WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.740 of this morning, and that theme is the Scriptures. 00:00:04.419 --> 00:00:07.120 I love this story, and while honestly this is 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:10.060 one of my favorite parts of the Easter story, 00:00:10.660 --> 00:00:13.220 we're not actually going to focus on the Easter 00:00:13.220 --> 00:00:16.579 part of this story. That yes, this happened on 00:00:16.579 --> 00:00:19.300 that Resurrection Sunday. But I want everyone 00:00:19.300 --> 00:00:22.339 to look at your Bibles right here. Because let's 00:00:22.339 --> 00:00:25.379 be really honest, okay? This is a real big book, 00:00:25.620 --> 00:00:30.100 right? Pop quiz, how many books? Very good. 66 00:00:30.100 --> 00:00:33.700 books in this Bible, many of them written by 00:00:33.700 --> 00:00:37.659 different people in amassing many, many, many 00:00:37.659 --> 00:00:41.619 different years. So many different stories and 00:00:41.619 --> 00:00:45.359 passages, parables, teachings, Proverbs, Psalms, 00:00:45.399 --> 00:00:49.880 all of these things included in this book. And 00:00:49.880 --> 00:00:53.179 we as this church believe something very special 00:00:53.179 --> 00:00:56.119 about this book. We don't believe that this is 00:00:56.119 --> 00:00:59.990 just a good book. We don't believe that it's 00:00:59.990 --> 00:01:02.909 just a book of good writings that give us moral 00:01:02.909 --> 00:01:06.810 teachings. It is that, but it is much more than 00:01:06.810 --> 00:01:09.750 that. We believe that this book, most of your 00:01:09.750 --> 00:01:11.890 Bibles will probably have a word before the word 00:01:11.890 --> 00:01:16.069 Bible, and what word is that? Holy. See, the 00:01:16.069 --> 00:01:19.909 word Bible on its own or on its own isn't special. 00:01:20.450 --> 00:01:22.430 You can have a Bible of a bunch of different 00:01:22.430 --> 00:01:25.170 things, but that word there before is very important 00:01:25.170 --> 00:01:32.489 because this God's Word written for us. As the 00:01:32.489 --> 00:01:34.590 human authors wrote it, the Bible says they were 00:01:34.590 --> 00:01:37.209 guided by the Holy Spirit so that every single 00:01:37.209 --> 00:01:40.930 word on these pages is what God wants us to know. 00:01:41.730 --> 00:01:44.849 And that's an incredible miracle, amen? But if 00:01:44.849 --> 00:01:48.950 there's this many pages, this many books, what 00:01:48.950 --> 00:01:51.939 is really the point of all of it? Because it 00:01:51.939 --> 00:01:55.260 seems like some of it could be pretty disconnected. 00:01:55.260 --> 00:01:57.659 When you go all the way to the Old Testament 00:01:57.659 --> 00:01:59.280 and then think of some of the stories in the 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:01.959 New Testament, we might wonder, how do we really 00:02:01.959 --> 00:02:06.480 connect all these things together? And the point 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:10.259 of it all, of course, as we will discuss in detail 00:02:10.259 --> 00:02:14.840 today, is Jesus himself. And this is a question, 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:18.520 or it moves us to another question, that even 00:02:18.520 --> 00:02:22.780 the people in biblical times us today and even 00:02:22.780 --> 00:02:25.180 Jesus's 12 apostles had to tackle themselves. 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:29.699 It leads us to a question, who is Jesus to you? 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:33.039 And I want to challenge you that if your answer 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:36.659 comes from anywhere other than God's word, it's 00:02:36.659 --> 00:02:40.479 not going to be a correct answer. See, Even the 00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:43.039 apostles were asked this question by Jesus in 00:02:43.039 --> 00:02:45.699 Matthew chapter 16 before we dive into the road 00:02:45.699 --> 00:02:48.219 to Emmaus passage I want us to look at this as 00:02:48.219 --> 00:02:52.479 we introduce the passage here Jesus is talking 00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:54.979 to them after they've come off of a boat and 00:02:54.979 --> 00:02:57.819 a really harrowing experience on the sea and 00:02:57.819 --> 00:02:59.900 he says now when Jesus came into the district 00:02:59.900 --> 00:03:03.159 of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples who 00:03:03.159 --> 00:03:07.979 do people say that the son of man is? and they 00:03:07.979 --> 00:03:11.180 give this answer and they said some say it's 00:03:11.180 --> 00:03:14.240 John the Baptist others say Elijah and others 00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:18.300 Jeremiah or one of the prophets and they continue 00:03:18.300 --> 00:03:22.340 but Jesus said to them and this is the question 00:03:22.340 --> 00:03:26.539 every single human needs to answer but who do 00:03:26.539 --> 00:03:30.219 you say that I am I don't care what other people 00:03:30.219 --> 00:03:34.419 say who do you say that I am and good old Peter 00:03:34.419 --> 00:03:38.150 gives he blurts it out as Peter normally does, 00:03:38.189 --> 00:03:40.030 but he gives a really good answer, doesn't he? 