Leaping Through Luke

Four years ago this month we began a series, a series in the book of Luke. Four years later, 126 sermons, we find ourselves in chapter 10, verse number 21. Having mapped out the rest of this year, I know that by the end, unless of course if the Lord tarries, I know that by the end of this year we will finish the 12th chapter of the book of Luke. Realizing that it will take us to the year 2015 to finish the entire gospel. But that's okay because we're not in any hurry. Because what we're doing is studying the life of Jesus Christ our Lord, the Messiah.

And that study in and of itself is inexhaustible. To be able to understand Christ and all of his glory, his person, his work, you'll never understand it this side of glory. But our objective is to study the life of Christ. And that's what we are doing. We find ourselves in Luke chapter 10, verse number 21, at this verse. At that very time he rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit. I thought that it would be good to pick up the narrative in Luke 10, verse number 21 today. But then realizing that for the whole month of November we were out of the book of Luke because of our celebration of 15 years.

And we were out of the book of Luke all throughout the month of December because of the prophecies of the coming Messiah. And now we find ourselves in the third week of January.

I'm not so sure it would really be nice of me just to plop you right back down into Luke 10, verse 21 without giving you any kind of background material. So I thought today we would do something a little bit different. And we leap you through the gospel of Luke. We leap you from chapter 1, verse number 1, all the way through chapter 10, verse number 21. Now I know there are many people of you that think I'm crazy and I can't cover 10 chapters in one sermon. But I want to let you know that remember years ago we ran through Revelation, all 22 chapters in 59 minutes and 57 seconds.

I know that because my son sat right where Victor is and he timed me because he didn't believe we could do 22 chapters in 60 minutes. But we did. So we're going to not run through Revelation. We're not going to even march through Mark. We're not going to even meander through Matthew. We're going to leap through Luke. One day we'll jog through John. But right now we're just going to leap through Luke and take you back all the way to chapter 1 so that you are caught up to speed as to where we are. Because most of you weren't here four years ago.

Some of you just come to our church recently, have no idea about the book of Luke because you came in maybe November or December. Others of you have been with us for a long time, but because of your age you have forgotten everything that we've already said. So I understand that and of course as I get older I realize I'm forgetting a lot of things as well. So it did me well to go back to chapter 1 and to review it. I'm going to give you 30 points this morning, okay? 30. Say, wow that's unbelievable.

You know they're not that difficult. Maybe you can't take notes. That's okay. But you know what? If I can get you to wrap your arms around the first 10 chapters, next week when we say now at this time he began to greatly rejoice, you'll understand what caused our Lord to rejoice.

And once you understand that, guess what? You're going to understand how to rejoice every single day of your life. Once you understand what makes Jesus joyful and you're a child of the King, then you too will become joyful. And in today's society we need lots of joy and Jesus produces that, right? How do we get there? Well if you've got your Bible, Luke chapter 1. All the way back to Luke chapter 1. This is gonna be fun. At least it's gonna be fun for me. The first four verses deal with the investigation of the Messiah, okay?

Everything is about the Messiah. It begins with the investigation of Messiah. Luke, he is the physician. The physician with precision. He writes to a man named Theophilus, which means lover of God. And he says in verse number 3, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus, so you may know, listen carefully, the exact truth about the things you have been taught. You know what Luke's concern was?

His concern from the outside of the book is that you know the exact truth about Jesus the Messiah. You know the pastor's job is not to make you feel good. The pastor's job is not to build your self-esteem. The pastor's job is not even to make you feel comfortable when you come to church. The pastor's job is to give you the exact truth. Because once you know the exact truth, you know where you stand with the God of truth. A number of years ago, a lady came to our church, said to me, you know, I want a pastor.

I want a pastor that warms my soul. But I know that the only thing that motivates me is when he warms my seat. And the way your seat is warm is when you get the exact truth. So it all begins with the investigation of the Messiah. It all begins with Luke saying, you know what, I've investigated it from the very beginning. And now, oh excellent Theophilus, I'm giving it to you. And then when you come to verse number 5, all the way down to verse number 24, you have what we're going to call the prediction before the Messiah.

