"The Gospel of Luke (62): Jesus Christ our Prophet" April 21, 2024

First Baptist Church Leominster

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We see the gospel opening up to the Gentile world, and then further in Acts chapter 11, we see how this gospel is beginning to spread out into the world.

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Acts chapter 11. Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout

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Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when

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Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him saying, you went to uncircumcise men and ate with them.

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But Peter began and explained it to them in order. I was in the city of Joppa praying and in a trance,

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I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me.

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Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air.

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And I heard a voice saying to me, rise, Peter, kill and eat. But I said, by no means,

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Lord, for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth. But the voice answered a second time from heaven, what

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God has made clean, do not call common. This happened three times and all was drawn up again into heaven.

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And behold, at that very moment, three men arrived at the house in which we were sent to me from Caesarea.

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And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me and we entered the man's house.

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And he told us how he had seen the angels stand in his house and say, send to Joppa and bring

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Simon who is called Peter. He will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.

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As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as on us at the beginning.

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And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, John baptized with water, but you will be baptized by the

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Holy Spirit. If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the

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Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way? When they heard these things, they fell silent and they glorified

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God saying, then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.

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Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.

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But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the

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Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the

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Lord was with them and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem and they sent

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Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the

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Lord with steadfast purpose. For he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith and a great many people were added to the

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Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch.

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For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people and in Antioch the disciples were first called

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Christians. Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch and one of them named

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Agabus stood up and foretold by the spirit that there would be a great famine over all the earth. This took place in the days of Claudius.

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So the disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers living in Judea and they did so sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

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Let's pray. Our Father we thank you for the gospel and we thank you that you opened it up to Gentiles so that all men would believe.

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We thank you for the apostles. We thank you for pastors and teachers throughout the ages who have proclaimed your name and we pray

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Lord that we would hear and understand your word. We pray that today we would hear and understand your word as Pastor Lars teaches.

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We pray that we would have a greater understanding of your character, a greater understanding of your will.

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We pray Lord that we would submit to you, surrender our own will and that we would follow after yours.

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We pray Lord that you would help us in all of these things. Thank you Lord. In Jesus name.

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Amen. Let's turn once again to Luke 13.

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Hopefully we'll finish this chapter this morning. Now it is our desire of course as Christians to grow in the grace and knowledge of our

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Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The world believes that you grow as a person through attaining a better knowledge of yourself.

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Make a study of yourself. Jesus said learn of me and you'll find rest in your souls.

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The world makes a study of the wrong person. And so God's word teaches us that it's through our knowledge of Jesus Christ that God sanctifies us.

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And many Christians don't understand this. Pastor just tell me what I'm supposed to do. They think in those terms.

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The scriptures tell us that we are to proclaim Jesus Christ. And as you look to him and see him, the

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Holy Spirit will transform you. And so as we look to Jesus Christ, we increase our knowledge of him.

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We become more like him in thought and character. Peter wrote of this in the opening words of his second epistle.

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He wrote of the transformative acquisition of knowledge of Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied to you.

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Where is this found in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord as his divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

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How or through what instrument? What means? Through the knowledge of him who calls us by glory and virtue.

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Of course, this is the work of the Holy Spirit. If we focus our minds and hearts upon Jesus Christ, the

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Holy Spirit will make us like him. Though we may not be fully aware of the work he's performing in our souls.

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Paul wrote of the Holy Spirit's work in this matter in 2 Corinthians 3 18, which reads, but we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the

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Lord, it's like a spiritual mirror. You see Jesus Christ in that mirror rather than your own face.

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But lo and behold, we're being transformed into the same image that is the image of Christ from glory to glory, just as by the

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Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. And so we should focus and attempt to know

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Jesus Christ more clearly and fully from the scriptures and to the degree you do and God blesses that the

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Holy Spirit will transform your life. And so let's turn to Luke 13 31 through 35, in which we may learn more about our

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Lord Jesus. And as we do, may the Holy Spirit continue his transformative work of grace in our lives.

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Before us, we read again of our Lord's conflict with the Jewish leaders of the Pharisees as he and his disciples were journeying toward Jerusalem, their final journey.

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On that very day, some Pharisees came, say to him, get out, depart from here for Herod wants to kill you.

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And he said to them, go tell that Fox, behold, I cast out demons, perform cure today, tomorrow, and the third day

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I shall be perfected. Nevertheless, I must journey today, tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.

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Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. The one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her.

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How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hand gathers her brood under her wings.

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But you are not willing. See your house is left to you desolate, assuredly,

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I say to you, you shall not see me until the time comes when you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the

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Lord. So the Lord Jesus and his apostles and many disciples were on their way to Jerusalem.

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And some Pharisees, Jewish religious leaders approached him saying, get away from here for King Herod is after you.

