Fulfilling All the Prophets Have Written.2 | Little Log Church | 05-04-2025

[0:00] Thank you for coming again. We enjoy it always and we appreciate your efforts and the beautiful music.! Take out your Bibles with me please and turn to the Gospel of Luke.

[0:13] ! Amen.

[0:32] So a little slower pace today and we're going to focus in because of the content that is here. I thought it would be worth our while to just focus in on what Jesus says about what He will go through.

[0:48] So Luke chapter 18, we're going to be reading verses 31 to 34. If you're able, please stand as I read from Luke 18 again.

[0:58] Luke 18 verse 31. And taking the twelve, He said to them, see, behold, look, we are going up to Jerusalem and everything that has been written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished or fulfilled.

[1:31] Four, He, the Son of Man, He will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and will be shamefully treated and will be spit upon.

[1:45] And after flogging Him, they will kill Him. And on the third day, He will rise.

[1:58] But they, the twelve, understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them.

[2:11] And they did not grasp what was said. Amazing. So it is written. Let us pray. Father, as always, we ask that you send your Spirit, the Spirit whom we have been thinking about this morning, the Spirit whom we prayed in our second hymn, we prayed to, to come and help us and work in us and work through us.

[2:36] Again, we pray, Lord, send your Spirit who's already among us, but send Him to purposefully pierce our hearts with these words.

[2:46] May we truly consider what the twelve did not even grasp at that point. May we grasp it. May we connect the dots.

[2:58] May we see what Jesus was truly pointing at and what that says about Him and what that says about us. This we pray in Christ's name. Amen.

[3:09] Please be seated. Amen. So, we kind of come to one of those big picture moments, I think, in the Scriptures.

[3:24] So I want to start with a question. What is the main point of the Bible? What's the main point of the Bible?

[3:35] All the history, Genesis, Exodus, the Exodus, the wanderings in the wilderness, the law and the commandments, the covenants of God, the judgments of God.

[3:55] What is it all about? It's about a lot of things, but what is it all about? What does it all reveal to us?

[4:06] What is the theme that repeats over and over and over throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament? What is it that God is showing us?

[4:19] That because of Jesus, we can understand, but they in the first century, His own twelve did not understand. What is it? What's it all about?

[4:33] Okay, I'll tell you. Because I think you know. I like the way James Boyce had summarized the whole Bible.

[4:45] He said it this way. The whole Bible is about man's complete, or man's total ruin in sin. You see that all the way through.

[4:56] Man just ruins himself. And God's complete remedy in Christ. Ruin and remedy.

[5:08] Man's total ruining of his own life, his rebellion, his sin, his falling short, all of that. And then God rescuing, right?

[5:18] God providing the remedy that man could never provide. Man could never, that's what it's all about. So the remedy. So Jesus starts by saying, we're going to Jerusalem and everything that the prophets wrote about, about the Son of Man, about the Messiah, will be fulfilled when we get to Jerusalem.

[5:41] Everything they wrote about. Where does it write about all that? Now James referred to some of it. But remember, Jesus' own disciples missed it.

[5:57] The leaders of Jerusalem missed it. It was, in a way, concealed and hidden. But it's there.

[6:08] One of the ways we see is through what's called foreshadowing. In the Old Testament, you see a shadow. You see just the form. Not the perfected.

[6:19] Not the 3D. Not the full, you know. But just the form. Just the shadow. Just the outline. Of what Christ would come and be the full substance of.

[6:33] Right? So we see continually through the Old Testament, God's chosen messengers. God's chosen mediators. Who are first rejected and humbled before they're exalted to deliver God's people.

[6:54] Joseph. What happened to Joseph? He was God's chosen one, right? He was the chosen one. He's the one that gets the dreams.

[7:05] He's the one that God is working through. And as a result of that, how did his brothers feel? His brothers who are the beginning of the whole nation of Israel. How did they feel?

[7:17] Jealous. And they hated him. And what did they do? They sold him. Some of them wanted to kill him. And they tricked their father that he's dead. And they sold him. Right? And he ends up out east.

[7:29] And then he's a servant. And then he's in prison. And 20 years later is when he's exalted to the right hand of Pharaoh.

[7:41] And ultimately becomes the savior of Egypt. The one through whom God worked to save all of Egypt. Because his wisdom and what God had showed him.

[7:53] Joseph is a foreshadow of Jesus Christ. Who's rejected and humbled and later exalted. To be a deliverer. Moses.

[8:04] Same thing. Moses. First time he comes to Israel. Right? First time he comes to his own people. He's been raised in the palace. He's been pampered all his life. He's raised in the palace to be a prince of Egypt.