00:03:40.569 --> 00:03:43.889 Simon Peter replied, you are the Christ, the 00:03:43.889 --> 00:03:48.770 son of the living God. I wish the story ended 00:03:48.770 --> 00:03:51.669 right there, right? Because let's be honest, 00:03:51.689 --> 00:03:56.189 did Peter give the correct answer? Yes, he did. 00:03:56.509 --> 00:03:59.389 Great job, Peter, okay? Now, your foot is not 00:03:59.389 --> 00:04:01.289 currently in your mouth, let's leave it that 00:04:01.289 --> 00:04:05.740 way, right? But he didn't. Because it sure sounds 00:04:05.740 --> 00:04:09.800 like Peter understands who Jesus is, but we find 00:04:09.800 --> 00:04:12.379 out just a few verses later that he's missing 00:04:12.379 --> 00:04:16.379 something crucial. Look at verse 21. From that 00:04:16.379 --> 00:04:19.620 time Jesus began to show his disciples that he 00:04:19.620 --> 00:04:23.120 must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:25.759 the elders and chief priests and scribes and 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:29.750 be killed and on the third day be raised. He 00:04:29.750 --> 00:04:32.009 starts telling his apostles and his followers 00:04:32.009 --> 00:04:35.069 that this is what he's going to go through. And 00:04:35.069 --> 00:04:38.649 I honestly believe that Peter didn't even hear 00:04:38.649 --> 00:04:40.769 the part where Jesus said he was going to be 00:04:40.769 --> 00:04:43.430 raised because he was so caught up in the first 00:04:43.430 --> 00:04:45.389 part. Go to the next verse, because look what 00:04:45.389 --> 00:04:49.490 Peter does. And Peter took Jesus aside and began 00:04:49.490 --> 00:04:54.040 to rebuke him. He's rebuking Jesus, which Foot 00:04:54.040 --> 00:04:56.879 and mouth. It's already happened saying far be 00:04:56.879 --> 00:05:00.899 it from you Lord. This shall never happen to 00:05:00.899 --> 00:05:04.980 you Jesus's reply, but he turned and said to 00:05:04.980 --> 00:05:08.000 Peter get behind me Satan You are a hindrance 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:10.339 to me for you are not setting your mind on the 00:05:10.339 --> 00:05:15.500 things of God but on the things of man So how 00:05:15.500 --> 00:05:19.420 did Peter? Go from saying something so right 00:05:20.199 --> 00:05:23.779 To saying something so wrong that Jesus looks 00:05:23.779 --> 00:05:29.060 at him and says get behind me Satan For this 00:05:29.060 --> 00:05:31.819 is a hindrance to me. How does he go that far 00:05:31.819 --> 00:05:35.579 because? Peter completely misunderstood what 00:05:35.579 --> 00:05:38.759 the Old Testament scriptures actually said about 00:05:38.759 --> 00:05:42.269 the Messiah Just like the other people who had 00:05:42.269 --> 00:05:45.509 wrong ideas of who Jesus was, Peter had a wrong 00:05:45.509 --> 00:05:48.470 interpretation of the Bible which led him to 00:05:48.470 --> 00:05:52.370 a wrong understanding of Jesus. At this point, 00:05:52.769 --> 00:05:55.750 I truly believe that Peter had come to the conclusion 00:05:55.750 --> 00:06:01.110 that Jesus was the Messiah. But he still didn't 00:06:01.110 --> 00:06:04.220 get it. He still thought like so many people 00:06:04.220 --> 00:06:07.699 then did that the Messiah was going to come in 00:06:07.699 --> 00:06:11.759 as this conquering King with no issues and overthrow 00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:15.120 Rome and take over and bring God's kingdom physically 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:18.180 on earth right then and when he heard that Jesus 00:06:18.180 --> 00:06:21.000 said I need to be good I need to go and be captured 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:25.240 and suffered and crucified and killed Peter said 00:06:25.240 --> 00:06:27.360 whoa that doesn't match up with what I think 00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:31.410 supposed to happen here He had a wrong understanding. 00:06:31.649 --> 00:06:33.209 And church, I don't know about you, but I don't 00:06:33.209 --> 00:06:35.110 want to have a wrong understanding of Jesus. 00:06:35.910 --> 00:06:39.449 Do you? I want to be sure that I know the true 00:06:39.449 --> 00:06:42.470 Jesus, not a wrong version of him that I have 00:06:42.470 --> 00:06:45.189 made up in my own mind. So how do we do that? 00:06:45.750 --> 00:06:47.550 Well, that leads us to the main point of today's 00:06:47.550 --> 00:06:52.529 message. To know Jesus correctly, we must know 00:06:52.529 --> 00:06:56.620 Scripture correctly. This might seem like it's 00:06:56.620 --> 00:06:59.759 just another Easter story, but it's so much more 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:02.500 than that. The entire point of this story in 00:07:02.500 --> 00:07:04.779 this passage on that Easter Sunday is to teach 00:07:04.779 --> 00:07:07.879 us the importance of Scripture, because to know 00:07:07.879 --> 00:07:12.439 Jesus correctly, we must know Scripture correctly. 