Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayerful attention to the Gospel according to Luke chapter 24 and reading from our text, verse 27. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Luke 24 and verse 27.

You may not be aware that when a preacher comes to preach, he's not only thinking, well, what text shall I preach from? How shall I preach? How shall I bring this word? But he's also mindful of his congregation. And his desire is that the word might be blessed, that they might be saved. It doesn't mean that he's thinking of their condition and therefore trying to aim a word and direct it to them. The Lord only can do that. But it is a right thing, a right exercise for the minister. He really wants those with whom he is preaching to be saved.

We read a solemn account there of the rich man and Lazarus. The man that in his own lifetime didn't want to be saved. and no felt concern or need at all. And then we have a glimpse, the other side of the grave, and most solemn words, eternal, eternal torment. We can hardly enter into it, imagine what it shall be, to be lost forever. And when he finds there's no possibility or himself being saved, thinks of his brethren, and he wants that there be some way that they be saved. He thinks that if one was to rise from the dead, then they would be saved. If something as dramatic as that happened. But our Lord says no. That Moses and the prophets, let them hear them, They don't care now, neither will they believe even if one rose from the dead.

We have the Apostle Paul in Romans 10, and he really desires his countrymen that they might be saved, but he sees that there's an obstacle They are ignorant of God's righteousness, how holy it is, how pure it is, or the righteousness that he's provided for his people. And they're going about to establish their own righteousness. They're looking to their own works to be saved. And because of that, they shut their ear to the gospel. For the apostle says the righteousness of God is that which we preach. The word is neither, if thou believest in mine heart, and if thou make confession with thy mouth, thou shalt be saved. And so the apostle is desiring his people to be saved. And he is pointing to the ministry. He says, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And he said, how can they preach except they do sins? And the emphasis in that chapter is the means of grace and the way of salvation through, again, hearing the word of the Lord.

And my desire that you here might be saved through the word. And I thought, for the Lord's way, the only way, not novel ways, not different ways, but the preaching of the gospel. The same as what our Lord said about Moses and the prophets. The same as what the Paul says, we have the ministry of the Word. And then we have the same as what the Lord here on the way to Emmaus came and preached to them in all the scriptures. If you and I are to be saved, it is through the power of God, through the Holy Spirit, apply in the very word that is preached.

And for you I have preached from this pulpit and even this afternoon. Do not neglect your own souls. May your prayer always be that the Lord would use that means. and that he would bless every service to your souls. It might be the divine power to give you eternal life. The Lord says you will not come unto me, but you might have life. But that life is given through the word of God. Now we think of these two on the way to Elias. They had seen the Lord Jesus Christ taken from them and crucified and slain. They had seen the greatest act that was ever to happen upon this earth, a once never to be repeated sacrifice, a redemption of all the people of God from the beginning of the world to the end of the world, the conquest over sin and death and hell, the enduring of the wrath of God upon the Son of Man in the place of his people, they had to be a witness of these things.

And yet at this point, on the Damascus road, they couldn't see it. They'd seen it, but they did not know what it was. They did not have any comfort of it, they could not have any profit through it, because what they'd seen They only thought, well this wasn't fulfilling. We trusted it should have been he who should have redeemed Israel. And they thought this had not happened.

But how is redemption to be wrought if it is not through blood? There's no redemption. There is none in the Passover except there be a shedding of blood. And they witnessed the shedding of blood. But they didn't know. They needed one to draw nigh to them. They needed it preached. They needed it set forth. And there they are in all their despondency, their sadness, their low state, their perplexity, and the Lord comes and he preaches to them. We have the same with the eunuch, the Philip coming and preaching to him. And again, Old Testament scriptures.

So I want with the Lord's help this afternoon. Firstly, I want to consider the heroes. Those two in the first place, on the way to Emmaus. And then secondly, the preacher's subject. But not just his subject. the source of his matter, which we are told in all the scriptures. That was the Old Testament scriptures, of course. And then not only that, but his sermon. And you might say, well, we're not told what his sermon was, but we're told of the subject and gathering from many other passages of scripture, especially where the Lord himself is preaching in his ministry. We know what that sermon would have consisted of.

But then lastly, the effect. The effect upon the hearers. And you don't find that immediately. It was immediately, but it was only after when our Lord was revealed. Then they spoke one to another. of the effect while they were hearing him preach.

