May it please Almighty God to
bless our souls this morning as we meditate in his word. Let
us turn to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24, and we'll read verse
32. The Gospel of Luke, chapter 24,
and reading verse 32. 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. This was a very wonderful day
in the history of the world. Without this day, without that
which occurred on that day, we would have no hope of eternal
life. We would be left as lost and
ruined sinners. But we can be very, very thankful
that the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, rose
from the dead. on this day. We don't know precisely,
of course, what day it was, but we're thankful to be able to
remember it in perhaps a more special way as we do today. Of course, the Lord appeared
a number of times to people from the time he rose from the dead
until that time when he ascending up to glory. And of course, as
we read the last couple of verses in this 24th chapter, we almost
see that the Lord went straight from that Emmaus Road experience
almost to then be taken to Bethany and to go to glory. But of course
there were a good number of days, I think it was 40 days, between
the Lord rising from the dead and the time that he actually
went home to glory, to be with his Father in heaven. But this
particularly this morning I want to speak really about these two
on their journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus. It was a very wonderful
occasion and we're told the distance was something like 70 furlongs,
which again relates to something like seven and a half miles.
So it would have been quite a reasonable journey and I guess The roads
weren't as smooth as they are today, nor the pavements, and
I guess it would have taken something like about three hours to have
done their journey. Well, we're not told, of course,
when the Lord Jesus drew near and went with them, but we do
know he did draw near and went with them, and he then carried
on to the end of their journey. So it could have been, and we
just make some assumption, if perhaps He actually walked with
them for perhaps it was two hours or so on that Emmaus road. And it was a wonderful time. It was a wonderful time and we're
told something about it in this 24th chapter. We're told what
these two people on this journey were speaking and they talked
together of all these things which had happened. And it came
to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus
himself drew near and went with them. Well, first of all we must
notice, it was good that these two were speaking about those
things which had happened. And of course what had happened
was the crucifixion, and what happened perhaps prior to that
was the Lord been in the Judgment Hall and have been in Gethsemane. And of course it also introduced
the Lord's Supper on that Passover night. So there was much to speak
about. And then he'd risen from the
dead and all these things they were perplexed about. They couldn't
really understand what had happened. And you know, these things are
recorded for us today because Sometimes we may not understand
the great truth of God. It may just appear to us about
to be an historical account. And we may not really understand
the great significance of these things. So it would be a great
blessing, like it was with these two, if Jesus himself draws near
and goes with us. in our journey. Jesus himself
drew near indeed and went with them. And we're told it came
to pass that 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. They weren't blessed with that
spiritual sight at that time. Of course, it was the risen Lord. And we are not told how the Lord
had changed from the time when he was crucified to the time
that he rose from the dead in that risen form. But nonetheless,
he was in that same form that he was indeed to be recognized. And so we have this statement
then. The Lord came and he asked them,
What manner of communications are these that ye have one to
another as ye walk and are sad? And again, it's good that you
and I just take note of these things. They were sad. Why were
they sad? Because they couldn't understand
the great and wonderful things which had occurred. They believed
certain things were true, but they just were lacking that understanding,
and they were sad because of it. And again, that's good for
us to take note and to be not discouraged if sometimes we can't
understand the great truth of Scripture. And we should realize
that here it was on this occasion, it was the blessed Spirit of
God which opened their understanding. And my friends, it's exactly
the same today. You and I need the blessed work
of the Holy Spirit to open our understanding. And so the Lord
asked them what their communication was and why they were sad. And one of them, whose name was
Cleopas, answered and said unto him, Art thou only a stranger
in Jerusalem? unless not known the things which
had come to pass there in these days? And the Lord said, What
things? And they said unto him, Concerning
Jesus of Nazareth. See, these are the things which
were uppermost in their thoughts and minds. And it's a good thing
for us today if these things are uppermost in our hearts and
minds. They said concerning Jesus of
Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty indeed 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. 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 had 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 even so as the women
had said, but him they saw not." So they gave a very concise description
of why they were discussing these things and why they were perplexed
and why they were sad. And then you see the Lord comes.
