In the final chapter of Luke's
Gospel we see the accounts of Christ's resurrection, of the
disciples and the women coming to the tomb and discovering that
he's not there, of the two disciples heading for Emmaus and meeting
the risen Lord and of him making himself known unto them through
the breaking of bread, and of how he shows how all the scriptures
pointed to him and the need for him to come and to suffer, to
die and to rise the third day to redeem his people. This is
a passage full of the riches and glory of the gospel. There
is so much in it. I'm gonna draw your attention
this morning to this account of Christ meeting these disciples
on the Emmaus Road and I've expounded the scriptures unto them. From
verse 13 it reads, And behold, two of the disciples went that
same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem
about three score furlongs. And they talked together of all
these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while
they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went
with them. But their eyes were holden that
they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner
of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye
walk and are sad? And the one of them, whose name
was Cleopas, answering, said unto him, Art thou only a stranger
in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to
pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, concerning
Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet, mighty in deed and
word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and
our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified
him. But we trusted that it had been
he which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this,
Today is the third day since these things were done. Yea,
and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which
were early at the sepulchre. And when they found not his body,
they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels,
which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were
with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women
had said. But him they saw not. Then Jesus
said unto them, 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. Then he said unto them, 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. In this Gospel, the third of
the four Gospels, we have a vision of Christ presented unto us,
distinct from the other Gospels, in which Christ is presented
as the Saviour of the world, the Saviour of sinners, who comes
with the grace of God in salvation. Each Gospel presents Christ in
a distinct light, Matthew, presents him as the Messiah, presents
the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. Mark presents the apostle
of our salvation, the messenger, the servant. John presents Christ
as the son of God. And here in Luke's gospel, Luke
presents him as the savior. And here at the very end of Luke's
gospel, we see this savior. having been crucified, having
been slain, having been put to death. And we see the despair
of his disciples, who as they said had trusted that he had
been the one that should have redeemed Israel. They'd lived
with him, they'd walked with him, they'd heard him, they'd
seen his deeds, they'd seen that he was a prophet, mighty in deed
and word before God and all the people. And they thought, this
is the Messiah, this is the Redeemer come, this is the one who will
redeem us. And yet here, the one in whom
they trusted, the one in whom they hoped, was laid in a grave,
having been nailed to a tree, having been crucified and slain
in the most awful manner. And when they saw him nailed
to that cross, and when they saw the rejection of the people,
and when they saw him suffering and dying, they saw their hopes
fall into the ground in tatters. They felt they'd got it wrong.
They were in abject despair. Here the One they fought had
come to deliver them, to deliver them from the grip of Rome upon
Israel at that time, to deliver Israel from its enemies, to deliver
them, to redeem them. They thought He'd been taken
away. They thought all their hopes
had come to nothing. Christ was gone. Jesus was slain. What now? What now? And in this state, in this state
of despair and unbelief, where they had heard but not
heard, where they had seen but not seen where they had read
the scriptures which spake of Christ the Redeemer but not understood
where they knew that a Redeemer would come for Israel but they
did not understand how he would redeem Israel in this state of
despair that Saviour who was slain, who had died, who was
laid in a grave, came unto these disciples in such a state, in
such darkness, in such blindness, in such foolishness, in such
unbelief, and speaks to them. The Saviour Himself The Risen
Saviour comes unto these fools, comes unto these fools like you
and I, who can have all the Scriptures, all the religion in the world,
who can even see the Lord Jesus Christ in person, and not comprehend
or understand who He is. and what His Gospel is. He Himself
comes unto these who were deserving in their foolishness and unbelief
of His contempt, His judgement, His anger, His fury, His rejection. Yet He comes unto them in love
and in grace. and takes them back to the Word
of God and opens up that Word of God as a man takes a loaf
of bread and breaks it and gives to eat and made himself known
unto them. O fools and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken, he says. Ought not
Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his
glory? You look to Me to be a Redeemer. And yet when I came to suffer
what the Scriptures said I should suffer, in order that I should
enter My glory and bring you with Me into that glory, when
I came to do the very thing of which the Scriptures said I would
be the One, I would be the one to come to redeem and to redeem
by dying in the place of sinners when I came to do that very act. You could not see it. Though
I spake of it to you, you did not understand. Though I told
you that I should die, though I told you I should be delivered
up, you could not take it. You could not understand, you
could not comprehend. And beginning at Moses, and all
the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the
things concerning himself. The things concerning himself.
