Christ Came, Christ Conquered, Christ Is With You, Now Go And Declare The Victory! (Luke 24:13-49)
Christmas was eight days ago. Though we celebrate the coming of Christ and all He accomplished throughout the entire year, we spent special time celebrating the coming of our Savior. And in that time, we discussed prophecies from the Old Testament that discussed our Lord and Savior’s coming and what He accomplished in His coming. As a church we read through Luke account of the coming of Christ and here at the end of the Book of Luke we are going to fast forward to after the resurrection of Christ.
So, we end the year thinking about Jesus’s birth. And it is a tradition of ours to think about our commitments for the new year. And today I want us to think about our commitment as a church for the new year. Jesus calms the disciples doubts and fears by explaining to them the victory over sin and death that He had just accomplished. He told them of the salvation for sinners that He had lived, died, and risen to accomplish. He told them of the testimony that this would happen in God’s Word. And then He sends them on a mission to tell the world and promised that He would be with them. Christ came, Christ conquered, Christ is with you, now go and make disciples!
The first sermon that I preached as your pastor was what is typically referred to as the Great Commission, in Matthew 28:16-20. There were 21 people in the building that heard that sermon. But I have tried to bring that up again and again. And here we are in the New Year, with one completed year together behind us. We each understand each other better. We have accomplished some good things together over the course of this last year. And, I don’t know about you, but I’m excited for what is to come. But here in this new year I want us to focus our eyes as a congregation on the mission of the church. And this time the message will come from Luke 24:13-49.
Christ’s people were wandering, confused and afraid after the death of Jesus. His body was in the tomb and that was a big deal. It seems that they had disbanded, lost their way, and were muddling through this time the only way they knew how. But Jesus showed up and everything changed. Jesus showed up and told them that He came, He conquered, He was with them, and that they were to go and make disciples.
And it is the same for us today. We can wander in our thoughts and understanding of what we are to do in this life. We can forget what we are supposed to be about as a church. Why are we here? What are we supposed to be doing? Well, we see this wandering, confused, and fearful band of believers suddenly understand what they were to be about after Jesus’ resurrection and what He told them.
We are going to read the entire text, Luke 24:13-49 so that we can get a full view of their confusion and fear. The Disciples apparently disbanded after the death of Jesus. On the road to Emmaus Jesus ran into a few of them who were in sorrow over the death of Jesus. His death had ruined the hopes they had placed in Jesus. On the road they said to Jesus, without knowing it was Him, “But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel…” (Luke 24:21 ESV). It seems that news of the resurrection brought the gang back together. And after the disciples on the Road to Emmaus spoke with Jesus, they went to the disciples in Jerusalem (Luke 24:33-35).
What is the message that strengthened Christ’s people? And what were His people to be doing now that He was gone? Jesus came, Jesus conquered, Jesus is with us, and we are to declare the victory and make disciples of the nations.
Jesus Came And Accomplished Salvation According To The Scriptures (Luke 24:25-27, Luke 24:44-46)
Jesus spoke to the disciples on the Road to Emmaus and after hearing what they had to say, He rebuked them for their disbelief of all that the Scriptures had said. You see, they had understood that Jesus would redeem Israel, but they hadn’t understood all that meant (Luke 24:21).
We spoke a lot over the course of the Advent season about Christ being king. That is certainly the case. And it would be easy to see why the people of Israel would be looking for a king when it is so prominent in the Old Testament. One example of that is Isaiah 7-11. But the problem was that their view of Jesus was lopsided. Their focus was not on the suffering servant found in passages like Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22. Their view was so lopsided that the death of Christ took them by surprise.
Things are a bit easier for us to see this side of the writing of the New Testament. The picture is much clearer from this vantage point. God created all things, and that includes people. Adam broke God’s Law and brought the stain of sin to all of us. That stain flows through the stream of human existence, even to us today. And we are all infected with it. We need more than a king to overthrow an occupying army. We need a Savior that can heal us from our disease, cleanse us, make us righteous, and bring us to God. And God accomplished that by sending His Son. He took on human flesh and dwelt among us. He lived a perfect life and accomplished all righteousness. He died on the cross and paid the punishment for sin (Isaiah 53, Psalm 22). And He rose from the grave three days later completing the justification of all who would believe. All those who turn from ruling their own life and trust in the Savior are declared righteous in God’s sight and brought into His family. And Jesus ascended into Heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. There He is ruling and reigning and the news of His victory over sin and death is being proclaimed all over the globe. One day He will return and make all things right and reign as the King who ushed in eternal peace (Isaiah 7-11). It seems that the disciples only had the second coming in view, therefore they were fearful and confused.
