concerning me. They're all about Jesus Christ. Look back again to Acts 24 and verse 27. Jesus said a similar thing. I said this was just an earlier instance of the same thing happening that happened later in the room with all these disciples. Here it happened with just two. It's that Bible study we saw just a moment ago. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. He expounded the things concerning himself, concerning Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, the Lord of glory, the Savior of the world. What, is he self-centered? Is he just narrow-minded? Is he just looking at things through a very narrow lens? No, he's looking at the whole thing. But the point is, as I said, everything comes to a head in the Old Testament, in Jesus Christ. Everything converges in Him and in His work, so that we have to say the Old Testament is all about Him. And there's a sense in which, yes, it teaches about many, many, many other things, doesn't it? But aren't they really all related to God's plan to save the world in and through Jesus Christ? They are. And that's what he's saying here. It was all about him. So when we come to the book of Acts even, for instance, we can say that the book of Luke was written all about him, wasn't it? In Acts chapter one, verse one, Luke says, the former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach. In other words, back then I wrote this book all about Jesus, what He began to do and began to teach. And I think it's a legitimate way to read those words to say that in the book of Acts, I'm going to tell you about all that He continued to do. Through the apostles, yes. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, yes. But what Jesus continued to do, because it's not just the Old Testament is all about Him, so is the New Testament all about Him. The whole Bible is about Him. The whole program of God in this world is all about Jesus Christ. On a very practical level, as an aside here, at least for the moment, although I think it's very relevant here, on a very practical level, maybe this is a lesson that Jesus is teaching us right now through these world events. I could go back to what I was hearing on the evening news on Friday, and it struck me maybe COVID-19 is providing us with a very helpful object lesson, that it's not about the place where we meet. I think I have credentials of about 30 years of public ministry now that I can say that I believe as much as anyone I know or ever hear teach in the importance of God's people coming together to worship on God's day. I make a big thing about it in my life and in my ministry. But maybe God is teaching us it's not about the place. Like Jesus tried to get into the head of that woman, that Samaritan woman, in John chapter 4. It's not about where you worship, lady. You Samaritans argue it should be in Mount Gerizim. By the way, you're wrong about that. The Jews have it right that they're to worship in Jerusalem. But the days are coming, and they were really upon them then. The days are coming and it won't matter where we worship. We should worship together with the church as we're able. But God being worshiped does not depend on that. It's not about the place. And may I say it? It's not about the people. Yes, the church are the living stones when we gather together. I make a lot of who the church is. And I agree with all those people who say, it's not about the place. The place isn't the church. The people are the church. At the same time, though, the Bible does say this in Psalm 115, not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but to your name be glory. To your name and your name alone be glory. It's about Jesus. Think of Revelation chapter 11, where we have the account of the two witnesses And I think the two witnesses basically represent the church, and they're carrying out the witness to the gospel that Jesus called the church to do. We're going to see it here when we get down to verse 47 and 48. The church is represented by the two witnesses. But something very bad happened to the church in Revelation chapter 11 in the account, that picture of the witness of the church throughout the ages that Jesus is giving. Here's what we read about the two witnesses in verse seven of that chapter. When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. And if we were just focusing on the church and the witnesses, that would really sound like the end of the story, wouldn't it? But if you know the passage, you know this, they come back to life. And so here's my observation from that. The life and ministry of the church doesn't depend on the power of the church. The church doesn't survive terrible times, which it has over the centuries now. It has survived very, very terrible times. Times far more terrible than the present, however terrible you might think it might be. that on Easter Sunday, Christ's Church is reduced to worshipping in empty auditoriums and broadcasting it over the internet. However terrible you think that might be, it's not the most terrible times ever. Far, far from it. And my point here though is this, the church does not survive terrible times because there are so many Christians. Because Jesus redeemed so many people out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation that the world can kill all they want to. but they won't snuff out the life of the church. That's not why the church survives. Nor does the church survive because there are such gifted preachers that the church has. I thank God for all the gifted preachers over the history of this church. And I thank God for the gifted preachers that are on books in my shelves, in my study, and that they can still be heard on the radio, or podcasts, or live streamed, or other ways that sermons are recorded in this day and age. You can listen to almost any preacher, anytime you want to. I bless God for that, but that is not why the church survives. The church survives for one reason, and one reason alone, and that is because of her risen Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Luther put it very well in one of the hymns we all love. He said, did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing. We're not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing. Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He. Lord, sabbe off His name from age to age the same, and He must win the battle. He used that language like Jesus. He must win the battle, and He will win the battle. And Luther goes on in his last stanza, that word, meaning Jesus Christ, above all earthly powers, no thanks to them abideth. He doesn't abide and live forever because of any good people, like Christians, like the church, nor because of any bad people or bad spirits, like the devil. No, thanks to them he abides. The Spirit and the gifts are ours through him who with us sideth. Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also. The body they may kill. God's truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever. You see, it's because of him. It's because of him. It's not because of us. It's not because of the church. And then let me say something else relevant for this coronavirus era as well at this point before I go on to the second heading. One commentator wrote these words going back to what I said about the plan of God and what God planned must happen and it will happen. He wrote, at the center of God's plan is what he has done and will do in Jesus the Christ. Believers can stand assured at all times because God is in control of events and knows where things are going. You may feel, again, like the wheels are falling off the wagon right now in our society, and not just in our state of New Jersey and in the New York metropolitan area, in our whole country. and not just in our country, in the whole world. That's what it may feel like to you. That's what it felt like to the apostles in these last three days, when the powers of hell were unleashed on Good Friday. And that may be how you feel right now in April of the year 2020. But in light of what we've seen about God having a plan and always carrying out His plan, and that plan will never be thwarted, even in the darkest and worst of times, child of God, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid now. Don't be afraid ever. Jesus Christ is no less in control of this whole world than he was of the Sea of Galilee when he was sleeping in the boat. Remember that. Remember that. So Jesus reminds the disciples, verse 44. Secondly, Jesus enlightens the disciples, that's verse 45. I won't spend as much time here. But verse 45, in this repetition, as I said, of what happened back in the road to Emmaus, and even in the home of one of the apostles there at least, or the disciples on the road to Emmaus, or the home would have been in Emmaus, we see Jesus enlightens the disciples. Here, in verse 45, we have a repetition. of what happened in Emmaus, on the road to Emmaus. Verse 27, "...and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." He had said in verse 25, you're slow of heart to believe, you're foolish because you don't believe what's been right on the pages of Scripture. And at least this was the beginning of their understanding it and having their eyes opened. The end of it was when he revealed himself to them in verse 31. It says, then their eyes were opened and they knew him. And he vanished from their sight. He's enlightening all the disciples here. He opened their understanding, it says in verse 45, that they might comprehend the scriptures. I'm presuming that there was something of a repetition. of what went on on the road there. He had this wonderful Bible study, and they said in reflecting back on it, weren't our hearts burning within us when he said those things to us? I think something like that went on here. It's just a very brief account. I mean, this account is very, very short compared to all the ink that Luke gave here to the road to Emmaus, partly because I think he did a similar thing on this occasion. But what we're saying here is the work of the Holy Spirit, I believe. I know that in verse 49, Jesus tells them, you have to wait in Jerusalem until the promise of the Spirit comes upon you. Then you're gonna go out and preach. But just like we heard last week in the study on the confession, the Holy Spirit was already in the world before Pentecost. He just wasn't poured out with a great gush like he was on that day. So this is the work of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was opening their understanding, giving them the Spirit that they might comprehend the Scriptures, because they needed to go out and preach the Scriptures eventually. So notice this about the work of the Holy Spirit here. How did the apostles understand what Jesus was teaching about the scriptures? Certainly, the present perspective that they had now helped them. It was after the cross and the resurrection. They knew that Jesus had died. That's why they were so sad. Now they knew, were beginning to believe, that Jesus rose. That's why they were becoming so glad, so joyful, so giddy in a sense. They couldn't believe. It says, because of their joy that it was actually Jesus, risen from the dead. But that perspective, that now they've seen it happen, that helped them to understand the Scriptures, didn't it? And then we could say this, Jesus expounding the Scriptures helped them. Sometimes we hear a sermon, we say, man, that was really excellent. That gifted preacher, he helped me to understand the Word of God. That's a wonderful thing, that Christ has given gifts to men. But here we have to say it's the Holy Spirit that opened their minds. Yes, Jesus. But Jesus is God and the Spirit is God. The Spirit of God was opening their minds. It's something we saw last week again in that study on the confession. We came to paragraph four, the last paragraph, and I had this heading, the secret power of this revelation. We saw in that chapter that God's revelation about the gospel of his son, how sinners are to be saved, is in the scriptures, it's in the Bible. But it's not like we just say, look, if you would just read these words and memorize these words and listen to my explanation of these words, then you'll know God. then you'll be saved from your sin, no? The Confession said that the Bible is sufficient to reveal Christ to sinners, and that's true about the Word of God, but without the Spirit of God, it won't happen. Sinners will not be saved. And the Bible teaches us, Jesus taught us, that even we believers need the Holy Spirit's work to enlighten us. Think of his words in John 16, verses 12 and 13. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. In other words, I'm here, I'm teaching you. They actually did, as Jesus had said earlier that night, have the spirit dwelling within them, but the spirit was not yet poured out. He said, but when the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth. Well, let's read verse 44 again in that light. These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. All right? They know they're in the Bible. They heard Jesus teach about it. Now they saw it happen. Why were they not still getting it? Why did their minds still need to be open? They needed the work of the Spirit of God. It's not that there's a certain set of proof texts that if any pastor or preacher or theologian or teacher will take you through that set of proof texts, then anyone would see it. Anyone would get it. It's just that you don't ever get as skillful and faithful and loving of your soul preacher or teacher to sit down with you and just walk you right through it. That's not it. But what we see in this passage is that the whole of the Scripture, the whole of the Old Testament, teaches about Jesus, certainly the whole of the New Testament does. That's the whole drift of the Bible. But it's the Holy Spirit that opens a sinner's mind. He might be reading this text, or he might be reading that text, like the Ethiopian eunuch on his way back to Ethiopia. He was reading a text in Isaiah. And Philip came up and from that very text began to preach Jesus to him. Was it Philip's skill that led to that Ethiopian man believing? No, it wasn't. It was the work of the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God uses the Scripture But he opens a sinner's mind when he will and where he will, so that something he might have read a thousand times, which if you're someone who has been brought up in a Christian home and a Christian church and still not a believer, it's happened to you. You've heard it, you've read it a thousand times, maybe many, many more than that. But it's until the Spirit of God takes the Word and opens your eyes, you'll be dead in your trespasses and sins. You'll be as blind, you'll be blinder than your disciples were at this time. May God give you that moment when the Spirit of God brings the Word of God home to your mind with power, opens your eyes, opens your mind, opens your heart, as Scripture says, that you believe, and then you'll have the experience that Christians have had throughout this age. Now! It all makes sense. Jesus enlightens the disciples, verse 45. We come to verses 46 and 47. We won't get all the way through it, but let me at least start. Verses 46 and 47. Jesus commissions the disciples. We saw that he reminds the disciples, he enlightens the disciples, now he commissions the disciples. verses 46 and 47. Then he said to them, thus it is written and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. As I said earlier, verses 46 and 47 are only the beginning of Jesus' commission of the disciples here. It really runs through verse 49. I knew I wouldn't get through verse 49, but I also knew that verses 46 and 47 really were connected with verses 44 and 45. That's why I aimed to get them in one message. It's only the beginning, though, of the commission, but we'll look at that commission, God willing, next time more in detail. Also, I believe that Jesus probably spoke these words here, verses 46 through 49, at a later date. I don't say I know that for sure, you say, but the impression seems to be that he spoke them at the same time. when it says that then he said to them and so on but really it's not connected in the original language the way it looks like it is when he said all these things he opened their understanding and so on that these may have been said at a later date or over a period of time If they were only spoken once, my own opinion is they were probably spoken just before he rose into heaven. You read verses 44 through 48, especially verses 46 through 48, and you compare that with what you read in Acts chapter 1, especially the first several verses, and they're very, very similar, and they're both Luke's accounts. But regardless of that, the commission here that Jesus gives starts with the message. It starts with the message. He briefly tells about the message. The first things that were necessary that scripture said, verse 46, it is written, and thus it was necessary. for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day. That's the first part of the commission. Jesus starts with the message that has to be preached. Let's go briefly to chapter 15, verses 1 through 4 of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians 15, 1 through 4. We have very familiar words of the Apostle Paul. Paul says, Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preach to you, the gospel which you also received, and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you, first of all, that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Notice how Paul's words echo Jesus in Luke chapter 24. The Christ had to suffer, Jesus said in Luke 24. And here in 1 Corinthians 15, we read that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture. He suffered for our sins and that he was buried. And this is what the Jews did not get, that Jesus had to suffer, he had to die. John the Baptist didn't get it. Why are you here having men pour scorn on you and not just routing our foes, the Romans? Why Jesus? Is it really the Messiah? Is it really the coming one, the one we were waiting for? But no, Paul said it earlier in 1 Corinthians, didn't he? We preach Christ crucified to the Jews, a stumbling block, but it's the death of Jesus that saves sinners. It's the first part of the message that he had to suffer. And then this next part of the message that he had to rise. That's what he said in Luke 24, that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and then to rise from the