You have the investigation of the Messiah. Now you have the prediction before the Messiah. And the prediction is about a forerunner to the Messiah, John the Baptist. And the angel Gabriel comes to Zacharias and tells him he's going to have a son. Now Zacharias and Elizabeth are up in years, maybe 80 years of age. He's a priest. They're a devout couple. They walk in righteousness. They love the Lord. And the angel comes to them and they says, you're going to have a son. They've been praying for a son for a long time.

She is barren. And they've been praying for a son for a long time. And God says, I'm going to give you a son.

But I'm going to give you more than just a baby. I'm going to give you a forerunner to the Messiah. So in the investigation of the truth, we learn that we need to know exactly what the Bible says.

When it comes to the preparation for the Messiah, we kind of realize that God is intricately involved in all of our lives. And sometimes we pray for something over and over and over again, even for years. And the reason God doesn't answer it the way you want it to be answered is because He has a different plan other than you have. And once that plan begins to unfold before you, you can begin to rejoice as Zacharias and Elizabeth would rejoice over the baby that would come the forerunner to the Messiah that would prepare the way of the Lord.

And then you come to verse number 26 down to verse number 45. You have the annunciation of the Messiah. The angel Gabriel comes to Mary and announces to her she is going to be great with child, how the Holy Spirit will overshadow her. And she, even though a virgin, will conceive and bear a child. And she would respond by saying, let these things happen to me. Let it be done to me according to your Word. And we realize that Mary was submissive. Now remember, she was only about 12, 13, maybe 14 years of age when this angel Gabriel would come to her and make this great announcement.

And that annunciation would continue as Mary then would go to her cousin Elizabeth and explain to her what has taken place in her life. So you have the investigation of the Messiah. You have the preparation before the Messiah. You have the annunciation of the Messiah. Then you have the exaltation of the Messiah in verses 46 down to the end of chapter 1. You have the exaltation from Mary as she talks about God as her Savior, how He is the Mighty One, how He is the Holy One, how He is the Merciful One.

And then you have the exaltation from Zacharias the prophet as he begins to talk about the covenant promise that God made to Israel. And he begins to exalt the Lord by going back and reviewing what's taken place with David and the covenant God made with David and Abraham and the covenant God made with Abraham. And the new covenant, the new covenant that there would be cleansing from their sin and the sunrise from on high will rise and there will finally be peace.

And so you have the exaltation from Zacharias and the exaltation from Mary. And there you have chapter 1. Chapter 2 begins with the realization of the Messiah. Chapter 2 begins with the realization of the Messiah. He is born in Bethlehem. And you have the announcement where the the shepherds would come to, I mean the angels would come to the shepherds there outside of Bethlehem and announce to them the arrival of the one that they had longed for. And they in turn would make haste and go to Bethlehem and report to Mary and to Joseph all the things that were said to them because they realized their Messiah had been born.

Mary and Joseph had realized that which they had longed for and that she had carried in her womb for nine months was now born in the city of Bethlehem. And she would begin to ponder all these things up in her heart. The realization of the Messiah led then to the presentation of the Messiah in verses 21 down through verse number 38. Because eight days after his birth they would bring their child to the temple. And there was a devout man. His name was Simeon. And Simeon was one who was longing for and looking for the consolation of Israel.

He was a righteous man and he anticipated the arrival of the Messiah. And the Bible says that the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah.

He lived a life in anticipation of the coming Messiah. And amidst all the thousands of people on the temple mount that day the Lord through his spirit led Simeon to Mary and Joseph. He would take the baby in his arms and ask the Lord to bless that child and to bless his bondservant. Because now he could finally die.

Because everything he hoped for, everything he longed for was held in his arms. And he gave that prophecy to Mary about how he, their child, would be a sign to be opposed. And her soul would be pierced through with many sorrows in years to come. But it was all about the presentation of the Messiah. And then there was Anna the prophetess. Remember Anna? She was a widow for 84 years. If she got married somewhere around the age of 12 or 13 that would put her over a hundred years of age in Luke chapter 2.

And she was a prophetess and she would spend night and day in the temple of God praying to God and telling people about the redemption of Jerusalem. So she like Simeon was looking for someone. She like Simeon was living in anticipation of the arrival of the Messiah. And she would come up to Simeon and Mary and Joseph at the time that Simeon had rejoiced in seeing his Savior. And she too rejoiced because she was looking for the Messiah. So there you have the presentation of the Messiah. And when you come down to verse number 39 you have what we call the maturation of the Messiah.

