Jesus: the Saviour and the Lord

[0:00] Father, we just read from your Word just a minute ago how Jesus opened the minds of the disciples to understand the Scriptures, and Jesus said, Father, that he would send the promise of the Father to the disciples.

[0:19] Father, we ask for that for us. May Jesus be present in our midst. May he open our minds to help us to understand the Bible, which is your Word written.

[0:31] And Father, we are weak, and we can be so timid. And so, Father, we ask that you would pour out your Holy Spirit upon us so that we would be bold witnesses to proclaim your name, not only in this city of Ottawa, but to every people group on the planet.

[0:49] Father, please, we ask these things in the name of Jesus, your Son, and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated. So, first of all, Happy Father's Day.

[1:10] We didn't say that, but it's Father's Day, and so Happy Father's Day. And that's sort of the whole Father's Day part of the service out of the way, other than maybe something in the prayers. Some of you maybe have heard this story before, but that's fine.

[1:27] I started going to what was the equivalent of my seminary, of course, in September, quite a long, long time ago now. And just a couple of weeks after I started what was to be my seminary experience, Louise and I had Jesse, our second child.

[1:48] And about two months after Jesse was born, there was an event that really shook me. In fact, it's been, I don't know if Louise thinks about it as much as I think about it, but I often think about this particular event.

[2:00] For you young parents, it's, you know, nowadays with babies, it's as if you almost, you know, as soon as they're born, you put them in like a hockey helmet and body armor, and you put them in big plastic things so they can survive nuclear wars or car crashes or tumbling down stairs.

[2:17] But it wasn't like that, like in the dark ages, 30 some odd years ago. We still cared for children, but we didn't have all the armor that you have nowadays. And anyway, Louise had this really beautiful basket that would have been about this long and about this wide, and it was like a wicker basket and had a nice, you know, blanket and cushion on the bottom.

[2:37] And sometimes we would put Jesse in that basket because it was really handy. You could carry it around. It was nice and cozy and safe. And so one day when Jesse was about two months old, I had put the basket on like a chest of drawers.

[2:54] It was about that high. And then I just sort of, I just stepped out of the room for a second to go and do something. And one of the things I was still discovering then is that two-year-olds have the ability to materialize in rooms silently without letting anybody know, and that they also have the ability to stretch their arms up farther than their height.

[3:17] They're like Fantastic Four, Mr. Fantastic. I didn't know that about two-year-olds. I was still learning it. And anyway, I'm just out of the room for the briefest of seconds, and I hear a thump, not a nice thump.

[3:30] And I hear a cry. And I come rushing into the room. And my son Tosh had pulled the basket off the chest of drawers. And when I come in, all I see is Jesse's little head on the hardwood floor.

[3:45] And the rest of his body is in the basket. So that's very, very, very upsetting for anybody, any parent.

[3:55] So several things happen very quickly. You know, we, of course, pick them up, and you call, and you yell, and we get a car. We didn't own a car. We had to get a car. And I'm driving, you know, Jesse to the CHEO Children's Hospital.

[4:09] And all the way that I'm going there, of course, I'm really worried, and I'm praying like crazy that Jesse will be all right. And at the same time that I'm praying like crazy that Jesse would be all right, I was saying to myself, all of my professors are completely wrong.

[4:25] And why I would say that, let's look at the Bible, and you'll understand why I would say that all of my professors were completely and utterly wrong. So take your Bible, and you'll understand why I was saying that.

[4:39] And we're looking at Luke. Those of you who are guests, we've taken quite a while, and we've gone through the entire gospel of Luke. We preach through books of the Bible here at Church of the Messiah. And so today we're looking at Luke chapter 24, verses 33 to the end, and it's the last part of Luke's gospel.

[4:55] Next week, we begin, I think it's 11 or 12-week series on the book of Proverbs, and after that, in the fall, we begin Romans. And we'll do the book of Romans. So we're finishing Luke today.

[5:06] And you already heard, if you were here, I gave a bit of the context of what happens at verse 33 and what's going on before. And so just continuing on from verse 33, what is it in this passage of scripture that is relevant to my son Jesse with his little head on the hardwood floor and my prayers and why I was thinking at the same time?

