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I thought this was going to work, but it’s not. So if it doesn’t, we’ll just go on without it, when he was still in his mother’s womb, she was told that he would be called the son of God most high, and that he would sit on the throne of his father, David Luke one in verse 32 shortly after his birth,
the shepherds were in the field and they were told in Luke chapter two and verse 11 and 12, that in this day in the city of David, a savior is born to you. And he would be known as Christ the Lord. The first time his parents took him to the temple. One of God’s faithful servants that had been there serving for many years,
as Jesus was brought out, he said in Luke two in verse 32, that he would be a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the hope of Israel. And right after that, a prophetess by the name of Anna said he would be for the rising and falling of many nations. You can imagine with all of these things said about Jesus, him being described in these glowing terms,
by prophets and angels and spokesman, that Israel was sitting on the edge of their seats as he was brought forth into the world, after his baptism from John at 30 years old. But it wasn’t just the things that were said about him. It was the things that he did. His preaching was such that Luke says they hung on his, every word nobody had ever preached like Jesus had before and not just his preaching,
but also the signs. The miracles Jesus was able to raise the dead to heal those that were paralyzed to open the eyes of the blind. And even the demons would come out confessing. He is in fact, the son of God, he was bold and courageous and unafraid of the religious rulers. As he would stand up to them, Luke 13 30, 1 and 32,
he said of Herrick, go tell that Fox. I do miracles today and tomorrow and arise from the dead. On the third day, they were impressed. They were spellbound. Jesus would often drop hints about his death. But as you could imagine, if you were one of the disciples, they were so caught up in all of the excitement. They thought finally,
our time had come, God has visited. His people were on the winning team and we will be triumphant. They had no time for talk about death and resurrection. All they thought about was victory and winning. And then almost as soon as it started, it ended one of his own betrayed him. The authorities took him and this man who it raised the dead hushed,
the sea opened the eyes of the blind was bloody beaten and helpless. And his disciples in that moment, as you might imagine, it took all of the words of Simeon and Anna and the angels and their hopes. And they thought the hopes of all of Israel were dash. And Jesus is said to have Ray. When Rick raised from the dead Luke 24 verses one through 12,
he appears to some women, but the word doesn’t travel fast enough, which brings us to our text tonight. If you have your Bible, go ahead and turn to Luke 24, Luke 24, and we’ll notice verses 13 down through 35. This is one of those occasions as has already been mentioned. This track on the seven o’clock hour has been for the appearances that Jesus made two disciples after his resurrection and Jesus appears.
And Luke 24, 13 through 35 to two disciples, we know the name of one. His name is and the other is unnamed. We’re told in verse 13, they were 60 stadia or seven miles away from Jerusalem. And as they’re making this journey, Jesus meets with these man. And he has a conversation with them, a conversation that lets us know some of their heartaches,
some of their frustration and disappointment and Jesus also in talking with them shines in some of the brightest hope that our hearts could ever imagine and wish for what these disciples receive is ultimately what we need when we’re discouraged. When we feel defeated, even with the fact of the resurrection standing right out before us, what I want to do tonight is say five things from Luke 24, 13 through 15 five things that will help us to be blessed by the resurrection.
If we will be blessed by the resurrection this week, we’ve studied about the reality of it. We’ve talked about how our bodies will be transformed and changed that how we need this heavenly view and mindset, but how are our lives on a day-to-day basis, blessed by the resurrection? How can we get the most so to speak after the resurrection, both now and in the eternal day to come?
I think we find it right here in Luke 24, 13 through 35. Number one, we’re blessed by the resurrection. When we realize that partial knowledge destroys our hope, partial knowledge or ruin your hope. These men were on their way coming from Jerusalem in verses 13, down through verse 24. And they’re discouraged as you might imagine, Jesus comes in their company verses 14 and 15,
and this would have been common with all of the Jews in and around Jerusalem for Passover he’s in their company. Their heads are down, they’re discouraged and distraught verse 16 says his appearance was concealed or hidden from them. They were blinded both physically and spiritually to the things they can place. Jesus says, what are you talking about with yourselves on the road?
And they think he’s the ignorant one. And they say, are you the only one in Israel who doesn’t know about these things? What things, Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet of God, a man mighty and word and deed. And they go to tell him in verse 20, how the authorities took Jesus and delivered them up to be crucified. But above that,
they thought that he was the hope of Israel. Now their hopes are dashed from verses 22 to 24. They talk about the women who had appeared to them and told them that they went to the tomb. They found not his body, but neither had they seen Jesus they’re distraught. And if you and I will be blessed by the resurrection we learned in this first point,
that partial knowledge ruins our hope. You see, they knew certain things about what Jesus had done. Verse 19, he’s a prophet of Nazareth mighty in word, indeed, that’s true, but that’s not the whole story. They knew that Jesus had been crucified. And the Bible says that that happened. And many of them had known that, but they didn’t know the rest of the story.
And because of that, they were about ready to surrender all hope. You know, as Christians, the Bible says, we’re saved by hope, Romans eight 20, or to rejoice, rejoice and Haute, Romans 12 and verse 12, where to receive hope from God, Romans 15 in verse 13, we’re not to sorrow. Brandon talks about this earlier today.
First Thessalonians four 13 says we are not to sorrow as others, which have no hope in the new Testament. Hope is not a wish or something that we think might happen. Hope is this confident expectation, looking forward to things that we believe in our sure would transpire. But if you and I only have a partial knowledge of God’s word and his will,
our hope will ultimately be dashed that knew some great things about what Jesus had done. And in fact, they speak truthfully about some of the events that have transpired, what they say in verse 19 is true and what they say in verse 20th. True, but they don’t have all of the information. They don’t have all the facts. And so because of that,
they’re discouraged, man, named William citizens is probably one of the most educated and really just brilliant people that has ever lived in our world. When he was 18 months old, he could read the New York times. By the time he was eight years old, he knew Hebrew, German, French, Latin, and many other Armenian languages. In fact, when he died,
he knew 40 languages fluently. He was accepted into Harvard university at 11 years old, but upon his graduation, he worked as a bookkeeper and a store clerk. And every time somebody found out his identity, he would run off again into obscurity. He died in solitude and in isolation at 46 years of age, they say he was brilliant, but his people skills were lacking.
He had knowledge in certain areas. He was strong and confident in certain areas when it came to book smarts and intelligence, but he liked the things that would fuse together and make him a whole, and a complete person. These disciples Cleopas and his companion, they don’t have all the knowledge that they need. And because of that, their hopes are potentially dashed.
Jesus will later informed them about the things they need to know so that their hopes can be picked up, but they hang their heads and their hopes as a result of not knowing all of the things that have transpired, as far as they’re concerned, Jesus has gone. The hope of Israel has gone. And all of the prophecies that we thought about him made us victorious,
have proven us to ultimately be defeated. You see if we don’t have a full, comprehensive knowledge of God’s word, this same thing will happen to us. I believe it was a few years ago. This idea of fake news became popular this term, fake news, which really means that, which is unfactual and misleading. And that means if somebody were to share something at a rapid pace and it made his way around it,
fake news got got into somebody’s knowledge. It could destroy their lives, ruin their lives if they believed it and made changes based on this false information. But what we learned in Luke 24 is not only is fake news detrimental, but so as fractional news to only have half of the story is not enough. We live in a world where people profit on telling us only half of the story where people tell us only the part they want us to know.
