Latest / Teachings On This Day On FerventWord / On Apr 30, 2017: Luke 24:44-49 Comprehend The Scriptures

Transcript

On Apr 30, 2017: Luke 24:44-49 Comprehend The Scriptures · Teachings On This Day On FerventWord

• You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2017. As we look at Luke chapter 24 this morning, we read this last little bit of Luke during this week as we are reading through the Bible in three years, and now we're in the Gospel of John. But the Lord really kind of stirred this passage in my heart and I wanted to share with you this morning from this passage about comprehending the scriptures. The That as we look at the word of God, not just on Sunday mornings, but as we encourage you to join with us in reading through the Bible in three years or whatever your reading plan might be, but the important thing to have a devotional life, to have a time set aside every day where you read through the scriptures and you have a time of prayer and you talk to God and allow God to talk to you. It's so crucial for us as believers. And here this passage says, in Luke chapter 24, we see the importance and really the capacity, the capability, the enablement of God for you and I to comprehend the scriptures. The that you and I really don't have what it takes on our own to open up the scriptures and read and have great insights and understanding, but that we need God's help, that we need to be given really inspiration from the Lord and understanding from the Lord. so that we can dig into the word of God and that we can spend time with him. And then as he works in us, of course, what God wants to do through that is to flow out from us. And so you see the image there on the screen. The empty vessel is us. We have nothing to offer, especially when it comes to spiritual things. But God desires to fill us. that we would comprehend the scriptures and be filled with his insight and truth, but then that it would overflow from us to people around us, and they would be blessed and ministered to by the Lord from our time with God in his word. And I really want to encourage you this morning to be seeking the Lord on these things. And if you don't have that kind of practice established in your life already, that you would establish one and that you would spend time with God regularly. But For those who do have that practice, I want to encourage you to tune in and make sure that you pay attention this morning because I believe God wants to kind of refresh and renew some of the things that we know, but we also easily forget. And as Peter said, it's not tedious for me to remind you of these things. And so let me remind you of some things. You believer, you've been around for a while. You have a time with God and his word. You also need to be reminded to comprehend the scriptures. It doesn't come automatically, but there are some things that God needs to teach us and refresh us in that. And so there's three points I'd like to walk you through as we look at this passage here in Luke. The first point we'll be looking at verse 44 and 45. Point number one is receive spiritual discernment. Let me read those verses to you again. It says, then he said to them, These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. And he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures. I'm sure you can see there the place where the title of the message comes from, right? He opened their understanding that that they might comprehend the scriptures. Now, this event is happening on the day that Jesus rose from the dead. We just celebrated it not too long ago, Easter. We celebrated the resurrection of Jesus after being crucified and laid in the tomb for three days. And on the third day, he rose again. But as he rose from the dead, some events happened before he appears to his disciples. He appears to a couple of the ladies. He shows up with two guys who are walking down the road to a place called Emmaus. And he joins with them and even has a little bit of a dinner with them. And they didn't realize that it was Jesus until when he broke the bread. Then their eyes were opened and they realized it was Jesus. And those two guys who were in Emmaus now, realizing this was Jesus, they rushed back to Jerusalem. And as they rush back to Jerusalem, they're telling the rest of the disciples, they're gathering together, Peter, James, and John, the rest of the disciples and saying, it's true. The stories we've heard that Jesus rose from the dead this morning, it's true. We just saw him. We were having dinner with him just a few moments ago. And it's while that is going on, it's while these guys are talking about the resurrection of Jesus on that day he resurrected and the rest of the disciples are gathered together, they're It's at that time in verse 36 here in Luke 24, it tells us, now as they said these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, peace to you. And so this is happening on the day that Jesus resurrected. It's the first time he's appearing to all the disciples gathered together at once. And as he's appearing to the whole group of disciples there, he begins to remind them of things he told them prior to his crucifixion. In verse 44, it tells us, then he said to them, these are the words which I spoke to you. So he begins by reminding them, hey guys, remember the things that I said. Remember the things that I told you about. Those comments I made, those teachings I gave, and you didn't quite get it at the time. I talked about my death. I talked about my resurrection. I talked about the suffering that would come. I talked about these things that would happen in my life. You didn't understand them at the time, but now he's reminding them of those things that he told them. And as we look at the disciples throughout the ministry of Jesus, we find actually that it was very often that the disciples had no idea what Jesus was talking about. They liked what he said. They believed in Jesus. They were following Jesus. But many times they were really confused about what he said and what that meant. And he would share parables and In private, they would come and say, we don't understand what you're talking about. What are you saying? He would talk about his coming crucifixion and resurrection, and they would talk amongst themselves. Do you know what he means? I don't know what he means. And there was a lot of misunderstanding, and they did not know what Jesus was talking about a lot of the time. And so now he comes and he appears to them and he says, remember those things, call to mind, you know, those things that kind of been there and you didn't quite get them at the time, but you