[8:15] He finally comes out to see his brethren. And what does he do? He sees a fight. Right? He tries to break up the fight. What do they say to him? Who made you prince and deliverer of us?

[8:31] Which is exactly what he would be 40 years later. First rejected. Humbled into the wilderness for 40 years. Comes back.

[8:41] Becomes the mediator through which God delivers Israel. We see it again in King David. David didn't ascend to the throne right away, did he? He went through first rejection and persecution, suffering, before he exalted to the throne.

[8:57] His life was in jeopardy. He's an outlaw. So we see. I just want you to see there's these shadows. People like Joseph and Moses and David are a...

[9:07] They're not Jesus. But they're a shadow. They're a form. They're like him in that God keeps bringing messengers and mediators to his people who are first rejected and who suffer and are later exalted and become the deliverer.

[9:23] So when the disciples say we didn't see it, they're not reading the Bible right. The story of Joseph is not about a nice story that we can make into a movie.

[9:34] Moses is not about, you know, Charlton Heston becoming, you know. It's bigger than that. David's not just the guy that had it all and then had an affair and ruined everything.

[9:54] It's bigger than that. So when Jesus says all that the prophets have spoken, he's meaning more than just the words they said.

[10:06] He's also meaning the pictures they presented. He's also meaning the history. There's pictures through the history that are promises and foreshadows, okay? That's what I want you to understand today.

[10:16] So in these verses, Jesus predicts. He's saying ahead of time, right? They haven't got to Jerusalem. He's saying in verse 31, we're going to Jerusalem. And when we get there, everything the prophets said is going to be fulfilled in me.

[10:34] In me. And then he's going to outline what it is. Now, remember, as we've been walking through Luke, Jesus has been telling disciples ahead of time this is going to happen, right?

[10:46] All the way back in chapter 9, right? When he starts to turn his direction in 922, right after Peter confesses, right? Jesus asks the 12, who do you say that I am?

[10:59] Right? And it's Peter says, you're the Christ. You're the Christ. And as soon as he said that, Jesus told them for the first time, he said, the son of man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.

[11:15] That's chapter 922. That's the first time Jesus told them. But it wasn't the only time. Now we come to chapter 9. Several things happen.

[11:27] 931. While they're doing the transfiguration, right? Jesus goes up on the mount. He brings with him the three disciples. And then Jesus is transfigured in front of them.

[11:39] He's bright lit. And there's these two other figures with him that turn out to be Moses and Elijah. And Luke tells us that the thing that they were discussing in verse 31 is they were, verse chapter 930, behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.

[12:06] They spoke of his departure. Actually, the Greek word is exodus. They spoke of Jesus' exodus, which is interesting. Moses had an exodus. Now he's talking to Jesus about a different exodus. That's going to happen in Jerusalem.

[12:19] So things are building, see? So then chapter 9, verse 44, again, he reminds them, let these words sink into your ears. The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men.

[12:31] He's about to be betrayed. Right? And then come to verse 51 in chapter 9. When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

[12:43] And remember, since then, since chapter 9, we've been walking on this road with Jesus. From chapter 9 to 19, this has been his journey to Jerusalem. He's not going straight there.

[12:55] He's not taking the direct route. He's winding all the way through, going through the different villages, coming around and about. And now as we come to chapter 19, he's there.

[13:05] Because the next chapter, he'll be in Jericho, which is just down the hill from Jerusalem. Jericho, then he comes up to Jerusalem. So we're close to Holy Week in terms of the timing here.

[13:18] Jesus has been preparing them for this day. And now in chapter 18, 31, he pulls the 12 aside. We haven't heard of, in verse 31, he talks about the 12.

[13:30] Luke hasn't mentioned just the 12 for several chapters. I think since chapter 9. But now he pulls those 12. Remember the 12 that he chose?

[13:41] The 12 that he called apostles? Of all his disciples. He's got a ton of disciples, but he picks 12. Remember? And they're going to be the ones that he sends out.

[13:52] And he's already sent them out before. But he pulls these 12 aside to tell them again what's going to happen. And this becomes the most detailed description of what he's going to go through in Jerusalem.

[14:10] Here he gives some of the details he doesn't give anywhere else. So we come to the prediction where he says he will be fulfilling the prophets.

[14:21] So let's look at this then. What is revealed? I think what we find are two discoveries. One about Jesus.

[14:32] One about the disciples. Jesus tells us in verse 32 and 33 the seven things that will happen to him in Jerusalem. And then in verse 34 he tells us what?

[14:44] The 12 don't get it. They don't get it. That's a shocker. They're about to go to Jerusalem.

