with the Lord Jesus Christ. Of
course, we've been walking with Him longer than seven miles,
but here's two men that left Jerusalem and they
were going home to a place called Emmaus. And these two disciples, while
they were walking along, they began to converse among themselves. And these two fellows were there
the morning that Christ rose from the dead. This is the same
day. Same day Christ rose. When he came to talk with these
two men. And even when Simon Peter went
to the grave, and he looked in there and didn't see the body
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the scripture said he wandered within
himself. One within himself, that which was come to pass.
And these fellas, can you imagine what's going through their minds?
I mean, they are sad. Oh, they're so sad. They're so
fearful. They're confused. They're hurt. They expected the Lord Jesus
Christ. They didn't expect Him to have
to go to a cross. They didn't expect him to have
to die on a cross. They didn't expect that he would
suffer so. They didn't expect that he would
be treated so miserably. And they put all their eggs in
that basket of the Lord Jesus Christ and then they saw him
die. They saw him die. They saw him took down off the
tube, off the cross and buried in a tube. And they said, well, all our
hope's gone now. All our hope's gone. What are
we going to do? What are we going to do? They
had watched him die, watched him be buried, and their whole future, their
whole future was on this man, Jesus of Nazareth, which died
in disgrace, treated as a common criminal, Not for anything that
he had done, but for everything we had done. Those that he died
for. They had heard that the Lord
had risen from the dead, but the scriptures tells us there
in verse 11 of Luke 24. And their words seemed to them
as idle tales, and they believed them not. Why would they not
believe these people? They've been with them for years.
They knew them. And they said, well, what they're
telling us is just an idle tale. He's not risen from the dead.
They didn't believe it. And so they're walking along.
They're leaving Jerusalem. And they got a seven-mile walk
to get home. A seven-mile walk to get home.
And the scripture says there in verse 14, there's two of those
men went that same day to the village of Emmaus, which was
from Jerusalem. So they had been there for quite
a while, saw everything that took place. And as they walked
along, they talked together, talked together, of all those
things which had happened. They talked together about everything
that had just happened. right up to his death, to his
betrayal, to his judgments, to his trials. They've seen all
these things happen. They saw the Lord Jesus Christ
so mistreated. They heard the mob cry, mocking,
deriding him. And they saw him die. They saw
him die. saw him be buried. And when they
saw this death, they didn't expect this. They didn't expect when
he was in the garden of Gethsemane that 500 people would come out
to get him. And then when they saw him die, and some miracles
happened. Two miracles happened. The sun
quit shining for three hours. It got dark for three hours.
I mean not dark, I mean dark, dark. The scriptures tells about when
God went through Egypt that night, the dark could be felt. A darkness
that could be felt. Well that's what it was. God
turned out the sun, turned out the light on what was going on
with his son that day on that cross. And I tell you what, not
only that, but the rocks that were around there, they started
cracking. They started busting. They just
broke open. The ground shook. And I tell you, they seen Pilate
come out and say, I find no fault in this man. And yet the high
priest said, crucify him. Crucify him. We don't want nothing
to do with him. And then these men, as they talked,
they were no doubt very, very ashamed of what they did when
they came and took the Lord Jesus Christ. They all forsook Him
and they all fled. There was none of them that stood
and identified themselves with Him, except His mother and Mary
Magdalene and another mother and John, the beloved disciple. Those were the only ones that
stood by the cross, but even they did not go with him to the
trials. And then they talked about his
resurrection. They said, they told us that
he resurrected. They come and said they looked
in that tomb, Simon looked in it, John looked in it, Mary come
and told us that she saw two angels and they said, you're
looking for Jesus? Said, he's not here, he's risen.
They come back and told him and they run over there and see him.
They come back and said, well, it's like they said, but we don't
have a clue what's going on. That's what the scripture said.
They did not know what in the world was going on. Peter wondered
within himself. And they said, could it really
be so? How can we believe such a preposterous
thing that a man was dead and put in his burial clothes. You
know when I get buried they'll probably put me in a suit and
put a tie on me. And I'll lay there cold and lifeless
and dead and I won't be there just nothing but a body. Well
that's what they understood what happened to Christ. They just
had a body. And they wrapped it up and prepared
it to be buried. Mary came and she came and brought
all kinds of spices and put all over his body. And then they
wrapped it up in linen clothes and they stuck it in that grave.
A big rock, they stuck it in that grave and put a great big
rock over the front of it. They said there's no way that
anybody can get out of there. That's an impossibility. It just
does not make sense. But they said they went there
and the rock was gone and the tomb was empty. How can this
possibly be? This is preposterous. And look down here in verse 21.