know, I said them, think about those things for a minute. I want to remind you of those things. Well, not just the words that Jesus shared with them, but he also says in verse 44, he said, all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. So Jesus is reminding them of the things that he said. He's also reminding them of the scriptures that he shared with them. Remember, I quoted this verse from Psalms. I quoted this verse from Deuteronomy. I quoted this verse from the prophet Isaiah. Remember, I shared these things with you. And so he's reminding them not of just the words that he said, but also the references that he used and the passages he was teaching them about. Again, as he was teaching these passages and sharing them with them, they did not understand what Jesus was sharing at the time. But now he's been crucified. Now he's resurrected from the dead. And now Jesus is going to do something new for their understanding. Now these disciples, they followed Jesus, but they didn't understand him. And you know, that is something that continues to happen today. There are those who... follow Jesus, but really don't understand who Jesus is, what Jesus says, what Jesus means, what God wants, that there's a lack of understanding about the things of God. Even for those who would testify, I love God. Even for those who would testify, I follow God. Even for those who come to church, even for those who read the Bible and hear teachings and And still we find that, well, there's a lack of understanding that we can find ourselves in the same position as the disciples being followers of Jesus, but not really knowing what's going on, not really having insight from God. And that's why verse 45 is so important. It tells us here in verse 45, and he opened their understanding. Jesus now breaks through in the disciples' lives, in the disciples' minds. He breaks through and makes an opening. He opens their understanding. The word open, it means to open thoroughly. It's kind of like if you came into service this morning and the usher opened both doors for you, right? Don't want to just open one door and kind of like make you squeeze through sideways, but open both doors, open thoroughly, come on in. And whoever wants to come in is welcome to come in. That's that kind of idea between or behind this word that he opened their understanding. Before the disciples were on the outside looking through the window of the door, you know, they were there. They heard the words that Jesus was saying. They heard the scriptures that Jesus taught. They were intrigued. They were committed. But they really didn't understand the full significance of those things that were being shared. But now Jesus breaks through and the doors are swung wide open or taken off the hinges. They're there. The The blockade is removed and they're able now, their minds are prepared to understand the scriptures. I would ask you to consider this morning, how did Jesus open their understanding? What was it that took place here as Jesus opened their understanding? Was it just the repetition? Jesus said, hey, remember what I told you? And they're thinking about, oh yeah, I remember you telling me that. And then all of a sudden, boom, the light goes on. Oh, now I get it. I mean, I'm sure that's happened to you, right? You've heard something a hundred times and it doesn't quite make sense. And all of a sudden that hundred and first time, it's like, ding, like, oh, suddenly it dawns on you. You understand it clicks and you're like, okay, I get it now. Is that what happened? Jesus said, let me remind you of what I said. And as the disciples heard that, they thought, oh yeah, now it makes sense. We got it. That's not what happened. It wasn't just... a repeat of the same thing that helped them to understand or that opened their understanding. Was it that Jesus came up with a better illustration? They said, you know, the disciples looked at Jesus and said, you know, we never got it before, but you didn't have that cool graphic behind the points when you were sharing it last time. But now that you should have the graphic, oh, I get it now. I mean, it makes sense. It's a good illustration, really helps me connect. Now I understand. My understanding is open. Is that what happened? That's not what happened. Jesus didn't come up with a better illustration. He didn't just repeat the same thing he said before. And he didn't come up with a, like a rephrasing, you know, like sometimes when you're having trouble communicating with somebody and it's like the concepts aren't being grasped. Okay. Well, how can I say this in a different way? Maybe Jesus did that, right? Well, maybe he shared the same things, but just in different words. And then their understanding was opened. Now that's not what happened either. I got it. I got it. I know exactly. Pastor George gave me some insight. Jesus had a flannel board. And what he did was he, no, I'm just kidding. He didn't have the flannel board. I just got that because George told me after first service, he said, you said a joke in the beginning and I didn't get it, but Jessica really laughed and I don't know what it was. So flannel board. Okay. So for you old school, Sunday school people, instead of a screen, there used to be a flannel board and you would put the little characters on the board and move them around and tell the Bible stories that way. It just dawned on me what George was talking about. So anyways, That's not how Jesus opened their understanding, by using some graphic, some repeat, some rephrasing, some, you know, other thing like that of the things that he already shared with them. So how did he open their understanding? Would you turn with me to John chapter 20? We'll come back to Luke chapter 24, but... I think John chapter 20 has the key for us about how their understanding was opened. And that's important for us to understand as we seek to have understanding also. John chapter 20, we're going to jump into verse 19. John chapter 20 verse 19 says, Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, So as we jump into John chapter 20 verse 19, let me just highlight here, we're jumping into the same time period and the same event as we're talking about in Luke chapter 24. It says it's the same day at evening. So this is the resurrection day in the evening when the doors were shut and the disciples were assembled. So the two guys from Emmaus have rushed back and they're together, but they're fearful of the Jews, so the doors are shut. But there they are gathered together on the day that Jesus resurrected from the dead. Jesus says, "'Peace to you,' which we also read in Luke 24, verse 