LUKE 24:25-27 BELIEVE THE SCRIPTURES2014 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 24:25-27 Believe The Scriptures

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2014.

In our passage today, we see two disciples who are walking down the road discouraged. They're saddened. They have lost hope. And Jesus has come alongside of them to encourage them. We got to see these two disciples last week as we looked at the whole passage. These two disciples on the road to Emmaus. As they're walking down the road, it's the day that Jesus has resurrected.

But they don't know it yet. And so they're walking down the road away from Jerusalem and they're sad. They are depressed. They are hopeless. They are...

Thinking that, well, all the things that we were hoping for, all the things that we dreamed of, those things are gone. Not possible any longer. Because they were believers in Jesus. And they had hoped that Jesus was the Messiah, the promised Savior.

But now those hopes were gone. They had given up on that idea because, well, this Jesus that they were hoping was the Savior was crucified. And he's been in the tomb for three days. And they found his body missing, but they hadn't seen him yet. And so they had given up hope that Jesus was

could be the Messiah. And Jesus, as they're walking down the road, saddened and hopeless, he comes alongside and enters into this discussion and conversation with them.

And he listens to them and he lets them share what's going on. But now as he speaks, he points out to them what their real problem is. Their real issue is not their sadness, but their real issue, he says in verse 25, he says, "...oh foolish ones and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken."

He points out their issue. He highlights the real thing that's going on in their hearts. And that is that they are slow of heart to believe. And this morning the Lord wants to encourage us from their example to believe the scriptures and not be slow of heart to believe. And so I titled the message this morning, Believe the Scriptures.

Many of the issues that you and I face, much like these two on the road to Emmaus, many of our issues are rooted in this, whether or not we believe the scriptures, whether or not we are slow to believe the scriptures. Now, believing the scriptures may not change our circumstances, but it will change our behavior.

Believing the scriptures will change our outlook and perspective. Believing the scriptures will change our attitude. And as these disciples are walking away from Jerusalem saddened and hopeless, if they believed the scriptures, they still might have been sad, but their hope would still be intact.

They would still be able to grasp hold of Jesus as the Messiah if they had understood or believed what the scriptures declared. Jesus goes on in verse 26 to challenge them. He says, ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory?

They had a hard time believing that such suffering could be part of God's plan for the Messiah, for that Savior that God had promised. And we can relate to that because we have a hard time with suffering as well.

We wrestle with it. We struggle with it. Why does God allow this suffering? Why does he allow this disease? Why does he allow these devastating things in my life or in the lives of people all around the world? Suffering is a challenging topic for us all. And as they were hoping that Jesus was the Messiah, when this suffering took place, they

Well, they determined that that's not part of God's plan for the Messiah. That's not part of God's plan for the Savior. And they gave up hope that Jesus was the Savior. But here Jesus says and challenges that thought saying that Christ was supposed to suffer like this. This was foretold. It was declared. It had to take place this way.

And so it wasn't their sorrow that was an issue, but it was the kind of sorrow that really makes a difference.

As we are reading through the Bible in three years, we read 1 Thessalonians this past week. And in chapter 4, Paul is encouraging the believers regarding those who believe in Jesus but have died. And the Thessalonians were concerned that maybe they missed out on God's plan and the rapture and all that God had in store.

And Paul tells them in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 13, he says, I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.

There is going to be sorrow in our lives. There is going to be things that, well, would be called suffering. There are going to be things that we don't understand and wrestle with. And the sorrow in itself is not an issue. But Paul says to the Thessalonians, I want you to not be ignorant. I want you to understand what's really going on so that although you sorrow,

you're able to do so with hope. That there's a hope that you have. That is that you know that the believers who have died in Jesus, well, you have the hope of being reunited with them in eternity. Not only that, but you have the hope and the knowledge that they are in the presence of the Lord. And so they are there with Jesus as they have passed from this life. And so sorrow is appropriate.

But it's that hope that really strikes at the core of what was going on in the hearts of these two disciples and in the hearts of you and I many times as well.

You could also think about Jesus when he was about to raise Lazarus from the dead. You remember there he was at the tomb. He's about to call him forth, but it tells us first that Jesus wept. As he saw the weeping, as he saw the situation from the family, he wept. There was a sorrow there. Even though he was about to raise him from the dead, Jesus experienced that sorrow.

