Let's take our Bibles and turn
to the Gospel according to Luke. Luke 24. I'd like to read this passage
of Scripture. I want to read verses 13 to 35. Luke 24. Very familiar passage
of Scripture. And then make a few comments. on this Luke 24. And after we read, we'll ask
our Lord's blessing. Beginning in verse 13, And behold,
two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which
was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together
of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass,
while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus Himself drew
near and went with them. But their eyes were holden that
they should not know Him. And He said unto them, What manner
of communications are these, that ye have one to another as
ye walk, and are sad? And one of them, whose name was
Cleopas, answering, said unto him, Art thou only a stranger
in Jerusalem, and hath not known the things which are come to
pass therein 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 priests 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 sepulchre. And when they found not His body,
they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels,
which said that He was alive. And certain of them which were
with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women
had said. But him they saw not. Then he
said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all
that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses
and all the prophets, he expounded unto them and all the scriptures
the things concerning himself. They drew nigh unto the village,
whither they went, and he made as though he would have gone
further. 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. And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he
took bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. And
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? And while he opened to us the
scriptures, and they rose up the same hour and turned to Jerusalem
and found the eleven gathered together and 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 breaking of
bread." Let's pray together. Our Father, this evening we ask and ask for
the Lord's sake, would You speak to our hearts Would You, by Your
Holy Spirit, reveal these Scriptures to us and cause us to hear and
to enter in to the joy of the Lord? I pray tonight, may Christ
be honored. May the people be comforted.
For it is in the name of our precious Savior we ask these
things. Amen. This is an amazing passage of
Scripture, all Scripture amazing. But there are some things that
are set forth in this passage that truly excite the heart of
God's people. This event took place between
the time of his crucifixion and his ascension in that short period
of time. And he whose visage, the Scripture
says, was marred more than any man's came and walked alongside two that were
talking about the things that had happened over the last few
days. Five truths that I want us to
consider. And there's a lot of verses here,
I know. So I'm just going to make just a few comments on a
few of these verses before we partake of the Lord's table.
Five blessed truths that I find in these Scriptures that I would
like for us to consider concerning our Lord's glory. Here's the
first one. What a blessing it is to speak
often of Him. Though there's a lot of ignorance
that's set forth between these two that we're speaking of our
Lord. Oh, there was a lot of things
they didn't understand. And I know this. There's a lot
of things that we're ignorant of. But there were some things
that they knew concerning that which had recently happened.
And they conversed with the Lord. But here was the amazing thing
about the blessing of speaking about Him, He was there. The Scripture says in verse 15,
it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned,
Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. You know the words
of Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament. for the church today just as
it was meant for the church at that time. Malachi 3, 16, 17.
Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another, and
the Lord hearkened and heard it. And a book of remembrance
was written before Him for them that feared the Lord and that
thought upon His name. and they shall be mine, saith
the Lord of hosts. In that day, when I make up my
jewels, I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that
serveth him." The omnipresent Sovereign who
initiates the conversation. You know the Scripture says forth,
the Lord said, You can do nothing. You mean to tell me that we can't
even talk about him? That's right. I mean without
him, you can do nothing. He is the one that initiates
the conversation. He's the very heart of the conversation,
and he who initiates the conversation who knows the heart of His people
because He's given them a new heart to speak of Him. He's there. Two people never
speak concerning our Lord's honor, and the Lord Jesus Christ is
not right there. Well, you know, we ought to think
about that, shouldn't we? I mean, just the realization
that He's here. He said where two or three are
gathered together in My name. I am in the midst of you. That causes me to really think
upon myself how respectful I would desire to be knowing that our
precious Lord is in our presence as we speak of Him. Just never
take it lightly. The Lord's present. Here's the
second thing I know concerning this passage of Scripture. Consider
how weak, how ignorant we really are. Verse 16. Scripture says that while they
communed, in verse 15, the Lord Himself drew near and went with
them, but their eyes were holding that they should not know Him. You would think surely these
that conversed about Him just a few days before surely knew,
saw Him. Surely they would recognize the
Lord of glory. What happened in that passage
of Scripture that sets forth a difference in the way that
he was being able to be perceived, we don't know. The Scripture sets forth in another
passage in Mark of this that he appeared in a different form. Their eyes were holding, the
Scripture says, that they should not know Him. Now, I know this. The effects of the fall is the very reason
for our spiritual blindness. Why do men not see Him today?
Why can they not perceive? Why do men not see? They're blind. Their eyes are holding, restrained,
kept, held. Powerfully held to not see Him. And our blessed Lord wisely, wisdom Himself, held their eyes
that they would not know who He was. He is going to reveal
Himself. But why He held their eyes at
that time? Why did you not see Him before
you did? Why did I not see Him before
I did? What was the difference? He's the one that reveals. He's
the one that unveils. He's the one that causes the
scales to fall as they fell from Paul's eyes. Why? I'll tell you why. Proverbs 25,
2, it is the glory of God to conceal a thing. That answers it. It's the glory
of God to conceal a thing. They trusted, the Scripture says,
that surely this Jesus of Nazareth was the one that would redeem
Israel. They thought that Israel's redemption
was going to be like the redemption out of the nation of Egypt. They were looking for an earthly
redemption. And now that this Jesus of Nazareth
had been crucified, how's that going to happen? The chief priests,
they said, and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death.