And sometimes, most times that’s the bad news. We live in a world where people profit on us, always being scared of someone or something. And there’s always something to be worried about. And while it’s true, we live in a fallen world. First, John five 19 says the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. It’s also true that God is still good,
whom one in verse seven, that every perfect gift and every good gift comes down from above, from the father of lights, James, one 17, that God loads us daily with benefits for our good Psalm 68 in verse 19. And if we don’t believe those things are partial knowledge of all of the bad things in our lives will ultimately ruin us. Joe was a great man and a great patriarch,
but if he had one flaw, this was it. His partial knowledge of what God was doing or what he believed God wasn’t doing almost caused him to curse God and turn away from his faith. What does God say to Joe when he appears in job 38 in verse two, who is this, that darkens counsel and utters words, without knowledge, Joe didn’t have a full knowledge of the things that were taking place and having somebody says,
but wait a minute, Joe didn’t know about chapters one and two, and that’s the point in your life? And in my life, there may be some joke chapters, one and two that we don’t know about. And we should be careful not to allow partial knowledge ultimately to ruin and destroy our hope. What does this mean for you and me? It means be aware of judging God and his goodness based on the darkest days of your life.
These men think that the death of Jesus was the end of God’s plan. But in fact, it inaugurated God’s plan God’s plans. Weren’t dashed by the death of Jesus. They were introduced into the world, be aware based on our belief on God’s ability to fulfill his promises on whether or not our prayers were answered. Just the way we thought they should’ve been at just the time we thought they should have been answered.
Romans nine in verse 20 says, shall the thing formed say to the one that formed him, what are you doing? God’s been God, a lot longer than we’ve been serving him in studying about him. And so based on that, our partial knowledge should cause us to give pause in our lives. There’ll be hardships and reversals, and we’ll be tempted to allow those things to make up the whole picture.
And these two disciples give us a window into their folly and we should avoid there. Mistake. Number two will be blessed by the resurrection. When we possess heaven’s perspective, Jesus rebukes these men in verses 25 through 27. Once they tell him these things about what has happened, he says, oh, foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that.
The prophets have spoken, not Christ to have suffered these things. And then to have entered into his glory and beginning with Moses and all the prophets. He explained to them, all the things in the scriptures concerning himself. If we will be blessed by the resurrection, we need this same attitude. We need to possess heaven’s perspective on everything in our lives.
They had an earthly perspective Cliofas and his companion. They had their idea of how things look and Jesus rebukes them. Notice verse 25. He calls them foolish and puts them on the level of unbelievers because they didn’t look to God for the true knowledge. They were foolish. In this regard, they had allowed their circumstances to define God instead of the other way around.
And so he rebukes them foolish and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets has spoken circle, that all you see earlier, they had a partial knowledge. They knew some of the scriptures, but Jesus says, your problem is you haven’t followed this thing all the way through slow of heart. And I believe all that the prophets have spoken. They knew some of the prophecies,
but Jesus says, without this total knowledge of God’s plan, they were making bad assumptions and they were ruining their hope in the process. How do we enjoy and be blessed? How are we blessed by the resurrection? We got to possess heaven’s perspective. And so what does Jesus do? He begins in the law of Moses and works his way out to the prophets and shows them all to the scriptures concerning himself.
You know, these men didn’t have the new Testament and it’s impressive that Jesus believe that even with the old Testament scriptures, they could have knowledge, not only of his death, but also of his resurrection. Romans 15, four says whatever things were written before time were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. See,
we sometimes say Romans 15, four, whatever things are written for time was written for our learning. But Paul says they also provide hope. Why is that? Because even in the old Testament scriptures, there’s the echoing of the resurrection and these make it know it. If you continue down in Luke 24, verse 44, Jesus will eventually tell these men,
all things written in the law of Moses and in the profits. And then the songs had to be fulfilled concerning me. In the end, all of the Bible is about Jesus and Jesus takes these men to school and shows them how to read the Bible. What passages do you think Jesus went to? When it says he went through all the law of Moses and all the profits.
So he could declare the things concerning himself. What passages do you think he highlighted? Maybe you went to Genesis three 15, and he said, you see this prophecy that took place in the garden of Eden about the serpent, having his head crushed, but about the Christ, having his heel bruise, that passage is about your Messiah. And maybe he went to Psalm 16,
where David talks about the holy one, who soul would not be left in Haiti’s or his flesh allowed to see corruption, but who will ultimately be raised. And maybe he flipped over and went to Psalm 22 and said, you’ve heard this craft from him. My God, my God. Why have you abandoned me? But if you read the rest of the song,
he is ultimately not abandoned, but eventually he reigns with God and is protected and saved. You’ve got to believe. He went to Jonah one 17 and said Jonah was in the fish’s belly for three days and three nights. But he was supposed to be in the heart of the earth, in the tomb for three days and three nights. And then Isaiah 53,
not only to talk about him being bruised and wounded for our iniquities, but also Isaiah says he would rise from the dead and through him, all people would live. Jesus started in the profits and work and started in the law of Moses and worked his way out and said, listen, all of the Bible is ultimately about me in your life, in my life.
If we would be blessed by the resurrection, we need to possess heaven’s perspective. Let God tell us how life is supposed to be study the word of God. And Jesus is teaching these men. Ultimately, if you want to know, God’s will know God’s word. They thought the son of man was not supposed to suffer as he did. They say,
all of our hopes are dashed. And Jesus is saying, this was always a part of God’s plan. It’s where Peter preached on Pentecost, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved among you with signs and wonders, which God did by him in the midst of you, him being delivered up according to the determinate counsel and for knowledge of God you’ve taken. And by wicked hands you’ve crucified and slain whom God raised up because it was impossible for the grave to hold him.
This was always God’s plan. And Jesus wanted them to know it. And in your life, if we’re going to be blessed by the resurrection and in my life, we’ve got to start seeing it the way God does put on God’s glasses. By looking into God’s word, his ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, but there’s scripture.
He gives us a ladder so we can see it the way he does to a football game recently see the Tennessee Titans plate. And we’ll say, I have budget seat tickets. We’ll just call them that. What does that mean? What are budget tickets? That means I saw the game. I had a great time, but I wasn’t in the splash zone.
I wasn’t going to get an autograph or anything like that, but we saw the game. If there would have been a controversial call in the game, what they wouldn’t have done, they wouldn’t have said, Hey buddy, you and the two or 300 section, did he get one foot in or two? They’ve got people that are close up on it.
People that have a better perspective than me that would have been able with the proximity, with which they were in to say, no, he was in. And he was out and in your life and mind here’s the question. Does God have a better vision of your life than you do? Or do you have a better vision of it? The Bible says God’s eyes go to and fro throughout all the earth.