[5:28] Actually, it was some anger that all of my professors were completely and utterly wrong. Here's how the text goes. And they rose, that's the two disciples, the Emmaus disciples, that same hour and returned to Jerusalem.

[5:43] And they found the 11 and those who were with them gathered together. And just sort of note there, it's the 11 and those who were with them. So we don't know how many of them were. It might very well have been Mary, the mother of Jesus.

[5:55] It might, we don't know, it might have been, you know, Mary Magdalene or some of the women who'd also, you know, seen Jesus. It's pretty obvious by this point in time.

[6:07] In fact, it shows a little bit of the historical accuracy of the account and the cultural prejudices. You see, God doesn't use perfect people to write the Bible because it doesn't matter that it's people who wrote the Bible.

[6:22] It wasn't that the people are inspired and brilliant. It's that God is brilliant. And he used sinful people to cause his word to be written. And his word is the way he wants his word to be written.

[6:34] So, you know, if you look at all the four historical evidences, all the four witnesses, historical witnesses of what happened back in that day, we know that Jesus has also appeared to Mary.

[6:46] But we see reflected here the cultural prejudice of the day is that they're not excited that Jesus has appeared to Mary, a woman. They're excited that Jesus has appeared to Peter, a man.

[6:57] The Bible doesn't say this is right, but it's just Luke's trying to record what happens, what happened. Not the way the world should be, but the way the world was.

[7:09] And so, but you notice here that there's the 11 and others. We don't know how many others there were. Sorry, continue reading verse 34. And they're all saying, the Lord is risen indeed and has appeared to Simon.

[7:21] Then they told what, then the two Emmaus disciples told what had happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. And just sort of pause here for a second. I know I'm going to maybe upset some people, but I said last week, the breaking of the bread isn't a reference to communion.

[7:37] The Lord's Supper. But what's significant about this, why it was such an important detail to them is just imagine for yourself for a second that you have, maybe you know, you've been at university or whatever, but over the last three years, you've developed a really close group of friends, like really, really, really close group of friends over the last three years.

[7:59] And then you have the worst day of your life. And on the worst day of your life that begins with your best friends, at the very beginning of the worst day of your life, all of your friends abandon you and deny you and aren't there to support you.

[8:24] Three days later, you see one of them. Okay? You see a couple of them. And they see you.

[8:37] And they're probably thinking, oh my gosh. And maybe because they have tender consciences, they might say, you know, George, I'm so sorry.

[8:50] Like, I shouldn't have done that. I was a, you know, whatever. I was bad. You know, will you forgive me? Can we go out and have lunch together? And you might say, okay.

[9:02] The worst day of my life? And you abandoned me? You denied me? You denied me? You denied me? Did not support me? Listen, I'm working on forgiving you.

[9:14] But there's no way on God's earth. I'm going to say, I'm going to sit down and have a meal with you. You might not say it like that. That's going on in your mind. You might just say, I don't know if I'm ready to sit down and have a meal with you.

[9:26] See, that's why the breaking of the bread is so significant to these two Emmaus disciples, is that they had walked with Jesus. God keeps it from their eyes.

[9:36] They're not saying, oh my gosh. He keeps it from their eyes. And Jesus sits and eats with them. He has forgiven them.

[9:50] And he has shown that he's willing to be reconciled to them in the most unbelievably emotionally powerful way by sitting down and having a meal with them.

[10:05] So they say, not only did we see Jesus, he was willing to have a meal with us. But, how amazing is that?

[10:16] He didn't spend the time telling me how bad I was. He ate with me. That's why it's such a significant fact. So continue on here.

[10:29] Because I'm still talking. I haven't forgotten about Jesse and his poor little head and why my professors, why I was praying like crazy, which I think you can all understand, and why I was also mad and angry at my professors.

[10:41] So first, we'll go back to verse 36. As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, Peace to you.

[10:52] Notice that. Think about that. He didn't say, You goofballs. He doesn't say, I am so angry at you. He doesn't say anything sarcastic. He doesn't say anything demeaning. He doesn't say anything at all like that.

[11:03] His words to them are peace to you. But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a disembodied spirit. That's what that means. And he said to them, Why are you troubled and why do doubts arise in your hearts?

[11:19] See my hands and my feet. Right? He wants to make sure that they understand that he's physical. And so he says, And look, there's the nail prints. He wouldn't have been wearing socks with sandals, which I know is a fashion faux pas.

