[0:00] Can we turn together to God's Word in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 24. Gospel of Luke, Chapter 24. We'll read from the beginning.
[0:20] This is an account of the two men walking their way to Emmaus. And we'll read down to the end of verse 35.
[0:37] Let us hear the Word of God. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing spices which they had prepared and certain others with them.
[0:52] And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments.
[1:10] And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?
[1:22] He is not here, but is risen. Remember how he spoke unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
[1:42] And they remembered his words, And returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the eleven, and to all the rest.
[1:54] It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
[2:10] Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre. And stooping down, he beheld the linen cloths laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass.
[2:26] And behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
[2:41] And it came to pass that while they continued together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.
[2:52] But their eyes were holding that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have with one another, as ye walk, and are sad?
[3:08] And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known these things which had come to pass in these days?
[3:23] And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet, mighty indeed, and word before God and all the people.
[3:36] And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be contemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel.
[3:53] And besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre.
[4:05] And when they found not his body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive.
[4:20] And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it, even so as the woman had said, but whom they saw not.
[4:31] Then he said unto them, O fools and slow of heart who believe all that the prophets have spoken, ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
[4:50] And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village whither they went, and he made as though he would have gone further.
[5:06] But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for it is towards evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.
[5:18] And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread and blessed it, and break and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him.
[5:31] And he vanished out of their sight. And they said to one another, Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
[5:46] And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered, and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.
[6:03] And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in the breaking of bread. Amen.
[6:16] May we continue in our praise to God by singing again in Psalm 111. We'll begin our singing from verse 6.
[6:36] Psalm 111, verse 6. He did the power of his works, unto his people show, when he the heathen's heritage upon them did bestow.
[6:49] His handiworks are truth and right, all whose commands are sure, and done in truth and uprightness they evermore endure. He sent redemption to his folk, his covenant for air.
[7:05] He did command wholly his name, and reverent is always. wisdom's beginning is God's fear, good understanding they, have all that his commands fulfill, his praise endures for air.
[7:22] We'll sing these verses to God's praise. He did the power of his works, and to his people show, when he the heathen's heritage, and to his people show, when he the heathen's heritage, and to his people show, his handiworks are truth and right, his handiworks are truth and right, all his commands are true, and your name, and your greatness, he's done.
[8:26] So his Bowman, his J神 is God's mantaniloe, in which the H благ thirty-man sowars are truth and right.
[8:37] Of here's About God's자를 supplying his handiworks, all his men and women sing, in which he하신ogram, but in which he has made 추노, Oh Oh Oh Ladies And all that is come and forth Till his messenger calling
[9:38] If we can turn back to the passage that we read together And for our text we'll take verse 11 And their words seemed to them as idle tales And they believed them not In the morning we looked at an account that followed after Jesus' birth Men that came walking and seeking after this new babe that had been born And now we come to an account that has happened after Jesus' death Men who have come to hear of Christ
[10:39] But now we see them walking away And as we saw in the morning The men came with great hope And great anticipation And the men that we find here tonight Seem to be walking away with little hope Jesus has been crucified And his body has lain in the tomb for two full days now And on the third A group of women come and report magnificent events to the disciples And these things are so unbelievable That they are, as what we read there in verse 11 Seemingly idle tales And they believed them not And the tale is exactly that We see reported by the Emmaus travellers in verse 22 and 23
[11:42] Yea, and certain women also of her company Made us astonished Which were early at the sepulchre And they found not his body They came saying that they had seen a vision of angels Which said that he was alive I just want to look at this account tonight In the moments that we have And consider the walk of the men The wonder of the men And the word that was given to the men So firstly we begin with the walk of the men The women that spoke amazed them But sadly that's all it seems to be Just an amazement This account is too far-fetched for them to believe But Peter instinctively jumped to inspect the reports But the two Emmaus men
[12:43] Well, it seems like they walked They left Jerusalem And they left the disciples It seems that after all that had previously happened While Jesus was with them And even after the women's report There's nothing left for them to justify them staying in Jerusalem And after all The Jewish authorities were looking for the disciples of Jesus So they chose to depart Jerusalem was empty for them And what led them to go to Emmaus?
