SPEAKER_00: Good morning, church.
SPEAKER_00: I invite you to be seated this morning.
SPEAKER_00: So I was thinking this past week about unmet expectations.
SPEAKER_00: And then lo and behold, uh last night I get a phone call about the sunrise service, which I was looking forward to that it had been canceled and rescheduled.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of other things had been going on.
SPEAKER_00: And my expectations for life had not been met.
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's the unmet expectations of life that really cause us the greatest problems.
SPEAKER_00: Whenever I have an opportunity to do premarital counseling with couples who are considering making that wonderful commitment uh to one another, to just do life together.
SPEAKER_00: Like it's such an enriching moment for me as pastor.
SPEAKER_00: But one of the sessions, we do three sessions, and one of the sessions that we do is a session that that deals in particular with expectations in marriage, because, and this is what I tell them that expectations before marriage become demands after marriage.
SPEAKER_00: Don't look at your spouse, don't do it.
SPEAKER_00: But you know that's true, right?
SPEAKER_00: And that's where we really get into trouble, is where we have some expectation of how we have life mapped out or the week mapped out or our future mapped out, and it doesn't work that way.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't have those expectations, then well, disappointment becomes something that's not as that that's that's not as gripping.
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you an example of this.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, right now, my wife uh is back in the nursery uh hanging out with the kiddos.
SPEAKER_00: Whenever you leave today, if you go to her and you say, Hey, I just heard that you are actually not going to go on your two-week long trip to Cancun and hang out on the beach for two weeks, she is not going to be disappointed.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know why she's not going to be disappointed?
SPEAKER_00: Because she's not expecting it.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the that's the trick, is is if you expect it, then and then there's a letdown, then there's this frustration that occurs.
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, for example, for some of you, you you you've said the words like we were expecting this thing to happen.
SPEAKER_00: We were expecting for the child to come home.
SPEAKER_00: But we had so we had hoped that this would happen.
SPEAKER_00: We had hoped that the job offer would have come through.
SPEAKER_00: But we had hoped that the doctor's report would have been different.
SPEAKER_00: But we had hoped that the that the house would have been available.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe it's just you individually.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to miss out talking to our single people today.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's you, and you say, but I'd hoped.
SPEAKER_00: But I had hoped that that this opportunity for internship had occurred and and it didn't.
SPEAKER_00: But I had hoped that she would have said yes.
SPEAKER_00: But I would have hoped that he would have called by now.
SPEAKER_00: But I would have hoped.
SPEAKER_00: And you begin to get the feeling that it's the unmet expectations of life that create so much strife and struggle for us.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you can't not have expectations.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we know people who don't have expectations have their own sort of turmoil that they live in.
SPEAKER_00: There needs to be goals, there needs to be dreams, but they can't be our goals and they can't be our dreams.
SPEAKER_00: I'm 50 years old now and I've lived long enough to know that my goals and my expectations rarely get met.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not the first to struggle with those things.
SPEAKER_00: Whenever Jesus was crucified on a cross, there were a lot of people who had unmet expectations.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to read about a few of them this morning.
SPEAKER_00: They thought he was going to be the king of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: They thought he was going to liberate them from Roman oppression.
SPEAKER_00: They thought he was going to be the Messiah who was promised the way they expected for him to come.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, when Jesus meets a few of them on the road and they begin to share their story, they say, Here's what happened, but we had hoped.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you're here this morning and that's your story, your story is that you had hoped and it didn't work out the way that you had planned, then this is in particular for you this morning, because you're going to find yourself meeting a couple of individuals whose story is like yours, but I think we can argue far worse because their expectations were not just lost or missed.
SPEAKER_00: They watched their dreams and expectations nailed to a cross.
SPEAKER_00: Look with me if you will, down to verse number 13.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to pick up this story here.
SPEAKER_00: This happens the morning three days after the crucifixion.
SPEAKER_00: There are these rumors that the rabbi, that these disciples had followed, had been seen walking around after being crucified, and the tomb was empty.
SPEAKER_00: And the the message came first to women, which didn't make any sense in that culture in that day.
SPEAKER_00: And they wanted to believe it.
