Thanks for listening to the latest podcast from Him We Proclaim with Pastor John Fonville. In this special series, we'll explore how the gospel speaks to our identity, our calling, and our confidence in Christ. Drawing from passages in Luke, Matthew, Ephesians, 1 Peter, and Jude, Pastor John unpacks themes like grace and vocation, the power of God's Word, and the unshakable assurance we have in Christ's favor and goodness. Whether you're struggling with your calling, seeking clarity on your role in the church, or simply needing encouragement, These messages will remind you of the sufficiency of Christ and the hope we have in the gospel. Stay tuned as we dive into today's message.
This one is called The Greatest Drama Ever Staged. Luke 24. Take your Bibles. Luke 24. Luke 24, you just heard it.
This great story about these two disciples. Luke 24, Dorothy Sayers was a great English playwright. And wrote this Essay entitled The Greatest Drama ever staged. And this is what she says about that. She says, official Christianity.
as of late in years. has been having what isn't Known as a bad press. We're constantly assured that the churches are empty because preachers insist too much upon doctrine. And this is why she calls it dull dogma. Oh boy, here we go, right?
But she says the fact is quite the opposite. It's the neglect of the dogma that makes for dullness. Great insight. The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that has ever staggered the imagination of man. And she has in.
And the dogma, that's the doctrine, is the drama. And so she continues like this, and she says, The drama is summarized quite clearly in the creeds. of the church. And so she's exactly right. The drama is the doctrine.
The drama is the dogma. The creeds of the church, the doctrine of the church, the The the dogmatic declarations of the Christian faith that We assemble to learn together. It's not dull. It's not the frozen chosen. Once after, I always have interesting things happen to me right after the service.
So please wait till Monday morning if you're here today. Yeah. But One time the service was over. I got off the steps, and it always happens. Right after I take that last step, right over here.
I don't know why, it's just funny, but this person met me at the steps and said, I just want to tell you something. I said, okay. I'm not going to come back and visit here anymore because your church is just about doctrine, but it's not about the Holy Spirit. You say, I'm about the Holy Spirit, and I'm looking for a church full of the Holy Spirit. I don't like this.
dry doctrine academics that you teach.
Okay. Yeah. I hope you find what you're looking for. On your way. Uh um That's what she's talking about here.
That is exactly what Dorothy Sanders is talking about. She says that churches get this bad press because they insist too much. Too much on the doctrine, this dull dogma. But she says it's quite the opposite. She says it's the Christian drama, the Christian faith that is the drama.
The dogma, the doctrine is the drama. If you don't know the story, There's no excitement. There's nothing, these propositions, this truth, this dogma. is embedded in the biblical story from Genesis to Revelation.
Now One of the greatest stories told of all time is what you just heard this morning about these two disciples on the road to Emmaus. And central to the story is Christ's drama. It's his script. He's the lead actor in this story. It's the greatest drama ever staged.
No, like it. Every good drama, our our family last week were watching the Hallmark. I don't know what you call them, the Christmas romantic comedy stuff, or I don't know what you call them. But it was fun. We were watching about princesses and you know this, but anyway.
Here's my point. There were fairly good dramas. They weren't great, but they were fairly good. It was fun, it was entertaining, but. Each of those Easy those Hallmark stories had a great drama where they Conflict.
And so I was sitting there with the kids and I said, oh, here comes the conflict, you know, and I was picking out in puffers like, dad, you're an author, you know these things. And it was just kind of fun.
So here comes a conflict, because a conflict makes the story. Right? Because after the conflict comes what? Resolution. All right.
Now, the conflict in this story of two disciples. Mm walking on this innovative road. And here's the conflict about them. The Bible says that they are foolish. Yeah.
They're foolish and they're slow of heart. They're dull. All right.
They have no idea what the scripture is about. They don't know the drama, they don't know the story. They have no idea what the Old Testament scriptures were supposed to be teaching. Jesus, listen to this, is a stranger to them. They don't even recognize the risen Messiah.