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He wants to kill you. Now it's with some difficulty we may determine where our

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Lord was when this event occurred. One might assume that he was still in the region of Galilee for King Herod was the

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Jewish king over the entire region of Galilee. We might assume if Jesus were to escape

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Herod, he must therefore leave Galilee. But we've already read that Jesus had departed

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Galilee and come into the region of Samaria where he and his disciples had borne witness of the kingdom.

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But Herod was ruler over another region other than Galilee, which was to the southeast and separated from Galilee.

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This was the region of Perea. And on the last page of these notes,

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I provided a map and you can see these two regions actually separated by some geography.

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But King Herod was the one who ruled over each of those regions on behalf of Rome.

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And so it's likely that our Lord had left Galilee and had been traveling in Samaria for a time, but at some point crossed over the

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Jordan River eastward into Perea to minister there or for proceeding on to Jerusalem in the region of Judea.

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And you can see where Jerusalem is located on that map also, probably southwest of Perea.

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Now, we do not know with certainty the motives of the Pharisees for approaching Jesus in this manner from their representation to Luke's gospel thus far.

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However, we would think that they were not really concerned about the safety of our Lord when they said, get out of here,

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King Herod wants to kill you. After all, they had already sought ways to bring accusation against Jesus.

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We read that back in Luke 6, verse 7. And we read they had been filled with rage and disgust with one another what they might do to Jesus.

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These Pharisees were not concerned about his safety. On one occasion, after our

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Lord had rebuked them, we read of their reaction. As he said these things to them, the scribes and the

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Pharisees began to assail him vehemently and to cross -examine him about many things, lying in wait for him, seeking to catch him in something he might say that they might accuse him.

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That was just a couple chapters ago, Luke chapter 11. Why then did they come to Jesus on this occasion saying to him, get out and depart from here for Herod wants to kill you?

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Well, it's most likely that they wanted him out of their territory because of the influence he was having on their people.

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So by this warning, therefore, they hoped to scare Jesus away from that region that he would act or react out of fear of his life.

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Well, that didn't go very far. It may be that these

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Pharisees were attributing to Herod false desires and motivations. In other words, they made up this warning.

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We read earlier of Herod's response when he heard of Jesus. It was not one of abject hostility or murderous intent, but rather of curiosity.

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We read earlier in Luke these words, now Herod the Tetrarch heard of all that was done by him, by Jesus, and he was perplexed because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead, and by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the old prophets had risen again.

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Herod said, John, I beheaded, but who is this of whom I hear such things? So he sought to see him.

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Doesn't say he sought to kill him, as the Pharisees charge. And later we read that when

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Pilate sent Jesus bound to Herod in Jerusalem, that Herod was not openly hostile to Jesus then.

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Herod was unjust, clearly, but not necessarily hostile. Herod found

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Jesus to be innocent of any charge that warranted execution. We read in Luke 23, when

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Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked if the man were a Galilean, and as soon as he knew that, that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

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Now when Herod saw Jesus, notice, he was exceedingly glad, for he had desired for a long time to see him, because he had heard many things about him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by him.

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And so the Pharisees may have been attempting to frighten Jesus away by fabricating Herod's desire to kill

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Jesus. Herod was noted for his cruelty and injustice, and so it would have been quite easy and reasonable for these

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Pharisees to present Herod to have nefarious desires. And the noted commentator that would quote quite a bit,

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I .H. Marshall, wrote of their motivation, it's most likely that their caution here is motivated by malice, and that they were trying, like Herod, to get

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Jesus to make himself scarce. For Jesus, the warning presented itself as a temptation to follow human advice and ignore

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God's plan for his ministry. But of course, he did not yield in any way.

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We read that Jesus responded to them in verse 32, he said to them, go tell that fox, behold,

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I cast out demons, perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected. So here

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Jesus denounced the character of this king as that fox. It was clear that no fear of man characterized

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Jesus. Jesus manifested courage in the face of threats and danger.

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Our Reformation Study Bible has a footnote that defines what had been understood by the

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Jews of that day by the description of Herod as a fox. The Jews used the metaphor of a fox to mean worthless and sly.

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Jesus is unmoved by Herod's threats and says he will continue with his ministry. And so Jesus calling

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Herod that fox would have had really a twofold meaning. First, Jesus was stating the fact that King Herod was a cunning, diabolical man, and he was known in history as that.

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He was a man without integrity. And second, fox in reference to a king of Israel would perhaps have been understood as a declaration he was no lion sitting on the throne, one after the order of King David.

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In other words, Herod was a man without dignity and majesty suited to his position.

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Essentially, Jesus was saying he knows where to find me, but I'm not going to be diverted from my task.

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Perhaps too often we're not as forthright as we should be in identifying corrupt and ungodly men in authority.

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Certainly we're told to honor the king, honor all those in authority, but it's not wrong to state plainly a matter with respect to an unjust or corrupt person in power.