SPEAKER_00: They wanted to believe it so badly, but they just, they're just reckoning.
SPEAKER_00: Could this be true?
SPEAKER_00: It's so outlandish to hear a story about this guy who we saw beaten, bloodied, battered, nail-pierced, out walking around, talking, talking to people.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it would be a it'd be tough to believe.
SPEAKER_00: And so they're wrestling with it.
SPEAKER_00: They're on their way away from Jerusalem, they're on their way away from the epicenter of where all of this took place, and they're heading to a place called Emmaus, only seven miles away.
SPEAKER_00: And for that seven miles, they're racking their brain trying to figure this out.
SPEAKER_00: Luke tells us the story.
SPEAKER_00: He says in verse four, uh verse 13, he says that there were two of them going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking to each other about all the things that they had seen that had happened.
SPEAKER_00: Now, while they were talking and discussing, two in particular Greek words, they're talking, being, they're they're speaking, they're sharing their ideas.
SPEAKER_00: Discussing has a much more heavy weight to it.
SPEAKER_00: It has the idea of like arguing about things.
SPEAKER_00: It can't be true.
SPEAKER_00: It has to be true.
SPEAKER_00: They wouldn't lie to us about it.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they these are sane people.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're arguing, they're discussing, and they're wrangling and they're wrangling, and they're wrenching themselves, trying to figure out what God is doing in this moment.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody ever been there?
SPEAKER_00: Like just trying to figure out what is God doing with this moment, they're wrestling with it, when suddenly, while they're discussing it, Jesus himself drew near and went up to them.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're not familiar with the story and you were just reading it for the first time, you might think, oh, this is going to be cool.
SPEAKER_00: Like they're wondering about who Jesus is, and Jesus is going to walk up behind them, and he's going to have his little hood on, and he's going to reach up and pull his hood back and say, ta-da, here I am.
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly all of the hope that they had lost would be restored.
SPEAKER_00: But if you know the story, you know that's not what Jesus did.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus allowed them to walk for a little while in their despair.
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of God we serve.
SPEAKER_00: Who not because of his frustration or his hatred or his anger towards us, but because of his love and his mercy and the necessity of our soul, he allows us to walk a few miles longer than we would want to walk in our despair.
SPEAKER_00: And it's necessary.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is here and he doesn't reveal himself.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the next verse.
SPEAKER_00: So while they were talking to and discussing Jesus, he came and walked up to them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
SPEAKER_00: Now you're going to see a couple of times in this passage where things happen and they seem supernatural.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to know they are, they appear supernatural because they are supernatural.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus shows up and they don't recognize him.
SPEAKER_00: And here in a few minutes, uh, we're going to see he vanishes and then reappears later.
SPEAKER_00: And if you have a problem with that, then let me just tell you that the story is about a man who died and rose again.
SPEAKER_00: And if he can die and rise again, then he can hide his image.
SPEAKER_00: If he can die and rise again, then he can vanish into thin air.
SPEAKER_00: If he can die and rise again, then he can reappear.
SPEAKER_00: If he can create the universe as you and I see it today, he can do anything.
SPEAKER_00: See, the problem that we have with miracles isn't God's problem, it's our problem.
SPEAKER_00: It's that we are worshiping a God that we just he's not powerful enough to do the things that we want to see him do.
SPEAKER_00: Here, Jesus is about to do a miracle.
SPEAKER_00: But before he does, he sets them up to receive that miracle.
SPEAKER_00: See, the truth is, like the answers to prayer that you and I want, like we, there's a certain way that we would we would like to see them answered.
SPEAKER_00: But the truth is, is there's a there's another way that they they need to be answered.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's not just me walking up and giving you the answer, right?
SPEAKER_00: Or you walking up and giving me the answer.
SPEAKER_00: It's how we discover the truth.
SPEAKER_00: It's the journey to learning what's real and what's not that makes all the difference in the world.
SPEAKER_00: For some of you, like that's the journey you're on.
SPEAKER_00: Like you've been searching, you've been asking questions, and you're wondering why God isn't providing you the answers that you want to hear.