I remember at first when he draws near to them, he is unknown to them. They don't know who he is. He's a stranger. They're a stranger. He does not know those things that happened at Jerusalem. They thought he was ignorant of them.

Go on then to think of the hearers. Wherever there is a preacher, there are those that hear. Our Lord, in all of his parables, he finished, He that hath an ear, let him hear. And at the end of all of the letters, the seven letters in Aisha, Revelation 2 and 3, He that hath an ear, let him hear. what the Spirit said unto the churches. A hearer. Not just with the outward ear, but with the inward ear. Really hearing what is said. Understanding what is said.

I know I've used this illustration before, But if we were planning to go on a holiday and we were getting everything ready, we're perhaps going the next day, we're going to pack up the car and go away. And the husband came in and said, I found a fault with the car. We're going to have to have it repaired, have it get this done. And the wife said, yeah, all right, how much will that cost? When can we get that arranged to be done? And he said, did you hear what I said? I said, the car needs repairing. We cannot go on holiday. And the thing is, you can hear what he said, but not link it one thing to the other. Not link that actually that with the car, that's going to affect the holiday. That means we can't go anymore. And so we can hear things. And yet it's not registered at all. It's just as if we haven't heard it. Because it doesn't apply to us. It doesn't move us. It doesn't trouble us. We think it's for the next person, the next thing, someone else. But when the Lord opens the ear, we hear for ourselves. We start to listen for ourselves. Our ear is opened. And it's a great blessing to be able to say, my ear hath he opened.

With these two on the way to Emmaus, you might think, well, how was their ear opened? Well, the Lord had prepared these ears. Our Lord told the parable of this sower. And the seed was like the worm thrown into the ground. Well, there was only one that brought forth fruit and that was in prepared ground. The Lord prepares his ears. And then he suits the word to where they are. And these two, he knew exactly what they'd seen. He knew exactly how low they were. But he drew it out from them. He made out he didn't know. He wanted to hear from them.

May that be an encouragement for us to pray. And we're going through things and we cannot understand. And we're perplexed and we're tried and we're troubled to lay it before the Lord in prayer. And it's a beautiful thing when the Lord, as in this case, draws it out from them. So at first he was the hearer, the Lord was the hearer. He was listening to their complaints. He was listening to their doubts, and listening to their fears.

May that be an encouragement to some of you here. You say, I'm perplexed, I'm troubled, I have many fears, I'm not in comfort, I don't know what is happening. And this is your path, and you lay it before the Lord. But be encouraged in these two, the Lord was listening all the time. listening all the time. He wasn't despising them, he'd come alongside them.

How many were there? Ah, two, we're told. We're only told about one that he's confessing. Could be husband and wife, we don't know. But two heroes. The important thing for us is that we are that one hearer.

Now it's nice to have a chapel full of people, but if everyone in that chapel was saved and not us, not me, what good would it do me? We could have a chapel with just one hearer, but if we're that one hearer and we are blessed and we are saved, buried down to eternity to the praise and glory of God. May we have those hearing times that it is as if we are the only one in the chapel. That attention is upon the word. The word is what we want to hear and we don't want to miss anything that the Lord might be pleased to use and bless to us.

We mentioned before the unit. Now no doubt there was quite a few that were with him in the chariot and roundabout of his servants, but he is the principal one that is spoken of. He is the one that was saved. Here's the one that was reading the Word of God. Here's the one that could not understand the Word of God. Here's the one for which purpose the Holy Spirit sent Philip to that chariot. Gave him his text. Gave him what to preach the same subject as our Lord here. There doesn't need to be many hearers. The important thing is are we a hearer? And are we hearing what the Spirit said unto the churches? There are many in this world that have never heard the Word of God, have never heard the Gospel, Really the desire of us as churches and certainly at Cranbrook we endeavour to send forth the word of God. Again this last month 73 Bibles sent out through this country. The last four and a half years has been an average of 65 a month sent out from Cranbrook. many Bibles, many works, and we pray the Lord will bless that, every copy that's sent out through this land.

But there are many that have not heard, they don't know the Word of God, in our day, in our generation. But we can have it, and we can have many copies, there's no doubt you have, in your house. But how often do you read it? How often do you choose to read it? your private time, your leisure time, your choice of book. And yet there are those in other countries that cannot, that don't have it. It's a great blessing, and yet a great responsibility, a solemn thing, to be a hearer, to be under the sound and the truth, and to be hearing the Word outwardly, but maybe hear it inwardly.