[11:36] What the heck? I'm old. I don't care about fashion, right? So he would have pulled up his robe so they could have seen where the nails went in there. He wants them to see. And he wants them to touch him.

[11:47] Touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones that I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41.

[11:58] And while they still disbelieved for joy, what that means here is they were just so overcome with happiness, it's as if their minds just couldn't work.

[12:11] That's what it's trying to get at. And we're marveling. He said to them, Have you anything here to eat? And he gave them a piece of broiled fish. And he took it and ate it before them.

[12:23] Then he said to them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything, everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms. That's one way of saying the whole, what we call now the Old Testament.

[12:34] The whole Old Testament. Everything written about me in the Old Testament must be fulfilled. Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, And thus it is written that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.

[12:50] And we'll just pause there. We're going to come back. As those of you who know, we'll go through the scriptures several times. Because what's more important not is that you remember what I say, but you remember what the Bible says.

[13:01] That if you go away not remembering anything in the Bible, but remembering me, I failed. Okay? You have to go back. Hopefully we understand the Bible at the end of it. Or at least understand it a little bit better and understand Jesus.

[13:13] So here's the thing. We'll go back to my professors. One of the things in my first year, I went to a very, very, very, very liberal equivalent of seminary.

[13:25] It was a seminary for some, but anyway, a very, very, very, very liberal place. And in every one of my biblical courses, the professors basically, not basically, they said, nothing in the Bible actually happened.

[13:40] Like basically, not only the Old Testament, but the New Testament doesn't deal with historical things. Their mantra was, you need to distinguish between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith.

[13:55] And that might sound very pious, but it's hogwash. You need to distinguish between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith. So it doesn't matter that things in the New Testament didn't happen.

[14:08] It doesn't matter, as one of my professors said, that you could find the bones of Jesus and still believe in the resurrection. It doesn't matter that things in the New Testament didn't happen. You have to have the Christ of faith.

[14:20] And if you look here in this text, Luke does everything he can to say that this is completely and utterly wrong. Completely and utterly wrong.

[14:31] And what does this mean? If you have to separate the Jesus of history from the Christ of faith, then what do you have? If, well, what do I want? I'm driving along there.

[14:44] And if nothing in the New Testament actually happened, if God doesn't do miracles, then why am I praying for my son?

[14:56] And listen, I'm praying my heart out for my son. And when I don't, you know what? Like any praying parent in a situation like that, I'm just hoping and praying that my son's all right.

[15:06] By the way, he has already ended up graduating summa cum laude and all that stuff. His little head was fine. But you know what? In heaven, I don't, you know, it's not going to make any difference to me if God says, yeah, George, as you were driving along, Jesse actually was, you know, in heaven, God says to me, Jesse was brain damaged and I healed him right there in the car.

[15:25] And the doctors didn't even know it. I didn't want you to know that I'd performed a miracle, but now I can tell you because you're in heaven. Well, I don't care if God says, yeah, George, I had my own plans for Jesse.

[15:36] And so just before Jesse's little head hit the wooden floor, I had an angel come and catch Jesse's little head and just put it on the floor. And even before you prayed about it, I was acting.

[15:46] Or if it was just purely that the physics of the matter meant that his head was completely and utterly fine or the biology. No parent cares about the difference in that, right? You're just hoping the baby's fine.

[16:00] And I will praise God in heaven just as much for the physics or the biology or the angels or the answer to prayer or if it had been necessary that God would give the skill to the doctors and the people who invented drugs and all that thing so that my son would be fine.

[16:14] That's what matters to me, right? But I'm praying for a miracle. I'm praying that there isn't a difference between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith, that God can reach down and touch my son and heal him.

[16:29] That's what I am praying. And that's what you would pray too. And if there is a difference between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith, then all the Bible is is moralism.

[16:40] I don't need more moralism in my life. Do you? Do you? If there is a difference between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith, all you have is a deist God who set everything up like a clock and wound it up, and then he went off on a holiday and he lets the world run.

[16:56] I don't need a God like that. That's not God. If there's a difference between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith, then all you have in the Bible is therapy. All you have is techniques.

[17:06] All you have is institutions and religions. And all you have is rituals. And all you have are things that form social cohesion so that we live together better because we teach the kids right and wrong.

