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 25. Sorry, verse
29. The Gospel according to Luke, chapter 24, and verse 29. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us, for it is toward
evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with
them. Luke chapter 24 and verse 29. In this verse we read of they
and him. They constrained him. Constrained means to bring about
by compulsion or force with words, and in this case and in many
other cases in the Word, it is a kindly, a friendly persuasion,
constraining, so that instead of our Lord going further, He
turned in and He abode with them. Very often in the Word of God
we read it the other way around. We read it like the Lord constraining
his disciples to get into a ship. And so it is the Lord persuading
them to do something. Then we read the Apostle saying,
the love of Christ constraineth us. And very often with us, we
need that constraining, we need that drawing, we need that, you
might say, extra push to be obedient or to do what the Lord would
have us to do. But here it is the other way
around. It is the disciples, it is the
Lord's people constraining the Lord to do something. Now may
we be very clear that we will never, no one will ever make
the Lord do what he does not want to do, that he has not determined
to do, appointed to do. But really in all prayer there
is a constraining aspect to it. And the Lord has ordained, I
will for this be inquired of for the House of Israel to do
it for them. And it is asking the Lord to
do something, and if we believe that prayer is the key, that
he will not do it unless there is prayer, unless there is an
asking, that he is appointed that way. And I believe in this
case as well, we have the Lord knowing exactly what he intended
to do. And that's why we read, he made
as though he would have gone further, but really he knew where
he would be going. And though they constrained him,
you might say he had, by what had gone on before, constrained
them to ask and to press on him to abide with them. This chapter
is a very important, very vital passage of the Word of God in
setting forth the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. It sets forth the fact of it
and then the abundant proofs that are given us in this chapter
of the Lord's appearances to his disciples and the evidence
that He truly had risen, he ate, he drank before them. The spirit
had not flesh and bones as ye see me have. And this chapter
then is so vital. Without the resurrection, there
is no salvation. If the Lord had not risen from
the dead, there is no assurance unto all men in that God has
raised him from the dead. that the sacrifice was accepted,
that sin was put away, his people redeemed, that was accomplished,
that was determined and promised right back in the Garden of Eden. And so we would always look upon
such a passage as this as so vital, so necessary to us and
to be able to come and be able to say in verse 34, the Lord
is risen indeed. He really and truly has. We worship the living, the true
God, he that was dead, who laid down his life to take it again,
who suffered in the place of his people, who redeemed them
from sin and death and hell. Well, I want then to look at
the word before us and might be a real encouragement to us,
especially when we've tasted a little of the blessings of
the Lord, to actually desire more. And so I want to look firstly
at a reason to want the Lord to abide with us. He had been with them for their
seven and a half mile journey and spoken to them by the way
and now they come to the end of it and they're wanting him
to abide. What has happened by the way
and what is the reason why we also may want the Lord to abide
with us? Secondly, effectual constraining
words. There's not many of them, really,
in this verse, but they worked, they were effectual. They said,
abide with us, for it is toward evening and the day is far spent. Not many words, but how effectual. He went in to tarry with them. May we also have effectual constraining
words that we bring before the Lord. And then the last point
is the greater blessing as the Lord tarries with us. You imagine if they hadn't constrained
him, if they'd allowed him to continue on, then When we come to verse 35, we'd
only have half of the verse. Verse 35 reads, they told what
things were done in the way. And that's where that verse would
end, except for the constraining, the tarrying, and what was done
when he tarried. And the verse continues, and
how he was known of them in breaking of bread. in the towering there is an additional
blessing and may that also be an encouragement and a lesson
to us. But firstly a reason to want
the Lord to abide with us and for that we must think of what
had gone on before and how the Lord first met with them and
we say right at the beginning that they did not know the Lord. Their eyes were holden, so they
did not know him. And many of the Lord's dear people,
like Samuel, who did not yet know the Lord, when the Lord
first speaks to them, they do not know it is the Lord. But
like the two here on the way to Emmaus, They realized by the
words that he spoke, by the power that attended, the effect upon
them, that this was no ordinary person. Even when the Lord in
his ministry, those that heard him, they said that he spoke
with authority and not as the scribes, those that were sent
to take him. And they came back without him,
they said. Why have you not brought him?"