And so sorrow, sometimes Christians take it too far. That's why I'm spending some time here on this because we kind of like want people to get over it. Like stop being sad. It's fine. No, no. Sorrow is fine. But what we want to check is our hearts. And are we believing the scriptures? Is it a sorrow without hope that we are wrestling with? And that's what the Lord wants us to have. He wants us to have hope by believing the scriptures.

And so as Jesus is addressing this issue of this loss of hope in their hearts, this issue of their hearts not believing the scriptures, Jesus will now go through, it starts in verse 27 and says, "...beginning at Moses and in all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself."

And so Jesus goes back to the Old Testament, their scriptures. He starts with Moses. He works his way through the different prophets to expound or to explain to them that, well, the Messiah is supposed to suffer. That that was part of what God said would take place. And so he shows them from the scriptures that the Messiah had to suffer.

And what I'd like to do this morning is take us through some of those passages that Jesus probably used. I wish I had his notes to be able to work from this morning, but we do have the same scriptures. And so we can work through some of these things that Jesus probably used as he was encouraging these disciples to believe the word of God. And let's

This morning as we look at these things, learn to believe his word as well. And so we're going to start out at the beginning. In Genesis chapter 3, would you turn there with me? Genesis chapter 3.

This is the first of five books written by Moses. And as he records the beginning of mankind, the beginning of all history, and then on to his lifetime, he writes Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Now here in Genesis chapter 3, we are in the Garden of Eden. And it's here in the Garden of Eden, of course, that Adam and Eve were perfected.

They, you know, were placed here in a perfect environment. They were sinless until they made the choice to partake of that fruit that God had forbidden.

Adam partook of the fruit. Eve partook of the fruit. And then they tried to hide from God, which never works. You cannot hide from God because, well, there's no place to hide. There's no place to run. And so God, as he came in his normal time, he came in the evening to walk with them in the garden. And they were hiding. And he has a conversation with them in dealing with their choice to disobey, to engage in sin.

And you know the discussion that took place. Adam, he blamed Eve. He said, it's her fault. That's why I did what I did. And then Eve blamed the serpent and she said, it's the serpent's fault. That's why I did what I did. And so God now sits them all down and has a discussion, a conversation with them.

We're going to be looking at verse 14 and 15, which is specifically God's word to the serpent, which later on the scriptures reveal is actually Satan. So Genesis chapter 3 verse 14 says this, So the Lord God said to the serpent,

Verse 15. Verse 15.

Here as God is addressing the serpent, he gives this reference to this foretelling of the Messiah, the Savior Jesus.

And that he would suffer. Now you might be saying. Where does it say that? I didn't see that in the text here. Well it is subtle. I will definitely agree with you on that. But pay attention here in verse 15. When God says. I will put enmity between you and the woman. Between your seed and her seed. He's speaking truth.

of the Messiah that will come, the Savior that will come. It's a prophecy of the Savior right at the beginning as humanity has fallen into sin. And it's a prophecy of the Messiah because he speaks of the woman

Now, if you understand a little bit of basic, you know, biology, the woman does not have the seed. The woman has the egg. The man has the seed. And so coming together, then that's how they're able to produce life. But there's an exception to basic biology in the virgin birth. And that is that Mary gave birth to Jesus without...

And so this is a kind of a subtle way to speak of this specific event, this exception that only happened one time in all of history where Mary gave birth to Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior, without any type of intervention with or by man.

And so this virgin birth is referred to here as he talks about your seed and her seed. Now then the result of this, the product of this, of this seed from woman, he says that Satan will bruise the Messiah's heel, but the Messiah will bruise Satan's head. And so Jesus says,

Well, his heel will be hurt by Satan, but he will crush the head of Satan. And of course, we see this fulfilled at the cross. We understand that Satan was manipulating the events surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus. He even entered into Judas Iscariot and led him to do the betrayal and turn Jesus over to be crucified.

And so Satan was wanting to crucify Jesus. He thought it was a great victory when it took place, but it turned out to be just a minor injury, a bruised heel, because of course Jesus rose again on the third day. And

And so Jesus conquered sin and death through the cross, through the resurrection, and he crushed the head of Satan. He defeated the power of Satan. Although we don't see that fully realized yet, he has accomplished it and he will take him out completely in the near future. And so we see this fulfilled later on as Jesus,

The Messiah is crucified. Jesus defeats Satan, crushes his head, and his heel is slightly bruised when he is crucified. And so Moses declared here, as he records these events in the garden, that the Savior would suffer. His heel was bruised. And so Jesus, probably in Genesis chapter 3, with these two guys on the road to Emmaus, says...