and it came to pass later on as he sat at meat with them he
took bread and blessed it and break and gave to them and their
eyes were opened and they knew him and he vanished out of their
sight and they said one to another did not our heart burn within
us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to
us the scriptures yes he took those scriptures as he took that
bread and he blessed them as he blessed it and he break them
as he break that and he gave it to them as he gave them bread
and their eyes were opened and they knew him they'd read those
scriptures before as they'd eaten bread before but they'd never
seen Christ later on He took some fish and a honeycomb, and
He took it and did eat before them, and He said unto them,
These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with
you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written
in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning
me. Then opened He their understanding,
that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them,
Thus it is written and thus it behove Christ to suffer and to
rise from the dead the third day and that repentance and remission
of sin should be preached in his name among all nations beginning
at Jerusalem and ye are witnesses of these things. This very Savior
comes unto this people and takes those scriptures and causes them
to see that what has happened to him is not the end, is not
their hope shattered, is not a failure, is not that to be
despaired about, but is that very hope which they hoped for,
is that very salvation which they looked for, is that very
redemption which they thought He would bring their way. His
death was the very means by which He would set them free. And His
death was that which the whole of the Scriptures had pointed
to, if they could but see. Hear the Saviour risen from the
dead, in newness of life, in everlasting life, risen life,
glorified life comes unto them, who are in the depths, who are
natural, who are fallen, who are in the flesh, who've seen
but never seen in the flesh, who've read and heard but never
understood in the flesh. People like you and I, who could
not comprehend. And he takes the Word of God
and he makes them to see it and to hear it in a manner in which
they have never seen or heard before. He speaks and his words
are living words unto them. He speaks and life enters into
their soul. He speaks and their understanding
is opened. He speaks and their heart burns
as one within them. He speaks as a risen Savior and
that life which is in Him is conveyed unto them by the mighty
working of the Holy Spirit. Now they see, when they hear
His voice, taking those scriptures, those same scriptures that they
once read with the natural understanding and never seen but now Christ
comes with his gospel and takes those words and speaks and life
enters in and they see and they see gone is their unbelief Faith
enters into the heart, understanding, and the eyes are opened. Aren't
we just like these disciples? Aren't we just like them? despite
all the Scriptures, despite the testimony of the whole Word of
God which God has preserved for us to this day, despite the fact
that throughout 39 books of the Old Testament and 27 in the New
Testament, we have this recorded record of God's Word, God's testimony,
God's testimony through the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms
pointing under Christ, God's testimony of What Christ did,
as recorded in the four Gospels. God's testimony of His establishment
of His Church in the New Testament. All these words. And two thousand
years since the coming of Christ we've had this continual testimony
of His work as preached in the Gospel by those whom He has sent. Those preachers of the Gospel. A continual voice has sounded
from heaven on high. This is my Son, in whom I am
well pleased. Hear ye Him! A voice sounds out
unto this world each and every day. There is not a day that
passes that God does not speak and has not spoken. Every day
that the sun arises upon this world there is a speech sounding
out from heaven a light shining forth. The light of the sun in
the physical realm brings light into what otherwise would be
darkness but as it rises there is a speech and a light that
shines forth and sounds forth in this world God says in the
darkness of this world this is my son of whom I have spoken
of whom the scriptures testify of whom Moses spake this is my
son hear ye him and a world in darkness no matter how religious,
no matter how well versed in the scriptures, no matter how
much preaching it has heard, sits dumb, deaf and blind, looks upon a saviour crucified
and cannot see him for whom he is. Oh 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. Yes you can read this book and
you can hear preachers But until Christ comes unto you in particular
and opens your understanding to see Him in all the Scriptures,
He's just a name. You may profess His name, you
may speak of Him, you may speak of what He did and what He has
done and what He is doing. But no matter what you say, and
no matter what words are in your head until He's spoken unto you,
that's just words. You do not know. You have no
life. And when trouble comes, you despair
like these disciples despaired. Oh, you'd hope for this. And
why has it not come about? Oh, you'd hope that there would
be a great revival in the days in which you live. Oh, you hope
that the nation would all turn to Christ. Oh, you did this in
your church. You had this program and that
program. And how you despair that the
door's shut in your face. And you despair that the world
spirals ever more into sin. Why don't things work out as
you hope? Because you've never truly seen
Christ. And you've never truly understood what his death meant,
and why he suffered in the way he suffered. You've seen in part,
but not in full. These disciples knew in part. They knew of Messiah to come. They knew of a Christ, they knew
