Sermon for Lord's Day July 30, 2023 Disappointed, Disillusioned, and Discouraged

Of help from on high, for it's in Jesus' name I pray, Amen. Stand with us if you would this morning as we read Luke chapter 24, verses 13 through 24. This is the word of the living God. That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.

They were talking with each other all about these things that had happened. While they were there talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.

And he said to them, What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk? They stood still looking sad. Then one of them, Cleopas, answered him and said, Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?

And he said to them,.

What things?

And they said to him,.

Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him, that we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.

Yes, and beside all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive.

Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see. Thus far as the reading of God's word, you may be seated this morning. And it may be true that we have stopped mid-paragraph in this, but it is intentionally that we do so, so that we might take in each section of Scripture as we look at them and not overlook or misplace or set up more importance on one part of the text than the other, but we want to focus on what we can take in at the moment.

So today, if you're taking notes and you want to put a title at the top of your notes, the title today is very Puritan-esque in that it is a long title, but if you're taking notes and you want to write this down, you can write this down, Disappointed, Disillusioned, and Distracted.

Disappointed, Disillusioned, and Distracted. It may be in parentheses, right? Over-realized eschatology. And the last part of the title is this, the goal is to stay in the road and to stay focused on Jesus.

The goal is to stay on the road and to stay focused on Jesus, and the importance, what we're really looking at today, is the importance of a balanced understanding of the Scriptures. So today, as we examine this conversation between Jesus and two of His disciples, let's consider some very basic facts, two primarily, that we learn from the text.

Number one, we see that there are two disciples walking on the road. So, if someone asks you tomorrow, did you go to church yesterday? And you say, yes. And they say, what was the sermon about? You can say it was about two disciples that were walking on the road to Emmaus.

Very plain, very forthright, but it's important that we take in each little bit here. So we see two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus. Number two, we see, and what we read, and what we understand, what we draw from the text plainly and clearly is this, that they were discussing, they were talking, they were debating the events concerning Jesus and His death.

Not only Jesus' death, but His burial, and they were considering the question of whether or not He had been raised. This is what they were talking about. This is what we see clearly and what we see plainly in the text.

Whoever the two might be, it is certain that they did enjoy the esteem and the confidence of the disciples because they had free access, even at untimely hours, to the apostolic circle. How do we know this?

Because of their testimony here in the text. The testimony tells us they walked and they were talking, they were discussing, they were debating. Jesus walks up. This is the summary view of it. We'll get into the detail of it.

And they said, have you not heard about Jesus, a prophet by His word indeed, who was killed, who was buried, and some of our own people told us that they went to the tomb. Who do you think the people that they were talking about was?

It was the disciples. So it's likely they were part of the apostolic circle. Henry Burton in the mid -1800s said this, one thing that was a problem and an issue for these two disciples here in this text, one thing that may have been a challenge for them is that they were too near the divine life to see its just and to see its large proportions.

Henry Burton said this. Now, that may seem like a whole lot to take in, but consider it this way. We all know where we are right now, right? Right now you're at Reformato Baptist Church at 8015 Chapman Highway.

In South Knoxville, Tennessee, right? That's pretty easy to understand. But what we can't see, we can't see over all the way into East Knoxville right now, right? We can't see all the way into Seymour right now.

We can't see too far over this way or too far back this way. But if you were to go to Google Maps, because I know nobody looks at actual maps anymore, but if you go to Google Maps, if you've never been to Google Maps, you might be an old dude like me, but if you're young, you probably use Google Maps.

And the cool thing about it is you can zoom in on a specific address and see locally what's taking place right there at that address. And then with just the flip of your finger, you can zoom out and you not only see the neighborhood, you see the city, you see the state, and if you zoom out far enough, you see the entire world.

The disciples' sight here is very limited. They were very close to the divine life, but Henry Burton went on to say this. What they must do in order to have understanding was to stand back from it the distance of a Pentecost.

Fifty days after Christ raised from the dead, we have the account of Pentecost. Burton goes on to say this. They must look on it through their lenses of flame before they can take in the profound meaning of that life or even the awful mystery of that death.

At present, their vision is out of focus. Hence the title. They were disillusioned, disappointed, and distracted. What happens in our lives many times is we lose focus. We lose sight of whose we are. Church, let me remind you today.

If you are saved by the grace of God, you are God's child. He is your heavenly Father. And your heavenly Father knows what you have need of. Jesus told the disciples this early in the Gospels. Your heavenly Father knows what you have need of before you even ask it.