00:07:13.480 --> 00:07:15.759 Our two disciples on the road to Emmaus had this 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:20.319 same problem. I want you to think about the state 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:23.779 that they're in mentally and emotionally. These 00:07:23.779 --> 00:07:28.160 aren't two of the 12 apostles. They're two disciples 00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:30.879 of Jesus. And we only even get a name of one 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:32.699 of them. We don't even know the gender of the 00:07:32.699 --> 00:07:34.079 other one. It could have been a husband and wife. 00:07:34.120 --> 00:07:36.459 We don't know, but we have Cleopas, or however 00:07:36.459 --> 00:07:38.620 Christian pronounced it, his is probably right. 00:07:39.980 --> 00:07:41.500 We need Alex. He would know how to pronounce 00:07:41.500 --> 00:07:46.680 it. But we get him and this other disciple. And 00:07:46.680 --> 00:07:48.939 while they're not part of the apostles, we know 00:07:48.939 --> 00:07:52.379 that they were with them. They were with the 00:07:52.379 --> 00:07:54.800 apostles when the women came back and gave the 00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:57.540 report of the empty tomb So we can surmise that 00:07:57.540 --> 00:08:01.860 these men were extremely close to Jesus They 00:08:01.860 --> 00:08:05.040 had seen him teach they had believed in him just 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:09.360 like Peter but then they saw him die and clearly 00:08:09.360 --> 00:08:11.680 they didn't believe that he had risen from the 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:15.079 dead as these women had come back and told them 00:08:15.079 --> 00:08:18.139 and now they're making this journey on the road 00:08:18.139 --> 00:08:22.689 to Emmaus heartbroken Confused and I can guarantee 00:08:22.689 --> 00:08:26.430 you they were scared because now They're the 00:08:26.430 --> 00:08:29.889 fugitives They're the bad guys in the eyes of 00:08:29.889 --> 00:08:31.970 Jerusalem and the Israelites because they're 00:08:31.970 --> 00:08:33.710 the ones that were following Jesus and they're 00:08:33.710 --> 00:08:37.690 feeling defeated They're thinking everything 00:08:37.690 --> 00:08:41.110 that we had believed everything that the Bible 00:08:41.110 --> 00:08:43.870 had led us to believe seems to have been shattered 00:08:43.870 --> 00:08:47.850 before our eyes until Jesus comes and corrects 00:08:47.850 --> 00:08:52.070 it as he always does Let's look at verses 19 00:08:52.070 --> 00:08:54.750 through 21. Again, I don't know if those will 00:08:54.750 --> 00:08:56.230 be on the screen here, but I'm gonna read them 00:08:56.230 --> 00:09:01.049 for you. Just verses 19 through 21. When Jesus 00:09:01.049 --> 00:09:04.009 appeared to them, he said to them, and I love 00:09:04.009 --> 00:09:07.750 this by the way, I love that when they're asking, 00:09:07.809 --> 00:09:10.629 they don't know it's Jesus, and they're like, 00:09:10.909 --> 00:09:12.570 are you the only person who doesn't know what 00:09:12.570 --> 00:09:14.529 happened in Jerusalem? Talking to the man who 00:09:14.529 --> 00:09:17.029 was crucified and killed, and Jesus says, what 00:09:17.029 --> 00:09:21.360 things? I love Jesus's humor. I really hope you 00:09:21.360 --> 00:09:23.840 guys notice Jesus's humor. He's my kind of person, 00:09:24.059 --> 00:09:26.259 right? I can just imagine. He went through all 00:09:26.259 --> 00:09:28.580 of that and now he's going, hmm, what things? 00:09:28.919 --> 00:09:31.840 Do tell, please. Enlighten me. What happened 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:35.370 in Jerusalem? And look at their response. they 00:09:35.370 --> 00:09:38.710 said to him concerning Jesus of Nazareth a man 00:09:38.710 --> 00:09:41.950 who was a prophet mighty indeed and word before 00:09:41.950 --> 00:09:44.669 God and all the people and how our chief priests 00:09:44.669 --> 00:09:47.330 and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to 00:09:47.330 --> 00:09:51.070 death and crucified him but we had hoped that 00:09:51.070 --> 00:09:54.830 he was the one to redeem Israel yes and besides 00:09:54.830 --> 00:09:57.669 all this it is now the third day since these 00:09:57.669 --> 00:10:03.210 things had happened they make the same mistake 00:10:03.289 --> 00:10:06.590 that these people before, just like Peter or 00:10:06.590 --> 00:10:09.409 the Apostle said other people had made, and calling 00:10:09.409 --> 00:10:13.309 Jesus just a prophet. But we really find the 00:10:13.309 --> 00:10:16.230 source of their error, I believe, in verse 21. 00:10:16.330 --> 00:10:20.889 Did you catch it? But we had hoped that he was 00:10:20.889 --> 00:10:27.570 the one to redeem Israel. That word hope See, 00:10:27.850 --> 00:10:30.629 as I said before, these disciples were clearly 00:10:30.629 --> 00:10:33.330 close to Jesus. They had heard him preach and 00:10:33.330 --> 00:10:36.129 prophesy, perform miracles, and claim to be the 00:10:36.129 --> 00:10:39.370 Son of God, and yet they used this word. We had 00:10:39.370 --> 00:10:43.330 hoped that he was the Messiah. Instead of using 00:10:43.330 --> 00:10:47.470 a different word, that we had trusted that he 00:10:47.529 --> 00:10:49.750 was the Messiah. I want to show you a difference 00:10:49.750 --> 00:10:53.269 this morning in this idea that they had in hoping 00:10:53.269 --> 00:10:56.809 in Jesus and trusting in him. The dictionary 00:10:56.809 --> 00:10:59.830 defines these two words in these ways. Hope means 00:10:59.830 --> 00:11:04.690 to want something to happen or be true, but to 00:11:04.690 --> 00:11:08.210 trust means assured reliance on the character, 00:11:08.470 --> 00:11:13.250 ability, strength, or truth of someone or something. 