Luke 24. I'd like to speak for a few minutes
on the subject of the miracle of a burning heart, a heart that
is ignited, set aflame by the Spirit of God. I won't plan to
look at verses 13 to 35, Obviously, with that many verses on the
night that we plan to have the Lord's Supper, I'll just touch. But this is a passage of Scripture
that I've had. It's the account of the two on
the road to Emmaus. And I've had this passage on
my heart for a few days and wanted to make a few comments and pray
that the Lord would bless these Scriptures to our heart. Let's
pray together. Our Father, oh, how good it is
to be in this place, to be in the house of the Lord, to be,
Lord, where You have been pleased to raise up the marvelous gospel
of Your blessed grace. Lord, I pray, would You bless
the Word tonight We so desperately need You to help us, speak to
us, teach us. Lord, show us of Yourself. Pray
for Tommy, the church in Sylacauga. Pray for Bobby, Lord Bob Wilson. Lord, have mercy on Margaret.
Lord, speak tonight and help us, for Christ's sake. Amen. An amazing event is recorded
in this passage of Scripture. Our Lord obviously eternally
purposed to meet these two on the road to Emmaus. He always knew that He was going
to meet them. It's like the woman at the well. You know, he must
need to go through Samaria. Well, he must need to be on this
road at this day and meet these two. And the miracle of this
event is that the Spirit of God was pleased to have Luke record
this like just that. This really happened. But as
we've said before, this is not just history. I mean, this is
relative for us tonight. And I pray that the Spirit of
God might be pleased to take these words and bless us as we
listen in to that which the Spirit of God has recorded. and the revelation of this truth.
Now here's what happened. And remember the title of this
is The Miracle of a Burning Heart. Here was two. Behold, verse 13,
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." Now, here's a common
mark of regeneration. Here's two people right here,
and what they're doing, they're talking about what they knew
concerning the Lord's crucifixion. They're talking about some of
the events that had happened, and the reason I say it that
way They were talking about the things and talking about them
in the light that they had. Because we're going to see in
a few minutes that they knew some things, but there were some
things they didn't know. But they were talking about spiritual
things. Things that they had heard. Things
that they had thought. You know, it's good. for believers to talk to one
another concerning the Lord. Scripture says, Proverbs 27,
17, Iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance
of his friends. Spiritually taught believers
encourage, sharpen one another's minds, spiritual minds. They
talk about the things of the Lord. In fact, verse 15 says,
And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned,
Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. Now, conversing on
the things of the Lord has a great blessing tied with it. It's the means by which the Lord
blesses His people. And listen to this. When God's
people talk to each other, now how many times have all of us
here, one time or another, been this one, this one, this one.
How many different times have you found yourselves talking
to each other concerning the Lord? Now this is what a believer
will do. They may start off talking about this, that, and the other,
but give it just a minute, and I'm telling you, they'll go back
to the heart that Almighty God has given them concerning Christ. Let me read this to you out of
Malachi. 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. They shall be mine, saith the
Lord of hosts, and that day when I make up my jewels, I will spare
them as a man spareth his own son that serveth him." It is
sweet. to be able to converse with a
believer concerning Christ. Oh, what a blessing to be able
to talk about Him, but to realize that He hears.
They spake often one to another, and the Lord heard. And a book
of remembrance. Stop! The depth of that, I can tell
you this, as a book of remembrance. Whatever that means, whatever
that insinuates, Almighty God hears it, knows it, remembers
it. Book of remembrance. You know,
we neglect a great privilege if we don't spend time speaking
about Him. Out of the abundance of a man's
heart, his mouth speaks. Isn't that so? Well, look at
verse 16. Why they reasoned. And Jesus
Himself drew near and went with them. Verse 16 says, But their
eyes were holding that they should not know Him. Their eyes were powerfully held. They didn't recognize Him. In
fact, Mark says in his account of this, Mark 16, 12, after that,
He appeared in another form unto two of them as they walked and
went to the country. Now you know that the Lord had
a good reason for doing that. Their eyes were holed and powerfully
held. He was in another form. They
didn't recognize who it was. And the following verses reveals,
I believe, God's purpose in doing this. Let's look at verses 17
to 24. And He said unto them, What manner
of communications are these that you have one to another as you
walk and are 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." They are in these days. And He said unto them, what things?