Check this out. His heel was bruised. It was declared from the beginning that there would be this suffering that would take place in the Savior that was promised. And so he's encouraging these two disciples to believe the scriptures.

We see here that God's prophets have a perfect track record. That the things that they declare, the things that they prophesy of are fulfilled exactly. And so as we consider what Moses recorded here, I would also ask us to consider something else that Moses said. Now there's of course many passages we could consider. But there's one that stood out as I was preparing for this morning. It's Psalm chapter 90.

which is a song that Moses wrote and is recorded for us here in the scriptures. And here it says, Moses declares, "...before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God."

And I want to encourage you this morning as we talk about believing the scriptures. Well, Moses records that prophecy of the suffering of the Savior. And he also records for us that God is everlasting. And these are things that we can trust in and count on and rely upon because God's prophets have a perfect track record.

And so Moses declares here that God has always existed from everlasting. That he has always existed before creation. Not only that, but he tells us here in verse 2 that he is the creator. He says, before you formed the earth or the world. And so not only did he exist before, but he is the one who formed the world. He formed the universe. He is the creator of all things.

But also we learn from this verse that God will always exist because he says you're from everlasting to everlasting.

Now, as we consider this truth that Moses declares here in Psalm chapter 90 verse 2, again, the exhortation for us is to believe the scriptures. And this is a great reminder for us because let me tell you, there are many times where our behavior and our attitudes demonstrate that we are slow of heart to believe. Just as these disciples on the road to Emmaus said,

You could see it in the way that they walked. You could see it as they shuffled their feet. The sadness, the hopelessness that they had. They demonstrated their slowness of heart to believe by the way that they behaved, by the attitude that they had.

And I would encourage you to consider your own heart as well, your own behavior and attitudes as well. Do you believe that God is everlasting? That he has always existed? That he is the creator of all things? That he will always exist? Which means, one of our favorite phrases, he is still on the throne. You know, sometimes our attitude demonstrates that we don't really believe that God is on the throne.

We're stressed out. We're panicked. We're, you know, thinking about, you know, big problems. We're thinking about, you know, political scenes. We're thinking about world events and what's going to happen. We're thinking big picture and we're reflecting in our attitude many times that,

We don't really believe that, well, he is still in control, that he is still on the throne. Sometimes our behavior, our attitudes show that we are slow of heart to believe. And just as Jesus came alongside the disciples on the road to Emmaus, listen, he's alongside of us this morning and he wants to help us to see. He wants to expound the scriptures to us to help us understand, I am everlasting.

I am. I still exist. I'm still here. I'm still on the throne. I'm still in control. I am the creator of the heavens and the earth and nothing can ever change that. He is king of kings and lord of lords continually because he is everlasting. And so we need to believe the scriptures.

Well, another passage that Jesus might have taken them to was recorded for us by David. Would you turn with me now to Psalm chapter 22? Here in Psalm chapter 22, we'll see here that David declares that the Savior would suffer.

This is an important psalm to consider because Jesus quoted this psalm while he was on the cross. He quoted the very first line which says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And so Jesus directed our attention to this psalm. And you can see throughout this psalm pretty incredible detail about the crucifixion of Jesus as foretold by David as he writes out this psalm.

But I just want to read to you a few verses here in Psalm 22, looking at verses 14 through 18. Here's what it says. He says,

For dogs have surrounded me. The congregation of the wicked has enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones. They look and stare at me. They divide my garments among them. And for my clothing they cast lots.

Here is David is recording this psalm. He is prophesying of some of the things that the Messiah will experience. And there are very many prophecies that are fulfilled just in these verses. In verse 14, he says, "...all my bones are out of joint."

A few weeks back, we spent some time looking at the physical effects of the crucifixion. And we saw in that time that because of the positioning of Jesus or the person upon the cross, their bones in their arm, their elbow and their shoulder would actually pop out of joint as a result of the pressure being, you know, from gravity, from hanging there.

And so this was fulfilled in Jesus as he hung upon the cross. His bones came out of joint. In verse 15, it tells us that my tongue clings to my jaws. And we saw also on, as we studied the physical effects, the dehydration that would be in effect and how Jesus declared from the cross, I thirst. In verse 15, he also says that he is brought to death.

And of course we know that the cross resulted in the death of Jesus. And so that is fulfilled as well. In verse 16 he references the piercing of his hands and his feet. Which of course is fulfilled in Jesus as he was nailed to the cross. His hands were nailed and his feet were nailed to the cross. And so they were pierced.

