The Lord's Own Easter Sermon

0:00The two disciples making their way to Emmaus that fateful Sunday were depressed and confused. Their Savior was dead, their hope was gone, and the last thing they expected was a sermon on the Old Testament prophets that predicted His coming and revealed His mission. Welcome to the Bible Study Hour, a radio and Internet broadcast with Dr. James Boyce, preparing you to think and act biblically. As those two Christ followers walked that dusty road, a stranger joined them, and their hearts burned as he preached a powerful sermon from Moses to Malachi. Listen as Dr. Boyce examines Jesus' message to two disheartened disciples on that first Easter Sunday, a sermon about Himself, His death, His resurrection, and His purpose for coming. One of the great stories of the appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples after

1:07the resurrection is the account of His appearance to the Emmaus disciples, which is recorded for us in Luke 24. It's an interesting story for a number of reasons, but one of the most interesting of all is the fact that our Lord preached a sermon on that occasion. It's what is referred to in verse 27, which says beginning with Moses and all the prophets he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning Himself. It's interesting that he preached a sermon, of course. Here he was, the Lord Himself in His resurrected body, appearing to disciples who had known Him in the days of His flesh before the crucifixion. I suppose if we were designing the scene and we were causing it to unfold according to the type of expectations we might have, we would

2:10have Jesus simply presenting Himself to them in emphatic language. They didn't know that He had been raised from the dead. He asked them why they were downcastly explained. It's because Jesus of Nazareth, whom we thought was a great prophet, has been killed. And this is the third day since all these things happened. We would expect Jesus to say, hey, guys, look, it's me here. Take a look at the nail prints in my hands. It's even me, Jesus, whom you know, but He doesn't do that. Instead, we read that beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning Himself. In other words, He did what we are to do. We think that way today we say, wouldn't it be wonderful if we just had a special revelation of Jesus to make everything clear? That's not the way it is. Jesus set the pattern and He said, if you want to know me, you must know me by searching

3:10out the things that are written about me in the Word of God. But you know, I've read that text many, many times and I suppose almost every time I've read it, I've wondered to myself, what are those texts that the Lord must have referred to on that occasion? Certainly this is a tantalizing verse beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scriptures concerning Himself. What were the passages he referred to? I'd like to know those. That would make a marvelous series. Take all the passages that the Lord used on that occasion as referring to Himself and study them and explain them and apply them to the problems of our day, but it doesn't tell us. It simply says that he looked to the scriptures and did that. And yet you know, I hate to give up with a query like that and I find myself coming back to that again and saying,

4:13but surely there must be some way to have some idea what the texts were upon which Jesus preached this first great Easter sermon. And you know as I think about it, I think there are some clues. The first clue is the way that verse is written, beginning with Moses and all the prophets he explained to them from all the scriptures, the things that concerned himself. That's a clue because the Jews had a way of referring to the entire Old Testament, what we call the entire Old Testament, in terms of those three things, the law, that is the law of Moses, the prophets, and the writings, what is here called the scriptures. They even had a little word for it. It was the word Tanakh and each of the three letters of that Hebrew word stood for one of those three portions of the scripture. The tea stood for the Torah, the end for the Nevaim, the prophets, and the cave for the ketuvim, the writings. When Jesus is said here to have begun with Moses and preached from the prophets in all the

5:17scriptures, the things that concerned himself, that's a way of saying that he surveyed the entire Old Testament. So the first clue we have when we begin to say, well, what was his text for the sermon is that it wasn't just a single isolated text. Jesus didn't merely say, well, you know, way back in that prophet that you probably haven't even read, in that chapter which you skip over because it follows the one in which all the difficult names occur. There is a verse hidden that probably nobody has ever noticed that does speak about me. That isn't the way he did it at all. He started with the Torah, the first five books, and he showed the things that were in them that spoke of him. And he went on to the prophets, and he showed the things that were in the prophets that spoke of him. And he did the same thing likewise with the writings, the third portion of the Old Testament. That's the first clue. The second clue is even more helpful. And that is that although