So in this first point, just leave this thought with you. What kind of a hearer are you? What kind of a hearer am I? Has our hearing changed over the years from just outward to really wanting to hear? And that there are some sermons that we remember, though they may be preached years ago, we still remember sometimes the text, Sometimes not the text, but something in that sermon. Something that was said. Very seldom do we remember a whole sermon. We can say a whole sermon is for us. But sometimes it's just a word. Or sometimes it's no word, but the power attending it that makes such a difference in our lives. And it is through that word of God.

The authority is that the word of God comes to sinners, to men, and that God himself opens the ears and causes them to hear. Tell them what do they hear. Our second point, the preacher's subject. What was the subject? The subject was Christ. In verse 26 before our text, or not Christ, to have suffered these things and enter into his glory. And in our text unto them in all the scriptures are things concerning himself. He is the Christ. So the subject is himself, is Christ, in all the scriptures. And so that is where the source of his matter is.

in all the scriptures later on when he meets with them in the upper room. He speaks there in verse 44. These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you. that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning me." So all of the Old Testament, they must be fulfilled, they were fulfilled with Christ and him crucified at Calvary. This then is his subject, and the source.

We think of the word that that which was written aforetime was written for our learning that we through patience and comfort in the scriptures might have hope. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. There's a time, it was at the Pilgrim Home, I was criticised for preaching from the Old Testament, a solemn thing. Those that are there, it's because they are pilgrims. And yet one feeling that a preacher was wrong to preach from the Old Testament. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our Lord here, And Philip is all the Old Testament. But we preach it in the light of the new. We are showing it being fulfilled. We're showing how these things fit in with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Because I want to think, through some of these scriptures, going through some of these passages, what our Lord would have mentioned would have opened up to them. There's no doubt, as later on he says of the Jews, Abraham saw my day and rejoiced at it. That he would have mentioned Abraham and how he saw his day.

In fact, he would have gone right back to the Garden of Eden where it was given up before the promise of the seed of the woman that should bruise the serpent's head. A word that Adam and Eve were to hear, and yet it was in effect spoken to the serpent in Genesis 3.15. Hold good enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, It shall bruise thy head, thou shalt bruise his heel. And immediately there's the expectancy and a promise that salvation shall come through a seed. It shall come through one of the children of the women. It should be a child born right at the very start. This was set forth.

Now the whole foundation, what is spoken of as the fathers in the Word of God, is Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And so it's not surprising then that you find the promises are given to each of those fathers and each one is emphasized to be as the actual seed. In Genesis chapter 22, this is when Abraham was to take Isaac up to the mount and to offer him up and there was in the place of Isaac, there was given the ram in his stead. A beautiful illustration of the substitutionary offering of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But there is a blessing given to Abraham in verse 17 of the 22nd chapter. And in blessing I will bless thee, and I will multiply thy seed. As the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the days of his enemies. and to thy seed, and shall all nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. And the Apostle Paul, he quotes this verse and he highlights this. It is always in the singular that the seed is spoken. And he says, he said, See, that is of one which is Christ. He is pointing to Christ. Not all of his generations, not all of Abraham's descendants, but picking out this one seed.

It's no wonder then when you come to the Gospel according to Matthew, and we find the very first chapter, and it's beginning with Abraham. and the promise to Abraham and the generations from Abraham to David, 14 generations. From David to the carrying away into Babylon, 14 generations. From the carrying away into Babylon and to Christ, 14 generations. And he's traced a seed, a generations, right through to Christ then being born. This is the things that our Lord would have brought forth, but he would have reaffirmed it, because when we come to the 26th chapter, then we have Ed spoken to Isaac himself, and he said to Isaac, i.e. and I will make thy seed, this is Genesis 26 verse 4, make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven and will give unto thee thy seed all these countries and in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed.

This is what we have in these gospel names. Every nation, kindred, and tongue. This is even before. Before Israel is formed as a nation, God is speaking about all nations. Later on, Israel found it hard to think, why should the Gentiles be saved? Why should the blessing be them? The promise to the Gentiles was given even before Israel was even made a nation.