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Luke 13 .32 is a very frank and fearless message that Herod, you tell that fox that I'm going to continue my ministry and I'm not going to be cowered by his threats.

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Jesus said he would continue to cast out demons and perform cures. The reference to casting out demons and healing the sick was a statement that Jesus would continue.

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To manifest himself openly to Israel as the Messiah. He would not be deterred by threats to his safety.

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Jesus declared, behold, I cast out demons, perform cures today and tomorrow on the third day I shall be perfected.

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Curious word. Perhaps ESV is better or to be preferred, behold, I cast out demons, perform cures today and tomorrow on the third day

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I finish my course. Would be a better way to explain that.

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He would accomplish his mission. Of course he was alluding to his betrayal, crucifixion in Jerusalem.

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In verse 33, Jesus used similar words, nevertheless, I must journey today, tomorrow and the day following again, three days mentioned, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.

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Although there are some attempts to make the phrase today, tomorrow and the day following to be understood literally, we need not take this expression to be a literal three days.

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It can be regarded as simply having been an idiom, a saying to express the idea of soon and most certainly this will take place.

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He would arrive in Jerusalem where the climax of his life and ministry would take place. Perhaps he was only three days distance from Jerusalem, but we know from Luke's account that it would be a number of days before he would yet arrive to that city.

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One commentator described our Lord's response to the Pharisees this way, the sense of the whole passage seems to be, we are still three days walk from Jerusalem to Jerusalem, I must get to die there for Jerusalem has become the natural place for prophets to perish in.

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So you need not threaten me with death from Herod, it's not within his jurisdiction, there

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I must die. Jerusalem was in Judea and of course Pontius Pilate was the governor over Judea outside of Herod's authority.

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And so in the face of possible danger, Jesus not only showed forth his courage, but he also demonstrated his commitment to complete the work and mission that his father had set before him.

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When he had set out from Galilee for Jerusalem on this last occasion, he was resolute, resolved, his face was set like a flint according to Isaiah 53, to accomplish a journey and fulfill his destiny on his cross.

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And so the commitment of our Lord Jesus to do his father's will was absolute and even the threat of death could not divert him from his father's will to reach

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Jerusalem for it was there he would die. Matthew Henry, as he always did in his commentary, by the way, he always has a personal application preceded with the word note.

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You can look down his commentary every time you see the word note, he's drawing an application for you and me, which is very helpful.

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And he wrote regarding this note, it is good for us to look upon the time we have before us as but a little two or three days, perhaps maybe the utmost that we may thereby be quickened to do the work of the day in its day.

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And it is a comfort to us in reference to the power and malice of our enemies, that they can have no power to take us off as long as God has any work for us to do.

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The witnesses were not slain till they had finished their testimony, good counsel.

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The common expression is a truism, the Christian is immortal until he completes the work to which

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God has called him. Let us recognize that the commitment that he exhibited himself is the same degree of commitment he expects of his disciples, of you and me.

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In the next chapter, chapter 14 of Luke, we will read of our Lord's words to his disciples, whoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

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Jesus could not be deterred from doing his father's will, nor should we from doing his will.

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If we're true Christians, our commitment to ordering our lives according to the will of God will be no less.

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Of course, it takes the Holy Spirit to enable us to do that. Well if his courage and commitment is on display in verses 32 and 33, certainly our

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Lord's compassion is set forth in verse 34. For then he exclaimed,

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O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her.

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How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing.

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We see the heart of the Lord Jesus for his people laid open before his hearers. He was moved with compassion as well as a sense of urgency.

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He knew the wrath of God was coming upon his people. His whole life and ministry had been motivated by the best interests of his people.

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How ready and willing he was, and we can assume his father is, to gather his people so that they would experience his nurture and protection.

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God is a loving God, even toward his enemies. We see here the willingness of God to show compassion, to have mercy on his people.

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As we can read elsewhere, for you, Lord, are good and ready to forgive and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon you.

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God is a loving God. In Psalm 103, the

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Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. Thank God.

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Here Jesus denounced Jerusalem with the two words, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem.

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Now here Jesus uses the name of the city, Jerusalem, to describe and depict the

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Jewish people while under the Mosaic Covenant. Jerusalem is personified.

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He's speaking to Jerusalem as though it were a person, as though it were a single entity.

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Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, as a rebel against God. Really from the day that God had constituted the

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Jewish people on Mount Sinai as a nation of Israel, God had been good and merciful and gracious to his people.

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This was true even while they responded in self -willed obstinance, rebellion and defection from him and his ways.

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In fact, the entire history of the Jewish nation warranted God's wrath to be justly administered to them.

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And here Jesus identifies himself as God who had desired through history to gather his people in order to protect and provide for them as a mother hen brooding over her chicks, but they had refused to be summoned and submitted to him.