They crucified him. But though men, all men, are
born blind to His glory, this is the third thing I want to
consider. Consider the mercy of God to all that He's been
pleased to save. These fellows didn't know who
He was. They knew some things that had
happened. They knew that It was prophesied
that the Messiah would come and would deliver Israel, and in
their minds they thought of a deliverance from Rome. But a deliverance and a redemption
from Rome was not their need. Look at verses 25-26. Then He
said unto them, O fools, You that lack understanding is
what that means. It wasn't a derogatory word that
he used. You that lack understanding. Old fools and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ
to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?
They were torn up. We thought for sure this was
going to be the Redeemer. This was going to be the one
who was going to set up an earthly kingdom, and He was going to
be the King of the Jews, and we were going to have our own
nation again. We thought, surely we thought,
this was one that was mighty indeed. But redemption from the bondage
of sin was our need, and our blessed Savior had continually
been spoken of concerning Him. And in His mercy, beginning at
Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the
Scriptures the things concerning Himself." All of those types. He was the ark. Oh, I can, in
my mind, set forth, and I see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
set in the ark. But how much of that picture
do I not see? He was the ark that preserved
mankind from God's justice, just like Noah and his three sons
and his wife and their wives. Those animals, they suffered
the judgment of God in a substitute. They were in the ark. And the
judgment of God fell on the ark. And they in the ark were preserved. The ark took the brunt. Christ, our substitute. Paul said, I was crucified with
Him. What a great, great revelation. How would we ever have known
that? Beginning at Moses, that brazen serpent was lifted up. Those fiery serpents that were
biting the people, a picture of sin. And there that brazen
serpent was made in the image of those snakes. And there's
a picture of our Lord made thin, made What was biting the people? And the Lord told Moses, you
take it and you put it upon a pole and lift it up and whoever looks
and lives. The Lord was that brazen serpent. Picture it. He was the rock. He was the lamb. Beginning at
Moses, all the holy scriptures in the Old Testament spoke of
him. Oh, how merciful God is to an
ignorant people. Here we are today. Consider tonight
how long-suffering He is to us. Here we are. Your mind wanders
just like mine does. How much ignorance. How much
waywardness. Here we are struggling tonight.
Two natures in God's people. Warring within ourselves. And
we hear some things, and next thing you know, you're just thinking
about what happened at work today. Things you've got to do tomorrow.
You just kind of came back. I did too. Oh, how merciful. Here's the
fourth thing. He who lived and died for us,
who has eternally loved us, and wills for us to be with Him where
He is, that we might behold His glory, here's the fourth point,
is pleased to be appealed to. Lovingly, needfully, it is His
pleasure that we will ask at His hand. The Scripture says
in 28-29, they drew nigh unto the village where they went.
And he made his oath. He would have gone further. 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. He had everlastingly purposed. He was going to go in sit and
talk with them. He was going to converse with
them. And instances like this are not uncommon in the Scriptures. You know, we just read about
the Samaritans. Remember the woman at the well and she went
and she left her water pot and she went over and told the men
of the city and she said, come see a man that told me all things
ever I did. And they came back and they said,
abide with us. And he tarried there two days.
Now, you know it was the Lord's will that they ask him. He gave them a heart to do that. You remember the Syrophoenician
woman, my daughter's, vaxed. She's sick. She's bad sick. He said, it's not neat. It's
not fit that I should give the children's bread to dogs. She said, you're right. But she
said, even dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table.
He wasn't toying with her. He wasn't being mean to her.
He was creating in her a hunger to ask and ask. And she knew, I don't have any
other place to go. If you don't help me, I'm gone. The Lord told Jacob, let me go.
Jacob said, I won't. I can't. Not until you bless
me. The Lord is going to bless him.
And oh, how He created in the heart of Jacob. What is your
name? Jacob. Trickster. Huckster. Supplanter. Not anymore. Not anymore. Israel. Israel is your name. A prince
with God. How about that Roman centurion?
He had a servant that he loved. His servant, again, was ill.
