Jesus Foretells His Suffering
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
In 1993 the unthinkable happened.
Superman died.
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Now, this certainly wasn’t the first time a comic book killed off its main character and then figured out a clever way of bringing him back later, but when news of Superman’s impending death hit mainstream media it was publicized as the end of the era.
People lined up for blocks outside of comic book stores and waited for hours just to get a copy of the illusive Death of Superman issue—some because they were curious, others because they figured it was a good investment.
The Death of Superman collection remains one of the best-selling graphic novel of all time.
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In the story-arch that resulted in the death of Superman, a beast known as Doomsday, who had been imprisoned in an abyss far below the surface of the Earth, breaks free and begins carving a swath of destruction that quickly endangers human lives—he topples an interstate overpass, obliterates an 18-wheeler in a head on collision with his fist, and wanders from place to place attacking whatever catches his eye.
One of the other heroes who try and fail to stop him describes him as “hate, death and bloodlust personified.”
Later, when a boy and a woman see Superman in the fight of his life, the boy asks about the monster, and the woman replies, “I’d say he’s the devil incarnate ushering in the end of the world!”
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Fatefully, in a battle the raged across half the Midwest, Metropolis becomes the epicenter for the fight of the ages.
Streets are demolished and cars are hurled as the indestructible fighter crash through buildings.
Their final punches send shockwaves, shattering the glass from nearby windows.
Finally, after a bloody battle, each puts his all into one last strike—which proves to be the killing blow for both. In the end, Superman gives his life to protect the people and the city that he loves.
Of course, even after an elaborate funeral spanning several issues, he would only spend a few days in the grave before his marvelous Kryptonian body is miraculously restored.
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It certainly doesn’t take a theology degree to see the Christ-like parallels here.
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What Superman did in a graphic novel, Jesus did in real life...
Except Jesus’s sacrifice has eternal significance that we all need to consider.
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So, please turn your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke.
We will conduct our study in Chapter 18 and focus on verses 31 through 34.
Our message this morning is titled “Jesus Foretells His Suffering.”
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As you are turning to our passage today, please keep in mind this fact:
Luke has been recording Jesus’s Jerusalem travel narrative for some time now...
In fact, the narrative started all the away back from Luke 9:51 and will climax with Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem...
However, before we get to that event...
Jesus shares that going to Jerusalem will lead to His own suffering and eventual death...
But He will rise again.
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So, this morning we will cover three main points:
1) The Prophecies of Christ
2) The Passion of Christ
And...
3) The Resurrection of Christ
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Heavenly Father...
You are so holy and sovereign...
You are mighty and powerful...
You are good and just...
You are merciful and our refuge...
We are nothing without You.
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Help us to never lose sight of Your commands...
Help us to never take You for granted...
And help us to tell other about You.
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Thank You for giving us the Book of Books...
Thank You for giving us all Your vital commands and decrees in Your Word...
And thank You for giving us the Bible in our own language.
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And it is in Jesus’ name we pray all these things...
Amen.
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
31 And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.
32 For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.
33 And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”
34 But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) The Prophecies of Christ
1) The Prophecies of Christ
Verse 31: And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.
So, our passage today records Jesus and the the Twelve heading to Jerusalem because it was time for Passover.
What the twelve disciples did not understand at the time was that Jesus Himself would be the Passover Lamb...
For He and He alone is the only sufficient sacrifice for sin...
He and He alone is the only sufficient sacrifice that would satisfy God the Father’s justified wrath...
And He and He alone is the only sufficient sacrifice to provide atonement for all the elect.
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The suffering that Jesus will endure later in our study has always been the plan by God...
The cross is to be seen as the fulfillment of prophecy, not a horrible accident...
That is why Jesus is bringing this up to the disciples now.
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Now, there are so many prophecies about Jesus we can’t get to all of them in one setting...
There is roughly 300 to over 400 prophecies in the Old Testament that point to Christ...