Jesus explained to them that the Messiah would do all of this, and it was in God’s Word. Long before these men were even alive, God had written down that the Messiah would do all of it. Jesus let them know, without letting them know they were talking to Him, that He came, He died sacrificially, and He rose from the grave just as God’s Word said that He would.
Jesus was not first and foremost a political figure, in today’s parlance. He was political in the sense that He came as King of kings and Lord of lords. But He is not pollical in the sense that we see Him used in our politics today. He came to Earth, accomplished our being in fellowship with God through His perfect life, death, and resurrection. He now sits at the right hand of God as King over all. He cannot be brought into our pet agenda. He is King and we repent of ruling our own life and get on board with His agenda.
The great message that Jesus brought to mankind was not go forth and do better. It was not make yourself righteous. And it was not that Jesus was going to run as a Republican or a Democrat in the next election cycle. It was that He had accomplished forgiveness of sins through His perfect life, death and resurrection. It is that we can be brought into God’s Kingdom through the perfect work of Christ. We are rebel sinners who must lay down our arms and trust in the Savior, which is also the message that we are to deliver to others.
Jesus Commands Us To Make Disciples (Luke 24:47-48)
When Jesus spoke to His disciples in verses 46-48, He again emphasized that the Scriptures had stated all along that He would die and rise from the grave. But this time He adds something else. He stated that these things took place so that those who repent could have forgiveness of sins (Luke 24:47).
The gospel is the good news of what Christ has done. The gospel is what Jesus did that was described above, it is the good news of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. It is the news of His conquering sin and death. Repentance is our response to that message.
The response to the gospel message is repentance and faith. That is what we see in numerous places throughout the Scriptures. Sometimes either faith or repentance are left off of the equation, but it is not a leaving off of anything. They are two sides of the same coin. Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change in action. Faith is trust.
An illustration might help here. Imagine that you are a medieval soldier. And news is brought to you of your army’s defeat. It is a message brought to you from the conquering king’s ambassador and he has written proof of that defeat in hand. And this ambassador promises you peace and prosperity if you will lay down your arms and serve him. It is obvious to all that he is telling the truth. You have a few options at this point. You could continue to fight. You could run away. Or, you could stop fighting and trust the conquering king. This response would be of repentance and faith.
You see, we are rebels at war with God. We don’t start our lives in neutral. Christ has vanquished sin and death through His perfect life, death, and resurrection. And we were born fighting against Him. His victory has been announced to us and our response is to lay down our swords and follow Him. That is repentance and faith. And that is the response that we are to have to the message of the gospel. We must repent and believe. We must lay down our arms and trust the Savior.
Now, notice what else is said here. Don’t miss it.
“”Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:46-48 ESV)
Jesus accomplished salvation for all who would turn from sin and trust in Him. And His disciples, who were eye-witnesses to His resurrection were to be witnesses and testify to the good news. And they did. They were faithful to deliver the good news to a lost and dying world. And the gospel spread, even to us. And today we are those who deliver the testimony of the witnesses to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.
There is a story that I’ve heard over and over in my life. Many sermons have discussed this story and I have no doubt of the truth of it because this event inspired many Moravian Missionaries to go forth and spread the gospel to the nations.
There were two young Moravians, these are a group of people in the West Slavic area in the Czech Republic, that heard of an island where an atheist owner held a few thousand slaves. The owner of the slaves proudly stated that no preacher would ever speak with his slaves. These two young men were burdened with the thought of thousands of slaves in the West Indies working sugar cane fields living and dying without ever hearing the name of Christ. These young men, both in their 20’s sold their selves into slavery so that they could go and share the gospel with these slaves. They would never return to their home and would spend the rest of their lives in that slave community.
At their departing, family members were in great sorrow and wondering if this was all necessary. As the ship left and the family was weeping at the dock, the young men shouted what became the theme or the call of Moravian Missions. It was “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering.”
We read in this text that Jesus bled and died according to the Scriptures for the forgiveness of sins and that we are to testify to His grace and mercy. How dare we keep silent? More and more I run into people that have no idea of what Jesus did or what He accomplished.