Second Chronicles 16 and verse nine. He knows the end from the beginning, Isaiah 46 in verse 10. If we go to Hades or heaven or the grave, we can’t hide from them. So I’m 1 39, 7 through 12. We’ve got to take on heaven’s perspective and see things the way that God would have us to see it. And we do that by looking at scripture,
what does the Bible say in our lives is the ultimate question. Jesus teaches these men and us the proper way to read the Bible is backwards. It’s to come to the new Testament and see what Jesus says about himself. And then, and only then are we really ready to go back to the old Testament and see everything that it says and who would ultimately point to what is the priesthood?
What is a king all about? And what about the sacrifices? He starts in the law of Moses. And he says, this is how things are supposed to work out. Be where in your life of evaluating your, the Bible based on your own circumstances. Instead, evaluate your circumstances based on what you find in the Bible. Turn your Bible to Psalm 42 in Psalm 42.
And in Psalm 43, hold your hand in Luke 24, we learn a principle that if we’re going to have heaven’s perspective in our lives, what we should do, we’ve got to learn this practice. We must talk to our hearts and not listen to our hearts. These men were so discouraged because they were talking to their hearts about how life was supposed to be.
And we should do this every morning. When we get up before we do anything else, don’t start listening to your heart. Start talking to it because this is what the Psalm does. And Psalm 42 in verse five. And he does the same thing in Psalm 43, verse five. Why are you cast down on my soul? And why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God’s salvation. Isn’t him. You see what the Psalmus does. He doesn’t let his heart tell him how he’s going to behave. He says to his heart, why are you cast down? Why are you in trouble? Think about what God has done. Your heart is a great student, but a terrible teacher. Don’t let your heart tell you how life’s supposed to be.
Start out. As soon as your eyes stand. Now, this is how this day is going to go. I’m a child of God. I’m in the family of God. I’ve got the remission of sins I’m saved. I’ve got to look at what the scripture say. These men had taken their eyes off of the Bible, taking their eyes off of these passages.
And because of that, they were distraught and discouraged. And Jesus says only when you look at it from heaven’s point of view, can you see how God is ultimately working things out, how God ultimately wants to work all things together for good. For those that love him, Romans eight in verse 28, they needed heaven’s perspective. And we need the same thing.
We all run the risk of looking at our lives in the little snapshots in which you received them in these 24 hour doses and determining God’s goodness or how blessed we are, how our day’s going. But Jesus says to these men who are discouraged and who think that they’ve lost out, he says, you’re not losers. You’re winners. Who’ve cashed in you’re on the winning team.
Jesus’s resurrection was ultimately triumphant. The third thing we see is we need to allow the scriptures to penetrate our hearts. Jesus rebukes these men in verses 25 through 27. And then in verse 28 down through verse 32, they want Jesus to go with them. Jesus is persuaded. He pretends as if he’s going to go further than these men. And they begged him to stay with him.
And he does. He goes into their company and then the Bible says he took bread and blessed it and break it. And then he gave it to them and then they recognized him and he vanished from their sight. And they say in verse 32 did not our hearts burn within us when he walked with us on the way. And when he talked to us,
when he opened up the scriptures and when he walked with us, when we were in the way, the third thing tonight is penetrate your heart with the scriptures. If we will be blessed by the resurrection, we must do what these men did. You know, they should have known this was Jesus by this point. So many things that Jesus does on this occasion,
he had dumped her out their lives, John 1 39. He told those disciples when he first encountered them, come and stay with me. He does the similar thing here is he stays with these man. There’s no, no place in any of the gospel accounts where Jesus puts a morsel of food to his mouth without doing what he does here and breaking bread and giving.
Thanks. It reads just like Luke 22 in Matthew 26. What the partaking of the Lord’s supper, Jesus is revealing himself to these men and they don’t see him. So many people miss Jesus throughout his life. They thought he was someone else. Harriet said, he’s John, the Baptist raised from the dead Matthew 14, verse two. When the disciples came into the coast of Cesarea Philippi,
they said he must be one of the prophets. When he went to the feast of Tabernacles in John seven in verse 12, they said, this man is just a good man. He was supposed to be a man possessed by demons and Matthew 1224. And then in John 20 and verse 15, he was simply the gardener and even Cleopas and his companion and Luke 24 18 believed he’s just some random companion going along the road.
It’s not until Jesus opens up the scriptures and says, look at what the Bible is saying. And then he reveals himself to them and they see him as he really is. We will only know who God truly is and be blessed by the resurrection to the degree that we allow the scriptures to penetrate our hearts. This means more than just reading the Bible on a daily basis to fulfill some new year’s resolution or just reading the Bible to say that we have done it is to read the Bible,
to understand Ephesians three, three through five says, Paul wrote these things by revelation. And when we read, we’ll understand his knowledge in the mystery, we read with this intensity and this desire that we want to rash from the pages of scripture and say like Isaiah and Isaiah six in verse eight, Lord, here am I send me one? Man has said,
every Christian should pray this prayer. Lord help us not to be the kinds of Christians who love to learn, but hate to change. You know, we can be the kind of people that love to study the Bible that love to come to lectureships and get out commentaries and books and talk about the Bible, but never really are changed by the Bible. Reading the Bible in and of itself can become an exercise that we enjoy to engage in.
But until the scriptures really penetrate our hearts until we’re transformed by what we read in the Bible, it’s all for not verse 32 says their hearts burned within them. When he opened up the scriptures, how do we read the Bible like that? How do we read the Bible in such a way? How do we handle the scriptures so that they penetrate our hearts?
Here are a few practical things we can do to make sure that we do this. Number one. When you read the Bible, when I read the Bible, we should say right away, what in this passage do I need to take up in my own life and obey immediately don’t delay do it immediately. Psalm 1 39, 23 and 24. The Solomon says, search me O God and know my heart.
Try me and know my anxieties and see if there’s any evil way a man lead me in the way that’s everlasting. What’s in this passage that I need to do right away. Number two, study for you and not for them. Second, Timothy two 15 says study to show yourself approved unto God. It doesn’t say study to prove yourself, right? It says study to show yourself approved it.
You know, it’s easy to study the Bible to see all of the false doctrines that everybody else believes and all of the things that everybody else has gotten wrong in all of the things that everybody else needs to change, but we won’t be blessed. They won’t ever really penetrate our hearts. We won’t be blessed by the resurrection until we study to show ourselves approved.
Number three, when you read the Bible resolve to do and not just to discuss, James says the only person that’s blessed by the Bible is the person that does be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own sales. If any mans are here over the word and not a doer, he’s like a man who holds natural face in the glass.
