I please God to bless his word
to our souls this morning as we consider it together. Let's
turn to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 24, and we'll read verses 25,
26 and 27. Gospel of Luke, chapter 24, reading
verses 25, 26 and 27. Then he said unto them, O fools,
add slow heart but 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 in all the Scriptures
the things concerning Himself. This was a most wonderful day
in the history of the world. It was really the day when Satan
the devil was defeated, because Christ had died, but now he was
risen again. And had there been no resurrection
of the Saviour, there would have been no hope for you and me today. But because we have a risen Saviour,
what a good and glorious hope we have of the wonderful blessing
of eternal life. In this account we read together
on this first day of the week. We've read of those who came
to the sepulcher early in the morning, and how they were indeed
amazed at what they saw. And yet, the Lord had spoken
previously as to what would happen, but they had not understood And
so the same situation with reference to these two people that we read
of who were going to a village called Emmaus. We know that one
was called Cleopas, we don't know what the other one was,
but nonetheless there were these two who were journeying on this
resurrection day to Emmaus. It was a journey of some 7 miles
or so. It would have taken them some
2 to 3 hours to walk it. And here they were then on this
journey. And it's good for us to just
take account of what they were doing. What they were doing on
this journey. It's a good example to us now. First of all, they were mystified. They couldn't understand the
things that had really happened. But what they were doing, they
were speaking together of these things. And they were reasoning among
themselves. And they talked together of all
these things which had happened. came to pass that while they
communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went
with them. And they had been talking about
the things of Jesus. How important for us to realise
the need there is today, that as we may have opportunity, that
we also are able to speak of the things of Jesus. We may not
always understand everything, and that may perhaps be a significant
difficulty, because we may be perhaps embarrassed to admit
that we don't understand certain things. Well, these two people,
they were journeying together, and they didn't understand the
things that had happened. But the great blessing was, and
this will be the wonderful blessing for us, if in the same way that
they had a blessing, we may have a blessing. And what was that
blessing? Jesus himself drew near and went
with them. Yes, there were these three now,
journeying together. What a difference, wasn't it?
And the Lord came and he asked them, he asked them a question. He said, what manner of communications
are these that ye have one to another as ye walk and are sad? And Cleopas answered, Art thou
only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things
which have come to pass there in these days? And the Lord 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 and beside all this today is the third day
since these things were done Well, we can understand, I'm
sure, the sadness which was upon their spirit. They had believed
that this Jesus was the true Messiah, and now he died. And then they were also told,
they also said, that 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. And so they were mystified as
to the situation which had occurred and they were talking about these
things and it was then the Lord Jesus came and drew near and
went with them. Well that would be a great blessing
for us in our lives if there are those occasions when Jesus
comes and draws near and goes with us and it would be a blessing
if there are those occasions when we are commuting one with
another about the things of God. It is a wonderful and glorious
example and testimony to us. And I suppose we live in a day,
a sad day, when a spiritual conversation is often lacking and we spend
our time discussing all the trivialities of this poor, fading world, whereas
the important things are with reference to the Saviour, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and how much more profitable it is if we are
able to speak them one to another of the things concerning the
Saviour. They will always be of benefit,
they will always be profitable, because they will always direct
our minds away from the things of time to eternal realities. And so we have here then this
occasion with the Lord Jesus Christ drawing near and speaking
to these two as they communed together and spoke together of
the things of God. Now, Luke is the only a gospel
that records the details. We do have just a reference to
it in Mark, but here we have a complete picture and it's a
very important one for us to remember in our lives today. And we should not think, well
of course this was a very unique occasion, well it was a unique
occasion, but it does set before us an example, we might say a
president, that when we are able to walk together that our concern
might be to commune one with another about the things of God
and then to be blessed with the Spirit of God drawing near to
us and joining with us. Now perhaps we may have known
a little of the gracious and glorious effect of such an occasion. Well, the effect was, these two
they recorded what the effect was. They tell us, did not our
heart burn within us while he taught with us by the way and
while he opens to us the scriptures. It would be a wonderful blessing
if we know something of the favour of the Spirit of God coming upon
us as we speak one to another of the things of God and Jesus
is exalted and He is lifted up and our hearts are drawn out
to Him in love and affection and to enjoy then in measure
the wonderful effect of that burning of our hearts the movement
of our spirit, the Lord graciously condescending to come to us and
to go with us. Well, that was the occurrence
here, and these things are still to be known and to be experienced
in the day and age in which we live. Sadly, not very often,
because the devil often has his sway You see, the devil, he wants
you and me to not mention the things of God. Be sure of that.