But I want us to focus today on a few of those prophecies...
Especially the ones about Christ’s suffering as this is what Jesus is focusing on in our passage.
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So, look with me at Psalm 22:1-21 and imagine who is being described here:
(“Eli, Eli, lemana shabakhtani!”)
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4 In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them.
5 To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
7 All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
8 “He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
9 Yet you are he who took me from the womb; you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
10 On you was I cast from my birth, and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help.
12 Many bulls encompass me; strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
13 they open wide their mouths at me, like a ravening and roaring lion.
14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint; my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast;
15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to my jaws; you lay me in the dust of death.
16 For dogs encompass me; a company of evildoers encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet—
17 I can count all my bones— they stare and gloat over me;
18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
19 But you, O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid!
20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog!
21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
Who else but Jesus could have been described here?
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How about Isaiah 52:13-53:12, which says:
13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.
14 As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
15 so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand.
1 Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
Now, I have heard Jews says this passage is about the Jewish people...
But Isreal as a nation has a history of being unfaithful and disloyal to God...
Just read the Old Testament!
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No, that is their way to avoid the obvious...
That only Jesus could fit this description of the Suffering Servant.
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You see, Beloved, the Old Testament is not to be discarded...
We are not supposed to “unhitch” from the Old Testament as some foolish people say!
In fact, those same people who years ago said to “unhitch” from the Old Testament are the same people who today have abandoned the biblical view of marriage.
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Jesus did not come to do away with the Old Testament...
He came to to be the living fulfillment of all the Messianic prophecies under the Old Covenant.
That is why He says this in Matthew 5:17:
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Likewise, take a look at what it says in Acts 3:18:
18 But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.
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Now, at the end of our study in Luke we will come across an amazing encounter on the road to Emmaus between the resurrected Jesus and two of His followers...
Just look with me at Luke 24:13-48, which says:
13 That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem,
14 and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened.
15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.
16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
17 And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad.
18 Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”
19 And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,
20 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.
21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.
22 Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning,
23 and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive.
24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”
25 And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?”
27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther,
29 but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them.
30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them.
31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.
32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”
33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together,
34 saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”
35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.
36 As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!”
37 But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit.
38 And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?
39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
40 And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.
41 And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish,
43 and he took it and ate before them.
44 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 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,
47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
48 You are witnesses of these things.
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So, the whole of the Old Testament Scriptures points to Christ...
That means the cross was not an accident...
That means the cross did not catch Jesus off guard...
That means the cross was always the plan...
And that plan was from before the foundation of the world...
Or as Acts 2:23 puts it:
23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
God’s absolute sovereignty over everything and man’s responsibility perfectly balanced in one verse.
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Next, Jesus will detail His suffering for His disciples...
And that takes us to our second point.
2) The Passion of Christ
2) The Passion of Christ
Verses 32-33(a): For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him,
Beloved, having predicted His suffering and death twice before, Jesus again for a third time in the Gospel of Luke reminds His followers that the way to Jerusalem will be the way to the cross.
Each prophecy of His death was more explicit than the last...
And this third prophecy is His first mention of being turned over to the Gentiles by the religious elite.
We know that the religious elite will be involved in His death when we look at Mark 10:33 which says:
33 saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles.
Overall, this was unbelievably shocking to the disciples to hear...
Jesus even puts it this way in Luke 9:44, which says:
Yet, this was the reason why He was sent into our world...
Or as Mark 10:43-45 says:
43 But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,
44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.
45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
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Beloved, our precious Savior would be Betrayed!
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Judas who was one of the Twelve...
Judas who saw all those miracles that Jesus performed...
Judas who heard all those messages that Jesus delivered...
Judas who had His feet washed by Jesus Himself on the night He would Betray Him...
Judas who put thirty pieces of silver above our Lord...
