Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Luke, chapter 24. Luke 24. The two on the road to Emmaus
have heard the Lord expound unto them in all of the Scriptures
the things concerning Himself. And they admitted that when He
did that, Their hearts burned within them as he talked with
them by the way and opened up God's Word. Then he stopped and
he went to their house and he broke some bread and gave it
to them. And as soon as he did, the Scripture
says he vanished. And that same hour, The Scripture
says they rose up. This is verse 33 of Luke 24. They rose up the same hour and
returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven gathered together
and them that were with them. And those that they met were talking about what the Lord
had done and how he had been seen of some of them. And as soon as the apostles bore
witness to these two on the road to Emmaus, then they began to
expound unto them. And they were talking, verse
35, they told what things were done in the way and how he was
known of them in the breaking of bread. The Scripture says
in verse 36, And as they thus spake, Jesus Himself stood in
the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. Now, the Lord miraculously appeared
in their midst, and immediately, knowing the anxiousness that
they surely felt, having heard of His resurrection, sightings,
and knowing that the apostles, they all forsook Him at His crucifixion. And now having forsaken Him,
they hear that He's risen. And you just, I mean the emotions
that they were surely going through, and all of a sudden, They hear
these words, peace be unto you. I've forgiven you. Peace be unto
you. And why should they not have
been at peace? The Lord had told them, John
14, 18, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. But you know, I thought to myself,
don't we do the same thing? We get so anxious, fearful, doubtful,
questioning. But can you imagine their surprise
when they weren't expecting him? He wasn't there. The scripture
says 37, they were terrified and affrighted and supposed that
they'd seen a spirit. They were startled, alarmed,
they were trembling, thinking, it's a spirit. I mean, the doors
were bolted, they were locked, they were in fear of the Jews,
and they hear a voice. And there he is. He's standing
there. Verse 38, and He said to them,
why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in
your hearts? He's telling them what they're
thinking. Now, let's remember something.
Who is the Lord talking to? He's talking to His people. He's
talking to believers. But they're believers though,
they're prone to forget. And he asked a very pointed question. I looked at his question, look
at it again with me, 38. And why are ye troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your
hearts? We might say, well, I could see
where somebody else would doubt it, but why are you fearful? Why are you the one for whom
I've prayed, the one that, like he said to Peter, Satan has desired
to have you, sift you as wheat, but I've prayed for you. that
your faith fail not, that your faith doesn't quit. And he had just said, peace be
unto you. And immediately fear rose up
in their hearts. And the Lord is standing there. But it just shows you we all
have like passions We're still creatures of the dust. We believe
Him. But Lord, help our unbelief. But Lord, You know. You know. And You sympathize with us. And
I want you to look at what He did to calm them down. This was the most amazing thing
to me. He said in verse 39, Behold My
hands, and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me and see,
for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have." Now,
he tells them, he said, now I want you to look. I know that in your hearts you're
troubled. I know you are. I know that Thoughts
arise in your hearts. I know they are. I know what
you're thinking. I know how you feel. But I want
you to look at me. I want you to behold. But I want
you to behold my hands and my feet. I want you to look and
behold and by faith that's given you, I want you to behold the
evidence I've put away your guilt. I died for you. I have established in my blood
peace before God for you. I've done that. And listen, we
that sit here and believe We know that, Neil. We know that.
And still, we're so fearful. The Lord has said, He told them,
He said, it is I, myself, I'm the same one, flesh and blood,
that was nailed to the tree. It's me. I want you to touch
me. and see for yourself, because
a spirit doesn't have flesh and bones as I have." It wasn't that
the Lord denied that there were spirits. He's just saying that
I'm not here in spirit only, I'm here in the flesh. I'm standing
here, the very One who laid down His life for you. and placed Himself in the hands
of wicked men to redeem a people everlastingly loved. He said, it's me, it's me, it's
me. Now listen, He's here. He's here. He's not here in the
flesh, He is here in spirit. But I'm telling you, He's here.
And He says the same thing to us this morning. May peace be
unto you. For all that He's everlastingly
loved, all that He's died for, rose for, ascended for, seated
at the right hand of the majesty on high, He's here. Now I understand
why some would mock that, you know, but I'm telling you, a
believer believes it. I heard someone say, it might
have been Brother Henry, I can't remember, I was listening to
somebody the other day. And he said, you know what? Whatever
the scriptures say, we believe it. We believe it. We may not
understand it. He said, if the scriptures would
have said that Jonah swallowed the whale. He said, Jonah swallowed
the whale. He said, I don't understand.