They were probably going to give up the cause of Christ. They
were probably going to give up their trust of Christ. Look what
it said here in verse 21. But we trust it. Now listen to
this. We trust it. that it had been he who should
have redeemed Israel. We trusted that this Jesus of
Nazareth was going to be the one to pay for our debt and save
us from our enemies and save us from Rome, save us from everything
that's against us. We trusted that this is what
this man is going to do for us. They said, but I'll tell you
what, he's dead. And beside all this, today is
the third day since these things were done. It's been three days
since this happened. So what in the world? We ain't
got nobody to trust in anymore. We got nobody to look to, nobody
to hope in. And oh, look what happens now.
And they talk together of all these things that happened there
in verse 14. And it came to pass, while they talked together, and
reasoned, and talking these things out, reasoning with their selves,
talking about all these things that are happening, Jesus himself
drew near. Jesus himself. He said, he just
come walking up to something. Where did he come from? They're walking along talking,
they're not interested in anything else but their own worries, and
their own troubles, and their own fears, and their own confusion.
And they're just talking away. Oh, what are we going to do? What's our hope? Where's our
hope now? It's gone. And Jesus Himself drew near,
and look what it says, and He went with them. Not only did
He draw near to them, but the scripture said He went with them. Oh my! I'm going to tell you
something. Our Lord said, wherever two or
three are gathered together, He said, there I am with them.
We've gathered here this morning to reason about our Lord Jesus
Christ. And when we do that, He comes
and draws near to us and goes right along with us. Oh my! And the Lord drew near
with them and went with them. And he asked them a question.
He asked them a question. You know, the Lord drew near
and the scripture says, they that feared the Lord often spake
one with another about him. And I tell you, in their talking
and reasoning, they were trying to understand something about
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he comes to them and he asks
them this. What manner of talk are you all having among yourselves?
What kind of talk? What is this talk? What are you
all talking about? I see you're very, very engaged
in a great conversation here. You're intent on what you're
talking about. You're worried about what you're
talking about. And they were talking about him
trying to get a better understanding of what happened. And that's
what we do when we talk together about Christ. We're trying to
get a better understanding of our relationship with Him and
what the Bible says about Him and what the Scriptures tells
us about Him. And they're trying their best to figure out what
in the world happened. They're trying to figure out
what was happened. And He said, what manner of communications
is these? And look what they said. I see down in verse 16 look what
he said Jesus himself drew and he was a stranger to them what
he said in verse 18 What manner of communication are these that
you have one to another and walk together in the sad? Oh Christ
sees our sadness and one of them whose name was Cleopas answering
said unto him Are you only a stranger? That's all he was to them right
then just a stranger Just a stranger He was a stranger to them. How
in the world could He possibly be a stranger to them? Oh my,
how could that be? Huh? And I tell you, He drew near
to them and they didn't know Him. They didn't know Him. And I tell you what, I don't
know about you all, But when our faith, when our faith really,
really gets weak, when we're so consumed with our own things,
our own problems, our own worries, our own fears, and we give in
to reasoning, we give in to reasoning, when we can't see our Lord Jesus
Christ and see His face and can't feel His presence, I'll tell
you one thing, He's still there. He's still there. And He's with
us. Look over here in John 20. I
want you to see something. You know, there's been many and many a
time that I have preached and not felt the presence of the
Lord in my preaching. And the only consolation I have
is that I told the truth. I told the truth. And that's
the only thing that matters. And there's times that we get
in such a state of mind that Christ is a stranger to us. We
get so weak, we get so sad, and we get so consumed with what's
going on. Now Mary, here's Mary, she's
looking for the Lord Jesus Christ. And look here in verse 11, John
20. This is Mary Magdalene now. The
same one that washed his feet with her tears and dried them
with the hairs of her head. But Mary stood without at the
grave. She stood there just weeping.
