He is Risen!                                          2017.04.16

                     The Road to Emmaus     

                         Luke 24: 13- 35

Good morning!

He is risen… He is Risen Indeed! Thanks for coming this glorious morning…

Is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead… true?

The Answer of the Word of God is YES!!

The Answer of secular History is also YES! He is risen…

There is no other explanation of the facts of these last 2000 years… Jesus is Risen Indeed!

 It´s all true… Jesus is Alive…  And our salvation is certain… When Paul was writing the letters to the churches… He testified to the truth of the Resurrection… He reminded the Corinthians that hundreds of people saw the risen Christ… He wanted to assure them that their faith in Christ was real… Look with me at 1 Cor 15…

1 Corinthians 15: 1-8               NLT   Neues Leben

1 Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. 2 It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. 5 He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. 6 After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. 7 Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him.

Paul says and I also saw Him… The one who tried to wipe Christianity out in its beginning days… Yes It is all true… Jesus is Risen from the dead… More than 500 saw him at I time…. The apostles gave their lives testifying of the truth of the word of God… And the truth of the resurrection…. Most of us have also seen Him… We have seen Him with our ears as we have heard the Good news of the Gospel and believed the Good news…. Jesus died in our place…. He suffered for us… He was crucified on a Roman cross… And on the third day… He rose from the dead!...

This is the most important reality in the world… It is God’s truth... When anyone repents and believes the Gospel… It becomes very real and very personal… Then they discover that the death and Resurrection Of Jesus from the dead is The most important truth of all… The truth that sets us free…

There’s only one place this truth is found and that is in the Scriptures, the Word of God, the Bible…… Only those who understand the Bible can know the truth about salvation and be saved from hell….. Only those who know the truth of the Bible can live fulfilled, obedient, blessed, effective, joyful lives….  Therefore the greatest thing that we can ever do for anyone is to explain to them the meaning of the Bible… Scroll down please

SCRIPTURE

1. need for understanding

We are lost and ignorant about the most important things of life… Finding Meaning in death and suffering for example…

2. the source of understanding

 The  Word of God produces understanding… It helps us understand the World around us…. It helps understand our our own sinful hearts…

3. response to understanding……

we repent of our sins… we believe the Gospel… we find joy…

The knowledge of Scripture produces joy…

To understand Scripture is to understand everything from God’s perspective… Only when we dig into the Word of God… believing that it is true… can we can understand   His universe  and His plan…  Faith and careful study helps to understand the meaning of Scripture… It´s a lifelong task (aufgabe)…

As we study the Word of God this morning…

I would like you to travel back with me in time this morning… It is the day of the Resurrection…

The  very best thing that you can do for anyone is to teach them and help them understand The Word of God… It transforms lives… It gives true freedom and great hope even in the midst of disaster… We have a powerful illustration of the power of the Gospel in Luke 24 this morning…  

It is the day of the Resurrection… The disciples have heard that Jesus is Risen! A few have already seen him… But most have not… And they are uncertain… As we pick up the events of that day we join 2 disciples on the Road to Emmaus… They are discouraged and confused… Is Jesus alive?... Where is he then… What is happening… What is the truth…?

Jesus gives them a clear understanding of Scripture…… He opens the Scripture and shatters the darkness and confusion with the light of truth…

How I wish we were there! Can you imagine?  Their hearts were on fire!

The Lord Jesus using the Word of God took them from despair to Joy!….. The disciples believed that all their hopes and dreams were destroyed at the foot of the cross…. Gone  because Jesus had been crucified…….

Can you imagine their disappointment…… Can you imagine their great Joy as Jesus explained the Word to them…… They went from the lowest despair to the highest joy……

Their hearts were on fire…… Lighted into flame by the Word of God!

