Bible Talks - Sunday Night Church
Series: 40 Days With The Risen Lord
The message proclaimed
Sunday, 10 April 2005
Luke 24:44-49 ESV or NIV, Isaiah 53 ESV or NIV
Big Ideas
- Jesus commands us to proclaim a message of repentance and forgiveness of sins through his redeeming work on the cross
- OT proof that we need to repent and be forgiven
- OT proof that Jesus is the Messiah, and is qualified to offer forgiveness
- Proclamation tips
Introduction
Well we are now up to the 3rd week, or the 15th day, in the “40 Days with the risen Lord” series – and I don’t know about you, but I have found it thoroughly challenging and eye opening. One of the main themes that has been coming out of these 40 Days is proclamation – indeed the study series that you may be using in your small groups is called “Proclaiming the Risen Lord”.
Our sermon’s during the 40 Days are being based on the study book, which has pointed out a few interesting points about proclamation.
If you are doing the studies in your small group, you will remember that in week one we learnt about who it is that is actually doing the proclaiming. We are sometimes fooled into thinking that the proclamation is done by us! We think we have the sole responsibility of telling the world about Jesus! Luckily that is not the case. We can’t change people’s hearts, only Jesus can do that. Jesus uses us as his instruments in the world to proclaim the good news. We need to offer ourselves to do that.
In week two of the studies we found out how proclamation fitted into God’s plan. We saw that Jesus has been a part of God’s plan from the very beginning, and in fact his death and resurrection were a climactic point in God’s plan, beginning a new era in this world. The Bible refers to this new era as the last days, in which we are to urgently proclaim the message to all people.
So what is this message? Well today we are going to look at the message the disciples, and indeed we today, are to be proclaiming to all people.
The message: Repentance & Forgiveness of sins
The message is right there in Luke 24:44-47. I am going to use the ESV Bible for this verse, thus follow with me on the screen:
Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. Luke 24:44-47
So the message to be proclaimed, there in v47, is a call to repent, and an offer of forgiveness of sins available through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Now lets stop for a second and think about the group of blokes that Jesus is commanding to proclaim this. Half of them were fishermen, one was a tax collector, and the occupations of the rest we don’t know. They weren’t necessarily the most biblically scholarly folk. So when Jesus is commanding them to call for people to repent and ask for forgiveness in his name, do you think they necessarily knew what he was talking about? What are people repenting of? What did they do wrong? How can Jesus make it all right?
Even if they had heard of repenting and forgiveness in scriptures, up to that point it had only been available through blood sacrifices of animals. So, why are they now to proclaim that Jesus can offer it? These are our first evangelists! How are they going to know what to say?
At that time, Paul was probably persecuting someone, and the thought of writing useful letters about how someone called Jesus could offer a forgiveness of sins would not have crossed his mind. So the disciples didn’t have passages like Romans 6:23:
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23
Or 1 John 1:9:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.1 John 1:9
James, Peter and John were still with Jesus, thus hadn’t had a chance to write their useful explanations of the Gospel. In fact, they didn’t have any of the New Testament. They didn’t have Matthias Media with Two ways to Live, they didn’t have John North with Lifeworks, they didn’t have Billy Graham.
How were they going to explain this message that Jesus can offer forgiveness of sins?
They will be able to explain it, because they now understand it perfectly. v44 – 45 in Luke 24 explains how:
Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures… Luke 24:44 – 45
Jesus opened their minds to understand that he is the prophesied Messiah spoken of in the Old Testament. He has come and fulfilled all that was prophesied about him, and now because his death and resurrection are accomplished, he has the power to forgive.
Now that adds a lot of credibility to the message the disciples are proclaiming. They are no longer just telling people about:
· a man they knew called Jesus,
· who claimed to be the son of God,
· performed miracles,
· taught with great authority,
· but was killed,
· but came back to life,
· and now offers to forgive peoples sins.
They are now telling people about the promised Messiah,
- who’s coming was prophesied 4000 before he came
- who was God in human form
- whose task to suffer for the forgiveness of the human race had been prophesied for hundreds of years
- who actually appeared and fulfilled all prophesy about himself
- who demonstrated that he was an integral part of God’s plan for this world
That’s the sort of gospel presentation I want to do! And that’s the sort of gospel message we can tell others if we understand the scriptures. “But they are so hard” I hear you say. “Why can’t Jesus just open our minds to the scriptures” I hear you ask.
Well I believe he can and does. Now I don’t claim to be Jesus, but I am going to take us through some Old Testament passages that show us why repentance and forgiveness of sins are required, and how Jesus is able to offer this forgiveness. This is probably similar to what Jesus showed the disciples on the road to Emmaus – but don’t get me wrong – I am not claiming to know the scriptures anywhere near as well as Jesus did!
Why don’t we pray and ask God to help us understand the scriptures, and how they point to Jesus and his saving work.
Why repentance and forgiveness is required
I’ll be using quite a few bible verse’s from all over the Old Testament, so the verses I read will be displayed up on the screen, but feel free to try to keep up in your own bible. I can’t read out all the bible reference I will make due to time constraints, but a full set bible references is there in your handouts for you to lookup later. Also on the front of your handouts is a mini dictionary to clarify the meaning of some of the big words.
The message of God’s plan for the world starts way back at the beginning of time. In Genesis chapter 1, we read about God creating the heavens and the earth, and man and woman to dwell there, and it was all good and perfect.
