Luke chapter 24 and verse 19 to verse 24. Luke 24 and verse 19. Luke 24 verse 19. And He said unto them, What things? And they said unto Him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel, and beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulcher. And when they found not his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulcher, and found it even so as the women had said, but him they saw not. Amen. Thus far we read the word of God. Our theme is a very simple one. The Lord always to be believed. The Lord always to be believed. As we mentioned earlier on in the service, and as we've mentioned many times, there are distinctive sorrows in the Christian life. Sorrows that the world does not share. There are sorrows at sin, in particular our own and those of others. And the world has no sorrow for sin, though it might very well mourn the effects of sin, they have no sorrow for sin as being against God. So there are sorrows which are distinctive of the people of God. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the poor in spirit, and blessed are those who grieve for their sins. But there are sorrows also which are due to the weakness of our faith. The world does not share them either because the world doesn't have weak faith, it has none. But there are sorrows on account of the weakness of our faith which the world does not have but which we should not have. The mystery of believing longing and yet despairing pain is a feature of our imperfectly sanctified nature. The children will know what it's like to want something and yet to be unsure that you will get it. And there is a distinctive kind of sorrow and hopeful and yet anxiety mixed together. Well it was so for these disciples. They loved the Lord Jesus Christ and they desperately wanted him to be alive and yet would not believe that he was. It wasn't that they didn't want the Lord Jesus to be alive and resurrected, they did. Indeed, they were sorrowful and even distraught at the thought that he was not. But at the same time, they were disbelieving and hardly persuaded at all that he was indeed alive. First of all then, imaginary inconsistency. imaginary inconsistency. Verse 18 to get the sense. And the one of them whose name was Cleopas answering said unto him, that's the Lord Jesus, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem and hast not known the things which have come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done. imaginary inconsistency. There was no discrepancy between what the Lord had promised either in the Old Testament scriptures or the Lord Jesus in his earthly ministry on the one hand and the facts of the case upon the other. There was nothing contradictory between what was happening and what was prophesied and foretold. But there was a huge discrepancy between what they could see and what they imagined should be happening. What they saw was, to them, a disaster. The Lord Jesus had been crucified. What was actually happening was glorious accomplishment of redemption and the resurrection of the Redeemer. So that's where the discrepancy lay, not in the promises of God and the event, but in their apprehension of what should be happening. First of all then they describe the events of the last few days for the benefit of this supposedly ignorant stranger. They are astonished that he doesn't know anything about as far as they are concerned. Of course he knew everything about it but as far as they are concerned he's a stranger and he doesn't know anything and so they specify Jesus of Nazareth Jesus was not an altogether uncommon name, and so they specify which Jesus they're talking about, Jesus of Nazareth, because to their minds this stranger seemed to know nothing. A prophet, mighty in word and deed, or in deed and word before God and all the people, they haven't pulled back from that much. They still believe he was a mighty prophet in word and deed. They still believe that. They hold on to that. They don't retrench further back. They maintain, yes, he was that prophet, the prophet spoken of in Deuteronomy and chapter 18. And verse 15, The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren like unto me, unto him ye shall hearken. And verse 18, I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. They didn't turn away from believing what they knew. You'll notice also that they say in verse 20, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him. They got this right as well. They placed the fullest blame where it belonged. Not on the Romans, but on the chief priests and the Sanhedrin. Now the Romans were blameworthy but the greatest guilt lay with the Jews and with their leaders as the Lord Jesus declared in John chapter 19 and verse 11. John 19 Verse 11, Jesus answered, this is to Pilate, Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above. Therefore he that delivered me unto thee had the greater sin. So the chief priests were guilty above all else, above even the Romans. They all sinned, they conspired together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, let us break their bands of Sunday and cast their cords from us. But the greatest guilt was with the Jewish leaders. They had the scriptures. They had Christ ministering among them in the temple and in their streets. they saw the wonders and the miracles that he performed, they heard his voice, but never man speak like this man. They, above all, were guilty. Woe to thee, Chorazin, Christ says. Woe to thee, Bethsaida. For if the miracles had been done in Tyre and Sidon, that have been done unto thee." In other words, greater light brought even greater responsibility and greater guilt. So these disciples were right to say that it wasn't the Romans who took hold of the Lord Jesus against the will of the Jews. They delivered him up and by wicked hands he was crucified and slain. And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death and have crucified him. This was to them an unmitigated calamity. He'd been crucified This, for them, was a disaster. They should have known better. 