The Lord speaks. And He speaks words of great
blessing and great wisdom. He says, and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken." How true that is
today. Perhaps it's true in our lives. Perhaps it has been true in our
lives. Perhaps it is still true today. The Lord speaks perhaps words
like this to our hearts. This is what the Lord was addressing,
O fools and slave heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
You know how backward we are, how reluctant we are, perhaps,
to believe the great Word of God. And how often we have to
contend with the evil heart of unbelief. Somehow we just don't
want to believe. Somehow we just can't seem to
believe. Somehow we seem to be foolish
and so ignorant in these things. And sometimes it doesn't worry
us. Sometimes we carry on in this
state, willing to be ignorant of the
great truth of the Word of God. well it'll be a great blessing
for us today if we have the evidence that these two spoke about and
this was the evidence they said this did not our heart burn within
us while he taught with us by the way and while he opens to
us the scripture you may ask well What does it really mean,
our heart to burn within us? Well, it means that within us,
there's that wonderful warmth towards the things of God. That cold condition that we've
had, that unconcerned condition that we've possessed, has been
blessedly changed and moved by the glorious work of the Spirit
of God within. And this is what it produces. It produces a change in our heart,
because God gives us a new heart, a heart to believe the great
and precious and glorious truths of the Gospel. Now every born
again child of God in measure is blessed with this. And so
what a glory it is as you and I can ponder these things and
look into our hearts to trace out the blessed work of God within
which has produced this so that it may not be a great fire within
But may there be that warmth in our heart towards the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the Prophet says, Is
it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? And these things do
really mean nothing of any true nature unless the Holy Spirit
comes and touches our heart. Now then, these two on this Emmaus
road, they were moved, weren't they, by the blessed words of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus says to them,
ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into
his glory? That's a question that he puts
to them. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into His glory? And perhaps the Holy
Spirit may put that question to us. Ought not Christ to have
suffered these things and to enter into His glory? And we
may have to say, I don't know. I don't understand. Well then, what a blessing it
is if, like on this occasion, the Lord indeed comes and speaks
to us from his word. That's what occurred now. This
is what we read. And beginning at Moses. Well, when it says beginning
at Moses, what it means, of course, is Moses wrote The first five
books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus and Leviticus, Numbers
and Deuteronomy, those were written by Moses and it was an amazing
accomplishment under the blessed influence of the Spirit of God.
But way back, you see, in those books, we trace out so much of
the prophecy with regards to the Lord Jesus Christ. And as I've often reminded you,
those blessed prophecies commence in the third chapter of Genesis
and in the 15th verse where the Lord speaks about that the Lord
will bruise Satan's head, the effect of the great and glorious
work of God will have a tremendous effect. And of course that had
to wait many, many years, but it came to pass. It came to pass
when the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified upon the cross at Calvary. And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the
things concerning himself. Now just try and imagine there
is the blessed Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, walking with these
two on that Emmaus road. And let's assume that the journey
was some two hours, and therefore he would have preached the sermon two hours long to them, going
right back from the beginning of Genesis right up to the end
of Malachi and telling them and explaining to them how that what
had occurred was so clearly prophesied. It wasn't something which had
just occurred by chance. It wasn't something that just
happened. It was that which had been prophesied
by Almighty God and it was these great and glorious truths, which
had a wonderful effect upon these two, so that they were able to
come and say, did not our heart burn within us while he taught
with us by the way and while he opened to us the scriptures. Well it was a most amazing time
obviously. We have to come down now to the
age in which we live. Of course we don't physically
have the Lord Jesus coming to us, but you know the Lord does
still come to us by His Spirit. He does still draw near to us. He does still open to us the
Scriptures. He does still come and shed heavenly
light into our hearts. And it's these blessings and
it's these favours which bring to us warmth in our heart towards
the Saviour, true worship. It's not a false worship, it's
not just a hypocritical worship, it's not just going through a
form of worship, but it's the very life of our souls because
we are blessed with that reality that the Lord is speaking to
us. The Lord is revealing himself
to us through the Scriptures. That's what happened here. It
wasn't something which was outside of the Scriptures. It was that
which was in the Scriptures, and it was that which produced
the wonderful blessing to these two on this Emmaus road. Wouldn't it be a great blessing
for us today if you and I are able to ponder and meditate upon
these things which the Lord Jesus spoke here. We don't know the
exact detail but we do know the overall picture. And the overall
picture is just very simply this, that beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the
things concerning himself." All the scriptures, right from Genesis,
right to Malachi. All the minor prophets, all the
larger prophets, the Psalms, all the historical accounts,
and all the things that Moses wrote. What a wonderful time
it must have been. And perhaps we think, well, I
wish it had been recorded so that I could now read it. Well, the Lord is sovereign in
these things. And I believe that one of the
reasons these things, as we might say, are hidden, It's so that
the Holy Spirit does and can reveal them to us, so that we
rejoice at the revelation of these things to our soul, in the same way that these two
on that Emmaus Road rejoiced in the great glorious news of
the Gospel, how good it was. And when we think, beginning
at Moses, I've just touched on that, back in Genesis and of
course then there's we have the wonderful deliverance of Noah
and his family in the ark which we preached on fairly recently
and there was that deliverance wasn't there we have the picture
of the ark safety in the ark and we have a picture of Christ
safety in Christ well that's a wonderful picture And it's
a wonderful thing to ponder. And then, of course, we can move
