BUT WE WERE HOPING
Rob Bailey - New Life Church of God
pastorrob01@aol.com
Luke 24:13-21 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. 14And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him. 17And He said to them, "What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?" 18Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, "Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?" 19And He said to them, "What things?" So they said to Him, "The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. 21But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened.
PRAYER
I want to preach this morning on a topic called HOPE.
As a child growing up in the Church of God, I remember a TREMENDOUS amount of sermons being preached on FAITH...
• I remember many sermons being preached about HOLINESS
• Many sermons about LOVE were preached
• Many sermons about the BIRTH, LIFE, PASSION, and DEATH of Jesus
• But the TOPIC of “HOPE” is rarely discussed...
What is HOPE? Hope is a desire, accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment
We live... by and large in a society that has FORGOTTEN what Godly hope is!
• It’s not that we’ve FORGOTTEN the word...
• We’ve just REVERSED the meaning...
Let me give you an example of REVERSING the meaning of HOPE:
• If you say to me... I have decided to attend church faithfully, stop swearing, and stop being cruel to furry animals...
• And my response to you is: “Well, I HOPE so”
• What I am REALLY saying is “I DOUBT so”
• If I say to you... “I have decided to ONLY preach 10 minutes today”
• And your response is, “I HOPE so”
• What you are REALLY saying is, “I DOUBT so”
And if we haven’t REVERSED the meaning of hope... we have NEGATED it by using it in PREPOSTEROUS situations...
• If you are traveling down Juan Tabo at 65 miles per hour, running a red light and swerving to and fro... and then you see blue lights behind you...
• You say to yourself, “I HOPE he is not about to pull me over”
• When you know good and well... HOPE has NOTHING to do with it!
Our society has REVERSED and NEGATED the word, “HOPE”
• But listen to what the Psalmist writes:
Psa 16:9 Therefore my heart is glad, & my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope.
When the Bible speaks of HOPE...
The connotation used is NOT relegated to WISHFUL THINKING...
• The Psalmist is not saying... “My head is in the clouds and I see no problems”
• On the contrary he is saying IN THE MIDST of my TEMPORARY PROBLEMS... my HOPE is in Yahweh God!
HOPE is not WISHFUL THINKING... Instead it means a CONFIDENT expectation!
• It means ANTICIPATING something with FULL ASSURANCE that the something you are ANTICIPATING will INDEED come to pass!
Did you know that without HOPE you cannot have FAITH!
Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Paul is telling us that FAITH is ONLY made POSSIBLE by HOPE!
• The OPPOSITE side of the coins reads that IF HOPE ever dies... FAITH dies too!
We’ve all met people who have LOST their FAITH...
• But long before their FAITH passed away...
• They had visited to GRAVEYARD to bury their DEAD HOPE!
• I’ve met people who had lost their PEACE...
• But before their PEACE left them... Their HOPE died
Psa 31:24 Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart, All you who hope in the LORD.
Psa 39:7 My hope is in You
(Unknown Psalmist) Psa 71:5 For You are my hope, O Lord GOD;
Isa 8:17 And I will wait on the LORD... And I will hope in Him.
Jer 17:7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD.
Jer 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Lam 3:24 "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!"
I am trying to tell somebody today... that if your put your TRUST and your FAITH in th Lord, then your HOPE will never become PAST TENSE and your HOPE will never die!
We must learn to FUNCTION... with an ATTITUDE of HOPE...
As a Christian we must learn to OPERATE and MOVE... in a SPIRIT of HOPE
• You must understand that HOPE is MORE than just being optimistic!
You see... some people by nature are just optimistic
• Some people know how to look on the “bright side of life”
• I like people like that... I like to BE AROUND people like that
Some people NATURALLY see the ROSE PETALS... some see the THORNS
• Some people naturally see the silver lining... others just see the CLOUDS...
• Some say the glass is “half full”... others say “I think someone has been drinking my diet coke”
This may JUST be me, but If I had to CHOOSE who to be marooned on an island
• Without a doubt I would choose an OPTIMIST over a PESSIMIST...
• I like to spend time with people that are POSITIVE and SANGUINE
But, now that being said... having HOPE in God goes BEYOND seeing rose petals, silver linings, and pies in the sky!
You see... there are times in our spiritual journey... that even our BEST intentions of hope become DISPLACED and WRONGLY INVESTED!
As we look back at our text from Luke 24...
• These men walking down the Emmaeus Road had been HOPING...
• In fact.. They said ‘We were HOPING”
• But, now these guys were sad, depressed, dejected, and pitiful...
• And they whined, “But we were hoping...”
• 21But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel
What I want you to see... was that EVEN in the MIDST of their HOPE... they had lost the VISION...