The Lord said, I'll go. I'll go. He said, Lord, I'm not
worthy for You to come unto My house. If You would just speak
the Word, My servant would be made whole. The Lord said, I
have seen I've not seen such faith, not in all of Israel. Our Lord is pleased to draw out
our desires and compel us to ask prayerfully. And often, He
gave an example of a man that came to his friend's house because
he was having some guests come in and he needed some bread. And he said his friend came and
knocked on the door of his buddy and the man on the inside said,
listen, me and my kids were already down for the night. We're just,
you know, but he said, I need some bread because
of importunity. Oh, never, never, never fail
to ask. The Lord is pleased to use the
means of our trials and our troubles, and He draws out for us to ask Him. All of those things, you know,
Ezekiel 36 that He was going to do. I'm going to give them
a new heart. I'm going to do all these things. Yet for all
these things will I be inquired of, saith the Lord. Amazing that
Almighty God would draw our hearts to ask and ask and ask. And men say, well, isn't the
Lord going to do what He's pleased to do? Yes, sir. He's pleased
to give us a heart to ask. The Scripture says that he made
as though he would have gone further. He knew where he was going. And
the Scripture says they constrained him. And they said, abide with
us. Can you imagine being turned
away by the God of all mercy when one of his children would
ask him, which one of you dads would turn away? You mothers,
which one would turn away one of your kids that needed you? You wouldn't do that. The Lord
says if you know how to give good gifts to your kids, how
much more shall your Heavenly Father give to ask Him to appeal to His strength,
to appeal to His mercy, to appeal to Him? No place in the Scriptures
do I ever find where anyone ever came to Him and asked Him for
help, for mercy with true need. And He turned them away. You think He's going to start
tonight? Here's the last thing. He's going to give us the desire
of our heart. They ask Him, Would you abide
with us? Trust in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desire
of thy heart. The Scripture says in verse 30,
32, It came to pass that as He said it, meet with them. He took
bread and blessed it, and break and gave to them, and their eyes
were opened. And they knew Him. Just a few
minutes before, their eyes were holding, and they didn't know
Him. What was the difference right here? The grace and mercy
and power of God. Their eyes were holding. Their
eyes were open. They didn't know Him. They knew
Him. And He vanished out of their sight. He was in His glorified body. He had been raised from the dead. He actually was walking in a
body of flesh and blood. He told his disciples in Scripture
right after this event right here, he said, touch me. He said,
a spirit. Spirit's not flesh and blood.
Touch me. Feel my hands. Feel my side right
here. And the Scripture says that he
in that glorified body, now just before his crucifixion, he was
in a body Like we have, made likened to in the likeness of
sinful flesh. In the likeness of sinful flesh,
Neil. And something changed. He vanished. He just appeared in the midst
of the disciples. Thomas wasn't there one time.
And later they told him, they said, the Lord appeared to us.
He said, if I don't see Him, I'll not believe that. And the
Lord did appear. And he said, Here, put your hand
right here, my son. Look at my hands. Thomas said,
My Lord and my God. Now, there's a lot of things
I just don't know how to explain, but I can read. And I can tell
you this, there's something about that glorified body that you
and I can't enter into. But one day we will. One day
we will. But the Scripture says their
eyes were opened. They knew Him. 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 and while He opened to us the Scriptures? I know that there are times. And I do understand. You'll be
able to understand what I'm talking about. There's times. These times it appears as though
it's only for a moment. But it seems as though that there's
times when you will read something in the Scriptures or hear the
Word being preached and it for surety, for what seems but a fleeting
moment sometime, Almighty God truly causes our heart to burn. And you hear something within
your very being as the Spirit of God opens unto us the Scriptures,
and you see something, and you realize Though I see Him by faith,
I don't see Him by sight right now, but I see Him and I understand and perceive something
of those Scriptures. And our heart just rejoices.
And I know that right now, though we're in this body that is so
limited. And though I know we do struggle
in this valley of tears, there are moments when the glory of
His precious being fills our hearts and it's as the showers
of God's blessing is just poured out upon us and we just Sometimes
you can't control yourself. Your eyes, your tears will flow
and you just think, oh, how good that is just to enter in to the
wonder of redemption. There's just moments when the
Lord will allow you to enter in to something. And then you find yourself in
the next second But they said something right
here. They said, did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us by the
way and He opened unto us the Scriptures? The Spirit of God
blessed it. And they heard it. And they rejoiced
in it. And it was wonderful. And it
was but for a moment. But they heard it. By the grace of God, the mercy
of God, there's coming a time when there won't be this body
of death anymore to restrict our worship, our fellowship. I can read in Revelation 4 four and twenty elders fall down
before Him and cast their crowns before Him and cry, worthy is
the Lamb. For Thou hast redeemed us out
of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. You're worthy to
take the book, break the seals thereof." Boy, there's something
that right now we see, but we see through a glass darkly. We
know, but we know in part. But one day, by the grace of
God, we're going to see Him as He is. And we'll know Him. And
the Scripture says, Be like Him. Oh, may the Lord open our understanding
tonight that we might perceive Him. They explained to the disciples. They met with the eleven. And
they said while He was breaking bread, We saw Him. I know this. There's nothing
that I can do to cause our hearts to burn, but I can ask. Lord, would You speak to our
hearts tonight? Lord, would You reveal Yourself to us tonight?
Ask and seek and knock. And He said, You're going to
have it. May the Lord bless our hearts as we eat and drink at
His table in his presence, for Christ's sake, amen.