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And again, this was demonstrated throughout history as they rejected and killed all the prophets that had been sent to them with overtures of mercy and messages of impending judgment due to their impenitence.

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But notice where the problem lie. God was desirous to show them mercy, but Jesus declared, but you were not willing.

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Jesus was saying, I would, but you would not. Even in the beginning of the nation, after God had given his people his laws and they had gone on record committing themselves to do everything that God had commanded them.

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Since that day, they had defected and departed from God continuously. And even on that day, when they committed themselves to, to order their life, their national life, according to the 10 commandments, he declared to them on their commitment, oh, that they had a heart in them, that they would fear me and always keep my commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever.

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The old covenant did not provide a new heart for them. It provided the laws for them to, by which they were to be governed, but it gave them no heart, no desire and ability to do so.

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And so their entire history was one of rebellion and warranted the wrath of God. And Jesus was now announcing the arrival of God's judgment upon Jerusalem.

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That is upon the collective Jewish nation. They had rejected God's gracious overtures.

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They had killed the prophets whom he had sent to warn them and even offer them terms of peace, but they were unwilling.

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Now it's very unfortunate that those who hold to Arminian doctrine, that is those who insist that people are saved by their own free will, they take these words of our

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Lord to argue that God is unwilling to violate the free will of man to choose him.

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He makes the offer and then stands back. You are not willing. In other words,

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God offers salvation freely, but leaves it up to follow the man of his own free will to accept his offered salvation.

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This reveals ignorance and error regarding the nature and degree of man's sinfulness. These verses did not support their aberrant doctrine, but rather these verses refute it.

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These verses show forth the need for the sovereignty of God to intervene and impart a new heart to his people, otherwise they would never be willing to come to him in faith and repentance.

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You can offer Christ all day long to the world. All of them would be unwilling unless God does a work of grace in that heart.

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Yes, only people who are willing to come to him receive salvation, but the only sinners who will desire to come to him for salvation are those in whom the

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Lord has imparted a new heart and regeneration. In other words, God makes his people willing in the day of his power.

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You and I, many of us, can testify to the fact that we who came to Christ later than childhood, that we were most rebellious, most defiant, and most unlikely to come to Christ, but God overcame us by the power of his grace, the power of the

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Holy Spirit. And so it is the fallen nature of man renders him without the desire or willingness to turn from sin and submit to God as his

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God. We're sinners. The offer to come to Jesus Christ for salvation is the promise of the gospel to the world, and we offer that sincerely.

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Any and all who are extended the general call or invitation to come to God through faith in Christ so that they may receive life that's in him, we offer that gospel freely.

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But sadly, due to sin, mankind is both unable and unwilling to come unto him. As Jesus said of certain

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Jewish religious leaders, he could say to all, you will not come to me that you might have life.

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That wasn't just them, that's all of us. As the word of God stresses repeatedly, sin has rendered man woefully ignorant, blatantly stubborn to respond to God's general call to salvation.

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Man is a sinner in his whole being. His mind has been darkened, his will is perverse, his soul is owned and directed by the devil.

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Because he's a sinner, a fallen human being needs more than just an offer of grace for salvation.

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He needs a work of grace performed in him if he's going to come to Christ. The Lord Jesus affirmed this in so many places.

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We have his words recorded in John 6 .65, Jesus said, no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my father.

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Now in Luke 13 it says you're unwilling, in John 6 .65

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it says you're unable. And so God the father has to do it. And Jesus said in another place, no man can come to me except the father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day,

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John 6 .44. And this drawing of the father is nothing less than the effectual call to salvation that he extends to a chosen people so they would come to salvation.

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And if you're in Christ, it's because the father taught you and drew you. This work of grace in the mind and the heart of the individual destined for salvation overcomes those forces that bind him in sin.

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And so the word of God clearly teaches that if anyone is delivered from the deserved wrath of God's judgment, it's

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God's mercy and grace that we thank. But if he refuses that mercy and grace, he has only himself to blame.

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The emphasis of our Lord's words here in Luke 13 .34 and 35 is that people are guilty because they refuse to come to Christ in whom alone there is protection from God's wrath upon sin.

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God is kind and merciful and offers people to come unto him, but because of sin, they don't.

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We will not have this man rule over us, was the protest of the Jews. It takes a work of grace in the heart, and it's sovereign grace.

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God has to take the initiative, he has to do the work, or it's not going to happen. But if our

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Lord's courage is revealed in verse 32 and his commitment is displayed in verses 33, and our

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Lord's compassion sent forth in verse 34, then certainly our Lord's condemnation, his word of condemnation is expressed in verse 35.

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Jesus exclaimed, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets, stones those who are sent to her.

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How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing.