And he's talking to them. Verse 18, there's a man named Cleopas. They're walking from Jerusalem back to their home in Emmaus. And they're doing it on the evening of Christ's resurrection. And as verse 14, they're talking to each other amongst themselves as they walked back home about the things that had taken place that weekend in Jerusalem.
Their conversation revolved around Jesus' crucifixion and this report that came from some. Women. You have to understand that reports from women in the first century were worthless. They said these women had been to Jesus' tomb, and the tomb was empty, and they got this message from angels. Yeah.
And these angels told the women, Jesus isn't lies. And they're saying, man, Jesus is back from the dead. Because they're talking to each other about these things and in verse 15, Jesus joins them and he starts traveling with them. In verse 16, it says that Jesus is a stranger to them because their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.
Now, walking with Jesus and he joins them, Jesus asks him. We just kind of paraphrase, hey guys, what's up? What you talking about? Yeah. As you're walking, what are these words that you're exchanging?
In verse 17, Luke says, They stood still, looking sad. Why were they sad? Because their hopes had been dashed by Jesus' crucifixion. They were puzzled by all these things, that these women had reported to them. They didn't believe that Jesus rose from the dead.
The 11 disciples didn't believe that Jesus rose from the dead. I mean, it's not like every day somebody just rises from the dead, right? Jesus' resurrection was the farthest thing from their mind. In fact, it wasn't far from their mind. It wasn't there.
As far as they were concerned, verse 21, Jesus was dead. He was not the Messiah. Why? Because the expectation was that Messiah was coming to redeem Israel from this oppression from Rome. rather than die and be oppressed by Rome.
He died as a cursed man upon a tree, and Messiah cannot be cursed because. The old covenant, the Mosaic covenant, says in the book of Deuteronomy: Cursed is he who is a man who dies on a tree. Messiah can't be cursed, so Jesus was cursed, so Jesus is not the Messiah. That's why they're sad. The answers, and look at verse 18.
He answers to Jesus. What are you guys talking about? Cleopas answered, he says, are you the only one visiting Jerusalem and not aware? of the things which have happened in these days. Jesus, don't you know what happened?
Mm-hmm. Man, he wasn't seeing Jesus. He didn't even know who it was. It was a stranger. He's like, man, did you not know what happened this weekend?
Could you imagine being Jesus at that point? And Jesus graciously indulges in their foolishness, because you'll see this in a minute, and their slowness of heart. Thank God. Goodness, we'll get to that point. in just a minute.
Jesus and What the ink? And they said to him, the things about Jesus of Nazarene. who was a prophet. mighty in word in the sight of God and all the people. And how the chief priests and rulers delivered him to the sentence of death and crucified him.
Verse 21, here it is. Here's the conflict. Here's the problem. We were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. We were hoping that he was the great conquering son of man of Daniel 7, who was coming down with great power and glory to be given dominion and strength and power to crush this kingdoms of the earth, to crush the Romans and set up the glory of Israel and the kingdom again.
That's what we were hoping. And besides this, it's the third day since these things happen. See, it's the third day. Jesus said that he would, we're going to come back to this. He said after the third day he would come back alive.
And they're saying it's the third day. They don't even know he's even risen from the dead. They don't even know they're even talking to the risen Jesus. He is a total stranger to them. But also women among us amazed us.
And they were at the tomb early in the morning, and they didn't find his body. And they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. And some of those who were with us went into the tomb and found it just exactly as women also said. But him they did not see. And so Cleopas.
shares his foolishness with the risen Jesus. And And this is the turning point of the story. This is the Hallmark channel where he hits that. Epic, climactic part, right, where everything falls apart. And so up to this point, Jesus and Luke has been emphasizing and building this conflict.
that Jesus is a stranger to these disciples. They do not recognize him. They were 100% blinded to the meaning of scripture. And so the question that the story sets before us in this conflict is this, how are their eyes open so that they can recognize Jesus? That's the question.