And then he goes his way and forgets what manner of man he was. But whoever looks into the perfect law of Liberty, he being not a forgetful here, but a doer of the word, this man, and only this man will be blessed in what he does, James 1 22 to 25. Number four, if we read the Bible and allow it to penetrate our hearts,
as you read the Bible, be aware of always reading yourself into the hero line. Don’t assume you would have done better than the people that you’re reading about. We read Exodus 32 and we say, oh, what a fool? Aaron was, do you know how many golden calves we built in our own lifetime? And we might read ourselves into the hero every time we say,
well, I’m David. I would have gone out in first, Samuel 17, but really we would have probably been the ones afraid in the tense. If we always read the Bible and assumed we would have been better than the people were reading about the scripture will never really penetrate our hearts. We’ve got to see ourselves as those broken individuals who more than likely would have been just like the people that we sometimes read about and despise number five,
when you read the Bible, behold, the promises within his pages and read them and receive them as if they were written directly and specifically to you, the scriptures won’t penetrate our hearts until we believe that the things that are said in here about heaven, the forgiveness of sins, God’s love all of those things, including his wrath on the disobedient, until we really read it,
like God wrote it to us and no one else. Second Corinthians one in verse 20, all of the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ Jesus. Until we pick up and read as if the Bible failed to us and us alone, we’ll never really be blessed by his word and sixth. And finally, before we move on to our next point,
when we read the Bible, the scriptures will penetrate our hearts. If we read with the knowledge of our desperate need to be saved throughout this lectureship, Romans 7 24 and 25 has been quoted and alluded to again and again, oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death. I thank God through my Lord. Jesus Christ.
Do we really believe that? Do we see ourselves as wretched and hopeless without Jesus? And do we approach the Bible from that standpoint? And then when we read passages, like we’ve studied this week about his resurrection, do we see ourselves as those who were truly without hope without his resurrection? When we pick up and read that way, these won’t just be words on a page.
We will say what these men said in Luke 24 32 did not our hearts burn within us. We’ll lift our hands from the pages of scripture. And we will ultimately be changed with the desire, not to just know his wheel, but also to obey it. Here’s number four and Luke chapter 24, if we would be blessed by the resurrection it’s to the degree that we proclaim the resurrection.
After these men have their hearts burn within them, based on Jesus’ conversation with him. And he vanishes out of their sight, verse 33 says they went and they found the 11 with the rest of the disciples and they report it to them. The things that Jesus had done, this is what they say in verse 34. The Lord indeed has risen. And he has appeared to Simon.
And in verse 35, they talk about this whole gathering with the food and the breaking of bread. They relay this message to the disciples and they say, Jesus rose from the dead. Our lives will be blessed by the resurrection when we proclaim it to other people. In fact, we could even argue, we really haven’t fully enjoyed the resurrection experience until we do this part,
what these men do and sharing the message with the 11. And then ultimately the 11 would share that message with the rest of the world is what God wants every Christian to do throughout the world. Acts eight. And verse four says those that were scattered abroad. They went everywhere, preaching the word, you know, this idea of going viral. What does it mean to go viral?
It means that something you’ve shared or something you’ve done has been spread throughout the internet. Don’t do anything foolish because somebody will catch it on camera is also what it means. There’s a discussion about what it really means to go viral. Meaning how many times does something have to be shared for it to be considered viral? Some people say you really haven’t gone viral.
You haven’t been made internet famous until something you’ve done or something you’ve shared has been shared 100,000 times. Some people say you need more than that. Now, listen, they didn’t have social media in the first century, but you can’t read the new Testament or anything from first century history and fail to see that the resurrection of Jesus Christ went viral in their lifetime.
We believe because we have smartphones and technology that news travels faster today, but there are millions of disciples from the first century who would beg to differ. They took the good news. They took the message of Jesus Christ and they covered the first century Roman empire with it, as they share the knowledge of the resurrection, we won’t be blessed by the resurrection until we see it.
This way. Evangelism is a command to be obeyed, but it’s a blessing to be received. When we failed to share the gospel with people, they are not only robbed of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. We are also robbed of the blessing of sharing it with other individuals. Until we get out of guilt trip evangelism, where we feel like we have to share it or something really bad’s going to happen to us.
And we just really get excited about it. And we really believe that the tomb is empty and this is the best news that we can share with other people. And when they reject it, they’ve missed out and not us until that takes over in us. And we just want to share it because we don’t know what else to do with the information. We’ll never be blessed by it.
Look at Luke 24 again, and notice the simple threefold process of evangelism that these men follow, that anybody in the world can. And verse 33, they find the people that need to know the information. They go to the 11 and verse 34. They tell them the truth. The Lord indeed is risen and has appeared to assignment. And then the third thing they do is they talk about their interaction with the truth and how it changed them.
Everybody can do that. Find the people that need to know the truth, tell them the truth. What do we find in scripture and talk about how it’s impacted you and how you’ve been changed as a result of it. These men share this good news. They share the gospel and they proclaimed the resurrection Jesus, his resurrection from the day, it was never meant to be heaven secret.
It was always meant to be shared with the world. And these men would start in Jerusalem and then go to Judea and Sumeria and the uttermost parts of the earth and cover the first century world witness good news. And our lives will be blessed when we go into our own communities and do this as well. We might read the book of acts and the rest of the new Testament letters and assume it happened just like this overnight.
It didn’t what happened in their lives is the same thing that needs to happen in ours. It was one person at a time, one soul at a time, one influence one conversation. And before you knew it, everybody in the first century world, as far as Paul was concerned, Colossians 1 23 had heard the good news about Jesus. Now here’s the fifth and final thing tonight.
If our lives would be blessed by what we find in the resurrection, and especially with these man on the MAs road, we must place ourselves on the mass road. Don’t you think is interesting that in the longest discourse about the resurrection, any of the gospel accounts is not with Peter or James or John it’s with a man named Cleopas and an unnamed disciple it’s as if the holy spirit were saying,
let me find two individuals who aren’t famous or well-known in the church who you can identify with because you will often find yourself on this very same road needing this very same encouragement. So let me, let’s pick two people that you won’t say, well, these are towering giants and learn from their lives. We read Luke 24, 13 through 35 with sympathy because we’ve been right where there sit with the knowledge of the resurrection,
knowing who Jesus is. Having spent so much time with them in his word and still in the hardships of life. Sometimes we can’t recognize him. We read Luke 24th familiarity. We know where these men say we’ve been right where they are. And we know we need to sometimes change. We often don’t act on the knowledge that we have, and these men knew the scriptures they’d been to synagogue.
They knew these old Testament prophecies, but not like Jesus explained it to him. Not like he opened it up to them in our own journey on their mass road. Maybe we learn from these men not to allow life’s reversals to make us believe that God’s Providence has been unkind. That God doesn’t love us, not be like them and have our heads hidden in the sand and believing that all hope is lost.
And that, yes, God’s word contains promises, but maybe it’s for a different time. And for a different group of people, may we claim to them because they belong to us both now and in the days to come, you see what these men missed out on is what we miss out on. When we take on their behavior. I think it’s interesting that Jesus made himself known to these men over a meal.
He broke bread with them. You know, the Bible says that in the end, heaven will be this grand banquet, Isaiah 25, 6 39 revelation, 19 and verse nine. And so to every Christian who struggles to every Christian, who’s going through the motions and feels like they’re about to lose hope, but that hangs in there to every Christian on the MAs road who says my life’s not going as I plan.
God’s not as good as I thought he was. God says to you, hang on and I’ll see you at dinner because there’s going to be a great banquet at the resurrection of the just, and we’ll be changed. And we’ll be blessed by having been in his presence, through the word throughout our lives, as we read of what these men did and the faith that they eventually possessed and then share it with other people.
May we take the knowledge of his resurrection, be blessed by it ourselves and reach out into the world and bless other people as well.
