Luke 24:44-48 He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still
with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the
Law of the Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms."  Then he opened their
minds so they could understand the Scriptures.  He told them, "This is
what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the
third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his
name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Over the years I have certainly had any number of people speak to me
about the sermons I preach and offer me their opinions.  For the most
part I don't mind such conversations at all and some of the suggestions
over the years have been rather helpful.
For instance, I have had many a person tell me "slow down."  I think that
is a rather good suggestion and over the years I have tried to work at
doing just that, slowing down.  But it is a hard thing to do.  It is hard
to contain water that is falling over the edge.  That's how I sometimes
feel.  Like the water of a river going over the edge and forming a
waterfall.  Despite 20 some years of preaching every time I get in the
pulpit I feel like a river pouring its water over the edge.  I've got so
much to share about the Savior and so little time.  It's part of who I am
but I have been working at getting slower.  And you'll notice some
progress, although we aren't certain that it's the result of
self-discipline or just that fact that I am getting older!
Or another suggestion has been concerning my volume.  Tone it down, I am
told.  I am trying.  But when you spend 20 plus years speaking loud
enough so everyone can hear and then you get a sound system, it is hard
to make the adjustment.  I am working on it and actually I think that
I've gotten much better.
About the only time I don't care for what is said is when someone feels
they can tell me what I am to preach.  Oh, yes, I've had those comments.
Now before you get all excited, please listen to the reason I say that.
I've had people say things like, "Be more practical, tell us more about
how we should live and what we should do, but don't spend a whole lot of
time telling us what we shouldn't do."  In essence, every time I have had
someone tell me what to preach they end up telling me that they want to
hear more law rather than hear about Jesus.  And if you really pay
attention, they want to hear weakened law rather than the full force of
God's Law.  That's my problem with such suggestions.
And trust me, I have thoroughly considered such preaching.  Do you know
how much easier it would be to preach if I got to stand up here and tell
you how to live your lives?  Do you know how much easier it would be to
say "Do this and don't do that...Be this way and don't be that way."  It
would be so much easier because there is so much improvement that each of
us needs to make in our lives.  The hardest part would be figuring out
where to start.  Do I start with our problems in being loving...our
problems of being selfish...our problems of lacking self-control...our
problems in not following the Lord...our problems...seriously, I know you
people and you know me...and there are so many problems, so many areas
where we need to improve ourselves, so many things where we fail the Lord
that I just wouldn't know where to begin!  And despite the fact that some
think this kind of preaching would be helpful in life, what are you going
to do every time we talk about how God says you should live and you
realize that you aren't even close?  Eventually preaching of the law and
only the law brings nothing but despair and hurt to the souls that Jesus
loves.
No, I don't want to be a preacher of only the Law!  What I would rather
do is preach it the way Jesus tells us to.  I would rather talk about
Jesus Christ and him as our Savior and God.  I would rather do that
because when that is properly done all of us will have exactly the right
knowledge we need of how to live our lives and bring glory to our Lord.
We have a valuable lesson before us on the issue of preaching.  It is a
lesson from Jesus himself.  Our theme will be: PREACH IN HIS NAME.  1st.
Preach the Scriptures.  2nd. Preach Repentance.  3rd. Preach Forgiveness.
We have before us the account of Jesus appearing before his disciple on
that first night of Easter.  They were in a locked house filled with fear
and discussing the events of the day and what to make of them.  Two
disciples had come from Emmaus and told them that they had just seen the
Lord!  It is while they are discussing this latest news that Jesus
appears among them all of a sudden.  He appears and clearly shows them he
is not a ghost, he is not a figment of their imaginations or any other
such thing.  He shows them his hands and feet, invites them to touch and
probe and to experience the fact that he is really and truly there.  He
even asks them for something to eat and chows down a piece of broiled
fish.  There is no doubt that Jesus has risen and that Jesus is alive,
well and right before them.
Now, Dear people, here is an interesting thought for those who like to
undermine the Bible.  If the message of Jesus is to be one of doing this
or doing that, one of following the law and living right and proper lives
don't you think that the people who supposedly made up the Scriptures
would come up with a better message from Jesus?  Don't you think that the
legalistic Jesus would have appeared and said, "I am the example of
really giving yourself to God!  Give like me.  Live like me.  Be like me
and you will become happy and free!"  I personally think it rather
telling that such is not the case.  The Bible has Jesus talking about the
Scripture and about what He has done for us!
Jesus says to them, "I am what the Scripture is all about.  I came to
fulfill Scripture."  And then we are told that Jesus opens their minds so
they could understand the Scripture.  The very next verse starts out
saying, "This is what is written."