SPEAKER_00: And the truth is, the reality is, and I've learned this in my own soul, that sometimes I don't get the answers that I'm looking for because I'm not ready to even ask the right questions.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus does it for them.
SPEAKER_00: What we're gonna see is Jesus on the road to Emmaus is he poses three questions to these individuals to prepare them to hear the truth.
SPEAKER_00: And there it's a pathway that we wouldn't choose for ourselves, but it's a necessary one, and you're gonna see why here in a moment.
SPEAKER_00: Three questions that Jesus asks them.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, Jesus walks up beside of them, verse number 40 17, and he says, What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?
SPEAKER_00: Interesting, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: They're arguing about his crucifixion and what it meant and the potential of resurrection and what that meant.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus walks up and says, So what's going on?
SPEAKER_00: What's hot today?
SPEAKER_00: And one of the individuals looked back at him and they stand and they they look sad, which you would understand while their hopes were wrapped up in this rabbi who they thought was going to bring an end to Roman oppression and lead to Jewish flourishing and wealth and prosperity, and all the things that we want in our country, and it didn't happen.
SPEAKER_00: They looked sad.
SPEAKER_00: Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him and said, I'm just going to paraphrase here, have you been living under a rock?
SPEAKER_00: Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?
SPEAKER_00: You didn't hear the screams?
SPEAKER_00: You didn't hear the whips?
SPEAKER_00: You didn't hear the crowd chanting, crucify him, crucify him, after having shouted, crown him, Hosanna to the king?
SPEAKER_00: Where have you been living at?
SPEAKER_00: I do think that if this conversation happened today, well, let me just put it this way, if I were filming this movie, like if I were filming this and I was putting it putting it in contemporary terms, Calliopis would say, Have you been living under a rock?
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus would respond, Yes, for three days now.
SPEAKER_00: That's the best I got for you, folks.
SPEAKER_00: He, yeah, I mean, he's he's he's he's he's aware of what's going on right now.
SPEAKER_00: Any of you ever wondered if God is aware, not aware of what's going on?
SPEAKER_00: Does he really know what I'm facing?
SPEAKER_00: Does he does he really care?
SPEAKER_00: He's right here on the road next to them and he's asking them this piercing question as though he has no idea, but he knows everything and so much more.
SPEAKER_00: But then he, we're still in the second question, but he he adds to his first question, and he kind of shrugs his shoulders, I sort of imagine in my mind, and he says, What thanks?
SPEAKER_00: Now, now, in a way, this is kind of cruel.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, from the outside looking in, we know, we know God has a reason for doing these things, but it's tough because what he's forcing them to do at this moment is to relive the horror.
SPEAKER_00: What thanks?
SPEAKER_00: So they said to him, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet.
SPEAKER_00: Notice what he says there, was a prophet, mighty indeed and word before God and all the people.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the the idea of was a prophet there captured my attention this week because, of course, we know, those of us who are followers of Jesus, we know that he is so much more than a prophet.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, they would have known it too.
SPEAKER_00: But but what do you believe?
SPEAKER_00: And what are you forced to reckon?
SPEAKER_00: What are you forced to conjecture whenever the guy who you thought was the eternal living Messiah dies on a cross in front of you?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, see, like for most of us, if someone came up and said, you are a prophet, you would be, it'd be elevating you to, or us, to a higher status.
SPEAKER_00: But for Jesus, this wasn't them elevating Jesus to some high status.
SPEAKER_00: It was them lowering their expectations of who Jesus was.
SPEAKER_00: He was, past hence, a prophet.
SPEAKER_00: He couldn't be more.
SPEAKER_00: Jerusalem has killed a lot of prophets.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is just one more prophet that Jerusalem has killed.
SPEAKER_00: And then they go on to explain what had happened, how Jesus had been turned over to the chief priests, and how they had mocked him and railed him and turned him over to the Roman officials, and that they had crucified him.
SPEAKER_00: And then here's our verse we had read just a moment ago.
SPEAKER_00: That's what happened.
SPEAKER_00: But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what are they doing here in this moment?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're looking at their unmet expectations, and they're frustrated about it, and they're they're trying to figure it all out, they're trying to math it all out.