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I thought this was going to work, but it’s not. So if it doesn’t, we’ll just go on without it, when he was still in his mother’s womb, she was told that he would be called the son of God most high, and that he would sit on the throne of his father, David Luke one in verse 32 shortly after his birth,
the shepherds were in the field and they were told in Luke chapter two and verse 11 and 12, that in this day in the city of David, a savior is born to you. And he would be known as Christ the Lord. The first time his parents took him to the temple. One of God’s faithful servants that had been there serving for many years,
as Jesus was brought out, he said in Luke two in verse 32, that he would be a light of revelation to the Gentiles and the hope of Israel. And right after that, a prophetess by the name of Anna said he would be for the rising and falling of many nations. You can imagine with all of these things said about Jesus, him being described in these glowing terms,
by prophets and angels and spokesman, that Israel was sitting on the edge of their seats as he was brought forth into the world, after his baptism from John at 30 years old. But it wasn’t just the things that were said about him. It was the things that he did. His preaching was such that Luke says they hung on his, every word nobody had ever preached like Jesus had before and not just his preaching,
but also the signs. The miracles Jesus was able to raise the dead to heal those that were paralyzed to open the eyes of the blind. And even the demons would come out confessing. He is in fact, the son of God, he was bold and courageous and unafraid of the religious rulers. As he would stand up to them, Luke 13 30, 1 and 32,
he said of Herrick, go tell that Fox. I do miracles today and tomorrow and arise from the dead. On the third day, they were impressed. They were spellbound. Jesus would often drop hints about his death. But as you could imagine, if you were one of the disciples, they were so caught up in all of the excitement. They thought finally,
our time had come, God has visited. His people were on the winning team and we will be triumphant. They had no time for talk about death and resurrection. All they thought about was victory and winning. And then almost as soon as it started, it ended one of his own betrayed him. The authorities took him and this man who it raised the dead hushed,
the sea opened the eyes of the blind was bloody beaten and helpless. And his disciples in that moment, as you might imagine, it took all of the words of Simeon and Anna and the angels and their hopes. And they thought the hopes of all of Israel were dash. And Jesus is said to have Ray. When Rick raised from the dead Luke 24 verses one through 12,
he appears to some women, but the word doesn’t travel fast enough, which brings us to our text tonight. If you have your Bible, go ahead and turn to Luke 24, Luke 24, and we’ll notice verses 13 down through 35. This is one of those occasions as has already been mentioned. This track on the seven o’clock hour has been for the appearances that Jesus made two disciples after his resurrection and Jesus appears.
And Luke 24, 13 through 35 to two disciples, we know the name of one. His name is and the other is unnamed. We’re told in verse 13, they were 60 stadia or seven miles away from Jerusalem. And as they’re making this journey, Jesus meets with these man. And he has a conversation with them, a conversation that lets us know some of their heartaches,
some of their frustration and disappointment and Jesus also in talking with them shines in some of the brightest hope that our hearts could ever imagine and wish for what these disciples receive is ultimately what we need when we’re discouraged. When we feel defeated, even with the fact of the resurrection standing right out before us, what I want to do tonight is say five things from Luke 24, 13 through 15 five things that will help us to be blessed by the resurrection.
If we will be blessed by the resurrection this week, we’ve studied about the reality of it. We’ve talked about how our bodies will be transformed and changed that how we need this heavenly view and mindset, but how are our lives on a day-to-day basis, blessed by the resurrection? How can we get the most so to speak after the resurrection, both now and in the eternal day to come?
I think we find it right here in Luke 24, 13 through 35. Number one, we’re blessed by the resurrection. When we realize that partial knowledge destroys our hope, partial knowledge or ruin your hope. These men were on their way coming from Jerusalem in verses 13, down through verse 24. And they’re discouraged as you might imagine, Jesus comes in their company verses 14 and 15,
and this would have been common with all of the Jews in and around Jerusalem for Passover he’s in their company. Their heads are down, they’re discouraged and distraught verse 16 says his appearance was concealed or hidden from them. They were blinded both physically and spiritually to the things they can place. Jesus says, what are you talking about with yourselves on the road?
And they think he’s the ignorant one. And they say, are you the only one in Israel who doesn’t know about these things? What things, Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet of God, a man mighty and word and deed. And they go to tell him in verse 20, how the authorities took Jesus and delivered them up to be crucified. But above that,
they thought that he was the hope of Israel. Now their hopes are dashed from verses 22 to 24. They talk about the women who had appeared to them and told them that they went to the tomb. They found not his body, but neither had they seen Jesus they’re distraught. And if you and I will be blessed by the resurrection we learned in this first point,
that partial knowledge ruins our hope. You see, they knew certain things about what Jesus had done. Verse 19, he’s a prophet of Nazareth mighty in word, indeed, that’s true, but that’s not the whole story. They knew that Jesus had been crucified. And the Bible says that that happened. And many of them had known that, but they didn’t know the rest of the story.
And because of that, they were about ready to surrender all hope. You know, as Christians, the Bible says, we’re saved by hope, Romans eight 20, or to rejoice, rejoice and Haute, Romans 12 and verse 12, where to receive hope from God, Romans 15 in verse 13, we’re not to sorrow. Brandon talks about this earlier today.
First Thessalonians four 13 says we are not to sorrow as others, which have no hope in the new Testament. Hope is not a wish or something that we think might happen. Hope is this confident expectation, looking forward to things that we believe in our sure would transpire. But if you and I only have a partial knowledge of God’s word and his will,
our hope will ultimately be dashed that knew some great things about what Jesus had done. And in fact, they speak truthfully about some of the events that have transpired, what they say in verse 19 is true and what they say in verse 20th. True, but they don’t have all of the information. They don’t have all the facts. And so because of that,
they’re discouraged, man, named William citizens is probably one of the most educated and really just brilliant people that has ever lived in our world. When he was 18 months old, he could read the New York times. By the time he was eight years old, he knew Hebrew, German, French, Latin, and many other Armenian languages. In fact, when he died,
he knew 40 languages fluently. He was accepted into Harvard university at 11 years old, but upon his graduation, he worked as a bookkeeper and a store clerk. And every time somebody found out his identity, he would run off again into obscurity. He died in solitude and in isolation at 46 years of age, they say he was brilliant, but his people skills were lacking.
He had knowledge in certain areas. He was strong and confident in certain areas when it came to book smarts and intelligence, but he liked the things that would fuse together and make him a whole, and a complete person. These disciples Cleopas and his companion, they don’t have all the knowledge that they need. And because of that, their hopes are potentially dashed.
Jesus will later informed them about the things they need to know so that their hopes can be picked up, but they hang their heads and their hopes as a result of not knowing all of the things that have transpired, as far as they’re concerned, Jesus has gone. The hope of Israel has gone. And all of the prophecies that we thought about him made us victorious,
have proven us to ultimately be defeated. You see if we don’t have a full, comprehensive knowledge of God’s word, this same thing will happen to us. I believe it was a few years ago. This idea of fake news became popular this term, fake news, which really means that, which is unfactual and misleading. And that means if somebody were to share something at a rapid pace and it made his way around it,
fake news got got into somebody’s knowledge. It could destroy their lives, ruin their lives if they believed it and made changes based on this false information. But what we learned in Luke 24 is not only is fake news detrimental, but so as fractional news to only have half of the story is not enough. We live in a world where people profit on telling us only half of the story where people tell us only the part they want us to know.
