Luke 9:51
Like A Rock!
Perhaps some of you recognize that slogan. It was Chevy’s slogan
for many years. However, it is also true of Jesus. In fact, Jesus
is not just like a rock, He is THE Rock. But there is an Old
Testament prophecy of Jesus that is fulfilled in our text.
The text is found in Isaiah 50, the great Old Testament prophecy
chapter on the crucifixion. There Jesus Himself wrote of His own
cruel death and described some of the events that would take place
before it, during it, and after it.
Isa 50:7 For the Lord GOD will help me;
therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore
have I set my face like a flint, and I know
that I shall not be ashamed.
Notice the phrase, "therefore have I set my face like a flint." A
flint is rock. In Isaiah, Jesus prophesied of this day by saying, I
have set my face like a rock. Here in Luke, Luke wrote of Jesus,
"he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem." How steadfast was
Jesus? He was steadfast "like a rock," that is, Jesus was absolutely
determined and could not be stopped from going to Jerusalem.
In two Sundays, we will celebrate Easter or the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. Before Jesus could rise from the dead, He had
to die. Before Jesus could die, He had to go to Jerusalem. This
verse started that procession of events.
Would you allow me to guide you along a journey that our Savior took?
Let me share three things.
I. Jesus knew WHAT was going to happen.
A. I believe that sometimes people forget that Jesus was God.
1. That is actually understandable for looking at Jesus in
the gospels, what we mostly see is Jesus’ humanity.
a. His earthly body was conceived in a woman’s womb.
b. He was delivered from that womb into humble
surroundings, including His birthplace, His earthly
parents, and His first 30 years of life.
c. Even in His ministry, Jesus was sustained by the gifts
of earthly donations.
d. The Bible tells us that Jesus’ body grew tired, that
His belly needed food, and that His body needed
drink.
e. Jesus was tempted of the devil like we are.
f. Jesus was arrested, beaten, and even died in like
manner as we ourselves might be killed.
g. Studying the Bible, one would have to say that Jesus
was 100% human, a Man.
2. However, the same Bible also makes it clear that Jesus was
100& God.
a. Though Jesus’ body was conceived in a womb, that is
not where Jesus began.
(1) Jesus is eternal, having no beginning and no end.
(2) Jesus merely took up residence in that human body
at the point of its conception.
b. Though Jesus’ surroundings were meek and humble, He
was—as it were—undercover, incognito; for He was
and is the God of the Universe and the Owner of all
that there is masquerading as a common man.
c. Though Jesus could be tired, hungry, and thirsty in
the flesh, He could not have died by any means until
He first took upon Himself the sins of others.
d. And though Jesus was arrested, beaten, and crucified,
none of those things could have happened had Jesus
Himself not allowed it, for He had more than 12
legions of angels that He could have called upon to
rescue Him!! \\#Matt 26:53\\
B. So, my friend, Jesus was 100% Man but He was also 100% God and
although it may be difficult to remember that, we need not forget
it for in this text, Jesus was revealing that He knew what
was about to happen to Him.
1. In fact, Jesus not only knew, He had begun to intensively
teach His disciples what lay ahead for Him.
Luke 9:22 Saying, The Son of man must suffer
many things, and be rejected of the elders and
chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be
raised the third day.
a. Jesus described what would happen in Jerusalem: He
would be rejected.
b. Jesus described who would reject Him: the elders
(rulers of Israel, the scribes and the chief priest
(the religious leaders of Jerusalem).
c. Jesus described how they would express their
rejection: they would kill Him.
d. And Jesus described how this would all end: He would
be raised on the third day.
2. \\#Mark 8:31\\, a parallel passage, says that Jesus "began
to teach them" this, meaning that Jesus repeated this
teaching over their journey back to Jerusalem.
3. Luke recorded Jesus teaching this truth again but with
more details.
Lu 18:31 Then he took unto him the twelve, and
said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem,
and all things that are written by the prophets
concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished.
32 For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles,
and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated,
and spitted on:
33 And they shall scourge him, and put him to
death: and the third day he shall rise again.
a. Here Jesus added the Gentiles (primarily the Romans)
would also have a part in His death.
b. Specifically, Jesus said that the Gentiles would mock
Him, spit on Him, scourge Him, and kill Him.
(1) So who was actually going to kill Jesus in
Jerusalem? The Jewish religious leaders or the
Gentiles?
(2) BOTH were and BOTH did.
c. Then Jesus explained again how things were actually
going to end: He would be raised from the dead.
C. Two questions have to be asked:
1. How did Jesus know these things? The answer: He is God!
a. Again, we tend to forget that Jesus is God and God is
not limited in anyway unless He wants to be limited.
b. Remember, God is not only everywhere; He is also
every WHEN.
c. Not only is the no place where God is not at, but
there is no time where God is not at.