00:11:14.220 --> 00:11:16.639 And you can really feel the frustration in Jesus 00:11:16.639 --> 00:11:18.820 when he responds to them. Did you catch Jesus' 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:22.179 response to them? He says, Oh, foolish ones and 00:11:22.179 --> 00:11:24.519 slow of heart to believe all that the prophets 00:11:24.519 --> 00:11:28.220 have spoken. Was it not necessary that the Christ 00:11:28.220 --> 00:11:31.399 should suffer these things and enter into his 00:11:31.399 --> 00:11:35.059 glory? Jesus reminds them the Old Testament prophets 00:11:35.059 --> 00:11:39.100 spoke of the Messiah being a suffering servant. 00:11:39.370 --> 00:11:42.909 If they truly knew what the scriptures taught, 00:11:43.409 --> 00:11:46.490 they would have expected this. Yet the religious 00:11:46.490 --> 00:11:49.090 leaders of their time had morphed the prophecies 00:11:49.090 --> 00:11:52.750 of the Messiah away from that and into the military 00:11:52.750 --> 00:11:55.129 leader who would overthrow Rome. Because that 00:11:55.129 --> 00:11:58.350 was much easier to sell to a crowd than a suffering 00:11:58.350 --> 00:12:02.029 servant. And yet all it takes is a study of Isaiah 00:12:02.029 --> 00:12:05.450 53 to see what the Messiah would have to go through. 00:12:06.450 --> 00:12:09.240 That he would suffer. that He would be pierced 00:12:09.240 --> 00:12:11.600 for our transgressions, that that's what the 00:12:11.600 --> 00:12:14.639 Messiah is, and if these people had rightly understood 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:17.440 the Scriptures, then they would have rightly 00:12:17.440 --> 00:12:21.720 understood Jesus. You see, church, I want you 00:12:21.720 --> 00:12:25.620 to know this, that the truth of Scripture leads 00:12:25.620 --> 00:12:31.120 us from hoping in Jesus to trusting in Jesus. 00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:34.340 The truth of Scripture leads us from hoping in 00:12:34.340 --> 00:12:38.960 Jesus to trusting in Jesus. And I can tell some 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:40.879 of you are wondering there's you're feeling the 00:12:40.879 --> 00:12:42.720 tension of like well We use this word hope as 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:45.720 a positive thing all the time in church, right? 00:12:45.879 --> 00:12:47.759 Faith hope and love and the greatest of these 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:50.100 is love, right? And I'm not writing off the word 00:12:50.100 --> 00:12:52.240 hope I want to make sure we understand that hope 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:54.500 is a beautiful thing and scripture tells us we 00:12:54.500 --> 00:12:58.399 find our hope in Christ But you will only find 00:12:58.399 --> 00:13:02.720 your true hope in Jesus when you trust that Jesus 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:07.240 is who he said he is Because if we have a false 00:13:07.240 --> 00:13:11.919 version of Jesus in our minds, we cannot place 00:13:11.919 --> 00:13:16.159 our hope in Him. We have to trust beyond the 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:19.659 shadow of a doubt that Jesus truly is the Son 00:13:19.659 --> 00:13:22.679 of God, the Savior of the world who came for 00:13:22.679 --> 00:13:25.200 us. And the only place where we will find the 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:28.139 information to show us that and prove that to 00:13:28.139 --> 00:13:31.659 us so that we can trust Him is right here in 00:13:31.659 --> 00:13:34.590 God's Word. But then next let's look at how Jesus 00:13:34.590 --> 00:13:37.669 used the scriptures to teach these disciples 00:13:37.669 --> 00:13:40.889 about himself So if we need the Bible to make 00:13:40.889 --> 00:13:43.470 sure we can trust that Jesus is who he says he 00:13:43.470 --> 00:13:46.870 is so we can place Our hope in him. How did Jesus 00:13:46.870 --> 00:13:50.309 do it? Look at what he did. It says this is how 00:13:50.309 --> 00:13:53.429 Jesus did a Bible study Okay, I love this it 00:13:53.429 --> 00:13:56.529 says and beginning with Moses and all the prophets 00:13:56.529 --> 00:14:00.049 Jesus interpreted to them in all the scriptures 00:14:00.049 --> 00:14:04.909 the things concerning himself. You see, these 00:14:04.909 --> 00:14:07.409 disciples, like many people of their time and 00:14:07.409 --> 00:14:09.889 ours, had missed the point of who the Bible said 00:14:09.889 --> 00:14:13.210 the Messiah would be. So Jesus showed them, bless 00:14:13.210 --> 00:14:17.070 you, the proper way to study the Bible. Now, 00:14:17.070 --> 00:14:19.309 if you were to go on the street and ask random 00:14:19.309 --> 00:14:22.830 people what part of the Bible talks about Jesus, 00:14:23.350 --> 00:14:28.470 where would they probably say? The New Testament. 