He begins to grow from 8 days to 12 years of age. He grows in wisdom. He grows in stature. And from the maturation of the Messiah we now come to the mission of the Messiah. That's found in verse number 41 down through verse number 52. You know the story. Jesus is now 12 years of age. We have no record of any event that happened in the life of our Lord outside the eight days after his birth when he was presented in the temple to the time he was 12 years of age to the time of his ministry at the age of 30.

There's only one event that we have recorded in Scripture. There's only thing only one thing we know for certain about the Messiah and that is that when he was 12 years of age his parents had left him behind. They had gone on. They had gone back to Nazareth. And they realized the days out that that Jesus wasn't with him. And so they had to take a day journey to get back to Jerusalem and then spend the next day looking for him. So for three days he was gone and they found him in the temple. And what was he doing?

He was conversing with the religious establishment. And they stood amazed, the Bible says, at what he said, the questions he asked, and the questions he answered.

Jesus is 12 years of age. He understands full well that he is the Passover lamb. In Luke 2 at the mission the Messiah he understands this is Passover. That's why they went to Jerusalem. And so as he walks on that temple mount and walks in and around the temple setting he knows in the distant future, not too distant future, that he will be that sacrificial lamb. He knows that. And so as he asks questions of the religious establishment he knows full well his mission in life. And when his parents finally find him they say very simply, where have you been?

Don't you know that we have been looking for you? And the response of Jesus is simply, don't you know? I had to be about my father's business. He knew full well his mission in life, to fulfill the will of his father. Some translations say I need to be about my father's or need to be in my father's house because to fulfill the mission of God it takes place through the house of God. He understands that. And he knew full well at that time and so did Mary as she began to treasure these things and ponder these things once again that there had been a separation.

And she realizes that he is her sacrificial lamb. He is her Messiah. I had to be about my father's business. And so the very, the only words recorded by Jesus from the time of his birth to his 30 years of age declares for us that he understood his mission. That he is the Son of God. That he is equal in nature and character with God. And that had to be absolutely overwhelming for his mother on that day in Jerusalem. So you move from the mission of the Messiah to chapter 3 which speaks particularly of the preparation for the Messiah.

The preparation for the Messiah. Now John the Baptist, he's been in the Judean wilderness for years. He has listened to the voice of God. He has studied the Old Testament scriptures. And John the Baptist like a locomotive out of the Judean wilderness comes steaming with all passion and all power to prepare the way of the Lord. He is the fulfillment of Isaiah 40 verses 1 to 3. He is the fulfillment of Malachi 3 verse number 1. He begins to understand that. He begins to preach the gospel of repentance.

He begins to show people the way of salvation. That there's going to come one who is after him. He's going to baptize them with water but the Spirit, but God is going to come and baptize them with the Holy Spirit. And the winnowing fork is in His hand. And He will come with judgment. But there's one coming after me who's greater than me. One who's mightier than me. I am not the Messiah but I am preparing the way for the Messiah. So in chapter 3 you have the preparation for the Messiah all the way down through verse number 20.

And John the Baptist in his preaching is so ferocious and so strong that he even calls Herod out because of his sin. Herod doesn't like that. Herod throws him in prison. He will soon die because he preached the truth that Jesus is the Messiah. When you come to verse number 21 of chapter 3 all the way down to the end of the chapter, verse number 37, you have the affirmation of the Messiah through His baptism and through the genealogy that comes through the line of Mary to prove that He truly is the rightful heir to the throne of David.

In that baptism the Spirit of God would descend upon the Son of Man. That was essential based on Isaiah chapter 11 verses 1 and 2 because the Bible says that the Spirit of the Lord will be upon the Messiah.

And all those there that day in the Jordan as John the Baptist would baptize Jesus would see the Holy Spirit descend upon Him like a dove and the voice out of heaven from His Father, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. There was an affirmation given that this is the Messiah, the Messiah of Israel. Now we come to chapter 4. Now we come to chapter 4 we have the temptation of the Messiah. The temptation of the Messiah. Chapter 4 verse number 1 all the way down to verse number 13 speaks to us about the impeccability of Christ.