And sometimes, most times that’s the bad news. We live in a world where people profit on us, always being scared of someone or something. And there’s always something to be worried about. And while it’s true, we live in a fallen world. First, John five 19 says the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. It’s also true that God is still good,
whom one in verse seven, that every perfect gift and every good gift comes down from above, from the father of lights, James, one 17, that God loads us daily with benefits for our good Psalm 68 in verse 19. And if we don’t believe those things are partial knowledge of all of the bad things in our lives will ultimately ruin us. Joe was a great man and a great patriarch,
but if he had one flaw, this was it. His partial knowledge of what God was doing or what he believed God wasn’t doing almost caused him to curse God and turn away from his faith. What does God say to Joe when he appears in job 38 in verse two, who is this, that darkens counsel and utters words, without knowledge, Joe didn’t have a full knowledge of the things that were taking place and having somebody says,
but wait a minute, Joe didn’t know about chapters one and two, and that’s the point in your life? And in my life, there may be some joke chapters, one and two that we don’t know about. And we should be careful not to allow partial knowledge ultimately to ruin and destroy our hope. What does this mean for you and me? It means be aware of judging God and his goodness based on the darkest days of your life.
These men think that the death of Jesus was the end of God’s plan. But in fact, it inaugurated God’s plan God’s plans. Weren’t dashed by the death of Jesus. They were introduced into the world, be aware based on our belief on God’s ability to fulfill his promises on whether or not our prayers were answered. Just the way we thought they should’ve been at just the time we thought they should have been answered.
Romans nine in verse 20 says, shall the thing formed say to the one that formed him, what are you doing? God’s been God, a lot longer than we’ve been serving him in studying about him. And so based on that, our partial knowledge should cause us to give pause in our lives. There’ll be hardships and reversals, and we’ll be tempted to allow those things to make up the whole picture.
And these two disciples give us a window into their folly and we should avoid there. Mistake. Number two will be blessed by the resurrection. When we possess heaven’s perspective, Jesus rebukes these men in verses 25 through 27. Once they tell him these things about what has happened, he says, oh, foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that.
The prophets have spoken, not Christ to have suffered these things. And then to have entered into his glory and beginning with Moses and all the prophets. He explained to them, all the things in the scriptures concerning himself. If we will be blessed by the resurrection, we need this same attitude. We need to possess heaven’s perspective on everything in our lives.
They had an earthly perspective Cliofas and his companion. They had their idea of how things look and Jesus rebukes them. Notice verse 25. He calls them foolish and puts them on the level of unbelievers because they didn’t look to God for the true knowledge. They were foolish. In this regard, they had allowed their circumstances to define God instead of the other way around.
And so he rebukes them foolish and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets has spoken circle, that all you see earlier, they had a partial knowledge. They knew some of the scriptures, but Jesus says, your problem is you haven’t followed this thing all the way through slow of heart. And I believe all that the prophets have spoken. They knew some of the prophecies,
but Jesus says, without this total knowledge of God’s plan, they were making bad assumptions and they were ruining their hope in the process. How do we enjoy and be blessed? How are we blessed by the resurrection? We got to possess heaven’s perspective. And so what does Jesus do? He begins in the law of Moses and works his way out to the prophets and shows them all to the scriptures concerning himself.
You know, these men didn’t have the new Testament and it’s impressive that Jesus believe that even with the old Testament scriptures, they could have knowledge, not only of his death, but also of his resurrection. Romans 15, four says whatever things were written before time were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. See,
we sometimes say Romans 15, four, whatever things are written for time was written for our learning. But Paul says they also provide hope. Why is that? Because even in the old Testament scriptures, there’s the echoing of the resurrection and these make it know it. If you continue down in Luke 24, verse 44, Jesus will eventually tell these men,
all things written in the law of Moses and in the profits. And then the songs had to be fulfilled concerning me. In the end, all of the Bible is about Jesus and Jesus takes these men to school and shows them how to read the Bible. What passages do you think Jesus went to? When it says he went through all the law of Moses and all the profits.
So he could declare the things concerning himself. What passages do you think he highlighted? Maybe you went to Genesis three 15, and he said, you see this prophecy that took place in the garden of Eden about the serpent, having his head crushed, but about the Christ, having his heel bruise, that passage is about your Messiah. And maybe he went to Psalm 16,
where David talks about the holy one, who soul would not be left in Haiti’s or his flesh allowed to see corruption, but who will ultimately be raised. And maybe he flipped over and went to Psalm 22 and said, you’ve heard this craft from him. My God, my God. Why have you abandoned me? But if you read the rest of the song,
he is ultimately not abandoned, but eventually he reigns with God and is protected and saved. You’ve got to believe. He went to Jonah one 17 and said Jonah was in the fish’s belly for three days and three nights. But he was supposed to be in the heart of the earth, in the tomb for three days and three nights. And then Isaiah 53,
not only to talk about him being bruised and wounded for our iniquities, but also Isaiah says he would rise from the dead and through him, all people would live. Jesus started in the profits and work and started in the law of Moses and worked his way out and said, listen, all of the Bible is ultimately about me in your life, in my life.
If we would be blessed by the resurrection, we need to possess heaven’s perspective. Let God tell us how life is supposed to be study the word of God. And Jesus is teaching these men. Ultimately, if you want to know, God’s will know God’s word. They thought the son of man was not supposed to suffer as he did. They say,
all of our hopes are dashed. And Jesus is saying, this was always a part of God’s plan. It’s where Peter preached on Pentecost, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved among you with signs and wonders, which God did by him in the midst of you, him being delivered up according to the determinate counsel and for knowledge of God you’ve taken. And by wicked hands you’ve crucified and slain whom God raised up because it was impossible for the grave to hold him.
This was always God’s plan. And Jesus wanted them to know it. And in your life, if we’re going to be blessed by the resurrection and in my life, we’ve got to start seeing it the way God does put on God’s glasses. By looking into God’s word, his ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, but there’s scripture.
He gives us a ladder so we can see it the way he does to a football game recently see the Tennessee Titans plate. And we’ll say, I have budget seat tickets. We’ll just call them that. What does that mean? What are budget tickets? That means I saw the game. I had a great time, but I wasn’t in the splash zone.
I wasn’t going to get an autograph or anything like that, but we saw the game. If there would have been a controversial call in the game, what they wouldn’t have done, they wouldn’t have said, Hey buddy, you and the two or 300 section, did he get one foot in or two? They’ve got people that are close up on it.
People that have a better perspective than me that would have been able with the proximity, with which they were in to say, no, he was in. And he was out and in your life and mind here’s the question. Does God have a better vision of your life than you do? Or do you have a better vision of it? The Bible says God’s eyes go to and fro throughout all the earth.