I'm not saying I understand it. He comes to them. And he stands
in the midst of them and he said, now I want you to look. Look
at my hands, 39, and my feet. It is I myself. Handle me and
see. A spirit doesn't have flesh and
bones. Those wounds that he had resurrected
from the dead. He said, look at them. He told
Thomas, he said, Thomas, put your finger right here. Put your
finger in these nail holes right here. Put your hand right here on His
side. Now those wounds, He still has. Listen to this. Revelation 5, 6, And I beheld,
and lo, in the midst of the four beasts, in the midst of the elders,
stood a Lamb as it had been slain. Here's the Lamb of God standing. And John, by the inspiration
of God's Spirit, saw those wounds He bears as witness He said,
Peace be unto you. Touch me, handle me. Then He
said in verse 40, this is continuing in that confirmation to settle
them. Verse 40 to 43, When He had thus
spoken, He showed them His hands and His feet. And while they
yet believed not for joy, and wondered, He said unto them,
Have ye here any meat? And they gave Him a piece of
a broiled fish, and of a honeycomb, and He took it, and did eat before
them. Now, they did believe. They did believe that it was
truly Him, otherwise they wouldn't have rejoiced, but their excess
of joy and wonder, just, I just can't believe it. I can't believe
that you, really you, and I know you said you were going to rise,
I know you did, I know you said, but they believed not for joy,
and that rational, clear, amazing wonder of Him standing there
just overwhelmed them, and they were so astonished that He was
actually there. But then when He asked them for
something to eat. He set forth the truth of His
humanity, risen humanity. He was God in the flesh. And He ate. He ate risen from the dead. He took a piece of fish and honeycomb
and He said, This is not a spirit, this is me, the man, Christ Jesus,
who was dead and now is alive forevermore. And in Him all for
whom the Father had been pleased and chosen, put in Christ, He
has wrought victory over the grave. Be at peace. You're not going to die forever.
Oh, physically, yeah, we're going to die. We're going to die. But
as the first fruits from the dead, he's standing there. He said, you see me? Do you see
me? I went to the grave for you. I rose for you. You see me standing
here? This is what's going to happen
to you. All in me. You're not going to die. You're
not going to die. Again, I know this body, this
tabernacle is going to be put off, but there is no victory. There's no victory. There's no
sting of death or victory of the grave, hell. And here's the
assurance. You're going to be with me forever.
You have anything to eat? In verse 44, He told them, He
said unto them, 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, in the Prophets, in
the Psalms, concerning me, Moses. There's no way I could exhaust
all the things that were written. I just picked one from each category.
Here's what Moses wrote in Genesis 3, verse 15, I will put in me,
he's speaking to Satan, the Lord is, I will put enmity between
thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed, and it
or he shall bruise thy head, thou shalt bruise his heel. Do
you know what he just said? My son is going to lay down his
life, but he is going to crush your head when he does it. He
is going to destroy your power. You will bruise his heel, but he is going to put you away.
In the Prophets Isaiah 53, 4 and 5, Surely He hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten
of God, afflicted, but He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and with His stripes we're healed. We're healed. Peace
be unto you. Be of good cheer. It's me. It's me. In the Psalms, Psalms
16, 9 and 10, Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices. My flesh also shall rest, that
is, shall dwell confidently in hope, in assurance. For thou
wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine
Holy One to see corruption. And then he told them in verse
44, He said, now these words which I spake unto you, peace
be unto you, it's me. These words which I spake unto
you while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled,
that were written in the law of Moses, in the prophets, in
the Psalms, concerning me. He said, I was not going to stay
in the grave and see corruption. I wasn't going to. And then look
at verses 45 to 48. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures. I've entitled this
message, How Do We Understand the Scriptures? How? Here it
is. Then opened he their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures. And said unto them,
Thus it is written, and thus it behoove Christ to suffer and
to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and
remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations
beginning at Jerusalem, and ye are witnesses of these things."
Now here, the Lord did for them that which He must do for us. He opened their understanding,
their intellect, their mind, that they might comprehend what
is being said. Now, you know, have you ever
read some scripture and you read it? I know you have, I'm not
being facetious, I'm just being truthful. You know what, when
you read something and you just think, I don't have a clue what that's
talking about. You read in the Prophets, you
read through Ezekiel, and you're reading something and you just
think, I just don't get it. I don't get it. But then what
will happen is God will send a preacher. And a preacher, he's
called of God and he sits down, He looks at what's being said.
The first thing he'd better do, he'd better ask the Lord to open
his understanding. Lord, would you show me something? Because believe me, you can read
something. Unless God opens your eyes, you're
not going to see it. I can look all these words up
and have the meanings and the tense, whether past, present,
future, all that. And I'm telling you, if the Lord
doesn't give you some understanding, you don't get it. You don't get
it. These Scriptures are spiritually discerned. They're not carnally
discerned. But what happens is when a pastor comes and he stands
and he's going to take a passage of Scripture, and if the Lord's
taught him, he knows where he's going. He's got to be going to
the Lord. Because all these Scriptures
are concerning him. He knows where he's going. Charles
Spurgeon said one time, it's the pastor's responsibility.
