May I please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
Gospel of Luke, chapter 24, and we'll read verse 29. The Gospel
of Luke, chapter 24, and reading verse 29. 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." We are thankful that we have
an account in the Word of God of these two people walking on
the road to Emmaus. and the account and detail of
what occurred on that journey. And we see in that account the
wonderful favour and the wonderful blessing of Almighty God. And what a change came about. These two, as they journeyed
were sad indeed. They talked together of all these
things which had happened and came to pass. While they communed
together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with
them. Well, first of all, they were
thinking and they were talking about the things of God. They
weren't talking with worldly conversation. They were talking
about the things of God. And so it would be a good thing
in our lives, if as we journey, we are found talking and speaking
about the things of God. You may remember that in the
time of Moses, When he was shortly to leave Israel, be taken from
them, he wrote to them and he wrote some very wonderful and
blessed words. And he said, Here, O Israel,
the Lord our God is one God, and thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, with all thy
might. And these words which I command
thee this day shall be in thine heart. And then he expounds this.
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt
talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou
walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou
risest up, And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand,
and they shall be as front nets between thine eyes. And thou
shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and on thy gates. And it shall be, when the Lord
thy God shall have brought thee into the land, which he sware
unto thy fathers, to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob, to
give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildest not, and
houses full of all good things which thou fillest not, and wells
digged which thou diggest not, vineyards and olive trees which
thou planted not, when thou shalt have eaten, and art full then,
beware lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee forth out
of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage." So here, Moses
in his last days, as he wrote this wonderful account, instructs
Israel to speak and talk of the things of God. And so here we
have, many years later, this wonderful account of these two
as they journeyed to Emmaus. They talked together of all these
things which had happened. It wasn't trivial talk, was it? There's a lot of trivial talk
today, but this was not Trivial talk. This was the things touching
the king. This was that which their souls
would feed upon. And so what was the result? Jesus
himself drew near and went with them. Now they didn't know who
it was. We're told their eyes were holden,
that they should not know him. And the Lord asked them what
the situation was. He asked him what communications,
what the talk was that they were having as they were walking along. And one of them answered, aren't
thou only a stranger in Jerusalem and hast not known the things
which are come to pass therein these days? And he said, what
things? And 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. There was something
in their mind that reminded them that there had been something
about the third day and they couldn't quite remember what
it was. And yet they were speaking and
they had been speaking and they were concerned of what they had
believed and what had occurred. And so they really couldn't understand
it. And they told the Lord how there'd
been those women who'd gone and found the body and angels and
others who'd come. And what did the Lord say? It's
good sometimes to read carefully the words of the Lord. He said,
O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
have spoken. And that may be true of us. And Lord may speak. Perhaps in
that way. O fools, and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken. And of course, he
was referring to the complete Old Testament, which was available
both in Hebrew and in Greek. And therefore, he refers to that. And he then opens to them their
understanding. 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 in all the Scriptures
the things concerning Himself." Well, it would be wonderful if
we had that sermon recorded, but we don't. But what we do
know is that the Lord went through, as it were, the Old Testament
and expounded and spoke to them of all the things concerning
Himself. Well, that must have been wonderful
to them. And quite clearly, everything then was fitting into place.
The things which had occurred, now they realized, had been prophesied,
had been spoken about, and now it had come to pass. And so they
drew near unto the village. Whither they went, and he made
as though he would have gone further. Yes, the Lord made. And as though he would have gone
past, then we come to these words. And they constrained him, saying,
abide with us, for it is toward evening and the day is far spent.
Why do you think they desired that? It's because they'd heard the
word of life. Because their spiritual eyes
had been opened and they'd observed through the glorious words of
the Saviour, the great truth of God contained in the Old Testament
and brought to pass in the New. And their hearts were on fire. This was good news. And they
were rejoicing in it. And they didn't want this to
stop. That's why they desired and they
constrained him saying, abide with us. Now, what a good thing
it is if you and I are found in a spiritual condition. Rejoicing
in the great truths of God and they're worthy to be rejoicing
in because my friends, it speaks to us of the salvation of our
souls and it speaks to us how that is to come about and how
it will come about and to be blessed with some evidence of
it in our own heart. And as the Lord may come and
touch our hearts, you see, we don't want the blessing to stop. We don't want to go back into
our old ways, into our old routine, into the old worldly way in which
we were. Here had occurred a wonderful
change. And and we know what they said
when they came to the disciples. And they said, did not our heart
burn within us while he taught with us by the way and while
he opened to us the scriptures as the scriptures were open to
that understanding? There was that burning in their
heart, rejoicing in the truth of God's word. And surely that's
what will do us and does us real good when the truth of God's
word is made known to us and we know that what God has said
is true and we can rely upon it and we can believe it and
we can trust it because it is the word of God and when it is
applied then with power that's what happened here on this Emmaus
road they set out and never expected such an experience but the Lord
came and drew near and so today The Lord does come sometimes
and draws near, draws near to us, perhaps brings back to our
memory something that He's done for us, perhaps years ago. And it's fresh again. It's renewed. And in measure, what happens,
our heart burns within us at a recollection of the Lord's
goodness and the Lord's work toward us. Oh, we're thankful
for it. And what do we want? We want
to abide in that position. We don't want to wander away.
