WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.560 I'm going to invite one of our elders, Colin Armstrong, to come and to read to us from the scriptures this morning. 00:00:06.560 --> 00:00:06.560 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:40.140 That very day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 00:00:40.700 --> 00:00:48.760 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 00:00:49.400 --> 00:00:54.280 And he said to them, what is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk? 00:00:54.859 --> 00:00:57.140 And they stood still, looking sad. 00:00:57.140 --> 00:01:06.900 Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days? 00:01:07.359 --> 00:01:09.760 And he said to them, what things? 00:01:10.340 --> 00:01:17.960 And they said to him, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 00:01:18.540 --> 00:01:23.560 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him. 00:01:24.260 --> 00:01:27.000 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:32.140 Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. 00:01:33.060 --> 00:01:36.000 Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. 00:01:36.540 --> 00:01:40.379 They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, 00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:45.140 they came back saying that they had seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 00:01:45.140 --> 00:01:51.939 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the woman had said, but him they did not see. 00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:58.099 And he said to them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. 00:01:58.760 --> 00:02:03.000 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? 00:02:03.000 --> 00:02:10.639 And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:13.919 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. 00:02:14.419 --> 00:02:18.459 He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly, saying, 00:02:18.819 --> 00:02:22.539 Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent. 00:02:22.539 --> 00:02:24.759 So he went in to stay with them. 00:02:25.659 --> 00:02:30.739 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 00:02:31.299 --> 00:02:33.939 And their eyes were opened and they recognized him. 00:02:34.379 --> 00:02:36.199 And he vanished from their sight. 00:02:37.239 --> 00:02:42.239 They said to each other, did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, 00:02:42.500 --> 00:02:44.000 while he opened to us the scriptures? 00:02:45.180 --> 00:02:47.859 And then moving on to verse 44. 00:02:47.860 --> 00:02:54.520 Then he said to them, These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, 00:02:54.980 --> 00:02:59.840 that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. 00:03:00.660 --> 00:03:04.420 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures and said to them, 00:03:04.940 --> 00:03:09.160 Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 00:03:09.160 --> 00:03:14.780 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, 00:03:15.200 --> 00:03:16.440 beginning from Jerusalem. 00:03:17.100 --> 00:03:17.580 Amen. 00:03:17.860 --> 00:03:20.920 And may the Lord bless the reading and preaching of his word to us today. 00:03:24.040 --> 00:03:26.960 We're in our second week looking at the road to Emmaus story, 00:03:27.060 --> 00:03:30.200 where Jesus draws near to two travelers on the road. 00:03:30.540 --> 00:03:36.020 And last week we saw that in the very first part of the story, you have the resurrection. 00:03:36.020 --> 00:03:41.960 So in verse 12, Peter had looked into the tomb on Sunday morning and found that it was empty. 00:03:42.300 --> 00:03:45.380 And the women had been there before that, and they had seen angels. 00:03:45.379 --> 00:03:49.280 And when they saw the angels in verse 6 of chapter 24, the angels said, 00:03:49.439 --> 00:03:50.699 He is not here. 00:03:51.240 --> 00:03:51.879 He's risen. 00:03:51.960 --> 00:03:52.639 You won't find him here. 00:03:52.979 --> 00:03:56.840 So then the reader, Luke, the writer, invites the reader to ask, well, where is he? 00:03:56.840 --> 00:04:04.020 And this is the first resurrection appearance of Jesus, the road to Emmaus. 00:04:04.020 --> 00:04:09.939 So the reader is meant to ask, well, where is Jesus on Sunday, the day of the resurrection, 00:04:10.160 --> 00:04:11.640 that day, verse 13. 00:04:11.639 --> 00:04:17.519 And we don't see him in Rome going to Caesar's palace. 00:04:17.740 --> 00:04:22.419 We don't see him kicking the doors of the Roman praetorium where he had been tried. 00:04:22.639 --> 00:04:23.719 That's what I would have done. 00:04:24.500 --> 00:04:29.379 You don't see him going to the Jerusalem temple, walking into the most holy place with big crowds. 00:04:29.539 --> 00:04:36.459 Instead, you find him on a very ordinary road going to Emmaus, which we know nothing about, 00:04:36.579 --> 00:04:41.419 with two effectively unnamed people, the most ordinary thing that he could possibly do. 00:04:41.420 --> 00:04:43.600 And this is the day of the resurrection. 00:04:44.199 --> 00:04:49.220 The very first thing he goes to is to these two travelers on a common road going to an average 00:04:49.220 --> 00:04:49.640 village. 00:04:50.259 --> 00:04:54.120 And he meets the two on the road, and it's their road. 00:04:54.220 --> 00:04:56.700 They're probably going home to Emmaus. 00:04:56.800 --> 00:04:59.240 He meets them on their road and draws near to them. 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:04.560 So in the Bible, just like we do in film and literature and music, we use the metaphors 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:11.220 of the road, the path, the way to be just common metaphors for human life. 00:05:11.420 --> 00:05:14.840 So we're all walking down our road towards Emmaus in life. 00:05:14.900 --> 00:05:16.560 And the Bible uses that all over the Old Testament. 