[14:55] Jesus is about to die. They still don't get it. It's just, they got no filter. It's amazing. So let's look.

[15:09] First discovery about Jesus. Jesus realized here in these seven details, when Jesus tells them this, the implication here is that Jesus was fully aware and willing to suffer the coming humiliation and death he was to experience.

[15:30] He not only knows what's going to happen, he's willing to go there. He's fully aware. It's not kind of blurry to him. It's not, he knows exactly what's going to happen to him.

[15:43] And as we read these seven things, it's pretty amazing that he knows this. And he knows it. Why does he know it? Not only has the Father revealed it to him, but he knows it because he knows Scripture.

[15:56] He says the prophets have already talked about this, these things happening to the Messiah. So, look at these seven things.

[16:06] We have, he's delivered to the Gentiles, he's mocked, shamefully treated, spit upon, flogged, killed, and raised on the third day. Let's walk through these. He's delivered to the Gentiles, first of all.

[16:18] The word is to hand over. It's the word that can mean betrayed. Isaiah 53, he was despised and rejected, right? He's delivered to the Gentiles.

[16:29] So, his own people deliver him to the Gentiles. In chapter 20 of Luke, this plot develops where they're starting to, the rulers are starting to scheme about how they can get rid of Jesus.

[16:42] Chapter 22, Judas steps up. Judas is part of this, isn't he? He's the betrayer. He's the one that sells Jesus out. He's the one that says, here, meet me here in the garden.

[16:55] This is where Jesus has been living. He's in this garden area. You come to the garden area, you'll get him. And give me money for that. So, Judas begins that plot.

[17:06] And then by chapter 23, Jesus has gone through the trial before the high priest and the Jews. And in chapter 23, the Jews hand Jesus over to Pilate and the Romans.

[17:19] Why? Because the Jews can't kill him. They have no authority. They have to hand him over to the Gentiles, who are the Romans, to do the killing of Jesus.

[17:32] Okay? So, that's the plot developed. So, once he's handed over, what happens? He's mocked, taunted, ridiculed, laughed at. Again, Isaiah 53.

[17:43] He was oppressed and afflicted. In chapter 22, the soldiers are mocking him, playing with him, putting a crown of thorns on him, giving him a robe after he's been flogged.

[17:55] They give him a robe that will stick to him and pull off scabs as he goes. Give him a reed. They're bowing down to him and mocking him as the king.

[18:08] Jesus, the Son of God, enduring this. Enduring this. With a flick of his finger, he could stop this.

[18:21] He endures it willingly. Then, he says he's shamefully treated. He's mocked. He's shamefully treated, which means they abused him. Again, Isaiah 53 says, we did not esteem him.

[18:39] They insulted him. And the shoulders, shoulders, soldiers. They have shoulders. The soldiers treated him shamefully.

[18:52] They struck him and slapped him, beat him up. You understand, the Roman soldiers are professional punishers, executors.

[19:04] And they enjoyed their work. Physical abuse. They enjoyed that. They were physical people. And they believed Jesus was a criminal.

[19:20] And he's about to die, so let's make fun of him. He endured that. Even in John 18, we're told that he was slapped again when he was in front of the high priest.

[19:34] The high priest, right? Who's questioning Jesus. And Jesus questions him back. And he's slapped for questioning the high priest.

[19:45] And then Jesus said, what did I do? I did nothing wrong. Why did you slap me? So he's enduring this kind of treatment. This fake trial.

[19:58] This putting forward fake witnesses, all that. He's enduring that. He spit upon. To spit upon means it's an act of extreme contempt. I mean, even today, somebody spits at you.

[20:13] What's your response, you know? It's not a favorable thing. You know, that's that. And when I was young, that'd be, we're throwing down.

[20:26] We're going to something here. We don't endure that. In Hebrews 12, we're told that Jesus willingly endured hostility against himself.

[20:43] He willingly endured it as he walked to the cross. So we know that the soldiers spit upon him.

[20:54] We also know that when he was before the Jewish council, he was spit upon there as well. So at least a couple of times, he's treated with extreme contempt. And then he's flogged.

[21:05] We're told Jesus says they flogged him. Or said he would be flogged. Now, flogging is one of the most brutal, horrific, besides crucifixion, flogging is...

[21:22] The Jewish law was you could only be whipped so many times because too far you'd die. And the flogging, we're not sure whether the whip had three or four tails to it or nine tails.

[21:39] We don't know for sure. There were different versions of it. But they all had little metal objects in the tails of the whip. So it would grab flesh and just leave him beat up.