The Lord touches our heart. The Lord
moves our spirit. It's that which is outside of
nature. It's not of the flesh, because
our hearts are moved by the blessed work of the Holy Spirit. And
it's that which is done. in our hearts, which is eternal
blessing. And to realize that God has not
forsaken us, but that he's been gracious to us. We may indeed
have been in a sad place. We may have been far off. And
yet, you know, the Lord comes. And the Lord can open our eyes
and touch our hearts. You know, we sang that hymn that
John gave out just now. There's one little line in the
sixth verse which says, but I'm in prison yet. You may think,
well, what does that mean? I'm in prison yet. What that
really means is that we may have understood naturally the great
truths of God, but it's not until the Holy Spirit comes into our
hearts and reveals Christ to us that The light shines and
the prison doors are opened and we are set free. You see, the
devil cannot stand against the work of Christ because that work
defeated him. And that's why we have those
glorious words. And we are more than conquerors through him. There's our hope. There's our
rest. Not in what we've done. in what
Christ has done. Oh, my friends, bless God for
his work. Bless God for his grace. Bless
God for his mercy. And if so, we'll understand the
desire of these two people when they said, abide with us. Abide with us. Well, it may be
personal. You and I may desire, abide with
me. I wonder if We know anything
of that in our spiritual lives. We don't want to lose the nearness. We don't want to lose the favour
that God has graciously granted to us. We know perhaps what it's
been like to be hard-hearted. We may know perhaps what it has
been like to be far off. You may know perhaps what it's
been like to have no desire for spiritual blessings. You see, the world has a very
deadening effect because the world is of Satan. And Satan doesn't want any person
to be blessed by the Lord. It endeavours to do all that
it can to frustrate the work of God. But blessed be God, he
won't succeed. Because our God is almighty. And our God will
perform his will. And our God will grant the blessing.
And our God will come and set the captive free. The devil tries
to keep us behind those bars. Yes, we might perhaps look through
the bars and say a bit of freedom, but we can't seem to get there.
When the Lord comes. And opens the way and how is
it open? There's only one way. And that's
through and by the sin atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what the devil cannot
stand against. And they constrained him saying,
abide with us. Well, I can only ask the question
whether you understand anything of such an experience in your
life. And if not, to desire it. Because
this is a heavenly experience. This is not of the flesh. This
is outside of the world and all that the world contains in this
is life, spiritual life, eternal life, union with Christ. That's what it comes down to.
Because here was the Lord. He'd come. He'd come to these
two. He knew where they were and he
knows where you are and knows where I am. in our spiritual
life. He knows our journey. He knows
what we're thinking. He knows what we're saying. And
he can come so very ably and so very wonderfully and so very
gloriously and come right where we are. There's no one else that
can come so suitably into our hearts. There's no one else who
can draw us to himself. as he reveals to us the great
truths of the gospel, those which are enlivening and those which
are a wonderful blessing to us. You know, the Song of Solomon
gives us a little view sometimes of the truth and preciousness
of the things of God. And in the third chapter, We
read here about the bride of Christ. By night on my bed, I
sought him whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found him
not. Disappointment. Do you know what
that is? Disappointment. You might think,
well, I'm doing everything which is right and I'm not being blessed. I can't find the Lord. I sought
him, but I found him not. What does she say? I will rise
now and go about the city in the streets and in the broad
ways, I will seek him who my soul loveth. I sought him. But I found him not. Not very
encouraging, but you and I should be encouraged by the word of
God. Realize here we have the testimony
of God's word. and the description of the Church
of God, the watchmen that go about the city found me, to whom
I said, saw ye him whom I saw loveth? The watchmen, of course,
represent the preachers of the gospel. And I said this morning
how important and relevant it is, the preaching of the gospel.