In verse 17, he says, I can count all my bones. And that is a prophesying of the, that Jesus would not have any broken bones. At the end of the whole thing, he had all of his bones intact. There was none that were broken.

And then in verse 18, it also prophesies that they would divide my garments. And that was fulfilled by the soldiers as they cast lots and divided his garments between the four soldiers who were doing the crucifixion. And so you can see just from a few verses here, there are many prophecies that are fulfilled. And you can see very clearly that David declared that the Messiah, the Savior, would suffer.

And so once again we see that God's prophets have a perfect track record. And so it's safe for us to also consider something else that David shared. From the very next chapter I'd like you to consider Psalm chapter 23 verses 1 and 2. This is of course a classic psalm that's full of comforting truths. But let's just consider one.

He says, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. Here David in this psalm declares, the Lord is my shepherd. And here we can grasp hold of this truth that God is your shepherd. God is your shepherd.

But we know later on Jesus declared that he is the good shepherd. And kind of the way that I would summarize what that means is that God is with you. That was the responsibility of the shepherd to be with the sheep. He would tend the sheep. He would feed the sheep. He would protect the sheep by being with the sheep. And the shepherd always does what is best for the sheep.

And God is your shepherd. This is something that, well, I want to encourage you to not be slow of heart to believe. But to really believe the scriptures that God is your shepherd. Sometimes our attitudes and our behaviors show that we are slow of heart to believe that God is our shepherd. Sometimes we act as if God is not with us.

Sometimes we act as if God is not for us and on our side. We're trying to like get away from God sometimes. Sometimes we act as if God's not looking out for us and we got to hide from him because, well, he's looking for an opportunity to punish us or to deal harshly with us. But it reflects that our heart is slow to believe. Listen, God is your shepherd.

Not only do you not have to hide from him because he always does what is best for you, but you can trust in him and rest in him and rely upon him. He's taking care of you. He's going to protect you. He's going to meet your needs and make sure that you are fed. He's going to handle these things in your life. God is your shepherd.

Sometimes we demonstrate that we're slow to believe that. But I want to encourage you this morning to believe the scriptures and rest in the reality that God is with you and he is doing what is best for you. Well, another passage that Jesus might have taken to them too is found in the book of Isaiah by the prophet Isaiah. And you can turn with me to Isaiah chapter 53.

Isaiah chapter 53. Here the prophet Isaiah is speaking of the savior that is to come. And in this passage he speaks of what is often called the suffering servant. It begins in chapter 52 and then on into 53. And again Isaiah gives some great details about Jesus and what he went through when he was on trial, when he was arrested, and then when he was crucified.

Again, we'll look at verses 7 through 9 here of Isaiah 53. Here's what it says. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

Verse 9. Verse 10.

Here as Isaiah talks about the suffering servant, he declares some prophecies that also are fulfilled by Jesus. In verse 7 he says that he opened not his mouth. And we see in the Gospels as Jesus was there on trial and his accusers are laying out all kinds of false accusations against him.

It actually quotes this passage and says that he was silent. He didn't talk back. He didn't try to defend himself. When the soldiers mocked him and beat him, when they nailed him to the cross, he didn't talk back. He didn't revile. He didn't curse them. He was silent in that respect. In verse 8, it tells us that he was cut off from the land of the living.

And of course, we know that Jesus was cut off. He was crucified. He died upon the cross. But it also points out he was cut off for the transgression of my people. That he was cut off on behalf of God's people, on behalf of their sin. It was for people's transgression. And so we often say it this way, Jesus died for our sin.

He died for our sin. He died for us. It was our sin that needed to be paid for. He had not sinned, but he paid the price for ours. Then in verse 9, it tells us that his grave is with the wicked, but then also with the rich at his death. And so there's this kind of dilemma here. How could it be with the wicked, but then also with the rich? Well, we see that fulfilled very easily in Jesus as he was crucified.

He was put to death there upon the cross. That was the instrument of death for wicked people, wicked men. And so he was crucified as a wicked person, but then he's laid into the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, who was a wealthy man. And so his grave is with the wicked, but then with the rich at his death.

And so Isaiah gave these prophecies about the Messiah and declared that Jesus would suffer. The Savior that God has been promising would also be a suffering servant. Isaiah continues to demonstrate to us that God's prophets have a perfect track record.