[13:28] Well, that's something we're not sure of And we could think that they may be returning home Or seeking work But one thing we know for sure Wherever they are going They are going with little hope They aren't understanding what has happened And in a sense it's easy for us to say that today We have the full picture And we tend to forget when we read these accounts In Bible stories That they are real accounts And they are real men You know, we think that the people in the Bible Were of superior trust Or superior confidence But as we read more and more We really say aren't And we see ourselves In all the different characters of the Bible They are just like yourself and me Prone to doubt And prone even to walk In the wrong direction
[14:30] If you are to put yourself In their shoes The Saviour has died The one that was hoped Was the long-awaited Promised Messiah Beforehand all the signs were there His healings His miracles And there must have been some form of excitement As they awaited Jesus To be exalted As their king To be their ruler And their defender of the nation But now he's gone And they're sorrowful And you can understand The last thing they want to hear Is someone telling tales That he is alive The words written here Idle tale Translated from the Greek Is literally Nonsense No sense
[15:30] It makes no sense to them It is nonsense To them You know if they had believed These women's words They wouldn't have gone anywhere If they thought there was any sense To these women's words They would have stayed Because When they do realise There was sense in them They come running back When they find out The truth of it The woman Actually brought to them The most significant news They could ever have heard And they dismissed it Jesus is alive The greatest report Was perceived As a tale And that's scary When you think That these men Spent most of their time With Jesus They had seen his miracles
[16:31] They had been told By himself That he would rise again They could not contemplate it Or believe it And Jesus actually did Exactly what he said He would do He fulfilled Every word You know Of these men Doubted It is no wonder That men and women Of our generation Who know little Of Christ Find it so easy to say That the Bible Is a book of tales The men who walked With Jesus Are guilty Of even That Thought So how much more The people Of our generation Who do not Even Know who Jesus was Or understand
[17:31] What he can do To dismiss The Bible As tales You'll find No shortage Of people Making that claim Today And they'll say To the Christian You don't believe In that nonsense Do you And maybe There's some Even here Thinking the same thing Sometimes you might Get a chance To sit down And watch A film At night And there is A huge selection Of films That you could Watch Or can watch But I always Tend to prefer The ones That say Based On a true Story I don't know Why But this Just seems To be more Worth To them It seems To make all The difference When you're Watching the Film Knowing That there is Truth To the Storyline You know It's not Someone's
[18:33] Imagination That you're Watching Through Or someone's Creative Story You know The film Seems to leave An impression Upon you And it doesn't Just leave you Saying You know That was a Good film Often it Leaves you Saying I can't Believe that Actually Happened And the Bible doesn't Have a phrase Based on a True story Written within The small Print But it does Have words That these Are trustworthy And true In the Concluding Chapters Of Revelation And there Are many Evidence Evidence Is to Reinforce Any Doubts To reinforce Any claims That it is True And cancel Any doubts That you Have And the Question we Must all Ask ourselves Is Is it True Or is it Idle Tales We must Look at the
[19:33] Evidence We must Look at Both sides Of the Story And wonder Over its Claims And see If there is Any truth To it And make Wise judgment On it And know It's speaking To our Hearts But if you Just take it From a Literal point Of view There's a Man that Wrote a Book A case For Christ He Looks Through the Evidence Of the Bible And questions Every point Of it Lise Drobel Is his Name And there's Actually a Film made On that Too And he Comes to The conclusion Himself That it Has to Be true He Goes into Depths Of what Happened What was Prophesied About him And he Comes to The decision It has To be True You know Do you Believe In Christ Is this