00:14:28.889 --> 00:14:32.120 And do we blame them? No, where do we find the 00:14:32.120 --> 00:14:35.440 specific stories of Jesus's birth, ministry, 00:14:35.620 --> 00:14:37.500 death, and resurrection? Where do we find them? 00:14:38.299 --> 00:14:40.519 In the New Testament. We find those in the Gospels. 00:14:40.779 --> 00:14:43.580 Where do we find where his followers told people 00:14:43.580 --> 00:14:46.200 about him and taught the theology of who Jesus 00:14:46.200 --> 00:14:50.100 is in the New Testament? That's what people go 00:14:50.100 --> 00:14:53.480 to. But listen, Jesus interpreted the Bible with 00:14:53.480 --> 00:14:56.159 them and used not just the New Testament. You 00:14:56.159 --> 00:14:57.980 know how I know that? Because the New Testament 00:14:57.980 --> 00:15:02.379 didn't exist yet. And what was Jesus's goal? 00:15:02.659 --> 00:15:04.919 Don't miss this. Was he just giving them a random 00:15:04.919 --> 00:15:06.980 Bible study? To say, hey guys, here's some really 00:15:06.980 --> 00:15:08.759 cool stories you probably didn't learn in Jewish 00:15:08.759 --> 00:15:11.679 Sunday school, okay? That makes no sense because 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:13.299 they didn't meet on Sunday. Saturday school, 00:15:13.539 --> 00:15:15.559 okay? Something you didn't meet on Sabbath school. 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:18.500 That's what we'll call it, right? No, they didn't 00:15:18.500 --> 00:15:21.320 have the New Testament yet, but his only goal 00:15:21.320 --> 00:15:24.600 was to teach them what all the scriptures said 00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:30.789 concerning who? Himself. Let me teach you how 00:15:30.789 --> 00:15:36.330 the Old Testament points to Jesus. Let me show 00:15:36.330 --> 00:15:39.509 you how all of the Bible points to Jesus, because 00:15:39.509 --> 00:15:43.269 that's the point of the entire Bible. It's all 00:15:43.269 --> 00:15:48.049 about Jesus. See, there's been a disturbing trend 00:15:48.049 --> 00:15:51.870 in Christianity in the last decade or so to lessen 00:15:51.870 --> 00:15:55.429 the importance of the Old Testament. It's called 00:15:55.429 --> 00:15:59.279 archaic or outdated. Some say it portrays a different 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:02.460 God than the New Testament does We even have 00:16:02.460 --> 00:16:04.759 mega church pastors like Andy Stanley saying 00:16:04.759 --> 00:16:08.360 like things that we should unhitch His words 00:16:08.360 --> 00:16:12.399 from the Old Testament I mean, why do we need 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:15.080 that old thing when we have the New Testament? 00:16:15.480 --> 00:16:18.500 I mean all the things we need for Jesus are right 00:16:18.500 --> 00:16:20.059 there in the New Testament, right? So that's 00:16:20.059 --> 00:16:24.769 all we need now I told Jessica It's May the 4th 00:16:24.769 --> 00:16:26.690 as a Star Wars fan, I had to mention something 00:16:26.690 --> 00:16:29.509 with Star Wars. It made me think of this way, 00:16:29.669 --> 00:16:33.769 okay? I loved Star Wars growing up and Disney 00:16:33.769 --> 00:16:36.750 bought Star Wars and made it awful. And one of 00:16:36.750 --> 00:16:39.250 the worst things Disney ever did was before Disney 00:16:39.250 --> 00:16:41.029 ever bought, I promise there's a point to this, 00:16:41.269 --> 00:16:44.529 before Disney ever bought Star Wars, there were 00:16:44.529 --> 00:16:47.309 tons and tons of books for all the nerds like 00:16:47.309 --> 00:16:50.279 me. to go and read. So you had the movies and 00:16:50.279 --> 00:16:51.879 there were only a few movies, but there were 00:16:51.879 --> 00:16:55.580 tons of books with incredible stories from the 00:16:55.580 --> 00:16:59.019 Star Wars universe for fans to dive into and 00:16:59.019 --> 00:17:02.340 love. And Disney came in and they said, Hey, 00:17:02.679 --> 00:17:05.640 we don't want any of that. And they said all 00:17:05.640 --> 00:17:08.140 of those old stories, none of them matter anymore. 00:17:08.460 --> 00:17:10.680 We're not getting rid of them. That'd be too 00:17:10.680 --> 00:17:12.819 evil. We're not getting rid of them, right? We're 00:17:12.819 --> 00:17:14.700 just going to say none of them are true anymore. 00:17:14.900 --> 00:17:17.160 They really did this. None of them count in the 00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:19.900 Star Wars story anymore. So now all the new stuff 00:17:19.900 --> 00:17:23.140 we write, that's all the actual new stuff. And 00:17:23.140 --> 00:17:26.180 their new stuff is pretty awful if you're a Star 00:17:26.180 --> 00:17:29.400 Wars fan because they got rid of the incredible 00:17:29.400 --> 00:17:31.200 things of the past. Do you see what I'm doing 00:17:31.200 --> 00:17:35.390 here? The Old Testament is not something for 00:17:35.390 --> 00:17:40.190 us to leave behind in the past and Jesus certainly 00:17:40.190 --> 00:17:44.509 didn't think so Jesus used it to point to him 00:17:44.509 --> 00:17:47.589 and because all of scripture points to him and 00:17:47.589 --> 00:17:49.690 church I don't want us to fall into that lie 00:17:49.690 --> 00:17:53.450 that the Old Testament isn't necessary Because 00:17:53.450 --> 00:17:56.869 I want us to understand what Paul wrote to second 00:17:56.869 --> 00:18:00.630 Timothy Or to Timothy in 2nd Timothy. We'll