They said, never man spake as this man. There was something
different, something remarkable in how the Lord actually spoke
and dealt with the situation. And we would expect that. We
think of when he was 12 years of age, speaking in the midst
of the doctors and lawyers, both hearing them and asking them
questions, and they marveled then, they marveled later, whence
hath this man knowledge having never learned. And it was coming
out who he was, the true, living, eternal God made manifest in
the flesh. And so this account then begins
with these two walking to Emmaus, away from Jerusalem, Very sad,
very despondent and speaking one to another. It is a situation
that often is mirrored in our lives. Husbands and wives, how
many times we speak one to another. How many times we go over events. How many times we are sad as
we go over events. How many times we may say we
trusted it would have been like this or like that. But it wasn't,
and things haven't turned out as we thought that they would.
The very description, the whole setting here, though in actual
fact, can never be replicated again. The Lord never on the
earth like this again, coming in the clouds with power and
great glory, yes, but not in this situation. there won't be
two of us walking and the Lord coming and drawing near to us,
not in that way, but through his word, through the ministry,
in prayer, then we will know the Lord's visits and the Lord
coming to us. The Lord says that I will not
leave you comfortless, I will come to you, and though I am
with you always, even unto the end of the world, and we have
in the Acts of the Apostles, and in the Epistles to the Churches,
the evidence of the Lord's blessing upon His people, and especially
through the preaching of the Word. And we would remember that
what the Lord did as He comes to these two, He drew out from
them what their sorrows were, and then He chided them, reproved
them, and then preached to them, opened up in all the scriptures
the things concerning himself." It must have been a very remarkable
sermon. Most of us can perhaps walk at
a pace of about three and a half or three miles an hour, so that
would have been a two and a half hour long sermon, depending on
what stage or what point the Lord met with them. And it shows
also the strong effect when he did reveal himself that even
though it was toward evening, yet they still went back that
two-hour journey and a bit journey. They didn't stay where they were.
But this was then a time that the Lord was pleased to speak
to them through His Word through the Old Testament Scriptures
and in such a way that it made their heart burn within them.
Now we may ask ourselves, do we know what it is to have times
under the preaching of the Word that our heart burns within us? The Word comes right where we
are. We're told the Word came to the
Thessalonians, not in word only. But in demonstration of the spirit
and of power, there is an effect. The word is received. And it
is a different hearing time than other hearing times. It is a
remarkable time, a time that we want to continue. We want
to not stop, but keep going. And so this is what precedes
this time when they come. to the end of the journey. I
wonder how many of us have had a time when we sat under a sermon
and the minister suddenly said his amen and escorted us off
guard and we thought, what, finished already? We thought, you're only
starting, we want to hear more. And there's been that said that
has so drawn us and we felt drawn to the word and the word has
come where we are. And so in this account, you might
say we read of the effect of a sermon, a sermon preached by
the Lord, a sermon with power, a sermon that even must have
been humbling to those that heard it as they were reproved, as
they were called fools and slow of heart to believe. And yet
it had such an effect. that they wanted this speaker,
this stranger, this preacher, to abide with them. May we know those times that
through the preaching of the Word, through the Lord's blessing
on our reading of the Word, that we have that same desire. We don't want to move from that
situation. We don't want to cause it to
go away. We think of in the Song of Solomon,
when their spouse was so blessed and so favoured, she charged
the daughters of Jerusalem that they do not stir up her love,
her beloved, and cause him to leave. There's desiring the The
spirit is not grieved that there might not be a removing from
that situation and that blessing. And so it is the things that
have gone on before that brings about the gathering, desiring
that the Lord still abode with them. And may we notice those
things that the Lord does in our lives. I mentioned in the
introduction that really though it is they constraining him,
yet the effect of his word and preaching and speaking to them
brought them to desire him in other ways he Constrain them
first to constrain Him, something of which in the epistles of John
we love Him because He first loved us. And if any poor sinner
is brought to desire the Lord to abide with them or to constrain
Him, it is that He first has constrained them and drawn them. Our Lord says in John 6 that
no man can come unto me except the Father which sent me draw
him, and I'll raise him up at the last day." May we be able to fill in our
own reasons why we'd want the Lord to abide with us, and thinking
back of in former days when we have been in that position, And
thinking back also, it may be where we have desired it or wished
it, but have not actually asked for it. So I want to think, secondly,
affect your constraining words. Really, if we want something,
we're to ask for it. You might say, a simple principle,
but our Lord uses it in several parables. He says, If ye, being
evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much
more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them
that ask Him? The emphasis is that there be
an asking for the Spirit. Our Lord says, and you shall
receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened
unto you." He reproves his disciples and says, he will not come unto
me that ye might have life. Nisarma says that I asked life
of him and he gave it me. And it is a principle right through
the scriptures that the Lord will be inquired of by the House
of Israel to do it for them. And there are those times that
we do not have because we do not ask. I remember one such
time, a very humbling time, when I had three services before me
on the Lord's Day and on the Saturday I was very seeking a
text and couldn't find any text for the services. And I got angry
with the Lord and told him in prayer he'd sent me into the
ministry, he knew I'd got three services, and yet he hadn't given
me a text. And the Lord just dropped in,
thou hast not asked. And it was true. I'd gone searching
the scriptures, I'd gone looking for a text, that hadn't asked
for one. I hadn't taken it first to the
Lord in prayers. A lesson I trust, I've never,
never forgotten. It was a very humbling occasion
where we can leave off the ask and it shall be given you and
we just start with the searching and seeking. But it must be the
asking. And so here, these constraining
words, they actually are words telling the Lord exactly what
we want, what they wanted. They wanted Him to abide with
them, abide with us, stay with us, remain with us, lodge here
with us. And they put it in these Simple,
direct words may be a reminder to us if we want something of
the Lord. Then use simple words, direct
words, tell Him exactly what we want Him to do for us. These were factual, constraining
words. Abide with us. But they didn't stand on their
own. They didn't actually say, we
have enjoyed your discourse, we'd like to hear more. They
could have said other things, but they said it is toward evening
and the day is far spent. In one sense, instead of thinking
of the blessing for them to hear more, they thought of him They
were going in to lunch. They were going to have a night's
rest. They were going to have some
victuals. This one that had so favoured
them with his word was going to go on. Where was he going
to lunch? Where was he going to eat? In
one sense there is an aspect of hospitality of care, of concern
for this stranger who is so spoken to them that they wanted him
to be with them because, and they give the reason, it is toward
evening and the day is far spent. I wonder how many of us know
those times when we've given hospitality to another and maybe
for the same reason, because it is late and it has ended up
a time of blessing, a time of real help, a time when the Lord
has visited us and blessed us. Some, the Holy Word says, have
entertained strangers unawares. Be not forgetful to entertain
strangers, for in so doing some have entertained angels unawares. A stranger, an angel, a stranger,
the Lord of life and glory risen from the dead. But remember he
began as a stranger and then they recognised him who he was,
their eyes being opened. We want to think of this in another
way as well. It is toward evening, the day
is far spent. We may say that is so this evening
as we gather for worship this Thursday evening. Literally so,
the day is far spent, it is toward evening. But we think of it in
our lives as well. We know not how long we have. We do not know whether we have
many or few days. Our dear aged friends, they know
that it is in the evening tide of their lives. Their life's
little day is drawing to a close. And if ever then there is a desire
that the Lord still abide with us, his word is still precious,
that there be further blessing upon the world, it is when it
comes to evening time, when the prospect of death, the prospect
of eternity is before us, then there is an urgency then there
is that need for us, have the Lord to abide with us. When we think of the distress,
when the Lord hides his face, dear Job, oh that I knew where
I might find him. Our Lord upon the cross, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And what a difference it
is when we have the Lord's presence with us. These are factual words,
factual, that makes this one that seemed to, would have gone
further, to abide. I think of those of you, similar
words, the case of Naomi and Ruth, And Naomi tested both Ruth
and Orpah that they should go back, not abide with her, but
go back to their people and to their gods. But Ruth had that
strong resolve that she would not leave her. She wanted Naomi
to abide with her, and she wanted to abide with Naomi. There's two sides to it, isn't
there? In the end, it is the two together. And we read there
how Ruth clave to Naomi. And it is a great blessing where
the people of God are drawn together, being let go. They went unto
their own company. And where there are those words
that are used, so that like in Naomi's case, then she ceased
to try and persuade her otherwise. She let her have that petition. Our Lord encourages in prayer
with the parable of the unjust judge. Shall not God avenge his
own elect which cry day and night unto him? I tell you, he shall
avenge them speedily. And the parable to the intent
that men ought always to pray. and not to faint. Prayer in that
sense is to be a persuasive thing. And there's another aspect here
as well. They didn't want this time of
blessing, this time when their hearts burned within them, to
end. They constrained him to abide. How many times it may be that
we'd be satisfied with what we have and don't press for more.