[21:53] So he was flogged. And isn't it interesting that Isaiah 53 says, by his stripes, we are healed. That he would endure that.

[22:06] That he knew that was coming. I mean, he knew that was coming. It's one thing to have the mocking and the spitting, but that physical, extreme...

[22:19] So that was normal. Flogging was what they did to criminals before they crucified him. So he knew that was coming.

[22:33] And it was prophesied. Then he's killed. Now, he's killed by the Romans because they had the authority. And the way they killed was to crucify. And the word crucify means to nail to a cross.

[22:45] He's nailed to a cross. And our modern descriptions of that are inaccurate. He's not through his hands. Because as he's hanging there, that would just rip through.

[22:57] He was nailed through his wrists. Which in Jewish language, that's still considered the hand. Because there, the joint would hold. See? And it's interesting.

[23:10] The Shroud of Turin shows the mark here. Which is... Is it fake? They can't prove anything about it. And then here. And then same with his ankles.

[23:22] And so when you're crucified, you're hanging like that. And you have to breathe. You have to push up. And you can only do that so long. Especially after you've been beaten and flogged.

[23:33] And what Jesus has gone through. He did not last long. Some people last a few days. Jesus did not last. They didn't even have to break his legs because he was already gone.

[23:47] Yeah. I think part of it maybe is just he knew he was done. And so, Father, I'm coming home. But he made sure he did. As we read through the Gospels, we know as he went through the different experiences on the cross.

[24:02] We know that he was thinking, okay, what's left? Okay, got the sour wine. Got the, you know. And then he knew it. Tetelestai, right?

[24:14] It is finished. I have fulfilled everything I needed to do. To bear the sin of rebels and ungrateful and selfish, brutal people whom I love.

[24:38] Whom I love. Oh. So, that's what impressed me. That he's fully aware.

[24:48] Not just that he's going to be rejected and he's going to be killed. But he's fully aware of what that entails. Right? All the little stuff.

[24:59] And the big stuff. And on your outline, I put several references where, you know, these things happened.

[25:09] It was fulfilled, in other words. And each of the Gospels record these things. The last four where he's, no, the last three where he's flogged and killed and raised on the dead.

[25:22] That's in all four Gospels. Okay, those are important elements. So, he's crucified. So, Isaiah 53, I don't know if I said it yet.

[25:33] He was pierced for our transgressions. Isn't it interesting that Isaiah puts it that way? Pierced for our transgressions.

[25:46] And then he's raised on the third day. So, the third day. Does the Old Testament talk about the third day? Yeah, you won't find a specific prophecy that says the Messiah will be raised on the third day.

[25:59] But you'll find third day references all through the, and we've shown you some of those. Showed you some of those. They're more foreshadowing things. How Israel went through things, and then on the third day, they'd be delivered.

[26:14] Like when they were rescued from Pharaoh, on the third day, they were saved. So, you have all these third day references. And then Jesus said, an evil generation seeks for a sign, and I'll only give you one sign.

[26:29] The sign of Jonah. And what happened to Jonah? And he said, right? Yeah, he said, just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of fish, so will the Messiah be three days and three nights in the earth.

[26:48] Which means he could not die on Friday. He had to die on Thursday. If we take Jesus' word seriously. Which fits with all the gospel. It's just, you know, we've accepted the tradition of Good Friday.

[27:03] And that's fine. But technically, biblically, accurately, he died on a Thursday. Because it had to be three days and three nights.

[27:17] So, which, you know, I think Jesus is about being accurate. Right? So, in Luke 24, 6 and 7, we see that the women come to find Jesus right at the tomb.

[27:34] And the angel tells them what? He is not here. He has risen from the dead just as he told you. They still didn't believe it.

[27:44] They still didn't believe it, right? So, there you got it. So, Jesus says the prophecies, all the prophets were fulfilled.

[27:57] Well, I don't have time to go through all that. James mentioned some of them. I don't have time to go through all of them. It's all through the scriptures. Let me give you three examples. Isaiah 50, verse 6 says, I gave my back to those who strike, flogging, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard.

[28:13] I did not hide my face from disgrace and splitting. Spitting. So, the slapping, the hitting, and the spitting upon.

[28:25] Psalm 2. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers. So, who is it? It's the kings and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, literally his Mashiach, his Messiah.

[28:42] Anointed is Messiah. In Greek, Christos. We say Christ. Hebrews, Messiah, Mashiach. Anointed one.

[28:55] So, Psalm 2. I mean, you know, and then the next verse in Psalm 2, verse 3, what happens? The Lord laughs. Oh, the kings of the earth. Oh, they're rising up against God.