Christ accomplished salvation and we are to deliver the good news, the message that brings people into His Kingdom. Why would we not tell others? “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering.”
Christ died to bring a people to Himself. As another Moravian, Count Zinzendorf said, “Our Lamb has conquered, let us follow Him.” Christ has conquered sin and death through His perfect life, death, and resurrection. Let us deliver that message to the world and as people turn from sin and trust in Him they will become a part of God’s Kingdom. They will become a part of Christ’s people.
Christ died to bring a people to Himself. Who have you invited to church? Who have I invited to church? Who have you talked about Jesus with lately? Who have I talked about Jesus with lately?
Commit yourself to this task. Don’t leave here today without a plan of action to invite someone to church or share the gospel with them. If you need the help of a gospel tract we have piles of them, take a couple home and deliver the good news. If you have neighbors that would come to your house to hear about Jesus, I would love to help you start a Bible Study in your home.
I have spent the last 10 years telling teenagers that they have a unique opportunity to share the gospel with friends. They are crammed in classrooms, hallways, and cafeterias that provide unique opportunities to share with others. I remember starting a 4 person prayer group at lunch that eventually exploded into massive lunch time gathering and a weekly Bible Study.
If you work with the same people day in and day out, then you have an opportunity to share the love of Jesus with those people in a special way. They get to see your life and your character. And the message of hope that you give to them will be all the more meaningful because they see your life.
If your family does not know Christ then you then you can share the good news with those who know you the best, warts and all.
Remember, the message is not about how good you are. So, you can share the good news of Christ to those who know that you have made mistakes. But your life does give credence or credibility to the message you deliver. You are never going to feel like you are the perfect messenger because you are not. So go and deliver the good news.
The Holy Spirit Is With Us (Luke 24:49)
The end of the Book of Luke, and our text today, was written with the knowledge that the Book of Acts was soon to be written. Luke wrote both Luke and the Book of Acts and they work like a set of books. Luke wrapped up volume one with very few details after the Resurrection because they would be covered in great detail in volume two, the Book of Acts.
Here we read that the promised Holy Spirit was about to come to them. The idea here is that they would not be doing this work alone. And it is the same for us today. Christians do not do the work of spreading the name of Chris to the nations alone. We do it in the power of the Holy Spirit.
There is a lesson to be learned here. The disciples were not able to do the work until the Holy Spirit came. Jesus did not want them to even go and attempt to do this work without the Holy Spirit. They were to await the coming of the Holy Spirit to even begin. The lesson for us is that this mission of ours cannot be accomplished in the least apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in the life of our church.
People will not come to faith in Christ without the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Notice what Paul said in 1 Corinthians.
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV)
Also notice what Jesus said to Nicodemus concerning the necessity of the work of the Holy Spirit for people to come to faith in Christ.
“Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”” (John 3:1-8 ESV)
The believer has no hope of accomplishing this their self. It is God who saves. And God the Holy Spirit works in the sinner to cause them to desire Christ and to come to Him. “You must be born again.”
We are to go and spread the gospel to the nations. We are to go and talk with our neighbor about the grace of God found in Jesus Christ. We are to go and tell others about the forgiveness found in Christ.
But we cannot hope for a bit of success without the work of the Holy Spirit. Unless God work, nothing will happen. If God works, there is no telling what could happen.
So what are we to do? We are to be people that rely upon the Holy Spirit. In the same way that Jesus commanded His disciples not to go forth without the Holy Spirit, we dare not move without being dependent upon the Holy Spirit. So, we pray.
I know that it is January 2nd. But I am going to challenge us to start one day late and begin this year praying. The Arkansas Baptist State Convention has put out some materials to move us to pray the first 21 days of the year. People who are dependent upon the Lord are people who pray. And people who think that they can do life on their own are people who don’t pray. And we as a church need the Lord.
If this church is going to do the things that many of you have expressed that you desire, then it will be because the Holy Spirit did a powerful work among us. And so we pray.
