Luke 24:44-49 ESV
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.
49 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.”
Responsible Witnesses…
1. Listen to the Words of Jesus (Lk 24:44)
2. Receive Open Minds to Understand Scripture (Lk 24:45-46, 1 Cor 2:14)
3. Proclaim Repentance and Forgiveness (Lk 24:47-48, 2 Cor 7:10)
Law to the proud (Gal 3:24)
Grace to the humble (Eph 2:8)
(Ray Comfort, The Way of the Master)
4. Wait on the Lord (Lk 24:49)
1. Listen to the Words of Jesus (Lk 24:44)
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.”
As we come to these final words of Jesus, we should consider the special place of final instructions. These are the things Jesus wants His disciples to hold on to as the last memories they have of Him. In doing so he points not only to what he said, but to the prophecies He fulfilled and to the life he lived. In doing so, He is equipping them, and us, to be Responsible Witnesses.
Remember the opening of the Gospel of John, John writes concerning Jesus,
In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. Jesus is the living word of God. Throughout his entire ministry, Jesus was speaking to the Disciples and challenging them concerning the word of God. Jesus confirms that all of His ministry and the events of the last week of His life are not random happenstance, but they are all part of God’s plan from the beginning of time. Note the absolute statements in this verse:
1. EVERYTHING written about me…
2. MUST be fulfilled
Jesus didn’t just fill some of the prophecies of the Messiah – He filled all of them.
There are over 300 prophecies of the Messiah in the Hebrew Scriptures and Jesus fulfilled them all. Some have calculated the chances of these prophecies being fulfilled
Notice that Jesus is talking about all of Scripture. He says the fulfillment comes from the Law, the prophets and the Psalms. These are the three parts of the Hebrew Scriptures:
1. The Law = the Torah
2. The Prophets = Neviimthe term often refers to everything except the law
3. The Psalms = Ketuvim (writings) which is a reference to the other writings of the OT that include the poetical books such as Proverbs and Job with Psalms being the chief among them.
a.k.a the Tanakh = the entire Hebrew Bible
John 5:39-40 39You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
1. Someone did some math to conclude that the odds of filling just 48 of these is something like 1 in1x10156 . Whether the math is precisely right or not – it clearly concludes that the odds of coincidental fulfillment of the prophecies are impossible and with over 300 prophecies, the only way for such fulfillment is they are part of the divine plan and Jesus is the messiah.
I took at least 3 passages from each of the three parts of the OT to illustrate this. I am going to go over them quickly and have the references on the screen so if you want to jot them down, you can. These are familiar to most of us, but considering them together points out just how much prophecy written hundreds of years before the events, is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
Older prophecies can be more general and those closer to the events become more specific
Law –
Gen 3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring: He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise His heel.
Gen 49:10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples
Dt 18:1515 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, This is a prophet like Moses – After his birth, where did Jesus flee – Egypt – like Moses Jesus was called out of Egypt to deliver His people.
Prophets
Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
Micah 5:2 But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient of days
Malachi 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.
Isa 53:3 He was despised and rejected by men
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our inquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
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, he opened not his mouth.
9 And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violovence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Psalms
Ps 16:10 For you will not leave my soul in sheol, nor will you allow Your Holy One to see corruption
Psa 41:9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.
Ps 22 Written by David – before the Romans came to power using Crucifixion as the means of execution
1 My God, my God, why have your forsaken me?
7 All who see me mock me;; they make mouths at me. They wag their heads; He trusts in the Lord; let Him deliver Him
14-15, 17- 18 Describing the crucifixion –
I went over these passages fast in part to help you sense how the disciples may have felt when Jesus told them how the scriptures were fulfilled by Him. A few weeks ago Pastor John spoke about the pair of disciples on the road to Emmaus and how Jesus interpreted the Scriptures for them. The text says Emmaus was about 7 miles from Jerusalem – that is under a mile longer than a 10K run – so lets say this was the best 10K of all time.
Unlike the detailed explanation offered to the two on the road to Emmaus, this is a reminder of the things Jesus said and did and the fulfillment of the words of Scripture.