36." In verse 20 here of John chapter 20, it says, And you can also see that in Luke chapter 24, verse 39. So it's the same event that's happening. Jesus appears. He shows them his hands. He shows them his side. He says, peace to you. He says it again in verse 21 here of John 20. So Jesus said to them again, peace to you as the father has sent me. I also send you. And so it's the first appearance of Jesus to his disciples while they're gathered together on the day of his resurrection. Same event, we're talking about John chapter 20 and Luke 24. Now the key verse is verse 22 here in John 20. It says, And I would suggest to you that this is the method by which Jesus opened their understanding. that these verses are talking about the same event happening. When he breathes on them and says, receive the Holy Spirit, Luke describes it this way, and he opened their understanding. It was by them we would call this being born again, really, because although the disciples were followers of Jesus, it was only after his resurrection that they had the capacity and the ability to be born again by the Holy Spirit. And so this is the time when they are receiving the Holy Spirit. We call it the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The disciples here at this time receive the Holy Spirit, and it's the Holy Spirit indwelling within them, which gives them the capacity to now begin to understand. Now they're going to be able to understand because of the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. This is one of the functions of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is given to us as believers for a variety of reasons, and he's at work in a variety of ways. But if you're there in John chapter 20, flip back a couple pages to John chapter 16. John chapter 16, Jesus, as he's headed to the cross, is giving his disciples all kinds of insights and information, but he's not able to share with them everything that he wants. In John chapter 16, verse 12, it says... This is Jesus talking. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. So notice what Jesus says to his disciples. Hey guys, these are the last moments. I'm headed to the cross this evening. I mean, that's happening today. You don't get it yet. I still have so much more I want to tell you, but you're not able to bear it right now. and some translations put it, you're not able to understand right now. You're not able to receive all of the things that I want to share with you. I can't tell you everything that I want to. There's a limitation because this is before they've received the Holy Spirit. And then notice verse 13 here in John chapter 16. It says, For he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will tell you things to come. Here Jesus says, there's much more that I want to say to you, but I can't right now. Your understanding is not opened. But when the Holy Spirit comes, when you receive the spirit of truth, he will guide you into all truth. All of those things that I want to tell you, but I'm unable to tell you right now, the Holy Spirit is going to enable you to learn those things. He's going to teach you those things. And so Jesus is promising this indwelling of the Holy Spirit, this work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of his disciples. And it's when that Holy Spirit is given to them, he breathes on them and says, receive the Holy Spirit. Going back now to Luke chapter 24, he Verse 45, it says, and he opened their understanding by giving them the Holy Spirit. And this promise is fulfilled. And now they can begin to receive all the other things that Jesus wanted to share, but that they were not able to receive at that time. And this is important to understand because every believer in Jesus Christ has the Holy Spirit. This is part of, again, the process of what we call being born again. We read about that this week in John chapter 3 when Jesus tells Nicodemus, you must be born again. Unless you're born again, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. You have to be born of water and spirit. That is, you have to be born naturally. That's kind of a given. But you also have to be born of the spirit. There's a spiritual rebirth that takes place when you believe in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit comes. comes and takes residence within you and gives life to your spirit. And now you don't have a dead spirit like you had before Christ, but now you have a spirit that is alive, that is connected to God because of the Holy Spirit dwelling within. This is the case for every believer in Jesus Christ. There is no way to be saved. There is no way to believe in Jesus and not receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And that's important to know. Because one of the primary functions of the Holy Spirit is to guide you into all truth, to open your understanding of the scriptures. And so this morning, I want to really encourage you in that, that you would receive spiritual discernment from the Holy Spirit, that you would receive understanding of the scriptures from the Holy Spirit, because the Bible is is a spiritual book. Sometimes we forget this. This is an important truth to remember, to reflect on, and to grasp hold of. The Bible is a spiritual book. We do have history contained in the Bible, but it's not a history book. We do have poems in the Bible, but it's not a book of poetry. It is a spiritual book as as well as the history and the poetic nature and the prophecy and all of those things, there's another dimension to the Bible that goes beyond just understanding the language, understanding the words, understanding the accounts that are given. There's a spiritual dimension that can only be accessed by one who is filled with the Spirit. It's a spiritual book. Even the writing of this book was a work of the Holy Spirit. Peter tells us that the scriptures were written by men who were carried along by the Holy Spirit. Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 6, as he talks about the armor of God, he says, take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The Word of God was written by the Holy Spirit, and it can only fully be understood by the Holy Spirit. The Bible cannot be understood by natural means. No matter how educated you are, even talking about spiritual versus secular education, right? Bible college doesn't necessarily enable you to understand the scriptures any more than any other kind of college does. Because it's a spiritual book. There's things that we learn, and we'll talk about that in the next point. There's things that we learn, and study is required, but But first and foremost comes this need for the Holy Spirit to be dwelling within, providing the understanding that is needed. