“And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not” (Luke 24:11)
I. Heart Aching, 13-24
II. Heart Awakening, 25-36
A. He Opened the Scriptures, 32
B. He Opened their Eyes
C. He Opened their Understanding
III. Heart Quaking, 37-48
A. He Relieves our Fears, 37-39
B. He Reinforces our Faith, 40-45
C. He Redirects our Focus, 46-48
“And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not” (Luke 24:11)
Idle because of their modern association with the Easter Bunny and other Pagan traditions.
Idle because of their unbelief.
Idle because many believe the story to be true but their faith for salvation is not in a Resurrected Christ but in ritual, religion or good works.
Three animals of the forest were arguing among themselves as to which was the most feared.
The hawk claimed that he was because of his ability to swoop down and attack his prey from the air. The lion insisted he was more feared because of his reputation for being the king of beasts. The third participant in the debate was a skunk who explained that he needed neither flight nor might to frighten off any creature.
As the trio argued the issue, along came a grizzly bear and swallowed them all
-hawk, lion, and stinker.
Now, you’re not about to swallow that story, are you? That’s good, because while a little child might, you’re smart enough to know the difference between fable and fact, aren’t you?
Lu 24:1 ¶ Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
2 And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.
3 And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
4 And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:
5 And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? {the living: or, him that liveth}
6 He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee,
7 Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
8 And they remembered his words,
9 And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.
10 It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles.
11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
12 Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.
A. Heartache, 13-24
13 ¶ And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
15 And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
16 But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.
17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
listen in:
18 And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?
19 And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:
20 And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
21 But we trusted (we were hoping) that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done.
22 Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre;
23 And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
24 And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.
Where do you turn when you are heart broken. Why?
Perhaps because they couldn’t lift their eyes up from the road (circumstances) and see that they were not alone.
On the road to Emmaus they had a companion.
Were not traveling alone.
They were searching for answers and He was right there with them.
Where do you go when you are searching for answers? (Mall? Alcohol? Doctor?)
I. Heart Ache
II. Heart Awakening
25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
Jews stumbled over the cross (Isaiah 53)
A. He Opened the Scriptures
Why did he teach scripture when he could have said, “this is Me!?”
27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
I wish I had heard the conversation between the two disciples, but how much more this little sermon by Jesus! Can you imagine the joy of hearing the Messiah Himself preach on the Messianic Psalms and the OT prophecies? I suspect He started with:
Genesis, where He is shown to be the Seed of the Woman
Exodus - the True Passover Lamb
Leviticus - the Atoning Sacrifice
Numbers - the Manna from Heaven, the Serpent lifted up in the Wilderness
Ruth - the Kinsman-Redeemer
Psalms - the Good Shepherd
Isaiah - the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace
Jeremiah - the Branch of Righteousness
Ezekiel - the Plant of Renown
Daniel - the Stone Cut without Hands
Hosea - the Lion of the House of Judah, the husband with an unfaithful wife
Joel - the Stronghold of the sons of Israel
Amos - the Roaring Lion
Obadiah - the Deliverer on Mt. Zion
Jonah - the counterpart who was delivered after three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Micah - the ruler from Bethlehem Ephrathah
Nahum - the One Standing on the Mountain Publishing Peace
Habakkuk - the Rock who goes forth for salvation
Zephaniah - the Victorious Warrior
Haggai - the Signet Ring
Zechariah - the Rider on the Red Horse, the Branch, the King mounted on the donkey, the Cornerstone
Malachi - the Refiner, the Sun of Righteousness, and the Fuller that whitens like no other whitener can
What a sermon that must have been, as Jesus pointed out truth about Himself on every page of the OT!
Friends, we need to read our Bibles with our spiritual eyes open to all that it says about Jesus. He’s there, because this is not just a history book; it is not just great literature. It is the biography of Jesus. The most important thing Jesus does to turn their spiritual depression into joyful confidence is to reveal His presence to them.
Why didn’t He just reveal Himself???
If people will not respond to the Word that is alive and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, they are not going to respond even if someone comes back from the grave and tells them about hell (Luke 16:31).
Certainly, many people are impressed by the miraculous and seek the sensational and the spectacular, but generally, that’s not what changes lives.
(The following is from John MacArthur)
The term the Third Wave of the Holy Spirit also called the Signs and Wonders movement was coined by C. Peter Wagner, professor of church growth at Fuller Theological Seminary School of World Mission. Third Wavers are persuaded that miracles, visions, tongues, prophecies, and healings are essential supplements to the gospel. They view Christianity without those things as impotent, adulterated by the Western, materialistic mind set. Some Third Wavers even say that unbelievers must experience the miraculous to be brought to full faith. Merely preaching the gospel message, they believe without seeing miracles, they say, and those who do will be inadequately converted and therefore stunted in their spiritual growth. Wimber believes that those who simply preach the gospel message fall short of true evangelism. He dubs their approach “programmatic evangelism.” What is needed instead, he says, is “power evangelism.”