get 00:18:00.630 --> 00:18:02.630 that to a second. Sorry I flipped the page and 00:18:02.630 --> 00:18:04.990 got out of order here. I do want you to understand 00:18:04.990 --> 00:18:07.930 this. It's not just the New Testament. Every 00:18:07.930 --> 00:18:13.329 single part of Scripture points to Jesus. Every 00:18:13.329 --> 00:18:17.069 part of it points to Him. Listen to what was 00:18:17.069 --> 00:18:19.430 read earlier this morning. What Paul wrote to 00:18:19.430 --> 00:18:23.490 Timothy in 2nd Timothy 3 16 through 17 all scripture 00:18:23.490 --> 00:18:26.789 is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching 00:18:26.789 --> 00:18:30.309 for reproof for correction and for training in 00:18:30.309 --> 00:18:33.869 righteousness. Why? That the man of God may be 00:18:33.869 --> 00:18:38.950 competent and equipped for every good work. I've 00:18:38.950 --> 00:18:40.809 taught the Old Testament to students in Christian 00:18:40.809 --> 00:18:43.690 schools for many years now, and my favorite part 00:18:43.690 --> 00:18:47.089 is watching them discover how Jesus is the center 00:18:47.089 --> 00:18:50.089 of every single thing that happens in the Old 00:18:50.089 --> 00:18:52.829 Testament. From the very beginning God was pointing 00:18:52.829 --> 00:18:56.690 people to the coming Savior, and every book of 00:18:56.690 --> 00:19:00.460 the Bible is useful for us. as believers. Paul 00:19:00.460 --> 00:19:04.440 said we need all of it to be complete and competent 00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:08.039 and able to teach and help other people trust 00:19:08.039 --> 00:19:12.079 in God. We need to find the books of the Old 00:19:12.079 --> 00:19:14.700 Testament that people don't like to open or talk 00:19:14.700 --> 00:19:18.799 about and cherish those books as God's word. 00:19:19.099 --> 00:19:21.700 I mean let's be honest, how many of us have cherished 00:19:21.700 --> 00:19:26.930 the book of Leviticus lately? Right? How many 00:19:26.930 --> 00:19:28.569 of you are doing the read through the Bible in 00:19:28.569 --> 00:19:31.690 a year plan? Okay. Yeah. Okay. When you get to 00:19:31.690 --> 00:19:34.269 those books of all the laws, is that a really 00:19:34.269 --> 00:19:39.190 enjoyable devotion time? Be honest. No. Right. 00:19:39.309 --> 00:19:41.990 And the temptation is we look in a book like 00:19:41.990 --> 00:19:44.950 Leviticus and we go, okay, these are really old 00:19:44.950 --> 00:19:48.089 archaic laws for the Jewish people. I'm a New 00:19:48.089 --> 00:19:50.650 Testament Gentile, probably. Right. And here, 00:19:50.789 --> 00:19:52.670 right. So it doesn't technically apply to me. 00:19:52.750 --> 00:19:55.720 And so we're tempted to write them off. But if 00:19:55.720 --> 00:20:00.180 we do that We completely miss the beauty of seeing 00:20:00.180 --> 00:20:04.140 what it meant for the people of God to be completely 00:20:04.140 --> 00:20:07.519 different than the world around them Because 00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:09.940 that's the point of those laws for God's people 00:20:09.940 --> 00:20:12.940 to be holy And while some of those laws might 00:20:12.940 --> 00:20:15.960 not physically apply to us today, the point of 00:20:15.960 --> 00:20:18.279 them sure does, that as Christians we should 00:20:18.279 --> 00:20:21.539 be set apart, holy and different from the world 00:20:21.539 --> 00:20:23.460 around us. Or what about everybody's favorite 00:20:23.460 --> 00:20:25.640 book to get embarrassed by, Song of Solomon, 00:20:26.480 --> 00:20:28.720 or Song of Songs, whatever we call it now, right? 00:20:29.200 --> 00:20:31.660 That's a book that even as adults we get embarrassed 00:20:31.660 --> 00:20:34.619 to read sometimes, right? If you haven't read 00:20:34.619 --> 00:20:36.740 it yet, you don't know why. Go home, have fun, 00:20:36.839 --> 00:20:40.119 read the Song of Solomon. I want you to now imagine 00:20:40.119 --> 00:20:42.359 if it's embarrassing to talk about it as adults, 00:20:42.539 --> 00:20:44.720 try being the teacher who has to teach it to 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:48.039 middle schoolers every year. All the prayers, 00:20:48.359 --> 00:20:51.259 the headaches you mentioned Lorraine, that's 00:20:51.259 --> 00:20:53.160 the hard one because even if I don't dive deep 00:20:53.160 --> 00:20:55.000 into it, I mentioned it, the kids start reading 00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:57.839 it, and then I get emails from parents and it's 00:20:57.839 --> 00:21:02.140 a special time. But why do we need Song of Solomon? 