Luke 24:13-21
The Road of Dead Hope
Notice the phrase in \\#21\\, "But we trusted…." These disciples were on a
journey to Emmaus. They probably has some business that needed to be attended to
there. Perhaps they were traveling to see family or friends that were common to
them both.
But the journey to Emmaus was not the only journey they were on. They were also
on a journey to Despair. Neither was the road to Emmaus the only road that they
were traveling that day. The were also on the Road of Dead Hope.
Now, it is very likely that you either have travelled that road, are traveling
that road, or will travel it.
Let’s learn a few lessons about traveling the Road of Dead Hope.
I. The Road of Dead Hope is not a pleasant road to travel.
A. There is no joy on that road.
1. Two men were walking on the Road of Dead Hope when a Third comes up
to them.
2. What does He notice of them?
17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one
to another, as ye walk, and are sad?
a. When hope is dashed, happiness usually is too.
b. Even from a distance, you could see that these men weren’t
happy.
c. So it is with those who have lost hope.
B. There is no hope on that road.
1. I observed many years ago that people must have hope.
2. They become despondent, discouraged, depressed, apathetic - all of
those clinical words that are used of people who are suicidal.
3. A person loses the will to live if there is no hope.
C. There is a lot of confusion and disappointment.
1. One of the things that stuck out in my mind as I consider this
passage was that these travelers had done nothing wrong.
2. From the tone of their conversation, you can tell they were
discouraged and confused, but, speaking from a human perspective,
why shouldn’t they be?
a. Things that they had believed were going to happen, now seemed
impossible.
b. As they travelled on Road of Dead Hope, they were talking among
themselves because they wanted to figure out what when wrong.
c. There is nothing wrong with that.
(1) When something goes wrong or I do something that doesn’t
work out like I had planned, I have to think my way
through it.
(2) As a pastor, I sometimes have to make people-oriented
decisions.
(a) Those are tough decisions to make.
(b) They often impact people’s lives in major ways.
(c) Some of the decisions that I have made have hurt
people.
(d) Some have angered people, giving them a bad impression
of my, our church, or even worse, our Christ.
(e) Some have caused people to leave our church.
(3) Nobody likes to make those kind of decisions, but they have
to be made.
(4) As I make those decision, and as I have to learn to live
with the results of those decisions, I spend a lot of
time thinking, praying, and reliving them.
(a) Kathy says that I am brooding.
(b) Maybe I am, but I have to think it out.
(c) I have to be convinced that I what I did was right or,
at the least, I have to get something from it that
will not make it all a utter loss.
d. These men were confused and disappointed.
(1) They were reliving what Jesus had said, what they had seen,
what they had believed—wondering if they missed
something. Trying desperately to salvage something out
of their dead hope.
(2) No. The Road of Dead Hope is not a pleasant road to
travel.
II. The reason of Dead Hope.
A. These dead hopes did not die due to the typical causes.
1. These dead hopes weren’t due to being self-created hopes.
a. Self-created hopes are those hopes we create for ourselves.
(1) Retire by age 35.
(2) Climb the Alps.
(3) Own a Ferrari.
b. All self-created hopes aren’t bad, but they are our own
desires.
c. The problem is that we are not our own.
1Cor 6:19 …ye are not your own?
20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your
spirit, which are God’s.
d. God sometimes has to let our self-created hoped die so that He
can give us His desires as our hopes.
e. However, this is not the case here.
2. These dead hopes weren’t due to disobedience.
a. Sin has dashed many a hope.
(1) Hopes of a beautiful marriage have been dashed by the sin
of unfaithfulness.
(2) Hopes of a happy career have been dashed by the sin of
thief.
(3) Hopes of a prosperous ministry have been dashed by the
sin of laziness.
b. But these men had committed no sin.
(1) When our spiritual hopes are dashed, some would say it was
due to the sin of faithlessness.
(a) Faith is something that we all need more of; yet,
these men had some measure of faith.
(b) The magnitude of their faith is evident by the
magnitude of their crushed spirit.
(2) Others might apply the verse which requires much prayer
and fasting, but our Lord does not chastise them for
these sins.
c. The truth is that there was no spiritual act that these men
might have done would have changed the circumstances that they
are now living with.
3. These hopes did not die because they were lazy, careless, foolish,
stubborn, or stupid.
4. These dead hopes weren’t due to situations they could have changed.
5. Look as carefully as you like and I do not believe you will find
anything on these men’s part which caused their hopes to die.
B. These hopes were dead because what they had believed would happen now
appeared impossible.
1. \\#21\\ "…we trusted that it had been he which should have
redeemed Israel…."
2. These were the hopes that God Himself gave to them.
a. They had believed that Jesus was the Christ.
b. They had believed that Jesus was the Son of God.
c. They had believed that Jesus would establish God’s kingdom.
d. They had believed that Jesus would fulfill the promises of God
to Israel.
3. But Jesus, they thought, was dead; and so were the hopes that they
had place in Him.
