To Seek And To Save

God’s Glorious Plan

Luke 18.31-34 

[As Jesus makes His way toward Jerusalem, teaching as He travels, He now gathers His Apostles (the twelve), and reveals God’s plan for our Lord Jesus Christ.  In providing this revelation Christ is giving His called men a forewarning of what they are getting ready to experience.  Jesus wants them to be assured that those events that are coming were not just chance circumstances, but was Almighty God’s plan from the very beginning.  God knew what would occur, and had revealed in advance, not just by mere days and weeks, but by hundreds of years in recorded, written, prophetic revelation throughout the Old Testament.] 

[It is interesting to note that the Apostles refused to hear what Jesus told them about the terror that was coming upon them.  It seems that our human intellects are excellent filters that set us up for discouragement and despair.  We have the tendency to only hear what we are willing to hear.  We just do not want to acknowledge those things that do not heighten our expectations for the future.  The apostles were anticipating that Jesus would at a kingly throne and deliver the Jews out of their long enduring oppression, and they determined not the hear anything else.  The problem was that their expectation and demand was not God’s purpose and plan for their near future.] 

[Christians today have the same tendency, even with the written Word of God in hand.  Contemporary Christians have developed an optimistic opinion concerning the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.  In their optimism they refuse to acknowledge the many Scriptures that reveal the deception and apostasy the will permeate the professing Church.  This failure to hear the revealed Word of God has likewise set up the Church for discouragement and despair, and will result in many misunderstandings, eternally lost souls, and much disillusionment within the Church body.]   

[Christians must learn to hear the Word of God as it is presented.  We must listen carefully, especially for those messages that seem contrary to our philosophies of the Christian life.  Much has been revealed by God.  The question is, are you listening to Him?] 

Consider what Jesus taught in this passage: 

A.     The Prophets Have Spoken (vs 31) 

1.      The Rejection of Foolish Mankind (Psalm 14.1-3; Luke 11.28; 2 Pet 1.20-21;  ) [– Many in our day have began to scoff at God, His Church, and His written Word (The Bible).  They laugh and mock and say things like, “Only the weak and foolish will believe the Bible!  That book is nothing more than any other book, it proves nothing when it come to life!”  God’s response is simple, He states:] 

[Psalms 14:1-3 ¹ The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. ² The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. ³ They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.]

a.       [The folly of the ignorant – Over the years it has become increasingly apparent that those who mock at God’s Word the loudest are those who know nothing at all about the Bible.  They have not read it, they have not studied its content, and they have not investigated its claims.  These people are, without exception ignorant of the text of the Bible. ]  

(1)   [They will, usually through a misguided suggestion, discover a little piece of Scripture, remove it form its context, claim a misguided interpretation, and declare it in error.] 

(2)   [These people are still ignorant of the Word of God.  They have not read it, and they have not actually studied the texts they are attacking.  The truth is, these people do not want to hear God or His Word.] 

(3)   [Their so called errors are always easily answer through a bit of diligent Bible study, and reasonable explanation.] 

b.      [Foolish people resolve to ignore God – The majority of people do not really want to hear God.  They may acknowledge that there is a God, but they do not desire to really hear God.  Why?  If they really hear God then they will have to change their lives to conform to God’s purpose and plan.  Even self proclaimed religious people do not wish to hear the full counsel of God.] 

c.       [The truth is, the prophets have spoken – Jesus says:] 

[Luke 18:31 ³¹ Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. ]

[Jesus is directing His apostles, and all who will read this text, to the written Word of God, and He is saying, ] 

[Luke 11:28  . . . blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.]

[In other words, everything that is written in the Word of God is going to happen.  Not a single word is going to dropped.  All of the forces of hell cannot stop what God had already declared.  ]  

[How could these prophecies have such final authority?  Because these men were used by God to write His hallowed Word, these prophets were used by God to pen the revealed Word of God (inspiration).  The Bible declares:]

[2 Peter 1:20-21 ²⁰ Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. ²¹ For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. ]

[There have been many self proclaimed soothsayers or fortune tellers in the history of mankind.  Many have managed to get some things right, but all, apart from God used men, have erred in their prophetic utterances sooner or later.] 

[Yet, the Word of God has never erred.  All that has been revealed in God’s Holy Word has or will be fulfilled to the very letter.  This is the Word that Jesus is conferring upon His apostles.  ] 

2.      The Revelation of God’s Eternal Plan ( Matt 5.17-20) [– There are two ways to approach the Word of God.  I call these Two Schools of Thought:] 

a.       [The Alexandrian School – This school of thought or way of approaching God’s Word teaches that:] 

(1)   [The Bible was authored by men who wrote what they thought about God, and what makes one mans opinion about God any better than any other mans opinion.  ] 

(2)   [This school stresses the Allegorical Method of Interpretation which teaches that everything in the Bible is spiritually symbolic and can mean virtually anything you can imagine.] 

b.      [The Antiochian School – This school of thought or way of approaching God’s Word teaches that:] 

(1)   [The Bible was authored by God who used men (penman) to write what He wanted them to write, so that every word, letter, and stroke of the pen was guided by Almighty-God.] 