on and we can't obviously go through this morning all the
many, many, many prophecies of the Savior. But just to touch
on one or two very glorious ones, perhaps we can think of that
time when Israel came out of Egypt. They've been in Egypt
for 400 or so years. Hadn't been a happy time. Long
time, 400 years. And as it got farther on from
the beginning, it got worse and worse. But the time of deliverance
was at hand. And the Lord had determined that
His servant Moses should be the one who would be used. to lead
Israel out of Egypt and to lead them through the wilderness. And they came to that set time,
the set time to deliver Israel from Egypt. And there is, my
friends, in our lives, a set time to deliver us from what
we might term spiritual Egypt that means that they were in
prison they couldn't get away from Egypt and you see left to
ourselves we can't get away from the world we're in the world
and you see the devil if he can will make it all the more hard
for us and so it was in the case of Israel But the time came when
deliverance would be wrought about. And initially, of course,
as you well know, Pharaoh was shown all those plagues which
were brought upon the Egyptians, but it didn't have any real effect
upon Pharaoh. And then there was that last
plague, which was when all the firstborn were to be destroyed
of all the Egyptians. not only in the families, but
in all the cattle that was the first born to be slain. And in order to safeguard the
Israelites, the Lord introduced that wonderful work and picture
of the Passover. And it's given in some detail
you won't trace it out at this time. It's given in some detail
and it's worthwhile reading about the instructions of the Passover,
because it is a wonderful picture. And I believe this, if you just
read it as an historical account, it won't actually warm your heart. But if the Holy Spirit comes
and touches your heart, you will indeed rejoice in it, because
it sets forth the great and glorious picture of the Lord Jesus Christ
redeeming his church, redeeming his church from bondage, redeeming
his church from captivity by Satan. And we see the wonderfully
significant picture on that occasion, when they had to take a lamb
without blemish, a lamb without blemish, and slay it, and take
the blood, and place the blood on the doorpost and the lintels,
and to eat the lamb of God, roast in the fire with bitter herbs, And all those who then had partaken
of that lamb, who went into their dwellings, they passed under
the blood which was on the doorpost and the lintels, when that angel
of God passed over the Egyptians, they were safe. They were safe. Safety was there because they
were under the blood. Now the great and wonderful picture
is this. The Lord Jesus Christ indeed
died. He endured the flames of the
wrath of God on our behalf. Just like that lamb was roast
in the flames, the blessed Saviour was roast in the flames of God's
wrath for us. and they were to partake of it
with bitter hearts. And we today are to partake spiritually
of the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord says, except
ye eat the flesh of the Son of God, there is no life in you. It's a spiritual food, a spiritual
feast. And it's better to do it because
it brings into our hearts condemnation because of our sins. What a picture
that is. What a wonderful picture. And
then to realise that the blood was there as a sign of safety
and it's still there for us today. The Lord Jesus Christ, he shed
his precious blood upon that cross at Calvary. And if you
and I are under that shed blood, there is eternal safety now,
as the Lord Jesus Christ would have, without any doubt, testified
of these things as he showed to them the great and blessed
truth concerning himself. How these two on their mass road
were indeed warmed in their heart to realise the glory of the Passover
And what it signified, and then to realize that now they were
face to face with not what we term the Paschal Lamb, but the
Lamb of God that take the way, the sin of the world. And it
was the very Lamb of God who was now speaking to them, who
was now revealing to them Himself, as their Saviour revealed to
them that He was the Saviour of sinners. What a wonderful
occasion it was. Well, today may it be so with
us that in measure we rejoice in this great record we have
in the Word of God, that our hearts may warm as we meditate
upon what the Lord Jesus Christ indeed did. And beginning at
Moses and all the prophets, that was the occasion, of course,
when Israel came out of Egypt. And then, of course, we know
that there was when the The tabernacle was erected when Moses was shown
what was to be constructed. In all the fullness of the tabernacle,
in all the various parts of it, they are all directed to Christ. And so we can think that the
Lord Jesus Christ would have described all those various elements
in the tabernacle, directing the believer to the Lord Jesus
Christ. What a wonderful picture it was. How encouraging it would have
been for them. And also, then to have gone back
to the time of Abraham, on that great occasion when there was
that substitution He was told to offer up his only son. The picture of the Lord Jesus Christ was to
be offered up as the only son of God the Father. And yet we
see on that mountain, that Mount Moriah, what a wonderful picture
of substitution As Abraham was about to slay his son, Almighty
God told him to stop and pointed him to the substitute, that ram
caught by its horns in the thicket, and that ram was taken and offered
up instead of Isaac. And the picture shows to us the
Lord Jesus Christ offered up instead of us. as a great and
glorious substitution? Well, to think that the Lord
God Almighty willingly gave Himself as an offering for your sin and
my sin. Is that not glorious truth? Is it not that which should warm
our hearts To have such a view and to believe. Yes, that was
done for me. Surely we can imagine, therefore
in some small way, of these two talking with the Saviour and
the wonderful revelation of this to their very souls, as it says,
to their hearts, their innermost being. That's what it did. Did not our heart burn within
us? It wasn't just a natural attraction. It didn't just tickle their fancy. It wasn't just their mind. It
had a real effect upon them. And that's what the work of the
Spirit does. It has a precious and glorious
effect upon our souls, upon our hearts. And it's a wonderful,
wonderful evidence that we possess the gift of God of eternal life. That these things are indeed
the life of God to our souls. They're real. We rejoice in them. We bless God for them. And that's
why we can bless God today for the wonder of the resurrection. Who hath believed our report? Well, have you and I believed
the great report recorded in the Word of God? Have we believed
the truth of God? The majority of mankind have
not. What a blessing for us if the
Holy Spirit has touched our hearts so that we do believe the great
truth of Scripture. We do believe that Lord Jesus
Christ came into this world to suffer and to bleed and to die
so that our sins should be forever washed away in His most precious
blood. We can move on to the Psalms.