And they said unto Him concerning Jesus of Nazareth which was a
prophet, mighty indeed, 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. The Lord didn't make Himself
known to these two. Their eyes were holed and they
couldn't behold that it was Him. The Lord asked them in verse
17. He said, What manner of communication
of these that you have one with another? What are you guys talking
about? Well, they said, verse 18, one
of them said, Are you a stranger from around here? You don't know
about the things that have been going on? The Lord said to him
in verse 19, what things? What things are you talking about?
He's going to make them. He's going to draw out their
heart. What things are you going to
tell me that you're talking about? And their answer revealed what
they knew. This is the light that they had. They said, well, the chief priest,
verse 20, and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death
and they crucified him. And I'll tell you, verse 21,
and we trusted, we thought, that we thought surely this must be
Him. Obviously it wasn't. But we trusted that it had been
He which should have redeemed Israel. You see, up until this
time, right here, these Jews, right here, had an expectation
of a temporal redeemer from the bondage of Rome. We thought. We watched Him. We heard of Him.
It's hard to imagine miracles that He did. We thought, surely,
this must be the one that would redeem Israel. But see, what
had happened was the crucifixion had frustrated their hopes. They didn't see. They didn't
see the glory in the crucifixion. They thought that He was going
to be the temporal Redeemer. He was going to come and liberate
them. We thought a spiritual redemption by His
sacrificial death was not what they looked for. Oh, how ignorant
is man by nature. Blind. As long as this world
remains, the preaching of the cross is going to be foolishness
to the unregenerate mind. But I want you to consider. Now,
you look at the great ignorance. These two men walking along,
they weren't seeking the Lord. He came to them. In all of their
ignorance, I mean just as ignorant as they could be. What are you
fellows talking about? You must not be from around here.
You don't know about these things? What things? Well, about Jesus
of Nazareth. He was crucified. And our rulers,
chief priests, they condemned Him and they crucified Him and
we thought, we thought. Oh, the mercy of God. Look at
verse 25. Then He said unto them, O fools,
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. That word fools there. This is
what it means. You that do not understand. It wasn't a slur. on him. What he told him was, he said,
you just don't understand. Ought not, verse 26, Christ to
have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? Here
the Lord Jesus Christ sets forth the reason for His incarnation
and His crucifixion, the redemption of His people. He obeyed his Father. Ought not
Christ? Isn't it right? Isn't it the
right thing that Christ have suffered these things, endured
these things, and enter into His glory? The Father had given
Him a people. He had a people given Him from
before the foundation of the world. He's always stood for
them. He's always been there. Sure He did. They've always been
justified in Him by grace freely. The Father had always trusted
in Him. He came into this world, made
Himself of no reputation, made in the form of sinful flesh,
in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. He suffered
all these things. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things, bore in His own body the sin, the guilt of His
people, and enter into His glory? Made sin, and the Father forsook
Him. Why hast Thou forsaken Me? Why
was the Son forsaken? He was made sin. purer eyes than to behold iniquity." He died. He was buried. And three days later, when it
says, and He was raised for our justification, remember this,
that word for means because of. He was raised because of our
justification. Ascended into heaven. entered into His glory. Sit down
by my right hand until I make all your enemies your footstool. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into His glory and beginning. Now
listen. Mercy. Mercy. Mercy. Two men that didn't seek Him.
Two men that He revealed to them. You just don't understand. Two
men that He didn't leave in darkness. He's going to teach them something.
Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them
in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Oh, what
those two must have heard that day. Can you imagine? I mean, I read something and
I see a picture of the ark. being a picture of Christ, and
I think, oh, I see that. I see that. There's the ark,
and they're in Him, and the judgment of God is the rain, and all that
was in the ark was saved because they were in the ark. I see that
rock, that rock that was struck. Water came from that rock. I
see that brazen serpent made in the image of what was biting
All the people, those fiery serpents, a picture of sin. Make a brazen serpent. There
was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ raised up on a pole. Whoever it looks, they're going
to live. I see those pictures, beautiful
pictures, and I love them. For those that sit here and to
have Him beginning with Moses and all the prophets starting
with Moses. He told him, he said, all those
sacrifices back in the wilderness, the desert, every time that priest
killed a lamb, slay a bullock, he said, all of those sacrifices,
he said, that was a picture of me. You go back and look in the
judges, the deliverers, he said, those judges, those were pictures
of me. the true deliverer. All the prophets,
Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel and all those prophets, he said
those prophets were pictures of me, the true prophet, the
true creature from God. And beginning with Moses and
all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures
those things concerning himself. We never go wrong. looking for
Him in the Scriptures. You see Him in the Scriptures,
you see a right. But in closing, I want you to
consider the indescribable mercy to draw His own to Himself. Now
listen, He approached them when they didn't seek Him. He revealed
to them their ignorance. He spoke to them concerning the
Scriptures. Everything that he is doing is
based on himself, on his Word, the Scriptures. Verse 28-29 says,
They drew nine to the village where 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. He purposed. He was going to
go in with them. They were going to sit down.