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14 puts it this way. He says, This is the reality. This is the truth about the Word of God. It's a spiritual book. written by the Holy Spirit, and it cannot be discerned. It cannot be known. It cannot fully be discovered by natural man. It doesn't matter how smart I am. It doesn't matter, you know, what my IQ is. Nobody's educated enough to understand the Bible with their own resources, with your own mind, with your own insight, with your own heart, with your own education, with your own thoughts, with your own wisdom. None of it is enough. to even come close to understanding. It's a whole nother dimension that is brought by a work of the Holy Spirit. Again, this is such an important truth. And sometimes we forget and we attempt to read and understand the scriptures just using our natural resources. just using our logic, just using our intellect, just using our cross-reference tools and, you know, computer functions and researching it on Google or whatever, that sometimes we rely so much upon those things that we forget the Bible is a spiritual book. None of those resources can give you understanding the way that the Holy Spirit can give you understanding. I'm not saying those resources are bad, and I'm not saying they shouldn't be used, but first and foremost, comes the crying out to God and asking for Jesus to open our understanding as we look at the scriptures. It's an important truth. Don't forget. It's also an important truth because sometimes when we're sharing with others about the scriptures or from the scriptures, we can get a little bit frustrated or confused. Why don't you understand this truth? Look, it's right here in black and white. Why don't you get it? Well, perhaps it's because Like Paul says, the natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God. There has to be spiritual discernment that is given to us. We don't have it. We don't have the capacity to understand the scriptures on our own. God must give us the Holy Spirit and open our understanding. There's no other way for us to receive from the scriptures and know what God says and what God means and who God is. We're working our way through 1 Samuel now on Wednesday night. And we had a good example of what I'm sharing here in Hannah this past Wednesday. Hannah was a woman of God, great woman of God. And in 1 Samuel 2, it records a prayer of praise that she gives as she's dropping Samuel off at the tabernacle and leaving him there for good. She prays this prayer of praise. And as you look at this prayer, There's incredible insight. The depth of insight that Hannah has, it's worth studying for years and years to come. The great insight, the profound truth, the way that she knows God, her understanding of the character of God, the nature of God, the working of God, and even the prophetic elements of her prayer as she prophesies of the Messiah and is the first one to refer to, well, this promised one as the Messiah, as the anointed one. She introduces this phrase, the Messiah, which you know is so thoroughly used in all the scriptures, right? It's a hope of Israel ever since then, the Messiah they've been looking for. And she introduced it. And this is important to consider because Hannah, if you consider her role as a woman in that culture, she would not have had access to any of the resources that you have today. She wouldn't have had access to the scriptures like you have access to the scriptures. She wouldn't have had access to education like you have access to education. Even the men in the culture had education and they were taught the scriptures and really required to memorize huge chunks of the word of God. But the ladies weren't taken through the same regimen. They weren't taught in the same way. They weren't exposed in the same way. And yet she has more profound truth and understanding of God than anybody around her. How is that possible? Because she really had a relationship with God. And that's the reality. It's not about how smart you are, how educated you are, how wise you are, how long you've been a Christian or how short you've been a Christian. It really comes down to you being connected to God and asking God to give you understanding by his Holy Spirit. I want to encourage you this morning, receive spiritual discernment. Don't just read the scriptures and try to figure it out, but ask God. recognize your need, your lack, yet you cannot understand these things on your own. We're an empty vessel. We don't have the spiritual discernment necessary to understand the scriptures. It must be given to us, but it's not forced on us. We must receive it. We need to ask God to give us insight into his word. Now, talking about us being an empty vessel and not having spiritual discernment, now there's a dangerous situation offshoot of that that is taken sometimes, and that is, well, I can't understand the scriptures, but Dave Berndt can. So Pastor Dave has to be the interpreter for all of us. What does God say? Who is God? Now you see, going back to Jesus told Nicodemus, you must be born again. There isn't some super special, ultimate, you know, level of understanding that's given to an exclusive group of people. Every one of us Have the same access to God. We have the same access to his word. And by the Holy Spirit can be given understanding for whatever God wants to show us through his scriptures. How do you receive it? All you have to do is ask. Recognize your lack. Recognize your need. And ask. And again, this is important for us to know and to hear because I think that's we often forget to ask. It's so easy for us to forget. And let me talk to you guys who have been around for a while, okay? You've been a believer for a long time. You're old and crusty in the Lord. Listen, the longer you've been walking with God, the more you need to hear this message. Because it's us who've been around for a really long time. It's so easy for us to approach a passage, to look at the scriptures and to think of the hundreds of messages we've heard on that passage and the commentaries that we've read and the things that we've learned from previous times. And it's so easy for us to just kind of rely on our own natural resources and to not approach the scriptures with really kind of a desperation where we're crying out to God for understanding. And we're asking God to show us who he is, what he wants to say, what he wants to speak. We need this. A newer believer is more likely to look at the scriptures and recognize, I don't got a clue