6:21we're not told here, precisely what texts the Lord Jesus Christ used when he preached this first Easter sermon, it does seem natural to suppose that the sermons that the first apostles preached would have followed roughly the same lines. That is those sermons that are recorded for us in the book of Acts and the reflection of those sermons that we find in other portions of the New Testament. That is particularly so because some of these sermons, certainly the sermon preached at Pentecost, was preached without a great deal of study or premeditation within a very short time of the events that are here recorded at the very last portions of the gospels. Other words, Christ rose. He explained how that was necessary on the basis of the Old Testament in the hearing of the apostles. Then he ascended into heaven, telling them to wait until the Holy Spirit should be given, the Holy Spirit came, and on that occasion Peter stood up and without a great deal of premeditation, and certainly without a great deal of prior study began to expound the text, the smoke of Jesus

7:25Christ. Where did Peter get his outline from the teaching that Jesus had already given him? That is particularly true because it was the nature of rabbinical teaching that what the master said, the disciples memorized. He says departed from that somewhat. He was far more creative than the writings, but nevertheless it was the pattern. He was the rabbi. They were the disciples and what the rabbi said, they learn often by root. That's why we have in the different gospels, the sayings of Jesus Christ, repeated again and again, sometimes in different settings by the different writers who wrote the things down. They memorized them. They had a capacity for doing that that we don't have. So if Peter and the others who were present when Jesus began to explain these things, not only here on this occasion, but later as we're told in the chapter he did in the hearing of all the apostles, they would have remembered the text. They would have said to themselves, so that's what those texts mean. And when they had an opportunity as they did to stand up in themselves,

8:28present the gospel, these quite naturally are the texts that came to their mind. So with those two clues, let's look at some of the texts that Jesus must have used on this occasion. Peter's speech on Pentecost, the first truly Christian sermon. You find it in Acts 2. Peter uses three great texts in that sermon. One has to do with Pentecost itself. It's drawn from Joel, the prophecy that in the last days God was going to pour out his spirit upon all flesh. Peter began with that, naturally explained that that prophecy was fulfilled that day in Jerusalem and the sight and hearing of all the people. And from there he went on to preach Jesus. Now as he did that, he threw in two great texts from the Old Testament. The first one is from the 16th song. Peter quotes what we call verses 8 through 16. I saw the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand. I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices. My body also will live in hope.

9:34Because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your holy ones see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life and you fill me with joy in your presence. This was apparently a popular text not only for Peter, but for other preachers of the gospel in these early days as well. Because Paul, for example, also quotes this text later on. It acts on the occasion that he had to preach at the synagogue at Antioch. Why was it so important? Well the reason this text was so important to Peter and the others and is presumably one of the texts that Jesus expounded that they may as disciples is that David, who is writing here, says, you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your holy ones see decay. Interesting thing about that, you see, is that David couldn't possibly have written that about himself. This is what Peter points out as he begins to expound it. He says, David didn't write this

10:36about himself because David did die and his body didn't see decay. The matter of fact, he says, we still have the tomb of David around. All you have to do is walk and there's the tomb of David and the very fact that the tomb of David is there is evidence of the fact that when David wrote this in the 16th Psalm, he was not writing of himself. He wasn't writing of himself in what way was he writing? Well obviously he was writing as a prophet and he was looking forward to the one who should come and he was saying of him, you will not abandon his soul to the grave and you will not let your holy ones see corruption. That is the body of Jesus Christ in the tomb and the three days between his death and resurrection did not decompose. So those are the points of Peter's sermon. David did not write it about himself. David wrote it about the Messiah, even Jesus. Number three, that prophecy has been fulfilled and number four, we are witnesses that that saw. That's not the only text he used.

11:38Later on in the sermon he referred to the 110th Psalm verse one. It's interesting that this verse is the verse of the Old Testament which more than any other is quoted in the New Testament. There's a little bit of trivia for you. Next time you're at a retreat and they play Christian trivia. Ask that question. Which verse of the Old Testament is most quoted or referred to in the New Testament? The answer is Psalm 110 verse one. People who count this opposite, it's there in the New Testament either directly quoted or referred to at least 25 or 30 times. The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. One reason why this text is so important is that it goes back to an incident that occurred in the lifetime of the Lord himself. The people of the day were trying to trip them up. They were asking him all kinds of difficult questions and he was spending them off easily. One would expect nothing ever caught him