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And he declares their desolation. It's an amazing statement. We have the

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Lord in the role of a judge pronouncing Jerusalem's desolation, and this was fulfilled in AD 70, when the

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Roman armies under Titus, the Roman general successfully laid siege to the city, captured it, slayed most of its occupants, and led the few remaining

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Jews into captivity. And there's the Arch of Titus today standing in Rome just across the street from the

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Colosseum, where you see the relief of Titus bringing in the refugees from Jerusalem with the candelabra in front of the procession,

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Titus marching these defeated Jews into Rome. For those of you that are interested in prophecy, here's a matter for you to consider.

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You can read a lot of speculation about future events that are going to transpire in Jerusalem. They're on YouTube all over the place.

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You can read much about the abomination of desolation, which was written about by Daniel the prophet, but as far as Luke's gospel is concerned, the abomination that made desolate was fulfilled in AD 70.

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And later we'll read in Luke 21, and we'll get into some detail when we get there someday, our words of Jesus, but when you see

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Jerusalem surrounded by armies and know its desolation, here's the word, abomination of desolation, know its desolation is near.

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Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and the Jewish Christians did that. Let those who are in the midst of her depart, let not those who are in the country enter her, for these are the day of vengeance that all things which are written may be fulfilled.

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Zechariah 14, verse 1 and following, we read about it. But woe to those who are pregnant, to those who are nursing babies in those days, for there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people, and they will fall by the edge of the sword and be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the

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Gentiles are fulfilled. So the abomination was a

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Jewish rejection of their Messiah, their King. It led to the desolation of Jerusalem and its temple, for in rejecting him,

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God abandoned them. And as the Spirit left the temple in Old Testament time, signaling the invasion and destruction of Jerusalem in the days of Babylon, so the rejection of Jesus, the

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Messiah, signaled the abandonment of Jerusalem by God, turning it over to suffer the wrath of God at the hands of the

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Roman armies. Paul alluded to this in one of the epistles to the church, to his church, the church at Thessalonica.

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For you brethren, he's talking to Gentile Christians here, became imitators of the churches of God, which are in Judea and Christ Jesus, for you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they,

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Jewish Christians, did from the Judeans, who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets and have persecuted us.

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They do not please God, they're condor to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins, but here it is, but the wrath has now, has come upon them to the uttermost.

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This was probably 10, 15 years before the fall of Jerusalem, but 10 years perhaps, but Paul was announcing that the wrath of God was upon them, for they rejected the

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Lord Jesus, their king. But here in Luke 13, 34 and 35, our

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Lord is pressing that time was short, judgment was upon them, but they were unaware of the peril they were in.

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The last statement of verse 35, may or may not be a basis of hope, assuredly I say to you, you shall not see me until the time comes when you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the

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Lord. Some see these words as a promise holding forth the possibility of an end time conversion of the

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Jewish nation, I hope there will be, based on Romans 11, it can be shown that it probably is so.

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But others, however, see verse 35 as simply a worded form of pronouncement of God's judgment upon the land.

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Basically he was saying, you've rejected me now, but there will be a day when you see me coming again, and even you will acknowledge

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I'm the Messiah, but then it will be too late. That's how some understand that.

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Well, that's basically the details of the passage, and so we've completed our introduction, and we want to come to the theme that is really laid out before us here in these verses, and that is

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Jesus Christ is God's prophet. God determined in the everlasting covenant he made before creation between the three persons of the

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Godhead that he would save a people for himself, of course, from fallen humanity.

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God decreed from eternity he would accomplish his salvation for his people by sending into the world, of course, the second person of the blessed holy trinity, the eternally begotten son of God.

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He would assume our human nature, becoming one of us, one with us, except for sin.

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So Jesus Christ did this as our mediator, securing our salvation through his life, death, resurrection.

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We could not save ourselves, for we're helpless, hopeless, guilty, and so if we're to be saved,

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God himself would have to act, and so God the Father sent Jesus Christ to be our mediator, to obtain, communicate, and bestow salvation upon us.

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Now for Christ to be our savior, he would need to perform the work of at least three different kinds of ministries, which are described and defined in the scriptures, and this is a common description of Jesus Christ, he would need to be, from our

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God for the sinner, the sinner's prophet, priest, and king. And we often speak about this threesome,

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Jesus Christ as prophet, priest, and king, but we tend to emphasize more his priestly role and his sacrifice, and his kingly role,

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Jesus as Lord. But how often do we really zero in on the fact that he is our prophet, and what does that mean, and what does that entail?

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And again, as we pointed out, as we opened up this morning, as we come to learn more about our

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Lord Jesus, and come to value and understand who he is and what he's like, the Holy Spirit will use this to help transform us.

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And so let us consider more carefully the role of King Jesus, of Jesus Christ as God's prophet to his people.

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And I want to give credit to Thomas Watson, 17th century Puritan, to guide us in these matters.