00:05:17.020 --> 00:05:21.420 And in the New Testament, we use it in famous music all the time, the road, the path. 00:05:21.520 --> 00:05:23.560 We're all traveling on a path, our own road. 00:05:23.900 --> 00:05:29.639 And that means that when Jesus draws near to these folks, he's doing so very literally 00:05:29.639 --> 00:05:33.780 in history, but also as a paradigm for the normal Christian life. 00:05:33.779 --> 00:05:39.739 So the reason that this is the first appearance that Luke records is because Jesus wants to 00:05:39.739 --> 00:05:42.199 show you what the ordinary Christian life is like. 00:05:42.279 --> 00:05:46.099 And the ordinary Christian life is when Jesus Christ draws near to you on your road, your 00:05:46.099 --> 00:05:46.539 path. 00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:50.059 And at first you can't see him because you're spiritually blinded. 00:05:50.419 --> 00:05:54.779 But then he brings you along the way by opening up the word to you, the scriptures. 00:05:55.159 --> 00:05:58.139 And then all of a sudden you realize I'm no longer walking on my road. 00:05:58.159 --> 00:05:59.139 I'm walking on his road. 00:05:59.779 --> 00:06:00.979 This is the path that he's paved. 00:06:00.980 --> 00:06:04.800 This is the road he's gone before me, the journeyman that's already gone before me and 00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:05.460 paved the way. 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:11.460 And so I mentioned last week that in Luke and in his second volume, Acts, the book of 00:06:11.460 --> 00:06:17.400 Acts, the word road that's used here in the Greek text is the same word that's used six 00:06:17.400 --> 00:06:21.120 times across the book of Acts to describe early Christianity. 00:06:21.340 --> 00:06:24.259 So we didn't call Christianity, Christianity from day one. 00:06:24.500 --> 00:06:28.720 The word Christian wasn't the normal word until a little bit later. 00:06:28.900 --> 00:06:30.500 And instead, what did everybody call it? 00:06:30.500 --> 00:06:31.399 They called it the way. 00:06:31.740 --> 00:06:33.579 And that's just the Greek word for the road. 00:06:34.360 --> 00:06:39.899 And so all across the second volume, Luke, Acts, Acts, he uses the word the way, the road 00:06:39.899 --> 00:06:42.259 to talk about just what normal Christianity is. 00:06:42.759 --> 00:06:47.500 And that means here we've got this paradigm, this ordinary thing where these two fellas, 00:06:47.639 --> 00:06:52.180 these two people, we don't even know who they are really, are traveling along the road and 00:06:52.180 --> 00:06:54.579 Jesus meets them and he changes their life. 00:06:54.579 --> 00:07:00.859 They go from blindness to sight, how, and it says here that he opened the Bible and then 00:07:00.859 --> 00:07:03.479 he brought them to the table and they could see. 00:07:04.159 --> 00:07:08.120 And that's just the regular rhythms really of the normal Christian life. 00:07:08.620 --> 00:07:15.639 It's strange that, I think it's strange that, surprising maybe, extraordinary that he could 00:07:15.639 --> 00:07:17.599 have just unveiled himself to them. 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:23.580 He could have just appeared as the resurrected Christ and opened their eyes. 00:07:23.740 --> 00:07:24.879 He absolutely could have. 00:07:24.939 --> 00:07:30.300 But instead, he actually chose to do a probably three to four hour Bible study. 00:07:30.300 --> 00:07:34.600 And this is undoubtedly the greatest Bible study that there's ever been. 00:07:35.900 --> 00:07:40.579 And that's the normal rhythm of how Jesus chooses to change lives. 00:07:41.340 --> 00:07:44.500 And that's why he wanted to show us this in the very first resurrection appearance. 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:49.600 The normal way Jesus chooses to change lives is not by kicking down the door of the Roman 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:51.379 praetorium, shining in light. 00:07:51.519 --> 00:07:55.620 It's by opening the scriptures, the Old Testament here, and just explaining them to people. 00:07:55.620 --> 00:08:00.259 And that, what we said last week is very much the thesis this week. 00:08:00.340 --> 00:08:10.620 And that's that for some reason, the Lord wants you to hear him from the Bible and believe 00:08:10.620 --> 00:08:12.459 before you ever see him. 00:08:13.720 --> 00:08:19.660 So he wanted them to see him in the scriptures before they could ever see him at the table 00:08:19.660 --> 00:08:20.220 physically. 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:25.280 And that is the pathway that you've got to hear him in the word and believe him. 00:08:25.279 --> 00:08:28.839 So that one day you will eat at the table with him and see him. 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:31.339 And so how does Jesus change lives? 00:08:31.799 --> 00:08:32.620 Through the word. 00:08:32.860 --> 00:08:33.959 That's what we, it's very simple. 00:08:34.740 --> 00:08:35.779 But let me talk. 00:08:36.059 --> 00:08:37.039 I could finish, right? 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:38.980 But I'm not going to, I've got time left. 00:08:39.159 --> 00:08:41.159 Let's, let's, let's explore it. 00:08:42.039 --> 00:08:46.879 He does so first by in this passage, teaching us about the burning heart. 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:48.639 Secondly, the dull heart. 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:50.120 And finally, the heart of the Bible. 00:08:50.659 --> 00:08:52.299 So first the burning heart. 00:08:52.299 --> 00:08:58.559 So in verse 32, at the end of the passage, after he had been opening the scriptures to 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:00.299 them, teaching them the Bible on the road to Emmaus. 00:09:00.439 --> 00:09:04.659 And when he sat down at the table and they finally see him, they say, they look at each 00:09:04.659 --> 00:09:09.079 other and they say, did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road? 00:09:09.080 --> 00:09:14.379 So they realized that as he was explaining the old Testament to us on the road to Emmaus, 00:09:14.759 --> 00:09:19.259 our hearts, they, they didn't yet know that this was the resurrected Christ, but still their 00:09:19.259 --> 00:09:21.800 hearts were burning, starting to burn. 00:09:21.879 --> 00:09:22.360 What does that mean? 00:09:22.860 --> 00:09:27.639 It means that as he taught the Bible, there was a fire that got lit in the soul and the 00:09:27.639 --> 00:09:27.840 heart. 00:09:27.860 --> 00:09:29.759 And they started to hunger for something. 