Find the road. I know how to get to Franklin,
Tennessee. I know how to get to Franklin.
I know the quickest way to go. But I can tell you this, there's
a bunch of them. There's a bunch of ways I can
get there if I want to just drive forever. But the quickest way
to Christ is what a pastor's looking for. I want to get to
Him. I want to get to Him right now.
I don't want to be chasing rabbits. I don't want to take you all
over here. I'm coming to the Lord. I want to go straight to
Him. But the only way that you're
going to understand it is right here. Then opened He their understanding
that they might understand the Scriptures. I might stand here
and preach something and all of a sudden you see it. I didn't
give you any understanding. The Lord gives understanding.
That's how we understand. We understand as He gives understanding. We read, but we discern by His
revelation, by His Spirit. So He gave them understanding
to see that the Scriptures referred to Him. The Lord had to teach
you that. I mean, you could have heard
it. You heard Scott say that for years. But you don't get it until he
opens your eyes to it, and when you see it, you can't unsee it. If the Lord has shown you of
His sovereignty, of electing, redeeming, regenerating, keeping
grace, you can't understand it. You can't understand it. You
see it. You see it. I perceive He opened their understanding. And He gave them that understanding
that these Scriptures are all referring to His work, His suffering,
His victory, His glory, His praise, And that the proclamation of
these scriptures is repentance and remission of sin. That's
what he's saying. Verse 45, Then opened he their understanding,
that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them,
Thus it is written, Thus it behooved Christ to suffer, to rise from
the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins
should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning
at Jerusalem. Now, when we say repentance and
remission of sin, what are we saying? Repentance. You look up the word
and what it is, what it means. It means a change of heart. A change of heart. That's what it means. Forgiveness. Forgiveness. Pardon of sin. But now, this repentance, that
repentance and forgiveness of sin should be preached. Here's what he was saying, here's
what the Lord was saying. Repentance means a change of
mind. But the only way you can have
a change of mind is to have a new mind, to get a new heart. to get a new heart, a new mind,
a new understanding. And that's what Ezekiel moved
to say. He said, I will give you a new
heart. I'm going to give you a new heart. You'll be my people. I'll be your God. You'll understand
it then. That started being when he said
that. No. Understanding of repentance
is that repentance is granted. That's what, when Cornelius And
the Lord moved Peter and the other group and gone there. And
here's Cornelius and it says they heard these Gentiles now
speaking in these languages that they never learned. And it says
repentance has been granted unto the Gentiles. You know, we think
of repentance as I just decided I'm going to turn over a new
leaf. I'm going to straighten up and
fly right. I'm going to repent. I'm going
to change my mind, told the first group. I mean, can a leopard
change his spots? Can an Ethiopian change his skin?
No, and a dead sinner can't change his mind because he's dead. Repentance
and remission of sins. Repentance that God does something
for someone that they can't do for themselves. And God Almighty
reveals to them that by grace they're forgiven for Christ's
sake. He said that's the message. And so here's the Lord. God Almighty is going to do for
us what we can't do. And it had been prophesied in
Isaiah 49, 5, and 6 that the Gospel would be preached to the
Gentiles. It says what the Lord said in
verse 47 of Luke 24, He said that repentance and remission
of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, all
nations. He said this is the message now.
Christ came into the world, suffered for His people, He died for them,
buried for them, rose for them, and He said I'm standing here.
And He said, this is what it was written, that repentance
and remission of sins should be preached in His name among
all nations, but it's going to be started right here in Jerusalem.
And you're witnesses of these. Gentiles are going to hear the
Gospel of Isaiah 49, 5, and 6. And now saith the Lord that formed
me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob again to Him.
Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the
eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. And he
said, it is a light thing that you should be my servant. And
raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved
of Israel, I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles,
that thou mayest be my salvation to the end of the earth. The
Lord said, you're witnesses of this. You that are standing here. Those that were standing there
that day, that's what He's saying. Those of you that have been chosen
and blessed of God, appointed to be witnesses of Christ's risen
life. Then He said in verse 49, And
behold, I send the promise of My Father upon you. But tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem,
until ye be endued with power from on high." Now here's what
he just said. He said, I'm going to send you to preach the gospel. And you're going to go and you're
going to preach repentance and remissions of sins. You're going
to preach that God Almighty saves His people sovereignly and that
He's going to You know, call them out of darkness. And you're
going to preach this in all the world. All the nations are going
to hear this. And you're witnesses of this. But he said, I want
you to understand something. I'm going to send the promise
of my Father to you. What promise was that? The Holy
Spirit. On the day of Pentecost is what
he was talking about. I'm going to send He said in
John 14, 16, 7, I will pray the Father, He will give you another
comforter. And He may abide with you forever, even the Spirit
of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him
not, neither knoweth Him, but you know Him. For He dwelleth
with you and shall be in you. So He said, you're going to go.