[20:33] True Or tales To you Tonight Because this Is the Greatest Decider Of the Path That you Will walk On This is The greatest Decider Of the Direction Of which You will Walk In your Life But it Is the Most Important Decision And Realisation That you Will Have And you Might think Was there More Than two Men Who Followed Jesus And ended Up walking Away that Day Surely There would Have been More Than just These two Men Who gave Up hoping In Jesus After his Death Was there More than Two men Who walked Away and Threw in The towel At this Point When they Didn't Understand What was Going On Maybe Saying Well he Wasn't The Messiah After all We hope That nobody Made that Mistake But that's
[21:35] The thing With these Two It's not Fair To say That they Threw in The towel They Didn't Just I don't Think They just Walked Away They have Not dismissed The whole Case Altogether They're Deliberated Deliberating Over it There's There's Something In this Surely As they Walk And they're Still In wonder Over What has Happened So let's Look at our Next point Of wonder I believe These men Were sincere And their Walking Is a Departure Made Quite Simply And Understandably In Sadness Jesus Jesus Jesus Has died They Want to Mourn But they Are Full Of Questions And if There is Anything Credit
[22:36] If there is Any credit That we Can give To them Is that They have Been Trying to Reason it Out Together When they Don't Understand It And the Sincerity Of these Men is Known Only Unto The Lord The Lord Who Draws Near To The Broken Hearted Who Knows Us Better Than We Know Ourselves And you Can Almost Hear These Men Discuss As They Walked On Their Way We Can't Deny The Tomb Is Empty But we Don't Know How Surely Someone's Taken His Body But the Tomb Was Guarded And it Was Sealed And why Now are The Two Marys And Joanna Saying He Is Alive The Tomb's Empty He Can't Be Alive It's Impossible Who Survives A Crucifixion He Was Dead Joseph
[23:37] And Nicodemus Themselves Took The Body Of The Cross And Wrapped It And Put Him In His Own Tomb How Was This Man Able To Save Others But Not Himself They're Thinking About It They're Not Just Dismissing It Straight Away They're Been Wise In Their Understanding And Reasoning Jesus Then Approaches And He Was Hidden From Being Recognized From And He Asks In Verse 17 And He Said Unto Them What Manner Of Communication Are These That You Have To One Another As You Walk And Are Sad It Captures The Scene They're Sad They're Hopeless And Sad Maybe They Didn't Want To
[24:37] Speak To Anyone Else About It And Jesus Has Just Stopped Stopped Them In Their Trax By Asking Asking What They're Talking About And Verse 18 Cleopas Says Are You The Only Stranger In Jerusalem That Has Not Known The Things Which Had Come To Pass In These Days You Know It Would Be Sort Of Similar To Someone Coming In Here And Asking Why You All Got Masks On Saying Did You Not Know About Jesus How On Earth Are You The Only Person To Come To Jerusalem And You Haven't Heard About Jesus Christ The Restoration Came From An Unlikely Source Unlikely To Them They Could Have So Easily
[25:37] Dismissed This Man Told The Man To Go Away Before He Spoke But They Gave Him Time Unlikely As He Was As A Stranger Who Knew Seemingly Nothing But Giving Him Time That Day Was The Greatest Thing They Did We Can Learn From People That Are So Unlikely To Teach Us Anything In Our Own Minds It Be A Lesson For Each Of Us That When We Speak With One Another And We Meet With People We Can Walk Away Amazed And Shameful Even By What That Person Has Said To Us And Be Surprised By How He Has Or She Has Made Us Feel These Men Heard The Most Wonderful Explanation Of Christ In The Old Testament
[26:38] From This Man Who Seemingly Knew Nothing You Know Jesus Is Saying You Don't Understand I'll Tell You I'll Tell You Exactly And I'll Make You Understand And He Made It Clearer To Them I Believe And It Was Ever Understood In Their Minds And The Result Was That They Wanted More Of It They Wanted More Of This Man And Understanding And Teaching They're Saying Stay With Us It's Getting Late Now Come And Dwell With Us For The Evening And You Know Jesus Never Asked Us To Believe In Him Because We Can Make Sense Of Everything That We Understand Everything That God Is Doing Because Such And Such Is Reasonable