If he cares for the birds of the air, be certain he cares for you. So they were disappointed. They were disillusioned. They were distracted because their vision was out of focus. They were discombobulated if you would have it that way.

So, going on, Burton said this. At present, their vision is out of focus and all they can see is the blurred and the shadowy outline of reality. All they can see is the temporal and not what is spiritual.

The risen Jesus, for such the stranger he was, though they knew it not, the risen Christ listened to their requiem patiently and wonderingly, glad to find within their hearts such deep and genuine love which even the cross and the grave had not been able to extinguish.

The men themselves were true even though their views were somewhat warped. Why? Again, because they were disappointed, disillusioned, and distracted. Their understanding of what was taking place and what was going on was skewed.

And it was warped.

It's not that they were in sin. They were just tore up. Why? Because they were people just like us today. Now, as we move on here in this passage, notice, I want us to notice as you're taking notes, notice we see this recurrence of what took place previously throughout the gospels as Christ proclaimed his kingship, his lordship, and his authority.

What we see is a recurrence of the misguided notion that Jesus was going to be a political king and that all their earthly problems, this is what they were understanding right now. We know this too because of verse 21.

Run back to verse 21 very quickly. They said this, we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel, period. This was the crux of their faith and their confidence right now. All they could see was that the one who had promised to redeem Israel had died.

All they could see, all they knew, that the one that had promised to redeem Israel had been buried in a tomb and that their own people went to his tomb on the third day and found a vision of two angels, and the two angels told them that Jesus Christ was not there, but he had risen.

But all they could think about was the temporal. All they could think about was the here and now. We thought Jesus was going to be the king and defeat Rome and everything was going to be daisies and roses from here on out.

But notice, as we move a little bit further, notice their conversation had just been discussing how they expected Jesus, like I said, to be the redeemer of Israel. The two, not unlike many today, had what is in theological terminology an over-realized eschatology.

Over-realized eschatology. And I'm going to define these terms. We want to define these terms. We want you to understand what you are hearing today. But they had an over-realized expectation of what Jesus was going to do.

Jesus had previously told them, Remember, my kingdom is not of this world. For if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants have fought. Now, in this term, over-realized eschatology, I know it may be a new term, but this has been in the view of theologians for centuries, and it's important, having a good understanding of church history and theology alike, that we take this in and we consider this idea.

In a blog post by Kenneth Birding, he's the professor of New Testament at the New Testament School of Theology, Talbot University Theology, he said this concerning over-realized eschatology. Over-realized eschatology is this.

This is the definition. It is the assumption that all or most of what God has prepared for His people in the future can be experienced by God's people in the present. An over-realized eschatology is the idea that God's people can experience all of the benefits and blessings in this life, and we don't have to wait for them in the life to come.

That's an over-realized eschatology. One group, let me define eschatology to, eschatology, simply put, it's the study of last things. Eschatology is the study of last things or the end times. Now, eschatology does play a part throughout the scriptures.

We should understand this term, but we should not make it our sole goal in life and make it our only focus. Eschatology is a part of what we read in the scriptures, the study of last things, but we must keep a balanced approach on this.

One group, the pre-millennial dispensationalists, places most of what is perceived to take place in the far-off future, while another group, the second group, the post-millennialists, says most everything has been fulfilled and that basically humanity just blends into the future eternal state somehow where death is still a reality in the eternal state.

And then there is the amillennial view that holds a balance between the natural and the spiritual interpretation of eschatology,.

The balance.

The amillennial view contends for the idea of an understanding that there are both spiritual, keep in mind, both spiritual and physical realities that are at the same time realized. Right? So we have over-realized and realized.

That are at the same time, there are realities, or realities that are realized, meaning this, that here and now as well as at the same time, meaning simultaneously in the future, there are realities to be brought to perfection.

Let's slow this down for just a second.

So, forgiveness of sins. Many people don't realize the forgiveness of sins is an eschatological truth. It's an eschatological reality. We have here and now the forgiveness of sins in, through, and by the person of Jesus Christ.

Now, because we live and breathe, we still fight sin. Amen? Do any of you still fight sin? Hopefully you do. There might be a big problem if you don't. Sin is a reality, right? It's an eschatological reality.

But there will be one day in the future when Christ comes, brings the consummation of all things, death will be done away with, sin will be no more, all tears will be wiped away from our eyes, and we will have perfection in the eternal state.

But we do not have that in the here and now. And we will never have that in the here and in the now. What is realized eschatology then? Realized eschatology focuses on the aspects of God's future-oriented promise that Christians get to experience now.

