The Compelling Mission of Christ, Part 2

Bow with me in a moment of prayer, would you please? Father, we thank you, Lord, for today. We are so grateful to be able to celebrate Christ. We come together to celebrate only Jesus, to see only Jesus, to spend time in your word, that you might instruct us through your spirit, that we might understand the reality of salvation, the glorious gospel of the kingdom, the beauty of our God. Today, Lord, teach us more about you. In Jesus' name, amen. If you have your Bible, turn with me to Luke chapter 18, Luke chapter 18.

Here we have the beautiful prediction, once again, of the death of Jesus Christ, our Lord. When we come to Luke chapter 19, we had that infamous time in which our Lord will descend or ascend into Jerusalem as he descends the Mount of Olives and he overlooks the city, he weeps over the city, he will enter into the city. Seven days later, he will be crucified, he will be buried, and he will rise again. We are not too far from that time. It will take us several months to get through those last chapters of the gospel of Luke, but that's where we are in the scenario of Luke's gospel, coming to grips with the reality of what Jesus says about his own death, burial, and resurrection.

We told you last time that Jesus spent three specific times telling them about this. One dealt with the necessity of the cross. The second dealt with the certainty of the cross.

And the third one, in our time together this morning, deals with the brutality of the cross. And every time he talked about the cross, he talked about the victory of the cross. He wanted his men to know that his death was not the end. It truly was the beginning of the end. It was the truth of the gospel that would save man's soul. And so he talked about the victory of the cross. John's gospel doesn't do it in that way. In John's gospel, he talks about the hour. In seven different times, Christ addresses the topic of the hour for which he came.

He came to fulfill the will of his father. He came saying that my food is to do the will of my father who sent me. His whole life was about obedience to his father. His whole life centered around the cross of Christ. That's why he came. That's why we talked to you last week about the compelling mission of the Christ. All the way back in Luke chapter 2, when he was 12 years of age, he said to his mother, I must be about my father's business. There was a mission. He was compelled to accomplish. That mission was the cross for which he came to die.

Luke 18 verse number 31 reads as follows. And he took the 12 aside and said to them, behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and all things which are written through the prophets about the son of man will be accomplished. For he will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon. And after they have scourged him, they will kill him. And the third day he will rise again.

And they understood none of these things. And this saying was hidden from them. And they did not comprehend the things that were said. There are four things I want you to see about this passage. We introduced the first one to you last week, and that's this, that the prophecies about the son of man will be accomplished.

The prophecies concerning the son of man will be accomplished. That's exactly what Jesus said. He takes the 12 aside. He tells them, behold, we are going to ascend to Jerusalem. That's where we're going. As they pass through Jericho, they will make their way up to Jerusalem, but he wants them to understand what's going to happen. They know that everybody in Jerusalem is against Jesus, their Messiah. They know that if he goes there, he has no friends there. So he tells them, behold, this is what we're going to do.

Because there are all these prophecies about the Messiah, about the son of man that must be fulfilled. And as soon as he says the phrase, the son of man, it would take every Jew back to Daniel chapter 7, verses 13 and 14, where the vision of Daniel seeing the Lord God of Israel coming as a son of man, descending on the clouds. He's telling everybody that he is the Messiah. And so he tells them that there are all these prophecies in the Old Testament that must be fulfilled. In other words, what we hear and see in this passage is that everything about Christ and his death was not an accident.

It was a divine appointment. Everything was planned from eternity past. That's why I love what Peter says in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 2, verse number 22. He says, men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus of Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through him in your midst. Just as yourselves know, this man delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death.

And God raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of death since it was impossible for him to be held in its power. Peter tells the people of Israel, listen, the death of the Messiah was divinely accomplished. The people, the men of Israel, the Gentiles, the Sanhedrin, they were all a secondary cause of his death. The primary cause was that he was delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God the Father. If you go over to Acts chapter 4, Acts chapter 4, after the apostles were threatened and released about preaching about the kingdom and about the name of Jesus Christ, they were told not to do that.

And they went back and they told the assembly, it says this in verse 23, when they had been released, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, oh Lord, it is thou who didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, who by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father, David, thy servant did say, why did the Gentiles rage and the people's devised feudal things?

The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ for truly in the city, there were gathered together against thy holy servant, Jesus, whom thou didst anoint both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel to do whatever thy hand and my purpose predestined to occur. I love that. When they were threatened, they went to their knees and began to beseech the sovereign God of the universe who controls everything.

