I'm gonna ask you to take your
Bibles and turn with me to the book of Luke. The book of Luke
chapter 24. Luke chapter 24. I'm gonna try to deal with much
of this, just hitting the highlights, but I'd like to Look at one verse
in particular, Luke 24 and verse 17. These are the words of our Lord
as he spoke to two on the road to Emmaus. And he asked this
question, Luke 24 and 17. And he said unto them, what manner
of communications are these that ye have one to another as ye
walk and are sad? Those words struck
me as I looked at this scripture. What manner of communications?
that you have here, and while you're talking I've noticed,
now this is the Lord speaking, and he said, you're sad. Now I want to read the first
few verses, starting at verse one, chapter 24 of this blessed
book. Here's the account of the morning
of our Lord's resurrection. This is what happened. Now, upon
the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came
unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared
and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled
away from the sepulchre, and they entered in and found not
the body of the Lord Jesus, came to pass as they were much perplexed. There about, behold, two men
stood by them in shining garments, and as they were sore, I'm sorry,
and as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the
earth, they said unto them, he said unto them, why seek ye the
living among the dead? He's not here. but risen. Remember how He spake unto you
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 these things
unto the eleven, to all the rest, and it was Mary Magdalene, and
Joanna, and Mary, the mother of James, and other women that
were with them, which told these things unto the apostles, and
their words seemed to them to be idle tales. I wrote down the meaning of that.
Nonsense. They were listening to the things
that had been related concerning the resurrection of our Lord,
things that had happened. And as they listened, these things
were like idle tales to them, just nonsense. And they believed
them not. Then arose Peter and ran to 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. Now, here's the day of our Lord's
resurrection. Here's the account of exactly
what happened. Those that were there, the scripture
says that on the day of our Lord's resurrection, there were two
men mentioned. that we're gonna read about in
just a moment. And we're going to see what the scripture has
to say about their conversation, what had happened. They're relating, bouncing it
back and forth. That's what they were doing.
They were talking back and forth. And what had happened in these
recent events of when the Lord himself was raised from the dead. And while they were talking,
here's what Scripture says, verse 13 to 16. And behold, two of
them that went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which
was from Jerusalem, about three square furlongs, and they talked
together of all these things which had happened. past that
while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew
near and went with them, but their eyes were holding that
they should not know him." Now, beloved, here these two are talking. They're going down the road.
They've heard some accounts of what has happened. They're reasoning
with each other. They're examining the proof of
what they know. They're discussing these things
that have been said. And now, while they're talking,
the Lord Himself walks up, and He's in their presence, and they
don't know Him. Their eyes are holding, scripture
says. They're being closed to be able
to recognize who he is. Now let me ask you this. Is it
not a blessing to be reminded of our Lord's constant presence
with us? The omnipresent God of all grace
has given us this assurance. I want you to catch this word
right here. I will never, never consider
all of the people of God. Consider all of his, all of his
sheep, all of his, I will never, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. Matthew 28, 19, 20 says this,
Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, teaching
them to observe, that is, to attend to and take care to guard. You take care to guard what you
hear. Even as we're reading these scriptures
right now, let us observe, let us take care to guard tend to
all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and, lo, I am
with you always, even unto the end of the world." Here we've
got our Lord's assurance, our Lord's promise, the promise of
Him who cannot lie, to be with His people. He's with us. These words I will Be with you
always. I just, it's so easy for me.