Second Chronicles 16 and verse nine. He knows the end from the beginning, Isaiah 46 in verse 10. If we go to Hades or heaven or the grave, we can’t hide from them. So I’m 1 39, 7 through 12. We’ve got to take on heaven’s perspective and see things the way that God would have us to see it. And we do that by looking at scripture,
what does the Bible say in our lives is the ultimate question. Jesus teaches these men and us the proper way to read the Bible is backwards. It’s to come to the new Testament and see what Jesus says about himself. And then, and only then are we really ready to go back to the old Testament and see everything that it says and who would ultimately point to what is the priesthood?
What is a king all about? And what about the sacrifices? He starts in the law of Moses. And he says, this is how things are supposed to work out. Be where in your life of evaluating your, the Bible based on your own circumstances. Instead, evaluate your circumstances based on what you find in the Bible. Turn your Bible to Psalm 42 in Psalm 42.
And in Psalm 43, hold your hand in Luke 24, we learn a principle that if we’re going to have heaven’s perspective in our lives, what we should do, we’ve got to learn this practice. We must talk to our hearts and not listen to our hearts. These men were so discouraged because they were talking to their hearts about how life was supposed to be.
And we should do this every morning. When we get up before we do anything else, don’t start listening to your heart. Start talking to it because this is what the Psalm does. And Psalm 42 in verse five. And he does the same thing in Psalm 43, verse five. Why are you cast down on my soul? And why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God’s salvation. Isn’t him. You see what the Psalmus does. He doesn’t let his heart tell him how he’s going to behave. He says to his heart, why are you cast down? Why are you in trouble? Think about what God has done. Your heart is a great student, but a terrible teacher. Don’t let your heart tell you how life’s supposed to be.
Start out. As soon as your eyes stand. Now, this is how this day is going to go. I’m a child of God. I’m in the family of God. I’ve got the remission of sins I’m saved. I’ve got to look at what the scripture say. These men had taken their eyes off of the Bible, taking their eyes off of these passages.
And because of that, they were distraught and discouraged. And Jesus says only when you look at it from heaven’s point of view, can you see how God is ultimately working things out, how God ultimately wants to work all things together for good. For those that love him, Romans eight in verse 28, they needed heaven’s perspective. And we need the same thing.
We all run the risk of looking at our lives in the little snapshots in which you received them in these 24 hour doses and determining God’s goodness or how blessed we are, how our day’s going. But Jesus says to these men who are discouraged and who think that they’ve lost out, he says, you’re not losers. You’re winners. Who’ve cashed in you’re on the winning team.
Jesus’s resurrection was ultimately triumphant. The third thing we see is we need to allow the scriptures to penetrate our hearts. Jesus rebukes these men in verses 25 through 27. And then in verse 28 down through verse 32, they want Jesus to go with them. Jesus is persuaded. He pretends as if he’s going to go further than these men. And they begged him to stay with him.
And he does. He goes into their company and then the Bible says he took bread and blessed it and break it. And then he gave it to them and then they recognized him and he vanished from their sight. And they say in verse 32 did not our hearts burn within us when he walked with us on the way. And when he talked to us,
when he opened up the scriptures and when he walked with us, when we were in the way, the third thing tonight is penetrate your heart with the scriptures. If we will be blessed by the resurrection, we must do what these men did. You know, they should have known this was Jesus by this point. So many things that Jesus does on this occasion,
he had dumped her out their lives, John 1 39. He told those disciples when he first encountered them, come and stay with me. He does the similar thing here is he stays with these man. There’s no, no place in any of the gospel accounts where Jesus puts a morsel of food to his mouth without doing what he does here and breaking bread and giving.
Thanks. It reads just like Luke 22 in Matthew 26. What the partaking of the Lord’s supper, Jesus is revealing himself to these men and they don’t see him. So many people miss Jesus throughout his life. They thought he was someone else. Harriet said, he’s John, the Baptist raised from the dead Matthew 14, verse two. When the disciples came into the coast of Cesarea Philippi,
they said he must be one of the prophets. When he went to the feast of Tabernacles in John seven in verse 12, they said, this man is just a good man. He was supposed to be a man possessed by demons and Matthew 1224. And then in John 20 and verse 15, he was simply the gardener and even Cleopas and his companion and Luke 24 18 believed he’s just some random companion going along the road.
It’s not until Jesus opens up the scriptures and says, look at what the Bible is saying. And then he reveals himself to them and they see him as he really is. We will only know who God truly is and be blessed by the resurrection to the degree that we allow the scriptures to penetrate our hearts. This means more than just reading the Bible on a daily basis to fulfill some new year’s resolution or just reading the Bible to say that we have done it is to read the Bible,
to understand Ephesians three, three through five says, Paul wrote these things by revelation. And when we read, we’ll understand his knowledge in the mystery, we read with this intensity and this desire that we want to rash from the pages of scripture and say like Isaiah and Isaiah six in verse eight, Lord, here am I send me one? Man has said,
every Christian should pray this prayer. Lord help us not to be the kinds of Christians who love to learn, but hate to change. You know, we can be the kind of people that love to study the Bible that love to come to lectureships and get out commentaries and books and talk about the Bible, but never really are changed by the Bible. Reading the Bible in and of itself can become an exercise that we enjoy to engage in.
But until the scriptures really penetrate our hearts until we’re transformed by what we read in the Bible, it’s all for not verse 32 says their hearts burned within them. When he opened up the scriptures, how do we read the Bible like that? How do we read the Bible in such a way? How do we handle the scriptures so that they penetrate our hearts?
Here are a few practical things we can do to make sure that we do this. Number one. When you read the Bible, when I read the Bible, we should say right away, what in this passage do I need to take up in my own life and obey immediately don’t delay do it immediately. Psalm 1 39, 23 and 24. The Solomon says, search me O God and know my heart.
Try me and know my anxieties and see if there’s any evil way a man lead me in the way that’s everlasting. What’s in this passage that I need to do right away. Number two, study for you and not for them. Second, Timothy two 15 says study to show yourself approved unto God. It doesn’t say study to prove yourself, right? It says study to show yourself approved it.
You know, it’s easy to study the Bible to see all of the false doctrines that everybody else believes and all of the things that everybody else has gotten wrong in all of the things that everybody else needs to change, but we won’t be blessed. They won’t ever really penetrate our hearts. We won’t be blessed by the resurrection until we study to show ourselves approved.
Number three, when you read the Bible resolve to do and not just to discuss, James says the only person that’s blessed by the Bible is the person that does be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving your own sales. If any mans are here over the word and not a doer, he’s like a man who holds natural face in the glass.