SPEAKER_00: But there is a bit of a divine passive woven into this verse.
SPEAKER_00: Because whatever they say we had hoped, we had expected, don't miss the fact that in some sense they're turning to God and saying, Why?
SPEAKER_00: They're blaming God for this.
SPEAKER_00: Why did this happen?
SPEAKER_00: Why did this good man die?
SPEAKER_00: This is like he looks so much like the expectation that we were looking for, and yet he died.
SPEAKER_00: We have this way of taking our problems in life and turning to God and blaming him.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I would never say, Lord, I blame you for the circumstance that I'm in.
SPEAKER_00: I blame you for my finances, I blame you for the struggle in my relationships.
SPEAKER_00: Like we would never do that.
SPEAKER_00: But whenever we look at a sovereign God and we we see him as the one who has mapped out life and existence with great care and intentionality, and then we express displeasure over the job we have, over the health we don't have, over the relationship.
SPEAKER_00: When we express discontent, somewhere buried deep inside of that accusation is this anger and frustration towards the God who controls everything.
SPEAKER_00: That's what's going on here.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is walking them through this.
SPEAKER_00: He's asked them this question because they need to vocalize the agony and the pain and the feelings that they're, that they have, not only about the circumstance, but about God.
SPEAKER_00: And so they're they're pouring this out.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we expected, and it's not what happened.
SPEAKER_00: And then on top of that, there were people who are saying he's risen, that that now it's the third day since he was laid in the ground, and there are people who are saying that there's actually hope.
SPEAKER_00: One of the only things I think more frustrating than than than the absence of hope, right?
SPEAKER_00: Than than just the feeling of, oh, this is going to fall apart, is whenever there's just a little bit of last minute hope and then it's taken away.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, Virginia Tech fans, you know what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00: You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm a Tennessee fan.
SPEAKER_00: I understand what it's like to what I just wanted to feel it, Randy.
SPEAKER_00: I just you know, you're like, oh, we oh this isn't this is never gonna happen, and then it looks like it's like it might happen, and then it doesn't.
SPEAKER_00: Like there's that agony and the frustration.
SPEAKER_00: Like Jesus wants them to feel that.
SPEAKER_00: Do you know why Jesus is so interested in us feeling our despair?
SPEAKER_00: It's not because he's mean or he's hateful, it's because he's honest.
SPEAKER_00: And we live in despair.
SPEAKER_00: Even though you may be wealthy and prosperous and healthy and have all the things you may want in life mapped out before you, even if that's your story, you know where that road ends.
SPEAKER_00: And you may you may fold it up and put it in a box somewhere and close it up and say, I don't have to worry about that right now.
SPEAKER_00: I don't, I don't have to worry about what age does to me.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you do, you work we're worrying about it now, right?
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to worry about it.
SPEAKER_00: You can put it up, but the truth is like you know it's there.
SPEAKER_00: We live in despair, and it's so important that we feel our despair and our hopelessness because it's in that place where our expectations stop being about us, and our expectations start being placed on him.
SPEAKER_00: And he always comes through.
SPEAKER_00: Question number one.
SPEAKER_00: Question number two, look at verse number 25.
SPEAKER_00: So they pour out their hearts saying, This is what we thought was going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus lets them walk straight through all of that.
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, when they're describing that story to Jesus, like they can still hear the whip sounds, they can still hear the moans, they can still hear the hammer hitting into the four-inch spike.
SPEAKER_00: They can still smell the blood, like it's all right there in their face, as violent as you can imagine it could ever be.
SPEAKER_00: And once they're there, Jesus turns to them after they pour out their hearts and he says to them the most encouraging thing possible, oh foolish ones, slow of heart and thought, again telling them the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Oh foolish ones, don't you understand?
SPEAKER_00: Is this not should you not be believe all that the prophets have spoken?
SPEAKER_00: And here's the question Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer and these things and then enter into his glory?
SPEAKER_00: Great question.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's not the expectation.
SPEAKER_00: The expectation is no, he's not going to suffer.
SPEAKER_00: He is going to enter his glory.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to come into Jerusalem, sit on his throne, kick out the Romans, make everything great for me and my family.
