We'll turn to Luke 18. Start reading at verse 31. As God is exalted, He has also exalted His Holy Word. And because of that, we will stand as we read together this God's Holy Word, starting at Luke 18, starting at verse 31. Luke 18, 31. Then he took the twelve aside and said to them, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. For he will be handed over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon. and after they have scourged him, they will kill him, and the third day he will rise again. But the disciples understood none of these things, and the meaning of this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said. Let's pray together. Our glorious Lord, we pray that you would not hide these truths and revelations of your holy word from us, but that you would give us spiritual understanding by means of your word, that you would enable us by your holy spirit to have minds that understand and hearts that believe the things that you reveal unto us through this your holy and infallible word. Help us in this through your holy spirit and may your holy spirit guide me as I preach. For we ask all these things in the name of Jesus our Lord, Amen. Please be seated. What did God use to first bring you to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? Now, if I ask this question and maybe there's covenant youth that have been raised in the church, maybe they don't remember a day when they didn't believe that Jesus was Lord and Savior and they were always as little kids praying to him. But for the majority of us, we might remember some circumstances that God used to bring us to saving faith. Maybe things were going well for us, but God used a tragedy, maybe health trouble, a near-death experience, maybe something that exposed our sin and made us fear that if we died, we would go to hell, and that thereby, that fear of death and that fear of damnation led us to pursue after Jesus Christ. Another follow-up question is this. Do you remember what convinced you that this Bible is God's holy word? Some of you maybe grew up not believing that this was God's Word, but something changed. Something helped you to understand and believe that this is truly God's holy and infallible Word. We'll look a little bit more at that later. As we go back a little bit for some context of this Gospel of Luke as I'm preaching through the Gospel of Luke. I do want to turn back to look at some places where Scripture is fulfilled through the Gospel of Luke. Let's look at chapter 1. By the way, if we had to go through every fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy through Luke, we'd be here a very long time, but we're only going to look at a few places. So Luke 1, starting in verse 15, This is after the angel appeared to Zacharias about the coming birth of his son through his aged wife, Elizabeth. Look at verse 15. He says there that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb. and he will turn back many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. It is he who will go as a forerunner before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the disobedient to the attitude of righteousness, or the attitude of righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Now this is in fulfillment of Malachi 4, verse 6 and following. Let's look at another place in the same chapter, look at verse 30. This is the angel Gabriel talking to Mary. The angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God, and behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. Mary said to the angel, how can this be since I am a virgin? The angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And for that reason, the Holy Child shall be called the Son of God. Now that is in fulfillment of Isaiah 7.14, which said that the coming Messiah would be born of a virgin and he would be named Emmanuel. So we have two passages. Let's go to chapter seven. Chapter seven, starting at verse 19. This is when John had doubts concerning who Jesus truly was. He was in prison and that's not what he expected to see the kingdom of God coming like him being in prison. Verse 19 of Luke 7, summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord saying, are you the expected one or do we look for someone else? When the men came to him, they said, John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, are you the expected one, or do we look for someone else? At that very time, he cured many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits, and he gave sight to many who were blind. And he answered and said to them, go and report to John what you have seen and heard. The blind received sight, the lame walked, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. Blessed is he who does not take offense at me." So what Jesus said and what Jesus did demonstrated to them that he was the fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah concerning who the Messiah would be. He would be one who heals the blind. He would be one who heals lepers and cleanses them, who preaches the gospel to the poor. So therefore, John, who was doubting, was told, believe in the fulfillment of Holy Scripture through me. And that's what I believe helped John to turn around from doubting to believing. As we look at today's text, and we focus on this section of verses 31 through 34, the main focus will be that you are to put your faith in Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of God's promises. Put your faith in Jesus Christ, who is the fulfillment of God's promises. We'll see this in two main points. Christ's fulfillment of prophecy, and secondly, that understanding comes from the Lord. Let's look at this first main point, Christ's fulfillment of prophecy, verses 31 through 33. Then he took the 12 aside and said to them, behold, we're going up to Jerusalem and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished. For