Sermon Tone Analysis

SHOWING MERCY

(Luke 9:51-56)

*Intro* – James Dobson saw a sign outside a convent in SC: “Absolutely No Trespassing – Violators Will be Prosecuted to the Full Extent of the Law.”

It was signed “Sisters of Mercy.”

We need mercy!

We often cry for justice, but what we really need is mercy.

When you get Jesus’ view of the law – that it is not just our actions, but our heart that we will answer for – we need mercy, not justice.

Thankfully God is rich in mercy.

Paul says in Eph 2:4, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.”

Other gods demand; our God gives.

Our text today displays God’s mercy.

Luke 9:51 a great hinge upon which the book turns.

“When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”

Prior to this Jesus is coming; now He is going.

Prior is acceptance; now it is rejection.

Prior it is acclaim; now it is humiliation.

Prior it is multitudes; now it is disciples.

Emphasis has been on the person of Christ; now it is increasingly on the redemptive work of Christ.

He’s leaving Galilee for an extended journey to Jerusalem.

Luke devotes fully 40% of his gospel to this journey as opposed to 2 chapters in Mt (19-20) and one in Mark (10).

A lot is unique.

What is mercy?

Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve (judgment); grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve (life).

Here is mercy in action.

*I.

The Resolution*

End of v. 51, “he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”

Jesus is now focused on one thing -- Jerusalem.

He knows what awaits Him there; it has been prophesied and He must go.

Isa 50:6) “I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.

7) But the Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.”

Death awaits; but not shame.

Rather, it will be the moment of His ultimate triumph, so He sets His face.

Picture a runner rounding 3rd, headed for home.

The end is in sight.

Light at the end of the tunnel.

He’s in the home stretch.

*A.

The Coming*

Up til now, Luke focused on Jesus’ coming.

More than anyone, he described the unusual birth, childhood and early ministry of Christ.

The overriding question has been “Who is Jesus?”

That question has been answered in many ways – through His preaching, His OT references to Messiah, His miracles.

He has forgiven sin and accepted worship.

Luke’s case is clearly made; this is Messiah; this is God in human form.

It is an astounding revelation, backed up and locked down by irrefutable historical facts.

Who is Jesus?

He is God, that’s who!

The answer to that question culminated in Peter’s confession: “You are the Christ of God” (9:20), and in the Transfiguration, where Jesus’ divine nature breaks through the human veil for one brief shining moment – the Father affirming Him: “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”

This is resounding affirmation that Jesus is Immanuel – God with us.

Jesus is God entering human history.

He is the Word become flesh; He is Jacob’s ladder, connecting heaven and earth; He is the lamb whom God will provide (Gen 22); the seed of the woman (Gen 3:15); He’s the Lion of the tribe of Judah of Gen 49, the Son of David and the Son of Man of Daniel 9 who will have dominion forever.

Who is Jesus?

He is God delivering His people.

That’s who Jesus is.

If you don’t know that Jesus, then you don’t know Jesus.

Jesus cannot be written off merely as a fairytale.

Tim Keller challenges, "No one has ever yet discovered a word that Jesus ought to have said.

Read the accounts.

You try to come up with better lines!

Do you realize what kind of person you would have to be to make this up?

If somebody made this up we would have to be sitting here having the same kind of discussion asking, ‘Who is this incredible person who made this up?’. . .

He is always surprising you; he is always taking your breath away, because he's better than you can imagine.

Why?

They are the surprises of perfection.

He combined attributes never seen together.

Tenderness without weakness; strength without harshness; holiness and unbending conviction without the slightest lack of approachability; power without insensitivity; passion without prejudice; never inconsistent, never a false step, never a jarring note. . . .

The apostles knew they were looking through the substance of human flesh to the being of God.

What power could've gotten them to believe it?”

He was real; that’s what.

As incomprehensible as it sounds, God has become us.

Thus Luke closes this section on Who is Jesus?

He’s God.

*B.

The Going*

Now He’s at 3rd and headed home, and the new question is, “Why did He come?”

According to v. 51 Jesus has “set his face to go to Jerusalem.”

But note that Jerusalem is an interim stop – tho critical.

Luke notes in Lu 13:33, “for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.”

Jerusalem is a very critical stop, but not ultimate.

Why do I say that?

V. 51, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up.”

Some say “taken up” is a reference to the cross.

They refer to John 3:14-15, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

That is a true statement, and it is part of what is in view in Lu 9:51 talking about Jesus being “taken up.”

But Luke’s primary reference is to Jesus’ ultimate return to heaven, when His mission will be complete.

What is that mission?

Mark 10:45 answers: “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

He has to go thru Jerusalem to do that – to become the ultimate Passover lamb.

But the resurrection and His ascension to the Father will follow showing God’s verdict: Mission Accomplished”!

We know that whole process is in view here because Luke’s use of Greek word αναλαμβανω to describe these events.

“When the days drew near for him to be taken up (αναλημψις, form of αναλαμβανω).”

Turn to Acts 1:9.

Luke writes: “And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.”

This is Jesus returning to heaven.

Mission accomplished.

Now 3 times in Acts 1, Luke uses the word αναλαμβανω to refer to this fantastic event.

It’s in vv. 2, 11 and 22.

Note particularly v. 11 where the angels standing by as Jesus ascends say, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven?

[Well, wouldn’t you be?!]