SPEAKER_00: Like that's the expectation.
SPEAKER_00: That's how they read the scripture.
SPEAKER_00: It's kind of funny how you and I, sometimes regularly, anyways, uh, for me, like I read the scripture in a way that benefits me.
SPEAKER_00: Like I'll read the promises and contort them to talk about the things that I want them to talk about, but miss the other verses that talk about the way of suffering and strife and struggle, and in this world you're going to have all of that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_00: They had misread the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: People do this all the time.
SPEAKER_00: They make the scriptures say what they want it to say to make them feel comfortable when they're having conversations, to make them feel comfortable whenever they're looking at their future.
SPEAKER_00: These folks had done no differently, but Jesus had said, this is not what's in scripture.
SPEAKER_00: This is exactly right.
SPEAKER_00: What is in scripture is suffering and glory.
SPEAKER_00: Is it not necessary for the Christ to have suffered and then enter his glory?
SPEAKER_00: And before they can answer, Luke summarizes, and I wish he had spent more time on this.
SPEAKER_00: How about you, Carrie?
SPEAKER_00: And I would have loved to have been a part of this sermon.
SPEAKER_00: And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them all the scripture and the things concerning himself.
SPEAKER_00: Ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to tell you, if you don't hear anything else, I want you to hear this.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible is about our redemption, but it's not about us.
SPEAKER_00: We are not the hero of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: You are not slaying giants, you aren't conquering kingdoms.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus does both, and we benefit from the work that he has done.
SPEAKER_00: All of Scripture is about him.
SPEAKER_00: I imagine in maybe, I mean, I'm sure he started in Genesis.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible tells us he started with Moses, which is those first five books, and in every single book, from there on, it is a story about Jesus and a presentation of who he is.
SPEAKER_00: In Genesis, he is the seed of the woman that is promised, and he is the true Isaac whose father actually did something.
SPEAKER_00: Sacrifice him.
SPEAKER_00: In Exodus, he was the Passover lamb for sins.
SPEAKER_00: In Leviticus, he was the great high priest and the sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: In Numbers, he was the serpent that was lifted up, that when all people looked at him, they would be saved.
SPEAKER_00: In Deuteronomy, he was the prophet who was to come.
SPEAKER_00: In Joshua, he was the great commander of the Lord's army who led them into the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: In the book of Judges, he was the king that they had hoped for and needed, but could not find.
SPEAKER_00: In the book of Ruth, he was the kinsman redeemer who paid the price at his own sacrifice to bring us into his household.
SPEAKER_00: In the book of Samuel, he was the true king anointed by God in place of the one that was appointed by people.
SPEAKER_00: In the book of Kings, he was the one who was greater than Solomon, the one who was wiser than Solomon, who could hold the kingdom together.
SPEAKER_00: In Ezra, he was the one who rebuilt the temple.
SPEAKER_00: In Nehemiah, he was the one who rebuilt the wall, the promised one who brought Israel back together as whole, as a as a true nation.
SPEAKER_00: In Esther, he was the one who did, he didn't say, if I die, I die, but I'm going to go and do this thing anyways.
SPEAKER_00: He knew he was going to die.
SPEAKER_00: In Isaiah, he was the suffering servant.
SPEAKER_00: In Jeremiah, he was the promised one to weep over Israel, as he did in Lamentations.
SPEAKER_00: In Daniel, he was the one who comes riding on the clouds.
SPEAKER_00: In the book of the 12, the 12 minor prophets, he is, he is Hosea, the one who was the true husband who bought his bride out of harlotry, which is where we were.
SPEAKER_00: He is the true Jonah who spent three days in the belly of death and then rose again.
SPEAKER_00: He was, he is the true Micah, the voice of Micah, who says, Shall I offer the firstborn, my firstborn for my sins, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
SPEAKER_00: And yet Jesus steps forward and says, No, but I will, I will offer myself.
SPEAKER_00: God the Father says, I will offer my son for your sin.
SPEAKER_00: He is the true Zephaniah who says he is right, the one who is foretold he's going to come and he's going to be lowly and he's going to ride on the back of a donkey.