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:31.660 Now we use that metaphor all the time. 00:09:31.659 --> 00:09:35.579 Um, the Puritans called it the heart ablaze. 00:09:35.779 --> 00:09:40.120 And that's what they were starting to experience is the heart ablaze, very distinct from the 00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:40.759 cold heart. 00:09:41.860 --> 00:09:43.620 Uh, we talk about it as heartburn. 00:09:43.879 --> 00:09:45.139 Heartburn is not always bad. 00:09:45.240 --> 00:09:46.759 There's a, there's a good kind of heartburn. 00:09:46.839 --> 00:09:50.819 And that's when you get sort of fired up about something, jazzed up about something, and you 00:09:50.819 --> 00:09:52.659 really want something, you long for something. 00:09:52.959 --> 00:09:54.399 You could talk about heartache. 00:09:55.559 --> 00:09:58.019 There's good heartache and bad heartache, right? 00:09:58.019 --> 00:10:03.480 Uh, bad heartache, we, we say when there's a breakup, a relationship ends in our lives, 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:05.039 we have heartache, but there's a good heartache. 00:10:05.100 --> 00:10:08.379 And that's the heartache where you really long for something. 00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:09.779 You ache for it. 00:10:09.819 --> 00:10:10.759 You yearn for it. 00:10:11.740 --> 00:10:17.279 Today, we've got good heartache for Scotland football, but we know that there could be the 00:10:17.279 --> 00:10:18.120 other type of heartache. 00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:19.279 It could come, right? 00:10:19.779 --> 00:10:24.559 We know those types of heartache that both sides here, what was happening was as Jesus 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:28.000 explained the old Testament to them, they were having heartache, heartburn. 00:10:28.019 --> 00:10:32.679 And a fire got lit in their souls and they couldn't exactly explain it, but they were yearning 00:10:32.679 --> 00:10:34.079 for something and hoping for something. 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:35.079 And what was it? 00:10:36.659 --> 00:10:42.019 We learned last week that they had said, we had hoped he would be the one to redeem Israel, 00:10:42.120 --> 00:10:42.840 but then he died. 00:10:43.639 --> 00:10:47.980 And they believed at that time, there is no such, such thing as resurrection from the dead. 00:10:48.100 --> 00:10:50.460 They thought their Messiah was just dead. 00:10:50.919 --> 00:10:51.559 We had hoped. 00:10:51.559 --> 00:10:57.500 But now as this man opened the Bible, the heartburn was, could this be true? 00:10:58.519 --> 00:11:03.639 And so this is like Blaise Pascal, the great French mathematician philosopher in his pensée, 00:11:03.719 --> 00:11:04.759 his little short sayings. 00:11:05.159 --> 00:11:10.079 He says that when you come to scripture, when you come to start to believe in God, at first, 00:11:10.219 --> 00:11:11.919 you're afraid that it might be true. 00:11:11.919 --> 00:11:16.740 Because you know, you would have to turn your life upside down, but then along the way, you 00:11:16.740 --> 00:11:18.099 start to wish it were true. 00:11:18.719 --> 00:11:19.699 And that's what they're experiencing. 00:11:19.839 --> 00:11:23.879 They're starting to, their heartburn is starting to say, could this actually be real? 00:11:24.299 --> 00:11:25.679 That there is a redeemer. 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:33.039 Now, some of you today here, I think, because I know, because I talked to you, are in that 00:11:33.039 --> 00:11:39.599 exact position where you have come to a point where you say, I'm afraid this might be real. 00:11:41.679 --> 00:11:45.879 And even for a couple of folks here, it's not just that you're afraid this might be real. 00:11:45.959 --> 00:11:49.919 You actually have begun to wish that the stories of the gospels were true. 00:11:51.480 --> 00:11:57.299 And I know talking from folks who have been there and have said, I just don't know what to do next. 00:11:58.379 --> 00:12:00.480 I don't know what it means to believe. 00:12:00.480 --> 00:12:04.180 And I think one of the issues that often happens is that you're looking for, 00:12:04.420 --> 00:12:07.519 you're looking for the same thing all of us are looking for. 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:10.759 And that's that you want fireworks, you know, you want drama. 00:12:11.680 --> 00:12:18.360 You want sight when the normal operation of how God changes lives is not yet through sight, 00:12:18.420 --> 00:12:19.120 but through hearing. 00:12:20.120 --> 00:12:24.740 And so you say, you know, I'm starting to wish this were true, but I need an encounter. 00:12:24.960 --> 00:12:26.000 I need God to come down. 00:12:26.080 --> 00:12:26.820 I need him to show up. 00:12:26.840 --> 00:12:29.019 I need him to speak a word to me, as people say. 00:12:29.019 --> 00:12:32.539 I need to hear something and see something audibly, visibly. 00:12:33.559 --> 00:12:35.019 And does God ever do that? 00:12:35.659 --> 00:12:36.039 Yes. 00:12:36.600 --> 00:12:41.939 I mean, he came, Jesus came to Paul on the road to Damascus and he shone down in light 00:12:41.939 --> 00:12:47.220 and he knocked Paul off of his horse and blinded Paul and then pulled the scales from his eyes. 00:12:47.220 --> 00:12:58.720 But it's so important to know that 99 out of 100 of us in this room that follow Jesus did so because of an experience like the Emmaus road, not the Damascus road. 00:13:00.139 --> 00:13:00.500 Right? 00:13:00.620 --> 00:13:04.580 You, what you actually need is you say, I wish this were true, but I don't know what to do next. 00:13:04.600 --> 00:13:07.240 And what you need to see is that you just need the Emmaus road. 00:13:07.240 --> 00:13:12.200 You just need to actually look and see Jesus Christ is present in the Old Testament. 00:13:13.820 --> 00:13:15.440 And then take a step of faith. 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:24.419 Now, the second thing that Jesus does with us here is he tells us the problem we have and the problem that prevents us from doing that. 00:13:24.419 --> 00:13:26.099 And that's that we have dull hearts. 00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:32.539 So, verse 25, these guys, we know from the passage, these guys did have faith. 00:13:32.659 --> 00:13:33.899 They had been following Jesus. 