So when they went to God, they went and they went knowing that he was sovereign, that everything that was happening was happening under the predetermined plan of almighty God. See, that's good news for you and me because nothing's going to happen to you or to your family or to your church or to your workplace without the sovereign hand of God permitting it to happen or consciously doing it himself. He is sovereignly in charge of everything. And so when you go to him and you appeal to him and you go to the throne of grace, you go there knowing that God is sovereign, that he rules over all, that nothing is taken by surprise, that you don't have to inform him as to what is happening.

He already knows because everything is under the predetermined plan and purpose of God almighty. So Jesus takes them in his sight. He tells them there are all these prophecies that need to be fulfilled and the son of man is going to Jerusalem to fulfill them. In other words, everything that's going to happen has already been said by the prophets of old. Folks, this is crucial. When you talk to a Jewish person, this is crucial for you to understand this because they missed it. They missed it. We took you last week back to Genesis chapter 22 to help you understand that on Mount Moriah, which means foreseen by God, that God himself would provide himself as lamb, as a substitute to tell you that Abraham and John 8, Christ says, rejoice to see my day.

How did Abraham rejoice to see the day of the Messiah? Because of what took place on Mount Moriah with his son Isaac. It was all foretold by Christ. It was all foreseen by the Lord God of Israel. Turn with me if you would to Psalm 22.

Psalm 22. It's amazing how the Old Testament details the death of the Messiah. Listen to what it says in verse number one.

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Now, this is David's psalm. This is what David is saying. But as the perfect type of Christ, he anticipates what's going to happen to the Messiah himself. He says, for from my deliverance the words of my groaning, oh my God, I cry by day, but thou dost not answer, and by night, but I have no rest, yet thou art holy, oh thou who art enthroned upon the praises of Israel. Verse six, but I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people.

All who see me sneer at me. They separate with the lip. They wag the head saying, commit yourself to the Lord. Let him deliver him. Let him rescue him because he delights. In him. In other words, the details of the prophecies of Christ as the Bible unfolds in the Gospels. That's exactly what the people did as Messiah hung on the cross. Let him cry to his God. If he be the son of man, let him cry up to his God. Let him deliver him. Isaiah chapter 53. Isaiah chapter 53. A chapter quoted no less than 40 times in the New Testament.

More so than any other chapter in the Old Testament because it refers specifically to the death of the Messiah. It's not read in the synagogue today in Israel. In fact, most Jews don't even know of Isaiah 53 because Jews are taught to do what the rabbis say. And so the rabbis give them the interpretation of scripture. And as they read through the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, very rarely do they ever get to Isaiah and very rarely do they ever speak about Isaiah 53, but it is the pivotal passage that speaks about one personal individual who would die for the sins of Israel.

One person. You can't get around the personal pronouns. Israel tries to do that, but grammatically you can't get around Isaiah 53 because the personal pronouns describe one individual, the servant of God who would die for the nation. So the Bible says these words, verse one, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of parts ground. He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And like one from whom men hid their face, he was despised and we did not esteem him. Surely our griefs he himself bore and our sorrows he carried. Yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, but he was pierced through for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our wellbeing fell upon him and by his scourging, we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him. Listen, under the law, under the law, sheep died for the shepherd. Under grace, the shepherd dies for the sheep. That's the whole emphasis of Isaiah 53. Verse seven, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth like a lamb that has led to a slaughter and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers.

So he did not open his mouth 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 for the transgression of my people to whom the stroke was due. Listen, how can Israel die for the sins of Israel? That's verse number eight. They can't. Israel can't die for their own sins. Somebody had to die for their sins. Verse nine, his grave was assigned with wicked men. Yet he was with a rich man in his death because he had done no lawlessness, nor was there any deceit in his mouth.

Listen, whoever declared that Israel was lawless answer, no one, not even Israel would admit that. So you can't say that the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 is the nation because the personal pronouns go against it. And Israel was never declared by anyone as lawless or sinless. Only the Messiah is sinless. And then it says, but the Lord was pleased to crush him, putting him to grief. Folks that explains the cross from the divine perspective. The Lord God was pleased to crush his son. If he would render himself as a guilt offering, he will see his offspring.

He will prolong his days and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his hand. As a result of the anguish of his soul, he will see it and be satisfied by his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant will justify the many as he will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot him a portion with the great. He will divide the booty with the strong because he poured out himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors. Yet he himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors.