The last thing the devil wants is for us to speak about the
things of God. He wants us to speak about everything
else, but not about the things of God. And therefore he will
do all he can to raise questions in our minds. But we should not
speak about the things of God. Well, may we be able, by the
grace of God, to resist the devil, so that he may flee from us,
so that we may be able to speak of those vitally important things. If we were, and if we are able
to really analyse this in our mind and just think in these
terms, the things that we speak about so much are so passing
and transient. They'll all pass away, they'll
all finish, in a few years they'll be completely forgotten about. They are really irrelevant in
one sense. And yet by comparison we have
eternal things which are concerned with the Lord Jesus Christ which
will live forever. And so we have a comparison,
if we can call it such, between time and eternity. The devil
wants us to concentrate on time things. Or may we be able to
concentrate on eternal things. Those things which bring honour
and glory to God. And so we have here this testament,
this account, and these two They'd answered the Lord. He'd asked
them the questions and they'd answered. And then he comes and
addresses them in this way. And he says, O fools and slow
of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. The Lord really, he chides them,
doesn't he? Because of their lack of belief
And he speaks to them in this way, and he says, well, how foolish
you are. And isn't that true to us? How
foolish we are, so often. And we listen to the devil. Aren't we foolish? We are foolish, aren't we? We
may not like to really confess it and admit it, but it is true,
and so we had to agree with the words that the Lord speaks here
to these two, and to realise that not only was it true with
regard to those two, but it's true with regard to us. O fools and slow of heart to
believe How baffled we are so often to
believe the truth of God, to believe what He has said, and
yet how important it is that we do believe the Word of God. You know, we need to pray for
that ability, that faith to believe. We're told in the Word of God
the contrary situation. And what is that? The evil heart
of unbelief. It's not a good heart, it's an
evil heart. If you and I do not believe the
truth of God, it's our evil heart which is doubting the truth of
God. My friends, the devil wants you
always to doubt God's Word. And perhaps the Lord may have
spoken to us. He spoke to these disciples.
He spoke to these people when he was on the earth. He told
them what was going to happen. He told them about himself. They
didn't believe. They didn't believe. And is that
true today in your life and my life? As the Lord may speak to
us, through his word, and he does speak to us through his
word. Do we pass it by? Do we reject it? Or are we concerned
that we might really be able to believe? It's a wonderful blessing to
receive faith to believe the word of God. And it is an essential thing
that you and I do believe the truth of God's Word. We don't want to come to the
end of our life and to have never believed the truth of God's Word. And that means in our heart. It doesn't mean just in our mind,
in our head. in our heart. So here we have these words spoken
to us here, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that
the prophets have spoken. And that of course was all the
Old Testament the Lord was referring to, to believe all of it completely
as the Word of God. So he says, slow of heart to believe all that
the prophets have spoken. We have in the Old Testament
a wonderful account of the truth of God and concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. There may be a tendency to concentrate
on the New Testament and to turn away from the Old Testament.
Well, all of it is the Word of God. And the Old Testament speaks
very clearly about the Lord Jesus. And we should not forget that. We read later on in this same
chapter He says, and he said unto them, these are the words
which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all
things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses
and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. So, the
law of Jesus Christ is spoken of throughout the Old Testament,
in all of the Old Testament. And my friends, it's a blessing
if as we read the Old Testament that we observe when the Lord
Jesus is being spoken about prophetically and it will be very strengthening
for your and my faith as we read of those occasions when Christ
is clearly spoken of many many years ago and it was fulfilled
and it came to pass Now, that's really what the Lord Jesus is
rebuking these two on this at Mayes Road about. Because they
weren't believing those things which had been written. Then said He unto them, O fools
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
It wasn't just a little word here another word there it was
a full statement to believe all that the prophets have spoken
well they were classified as being foolish in not believing
the truth of God I suppose in a good measure we come under
that same category don't we we don't perhaps believe the truth
of God as we should and you know What happens is that we fail
then to benefit. We don't really take the word
of God to heart. We don't really rejoice in it.