12:40by surprise and eventually he got to the end of their period of questioning and he said to them, well now I'm going to ask you a question. You've been asking me questions. I'm going to ask you a question. He says, when David in the hundred and tenth Psalm David writing says the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet of whom is he speaking? That's the Messiah. Now he said, is that his son? Traditional answer to that of course was yes. Of course the Messiah's to come in the line of David. Everybody knew that. David would have a son, would have a son, would have a son, would have a son and eventually one of these sons, grandsons, great grandsons, great great great grandsons of David would be the Messiah. Now said Jesus, if that's the case, if the Messiah is the son of David, how is it that David in this verse calls him Lord? You see the problem? A son would call his father Lord. Well a father

13:43would not call his son Lord. How is it? The David, the King calls his son, grandson, great grandson, whatever it may be, Lord. The Lord said to my Lord, the Messiah, sit upon the throne. There's only one answer to that. The answer is that Jesus called the Messiah his descendant Lord because that descendant of his the Messiah was more than a mere man. That Messiah was going to be God. And therefore though he is also the son of David, he is nevertheless at the same time, David's Lord. And that text speaking not only of the divinity of the Messiah also speaks of the plurality within the Godhead because it is the Lord, Jehovah, who speaks to Adonai, the Lord, the Messiah, the God man, sit upon your throne until I make your enemies your footstool. You see when you begin to look into the text that way, how significant that was for the early Christian preaching. Peter on this occasion, remember the text as we might expect him to do and he said, therefore, let all Israel be assured of this. God has made this Jesus whom you have crucified both

14:48Lord and Christ. So we turn to that great sermon on Pentecost and already we have two of the great texts that our Lord must have used in which we know on another occasion he did use to speak about his ministry. In the fourth chapter of Acts we have another sermon of Peter's. Here Peter is called before the Sanhedrin and he's defending himself. The record of it is in verses 8 through 12 and in the midst of this a relatively short version of his sermon we have reference to another text. It saw 118 verse 22. The way we have it quoted in Acts is this, the stone you builders rejected has become the capstone. When the temple of Solomon was being built the builders set up a stone that didn't fit and so it was laid aside and they went on with the building of the temple and when they finally came to a great final stone the capstone of the

15:50structure and they didn't have it they sent down to the quarry and said well we need the final stone and the word came up the stone was sent up long ago so they looked around and as they looked around they finally found the stone that they had laid aside and so became a proverb the stone which the builders rejected has become the capstone. That in a way was a prophecy of Jesus Christ. He was the capstone of God's structure of revealed religion and yet when he came he was laid aside he was pushed aside he was crucified by the builders of Israel and yet God had determined as being an incident which has interpreted profanically that that one who had been laid aside should be the capstone of it all. In other words it's a way of saying that the crucified Messiah should be both Lord and King. This incidentally was a favorite text of Peters because not only did he preach it here before the Sanhedrin he incorporated it along with several other texts in his first

16:52letter where he refers to Isaiah 2816 and Isaiah 814 to other texts that talk about the stone which God has used to establish and build his church a sure foundation upon which we build. I find myself asking sometimes why it is that the different writers have different texts that are favorite texts for them and I think in Peter's case it's really not difficult to answer that question. Why did Peter like these texts that talk about Jesus as the rock? The obvious answer is that Peter's name was rock. Actually Peter's name was stone and you want to drop on the contrast that our Lord makes in the 16th chapter of Matthew perhaps more properly to be taken as a little stone. Jesus said to Peter after his great confession of the deity of Christ behold you are Peter and the word there Petros means a little stone but upon this stone and he was referring to himself this

17:54rock I'm going to build my church. I guess even in Peter's day there were people who went about saying well Peter you certainly are a rock. You certainly are a firm foundation for us to build upon and the reason these texts in my judgment were so important to Peter is that Peter wanted to say and he knew deeply in his own heart because after all he had denied the Lord that he was no rock. No man is a rock. The best were a pebble were scattered about where not stable at all and Peter wanted to say and he did say said it faithfully again and again if you want a rock and you want a sure foundation look to Jesus Jesus is the rock and so he drew those great texts out of the Old Testament to refer to Jesus ministry. After Peter and the others are released by the Sanhedrin they go to the others in Jerusalem the other Christians and at the end of that fourth chapter we have these believers in Jerusalem bursting into another hymn of praise in which a fourth great text from the Old Testament is quoted. They quote from the second Psalm verses 1 and 2 why do the nations