he will be handed over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon. And after they have scourged him, they will kill him. And the third day he will rise again. As you study the New Testament, hopefully you do read through the New Testament on a regular basis, but as you study the New Testament, you will find that there is a tremendous amount of scripture in the New Testament that tells of how Old Testament prophecy concerning the Messiah was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Not a little bit, a tremendous amount. This was back in 2004, but I think it was earlier than this. I was fascinated with this when I first was coming to more of an understanding of Protestant faith coming out of the Catholic Church. I made this chart, and on the left side had the Old Testament scripture, and on the right side had the New Testament fulfillment. And it's, I worked on that, the last, the oldest file I could find was 2004, but you know, really, that is a project that if you actually worked and gave every passage, it would be an extremely, extremely large chart. I'm only gonna give you a sample, and we wanna look at a few passages there in your outline. In Genesis 3.15, God said to Satan, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel. Now this passage I'm gonna give you is only one of many, but here's one passage that shows the fulfillment of this. 1 John 3.8, the Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. Psalm 41 verse 9 says this, even my close friend whom I trusted who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. That foretold that it would be one of his close companions, one of the 12, Judas Iscariot, who actually betrayed him. Zechariah 11, 12 foretold that the Messiah's betrayal would be for 30 pieces of silver. Isaiah 53, 6, we read that the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. The New Testament fulfillment in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf. The Father made Him, the Son, who knew no sin, to be sent on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him, in and through union with Christ by faith. Luke 18.32 foretold that Jesus would be mocked and mistreated and spit upon. It also foretold that he would be betrayed to the hands of Gentiles. And you notice he wasn't killed by the Jews directly, he was killed by the Gentiles. That's even a fulfillment of Scripture. Look at, for this mocking and mistreatment and spitting upon, let's look, we'll turn to Psalm 22. What's amazing about this passage is that it even tells us the very words that would come out of the mouths of those who would mock our Lord Jesus. Psalm 22 starting at verse 6. But I am a worm and not a man, a reproach of men and despised by the people. All who see me sneer at me. They separate with the lip They wagged the head saying, commit yourself to the Lord and let him deliver him. Let him rescue him because he delights in him. So that's the prophecy. Let's look at the fulfillment in Matthew 27. Matthew 27, starting in verse 38. At that time, two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those passing by were hurling abuse at him, wagging their heads and saying, you who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself. If you are the son of God, come down from the cross. In the same way, the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking him, saying, He saved others, he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross and we will believe in him. He trusts in God, let God rescue him now if he delights in him. For he said, I am the son of God. The very words of the mocking was foretold and fulfilled. It was foretold, as it says in verse 33, that they will kill him, and the third day he will rise again. David wrote this in Psalm 16.10. You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will you allow your Holy One to undergo decay. In Acts 13, it is preached that this was fulfilled not in the person of David, who did undergo decay, but this fulfillment came to pass in Jesus Christ, rising from the dead. Now, brothers and sisters, if I had to finish giving you all of the New Testament fulfillment of the Old Testament messianic prophecies, we would be here till five o'clock. But I'm gonna spare you that because we can't have a church service that long. But I'm going to tell you this. Out of everything that I struggled with when I first became a Christian, I had a hard time figuring out, well, how do I reconcile what I was taught in science class in the public schools? How do I reconcile evolution with the Bible? Well, one of the things that kept me rooted in really believing that this is God's trustworthy word is the magnificent way that so many prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. You couldn't have just a few and say it's a coincidence. But the great, tremendous multitude of Old Testament prophecies, as it says in our passage today, that all these things were written concerning the Son of Man and that they would be accomplished, is evidence that this is a supernatural book. Other world religions claim to have inspired writings, and I'm sure the Quran has some supposed claim of the coming prophet Muhammad. Of course, the claims for that were actually intended for Jesus, but they say that Muhammad was the promised prophet that Moses spoke of. But these books do not have a multitude of evidence of fulfilled prophecy in any way, shape or form that compare to the holy word of God. And the answer is that their writings are not sacred, but the words of men or the ideations of the devil himself. Let's look next at how understanding of this God's Word comes from the Lord. That's our second main point. Understanding comes from the Lord. Look at verse 34. But the disciples understood none of these things, and the meaning of this statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said. When