00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:35.019 They were disciples. 00:13:35.519 --> 00:13:39.319 They believed in him to some degree, but they didn't understand everything. 00:13:39.620 --> 00:13:46.439 And their faith had been dulled and they were cold and they didn't believe in the resurrection at this point. 00:13:46.440 --> 00:13:52.520 But then in verse 25, after explaining, hearing them talk about that, Jesus says, 00:13:52.880 --> 00:13:56.340 Oh, foolish ones, slow to believe all the prophets have spoken. 00:13:56.800 --> 00:14:03.180 Now, the commentators say that you can translate foolish a little bit softer to something like, 00:14:03.420 --> 00:14:04.780 Oh, dull ones. 00:14:05.260 --> 00:14:08.840 I don't know if that's actually softer, but they say that's just a little softer. 00:14:09.480 --> 00:14:14.620 Oh, dull ones, he says, slow of heart to perceive, slow of heart to believe. 00:14:14.620 --> 00:14:16.639 Now, what is Jesus saying there? 00:14:16.700 --> 00:14:28.220 He's saying that every single one of us wants sight, but we've been told in this season of life that we're to come by faith without yet seeing. 00:14:29.159 --> 00:14:35.740 And that it's really hard for us because the human heart is, by way of our condition, spiritually blind. 00:14:35.840 --> 00:14:41.720 And we want to see, we want to have an audible sound or a visible appearance of God. 00:14:41.720 --> 00:14:48.220 And so he says to them, the prophets told you everything you needed, but you're slow to believe. 00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:53.740 And that's the normal rhythm and the heart condition because these guys are believers. 00:14:54.019 --> 00:14:55.480 They believed in him. 00:14:55.540 --> 00:14:56.540 They had followed him. 00:14:57.100 --> 00:15:05.279 So some of us are here today and we were saying, I wish it were true, but we're waiting for fireworks when we just need the Emmaus road. 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:15.839 So many of us, more of us here today will be like these guys who have believed and have followed him, but the heart is prone to wander and prone to coldness. 00:15:15.939 --> 00:15:20.199 And so you today come and say, you know, the fire is not really there for me right now. 00:15:20.200 --> 00:15:25.800 I'm feeling a cold and dull, oh, dull one. 00:15:25.900 --> 00:15:27.140 And you say that I am one of those. 00:15:27.280 --> 00:15:29.820 I don't have the fire in my soul. 00:15:30.160 --> 00:15:37.000 So you can remember that when you came to faith and you started walking the road with Christ as he encountered you, that you were on fire. 00:15:37.180 --> 00:15:39.240 You felt the fire stirring in your soul. 00:15:39.240 --> 00:15:48.840 And then, and this happens so regularly that six months in and one year in, you started just living your normal life and the rhythms of the Christian life started to show up. 00:15:48.860 --> 00:15:52.580 And you realize the Emmaus road is not always fire. 00:15:52.700 --> 00:15:53.440 It's not always drama. 00:15:53.600 --> 00:15:55.019 It's not always revival. 00:15:55.539 --> 00:15:59.960 And that's when walking that road with Christ became incredibly difficult. 00:15:59.960 --> 00:16:01.379 And you feel a coldness in your life. 00:16:01.379 --> 00:16:06.480 And you come today and say, I've been walking with a coldness and a dullness in my heart for quite a long time. 00:16:06.480 --> 00:16:14.159 And again, it can be the temptation to say, Lord, where's the Damascus road? 00:16:14.840 --> 00:16:16.139 Knock me off my horse. 00:16:17.019 --> 00:16:22.080 You know, give me, give me light from heaven so that I can fill the fire again. 00:16:22.220 --> 00:16:25.519 And again, what we need to see is 99 out of a hundred times. 00:16:25.700 --> 00:16:28.560 What we need is the Emmaus road, not the Damascus road. 00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:30.379 You need, what does he do? 00:16:30.440 --> 00:16:32.759 What does he do to bring the fire back into your life? 00:16:33.560 --> 00:16:34.500 He does a Bible study. 00:16:34.500 --> 00:16:36.460 He does a Bible study. 00:16:37.200 --> 00:16:39.480 The greatest Bible study that there's ever been in human history. 00:16:39.879 --> 00:16:42.100 Let's focus on that as we finish the third point. 00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:46.840 The heart of the Bible, how Jesus really changes lives and gives us faith. 00:16:46.899 --> 00:16:51.840 Now I want to give you, I want to tell you, draw out six things that Jesus says. 00:16:52.379 --> 00:16:54.779 Fear not that number six. 00:16:54.899 --> 00:16:57.419 This is not two, three point sermons that I'm starting. 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:00.519 These are, we'll roll right through them. 00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:05.480 Six things that Jesus says about how to read the Bible, about the Old Testament here that 00:17:05.480 --> 00:17:08.879 can, that changes life, that he does use to change our lives. 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:11.500 Number one, and boy, how much this matters for us. 00:17:12.019 --> 00:17:17.019 The first thing he does is he, he opens the word instead of showing himself to them. 00:17:17.180 --> 00:17:20.519 Now, this is just a review of, of what I've already said this morning and last week. 00:17:20.519 --> 00:17:25.119 But again, I want to repeat it because he, he could simply unveil himself to them in the 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:30.980 story, but he chooses to unveil himself slowly through explaining the Bible to them. 00:17:31.400 --> 00:17:36.839 He wants them to hear him and believe before they ever see him physically. 00:17:36.839 --> 00:17:44.659 And that means that Jesus has given us the normal means of grace, an open Bible as the primary 00:17:44.659 --> 00:17:46.199 way he's going to change people's lives. 00:17:46.839 --> 00:17:50.899 That matters so much for us because nothing has changed. 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:54.259 That's still the ordinary rhythms that, that the Lord uses in our lives. 00:17:54.740 --> 00:18:00.220 Secondly, he treats Moses and the prophets here as authoritative scripture. 