That's the conflict. That's how the story resolves. How do Do you come to recognize who Jesus is and what he's done for you? The answer Luke gives to us is verses 25 to 35. In verses 25 to 35, Jesus gives the church a model for how people come to recognize who Jesus is, that he's the Messiah, that he's a fulfillment of the whole scripture, that the whole of scripture is about him, and it points to his saving work for people who are foolish.
and slow to understand. What is it? It's very simple. Word and sacrament. The greatest drama ever staged unfolds in two acts.
Scripture followed by a meal. Scripture properly exposited with Christ at the center, followed by a meal. The first act is scripture expounded with a Christ-centered exposition of scripture. And the second is this meal is served so that Christ can be known to sinners. This is more.
A New Testament scholar says about that, and we can be quite sure that Luke intended us to hear this part of the story as a strong hint. That after Jesus' resurrection, From now on, our hearts will be warmed by the exposition of Scripture. And will know the Lord in the breaking of the bread. Morton Sackham is so simple, isn't it? Let's just quickly look at this first part.
Look at the first Act, verses 25 and 27. Jesus gives a Christ-centered exposition of Scripture. Let me ask you a question before we look at this to help you think about this. When you open up the Bible, What are you looking for? What are you looking for?
Here's what most people are looking for. Most people are looking for Self-help. Inspiration. Right, uh It's like a fortune cookie. Flip the Bible.
Oh, that verse says, Jeremiah 29:11, I have plans for the future and to bless you. Yes, and then you develop this whole entire theology about Jeremiah 29, 11. And you develop this whole theology about Jeremiah 29, 11 that has absolutely nothing to do with what people think that verse is teaching. Yeah. Is it?
You open up the scriptures and you look for moral principles to be a better person. You look, Philippians, the great athlete verse: what is it Philippians for? I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, so I can dunk it every time in this game, right? That's what Stewart was, I was talking to little Stewart, he just turned 10. And he says, Dad.
If that's the truth and that's what scripture is, he says, I should be in the MBA. Woo! And I'm like, man, you got to figure it out, buddy. He just turned 10 and he's got better theology than most evangelicals. Um That's what people are looking for.
They come to church and give me something that'll help me with my marriage.
So, the preacher is to be a marriage counselor, the preacher is to be a friend. Therapist. The preacher is to be a psychologist. The preacher is to be a self- Help life coach GigaChad from the Instagram. All right.
I'm not Giga Chad, as you can tell. Yeah. I'm not a self-help coach, as you can tell. My wife is, and she helps me. And I'm not saying the self-help and Life coaches don't have their place and there's wisdom there and positive thinking, but Norman Vincent Pill is not Christianity.
It's not the Christian faith. It's not what the Bible is about.
So, what are you looking for when you open up the Bible? What are you looking for when you come to church? What is your expectation? Jesus teaches us this here. He teaches.
As he helps these two foolish disciples understand, he rebukes them very gently in verse 25. He says to them, after Cleopas gives his answer to them, what things are you talking about? And Cleopas, you just heard the answer he gave to Jesus. This is Jesus' response to his answer, O foolish one. No, that's not the kind of answer that you want to get in catechism class.
Everybody got a question for you this morning. You get the answer and say, oh, you foolish one. Yeah. That was exactly what Jesus did in this catechism class. But he's Jesus, so he can do it.
O foolish man, slow of heart to believe in all the prophets. That all the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for the Christ, the Messiah, to? suffer these things and to enter into his glory. Jesus rebukes these disciples for their foolishness and slowness of heart, their dullness, their failure to understand and comprehend what the scriptures teach.
He's talking about the Old Testament. Genesis to Malachi. He's not talking about the New Testament here. He's talking about just the Old Testament. He says, do you not understand that the scriptures, the Old Testament, Genesis to Malachi, is about me?
It reveals me. What are you looking for, foolish man? You were looking for this political conqueror to overthrow Rome because you said, well, we hoped that he would redeem Israel. You foolish one. You don't understand.
