Luke chapter 24 this morning
if you turn to Luke 24 verse 36 We'll look at a couple of verses
together this morning And as is often the case I intended
to cover a larger passage of this chapter this morning, but
the Lord just Spoke to my heart and in two
things in these two verses that I just believe are so So important
and so needful That I just got to these verses 36 and 37 And
I pray this the Lord will bless this to us verse 36 and as they
thus spake Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and saith
unto them, peace be unto you. And those two words, Jesus himself,
that's the title of the message this morning, Jesus himself. But this verse, if you look at
what happened in this verse of scripture, this is what happens
when the Lord's sheep huddle together. Remember verse 33? It says they gathered, they rose
up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the 11.
They were gathered together. The 11 were and then those two
gathered themselves to them and they began to talk about the
Lord. And this is what happened. This is what the Lord does. He
brings us together. He makes us a family. He calls
us together and then He comes and meets with us. Himself. Himself. That's a worship service. That's a worship service. I don't
care where it happens. I don't care who's there, if
it's the Lord's sheep are gathered together. And what did they do
when they gathered together? Verse 34, saying the Lord is
risen. It is Christ that hath died,
yea rather, that is risen again and hath appeared to Simon. They
spoke of the Lord. That's what they talked about.
The Lord is risen indeed. That's what we do when we gather
in worship. There's nothing wrong with catching
up with one another on what's going on in our life. We're family.
That's what we do. But we're here to talk about
the Lord, to hear about Him, and to think on Him. The Lord is risen and they spoke
of a witness concerning how they had seen him. And we talk about
that, how we, you know, what the Lord has revealed to us of
himself in the scriptures. He revealed himself to them in
the breaking of bread. And so a group of believers gathered
together, they spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is what
happens. Jesus himself in the midst of
them, That's the very language that he used himself. In Matthew
18, 20, it may well be why the author here said it that way. For where two or three are gathered
in my name, there am I in the midst of them. What a blessing, what a wonderful
promise that is. And that's why we come together,
to be with him, to hear from him, to hear of Him, to worship
Him. We need Jesus Himself. He's the one thing needful. Before
this, Christ was the subject of their conversation, and that's
wonderful. We want that to be true. They
had Christ in their hearts. These are believers. These are
His 11 And that's vital. That's salvation. Christ in me is the hope of glory. But what a blessing to know that
Jesus himself comes where we are when we worship him in the
preaching of his gospel. When some of his sheep huddle
together and talk about him. Jesus himself in the midst. And in the beginning of the verse,
they were speaking about him. It says, as they thus spake,
and what they were talking about was Christ. But then in the latter
part of the verse, he spoke. It says, and saith unto them,
he said unto them. That's what happens in a true
worship service also. A man gets up and speaks the
glories of God in Christ, the glorious gospel of the blessed
God, Paul called it. And while he does, while that
man speaks, the Lord speaks peace. to the hearts of His people.
Peace be unto you. He doesn't talk in, you know,
just rhetoric like the world up here. Peace on earth, you
know. Peace to you, to you, to you. He speaks peace to the hearts
of His sheep. By God's grace, I can study. By his grace, I can prepare a
message from the Lord. He's gracious to give strength
to do that and wisdom to do that from his word. And by God's grace,
I can deliver that message by his grace. I pray clearly and
boldly. That's how I want to deliver
it. But I can't make your heart lay down like the winds and the
waves do at his command. I can't do that. Only his voice
commands peace. in the heart of a sinner saved
by his grace, but what a blessing that he does come and meet with
us in the midst of us and says, peace. How gracious he is to
say that, to give us that. He said, my peace I leave with
you. Not as the world giveth, give
I unto you, but my peace I give unto you, to his disciples before
he left this world. The gospel of peace is what we
preach here. That's what it's called. Listen,
Romans 10, 15, among other things, it's called that. It says, and
how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written,
how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of
peace and bring glad tidings of good things. And as we preach
that gospel of peace, he himself Not just me having prepared a
message. That's the means that he uses now. We're not minimizing
that. But what's vital is that Christ
himself come and say, peace, be still. And we can sing when
he does, we can sing, be still my soul, the Lord is on your
side. And know that it's true. He speaks
peace to our hearts with authority. He says it with authority because
he made peace between us and God by the blood of his cross.
It's not just a good wishes when he says it. He speaks it with
authority, on the authority of his own precious blood. He made
peace with God for us. Listen to Colossians 119. For
it pleased the Father that in Christ should all fullness dwell.
And having made peace through the blood of his cross by him,
by Christ, to reconcile all things unto himself. By him, I say,
whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven, and I love
these next two words, and you. All of his elect, all of his
people, all in heaven and earth, and you. You, and he reminds
us that we're at one time alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works. You were his enemy in your mind.