00:18:00.339 --> 00:18:04.899 So if you look down at verse 25 to 27, you'll see that he says to them, 00:18:04.900 --> 00:18:06.620 Odull one, slow to believe. 00:18:06.759 --> 00:18:09.540 And then there's the language, all the prophets have spoken. 00:18:10.060 --> 00:18:12.259 And then all the prophets have spoken. 00:18:12.320 --> 00:18:13.500 He's talking there about the old Testament. 00:18:13.640 --> 00:18:17.640 Then was it not necessary that the Christ would suffer necessary according to what? 00:18:18.120 --> 00:18:20.060 The old Testament necessary. 00:18:20.060 --> 00:18:23.880 According to the old Testament, that Christ must die on the cross, suffer these things 00:18:23.880 --> 00:18:25.960 and rise from the dead, enter into glory. 00:18:26.140 --> 00:18:31.660 And then with the beginning with Moses, the Torah, the first five books of the Bible and all 00:18:31.660 --> 00:18:36.120 the prophets, he interpreted to them all the things in the old Testament concerning himself. 00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:38.400 So he enters into the Bible study. 00:18:38.500 --> 00:18:44.160 But the second thing I want you to see is that he calls Moses and the prophets scripture. 00:18:45.460 --> 00:18:52.180 So Jesus Christ, the redeemer looked at the old Testament and said, that is God's word. 00:18:52.300 --> 00:18:53.720 That is an authority in my life. 00:18:53.720 --> 00:19:01.319 And that is fundamental for us to see because every single person in this world is looking 00:19:01.319 --> 00:19:02.039 for an authority. 00:19:03.819 --> 00:19:08.900 And what the contemporary order of life tells us is that, that the final authority is ultimately 00:19:08.900 --> 00:19:09.579 left with us. 00:19:09.579 --> 00:19:13.539 And there's a massive paralysis that takes place in us where we're left to think that 00:19:13.539 --> 00:19:18.740 what's right and wrong and what I should do with my life and what I should think about 00:19:18.740 --> 00:19:22.079 the question of meaning and existence is all left up to, to my opinions. 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:24.119 And that will leave us in a state of paralysis. 00:19:24.579 --> 00:19:28.559 It's very important to see that Jesus Christ, the redeemer in the middle of history, looked 00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:31.939 at the Bible and called it scripture, the writings, his authority. 00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:39.059 And he does that by looking at the law of Moses and the prophets, meaning every single bit of 00:19:39.059 --> 00:19:39.720 the old Testament. 00:19:39.859 --> 00:19:47.119 Now, if you were to be asked as a Christian, why do you believe that the Bible is your authority? 00:19:49.579 --> 00:19:51.099 We believe it for all sorts of reasons. 00:19:51.099 --> 00:19:56.839 We could say, well, look, we know we have the right Bible because of the manuscript tradition, 00:19:57.079 --> 00:20:00.199 you know, far better than Plato's Republic or the Iliad or the Odyssey. 00:20:00.379 --> 00:20:01.919 We know we have the original text. 00:20:02.099 --> 00:20:06.879 You could talk about the inner harmony of the text, how it all fits together from garden 00:20:06.879 --> 00:20:09.059 to garden, from Genesis to Revelation. 00:20:09.059 --> 00:20:11.339 You could talk about the fulfillment of prophecy. 00:20:11.839 --> 00:20:15.219 But do you know what the theologians have said about the main reason we believe in the 00:20:15.220 --> 00:20:15.480 Bible? 00:20:17.160 --> 00:20:24.440 It's because the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ, who rose from the dead, said that he 00:20:24.440 --> 00:20:25.279 believed in the Bible. 00:20:26.940 --> 00:20:28.600 And you say, well, that's a bit circular. 00:20:28.720 --> 00:20:29.059 And it is. 00:20:29.120 --> 00:20:31.420 But all final authorities are actually a little bit circular. 00:20:32.860 --> 00:20:36.759 See, if you don't believe in authority like God's word, then you have to say, well, the final 00:20:36.759 --> 00:20:41.180 authority actually lands with my opinions on what's right and wrong in this world. 00:20:41.180 --> 00:20:46.960 And that means that you're resting on your emotions and your intelligence to tell you that your 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:50.539 opinions are the final arbiter of your of all your decisions. 00:20:50.539 --> 00:20:51.779 And that's also circular. 00:20:51.920 --> 00:20:58.960 And instead here we see Jesus saying, look, if the risen Lord believed the Bible, then you've 00:20:58.960 --> 00:20:59.700 got to believe the Bible. 00:21:00.039 --> 00:21:02.759 If Jesus rose from the dead and he believed in the Bible, you've got to believe in the 00:21:02.759 --> 00:21:03.000 Bible. 00:21:04.259 --> 00:21:10.220 Thirdly, we're told here in verse 27 that he interpreted the Bible to them. 00:21:10.220 --> 00:21:12.220 He opened up the scriptures and interpreted it. 00:21:13.100 --> 00:21:20.420 Very briefly, the word interpret, you see here, we learn that the Bible does have to be interpreted. 00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:22.279 And that's what Jesus did. 00:21:22.319 --> 00:21:24.240 He actually had to show them what it means. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:30.180 The word to interpret is a metaphor, the Greek word that's used here for a journey. 00:21:30.380 --> 00:21:35.920 So it's like you've gone into the text and you've gone through the grammar and the syntax 00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:40.539 and the paragraphs and the stories, and you've gone through a journey and then you draw the 00:21:40.539 --> 00:21:41.440 meaning out of that. 00:21:41.560 --> 00:21:45.620 So the word to interpret means to go through a journey with the text. 00:21:46.019 --> 00:21:50.160 And so what we're, I think what we're being offered here is the idea that when you walk 00:21:50.160 --> 00:21:54.800 on the road, the path, the way with Jesus, you're being invited to, for the rest of your 00:21:54.799 --> 00:22:01.379 life, have it as the normal way that God lights a fire in your heart to journey through the 00:22:01.379 --> 00:22:05.720 text as he journeys with you, as you journey with him and draw out the meaning. 