[17:21] And who wants any of that stuff? If you're... If you're... If there isn't a God who does exist, who's dealt with my separation from him in history for real, the Bible is just about moralism or therapy.

[17:43] I have a lot better things to do with my time, and I don't need a whole pile of extra moralism in my life. I can't keep up with all the advice I get all the time.

[17:53] I don't need more advice. Everything in this text... Here's the thing. It's going to be very, very brief.

[18:06] Actually, today I could have a very simple four-point sermon. Jesus really rose from the dead. Jesus opens minds. Jesus tells us the Bible is about him.

[18:16] And the fourth thing is Jesus says he's going to send the Holy Spirit. But because of clever people, I've actually taken that first idea, and I want to put it in two forms. I'll just say them very briefly.

[18:27] And if you're wishing, you could put it up. If you're wishing, you could write them down. I haven't left you enough time. On Monday, they'll all be up online. You can just go online if they're all helpful to you. Here's the first thing that Luke's trying to communicate, and the grammar's a bit awkward, I know, but you can pray for me that I'll be better at grammar.

[18:43] The real, historical, physical person who died on Friday is the same real, historical, physical, resurrected person on Sunday.

[18:56] Jesus. That's what Luke wants you to know. See my hands. See my feet. I'm the same guy who was on the cross on Friday.

[19:09] Hey, I'm the same guy who was walking around with you for three years, and I kept telling you I was going to be betrayed, I was going to die, I was going to rise, and I was going to speak to you. I'm the same guy.

[19:23] And the second thing, if you could put up the second point, Jesus of Nazareth crucified, and the Lord and Savior Jesus Messiah are the same person.

[19:34] The text even says Christ in it. Jesus of history talks about the Christ and all the promises, and Luke wants us to understand that.

[19:48] He wants us to understand that God isn't a deist God who's distant, and God isn't just about adding moralism or therapy to our lives.

[19:58] He's not into just creating, you know, being an excuse for a religious institution or a ritual or anything like that. He sends his son into real history, real time, as a real person to die a real death on a real cross and be put in a real tomb and taste all there is to taste, really taste of death with nothing left out.

[20:22] And on the third day, he rises from the dead, he defeats sin, defeats death, defeats all hostile spiritual powers. The grave is empty, and he makes itself very clear to his disciples that he is Jesus of Nazareth.

[20:39] He is the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And I have come to be your Savior in real history. That's what Luke wants you to know. My professors were all wrong.

[20:50] Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Here's just a little takeaway point. You could put up A. Here's a prayer we can pray.

[21:04] Jesus, please help me to pray more and pray boldly in your name. Remember last week I was talking about my friend Bob, and he understood that he didn't remember.

[21:14] I talked about how he couldn't believe in the resurrection, and he also then, of course, didn't believe in any miracle in the Bible. And he also couldn't pray. When it came time for prayer in church services, he understood it as a time of quiet reflection.

[21:32] And remember those, if you go remember the story from last week, it was just one of those times I was mainly called to listen, because I'll talk to him lots of times.

[21:44] It's not like I just have this one shot. But if you don't think God acts in history, you can't pray. I mean, people pray despite it, but it's really hard.

[21:59] And, you know, one of the things we get here from the resurrection is that Jesus wants us to pray more and pray with boldness. Pray that that will be true of me. I'll pray that will be true of you.

[22:10] Now, one of the things that people say about Christians is that we're narrow-minded, that we're close-minded, that we're anti-intellectual.

[22:28] It's a very, very common belief in our culture that Christians just want to shut down discussion and debate. It's a very, very common belief in our culture that to become a Christian is to kiss your mind goodbye and that we don't ask ourselves tough questions.

[22:45] And you know what? Lamentably, that is true of maybe... I mean, if it's true of one Christian, it's true of one Christian too many. But, you know, most of the world gives itself a pass.

[22:57] I just want to ask you a little bit of a thought experiment. Imagine that you went on a blog in the city of Ottawa. You know where they have... And you can make comments.

[23:07] And imagine there was a blog about Bruce Jenner who now goes by Caitlin. And in the blog, you wrote down in a response with your name, not, you know, exiled in Ottawa, but you actually...