Oh, but you've been his friend on his part from eternity, and
he's made peace. Enemies in your mind by wicked,
yet now hath he reconciled you to himself in the body of his
flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and
unreprovable in his sight. That's the only way there can
be peace with God is if we're as holy as God. And in Christ,
he's made it so by his precious blood. Jesus himself, Christ
himself, the Lord Jesus himself has given himself for us. Died the just for the unjust
that he might bring us to God. And Jesus Christ himself, the
Lord himself must give us that peace which passeth all understanding. Philippians 4 6 be careful and
that word means anxious Be anxious for nothing But instead of that In everything by prayer and supplication
with Thanksgiving Let your request be made known unto God. That's
so precious to me right now and the peace of God which passeth
all understanding and It's better to have his peace than to understand
everything. I don't understand why God has
sent this pandemic. I don't know why God has put
us through some of the trials that he's put us through in these
past days. But I know this, his peace is
better than understanding. I know I can have peace in my
heart that he doeth all things well. and that he works all things
for our good. And by prayer and supplication,
he said, make your requests known unto me. If you know how to give
good gifts unto your children, how much more will I give good
things to you? And the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus
himself, must come where you are. If you're to be saved, he
must make himself known to you. He must save you. If you are
to be saved in a spiritual sense, he must show you his hands and
his feet as he did in verse 39 of our text that we'll see maybe
next time. But he must show you himself
as the sovereign Christ. You can't worship Anything less
than a sovereign, successful, redeemer of sinners. If he just
died to make salvation available, you can't worship him. He can't
save you. He can tell you all about it,
you know, and he can woo you and things that religion works
like that. But it's up to you to save yourself. No, no. Christ himself comes in spiritual,
in the gospel, he shows you himself crucified, his hands and his
feet. And that precious blood that
flowed from those wounds washed away the sins of all for whom
he shed it. He must show you that himself.
And he himself does. He himself must show you. And
what he shows you is himself. Himself having made his own soul
and offering for your sin He must say peace be unto you not
peace be unto everybody that you know will will do the right
thing He's got to speak peace to you And that peace was made
by the blood that flowed from those wounds in the hands that
he shows us in his gospel his redemptive character revealed
in his word Having loved you and washed you from your sins,
to put it into words of that beautiful verse in Revelation
chapter one, he's got to show you that, that I've loved you
and washed you from your sins in my own precious blood. And
Christ himself, Christ himself must keep you. He himself must hold you up until
the end. Just as surely as he holds the
stars in place, he's got to hold you up to keep you from falling.
He's able to keep you from falling, and he's willing if you're one
of his loved ones. He must never leave you nor forsake
you, as he promised, because you're a goner if he does. for
a moment, if he leaves us for a moment, those whom he saves,
he never leaves. He must sustain us every moment. We sing, I need thee every hour. I need thee every moment, is
the truth of it. We need him constantly, continually
to never, ever let us go. The Lord Jesus himself said in
John 14, 16, I will pray the Father, he shall give you another
comforter that 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 and listen we know this listen
to what he said in verse 18 this is not this he's not talking
about the holy spirit and him as separate they are It is God
in three persons, but the same God, but when he says in verse
18, I will not leave you comfortless I will come to you. That's he
himself and he is the spirit of truth. It's the spirit of
Christ. The Holy Spirit is his spirit,
God's spirit. And they're one God. And so he
said I will not leave you. Comfortless I will come to you
and what a precious promise that is if you believe the doctrine
From the scriptures of the perseverance what we call the perseverance
of the Saints If you're saved you can't you can never be not
saved once the Lord saves you he don't let you go and And that doctrine is usually
called the perseverance of the saints. But if you believe that,
you know that there is perseverance because there is preservation.
Jesus Christ himself keeps us, holds us, comforts us, protects
us, reveals himself to us in the gospel, is always with us. And we persevere into faith by
his grace, by his presence, by his power, by his love. And then
verse 37, There's something in this verse that I want us to
sort of talk about for a while here. But they were terrified,
and really verse 38, it's together. So I said two verses, it's three,
but these two, we'll read them together. But they were terrified
and affrighted and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he
said unto them, oh, listen to this. Has the Lord ever asked
you this in your heart? Why are you troubled? Why are
you troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your
hearts? When we listen to our own heart
and not him, if what our heart says is contrary to him, here's
the truth. Our flesh is so weak. A believer
knows that more and more, I believe. The older we get, our flesh is
weak. The son of God that had given
himself for them, and they knew that. He loved them with an everlasting
love, and he loved them so that he gave himself for them, and
was there in their very midst, but they couldn't rejoice because
of the weakness of the flesh, because of their hearts, They
were troubled, and he asks, why? Why are you troubled? That's a good question. That's
a good question. This is a question that we should
hear from the Savior in our hearts often. He asks all of his sheep this
same question. Why are you troubled? And when
the gospel's preached, he asks us this. Why are you troubled?
Your sins are gone. Every problem that we have is
because of sin. And he's put our sins away by
the sacrifice of himself. Why are you troubled? Why are
you troubled? You say, well, I'm just such
a wretch. He saves wretches like you. And if you've believed on
him, why are you troubled? Your sins are gone. The reason
for every problem you have is gone. All gone. Why are you troubled? Here's
another way to ask it, why are you troubled? I work all things
for the good of them that love me, to them who are the called
according to my purpose. Everything that happens, why
are you troubled by the storm? Why were those, he asked those
disciples when that storm came up and they were in that little
ship and he was asleep and they woke him up and said, don't you
care? Don't you care that we're gonna die here in this storm? And he said, how is it that you
have no faith? This is the same question, isn't
it? It's the same question, really. Why are you troubled by the storm?