[29:05] Okay. Oh, I'm scared. Right? Right? And then, okay. This goes all the way back to Genesis. To the serpent, God said in Genesis 3, 15, I will put enmity between you, the serpent, and the woman, and between your offspring, who's the offspring of the serpent.

[29:31] Right? Who does he control? His own people. And her offspring, who's the offspring of the woman? Who's the woman in Genesis 3?

[29:42] Eve. Who's her offspring? Well, we can say, well, it was, you know, Abel.

[29:53] Right? But then, and then the offspring, the offspring, the offspring. You come to the offspring. Oh, it goes to David, right? It goes through David. It goes through many different people.

[30:05] And then it goes to Joseph, who married Mary. And the offspring was Christ.

[30:17] Jesus of Nazareth. That's the offspring. I'll put enmity between you between the serpent and the offspring of the woman. And he, the offspring of the woman, shall bruise your head.

[30:31] He will beat Satan. And you, Satan, the serpent, shall bruise his heel. Satan, what? Enters Judas.

[30:42] Right? Is involved in the whole process of getting Jesus killed. So he bruises Jesus' heel. But when Jesus raises from the dead, what happens? You know, the, what was the movie where they showed that?

[30:58] Was it The Passion of the Christ? They had the little snake thing. It's like, did you catch that? It was like, oh, that was kind of cool. You know, it shows the, yeah, the, Satan, Satan's defeated.

[31:10] He's not done. Satan's not done, but he was defeated. He thought he had him. So, what do we discover? First of all, Jesus is fully aware of what he's going to go through.

[31:22] And he's absolutely willing to suffer the coming cruel humiliation and death. But then we see something striking in verse 34 about the 12. These are the 12 that have been following him for three and a half years.

[31:37] These are the 12 that have been, have seen everything that he's done. Have heard everything that he said. They have heard him say this message over and over again, that he's going to be delivered over.

[31:48] He's going to be killed. He's going to raise on the third day. They've heard it. Verse 34 says, they understood none of these things. Not one.

[31:59] Not one of those seven things did they understand. They don't get it. They don't understand the saying was hidden from them. So, we have three statements about it, right?

[32:10] They understood none of these things. The saying was hidden from them and they did not grasp it. So, three different ways of saying it. The 12, so the second discovery is just that statement. The 12 had no grasp of Jesus' suffering and death.

[32:24] Stated three ways. They had, they did not understand. Now, what didn't they understand? Did they not understand the words Jesus used? Did they not understand the words of mocking and spitting and being delivered over and being killed?

[32:37] And did they not understand the actual words? No, they understood the words. What they didn't understand is the plan. What they didn't understand is how does this save us?

[32:52] How does a suffering Savior save us? The only saviors we know of have physical power.

[33:02] They're David-like people. They conquer the giants. They lead us into victory. And we need a victory over the Romans because the Romans are oppressing us.

[33:14] And this is our land. And yet the Romans are ruling them. So, that's the Messiah they expect. This word understand.

[33:27] They did not understand. The word means to put something together. They didn't understand because they haven't put things together. They haven't connected the dots. They haven't looked at all of the things and put everything together.

[33:40] They don't understand how it all fits in God's plan. They believe they've already understood how Messiah would come. They've already got a preconceived idea. They have taken the scriptures and they have said, See, the deliverer will come and be just like David, be just like Moses who delivered us from Egypt, to be like David who delivers us from the Philistines and everybody else.

[34:03] It'll be like that. Now the Messiah will come and set up a kingdom in Jerusalem and we will have peace. That's what they expected. And what Jesus is, and what Luke is saying by saying they did not understand is they did not make the effort to connect the dots.

[34:21] They did not read the scriptures. They read the scriptures the way they were taught to read the scriptures. That's what it means.

[34:32] It means they accepted what was the popular understanding of the day. The messianic expectation that Christ would come as a physical savior. That it would be a physical earthly kingdom.

[34:44] And what does Jesus say to Pilate? Dude, if my kingdom were of this world, you'd be toast. Understand that.

[34:56] My kingdom's not of this world. My kingdom is much bigger than earthly kingdom. My, my, my kingdom's king of kings, lord of lords. Not just some little kingdom on earth.

[35:07] So, then it says it was hidden from them. So, that makes, tells us there's a little mystery going on here. It had been concealed for them.

[35:18] In other words, it hadn't been revealed to them. It hadn't been shown to them. So, Jesus is telling them these predictions. We're going, this is what's going to happen. But he doesn't explain what that means.

[35:31] He just tells them the words and they're going, I don't get it. In my system of thinking, in my world view that I have as a Jew being brought up according to the teachings of the day, this is what I expect.