[23:22] I wrote George Sinclair. And in your blog, you actually said that I'm only going to refer to Caitlin as Bruce and as he. And all the way through the blog, you refer to Caitlin as Bruce or he.

[23:37] Just a thought experiment. How do you think the responses would be to the blog? Do you think they would be measured, reasonable, appreciating your appeal to biology and science, and thanking you for your insightful comments?

[23:58] Or do you think it might get launched into the Twitterverse and you would be dealing with all sorts of unbelievably angry, hostile, name-calling, slanderous tweets, blogs, etc.

[24:16] Now, which one do you think it would be? And it wouldn't be the religious right that are sending all those tweets. Here's the thing. If there's one thing that characterizes our country is that we're leaving Christendom and that actual general debate and inquiry is also becoming less and less and less.

[24:39] In fact, it's interesting. The problem with having a closed mind is a human problem. It's not a religious problem. It's a human problem. And the interesting question is, in whatever your system of thought is, does it have the resources within it to encourage having an open mind and civility?

[25:00] Does your system of thought have the resources for that? So look here again at what Jesus says. It's actually quite stunning what Luke tells us, records historically that Jesus says.

[25:14] Look at verses 44 and following. Then Jesus 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.

[25:28] Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. 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.

[25:44] And we'll just sort of pause there. Here's the first thing, if you could put up the point. Jesus opens minds. Jesus opens minds.

[25:58] This, right here, you see this huge gulf that opens up between Jesus and other religious teachers.

[26:10] You know, right now, the way that most people experience Hinduism and Buddhism is that they like the meditation practices because it's a way of calming themselves and trying to get a bit of perspective.

[26:26] But in their original form and in their fundamental intent, meditation in Hinduism and Buddhism is to kill the mind because the mind is a problem.

[26:37] because the human problem, expressed slightly different in both faiths, but the problem that human beings face is that the mind keeps making distinctions and therefore the mind is getting in the way of the fact that in fact there is only the one.

[26:56] Minds make distinctions between beautiful and ugly, between the good and the bad. The minds make distinctions between myself and that which is not myself.

[27:07] It makes distinctions in terms of this object and that object and this color and that color. And so meditation is actually a way to kill the mind so that one can be at one with the one.

[27:24] And in Islam, I mean, one of the things which is a problem for it is that in a sense the person is almost like a slave and the relationship with God is one that if God says jump, it's almost a sin to say how high because you should just jump.

[27:49] Islam does not have the book of Job. God, why are you doing this to me? I don't understand. Maybe you're wrong. And even though at the end of the book of Job, God shows up and Job says, you know what?

[28:05] Now that I actually have even more of a knowledge of you, God, I realize I was wrong. And Job talks to God and asks questions of God and that's missing in Islam.

[28:17] It's just command. And if it's just command, how can you open your mind? And even actually in scientism and materialism, a great problem for atheistic thought is that if everything is just a result of cause and effect and cause and effect, how is it that we can actually trust that our mind can know?

[28:40] Because actually, the odd thing is that the theory developed by the mind brings you to the point where the mind actually can't develop theory. Sorry, that was probably way over a lot of your heads.

[28:53] I had to throw it in. But here's the thing which is so astounding. Jesus doesn't say, I'm going to shut your minds, I'm going to close your minds, I'm going to make your minds more dumb, I'm going to make your mind.

[29:08] He opens their minds. And here's the thing, as we'll see in a second, Jesus doesn't say, okay, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, don't get carried away, I'm just going to open your mind to understand the Bible, but I'm going to close your mind to science, art, beauty, common sense, politics, economics, whoa, whoa, whoa, don't get carried away.

[29:30] No, no, no, no, no, no. He opens minds. And as he opens minds to understand the Bible, the mind stays open.

[29:43] If you could put up the next point, Andrew. Yeah, Andrew. Jesus, first point three was Jesus opened. Fourth point is Jesus opens minds to understand the Bible, God's word written.

[29:55] And this is very, very important because it tells us something about the nature of the human that God has created. And what redemption means is that, you know, nowadays we think that being open-minded means that you don't actually ever come to any conclusions.

[30:15] We'll talk about this more next week because actually that's what the book of Proverbs says is a fool. But G.K. Trusted once said that we are to open our minds like the way a baby opens its mouth so that it can get some food.