of a Redeemer. But when that Redeemer was sacrificed,
as the scriptures said he would be, When he laid down his life,
as the Prophet said he would, when he was pierced, as the Prophet
said he would be pierced, they could not understand. They knew
in part, but not in whole. You may know in part, you may
be able to say many things, but do you know him? Even if we see Christ himself
face to face as he saw him face to face, still we cannot comprehend
unless he opens our understanding. How foolish we are by nature. How foolish the natural man is
by nature. How foolish you are by nature. You live 2,000 years on from
these days recorded. You may look back with the knowledge
and intellect of one who lives in the 21st century and you may
look back with a pompous deriding of who these disciples were and
say that these were simple people. But we're much wiser. We have
science and understanding. And you may justify your unbelief
and rejection of the Son of God by your greater understanding
and knowledge. But I tell you plain that your
knowledge will damn you. Your knowledge is not greater
than these simple fishermen were given. You are as blind as they
were until Christ opened their eyes. And your knowledge will
make you blinder. The more you increase with the
knowledge and the science and the attitudes and thinking of
this world with regard to Jesus Christ, the blinder you will
become. Paul spake this wisdom which
you glory in, of this knowledge which you rejoice in. In Romans
and chapter 1 where he says that the invisible things of God from
the creation of the world are clearly seen they're there all
around you what your science observes speaks of God Being
understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power
and Godhead, they all speak of Him. Through them He speaks and
says, I am. through the creation, through
the universe, through the movement of the sun and the stars and
the planets, constantly, every day, God is saying to an unbelieving
world, I am. This is my eternal power and
Godhead, which makes these things to be, which sustains them, which
moves all things that life on earth should be sustained, and
which moves all things that life on earth should be sustained
because amongst that people living on earth I have a people called
mine elect, my chosen whom I have redeemed through the blood of
my son the Lord Jesus Christ. The only reason this world exists,
the only reason that Saturn spins around the Sun. The only reason
that Pluto, millions of miles away, spins around the Sun is
because God has a people in this world whom Christ died to save
who have yet to hear the Gospel. If you're alive today, If God
is keeping your heart beating today, it is because there are
those in this world who today must hear the gospel. Are you
one of them? But that's why this world is. And this world and this universe
exists and is, and every day, through its existence, says unto
this unbelieving world, God is. so that you are without excuse
if you look upon these things, look upon the creation, look
upon the world, look upon the wonders of the animal world,
look upon the wonders of the human body and the human eye,
look upon the wonders of the stars in the firmament, if you
look upon these things and say there is no God, you are without
excuse. because that when they knew God
they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became
vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened
professing themselves to be wise they became fools they became
fools Now you may say you are wise, you are knowledgeable,
you are intellectual, you have science, you have all the evidence
of the world around you today and you say that evidence says
there's no God. Well your wisdom's made you a
fool because God put that evidence there. God put the creation there
and through all these things God is saying unto fools like
you, I am. and yet by nature we cannot see. Unbelief is in us all, we are
fools just like these disciples on the Emmaus road. Despite the
witness of the creation around us, despite all the prophets
and the testimony of the scriptures and all the preachers that God
has sent throughout the ages, despite the fact that every day
there is a voice ringing down from heaven by the Spirit of
God saying this is my son Jesus Christ, believe him. I gave him as a sacrifice for
the sins of people like you. I slew my son that people might
be redeemed from their corruption, that I might make them to be
righteous, that I might deliver you from the wrath to come. Though
you are a sinner, though judgment will rain down upon the sins
of sinners, there is a people whom God has redeemed through
the death of his Son and God is preaching that message every
day to this fallen world. And yet, unless he takes that
message and that testimony and those scriptures and opens them
up to you in particular, you will be just the fool that these
men on the Emmaus road were. Unbelieving. We're all like it. We all shut our ears and we all
think we are wise. We all think we see when we are
blind. Christ speaks to these men and
says unto them, 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. All the scriptures, Moses the
prophets, the Psalms, the whole testimony of God which he had
left unto Israel, pointed unto Christ and pointed unto his death,
his suffering and his resurrection. And yet despite all that, they
could not see it. They knew there was a Messiah
to come. They knew there was a Redeemer. They'd heard Him
say, Christ Himself, that He must die, that He would be delivered
up into the hands of the chief priests. And yet they could not
see it. They could not see that He would
be the sacrifice. They thought perhaps that he
would be as it were as a priest, as a prophet, as a king to lead
a kingdom. But not the sacrifice the priest
offers up. Surely the Redeemer would find
another way to set them free. But ought not Christ to have
suffered these things? There's an ought to this verse.