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He was a wonderful Puritan pastor and author. He wrote about these matters in his classic book,

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A Body of Divinity. In my mind, this is in the top 10, put it up there, maybe up in the top or upper of those 10 books that every

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Christian should read, A Body of Divinity. Watson wrote this, and by the way, what

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I find so wonderful about Watson, he has this ability to illustrate in these short, pithy words and statements, and it's just wonderfully illustrative as you read.

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He says, A prophet is a man who declares the will of God to others. We're told that Jesus Christ is our prophet who serves us in this way.

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Christ reveals God's word to us through the Bible, for the whole Bible is the revelation of God that Christ revealed to us.

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Christ is the word of God, and therefore Christ serves us by giving forth the written word of God through his office of prophet.

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But since reading the word alone cannot bring understanding to darkened, fallen sinners, Christ also reveals

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God's will to us through the Holy Spirit. The role of Christ as prophet, therefore, answers to one of the great needs we have because of our sin.

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He's given us his Bible, he gives us the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of the word of God to us.

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This is his function, his purpose as prophet. There are several names that are given in the

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Holy Scriptures to describe this office and work of Christ as prophet. He's called counselor.

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In Isaiah 9, verse 6, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. The government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called

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Wonderful Counselor. And that counselor is a synonym for prophet.

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He's our prophet, mighty God. Secondly, Christ is also described in his office of prophet in the

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Old Testament when he's called the messenger of the covenant, or it could be translated he's the angel of the covenant.

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Angel is a word to describe a messenger from God. Malachi 3, 1, when we went through Malachi, before we started

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Luke's Gospel, we emphasized this. Here in Malachi 3, verse 1, behold,

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I send my messenger. Now that is a reference to John the Baptist. Notice in the

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New King James Version, the lowercase m, messenger, that's John the Baptist. And the

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Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant. Two messengers are mentioned here.

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The second messenger, the New King James translator, is rightly capitalized, because that's a prophecy of Christ, in whom you delight, behold, he's coming, says the

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Lord of Hosts. And so he's the prophet there, the messenger of the covenant.

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Third, in 2 Samuel 22, 29, he's described as a lamp. This is

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Christ in his prophetic office, for you are my lamp, O Lord, the Lord shall enlighten my darkness.

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And that's what the Lord Jesus does. He turns on the lights. If he didn't perform that work as prophet, you'd still be in darkness.

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In the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, he's called the morning star. That's really reflecting his prophetic office.

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I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the root and offspring of David, the bright morning star,

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Thomas Watson wrote. And the bright and morning star is one who provides illumination as we anticipate the full brightness of the day of eternity that will one day dawn upon us.

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Jesus Christ reveals to us at its onset, so that describes him in his office as prophet.

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And of course, the morning star is the planet Venus, generally, although sometimes Jupiter shines pretty bright, but Venus, of course, at times of the year is the morning star.

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You see it bright right before dawn. And then much of the year, it's, of course, the evening star, the brightest planet right after sundown.

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Now, more specifically, let's consider first that Jesus in our passage under consideration indirectly identified himself as prophet in his response to these

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Pharisees. Again, Jesus said to them, nevertheless, I must journey today, tomorrow, the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.

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Indirectly, he's referring to himself as a prophet. That's why he's got to get there. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her.

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Of course, we read of many prophets throughout the Holy Scripture. God used these people to speak forth his word to his people.

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But God determined that there would only be one prophet who could completely and thoroughly accomplish the work to teach his people and reveal to his people the truth about themselves and the way of salvation.

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And Jesus Christ is that prophet. When he did appear, God would require listening and embracing his word as essential to salvation.

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And of course, Jesus Christ is that promised prophet. And so we read in the book of Deuteronomy when

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Moses was alive, leading the people to Israel, he was getting ready to pass from the scene.

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But Moses gave indication that a promised prophet would one day appear, and God would require obedience of God's people to that prophet's words.

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Believing and obeying his words would become the basis on which the people would remain as citizens of Israel, the covenant people of God.

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And so Deuteronomy 18, 13, and following Moses' words, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren, a

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Jewish man. Him you shall hear according to all that you desired of the

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Lord your God in Horeb, another name for Sinai, in the day of the assembly, saying, let me not hear again the voice of the

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Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire any more as I die. And the

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Lord said to me, what they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command.

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Beautiful prophecy of Jesus Christ. And it shall be that whoever will not hear my words which speaks in my name,

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I'll require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name which

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I have not commanded him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.

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And of course, in the New Testament, the apostle Peter, in one of his sermons in Acts 3, declared

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Jesus was that prophet that Moses foretold would come. Peter stood up preaching to the

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Jews, repent, therefore be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times are refreshing may come from the presence of the

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Lord, that he may send Jesus Christ who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which

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God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. And here it is,

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Peter declared, for Moses truly said to the fathers, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren, him you shall hear in all things whatever he says to you.