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 10. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you. searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. What's the matter with these men? They recognize the glory that should follow but not the sufferings of Christ. They were selective in their understanding and use of the Word of God. Had they not read Isaiah 53 or Psalm 22 or Psalm 69? But they think only of the glory that should follow. Wasn't that a particular problem all through that the disciples Following the popular teaching, they looked for the glory that would follow, but not the sufferings of Christ. And so when they were told by the Lord Jesus himself, when Peter had been told that he would suffer at the hands of men, be it far from thee, Lord, they wouldn't listen. They wanted to be selective with their reading and believing of the Scriptures. Verse 21, But we trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done. We trusted. There is a forlorn, despairing, element here, we trusted. This is what we thought. It's very doubtful if they had a clear picture of Christ bearing away sin, redeeming in that way. But they thought in some way that he would deliver Israel from his enemies. And then he says, today is the third day. The Lord Jesus had certainly told the twelve that he would rise again on the third day. Luke 18.31 Then he took unto him the twelve and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spit it on. And they shall scourge him, and put him to death, and the third day he shall rise again." There, it's explicit. All the sufferings, even the different kinds of sufferings, and the third day he shall rise again. And even in our chapter, okay, that was to the twelfth, but in verse 9 we read and verse 7 saying, read from verse 6, this is the angels, he is not here but is risen. Remember how he spake unto you and when he was yet in Galilee saying, the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and the third day rise again. and they remembered his words and returned from the sepulcher and told all these things unto the eleven and to all the rest. But what we have here is not, oh it's the third day, so he must have risen again. That's not how it is at all. Cleopas is saying, Well, he died and maybe we could have hoped for some divine intervention on that day when he died. But nothing happened. Nothing happened yesterday and well, it's the third day and there really isn't any prospect of change. That's what he's saying. He's not saying, it's the third day, we remember, he said he would rise again on the third day. He's saying, well, nothing's happened so far and, well, it's the third day, so things are barely focused. God might have intervened at the time, or closer to the time, But now we're on to the third day, and really it's all over. The dying ember, but it's not dead, because those who are born of the Spirit, the seed remains in them. But this is not a patient waiting for fulfillment of promise, but a lingering, despair. What a difference confidence in the Word of God would have made. They were sad, verse 17. In John 20, verse 20 we read, then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. The disciples would soon be glad, but at this time they were exceedingly sad. There's a lesson for us, isn't there? Does not our sadness sometimes reflect unbelief? Yes, there are sorrows that are not sinful, of course there are. But sometimes we are sorrowful because of unbelief. When matters are not turning out as we thought, if we believe the Lord, what he says about himself, about his wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth, What a difference it would make to see our troubles as ordained by an all-wise Father in love and governed by His power. Not just happening, nothing just happens. All facts are God-ordained, all events and toward his people, he has thoughts of peace and not of evil that you should have find an expected end. We don't need jollying up by a lot of froth. That's not the answer. We just need to believe the Word of God. that his thoughts toward his people, whatever their circumstances, cannot be frustrated and they are thoughts of peace and not of evil. We don't need human inventions if we are despondent. what we need is the belief of the truth. There is no circumstance in which we can find ourselves when belief of the truth is not the answer. Secondly, bewilderment instead of faith. Bewilderment instead of faith. He and certain women also of our company made us astonished which were early at the sepulchre and when they found not his body they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels which said that he was alive. They had the testimony of these women, several women, godly, reliable women. and of angels. Surely, surely with such testimony they would believe the prophets now. The prophets were saying he would rise again. The angels were saying he was absent from the tomb. The angels were saying he is risen as he said. But they're bewildered. They're bewildered. They are astonished. Why are they still only astonished? Even the testimony of the women, of the angels, of Christ during his earthly ministry, of the Old Testament prophets, and it hasn't done it. It hasn't clicked. They haven't seen it. They were glad later, when they saw how it all fitted into place. We're often glad later, aren't we? When we can see the providence of God and how he has worked all things wonderfully well. But oh that we were glad in the beginning, in anticipation, in confidence that He will do all things well before they happen. We should seek the Lord's grace to trust Him at the time before it's all become clear. when we are still looking forward rather than backward at the work of his hands. So often, so weak is our faith, that when we are beset with problems, we are anxious not just a justifiable concern, we're anxious in unbelief as if God was not in control, as if he was not gracious toward us, as if he'd forgotten to be gracious. Afterwards, we see what unbelieving fools we were when he has worked out his providence with respect to that particular set of circumstances and we see that the Lord is good. But let us seek grace to believe that he is good and that he will do everything right before he's done it. Thirdly, missing the obvious, missing the obvious. verse 24. And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulcher, and found it even so as the woman had said, but him they saw not. They even had the report of Peter and John, verse 12. Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulcher, and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that which was come to pass. They had that testimony that Christ's body was not in the grave. The grave clothes were laid by themselves. You remember that the women had taken special note in the previous chapter in verse 55, that the women also which came with him from Galilee followed after and beheld the sepulcher and how his body was laid. There was no mistake here. They didn't go to the wrong tomb, as people try to explain it away. They took note of where and how his body was laid. And when Peter and John came running to the sepulcher, Peter found not his body, but he did notice that the grave clothes were laid by themselves. but still they don't accept it. Thomas even held out longer than the rest because he wasn't there when he did appear to them. This tells us surely what an icy grip on belief can have even on the heart of a believer. who is frightened of being disappointed. Perhaps you've become cynical. In your early days as a believer, you thought everything was plain sailing. And now you've found it isn't. You believe Perhaps you say the right things, but in your heart you've really lessened less joy in the truth. You apply it less than you once did. You won't deny the truth, but neither is it the joy in rejoicing. of your heart. That's the kind of icy grip that unbelief can get on a believer. You know the truth, but it's all remote. These men had the very explicit testimony of the women and then of Peter. The explanation was obvious. But unbelief is a terrible thing. It's a terrible thing in the world. The man who isn't born again of the spirit. What wickedness he is capable of. And to bolster his conscience. What lies he believes. the Muslim terrorist. How did he end up? He started off as quite a nice person and then he's ready to kill people indiscriminately and in the most horrendous way. How did he get from A to B? How did he get there? Well, he had an unrenewed heart, we know that, but there were restraints and those restraints were taken away by means of believing a lie and telling himself that he was doing God's service. Unbelief is a terrible thing. But even in the case of the believer's soul, unbelief can afflict the born-again soul as it quietly sinks into cynicism. Is that where you are? You become cynical. You still adhere to the truth? Good. But you're cynical. The Lord has done you no wrong. Not any of us. Never. And the Lord has not broken His word. Ever. Not one word of all the good which He promised to His people, not one word has failed or fallen to the ground. And it never will. No wonder Christ calls them fools in the next Verse 25, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. They are fools and we are fools. The unbeliever in scripture is a fool. He fools, when will he be wise? That's what foolishness is. We've seen that in Proverbs over and over again. The unbeliever is a fool. The believer has been made wise unto salvation. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So we trust that many of us have been made wise but we are still part fools because we believe the truth and yet The imperfection of our faith means that we sin as if we didn't believe the truth. We need to seek the grace of God to be wise, to be altogether wise and to believe God's Word in all things. It's all true. It's all reliable and it's all good for us and we can never miss out by believing what it says and doing it. Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it. They don't just hear, they do it. They believe it. They keep it. And that the Lord will restore to us the joy of His salvation. If we become cynical, let us learn yet again to seek the Lord, to seek the recovery of His grace, that is to seek His grace to recover and that He would restore our souls and cause us to walk in the paths of righteousness. The lie is that there is blessedness elsewhere. The believer knows there isn't. If you're a believer, you know that's true. Let us walk in the light of it, and the joy of the Lord shall be our strength. But supposing you're not wise at all. Oh, you may be clever enough, but that's not wisdom according to the Scriptures. You're unbelieving. That means you're a fool. When wise will you grow? You must see the truth of the Word of God, of what it says about God Himself, about hell, about your guilt, about Christ, the One who atoned for sin and His trustworthiness. This is real wisdom, to believe what the Lord says in His Word. Do you accept what He says about you? If we say that we have no sin, we make Him a liar and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. For we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. Amen. Let us pray. O Lord our God, we come to Thee and bless Thee. We thank Thee that are given to us in thy word, so many exceeding great and precious promises. Enable us to lay hold of them and to embrace them with all our heart and soul and to live in the comfort of the scriptures until we are taken into that world of blessedness and glory. Grant, O God, that we might all be found in the way of life, and not that broad road that leads to destruction. And that we might, with eagerness and zeal, follow thy word and follow the Lamb, with us whoever he goeth. And that we might, with all our hearts, lean upon thy word, and believe thy truth, and know the blessedness of so doing. And all that we ask is for Christ's sake. Amen.