And so we can consider something else that Isaiah said and know that it was from the Lord. It is the truth. And so Isaiah chapter 40 verse 29 is something that we can consider. He says, I would encourage you later on to look up the whole context around this passage. It's some great and powerful encouragement here. It

He tells us, haven't you seen, haven't you heard that the everlasting God does not faint, he doesn't get weary, and then in verse 29 he says, he gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might, he increases strength. I really like the way that the JSV renders this verse here, Isaiah 40, 29. It says, you are not as wimpy as you think you are.

That's the JSV, the Jerry Simmons version. Listen, you're not as wimpy as you think you are. Again, I share these things and I ask us to consider these things because sometimes our behavior, sometimes our attitudes show that we are slow of heart to believe that it's God who gives you strength. It's God who gives you strength. And there are a lot of times that we, we give up.

We give up on ministry. We give up on struggling against sin or fleeing from sin. We give up on things that God has called us to because we feel like we don't have the strength. We're demonstrating that we are slow of heart to believe. It's God who gives you strength. Again in verse 29, he gives power to the weak. To those who have no might, he increases strength.

It's a mistake for us to try to rely upon our own resources to do what God has called us to do. We need to look to God. We need to let Him give us strength. And we need to trust Him that He will give us strength to do what He's called us to do. Whether it be, you know, moving forward in some aspect of our life or staying pure and staying upright in a difficult situation.

It's God who gives you strength. Believe the scriptures. Does your life, the way that you've been behaving this week, does it demonstrate that you are slow of heart to believe that God gives you strength? Have you just kind of given up on some things this week? Have you just kind of thrown up your hands and just said, well, forget it. It's too hard. It's too difficult. I can't do it. I don't have what it takes. We need to believe the scriptures.

God doesn't get weary. He's the everlasting God, the creator of the heavens and the earth. And he gives power to the weak. You're not as wimpy as you think you are. So don't give up in the fight. Don't give up in the task at hand, in the call forward. Don't give up in those things because you feel like you don't have the strength. But look to the Lord because those who have no might, he increases their strength.

And so the prophet Isaiah foretold that Jesus would suffer. Another passage that Jesus might have taken them to is found in Daniel chapter 9. Would you turn there with me? Here we can see some words from the prophet Daniel. And what a surprise. We're going to find that Daniel declares that the Savior would suffer.

The Savior would suffer. Daniel says so. Here in Daniel chapter 9, this is a hugely important prophecy. There's lots of details here that we're not going to get into, but Daniel outlines the exact timing of the coming of Jesus, that Savior that God has been promising. He also, in this passage, foretells of the Antichrist and the tribulation period. There's some crucial prophetic details here.

That you can consider later on. But here in Daniel chapter 9 verse 25 and 26. Here's what it says. And after the 62 weeks Messiah shall be cut off but not for himself.

Here in these couple verses, we're just getting a short snippet of the prophecy that Daniel is receiving here.

But he's given this timeline for how long these things are going to happen and when these things are going to take place. Part of this has been fulfilled already and some of it will be fulfilled later on.

The part that has been fulfilled is, well, the timing that is outlined here in verse 25, as he talks about the seven weeks and the 62 weeks, a week, he's referring to a seven year period or seven, you know, a collection of seven years. And so it's 62 and seven, seven year periods or 69, seven year periods. You do the math on that, you get 483 years.

Now this lays out the timing for the coming of this Savior because, well, he says after this 483 year period, then the Messiah will be cut off.

And so we see this take place because Artaxerxes, the king of Persia, in 445 BC gives the command to rebuild Jerusalem, just like it says here in verse 25. And so he sends out Nehemiah and the command is given and he's off to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And 483 years later, Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey on the day that we call the triumphal entry.

And so Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey presenting himself as the Messiah, as the Savior, and then is crucified that very week, on that very Friday.

And so this timing is fulfilled. He lays it out ahead of time and announces when the Messiah will show up, but the people didn't recognize it when it took place. In verse 26, he tells us after that, that the Messiah will be cut off, but not for himself. And so he foretells the death of the Messiah being cut off, but again, not for himself.

Not for his sins or not for his own sake, but who is he cut off for? Who did Jesus die for? Well, of course, it was for us. It was for humanity. In his death, he paid the price for our sin. And so Daniel here in this passage declares that the Messiah, the Savior, would suffer. That he would be cut off, but not for himself, but not for his sins, but for ours.

Again, God's prophets have a perfect track record. And so we're safe in considering something else that Daniel said. In Daniel chapter 2 verse 21, he says, "...and he, that is God, changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings and raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding."