SPEAKER_00: He is the true, he's the true Habakkuk, the one who says, He is the one who is coming on the clouds, and he is going to reign on high and make all things just.
SPEAKER_00: All throughout the Old Testament, he is the intention of what God has done there.
SPEAKER_00: So beginning at Moses and moving all the way through the Old Testament, Jesus says, it's it's been planned, it's been told.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you can be told something over and over again, and yet, yet, whenever it happens, you're still shocked by it, right?
SPEAKER_00: Your parents tell you, if you do that, this is going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: And then you do it, and the parents make good on their promise, and yet we act shocked.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we can look at the future, you know, coming, sorry, I'm just going to do it, you know, coming elections, and we can say we all know how it's going to end up.
SPEAKER_00: 50% of the people are going to say yes, and 50% of the people are going to say no, and we're all going to keep arguing about it.
SPEAKER_00: And whenever it happens, we just continue to be frustrated.
SPEAKER_00: We can know it's going to happen, and it still frustrates us.
SPEAKER_00: They knew it was going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus had told them, had told them repeatedly, I am going to go to Jerusalem, be turned over to the hands of sinful men, and then after that be crucified and raised again on the third day.
SPEAKER_00: It was shown again over and over in the prophets how he would live, die, and rise again.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, whenever it happens, they can't fully see what's going on.
SPEAKER_00: You know why that is?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we have trouble accepting the promises of God and hearing the voice of God because of his hand to blind us, to cause us to wonder for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: So that in the darkness we grope for him.
SPEAKER_00: That's important.
SPEAKER_00: Please hear me.
SPEAKER_00: Because at the end of the day, you and I don't need another answer to another question.
SPEAKER_00: There will always be another question.
SPEAKER_00: We don't grope in the dark for answers.
SPEAKER_00: We grope in the dark for him.
SPEAKER_00: And this is what he wants.
SPEAKER_00: He wants our hearts to languish for him, to hunger for him, so that whenever we find him, we are truly and actually nourished.
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what Jesus is doing here.
SPEAKER_00: Now, that's question number one.
SPEAKER_00: He's asking them what to tell me, walk back through again what has happened.
SPEAKER_00: Question number two, is this not foretold in scripture?
SPEAKER_00: And then question number three comes a little bit later.
SPEAKER_00: These two men walk with Jesus for a while.
SPEAKER_00: He acts like he's going to just pass by and go off in another direction, but they encourage him, come back with us, eat with us.
SPEAKER_00: We see Jesus, he's there and he's with them at table and he's about to, he's about to dine with them, but he picks up a loaf of bread, and whenever he does, he breaks it.
SPEAKER_00: And I kind of in my mind imagine the crumbs sort of go everywhere as they would with that kind of bread.
SPEAKER_00: And in that instant, suddenly their eyes are opened.
SPEAKER_00: Just a Monday, a mundane regular event, they've seen it a thousand times.
SPEAKER_00: But that bread cracked in a way different from any other meal they've ever shared.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you, like that's your story.
SPEAKER_00: Like you've you've taken that road a hundred times.
SPEAKER_00: You've had this conversation a thousand times.
SPEAKER_00: They've invited you to come to church a dozen times.
SPEAKER_00: And it's like any other time, but this time maybe it's going to be different.
SPEAKER_00: This time, whenever the bread is broken, the the eyes begin to see because the spirit begins to move.
SPEAKER_00: It really is something supernatural.
SPEAKER_00: Their eyes are open, and suddenly they see it's him.
SPEAKER_00: And he vanishes.
SPEAKER_00: Again, supernatural, but that's okay.
SPEAKER_00: If he can rise from the dead, magic tricks are no problem for him.
SPEAKER_00: He's gone.
SPEAKER_00: And they begin to say, What has happened here?
SPEAKER_00: When we were at table with, or rather, they say, Was it not the case that our souls, our hearts burned as he talked with us?
SPEAKER_00: And they look back, please hear me.
SPEAKER_00: In this moment, they look back over the journey to Emmaus, the last seven miles they had just walked.
SPEAKER_00: And while they were walking, they they could not come to terms with the fact that Jesus was walking with them.