An over-realized eschatology is the belief that we should experience all or most of the blessings of future heaven life in the here and now. Another example of over-realized eschatology is that everybody should be healed.

The teaching that everyone should be healed, because many people will go back to Isaiah and say that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

Was not only for the healing of sins,.

But for the healing of the body. But when we go throughout the passages of Scripture, we find that Christ came and died for the salvation of the soul of man, to purchase those that are his. Now, the future fulfillment of that eschatological reality is this, that we will one day have a glorified body.

At the day that Christ comes, calls the church home, all things will be made new. We will have a literal, physical, glorified body at that time, but not until that time. So what must we do? We must occupy and remain.

And we must occupy and remain not only, but remain faithful to God's Word, to cling to God's Word, what God has said He has promised to do, we can hold to. Those who promote over-realized eschatological teachings fail to acknowledge that there are wonderful things.

In the new heavens and the new earth.

That we have to wait for. And we have to do so with patience, and we have to do so with perseverance, which, good news, today, the Holy Spirit living in you and I as saved men, women, boys, and girls of God gives us faith, perseverance, and patience to continue on.

The danger, the danger, now there are dangers, I want to say this, those who assume and over-realize eschatology are, it's inevitable, it's inevitable that they will find themselves disappointed, disillusioned, and distracted, and they're disillusioned, disappointed, and distracted from the humble and the grace-dependent life that Christ has called us to live in the here and in the now.

So what's taking place? What have the disciples done here? Again, the crux of this passage is verse 21. What have they done? What they have done is they assumed biblical truth. Assuming is not a good thing.

Test everything according to the Word of God, church. Everything, everything I'm saying today, everything you hear taught in the classroom by Kenny, everything, children, that you hear taught in your classrooms, test everything by the Word of God.

Never assume knowledge of biblical truth. You see, the disciples were not sinning here. Some people think they were. Rather, they were simply wrong in their assumptions. They assumed that the kingdom that Jesus was bringing was an earthly kingdom, but Jesus, as we stated earlier, had already made it crystal clear to them and to Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world.

Another of the old Puritans, Thomas Vincent, said this concerning an over-realized eschatology. Thomas Vincent said, I might add here, as a cause of the security of some, the presumptuous confidences of future events which belong only to God's foreknowledge, which some have taken upon them so absolutely to determine as if they looked into the book of God's decrees or they had an infallible revelation from him of what should come to pass.

Vincent closes this statement by saying, oh, the good days that some have looked for upon presumption of what they had no ground for. Oh, the good days that some have looked for upon the presumption of what they had no grounds for or no base reality to stand on.

What the Bible does is tells us certain things that we need to do to learn the Bible itself. And it is a wonderful thing that it gives us such instructions. For example, in John 5 .39, I believe, John 5 .39, the Lord Jesus said this to the Pharisees, search the Scriptures.

Search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life. That word, search, means to examine thoroughly. It means to investigate. It means to trace out. It implies a good deal of diligence and effort in finding the truth that is there.

In the audience that Jesus was speaking to when he said this, search the Scriptures, there were Jews who were no doubt proud of their knowledge of the Scripture. They had indeed searched the Scriptures, but they had an astigmatism.

Spiritually speaking, they were selective in what they were seeing there. They were seeing certain things and were refusing to see other things. Christ reminded them that the Scriptures themselves testify of Him.

They had shut off that part of the Scripture. It was not penetrating them at all. They didn't come to the Scripture to learn what was there. They came to confirm what they wished to see there. And so when we go to the text of Scripture, when we see the condition of these two disciples as they walk on the road to Emmaus, we see a common condition.

We see two men who do just what you and I do almost every single day of our lives. We are tempted to lean upon our own understanding. We are tempted to lean upon our own ideas. We are tempted to lean upon our own opinions.

Of what the Scripture says,.

But let God's Word be true and let every man be alive.

Going on.

Truth that is not grounded and truth that is not founded in the certainty of the Scripture themselves will most certainly lead to disappointment. It will lead to disappointment. It will lead to discouragement.

It will lead to disillusionment. It will lead to problems. It will lead to issues. It will lead to arguments. But my friends, if we would just all be willing and disciplined enough to come to the place where we are able to admit to God and to nobody else what we have figured out.

To the Word of God. Today is this. That in seeing this text, in this passage, our hope is that we would learn from the mistakes that we ourselves make in life. We must be willing to learn from our own mistakes, which is a little easier than learning.

From our own mistakes.