There are 2 important Emmaus Road lessons for us to learn today… Scroll down please…

1. Jesus is Alive… Jesus truly rose from the dead…  Both His death and resurrection had been prophesied many times in great detail in the Old Testament……

Knowing that Christ is alive is the first great lesson…… The second great lesson is knowing that

2. Scripture is alive…..

The Word of God is what the Holy Spirit uses to transform hearts and lives…. It is how people born in this generation can see Jesus… They hear the Gospel… They see Jesus with their ears… Those are the lessons that we want to learn as we look at this tremendous event on the road to Emmaus……

In a wonderful act of love we meet Jesus on the road to Emmaus…  And Jesus is still teaching at every opportunity…  our Lord makes this glorious appearance and teaches this incredible lesson on  the Messiah  from the OT… And I love this…  He did it for 2 ordinary people……
The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is the most important event that has ever happened in the history of the world….. His death and His resurrection are the events that seal redemption and forgiveness… If He doesn’t die and rise from the dead… there’s no salvation for anyone… the whole human race is damned to hell…

Because the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ are the most important events in Human history… They are predicted in Scripture…

Jesus said… Come…You should have known it… It is not the fault of the Scripture if you do not understand… It is clear… The Bible has been given to us so that we can understand…

The sadness and the confusion of these two on the road to Emmaus is because they didn’t understand the Scripture which they possessed…… notice this….

It wasn’t that they didn’t believe the Scripture…… They did….. It wasn’t that they didn’t think God wrote the Scripture….. They did…. It was because they had a very limited understanding of Scripture……They had been taught about the Glory and triumphant kingdom of the Messiah…They had heard these things from their youth… But they had not been taught the whole story… Their sadness and disappointment…… their confusion and their grief……. was related to the fact that they didn’t understand all that the prophets have spoken……. It´s often the same with us…. We are often confused and disappointed when we don´t understand what´s happening in our lives….. Sometimes we lose our faith and trust in the LORD because we do not have His Word hidden in our hearts… Or like these 2 disciples….. because what is happening to us doesn´t line up with our expectations… It doesn´t fit with our understanding of The Word….

When Jesus instead of establishing the Kingdom immediately… was crucified… They were wiped out… There was just no place in their understanding of Messianic theology for a dying Messiah… They expected that the Messiah would come and He would His Glorious Eternal Kingdom…

That part they believed… Unfortunately they were literally blinded to the suffering and the death part…….
And it wasn’t that Jesus didn’t tell them…… He had told them many times…

The Old Testament said it in detail…  They wanted to join His Forever Kingdom… They really didn’t want to die with Him… That’s why they were so upset  when He said, “I’m going to go to Jerusalem…  

When Jesus was crucified…They forsook Him and ran to hide… Only John stayed around at the cross… They thought it was over… And they were scratching their heads about how they could have been so wrong… Then came the news that Jesus´ tomb was empty… Angels had been seen…   The disciples were confused… had Jesus been raised from the dead…

So here two of them are walking home… Their hopes are gone… It’s over…

Luke 24: 13-16                          NKJV   slt2000

13 Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15 So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16 But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him.

verse 16 says… Their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him… and that was the way it was in every case after His resurrection... They don’t know who it is… He just joins them and walks along with them… look at v17,18…

Luke 24: 17,18       NLT Neues Leben

17 And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?”

18 Then 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?”

V18… Cleopas says… What are you the only one who doesn´t know?... Haven´t you heard about everything that´s been going on?.. v19…

Luke 24: 19- 24           NKJV slt 2000

19 And 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, 20 and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. 21 But 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. 22 Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. 23 When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. 24 And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.”

Naturally  Jesus knows all of this….. He just wants to hear from them… They’re confused about how this could happen… He is going to shine the light of scripture on their hearts…

The whole thing is too bizarre….. If He is alive and if He’s been alive since morning, since six o’clock this morning, ten hours ago, maybe, where is He?  

So they’re totally confused… They didn´t understand… They didn´t understand because they didn’t know the Scripture… Then Jesus tells them the whole story of redemption…

Luke 24: 25-27       NKJV  slt 2000

25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself

They are confused because they have a limited view of the Messiah…

They were right to expect the Messiah to reign and rule…… But that was only part of it…..

He calls them dull… Greek… (anoetos)….   He says that they are slow of heart…  He doesn’t blame the Scripture…  He doesn’t say, “Well, the Old Testament is a really hard book…The problem is not the Word…... Jesus simply says… Have you not read the Scriptures?

v 27… Jesus says… Wasn’t it necessary? Why did Jesus say that?

Because there are many passages in the Old Testament that speak of the Messiah suffering…….. And so  beginning with Moses…..