And then we have the same with Jacob. And Jacob leaves home and when he sleeps with the stones for his pillow, then he has a blessing in that night. That's when he had the ladder set up upon the earth and ascending into heaven. And the Lord stood above that ladder and this is what he said. Thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south, and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

Three times to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, we almost say, here is the Trinity, blessed in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, like as when Balaam came to curse, but instead of cursing, Israel was blessed at three separate locations with seven answers. Again, a blessing of a triune God.

There's the Lord Jesus Christ that is being set forth in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. He would have taken them. He would have taken the passages that later on to dear Jacob, a precious one to me, when coming back to Esau and wrestling with the angel, reading verse 24 of Genesis 32, Jacob was left alone, there wrestled a man with him to the breaking of the day, and His name later is in verse 28, thy name shall be called no more Jacob but Israel for a princess thou power with God and with men and has prevailed.

God and man, that is our Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal God, God and man in one person and Jacob prevailed and the name of Israel given to him there. These are times that our Lord would have shown clearly himself in the scriptures.

He would have unfailingly taken them to the Passover. He would have shown them the Paschal Lamb. He would have told them those words that they should have well known, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. How was Egypt, how was Israel brought out of Egypt? All of those bloodless signs, great as they were, reducing Egypt as they were to ruins, never brought them out. But as soon as blood is shed, then they are brought out. Then they are redeemed. They are set free by a price.

We have the same comparison really with Cain and Abel. two offerings, one acceptable to the Lord, one not. One of the earth, and the other a blood offering. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. And so our Lord would have taken those two on the way to Emmaus, through these scriptures, and showed himself, shown Christ, in these scriptures, in these paths, the way that our Lord spoke in John 3 to Nicodemus, he goes back then to Numbers and to the serpent lifted up in the wilderness and he says to Nicodemus, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but should have eternal life.

And so there is a time, and later on, when the children of Israel went and worshipped that brazen serpent, he destroyed it. He said it's just a piece of brass, a tushden, and he destroyed it. There was nothing in it. It was a symbol, it was a sign. The Lord used it to show paths to himself. Those signs are not to be worshipped.

The temple that was a type of Christ, again the Lord would have shown it. Destroy this temple, our Lord said, and I'll raise it up again in three days. The temple was destroyed. It was raised up again. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former house. Why? Because the Lord Jesus Christ should tread in that house.

Moses, our Lord again said, Moses, he spake of me. A prophet shall the Lord thy God raise up unto you like unto me, him shall ye hear. He would have taken them and caused them to listen to Moses and hear what he said. Again, I see one raised up of thy brethren. I said, This is Jesus, the carpenter's son. His brethren even were offended at him. He came unto his own, his own received him not. But our Lord would have pointed out these things. That's not inconsistent. It fulfills the scriptures. This is what was written of me.

Then we think of the Psalms, especially of the Psalms, how much is spoken. Our Lord specifically pointed them out later on in Acts 24 in the Psalms concerning me. And so we have the promise of the Lord rising from the dead. And therefore in Psalm 16, my heart is glad, my glory rejoiceth, My flesh also shall rest in hope, for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption."

And later on, Psalm 129, the flowers ploughed upon my back, the Lord was scourged before he was crucified. We think of Psalm 22, remember these psalms are penned a thousand years before Christ dies. and in a time when crucifixion was not known as a form of capital punishment. Yet the very opening words of Psalm 22, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Remember those two have remembered that cry that our Lord had made at Calvary and then the Lord takes them back to Psalm 22. Do you remember this? Do you hear this? Have you read this? What that must have meant to them as they opened the scriptures in that way.

And later on in that very psalm as well. Come down to verse 16. For dogs, that is Gentiles, have compassed me. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierce my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones. They look and stare upon me, they part my garments among them, and cast lots from my vesture." How absolutely exactly it is described. Christ in all of the Scriptures.

And then when we go further, we go to Psalm 69. And our Lord there, pain is set forth, and this is in the time when he was thirsting. Verse 22, they gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. These are the passages the Lord would have taken them to.

Then he speaks of the prophets, and of course what greater prophet than other prophets? Yes, our Lord is set forth But when we think of the prophecy of Isaiah and how much is set forth there of our Lord and his coming, those very well-known passages that speak of Emmanuel in Isaiah chapter 7, and we read there that Ahaz, he wouldn't ask a sign, he was asked to do so, he didn't. So the Lord said he would give one, therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel.