You didn't read it properly. It's clear from the Old Testament scriptures that the way of suffering leads to glory for the Messiah, the Christ, and you missed it. Isaiah chapter 53, the suffering servant must come before Daniel chapter 7, the conquering son of man. Back in Luke chapter 9, verse 22, Jesus had already told his disciples distinctly and clearly. He says, the Son of Man, that's Daniel 7.
Who comes to conquer the whole kingdoms of this earth and set up his kingdom and reign forever? He says that son of man must Suffer many things. And be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed. And look, and being raised up the third day, they're with him on the third day. And he had already taught the disciples.
He had been teaching this. And so the problem with the Jews of Jesus' day, particularly the religious leaders and even his own disciples here. Because then, when they read the Old Testament scriptures, they skipped the suffering of the Messiah, Isaiah 53. And they just saw the glory of the conquering Son of Man of Daniel 7. And they missed it.
They're looking for a political conqueror, not a savior from sin. Therefore, Jesus corrects and gives them the greatest Bible lesson catechism class sermon. ever preached in the history of man. I would have loved To have gotten unless I could have skipped seminary. I could have just preached that same sermon every day in church for the rest of my life.
Jesus says in verse 27, he says, but Luke says Jesus did this, beginning with Moses and with all the prophets. That's an Old Testament Jewish description. of the whole Bible, the Old Testament scriptures. He, Jesus, explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures. I could just imagine what Jesus is doing.
He says, turn with me to the book of Genesis, chapter 1. And you just started flipping the page. And he goes, no, that's me, the creator, that's me. I'm the word. God said, let there be light.
I'm the word who brought forth creation. Right? Genesis chapter 3, verse 15: I'm the promised conquering seed or the offspring of the woman. I'm the champion seed who's coming to crush the serpent's head. That's me.
Genesis chapter 12, I am the gospel preached to Abraham beforehand, that through his seed, me, all the nations will be blessed. That's me. And he just kept going page after page after page. That's me. I'm the Abrahamic covenant.
I am the Davidic covenant. I am the prophet. Promised coming of the new covenant, on the suffering servant, on the Son of Man. He was showing them. All scripture was about him.
The temple, that's me. The furnishings in the temple, that's me. The candles in the temple, that's me. The vestments on the priest, that's me. The whole thing was about him.
And picture and shadow, all of it. And so The church taking this passage for Centuries. Has divided the worship service into the first part, this part, service and the word. Second part, we'll come to it. service of the sacrament.
Because this is where it comes from. Jesus gave us this model to open people's eyes. And so, what do we do in the service of the word? We read scripture. Why?
I've preached many sermons on that, but just very quickly, for example, the Old Testament is the start of the story. Without the Old Testament, you don't understand why Jesus is the Son of Man. You don't understand why Jesus is a suffering servant. You don't have any clue why Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah. You have the Old Testament.
The Old Testament read to us is a story that leads to Jesus, and without the Old Testament, you can't understand him and his work. The epistles and revelation that we have explain Jesus' achievement, what he did when he came. It gives us the application of what he did when he came. The explanation, the exposition. Then we stand up for the gospel reading, right?
And we say the Holy Gospel according to Luke, and we say, Glory to you, Lord Christ. Speak to us right now. Speak to me. And so the gospel reading speaks about Jesus himself. It speaks about his works, his words, his announcement of the kingdom, his challenge to his contemporaries, his suffering, his death, his burial, his glorious resurrection.
It gives to us him. And after that, we say, praise to you, Lord Christ. Thank you. And so, as we hear and see Christ from Scripture, see, when you come to Scripture, Looking for tips and principles and inspiration and self-help and life coach stuff, that's boring. That's the stuff that's dull.
That doesn't warm your heart, because why? It's about you. And I'm the most dull, boring, pathetic, foolish, slow-of-heart person you've ever met. And when it's always about me, I'm not satisfied and nothing burns my heart because it's just about me. But when I open the scriptures and it's just a moment ago and I said, well, here's Genesis 1, he's the creator.