(2)   [This school stresses the Literal Interpretation of the Bible which teaches that God’s Word says what it says whether to like it or not.  It doesn’t matter what I think or what you think, all that matters is what God says.] 

c.       [Jesus’ Approach to the Bible – Which school of thought was Jesus’?] 

[Matthew 5:17-20 ¹⁷ Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. ¹⁸ For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. ¹⁹ Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰ For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. ]

[The jot is the smallest Hebrew character.  The tittle is the Greek description of the smallest accent point written on a page of text.  Hence, Jesus declared that ever stroke of the pen on the written page was protected by God.] 

d.      [In taking the Apostles to the prophets Jesus is doing two things:] 

(1)   [Jesus is substantiating the written Word of God and its supernatural authority.  He is saying with a certainty, Heed God’s Word.] 

(2)   [Jesus is substantiating what is about to happen to Him in His physical suffering by revealing that it was all revealed hundreds of years before Jesus was even born.] 

3.      The Realization of God’s Sovereign Purpose [– Those reading these words in this text need to understand that in God’s Word they have a sure revelation that has been established through the ages.  It is not mere chance that Jesus suffered, died and resurrected from the grave.  It is, without any doubt, the fulfillment of God’s divinely revealed will.  ] 

a.       [Through the prophets God revealed what would happen to His Son and our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ.  Hence, we know that Jesus is the Messiah or the Christ.  We can trust Him with our eternal soul and yield to Him our complete surrender because He is the only Savior of our soul, Creator, Sustainer, Lord of lords, and King of kings.] 

b.      [Through the prophets we can be assured about those things that are yet to come.  ] 

(1)   [We know of the apostasy of the Church in the Church age.]

(2)   [We know of the coming Rapture of the Church.]

(3)   [We know of the seven year Tribulation Period.]

(4)   [We know of the Anti-Christ who will deceive all the world.]

(5)   [We know of the Second Coming of Christ and His millennial reign.]

(6)   [We know of the Great White Throne judgment to come]

(7)   [We know of the New Heaven and the New Earth.] 

B.     The Promise Is Given (vs 32-33)  [There are 77 major prophecies and 270 ramifications concerning our Lord’s first advent [Josh McDowell, More Than A Carpenter].  The Old Testament was completed 400 years before Christ.  The prophecies we are about to look at from Psalms date to 1000 years before Christ.  Yet all of these prophecies were literally fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ.]  These Prophecies declare that Jesus must be: 

1.      Crushed (vs 32-33; Isa 53.1-7; Psalm 41.9; Zech 11.12; Psalm 22.7-8) [– “For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: ³³ And they shall scourge him, . . .” ] 

a.       [Our Suffering Savior ] 

[Isaiah 53:1-7 ¹ Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? ² For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. ³ He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. ⁴ Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. ⁵ But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. ⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. ⁷ He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. ]

b.      [Betrayed by a Friend] 

[Psalms 41:9 ⁹ Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. ]

c.       [Sold for thirty pieces of silver] 

[Zechariah 11:2 ² Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down. ]

d.      [Scorned and Mocked] 

[Psalms 22:7-8 ⁷ All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, ⁸ He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. ]

2.      Crucified (vs 33; Zech 12.10; Isa 49.16; Psalm 34.20; 22.17-18, 14) [– “. . . and put him to death: . . .”  - While the Old Testament does not use the word crucifixion, because the Roman Cross had not yet been invented.  It is clearly described.  The prophets declared:] 

a.       [The piercing of His hands and feet] 

[Zechariah 12:10 ¹⁰ And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. ]

[Isaiah 49:16 ¹⁶ Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. ]

b.      [No Bones Broken] 

[Psalms 34:20 ²⁰ He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken. ]

c.       [Soldiers Gambling for His garment] 

[Psalms 22:17-18 ¹⁷ I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. ¹⁸ They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. ]

d.      [His bones out of joint and His melted heart] 

[Psalms 22:14 ¹⁴ I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. ]

3.      Crowned (vs 33; Psalm 16.10; 49.15; 68.18) [– “. . . and the third day he shall rise again.”  - The resurrection of our Lord was also prophesied in the Old Testament.] 

[Psalms 16:10 ¹⁰ For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. ]

[Psalms 49:15 ¹⁵ But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah. ]

[Psalms 68:18 ¹⁸ Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. ]

C.     The Purchase Must Be Reckoned (vs 34) [– At the time when Jesus taught his disciples, our text indicates that they didn’t understand what Jesus was saying to them.  But after His actual resurrection the recalled all that our Lord had said.  Some might try to argue that this is evidence that it was all written after the fact.  However, they can never argue away the fact that each of the prophecies Jesus fulfilled were actually pen and preserved no less than 400 years before Jesus was even born.]  Now you have a choice to make.  You can: 

1.      Reject the Lord Jesus Christ [– But know this, while you may refuse to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you will never be able to deny that God has clearly revealed who He is, by the prophecies He has clearly fulfilled.  No matter what people may say about Jesus, the revelation of God can never be denied.  You will stand in front of Him one day in final judgment and will fully acknowledge God’s full and purposeful discloser.  Your eternal damnation will be your singular responsibility.  You choose to refuse the Lord Jesus Christ.] 

2.      Receive the Lord Jesus Christ 

CrossRoads Baptist Church, September 2, 2007