The Road to Hope
- Jesus had spoken to his disciples many times about his impending death and resurrection.
- On countless occasions, Jesus said, “Boys, now let me repeat myself again; there is a day coming when the Chief priests and leaders are going to kill me, but don’t be discouraged, I will rise again!”
- In graphic detail he told them that he would be crucified and would rise again on the 3rd day.
- He told them this over and over and over again.
- Yet, they did not seem to pay attention.
- Ex. Like the guy in the skit, the stories Jesus told about himself just seemed like fairy tales of the past.
- For when Jesus was crucified, the disciples were shocked, devastated, and had lost all hope.
- In our passage in Luke 24, we will read about two men who totally misunderstood what had happened to Jesus.
- At one time in their lives, their hearts had burned passionately for Him, they had followed Him with zeal, but now they are discouraged and have lost all hope.
- In fact, in their minds, Jesus had let them down.
- I would imagine that this would apply to some of you right now.
- Ex. You once walked with Jesus, went to church, maybe even read your Bible daily, but life happened and you are not following the Lord closely anymore.
- Ex. Like our skit portrayed, you might have once gone to church.
- Maybe something happened in your life that sucked away your hope: a death, a divorce, a major disappointment.
- Again, like our story earlier, maybe it’s even a broken engagement.
- You may feel Jesus Christ has let you down.
- Maybe the church has let you down.
- If you have ever felt that way, then listen carefully to our story today.
- Jesus came to these two men in order to reignite hope in their hearts.
Luke 24:13-32
Let’s Pray: Lord, we want our hearts to burn for you; we want our hope rekindled by your resurrected Son, Jesus Christ. So, make these scriptures come alive in our hearts today. Speak to us this day; reveal yourself to us this day. In your name we pray. Amen.
- In this story there are these two guys walking to the road to Emmaus.
- Their dream had been destroyed.
- Remember, these guys had walked with Jesus; they had seen lame people walk, deaf people hear, and blind people see again.
- They had believed that this was the Messiah who would restore the kingdom to Israel; they believed that He was the savior of the world.
- On Palm Sunday, they had seen the thousands come out to shout their praises to God, and they felt that finally the people were getting it.
- But then, they had seen Him beaten and tortured, and then spikes driven into His hands and feet, and they saw Him crucified before their eyes.
- They had believed all those events, but now it appeared to be a big lie.
- Three days had passed. They had heard from Mary Magdalene that He had risen from the dead, but they didn’t believe that.
They wanted to run as fast as they could from that horrible cross.
- Every step away from the cross was a step in the wrong direction.
- And in the same way, every time we have lost hope or failed miserably, that is not the time to run away from the cross; that is the time to run to it.
- The devil is pretty clever. He tempts you to sin by saying, “Listen I won’t tell anyone. Just go ahead; no one will know.”
- Then you take the bait and do it.
- And then he says, “You’re such a hypocrite; you’re such a phony. You think you can go to church and read the Bible! No way, you’re just a phony.”
- Listen, it’s when you sin that you should be running to the cross and to the Bible more than ever!
- It is when you have messed up, when you have lost hope that you should be running to God more than ever!
- It is when you have messed up that you need the church, for people to pray and love you in your pain.
- We don’t know anything about these two disciples except that one is named Cleopas and the other we know nothing about. It might have been a woman.
It is interesting who Jesus does not reveal Himself to after His resurrection. He does not appear to Caiphas or Caesar.
- Now, that’s who I would have appeared to. I would have appeared to Pilate: “Yo, Pilate, remember me? Can’t keep a good man down can you?”
- Or I would have appeared to the High Priest Caiphas, who was behind the kangaroo court that condemned Jesus, or Caesar: “Look I’m more powerful than you are!”
- Or I would have even gone to the leading disciples like Peter and John, but instead, He appears to these two common people, of whom we don’t know much of anything.