[35:52] And Jesus is saying things that don't fit in their grid. They don't have a, what is it? They don't have a paradigm for that. God's plan, how a suffering Savior could bring deliverance and freedom is an absolute mystery to them.

[36:13] They don't get it. They don't get it. They think the deliverance they need is physical, not spiritual. It's a stumbling block to them. As the later, you know, Paul said, Yeah, Christ crucified is a stumbling block to the Jews.

[36:28] They can't get over it. They stumble over the rock. And then he restates it again a third time. They did not grasp it. He's just using a different word here than they did not understand. One, they didn't put it together.

[36:39] Second, they didn't grasp it, by which they mean they did not know from experience what this was about. They did not know. The word is gnosko, which means that it's something that I know by experience.

[36:55] So a doctor makes a prognosis, right, based on his experience. A doctor comes and sees you. You go to the doctor. He sees you. He makes a prognosis.

[37:05] Based on what? What he knows. What he's come to understand through his studies and through his work as a doctor. You know, he makes a prognosis because of something he already knows.

[37:16] And so what he's saying here is these 12 did not have any experience with what Jesus was talking about. They were totally unfamiliar with this kind of dialogue.

[37:28] That the Savior would be humiliated and suffer and be killed and be raised on the third day. Isaiah never mentions a third.

[37:42] You know, Isaiah 53 is pretty specific, isn't it? It doesn't mention a third day, though. It does mention resurrection. Not the word resurrection, but it does talk about how he comes back. So what's the third day?

[37:55] Again, we have to think about not the specific words, that there's a specific prophecy that gives specific words. What we have to think about is Jesus said the whole from Genesis all the way through Malachi.

[38:09] Or no, Jesus wouldn't have said that. Or no, Jesus wouldn't have said that. He would have said, because his Jewish Bible would have been from Genesis through 2 Chronicles. Our English Bible arranges things a little differently.

[38:23] They've never read the scriptures this way. They've never been taught this.

[38:33] They're totally unfamiliar. And their viewpoint, their grid, the one that they've locked in from childhood. This is what they expect. This is the only way we read the scriptures.

[38:46] It will be a literal fulfillment of the scriptures. Now, we interpret the Bible literally, but we don't over-literalize.

[38:58] When you over-literalize, you miss it. So the Jews of the day over-literalize the prophecies about the Christ, that he would be a savior like David.

[39:09] Because it talks about David's son will come and sit on his throne, right? That's exactly what they expect, the throne of Jerusalem. And yet Jesus didn't do that.

[39:22] So we have to be careful today. We don't over-literalize. When's he coming back? There are certain theologies that talk about, well, it literally is this and this and this.

[39:33] Well, be careful about being over-literal. Absolutely, he's coming back physically. No doubt about that. That's absolutely clear. Where, when, how? Yeah. Wonderful Christians' dialogue about that stuff.

[39:52] I'm the only one that has that figured out, so. No. Not even close. So two things are going on here that the 12 had no grasp, okay?

[40:05] One, it is being hidden from them. So Jesus did not sit down until after the resurrection and explain it.

[40:17] Okay? He's letting it be mysterious for them. And he's pushing them to think. Remember when we went through the Gospel of Mark, he would kind of constantly say, do you understand?

[40:28] And they're like, oh, yeah, yeah. No, I don't really get it. Have you put it together yet? Have you put it together yet? He focused.

[40:38] That's why Jesus never directly answers a question. He answers a question with a question. He wants people to think. Think. See for it yourself.

[40:49] Go look at the Scriptures. And in fact, he told the Jews, go look at the Scriptures. I'm there. If you look honestly, if you look honestly, do you really think you can read the law and say, I've kept all that?

[41:05] Can you honestly say that? Or are you fudging somewhere? Are you grading on a curve? Because what the law says, the law says it's a hard line.

[41:17] And you cross that line, you're done. So, in other words, if we can't keep the law, then I need another way of salvation, don't I?

[41:33] If I'm reading the Old Testament, if I'm a Jew reading the Old Testament, and I've got to do what Moses says in order to be blessed, in order to have success, in order to have protection, in order to have health, wealth, you know.

[41:47] All of that. Old Testament teaches that. If you obey the law, you are blessed and you have all this stuff. But if you break the law at one point, you're cursed.

[42:02] And all of that's gone. Which is why Israel kept having trouble, didn't they? And eventually they lost their land, didn't they? They went to Babylon. Some of the Jews never came back.

[42:19] And by the time of Jesus, it's still not their land. They're living in the promised land, but somebody else owns it. To this day, they got a quarter of Jerusalem.

