We Were Hoping

080323 We Were Hoping

Tim Franklin

Luke 24:21

Introduction:

The personality of God revealed.

Two men walk with Jesus but do not recognize Him. Vs.21 “But we were hoping…”
Jesus is silent—He lets them walk right into this divine set up.
Eventually this ‘stranger’ on the road to Emmaus calls them foolish and slow of heart

So is everyone wrestles with doubt and unbelief in light of the Word of God.
And he begins to give them the Word until they see. Luke 24:11 And their words seemed to them like idle tales, and they did not believe them. NKJV

I want us to see from Luke 24:21 that it is not enough to hope. Hope gets you going in the right direction but at some point you must make a leap of faith.

John 20:8 Peter enters the tomb and believes! Sees and believes.
John 20:16 Mary Magdalene is having worrying, panic attack until Jesus has to shout, “MARY!” Hears and believes.
Thomas – feels and believes. “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Us—John 20:21 these are written that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and that by believing we may have life in His name.
That is my goal today—to help you believe, to lead you to believe and to lead your life by your beliefes.

Six blondes walk into church one Sunday. They begin shouting “Two weeks! Two weeks!” They high five each other, hug and begin to calm down and begin shouting “Two weeks! Two weeks!” again high fives, hugs, and celebration. Finally the preacher asks, “What are you so excited about?” One finally answers: “We put just finished putting a puzzle together!” “And we did it in two weeks!” Preacher: “Ya but why all the celebration?” “Because the box said, 2-3 years.” “Two weeks! High fives and hugs.”

Some of you may be a little slower getting the message! But I promise you, we will celebrate with you when you get it! Let move beyond hope this morning, let believe!
Eph. 2:1-10

What We Have Done

We killed ourselves.

i. Adam did it.

1. Gen 2:17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat , for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." NKJV

2. 1 Cor 15:22 For as in Adam all die NKJV

ii. And we have done it to ourselves.

1. Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God NKJV

2. Eph. 2:2

a. We walked according to the ways of this world and

b. Followed the spirit of disobedience. There are demonic spirits that tempt people to sin. And many are lead by those spirits into places of disobedience. John 10:10 the result of that course of action is destruction. Destroys people, destroys families, destroys nations. It end in death.

We were dead. Eph. 1:1

i. Dead in our trespasses and sins.

1. Trespasses-carries the understanding that we stumbled into sin. Was not necessarily the course we chose/or set out to do. Sin provided opportunity and before we knew it we were in it.

2. Sin-Gr. hamartia—This carries the understanding of repeatedly choosing to sin and making it a lifestyle.

ii. We were children of wrath. Eph. 2:3

1. Wages of sin is death- it is what we earned and deserve. Ro. 6:23.

2. We deserved the punishment. He did not. It is just as the thief said on the cross next to Jesus. We deserve this but he does not. We are guilty but He is not. This is the whole reason for Jesus death—He took our punishment.

3. We stand condemned when we choose to stay in this place of death/wrath.

It creates a situation of which we cannot escape. There is no way we can work our way out of this! There is nothing we can do. It is hopeless—without Christ.

What He has Done

We are His Workmanship vs. 10.

i. God does for us what we cannot possibly do for ourselves.

ii. Gr. poiomei—means to do, or to make. Used of God in creation. God has the power to make something out of nothing. We are his workmanship implies:

1. He has a design/plan

2. He is the Master of the work

3. His finished work is exquisite. Ie. Creation: he finished each day and it was good.

iii. God does not make junk, mistakes, every work is a master piece.

We have been made Alive

i. To cause to live or to make alive.

ii. This is the most common testimony of those who given themselves to God. “ I am alive.” IE. New creation in Christ. 2 Cor. 5:17

We have been raised up and seated

i. This is the thrill of Resurrection Sunday! It is what Peter believed! It is what Mary realized when Jesus shouted her name. It is what the men of Emmaus celebrate! (they ran 7 mile back to town to tell everyone.) He IS ALIVE!

ii. Paul teaches that in Christ we are made alive. And if made alive we are raised up just as Christ Jesus was from the dead.

iii. And we are seated where he is seated! What he has we have!

All of what He has done is to reveal:

i. how great his mercy is,

ii. how exceeding rich His kindness is

iii. and how exceedingly great his grace is.

What We Must Do

This is the question: What must we do?

i. Acts 2:37 "Men and brethren, what shall we do ?" NKJV

ii. Acts 2:37 Brothers! Brothers! So now what do we do?" (from THE MESSAGE) Ie. Have you ever heard that question—I hear it from Kelly every time I refuse to stop for directions and we get lost. “now, what do we do?” You hear it every time you break something that is crucial to your project—now what do we do? Kids say it when they just broken something they know they are going to get in trouble for—“Now what do we do?”

iii. They question is not new—it just has to be asked. And it gets asked when men see, such as in Acts 2:37

The answer is found in Eph 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. NKJV

i. We must believe! Just as Peter had to believe and Mary had to believe and Thomas had to believe! We must believe. You do not have to do anything else--but believe!

1. So many are trying to work their way out of the place of death. It wont happen.

2. So many are trying to be better before they come to Christ. You can’t do it.

3. So many are trying to escape wrath through good behavior. It will not help.

ii. If you must insist upon doing some kind of work let me give you what you can do--John 6:29 "This is the work of God , that you believe in Him whom He sent." NKJV

When you believe then you receive!

i. You receive grace. You are saved by grace through faith.

ii. Grace is what you do not deserve. Definition: Grace is God’s ability in me to do what I cannot do in and of myself. Ie. I cant make myself live—he can. I cant deliver myself—He can. I can’t make myself what God requires—He can!

iii. If I can do it myself I can boast—look at what I have done. But it is by grace through my faith so that I can only boast of His workman ship in me.

Conclusion:

So many people are hoping to get into heaven.
So many are hoping for forgiveness. They are just like the men on the road to Emmaus. You start talking to them and right away you can tell they do not believe. They want to but they are to distract by the events going on around them—therefore they say, we were hoping it was true, we were hoping he would redeem us.

Jesus did redeem us.
Jesus fought our battle, took our punishment
Jesus won our victory.

All we have to do is believe and receive.

Pastor Tim Franklin, 3/22/2008