00:21:02.259 --> 00:21:06.609 It's just a romance book. Why? Because it paints 00:21:06.609 --> 00:21:10.529 an incredible beautiful picture of a godly romance 00:21:10.529 --> 00:21:13.230 between a husband and a wife that points us to 00:21:13.230 --> 00:21:16.109 the type of love that we have and share with 00:21:16.109 --> 00:21:20.789 Jesus as the bridegroom in his church as the 00:21:20.789 --> 00:21:24.309 bride That's what it's about and all this to 00:21:24.309 --> 00:21:29.029 say Don't skip through the Bible God gave us 00:21:29.029 --> 00:21:32.549 all of it because he knows that we need every 00:21:32.549 --> 00:21:36.480 bit of it because it all points Jesus. But now 00:21:36.480 --> 00:21:39.200 lastly let's look at the disciples response to 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:41.140 what Jesus taught them. This is my favorite part 00:21:41.140 --> 00:21:43.539 of the story is what happens to them. Look at 00:21:43.539 --> 00:21:48.220 verse 32. Verse 32 says this, they said to each 00:21:48.220 --> 00:21:52.799 other, did not our hearts burn within us while 00:21:52.799 --> 00:21:56.079 he talked to us on the road and while he opened 00:21:56.079 --> 00:22:00.680 to us the Scriptures? What I love about this 00:22:00.680 --> 00:22:02.740 is when you follow the timeline of what they're 00:22:02.740 --> 00:22:05.480 saying here because right before they said this 00:22:05.480 --> 00:22:09.140 Jesus revealed who he was The whole time he was 00:22:09.140 --> 00:22:11.559 giving them the Bible study. They had no idea 00:22:11.559 --> 00:22:14.420 that he was Jesus He was just a random dude that 00:22:14.420 --> 00:22:17.059 showed up and knew his Bible really well And 00:22:17.059 --> 00:22:19.799 then he breaks bread with them and they realized 00:22:19.799 --> 00:22:22.380 who he is and then Jesus and I love this He just 00:22:22.380 --> 00:22:25.400 he teleports away. He's just gone right and I 00:22:25.400 --> 00:22:28.190 love that Jesus does that it's just again Don't 00:22:28.190 --> 00:22:29.990 miss the cool things Jesus does in the Bible. 00:22:30.029 --> 00:22:33.329 They're awesome. But that's not what they're 00:22:33.329 --> 00:22:37.049 talking about here. When they say their hearts 00:22:37.049 --> 00:22:39.670 were burning within them, they're not talking 00:22:39.670 --> 00:22:41.730 about when they suddenly realized it was Jesus. 00:22:41.789 --> 00:22:45.309 I'm sure it got even better then. But they said, 00:22:45.490 --> 00:22:49.750 our hearts burned within us while he opened the 00:22:49.750 --> 00:22:53.150 scriptures to us. Church, when is the last time 00:22:53.150 --> 00:22:56.950 you were truly amazed while just reading the 00:22:56.950 --> 00:23:01.420 Bible? I'm sure that these disciples were godly 00:23:01.420 --> 00:23:03.440 Jewish people who would have said that they loved 00:23:03.440 --> 00:23:05.440 the scriptures, but clearly they didn't understand 00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:08.180 them enough before this to recognize that Jesus 00:23:08.180 --> 00:23:11.220 truly was the Messiah. But then here when they 00:23:11.220 --> 00:23:14.400 got the best Bible study in history, when Jesus 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:18.180 himself interpreted it to them, it felt different. 00:23:18.819 --> 00:23:21.740 Now we have, especially with Alex, he's an incredible 00:23:21.740 --> 00:23:25.680 expositor of God's Word, amen? But can you imagine? 00:23:26.759 --> 00:23:28.700 If next Sunday we said, Hey, we have a guest 00:23:28.700 --> 00:23:30.940 speaker. Okay, I think you're going to love him. 00:23:31.579 --> 00:23:35.630 It's Jesus. he came up here. I don't think anyone 00:23:35.630 --> 00:23:38.829 would get distracted, sleepy, or like we might 00:23:38.829 --> 00:23:41.029 still get hungry, we're still human and Baptist, 00:23:41.410 --> 00:23:44.289 right? But we would all be riveted paying attention 00:23:44.289 --> 00:23:47.410 to Jesus opening the Word to us, and we might 00:23:47.410 --> 00:23:50.869 be tempted to think that, wow, I wish I was like 00:23:50.869 --> 00:23:54.410 one of these two people, that I got to hear Jesus 00:23:54.410 --> 00:23:58.130 explain the Bible to us. Well church, I guarantee 00:23:58.130 --> 00:24:00.750 you these two disciples would be jealous of us 00:24:00.750 --> 00:24:04.680 today. Yes, I want to hear and hear the Bible 00:24:04.680 --> 00:24:06.819 preach from Jesus's feet in one day. Praise God. 00:24:06.819 --> 00:24:09.819 I will But we have something incredible right 00:24:09.819 --> 00:24:13.579 here This book that we hold is not just one Bible 00:24:13.579 --> 00:24:17.920 study from Jesus. It is his entire word It's 00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:21.400 everything Jesus wants to tell us and every time 00:24:21.400 --> 00:24:24.579 you open this word. I want you to do this I want 00:24:24.579 --> 00:24:28.960 you to expect God to do something amazing Here's 00:24:28.960 --> 00:24:31.299 what I want you to know, that we should study 00:24:31.299 --> 00:24:36.339 scripture expecting God to do something amazing. 