This is very important. It's not that Christ was able not to sin, it's that Christ was not able to sin. There's a big difference my friends in how you describe that. Jesus Christ is the sinless, spotless, unblemished Lamb of God. He is not able to sin. It speaks of His impeccability. You see Jesus is not a better brand of us. He is completely different than us. We don't understand that but He is because He is God in the flesh. And in that temptation, okay, He is not able to sin but He proves to us how you and I gain victory over our temptation when it comes our way.

By quoting Scripture, by relying completely on the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God would descend upon Him in chapter 3. In chapter 4 the Spirit of God would drive Him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil for 40 days and He would live in total dependence upon that Spirit. And you know what? Just like you and me, we need to depend upon the Spirit and the Scriptures to overcome temptation. There's no magical formula to help you overcome temptation. It's pretty basic. It's the Spirit of God and the Scriptures that God has given.

Without those two things, you'll fall into temptation every time. But with those two things, you won't succumb and you'll be able to stand strong as Jesus Christ the Messiah Himself did. He didn't have to quote Scripture but He did to show you and me how it is we overcome temptation in our lives. After the temptation of the Messiah, when you come down to verse number 14, down through verse number 30, you have the revelation slash rejection of the Messiah. The revelation slash rejection of the Messiah.

He finds Himself back in His hometown in Nazareth. He stands up to preach the reading for that day, Isaiah chapter 61. He quotes that the Spirit of the Lord is upon Him because it is. That happened at the baptism in chapter 3. It was the fulfillment of Isaiah 11 verses 1 and 2. So when He does the reading of the day in Isaiah 61 about the Spirit of the Lord being upon me and how He came to preach the gospel to those who are bankrupt, bound, blind, and broken because that's what He came to do, He stopped with proclaiming the favorable year of our Lord.

Didn't go on talking about the day of vengeance because it wasn't time for the day of vengeance. That's coming. That's at a second coming.

But right now it was to proclaim the favorable year of His Lord. It was to proclaim the redemptive purposes of God because He came to redeem man and as He would begin to spell out that wonderful plan of preaching the gospel to those who are blind and broken and bound, the people of Nazareth became extremely angry with His message because He talked to them about what He knew they wanted but only what He was going to give them and they were self-sufficient, prideful people and He gave illustration about the king of Syria.

He gave illustration about the widow of Zarephath, Gentile people. That when there were many people who were widows in Israel, God went to a Gentile woman. When there are many people with leprosy in Israel, God went to a pagan Gentile king. You know what He preached? He preached the message of election and they hated Him for it. They wanted to kill Him. They wanted to throw Him off the cliff there in Nazareth. Many of you have been there with me. This is the revelation of the Messiah. He came to reveal Himself to His own people so they would understand who He was and with that revelation came the rejection of the people because they didn't like the message He gave that God only accepts the blind, the broken, the bound.

He only accepts those who are poor in spirit, who are imprisoned, who need to be set free, not the prideful, the self-sufficient, the arrogant who think they have enough to make to appease God and they rejected Him because of His message and then when you come to chapter 4 verse number 31 all the way through chapter 6 verse number 11 you have what we'll call the verification of the Messiah. All about His ministry would verify the fact that He truly is the Messiah of Israel. Verse 36 says, amazement came upon them all and they began discussing with one another saying, what is the message?

What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out and the report about Him was getting out into every locality in the surrounding district. He would heal those who were sick. He would heal those who were filled with leprosy. He would heal those who had paralysis. He would do so many miracles to verify that He is the Messiah, to verify what the Old Testament prophets taught about when the Messiah arrived there would be healing in the land. We told you that all throughout Galilee, all throughout Judea, everybody who came to Him was healed.

All of them. And over and over again throughout the gospel He healed all who came to Him. He healed Peter's mother-in-law. In chapter 5 we had the first disciples with Peter and John and they see the miracle once again of the fish where He would verify His Messianic credentials and Peter would say, depart from me I am an unclean man because when you understand who the Messiah is your only response is leave me I'm unclean and that was Peter's response when he realized that Jesus was that Messiah.

The man who was filled with leprosy, the man who was paralyzed, the call of Levi, all of that verified He was the Messiah. He didn't come to call the righteous. He came to call the sinners to repentance. When you come to chapter 6, the first 11 verses, He talks about how He is the Lord of the Sabbath.