• They were HOPING in HOPE and had CEASED to HOPE in JESUS!
Do you see that?
• Jesus was in PHYSICAL and LITERAL form walking beside them...
• But because something had happened... that went against the scenario they had conjured and visualized in their imagination...
• They moved from HOPING in Jesus..
• To a PAST tense version that said... “We WERE hoping”
You have to UNDERSTAND... that sometimes the WILL and the TIMING of God is going to PLAY OUT differently than what you had expected!
• It is at those times that you had better know that you know that you know
• That your HOPE is in JESUS and not on MAN
• That is when you better KNOW
• That your HOPE is in things ETERNAL and not on the TEMPORARY
You can LOSE your HOUSE... you can LOSE your CAR... you can LOSE your JOB... you can even LOSE your DREAM...
• AND if your HOPE is based on TEMPORARY things... you will lose your HOPE
• But you can NEVER LOSE your HOPE... if your HOPE is BASED upon God
These disciples from Emmaeus Road...
• There names were Cleopas and Simon...
• These were Godly men... these were followers of Jesus
The Bible tells us that they were from Jerusalem toward Emmaus in the evening of the Sunday following the Lord’s death.
• Let me paint the picture....
• These guys had been walking for about 7 miles...
• Emmaus was west of Jerusalem so they were walking into the sunset...
Isn’t that how SAD cowboy movies end... The sun goes down and the poor pitiful cowboy rides off into the sunset?
With heads hung low, the disciples sang the old spiritual song
“Poor, poor pitiful me, all is lost and all is gone...
Poor, poor pitiful me, I’m by myself all alone
Poor, poor pitiful me... But hallelujah I’m almost home”
The REALITY was... Jesus is ALIVE and WELL... He is RESURRECTED...
• He WAS dead... now He is ALIVE... HALLELUJAH Forever and Ever!
• But for Cleopas and Simon... In didn’t matter what the REALITY was!
You see... Human nature looks PAST the REALITY
• And zeroes in on PERSPECTIVE
There are diseases that are onset by this faulty perspective
• Little girls all over this Country look in the mirror & conclude that they are FAT
• Anorexia Nervosa is a disease that effects the mind!
• It doesn’t matter what the TRUTH is .... it doesn’t matter what REALITY is...
• They believe what the SEE... even though what they see is DISTORTED!
At times... Our PERSPECTIVE seems more REAL than the most GENUINE REALITY
• For Cleopas and Simon... it didn’t MATTER what was
• It only mattered what it SEEMED
BUT... Our HOPE must go BEYOND what things SEEM!
• At times our perspective can become JADED!
• At times our perspective can become DISTORTED!
The disciples said, “We WERE hoping” (they should have said, “we ARE hoping”)
• They WERE hoping it would be done THEIR way
• They WERE hoping it would be done in THEIR timing...
• They WERE NOT hoping in Christ Jesus... they were just HOPING
They were saying... “We didn’t think it would be like this...
• “We weren’t expecting this... “If we are servants of God...
• Why should we be going through tests and trials and shaking?”
You see... even these Godly men had become distorted in their hope...
• Their HOPE was based on what they
• SAW, HEARD, TOUCHED, TASTED, FELT... but church that is NOT hope!
Genuine hope is NOT based on your subjective outlook!
• Our subjective outlook is just that... subjective...
• That means that our outlook can change at the drop of a hat...
• Human nature... Fleshly, carnal human nature is FICKLE and INCONSISTENT
NOT SO WITH THE THINGS OF GOD!
• You see... Where man is CHANGING... God is CHANGELESS
• Where man is INCONSISTENT... God is the SAME (Yesterday, today...)
• Where man is FICKLE... God is ETERNAL
When our HOPE is based upon these HUMANISTIC and CARNAL things...
• Out hope can ONLY survive momentarily...
• The life expectancy of our HOPE is but for a brief moment then it dies
• And perishing with our dying HOPE... go our dreams, aspirations, and vision!
But... When our HOPE is based upon the God’s PROVIDENCE
• At that point, OUR hope is connected to the ATTRIBUTES of God...
That means that whatever God is... our HOPE transforms into!
• If our HOPE is built upon the foundation of Christ... Then our HOPE is
• ETERNAL... and UNCHANGING...
• And no weapon of Hell can quench it... No demonic strongman can overcome it...
• The devil himself cannot steal it from you!
• Because your HOPE is based on a KINGDOM other than his!
That’s why Edward Mote, in 1834... took an ink pen & a piece of paper & wrote:
MY HOPE is BUILT on NOTHING less than Jesus Blood and Righteousness
• I dare not trust the sweetest frame but only lean on Jesus Name
• On Christ the SOLID rock I stand all other Ground is SINKING sand
• All other ground is sinking sand!