I can just overlook these words and I just, you know. You look
these words up, you'll find out. Lo, I am with you always. I am
with you. Now listen to this. Individually,
perpetually. Are you talking about all of
his sheep, all of his people, all of it? Lo, I am with you
always. I think, Brother Neil, it was
you I heard say one time, you say, you know, we think way too
little of our Lord. We think way too low, too low,
way too low. I am with you individually and
perpetually. Without a doubt, their eyes were
holding. Their eyes were veiled. They're looking at him and they
don't know him. They were veiled as to his presence,
but he was there. And he was listening, listening
to their very words, veiling his glory as he allowed them
to speak freely. And they're talking, they're
talking. There's not a time, there's not
a moment, there's not an instant, there's not all the words I can
think of at this particular time. There's not a time that he does
not exhibit his presence to it. I get I get all hyped up over
stuff. I get to thinking about this
that and the other. And I'm thinking, here were these
two men, and they've just tore all the pieces. Oh, they were
just discussing bouncing back and forth these things that had
happened and they heard and they They thought, we'll see that
in just a minute. And here's the Lord in their
presence. And he's listening to what they're
saying. Lord, help me to remember every moment, every moment, every
moment. You hear and you know. For your people, you care, you
care. Malachi 3.16, then they that
feared the Lord spake often one to another. I love this passage,
and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance
was written before him for them that fear the Lord, that thought
upon his name, thought upon his glory. I don't know how to enter into
the depth of that, I'll be honest with you. The Lord heard, he
hearkened, Book of Remembrance, is it a real book? I don't even have, I can't explain
these things. A Book of Remembrance was written
before the Lord. Oh, the wonder of these precious
scriptures that speaks of His glory and His honor and His power
and His love for His people. presence. Oh, you know if we
would take into account he's always here. He always sees he
always recognizes. Whenever I find myself so disrespectful. He's listening. Oh, what a blessing
what a blessing we miss when we fail talk about and fellowship
with one another concerning the Lord. Here, these two, that's
what they were doing. They were walking down the road
and he's there and they don't know him. And then with their
eyes being held to perceive his presence, he spoke to them. He spoke to
how we thank the Lord that he's not silent toward us. The God
we serve, the God we love, the God we honor and respect. He listens, he hears. David, King David prayed, and
it's what he said. Unto thee will I cry, O Lord,
my rock. Be not silent to me, lest I,
unless thou be, I'm sorry, let me start over. Under thee will
I cry, O Lord, my rock. Be not silent to me, lest, if
thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the
pit. Here the Lord had crossed the
paths of two of his own. Those that loved him, heard him,
missed him. Wondering about the things that
had happened. Wondering about the things that had been prophesied.
Talking about it. And here's the Lord. He's listening
to every word they're saying. And I love this. Here's that
passage I read a while ago. Verse 17. And he said unto them, what manner
of communications are these that you have one to another as you
walk and are sad? What manner of what are you speaking? That's what he said. You that
are talking, what manner of communications are these? What are you talking
about? What kind of discourse? is this, what kind of speech
are you using? What you're talking? And I notice
that while you're talking, you're so sad. What manner of communications
are these that you have one to another as you walk and you're
sad? I see that you're down in the
dumps. What is it? Now here we find
great comfort in the fact that the Lord knows His people. He knows their burdens and He
lovingly will now cause to draw out those burdens and cause us
to look to Him who alone is our peace. Now what? He's asking
them. I notice that you just, you're down, you're down, you're
hurting, you're down, you're down. What kind of speech is
this? And with the Lord's question,
what they did, they just, I mean, bore their heart toward him,
to the very one that would soon show himself to be their loving
Savior. Now look at verses 18 to 24.
When he asked him, he said, What you're saying here? What
kind of communication is this? What are you talking about? Why
are you so sad? And one of them, whose name was
Cleopas, answering, said unto him, Art thou only a stranger
in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to
pass 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 priest
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'd 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 also so as the women
had said, but him they saw not. What things are you talking about
right here? Are you a stranger in this land? Are you not from here? Have you
not been aware of these things that's been going on and all
the problems that has been stirred up? Oh, how their hearts were
so heavy. They couldn't perceive what had
been going on, what had been happening. You've got to be a
stranger in this part. We're listening to that discourse after he saw the pain that they
had gone through. He said these precious words,
verse 25. Then he said unto them, O fools,
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. O you that are heavy hearted,
I know that your world has collapsed around you. You like us today, but we look
around. Okay, this is what was going
on with them right there. and they're just so perplexed. O fools and slow of heart, you
who are foolish in understanding, slow to apprehend that which
is set forth in the prophets. We have this word right here.