An ought. Ought not he to have suffered
these things? Christ to have suffered? he who was holy, spotless, without
blame, he who was sent of God, he who they hoped would be God's
Saviour, he who said he was the Son of God, the Son of God ought
to suffer? Why? Why ought the Son of God,
he who is without sin, he who is perfection, why ought he to
suffer? that we should suffer is unquestionable. All men, all we like sheep have
gone astray. We've rebelled against our God. As fools, as unbelieving fools,
we've turned from His ways, we've turned from His worship, we've
turned from seeking His glory. We've shaken our fist in His
face every day. We've spoken lies every day. We seek to justify ourselves
before man and before God every day. We seek to tell others how
good we are and to cover up every sin and failing with some justification
for why it was right that I did this. when we're found out in
some fault we excuse ourselves and we blame everybody else and
we spin a web of deceit in order to escape condemnation and yet
we know we're guilty we know what we're like within and we
know that if we were to stand before a holy and a righteous
God that he'd find us guilty at the very first instant you
know it then we ought to suffer. But
surely not he. What wrong had he done? What
sin had he committed? Why should he be the one nailed
to that cross? Peter said unto his Lord, Peter
had this willingness, Peter would rather die than see Christ die. And yet Peter, in the end denied him. And Peter
saw his Lord taken away and nailed to a tree. And yet Christ says unto the
disciples, and Christ says unto you, and Christ says as it were
unto Peter, ought not Christ to have suffered these things
and to enter into his glory? Ought not. Why? because the only way that you
or I can escape condemnation would be if somebody takes that
condemnation, that judgment, that sentence due unto our sins
upon himself. There is no way that we can make
ourselves right before God. There is no way that we can undo
a catalogue of sin and corruption that we have built up through
our lifetimes. Even if this day we said I will
turn another leaf, I will change my ways. Even if from this point
in time we lived a life so holy and pleasing unto God, we can
do nothing about our past sins. We're lost before we've started
and there is no way that we can cover those sins and have an
answer before a holy God. We cannot enter into the kingdom
of heaven, Christ says in Matthew 5, unless our righteousnesses
exceed those that are described from the Pharisees. Unless our
righteousness is greater than the scribes and the Pharisees,
unless our obedience to the law of God, unless our lives are
without spot or blemish, unless our obedience is perfect, we
cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven. then our only hope
to enter is if someone else takes away the punishment which we
have earned. And if someone else grants unto
us their righteousness and makes us to be righteous, we cannot
do it ourselves. Our best works will never earn
it. And the wondrous truth is that
in Moses and in the prophets, and in the Psalms and in all
the Scriptures there is a message spoken time and again of a Saviour,
a Redeemer who would come and who would suffer, and who would
die in the place of sinners, and who would die as their substitute,
who would come to take away their sin and bring in righteousness,
who would come to deliver them from condemnation, who would
come and be that sacrifice of which the law and its sacrifices
pointed. He would come and be that sacrifice
in their place, not one of many sacrifices to be offered continually,
but one sacrifice to be offered once and for all, fulfilling
all things. There is a Savior and a sacrifice
to come, and all the scriptures pointed unto Him. and they pointed
unto the necessity that that Redeemer, that One who would
set Israel free would be that sacrifice and would die as a
substitute in the place of sinners. Ought not Christ to have suffered? Yes he must, not because of what's
in him, not because of what he has done, not because of what
he is, because he was spotless, but as a substitute, as a sacrifice
offered for others, he must suffer to take away their sins, to take
away their corruption. and to take away their sin. He
must, if they're to be delivered, and if He's to enter into His
glory and for them to enter into His glory with them, to bring
in righteousness for them, to take away their sin, to make
an end of sin, He must suffer. And He did suffer. He did suffer. He was nailed to that cross.
and crucified. And when he was crucified, when
he was slain, the light of the sun was taken away because God
laid upon that son of God, that son of his love, that sacrifice,
he laid upon him. as the priest took his hand and
touched the sacrifice slain in the Old Testament God as it were
took his hand and laid it upon Christ and took our sins and
transferred them unto him and made him to be sin that his people
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him in the darkness
there was a transfer a transfer of our sins and our sin unto
the Saviour And because of that transfer, He suffered rather
than us. And because of that transfer,
He died rather than us. It's because sin and sins were
transferred to the Savior that He died. Without that real transfer,
and that real judgment which poured down from heaven against
those sins and that sin as a consequence, there would have been no death,
Christ did not die because of the nails through his hands.