I mean she was, I mean the tears were flowing. They were just
pouring down off her face. And she stooped down and looked
in that grave, and she saw two angels, one sitting at the head
of where Christ sat, and the other at the feet where the body
of the Lord Jesus Christ sat. And they said unto her, Woman,
why are you weeping like this? Why are you weeping so? She saith
unto him, I'll tell you why. This is what makes me weep. This
is what hurts me deep in my soul, because they've taken away my
Lord. They took him away. And religion is taking away Christ
from His position, from His power, from His blood, from His righteousness,
from the only hope that a man has in Him. And she said, I don't
know where they put Him. And when she said this, she turned
herself back and the Lord was standing right there. And she knew not that it was
the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because she was so hurt,
just like these two disciples on the road to Emmaus. And our
Lord said unto her, Woman, why are you weeping so? Why are you
in such a bad state? Why are you crying so profusely? Whom are you looking for? She
said, well, you're the gardener here. She said, sir, if you've
took him someplace else, tell me where you've laid him and
I'll come and get his body. Now listen to this. Our Lord
said unto her, Mary. She turned and saw that it was
the Lord and she just bowed down. Oh, you're talking about the
worst shape you're in, that's when He's going to show up. You
get in real bad shape and He's going to show up. Oh, let me
give you some things that keep us from seeing Him. You know,
one of the worst sins, I think, the two worst sins, of course,
is self-righteousness. That's the very word. But the
thing that keeps us from seeing Christ is unbelief. unbelief
what an awful thing it is to have unbelief what an awful thing
and then doubt then the doubt and when Christ doesn't come
when we want him to when we feel like we haven't got his prayers
in and we haven't enjoyed it for a while and we pray and we
pray and he delays coming to answer our prayers we get in
doubt and doctor another thing another thing is discouragement. Oh, when you get discouraged.
When you get up one day and you ain't got no joy, you ain't got
no peace, and you're discouraged, and oh so discouraged over everything
that's going on around you with your family, everything, you're
so discouraged. And another thing that keeps
us from seeing is our feelings. Our feelings. Oh, we're concerned
with our feelings. We don't feel the presence of
the Lord. We don't feel like we're saved. We're looking within
for some evidence of His presence. And Martin Luther said, For feelings
come and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving. My warrant is
the Word of God, not else is worth believing. Though all my
heart should feel condemned, For one of some sweet token,
there's one greater than my heart, whose word cannot be broken."
Oh my! Tell you something else causes
us not to sin. Sin. These fellas, they were
sinning, but then the very fact that they did not even believe
people that they had known for years. Sin will keep us from
seeing Him. Sins are separated between you
and God. Sin will take away His presence
just like that. I'll tell you something else.
Laziness. Just laziness. Laziness. Not to seek Him. Not to call
on Him. Not to look for Him. Not to be
interested in what's going on. Here's another reason. Too busy. Too busy together with God's
people to hear and to talk of Him. Just get too busy. If you're
too busy together with the Lord's people, you too busy. Huh? And then God's providence. Sometimes
God orders it for our good. He just lets us walk along and
just talk and talk and talk and talk and talk. And then sometimes
it's for a trial of faith that I'm going to leave them go and
let them talk and then I'm just going to let them go on for a
while. And that's why they said, Lord, are you a stranger? You
don't know anything that's happening around here. Back over here to
Luke 24. They had a conversation here.
Oh my. Walking and talking with the
Lord Jesus Christ and not even knowing it. But look what happened here in
verse 17. He starts with a question. What in the world are you two
men talking about? As you have to wonder, what are
you talking about? As you walk and look here it
says, and you're sad, and you're sad. He starts with a question. What are you talking about that's
making you so sad? Huh? David says this, he said,
Oh my soul, why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God. What are you talking about that's
making you so sad? Why are we so sad sometimes?
Why are we so sad? I'll tell you what, if he's not
with us, and he's not present with us, it's time to be sad.
That's something to be sad about, huh? And here's questioning their
unbelief. What in the world are y'all talking
about that's making you so sad? And I know this, that the Lord's
people are always sad and always grieved over their unbelief. Oh, they grieved about it. They're
so grieved over their reactions to trials that they go through.
So grieved because they don't see God's hand in providence.
Let me ask you, have you ever said to yourself, boy, I took
that real, real well. I'm really proud of myself that
I got through that the way I did. I really feel good about myself.
You ever said that about yourself when you got through something? And I tell you something, our
Lord cares about our sadness. He cares about our sadness. We
go to a throne of grace to obtain mercy and find help. What? In time of need. And they had
reason as we sung that hymn today. They had reason to rejoice. Christ
had risen. But they were sad. They were
sorrowful. Because they really didn't believe
that He had risen from the dead. And being sad, they commune with
one another. And I tell you what, you're talking
about getting out of your sadness and discouragement, you start
talking with somebody about Christ, and that will bring you up just
like that. I've went and visited people on their deathbed. On
their deathbed. And thought I was going to go
over there and be a blessing to them. And I was the one left blessed.