Wimber cites Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel as a classic example of a “power encounter,” where the power of God vanquishes the power of evil.
In the Tribulation “signs and wonders” will actually cause people to trust in the Anti-Christ.
“And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,” (Rev 13:13)
“And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live” (Rev 13:14).
Modern miracle workers have yet to call down fire from heaven, but Third Wave aficionados tell of some fantastic signs and wonders that are happening within the movement. Wimber, for example, reported and incident where a woman’s toe, which had been cut off, supposedly grew back. He described another woman in Australia whose cleft palate closed up miraculously three days after God gave him a “word of knowledge” that she would be healed. Wagner recounted a report from Argentine faith healer Carlos Annacondia who told Wagner that:
Two particular manifestations of the Holy Spirit seem to impress unbelievers more than anything else in his crusades: falling in the power of Spirit and filling teeth. On a fairly regular basis, decayed teeth are filled and new teeth grow where there were none before. Interestingly, according to Annacondia, mostly unbelievers’ teeth are filled; very few believers.
What we learn about the miracles from our Lord’s ministry is that miracles do not produce real faith in an unbelieving heart.
The underlying assumption that drives the whole Third Wave movement is wrong. Miracles, signs, and wonders are impotent to produce either faith or genuine revival. Furthermore, power-encounter ministry misses the whole point of our witness. We are not commissioned to confront satanic power with miracle power. We are commissioned to confront satanic lies with divine truth.
“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher” (Rom 10:14)?
“And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things” (Rom 10:15)!
“But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?” (Rom 10:16)
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:17).
(Luke 16:27, 28). Here’s a testimony from hell itself. The rich man was willing to do anything to keep people out of that miserable place. He pleads with Abraham to send Lazarus back to testify to his brothers, thinking that his brothers would listen to one who had come back from the grave. The word testify is very strong in the original. Normally, the word used is martureo, but this time it is intensified by a prefix diamarturomai. The idea is, “You must earnestly tell them . . . thoroughly convince them not to come to this place.”
Abraham’s response is simple. “they have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them” (16:29). “Moses and the prophets” was the Jewish way of referring to the OT Scriptures. In the 20th Century we would say, “They have the Bible; let them listen to it.” But the Jews were always seeking a sign. That’s why the rich man wants to send one “from the dead” (16:30). that sort of sign would surely convince them to repent. the Pharisees continually asked for a sign, but Jesus did not oblige. They must respond to the Word . . . to the message of the kingdom. but they did not. “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (16:31).
Do you want to know the irony of this story? Only a short time later a man by the name of Lazarus will be raised from the dead (John 11). Lazarus becomes a “public” figure, but notice the Pharisees’ response to him. “But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death” (John 12:10).
Let’s go a step further. A short time after Lazarus was raised, Jesus was crucified by these Pharisees. They sealed the tomb to “guarantee” no resurrection. That didn’t matter. Jesus rose from the dead, but they refused to believe. If you will not believe the Word of God, you will explain away the miraculous works of God. What have you done with the Word of God?
B. He opened their eyes
28 And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further.
29 But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
30 And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them.
31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. {vanished...: or, ceased to be seen of them}
32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
Seeing is Believing? NO! Believing is Seeing!
Heart Awakening
33 And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them,
34 Saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.
35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
36 ¶ And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you
I. Heart Ache
II. Heart Awakening
III. Heart Quaking
A. He Relieves our Fears, 37-39
37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
38 And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.
Norman L. Geisler, The Battle for the Resurrection, is an excellent book talking about the importance of a bodily resurrection and some heretical teachings that Christ’s resurrection was rather a Spirit resurrection.
B. He Reinforces our Faith, 40-45
40 And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.
41 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?
42 And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb.
43 And he took it, and did eat before them.
44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
Strobel/McDowell/Who Moved the Stone?
C. He Redirects our Focus, 46-48
46 And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
47 And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
48 And ye are witnesses of these things.
Joh 2:18 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?
19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
21 But he spake of the temple of his body.
22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.
Ro 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
12 ¶ For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Jesus went out of His way to establish the truth of a bodily resurrection!
In order to be saved you must believe in the truth of Christ’s Deity and the fact of His resurrection and that faith must go beyond agreeing with the facts to trust in the resurrected Lord!
In 1893, engineer George Ferris built a machine that bears his name—the Ferris wheel. When it was finished, he invited a newspaper reporter to accompany him and his wife for the inaugural ride. It was a windy July day, so a stiff breeze struck the wheel with great force as it slowly began its rotation. Despite the wind, the wheel turned flawlessly. After one revolution, Ferris called for the machine to be stopped so that he, his wife, and the reporter could step out. In braving that one revolution on the windblown Ferris wheel, each occupant demonstrated genuine faith. Mr. Ferris began with the scientific knowledge that the machine would work and that it would be safe. Mrs. Ferris and the reporter believed the machine would work on the basis of what the inventor had said. But only after the ride could it be said of all three that they had personal, experiential faith.