The disciples spent 3 years with Jesus and much of that time they were confused about what Jesus said. They were especially confused about his death and crucifixion.
They studied hard the words of Jesus during that time and if we are going to be responsible witnesses for Jesus, we need to put forth the effort to look at His word. How can we do that? Well let me give you at least four ways:
1. Come to church – be part of a Bible Believing fellowship like CrossLife where the Word of God is honored and taught.
2. Join a Connect Group – One of the best ways to know the word is to spend time discussing it with others
3. Spend time in personal devotions – read the word daily
4. Put reminders in your life of the things that you learn. In Deuteronomy 6, the Israelites were told to talk about the word of God and do things like write the law on their doorposts
Deut 6: 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.
7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Studying alone is not sufficient in and of itself. The disciples were studying with Jesus and yet still did not often understand what it really meant.
Look back at Luke 18
31 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, "We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.
32 He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him.
33 On the third day he will rise again."
34 The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.
I bet they felt worse than we do when we don’t get a joke. Have you been there? Everyone else laughs at the punch line and we are still trying to figure it out? You don’t want to admit it and so you may smile and move on.
Don’t Get Jokes (This is a "bad" joke on purpose, one people may not get)
Don't get in line behind Lucifer at the MVA
The devil takes many forms.
Since we are talking about government now, did you know
The local atheist organization applied for a tax exemption. They figured it was a shoe in, after all,
Atheism is a non-prophet organization.
The word of God is no joke and unlike embarrassment upon missing the point of a bad joke not understanding Scripture can have eternal consequences. That is why although one can study the word and there can be so called “experts” of the Bible – to be a Responsible witness for Christ we need to
2. Receive open minds to understand the Scripture (Luke 24:45-46)
Look at our next verses:
Luke 24:45-46 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,
This is the “ah-ha” moment for the Disciples. This is when things start to make sense. God himself opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. Many people without belief in God may get the meaning of the words in Scripture, but to understand them in our hearts, to connect the dots and see things as God does requires Him to open minds to understand the Scriptures.
Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 2:14
NKJ 1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
When we come to Christ, things we didn’t understand about God are suddenly available to us. This does not mean that we do not need to put in the work of examining the Scriptures – but it does mean that God Himself opens our understanding.
We already looked at the prophecies concerning the Jesus and I included many that point to the need for His death and resurrection. These were proclaimed in the Hebrew Scriptures. Paul summarizes the importance of these events in 1 Corinthians 15
1 Cor. 15:3-7 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me
Paul knew the Scriptures, but only after an encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus did God open his mind to understand these truths and know the truth and significance of the work of Christ in His heart.
That leads us to the third point. With such understanding comes responsibility.
3. Proclaim Repentance and Forgiveness (Lk 24:47-48, 2 Cor 7:10)
Based upon knowledge of Scripture and Jesus death, burial and resurrection, Jesus continues in verses 47-48
Luke 24:47-48 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.
In light of the fact that the disciples were witnesses to the works of Christ and the resurrection, they were responsible to proclaim the gospel of Repentance and Forgiveness.
We too have our testimony and God has reveled his word to us so that we too must Proclaim Repentance and Forgiveness. This passage does not have the detail of the Great Commission in Matthew 28 which many of us know - - Go and make disciples…
Luke records a different facet. He is not giving precise instructions on discipleship, but instead is saying the content of the message that goes out is not just God wants you to be happy or have an easy life. Instead he says to preach repentance and forgiveness based upon the finished work of Christ.
We don’t hear enough about repentance. Repentance means to really understand our sinfulness and to turn around.
I like what Ray Comfort, author of The Way of the Master puts it.
Sin is like an onion. Is outer wrapper is a dry and crusty self-righteousness. It is only when its external casing is peeled away that it brings tears to the human eye. The Law peals the onion and allows contrition. (The Way of the Master, p. 118)
He further explains how Jesus did this in His ministry in that we should proclaim the
Law to the proud (Gal 3:24)
Grace to the humble (Eph 2:8)
(Ray Comfort, The Way of the Master audio message)
Gal 3:24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.