Everything about that verifies that He is the Messiah. And then you come to verse number 12 of chapter 6 and this is the commission from the Messiah. The commission from the Messiah. Chapter 6 verse number 12 all the way down to verse number 19 it's about choosing 12 men. Men that had been with Him all throughout the beginning part of His ministry when they when they first gave their lives to Christ and now He was going to call them out and set them apart as unique individuals and train them and when we come to chapter 9 He will then send them.

Okay that will be their internship. Right now He's going to train these 12. They will be with Him and they will be special to Him and they will become a part of His ministry because He knows that time is near and He will die and there will have to be certain individuals who will carry on that mission in ministry. And so He chooses these 12. This is the commission of the Messiah. He commissions these 12 men to be His followers, to be His disciples, to be His apostles, the ones that He ultimately would send out.

And then when you come to verse number 20 you have what we call the proclamation of the Messiah. The proclamation of the Messiah. We get snippets here and snippets there of what the Messiah says but when you come to verse number 28 chapter 6 you get an entire sermon of what He says. And some people think it's the same as Matthew 5 6 and 7 that great sermon on the mount and it might well be except for the fact that it says in verse number 17 and He stood on a level place and there was a great multitude of His disciples.

That level place could mean that it was not on the Mount of Beatitudes but another location. But the the sermon He gave if it's not Matthews 5 6 and 7 that great sermon on the mount it's a part or like that sermon to show you that what Jesus preached it was all about it was all about true Christianity. Because He said in Matthew 5 verse number 20 unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees you are no part of my kingdom. And everything about the sermon on the mount or the sermon on the plain in Luke chapter 6 verses 20 and following it's all about what?

True Christianity. What it means to be a follower of Christ to serve Him and to honor Him. And how does He conclude? He concludes His sermon with a warning about impending judgment. Isn't it interesting that He concludes His sermon with a warning about impending judgment and when He sends the 12 out in chapter 9 and the 70 out in chapter 10 He tells them that when you conclude your sermons you conclude them with warnings about impending judgment. You tell them judgments coming so they understand and they're not caught unawares that they will be judged if they do not repent of their sins.

So He gives that that great sermon that great proclamation of the Messiah and then when you come to chapter 7, chapter 7 verse number 1 all the way down to verse number 17 you have the compassion of the Messiah. How He heals the the centurion servants. How He sees a man of great faith. There is no faith in all of Israel like this Gentile centurion. He understood authority. He says to Christ just speak the word. I'm a man with authority and I oversee people I tell them what to do they do it. All you got to do is speak the word it will happen and Jesus says I've never seen faith like this in all of Israel.

The compassion of Christ to heal the centurion servant and then the the compassion of Christ to heal the widow's son at Nain. His first resurrection in his ministry.

Here was this widow coming out of that little city. You know the compassion of Jesus, listen carefully, is seen in the typology of of all that's shown or I'm sorry in the typography of the land. You know he was he was he was raised in Nazareth. Nazareth is on on one of the northern slopes of the Jezreel Valley that overlooks the valley of Megiddo. But Nain is is also located in that same valley in Megiddo where he would show an incredible act of compassion to this woman who would come out of this this little city of Nain and the only only record we have of anything ever happening there is Luke chapter 7.

Luke's the only one that records it. There's a widow there whose only son dies and Jesus and his disciples are going toward the city and they're coming out going toward the cemetery and Jesus sees her, feels compassion for her, and raises her son from the dead. Isn't it interesting that in that valley of Megiddo where the armies of the world would gather to fight against the Messiah they are going to fight against the ultimate compassionate one who lived among them who healed them who ministered alongside of them and showed great compassion to people who are so undeserving.

That's our Lord. That's the compassion of the Messiah. And then when you come to chapter 7 verse number 18 all the way down to verse number 50 the end you have what we call the clarification of the Messiah. There was some confusion with John the Baptist. He's now in prison. He sends some of his men to say are you the expected one? Are you the coming one? Because if you are why am I in prison? If you are how come you haven't come to judge? How come the winnowing fork is not in your hand? How come you're not separating the wheat from the chaff?