If your hope is based upon FRIENDS... Friends can betray you...
• If your hope is based upon FAMILY... Family can forsake you...
• If your hope is based upon POSSESSIONS... They can be stolen from you...
• If your hope is based upon ETERNAL THINGS.... Then your hope will weather every storm... and will survive rom EVERLASTING to EVERLASTING!
Heb 6:11-12, 19 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, 12that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. 19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil
CONCLUSION
Cleopas and Simon traveled along the road...
• They were confused and tired... Their hope had died and become past tense...
• But then the resurrected Jesus just began walking beside them along the road...
• And Jesus said... why are you so sad and talking so sadly?
• Cleopas said, ‘Are you a stranger and you don’t know what happened?
• Jesus was crucified.... but we WERE hoping he was going to redeem us...
• Not to mention this is the third day... & now we are missing his body from the tomb!
• Our HOPE is CRUSHED... OUR PEACE IS GONE and OUR FAITH is DRIED UP!
But then this STRANGER begins to REBUKE them...
Luke 24:25-27 Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" 27And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
Something about the WAY this stranger spoke, even though he scolded them, made Simon and Cleopas invite him to dinner..
• In fact they BEGGED Jesus to spend the night...
• While Jesus was at their house verse 30 says
30Now it came to pass, as He sat at the table with them, that He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. 32And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?" 33So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34saying, "The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!"
What caused their DEAD hope to be resurrected?
What caused their LIFELESS hope to be revitalized?
• They said... “Our HEARTS burned within us while HE spoke....
• As they spent time with Jesus... in sweet fellowship with Him
• As they sat and supped w/ Jesus... their eyes were opened & HOPE was reborn!
As they talked about Jesus on the Emmaeus road... everything was past tense...
• Jesus WAS a prophet... past tense
• Jesus WAS mighty in word... past tense..
• Jesus WAS mighty in deed... past tense...
• We WERE hoping... but now He is dead...
• Their DISTORTED perspective view of reality had KILLED their HOPE as they only considered Jesus to be the God of the PAST TENSE
But when Jesus showed up... walking beside them...
• When he went to their house for fellowship..
• When Jesus brake bread and blessed it...
What Jesus was PROVING to THEM.. And what He is proving to US...
• Is that YES, He was the God of the PAST...
• But He is ALSO the God of our PRESENT...
• And when you don’t know what tomorrow will bring...
• Not to worry because He is also the God of our FUTURE!
WOULD YOU STAND WITH ME...
If your hope has been shaken... regardless of PERSPECTIVE today may I remind you that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever...
• If your HOPE is gone... it is time to stop placing your hope in the world of the TEMPORARY... and put in solely in God...
• Simon and Cleopas made a crucial mistake...
• If someone had asked them WHAT or WHO their HOPE was in... without a doubt they would have said, “Our HOPE is in Jesus”
• But their mistake was that they thought Jesus was relegated to doing things THEIR way... and using their time table...
• Their HOPE had died because they were HOPING in their PLAN rather than HOPING in the SOVEREIGNTY and OMNISCIENCE of God
In essence they said, “It didn’t happen in the way we expected, so Jesus failed us”
• Similar to John the Baptist... John found himself in prison... apparently this was not the way he ANTICIPATED his life would end...
• And in a weak moment, he doubted the validity of Jesus and sent his disciples to Jesus and said, “Are you the one... or should we look for another”
Maybe you have found yourself in a situation that you never expected yourself to be in...
• Maybe you had HOPED that things could be different
• And quite possibly the enemy has been using this situation to make you feel UNLOVED by God and REJECTED...
• Maybe you’ve even questioned the VALIDITY of your salvation
The most damnable doctrine ever preached is that Christians will never face problems...
• The biggest lie ever told is that TRUE believers will never have trials...
• But friend in the MIDST of your circumstance... let me remind you that the steps of the righteous are ORDERED by the Lord...
• And even as you walk through the valley of the shadow of death... Jesus is walking right beside you and He has been with you all the way...
• He will never leave you nor forsake you
WITH HEADS BOWED AND EYES CLOSED
If your HOPE has died... REINVEST your hope in Jesus...
• Accept the fact that His WILL might be different than you expected...
• His TIMING might be different... but trust that “all things will work together for the good to them that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose”
As we sing...
• If you are facing a TOUGH SITUATION right now and you would like SPECIAL PRAYER for your RESOLVE to be STRENGTHENED and your HOPE to be RENEWED... The altars are open for prayer
• Let’s put our HOPE in Jesus... and not OURSELVES
CLOSING PRAYER