[30:30] Have you ever tried to feed a little one-year-old or a nine-month-old? It's so cute, you know. You have the baby gruel and you have the spoon and the little baby, of course, is with its mouth like that.

[30:42] So I don't know, you do the airplane sound or car sound or something like that and you make it go like this and their little eyes dart around because the goal is that the little mouth, little plump mouth will open up and you stick the little spoon in the mouth and then the little mouth comes down and you hope that the little mouth doesn't immediately squirt all the food right back out because that's a separate problem.

[31:03] But, you know, Chesterton said the Bible teaches that our minds are to be like baby's mouths. They open so they can fall on something to eat. And that's what we see here.

[31:13] Jesus opens the minds of the disciples so they can feed on the truth that comes from God. Our minds were made to be fed by truth.

[31:28] Our emotions, by the way, are meant to be fed with beauty. And our wills are meant to be fed by goodness. And what makes us, us, the command center of our lives, that the heart, as the Bible calls it, that's meant to be fed by love.

[31:46] Because ultimately it's meant to be at one with God who is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Three persons, one God forever and ever who have existed in perfect love for all eternity and God has made us for himself.

[32:02] And that is why the food of the command center of the human being is love. But the food for the mind is truth. If you could put up the final point for this, Jesus tells his disciples that the Bible is all about who he is and his work of redemption.

[32:22] So he doesn't just point us to the Bible, but he tells us. He says, George, he says, Peter, John, Andrew, George, Anne, Louise, Daniel, you read the Bible, call out to me.

[32:39] I want to open your mind so you can understand the Bible. And you need to understand that everything in the Bible is helping you to understand who I am and what I've done for you.

[32:51] That I am the power of God for salvation for all who believe. That's what this book is going to be about. I'm going to open your minds to it.

[33:03] Here's the little prayer takeaway for you. I want this to be just to encourage you to consider praying. Jesus, please open my mind as I daily read your word written.

[33:17] Jesus, please open my mind as I daily read your word written. You know the wonderful thing about a prayer like that? It's obvious that Jesus wants us to pray a prayer like that.

[33:30] He wants us to pray that. He said, I'm opening your minds to understand the scriptures. So, just call out to Jesus and say, Jesus, open my mind.

[33:43] Open my mind to understand your word and open my mind to understand the truth about what's going on in the world and the truth of science. Jesus, open my mind. Feed me with truth.

[33:54] Feed me with your word. Help me to read your word every day and as I read your word, open my mind. Open my mind. Jesus, thank you that you love me. Please open my mind. a couple of weeks ago, two weeks ago, I talked about forgiveness and one of the things that happened to me, just, it actually, I almost used it as a sermon illustration two weeks ago because it actually happened just before the sermon but then I realized I was going to be talking about it here today and I thought I'd save it.

[34:24] I had a really remarkable thing happen to me in Starbucks just over two weeks ago, two and a half weeks ago. a man that had very, very wrong, very much wronged me and hurt me for almost ten years I had been praying that I could forgive him.

[34:43] Some of you might remember I said sometimes when we pray to forgive another person sometimes God answers it just like that but sometimes you have to pray for a long time and I think one of the ways that you understand that you've actually finally forgiven the person is that when you see them and you're with them you don't feel like punching them you don't feel like yelling at them or being mad at them and you also don't feel like running from them you can just sort of be calm in their presence and I was sitting in this Starbucks that I often go to and this guy that I'd been praying for that I could forgive him for almost ten years I've never seen him in this Starbucks but he shows up in this Starbucks and I realized I felt no fight or flight and that my prayers for almost ten years had been answered I'd forgiven him in fact afterwards when I was going home I thanked God that he'd answered those prayers and I was able to forgive the guy and here's the thing about the text is that

[35:49] Jesus talks about his death upon the cross we talked about this more two weeks ago but it's really important to bring home and that the way that we are to explain one of the ways that we are to go into all the world and explain what it is that Jesus has accomplished for us on the cross is that one of the ways that we are to understand this is that God forgives us in Jesus listen to it again if you go back to verse 44 then Jesus 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 that's our repentance and forgiveness of sins that's what Jesus has accomplished should be proclaimed in his name to all nations and the word nations there is actually people group to every people group beginning from Jerusalem you are witnesses of these things you are witnesses of these things if you could put up the first point here's the thing which is so amazing and I you know