- Common people, normal people, not great leaders, not greatly esteemed. They are never mentioned again in the Bible.
- Common guys going to a common city. Nothing special about them.
- But Jesus joins them on their journey.
In verse 15, “Jesus drew near to them”
- Mark 16:12 adds a significant detail:
Mark 16:12
…He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country.
- Jesus was going incognito.
- These guys were being followed, by Jesus.
- But Jesus was walking next to them, at all times. Jesus is near you as well. Whether you are walking away from the cross or to the cross, Jesus is nearby.
- Paul said to the Athenians,
Acts 17:27
“so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.”
- If you are here today and you feel distant from the Lord, He is nearer to you than you know.
- When you go back to work tomorrow, or when go back to school, He is there near you.
Vs. 17
- Jesus wants to draw them out, and Jesus wants to draw you out. Jesus wants to know what’s on your heart.
- Jesus wants to speak to you from the Bible. He loves you.
Vs. 18-19a
- The two men start telling Jesus about Jesus, not knowing who they are talking to.
- They then begin to explain everything to Jesus about Jesus.
Vs. 19-21
- We were “hoping,” past tense!
- 3 days? That is exactly what he had told them on countless occasions!
- Had these guys fallen out of the stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down?
- Were these guys a few clowns short of a circus?
- They were missing it, and Jesus listened to them. They had lost hope.
- Ex. The leading reason that young people commit suicide is the loss of hope. Suicide among young people has risen dramatically since the 1980’s. The Center for Disease Control released a report that of the largest industrial nations of the world, we, the United States, have the highest suicide rate among youth, twice the number of 24 other nations of the world combined!
- We are called the “land of the free and the home of the brave,” and yet twice the number of our youth are taking their own lives compared to all the other industrialized nations of the world.
- It shows you that having “stuff” and “things” does not satisfy!! It shows that video games, TV programs, cars, big houses, and a great education do not make us happy! I wonder, what does make us happy?
- One theme in all these reports was the loss of hope.
- Ex. It has been said that you can live 40 days without food, 3 days without water, 8 minutes without air, but only one second without hope!
- These men have lost hope/
What did Jesus do to reignite hope in these men?
Vs. 27
- The first thing Jesus did to reignite hope was He took them to the Scriptures; He took them to the Bible.
- Unfortunately, no one took notes on this sermon.
- Don’t you wish you had this sermon by Jesus on Jesus?
Can you imagine, Jesus, the author of the Bible, took them on a personally guided tour of the Bible passages that speak of Him.
- He took them through the Old Testament scriptures and showed them all the prophecies of His coming.
- He took them to Genesis: The first Messianic prophecy in which after Adam and Eve had sinned, that One was coming who “would bruise his head” (Genesis 3:15).
- He probably took them to Exodus: He was the fulfillment of the Passover Lamb that would be slain for the sins of the world, like the High Priest slaying the literal lamb on the Passover, Jesus, who would take away the sin of the world.
- He probably took them to the story of Abraham and Isaac: Remember that Abraham took his son up Mount Moriah. Isaac asked “where is the sacrifice?” and Abraham responded, “God Himself will provide a sacrifice,” a prophecy of Jesus being our sacrifice, for our sins.
- He probably showed them in Numbers that he was the rock that was broken to bring forth water.
- In Joshua, He was the Commander of the Lord’s Army.
- In Isaiah, He may have showed them that He was the one called, “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
- He probably told them that He was the suffering servant in Isaiah that would be bruised for our iniquities and that all of their sins were laid upon Him on the cross.
- He probably showed them the passage in Micah that even told them where he would be born.
- They must have been thinking, “This guy really knows the Bible. I mean the way He speaks, you might think He wrote it!”
Vs. 28-29
- He brought hope by His presence with them
- Jesus indicated that he wanted to stay with them, but that He might just keep going.
- Ex. Have you ever done that, where you’re not sure if you’re really welcome or not, so you drop hints? You see some friends at a restaurant and you say, “Hey guys, what a great restaurant? You’re eating here. Man, am I hungry.”