Learning from the mistakes of others. Right? If you're on a trail, if you're in the woods, if you're hiking, or if you're in line at school, whatever the case may be. And let's say you're driving down Chapman Highway down toward Seymour, coming up this way on the right side of the road.

On the far right, there's a pothole that used to be about this big and now this pothole is this big. Now what you have to do is learn. You see somebody in front of you and the whole back end of their car goes down as they go through this section of the road.

What you should do, the smart thing, the wise thing for you to do would be to say, hey, that's strange that their car did that. And to say, you know what? I am not going to do that. I'm going to not overcorrect, but I'm going to make a course correction.

And I'm going to go a little bit to the left.

And as you drive just a little bit to the left of that spot on the highway up there, you'll see that big pothole and you'll know why you should avoid that. But an overcorrection would lead you into oncoming traffic.

You don't want to do that either. You want to make slight, coarse corrections. That is what the term reformat is. It means to be reformed, but not according to our ideas and our thoughts, but according to the Word of God.

And so, moving on just a little bit further here, we want to learn from others so that, to this end, that we would improve our knowledge and that we would improve our discernment so that we, as individual believers in Christ, are not caught off guard and that we are not caught unaware by things that take place, as these disciples were, which was horrendous, no doubt.

But that resting in the comfort of the Word of God, we can have assurance that we don't need to panic,.

That we don't need to know it all,.

But we do need to strive to see what God says about it all. So, 2 Peter 1, the Apostle Peter, in writing to the church scattered abroad, said this about the importance of the Christian person possessing knowledge.

Peter writes, May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and to godliness through the knowledge of Him who has called us to His own glory.

And excellence.

By which He has granted to us His exceeding great and precious promises so that through them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

And for this very reason, Peter says this, for this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith. Supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.

For the Apostle Peter states, if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is one thing for certain here that we see in this text.

It is the importance of having a balanced approach to understanding the Scriptures. If we are to know who God is, we must go to the book. If we are to know who the Son of God is, we must go to the book.

If we must know who the Holy Spirit is, we must go to the book. If we must understand the doctrines.

Of the book,.

We must go to the book. They will not be found by searching the deepest parts and recesses of your heart and your mind. They will be found in the word of the living God. So these two disciples, obviously they were disappointed by the way things turned out.

By that I mean to clearly say this, they were let down. Because their expectation of truth and reality was different from what they determined that it should be. The eschatological reality here in the text was this, for them and for us today as believers in Christ, that we will have to wait to the consummation of the ages to experience many of the benefits that Jesus Christ has made us heirs of.

And we ought to be content with such an idea and such a thought. For one day, as Christ declared to the disciples in John 14,.

He said,.

Beloved, do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God? Believe also in me. For in my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. But behold, I go to prepare a place for you.

That where I am,.

Jesus said, there where I am, there you might be also.

Lord, how can we.

Know the way, Thomas said, right? How can we know the way?

How can we know the way?

Jesus said, I am that way. I am the truth. And I am the life. It is most certainly.

And it is most absolutely.

True that the kingdom of God was inaugurated when Jesus came. For he said, the kingdom of God is with men. It is certainly as true that the kingdom of God will one day be brought to full and brought to final perfection.

But in the meantime,.

In the meantime, there are many eschatological realities that we as believers can enjoy. As we mentioned just moments ago, there are numerous eschatological realities that we know now in part, but will be fully known at that day when all things are brought to completion.

There's an old song that says, when Jesus comes in glory as Lord and King of Kings, oh, what a wondrous story the blessed Bible brings. His face will shine like sunlight. His head be white as snow. His eyes like flaming firelight.

His feet like brass aglow. His voice like rushing waters will reach with mighty sound into the deepest quarters of all creation round. And at this wondrous greeting, the dead in Christ shall rise. The Lord and Savior meeting in glory in the skies.

And we who are believing and his appearing in due love shall know we are receiving his glory from above. His resurrection power will raise us to the place where we, that wondrous hour, shall see him face to face.

Oh, hasten thine appearing, thou bright and morning star. Lord, may we soon be hearing the trumpet sound afar. Thy people all are yearning to be thy raptured bride and at thy own returning be caught up to thy side.

In Colossians chapter 1, verse 9 through 14, the scripture states this. And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you. This is the apostle Paul writing to the church at Colossae. And he says this, asking that you may be filled with what?

The knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy.

Of the Lord, fully.

Pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for all endurance, for patience and joy. And then notice what he says here.

We see some eschatological realities that are enjoyed in the present and that will be enjoyed in full in the future. He goes on to say here, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share.