How come you're not doing what I prophesied you were gonna do? Are you the coming one? Those disciples go to Jesus for clarification. That's why this is called the clarification of the Messiah. Of course Jesus tells them as he heals the blind and all who are around him he says you go back and tell them I feel the sick. I've caused the blind to see, the lame to walk. The credentials are clear. John should not be confused. He clarifies his ministry to those disciples. They might go back to John and explain to him that this is the coming one.

And then comes the clarification to a Pharisee. A Pharisee invites Jesus to his home for dinner. And Jesus wants to clarify his ministry not only to a prophet, John the Baptist, but to a Pharisee named Simon. He does it in two ways, through a prostitute and through a parable that he gives to clarify that he is the Messiah. And the Pharisee, because he's blinded by the truth, remains in his confusion. And John the Baptist and his disciples don't remain in their confusion. And the Bible says in Luke chapter 7 verse number 49, who is this man who even forgives sins?

When you come to chapter 8 you have what we call the instruction from the Messiah. The instruction from the Messiah. He wants to instruct them about how people are going to receive the Word during the kingdom age. He has been preaching from village to village, from city to city, from countryside location to countryside location, always preaching the gospel, preaching the gospel. And we told you that there were scores of disciples who were following Him. Disciples, listen by the way, who are not all committed disciples of Christ.

They were among the curious and the counterfeits. They were followers of Christ. They wanted to learn about the Christ. But among all those disciples there were, yes, the committed, but most were curious and others were counterfeits. They weren't true disciples of Jesus, but they would follow. And Christ was concerned that the disciples understand how the gospel will be received in the kingdom age. And so He gives His instruction concerning the parable of the sower and the soil. He tells them that the seed is the Word of God.

It will fall on different kinds of soil. Some is roadside soil. It's hard. The hardest, calloused. It does not receive the truth. The Word of God bounces off that heart because it is blinded by Satan. Then there is that rocky soil that receives the Word with joy. Then that thorny soil, who too receives the Word with joy, quickly receives it because they hear it. But because of persecution, because of affliction, or because of the cares of this world, the seed is choked out. It drowns. It doesn't last.

Oh, there's a quick perceived conversion, but it doesn't last because of the cares of this world. And because of the affliction they're unable to handle it. And the seed is choked out. And then there's that good soil. It's supple. It's sweet. It's ripe. And it receives a seed. He says in Matthew's account, it grows some 30, some 60, some a hundredfold. In other words, there is obvious fruit from the soil that receives the seed once it's converted. Because many don't understand that because they're going to preach the gospel.

And many will raise their hands and walk a mile, sign a card, and sing a song, and weep a tear. But the majority of them are all counterfeits. They might even be curious, but they're not committed. How do you know they're committed? They persevere. They stick with it. They don't turn away from the faith. They follow all the way through. And Jesus gives his instruction, the instruction of the Messiah, which leads us then to the jurisdiction of the Messiah. Chapter 8, verse 22, all the way to verse number 56.

He is the Lord of the sea as he calms a storm. He is the Lord over Satan as he cast out legion from the demoniac. He is Lord of sickness as he heals a woman with a hemorrhaging, and he raises Jairus' daughter from the dead. It speaks of the jurisdiction of the Messiah. He has authority over everything. There's nothing he doesn't have authority over. And then we come to chapter 9, verse number 1. And in chapter 9, verse number 1, down to verse number 6, we have the authorization of the Messiah. He authorizes his men now to go out and represent him in the surrounding villages.

This is their internship. He has trained them. They've been with them. They've heard his sermons. They've seen his miracles. And now he says, it's your turn. So he sends these men out. He authorizes them to heal the sick. He authorizes them to cast out demons. He authorizes them to preach that gospel. And they do. And that authorization for ministry from the Messiah leads to the question about Messiah. And that's in verses 7 and 9, when Herod would ask, who is this man? Now that's important. Because he doesn't ask, who are these men who are preaching this gospel?

He asks, who is this man? And that's because the disciples knew that when they would go out and preach the gospel, they were representing the Christ, the Messiah. It was the Messiah that was preeminent. It was the Messiah who was on display. It was the Messiah they spoke about. It wasn't about them and what they did. It was about God and what he did. God got all the glory. So it would beg the question from Herod and a question that was reiterated all through the Gospel of Luke. Who is this man? The greatest of all questions.