That chapter alone, quoted 40 times in the new Testament explains to us the death of the Messiah. So when Jesus says, listen, we're going to go to Jerusalem because we have to fulfill the prophecies about the son of man.

You must understand that everything in the old Testament pointed to the death of the Messiah. Turn me to Zachariah chapter 12. Zachariah chapter 12. You must understand what the Bible says.

When you talk to a Jewish person, you must understand what the Bible says, no matter who you talk to.

But when you talk to Jewish people to help them understand the identity of their Messiah, they need to come to grips with chapter 12 because the Lord God of Israel, the great Jehovah God, Yahweh we call him, is speaking. He is speaking to Israel, telling them that in chapters one to three, they will be sieged. In chapters four to nine, they will be shielded. In chapters 10 to 13, they will be saved. He tells them they will be under siege, but he will protect them. Why? Because he's going to save them.

And he tells them how they're going to be saved. Now, listen, the Lord God of Israel is speaking. This is what it says. And I, that's the Lord God of Israel, will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication so that they, Israel, will look on me, God, whom they have pierced. Ask a Jew, if God is spirit, how can a spirit be pierced? How can that possibly happen? Ask a Jew, how is it the Lord God Jehovah could be pierced? Listen to what the text says.

And they will mourn, not for me, but for him. As one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over him, like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. One verse in the Old Testament tells you about the triune nature of God, the Lord God Jehovah, the spirit of God and the son of God. How can God be pierced? He can't, unless God becomes a man so that he could be pierced, right? That's the whole point of the passage. And so, as God is speaking to his people, explaining to them what he's going to do, how he's going to pour out the spirit of grace and of supplication so that Israel will look on him, whom they have pierced.

You see, in Israel's theology, they believe in a divine Messiah. They can't get around it because the Old Testament is portraying the Messiah as divine. Let me show you.

Jeremiah chapter 31, verse number 22. How long will you go here and there, O faithless daughter? For the Lord has created a new thing in the earth to create Barah out of nothing. He has created a new thing in the earth. A woman will encompass, listen, a man. The word for man is Geber. From where we get the Hebrew word Geber, which speaks of God as the mighty God, El Geber. The woman shall encompass a man. Every rabbi interpreted that verse to believe that the Messiah would be divine. In other words, the woman shall encompass a man, not an ordinary man, but Geber, El Geber, the mighty God.

She will encompass him in her womb or she will encompass him by holding him in her arms. So the Old Testament taught the Messiah would be divine. And all the rabbis knew that. That's what they taught. Jesus is the divine God of the universe. Zechariah 12 says they will pierce the God of the universe. Go back to Zechariah chapter 13. Zechariah chapter 13, speaking of the salvation of Israel. Look what it says in verse seven. Awake, O sword against my shepherd. In other words, God says, listen, I'm going to send my shepherd because your shepherds have not done the job they needed to do to point you back to me.

So I'm going to send you my shepherd. He says. Awake, O sword against my shepherd and against the man, not an ordinary man, but a strong man, a supernatural strong man, my associate or my equal. In other words, I'm going to send to you my shepherd who is not an ordinary man. He is a supernatural man. He's a divine man because he is my equal. That is he is equal to me. God is saying that my shepherd is equal to me. That's why Jesus said I and the father are one. If you see me, you've seen the father goes on to say, declares the Lord of hosts, strike the shepherd and the sheep that the sheep may be scattered.

Now we'll turn my hand against the little ones and it will come about in all the land, declares the Lord that two parts in it will be cut off and perish, but the third will be left in.

That's a third, the third of Israel that will be saved. So Jesus is saying very simply this, as he talks to his men, all the prophecies concerning the son of man must be fulfilled. They must be, the son of man must be pierced. The son of man is a man of sorrows. Okay. He must bear the sins of Israel. He has to. And yet the apostles were unable to comprehend this. And so you need to understand what Jesus is telling them. This is what we're going to do because this is what was said by the prophets of old.

It's really an indictment against the apostles. It's really an indictment against every Jew who prides himself on knowing the old testament. So many times we think we know what the Bible says, but we miss so many of the obvious truths that are there.

In Israel was that way. They missed the clearly portrayed truth that God had given to them. In Zechariah 9, it tells us that he would write into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey. Psalm 2, his enemies would rise up against him. Zechariah 13, there'd be desertion by sheep. In Zechariah 11, he'd be sold for 30 pieces of silver. In Psalm 34, not one of his bones would be broken. Psalm 22, 18, they would cast lots for his garments. Psalm 69, 21, he'd be given vinegar to drink. Psalm 22, one, there'd be a cry of distress.