How awesome these words are.  In the next lines Jesus is going to tell
his disciples to preach.  He is going to tell them to preach because he
suffered and rose from the dead.  To preach because what was written in
the Scripture from beginning to end all pointed to and focused on what
the Christ would do.  You do realize that Jesus was pointing to the Old
Testament?  The phrase "the law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms"
was a very typical way for the people of Jesus' day to speak of their
Bible.  The Bible, yes, even the Old Testament is about, pointed to, and
focused on Jesus.  What Jesus, the Christ would do and accomplish.
It is Jesus' words in verse 46 and 47 that sums up what Jesus says He is
all about.  Our text says, "This is what is written: The Christ will
suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and
forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations."  Ya
gotta love those words.  Those words in one single sentence sum up the
heart and core of Jesus and the heart and core of our Christians faith.
We are to preach repentance!  Repentance is defined as "being sorry for
your sins, desiring to stop those sins.  One more thing though,
repentance also speaks of the fact that you recognize the forgiveness of
sins in Jesus!  Isn't that awesome!  You don't just harp on how to live
or what to do.  Proper preaching recognizes sin as a serious problem.  It
recognizes that sin is a violation of God's Law and brings God's wrath
and anger.  But proper preaching will emphasize more the attitude of the
heart not the deeds of the flesh.  As I mentioned earlier, if we got into
just a preaching of the law, how despairing that would be as we all
simply realized we can't event get close to the perfection that God's Law
demands.  The attitude is important.
An attitude that sees what Jesus has done for us.  An attitude that
understands that it was sin that Jesus came to pay for.  An attitude
filled with gratitude to Jesus because he did pay for our sins.  An
attitude that realizes that we don't repent to get forgiveness, we repent
because of forgiveness, because of what Jesus has done for us.  That's
what Jesus wants us to preach.  When you realize and know the blessings
of Jesus, you will then realize and know what a wonderful blessing
repentance is.
Jesus wants us to preach forgiveness.  Note that this is not a blanket
kind of forgiveness where we simply declare all and every sin forgiven by
God apart from Jesus.  Jesus speaks of forgiveness connected with
repentance.  In other words, sin needs to be recognized and confronted
for the horror that it is.  If God says something is wrong and will bring
damnation we dare not declare that God got it wrong because there is
forgiveness.  Forgiveness is based on God's grace and mercy but when you
decide that God is wrong then please note that you don't have a god and
you don't have faith.  It all goes hand in hand, wonderfully balanced and
important to grasp.
We preach forgiveness.  We preach forgiveness based on the fact that
Jesus Christ suffered and died and then rose from the dead.  We preach
forgiveness because Jesus is the Son of God as declared by the
resurrection.  He did pay for our sins.  He did open for us the very
gates of heaven.  He did this and please note that all that we are
speaking of is clearly attached to the life, death and resurrection of
Jesus.
Think of what our reading from the book of Acts said.  "Salvation is
found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to
men by which we must be saved."  Jesus is it.  It all hinges on Jesus and
Jesus being the Son of God just as the Scriptures declare.  But if you
determine that Jesus can be ignored or that Jesus was wrong or that God's
Word is wrong then I simply submit that you do not believe that Jesus is
the Christ who died and rose nor do you believe in your heart that Jesus
is God!  It's a serious problem you have.
Or you can look at the Epistle reading for today.  If you don't know the
whole of 1 John you might assume that John is advocating right living and
proper works to get to heaven.  That would be wrong.  John is advocating
faith in Jesus.  Proper faith in Jesus has an impact and result in our
life.  What John is doing is saying very clearly, that if you claim faith
but go about in life ignoring God and what God says, you have a problem.
To believe in Jesus is to believe he is God, to believe that he suffered
and rose.  To believe that in Jesus we have the strength to repent and
the grace of forgiveness all because He is declared to be God.
We preach forgiveness as is revealed, found and given in Jesus.  It is
not a forgiveness that gives us the right to do what we want, but a
forgiveness that leads us to want to do what is right.  All of this in
Jesus.  All of this the purpose and reason for Jesus.  All of this
because Jesus says that's what we are to do because that is why he came
to suffer and rise from the dead.
One last thing very quickly.  The last verse of our section says, "You
are witnesses of these things."  That verse applies to all of us.  If
you, through the Scriptures have come to understand the work and
redemption of Jesus, that he has suffered and rose that repentance and
forgiveness be preached, then you have a responsibility to tell others
what you know.  That's what the word witness speaks of.  You tell others
what you know.  Please tell others about Jesus and his love.  Tell them
what he has done for all in his grace and mercy.
May God help us in hearing, learning about and believing what Jesus is
about.  Not about what we do but what he has done.  What he has done that
has brought about a change in our hearts.  How He won eternal life for us
by His victory.  Amen.