(1) That will blow your mind.
(2) Have you ever wished you could go back in time
and change something you did or didn’t do? God
can. How? He is not bound by time like you and
I are. If He wanted to, He could easily change
a yesterday, a yesteryear, a tomorrow, an event
that happened thousands of years ago or an event
that will happen thousands of years from now!
(3) However, God never does that!
(a) Why?
(b) Because by being every when and everywhere,
He never makes in mistakes.
(c) He knows what is going to happen with every
action that occurs.
(d) How? Because He is already at the end of
that action. He is at every point in time
that an action will effect.
(4) I am telling you this will blow your mind!
(a) Finite beings cannot spend too much time
attempting to figure out an invite God or
you would go insane.
(b) But you can get the result of God’s infinite
ability.
(c) The result is that Jesus KNEW exactly what
was going to happen to Him in Jerusalem,
every detail!
2. Why then was Jesus stedfast to go? Why did Jesus "set His
face like a flint" to go there?
a. Because that is why Jesus came! Jesus came to pay the
price of our sins and death, separation from God and
all of God’s goodness, is the only payment that could
pay that debt.
b. Jesus spoke of this very fact:
Joh 12:27 Now is my soul troubled; and what
shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but
for this cause came I unto this hour.
c. As Jesus approached the cross, He did not shrink
from it, He steadfastly determined to march toward
it!
d. That should do one of two things to you:
(1) If you are saved, it should make you leap for
joy!
(2) If you are unsaved, it should make you reach for
the cross!
II. Jesus knew WHEN this was happening.
Luke 9:51 …when the time was come….
A. That is interesting to me for Jesus had been watching the
clock, waiting for the time to come.
Ga 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was
come….
B. John recorded three times when it was too early for Jesus to
die.
1. The first time, John quoted Jesus.
Joh 2:4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I
to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
2. The other two times, John it pointed out.
Joh 7:30 Then they sought to take him: but no
man laid hands on him, because his hour was not
yet come.
Joh 8:20 These words spake Jesus in the
treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man
laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come.
3. But after Jesus set His face like a rock to go to
Jerusalem, John recorded three times that it was time.
Joh 12:23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The
hour is come, that the Son of man should be
glorified.
Joh 12:27 Now is my soul troubled; and what
shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but
for this cause came I unto this hour.
Joh 13:1 Now before the feast of the passover,
when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he
should depart out of this world unto the Father,
having loved his own which were in the world, he
loved them unto the end.
C. Get this. It is not just important to God WHAT happens. It
is also important to God WHEN it happens.
1. Did you know that God has a time table for you?
a. God selected the time you would be born.
b. God has also appointed the time you would die.
\\#Heb 9:27\\.
c. But God also has a time for you to be saved.
2Cor 6:2 …behold, now is the accepted time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.
2. I am not saying that now is the only time you can be
saved. You could have been saved yesterday or last
year, but I am saying right now is the best time for you
to be saved!
III. Jesus knew WHERE this would happen.
Luke 9:51 …he stedfastly set his face to go to
Jerusalem….
A. It was to happen at Jerusalem.
B. And knowing that, Jesus steadfastly set His face to go there.
1. From this point, everything that is recorded in Luke will
be of Jesus on His Farewell Tour.
2. \\#Luke 10:1\\ tells us that Jesus sent others ahead to
prepare the way for Him.
3. He sent to let the people in those locations and in the
surrounding areas know that He was coming.
4. They did not know it was their last time to get to see
Him, to hear Him, to be healed by Him, to believe on
Him. but He did.
C. It is interesting that some of the people on Jesus’ route
totally rejected Jesus.
1. One of the first places that Jesus had planned to go
rejected Him.
2. \\#Luke 9:52-56\\
a. In John 4, a Samaritan village was one of the first to
accept Jesus as their Savior.
b. This passage tells us that another village was one of
the last to reject Him.
c. If you map out Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem, you
would see that He did not press them.
d. At that point, Jesus turned sharply to the east,
crossed over the River Jordan into an area the Bible
calls "wilderness," it is the area in which Jesus
and John baptized, and went toward Jerusalem on the
far side of the river, never coming close to the
land of the Samaritans ever again!
e. That just demonstrates that we never know the last time
that Jesus will pass by!
3. That route brought Jesus through the city of Jericho where
a blind men called upon Jesus to receive his sight, and
he did! \\#Luke 18:35-43\\
a. The crowd tried to hush the blind man, to stop him
from calling out to Jesus, but he would not be
stopped.
b. Good for him for had he not called upon Jesus that
day, he would have been lost in darkness the rest of
his life and perhaps the rest of eternity!
Jesus, knowing what, when, and where His crucifixion was to happen,
set His face like a rock to be there. Why? Because YOU need Him and
because HE wants you. I pray that you will trust Him today.
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