[27:38] To Our Understanding We Are Told To Have Faith In The Lord And To Remain Faithful To The Lord To Believe And To Trust In His Word Yes It Is Part Knowledge Revealed To Us And An Aspect Of Power Made And Revealed To The Person In Their Personal Life But There's An Element Of Faith To And In His Revealing To You You Cannot But Say That He Is My God That's What The Christian Says He Is My God I Don't Understand How He Works And The Revealed Jesus To These Men Left Such An Impression Upon Them Or The Unrevealed Jesus Left Such An Impression Upon Them They
[28:39] Wanted More Of It They Were Gaining An Understanding Of Him Jesus Leaves An Impression Upon The Christian And Often We Have To Admit That We Must Listen To Him At Times And We Must Turn Our Ear Towards Him Maybe When We Are Trying To Reason Things Out And We Don't Want To Listen To Him But He Shows Himself To Us And We Admit That Yes He Is Trustworthy It Makes Sense Our Wise Judgment And Judgment And Judgment And Yes It Yes It Is True Even When We Thought It Was An Idle Tale We
[29:40] Are Persuaded And Enabled God To God They went on from standing still in sadness to returning joyous.
[30:17] Like the new Christian, in that understanding, there's a joy there like no other. When you realised Christ loves you and Christ has died for you, that is an incomparable joy.
[30:39] And you want more. You want more. You want Jesus to stay with you. Is today a day that you need to give time to Jesus?
[30:52] Is the Bible a tale to you? Is it an unlikely source of hope for you?
[31:06] Well, maybe you should give an ear to listen to what is just saying. And that we should all give time to what Jesus will say to us in his word.
[31:18] Did we give him time yesterday? Christmas is all without Christ for many. And Christmas and the birth of Christ is just an idle tale.
[31:34] Why has this birth been remembered? You don't hear anyone really asking it. Do people wonder if this was true?
[31:47] We pray that the Lord would awaken souls to think about these things. Why is every year we live marked back from when Jesus was born?
[32:01] Why was that such a momentous occasion that they would start the calendar from the time that Jesus was born? And it was an agreeable thing to do?
[32:14] Why? How did that happen? People just don't consider Christ at all. Are you sincere in your wondering over Christ?
[32:27] Do you wonder about this Christ? Do you wonder about the truth of this book? And through the word that is revealed to us that it will become, I pray, a truth to your soul.
[32:42] So let us look at the word in conclusion. The word that was spoken to the men. The women, we must admit, were ahead of the game here.
[32:59] As hard as that is to admit at times in our lives, for the male amongst us. While the other disciples are hiding. You know, the women, they practiced an unfaltering love in coming to the tomb.
[33:15] They cherished and remembered the words the angels had spoken to them. And went declaring with boldness news that was so strange and new to the lips of men who were living.
[33:30] This is news that had never passed years before like it. Maybe they knew themselves they would not be believed. You know, we can learn something from them in that.
[33:45] It is hard to dismiss a wise man's word. Even when it seems to be such an unbelievable thing.
[33:58] You know, when you see a Christian. But they are a wise man. As we all should be. You know, it is hard just to dismiss what they believe as nonsense.
[34:10] But if it was a careless man who proclaimed Christ to be the king. You know, it would be easier then to declare it as a tale.
[34:22] But when a wise man comes of good standing. Trusting in this word. And saying, this is truth. And this is how I live my life.
[34:34] That's a hard thing for someone to quickly dismiss. A Christian should be lovingly dutiful to the Lord. Mindful and memorable of the words of scripture.
[34:48] Remembering that he will return. Ready for his return. Honestly, comprehending this as a reality. And maybe sometimes that's something that we're guilty of treating as a tale in our own Christian lives.