But things very quickly went pear shaped. Only two chapters later in Genesis 3, the man and woman rebel against God. Genesis 3:11 reads:
And he[God] said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?" Genesis 3:11
This was not a good and thing, and it had its consequences. Genesis 3:23-24 goes on to tell us that man and woman were banished from the Garden, and removed from the presence of God. Why? Psalm 11:7 might give a hint:
For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face. Psalm 11:7
You see God is righteous, or perfect. Adam and Eve, in their act of rebellion against God, became un-righteous, and thus were cast out of the presence of God.
OK, that’s all good and well for Adam and Eve, but what about us today? What about the disciples? We haven’t eaten any fruit from special trees have we? Psalm 53:2 tells us:
God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. Everyone has turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. Psalm 53:2-3
No-one is righteous. We all rebel against God. We all deserve to be cast out of his presence. So what can we do about it? Is there anything we can do in our power to make ourselves righteous again? Ezekiel 33:12b tells us that there is nothing we can do by ourselves to make us righteous again. If we are trusting in good works to please God, we are in trouble! So how can we be declared righteous in God’s sight?
Leviticus 17:11 tells us that we need something to make a payment or offering to remove our sins. This is called atonement. Leviticus 17:11
For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.
Leviticus 17:11
So God’s forgiveness could be sought through killing a substitute victim as a sacrifice – usually an animal. The sacrifice taught that rebellion against God could only be made right through the death of a ritually clean substitute. But is it just about killing an animal? Psalm 51 clarifies that it is not the sacrifice itself that allows forgiveness; rather it is a repentant heart, a will to turn away from sin, and reliance on God’s mercy that brings forgiveness from God.
So this is what Jesus is talking about when he calls for people to repent, and ask for forgiveness. We need to turn away from our rebellion against God, and ask him to forgive us if we wish to re-enter his presence. But why is Jesus telling the disciples to proclaim repentance and forgiveness in his name? What happened to the animal?
This is where I think Jesus did all the “mind opening”.
How Jesus can offer it
I think the key to understanding this, is found in passages such as Isaiah 53.
Lets read v3-6, 12b:
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:3-6
And v12…
For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 53:12b
This passage is talking about a new path to atonement – one that sounds like a final solution, unlike animal sacrifices which needed to be given regularly. And it doesn’t sound like an animal is being sacrificed, rather:
“…he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed”
“For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors”
This is talking about a man, a Messiah, who even though he was “despised and rejected by men”, he “took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows” which were laid upon him by God, without complaint. He suffered, and “poured out his life unto death” to bear the sins of all people to make them right with God again.
This man is making the atonement for all people, for all of time. He is dying to pay the price for our sins. But who could do that? Only God could do that. And I think we all know that this is talking about God in the form of Jesus.
So how do we prove that Jesus was this prophesied Messiah? Well there are over 300 references to Jesus in the Old Testament, thus we are not going to go through each of them, but we’ll look at a few just to show ourselves that Jesus fulfilled prophesy, and performed the tasks described in Isaiah 53 to bring us to God.
Firstly, lets look at Micah 5:2:
"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times." Micah 5:2
So the Messiah, or “ruler over Israel” will be born in Bethlehem, and will have origins from ancient times, or even maybe the beginning of time. Sound familiar? Next Isaiah 9:6-7 tells us:
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. Isaiah 9:6-7
So the Messiah will actually be God himself! He will be born into the line of King David. Hmm… that’s interesting… Matthew 1:1 tells us that Jesus was of the line of David. What about Isaiah 7:14:
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14
A virgin giving birth to a child! That’s unusual! Although it did happen once, a long time ago in a stable, to someone called Mary, who had a baby called Jesus.
Ok, so what about the task the Messiah is meant to perform, to be “despised by men” and “pierced for our transgressions”? Lets look at Psalm 22:16
Dogs have surrounded me; a band of evil men has encircled me, they have pierced my hands and my feet. Psalm 22:16
Pierced hands and feet? Why would that happen unless you were killed the old Roman way by being nailed to a cross?
Jesus was nailed to a cross, where he died, and his resurrection three days later is prophesied in Psalm 16:10.
Jesus was the Messiah spoken of in the Old Testament. Jesus was pierced for our transgressions, was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we can made clean and have our sins forgiven. Jesus is fully qualified to command the disciples to proclaim throughout the nations that people should repent, and ask for forgiveness of sins, through the name of Jesus and his saving work on the cross.
And Jesus is fully qualified to command us, his followers to proclaim the same message, 2000 years later. So how are we to proclaim this message, in response to what we have just heard?
How we are to proclaim the message
Firstly, we can proclaim with confidence that the message we are speaking has been the same message God has been giving us from the very beginning. The gospel wasn’t invented 2000 years ago when Jesus came. Since the beginning of humanity, Jesus saving work was an integral part of God’s plan. Israel looked forward to the coming sacrificial Messiah, and Christians now look back to the finished saving work of the Messiah. Our message is not one based on the meditative thoughts of one human, rather on the inspired word of God revealed to many throughout time.
Secondly, we have been reminded again, this time from the Old Testament, that we are living in a world that does not seek God. All have turned away. All need to be called to repent, and to accept Jesus offer of forgiveness of sins available through his death and resurrection. As Neil showed last week, this is an urgent message, as we are living in the last days. It is a message that needs to go to our family, our friends, our neighbours, our workmates, our world. Jesus commands the disciples to tell this message to all the nations. We as a church and individually need to be supporting proclamation both locally and globally.
Thirdly, where our hearts are – there our thoughts and words will be also. If we truly believe and are convicted to the heart by the message and command from Jesus to proclaim it, then our thoughts and words will reflect that. If I was a devout football fan, then my passion, and my conversations would reflect that. If we are devout Christians, then our passion and conversations should reflect that.
Are you passionate about proclaiming the message?