[42:34] The city. One quarter. That's it. Okay. If you're a Jew, that has to tell you something ain't right.

[42:48] And if the temple hasn't been rebuilt so that they could do what Moses told them to do with their sacrifices, if they don't have a temple for 2,000 years, something ain't right.

[42:59] They're not connecting some dots here. So, here's what Jesus says. So, two things are going on. It's hidden from them and then they're not connecting the dots.

[43:10] So, listen to what he says to them in the upper room after he raises from the dead. Luke 24, he said to them, Oh, foolish ones. Wow, he's calling his disciples foolish.

[43:23] Foolish means you don't think. You don't think through consequences. You're not thinking. You're not connecting dots. Foolish ones. Foolish ones. And slow of heart to believe. What's the heart?

[43:39] Feelings? Nope, not feelings. That's how we think of the heart. The Jews thought of the heart as thoughts and intentions. Feelings is the soul.

[43:53] So, they didn't have a word for mind. And Jesus adds the word mind in the Greek, using the Greek. But for the Jew, the heart was thoughts and intentions.

[44:06] Soul is my feelings, my affections. My, huh? My ode? No, that's the strength. That's the, hmm.

[44:22] So, he's using it foolish, not thinkers, and slow of heart. Slow to think in order to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary? He's challenging them. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?

[44:36] Can't you see that? And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Wouldn't it have been wonderful to be there?

[44:49] To see how he walked through the scriptures from Genesis all the way through. He interpreted all the scriptures, the things. Not just the words, but the things concerning himself.

[45:01] So, the specific word references, but also the pictures and the promises and the foreshadowings. And the need, pointing out the need of not keeping the law and so needing forgiveness.

[45:14] Like David. Then he said to them, these are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you. That everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

[45:28] Now he adds the Psalms. Well, that was included under the former references of prophets. But now he's breaking it into the three areas of scripture that the Jews had.

[45:39] The Torah, Moses, law of Moses. The writings. So, you have the Psalms and Proverbs and wisdom literature, Job, those kind of things.

[45:49] And then you have the prophets. So, you have from Samuel on to Malachi. Malachi. That's how the Jewish scriptures were organized.

[46:04] Well, they go the other way. They write right to left, right side. So, he says it's in every part of scripture, in other words.

[46:14] Not just the prophets. Not just a verse here and there in Moses. But all that Moses wrote. Pictures in Genesis.

[46:25] Pictures in Exodus. Pictures in Leviticus. Look at all the sacrifices. Pictures in Numbers. And then Deuteronomy. And then you have the history.

[46:35] And how God treats Israel, who is a rebellious, selfish nation. Just like you and me.

[46:46] All of us like sheep have gone astray. We all wander. That's just our nature. So, Jesus says, he teaches them how to read the Old Testament.

[47:04] Everything written about me and Moses, prophets, and Psalms must be fulfilled. That teaches us how to read Moses. I need to look for Jesus and Moses. I read the Psalms.

[47:15] I need to read the Psalms as, oh wow. Look at Psalm 22. Have you ever done that? Read Psalm 22. And it's like you're standing before the cross. Psalm 69.

[47:26] I mean, there are ones that are so blatantly obvious. Psalm 50. Isaiah. I mean, Isaiah is full of it. Then, I like this.

[47:39] Then, he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. He took the block out of it. He took the grid or whatever, the paradigm they had, this thing, this veil. He took it out.

[47:50] He opened their minds to be able to connect the dots. And it wasn't until he was resurrected from the grave that they started to understand.

[48:04] And then, 50 days later, Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit comes. And then it's, whoo, whoa, I'm seeing all kinds of dots connected.

[48:19] Right? He opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And said to them, See, all the scriptures, all the scriptures, what are they about?

[48:46] What's the main point of the Bible? What's it all about? It's about man's ruin. How man has totally ruined himself. How we, it's a picture of us.

[48:59] I can't keep those commands either. I can't do that. I'm a failure. I might try for a while. I'll make a promise, and I'll resolve, and I'll get into it. And that's all great and sincere.

[49:09] But then I fall again. And the righteous man is the one who falls seven times and gets back up seven times. Not the man who never falls. But the man who regularly falls.

[49:22] But he gets back up because he's walking with the Savior, and he's walking with the Spirit. God's remedy. So, here's your question. Do you see how the scriptures point to Christ?

[49:38] Can you connect the dots? Well, not all of them. You may not have, but can you see? Can you see it? Can you grasp how God's plan worked? See, the issue is not how, the issue is how would God deal with our sin, our failure?