Let me tell you what's going to happen concerning God's people. In all, when the last shot's
fired, when the last shot's fired, let me tell you what's gonna
happen. We're gonna be with Him. We're gonna be in His presence.
He's gonna manifest Himself. He's gonna show us all things. He's gonna display before us
with perfect sight and perfect understanding. that which He's
everlastingly purposed, ordained, set forth in these scriptures. He's telling us in these scriptures.
And here they are, they've got the scriptures. They had all
the words. I got to looking in beginning in Moses and all that. I'm getting ready to say that,
but I went back and I started looking at some of those references.
And I'm telling you, the references just go on of the Lord and His glory and
His promise, the assurance of His coming back. And as I began
to contemplate these things, think about myself, what's going
on around me, and how these men were perplexed. And I'm thinking,
I'm looking at what's going on around me and I'm perplexed.
And I heard what the Lord said to them, foolish, slow of heart
to believe all that the prophets have said. He said in verse 26, ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into his glory? Ought not Christ to
have suffered these things? What things? Be taken at the hands of wicked
men? condemned to death, crucified,
as the redeemer of his people, be considered by the world to
be a wicked man, a blasphemer, an idolater, an imposter? Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things? You think about what the world thinks about our
precious Savior right now. Men will say, you mean to tell
me that you believe that there's just a certain chosen, you believe
that these things, you've got to be kidding. That's not what
the masses believe. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things, to be lied on, blasphemed? Those Pharisees that
said concerning Him, all these miracles He's doing, He's doing
them by Beelzebub. That's of the devil. I told you
about someone in my family that made that very statement. They
said, the God you're preaching is my devil. That's my devil. Well, I said, you're going to
stand before him and you're going to give account. It's what, it's what the Lord
asked him. Shouldn't the Christ have suffered these things to
enter into his glory? His resurrected glory, manifested
as the Savior of sinners, His glory, His glory. Shouldn't He
have entered into His glory, made to be, shown to be the one
who is the way, the truth, the life, showing Himself to be the
submissive servant of Jehovah. who is born the guilt of all
of his people, who is their righteousness, their life. In verse 27, and beginning at
Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the
scriptures the things concerning himself. Again, I got to looking
at those words, all, all of them. I'm gonna say, well, you can't
possibly believe that, you know, I said, I'll tell you what I
can possibly believe. I can believe that whatever the Lord was pleased
to reveal, he revealed it. That's what I believe. Oh, I'm just made to wonder at
the glorious scope of our Lord's revelation of himself. I can't
even speak. Beginning at Moses, Whenever Lord moved upon Moses
to begin writing these things, in the beginning, God. And all those things. The setting forth of everything. You try to start going through
Genesis and the Psalms. All the prophets. He expounded
unto them. Does the truth of all of the
magnitude of who he is not leave us with wonder? Where would this
end? I don't know. But he just opened
up the scriptures to them. And the scripture declares that
these two, who were with the teacher of teachers, He was with
the preacher of preachers. They were with the Word made
flesh, the One that was dwelling in their midst. He who is all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and He's standing in their presence,
revealing the things of God to them. He who condescended to
teach us. The other day I was talking with
Gabe, Gabe was showing me something. And it was, it was just, it started
off, it was just like a, it was a human being and it was on this
computer and it was showing how, how massive and he just started
going out and out and out and it just, then he got the state
and then the, all the nations, then the world and got all the
constellations and it just kept bigger and bigger and bigger
and how, how insignificant we all appeared. as all of this
was being brought forth. And here is Almighty God immeasurable. Here He is speaking to these
two on the road to Emmaus. And while He's talking to these
two, He who is God Almighty is opening up the Scriptures to
them. Showing him something of who he is, something concerning
himself. Verse 28, 29. And they drew nigh
unto the village where they went. He made as though he would have
gone farther, 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 him. He made his own. He gave the
appearance that he intended to go further. That's what it said.