Now as we consider these various verses today, I know I'm throwing out a lot of passages at you because the point of our time together today is to believe the scriptures. And so we don't just believe here or there, pick and choose which ones we want, but we have a whole book full of scriptures today.

that God calls us to believe. A whole book full of scriptures that, well, God wants to use in our lives. And here we see that Daniel lets us know that it's God who gives you wisdom. Now we know from later on in the New Testament, James tells us in James 1.5, if you lack wisdom, then ask God and he will give you wisdom.

But here what Daniel is saying is, notice he says, he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. I think it's an interesting thing for us to consider. It's God who gives you wisdom. That is, if you have any wisdom, where do you think you got that from? If you have any kind of understanding, where do you think that that came from? Sometimes our behavior changes.

And our attitudes demonstrate that we are slow of heart to believe that it's God who gives you wisdom. We walk around thinking and proclaiming and declaring that, well, it's us. It's my intelligence. Because I have such skills at reasoning, because, you know, I have this analytic personality, because I have, you know, these smarts, I've been able to figure out all this stuff.

I know how to run computers. I know how to fix cars. I know how to interpret scripture. Whatever it is you might be saying. We demonstrate many times that we're slow of heart to believe that it's God who gives us wisdom. We think that we give us wisdom. We think that we get the credit because, well, we did the work. We came up with it. It's our intelligence. It's our wisdom.

But here Daniel reminds us, if you're wise, it's God who gave you the wisdom. God changes seasons. He changes times. He removes kings. He raises up kings. He gives wisdom. We don't come up with anything on our own. We don't have any resources on our own that we can trust in or rely upon. Anything of value that we have, it's from God. It's God who gives it to us.

And Paul asks a very important question in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7. He says, what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? And sometimes that's what we do. We boast as if we get the credit, as if it was our doing. But we need to not be slow of heart to believe, but to be quick to believe.

to grasp hold of the truth, it's God who gives you wisdom. It's him who gives you understanding. In his word, in financial decisions, in parenting decisions, if you have any wisdom, if you have any understanding, it's from God. Now that also encourages us then to look to God for that wisdom and look to God for that understanding and not trying to do it on our own. Because, well, if

The wisdom and understanding that we have comes from God and we try to do it on our own. What's left? It's not wisdom. It's not understanding. It's foolishness. When we try to rely upon our own resources, our own understanding, our own intellect, that's foolishness. There's no wisdom left. All wisdom is from God. And so we need to look to God. Believe in the scriptures that it's God who gives us wisdom.

Sometimes our behavior shows that we're slow of heart to believe that. Well, one final passage that Jesus might have turned his disciples to. Now, he could have turned them to many others, I'm sure. But just getting a little sample from Moses all the way now, we'll go towards the end of the Old Testament with the prophet Zechariah. And you can turn with me to Zechariah chapter 12. And here we'll see that Zechariah also declared that the Savior would suffer.

The context here is Zechariah is prophesying to the Jewish people after they've come out of captivity back into the land of Israel and they began to rebuild the temple. It had been destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar. They came back into the land specifically to build the temple

But after a few years, it got hard. They got distracted. They built their own homes. And they just kind of gave up on building the temple, building the house of God. And so God sends them two prophets, Zechariah and Haggai, to encourage them to finish rebuilding the temple, to finish the work that they had begun.

Well, this prophet Zechariah not only prophesied to the people about completing the work, but then he also went on to talk about the Savior that would come. And we'll see that fulfilled in Jesus. But then he also talks about the end times. And you can see that here in verse 10 of Zechariah 12. Here's what it says. And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication.

Then they will look on me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for him as one mourns for his only son and grieve for him as one grieves for a firstborn. Here's Zechariah's prophesying about what will happen during what we call the tribulation period. That seven year period of trouble where the wrath of God will be poured out upon the earth.

And during that seven year tribulation, there's going to come a point where Israel as a nation collectively will recognize that Jesus is the Messiah. And as they recognize that Jesus is the Messiah, they'll come to the realization that he has already come and was crucified. Those who are faithful believers,

of Israel currently that is they they still hold fast to Judaism they're still looking for the Messiah they don't accept that Jesus is the Messiah they they think the Messiah is still gonna come but during that tribulation period they're gonna realize we don't have to wait for the Messiah he's already come it was Jesus and he was crucified and so Zechariah says during that time they're gonna look back

They're going to look at Jesus whom they pierced. They're going to realize we, that is Israel as a nation, turned Jesus over to be crucified. He was pierced because we rejected him. And then they will mourn greatly as for an only child, as for an only son who is lost. And so he prophesies about this time that is yet to happen for us, but that they will look back

And remember that the Messiah that God sent suffered at their hands. That he was pierced as a result of their rejection. And so here in Zechariah we can also see that the Messiah would suffer. That the Savior would experience great suffering. God's prophets have a perfect track record.