18:57rage in the people's plot and vain the kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his anointed one. Paul also quotes from this Psalm at Antioch and that's Erman I mentioned earlier you know the second Psalm. The second Psalm is mocking description of the way in which the kings and the rulers of this world take counsel against the Lord and against his anointed they say look if we're going to shake off the bonds of God we're going to have to get together and do it jointly to strengthen the numbers well they band together and they say let's take our stand against God let's declare ourselves independent let's cast off his yoke let's do our thing let's forget about the law of God. God who looks down upon this act of cosmic treason does not tremble on laughs and is laughed as a laugh of derision he says behold

19:59I have set my king upon my holy hill my holy hill of Zion and the king is Jesus Christ that text is an Old Testament way of saying what Paul says in the letter to the Philippians namely that the day is coming in which before him every knee shall bow. The ninth chapter of Acts we have another suggestive text here Philip has been sent by the Holy Spirit to the Ethiopian and the Ethiopian when he comes to him is reading from a manuscript a manuscript he perhaps acquired in Jerusalem it turns out that it was Isaiah and the portion from which he was reading was Isaiah 53 he was led like a sheep for the slaughter and as a lamb before his shears is silent so he did not open his mouth and his humiliation he was deprived of justice who can speak of his descendants for his life was taken from the earth the unit turned to Philip and said to him of whom is the prophet

21:01speaking as he speaking about himself or is he speaking about another and Philip we are told took that text and on the basis of that passage began to teach Jesus Jesus you see who was led like a lamb to the slaughter who as a lamb before his shears is silent opened not his mouth and so on that great chapter from the heart of that great Old Testament prophecy in a clearer way than any other text in scripture unfolds the reality of what we call in theology of icarious atonement that is one dying on behalf of another the innocent paying the price of the guilty and Philip took that great text and said that was written of Jesus that was not written of Isaiah it was not written of the Jewish people it was not written a mankind in general that was written of Jesus because only Jesus was the innocent one the perfect lamb who was able to

22:03pay the price of sin and he did it in Jerusalem and what we call good Friday he turned a little further on the New Testament come to Hebrews I mentioned Hebrews because it presumably is written by a Jew that we don't have his name to Jews to explain how Jesus the Jew was the fulfillment of everything in Judaism and as the Savior of the Gentiles as well I mention it because in the first chapter of Hebrews alone seven Old Testament prophecies are quoted as having been fulfilled by Jesus Christ Psalm 27 second Samuel 714 Deuteronomy 32 43 Psalm 104 verse 4 Psalm 45 verses 6 and 7 Psalm 102 verses 25 to 27 and Psalm 110 verse 1 the verse we already looked at earlier and then just in case that isn't enough we have the second chapter and in the second chapter four more texts Psalm 8 verses 4 to 6 Psalm 22 verse 22 Isaiah 8 verse 17 and Isaiah 8 verse 18 according to

23:12the author of Hebrews these texts and all the great texts and themes of the Old Testament point to Jesus you know when we begin to talk about the Old Testament texts and themes we open up whole new box possibilities because you see as you read these new testament books it's not just a case of here and there scattered throughout the Old Testament a collection of texts that refer to Jesus and are fulfilled by him it's a far more profound situation than that what they say again and again in a variety of ways is that the whole Old Testament all of it all its themes all its parts properly understood point to Jesus see you go back and you start with Genesis and it's not just a text like Genesis 315 the proto Evangelium that speaks of Jesus spoken to Satan of the seed

24:12of the woman who one day would crush his head though he would wound his heel that's a prophecy of Christ who would be hurt by Satan but who would destroy Satan and his works yes that but it's not just that it's the themes of Genesis 2 and so you turn to Genesis and you find Jesus is the seed of the woman and Jesus is the seed of Abraham and Jesus is the expectation of all the prophets and of the patriarchs turn to the book of Exodus and you find Jesus prefigured in the tabernacle that book gives the instructions for how the tabernacle was to be built the tabernacle illustrated the way to God it had a great altar outside upon which the lamb was placed upon which the blood was poured out it had within the tabernacle the incense and the showbred and finally the great veil that led into the holy of holies all of that is a type that points to Jesus Jesus as the lamb

