Hope that Doesn’t Fade

Series on Luke

VI The Invincibility of the Kingdom

I The Triumph

Text: 24:1-53

Introduction

We hope for a lot of things in life. Some we get and some we adjust to not getting, but what is the point if all hope ends in the grave? If you don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your hopes will be buried with you. There is just one hope that can make life meaningful. It is a hope, a conviction, a belief that lasts beyond the grave. Paul sums it up in I Corinthians 15, If only for this life we have hope in Christ we are to be pitied more than all men. The gospel is the good news that hope doesn’t have to end with death, and believing it will change your whole life. You will discover that you are a new person because all your hopes and aspirations will be conditioned by this one fact: life goes on beyond your death. Is this your hope and trust today? The one and only thing that can give you this great hope is the death burial and resurrection of Christ. Did you ever notice that with all these healers on TV nobody ever brings a dead body to them? In fact if one of them, or even an Indian mystic or a Buddhist monk did raise somebody from the dead it would rivet the attention of the world. You might see it on TV or in People magazine, or Time, or even the New York Times, but it would still be meaningless to you because it would only help that one person. Indeed, even in the Bible God raised people from the dead. Think of Elijah and the Shunamite’s son, or the synagogue ruler’s daughter and the widow’s son and Lazarus whom Christ raised. How does this help you? You see what happened to them is not transferable! It wasn’t done for you, it was done for them. But Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came to seek and to save what was lost, He is the appointed savior, the last Adam, our representative before God, our friend, our brother, our priest. What he did he did for us is the gospel. Jesus personally died for you, was buried for you, and rose again for you. This is the hope that doesn’t fade. In this chapter recording his resurrection. for each of three groups there is the same message that this was appointed, this was planned, this was accomplished for them and therefore for you. Let us consider hope for the comfortless, the confused and the commissioned.

I Hope for the Comfortless

The first group has come to the tomb and found it empty. All their hopes have died with Him. They have come to embalm a dead body. Now they find the body missing, and suppose his enemies have stolen it. Then the angels of God appear and their message is different. They tell them He is risen. What they tell the grieving and hopeless women is in verses 6-8, He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: “The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.” Then they remembered his words. The comfort they need is not found in Jesus prediction of his death and resurrection, but in his stress on the necessity for these events. The Son of Man must! This is the purpose for which he has come into the world. This is the plan of God. He is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. God has appointed him to take away our sins and destroy the power of death. It was necessary, and we cannot ignore it. There is no other way for us to have hope except to believe in him. When we believe he died for us and rose for us then what he did is transferable. It becomes our death and our resurrection. The greatest irony of all time is that Satan claps his hands in victory as the Son of God dies on the cross, but he has only accomplished his own defeat. in the same way life’s greatest irony is that he takes all our grief and misery and in the exact same way makes it a victory. this is the hope that doesn’t fade.

II Hope for the Confused

The second group is small but important. Two disciples totally discouraged are leaving Jerusalem. They already know about the empty tomb just as you know about it. They have seen not only the terrible events of his crucifixion, they have heard the report of the women who went to the tomb early on the sabbath, and even heard the words of the angels who said he was alive. Still they don’t believe. Why? Their doubt is the result of confusion. They do not understand God’s plan because they do not understand the Scriptures. Jesus‘ response is in verses 25-27, He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. They then learned that Jesus is the seed of the woman who will bruise the devil’s head. He is the seed of Abraham in whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed; He is the prophet like Moses; He is the seed of David who will sit on his throne forever; He is Isaiah’s Immanuel, suffering servant and prince of peace. He is the Branch of Jeremiah who will become our righteousness. He is the ruler of Micah who will be born in Bethlehem to deliver his people. The whole Old Testament has one message. We need a Savior, a Messiah, a Christ whom God will send, and now they see that He has come. He reveals Himself to them in the breaking of bread and they see that this is the Christ, He is alive though he was dead, and they return to Jerusalem full of hope in verses 33-35, They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. We can only leave here with the hope that doesn’t fade if we believe the Scripture that He is the only Savior.

III Hope for the Commissioned

The last group is Jesus’ gathered disciples. They who fled have met again to speculate on the events, and suddenly He is with them. Does he have a different message than that uttered by the angels at the tomb? No. Does He have a different message than on the Emmaus road? No. To these men who will carry on His work He has the same message. After demonstrating by inviting their inspection and sitting down to eat that it is really Himself and that he is truly alive, in verses 44-48 we read, He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. What was written? We have already seen it. God promised a savior, and forgiveness of sin and life for death and Jesus is the Christ or Messiah who came to deliver it. This is the whole message of the Bible, and He commissions them to be witnesses, missionaries, and ambassadors to the world. Jesus’ death and resurrection have significance for everyone so the world must know and those commissioned will be endued by the Holy Spirit with power from on high because in verses 49-53 Jesus ascends to the right hand of the Father and receives all authority in heaven and earth, I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God.

Conclusion

The question is, do the events of Easter have significance for you? Have they changed your life? Does the death and resurrection of Jesus make a difference? Well, what are you hoping for today? Some are sick and hope to be well, but in the end we all die. Some are in debt and they hope to get out, but they will die in debt or out of it. Some are hurting from loss of a job, loss of a relationship, loss of a loved one and they hope to be happy again, but happy or not they will die. Don’t we see that all these hopes are nothing if our hope is buried with us. It is God’s plan that you might hope in Jesus and be saved. The gospel is God’s offer of forgiveness for those who repent, righteousness for the unrighteous, death for life, and only the gospel will give you a hope that doesn’t fade. Only the gospel will carry you beyond the grave. Only the gospel will take all the disappointments of this life and turn them into triumphs. What will you choose? Choose the hope that doesn’t fade.