And then he goes his way and forgets what manner of man he was. But whoever looks into the perfect law of Liberty, he being not a forgetful here, but a doer of the word, this man, and only this man will be blessed in what he does, James 1 22 to 25. Number four, if we read the Bible and allow it to penetrate our hearts,
as you read the Bible, be aware of always reading yourself into the hero line. Don’t assume you would have done better than the people that you’re reading about. We read Exodus 32 and we say, oh, what a fool? Aaron was, do you know how many golden calves we built in our own lifetime? And we might read ourselves into the hero every time we say,
well, I’m David. I would have gone out in first, Samuel 17, but really we would have probably been the ones afraid in the tense. If we always read the Bible and assumed we would have been better than the people were reading about the scripture will never really penetrate our hearts. We’ve got to see ourselves as those broken individuals who more than likely would have been just like the people that we sometimes read about and despise number five,
when you read the Bible, behold, the promises within his pages and read them and receive them as if they were written directly and specifically to you, the scriptures won’t penetrate our hearts until we believe that the things that are said in here about heaven, the forgiveness of sins, God’s love all of those things, including his wrath on the disobedient, until we really read it,
like God wrote it to us and no one else. Second Corinthians one in verse 20, all of the promises of God are yes and amen in Christ Jesus. Until we pick up and read as if the Bible failed to us and us alone, we’ll never really be blessed by his word and sixth. And finally, before we move on to our next point,
when we read the Bible, the scriptures will penetrate our hearts. If we read with the knowledge of our desperate need to be saved throughout this lectureship, Romans 7 24 and 25 has been quoted and alluded to again and again, oh, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death. I thank God through my Lord. Jesus Christ.
Do we really believe that? Do we see ourselves as wretched and hopeless without Jesus? And do we approach the Bible from that standpoint? And then when we read passages, like we’ve studied this week about his resurrection, do we see ourselves as those who were truly without hope without his resurrection? When we pick up and read that way, these won’t just be words on a page.
We will say what these men said in Luke 24 32 did not our hearts burn within us. We’ll lift our hands from the pages of scripture. And we will ultimately be changed with the desire, not to just know his wheel, but also to obey it. Here’s number four and Luke chapter 24, if we would be blessed by the resurrection it’s to the degree that we proclaim the resurrection.
After these men have their hearts burn within them, based on Jesus’ conversation with him. And he vanishes out of their sight, verse 33 says they went and they found the 11 with the rest of the disciples and they report it to them. The things that Jesus had done, this is what they say in verse 34. The Lord indeed has risen. And he has appeared to Simon.
And in verse 35, they talk about this whole gathering with the food and the breaking of bread. They relay this message to the disciples and they say, Jesus rose from the dead. Our lives will be blessed by the resurrection when we proclaim it to other people. In fact, we could even argue, we really haven’t fully enjoyed the resurrection experience until we do this part,
what these men do and sharing the message with the 11. And then ultimately the 11 would share that message with the rest of the world is what God wants every Christian to do throughout the world. Acts eight. And verse four says those that were scattered abroad. They went everywhere, preaching the word, you know, this idea of going viral. What does it mean to go viral?
It means that something you’ve shared or something you’ve done has been spread throughout the internet. Don’t do anything foolish because somebody will catch it on camera is also what it means. There’s a discussion about what it really means to go viral. Meaning how many times does something have to be shared for it to be considered viral? Some people say you really haven’t gone viral.
You haven’t been made internet famous until something you’ve done or something you’ve shared has been shared 100,000 times. Some people say you need more than that. Now, listen, they didn’t have social media in the first century, but you can’t read the new Testament or anything from first century history and fail to see that the resurrection of Jesus Christ went viral in their lifetime.
We believe because we have smartphones and technology that news travels faster today, but there are millions of disciples from the first century who would beg to differ. They took the good news. They took the message of Jesus Christ and they covered the first century Roman empire with it, as they share the knowledge of the resurrection, we won’t be blessed by the resurrection until we see it.
This way. Evangelism is a command to be obeyed, but it’s a blessing to be received. When we failed to share the gospel with people, they are not only robbed of the knowledge of Jesus Christ. We are also robbed of the blessing of sharing it with other individuals. Until we get out of guilt trip evangelism, where we feel like we have to share it or something really bad’s going to happen to us.
And we just really get excited about it. And we really believe that the tomb is empty and this is the best news that we can share with other people. And when they reject it, they’ve missed out and not us until that takes over in us. And we just want to share it because we don’t know what else to do with the information. We’ll never be blessed by it.
Look at Luke 24 again, and notice the simple threefold process of evangelism that these men follow, that anybody in the world can. And verse 33, they find the people that need to know the information. They go to the 11 and verse 34. They tell them the truth. The Lord indeed is risen and has appeared to assignment. And then the third thing they do is they talk about their interaction with the truth and how it changed them.
Everybody can do that. Find the people that need to know the truth, tell them the truth. What do we find in scripture and talk about how it’s impacted you and how you’ve been changed as a result of it. These men share this good news. They share the gospel and they proclaimed the resurrection Jesus, his resurrection from the day, it was never meant to be heaven secret.
It was always meant to be shared with the world. And these men would start in Jerusalem and then go to Judea and Sumeria and the uttermost parts of the earth and cover the first century world witness good news. And our lives will be blessed when we go into our own communities and do this as well. We might read the book of acts and the rest of the new Testament letters and assume it happened just like this overnight.
It didn’t what happened in their lives is the same thing that needs to happen in ours. It was one person at a time, one soul at a time, one influence one conversation. And before you knew it, everybody in the first century world, as far as Paul was concerned, Colossians 1 23 had heard the good news about Jesus. Now here’s the fifth and final thing tonight.
If our lives would be blessed by what we find in the resurrection, and especially with these man on the MAs road, we must place ourselves on the mass road. Don’t you think is interesting that in the longest discourse about the resurrection, any of the gospel accounts is not with Peter or James or John it’s with a man named Cleopas and an unnamed disciple it’s as if the holy spirit were saying,
let me find two individuals who aren’t famous or well-known in the church who you can identify with because you will often find yourself on this very same road needing this very same encouragement. So let me, let’s pick two people that you won’t say, well, these are towering giants and learn from their lives. We read Luke 24, 13 through 35 with sympathy because we’ve been right where there sit with the knowledge of the resurrection,
knowing who Jesus is. Having spent so much time with them in his word and still in the hardships of life. Sometimes we can’t recognize him. We read Luke 24th familiarity. We know where these men say we’ve been right where they are. And we know we need to sometimes change. We often don’t act on the knowledge that we have, and these men knew the scriptures they’d been to synagogue.
They knew these old Testament prophecies, but not like Jesus explained it to him. Not like he opened it up to them in our own journey on their mass road. Maybe we learn from these men not to allow life’s reversals to make us believe that God’s Providence has been unkind. That God doesn’t love us, not be like them and have our heads hidden in the sand and believing that all hope is lost.
And that, yes, God’s word contains promises, but maybe it’s for a different time. And for a different group of people, may we claim to them because they belong to us both now and in the days to come, you see what these men missed out on is what we miss out on. When we take on their behavior. I think it’s interesting that Jesus made himself known to these men over a meal.
He broke bread with them. You know, the Bible says that in the end, heaven will be this grand banquet, Isaiah 25, 6 39 revelation, 19 and verse nine. And so to every Christian who struggles to every Christian, who’s going through the motions and feels like they’re about to lose hope, but that hangs in there to every Christian on the MAs road who says my life’s not going as I plan.
God’s not as good as I thought he was. God says to you, hang on and I’ll see you at dinner because there’s going to be a great banquet at the resurrection of the just, and we’ll be changed. And we’ll be blessed by having been in his presence, through the word throughout our lives, as we read of what these men did and the faith that they eventually possessed and then share it with other people.
May we take the knowledge of his resurrection, be blessed by it ourselves and reach out into the world and bless other people as well.