The things that they said about the suffering servant, the suffering savior, they are fulfilled in Jesus Christ just as they declared. And as Zechariah gives this prophecy, we can also, well, consider some of the other things that he shared so that we can believe the scriptures. I would ask you to consider with me Zechariah chapter 4 verse 6. Where here Zechariah tells us that God works by his spirit. Zechariah 4 verse 6 says,

It says,

all that's really there is just a pile of rubble because when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it, it was destroyed completely. And so it's just trash. It's just rubble. It's just broken up rock. And he's discouraged about the amount of work that needs to be done.

He's also discouraged because there's not that many people to do the work. It's not like when Solomon built the temple. When, you know, Israel was, you know, big and there was great population and they had lots of workers and they had forced laborers from all over because Solomon, you know, ruled over many nations. And so they had all this help. But as Zerubbabel is doing this, there's

It's just a few of them in the land. It's not a great labor force to be able to get the work done. And so they don't have much help with this big project that they have. But then also he's discouraged because they don't have the materials that they also had whenever the temple was built originally. They didn't have the gold. They didn't have the great decorations any longer. They had a pile of rubble.

with which that they were, you know, supposed to build or rebuild this temple. And so you could imagine Zerubbabel thinking, how is this ever going to happen? I mean, we don't have the manpower. We don't have the resources. And there's a ton of work to do. How is this going to happen? God wants me to build the temple and we just don't have what we need to do it. And here's the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel. God works by his spirit.

It's not by might, Zerubbabel. It's not by power. You're not going to think your way through this. You're not going to resolve this by some great, you know, brainstorming session. It's not by your strength. It's not by your power. You're not going to be strong enough to do this. You're not going to have enough manpower. That's not how I'm going to accomplish my work, God says. But I'm going to accomplish it by my spirit. As Zerubbabel has this huge impossible task in front of him,

God says, trust that I will do my work by the Spirit. It's not by might and it's not by power. And it's a word that you and I need to believe as well. God works by His Spirit. In your life, if you're not facing one now, you will. You'll have those huge impossible tasks that you just can't figure out how it's ever going to be accomplished.

And even for the little tasks that you face day to day, we need to know, we need to grasp hold of the truth that God accomplishes his work by his spirit. Even the physical and practical things that we have to do and the things that we face, God does the work by his spirit. You know, sometimes our attitudes, our behavior show that we are slow of heart to believe this.

as we try to do things in our own strength, as we try to do things with our own resources. And we have this huge task ahead of us. And so we kind of like roll up our sleeves, you know, and put on our boots and we're like, okay, a lot of determination and I'm going to get this done if I work really hard, if I try really hard. And we don't rely upon the Holy Spirit. We're relying upon our own resources because we're slow of heart to believe.

That it's not by my, it's not by power, but it's by my spirit, says the Lord. We have a difficult situation in the home. You know, some problem with the kids, some dilemma with the finances, and we're trying to figure it out. And so we're getting counsel, we're getting advice, we're brainstorming, and we're forgetting. Not that you shouldn't get counsel, but we're trying to do things on our own resources, with our own intellect.

And God says, you know, it's not by might and it's not by power, but it's by my spirit. And you need to look to God to supply his Holy Spirit for the task at hand, for him to do the work that needs to be done in you, but then through you. And sometimes our behavior and our attitudes show that we're not believing this, but instead we're trying to do it ourselves. We're trying to do it in our strength.

Or sometimes like Zerugabal, we've just kind of like given up. Like, well, I mean, it's never going to happen. The task is too big. We don't have the resources. And so why bother even trying, you know? I'm just going to go to the arcade and play some video games because it's not going to get done because we're slow of heart to believe. I'm never going to graduate. I might as well just go party because we're slow of heart to believe. We give up or we try to do it in our own strength and burn ourselves out.

Look at the track record here. Moses, he declared that the Savior would suffer. David declared that the Savior would suffer. Isaiah declared the Savior would suffer. Daniel declared the Savior would suffer. Zechariah declared that the Savior would suffer. As these two disciples are walking away from Jerusalem towards Emmaus, saddened, discouraged, hopeless, they have this behavior. Their attitude is such because...