- You’re dropping hints and they don’t say anything, and you know what that means? It means they want you to go away, now!
- Jesus is waiting for an invitation. He is waiting for an invitation from you.
- Jesus wants us to want Him!
- And their faith and love was rekindled and hope was restored.
Revelation 3:20
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”
- Dine: it means to chow down.
- Nowadays we may not understand this, but in ancient times they didn’t have fast food. Rather, the meal was the main fellowship, the main “hang out” time.
- The meal was the main event of the day. They would lay down on pillows and talk about the day, with relaxed and continuous conversation.
- Ex. In our house, the main room is the kitchen. We spend 90% of our time just hanging out in the kitchen, talking, eating, and “raiding the frig.”
- Jesus wants to “hang out” with you. He wants a relationship, a friendship; He wants to know your heart and your feelings.
- Jesus wants you to open up your heart to Him.
- Jesus wants to hang out with you and make Himself known to you.
- It is not about keeping rules and regulations alone, but it’s about a dynamic growing loving relationship with the Savior and Creator of the world!
- It is about relationship not religion.
Vs. 32
- How did Jesus reignite the heart of these men? How did Jesus bring hope back to these men? In the same way that he can bring hope to your heart today:
- He brought hope back when He talked to them
· Their hearts burned when He talked to them.
· Their hearts did not burn when they talked to Him, but when He talked to them!.
· You may be saying, “I want God to speak to me too.”
· Jesus said,
John 10:27
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”
· We think he’s going to speak in some dramatic way, and instead He speaks very quietly to us in our daily lives.
· He speaks mainly from His Word, the Bible.
· This is how He is speaking to these men on the road. Did our hearts not burn as He opened the scriptures to us?
· Jesus is often speaking to us in a very small voice. You should speak to that someone, you should pray about this, you should slow down and listen to Me.
· If you are not a believer, He is speaking to you too. He is saying,
Revelation 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
But maybe you’ve been turned off by religion or the church in the past:
- Maybe you’ve been hurt by the hypocrisy of some Christian.
- Maybe you’ve been hurt by a pastor.
- Maybe you feel like God doesn’t answer your prayers.
- You’re saying, “I don’t want anything to do with faith.”
- You’ve just misunderstood God. He wants to come into your life and forgive you of your sins.
- All of us have sinned against God. All of us have fallen short of God’s perfect standards. No matter how moral we try to be, we still fall short of God’s standards.
- He bore your sins on the cross, and now He wants to come into your life and set you free.
- Only you can say “yes” to Jesus.
- Only you can open the door of your life and invite Jesus to come in.
- Only you can open your heart to Christ and invite Him to come in.
- Have you done that? Have you opened up your heart before?
- Maybe you have opened your heart to Him and it’s been a long time, and here you are today, wanting to restore that relationship again.
- Maybe you have never really surrendered your life to Christ. You can do that today.
- Do you know that if you were to die tonight, you would definitely go to heaven? Are you absolutely sure?
- If Christ came back, are you ready to meet Him?
- If you have never opened up your heart to Jesus I’m going to give you that opportunity.
- For some of you that have known the Lord at some time, but you have turned away from Him, it’s time for you to come back to Him and restore hope in your life again.
- This is the road to hope.
- Open up your heart today. Let’s pray:
“God I know that I’m a sinner. I thank you for dying on the cross for my sin. Thank you for rising from the grave and conquering sin and death. I now turn from my sin and turn to you by faith. Come into my heart and change me. Be my savior. Be my God. Be my friend. Amen.”
- We have a packet of information to help you grow at our Welcome Center in the lobby.
- If you don’t have a Bible, please take one of ours, as our gift to you.
This sermon was produced at Mountain Springs Church in Colorado Springs, with Senior Pastor Steve Holt. www.mountainsprings.org
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