Jesus explained the Scriptures… It´s all about Him and His redemption…

The Old Testament is clear about the need for a substitute…

The Day of Atonement is a powerful picture of the need for the shedding of blood and for a substitute to bear our sins… It was celebrated every year…

There were daily sin and guilt offerings? And of course as was fresh in their minds… The Passover… A perfect symbol of substitution and sacrifice…

They knew that sin caused death… and that God would accept the death of a substitute… But they also knew that no animal ever offered satisfied God completely… Because they had to offer another animal and another one day after day… year after year… Those daily sacrifices did not and could not cleanse their hearts… They needed to be finally and permanently redeemed…

Everyone of them knew that sin brings death… The soul that sins, it shall die, said the prophet…

All of the sacrifices in the Levitical system were pictures of that final substitute that would come…  As we see in verse 27… Jesus… opens it all up to them…

He gives them a solid biblical understanding of the Messiah’s suffering… I wish there was more here, don’t you? I wish I knew all that He said…

We know what the Old Testament says about the suffering of Messiah…… So let me give you a little survey of what the lesson might have been like, okay?

The first Bible text about the Messiah…. According to the ancient rabbinical texts is Gen 1:2…… They taught that the Spirit of God moving across the face of the waters……. was the Spirit of the King Messiah!...

It was the ancient  rabbis who first taught that the Whole scripture is about the Messiah! I can imagine Him beginning with the beginning…. Genesis…

He might have started in Genesis 3:15… He might have told them, “Do you not know that I am the wounded seed of the woman who crushes the serpent’s head?” He might have stayed in Genesis for awhile….

Probably He went to Genesis 6 through 8 and recounted the history of the Flood… And as Peter does… Calling Jesus the Ark of safety…

I’m sure He stopped at Genesis 22 and reminded them of the story of Isaac……. There Abraham was prepared to offer up His only son……   but a ram caught in a thicket was used in Isaac’s place which is a true picture of Christ, the substitute…

I’m sure He must have gone to Exodus 12 talked about the Passover that they had just celebrated with Jesus… “Don’t you remember the Passover lamb… the Passover lamb had to be without blemish and without spot…  And if his blood was shed and splattered on the doorpost and the side beams, the angel of death would pass by that house….. I am the true Passover Lamb who protects the sinner from divine judgment….. I will the blood to their hearts and they will be clean…

I think He probably went to Exodus 16 told them that He was the true manna from heaven….. He said that to them before… in John 6…

I think He went in to Leviticus… and explained that all of the OT sacrifices are about the need for a substitute for sin…

Hebrews makes it clear that He is the true offering, the final permanent sacrifice… the perfect substitute…

All through First five books of Moses… every reference to the Day of Atonement pictured Him… and I´m sure that He made it clear that He was not only the sacrifice on the altar… but He was also the scapegoat who took away sin…

It´s a powerful picture of substitution…

I´m sure that He told lots of things from the Psalms… There are many Messianic Psalms… beginning in Psalm 2… The Messianic Psalms are A great place for your personal quiet times…

Surely He spent some time in Psalm 22…… Jesus is the one the psalmist hears when the Psalm begins, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” The very words He spoke on the cross…… Psalm 22 says, “He will be a reproach….. He will be sneered at…. His bones will be out of joint. His strength will be gone….. His hands and feet will be pierced….. His clothes will be divided up by lots as He dies…..All of these Crucifixion  Details are found in Psalm 22……

Maybe He went to Psalm 40 verse 7 which says, “Behold, I come in the scroll of the book, it is written of Me, I delight to do Your will, O God, Your law is within My heart… Hebrews says this text applies   to the Messiah…

I´m sure that Jesus took them to Isaiah… to the suffering servant passages that we talked about last week…

Isaiah makes it clear… The Suffering servant of the Lord is the King Messiah… and He is the permanent final substitute for our sins… 

JESUS is the final substitute… This is a picture of Messiah… It’s unmistakable…The lesson must have been stunning and staggering…

Now that brings us to the 3rd point in our outline…  knowledge of Scripture produces joy.