SPEAKER_00: But here in this place, paused, quiet, they're able to look back and see he was there every single step.
SPEAKER_00: And that's good news, ain't it?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, when you're in the valley of darkness, whenever you're in the weeds, and because like we've all been there, you don't realize, like it's impossible sometimes for you to hear his voice and understand who he is.
SPEAKER_00: But when you get to the other end and you get a little bit out of the valley, you get a little bit out of the weeds, you look back and you realize you never walked alone.
SPEAKER_00: Now, up to this moment, they've been walking away from Jerusalem, but here they turn around and they start walking back, apparently, is the thing.
SPEAKER_00: They're going back and they're going to find the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Well, there's a whole sermon there somewhere, isn't there?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, sometimes you just got to turn around and head back.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: You've been walking for a while and you don't intend to take all the time to do so, but but you look around and you find out that you've been, you've wandered way off past, way off point, and it's time now to turn around and come back.
SPEAKER_00: And the scripture indicates that they do.
SPEAKER_00: So they come back and they tell the disciples what were what had gone on.
SPEAKER_00: And we're about to enter our third question here, but here's the setup.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse number 30.
SPEAKER_00: When he was at table with them, he took the bread, and we just talked about that, and their eyes were suddenly open, verse 38.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, now, collectively gathered together as a group, with not just those two individuals, but also with the eleven, he says to them, Why are you troubled?
SPEAKER_00: And why do doubts arise within you?
SPEAKER_00: Pretty good question, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, after all, if you if you saw your rabbi being beaten and mocked and maligned and cut and pierced and crucified and nailed to a cross, I mean that's about the that's about the worst thing that could ever happen to you as a follower.
SPEAKER_00: Like you there, there's there's nothing worse than that that's going to happen to the person that you're following.
SPEAKER_00: That's as bad as it gets.
SPEAKER_00: And now here this individual stands before you, and what hope, what hope could that bring?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, if the if the father has in has for us done away with the greatest enemy we have ever faced, is there anything he cannot do for us?
SPEAKER_00: And the answer is no.
SPEAKER_00: If he can make dead men live, if he can bring back to life someone who died, especially the way this man died, there is nothing he cannot do.
SPEAKER_00: So this is a valid question Jesus is asking them.
SPEAKER_00: Why is it the case that you are downcast and and and destroyed?
SPEAKER_00: Why are you troubled and why do doubts continue to arise in your hearts?
SPEAKER_00: Can I just pause for a second and ask you that question?
SPEAKER_00: What is it about the stuff that we face in life that causes us to be so consumed with the sorrows and frustrations and fears of this world that we forget that one that God made this man live again?
SPEAKER_00: That this God man came back to life.
SPEAKER_00: It's that that is the reason why, ladies and gentlemen, that the resurrection meant so much to the early church because everything hinged on it.
SPEAKER_00: See, it was necessary for Christ to die, as he just pointed out here.
SPEAKER_00: It was necessary for him to die, for our sins to suffer.
SPEAKER_00: It was necessary for God to allow that moment whenever the wrath of man was poured out on God so that you and I could see exactly what was in his heart.
SPEAKER_00: The crucifixion was the worst form of execution ever dreamed up by the Romans, and perhaps in human history.
SPEAKER_00: And it was a perfect moment for God to say, humanity, this is what you really are, this is what you would do to God given the opportunity.
SPEAKER_00: But at that exact moment, whenever we were pouring our wrath out on him, he was pouring his wrath out on sin and providing an opportunity for you and I to be saved.
SPEAKER_00: That is a huge liberating truth that once we understand that, man, all other problems kind of fall by the wayside.
SPEAKER_00: Let me ask you, as we're about to close here, three questions.
SPEAKER_00: They are the questions that Jesus asked, and then we're going to attack on one more for just good measure.
SPEAKER_00: What is the conversation that you are having right now?
SPEAKER_00: What is it that you're facing?
SPEAKER_00: And like you're you're discussing, and maybe even with someone else, you're disputing in your mind what's going on and what does it mean, and and and you're grappling for another answer to another question.
SPEAKER_00: What are you really wrestling over?
SPEAKER_00: Who are you really blaming for it?