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And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that prophet will be utterly destroyed from among the people.

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See, Israel continues, but all those who reject Jesus as that prophet are excluded from Israel.

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Jesus Christ is that promised prophet who is to come. The people of God, the true

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Israel, are those who hear his words and do them. Those who believed on Jesus Christ as the promised son of David, the king of Israel, those who embraced him as the prophet came from God, were allowed to continue to be numbered among the people of God.

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In other words, the disciples that Jesus called to follow him and all those who have since believed and followed his words as communicated through his apostles, all those who responded to him as the prophet sent by God, constitute the faithful remnant of Israel.

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The Israel of God, the true Israel of God, are people who have embraced

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Jesus Christ as their prophet, priest, and king. You're not Israel because of your

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Jewish ethnicity. You are Israel if you have the same faith as Abraham had.

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You are his children through faith in Jesus Christ, according to Paul. So only these believers in Jesus Christ as the authoritative prophet from God who reveals

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God's will to them, they alone now enjoy the promised age declared in the Old Testament scriptures.

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Jesus Christ is their mediator who's brought to them the promised new covenant of the Old Testament scriptures, brought to them through their prophet, priest, and king.

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Now the sad spiritual condition of those in need of salvation necessitated Jesus Christ to serve as their prophet.

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We needed him. We read in the Holy Scriptures that our foolish hearts were darkened, having our understanding darkened.

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We could say as the psalmist of God, I was so foolish and ignorant, I was like a beast before you, and that's a confession of an honest man who sees his sin.

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So we needed Christ's prophetic office so that he could make known to us the truth regarding our true condition and God's only remedy of salvation in Jesus Christ.

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No other man, no other religion, no church could do that, Jesus Christ alone, prophet, priest, and king.

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Our Lord proved he was this promised prophet that Moses foretold through several means.

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He showed he was the promised prophet who was to come by the miracles he performed during his earthly ministry. When he fed 5 ,000, that was their conclusion, they were all ate and filled, 5 ,000 men, there could have been 7 ,500 people, 10 ,000 people gathered.

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This miracle of feeding the 5 ,000 showed the people he was a prophet like Moses. Moses gave the people man in the wilderness,

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Jesus gave them bread on the shores of Galilee. And what was their conclusion?

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This is truly the prophet who's coming to the world. And so that miracle proved him to be the prophet.

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People also recognize our Lord as a great prophet when he raised the son of a widow from the dead, the widow from the city of Nain.

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Jesus met the funeral procession as they're carrying out this son to the graveyard to be buried,

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Jesus raised him from the dead, and what was the response? And fear came upon all, they glorified

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God saying, a great prophet has risen among us. There are a few instances in the

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Old Testament when prophets raised the dead, Jesus did, and this proved to them he was a prophet.

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Prophets were spokesmen for God. What they declared was God's word, and this was true of our

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Lord Jesus. God the Father taught him every word that he spoke. He declared that he spoke not his own words but his father's words that had been given to him.

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On one occasion he answered and said, my doctrine is not mine but his who sent me, John 7, 16.

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That means he is the prophet. The doctrines or teachings he gave to the people were words of a prophet.

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Jesus declared to them, I have not spoken on my own authority but the father who sent me gave me a command.

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He was his prophet. So the disciples of Jesus, true

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Christians, are ones who believe that Jesus Christ is a prophet from God.

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They hear him, believe him, and embrace every word he says to them. So we don't question it at all.

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What Jesus says, God says. There are many other places that we could argue from the scriptures that Jesus Christ is a prophet, but because of the time we'll pass over them.

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But if you'll just turn in advance to page 10, I want to give your attention to a few things before we close.

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How does Jesus Christ teach his people as their prophet? First, Christ as prophet teaches his people externally by his written word, the

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Bible. We read thy word as a lamp unto me feet. Those who pretend to have light or revelation above the word or apart from the word or contrary to the word never had their teaching from Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ the prophet teaches his word, the word of God.

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He is the prophet sent by God the father, and he instructs people by his written word, the Bible. And the prophet

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Isaiah declared to the law and the testimony, to the holy scriptures, if they do not speak according to this word, it's because there is no light in them.

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The scriptures are the words of God that Jesus Christ has given to us, and he teaches us those words.

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And then of course, Christ teaches the sacred mysteries of his word internally by the Holy Spirit.

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It's just not an accumulation of intellectual understanding or knowledge. The Lord told his disciples he'd send them the

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Holy Spirit to teach his disciples about these matters. The world knows nothing about it, but through the

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Holy Spirit, they would be taught. Thomas Watson wrote, a swine may see an acorn under a tree, but he cannot see a star in the sky.

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He was taught if Christ sees the state secrets, the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. And so we need

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Christ in his prophetic office to reveal to us the truth, and he does so by means of the Holy Spirit.