You're witnesses of this. You are, the ones I've chosen.
You're the witnesses. But don't you go anywhere. until the promise
of the Father is sent. You're witnesses and preachers
of the Gospel and you're going to be found doing it, but you
wait until I send the promise. I send the Spirit from on high. And you stay in Jerusalem until
He comes. He charged them, He said, don't
you go from hence until you have been blessed and received the
gifts and the graces needed for the faithful discharge of the
ministry that's only given from heaven. You're going to go, but
you're not going to go in the flesh. You're going to go according
to my instruction. You're going to go according
to my leadership. Lo, I'm with you always, even to the end of
the world. Now he's instructing them. Now
look at these last few verses, verse 50 to 53. While he was
talking, it says, verse 50, And he led them out as far as to
Bethany. And he lifted up his hands and
blessed them. And he came to pass while he
blessed them. He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned
to Jerusalem with great joy and were continually in the temple
praising and blessing God. Amen. There they were. He had risen
from the dead, and a period of time is not given us, it's not,
it wasn't the Spirit's pleasure to tell us exactly how long it
was, but here's what happened. After he met with them, told them, peace be to you. He
got anything to eat? They ate and they looked at him.
They said, that's the Lord. He told them, he said, what was
prophesied, you're witnesses of it. And you're going to go
into all the world. You're going to preach the gospel.
That's what he told his disciples in Matthew 28. You're going to
go in all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. But don't you go anywhere until
I send the promise, until you be endued with power from on
high. And the scripture says that He took them out as far
as Bethany, which was near the Mount of Olives. And it was the
pleasure of the Lord that the disciples were going to be the
witnesses to His ascension into heaven. Now, they didn't see
Him rise from the dead. They didn't see Him rise from
the grave. But His resurrection and His proof to them, it is
Me. He told them, He said, you touch
Me. I want you to look at these He marks, he holds my hand, look
at my side, look at my feet, give me something to eat. He
rose from the dead and they were looking at him. Now his visual
presence was proof of his resurrection, but concerning his ascension,
And that was going to be the only proof that they had that
He did rise into heaven, that He did ascend into heaven. Somebody
could have said, well, somebody just got Him and they killed
Him and they hid Him, buried Him somewhere and He's just not.
No. He said, you're witnesses of this. And He lifted up His
hands and He blessed them invoked a benediction and a promise of
His love and care toward them. And as He was pronouncing His
blessing upon His beloved apostles, He started to ascend by His own
power. And He was parted, the Scripture
says, in other places the clouds received Him out of their sight. And seeing Him miraculously go
up into heaven and hearing His words of blessing as He was rising
Seeing Him carried into Heaven, they worshipped Him, praised
Him, and gave Him the glory that was due unto His name. As I was reading that, I was
just imagining, trying to imagine it in my mind's eye, you know? I just kept looking and couldn't... You know? And He was gone. And He was just here. He was
just here. He told them, He said, I'm going to send you another
comforter. And they believed Him. They believed
Him. They worshipped Him and they
returned to Jerusalem with great joy. Can you just imagine? Going
back, walking back, Fred, they just... Can you believe we actually saw
Him again? We saw Him. Listen, this same Jesus, There
was two recorded, there was two angels there. It was in the book of Acts. Yeah,
turn over there to Acts. I know it's in the first chapter,
I think it's the first few verses, Acts 1. I know I've got a book of Acts,
here it is. It says, you know, It says, the former treatise
have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to
do and teach until the day in which he was taken up after he,
through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles
whom he had chosen. He told me just, you know, he
just took. There was the account I was looking
for. I'll find it after a while. I'm
not going to look for it right now. But you know the one I'm talking
about now. There was two angels there, and he said, You men of
Galilee. Why stand you standing? Why stand
you staring into the heavens? This same Jesus that is taken
up from you shall in like manner come back. And these apostles
that were looking, watching Him, went back to Jerusalem rejoicing,
just praising Him and thanking Him. Rejoicing that they were
chosen to be witnesses of these things. And the Spirit of God
has written that account in here. We do the same thing. We rejoice
with them. They're dead and gone. But I
tell you, we rejoice just like they did. And we believe Him. We believe Him. He's coming back.
He's coming back to receive us unto His own. And in that glorious
day, the Scripture says, I've said this so many times, we'll
see Him as He is, and be like Him, and forever
be with the Lord. Oh, that gives a believer such
confidence and assurance, joy, and you think, come quickly,
Lord Jesus. Receive us to yourself. Help
us, Lord, for your glory and our good. Amen.