what this means. But an older Christian looks at this, I can tell you exactly what this means. In fact, I have four points. Let me tell you them right now, you know. It's easy for us to do, but But listen, even for us as believers, we have the Holy Spirit indwelling within us, but you know as well as everybody else, not everything you do is Spirit-filled and Spirit-led, right? The same applies to your approach to that time with God and His Word. I want to encourage you to ask. You need to make sure you ask God to show you, give you understanding from His Word. I like the prayer of the psalmist in Psalm 119 verse 18. He says, open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from your law. And guys, I think that there should never be a time where we're opening up the word of God and not praying some kind of prayer along these lines. Because it's a spiritual book, we don't have the capacity to understand it. And the things that we've heard, the things that we've learned, they're good and they're valuable, they're important, but they don't take the place of the Holy Spirit speaking to us right now. through this passage that we've seen and read and heard a thousand times. It's living and active, the scriptures tell us, Hebrews tells us. The word of God is alive when you allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you through it. Well, moving on to point number two, we'll be looking at right around the same verses, verse 44 through 47. Point number two is study the scriptures diligently. And so here's, these two things are intertwined, but they go hand in hand. It We are given spiritual discernment. We don't get it on our own. We can't come up with it. We can't generate it. We must receive it. At the same time, there is some effort that's required on our part. There is some discipline that's required, some diligence, some study that is required for us to be able to comprehend the scriptures. Because we're filled with the Holy Spirit and can receive spiritual discernment, it doesn't mean that comprehension comes automatically and without effort. Think about it this way. An athlete, well, an athlete is very talented, especially one who is really good, right, in their, whatever their sport is. But athletes also have to work very hard. Even though there's talent. Now, it might be easy for me to look on someone who's really talented and think, wow, it's so easy for them. They're so talented. But there's no one who's super talented or so talented, I should say, that they don't have to work hard at something. Even with the talent, and you could apply this to spiritual gifts as well if you want to kind of go on a little tangent. Even with the talent, even with the spiritual gift, there's hard work and discipline and diligence that goes along with that. It's not a substitute for the discipline and the diligence. In the same way, we're given the Holy Spirit. We receive spiritual discernment, but that's not without any effort on our part. Again, in verse 45, it says, It says, then he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures. We've been talking about the opening of the understanding, but consider the comprehending of the scriptures. The word comprehend already just in and of itself implies effort. The word comprehend, it comes from two words in the Greek. It means, well, one is to put together, the other is to send or to put. And so it's the idea of bringing something together, right? Taking two thoughts, taking two concepts and bringing them together or multiple, but you get the point. It's that bringing together. The scholar Spiros Zodiades puts it this way. He says, I think that's a good picture, a good illustration. The pieces of a puzzle. Jesus opened their understanding. That is, he gave them a puzzle. In a box, all the pieces are disconnected, handed them the puzzle. Now the disciples, they have everything they need to get the final product, to get the comprehension of the scriptures. But they also have their part to do. It's all there before them, but they actually have to invest the time, invest the effort, and take each piece and put it together and connect it to the others and And after time, they will have the whole picture, the whole puzzle put together. That's the idea here of comprehending the scriptures. Jesus gave them the capacity, the ability to have understanding by giving them the Holy Spirit. But that doesn't take away the need for putting an effort to bring the truth that the Holy Spirit is revealing and to place them together and comprehend the who God is, what God is saying, what God wants. Every one of us as believers has the capability to comprehend the scriptures, but not every believer comprehends the scriptures. We all have the capability. We all can, but we all don't. Why is that? Because there is some effort required. There's some diligence and discipline on our part. Notice it says in verse 45, he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the scriptures. They have the capacity if they choose to use it. They have the capability now if they choose to apply themselves. They can comprehend the scriptures that they might or they might not. And I would ask you to consider, do you comprehend the scriptures? Would you say that? Introduce yourself. Hi, my name is Michael. I comprehend the scriptures. I mean, it's kind of like a bold statement to say, right? At the same time, this is what the Holy Spirit has given to us for, that we would have understanding. and that we would comprehend the scriptures. It's kind of like if Jesus gave you a map to buried treasure. You have everything that you need in the map. All the directions, all the turns, everything. Here's where to dig. But you only have the treasure if you actually follow the map and dig where it tells you to dig. That's the only way to get the treasure. You have the map. You have everything you need to get the treasure. But you only have the treasure if you actually put in the effort and follow the map. For you and I as believers, this is really important to understand that we're given the Holy Spirit. It opens the door wide open. The doors are off the hinges. We have access to the scriptures and understanding the deep mysteries of God and the things of God and the word of God in ways that would blow our minds. But it doesn't just come automatically. It comes as we dig in to the word of God. The apostle Paul puts it this way in writing to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2, verse 15. He says, Paul tells Timothy, be diligent to be approved of God. To be a worker who will not need to be ashamed when he stands before God. And specifically