[35:04] We're not treating it as a reality. As something that will happen. Something that is shown as we live our lives. And in our witness. We are to be confident to say what Jesus means to us.
[35:18] How he has revealed himself to me. Even when no one believes us. And dismisses you as speaking nonsense. The men didn't understand or trust that the woman's words were true.
[35:35] Jesus had to reveal himself to them before they believed. We are slow to believe at times.
[35:47] I know myself. It was a struggle for me to believe. And often we can see it in ourselves. We say, as Jesus said, O foolish ones, and how slow you are to believe.
[36:07] The world might think you're a fool. You're a fool. But that would be far better than for Christ to think that of you.
[36:19] And yet he is so gracious to come beside us. Even when we begin to walk away. Is there any listening tonight who are walking to Emmaus?
[36:34] Like the two men here. Maybe you have a shattered hope. Struggling to understand the times or events.
[36:45] Asking, what will we do now? Well, wait on God. Don't walk anywhere yet. As the psalmist said in Psalm 130, I wait for God.
[36:59] My soul does wait. My hope is in his word. My hope is in his word. And we are to be faithful to his word.
[37:10] That is what the Christian is. Someone who lives in faith to the word of God. The two men were void of hope.
[37:22] Even when they were trying to reason things out, it just wasn't making sense. It wasn't until Jesus himself turned their attention to the word of God was any hope restored.
[37:35] Then their hearts were revived. Then their hearts began to burn. And then they desired to be with Christ. Then their eyes were opened.
[37:48] And then they went back. And Christ revealed and taught them from the word. They must have been saying, well, the tale was true.
[38:03] Jesus is alive. He revealed himself to us in the word first. And then we sat and he broke the bread.
[38:16] He revealed himself to us. And I can't help but wonder, did he bless that bread with his own words in John 6 verse 51?
[38:28] And I and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The flesh was broken for the life of the world.
[38:43] We don't know what he said, whatever it was that opened their eyes. It was only then that they realized it was necessary that the Christ should suffer and enter into his glory.
[39:01] This is what every soul needs to realize. Maybe you have concluded that the Bible is one big tale from beginning to end.
[39:13] What it claims is so far-fetched that you think it to be nonsense. Maybe there was a time you gave it time. But now you have decided that there is no hope in it and walked away.
[39:30] We pray that looking at the word tonight, he himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, would reveal himself to you.
[39:41] And that you would have a heart that would burn with love to be sitting at the feet of this man and listening to his every word and that he would be one that would turn you in your path and turn you back to be with the rest of the believers like he did for these two men who walked to Emmaus.
[40:07] It was not a tale at all and that's what makes it the greatest tale of all time. The gospel is the greatest story of all time.
[40:23] Ask yourself, can it be true? Wonder over the Bible and weigh it up. Look at the words of Scripture.
[40:33] Sincerely seek the truth of it. Ask Jesus to show himself to you. Tell him you don't understand.
[40:45] Tell him you want to have hope. Turn me around from any disbelief that I may have in my heart and make me believe.
[40:56] Give me faith. Draw me close. And while I may not see you by sight, let me see you by faith. So that we are persuaded and enabled to confess with all our heart that this is the greatest truth that has ever been told.
[41:19] Jesus is alive. It is the end of a year. The two men thought it was the end of the road.
[41:32] But really it was just the beginning for them. And it was the greatest beginning for them in their lives. Many may be without hope at the end of this year.
[41:46] But we pray that Christ would be considered. And Christ would be revealed unto all those who consider him and give him time because he is a Christ that is worthy of your consideration.
[42:06] And he will not let you walk away if you do. He will come and walk beside you. and your heart will burn with love as he reveals himself to you.
[42:24] Maybe this year coming will be the greatest beginning for you. We pray that we all know and understand really and truly what Christ has done and who he is in our hearts.
[42:46] Amen.