And then later on in chapter 9, the beautiful names that are given to him. Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And notice this being through with the seed of the woman, one expected, one to be born, one to come, and he's going to be Emmanuel, he's going to be God manifest in the flesh, he's going to come through you. The government shall be upon his shoulders, his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. They're beautiful words. On the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgement And with justice from henceforth even forever, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this.

And then Isaiah 53. This speaks right through, intermessed right through that chapter, the sufferings of our Lord with the benefits and blessings. Right the way through that prophecy. This of course is where Philip was given his text. For we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is done, so he openeth not his mouth.

The Lord would have taken right through these passages. He could also have used another method, and show some of those types in scripture that emphasize the salvation is of the Lord.

Remember, when our Lord was crucified, they all forsook him and fled. He was there alone. We need to remember this, that if we are to be saved, it is what Christ has done alone on that one offering for sin.

And so then when we think of that, we think of the children of Israel when they got out of Egypt and the Egyptians pursued after them. How fearful they were, but they did not need to fight in that battle. The Lord put the cloud between them. The Lord brought them through the Red Sea and then destroyed the Egyptians and they just sang the song of Moses. They saw the Lord were fighting for them.

We think of David and Goliath. You have the Philistines, the enemy one side, and you and Israel the other side. And for 40 days, none can be found. And the setting is, if one can defeat Goliath, then we will be your servants. But if they can't, then you will be our servants. That was the setting. If once there was a victory between those two, there was to be a fight that followed on after, the victory was assured.

And so David was sent after 40 days, and he comes in the name of the Lord. And there before all that assembly, he is shown the Lord delivered Israel. Israel didn't need to fight to get that deliverance. Again, a beautiful time.

of the Lord Jesus Christ. While they look on, the people of God look on. We have the same with Jehoshaphat, neither knowing what to do. And the Lord said, you shall not need to fight in this battle. No, the Lord would do it. The Lord would accomplish it. And he did.

We have the same with Hezekiah. With their Syriac, all their armies around them. It was the Lord that sent and destroyed 185,000 of the Assyrian army without Judah even lifting up a sword. They didn't need to fight at all. And all of these are types appointing us to Calvary, what the Lord has done, defeating Satan, enduring the wrath of God for his people. and overcoming for his people what they couldn't overcome, redeeming them, setting them free by his own precious blood.

That is what is remembered in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper, that one sacrifice for sin, that one battle, and we have remembrance some day today, but the one battle that never needs to be repeated, and of which the conquest shall ensure the people of God, from the beginning of the world to the end, will be saved.

And yes, when the Lord begins a work in a soul, that soul not to earn their salvation, but that soul then will fight the good fight of faith. They'll resist the devil. They'll have a resistance army. and they will be of those that mortify the deeds of the flesh and seek to resist all of that which is evil. The flesh lusting against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh. There is yet a find, but it is not that that brings us heaven. It's that which is a proof the Lord has given us life, and he has already conquered the Calvary. And so our Lord, when he draws near to these two on the way to Emmaus, when he has a ministry for them, and he has a place to speak from, he brings the scriptures that they have, and all of you here, you have the Word of God here. Remember the Bereans when Paul preached. They were more noble than those in Thessalonica. They searched the scriptures daily whether these things were so. They didn't just say, well, Paul is a brilliant preacher and apostle. It must be right. No, they searched the scriptures.

Another lesson as well. A preacher that just preaches experienced from his own heart. You can't go and search the scriptures whether these things were so. We are called to preach the word. Our ministry should be searchable. It should be that which is answered when we speak about sin. God's people experience what it is to have sin and to wrestle with it, struggle with it. We speak about spiritual blessings. God's people know those spiritual blessings. But the truth isn't the truth because we experience it. The truth is because it is the truth in the Word of God. It's a better thing to realize by experiencing those things in the Word of God. Know that we've actually passed through them. And experience the power of the Word. Transform lives.

So I want to think then lastly the effect upon his hearers. Sad servant, if the word doesn't leave any effect upon our hearers. And my sad people, if we go home and we savour the word, it has not affected us at all. It has left us unmoved. We've heard the word of God's grace, How he saved us, Christ's sufferings and death, has left us cold and hard. There's nothing that we could go home to those that are working or those that are ill and tell them about what we have heard. I would be like the woman at the well of Samaria, come see a man that told me all things that ever I did is not this the Christ. It's a good thing. if we've got something to search or something to speak of.

