Good morning, let's turn together
in our Bibles to Luke 24, verse 25, if you would. Luke chapter
24 and verse 25. Then he, the Lord Jesus, said
unto them, these two disciples on the road to Emmaus, O fools
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into
His glory? And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the
things concerning Himself. I want to speak this morning
simply on the subject, Ought not Christ to have suffered? The Lord asked Disciples what
they were sad about what they had been talking about and why
they were sad and They told him really two things they gave him
two reasons why they were sad in verse 21 this Christ that
they He they said we trusted that it
had been he which should have redeemed Israel and furthermore
They said in that same verse, beside all this, today's the
third day. And in verse 22, they talked about the other reason.
In verse 23, when these ladies came to the sepulcher, they found
that his body was not there, and they went and reported that
to these disciples. So these two things, that the
Lord Jesus had been crucified, and that he was not in the grave. Those are the two reasons they
were sad. And the Lord mentions, he addresses
both of these in verse 26. Ought not Christ to have suffered?
Ought he not to have been crucified? What you watched happened on
Calvary. Ought not he to have suffered
and as for his body, being gone, as for these ladies coming to
his grave and not finding him there, ought he not to have entered
into his glory? Should he not be gone from that
grave? Would it be better if his body
had been in the grave? You see why he called them fools
in verse 25. Ought not Christ to have suffered? Of course he ought. Of course
he ought. If he did not suffer, first of
all, he's a liar. He personally is a liar. He said
in several places, we've read that before in this study, but
in this one, Luke 9, 20, he said unto them, but whom say ye that
I am? You know that passage, and Simon Peter answering said,
you're the Christ of God. And he straightly charged them
and commanded them to tell no man that thing, saying, the son
of man must suffer. Ought not Christ to have suffered? He must suffer many things and
be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes and
be slain and be raised the third day. He'd already answered the
question that he asked them in our text. Ought not Christ to
have suffered? Before he ever suffered, he said,
I must suffer. So he personally, the person
that himself met with them on the road that day is a liar.
If he hadn't suffered, if he didn't suffer, if he didn't,
do what he said he was gonna do. And then if he didn't suffer,
then the word of God is a hoax. Mark 9, 12, and he answered and
told them, Elias verily cometh first and restoreth all things,
and that's, our Lord told them how that was John the Baptist,
had fulfilled that, and how it is written of the Son of Man
that he must suffer many things and be set in awe. It is written
that he must suffer all through the scripture. That's really
all the Bible says, is that he must suffer for his people. And
so the word of God is false. Not only the person that met
with them that day would have been a liar, and we would look
for another, we would have to look for another. But the word
of God itself is unreliable. If he doesn't
suffer, all of our basis for hope as sinners is gone. except he suffer. If Christ does
not suffer, we have no substitute for sin. Galatians 3.21, is the
law then against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there
had been a law given, which could have given life, verily righteousness
would have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded
all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might
be given to them that believe. And what Paul means by the promise
by faith of Jesus Christ, he explained earlier in that chapter
in verse 11. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident. For the just shall
live by faith, and the law is not of faith. The law is just
about doing, obeying. The law is not of faith, but
the man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. For
it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that
the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through
faith. And then where we read before in Galatians 3, it comes
after that. He's saying that's the only way
sinners can be saved. If there had been a law that
could save you, you'd be saved by the law. but only by the faith
of Jesus Christ. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. Ought not he
to have suffered? If he doesn't, we have no substitute.
You can sing, I should have been crucified, all you want to, but
you should not have been, he should have been. Ought not he
to have suffered? According to God, he ought, and
not you. What ought to have happened is
what happened. The Lord Jesus Christ suffered in the place
of his people and redeemed them from the curse of the law. Those words for us, for us where
we just read, being made a curse for us, that's as good a definition
as substitution as you're gonna find anywhere. I know people
get weird about that, and don't ever underestimate man's ability
to complicate that which is beautiful and simple in the word of God.
But he died for us. That's substitution. This is
my body which is broken for you. But if he didn't suffer, we have
no substitute. The wages of my sin is death. But he was wounded for. my transgressions,
my evil nature, and all of my evil deeds deserved and warranted
the full wrath of God. But the Lord hath laid on Christ
the iniquity of us all for whom he died. And he suffered the
wrath of God in our place for us. Ought he not to have done
that? Only a fool would reckon that
which is our only hope to be a bad thing and be sad about
it. And that's what he called them. I understand their sadness,
but by the grace of God, I also understand something of the foolishness
of it. What we are saying, when we say
that if Christ did not suffer, then he's a liar. The one who
said, I must, is a liar. The word of God is false, and
we have no substitute. What we're simply saying is this,
everything hangs upon Christ suffering for sinners, everything,
everything. Him dying and rising again, everything
hangs upon Christ and Him crucified. The word ought in verse 26 means
it is of necessity. You could read it this way. Was
it not necessary that Christ should suffer? And the only answer
to that is yes, it was. Remember the description of the
Apostle Paul's gospel, his message in Acts 17.1? Now when they,
Paul and those who had traveled with him, had passed through
Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was
a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner was,
went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them
out of the scriptures. Opening and alleging that Christ
must needs have suffered if you're gonna open the scriptures That's
gonna be your message Christ crucified and risen again From
the dead and that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ
Not only is the Word of God Perfect and true and faithful
and reliable the only thing that is But that person Jesus of Nazareth
the one that Simon said you're the Christ of God the one that
met with these men on the road he is that Christ But this word
reveals the necessity of Christ crucified is our gospel Thank
God for Christ in the manger Thank God for Christ in the manger. He took not on him the nature
of angels, but he took on him the nature of man. It behooved
him and us for him to be made like unto his brethren. But don't
forget the last part of that verse. Thank God for him in the
manger. But listen, why was he in the manger? Wherefore in all
things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren.