highlighting one element of that, he says, rightly dividing the word of truth. This is a key element of you standing before God and not being ashamed of how you lived. For you to know and understand and comprehend the scriptures, to be able to rightly divide the word of truth. But notice what he says. He says, be diligent in Timothy, this isn't going to happen automatically. This isn't going to happen overnight. It's not going to happen just without any effort on your part. Timothy, you're going to have to be diligent. You're going to have to develop discipline. You're going to have to put some effort into this. You cannot receive spiritual discernment and comprehend the scriptures just by praying a prayer and then going to sleep. You're going to need to dig into the word of God. You have the capacity to receive spiritual discernment, more spiritual discernment and understanding of the scriptures than you even know is possible. You have the capacity for that, but you will not comprehend the scriptures without diligent study. Jesus opened their understanding that they might, so that they would, so that they could dig into the scriptures. Notice that it doesn't say he opened their understanding so that they would never need the scriptures. You notice how it doesn't say that? Doesn't say he gave them understanding so they didn't need to read the Bible anymore. No, he gave them understanding so that they could dig into the word of God and receive from it greatly. I had a guy I used to work with at Paychex. When I first started there, he was the guy who trained me in the position. And so I spent a lot of time with him and did a lot of driving around to different clients. And we got to know each other pretty well. And one day he told me, he says, you know, I can tell you're still a pretty new Christian. He also said he was a Christian, but he looked at me and he said, I can tell you're a pretty new Christian. Now you guys know me. I grew up in church. I'm like, okay, that's an interesting statement. Why do you say I'm a new Christian? He says, well, you still read the Bible. See, when you get to become mature as a Christian, like I am, you don't need to read the Bible anymore. That was his opinion. That's not Jesus's opinion. He didn't give them spiritual understanding so that they would never again need to read the Bible or not need to spend time in it diligently, not need to put in effort, not need to dig in for hours, not need to spend time, you know, devotionally. He didn't give them understanding so that they would be set free from the scriptures. Now you have understanding, so you don't need to seek God for counsel. You don't need to, no, no. He gave them understanding so they could dig in to the scriptures and have insight and into what God wants for them. And you can see this demonstrated even in these verses that we're looking at this morning. In verse 44, Jesus reminds them, remember the words I spoke to you? He says, these things must be fulfilled, which were written, the things which were written, looking at the scriptures in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms. And Jesus calls out these three specific sections of the scripture, the Old Testament. Now for the Jews, the scriptures were grouped a little bit differently together than what we're used to, but it was the same content, just a different order. And it was normally divided into these three portions. And so they would refer to the law of Moses. They would refer to the prophets. They would refer to the Psalms. Those three collectively consists of the contents of the Old Testament that you have in your Bible right now. And so Jesus is saying, look at each part of the Old Testament. And you can see the prophecies about me and how they've been fulfilled. He points them back to the scriptures so that he gives them understanding so that they can go back and understand and comprehend these prophecies about Jesus. And he refers to every part of scripture as important to understand because it speaks about him. And we could spend a lot of time talking about the gospels in the New Testament as well. Also, called scripture and referred to a scripture and included in this whole discussion. Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit so that we can study the scriptures diligently to know him, to understand him, to see what has been fulfilled. But there's also many, many prophecies that have not been fulfilled yet that will be fulfilled, that it's still there. There's still the need for us to dig in to the word of God. In verse 46, it says, Jesus gives them the gospel, connects it back to the authority of the scriptures and says, Here's the gospel message, and it needs to be preached because of the scriptures. It's written. Jesus plays great value. It's hugely important for you to know the scriptures. It's the foundation of life and ministry and walking with God. And it answers the things that you're going through at the moment. He says, look, it was necessary for the Christ to suffer. Now, when Jesus appeared to his disciples, they're still confused. Why? Why? Yeah, I thought Jesus was the Messiah. Why would he die? They had no clue what was going on and why it was happening. And Jesus is saying, look, when you understand the scriptures and comprehend the scriptures, as you study it diligently, not only do you learn about who God is, you learn about what he says, but you learn about why he's doing what he's doing. And what's happening in your life and what God is saying and what God is doing for you in the moment where you're at right now, that's what the scriptures are for. They're living and active and powerful and sharper than any double-edged sword. God enables us to have understanding, but he also calls us to spend time with him in his word to get the comprehension of who he is and what he desires. The commentator Albert Barnes puts it this way, the design of God's opening the understanding is that we may be acquainted with the scriptures. It is not that we may be made wise above what is written, but that we may submit ourselves wholly to the word of God. Now he's a little bit of an older writer. So he says is that we may be acquainted with the scriptures. And we think of acquainted as kind of like a light touch, like I kind of briefly know about a little bit about the scriptures. No, no. When he's talking about being acquainted, he's saying, look, The whole idea, the whole point of the opening of understanding is so that we could know the scriptures. Not that we would be set free or made wise above what is written, but that we could be submitted to the word of God wholly. That