For the truth of Jesus death, burial and resurrection to mean something – there must be genuine repentance so that someone can receive forgiveness and we are witnesses to deliver that message. Preaching the law does not mean to beat people over the head or take an arrogant stand on hot-button issues. Since all of sinned and fall short of the glory of God, we can use the Law of God in a way that we show the need and consequences without fueling a debate. We let people be offended by the cross of Christ and not by us. For example:
The bible says that we should not steal, yet I would bet we have all stolen something – even something little like candy, two swag items when the sign said “take 1”, perhaps music of software copies, etc.
The bible says do not commit adultery – and Jesus clarified that to look at a woman to lust after her is to commit adultery. Almost every man has fallen into that sin. We don’t need to argue abortion, LGBTQ items, politics, the Israeli Palestininian conflict. If we use the Law, let the spirit convict.
2 Cor 7:10 10 Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. (NIV)
Ray Comfort illustrates the importance of this with a story a huge traffic ticket
Say someone comes to you and says that they just paid a $10,000 traffic ticket on your behalf. You would think they were crazy because you don’t have a $10,000 ticket.
This is akin to sharing God’s love and forgiveness without presenting them with the fact that they are sinners and are in danger of God’s judgement.
On the other hand, if someone came and said, I saw you on the way to church this morning. You must have missed all of the signs about the blind children’s meeting and all of the signs announcing steep fines for speeding. The traffic on Rt. 1 was reduced to 15 mph and you were going 55. The officer said that was a $10,000 fine.
Now the good news is that I have the means to forgive that debt and have paid the $10,000.
In this great commission passage, Jesus tells his disciples to Proclaim both Repentance and Forgiveness and we must do likewise.
When God has pealed back the onion of sin and someone humbly recognizes that they are guilty before God, we cannot leave them there. We must present the cure, the forgiveness of Jesus Christ who paid the penalty of our sin in accordance with the prophecies of Scripture and verified acceptable through the victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The last point I want to bring up is very quick
4. Wait on the Lord (Lk 24:49)
Luke 24:49 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.”
The promise is the Holy Spirit and Pastor John is going to dive into the details of the coming of the Holy Spirit next week, but I want to point out that the disciples at this point have
1. Listened to the Words of Jesus (Lk 24:44)
2. Received understanding of Scripture and importance of Jesus death, burial and resurrection and the responsibility as witnesses to
3. Proclaim Repentance and Forgiveness in Jesus name
They may have run out then and there to start sharing this news, but they were not yet ready. Here Jesus tells them to wait. They are to wait for the Holy Spirit.
Waiting can be tough. On Saturday I went down the street for a late lunch and was going to try the Cheese Steak and Co. off of Rowanberry. When I found it was a 45 minute wait – I ended up at Subway. Now lunch is not that important, but when being a Responsible Witness for Christ,
we need to wait on the Lord’s timing and in doing so rest in the power of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we can jump out on our own, but we must be sensitive the working of the Spirit and live in the power of the Spirit. To get the details of the Spirit – well you are going to need exercise this last point and wait to next week.
As we close this message, I want to go over the points and some application
If we are going to be responsible witnesses for Jesus we must:
1. Listen to the Words of Jesus (Lk 24:44)
Spend time in the word, join a connect group, talk about Jesus and use reminders of his work
2. Receive Open Minds to Understand Scripture (Lk 24:45-46)
Pray for understanding as you study the Scripture
Don’t judge others who do not know the Lord for not understanding God’s word
3. Proclaim Repentance and Forgiveness (Lk 24:47-48, 2 Cor 7:10)
a. Perhaps you are here today and you have not repented of your sin. Let God remove the onion skin so that you can see the need and rejoice in his forgiveness.
b. Perhaps you have been sharing with others that Jesus has died for them, but you realize that you have shied away from letting them know that we are all sinners and that God must punish sin. You don’t need to be the judge of others – the 10 commandments and God’s word are enough. Some Christians can come across too judgmental, but allow God to work and convict. This takes sensitive guidance from the Holy Spirit.
4. Wait on the Lord – Perhaps God has a new ministry or direction for you and you are unsure what to do – wait on Him and rely on His promised Spirit to guide you.
Let’s Pray