It's the ordained way of God to bless souls. Never, never
underestimate the blessing that God brings through the preaching
of the gospel. And then we're told it was but a little that
I passed from them. But I found him. Who my soul
love is, I held him and I would not let him go until I brought
him into my mother's house and into the chamber of her that
conceived me. You see, here's the picture of
the bride of Christ having received the Lord Jesus Christ, the heavenly
bridegroom. into her heart. She didn't want to lose it, didn't
want to lose the influence, didn't want to lose the blessing. Mercy when that appears in our
lives like that, when the Lord comes and blesses up. And so she goes on and says,
I charge you, oh, you daughters of Jerusalem, the church of God,
by the rose and by the hinds of the field that she's still
not up, nor awake my love till He pleased. She didn't want to
lose the influence of Christ's love toward her. And that's the
same really here in this account on this Damascus road. These
two have been blessed. These two's heart have been moved
by the Spirit of God, by the words of the Savior and didn't
want to lose it. And that's why they came and
said in these words, They constrained him saying, abide with us. Abide
with us. Well, it was a request. In our time, what does it represent? It resents a prayer. A prayer. Is that your prayer tonight? Abide with me. So there are many things that
we sometimes think are important to us in our lives. Many things
that we think we need. There's no greater blessing. To be found walking with the
saviour. What a journey it is, what a
blessed journey it is when the Lord draws near and when the
Lord reveals to us, opens to our understanding the great plan
of salvation. Now, it is a marvel and it's
a marvel that we have not understood and not appreciated the wonder
of it until the Holy Spirit comes and opens our understanding.
And then it is as though the Lord has given us, which he has
really new eyes. By that, I mean spiritual eyes,
spiritual eyes to behold the wonder of the plan of salvation. And then the Word of God becomes
alive. Whereas before it was just a
book, which we felt was a right book and a good book, but it
didn't speak to our heart. But you see, these people on
this road, the Word of God spoke to their heart because They said,
did not our heart burn within us? It was that innermost being. The effects of the words of Jesus
had come to them and affected them in their hearts. And so it is to the Church of
God today. The way of salvation has not
changed. The plan of God has not changed. What is it? when the Holy Spirit
reveals to us the glorious plan of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And then as we look, and perhaps
the Holy Spirit leads us back through the Old Testament, it's
then that we observe Christ in all the scriptures, that which
we had not observed before, and our souls, as it were, on fire
to rejoice in the wonderful plan and the wonderful unity of the
word of God to realize the confirmation that one text has upon another
so that we know that as the Lord said, thy word is truth. There
is no error in God's word. It all fits together and it all
points to the Lord Jesus Christ and his finished work upon the
cross at Calvary. You see these people, these two,
their eyes and ears Their eyes were open, their ears were unstopped,
and what did they behold? They beheld those things which
they had seen. They now realized the relevance,
the importance of them, the significance of them. It wasn't just something
which had occurred. It was something which had occurred,
but it's something which had been foretold, which had to occur
to rescue lost mankind and so it came to pass and so it came
to pass and tonight can we bless God that it did come to pass
and it came to pass in order that our souls might be set free. It came to pass in order that
we might know the death of Christ upon Calvary was so that you
and I might be saved, so that you and I might be freed from
the condemnation of the law that Satan binds us with and keeps
us chained up because we cannot get ourselves outside of the
law except through what Christ has done because he kept the
law on our behalf. We failed and that's why surely
We should love the saviour for what he's done on our behalf
in coming into this world and dying that wonderful sin atoning
death. And through that death, we are
freed from the condemnation of the law, which says the soul
that sinneth it shall die. And that freedom is, of course,
an eternal freedom. It's never going to cease because
Christ did not die in vain. He did not shed his blood in
vain. No, my friends, he died in order that you and I might
live and be given that life, that eternal life, that gift
of God. It is a gift. And if the Holy
Spirit has opened our eyes and shown us that by his grace we
have an interest in it, surely our hearts are moved by such
a work. that we rejoice and praise God
for his amazing love that constrained none less than God himself to
come into this sinful world and to do all that was necessary
to redeem our soul. All spoken to us, all encouraging
as we read the great word of God. And so here we read, abide. Abide with us. Abide with me. See the true, true, living, lively
child of God desires to abide with Christ. Christ to abide
with them. There'll be a battle, of course
there will. The devil will try very hard to turn us away from
the things of God. He'll bring everything before
your eyes and into your mind, which detracts and turns you