And we find where we're doubting it and we're questioning it and
therefore there's no true comfort and there's no true blessing.
But when the Lord comes and applies his word to our heart in that
wonderful way of revelation. What a joy there is. The Lord
speaks to our heart. What a joy there is. Is it not? Does not our heart
burn within us when the Lord comes and speaks to our heart? To realise that Almighty God
has condescended to look upon us as to speak to us through
His Word. Sometimes we may perhaps think
that we are entitled to some special revelation. But the Word
of God doesn't encourage us in that at all. We do have the Word
of God. My friends, when the Spirit of
God applies the Word of God to our soul in a personal way, what
a time of blessing, what a time of rejoicing it is. And my friends,
how important it is. Now we're blessed with that,
as the Lord gives us that living faith to believe His Word. And so here we have this statement,
O fools and slave hearts who believe all the prophets have
spoken. And that means the word of God
which is spoken which applies to us personally and individually. I believe we live in a day and
age when the devil is very active in producing an unbelieving heart
and therefore we say well I don't think I don't really feel that
way. I really can't believe that.
I really wonder whether anything exists within me, whether there's
any work of God in my heart at all. The devil wants to keep
you and me always doubting. And doubting is not God honouring. Doubting is God dishonouring. There is much dishonouring today.
of the work of God in the soul. Sometimes I think of it in this
way. If you were placed in a position
and you had to answer a life or death question as to whether you had any hope
in the mercy of God. If you had any hope in the mercy
of God, what would the answer be? And remember, such a question
would need to be answered as though you were standing directly
before God. And in such a situation, you
would not be allowed to speak any untruths. And in that situation to have
to confess one way or the other that you did know something of
the mercy of God or you did not know. That would mean perhaps
digging deep into your heart and to searching there Searching
there. Now we have occasions of illustration
of the Word of God where there were those who had to search.
There was that woman you remember, she swept the whole house in
order to find that which she lost. She looked everywhere. It may be like that. You may have
looked everywhere in your heart to find out something which perhaps
you had had and it appeared to be lost. But she found it. That will be a blessing. A wonderful
favour if you and I can search in our hearts and find there
the mercy of the Lord toward us. And then to believe that that
which the Lord has shown us in his mercy comes from God. That will bring comfort. That
will be a blessing. That'll be joy in your heart,
because it doesn't refer to time things, it refers to eternal
things. O fools and snare-parts who believe,
all the prophets have spoken. And he goes on, Ought not Christ
to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
He makes a very clear statement. And as the Spirit of God directs
us, we will understand how necessary it was that the Lord Jesus Christ
should have suffered as he did. Now, that will really be by revelation. When the Spirit of God directs
us to see the need that the Lord God Almighty was the only one
who could come and could live a perfect life which was adequate
and sufficient to satisfy the holy, righteous law of God. And in order to do so, as was
set forth throughout the Old Testament, there was to be in
that evidence, the shedding of blood showing that life had been
given. And so the Lord Jesus, he had
to give his life in order to atone for the sins of his people. And he puts the question, ought
not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his
glory? Now he didn't wait for these
two to give any answers. He then, wonderfully, gave the
answer. Beginning at Moses. And all the
prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things
concerning himself. He therefore left them in no
doubt as to the reason that he had to suffer. And remember,
he directs them to the beginning, to Moses. As we know, Moses wrote
the first five books in the Bible. And the Lord directs them right
back to Genesis. And no doubt, right back to that
third chapter in Genesis. And the 15th verse where there
were those wonderful words spoken with regard to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we read in that 15th verse
of that third chapter, and I will put enmity between thee and the
woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy
head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. You see, there was a picture
that Christ would indeed have to suffer. It was couched in
words which were not very easy to understand, but there was
the prophecy of salvation and how it was to be performed. And
right there, in that time, when the Lord came and spoke to those
Adam and Eve in that Garden of Eden, after they had so sadly
and grossly sinned against God, there was the hope of salvation. And as we read on through the
Old Testament, and through especially the books of Moses, We know that
there were wonderful occasions. We have the occasion, do we not,
of Abraham offering up Isaac. We see the glory of substitution,
suffering, giving his life. We see on that occasion in the
wilderness, the brazen serpent put up on
that pole Representing the Lord Jesus Christ, everyone that looked
was saved, was healed, they lived. What a wonderful picture it was,
a brazen serpent. All you see here, I'm sure, on
this great and glorious sermon, we're not told how long the Lord
spoke for. As I said, it was a journey of some two to three
hours, and He may have spoken to them for an hour or so. Just
imagine that, going through the Old Testament and speaking of
those things concerning himself. Well, what a wonderful occasion
it would be. Well, we haven't the ability
ourselves to actually go to the Old Testament and pick up everything.