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Psalm 16, verse number 10, he would rise from the dead. Psalm 110, verse number one, there would be the ascension.

And that's why John the Baptist said, behold the land of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus says the prophecies about the son of man must be accomplished.

So we're going to ascend up to Jerusalem. That's point number one. Point number two is this. The purpose of God must be achieved. The prophecies concerning the son of man must be accomplished. The purposes of God must be achieved. What were the purposes of God? That he would be delivered up, that he would be betrayed, that he would be rejected, that he would be smitten, that he would be beaten, that he would be scourged. That was the purpose of God. Hard to comprehend, isn't it? It was hard to comprehend for the apostles.

They just, they couldn't come to grips with it. Why? Because they expected the Messiah to give them an exaltation, not an execution. They expected him to be triumphant, not to be tortured. But they missed what the Old Testament said. Daniel 9 said the Messiah would be cut off. In other words, he would die. They could not comprehend a dead Messiah. So Jesus tells them the prophecies about the son of man must be accomplished because the purposes of God must be achieved. He must be delivered up. This would give you great comfort.

Why? Because everything that happened, happened under the sovereign plan of Almighty God. Everything did. God orchestrated it all. God was in charge of everything, just like he is in your life and in mine. Things in your life don't happen by accident. They all happen by divine appointment. God is in charge of your life. You need to come to grips with that. In the midst of tragedy, in the midst of turmoil, nothing was as tragic as the crucifixion of the Messiah. But it was all predetermined by the foreknowledge and plan of Almighty God.

What a beautiful truth about the sovereignty of Almighty God in your life and in mine. The purposes of God, according to Isaiah 53, were to crush his own son. Listen, the Bible says that in Isaiah 53, he was a man of sorrows, not singular, but plural, right?

He's not a man of sorrow. He's the man of sorrows. It's all plural because it speaks of all the sorrows that would happen. That's why Paul said that I may know him and the fellowship of his sufferings. Plural, not singular. Why? Because the sufferings of the Messiah were enormous. There were many of them. It all happened, first of all, with the betrayal.

Son of man will be delivered up. It's a word that means to be betrayed. And he was betrayed by Judas. I love that verse in John 13, verse number one.

It reads as follows. John 13, verse number one. It says, Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come, that he should depart out of the world to the Father, having loved his own, who were in the world, he loved them to the end. Wow. That includes Judas. Having loved his own, who were in the world, he loved them to the end. He loved them to the point of completion. And Judas is among those individuals in the upper room. And he goes on and predicts the betrayal that will take place that night by one that he would not only die for, give his life for, but administer to, and have been entrusted with the ministry and entrusted with the money that would be distributed for the ministry.

Judas was the most trusted of all the apostles. He was the most loyal of all the apostles. Why? Because he was the one that everybody could entrust the money to, not anybody else. And when you trust your money to somebody, you give it to the person you trust the most. But he was the one who would betray his master. And boy, I tell you, that's where the suffrage began for the Lord, because of the betrayal. But there was also the rejection, the rejection. He came into his own and his own received him not.

He was rejected by the people of Israel. He was rejected by his own men. They forsook him and fled but the ultimate rejection was from his father. A fulfillment of Psalm 22 in Matthew chapter 27, when Christ said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He was abandoned by his father. That's why he went dark for those three hours as he hung on the cross. For as he bore your sin and mine on Calvary's cross, the judgment of God came upon him. And God is a pure eyes and to behold evil. And God abandoned his son for those three hours.

It's what we call in theology, spiritual death. He was separated from his father in heaven. My God, my God, why hast thou abandoned me? That was the essence of his suffering. Listen, he knew about what was going to take place physically. He's on mission. He knows everything. And when he was in the garden and he prayed and great drops of blood would proceed from his open pores, he would pray, God, if there'd be any other way, let this cup, the cup signifying the wrath that he would undertake. If there'd be any other way, let this cup pass from me.

Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. That wrath that would come upon him was the wrath of God's abandonment. Listen, he knew he'd suffer physically and he knew the suffering physically would last for a certain amount of time. He understood that. He also knew that spiritual death would allow just a portion of that time. But that was the most grievous of his suffering because never ever was the son ever separated from the father other than those three hours on the cross, as he bore your sin and mine.