But I want you to look at the constraining grace of God. Thy
people shall be willing in the day of Your power. Made it so that He would have
gone, the evidence of a heart made tender toward Christ is
their desire to be where He is. I want to be where you are. I want to hear you. I want to
hear your gospel. I want to be with your people.
I want to worship you. They want to be with you. Abraham
said in Genesis 32, 26, Pass not away, I pray thee, from thy
servant. Gideon said to the Lord in Judges
6, 18, Depart not hence, I pray, until I come unto thee and bring
forth my present, that is, my meat offering, and set it before
thee. And he, that is the Lord, said,
I will tarry until thy come." He asked his disciples that day,
would you go away also? Peter said, where are we going
to go? You've got the words of eternal life. God's people, they
want to be where He is. In the power of His blessed Holy
Spirit, He caused them to ask Him to stay. He made them willing. They called. But you know why
they called? Because He made them willing.
That's why they said, Come into our house. It's late. Evening is coming on. Won't you
abide with us? Isn't that the desire of your
heart right now? Lord, abide with us. Stay here. You promised that You'd be with
two or three gathered together in your name. You said you'd
be there. Lord, be with us. He's eternally purposed to do
that which He's going to do. You know that. But you remember
in Ezekiel 26. He said, I'm going to give you
a new heart. I'm going to give you a new spirit.
I'm going to put my spirit in you and I'm going to write my
law in your heart. He said, I will and they shall. I will and they
shall. I will. Yet for all these things
will I be inquired of." Lord, save me. Lord, have mercy on
me. Do you realize when you call
out for mercy that God Almighty has already had mercy on you?
Lord, abide with us. The Scripture says, verses 35,
and I'll stop at 35, It came to pass, as He said it meeteth
Him. He took bread and blessed it. break. And He 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 returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven
gathered together, and that were with them, saying, is risen indeed
and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were
done in the way, how he was known of them in the breaking of bread. There he took and revealed to
them himself in the Scriptures. And when the Spirit of God took
those Scriptures that he revealed to them and blessed them to their
hearts, He said, our heart burns. Oh, how wonderful it is whenever
the Lord causes the heart of His people to burn with joy and
thankfulness and appreciation for what He's done. Lord, this
is so good. It's so good that You're here.
Thank You for the mercy. Thank You for Your grace and
compassion to give me a heart to want to be where You are.
Thank You for revealing Yourself to me. Thank You for causing
me to call. God Almighty alone can open the
hearts of His people. Give them a new heart. Reveal
Himself and open their understanding. Cause them to rejoice. You can't
drum this up. I mean, you go through the motions
of clap and raise your hands But I'm telling you, only Almighty
God can ignite your heart and cause you to have true joy in
the Lord. What a blessing. How the Spirit
of God does that, that's a miracle. One, remember that the Lord healed
his blindness. clay, spit on the ground. He made a little daub of mud,
put it on the man's eyes, told him, go wash. He came to see
him. And some of the religious leaders,
you know, they saw him seeing. They said, how is it that you see? He said,
well, he said, this Jesus of Nazareth, He put clay on my eyes
and he told me to go wash and I came to see. And he said, how
did he do that? He said, well, one thing I know,
that whereas I was blind, now I can see. That's how I know. How did he do that? Like I told
you before, all I know is this. Once I was blind, but now I can
see. How did the Lord open your eyes
and your heart? The only thing I can tell you
is that I wasn't looking for Him. And He revealed to me the
ignorance that I was in. And through a preacher, He took
the Holy Scriptures that was concerning Him And He revealed
those to me and He ignited my heart. And He gave me understanding,
truth. And I can tell you, but for His
grace and mercy, I wouldn't know anything. Did not our heart burn? Oh, that Almighty God. We're
getting ready to partake of the Lord's table. It's just what
that is. It's a little cup of wine. and
a little bitty piece of bread, just flour and water, no yeast
in it. That's just a piece of bread
and a glass of wine. But if He gives us a heart to
remember, only the Spirit of God can ignite our hearts. The Lord calls us to remember,
calls us to think upon You and to be thankful. For Christ's
sake, Amen. I'll ask the man if he'll come.