Here's Genesis 3. He's their champion offspring. Here's Genesis 12. He's the gospel beforehand to Abraham, the blessed, your heart begins to get excited when you're a believer. You start to see Christ, that warms your heart.
That's what happened to these two disciples on the Emma's road. Your heart is enlightened, it's warmed. by the reading of scripture. Love hearing people in our church after the scripture's read with enthusiasm to go, oh, thanks be to God. I love to hear that.
We give attention to the reading of God's Word. Why? Not because it's just this information dump. Scripture This isn't the prayer that we pray each week. Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit.
What is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? Scripture. It's where God speaks. He's speaking God's word is performative, it is speech act, it performs, it's revelatory, it does what it says. God said, Let there be light, and there was what?
That's performative. It performs, it does what it says. God's word is alive and active and powerful, and it pierces the very joints and marrows of our hearts. After we read it, we explain it. I come over here, we read it over here, I come over here and explain it.
That's what we're doing. And we explain it with Christ at the center. Notice carefully Jesus' explanation to the scriptures, to these foolish disciples. He didn't give in this moralistic lecture. Right, they came to church.
And this was not the title of his message. Three ways to do it. to overcome foolishness and slowness of heart on the Emmaus Road. He didn't do that. What did he do?
It's so simple, it's ridiculous, and it's the most powerful thing. He gave them a Christ-centered exposition of the Old Testament. He said, Open up your Bibles and let me show you on every page. That's preaching. That's what you look for when you open your Bible.
Jesus shows himself from all of the scriptures as the one being spoken of by the prophets. The Bible covers a great deal of ground. Lots of subjects, lots of different characters. But it's like this.
Somebody says, Well, you just look for Jesus on every page and you just do this allegory stuff. That's nonsense. That's not how you interpret the Bible. You don't have to go to the movie Superman to have Superman in every word. And this is a dialogue of Superman.
Superman, Superman, Superman, Superman, Superman, Superman, Superman. That'd be a horrible movie. And the whole time, the whole movie is just you looking at Superman.
So he just stands there, Superman, Superman, Superman, Superman, Superman, Superman, Superman.
Well movie's over. It's a blockbuster. Right. That's how people think. No, just because Listen.
We know the movie is about Superman, but there are other subplots, there are other characters, there are other conflicts, there's all kinds of stuff going on. But the supreme subject of the movie is about what? Superman. That's the Bible. There are lots of different subplots and characters and all kinds of twists and turns and things like that, but all is pointing to.
Is one supreme subject that binds it all together. Jesus Christ, Jesus who is the risen Christ, and the salvation God offers through Him. Speaking of the Old Testament scriptures, Jesus says to the religious leaders of his day in John chapter 5, verses 39 and 46: these are the scriptures that testify about me. If you believed Moses, right, the Old Covenant, the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, you would believe me, for Moses wrote about me. If you want the book of Leviticus to actually be exciting, just find Jesus there, and he's there on every page of it.
Preaching is not just me standing up here disseminating information or giving you an exhortation of lists to keep to be a better person. You come to church to have a clear unfolding of Christ from every page of Scripture. Acts chapter 18, verse 5. Listen to how Luke describes Paul's preaching. Paul became wholly absorbed.
Holy absorbed. With proclaiming the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah. He was wholly absorbed in taking the Old Testament scriptures and proving to people because of his resurrection, Jesus was the Messiah. Paul sums it up like this in Colossians 1:28. Him we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every man with our own wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ, complete in Messiah.
Colossians chapter 2, verse 3: In Christ and Messiah are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He overcomes our foolishness and he gives us his wisdom. He overcomes our dullness of heart and He gives us knowledge. Paul's resolve to be wholly absorbed to proclaim Christ in the scriptures makes perfect sense.
So, as we enter this new year, I cannot believe it's December 31st. Can you? As we enter this new year, our greatest need. is to recognize Christ in all the scriptures. It's to see him.
Jesus teaches us in his model that what Whatever our biblical text is, we must. Preach Christ. Every single tributary leads to the river, and every river leads to the ocean. Jesus is the ocean and every text is the tributary river that flows to him. We have to preach Christ.