David himself had wonderful revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ and
His sufferings. We can read about them in many of the Psalms, like Psalm
22, which directs us so clearly to the blessed life and sufferings
of the Saviour. They're all wonderful confirmations
that this all spoke about the Saviour. And here were these
two on this amazed road now, having a face-to-face conversation
with the blessed Lord Himself, and He was telling them of all
these things which described Him, described what had occurred. It was now history. The prophecy
had now been fulfilled. What a wonderful truth. No doubt,
is it? No doubt to record. Did not Thou
heart burn within us? You see, we can move on to, again,
what we term the minor prophets, and we can see there how the
prophets were able to write down those things, moved by the Holy
Spirit to speak of the Lord Jesus, and how he would be nailed to
the cross, how he would be scourged, all these things listed out in
detail. And of course, he was to be born
of a virgin. My friends, wonder of wonders,
isn't it? Because our faith today stand
upon the revealed word of God. It's not our natural comprehension. It's the blessed work of the
Holy Spirit, which has quickened our souls, enlivened our souls,
and blessed us indeed with a wonderful, wonderful favour of a spiritual
life. That surely is what I hope we
all long for. And I hope if we haven't received
it, that we're on the stretch to God, that it may be so in
our lives. that our hearts may indeed burn
within us. You know the Apostle Paul, he
wrote some wonderful words in the second of Ephesians, and
this is what he said in verse 11. Wherefore remember, remember,
that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called
uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in
the flesh made with hands, that at that time ye were without
Christ, being aliens, that means foreigners, from the commonwealth
of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having
no hope, and without God in the world, everyone has been there. The great blessing today is if
you and I have passed from that position to this. That at that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God
in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ,
that sin-atoning blood. For he is our peace, who hath
made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition
between us, between Jew and Gentile. What a mercy then for us today
if the Lord has come and touched our hearts so that we know within
the warmth of the work of the Holy Spirit and we can therefore
go on our way rejoicing. Well, remember then what these
two said, did not our heart burn within us while he taught with
us by the way and when he opened to us the scripture? As the Lord
opens to us the scripture and there's some revelation and we
have a view of the Saviour, does it rejoice our heart? Well, I hope it does, because
it's a proof that the Word of God is true. Thy Word is truth,
says the Blessed Saviour. Thy Word is truth. Now, it's good, you know, just
to just read on what happened to these two, because we're told,
and they rose up the same hour. This was good news. They couldn't keep it in. This
was good news. They rose up the same hour and
returned to Jerusalem. Remember, three hours journey
or so now, walking all the way back. Didn't matter to them the
distance. They had some good news. And they returned 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 the breaking of bread. Yes, they were able to speak.
It was a wonderful occasion, wasn't it? Testifying of what
the Lord had shown them. And it's good, you know, when
the Church of God is in this position that one another can
come and testify of what the Lord has shown them for the glory
of God. They didn't boast about this
for their own gratification. They came to tell the Church
of God what had been revealed to them and how their heart burned
within them, the glorious effect of it. Well, it is indeed a great
and a glorious account that we have. It's a glorious resurrection
that we are able to ponder. And may we know the power of
it, because the power is very simply this. Christ Jesus rose from the dead
a conqueror over sin, death, hell and the grave. My friends,
by the grace of God, we rise from the dead of nature into
the glorious light of the Gospel. And that light shines and only
shines through the face of Jesus Christ. So, I hope today by the grace
of God. Our heart burns within us because
of what Christ has done in order to redeem our souls, to redeem
my soul. And we said one to another, did
not our heart burn within us while he taught with us by the
way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures. Amen.