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Jesus Is My Super Hero!
Intro: Read the Story of Emmaus (or tell in own words) from Luke 24:1-32.
Today, I want to talk about all the scriptures that Jesus used to prove that He was the Messiah.
Jesus was prophesied about all over the Old Testament. There are over 300 prophecies about Jesus, written hundreds and even thousands of years before he came.
Superhero movies are very popular these days (Thor, Captain America, Spiderman, Superman…).
But I believe the Bible tells the greatest Superhero story ever:
A loving Creator who created the world and made man to rule it (love, blessings,
friendship with God…)
An evil villain stole the creation and wreaked havoc on the earth (death, sin, curses, condemnation…)
And the Creator made a plan to defeat the villain and rescue the world from eternal damnation.
The Plan foretold:
God wrote out the plan from beginning to end and has told us the plan in bits and pieces throughout the ages through various prophets. We’ve seen most of the plan already unfold.
The plan, of course, was revealed to us by those 300 prophecies. I want to talk about just 10 of these 300 prophecies today. 10 parts of God’s great plan to rescue us and defeat the devil!
The first prophecy that God gave us was in Genesis 3:15, at the fall. God punished the devil and he promised him this:
Genesis 3:15 (KJV) And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
I love this. It’s like God was saying, “devil, look… you may have won this little battle, but one day, a child is going to be born who will crush your head!”
From this prophecy, man learned a few things about the plan. First, we learned that a hero would one day come. This hero would be a human child (from the seed of Eve), the devil would strike at him in some way, and he would totally defeat the devil.
The 2nd prophecy I want to look at was given by Balaam around 1407 BC.
Numbers 24:17 (KJV) I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth.
Now, man knew that our hero would come from the nation of Israel.
Micah 5:2 (KJV) But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Matthew 2:1 (KJV) Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
This prophecy also adds an interesting twist: not only is our hero a human, from the seed of Eve, he is also from old, from everlasting.
725 years before Christ was born, Isaiah 7:14 tells us our hero’s mother would be a virgin (Matthew 1:18-23):
Isaiah 7:14 (KJV) Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Matthew 1:22-23 (KJV)
22 Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
The twist continues as we’ve just learned that our hero’s name means “God with us.”
The 5th prophecy I want to look at is in Isaiah 9, where God reveals that the Hero would be God himself:
Isaiah 9:6 (KJV) For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
So, now man knew that our hero would be man, but also God, would be born of a virgin, born in Israel, and born in Bethlehem.
The 6th part of the great plan is that our hero would suffer many things. Per various Old Testament verses, we learn that, although He is God, and although He would come to rescue us; He would be rejected, betrayed by a friend, mocked, beaten, spit upon, and pierced. (John 1:10-11, Mark 1:10 and 65, Matthew 27:35-41)
Isaiah 53:3 (KJV) He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Psalm 41:9 (KJV) Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.
Isaiah 50:6 (KJV) I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
Psalm 22:7-8 (KJV)
7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, 8 He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
Psalm 22:16-18 (KJV)
16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me. 18 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
The 7th part of God’s great plan was that our hero would rise from the dead. We were told that although He would die, He would not be dead for long:
Psalm 16:10 (KJV) For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Most of the plan in this great Superhero story has already come to pass, but there are 3 more prophecies I want to look at today. These 3 parts of the plan have not yet happened:
Jesus, our hero, is coming again!
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (KJV)
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Jesus is coming again! He’s coming back for us!
Our 9th part of the plan is that Jesus is coming to take us to a new home! And it’s a beautiful home!
Revelation 21:2-4 (KJV)
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
Revelation 21:10-12 (KJV)
10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; 12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
Revelation 22:1-3 (KJV)
1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:
I want to close with the 10th part of the plan. In Revelation chapter 22, Jesus tells us that one day, we will all stand outside the gates of this Heavenly City, and there is only one way for us to enter the gates:
Revelation 22:14 (KJV) Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
This part of the plan is like the last scene of a movie. Have you ever watched a movie and wished that you could change the ending? You loved the movie, but then it was like the ending ruined the whole story and if you were the director you would have ended it so much better?
Well, this is a story where you can control the ending? In fact, you’re the only one who can decide the ending. Jesus says one day you are going to stand in front of this incredible city and the gate is only going to open for you if you wash your robe.