00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:10.039 So you don't, you don't put the meaning in interpretation means that you've got to draw 00:22:10.039 --> 00:22:11.000 the meaning out. 00:22:11.000 --> 00:22:21.059 And we can't miss today that this is so basic that we can sometimes push past it, that the 00:22:21.059 --> 00:22:25.059 normal rhythms of the Christian life, the road to Emmaus, the road that you're walking on 00:22:25.059 --> 00:22:29.980 is that you're called to live a life of interpreting the Bible and walking through the Bible and 00:22:29.980 --> 00:22:32.420 journeying through the Bible as you walk across your journey. 00:22:33.480 --> 00:22:40.519 It's a really common thing today to turn and say, I want my spiritual life to be so much 00:22:40.519 --> 00:22:43.539 more full of aesthetics than word. 00:22:44.299 --> 00:22:49.819 So you'll probably be very familiar with the statistics that tell us that lots of people 00:22:49.819 --> 00:22:52.639 are converting to Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. 00:22:53.139 --> 00:22:55.980 The truth is it's not nearly as much as gets talked about. 00:22:56.339 --> 00:22:56.660 But why? 00:22:56.759 --> 00:23:01.420 Well, often people will say because they want worship that's full of sight. 00:23:02.720 --> 00:23:06.299 But there's so much good about sacred space. 00:23:06.379 --> 00:23:10.059 There's so much good about seeing and we long to see, but it's so important to see that 00:23:10.059 --> 00:23:14.919 the normal pattern of the Bible is that God wants us to live the Christian life mainly 00:23:14.919 --> 00:23:19.859 by hearing until we see him one day in the new heavens and new earth. 00:23:20.039 --> 00:23:20.659 Now, what does that mean? 00:23:20.720 --> 00:23:22.980 That means that you're being actually called to live by faith. 00:23:23.779 --> 00:23:25.159 So what is faith? 00:23:25.259 --> 00:23:27.519 It's to believe in something you can't yet see. 00:23:27.720 --> 00:23:31.899 And that's why in this order of existence, you've been invited to hear before you see. 00:23:31.899 --> 00:23:36.720 Do we forget sometimes that we're actually supposed to be living by faith? 00:23:36.720 --> 00:23:38.360 It's not supposed to be easy. 00:23:38.839 --> 00:23:44.539 We've been invited by God to hear him in order to believe him until one day when we see him. 00:23:45.039 --> 00:23:49.440 Now, the fourth thing and the most important thing we're told here is that beginning with 00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:56.120 Moses and all the prophets, he taught them how the Bible, the whole Old Testament concerned 00:23:56.120 --> 00:23:56.700 himself. 00:23:56.700 --> 00:24:01.299 And then if you jump down to verse 44 to 47, what's mentioned there is when he meets with 00:24:01.299 --> 00:24:08.000 the 11, he opened up to them the law, the prophets, and the Psalms and explained how 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:09.460 the whole Bible was about himself. 00:24:10.440 --> 00:24:16.039 Now, this is the only place, verse 44 to 47, in the whole New Testament where the threefold 00:24:16.039 --> 00:24:19.640 order of the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, is mentioned. 00:24:19.640 --> 00:24:28.320 And so when he talks about Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms, that's because in the Hebrew 00:24:28.320 --> 00:24:32.740 Bible, before it was translated to English, that was the three-part order. 00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:37.580 Moses, the five books of Moses, and then the prophets, and the prophets don't begin with 00:24:37.580 --> 00:24:41.700 Isaiah, they begin with Joshua in the original Bible, the original Old Testament. 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:46.000 And then the Psalms are the beginning of a section called the writings. 00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:52.559 So Jesus, in Second Temple Judaism in this time, they would have understood the Bible. 00:24:52.660 --> 00:24:57.339 That way you can go by that order, that type of order at Waterstones. 00:24:57.460 --> 00:25:02.680 It's called the Tanakh, the Torah, the Nevi'im, the Ketuvim, the law of Moses, the prophets, 00:25:02.819 --> 00:25:03.240 and the writings. 00:25:03.380 --> 00:25:06.519 Same exact Old Testament as ours, but just slightly reordered. 00:25:07.099 --> 00:25:07.920 But do you see what he's saying? 00:25:07.960 --> 00:25:12.299 He's saying that he went through the Torah, the first five books, all the books of the 00:25:12.299 --> 00:25:19.240 prophets from Joshua down through Ezekiel and Jeremiah, and then Psalms and Ruth and all 00:25:19.240 --> 00:25:24.139 the way to Chronicles, the very end of the Hebrew Bible, and said, showed them how the 00:25:24.139 --> 00:25:25.619 whole Old Testament was about him. 00:25:26.359 --> 00:25:30.879 Now, we don't have exactly what he said. 00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:35.539 We don't know where he took them to, but seven miles to walk to Emmaus. 00:25:35.539 --> 00:25:39.980 And I would imagine that if I'm walking with Jesus to Emmaus during the greatest Bible study 00:25:39.980 --> 00:25:43.519 that ever took place, I'm stopping him along the way and saying, wait, hold on a second. 00:25:43.819 --> 00:25:45.200 Take me back through that again. 00:25:45.899 --> 00:25:49.720 You know, it takes about three and a half hours to meander for seven miles. 00:25:49.859 --> 00:25:51.539 So this could have been a five-hour journey. 00:25:51.859 --> 00:25:56.000 A five-hour Bible study with Jesus Christ through the Old Testament would have given you a good 00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:56.379 bit. 00:25:56.579 --> 00:25:58.460 It could have really provided a lot. 00:25:59.220 --> 00:26:02.200 And I don't know where he took you, but you can read the rest of the New Testament and 00:26:02.200 --> 00:26:07.819 see how the apostles read the Old Testament to understand what he later taught them about 00:26:07.819 --> 00:26:08.440 the Old Testament. 00:26:09.100 --> 00:26:16.039 So I imagine that he probably took them to a place like Leviticus 16, to the day of atonement, 00:26:16.160 --> 00:26:23.380 when the priest takes two goats and he sacrifices one goat and he sprinkles the blood of that goat 00:26:23.380 --> 00:26:27.720 on the walls of the temple to cleanse it from human corruption that's been brought into it. 00:26:27.720 --> 00:26:32.180 And then he turns and he puts his hand on the other goat and says, you now bear it. 00:26:32.200 --> 00:26:33.660 Bear the sins of God's people. 