[37:02] I just really tried to make sure I tried to just add a whole pile of words it doesn't have rhythm and if I was like smarter they'd all spell a word or all begin with the same letter or something like that but I'm not have that type of mind Jesus offers pure full free complete deep total whole life undeserved forgiveness from God to ordinary people because of his death and resurrection that's what Jesus wins for us on the cross I'll say it again it's pure forgiveness full forgiveness free forgiveness complete forgiveness deep forgiveness total forgiveness whole life forgiveness it goes from a moment of your conception in your mother's womb to that time in the future at which you die undeserved forgiveness and it's forgiveness from God and it's offered to ordinary people like you and me and the people we meet in the city of Ottawa and around the world and it's and it's because of Jesus' death and resurrection that if you put if you repentance doesn't doesn't sometimes you feel guilty in repentance repentance is all about turning it's turning to Jesus turning to God maybe you've been involved in ritual maybe you've been involved in religion maybe you've been involved in irreligion maybe you've been involved in witchcraft maybe you've been involved in different whatever it is and you turn to the living God and you turn to Jesus and in a sense you give yourself to him you might not have very much of an understanding about who he is or what he's done

[38:39] God doesn't ask you to pass a theology test before you can become a Christian but you turn to Jesus and and and complete full pure forgiveness is offered to us from God Jesus tells us that I'm not making this up that's what Jesus tells us after he is risen from the dead that's what he's telling you and me and if you could put up the next point as well Jesus has obtained for me peace with God and forgiveness from God so I can walk with God day by day into eternity see that you catch that when he the first words he says to the disciples are peace and it's not only him reassuring them he's also telling them what he has accomplished for them and he he embodies it he acts it out he eats with them he's his demeanor to them is is one of a favor towards them and by you know the other you can look at we can look at

[39:47] Paul and Hebrews and there's other ways to try to figure out how to try to get into the mystery but at the most simple level of the mystery are these two things that Jesus' death upon the cross and his resurrection are what the Bible is telling you all the Old Testament is pointing to that preparing you for that and that what is offered to us by God through Jesus' death and the resurrection is that peace we can be at peace with him God has never been against us it is that I have been against him and God has never wronged me but I have wronged him and God offers me through Jesus when I turn to him forgiveness and peace with him that's what Jesus tells us that's what I'm telling you so here just one thing a take away prayer if you could put it up Jesus please help me to stop trying to forgive myself by the way you know the Bible never tells you to forgive yourself when we're trying to forgive ourselves it's because we're proud please give me both a tender conscience and an ability to accept

[41:11] God's forgiveness that's what we need that's what we see here from this text because God forgives us in Jesus he forgives me I don't want to I don't plan to sin next week or in 10 years or tomorrow but I will because I am a bent human being and that's all been dealt with by Jesus on the cross there's nothing I can add to it there's nothing I can subtract and I don't need to learn to forgive myself I need God to keep my conscience ever more tender so I recognize when I've done wrong and I need him to work in my heart so that I accept the forgiveness that was won for me by Jesus and is offered to me by Jesus from God himself and I need to have a tender conscience and live out of being forgiven it's a prayer that many of us need to pray maybe some of us have to pray it for 10 years maybe the rest of our lives until we can actually start to enter into it and walk in it and that just leads me to this final thing as part of my preparation for this sermon on Friday night I watched

[42:22] Legally Blonde again that you know that movie Legally Blonde with Reese Witherspoon a 14 year old movie and there's at the end of the movie without giving it away it's like every American movie every American movie or a lot of American movies either end with a man and a woman kissing each other or they end with applause right so this didn't end with kissing but it ended with applause and the heroine gets a standing ovation and all that stuff and she gives a very typical commencement address that what she's really learned is that she has to have faith in herself you go to just about any type of commencement that's we all are learning to have faith in ourself faith in ourself in fact one of the things about Christianity is that it's viewed as a downer many Christians actually will try to make it look as if the Bible is talking about us having faith in ourselves but I don't want to depress you I want to give you better news don't have faith in yourself none of us need more faith in ourselves Jesus says we need more awareness of our weakness and faith in the promise of God that's what we need look it's right here in the