This wicked “disciple” would betray the most innocent person who ever walked this earth, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
As John 13:18 says:
18 I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’
And this was foretold in the Old Testament in Psalm 41:9, which says:
9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
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Although the other eleven disciples where not wicked like Judas...
And the other eleven would did not betray Jesus in the way that Judas did...
At the first sign of trouble...
Then ran!
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Beloved, our precious Savior would be Abandoned!
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Just look with me at Matthew 26:31, which says:
31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
And this was foretold in the Old Testament in Zechariah 13:7, which says:
7 “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me,” declares the Lord of hosts. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones.
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Beloved, our precious Savior was be Insulted!
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Even Jesus’s own family insulted and Jesus was constantly slandered during His earthy ministry...
Beloved, look with me at Mark 3:21–22, which says:
21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
22 And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.”
Likewise, take a look at John 8:48–49, which says:
48 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.
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Beloved, our precious Savior would be Troubled!
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Think about, Beloved...
Jesus, who is God in the flesh, was troubled in His soul due to the upcoming passion He would experience both physically and spiritually...
We know this from John 12:27, which says:
27 “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.
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Beloved, our precious Savior would be Mocked and Physically Abused!
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Although Jesus never commited a single sin...
He was greatly hated.
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In fact, to this very day the world hates the name of Jesus...
And our world loves to use Christ’s name as a curse word.
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Just turn on the TV or go to the movies...
If you watch something secular...
You are almost guaranteed to hear our Lord’s name mocked!
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When Jesus was arrested...
The Creator of all things seen and unseen was spit in the face by the creatures He created!
The Creator of all things seen and unseen was slapped around like a rag doll by the dust that He beathed life into!
As it says in Matthew 26:67–68:
67 Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him,
68 saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?”
Likewise look at what is recorded in John 18:22–23:
22 When he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, “Is that how you answer the high priest?”
23 Jesus answered him, “If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong; but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?”
Beloved, cruel and wicked men...
Mere specs in comparison to all of creation...
They put hands on King, the King of Kings...
And they mockingly dressed Him up like cruel kids abusing a stay dog for their amusement!
As Matthew 27:27–31:
27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor’s headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him.
28 And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,
29 and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
30 And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head.
31 And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.
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Beloved, our precious Savior would be Murdered and Tortured and Ridiculed!
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Now, crucifixion was the most horrible form of execution one could experience...
Or as religious writer and author Frederic Farrar put it:
“For indeed a death by crucifixion seems to include all that pain and death can have of horrible and ghastly—dizziness, cramp, thirst, starvation, sleeplessness, traumatic fever, tetanus, publicity of shame, long continuance of torment, horror of anticipation, mortification of untended wounds—all intensified just up to the point at which they can be endured at all, but all stopping just short of the point which would give to the sufferer the relief of unconsciousness.
The unnatural position made every movement painful; the lacerated veins and crushed tendons throbbed with incessant anguish; the wounds, inflamed by exposure, gradually gangrened; the arteries—especially of the head and stomach—became swollen and oppressed with surcharged blood; and while each variety of misery went on gradually increasing, there was added to them the intolerable pang of a burning and raging thirst; and all these physical complications caused an internal excitement and anxiety which made the prospect of death itself—of death, the awful unknown enemy, at whose approach man usually shudders most—bear the aspect of a delicious and exquisite release.”
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Now, Beloved, Let’s take a look again at what Scripture records...
Look with me at Matthew 27:39–44, which says:
39 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads
40 and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying,
42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”
44 And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.
Furthermore, look with me at Luke 23:36:
36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine
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You see, Beloved, Luke wishes the reader to see that Jesus’ death comes as no surprise.
The Scripture promised it, and Jesus foretold it.
What He suffers, He suffers willingly...
And w and hat He suffers, He suffers knowingly...
And that fact just adds to the weight of Christ’s sacrifice.
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Jesus is fully aware of what He is entering into.