That’s an interesting choice of words – Wash your robe.
Notice: Jesus didn’t say, “Wear a pretty robe.”
When He says ‘wash your robe,’ it’s because He knows you’re going to get it dirty. Some of His last words to the entire world are, “wash your robes,” because He knows the whole world is going to get dirty.
It’s like he’s saying, “Yes I know you’ll go off the path a lot.”
“I know you’ll get filthy and grimy and nasty”
But don’t beat yourself up… Just wash your robe…
Jesus doesn’t say: “you better keep that robe clean!”
“if you come to the gate and you have a dirty robe shame on you!”
Just wash your robe…
I say this because I know how the devil works. The devil will tell you-
Jesus won’t forgive you…
You blew it… You don’t deserve Jesus… After all he did for you and you treated Him like dirt.
The thing is, we all feel like we don’t deserve Heaven. We don’t deserve to have Jesus wash away our sins with His blood. You know what? We don’t deserve it!
None of us deserve it, but praise God He knows that! And you don’t get into Heaven by deserving it! If we could get into Heaven by deserving it then Jesus wouldn’t have had to die!
Jesus knows we will get our robes dirty! That’s why He died; to give us His blood.
He just wants us to come to Him to be washed!
I want to close with three stories. Three different people that felt like they did not deserve to go to Heaven. They had sinned and the devil was trying to convince them they were unworthy.
- There was a man who had been a paramedic for many years, and over the years, he had seen many people die. One man, in particular, was 90 years old, and the paramedic was called to take him to the hospital. As soon as they were on their way, the paramedic began to question the elderly man, “have you accepted Jesus?” The elderly man said, “No, I never did.” The paramedic asked if he would like to do that as they rode to the hospital, but the elderly man refused. “I rejected Jesus all my life, it just wouldn’t be right to turn to Him now.” The paramedic tried in vain to change the elderly man’s mind; he explained that Jesus was waiting with outstretched arms to take him, forgive him, but the man just didn’t feel that he deserved Heaven. Finally, the paramedic said, “well, Jesus is a gentleman. He wants you to turn to Him, but He won’t force you and I won’t either.”
As they got closer to the hospital, the elderly man began to cry out, “Oh, it’s hot. My feet are burning up! Won’t somebody help me; now it’s up to my knees! Oh, it’s burning!”
The paramedic shouted, “just call out to Jesus!” But it was too late. The elderly man kept shouting that the fire was up to his back, then his neck, and then he died.
- There was a man who came to the Lord at age 65, but he never felt good enough to be forgiven. He would say things like, “I sure hope He’ll forgive me.” No one could convince him, but God did something beautiful for him. One service, he came to the altar for prayer and fell over. For about twenty minutes, he laid on the floor. When he got up, he was crying and shaking. He had a vision that he was walking down a path with Jesus, talking as they went along. At the end of the path they came to a tree that had golden and silver leaves, and they were jingling in the breeze. It was so pretty that he reached out to touch it when Jesus gently said, “Not yet.” This same vision occurred once every two months for the next several years of his life. And those visions finally convinced the man that if Jesus took the time to come and lead him to tree of Life all those times, Jesus was indeed willing to forgive him.
- There was a woman who had accepted Jesus as a child. Later, she fell away, and felt that Jesus could never take her back. She felt so unworthy and undeserving. It was a tremendous burden to her for some time. Finally, her mom said, “the devil is lying to you. Jesus has forgiven you, but just so you know it, rededicate your life to Jesus today. Ask Him to wash away your sins today, and write the date in your Bible. From now on, when the devil tells you that you aren’t forgiven you open your Bible and read it; Jesus washed away my sins on such and such date… It worked.”
Jesus didn’t come to condemn you. He came to rescue you! He came to save you! To give you His own blood to wash away your sins! (wash your robe)
Jesus is standing right here, His arms open wide, knocking at your door
Calling your name…
“Let me wash your robe… Let me wash your sins away”
Maybe you never asked Jesus to wash your sins away. Let’s ask Jesus right now to wash away your sins.
Maybe you have, but you’re like that woman, and the devil’s telling you you’re unworthy.
If that’s you, let’s pray, and then you write today’s date in your bible.
Jesus washed away my sins on…
Let’s pray.