“Nothing seems to be too great, too hard, or too difficult for prayer to do. It has obtained things that seemed impossible and out of reach. It has won victories over fire, air, earth, and water. Prayer opened the Red Sea. Prayer brought water from the rock and bread from Heaven. Prayer made the sun stand still. Prayer brought fire from the sky on Elijah’s sacrifice. Prayer turned the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. Prayer overthrew the army of Sennacherib. Well might Mary Queen of Scots say, “I fear John Knox’s prayers more than an army of ten thousand men.” Prayer has healed the sick. Prayer has raised the dead. Prayer has procured the conversion of souls. ‘The child of many prayers,’ said an old Christian to Augustine’s mother, ‘shall never perish.’ Prayer, pains, and faith can do anything. Nothing seems impossible when a man has a spirit of adoption. ‘Let me alone,’ is the remarkable saying of God to Moses when Moses was about to intercede for the children of Israel—the Chaldee version has, ‘Leave off praying’—(Exodus 32:10). So long as Abraham asked mercy for Sodom, the Lord went on giving. He never ceased to give till Abraham ceased to pray. Think of this. Is not this encouragement.?”—JC Ryle, A Call to Prayer
We pray! Pray for your lost friends, neighbors, and family members. Pray for the conversion of people in these neighborhoods that surround us. Pray for opportunities to share the gospel with others. Pray for God to work among us for we do not dare go forth out of this place seeking to do the impossible, that is bring people to faith in Christ, without the Holy Spirit at work among us.
Jesus Overcomes Our Fear (Luke 24:50-53, Acts)
Consider the beginning of our message and this text. The disciples were in fear, confused, and moving without direction. They were frightened and Jesus comforted them by showing them that He truly had risen from the grave. And He explained to them what He had done and how it was foretold in the Scriptures. Their fright was further dampened when they were told that the Holy Spirit would come, bring them comfort, and make the mission possible. And we end the Book of Luke with the disciples joyously worshiping the Lord.
Think ahead though to these same disciples in the Book of Acts. The Holy Spirit came upon them and the Word of God spread, the good news of what Christ had done, spread to the nations. It spread even to you in our day.
I know that this message strikes fear in some of your hearts. I think that bit of anxiety is something that a person never quite gets over. But we see here that our fear of doing what we’ve been commanded is lessened or even taken away as we understand what it is that Christ did and that the Holy Spirit is at work.
I remember taking a group of students through The Way of the Master evangelism training a long time ago. About 5 or 6 weeks into the training we went to Hot Springs and shared the gospel with people in town. One of those students was incredibly nervous. She is one of the most soft spoken people that you’ll ever run into, but she shared the gospel with someone and she did a good job. The message was declared clearly. We had a few more weeks of training left, but the last thing we did was work with a church in Little Rock. By the time we got there she was sharing with people right and left. In fact, she shared with a homeless man under the bridge at Little Rock while we helped serve food and he made a profession of faith right there. I am certain that she still had fear. But I am also certain that by this point she knew what Christ had done and what He had accomplished. And she also understood that the Holy Spirit was at work and she did it. And the Holy Spirit worked in that moment to bring someone to faith in Christ. And I am sure that she continues to do that today.
I want you to see something here. You may not be the personality type that does this sort of thing easily. To be honest, I’ve never heard someone say that it was easy. But when we understand what it is that Christ did for us and that the Holy Spirit is at work in the sharing of the gospel, our fears are lessened and we go.
Conclusion
We can wander in our thoughts and plans. We can also be fearful about our mission. But we need to remember that Jesus came, Jesus conquered, Jesus is with us, and we are to declare the victory and make disciples of the nations.
In this message I have brought forth a few challenges for you to take home. The first is to invite people to church and/ or talk with people about Jesus. Make a plan for that today. Decide who you are going to talk with, invite to your home, or invite to church.
The second challenge was a focused time of prayer. We will participate with the Arkansas Baptist State Convention’s 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. Personally, I will fast for part of that time. And that is a decision that you should make. Some of you should not fast due to health reasons, but if you are able to do so consider it. The challenge is for us to live dependent upon God. Those who are dependent upon God, pray.
God has given us a mission that we cannot accomplish of our power. He has given us a mission that we will only see success in as God the Holy Spirit works in us and through us. And so we pray.
I will load each day’s prayer onto our Facebook Page. A person will discuss the prayer focus for the day and we will pray for those things to take place in our lives and in the lives of our church.
The mission before us is more than we can handle. But Jesus came, Jesus conquered, Jesus is with us, and we are to declare that victory and make disciples of the nations. Let us be faithful to that mission in the year ahead.
R. Dwain Minor