"Rejoice in the Lord and again I say rejoice" - Phil 4:4
"The joy of the Lord is your strength" - Nehemiah 8:10
"Believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" - 1 Peter 1:8
"The fruit of the Spirit, is love, joy, peace ..."
The Christian life is a joyful life
It is God's intention for us to be full of joy
Often though, we are not
We forget Jesus words'
We forget that all things are working for the good of the believer
We forget to focus on Jesus
Jesus notices two men who are sad
The had a sad appearance - at the start of the passage
At the end of the passage - they are very joyful, full of hope and conviction
Example of John Wesley
Whose "heart was curiously warmed"
The title of the sermon: 'Sorrow turned to joy'
We will see the men becoming new men
We will see unbelieving disciple full of hope and belief
Overview
The cause of sorrow and dejection
The solution to sorrow
The cause of sorrow and dejection
Dashed hopes
All they could see/think of was a crucified Jesus
"Hope deferred makes the heart sick" - Proverbs
The reign of Jesus had not materialised
All they could talk about was what had happened - v17
This one thought was going around their mind
They were hoping Jesus would redeem Israel - v21
They were in deep trauma - utterly dejected
One disciple is named as Cleopas and the other unnamed, but they are part of a group - they are all filled with gloom
Christian's can experience deep trauma
They can struggle with depression
Example
Have you forgotten God's blessings and are focused on the trauma
Doubt and cynicism
The disciples:
All they could think of was a crucified Saviour
They could not comprehend He could rise from the dead
Their minds were on the negative
The apostles had the same mindset - v9
They did not believe the women - v11
There was doubt in the minds
They trusted Judas - be he betrayed them
They had become cynical
Can we experience the same?
(A) Defective view of Scripture
Not just cynicism and dashed hopes - a defective understanding of Scripture
They need to hear more of the Bible
They seem to have become selective about the Old Testament
They do not understand about the suffering Saviour
They do not take onboard Jesus' words - Luke 9:22
Peter even challenged Jesus over this
Luke 20:14,17 - quoting from the Old Testament [Psalm 118:22]
What about us?
Are we selective when we look at the Bible?
Are there things we accept or reject?
Are we deceived by prominent preachers? (example)
Example
The Causes
Dashed hopes
Doubt and cynicism
(A) Defective view of Scripture
Behind it all is the devil - he wants to imprison people in doubts and darkness
He prowls around like a roaring lion
We have to resist him, firm in the faith
The solution to sorrow
Luke's Gospel is previous - this event is only recorded in Luke
A wonderful account of Jesus appearing to anonymous strangers:
* Cleopas and an unnamed friend - an ordinary believer
* Jesus appears to ordinary believers
* He is willing to stay with them, go into their home and unfolding Scripture to them
Jesus had already appeared to Simon
Jesus spent so much time to these before spending time with the 10 apostles
Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene, then the other women, then perhaps these two unknown disciples
They did not recognise Jesus
Their eyes were restrained - v16
Their eyes were opened in the braking of bread - v31
Their blindfold was removed and sorrow turned to joy
The gracious initiative of the Lord
God is kind and will not leave His children in a sorrowful state
He comes
He blesses through His word
He draws near
Jesus Himself drew near to the men - v15
There is a rebuke of their foolishness - but there is tremendous tenderness
He does not force Himself in / but draws out the difficulty - v17,19
He waits for their invitation
He indicates He will go farther - v28
He is not a strict teacher
He is a gentle Saviour - gentle and lowly and heart
Through the gentleness of Christ as He draws near
Perhaps someone has been pray for you
He will restore you
The Scriptures
The turning point is when Jesus teaches the men from the Scriptures
Their hearts start to burn within them
They began to understand about the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus
They were slow to believe what was written in the Scripture - v25
Jesus went back to Moses and taught them about Himself
Examples of the things Jesus might have spoken on/taught from
Their hearts burned within them
As they studied the Scriptures for Jesus
Remember at this time there was no New Testament
Do you study the Bible?
Do you listen to online sermons?
Do you come regularly to church to hear God's word?
Do you look at the whole of the Bible?
Jesus preached the whole counsel of God
Revelation
Their eyes were opened
In the breaking of bread - v35
Jesus took away the veil from the eyes
Jesus opened the apostles eyes to the Scriptures - Luke 24:45
We need revelation
We must ask, seek and knock
Pray to see wonderful things in the word of God
The Change
Their hearts are burning
They rise up and return to Jerusalem
They travel far
They explain the things that had happened to them
Do we have such a vibrant and joyful Christianity that we tell others of our experiences?
Yes we should invite people to church
Perhaps we should invite them into our own homes first?
1 Cor 14 - one of the best places to evangelise is in our own homes
Perhaps we cannot do this
We want our joy to overflow that we speak of Christ