00:26:33.700 --> 00:26:35.880 And he sends that goat out into the wilderness. 00:26:36.180 --> 00:26:36.420 Why? 00:26:36.880 --> 00:26:39.880 Because sin does not belong in the midst of God's holy city. 00:26:39.960 --> 00:26:44.940 So he sends the goat out into the wilderness to wander, not to die, but to wander. 00:26:45.059 --> 00:26:45.180 Why? 00:26:45.299 --> 00:26:48.360 Because it's saying the blood of bulls and goats isn't working. 00:26:48.779 --> 00:26:49.680 It's not enough. 00:26:49.840 --> 00:26:54.840 We're waiting for the day when the true lamb of God will bear the sins of God's people. 00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.779 The true lamb of God will be sent outside of the city into the wilderness, bearing the 00:26:59.779 --> 00:27:00.559 sins of God's people. 00:27:02.200 --> 00:27:03.440 And that's from the Torah. 00:27:03.559 --> 00:27:04.279 That's from the law of Moses. 00:27:04.360 --> 00:27:07.880 I would imagine he took them to a place like Isaiah 53. 00:27:08.220 --> 00:27:11.259 And he said, he bears the sins of many. 00:27:11.480 --> 00:27:13.620 He will carry our transgressions. 00:27:14.279 --> 00:27:16.980 And then he took them over to a place like Isaiah 56. 00:27:16.980 --> 00:27:22.000 And he said, the Messiah, I offered my back to those who would beat me. 00:27:22.779 --> 00:27:25.900 I offered my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. 00:27:26.839 --> 00:27:28.920 And he took them through Isaiah 53. 00:27:28.920 --> 00:27:32.460 And he said, surely he has borne our sins. 00:27:32.460 --> 00:27:35.940 And he was stricken for our transgressions. 00:27:35.940 --> 00:27:38.960 He has borne the weight of human sin. 00:27:39.140 --> 00:27:46.160 And, you know, verse 44, when he's explaining it to the other 11 disciples, he mentions, 00:27:46.340 --> 00:27:48.940 these are the words that I told you while I was still with you. 00:27:48.980 --> 00:27:49.600 What is he saying there? 00:27:49.640 --> 00:27:53.900 He's saying, I explained to you that the Old Testament was about me when I was doing my 00:27:53.900 --> 00:27:55.880 ministry, but you didn't see it at the time. 00:27:56.039 --> 00:27:57.299 And now I'm going back through it. 00:27:57.360 --> 00:27:58.480 And there was a moment. 00:27:58.840 --> 00:27:59.279 Here's one. 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:00.099 Just one example. 00:28:00.639 --> 00:28:03.819 When he was with them, they said, teacher, show us a sign. 00:28:04.500 --> 00:28:09.279 And he said, this generation seeks out after signs, but seeks after what? 00:28:09.339 --> 00:28:10.079 Seeks after sight. 00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:11.220 They wanted to see something great. 00:28:11.399 --> 00:28:13.980 And he said, but all you need is to go back and read Jonah. 00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:15.899 Remember that? 00:28:15.940 --> 00:28:21.299 He said, read Jonah and how Jonah was cast down into the heart of the sea for three days 00:28:21.299 --> 00:28:21.779 and nights. 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:25.480 So the son of man must be cast down to the earth for three days and nights. 00:28:25.619 --> 00:28:27.819 And, you know, these guys stopped him along the way. 00:28:27.819 --> 00:28:31.779 And they said, they didn't know it was Jesus, but they said, wait, so you're saying that 00:28:31.779 --> 00:28:37.679 in the book of Jonah, the whole reason Jonah actually exists in human history is because 00:28:37.679 --> 00:28:42.319 he was always pointing forward to the one, the true and better Jonah, who would go down 00:28:42.319 --> 00:28:45.779 into the heart of the sea of our sins and be down in the earth for three days and then 00:28:45.779 --> 00:28:46.659 come back from the dead again. 00:28:47.019 --> 00:28:48.799 And he would have said, yeah, that's called typology. 00:28:49.819 --> 00:28:51.720 No, he wouldn't have said that, but we say that now. 00:28:51.779 --> 00:28:52.639 That's called typology. 00:28:53.639 --> 00:28:57.659 And you see, he sat there and did the greatest Bible study in world history, showing 00:28:57.660 --> 00:28:59.480 them how it's always been spoken. 00:29:00.060 --> 00:29:04.680 I mean, the greatest moment is when he says in verse 26, was it not necessary that according 00:29:04.680 --> 00:29:10.080 to the prophets, the Messiah, the Redeemer must go into suffering and then enter glory? 00:29:10.200 --> 00:29:10.660 What is he saying? 00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:15.180 He's saying the most obvious, the most clear, the most visible thing in the old Testament 00:29:15.180 --> 00:29:19.380 that's about him is that he must go to the cross and then rise from the dead, that the 00:29:19.380 --> 00:29:24.220 cross was preached all throughout the history of the old Testament over 1500 years. 00:29:24.220 --> 00:29:33.480 Now that tells us, and I have to finish, that tells us that the New Testament, pardon me, 00:29:33.579 --> 00:29:37.319 the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed. 00:29:38.100 --> 00:29:41.160 And the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. 00:29:41.160 --> 00:29:46.980 And the best way this is ever explained to me is that think about the Bible like a bicycle 00:29:46.980 --> 00:29:47.340 wheel. 00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:53.800 And on the outside, on the rim of the bicycle, you have thousands of events, psalms and hymns 00:29:53.800 --> 00:29:59.180 and historical events, the Exodus and the Kings and the Chronicles, thousands of events. 00:29:59.660 --> 00:30:02.820 And then there's spokes all leading to the center, the hub. 00:30:02.819 --> 00:30:09.879 And those spokes are all of God's promises, all the thousands of events being held up, 00:30:09.919 --> 00:30:13.799 but all of God's promises in the very center of that bicycle wheel is Jesus Christ. 00:30:14.579 --> 00:30:19.939 And so you got to read the Bible by going through the events, reading the promises, finding the 00:30:19.939 --> 00:30:23.019 center in Jesus, and then reading it back out again. 