I was the one left rejoicing. I remember going visiting your
dad. And I mean he didn't last two days, three days after I
left. And I went over there to be a
blessing to him and I left there rejoicing. I was happy as if
I had good sense. I go over there trying to be
a blessing to him and he was a blessing to me. He said, I've never felt the
presence of the Lord like I have in this time. Todd Nyberg didn't
think he was going to live one time back in the early 80's and
he thought God's going to come and take me now. And he said,
I've never felt such peace and such rest to know that maybe
this is my time. Huh? Oh, I'll tell you what, you get
sad, go visit somebody or call them on the phone and I'll tell
you, you'll get over being sad real quick. Just hear somebody's voice sometimes.
Get you up. Somebody call you and you hear
their voice. Oh boy. Oh my. Oh my! And it becomes us to talk of
Christ. And they replied to the Lord's
question. Look what they said here now.
In verse 18. And one of them who was named
Cleopas, called him who he was, answered and said unto him, Are
you only a stranger in Jerusalem? Are you a stranger here? And
you've not known the things which are come to pass there in these
days? In these days? Huh? How in the world don't you know?
Do you not know what in the world is going on? They wondered how
in the world he could be at Jerusalem and not know what had just happened.
Huh? And you know what? Then they
started talking to Christ. And you know what they started
talking to Christ about? About Christ. And he said unto him, What things
happened in Jerusalem? And they said, Concerning Jesus
of Nazareth. Oh my. That Nazarene. And look what else they said,
He's a prophet. First thing they said, He's a prophet. God sent
him with a message. He had a message. And he had,
oh he was mighty in his deeds. What he did, his deeds were incredible. He raised the dead, he caused
the blind to see, he cleansed lepers. Fed multitudes when there wasn't
nothing to feed them with. He is mighty indeed and oh my,
his words before all the people, I tell you they were astonished
at his doctrine. And he spoke with power. And
oh my, not only that, but this one, this prophet, this man,
mighty of God, before God, and in His Word, and how the chief
priests and our rulers delivered Him, now listen to this, to be
condemned to death. And then they crucified Him.
They started with Him coming, who He was and what He did, and
then they started and ended up at the cross. He died on a cross. Condemned him to be dead. Delivered
to death. Condemned him and crucified him.
Oh my, I mean they went through the gospel. Started out with him being a
man. To his death and how he was delivered to death. Oh my. And I tell you certain women,
they astonished us and they even found it even as it was so. And
then look what they said there in verse 21. And we trusted that
it had been he, this prophet, this man that was crucified,
condemned to death and crucified, as a common credible. We trusted that it had been him
and beside all this, today is the third day since those things
were done. And these women told us and astonished us and said
they didn't find his body. Down there he said, and even
certain with them, and the women said, but him they saw not. Well,
our Lord Jesus Christ, look what he did to them. Now listen, he
began to preach to them. You know what he preached? I've
got a message on this one of these days, and I'll preach it
to you. Jesus preached himself. Always preached himself. You
know, he said this about himself. You want to come to my father?
You've got to go through me. You want to have your sins forgiven?
You've got to come to me. You want to be cleansed from
your filthiness? You've got to come to me. Do you want to have the way? I am
that way. You want truth? You'll never
find it except in me. You want life? There's nobody
got it but me. And oh my, look what he says
now. Then he said unto them in verse
25, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets
have spoken. You read your Bibles, you read
the Scriptures, you understand what they said. And then look
what he says, he reveals them to us in their dark hours. And
the first thing he does is he rebukes their unbelief. And he
said, O fools and slow of heart to believe All that the prophets have spoken.
And here's the first thing he dealt with. Was it not written
in the prophets that ought not Christ to have suffered these
things? And the scriptures tells us he was wounded for our transgression,
bruised for our iniquity, chastisement of our peace was upon him. He
was, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? And oh my,
and how did he reveal himself to them? He began to take the
scriptures and open the scriptures to them. Not only did he suffer,
but he's got to enter into his glory. You know, and that's the
way it is. Our sufferings at this present
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that's going to
be revealed in us. And he opened the scriptures
to them. He preached to them the things concerning himself.
And look where it says, in the beginning at Moses. I'm going
to tell you the first scripture I believe that he took them to.
Genesis 3.15 He said, don't you remember where it said that the
seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent
who would bruise his heel. He started right there. started right there that's where
he started and he went through the scriptures he says oh when
Moses went down and he said let my people go how was they delivered
there was a lamb slain the blood was shed just put on the door
and God said when I see the blood I'll pass over you and he talked
about Noah and he talked about Abraham And he talked what? Oh my, he
talked about all the things that he would suffer. And oh my. And he preached to them things
concerning himself. And the scriptures are things
concerning himself. Oh, I'm going to ask you a question.