In the inheritance of.

The saints of the light. What was the message proclaimed by the apostle Paul in the book of Romans? That if you have the Spirit of Christ, then you are his. And if you do not have the Spirit of Christ, you are none of his.

In John's gospel, we are taught that being born again, that God gives us the Holy Spirit whereby we are able to cry, Abba, Father, where we are made in this present moment in time, sons of the living God.

But in the future, my friend, we will know the full eschatological reality of that statement where we can't understand it in its whole in the here and now. He said you've been delivered or qualified to the inheritance of the saints of light.

You've been delivered from the domain of darkness, another present eschatological reality that is yet to be.

Fulfilled.

Later in time. Delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of his beloved Son in whom we have redemption, even the forgiveness of our sins. So we see, an over realized eschatology, the hinged verse being verse 21, an over realized eschatology will leave you disillusioned, disappointed, and distracted.

It will cause you to turn your eyes from the glory of Christ. Certainly we should study the deep doctrines of the Scripture, yes and amen, wholeheartedly, full speed ahead, but we should do it balanced.

We should do it with spiritual wisdom, with spiritual understanding, which comes only from the Holy Spirit of God. More good news for you today. The book of James, we are taught, if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.

Let him ask of God who gives to all men liberally and upbraids not.

Or does not hold back.

Ask of God for spiritual wisdom. And it's likely some of you all may be spiritually cussing me, but let's go ahead now and exposit the text. Verse 14 and 15, what do we see here? We see two words. We see the disciples talking and we see the disciples discussing here.

We see talking and discussing. As this term is used in Mark 1, it helps us to understand what the fullness of these words mean. In Mark 1 chapter 21,.

Or I'm sorry,.

Mark chapter 1 verse 21, the Scripture says they went to Capernaum and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching for he taught them as one who had authority and not as described.

And immediately there was in the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit and he cried out, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy.

Us? I know who you.

Are, the Holy One of God.

But Jesus rebuked.

Him saying, be silent and come out of him. And the unclean spirit convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice came out of him and the Scripture says. They were all amazed so they questioned among themselves.

This is the same terminology,.

It's the same word that's used.

In the text here in the Greek.

They begin to question, they begin to debate, they begin to discuss, they question among themselves saying, what is this? A new teaching with authority? He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him and at once his fame spread abroad everywhere throughout all the surrounding regions of Galilee.

So in verse 14 and 15 those terms are more than just light conversation but they were in a heated discussion about what was going on. They were trying to figure things out. They were conversing with one another.

And I believe it was.

I believe it was Calvin who said this, they were, as they conversed with each other, it was a proof of godliness that they endeavored to cherish.

Their faith in Christ. They were.

Just trying to figure things out. Again, they were no different than you and I. They had limited comprehension, they had limited understanding and the only way, as we'll see in a couple of weeks, the only way that they were going to have a fuller comprehension and a better understanding and a better grasp of the scriptures themselves would be when Jesus opened up to them the scriptures.

And it was then that their hearts began to burn in them. Verse 16, notice what the scripture says. Verse 16, their eyes were kept from recognizing.

Jesus. Their eyes.

Were kept from recognizing him. The usage of this word here means to hold in check or to restrain. It means to hold back. To understand it a little better, to understand context really of what took place, we can go to the Old Testament.

If you go to Isaiah chapter 45 and verse 1, the scripture says this, thus says the Lord to his anointed, so this is the prophet Isaiah, thus says the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus, speaking of Cyrus a king, which by the way, Cyrus was not a godly king, he was not a good man, but he was one in whom the Lord used to bring honor and glory to himself.

Notice what the text says. To the Lord's anointed to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, this is the word of God, to whose hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose.

The belt of kings, to.

Open doors before him that gates may not be closed.

And the Lord goes on, I will.

Go before you and level the exalted places and I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hordes in secret places that you may know.

It is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by name. For the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel my chosen, the Lord says to Cyrus, I call you by your name. I name you though you do not know me.

This is that terminology.

I am the Lord and there is no.

Other. Beside me there is no God. I equip you, the Lord said, again repetition, though you do not know me. Though you cannot see me. Though I'm not renouncing, it is I who.

Has done this.

At this present time, the Lord is revealing that even though he was unseen, even though he was unrecognized by Cyrus, the wicked king, that God was using him for his glory and for his honor. And so just in that same sense, the disciples eyes were withheld.

Because their eyes were on what was going on. Their eyes were blurry. Their vision was out. And very soon.