I always think the most solemn word of Esau when Jacob pressed
upon him to take a present and he says, I have enough, my brother. Well, he had enough, enough of
this world's goods, but he didn't have the blessings of the eternal
God. He didn't have faith, he didn't
have the Lord as his God. We think of the multitudes that
followed the Lord across to the other side of the sea. He said,
you follow me not because you saw the miracles, but because
you did eat of the loaves and were filled. Labour not for the
meat that perisheth, but for that which endureth unto eternal
life. They were satisfied with loaves
and fishes. They weren't seeking further.
They weren't seeking the blessings of heaven to know the giver of
the gifts. They were setting short. We think
of Elijah, wonderful answers to prayer. Answer to one prayer,
the Lord gave fire from heaven And the fire consumed the sacrifice,
the altar, the stones, the water, the dust in the trench. But did
Elijah then stop praying? Was there not more things to
pray for? More things to ask for? We read
then that he went and asked seven times, go again seven times. He's asking for rain. The famine
of three and a half years is to come to an end. The fire was
a token, the Lord had turned their hearts back again, but
the rain still hadn't come. And so the blessing is not left
half done, it is fully done. And there's this continuing,
continuing as it were to constrain the Lord, ask the Lord, beg the
Lord. We think of in salvation. I will
speak reverently, but half the work is done at Calvary. As far as redemption is done,
it's completely done, it's fully done. But there's another aspect
that still must be done, and that is the calling of each individual
one of the Lord's people, those for whom he died. Father, I will
that they whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory. And that includes their calling,
their quickening, the new birth, being brought to life and to
follow the Lord. And so there are many aspects
in the Word where you might say there's great things done, but
they're only half and there's a following on to the completion
of it. And in this account, like we
said in verse 35, If the Lord hadn't been constrained, if he
hadn't gone in, then the latter part would not have been known.
The blessing of the revealed Christ would not have been known.
And so may we also, by those things the Lord has done for
us, the blessings that we have had, the effect on our hearts
and our spirits, give us that desire for him to abide, those
words that we specifically ask him to. I've known over years
gone by when I felt after maybe many months of a hard heart and
then being given a softened heart and melted before the Lord to
then take that opportunity to bring many, many petitions that
perhaps have been bottled up for a long while, to spread them
all before the Lord. When we get a little smile, when
we get a sense of His ear, He's listening to us, then we, like
Hannah, pour out our soul unto the Lord. And in that, in that
constraining, there is that further blessing. And so I want to exhort
really in this way, that where we have tasted the Lord is gracious,
where we are in that position, it may be that it is coming even
tight in our lives, or maybe we feel we're just at the end
of our tether and cannot go on, that we constrain the Lord. We press upon Him using words,
using arguments, using reasons, that He should come to us, that
He should abide with us, remain with us. That is all they're
asking really at this time, that the Lord had other things in
store, other purposes. He was constrained, He did come
in, and then they were to realize what He had in store. Many times
the Lord's people cannot ask specific things. I've said here
there was a specific thing, abide with us. There's many things
we cannot ask as we do not know what is in store. We do not know
the blessings the Lord has planned for us, purpose for us. But we
can ask that he abide with his presence. with His Spirit, with
His guiding. That's why it's such a blessing.