SPEAKER_00: Question number two, isn't it necessary that suffering will come?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, after all, Jesus promised that that if that we're not greater than our master, if we as if he as a master suffered and experienced sorrow, how much more will we who follow him experience sorrow and suffering?
SPEAKER_00: The promise that the same person who promised, Come to me, all you who are who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
SPEAKER_00: My yoke is easy and my burden is light, is the same one who also promised, in this world, you will have trouble.
SPEAKER_00: Which brings me to the third question.
SPEAKER_00: Why are we troubled?
SPEAKER_00: Why are our doubts rise?
SPEAKER_00: Why do they rise up within us?
SPEAKER_00: And the truth is, it is because of our unmet expectations.
SPEAKER_00: My expectation to build my kingdom and to do the thing my way, to have my kind of life and my kind of joy, to do it my way.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be my own God.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just like Eve in the garden.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to set up my kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: It's that unmet expectation.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the truth is, please hear me.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't hear anything else, come back in for this.
SPEAKER_00: See, my greatest frustrations in life is b they exist because I've created this image of God and this image of Jesus that He's here to serve me and how He's going to do it.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm here to tell you that image is not as valuable as the true thing.
SPEAKER_00: I I honestly I try not to incorporate grandchild illustrations in every single sermon.
SPEAKER_00: I'm working.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like I'm not used to one in weeks.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so just get ready for it.
SPEAKER_00: The other day I was uh a couple of weeks ago on Fridays.
SPEAKER_00: I have I have Deaton all day long, and and and and he was sitting there and and and and uh we were watching we were watching TV.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I turn on Southeast Christian Church, um, their their their services and and and we listened to it together and and and I think he's like I the other day I saw him, he he was raising his fist up high, and I'm like, get it boy, like get it done.
SPEAKER_00: You know, so we were laying there and there was a there was service that was on on the TV in front of us, and and uh and he was laying there and he he fell asleep because everyone falls asleep during sermons, it's okay.
SPEAKER_00: And he um he was there and I and I reached down, I grabbed my camera, and and because he was so sweet, and I know one day he's not gonna be, and I took a picture of him and and and just laying there, and I just looked at that picture and I thought to myself, this is just wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, just wow, the opportunity to have this kid so close to us and and to hold him and to help him take his first steps and to be there whenever all his parents are so great to include us in everything, and and and like such a great experience.
SPEAKER_00: And I promise you, I think God leaned down and said, Yeah, it's great, right?
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, Yeah, it's great.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I don't recall for you, I don't recall you asking for that.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm way too dumb to ask for that.
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm asking for possessions and I'm asking for ease of life and I'm asking for security.
SPEAKER_00: And right there in front of me, holding that child was like the most wonderful thing.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm just like, I I I never would have thought to ask for that.
SPEAKER_00: Can I just tell you that what God brings you are things that you would never ask for, but they are the most wonderful things.
SPEAKER_00: And at times, yeah, it takes you to distress and and sorrows, and Jesus will walk, he'll let you walk seven miles.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus will let you walk 14 miles, he'll let you walk 1,400 miles, he'll walk as far with you as he needs to walk for you and I to learn the lessons that we need to learn to develop a callus or two on our feet and realize we need to stop walking.
SPEAKER_00: He'll do that because he loves us and he will give us a thing that we would never have asked for, but we so desperately need.
SPEAKER_00: We try to set up this image of God, this image of Jesus that we want.
SPEAKER_00: Can I just invite you?
SPEAKER_00: Can I just ask you, are you willing to trade, to let go of the Jesus that you had hoped for in exchange for the one that rose from the dead?
SPEAKER_00: He's worth so much more.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's a lot he could have done and some prayers that you would have loved to have answered.
SPEAKER_00: But if he didn't answer them, there's a reason why.
SPEAKER_00: There's a reason why you're in a mess.
SPEAKER_00: There's a reason why he is still walking with you asking questions.
SPEAKER_00: And the greatest reason is because at some point we have to let go of the Jesus that we've created in our mind and exchange him for the one who rose from the dead.
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus lives forevermore.
SPEAKER_00: He is risen.