He gave the appearance that he was. Again, the Lord knows how to
draw us to himself. He knows how. Just the very thought
of him not being with us, not being in our presence, He made as though he would go
farther. And here they are as they listen
to what he says and scripture says in verses 30, 35. Came to pass as he sat at meat
with them. He took bread, blessed it, break,
gave it to them. Their eyes were opened and they
knew him. And he vanished out of their
sight, and they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within
us while he talked with us by the way, while he opened to us
the scriptures? And they rose up the same hour
and returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven gathered together,
them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed and
hath appeared to Simon And they told what things were done in
the way and how he was known of them in the breaking of bread. Now here, as he stayed with them,
he made it appear as though he was gonna leave. They're gonna
draw their hearts to ask him, stay, stay with us. Abide with
us. Abide in our presence. And he
stayed there and sat down, scripture says, would meet with them. And
he took some bread. Doesn't say it was the Lord's
Supper. Doesn't say that. He just said he took some bread
and he blessed him. He thanked his father for it.
And he break it. And he gave it to them. And their
eyes were opened. And they saw him. They knew him. They knew him. They knew, again,
I looked it up, they recognized Him. They recognized Him. You know, isn't it wonderful
when as we consider these scriptures and we recognize the Lord as
we see Him, we see Him, we see Him. We see Him as the one who's
our hope, And this whole world looks at this, and they just,
you know, they're trying to catch. And I'm not going to say I'm
not guilty of this, because there have been times that I've been
reading things, and I'd stop, and I'd think, what did I just
read? Try to go back and read it again.
I'm guilty, just like you are. But right here, they recognized
him. They knew him. Their crucified
Savior, The one who had told them that was prophesied in the
Old Testament that he would come, die, but here's the one that
actually came. They knew, they knew he'd been
crucified. He was seen. He was seen of men. He hung on that cross. They nailed
him to the cross. They witnessed it. They saw him
die. He gave up the ghost. He laid down his life. No man
takes my life from me. Nobody killed him. I lay down
my life. Romans may have been the instruments,
but he laid down his life. No man takes my life from me. He is the life. And here he is,
the one who actually laid down his life for his sheep. Died
as the redeemer of his people. Now here he is, risen from the
dead. And they knew him. They recognized him. And the scripture says he vanished
out of their sight. He ceased to be seen of them. They gave this confession. That's
the confession of every one that sees him by faith. Did not our
heart burn within us? Was it not set on fire for him?
You know, I think about how, Lord, mercifully, powerfully,
there's been times, I've told you this before, but there's
been times that, and I hate to admit this, but I think you're
gonna agree with me, you that know it, there's times, have
you ever been reading something in the scriptures, and all of
a sudden, The Spirit of God just sets your heart on fire. What
has happened to me, there'd be times I'd be reading something
I was so overcome with emotion, I just, my eyes just well up.
You ever done that? I can't say that I do it all
the time because I'd be lying. But there's been times that I
just read something and it just, oh, it just blessed my heart.
That's what these two said right here. Did our heart burn within us
while he talked with us? By the way, and listen to this,
while he opened to us the scriptures, God pulled back the veil, caused
us to see him. You that know him. Is this not your confession? We hear and we read these words
which reveal the Lord to our hearts. We consider him who loved
us, eternally loved us, and whom we were chosen, he who lived
for us, died for us, rose from the dead for us, coming back
to get us. Oh, I think, Lord, cause these
precious truths to be born to my heart afresh. Help me. Help me to hear. Help me to see.
Ignite my heart. After I finished writing all
those words down, I went back and just jotted something down
at the end for me. Why are you so sad? Why are you
so sad? And this is from Marvin now.
I just, you know, why are you so sad? I don't have anything
to be sad about. I don't. I don't have anything
to be sad about. By the grace of God, where the
Lord's raised up the gospel, I'm convinced of that. He's maintained
it. He's taught it to me. He's shown
me. He's shown me what I am, who
I am, who He is. Why am I so sad? Why do I get
down in the dumps? Poor, poor, pitiful me. You know
what that is? Lack of faith. Lord, forgive
me. Why are you so sad? I pray God
bless this to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen, amen. Oh,
thank you.