They're slow of heart to believe. The Lord had told them. The word declares that the Messiah would suffer. But they kind of threw it out. They said, well, we can't picture this being part of God's plan. It just doesn't really make sense to us. It's not what we expected. And so they were behaving this way. They were walking this way. And Jesus comes alongside of them. And again, he comes alongside of us this morning to remind us and say, listen.

All hope is not gone. My work is not done. I am the Savior. I am the Messiah. But you need to believe the scriptures. This morning, you need to believe that God is everlasting, that he's still on the throne.

And you need to check, does my behavior, does my attitude, does my outlook and perspective on life demonstrate that that's what I really believe, that I'm trusting that God is here, that he is alive, that he is still on the throne in control as the creator of the heavens and the earth. Am I demonstrating with my actions that God is my shepherd, that he's right here with me and he's tending to my needs, he's taking care of me, he's protecting me.

and providing for me? Do I demonstrate that because I believe the scriptures? Do I really believe that God gives me strength? So I look to him for strength because I recognize I don't have strength, but Lord, you give me strength. And I'm not going to give up in the midst of the things that you've called me to, even if there's great suffering, because you give me the strength to endure. You give me the strength to stand up.

You give me the strength to do difficult things or endure difficult things, but I'm trusting you to give me strength. Does your attitude demonstrate that you believe that God gives you wisdom? That everything that you have, your wisdom, your, we call them natural abilities, but they're still abilities that God has given to you. Does your attitude demonstrate that

Well, you're grateful to God. Why do you act? Why do you boast as if you had not received that wisdom, that understanding, that ability? It's God who gives you wisdom. We need to believe the scriptures. And we need to believe that God works by his spirit. We demonstrate that we don't believe this, that we're slow of heart to believe that God works by his spirit when we don't walk in the spirit.

When we don't ask God to fill us with his spirit. When we don't look to God to work by his spirit in us and then through us. Now these are just a few examples from these prophets that prophesied of the suffering of Jesus. But again, we have a whole book full of scripture. Of things that we can believe. Things that will change our lives.

This book also tells us that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one comes to the Father except through him. And the way that we behave and our attitude demonstrates whether or not we're slow of heart to believe that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. This book also tells us that all things work together for good to those who love God. Our attitudes, our behavior, our actions demonstrate whether or not we really believe that.

or whether we are slow of heart to believe. This book tells us that Jesus is coming back for his church, that the church will be caught up, raptured to meet the Lord in the air. Does our behavior match that reality, that truth that it will happen?

This book tells us that within a marriage there's the proper role of the husband and wife. That the husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. And that the wife is to respect and submit to her husband as the church respects and submits to the Lord. Does your life, does your actions, does your behavior, your decisions demonstrate that you believe the scriptures or that you're slow of heart to believe?

This book tells us to forgive even as God has forgiven us. And on and on and on we could go. Jesus came along these two disciples to help them see where their hearts were so slow to believe. And listen, Jesus is alongside of you. And he wants to help you see that as well. Where is it that you are slow of heart? Where is it that you are wrestling? Or you're not understanding that you really don't believe God at his word. He wants to show you.

And I would encourage you to let him do so. Invite him to do so. So that you can repent and believe God at his word. Experience the fullness of what he has for you and live your life to glorify him. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we do thank you for the reality that you suffered on our behalf. That you were cut off, that you were crucified for our transgressions.

And Lord, we can never be too grateful. We can never express our gratitude enough for what you did for us in dying upon the cross, in offering to us salvation, forgiveness, and the hope of everlasting life. Thank you, Jesus, for your goodness and grace and mercy to us. And Lord, I pray that you would come alongside of us just as you did with these two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Lord, that you would help us to see

Because you are the good shepherd. You are right here alongside of us. Help us to see, Lord, those areas in our lives where we are not paying attention to your word. Not believing it. Not regarding it. Not living it out. And I pray, Lord, as you reveal those things to us. Maybe some of the things that we discussed today. Or maybe some other things that you've already been stirring up in the hearts of those who are here.

I pray, Lord, that we would recognize your voice, that we would hear those things that you're calling to our attention. Lord, that we would disregard what we think, disregard our opinions, and we would throw out those things and hold fast to what you say to truly believe you at your word. Help us, God. Even as the man cried out in the New Testament, I believe, but help my unbelief. Lord, those areas of unbelief, help us.

that we would believe you and receive all that you have in store for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.