Fruitland Community Church



“Jesus”

The Promise

FCC – January 3, 2015

Text: Luke 24: 13-35

References:

Introduction: Turn in your Bibles to Luke 24. We’ve passed through the Christmas season and it’s a New Year! How’s that possible? Even so, Happy New Year! Each New Year brings new challenges and new opportunities…many will set new goals: physical, mental, and spiritual goals for the New Year. I love Lamentations 3: 22-23 "The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.

We are also entering a new sermon series about Jesus found in the Old Testament, that I’m simply calling “The Promise.” The Old Testament is often neglected and/or misunderstood. And yet, it was the very Scriptures that Jesus used to ward off Satan in the wilderness and the very Scriptures in which He came to fulfill.

v. 27 reads: And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

If you scan down to verse 44, Jesus says this to a larger group of His disciples: “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.”

Jesus clarifies the meaning of everything written in the Old Testament…Jesus was written about in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms. You can find Him throughout all of the Old Testament. Most of us hear that and go: Really? Jesus answers: Really!

I’ve often said that if there is one moment in time that I would like to go back to it would be on the road to Emmaus with Jesus and these two unnamed disciples. It’s at that moment; Jesus explains how the entire Old Testament is about Him. If I had been there, I could have skipped seminary. What an education that happened that day!

Most of us have seen a movie where there this incredible surprise ending that no one saw coming. If you go back and re-watch the movie with the end in mind, you see clues all throughout the movie. So it is with the OT. As we go back to watch it again, with the cross, burial, and resurrection in mind, we will see clues of Jesus everywhere.

So, let’s begin our 2016 journey of discovering “The Promise” of Jesus in the OT, pausing on the Emmaus Road. It was a just a few weeks looked at the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Before His ascension back to the Father, Jesus made multiple appearance to over 500 of His followers. This day, He takes two unexpected disciples to reviews their treasured Scriptures with Gospel glasses. Let’s join them and learn with them.

This New Year, let’s remember that Jesus:

1. Seeks us. (vv. 13-24) That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 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. 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?” 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, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. 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. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, 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. 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.”

It’s amazing to me that the disciples knew Jesus, they didn’t recognize Him. Why were these two disciples so confused? Why didn’t they recognize Jesus? Calvin Williams (“Jesus Opens our Eyes, Lifeway) suggests three reasons why they didn’t recognize Jesus:

1) God didn’t want them to recognize Him – Williams: The original language conveys the sense that they were kept from recognizing Him because God had a purpose in blinding their eyes from reality. Jesus is not being cruel here. His gradual revelation of Himself allows them to learn certain lessons about trusting God's promises. The disciples had been told about these events many times, but they had not believed.

2) Events had not happened as expected – They had a preconceived idea of who Jesus was and what the Messiah should do. Even though Jesus had told them He must suffer and be crucified according the Scriptures, the disciples’ preconceptions had blinded them to the truth of the Scriptures and to the truth of the cross. We are always wise to see God’s plans from His perspective even when we don’t understand.

3) They had little faith – Williams: Just because they knew about Jesus does not mean they knew Him. Just because they could see Him does not mean they could see who He was. Many people today know who Jesus is. They have heard about Him, read about Him, use His name, and many even claim to know Him. They would not recognized Him if they saw Him. Their eyes have not been opened. Knowing about Him and knowing Him are two different things.

Spurgeon: When two saints are talking together, Jesus is very likely to come and make the third one in the company. Talk of him, and you will soon talk with him. I would that believers more often spoke the one to the other about the things of God. It has been said that, in the olden time, God’s people spake often one to another; and now we have altered that, and God’s people speak often one against another. It is an alteration; but it certainly is not an improvement. May we get together again, and, like these two disciples, talk of all the things that happened in Jerusalem eighteen centuries ago! If we have less of reasoning than they had, let us have more of communion.

Jesus seeks us, and secondly He…

2. Teaches us. (vv. 25-27) And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. What exact Scriptures did Jesus use? We don’t know. Perhaps He used some of these:

• Genesis 3:15, where God cursed the serpent saying, "I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. And He will strike your head and you will strike His heel."

• Deuteronomy 18:15, which says, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to Him."

• Isaiah 53:3: "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like one people turned away from; He was despised, and we did not value Him."

• Isaiah 53:7 says: "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter, and like a sheep silent before His shearers, He did not open His mouth."

• Zechariah 12:10: "Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at Me whom they pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for Him as one weeps for a firstborn.”

We will be walking through these Old Testament Scriptures and more as we put on our Gospel glasses and see Jesus in the Old Testament as “The Promise.” Jesus affirmed the Old Testament as a witness to who He was and to why He came. If they only understood the Scriptures that they had, they would have had no trouble believing in Jesus.

In the New Testament, Jesus would chastise the Jewish leaders for not seeing Him in the Old Testament:

• Luke 16:31: "If they don't listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead."

• John 1:45: "Philip found Nathaniel and told him, 'We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law (and so did the prophets): Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth!'"

• John 5:46: "For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me."

So this year, as you read the Bible through, put on your Gospel glasses when you are in the Old Testament and look for promises and shadows that point to Jesus. It is imperative that we believe the entire Word of God. Someone has said that the OT is a promise made, and the NT is a promise kept.

Jesus seeks us, teaches us, and lastly….

3. Warms us. (vv. 28-35) So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 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. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 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?” And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

It is in the intimate fellowship around the table with Jesus breaking bread with His disciples that He opens their eyes and they recognized Him.

After their eyes were opened and Jesus vanished and those two disciples said this to one another: “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

Williams - It is not without significance that it is around the supper table that the disciples' are opened and they see Jesus for who He really is. After the resurrection, many of the appearances of Jesus are associated with table fellowship. This is true here, in Luke 24:41-43, in Acts 1:4, and in John 21:9-15. In the intimacy of fellowship Jesus reveals Himself to us. His working in our lives becomes clearer, and His provision and protection come into focus.

Do you want to know more of Jesus this 2016? I don’t think it can be done without intimacy with Him around His Word. When we spend time with Him around His Word, He takes confused disciples and warms their hearts…He puts a burning passion in their hearts.

I should have given you a 4th point: “Jesus sends us.’ Pick up with verse 33, And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” Once the confusion cleared and their hearts were burning with the Word of God, they returned to the other disciples and shared. Warm, burning hearts, are also loving, passionate hearts for others people.

So Jesus just walked through the Old Testament and explained to two disciples how it was all about Him. So starting next week, we will begin walking through the Old Testament to see “The Promise” of “Jesus.” It’s been my prayer for our church in 2016…

• We would have burning hearts for God’s Word (suggestions: reading the Bible through, join a small group, or Sunday morning Bible study).

• We would share the Good News of Jesus in increasing measure (suggestions: El Salvador, flood response, food give-a-ways, loving our neighbors; Hannah Harmon).

Jesus seeks us, teaches us and warms us.

Conclusion: Luke 24: 44-49 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.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

John Calvin - “This is what we should, in short, seek in the whole of Scripture - truly to know Jesus Christ and the infinite riches that are comprised in Him and are offered to us by Him from God the Father.  If one were to sift thoroughly the Law and the Prophets of the Old Testament, if one were to sift thoroughly the Law and the Prophets, he would not find a single word mentioned which would not draw and bring us to Jesus.” 

Would you place yourself in a path to have your eyes opened and your heart warmed by reading the Bible daily, joining a small group, or joining a Sunday morning Bible study?

Would you be willing to be a witness to that which the Lord teaches you this year? Do you have your passport? Are you willing to say, “Here am I…send me.”

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