Title: “The Road from Unbelief to Faith” Scripture: Luke 24
Type: Expository Where: GNBC 4-19-20
Intro: In today’s passage, roads play a prominent role. Several individuals use a road to either explore evidence for faith in Christ’s resurrection or to actually meet with Christ. The famous American poet Robert Frost wrote a poem entitled: The Road not Taken: “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood, And looked down one as far as I could, To where it bent in the undergrowth…” Everyone is on a road in this life. We all want to have someone or something to believe in. In today’s passage, which takes place on Easter Sunday morning and later that day, we see four different groups of people struggling to make sense of the Resurrection of Christ and how it will impact their lives. Last week was Easter Sunday. It’s easy to play church and act religious on Easter Sunday, but now it’s a week later and maybe we need to examine the evidence to determine whether or not it’s worth my effort to believer.
Prop: Examining Lk. 24 we’ll see four groups of individuals who struggled w/doubts 1st Easter morning.
BG: 1. Text is from Luke 24. John 20 also covers some of this story.
2. Last week was Easter Sunday but still matter for our consideration more that 1 day a year.
Prop: Let’s look to Lk. 24 to see 4 groups of individuals who were struggling w/doubts 1st Easter morning.
I. 1st We See 2 Groups of Individuals Who Were on the Road to Faith that Easter Sunday.
A. A Group of Women go to the Grave w/no Expectations that Christ had risen from the Dead.
1. We see a devout group of women going to the grave of Christ early Easter morning.
a. V.10 (Read) This group of women consisted of Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, possibly other women. These women did NOT go to the tomb because they believed that Jesus was victorious over death. They went to the tomb because they had watched Him die! They knew that the anointing of the corpse had been a rushed job due to Passover and so they wanted to come early that morning to properly prepare the body for permanent burial. V.1 – We see that that women came bearing spices, which were used in anointing the body for burial. Don’t be misguided, the women came to the tomb that morning because they knew that Jesus had died and they assumed His body was still there.
b. Vv.2-3 The women entered the tomb and find the unexpected: 1. No body! & 2. Somebody! There was no body of Christ to be anointed and there were two somebodies who informed the women that No Body was there! What was the response of the women to this information? V. 4 – they were perplexed and v.5, they were terrified! I am not sure that they were terrified solely by the angelic messengers, I think the very message itself was terrifyingly wonderful! He is not here! He is risen! The poor women’s circuits were instantly overloaded! How do you process the message? How do you process the messenger? It was wonderful and terrifying.
2. What did these Women Do with the Wonderful News they Had Received?
a. Vv.8-9 – Instantly these women knew exactly what they had to do: “Go tell the others!” Illust: When you get good news, what do you do? Whether by word or phone or text or FB or Instagram or…, YOU TELL SOMEONE! These women had just learned the greatest news the world has ever heard and Mary wanted to tell the disciples. She was expecting a sympathetic and supporting audience.
b. Illust: Robert Cunville tells the following story: “I was traveling from Delhi to London to speak at a Festival. I boarded the flight at 2 a.m. and put on my eye shades because I wanted to sleep. Sitting next to me were three men who immediately began to drink and carouse. They even used my table for their empty alcohol bottles. Early in the morning breakfast was announced. Taking off my eye shades, I asked the flight attendant to clear my table. Taking out my Bible, I began to read. One of the three asked what I was reading. “The Bible,” I replied. “I am reading about the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross for our sins.” He grabbed my arm and began to cry. “I have sinned against God and my wife,” he confessed. Cunville asked if he would like to repent of sins and trust Christ and to his surprise he said yes. “It was the Holy Spirit who used my simple witness of the Gospel to draw him to God. Like this man, people around us may appear to be happy and content. But deep down, every person who does not have a personal relationship with Christ feels the pain of separation from God.” (Decision, 2-10-2011)
B. Hearing the Women’s Witness, Peter and John veer off the Road of Fear and onto On Ramp to Faith.
1. The shocking news affected these two disciples differently than the others.
a. Illust: Years ago we were traveling through Canada. In the beautiful city of Toronto. Toronto has insane traffic and everyone seems to be traveling about 50 mph/kph faster than the speed limits. The highways in Toronto are massive with commuter lanes, etc. As we were in the midst of rush hour traffic, excessive speeds, unfamiliarity of the city and surroundings, pre-GPS guided days, my wife said: “Here comes your turn off.” I had a choice…turn quickly to get on the off ramp or be carried off course by the inertia of events. I made a split-second decision to follow my wife’s lead…and we safely made it to our destination.
b. Two disciples, Peter and John (John 20 tells us this.) decided to listen to the women and abruptly change course from doubter’s road to examine the highway of faith. Hearing Mary’s incredible news and in an act o hope, faith, and possibly consternation, the two men race to the empty tomb to test the news for themselves.