00:30:23.539 --> 00:30:25.819 So you read the Old Testament to get to Jesus. 00:30:25.960 --> 00:30:29.919 And then once you get to Jesus, you read the Old Testament in light of him to understand it 00:30:29.919 --> 00:30:30.700 fully and completely. 00:30:30.700 --> 00:30:36.620 And in this most, this great Bible study, and I've lost the plot on my numbers, so we're 00:30:36.620 --> 00:30:37.440 done with all six. 00:30:40.100 --> 00:30:45.180 And the greatest Bible study that's ever been given, I just want to say as we finish, we've 00:30:45.180 --> 00:30:48.160 got to be willing to read the Bible like Jesus read the Bible, right? 00:30:48.840 --> 00:30:52.559 We've got to read the Bible in the light of Christ, the way Christ read the Bible in the 00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:54.500 light of Christ, if we want to read it rightly. 00:30:54.500 --> 00:31:01.119 And boy, if I was to be the author of world history, that's a scary thought. 00:31:01.779 --> 00:31:06.660 You know, I would have said, I would have said, if God would have said to me, you know, I'm 00:31:06.660 --> 00:31:10.960 going to transform people's lives for these 2000 years by getting them to read the story 00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:16.940 of Jonah, by getting them to read David and Bathsheba and seeing how that was actually pointing 00:31:16.940 --> 00:31:19.799 to a child that would be born, leading to a child that would be born. 00:31:20.259 --> 00:31:22.039 I would have said, I think we can go bigger. 00:31:22.859 --> 00:31:24.159 I think we can do something different. 00:31:24.839 --> 00:31:29.059 And the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of all humanity, right? 00:31:29.460 --> 00:31:35.359 And that he has chosen the most ordinary thing, the Emmaus road to transform all of human life. 00:31:35.379 --> 00:31:40.460 And that's that he wrote a book and he keeps opening up hearts and changing people's lives 00:31:40.460 --> 00:31:41.240 by way of the book. 00:31:41.339 --> 00:31:45.579 And that means that we've got to be willing to say, I'm going to internalize it. 00:31:45.639 --> 00:31:46.619 I'm going to take it in. 00:31:46.619 --> 00:31:51.799 I'm going to make this a priority for my life because this is the thing he has chosen to 00:31:51.799 --> 00:31:56.939 change my life with, of showing me how Jesus has always been doing what Jesus would do from 00:31:56.939 --> 00:31:59.219 Genesis all the way to the New Testament. 00:31:59.439 --> 00:32:01.099 That's how he's chosen to change our lives. 00:32:01.179 --> 00:32:01.859 It's the Emmaus road. 00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:10.639 John Calvin, listen to what 26 year old John Calvin says about this when he writes a preface 00:32:10.640 --> 00:32:15.480 to Pierre Olivier Ton's translation of the New Testament in France. 00:32:15.820 --> 00:32:19.640 26 year old John Calvin, he said this, Christ is the true Isaac. 00:32:21.259 --> 00:32:23.820 Christ is Jacob, the watchful shepherd. 00:32:24.560 --> 00:32:26.380 He is the compassionate brother, Joseph. 00:32:26.540 --> 00:32:28.200 He is the priest Melchizedek. 00:32:28.420 --> 00:32:34.100 He is the lawgiver, Moses, the guide, Joshua, the noble King David, the peaceful King Solomon, 00:32:34.099 --> 00:32:39.199 the strong Samson who by his death overwhelmed all the enemies. 00:32:40.619 --> 00:32:45.039 If one were to sift the law and the prophets, he would not find a single word which would 00:32:45.039 --> 00:32:47.179 not draw us and bring us to him. 00:32:48.240 --> 00:32:50.759 Then Calvin says, this is what the Old Testament teaches us. 00:32:51.119 --> 00:32:53.019 He was sold to buy us back. 00:32:53.519 --> 00:32:55.819 Jesus became captive to deliver us. 00:32:56.079 --> 00:32:58.119 He was condemned to absolve us. 00:32:58.339 --> 00:33:00.419 He was made a curse for our blessing. 00:33:00.420 --> 00:33:02.320 In him, death is dead. 00:33:02.460 --> 00:33:05.500 In him, mortality has been made immortal. 00:33:06.800 --> 00:33:13.800 Do your hearts not burn within you when you realize that 1500 years before Jesus Christ 00:33:13.800 --> 00:33:18.880 ever came into this world, the Bible was preaching him? 00:33:19.080 --> 00:33:21.600 Do your hearts not burn within you to know that? 00:33:21.900 --> 00:33:22.560 That this is real. 00:33:22.640 --> 00:33:23.320 This is history. 00:33:23.779 --> 00:33:28.140 The promised one of the Old Testament is the son of God who came into the middle of history 00:33:28.140 --> 00:33:29.440 and he came for you. 00:33:29.440 --> 00:33:34.220 And so right now, even in this moment, he is opening up the scriptures to you. 00:33:34.940 --> 00:33:37.620 He's doing that through the power of the Holy Spirit. 00:33:38.680 --> 00:33:39.920 You've got to internalize the word. 00:33:39.980 --> 00:33:40.460 You've got to come. 00:33:40.580 --> 00:33:41.600 You've got to receive it. 00:33:41.660 --> 00:33:47.559 You've got to believe in him in order to see the word truly. 00:33:47.720 --> 00:33:50.299 And you've got to see the word truly in order to believe in him. 00:33:51.980 --> 00:33:52.660 Let us pray. 00:33:52.820 --> 00:33:57.299 Father, we ask that you would change our lives by way of the word. 00:33:57.299 --> 00:34:03.940 We thank you, Jesus, for this most wonderful Bible study where you showed us Christ yourself 00:34:03.940 --> 00:34:07.619 in all of scripture, the Torah and the prophets and the writings. 00:34:08.360 --> 00:34:14.699 And so we ask today that you would set a fire in our hearts for coming back again to the Bible 00:34:14.699 --> 00:34:20.599 and finding it precious, finding the word sweet as honey, searching for Christ, searching for you 00:34:20.599 --> 00:34:23.500 in all the right ways through the Old Testament into the new. 00:34:23.919 --> 00:34:28.480 Not so that we can be great at Bible studies, but Lord, so that we can see our redeemer 00:34:28.480 --> 00:34:33.199 and see that you have called us by faith in this season until one day we have sight. 00:34:33.199 --> 00:34:38.119 So, Lord, give us faith, strengthen our faith that we really are called to believe by hearing 00:34:38.119 --> 00:34:38.779 in this moment. 00:34:39.199 --> 00:34:40.319 And we pray that in Christ's name. 00:34:40.539 --> 00:34:40.759 Amen.