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Jesus was not a well-intentioned victim of a plan that surprised Him when it went horribly wrong.
He knew exactly how His life would end, down to the minutest detail, and had known it since before the foundation of the world, when the plan of salvation was formed.
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Let us never forget or minimize that the heart of the Christian faith is the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Everything in the history of redemption in the Old Testament moves toward the cross...
And everything that has happened since moves from the cross.
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But, just as the heart of the Christian faith is the death of the Lord Jesus Christ...
We can equally say that the heart of the Christian faith is the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ...
For Christ’s resurrection proves that Jesus met the standard that God the Father required for the sacrifice to defeat sin and death...
And that takes us to our third and final point.
3) The Resurrection of Christ
3) The Resurrection of Christ
Verses 33(b)-34: And on the third day he will rise.” But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.
Just like Jesus often talked about His upcoming passion...
Jesus also often talked about His ultimate resurrection three days after His sacrifice on the cross.
For example, take a look at what is recorded in John 2:19–21:
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
20 The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?”
21 But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
And take a look with me at Matthew 12:39–40, which says:
39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
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However, the whole matter of Christ’s death and resurrection was just not grasped by the Twelve.
The reason may have been that they were enamored with other ideas about the Messiah and how His earthly rule would operate.
Jesus’ teachings of a dying Messiah who would rise again were so contrary to contemporary Judaism’s understanding of the messianic role that it is not difficult to accept verse 34 as an accurate description of the disciples’ confused state.
The New International Commentary on the New Testament on Luke puts it this way:
“The announcement of His suffering and death as well as of His resurrection is so tremendous and so utterly different from what the disciples pictured to themselves that they could by no means understand what Jesus meant by it.
Notwithstanding all the teachings of the Savior, they had still in a great measure been clinging to materialistic Messianic expectations and could not comprehend how Jesus, in whom they saw the Messiah, could speak of suffering and death that awaited Him—for according to their ideas He was forthwith to triumph over all foes as the mighty Conqueror and to establish the Messianic kingdom on earth.
They could not grasp it that the Savior's prophecy concerning His suffering had to be taken literally.
But precisely because it was so incomprehensible to them, the pronouncements remained fixed in their minds, so that after His resurrection they could recollect everything clearly.
It was, however, necessary for the Savior to warn them, so that after His crucifixion and resurrection they could understand things better and could realize that He was not unexpectedly overwhelmed by suffering and death but that He was fully aware of what was awaiting Him and voluntarily paid the full price for the sake of the redemption of man.”
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Now, although Jesus was clear on what would happen to Him...
The disciples just would not accept it...
And they truly could not understand how this could be possible...
As Mark 9:31-32 says:
31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”
32 But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.
Only after the resurrection would the necessity of Jesus’ death be understood and the scriptural teaching concerning this be made clear.
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So, although at the time the disciples where confused by Jesus’s words...
They never forgot it...
And when Jesus died and later rose again in three days, they finally understood what Jesus was telling them about...
As John 12:12-16 says:
12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”
14 And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,
15 “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”
16 His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
So, as this message comes to a close...
I would like you to consider this:
Their is a story of this little ragged, wretched, starved, and emaciated boy who goes to a country school...
At the school they have passed a rule that anyone that is found stealing a lunch will be beat with thirty stripes on his naked back...
As you may have guessed...
This tale did not take place in our current day...
This was back in the day when schools where expected to discipline children using physical punishment.
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Then, one day, a lunch was stolen...
Eventually the school found out that it was that little ragged, wretched, starved, and hungry boy.
So he’s brought before the class, and he is accused.
And without delay he admits that he stole the lunch.
He was starved and hungry, but, yes, it was him who stole the boy’s lunch.
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Now, the class had passed the rule...
On his naked back, thirty stripes.
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When he bared his back for the teacher to hit him thirty times, it was a sad sight...
He was a little skinny fellow, emaciated and starved...
You could easily see his rib bones.