away from the things of God. Never think that the Christian
life is an easy one. It's a battle. And that's why
the Lord has given us that great and glorious armor to put on
and to realize that we are to stand fast. Stand fast and remember,
we're not to turn our back upon the devil. We are to face him
with a word of God. We're to face him with the truth
of God. We're to tell him Christ has
died. He rather is risen again. You see, it's the risen Christ
that utterly defeated the devil. My friends, it's the resurrection
you and I look forward to. when by His grace we shall look
on His face, that will be glory, be glory for me. Well, will it? It's all right saying these words,
isn't it? Will it? It will if you and I have this
blessed movement in our hearts desiring that Christ indeed will
come and abide with us. You know, in the Revelation,
when John was instructed to write to the seven churches, and he
did, and he comes down to the end of that instruction, he is
told, as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Isn't that merciful? We don't like chastening, but
it's good sometimes. The Lord shows us where we've
got to. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore,
and repent. Repentance is a grace of God. And my friends, it's good when
you and I perhaps are wandering away. It may be only in our minds,
I say only in our minds, that's as bad as doing something physically. To be able to come and be blessed
with godly repentance. And then he says, Behold, I stand
at the door. And he stood at our door. He
stood at your door. Behold, I stand at the door.
And not if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come
into him and will suck with him. And he with me. To him that overcometh
will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame
and have sat down with my father in his throne. What a wonderful
promise that is, isn't it? This is the Savior. Oh, do we
desire then that he will abide with us, abide with me, abide
with us. And so the God's servant says,
he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches. My friends, the Spirit speaks
here to our hearts. And I hope the Holy Spirit speaks
to our hearts tonight and directs us to the wonderful blessing
it is to have union with Christ, because that's what it was, wasn't
it? Jesus himself himself drew near and went with them. And when Jesus comes, my friends
alongside us. And reveals himself to us as
our savior. And we then have a good hope.
That it is well with our soul because of what Jesus has done.
We throw away all our own efforts, all our own works. all our own
righteousness, which is but filthy rags. And we come just as we
are. Yes, just as we are. What a wonderful thing it is
that Jesus knows how we are. He knew how these two people
were. He knew what they were saying. He knew they were sad.
But he drew near and went with them. And the words that he spoke
were so inspiring. was so moving to their hearts.
They didn't want him to go away or abide with us. So, my friends,
tonight is our concern. To have Christ with us. Indeed,
Christ in you, the hope of glory. There's no hope outside of Christ.
There's no hope anywhere else. We must have Christ. We must
know him as our savior. We must know him as that one
who stood in our place, the one who has paid the price for our
salvation. He's taken away the curse. What
a wonderful savior we have and how how humbling it is when the
Holy Spirit comes and shines into our heart and produces this
blessing in our heart of this burning effect to realize, yes,
I to the end shall endure, sure as the earnest is given. Yes,
and we are eternally secure, you know, once in him, in him
forever. The Lord doesn't bless and then
throw us away. The Lord doesn't bless and then
leave us. No, he says, I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee. And therefore, we may boldly
say, the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man should
do to me. We may fear. We may have feared
what man should do to us. But blessed the union with Christ. It with Christ in the vessel.
We smile at the storm. Because whatever the devil throws
at us, he will not succeed to take away our salvation. He will not be able to take away
the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, because that is written,
as it were, in an iron pen in rock. It cannot be removed. And so may we bless God for such
an account as this. And may we bless God more if
the Holy Spirit has given us to understand something of what
these two on the immersed road knew. and to bless God more if
it is our desire to come like this and to say, abide with me
for it is toward evening and the day is far spent. Did the
Lord turn away? Did he say, no, I'm not going
to? And he went in to tarry with them. Remember, he said, I will
be inquired of by the house of Israel to do these things for
them. What a mercy it is. Therefore, we have an example
here to encourage us. And as we know, when he came
to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread and blessed
it and break and gave to them and their eyes were open. What did I say? I beheld the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. The scales
have fallen from their eyes. And Christ was revealed. Oh, my friends, may we know the
blessing of that in our own hearts and go on and we're rejoicing
and be thankful to know the Lord has come and been with us. And as we may pray to him, abide
with us. He hasn't turned away. He's come
in and revealed himself unto us. as it is not unto the world
as our all-glorious Saviour. Amen.