00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:40.000 When you go to do your Bible study, don't go 00:24:40.000 --> 00:24:43.460 there and sit there and go, man, I hope there's 00:24:43.460 --> 00:24:46.299 something interesting this time. When you walk 00:24:46.299 --> 00:24:49.039 in on a Sunday morning, Don't walk in thinking, 00:24:49.259 --> 00:24:51.519 man, I really hope Alex or Jordan are interesting 00:24:51.519 --> 00:24:53.720 today. I really hope I get something out of it 00:24:53.720 --> 00:24:57.920 today. No, walk in with a prayer, a prayerful 00:24:57.920 --> 00:25:02.400 heart saying, God, I can't wait to find out what 00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:04.839 you have for me today, because I'm going to read 00:25:04.839 --> 00:25:07.819 from your holy word. I'm going to hear it preached 00:25:07.819 --> 00:25:11.039 to me, and I can't wait to hear what you're going 00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:16.150 to do in my life through your word. I had a really 00:25:16.150 --> 00:25:19.450 great experience growing up in a church where 00:25:19.450 --> 00:25:22.109 the youth group that I attended, it was a sizable 00:25:22.109 --> 00:25:24.849 youth group, but almost every single kid in that 00:25:24.849 --> 00:25:27.150 youth group grew up in church for their entire 00:25:27.150 --> 00:25:30.190 life. Almost all of them, their families, were 00:25:30.190 --> 00:25:32.430 in church every Sunday. I grew up with these 00:25:32.430 --> 00:25:34.450 kids. Many of them went to the Christian school 00:25:34.450 --> 00:25:37.869 that I did attached to that church. We had all 00:25:37.869 --> 00:25:40.549 heard the Bible stories a million times, and 00:25:40.549 --> 00:25:44.259 that's a good thing. That's a blessing. Possible 00:25:44.259 --> 00:25:47.299 downside to that is, I noticed as I got older 00:25:47.299 --> 00:25:50.059 in youth group, when the youth pastor would give 00:25:50.059 --> 00:25:52.559 messages, he would say, all right, let's open, 00:25:52.839 --> 00:25:54.839 let's read the story of Daniel and the lion's 00:25:54.839 --> 00:25:57.660 den. What an incredible story, right? And you 00:25:57.660 --> 00:26:01.180 could feel the eyes roll of these students that 00:26:01.180 --> 00:26:04.400 go, well, I can tune this one out. I've heard 00:26:04.400 --> 00:26:06.920 this story a million times because it's a cool 00:26:06.920 --> 00:26:09.799 story, but I've heard it a million times and 00:26:09.799 --> 00:26:12.660 they tune it out. Well fast forward to when I 00:26:12.660 --> 00:26:15.140 was in college at North Greenville and I started 00:26:15.140 --> 00:26:17.880 helping serve at a church in Greenville to help 00:26:17.880 --> 00:26:20.940 run their youth ministry and this group was completely 00:26:20.940 --> 00:26:23.460 different. There was about 30 students and Jessica 00:26:23.460 --> 00:26:25.279 was there for a lot of this. She helped me with 00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:27.680 it and there was a big difference in these kids 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:30.500 because I think maybe two of them had grown up 00:26:30.500 --> 00:26:33.619 in church and maybe one of them, their family, 00:26:33.740 --> 00:26:37.309 attended that church. See this these kids didn't 00:26:37.309 --> 00:26:40.849 know the Bible at all and I remember Going and 00:26:40.849 --> 00:26:43.589 standing on stage one Wednesday night going thinking 00:26:43.589 --> 00:26:46.109 I was gonna have the same response and literally 00:26:46.109 --> 00:26:48.710 saying the words alright I'm sure you guys have 00:26:48.710 --> 00:26:51.009 heard this story before but tonight we're gonna 00:26:51.009 --> 00:26:53.789 talk about Daniel and the lion's den and I've 00:26:53.789 --> 00:26:55.650 watched is almost every single kid in that room 00:26:55.650 --> 00:27:00.990 went What's that I was like wait you guys don't 00:27:00.990 --> 00:27:05.559 know this story no Sweet I get to teach you about 00:27:05.559 --> 00:27:08.140 this incredible story and it was every single 00:27:08.140 --> 00:27:10.660 service. I noticed something about these kids 00:27:10.660 --> 00:27:15.539 They were so stinking excited To get into that 00:27:15.539 --> 00:27:18.019 Wednesday night service because they were gonna 00:27:18.019 --> 00:27:21.980 hear from God's word for maybe the very first 00:27:21.980 --> 00:27:25.720 time You could feel that excitement in them church 00:27:25.720 --> 00:27:30.210 Do we have that kind of excitement? when we listen 00:27:30.210 --> 00:27:34.250 to God's Word. Do we have that kind of expectancy? 00:27:35.210 --> 00:27:38.150 I pray that I can get the kind of fervor and 00:27:38.150 --> 00:27:41.289 excitement that those teenagers had, those rowdy, 00:27:41.309 --> 00:27:45.170 crazy kids we had in that youth group, because 00:27:45.170 --> 00:27:47.750 every Wednesday they walked in expecting to hear 00:27:47.750 --> 00:27:50.970 something new. And that's my challenge to us 00:27:50.970 --> 00:27:54.430 today, church. When we open this Bible, when 00:27:54.430 --> 00:27:58.210 we hear it preached to us or read to us, come 00:27:58.210 --> 00:28:03.430 ready for God to do something incredible. So 00:28:03.430 --> 00:28:05.730 let me end the same way that I started this morning. 00:28:06.569 --> 00:28:10.430 Who is Jesus to you? But before you answer, I 00:28:10.430 --> 00:28:13.250 want to make sure the source of your answer is 00:28:13.250 --> 00:28:16.930 Scripture. Let God's Word prove to you that Jesus 00:28:16.930 --> 00:28:20.250 truly is God's Son who took our place on the 00:28:20.250 --> 00:28:22.849 cross, rose from the dead to offer us eternal 00:28:22.849 --> 00:28:27.019 life with Him. Cherish every single page in this 00:28:27.019 --> 00:28:30.599 holy book as it all points to Him and read it 00:28:30.599 --> 00:28:33.700 every day with your hearts on fire as you see 00:28:33.700 --> 00:28:37.259 just how amazing our God truly is. Let's pray 00:28:37.259 --> 00:28:37.559 together.