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Then the fellow whose lunch the boy had stolen...
He says to the teacher,
“Teacher, let me take the punishment due the boy.”
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Everyone was in shock...
But they agreed that he could do it...
So he bends over...
And not just that...
But he leans and bends over and above the poor, starved, emaciated lad...
And the stripes that should have fallen upon the little hungry boy fell upon him instead.
That’s a good illustration of what Jesus dis for us.
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And it is now about Christ’s sacrifice that we bring our attention to.
Communion
Communion
As we begin our communion service, I want to invite every genuinely born-again believer in the room to partake in this act together.
If you do not yet know the Lord and do not have a relationship with Him...
Or if you are under church discipline from this church or another church...
Then I will ask that you wait until you have resolved your issue before participating.
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As you came in, you should have picked up a communion packet if you are joining us.
This has both the bread and the juice in a convenient package.
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If you have not received one of these, please raise your hand, and someone will get you one.
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Before we join in communion together, I would like us to consider John 6:51, which says:
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
As found in the Ligonier Ministries article titled, “Jesus the Bread of Life,” which says:
“God told Moses to have the table for the bread of the Presence built for the tabernacle and stacked with twelve loaves as a way to remind Israel of His gracious provision for all their needs.
For the most part, only the priests could eat this bread, though in exceptional circumstances it could be given to those in dire straits.
Yet whoever ate this bread found that while it could sustain life for a time, it could not make anyone live forever.
Israel needed a different type of food to find eternal life.
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This bread, we see in today’s passage, is Christ Jesus Himself.
The Lord has just fed the 5,000 with only five barley loaves and two fish, prompting the crowd to seek Him out that they might receive more food.
Jesus responds that the people ought not to look for temporary food like bread that perishes but for the food that lasts forever, the food that God has commissioned the Son of Man to give to His people.
At this point the crowd asks what works they must do to get this bread, which reflects the Jewish belief that the Law is the bread that God gives.
They are asking about the works of the Mosaic law they must do to find eternal life.
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Christ does not disagree that something must be done to receive this life-giving food, only that what is to be done is not works of the Law as traditionally conceived; rather, they must put their trust in Him.
In this, Jesus is implicitly claiming to be the one who ushers in the Messianic age, which is seen in the reference of the crowd to manna in [John 6:30–31].
Jews in that day believed the Messiah would miraculously bring manna when He came, and Jesus does not dispute this assumption; He only says that their idea of life-giving manna is woefully inadequate.
He is the real manna — the bread of God who satisfies the true hunger of the soul.
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The phrase ‘bread of God’ was another name for the bread of the Presence, so Jesus is saying in today’s passage that He is the fulfillment of the bread of the Presence under the old covenant.
Christ is far better than the former bread, for anyone, priest or not, can dine on Him by faith; that is, all who are willing may trust in Him alone for eternal sustenance and receive life that can never be taken away.
And Jesus will never cast out any who truly put their faith in Him.”
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So, Beloved...
Let’s all take a moment right now in silent prayer to thank the Lord for all He did for us...
(MOMENT OF SILENCE)
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Tom, will you pray before we partake in the bread:
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The Word of God says in Luke 22:19:
19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
(TAKE THE BREAD)
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Adrian, will you pray before we partake in the cup:
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The Word of God says in Luke 22:20:
20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.
(TAKE THE CUP)
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With that, we conclude the communion portion of our service.
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Let’s pray...
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Heavenly Father...
If anyone hearing this message right now does not know You in a saving way:
Then soften their heart so they can understand why the death and resurrection of Your Son is so important to eternal life.
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I appeal to Your Name’s sake!
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For those hearing this message who already know You:
Help us to never forget the sacrifice of Your Son who lived for us and died for us and to this day still intercedes for us.
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Again, I appeal to Your Name’s sake!
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It is in Jesus’ name we pray all these things...
To God be all the glory.
Amen.