And how you answer that question determines whether you go to heaven or whether you go to hell. Who is this man? So you have the question about the Messiah. And then in verses 10 to 17, you have the provision of the Messiah as he feeds the 5,000 and satisfies what really is the 20 or 25,000. Because the only kind of the men in those days, so they didn't count the women, they didn't count the children. And Jewish families have lots of children. So you got somewhere between 20 or 25,000 people that Jesus feeds with a few fishes and a few loads of bread to show the provision of the Messiah.

And then when you come down to verse number 18, you have the identification of the Messiah. Verse number 18 down to verse number 21, who do men say that I am? And Peter would make that great proclamation, thou art the Christ of God. You are God's Messiah. And this is the high point of his ministry. Helping his men to come to this point is the apex of his earthly ministry. Because that's the question, who do men say that I am? Better yet, who do you say that I am? Forget about the popular opinion.

What is your personal opinion? Having seen all that you've seen, who do you say that I am? Peter says, you are God's Messiah. That's who you are. And so you move from the identification of the Messiah to the passion of the Messiah. And he goes on to talk to them about his death, about his burial, and about his resurrection. And how they are to go and tell people about what it is they do in response to that. They'll have to deny themselves and take up the cross and follow me. Once they identify who I am, they must now identify with my passion as well.

This is the passion of the Messiah. We spent 10 weeks on these verses alone to help you understand the message you ought to preach to a lost world who needs to understand Jesus Christ the Messiah. And then you move to verse number 28 of chapter 9 and you have the transfiguration of the Messiah. You see, once he brings the disciples to a point where they understand that he truly is God's Messiah and that he is to die for their sins, he now mentions, listen carefully, his return for the very first time to his men.

They had never heard about the return of the Messiah before until verse 26 of chapter 9 when he says, for whoever is ashamed of me and my words of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. He's coming again. They never heard that before. You see, in the Old Testament they only understood that the Messiah was coming. They didn't understand there were going to be two phases of his coming, two different arrivals of the Messiah. So Jesus now for the very first time explains to them, guess what, I'm going to return in all of my glory, all of my splendor and all will see me.

In the transfiguration of the Messiah in verses 28 and following, he talks about the fact how he talks to them concerning the kingdom that's going to come. He gives them a glimpse of kingdom glory. That's why Moses is there and that's why Elijah is there and that's why these New Testament saints now are there, Peter, James, and John, because he wants them to understand the kingdom in all of its splendor and all of its glory. That's why he unzips his flesh and the beauty of his holiness shines forth and they hear the voice from his Father in heaven, this is my beloved Son, listen to him.

You move from the transfiguration of the Messiah down to verse number 37 down through verse number 50, you have what we call the denunciation of the Messiah. The denunciation of the Messiah. He denounces his own man. He comes down off of the Mount of Transfiguration and what does he see? The other nine unable to cast out demons. They had already been given the authority and the power to do that back in chapter 9 verse number 1 and now when they come down off of the Mount of Transfiguration, they are unable to cast out those demons and he says, oh perverted and unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you?

Bring the child to me. He denounces his men publicly because of their unbelief and Christ casts out the demon. And then there's that argument about who's the greatest in the kingdom. You know after all they're the disciples of Christ or followers of him and they want to be a part of that kingdom and so when you come down to verse number 46, he's going to have to denounce them one more time because of their pride and because of their arrogance. They want to be great in the kingdom. There was an argument that arose among them and that argument arose after he would speak to them one more time concerning his death, burial, and resurrection.

They didn't want to hear that. They just wanted to know about greatness in the kingdom. The argument would erupt about who was the greatest in the kingdom. Had to denounce them one more time because their arrogance and pride. And then you come to the resolution of the Messiah. Verses 51 down through verse number 56 where he in verse number 51 says he resolutely set his face to go to Jerusalem. Now he begins that ascent to Jerusalem. Halfway through his ministry he knows that Jerusalem is the place.

The resolution of the Messiah. He knows what he's about. He knows he's come to die. He knows that everything is on a perfect timetable of his father and he resolutely sets his face to go to Jerusalem. And in verse number 57 you have what we call the admonition from the Messiah. The admonition from the Messiah where there are three would-be followers of Christ. Three would-be followers because as they would go he would preach to towns and villages. And there were people say, oh I'll follow you. I'll go where you go.