Why? We have to see Christ when we come to church. Why? Because we have to overcome our foolishness. and our dullness of heart.
And so it's only when we see how all the scriptures are centered in Christ. As the revelation of the tri-nung God, so that in the Old Testament everything points forward to Him, and in the New Testament, everything proceeds from Him because He's fulfilled it all. We will be able to understand the Bible. You'll never understand the Bible if you're looking for yourself, looking for tips and principles and keys and secrets and all that. You'll never understand it.
It'll never warm your heart. It'll never be exciting because you don't know the drama. You don't know the story. It's not about you. It's about him.
After God's word has had its way with us, here's the second act very quickly as we finish. Verses 28 to 31, Jesus serves a meal. He just serves a meal. This climactic meal, these two disciples on the Maison Road heard the resurrected Christ proclaim himself from all the scriptures. And it says their eyes were opened to recognize him when he broke the bread.
Jesus is a guest in their home, but here's the amazing twist on the story. The disciples enter their home, but Jesus performs the duties of the host. And so the whole story, see how exciting the story gets? Jesus becomes a host, but he was their guest, but he becomes the host. These two disciples thought they're inviting Jesus to supper, but they discovered that they became the host in their home and that they became his guests as he served them.
This is drama. This is Jesus is the lead actor, and it's his script, and it's astonishing what he does. Verse 13 Luke recounts these four actions of Jesus when he had reclined at the table. With them, he took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, he began giving it to them. These four verbal clauses come from Luke 22 verse 19.
where Jesus institutes a Lord's Supper. Luke 22, 19, listen, when he had taken some bread and given thanks, he broke it and he gave it to them. Saying, this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Jesus took bread, he blessed it, he broke it, and he gave it.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Look at the result of what happened through those actions. Verse 31. Then there. Eyes were opened and they recognized him.
This meal that Jesus serves is not a common meal. It's revelatory. It holds forth exactly what the exposition of the word did: Christ and all his saving benefits. It's not just remembering something from the past, it is powerful action by the Holy Spirit giving to you Christ through revelation, objective signs that you can see, touch, feel, taste, ingest. It's revelatory, it does something.
And so, this is the model that Jesus gave to his church, word and sacrament. The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 26, that the Lord's Supper is a visible proclamation of the gospel. He says, You proclaim Christ. Christ until he comes, every time you observe this, it is a visible. Proclamation of the gospel that does exactly what the exposition of the gospel does from scripture.
The Holy Spirit works through his taught word, and the Holy Spirit works through his visible word. It's a mystery. But this is the model that Jesus gives. Then their eyes were open and they recognized him. Look at the effects, the profound effects in verses 32 and 35.
Then they said to one another, Were not our hearts burning within us while he was speaking to us on the road, while he was explaining the scriptures to us? Have you ever felt that? The Holy Spirit begins to reveal Christ in you, and you just feel your heart inside. It just starts to, you just start to burn. You just start to go, wow.
Verses 33 and 35, look at the effects. They got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, but they were already going to Jerusalem, but they were going now with a different mission. They found those gathered together in the 11, and those who were with them saying to them, The Lord really has risen. You see the difference? They didn't recognize Jesus.
They were talking to the risen Jesus. They had no idea that he was risen.
Now they knew he was risen, that he was a risen Messiah, and they're testifying to others about it. That's evangelism. He's appeared to Simon, he's appeared to Peter. They began to relate their experiences on the road, how he was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread. Guys, Jesus taught me.
Us from the scriptures, it's all about him. He gave us the Lord's Supper, it's all about him. And when he gave us word and sacrament, our eyes were open and we saw him. We know him now. These profound effects.
What's happening here as we close? Listen carefully and what is happening. Jesus is overcoming the fall in the Garden of Eden. Amen. Amen.
Remember Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden right after they had sinned?
Well, let me remind you of what happened. They had just broken the covenant of works Verse 7, right when they did that, the eyes of both of them were opened. And they knew, they recognized that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings trying to. clothes off and cover their full exposure of guilt before God.