is every part of my life, every part of the decisions that I make and the actions that I take, that it's all subject to what God says in his word. And that's why Jesus gave us understanding that we could submit ourselves completely to what God teaches us in his word. We need to be diligent in our study of the scriptures. You know, sometimes that can be really difficult. Some passages are less inspiring. They're fully inspired, but they're not that inspiring, right? You're just not that excited about reading. And Let me just encourage you a little side note here as we talk about studying the scriptures diligently. Sometimes you have to push through even when you don't fully get it. The idea that we have understanding so that we can comprehend the scriptures, don't think of it like a microwave. It's not that instantly every verse you read, you have all wisdom and all knowledge about that. You know, a lot of times God is developing flavors over time. It's more like a crock pot. It's like you got to be in it for the long haul. And understand, sometimes you're going to be reading for days. Sometimes you're going to be reading for long periods of time. You're going to be spending time with God and his word and he's speaking, but still you're not fully comprehending what the Lord is saying and what God wants. And for those times, I always like to remember 2 Kings 3. You don't have to turn there. Let me tell you the story. It's two kings, the king of Israel, the king of Judah. They joined together to go to battle. As they're on their way to the battlefield, they kind of get lost. They're in a place that, you know, they weren't really prepared for. They don't have water. And so they're out there on the field, about to go into battle, thirsty and no water. And they're realizing they're in trouble. So they call up the prophet and they say, hey, prophet, we're stuck out here. We need some water. We don't know what to do. Can you ask God to show us what to do? And so the prophet speaks on behalf of the Lord in 2 Kings 3, and he says, Thus says the Lord, make the valley full of ditches. The prophet says, okay, let me get this straight. You're thirsty? You're out in the dry, dusty wilderness? Okay, here's what God wants you to do. Start digging ditches. Now, who wants to dig ditches in the dirt when you're already dry and thirsty? Nobody wants to do that. But along with that instruction, the prophet gave the promise. The Lord says, you're not going to see wind. You're not going to see rain. Yet that valley shall be filled with water so that you and all your animals will drink. Do it. Trust me. Keep doing it. Keep digging ditches. Even though you're thirsty, keep digging ditches. And trust me, I will fill those with water. And I think that is a really great picture sometimes of diligent study of the scriptures. You have to do your part. And sometimes you're thirsty and well, what you're digging in doesn't really seem to be quenching that thirst. And maybe you get an easier quick fix by just turning on the television and hearing what Oprah has to say or whatever. That it's easy to kind of be quenched, you know, or kind of have that thirst touched a little bit. Not quenched, but it's like a little drop of water. Okay, that was refreshing. But ultimately, it's not going to last. And sometimes you got to keep digging. You got to keep reading. You got to keep studying. You got to keep meditating. You got to keep memorizing. And trust God at his promise. All that hard work is going to pay off. And sometimes you got to keep reading every day, even when it's not your favorite thing to do every day. Sometimes you got to keep reading, even when it's not your favorite passage. Knowing that God said his word will not return void. He will pour out his spirit and fill those ditches. but sometimes you got to dig them in advance. And so let me encourage you with that. If you've kind of been discouraged in your reading and feel like you're not getting very much out of it, listen, you need to ask to receive spiritual discernment and then you need to diligently study. You need to walk by faith and not by sight. That even if you don't feel like you're getting a lot out of it, even if you don't feel like it's, you know, doing a big work, you need to trust God at his word and be diligent. to dig into the scriptures, get acquainted with the scriptures, know them back and forth. I really believe every Christian needs to know the scriptures really well. You should be able to know and name the books of the Bible. You should know where different accounts are found in the Bible. You should know, you should know, not because there's some tests. Well, there is a test, but it's called life. You need to know by experience from spending time in the word of God. This is the life and the foundation and the resource that God has provided for you. Study the scriptures diligently. Jesus told the woman at the well, we read that in John chapter four this week. He said, if you drink the water that I give you, you'll never thirst again. Sometimes there will be those times where you're digging ditches, but listen, You will never thirst again. You can run to other things and kind of distract yourself from the thirst, but you'll thirst again. But if you push through and be diligent, even when it feels like your thirst isn't being quenched, trust God to quench your thirst, to meet your needs. Walk by faith and not by sight. And you know, there's a lot of thirsty Christians because we love to walk by sight and not by faith. And we chase after this. We try to meet our needs this way. We try to pursue after that thing. We try to fulfill ourselves that way. running after everything else except for what God has said will be the source of life for us, walking with him in his word. Mark chapter 4 verse 34, it says, without a parable, he did not speak to them, talking to the crowds. And when they were alone, he explained all things to his disciples. Listen, every one of us needs to have this alone time with Jesus. In the crowds, he speaks. And God speaks and ministers in these kinds of settings. And it's important for our Christian walk. But listen, there is no substitute for you being alone with Jesus. That's where he really explains all things. You really want to know God? You need to spend some time alone with Jesus in his word. You really want to know what God wants for your life? Same answer. You really want to know why God's allowing this in your life? Same answer. You really want to know? Get back. to time alone with Jesus and his word and trust God. Be diligent to study and God will give you understanding and comprehension