[43:30] Bible verse 48 you are witnesses of these things and behold I am sending the promise of my father upon you but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high here's the little two takes away first of all Jesus if you put it up Jesus sends out witnesses not spin doctors he doesn't need me to go in the Starbucks when I have conversations and I say well you know it says this in the Bible but actually I've always thought that was not very well put then you close it and put it down listen to my thoughts on the subject because I'm actually you know I think I can no no at the very end of the day it's a very very interesting process Jesus doesn't tell us to go out and convert people he doesn't tell us to go out and do all of the work that's necessary he tells us to bear witness and he sends the Holy Spirit so you know sometimes you go back home afterwards I've had many times I've done I think I probably have done a very poor job in bearing witness at least I did some type of bearing witness and God does the big work he carries the heavy lifting but here's the final thing the one I want you to really take to heart and notice how I put it the promise of the father is sent by Jesus to clothe weaklings in God's power so we can proclaim the gospel and live for his glory

[44:55] I need to come to God and just say I don't need to come to God and say father please help me have more faith in myself this is really really counterintuitive but it's far better if I come to God and say father I'm a weakling but Jesus died for me I'm at peace with you through him you've forgiven me through him and you have promised that you are far bigger than any problem you are far bigger than any obstacle you are far bigger than anything I have to face and you will send the Holy Spirit upon me to help me and father I want to have a deeper trust in you please father may you work may you give me power may I live out of your power I am a weakling I want to live out of your power father I don't want to have self confidence I want to have God confidence I don't want to have self confidence I want to have Jesus confidence

[45:55] I don't want to have self confidence I want to have Holy Spirit confidence I don't want to have self confidence and keep going肯 confidence ifω You can put up the prayer that I put.

[46:11] Oh, no, it's already up there. Jesus, please help me to... Where am I? D, Jesus, here's... Yeah, prayer D. Jesus, I am a weakling. Please make me a bold witness.

[46:25] Please make me a bold witness. I want to ask you to stand. If you could put up the final slide, that would be great. My friend, I told you about...

[46:36] I didn't mention this, but there's no reason I shouldn't mention his name. My friend, Byron Wheaton, when I was having coffee with him a little while ago, he said to me, like, what do you think the book of Luke is all about? And I told him a version of this prayer.

[46:50] And in some ways, as we finish the Gospel of Luke, in some ways, I think all of Luke was written so that we would pray a prayer something like this. I mean, all these other prayers that I've suggested, but a prayer something like this.

[47:01] Because I think Luke is moving us to come to the point where we've repented, after hearing about Jesus and turned to Jesus, that we know him as our Savior, that our God is not a distant deist God, but he's our Heavenly Father, that we are to pour out our hearts to.

[47:20] And God has Luke bear witness to Jesus in this scripture to be written so that we will come to a knowledge and grow day by day in a knowledge of the greatness and glory and grace of Jesus, and that we'll walk with Jesus, and we'll be humble before him, and we'll trust him, and we'll know him, and we'll do all of that by the power of the Holy Spirit.

[47:47] And I think that's what Luke wants us to come to as a conclusion as we read his gospel. And so I invite you to pray this prayer with me.

[47:58] You don't have to, but I invite you to pray this prayer with me. Because I think that's why God had the gospel of Luke written, so that we would come to this point where not only would we want to pray a prayer like this today, but that this would be the type of prayer that we want to pray to the Father and the power of the Spirit in the name of Jesus every day.

[48:21] It's how you begin the Christian life. It's how you live the Christian life. So if the Holy Spirit has touched your heart, join with me in praying. Loving Heavenly Father, please pour out your Holy Spirit upon me and grow in me a humble, trusting, walking, knowing of the greatness, glory, and grace of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, crucified and risen.

[48:47] Amen. Father, we ask that you would gently but deeply pour out your Holy Spirit upon us. Grow within us, Father, a confidence in you, a confidence in your Son, Jesus, a confidence in the Holy Spirit, a confidence in your Word, a confidence in your promises.

[49:06] Father, grow within us this basic, humble, trusting, walking, knowing, obedience to Jesus and his greatness and his glory and his grace.

[49:17] Father, make this the cry of our heart as we live for your glory. Father, make us disciples of Jesus gripped by the Gospel who live for your glory. And all this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior.

[49:32] Amen. Amen. Amen.