Listen, when we go to Israel, we go to this place called the Eke Homo, the judgment hall. And you go in there and you're able to go to the place in Israel where on the floor, they have what they call the King's game. It's sketched out in stone on that floor. It's where they believe the judgment hall was where Christ was before Pilate. And they are most likely correct. And that King's game sketch on the floor, they have it marked off and lights on it so you can see it because they would play this game where they would roll the dice and it would give an opportunity for one of the soldiers to strike the prisoner.

In this case, it would be the Messiah. Not too far from that judgment place as you walk down the quarter, there's this original road from the time of Christ, which would begin the Via Dolorosa, the way of suffering, the way of the cross. When you go there, you begin to realize that what took place in the life of my Lord and the suffering that he would take upon himself for you and for me was enormous. And yet he never opened his mouth. He was sinless. It wasn't like you and me when we're punished, we're sinful.

He was sinless. He was blameless. He was spotless. There was nothing about him that was wrong. Everything about him was pure and right and holy. And yet he would suffer for your sins and for mine. And so he tells them the purposes of God must be achieved. What's the purpose? That he would crush his son. He'd be scourged. When they scourge you, they tied you up and they hung your hands up and hung from a pole. And they would scourge you 39 times because the law said you can be scourged 40 times, but they didn't want to break the law and lose count and go over the 40.

So they scourged you 39 times, three rounds of 13. And they would use a whip. And on that whip, there would be pieces of glass and bone and wood so that you would be literally flayed. That's why when the Bible says, I could see all my bones, the bones of the Messiah, you could see through the flesh that had been torn because he'd been beaten so severely.

That's why we tell you at resurrection Sunday, and good Friday, that when it says in Isaiah 52, 14, that he was marred more than any other man. In other words, he was marred beyond recognition as a man. You couldn't recognize him as a man because he was beaten so severely. That's why when Pilate brings him out, he says, behold the man. In other words, stand amazed. This really is a man. I know he doesn't look like a man, but he is a man. That's how severely our Lord was beaten. And that's why I say the greatest blasphemy known to man is a recognized Messiah on the cross.

That's blasphemous. That goes against what Isaiah 52, 14 says. It goes against everything that happened to our Lord. He was beaten beyond recognition as a man. His bones could be seen. And that's why the crucifixion was such an horrific way to die. He was delivered up. He was betrayed into the hands of the Gentiles because the Jews were under Roman law. They had no authority, but Rome did. And they would betray him so that their Messiah, they didn't recognize him as such, would be killed. And so the purposes of God must be achieved.

And they were. Which leads us to point number three, and that is the power of God will be affirmed. He says, and all the accounts in Luke as well as Matthew and Mark give you all the details of what's going to happen. For he will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon. And after they have scourged him, they will kill him. The third day he will rise again.

The power of God will be affirmed. Remember we told you last week that every time he talked about the cross, he talked about his victory because Psalm 62, 11 power belongs to God. It's all about the resurrection of the Messiah. It's not the end. It's just the beginning of the end. You need to get that. And the Messiah understood that he got it. And so Psalm 16 speaks about the resurrection of the Messiah. And, and, and Peter would quote that over and over again in the book of Acts, because he wants you to stand that the son of David is the Messiah and the grave could not hold him.

Now the disciples had seen the power of the resurrection. They saw it in Jairus' daughter. They saw it in the widow's son at Nain and they saw it with Lazarus and Bethany. Remember the power of the resurrection was detailed by our Lord way back in, in John chapter two. Okay. He solidified the prophecy of his resurrection, destroy this temple. And in three days, I will rise it up again, raise it up again. Now they thought he was talking about the temple that took 40, 46 years to build. How could that happen?

But he was talking about his own body. And so in John chapter two, after he cleansed the temple, he told them right then about the power of the resurrection. And so he solidified in prophecy that he would rise again. He told the Jews that you seek for a sign. The only sign you're going to get is a sign of Jonah. As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. So shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the ground. He signified by prophecy, his own resurrection. And then he solidified that.

He solidified that when he went to the tomb of Lazarus and he raised it from the dead saying that I am the resurrection. I am the life. You must believe that I am that resurrected Messiah, that I had the power to resurrect the dead. I have the power to give my life away. I had the power to take it up again. That's power. It was all demonstrated on Calvary when he rose again on that Sunday from the dead. He tells the disciples the power of God must be affirmed. Don't forget, I'll die, but I will rise again.