[49:59] How does he deal with Israel failing? How does a holy God forgive? How can he save man from his ruin?

[50:11] Well, there's only one way. He has to send a substitute. He can't just forgive us because he's holy. He can't just let it go because he's just.

[50:24] He can't stop being just. So, he must send one who is a perfect substitute, who would take upon himself willingly, willingly, all our dirt, all our forsakenness, all of our rebellion, all of our falling shorts and failures, and willingly take it, take it, take it, take it.

[50:53] Willing to be spit upon, willing to be shamefully treated. The holy of holy one, shamefully treated, willingly enduring that. Just absolutely amazing.

[51:05] And why would he do it? Because he loves sinners. He loves sinners. And one of the most amazing things that I discovered about Jesus some years ago was when he took on flesh, he began to understand something God never experienced.

[51:30] God might cognitive, well, God cognitively knows everything, but he had not experienced what man had experienced. He hadn't experienced weakness. He hadn't experienced, God has never been tempted, but Jesus was, because he came in flesh.

[51:47] He experienced true temptation. He truly was tempted. Let this cup pass. I don't want it.

[52:01] Any other way? Okay. Not my will, but thine be done. I mean, those words are just... So God, for the first time, experienced what...

[52:14] And that's why Hebrews tells us, go to Jesus, because he gets it. He understands how hard temptation is. Go to Jesus. Don't feel shame.

[52:25] Don't feel shame. Don't beat yourself up. Go to Jesus. Just go to Jesus. I failed again. Go to Jesus. He understands. He understands your weakness. But he never failed.

[52:38] But he understands. He understands. Scripture show us man's failure from beginning to end. The rebel, the wanderers, those who can't obey.

[52:51] It's only God who can save us. Only his mercy and his grace. And only by sending one who would be a substitutionary sacrifice for us. I want to end with one of my favorite writers.

[53:04] J.C. Ryle wrote back in the 1800s. Good writers are back then, it seems like. 1600. Well, anyways. He has devotional.

[53:15] This is J.C. Ryle's devotional thoughts on the book of Luke. So it's not really a commentary. It's more like devotional thoughts. But devotional thoughts today and devotional thoughts 200 years ago.

[53:27] A little deeper. Here's how he ends. The vicarious death of Christ has always been a stumbling block, an offense to proud human nature.

[53:39] We know that even now, after Christ has arisen from the dead and ascended into glory, the doctrine of Christ is still foolishness to many. And that Christ's substitution for us on the cross is a truth which is often denied, rejected, and refused.

[53:55] Before we wonder at these first weak disciples for not understanding our Lord's words about his death, we would do well to look around us. It may humble us to remember that thousands of so-called Christians neither understand nor value Christ's death at the present day.

[54:14] Let us look well to our own hearts. We live in a day when false doctrine about Christ's death abound on every side. Let us see that Christ crucified is really the foundation of our hopes and that Christ's atoning death for sin is indeed the whole life of our souls.

[54:34] Let us beware of adding to Christ's sacrifice on the cross as the Roman Catholic does. Its value was infinite. It admits no addition. Let us beware of taking away from Christ's sacrifice as many do.

[54:48] To suppose that the Son of God died only to leave us an example of self-denial is to contradict a hundred plain texts of Scripture.

[55:01] Let us walk in the old paths. Let us say with Paul, may it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray.

[55:13] Father, thank you for your word. May these words sink into our hearts. May we recognize the depth of your love, Father, and the amazing depth and breadth of Christ's love for us.

[55:31] Stir our hearts to adore him, to love him, to walk with him, to walk in the path that he walked.

[55:49] Lift up Jesus before our eyes today, we ask in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[56:24] What gift of grace is Jesus my Redeemer? There is no more for heaven now to give.

[56:39] He is my joy, my righteousness and freedom, my steadfast love, my deep and boundless peace.

[56:55] To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus, for my life is only bound to his.

[57:08] O how strange and divine, I can sing, all is mine, yet not I, but through Christ he knew.

[57:22] The night is dark, but I am not forsaken, for by my side, the Savior he will stay.

[57:48] I labor on in weakness and rejoicing, for in my need his power is displayed.

[58:03] To this I hold, my shepherd will defend me, through the deepest valley he will lead.

[58:18] Oh, the night has been won, and I shall overcome, yet not I, but through Christ in me.

[58:31] No fate I dread, I know I am forgiven, the future sure, the price it has been paid.

[58:57] For Jesus bled and suffered for my pardon, and he was raised, to overcome the grave.

[59:11] To this I hold, my sin has been defeated. Jesus now and ever is my plea.

[59:24] Oh, the chains are relieved.