2. Although arrive last, Peter is the first to enter the tomb.
a. We see in the passage that John gets to the tomb 1st. Yet, he does not enter. Peter catches up and impetuously enters. He sees the linen, the face cloth, the napkin. Peter’s action inspired John to greater faith and he steps in to examine the evidence for himself. Friend, never forget the steps of your and my faith are being carefully monitored by others and sometimes those steps give courage to others to do the same!
b. Illust: When 1 of our sons 1st tried to walk he fell quite hard and decided walking wasn’t for him. Crawling was safer. Another family in our church had a daughter exact same age. Amanda was born with club foot and foot had to be casted as an infant to correct the ailment. The two children were playing in our living room when Amanda popped up off the ground, cast on foot, and proceeded to walk across the floor. Our son, sitting there, let out a little sign, as if shamed into the attempt, and carefully pulled himself up on the couch and began to take tentative steps while clinging desperately to the furniture’s security. Amanda’s actions had instilled faith into that little boy to take a step by faith. Mary’s testimony and Peter’s actions had inspired John to enter the tomb and entering he believed what Christ had done!
C. Applic: v. 8 – Key verse that is often overlooked in the account: “And they remembered His words.” Friend, it’s the WOG that converts the heart. It’s the WOG that when truthfully examined will veer you off the road of fear and failure and faithlessness and onto the road of faith! Each individual we examined started their morning on the road of doubt and despair but finished the day on the Highway of Faith.
II. 2nd We See 2 Groups of People Who Initially Had their Feet Firmly Planted on Doubter’s Road.
A. The Disciples’ Initial Response to the Women’s Testimony was far from faith-filled!
1. The majority of the men Christ had spent His entire ministry with were decidedly unconvinced by the testimony of the women early that Easter morning.
a. V.11 – ‘appeared as nonsense” – KJV – “silly talk” – Now, you have to realize that in that time and in that culture, a woman was not even determined to be a credible witness in a court of law. I love our Lord! Isn’t it amazing, that He chose to use the testimony of women to be His heralds of the greatest news the world had ever heard! The simple and emotional testimony of the women seemed like nonsense to the sophisticated and self important men! The term was used in classical Greek of the ramblings of a sick person’s ramblings when delirious from fever! They thought the women were crazy! Off their nut! Whacked in the head! Crazy! Illust: When I became a Christian, my brother broke the news to my father, who apparently used a little profanity in describing the situation. Then looking at Jeff he said, “Don’t worry, he’ll grow out of it.” Well, praise God, I have never “Grown out of it, and my father grew into it!”
b. Notice the last half of that verse: “and they would not believe”. Unbelief is a choice of the will. In this situation, the disciples thought they were sophisticated elites who knew better than these foolish women. They ran the numbers, they knew that history, science, and experience were on their side. In the scope of the human experience exactly “0” individuals had ever raised themselves from the dead and they were not about to be swayed.
2. Illust: “I find that contemporary atheists take great umbrage at the biblical claim that God holds people to be morally culpable for their unbelief. They want to maintain their unbelief in God without accepting the responsibility for it. This attitude enables them to reject God with impunity. Now we can agree that a person cannot be held morally responsible for failing to discharge a duty of which he is uninformed. The entire question is: are people sufficiently informed to be held morally responsible for failing to believe in God? The biblical answer to that question is unequivocal. First, God has provided a revelation of Himself in nature that is sufficiently clear for all cognitively normal persons to know that God exists. Paul writes to the Roman church: The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened (Rom. 1. 18-21). Second, wholly apart from God’s revelation in nature is the inner witness which the Holy Spirit bears to the great truths of the Gospel, including, I should say, the fact that God exists. Anyone who fails to believe in God by the end of his lifetime does so only by a stubborn resistance to the work of the Holy Spirit in drawing that person to a knowledge of God. On the biblical view people are not like innocent, lost lambs wandering helplessly without a guide. Rather they are determined rebels whose wills are set against God and who must be subdued by God’s Spirit.” (Craig, Reasonable Faith, Dec. 13, 2010).
B. We see a Second group of Individuals Who started their Journey with feet firmly Planted on Doubter’s Road.
1. In this section we are introduced to two Discouraged, Disheartened Doubters.
a. v. 13 We are introduced to two men who are on the road that goes 7 miles from Jerusalem West/Northwest to Emmaus. These two men, one of whom is named Cleopas, whom some scholars think may be the “Clopas” mentioned in John 19:25: “Mary the wife of Clopas” who was at the cross of Christ. These men were walking up the road to Emmaus discussing the events of the day. Like our world today with this virus, there was no other talk than what had possibly happened in Jerusalem that morning. As they are walking, an apparently uninformed stranger appears to them and asks them about the events. We don’t know why Jesus wasn’t recognizable, regardless, to that point they did not know who He was. The two men recount the story to Christ! Don’t you suppose Jesus had to stifle a smile or two as these two regaled Him with the information of the account!
b. The Bible says that they “stood looking sad” v. 17 – Friend, let me tell you, I have never met a happy atheist or agnostic. (Richard Dawkins – the face of “New Atheism” – is he a happy person? Ask 1 of his 3 ex wives.) Joy comes from knowing a Risen Jesus! I want you to realize these men had apparently, along with the other disciples, seen the evidence of the empty tomb but refused to believe. You see, two people can look at the exact same evidence and come to 2 radically, life altering conclusions.