Lo, I'm with you always, even unto the end of the world. But
that is to be personally realized and felt in the soul. I want to then think thirdly
of the greater blessing as the Lord tarries with us. That they constrained Him, saying,
abide with us, For it is toward evening, and the day is far spent,
and he went in to tarry with them. Then we read not what has
gone before, but what has gone after this time. This verse, and those immediately
around it, they stand in the middle between what happened
in the walk up to this dwelling place and then what happened
in it? And we read in verse 30, came
to pass as he sat at meet with them, he took bread and blessed
it and break and gave to them. And their eyes were opened and
they knew him and he vanished out of their sight. is then that
they speak one to another again, very different than at first. Did not our heart burn within
us while he taught with us by the way, while he opened to us
the scriptures? Now they knew him. Now they knew
who their preacher was, who was speaking to them. And so really,
the means here, the means of in the blessing of the bread,
in the breaking of the bread, I feel it points so much to the
Lord's Supper, to that chosen by the Lord himself to give to
the church of God, to show forth his death till he come, to do
in remembrance of him. And whether these two were of
the disciples or were in the upper room, When he instituted
the Lord's Supper, we are not told, but we are told that this
is what the Lord chose to do and was the thing done or the
means to have their eyes opened and so that they knew him. It is the Lord that opens eyes. It is the Lord that also makes
our eyes hold them so we do not know. It is the Lord that reveals
Himself to His people as we sung. That is I, Lord, reveal Thyself
to me. It is He that opens and no man
shuts and shuts and no man opens. And here was a beautiful way
that was done in making known of them. making Himself known
to His people. Has the Lord made Himself known
to you, to me? Have we seen Him through the
lattice of His Word? Have we been able to say it is
the Lord? The thing proceedeth from the
Lord. This is His handiwork. This is
the Lord's doing. It is marvellous in our eyes.
There are those that have not seen the Lord face to face as
these two did, but they have known the Lord has been in their
midst, and that he's been working, and it is his hand. And this
blessing was what was added, what was followed, in addition to the first, a greater
blessing. And what an encouragement to
us, to press for those greater blessings. We think of the prophet
that reproved the king of Israel because he would not strike with
the arrows more than three times. He said, if thou had struck,
what, five times, that thou would have destroyed the Assyrians
completely, but now but three times. And restraining prayer,
we cease to fight. and large petitions with thee
bring. And here is the, just the desire
of the Lord's presence and the Lord takes care of the blessing.
The Lord takes care of what he will do. Was it Mary and Martha
that took care and ordered the blessing of their brother Lazarus
being raised from the dead? No, the Lord ordered that. The centurion's daughter, Was
it him that ordered him? Or the crowds that thronged,
the woman that pressed through the crowd and touched the hem
of his garment and hindered him that made his daughter die? No,
the Lord knew what he would do and then he raised her from the
dead. And so the Lord is the orderer of the blessings he gives
to his people with the Lord's presence, with his Spirit. then
there is the blessings that accompany it. And so may it be that encouragement
to us. Where the Lord gives a sip, may
we desire those full draughts. May he gives a little softening. May at that time we be urgent
in prayer that he'd be abide with us and grant us a full blessing. grant us to truly see himself
and all his glory and his beauty. We read later on here, when the
Lord visited the disciples, then were the disciples glad when
they saw the Lord, and certainly these two on the way to Emmaus
were as well. And may we also know that following
on to know the Lord, following on from providential blessings
to spiritual blessings, from tokens to that full realisation
of the blessing of the Lord that maketh rich and addeth no sorrow
within, and that desire that at last that we might see Him
above. The Lord says that He shall come
again and receive his people unto himself. Where he is, there
they might be. And you might say here, the blessing
that they had was because where they were, the Lord was. Where the Lord was, they were.
There's safety. There's blessing where the Lord
is found. Well, may the Lord bless the
word to us this evening. Amen.