25:19slain he is the altar he's the showbred he said I'm the bread of life he's the incense within and when the veil is torn it showed how the way was opened into the holy of holies by Christ death all of that in Exodus it turned to Leviticus and you find Jesus in the sacrifices that's the book which above all in the Old Testament shows how the sacrifices were to be performed in Israel Jesus is a scapegoat bun whose head the sins of Israel were confessed and which was then driven into the wilderness Jesus is the animal killed on the day of atonement whose blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat within the holy of holies of the tabernacle Jesus is seen there turned to numbers there you have that great story of the people and the snakes and the death and the camp and how they tried out to Moses and how Moses tried out to God and how they erected a bronze serpent upon a staff and the word went out whoever looks to that serpent on the staff will be healed and those

26:21who looked were healed it was a great prefiguring of Jesus Christ one that John the evangelist picks up at his gospel in the third chapter and says just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so was the son of man lifted up that whoever looks upon him and believes on him should be saved turn to Deuteronomy and there you find the prophecy of a prophet who should come who should speak the words of God one like unto Moses and one who is superior to Moses in every way and so on through all the books of the Old Testament until you come but last to Malachi the last book of hour arrangement of the Old Testament and there Jesus appears as the son of righteousness risen with healing in his wings now I confess that I don't know how much of that sermon the Lord preached on that trip from Jerusalem to amaze that day but it was a long way would have taken

27:23several hours I suppose he preached that in a great deal more what I do know although I can't give you with certainty the details of the Lord's sermon is this the Lord Jesus did not only preach the sermon that day that is the sermon the Lord Jesus Christ continues to preach to all who turn to this word to seek out where he the subject of it all might be found and you know that's what he did with the amaze disciples when he appeared to them he opened their eyes to understand who he was and he did that on the basis of the scriptures which he opened to them but once he had opened the scriptures and opened their eyes were told at the very end of that chapter then he opened their minds that they might have understanding of all those things in the scripture that were written of himself you want to be wise that's the way to be wise if you want to grow in knowledge that's the way to grow in knowledge read this book beginning with Genesis and going the whole way through

28:24to Revelation and as you read it ask the Lord Jesus Christ who speaks in it to preach that sermon to your heart and if you do that I assure you that the Bible will never be the same for you again and what is far more important you will never be the same because you'll find the Lord Jesus Christ everywhere and it'll be your great delight and joy to go out and serve him of us pray our Father do bless this sermon of the lords to our hearts and give us ears to hear give us minds and wills that are ready to obey and give us a love for those words that will cause us to study them and seek them out regularly and faithfully and obediently and so grow not only in knowledge but also in love for Jesus about whom this book speaks are we pray in his name

29:25you're listening to the Bible study hour featuring the teaching of Dr. James Poise God uses his people to bring others to salvation the Apostle Paul tells us that in order for that to happen people need to hear the word and preachers have to be sent to proclaim it so what is our role in all of this find out in our free CD this week entitled a plea for missions it's also by Dr. Poise this free offer is our way of saying thank you to receive yours call 1-800-488-1888 will be honored to send you a copy of a plea for missions that number again is 1-800-488-1888 when we really dwell on what the Lord has done for us by his death and resurrection a desire burns within us to help carry on the work he began one of the ways you can do that is by supporting the Bible study hour with your prayers and financial gifts you can

30:28make a single contribution or even become a monthly supporter by visiting our website at the biblestudyhour.org you could call 1-800-488-1888 or send a check to 600 Eden Road, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 1-7-6-01 in Canada you could reach the Bible study hour the PO Box 2-4-0-8-7 so how has the Bible study hour impacted your life has it made you more confident in your personal ministry has it inspired in you a fresh appreciation for God's word we'll be sure to tell a friend and then tell us as well our entire staff would be greatly encouraged by your story when you call or write our email address is contact at the biblestudyhour.org

31:30I'm Mark Daniels and I'm glad you listened in the road to Emeas is a road everyone who would be a better Christian must walk it's a journey that starts in doubt and ends in joy, love, and true devotion join dr. James boys as he visits the scene of the two disciples who lost their faith were headed home in sorrow on the road to Emeas that's next time on the bible study hour preparing you to think and act biblically