Christ did not die because he hung in the midday sun. Christ
did not die because he was physically put to death. He died because
he was judged for the sins of his people. He died because he
was made sin. Sin enters and death by sin. Romans 5 tells us that when Adam
transgressed, sin entered this world and death by sin. Sin and
death are inextricably linked. Where sin enters, death follows. Without sin, there is no death. Without sin, Christ could not
have died. But because sin entered into
this world, God must take that sin and lay it upon Christ. And
through doing so, he must die. And he must die if that sin was
to be taken away. If we're to be delivered not
just from our sins and the guilt of our sins and the judgment
of God against our sins, but from sin itself which entered
Adam and entered all mankind at the fore. If we're to be delivered
from sin and its reigning power in our flesh, in our beings,
if we're to be delivered from it, it must be taken away. And that's exactly what Christ
did when he died. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things? Yes, it's the only way that we
could be delivered from sin and sins and the wrath to come. The
only way that we could be made to be the righteousness of God. Made to be perfect if Christ
suffered these things. The only way. Ought not Christ
to have suffered? Yes he ought. He must. The sacrifice must be slain. He wasn't just the king. He wasn't
just the prophet. He wasn't just the priest. But
he was that great high priest who took himself as the sacrifice
also and slew the sacrifice. and in so doing delivered his
people, there could be no redemption of Israel. Oh fools and slow
of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. You
look for a redeemer in Israel, there can be no redemption. You
cannot be set free from your sin unless Christ died and was
made sin in your place. He ought to have suffered and
unless he did, you would remain in your sins. and unless he suffered
for you, you remain in your sins and you remain in your unbelief
and you remain a fool. Did he suffer for you? These disciples by nature could
not comprehend, they could not comprehend that this Lord, this
Saviour, this One whom they'd walked with and seen, this perfect
Man, this mighty Prophet, this Prophet mighty indeed and Word
before God and all the people, they could not comprehend that
He should suffer in the way in which they'd seen Him suffer.
They could not comprehend that Christ himself, Jesus, whom they'd
seen, should be nailed to that tree and actually die. They'd seen him die. They'd heard his utterances on
the cross. They'd heard him cry out, it
is finished, and give up the ghost. They'd seen his body taken
down and laid in the grave. They thought in the end that
even if he was nailed to that cross, even if the Thai priest
sought to put him to death, that he being the son of God would
somehow rise, would somehow remain alive. They could not imagine
that he'd actually die. And yet the scriptures showed
that he must die. He must actually die if they're
to be redeemed. The redemption came. The freedom
came. The freedom from sin came. Because the Saviour was made
sin. unless the Saviour was made sin,
you are yet in your sin. You are not redeemed and you
are not free. Just as they could not believe,
there are many today who look at the death of Christ and look
at it and will say many things about it but they cannot see
that he could have suffered in just this way. They cannot comprehend
that he could bear the sins of his own people in his own tree
and that he could be made sin as the scriptures say he was.
They say that's not possible, he's the son of God, he's spotless,
without blame, he never sinned, it could not happen. And yet
he died, and he died because he was made sin. And he died
to redeem us from sin and its consequences. And if we are redeemed,
and if we are made to be the righteousness of God in him,
and if we have eternal life in him, if our eyes are opened to
see him, it will be because he suffered. He suffered as one
made sin, as one who bore the sins of his people, as one who
bore the outpouring of God's fires of wrath from heaven on
high upon him, as one who died, as one who was laid in the grave. He suffered. He suffered the
anguish, he suffered the torment, he suffered the fires, he suffered
the travail of death. He suffered his own father turning
from him because of what he was. Because his own son was made
sin, he suffered his father turning against him and judging him and
beating him because of what he was. My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? Because he ought to suffer, that
he should take away that sin. And he did. And having taken
it away, he was laid in the grave. And his people who were one with
him in that death, By which means he bore their sins and was made
their sin because they went into that grave with him spiritually.