dead the third day. And that's what, in the Acts of the Apostles, that's what the Apostles went out and preached. They preached Jesus and the resurrection, as we heard in Acts chapter 17, not that long ago. That's the preaching of the book of Acts. That's what the gospel is, according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, because that's what the heart of the message of the gospel is, according to Jesus in Luke 24. It's what Jesus said, it's what scriptures foretold, it's what the apostles preached, and it's what we believe. Here in the 21st century, this is what we can put our faith in a nutshell, brethren. We believe that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into this world, and He died to save sinners, and He rose from the dead. That's it. If I had to put it in a small sentence, I'd say that. That's what I believe. You want to shoot me for it? Shoot me. But that's what I believe. And that's what you need to believe if you're not a Christian. It's what all Christians believe. Like we sing, we stood not by the empty tomb where late thy sacred body lay, nor sat within that upper room, nor met thee in the open way, but we believe what angels said, why seek the living with the dead? We believe that. The gospel, in a sense, is not rocket science. You do not need an advanced degree or even years of self-study to understand it. Just believe, just believe in the one who spilled his blood for sinners. Just believe that. Believe in Jesus who died. and believe in the one who not only died for sinners but who triumphed over death, who rose from the dead. You don't need to believe in a certain church or a certain denomination or a certain confession. You do not need to believe in any priesthood or any sacraments. Believe in the one who died for sinners and who rose from the dead for their justification. And let me just close then by saying something about the practical relevance of this, of the resurrection of Jesus Christ for today. If you're an unbeliever, it's especially relevant for you because it's what you need to know and believe to be saved. And I urge you to put your trust in Jesus. We'll come to more about that next time when it talks about that the gospel of repentance and forgiveness of sins need to be preached. I don't have time today. But let me say something about the relevance, the practical relevance of the resurrection for us, especially God's people today in April of 2020. These are difficult days. How does the resurrection of Jesus help us? I can't fully explain just how and why it does help us. I'm kind of like that song, I don't know how and why this works, but I believe it does. How does it help us? I know that for us as Christians, the resurrection of Jesus Christ should so fill our thoughts and minds that it takes over our lives. You believe that? If you're a Christian, you should believe that, and you should have some level of experience of that, including, and I'll even say especially, in the darkest of times. More tears maybe than ever before, but I hope more joy and smile through the tears because of Jesus' resurrection. You say, well, I'm scared. But the resurrection tells you, without even using words, that Jesus overcame every enemy Death included. You say, but I sin. And right now the circumstances seem to be bringing my sins to the surface. Anxiety, worry, unbelief, sometimes even anger, and I lash out at people. But he has risen, the Bible says, for our justification. that your sins might be washed away forever, like we heard last week, cast into the depths of the ocean. You say, but I'm confused and I'm unsure of the future. But what do we hear today? God isn't. Jesus Christ arose and He is sitting at the Father's right hand and He's ruling over all things for His church, the whole church. You, the most weak and unbelieving and fearful believer there is. Keep looking to Jesus. He's got this. You say, but I'm isolated and I'm lonely. Again, He is risen and He is seated at the Father's right hand. And as He said in that great commission in Matthew 28, He is also with you. until the end of the age. He hasn't left you or forsaken you. Oh, but these are terrible times. Yes, they are. But you know what? He's coming again, and He will take you to be with Him forever. And so in closing, I have no twelve directives like a Puritan like Thomas Brooks might have given or twenty-five directives maybe like Richard Baxter might have given at this point that if you just follow these twenty-five things in this coming week you will experience this encouragement but I suggest this picture something in your mind pick any of the following picture an empty tomb in your mind with a stone rolled back Picture walking into that tomb and seeing a grave clothes sitting on the shelf where a body should have been lying, folded neatly. Picture angels sitting there instead of a corpse. Picture Mary looking in at that and weeping. Picture her asking the gardener, where is my Lord? And holding onto his feet. Picture those disciples on the road to Emmaus having their hearts burn within them as they walk on the road and then having Jesus revealed to them and disappearing from their sight. Picture Peter and the other apostles Trembling in the upper room and having Jesus show up and wondering what is he gonna say to me? I denied my Lord and he says peace Be with you Keep that picture in your mind and keep your little eyes focused upon it till your smile and joy start shining between the tears. And you hear yourself hear those words of Jesus, peace I give to you. May the Lord bless his word to our hearts. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for your word and ask that you would take it and write it upon our hearts. Forgive us that so often the resurrection of Jesus Christ is, to us, almost nothing more than a little story in a child's Bible storybook sitting on the shelf. Father, put it in our hearts, put it in front of our eyes, and may we live, especially in these days, upon Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and may we preach Christ risen and crucified to those around us who need Him, now more than ever we could say, we ask it in His name, amen.