2. Let me ask you friend, are your feet traveling down Doubter’s Road today?
a. These followers of Christ were discouraged. They had seen their Savior die. They had never seen anyone rise from the dead! Their grief was understandable. Maybe you are enduring trials that have caused your confidence in God’s provision to be rattled. It is also possible that your doubt is the result of unbelief and a lack of trusting in God’s promises. In times such as these, we must be reminded that the Lord of heaven and earth delights to bend down to hear the cries of His people. His mercy reaches into the abyss. Psalm 130:1-2 “Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!”
b. Illust: I have always loved hearing C.S. Lewis’ recounting of his personal conversion from atheism/agnosticism to faith in Christ. Did you know that CS Lewis came to faith in Christ on a road? Yes he did. In a side car! “When we set out (to go) I did not believe that Jesus is the Son of God and when we reached the zoo I did.” So wrote C.S. Lewis, describing his conversion to Christianity in the sidecar of his brother Warnie’s motorbike, which took place on 22 September 1931. Three days prior, Lewis had talked with friends Hugo Dyson and JRR Tolkein about the Christian faith into the early hours of the morning. Dyson continued the conversation, pointing out the practicality of Christianity—a religion with power to actually free from sin, instill peace, and provide genuine outside help to change one’s character.
C. Applic: Unbelief is a choice. It is a choice to resist the force of the evidence and the drawing of God’s Holy Spirit. The unbeliever is like someone dying of a fatal disease who refuses to believe the medical evidence concerning the efficacy of a proffered cure and who rejects the testimony of his doctor to it and who, as a result, suffers the consequence of his own stubbornness. He has no one to blame but himself. Each individual ultimately came to Christ.
III. 3rd We Meet the Companion Each Must Know to Successfully Navigate the Road of Faith. V.25-34
A. Notice Christ’s Assessment of these men’s lack of faith.
1. The assessment was twofold: “O foolish men” –“Foolish” is the Greek anoetos, which literally means, “without understanding,” but it generally carries a sense of blame. It has a moral as well as an intellectual sense, and the use of this word suggests their condition was a product of their own indifference and self-reliance. “The fool has said in his heart there is no God.” (Psalm 14:1) The fool denies the resurrection of Christ! The fool chooses not to believe the promises of God and His power to do exactly what He says He will do. In the OT a fool is one who is not only without God’s wisdom, but who is without it because he thinks he does not need it!
2. V.25 - “slow of heart to believe”- shows us that being naive and a fool deal with a person’s chosen condition and outlook and not his mental equipment. This concept is further supported by the next statement of our Lord because He also addressed them as “slow of heart to believe all . . .” This brings out two pertinent points: 1. They were sluggish toward the God’s Word; there was no push, no desire to know it fully (cf. Heb. 5:11f). It revealed an attitude or priority problem toward the Scriptures. That’s they way all too many are today. No real desire to search the Scriptures for oneself. All to easy to post a meme or be lulled to death on social media than to seriously seek God’s Word and Wisdom.
B. What was Christ’s Antidote for the two men’s lack of Faith?
1. Christ gives two antidotes to the lack of faith these men had: a. v.27 (Read) The Word of God, and b. vv.29-30 Christ’s Fellowship. I think those two antidotes hold true for us today. If you are unsure of who Jesus is, read the Word of God…read the Gospels, read the OT which predicts His coming. And second, ask Him to make Himself known to you. Spend time getting to know Christ in fellowship.
2. What was the result of these two antidotes: v. 31 “Their eyes were opened.” Salvation is a work of God my friend. Only Christ can infuse life into the spiritually dead. Only Christ can open blinded eyes. Don’t continue to live a life without faith. Quick wandering down the path of fear and doubt. Illust: I have a friend who is an evangelist. He recently wrote a little piece for Easter that we can all relate to in our day of social distancing. He ended is article by writing the following: “Make sure you are testing positive for faith. Keep a safe distance from doubt. And isolate yourself from unbelief. If a tiny virus can do this much damage, imagine what mustard seed size faith can do!” (Credit to Mark Templeton.)
C. Notice the response of these men when they examine the Word of God and Fellowship with Christ: v. 33 – Immediately get up and make the trek back to Jerusalem to tell the disciples: v.34 “The Lord has really risen!”
Conclusion: I began this message by reading the first stanza of Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken: “I shall be telling this with a sigh, Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” Which road are you traveling down today? The road of fear and doubt or the road of absolute confidence in the Risen Savior, Jesus Christ. I encourage you to take that road before it is too late. Repent and trust Christ.