They went and they died and their old man died, their old Adam
died in Christ, that old man of sin that Romans 6 tells us
of was slain and judged and destroyed. And on the third day, on the
third day they rose with him from the grave. on the third
day he arose with newness of life and they rose with him and
because of that life they come to hear the gospel preached unto
them and come to see that he suffered for them and when they're
brought to see that and their eyes are opened by the Spirit
of God and they see their risen Saviour that life enters into
them now And should he take these truths and this gospel and take
these scriptures and take all the words of Moses and the prophet
and reveal himself unto you through them, then your eyes will be
opened, your understanding will be opened and this life will
enter in. They said one to another, did
not our heart burn within us while he taught with us by the
way? And while he opened to us the Scriptures, ought not Christ to have suffered
and to enter into his glory? If he suffered for you, If He
redeemed you, if He set you free, not just from the judgment your
sins have earned, but from the power of sin within, if He set
you free from sin and made you to be the righteousness of God
with Him, then you with Him will enter into His glory. for when
he rose from the dead he spent 40 days with his disciples before
he ascended and he ascended glorious to sit on the right hand of the
father from whence he preaches from whence he preaches this
gospel to the four corners of this earth, from whence he speaks,
and he takes the Scriptures, and he takes the message of all
the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms, and he opens up unto
dead fools like you and I, and shows us from these Scriptures
that Christ, it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the
dead the third day. And that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning
at Jerusalem. He began at Jerusalem that day
and from the ascended heights he is preaching this repentance
and this remission of sins unto all nations. And we are witnesses
of these things. Have you heard His voice from
on high this day, taking the Scriptures and pointing you unto
Him? Oh, there are riches in this
Gospel, riches of His love, His mercy, His grace in suffering
for sinners, in coming into this world to seek and to save that
which was lost. And all the Scriptures point
unto Him. These past months, this past
year we've gone through from Genesis to Malachi, every book
of the Old Testament and we've seen how every book has Christ
and his gospel as its message. So often we read of the third
day, so often we read of these pictures pointing to his death
and his resurrection. All the scriptures have this
crimson cord running through them and you've heard it and
yet by nature you're foolish and blind and slow to understand. But there comes a day when for
each child of God in their foolishness and in their unbelief Christ
will take these things as a piece of bread and break them, and
you will eat, and your heart will burn within, and He will
open your understanding, and He will show you all things concerning
Himself, all things from all books, what things? His life,
His person, His Godhead, His divinity, His humanity, His condescension,
His coming into this world made a little lower than the angels
even for the suffering of death. his rejection by all men, his
suffering, his righteousness, his holiness, his meekness, his
love, his mercy, his faith, his long-suffering, his union with
the Father, his inner life of peace and union with his own
God and Father. His being the elect, the seed
of God, the seed of Abraham, the chosen who should come and
redeem his people. His being the very word of God,
the one by whom God spake and the earth was brought into being,
the one through whom God speaks and sinners are brought to life.
The faith. He is the gospel, the message
of the gospel, the power of God unto salvation. He is the faith
once delivered unto the saints. He is the one who lived by faith,
who brings about their faith. From faith to faith, the righteousness
of God is revealed from his faith unto our faith. He is that prophet
of whom the scriptures speak, that priest, that king, that
sacrifice. All these things. He is the temple,
the one overlaid in gold, the one who was burnt in the fire,
the one who suffered to deliver his people. He is that temple
crushed and broken down and rebuilt in three days. On the third day. They met him full of unbelief
and said he's been crucified and we trusted that he should
have redeemed Israel and beside all this today is the third day
since these things were done. Oh don't be so foolish! The third day, on the third day
he would take that temple and rebuild it and here he is rebuilt,
stood before them as their saviour, their redeemer. And they could
not see until he opened their eyes. Yet he's the message of
all the scriptures. Can you see? Not by nature. not by nature of fools and slow
of heart to believe and yet he is why must he suffer to make
us in him to be the righteousness of God that sinners should enter
with him into his glory that they should be delivered and
redeemed from sin from the darkness from the death of this world
Oh what a work of faith his suffering was, oh what a work of faith
it was when he went into the abyss of death at the cross,
when he went into the darkness, when he waded through the valley
of death, when he waded through the rivers of death. Oh how he
trusted in his father that he should be brought out the other
side and his people with him, entering into glory. O can you
see in the darkness His faith and His love and His salvation? Did you walk with Him in that
place? Are you one for whom He suffered? Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to have entered into His glory? Ought He not
to save sinners like you and I? Ought He not? How else could
we be saved if He hadn't? Did he suffer for you? Do you hear him? Have you seen
him? Do you know him? Has he taken
that bread and broken it before you? If he has, rejoice. Rejoice, your salvation has come. You are a witness of these things. And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets. He expanded unto them in all
the Scriptures the things concerning himself. Amen.