They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man and said to him, Adam, where are you? Where are you in relationship to me now that you've broken my covenant? You're guilty, Adam. How do you stand before me?
Where are you? You are before me in your guilt. You're naked, and you're trying to cover it with your self-acts of justification, self-justification. It doesn't work, Adam. You're guilty.
Where are you? That question resonates through every conscience, human conscience in this world. Carrying of this guilt, where do you stand before me? Where are you before me in your guilt before me? You are.
Fully exposed before me, you're guilty. And Adam said, as every human conscience in the presence of God says, I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid. Because I was naked. I was fully exposed to you and my guilt. And I had nowhere to hide my sin and shame.
So I hid myself because my eyes are open to my guilt and shame. Adam and Eve's eyes were open to their sin, their guilt, their shame before God. Do you know what that feels like? to blow it, to sin and to feel shame and guilt. Before God And to have your conscience just pounding you and crucifying you and saying, you did it again, you're guilty.
Have nowhere to hide. And look what Jesus does on the Amazon Road in His grace. He opened up. Their eyes and what did they see? Not their sin, not their dullness, not their foolishness.
They saw their Savior. Risen They saw their salvation. They didn't see their sin and guilt. They saw the salvation from their sin and guilt. Jesus reversing Eden.
This is who we need to see this new year, Jesus, who is risen. He's our Savior. How often are we like the two disciples on the mass road? Foolish doing foolish things. and flow of heart to believe.
How often is Jesus like a stranger to us? How often do we see our sin and go like Adam and Eve and fail to see Jesus who has been risen for our justification? As Paul says in Romans 4:25, he was handed over to death for our trespasses. That's the gospel. It's not that he was just handed over to death, that's not the gospel.
He was handed over to death. For our trespasses, that's the good news. Listen, and he was raised. For our justification, He's the risen Messiah who has been raised to justify us from all our sin, shame, and guilt. Our greatest need this new year is to be swept up into this drama week after week, to recognize Christ and to meet Him each Sunday and the Lord's Day freshly through the power of the Holy Spirit through simple means of word and sacrament.
There's nothing else. That's our greatest need. And we come to church to recognize him in the preaching of the scriptures. Didn't our hearts burn within us? And we recognize him in the breaking of the bread.
When he broke the bread, the disciples said, we recognize, our eyes are open, and we recognized him. May the Lord this morning, as we come to this table, open up our eyes to recognize him. He's our risen Savior for our justification. He has reversed Eden. Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for Christ. We thank you that He is the risen Messiah, the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament scriptures. And we thank you that we don't have to be like Adam and Eve. Hiding in fear. But though we are fully exposed in our guilt and our sin and our shame.
We can have our eyes open not to receive judgment, but to receive salvation. And so, as we come to receive on this last day of the year, There's one final time this year. I pray. That by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would descend upon this place in every Single person here who receives your service to him or her. that their eyes would be open.
And like the disciples, they could say, Did my heart not burn? And did I not recognize him in the breaking of the bread? and receive the comfort for their salvation. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
John Fawnville sends his thanks for listening today. And before we wrap up, can I tell you about an encouraging book you might want to get soon? It's called Hope and Holiness: How the Gospel Enables and Empowers Sexual Purity. You're not alone if you've tried to conquer sexual temptations and tried all the methods available, only to find yourself feeling defeated again. This book may be just what you're looking for.
With his shepherding heart, John shows that the gospel, not practical steps or more self-discipline, is God's provision for the power to live a life of sexual purity. and it's available to every Christian. What I like is the book is available in three convenient ways, paperback, audiobook, or Kindle. The links are in our podcast descriptions, or just search for Hope and Holiness by John Fawnville on Amazon to get a copy for you, and it's a wonderful book to go through with a small group. Him we proclaim is a ministry of Paramount Church in Jacksonville, Florida.
You can find us at paramountchurch.com. We'll talk again soon.