of the scriptures. Well, the last point I'm not going to dig into. I'm just going to share briefly. Point number three is share the truth dynamically. This is looking at verses 46 through 49. In 46 and 47, we have the gospel. Jesus says, And so here Jesus gives the gospel, ties it back to the scriptures. But now notice what he's doing. He's commissioning the disciples and he's saying, okay, you have the authority of the scriptures. You have the message at hand. Now it needs to be preached. Go tell people. Go tell people what God has done on the authority of the scriptures. This is what was written. But also he goes on in verse 48 to say, and you are witnesses of these things. So you're not just talking about something you read. You're not just talking about something you heard or something someone told you. Guys, you are responsible to go and to share the things that you have personally experienced. And as Jesus said that to his disciples, he would extend that to us today and said, look, You are called, you are commissioned by the Lord to preach what you have personally experienced. And so as you have those alone times with Jesus, as he gives you understanding and you comprehend the scriptures and he speaks to you, he's speaking to you because you need it and it's important for your life. But he's also speaking to you, not just for you, but because he wants you to then take those things. and preach them. The word preach, it means to openly proclaim, to publish, to Facebook post, or whatever the case may be. It's just to pass on openly. It's not some secret thing only for you and for other people like, hey, let me tell you a secret, you know. When the Lord speaks to you, he gives you understanding. It's not just for you. It's for you, and you need it. But also understand, you need to look for opportunities to then pass that on. And perhaps it's other believers that he's going to call you to share that with, or perhaps it's unbelievers. But in either case, as God speaks to you, you need to have a regular ongoing outflow of like again, the image, he's pouring in, you're the empty vessel, you have nothing, but he fills you to overflow and other people are going to be impacted as God does a work in you and helps you to comprehend the scriptures. Warren Wiersbe puts it this way, God opens our eyes and opens our understanding so that when he opens the scriptures to us, we may open our mouths and tell others about him. Open, open, open, open, open. It's about him. openness, being open. This is what God is saying to me. This is what God is speaking to me. You're called to share those things. Now, going back to the first point, we need to receive spiritual discernment. Just as you don't have spiritual discernment by your own resources, you cannot share spiritual truth by your own resources. And so Jesus says in verse 49, behold, I send the promise of my father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you're endued with power from on high. Here, Jesus refers to the promise of the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now they have the Holy Spirit indwelling within them. We saw that in John 20, but there's still something yet further, and that is the empowering of the Holy Spirit. They'll be endued or clothed with power, wrapped up with the power of God. Let me ask you, do you have power? Are you wrapped up in the power of God to share with others what God is speaking to you? I think many Christians would find themselves saying, no, I don't know about you. I don't know where you're at in your life, but listen, God has given you the Holy Spirit so that you can understand the scriptures. so that you can put in the effort and do the work and comprehend what God is saying through his word. And that will overflow to sharing the truth dynamically. That word dynamically, it comes from the word power here in verse 49. The word power is dunamis. And we get dynamic, we get dynamite, you know, that explosive, that powerful, that life-giving. Does that describe you in sharing with others? Are you empowered with the Holy Spirit? God has called us to preach, to be his ambassadors. It starts with us receiving spiritual discernment from the Holy Spirit. It continues as we invest time and effort and study the scriptures diligently. But then we need to now go forward and share those truths and share those things with others around us. How do you share spiritual truth with those who cannot receive spiritual truth? That's the dilemma of point number one, right? The natural man can't understand these things. How do you share spiritual truth with those who can't receive spiritual truth? This is why we must be reliant upon the Holy Spirit. In the same way that we cry out to God for him to give us insight and understanding to his word, we need to be relying upon God and asking God to empower us with his Holy Spirit that we might then communicate his word, his message, his thoughts to to people around us. We can't do it. Our arguments aren't going to work. Our logic isn't strong enough. Our debate skills aren't good enough. We don't have what it takes. We're not persuasive enough for us to effectively communicate what God has spoken to us. We have to be crying out to God to fill us with His Spirit and empower us to share these things with the world around us. Let's pray. God, as we consider this idea of comprehending the scriptures, it's amazing that you would choose to reveal yourself to us in your word. And you provide so much access to who you are and the way that you work and why you work. And we get to have relationship with you as we spend time with you in your word. It's incredible. God, help us not to take it for granted. Help us not to disregard it and just rely upon our own minds, our own hearts, our own thoughts. Lord, help us to look to you. to cry out to you for wisdom, for discernment, for spiritual truth by your Holy Spirit. God, I pray that you would give us all discipline. Help us, Lord, to be diligent, to faithfully, consistently spend time with you in your word, hearing from you, comprehending the scriptures, having real and meaningful truths as you speak to our hearts. And then God, I pray that you would give us an abundance of opportunities to share those things. But again, God, help us not to do that with our strength. Help us to be clothed and wrapped up in your power, relying upon you. We're desperate for you to fill us with your Holy Spirit, that we might share your truth in a way that the people around us can receive it and can respond to it. Help us, God, to look to you as we dig into your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.