It's so vast. But there are those things which
are so very glorious. And then of course we know that
when Israel came out of Egypt, there was that shed blood, there
was that roast lamb. Yes, the deliverance there, under
the blood, the only way of deliverance. And then of course, the sacrifices
which were set forth, the way of atonement, the entrance in
by the high priest to the holy place on that great day of atonement. Yes, there were these wonderful
occasions which so clearly spoke of Christ's suffering and also
of Christ's intercession. So we have this statement here,
ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into
his glory? You see there was a triumphant
end. A triumphant end to what the
Lord Jesus Christ suffered. And so the Lord then speaks and
expounds unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning
himself. Now, as you and I read the Old
Testament, it is a wonderful account. It's
a very accurate historical account of those things which occurred.
My friends, as you and I read the Old Testament, what we want
to be looking for We want to be looking for Christ in the
Old Testament. Because what it does then, it
brings it alive. It shows a wonderful scene there,
and a wonderful prophecy with regards to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what does it do? It strengthens our faith. Because
those things which were evidence so many years ago, came to pass. They were fulfilled in the life
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In his life, in his death, and
his resurrection. And of course in his ascension
which we read of in the end of this chapter. It was therefore
a wonderful occasion. And you see, their eyes were
holden. They didn't know that it was
Jesus. But they knew the effect of it.
The effect was, their heart burned within them as he spoke about
himself. Now, we ought to ask ourselves
the question, is our heart moved when we hear of Jesus? When we hear of Jesus being spoken
of, do our ears prick up? We want to hear. about Jesus? Does it rejoice our heart or
do we turn away? It's a very sad thing when people
turn away from Jesus and I know it's true and I've seen it and
I've heard it and it makes me very sad when people are speaking
about Jesus and then perhaps someone will then Change the
conversation and it goes back to time things. Yes, empty things. No true blessing. Well, it's
a good evidence and test in our spiritual life as to how we react
when we hear the name of Jesus. The hymn writer says, How sweet
the name of Jesus sounds. Where? In a believer's ear. See, if you and I are a believer,
the name of Jesus will be sweet. That's a test of our religion.
It's a test of our religion. The name of Jesus. Is it a sweet
name to you? Do you love to hear Jesus spoken
of. Yes, you may not be involved
in a conversation, but do you love to listen and to hear others
speaking about Jesus, of what he's done, of his life and death
and resurrection and intercession to date, and know that today
we have a glorious risen Saviour who is seated on the throne in
the right hand of the Father there to intercede for our prayers
today. What a wonderful consideration
that is. And you see he is worthy therefore to receive all honour
and glory. So this statement, ought not
Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? Well Christ has now entered into
his glory because he's a conqueror. And wonderful it is to think
of, as I mentioned in prayer, that we, by His grace, are more
than conquerors through Him. Nothing in self. It's Christ
must be exalted. We're conquerors through Him.
Our life is hid in Christ. What a blessing it is to know
we have such a great and glorious Saviour. So, as we have this
occasion today, First Lord's Day, this day the Lord rose from
the dead, to be found amongst those who really rejoice in it,
to be able to remember the risen Saviour. I wonder when you got
up this morning, when you woke up this morning, I wonder if
you thought, oh, it's a special day today, a day we can rejoice
that Christ is risen, well, our hope must be, and it only can
be, in a risen Saviour. So may we have cause today to
praise and bless our God for the revelation to our souls that
Christ is risen indeed. Amen.