That's him in the manger, taking on him our nature. That he might
be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. That's
Christ on Calvary. Thank God for Christ in the manger,
but he redeemed us on Calvary. He ought to have suffered if
God's gonna save a sinner. Thank God for Christ, our example.
Who are you going to follow as an example, if not Him? He's
really the only man. God made man to glorify Him.
How are you doing with that? He's the only man. When Pilate
said, behold the man, I don't know if he knew what he was saying
or not, but he said it right. Behold the man. But salvation
is not an example for us. Salvation is what he did that
we can never do. We can't even imitate that, nor
want to. I want to be like him in, I guess,
everything else, but what he accomplished on Calvary is not
part of that. He died for my sins. I don't
want to do that. I cannot do that. I could never
do that. He did that for me. Ought not
he to have suffered? Thank God for Christ, our doctrine.
The truth. Everything that came out of his
mouth is my doctrine. The truth. We know who God is
because he is God with us. Because he came down here and
showed us who God is. We know who God is and how sinners
are saved by his grace through the blood of Christ, because
Christ has revealed him to us. He is our doctrine. No man hath
seen God at any time, John 118, the only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared him. That word
declared is the word we get our word exegesis from. He hath set
him forth, revealed him. But our doctrine, Christ crucified is our doctrine. All of our doctrine is revealed
in Christ in his redemptive character. Think of it this way. God's holiness
is revealed in that Christ suffered, in that he suffered. God's justice is revealed in
that he suffered. God's wrath is revealed in that
he suffered. God's grace is revealed in that
Christ suffered. God's love is revealed, it's
defined by Christ, who not only ought to have suffered, but he
did for his sheep. Christ must needs have suffered
if we're to know anything about God, even up here, much less
be saved by him. These disciples were sad, and
we know what that means. We know what it is to be sad
in the way they were, but never was there any sorrow like Christ's
sorrow on Calvary. Whenever we're sad, whenever
we're sad about something, it ought to be an occasion to thank
God that we're never really gonna have or suffer true sorrow. We don't even know what it is.
His sorrow was supernatural. because of his divine nature.
His sorrow was vicarious in that he took my place. I can be sad with you, I can
be sad over you, but I can't be sad for you. Not in the sense
of relieving you of the sadness. He did. Surely he hath borne
our griefs and carried our sorrows. There's no sorrow like his in
that he was willing. I do well to endure a little
bit of sorrow. I'm not looking for it. I don't
take it upon me willingly, but he did. Even the light afflictions
that we call sorrows, we don't willingly take them. There's
no sorrow like his in that he was sorrowful even unto death,
even the death of the cross, and thereby accomplished redemption.
Think about it, his sorrow worked. His sorrow accomplished something.
What good does it do me to be sad? It doesn't help anything,
does it? I can't help it, but what does
it accomplish? His accomplished redemption for
all for whom he sorrowed. There's no sorrow like his in
that we deserve ours. We brought our sorrows on ourselves. Our Lord Jesus Christ was innocent.
These disciples were sad because they were fools, not our Lord. It wasn't any deficiency of any
kind on his part that brought his sorrow on him, not like me. His sorrow is not like mine in
that his was enough. It was enough. We know that our
sorrow is brought on by our sin, and repentance is being sorry
for our sin. Not just our sins, but our sin.
Repentance means to change your mind. That's the simple definition
of the word repentance in the New Testament. But there is included
in that a sorrow for sin. Maybe more accurately, we're
sorry for what we are and what we do. But have you ever been
sorry enough? He was. The sin was not his, but when
he bore it in Gethsemane, he said, my soul is exceeding sorrowful,
even unto death. And his sorrow being enough means
that I will never sorrow like he did. We do not even sorrow
as others who have no hope. We don't even sorrow like other
people who don't know the Lord Jesus Christ, much less do we
sorrow the sorrow of the real consequence of our sin as he
did. And because he did, when he says
to these disciples, why are you so sad? He knows what it is to be sad.
And he asks them that question in the process of taking their
sorrow away, in their experience of it. He already took away the
cause of our sorrow in Calvary. And he takes away the experiencing
of sorrow for us by his presence. Remember it says himself, In
verse 15, he himself met with them. That's how he does it. His word, he opened unto them
the scriptures. His power, he didn't just open
the word of God, he opened their understanding. I can't do that,
but he can. And he must, if we're ever to
understand. And he does it by his grace.
He does it because he wants to. He wants to take. And the result
is, in the end, in verse 52, they rejoiced. They weren't sad
anymore. And they knew why. They worshiped
him for it. When he expounded unto them in
all the scriptures the things concerning himself, he is showing
them how foolish it is for someone whom he loves, whom
he has redeemed, whom he has saved by his precious blood to
be sad about anything. They told him all the reasons
why they were sad, really two main reasons, but he let them empty their hearts
to him about why they were sad. And then he said, you're a fool
to be sad. And then he took away their sadness. He really just showed them that
it had already been taken away by himself and what he did. When
he opened their understanding, he took it away, didn't he? He
took their experience of it away. And I pray for that for us. What
is it you're talking about and why are you sad? May the Lord himself come to
us and teach us from his word Concerning the death that he
accomplished for us And may he open our understanding that we
might get it And may we worship him in the spirit and rejoice
in him alone until such time when time shall be no more and
He himself will wipe away all tears from our eyes Amen