Jesus spoke of his coming suffering, he spoke of his coming death, he spoke of his coming resurrection, they didn't understand what Jesus was saying because it wasn't Jesus's will for them to understand at this time. According to Matthew 16.22, in the same event, I believe, but in a different account, Peter opposed Jesus by saying this, God forbid it, Lord, this shall never happen to you. Now, the motivation, I'm sure, of Peter was that Peter loved the Lord Jesus and he didn't want to see him die. But of course, we know Jesus rebukes him sharply saying, get behind me, Satan, because it was the ideation of Satan that he should not go to the cross. If Jesus didn't go to the cross for us, we would be doomed. Now, Peter did not understand the Old Testament scriptures. He didn't understand the prophecies of Isaiah, which clearly said that this Messiah would be pierced through for our transgressions. As the suffering servant, he would be crushed for our iniquities. And as he poured his soul out to death, he poured himself out to death. In John 14, 25, Jesus promised his disciples, he says that, when I go away, it's necessary for me to go away, but when I go away, I will send a helper, the Holy Spirit, from whom the Father will send in my name. He will teach you all things and bring your remembrance all that I said to you. I believe that the Holy Spirit gave them remembrance of these words that he spoke in our text this morning. He gave them not only remembrance of these things, but he gave them faith to believe these things that Jesus Christ was fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies. We'll study this later in the glorious passage. Lord willing, we'll study this later. In Luke 24, When Jesus is walking on the road to Emmaus, a couple of the disciples, I believe Peter was actually one of them, were walking with him on the way to Emmaus, and they didn't recognize Jesus. And we find out in that passage that Jesus didn't want them to recognize him. But as he was walking along the way, it says that beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures. Verse 27, Jesus preaching himself from the Old Testament, that he was the fulfillment of all the promises given unto the prophets. And as they were walking along the way, their hearts were burning within them, But they did not recognize them until, as it mentions in verse 31, their eyes were opened. Who opened their eyes? God opened their eyes to recognize Jesus. To see Jesus for who he really was. But not only that, God opened their eyes and their hearts to believe that Jesus was the one, the Son of God, the Messiah, the promised one of the Lord. Again, in Luke 18, 34, the meaning of Christ's statement concerning his suffering as a suffering servant of God was hidden from them, but hidden no longer at this point on the road to Emmaus. And that's because true spiritual saving understanding comes from the Lord. After the resurrection of Jesus for a span of 40 days, he continued to appear to the disciples. He was made evident that he who had died had been made alive by the power of God, proof of the resurrection. And during that time, he spoke to his disciples about the coming kingdom, or the present kingdom of God, and I'm sure he spoke to them more so of many fulfillments of the Old Testament prophecies in and through himself. And this Jesus, who was resurrected, did not appear only to the 12, but he made an appearance, as mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15.6, to more than 500 brethren at one time. Jesus, who was publicly crucified, stabbed through the side, was alive again and was made evident and was shown alive to more than 500 brethren at one time. So brothers and sisters, if someone does not believe, it's not because of a lack of evidence. It's God who must give spiritual saving understanding. We can tell people what the scripture teaches. We can show them the Word of God. We can read them the Word of God. We can use creation science to show them that there's a better claim. that God created all things rather than evolution, but they will not believe the evidences that we show unless God gives them spiritual understanding to believe this work. They must be born again to have true spiritual understanding and saving faith. Just as The disciples were given eyes to see Jesus on the road to Emmaus. We must be given spiritual eyes to see and believe Jesus Christ, our Lord. Brothers and sisters, put your faith in this Jesus, who is the magnificent fulfillment of all the promises of God. Starting in Genesis, throughout all of the prophets, this whole book testifies that Jesus is the eternal son of God, and the only savior of mankind. Put your faith in him. He is the Christ who has fulfilled prophecy. But if you struggle with your understanding, if you struggle with your belief, pray to God, say, God, I believe, but help my unbelief. Give me eyes to see and ears to hear. Let me see Jesus Christ and believe him as he's revealed to me in the Bible. And we could pray that when we read his word as well. on our own and as our families. Let's pray together. Our glorious Lord, thank you for this, your word. We thank you for the manifold way that you have revealed in your holy word that Jesus Christ has fulfilled all of these prophecies of the Old Testament. We thank you for the suffering servant, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who suffered and died for us Help us to put our faith in Him, to trust in Him for the forgiveness of our sins, to trust in Him that through Him that you would account unto us His perfect obedience, His perfect righteousness, so that we would stand in your sight and help us to rejoice as we go our way. We ask all these things in the name of Jesus, our Lord. Amen. For our closing hymn, let's turn to 350. 350, we'll stand and sing Beneath the Cross of Jesus.