Let me follow you. I'll do what you want me to do. And Christ knew their hearts. He knew because of sentimentalism, because of passivism, because of materialism, they would not want to commit to following him. And so this is the admonition of the Messiah. He says very simply, the foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Think it's going to be easy to follow me? It's not. Allow the dead to bury their own dead but as for you go and proclaim the kingdom everywhere.

No one after having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. You're gonna follow me? Don't look back. Don't wish you were back there again. It's not about that. You got to give everything to me. He sets out the demands of following him. You begin to ask yourself the question of who's gonna follow with all those demands of self denial and submission and taking up your cross and following him and not having no place to lay your head and having to put your family behind you and to move on and serve.

Who's going to follow? You come to chapter 10 verse number 1, you got 70. 70 who made that commitment. 70 committed individuals. And this is what we call the delegation of the Messiah. So you had the 12 apostles and then you have these 70. Some manuscripts say 72. Okay. So you have at least 82 or 84 committed people by this time in his ministry. There's probably a few more than that after 18 months of ministry but probably not a lot more by virtue of the fact that there wasn't hardly anything when the church began except a handful of people maybe around 600 followers of Christ in the book of Acts when it begins.

But there's these 70, the delegation of the Messiah. He sends them out to proclaim the gospel, to teach others about the truth, to go from village to village to village to village. There's only a few months left in time. By the time we get to chapter 10 he's got about nine months of ministry left before he dies. And the remainder of the book of Luke deals with those nine months and what takes place. He sends them out to preach the gospel. And you come to verse 17, they come back ecstatic. Oh by the way, whenever you go out and preach the gospel, come back ecstatic.

Whenever you serve the Lord you're gonna be ecstatic. When someone's sad, moping around, they're so consumed with self they can't even begin to serve the Lord. Moping. But if you get somebody who wants to serve the Lord, they'll be ecstatic. And it's interesting because in verse number 17, the 70 return with joy saying, Lord even the demons are subject to us in your name. Boy this is great. Ministry's great. We love ministry. We love serving Jesus. We'll go from village to village to village. We'll do whatever you want us to do Lord.

Because even the demons are subject to your name. And Jesus says, I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.

Behold I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall injure you. And someone in the back says, hey amen. Another guy says, whoo hoo. Praise the Lord. Another guy says, yeah man this is great. Let's serve Jesus. You go Jesus. This is great. And then Jesus says these words, nevertheless, do not rejoice in this.

That the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven. He says, nevertheless, don't get too excited about ministry because there's going to be ups and downs in your ministry. Don't let that be the governing factor in your joy. Because some days people are going to give their life to Christ and other days are not. You can't be involved in ebb and flow kind of ministry where you go up and you go down. You go up and you go down. You go up and you go down. But if you know that your name is recorded in heaven, now that's what you get excited about.

Know that. That never changes see. That doesn't arise and fall. So when you come to verse number 21, you conclude with our 30th point. The jubilation of the Messiah. For it says, at that very time, he rejoiced greatly. The only time in the Gospels that records the exuberant joy of the Messiah. Luke's the only one that records it. He rejoiced greatly. Now why did Jesus rejoice? At that very time. He just told his men, look you can't be excited about the ebb and flow of ministry. Just because you had some demons subject to you and your name.

And just because you had some people getting healed. And just because you had some conversions. You know, I understand your excitement. But make sure that you understand your name is written down in glory. Because that never changes. That's always true. And you have a place reserved in heaven for you. And at that very time, Jesus himself rejoiced greatly. What caused the joy of Jesus? What caused him to be jubilant? What caused him to rejoice greatly? Well, that's next week's sermon. Now you're caught up to speed.

Having gone through 10 chapters of Luke, you know what's taking place. Now the question is, why does Jesus at this point rejoice greatly? What caused the joy of the Messiah? Once you understand that, once you understand that, you'll know what causes or should cause your joy. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for today. What a joy it is for us to study your word. Thank you, Lord. As brief a time as it was, we pray, Lord, that we'd be able to get our arms around this beautiful gospel that explains to us the greatness of your mission in ministry.

May we, Lord, as servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, learn to rejoice as you yourself rejoice. Pray in your name. Amen.