That's why the book of Revelation chapter one, he says, I am the living one. I was dead. I am alive forevermore. How can the living God die? If he's the living God, the eternal God, how can he die? Only if he becomes man, then he might bear the sins of the world. But he took his life up again. He rose from the dead. And then point number four, the plan of God was not accepted. He tells them the prophecies about the son of man must be accomplished. The purposes of God must be achieved. The power of God will be affirmed.

But the plan of God was not accepted by his men. It says these words, and they understood none of these things. And this saying was hidden from them. And they did not comprehend the things that were said. There were two reasons why they didn't get it. One is because they didn't want to get it. They didn't want to digest that. They didn't want to understand that it was beyond anything that they could ever imagine that their Messiah would die. And so they didn't want that. And we told you last week that in Mark's account, right up to this, there's a discussion about who's going to be the greatest of the kingdom because what consumed them was their kingdom more so than God's kingdom.

And so they talked about who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom of God. And so one of the reasons they could not comprehend it was because of their own selfishness, their own introspection, their own kingdom they wanted to build. Another reason is because God hid it from them. He didn't want them to understand it. He didn't want them to comprehend it. The Bible says this, it says, and they understood none of these things.

This saying was hidden from them and they did not comprehend it. They couldn't digest it. They could not understand it. Why? Because in Jewish theology, Messiah doesn't come to die. I told you earlier in their theology, there is room for Messiah. That's divine. They get that. They understand it. So if Messiah is divine, he can't die. But if he becomes a man, he can. And that was all foretold in the Old Testament. That's why Jesus says these words in Luke chapter 24.

He says on the road to Emmaus, verse 25, Oh, foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for the Christ, the Messiah to suffer these things and to enter into his glory and beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures. Listen, he took these two disciples down. He said, don't you understand that everything that the Old Testament pointed to was the death and glory of the Messiah.

So when he sees the other disciples later on, he says this in verse number 44. These are my words, which I've spoken to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the law of the prophets, in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Verse 45. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, thus it is written that the Christ, the Messiah should suffer and rise again from the dead. The third day, he tells them, listen, the Psalms spoke of this.

The law of Moses spoke about this. The prophets spoke about this. And then the text says he opened their eyes. Folks, let me tell you something.

Nobody ever gets saved unless God opens their eyes. Nobody ever understands unless God opens their eyes. God has to do that. It's a sovereign act of almighty God. You can worry yourself to death thinking I need to convince this person. I need to help them see what the Bible says that they might believe, but you can't do that.

You cannot do that. All you can do is take the word of God, open it up and read it and let the spirit of God do his work. And if God will open their eyes, they'll see and believe. Remember, Satan has blinded the mind and the eyes of the unbeliever. They might not understand the glorious gospel of Christ. And so Satan is blind to the mind of the unbeliever. God has to open their eyes. Remember Lydia, Acts 16, God opened her heart that she might believe the words of the apostle Paul. God opens the heart.

That means that I have responsibility to give the truth. I have no responsibility in whether or not you accept it or reject it. I don't because my job is just to give you the truth. God opened your eyes. And so he took them back to the Old Testament to show them this is the way I told you it was going to be. This is the way it was. That's the way it is. It happened just as it was foretold by the prophets of old. And he opened their eyes. They could see. And then he said this, that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem.

Wow. Listen, because everything that was said happened exactly as it was foretold. You gotta preach repentance or there will be no forgiveness of sins. Man needs to turn from the error of his way and trust the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in him. I wonder if that's you today. I wonder if you can honestly say today that yes, you have believed in what the Lord God has said. Romans 10 verse number nine. If you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

You must say the same thing about Jesus that the Bible says. He is Lord. He is God. He is master. He is king. He is creator. He is the Lord of the universe. You must believe that he died and rose again in your heart. You will be saved, but you got to believe what the Bible says.

Do you believe that? Do you believe in the truth of the Holy scriptures? Because that's the only way to salvation. And that's why the Lord God says you got to preach this to the people.

They need to understand who I am, what I did. I came to die for them, but they might receive the forgiveness of sins. The compelling mission of the cross. That was our Lord. That's what he did for you and for me. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for today. A chance to spend time in your word, to understand just a little bit more about the greatness of your sovereignty, how you rule over everything, how you are that great God, that great ruler of mankind. We thank you, Father, that the way of salvation is so clearly taught in scripture.

And those of us who have believed and accepted what your word says, have experienced the joy of your kingdom and the forgiveness of sins. For that, Lord, we are grateful. As we move on this week, may we be the ones who proclaim the truth of the gospel to others. They might hear, believe, believe, and receive. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.