Wouldn't you have liked to have been there and heard that message? I'll tell you something. We're
hearing what He has to say right now. We don't have to go way
back. He put it in His Word for us
to see it right now. We don't have to go back there.
He walks with us and talks with us right now. You know, I believe
He said, do you remember Enoch? He said he was walking with God.
Been walking with God for hundreds of years. And one day, he didn't
come home. What happened to him? The Lord
took him. He said, I'm the one that took
him. I'm the one that took him. And I tell you what, in communing
with us, in being with us, in a service like this, he opens
the scriptures, causes us, causes us to desire his presence. Oh,
look in verse 28 and 29. And that's why we don't forsake
the assembling of ourselves together. Which is the things we need.
And they drew nigh unto the village, and whither they went, and he
made, he said, he's just going to keep on going. He's just going
to keep on walking. Going to keep on walking. And they constrained him, said,
oh please, come stay with us, stay with us. It's at the end
of the day and it's getting dark. Won't you stay here with us?
And he went in to tarry with them. And watch what happens
now. He went to stay with them. He
was the guest in their house. And they put the food on the
table. They set the table and it was getting ready to eat.
And our Lord Jesus said, they sat down to eat. And he went
over and got the bread and he broke the bread. He said, here, here, and watch
what it says. And blessed it, and break it,
and gave it to them. And verse 31, and their eyes
were opened. That's the Lord. It is something when the Lord
opens your eyes. You're sitting there and all
of a sudden your eyes open up. You say, that's the Lord, that's
the Lord. Oh my. He was the guest and yet he took
the place as if the house was his. The home was his. It's Christ. Ain't the homes we live in, ain't
they His house? Ain't they, don't they belong
to Him? I'll tell you what. Oh, then their eyes were opened
and they knew Him. They knew Him. And then when
they found out that that was him, he was gone. He was gone. He had accomplished his purpose
in making them to know him. And I tell you what, then they
said in verse 32, they said one to another, did not our heart
burn within us? Did not our hearts burn within
us? Oh did not we have a fire in our heart? Was there not a
fire in our soul? Was there not warmth in our heart
and soul? Did not our heart burn with us
while he talked with us? By the way, and I mean they're
walking seven miles so they had a long time to talk. They wasn't
doing like I do, try to walk just as fast as you possibly
can. They was walking just, I'm going home, and they walked along
for seven miles. And did not our heart burn within
us? Did we not have such a warmth? And did not our hearts get set
on fire? While He talked with us by the
way, and listen to this, and while He opened to us the scriptures. Oh, that'll make your heart burn.
Oh my. And you know what these fellas
did? Now they just got through walking seven miles. Walking
and talking with the Lord Jesus Christ. And look at it now, what
happens? In verse 33, they rose up the
same hour, started back to Jerusalem. What are they going to do? You
know what they're going to do? They returned to Jerusalem, found
the 11. Remember, Judas hung himself,
there was 11 of them. They found the 11 gathered together
and them that were with them. And you know what the first thing
they said? They said, the Lord indeed is risen. You know, how
do you know? Because He just talked with us.
He just talked with us. That's what we say. He is risen,
He is risen. How do you know? my heart and
oh my he's in and they in verse 35 and they told what things
were done in the way they went back and told them all the conversation
they had and all the things that had happened and how that they
were known of him when he broke the bread to them and oh my he
did they went through the whole conversation the whole conversation
and as they thus spake They got back there and when you talk
about a blessing, the Lord appeared to these two fellows twice. And as they thus spoke, he was
talking about everything that just took place. So we see him,
we know him. Jesus himself stood in the midst
of them and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. Oh my, what a wonderful Savior,
what a blessed Savior we have. Our Father, O our Father, the
precious name, blessed name of the Lord Jesus Christ, how we
praise you, thank you for your gospel, for the truth as it is
in Christ, for the joy and peace there is in believing. And Lord
Jesus, we really do warm our hearts at your presence. When
we call on You, when we look to You, when we find You in Your
Word, oh, our hearts burn. Our hearts get on fire. Our hearts are comforted. And
we pray, Lord, that You'd cause this gospel to be effectual today
in the hearts and minds of those gathered out. In Christ's name
we pray. Amen. Amen. Let's sing that song,
I Serve a Risen Savior. Can you find that? We'll stand
together saying that.