With these two here, as they went on their way, the Word had such an effect on the preacher that they didn't want him just to go on his own way. They wanted him to come in with them, but they constrained him. saying, abide with us, which is toward evening, the days far spent. You went into terror with them. Are there those times that we desire the word to abide with us, to still hear that word? Days when we long for the Lord's day not to end, we want it to remain, want to remain hearing the word in that special hearing time. Well, these were like this.

But as he went in with them, and then they sat at mead, he took bread and blessed it and gave to them. Then we read that their eyes broke, and we could easily say, well, while their Lord was on earth before he died, there were many times he'd taken bread and blessed it in front of them. We multiply the loaves and the fishes. But here, if you've got wounded hands, how could you take bread and break it and those at the table not see those wounded hands? But their eyes were open. That's the main thing. God opened their eyes. There was a time when they were shut. The time when their hearts were closed. The times they did not know him.

You think of the account of Joseph. How many times was his brethren coming in front of him? Hearing him talking a different language to interpreter and then to them. How many times? They did not know him, but he knew them. But there came a time that he did make himself known to them. May that be encouragement to some of you here. Maybe hearing like Samuel and thinking, well, this is just Eli calling me. But no, Eli says, it's the Lord calling you. You think it's just a man. You think it's one that you know well. You think it's just a minister that's speaking. But it's the Lord speaking through him to you. And so that's why sometimes the Lord will use several ministers So you think, well here's the same word, or the same effect, but it's a different minister. Because it's not the minister, it's the Lord speaking through him. And those are precious times to realize when the Lord then makes himself known.

And do notice this. There are times when we just cannot believe, we cannot see, and we cannot understand. And yet then the Lord changes it and everything is seen and everything is understood. But notice this effect before that happened. When they think back to when they were actually hearing the word, they said, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way? Even before he was revealed, there was an effect. Even before they knew who the preacher was, there was an effect. Their heart burned within them. It moved them. They were really enjoying this. They were being drawn to the word. They were wondering at those things that were being opened up, they'd never seen before, hadn't understood before, and being put together with what had actually happened at Jerusalem.

You know what an effect. When they constrained him, they said it is toward evening. But you know, that was 60 furlongs, that's seven and a half miles. They didn't say, well, it's toward Eden now, we'll wait until tomorrow and go back to the disciples. They went back then. You know, we walk about between three and four miles an hour. Four miles an hour is a fast walk. But three miles, that would be like two, three hours. Two and a half hours walk. And they go back to the disciples, and they told what things were done in the way. and how he was made known to them in breaking a bread.

And then the Lord, as they speak, he stands in the midst of them. A beautiful testimony really. If you can say, if I can say, what has been done in the way, what has happened, The Lord is met in this sermon, and that sermon, and this providence, and this trouble, and this difficulty. And then, at last, he revealed himself to me, and how precious he was to my soul. It is Christ revealed. That was what was so precious here. That was what was so precious with the eunuch. It is Christ revealed to my soul.

I, if I be lifted up above the earth, for draw all men unto me." Have we known that? To be drawn to Christ, drawn to his sacrifice, drawn to his person, drawn after him, wanting to know more and more of him, earn to know his life eternal. This is a real message, a lesson to us. In all the scriptures, Christ May wherever we read in the Word of God our desire be, where is Christ? Where is he? One day he will come again. He'll come again for his people. And they that look for him shall he appear the second time, without sin unto salvation, coming with power and great glory.

What a blessed thing if we look forward to that day, if we long for that day. Pray for that assurance. Pray for that comfort. I've seen it in several that are nearing their journey's end. Some of those at Pilgrim Home. It's a wonderful ministry. I've been going in there for 24 years or so. And those that have been just a month or two or sometimes days away from being taken. And their faces have glowed. The joy that they have in anticipation of being with the Lord. When the realization that they had an eternal home, that that pilgrim home wasn't their lasting home, they weren't going to stay there forever, they had a heavenly home, and their faith shone. It's a blessed thing to have that.

In Hebrews we read of those that they confessed their strangers and pilgrims on the earth, who said that they that declare such things, who say such things, declare plainly that they seek a city, seek that which is above. I hope that is the case with us each year, seeking for the Lord here to know him, to be conformed to him, to walk after him in his ordinances and in his ways, and at last to be with him in heaven eternally. Amen.