Remember…..  They don’t know who He is yet……. They still don’t know this is Jesus…… What fires their hearts is a better understanding of the Scriptures….   Anyone who explains accurately the Scripture can expect to see that kind of response… Understanding the truth fulfills the true believer’s deepest longings…  

The more we understand the Word of God…  The more sense we can make of our lives… And even when we do not understand what or why… Our faith is anchored in reality… Knowing the truth produces profound joy even in hard times… To understand the Scripture is to know God… and to know the things are the way the Scripture says they are… and that God’s plan is unfolding…  We understand that God is sovereign and His purpose is being accomplished… This is Awesome truth…

Here on the road on this first Easter day…These 2 men  are so excited… They are on fire on the inside… Here’s their response… v28,29…

Luke 24: 28,29               NKJV  slt 2000

28 Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and He indicated that He would have gone farther. 29 But they constrained Him, saying, “Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.” And He went in to stay with them.

v29… Don´t go… stay with us…  

Why did they invite Him in?

The Word of God was coming alive… This is about more teaching…  It thrilled them… They still don´t know that they are with Jesus…

They only know that their fear and confusion is leaving them… as they see the scriptures clearer…Then… when he broke the bread… v30,31…

Luke 24: 30, 31  NKJV   Schlachter 2000

30 Now 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. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight.

Their eyes were opened….. Now they see that it is Jesus…… In an instant going from the depths of despair to the transcendent heights of joy, they recognized Him… And He vanished out of their sight…    

They had hoped He would be their Redeemer… and turns out He was… And now all the Scriptures made sense… They saw the big picture… Look at verse 32…

Luke 24: 32             NKJV Schlachter 2000

32 And 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?”

Their hearts were on fire with the deepest joy… Scripture was true… This was the Messiah…It was all part of the plan… He is alive…

verse 33…

Luke 24: 33-35              NKJV  

33 So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 And they told about the things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.

Their hearts were burning while He was explaining the Scriptures…

Remember that what lit their hearts on fire was an understanding of Scriptures… They still did not know it was Jesus…

The Word of God is Alive… Down through the centuries… IT is still setting hearts on fire…. It is still being used by the Holy Spirit to transform hearts and lives…

The most important thing that we could ever do is explain and teach the Word of God to a lost and dying generation…  

It produces a burning heart… It transforms lives….. It comforts the faithful….

Jesus is alive… and the Scripture is alive… Their flaming hearts came from Him explaining  the Scriptures… And it turned in to zeal to preach the message… proclaim the Good News… What we’re talking about here is joy and testimony…

Two things that flow out of this, when your heart's on fire because you understand the Scripture… you have an internal joy because you know it’s the truth…

Close

The Resurrection of Jesus from the Dead is Historical fact… He Lives…. And He still changes lives…

The first Word of the Gospel is repent…. Repent and believe the gospel… What a tragedy if one of you here this morning is almost a Christian… I am calling on you today…. Repent and believe the Good news of the Gospel…

Now I know that sometimes even we who are believers find our world shaken by the things that happen in our lives… we don´t understand… Where is the Lord? How could this have happened… We find ourselves on the rough road of our life… Where do we go…?

We go to the Word of God… Jesus is in our hearts… He is ready and able… More than able to open up the scriptures to us… It will set our hearts on fire…  And we will understand… The Word of God will teach and comfort and strengthen us… Look with me at… Hebrews 10… v35,36…

Hebrews 10: 35,36            NLT   Neues Leben

35"So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! 36 Patient endurance is what you need now so that you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that He promised. "

Great verses… v35… Confident trust… v36… Patient endurance… And finally… we receive everything that he has promised…

45 years ago… I bought a bible… Because a long haired hippie on TV said that God was real… That Jesus was a Savoir… that the Bible was true… He said that if I would read it for myself… I could find Jesus…

I sat down and read the bible… I began at Matthew 1… I read it nonstop… By the time I had spent a few days reading it…The Holy Spirit had used this book… to take out my heart of stone and give me a new heart of flesh… My eyes were opened to see Jesus… My heart was burning within me… It was all true… There was hope… The Resurrection of Jesus turned a disaster into Glory! Jesus sacrifice has once for all time made it possible for every disaster in our lives to be turned into Glory! It´s Good News!

There is hope! It´s all true… He is Risen! We have a Savior… His Name is Jesus!

Matthew 12: 21      NKJV  Schlachter 2000

21 And his name will be the hope of all the world.

He is Risen….. He is Risen Indeed!

Let´s Pray