I'm the bringer and calmer of storms. There's no storm that
the Lord himself did not brew. And he speaks peace in his good
time. He says, peace be still, and
the storm is gone. But he brings the storm for our
good. It's hard to see that. That's why we don't trust our
heart. Our hearts tell us this is horrible, this is terrible. And it is, in a sense. Don't
get me wrong. The trials we go through, our
hearts break for one another. But we've got to trust him and
not our hearts. When our hearts are telling us,
we can't cope with this. You know, we can't process this. We can't get through. I'm not
going to be able to do it. No, not without him. Not without
him. And we've got to trust what he
says. I work all things for your good. I bring the storm for your
good, and I calm it for your good. And let me ask this too, because
this is something that we're troubled about. Why are you troubled
about the current events? in this country and in the world.
Why are you troubled? When talking about the storms
that come, it's not that we aren't to care about what happens, we
do. We do care and our hearts break and we sympathize with
one another. It's not that we aren't to care when those that
we love suffer trials and heartaches. And when we do, we do care. But
don't doubt and be troubled in this sense. We understand by
his grace and by his word, by his precious promises that he
is on the throne and that he rules all things after the counsel
of his own will, his will, his good and perfect will. And he doeth all things well.
And that's the same way we think about things in this world. It's
not that we don't care. What happens in our country? We do,
we're concerned about that. And we want things to be different. We want things to be right. And
we pray to God for that. But Jesus himself, the Lord Jesus
himself sits at the right hand of the majesty on high. And these
pawns in this world that think they have power on this earth,
remember what our Lord said to Pontius Pilate. when he said,
don't you know, he said to the son of God, he said, are you
not gonna answer me? Don't you know I have power to
crucify thee or power to let you go? And the Lord said, you
don't have any power. You have no power over me at
all except what was given to you. And the power that is given,
to the wicked people of this world, and everybody that he
gives power to is given to fulfill his perfect will and good purpose. That's why he gives it. And we
don't have any power at all that he doesn't give. And so that's
a blessing to me to remember that when he reminds me of that.
Nobody, however corrupt, or however many of them band together to
perpetrate their corrupt designs in this world, no one has any
power at all. That's what he said. Except what
God gives them in order to accomplish his good purpose in this world.
And you know what his purpose in this world is. It's for his
sheep. It's the good of his sheep. It's
his glory, of course, primarily, and must be. We want that by
his grace. to be glorified, for him to be
glorified in all of what we're going through and all that's
going on in this world. But boy, he loves his sheep.
He loves this world because this world is his vineyard. And he loves his sheep and takes care of us every moment
and runs everything. He runs everything and he does
it for our good. Listen to Isaiah 40, 21. Have
you not known? You know, when the Lord asks
a question, it's always a powerful one, isn't it? Have you not known?
Don't you know this? Have you not heard? Hath it not been told
you from the beginning? Does not all of my word declare
it? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
It is he, it is Christ that sitteth upon the circle of the earth.
And the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers. It's Christ
that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spareth them
out as a tent to dwell in, that bringeth the princes to nothing. He maketh the judges of the earth
as vanity. He runs it all. It's he that
sits upon the throne of all of the universe. Why are you troubled?
Oh, man. May the Lord ask us all of that
today, and the obvious answer is, we shouldn't be. Knowing that he loves us and
he's on the throne, the one that loved you from the foundation
of the world, that so loved you that he gave himself for you,
that forgave all of your sin before you ever committed the
first one. The lamb slain from the foundation of the world was
slain for you and He loves us that much and he's on the throne
of his universe, ruling all things for his own glory and for the
eternal good of his elect and precious children. Daniel 4.35,
all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. And he
doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand. or
saying to him, what doest thou? And what could be more comforting
for one of his sheep than to know that the one that gave himself
for us is on the throne? Why are we so troubled? I know why. I understand. I know why I'm troubled. I know why you're troubled. We're
the same. We all go through different things
and have different heartaches at different times. And we know
why, but this question is asking it in a whole other sense. The Lord Jesus himself is with
you. The Lord Jesus himself speaks
peace to you. You know, King David asked the
same question in Psalm, listen, Psalm 42, 11. Why are you troubled? Think about that when I read
this. He asked it this way. Why art
thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within
me? Has your soul been disquieted
within you by all that's going on? Listen to what David concludes. Let me read that part again.
Why are you cast down on my soul? And why art thou disquieted within
me? Hope thou in God. Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. And I believe we will yet too.
I believe we will yet praise him. May the Lord Jesus himself
be always in our midst, speak in peace to our hearts. He's
promised it. And we trust him by his grace,
we trust him. He said, you believe in God,
believe also in me. May he speak peace to every heart
that's hurting. And we know this, his peace is
the only thing that can heal a broken heart. He uses believers
to comfort one another, and I thank God for that, but that's him.
That's him. And only he can heal a broken
heart. May the Lord be gracious and
merciful. And by his grace, we will yet
praise him who is the health of our countenance and our God. Amen.