4. Of course, they were wrong.
a. Jesus wasn’t dead. He was talking to them.
b. In just a few minutes, their eyes will be opened, and they will
get off the road of Dead Hope and get on the road of Living
Hope!
c. But right now, they travel the Road of Dead Hope because they
think what they believed is impossible.
C. Have you ever noticed how many God-given hopes God allows to die before
He fulfills them?
1. Abraham
a. I bring him up a lot because God place him in a very difficult
position.
b. God promised him a child at the age of 75.
c. At age 80, no child,
At 85, no child.
At 90, no child.
At 95, no child.
d. God repeated His promise to give Abraham a child.
(1) \\#Ge 12:1-3\\ first given
(2) \\#Ge 14:15-16\\ repeated
(3) \\#Ge 15:4-5\\ repeated
(4) \\#Ge 15:13\\ repeated
(5) \\#Ge 17:2-4\\ repeated
(6) \\#Ge 17:19\\ repeated
(7) \\#Ge 18:10\\ repeated
e. But no child.
f. Then, at age 100, God gave Abraham a child. \\#Ge 21:5\\
g. And in the very next chapter, God told Abraham to take that
child, that child he had waited 25 year to get, and kill him
\\#Ge 22:2\\.
h. That looked like death to the hope that God had given.
2. Children of Israel
a. They had been promised a land and a deliverance, but they were
stuck in Egypt under a tyrant that they called Pharaoh.
b. \\#Ex 3:9\\ God says that He had heard the cries of the
children of Israel. That means the Israelites were crying
out to God.
c. Then God sent them Moses.
(1) They probably thought, now we will see things happen
around here.
(2) Moses went into see Pharaoh and when he came out, their
supplies were cut but their work load wasn’t.
(3) Their leaders were beaten.
(4) They did what you and I would do. They began to rethink
their situation.
(5) In time, Moses started doing some powerful miracles and
Pharaoh finally let them go.
(6) "All right," the Jews think. "All we have to do is follow
this cloud and God is going to take us home."
(7) But God leads them into a place with a sea on one end and
the Egyptian army on the other.
(8) At best, it looked like death to a hope that God had
given.
3. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
a. They are taken as slaves and prisoners by Babylon.
b. They determine that they are going to live for God in that
environment.
c. God blessed and they got appointed to be one of king’s advisors.
d. But goes off and builds an image, commanding all to worship it.
e. They stand for God as they planned, but it looks like they are
going to be baked and broiled.
f. It looks like the death of a hope that God had given them.
4. Elijah stands on Mount Carmel against 450 prophets of Baal
\\#1Kings 18:19\\.
a. Elijah stands for God—all by himself.
b. One would think such a victory would entitle him to a little
respect, but Jezebel sends word that he will be a dead man
by sunset tomorrow.
c. That wasn’t exactly what Elijah expected.
d. It looks like the death of his hope.
D. We might as well learn something about God while we are on the Road of
Dead Hope.
1. God likes to wait until it looks too late before He demonstrates
His power.
2. Like it or not, that is just the way God often does things.
3. So if you have a need, buckle in and gear up; for God is likely to
make you wait until your hope is about dead.
III. The remedy of Dead Hope.
A. These men don’t need a new hope.
1. Some have laid aside the good hopes God has given them for others
things.
a. Some laid them aside for bitterness.
b. Some laid them aside for another religion.
2. This is not what these men needed.
B. What did they need?
1. They needed to quit looking at the circumstances that killed their
hope.
a. Of course this is easier said than done. Remember when I
preach that I am not always preaching on what I do, but what
I know I should do.
b. The circumstances aren’t important because God is not bound by
circumstances.
(1) As Abraham realized, God could raise Isaac from the dead
if He so desired.
(2) As Moses realized, God was able to make a way through the
Red Sea if God so desired.
(3) As Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego saw, God was able to
deliver them out of Nebuchadnezzar’s hand.
(4) As Elijah saw, God was able to protect and provide for
him.
(5) And as these men saw, God was able to raise His Son from
the dead.
c. We need to get God out of the thimble that we put Him in.
(1) Our God is not limited no matter how small we try to make
Him.
(2) He is the God of All Power.
2. They needed to start looking again at the God who gave them those
hopes in the first place.
a. They did not need to REPLACE their hopes. They needed to
REVIVE their hopes.
b. \\#Lk 24:30-31\\ That is what Jesus is about to do.
(1) Jesus is about to show them the power of God bu showing
them Himself.
(2) The skies won’t thunder and lightning won’t strike the
ground.
(a) Jesus won’t teach them or exhort them.
(b) He will just reveal Himself.
(3) But once they see the God of hope, these two men will be
catapulted off the Road of Dead Hope with such force,
they will want to go tell everybody what had happened
to them.
(4) They will run back to Jerusalem—a trip that took them
hours to walk—and find the disciples in the Upper Room,
and tell them of their new-found hope and joy.
c. Is that not the same think that happened to Peter when he
walked on the water?
(1) He got his eyes off Jesus.
(2) What did it take to get him out of the drink? He had to
refocus on God.
Which would you rather have? The despair and sadness that comes on the Road to
Dead Hope or the joy and excitement that comes by having your hope renewed?
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