What did He say?

Luke 9:43-45

When it comes to understanding the Word of God, we sometimes struggle. In fact, there are some verses of scripture that leave me scratching my head. That is how I got this bald spot.

Scripture is not meant to be complicated, but we tend to make it more complicated than it should be. Take for instance John 21:11 - Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn.

Now a person might read that, and they get to looking at that verse, and they are trying to find some deeper meaning. Like why is there 153 fish?

Augustine had a theory. He said, there are 10 commandments and 7 is the perfect number of grace and that’s 17 right? Now if you add all the numbers from 1 to 17 together, you know 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 all the way up to 17 you’ll get 153. And not only that but if you were to arrange them with 17 fish in the first row, and 16 in the next row, and 15 in the next row, all the way down to a row of 1 you get a perfect triangle which of course symbolizes the Trinity.

You want to know my theory? I that it mentioned that because there was a 153 fish in the net.

We open the Bible, and we read it, and we theorize on it, and we write about it, and we discuss it, and the whole time we are missing the simple message that it is trying to share with us.

Now this is the case in what we are about to read in Luke, Look at this scripture with me.

(Read Scripture)

Now Jesus was doing some amazing things, but through all the miracles and all the healings he was performing, he was sharing a message to his disciples.

But here was the problem, the disciples didn’t always get the message. And that holds true for many of us today. Think about the application that this passage has for us.

1. It is easy to just focus on what we see rather than what we hear. (vs 43)

· We are fascinated more by sight that we are by hearing.

· The people who surrounded Jesus were more interested in what they might see than what the Lord had to say.

· That is how many people operate today, Lord show me, instead of telling me. We want a sign.

· Matthew 16:4 “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. And he left them, and departed.”

· Now God still performs miracles, and it is wonderful to witness, but it is more important that we listen to what Jesus has to say.

· Some people want to go to church to see a show, instead of hearing from the Lord.

· Don’t miss what Jesus is saying.

2. Jesus wants us to comprehend and remember what He is saying. (vs 44)

· Now there is second application that we see in this passage and its in vs 44.

· Jesus wants us to comprehend and remember what he is saying.

· What is Jesus saying? JoCo – Get the cotton out of your ears.

· It is easy to let the word of God go in and out of our ears. But Jesus doesn’t want the scripture to be something that sails in and out of our head.

· He wants them not to forget.

· I have heard some older folks say, I have forgotten more than you’ll ever know.

· Well, hope we haven’t forgotten what Jesus said.

· When it comes to the scripture, this is something we should pay attention to, and listen too. What Jesus has to say to us, is more important than what we have to say to him.

3. We overcomplicate the Scripture to the point we don’t understand it. (vs 45a)

· Now here is the third thing we find and that is we overcomplicate the Scripture to the point we don’t understand it.

· Take for instance 2 Corinthians 10:12 “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves, but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.”

· We read that, and we scratch our heads and ask what did it say? What is the meaning behind the verse.

· 2 Corinthians 10:12 (NLT) “Oh, don’t worry; we wouldn’t dare say that we are as wonderful as these other men who tell you how important they are! But they are only comparing themselves with each other, using themselves as the standard of measurement. How ignorant!”

· Jesus had a simple message that he was sharing with his disciples, but they just didn’t get it.

· When it comes to understanding the word of God there is a simple method.

· Do the part that you understand, and the part that you don’t understand, you will begin to understand, understand?

· The Gospel message is not complicated, it is meant for everyone. That’s what is so wonderful about the Bible.

· It is shallow enough for a little child to come and drink from it, and it is deep enough that the great minds to dive into it and never touch bottom.

· Sometimes the best approach to scripture is to read it, stop, then read it again.

· The message is simple. We just need to listen to what Jesus said.

4. We should not be afraid to ask Jesus what does this mean. (vs 45b)

· Now what do you do when you come to something that you don’t know what it means? Well I tell you what we shouldn’t do. Be afraid to ask Jesus.

· If you don’t understand something in the scripture, I want you to know, that it is okay to ask Jesus what does this mean.

· Jesus is not some mean teacher, that doesn’t like questions.

· If you have a desire to know, Jesus will give it to you.

· 2 Timothy 2:7 “Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.”

· Now understanding comes from listening and studying, it comes by the hand of God, who will allow you to know the meaning when you are ready to listen.