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Otherwise we're in darkness, we're in ignorance. And then lastly, what are the lessons that Christ teaches his people as their prophet?

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Well, Christ teaches them to know their own hearts. We read in the scriptures that the heart is a great sea of deep wickedness, the bottom of which no man can find.

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The prophet asked rhetorically, the heart is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked. Who can know it?

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No one. You and I cannot know the depths of sin that lies within us. The only reason it's not worse is because God in his grace has restrained us.

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But if he takes off the restrainer to look out, and that's what's happening to our world about us today. The Lord Jesus has taken off the restraints, and this is where we are.

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We're in a free fall. But when Christ teaches, he removes the veil of ignorance and illuminates a man's own heart to him.

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Then he sees swarms of vain thoughts, he blushes to see how sin mingles with his duties. His stars are mixed with clouds.

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He prays as Augustine that God would deliver him from himself. There was an old

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Roman philosopher who thought, oh, if only

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I had curtains to open up to see my own heart. But he's a man who's not taught of God, because the man who's taught of God, oh,

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Lord, may you take a curtain and close up there. I don't want to see any more, I've seen enough. Christ teaches us the vanity of the creature.

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That is, Christ teaches us the futility and vanity of the world, and living only to attain the things of this world.

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In other words, Christ causes us to no longer desire the fame of the world, or the wealth of the world, or the power of the world, at least that which the world offers the sinner.

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The man untaught by Christ values these things highly, even above his own soul. He's willing to trade his own soul for these things.

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Jesus said, what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? And then third,

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Christ teaches us to highly prize things unseen, the internal things of God.

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Christ gives the soul a sight of glory. He gives us a prospect of eternity.

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The book of Hebrews says what is real is not what you see, not what is physical, but that's what you don't see.

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Those are the real things that are going to last for eternity. Everything you see is going to disintegrate, but the unseen things are the things that we value and we look upon, and it's the

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Holy Spirit. It's Christ, his prophet, who has taught us these things. How does Christ's teaching differ from other teaching?

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Christ teaches the heart. Others may teach the mind, may reach the ear, but Christ teaches the heart, and so we read of Lydia, whose heart the

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Lord opened. Christ the prophet does that, and in the same manner

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Christ opens the heart of all his people to give attention to their salvation. All the dispensers of the word can do, like myself, is to work up some knowledge.

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I can't reach your heart. Human teachers can only impart the light of the truth, but only

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Christ gives the love for the truth, otherwise the words we speak are nothing. They're boring.

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When's this guy going to get over with? We get out of here, go on with our day. No concern, but one taught by Christ sees the glory in these things, and other aspects of the word of God brought to the mind.

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They talk about these things. They meditate upon these things. They're treasures. Christ gives a taste for the word of God.

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Ministers may set the word before you and carve it out for you, but only Christ can cause you to taste it spiritually.

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Christ also teaches us to obey. He alone can make the sinner obey. I might be able to instruct you in what you ought to do, but I cannot produce obedience in you.

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Parents, don't blame me if your kids are rebellious. We do what we can, but it's

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Christ who teaches the heart. He removes the obstinacy of the sinner. I can't do that. You can't do that.

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Christ teaches us easily. He can, with the least touch of his Holy Spirit, convert the hardest, most ignorant of sinners.

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He can slay them in a moment and put life within their souls. Christ teaches when he makes men willing to learn.

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Again, ministers may teach others, but the hearers will not learn unless Christ teaches them because he makes them willing to learn, desires to learn his word.

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Last, Christ teaches not only to illuminate people to the truth, but as one put it, he also animates.

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He makes it living. He makes spiritually alive them that are spiritually dead. He takes the word of God and employs it to create spiritual life in a spiritually dead sinner.

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A person becomes born anew. He suddenly has the light of the word shining in him, and this is the result of Christ as prophet working in their souls.

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We have so much to be appreciative of our Lord Jesus in his role as prophet, as well as priest and king.

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May we meditate upon these things and glorify our God for Jesus Christ, our prophet.

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Amen? Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for your word and what it reveals to us about ourselves, our

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God, about you and the glory of your son, our God, who could bring truth to our souls, reveal to us our true selves and our need for salvation, putting within us our

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God, not only light, understanding, but also love for you and love for your word.

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May you continue to minister to us our Lord Jesus as our prophet, instructing us, guiding us, our

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God, to understand your word and to love it and to treasure it and to order our thinking and our life according to it.

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We pray, our God, you would wean us from the vanities of this world in which we are submerged, immersed every week.

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Help us, our God, to get away from this and meditate upon you and your ways, upon your word and help us, our

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God, to encourage and exhort one another in the things of Jesus Christ as well, that we can receive a benefit,

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Lord, from true spiritual fellowship with one another. And we'll thank you and praise you, our