My lesson this morning will be
taken from the 24th chapter of the book of Luke. Last chapter in the book of Luke. My subject, and I hope and pray
it is the subject of these verses, is wondering at what had come
to pass. Someone asked me one time, well,
how do you know that your coming here as pastor was of God? And I answered, because it come
to pass. Things that God purposes come
to pass, don't they? So that's my subject, wondering
at what come to pass. Let's read these verses together.
Luke chapter 24, beginning with verse 12. Then arose Peter, ran unto the
sepulcher, and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid
by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at that
which was come to pass. And behold, two of them went
that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem
about three score furlongs, or about five and a half miles.
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 grew near and went with them. But their eyes were
holding that they should not know him. And he said unto them,
What manner of communication are these, that you have one
to another, as you walk, and are sad? And the one of them,
whose name was Cleopas, answered and said unto him, Art thou only
a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which
are come to pass in these days? And he said unto them, What thing?
And they said unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was
a prophet mighty in deed 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. Yea, and 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 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 as the women
had said. But him, that is, Jesus of Nazareth,
they saw not. Then he said unto them, O fools,
and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and enter into
his glory? And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, he expounded unto them and all the Scriptures the
things concerning himself. And they drew nigh unto the village
where they went, and he made as though he would have gone
further. 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. And it came to pass, as
he said it meet with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and
break, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and
they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight. And they
said one to another, did not our heart burn within us while
he talked to us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures. Some three years before this
took place, a young man who had reached Jewish adulthood, they
all knew who he was, they knew who his mother was and his father,
they knew what tribe he was from, they knew all about Jesus of
Nazareth. He'd reached 30 years of age,
which was what the Jews considered an adult. And he came into a synagogue
in Nazareth, and they delivered to him the
book of Isaiah. And in Isaiah 61, 1 through 3,
he read to them. And he told them, having read
these verses, he said, today is this scripture
fulfilled in your ears. What Isaiah the prophet prophesied
concerning the Messiah all them years ago, today has come to
pass. Today is fulfilled in your ears. This was a well-known messianic
prophecy. God's power and spirit abode
with this man. He fed the hungry, he healed
the sick, he cast out demons, he raised the dead. He preached
the gospel and never a man spoke like this man. He was a master
theologian. He said, you call me master and
you do well for so I am. Both in his office, in his person
as God, in his office as the Christ, he was the ruler over
the church. He's Lord of all creation. You
call me master, you do well. But here he's talking about his
knowledge, perfect knowledge. He said, you call me master and
so I am. And you do well. One by one,
During his ministry he chose out 12 apostles, 12 men whom
he would teach personally and who would follow him to the end. He was a man, the scripture said,
approved of God by miracles and wonders and signs which God did
by him in our midst. There was no mistaking who this
man is. On one occasion, they were in
a ship. The Lord told them to go down and get in the ship and
told them where to go. These were all fishermen. They
knew that Sea of Galilee like the back of their hand. They
got in that ship and took off. But in the middle of the night,
there arose a storm. Bad storm. Bad storm. That rain we got the other day,
I don't know how many inches per hour that thing was raining,
but it was a lot. And I can just imagine being
out in the middle of the sea with that kind of rain and wind
and the ship being tossed and half full of water. These guys
were doing everything in their power to get it to move. They
couldn't get it to move and finally they looked and in a flash of
lightning they saw this man Jesus that they'd been following. They
saw him walking on that troubled sea. And they called for him, and
he came into the ship, and he commanded the winds and the waves
to be still, and immediately they were still, and they were
exactly where they wanted to be. Who is this man, Jesus of Nazareth? He plainly declares who he is.
God plainly declares who he is, and this book plainly declares
who he is. Who is this man, they said, that
even the winds and the waves obey his voice? And then it came
to pass during the Passover that the high priest, with an angry
mob of men and soldiers and women carrying clubs, they came and
took this man Jesus, and by their lies and political maneuvering
caused the Roman ruler Pilate to pronounce judgment on him
and have him crucified. And though they were taught plainly
about his crucifixion and his resurrection, they were left
wondering as if something had happened that wasn't supposed
to happen. And I wonder as I listen to the
gospel being preached in religion around this world, I don't listen
to every preacher, but I do listen on occasion just to hear what
they're saying. And they all talk about the death of Christ
as though it were something that shouldn't have happened. Huh? His death was necessary,
wasn't it? It was necessary. To this end,
he both died, was buried, and raised from the dead, that he
might be Lord of the dead and the living. Their hopes and dreams were shattered
and now they couldn't even find his body. And the women were
talking about seeing angels and hearing them testify about Jesus
being alive. And as they walked along, I can
almost hear the conversation. They're not going to be in the
end of this. Can't you just hear? This man's dead and gone. Somebody
now has stolen his body and they're just heaping lies and stuff together
and the rumors have already started. They're not going to be any end
of this. This is going to go on and on and on. This is just the beginning. And
sad because of his death. Shocked because of the brutality
of it. And the lies behind it. And the
involvement of the leaders in it. And as they walked to Emmaus,
they talked, trying to make some sense out of his death. And it
said they reasoned. Boy, that's dangerous, ain't
it? When a natural man reasons. He's
got nothing to reason with, and he has nothing to reason on. And that's what men and women
do who are ignorant of the crucifixion of Christ. That's what even professional
folks do who don't understand the death of Christ. And that's
what we have here. Two disciples, two men who truly
believed but were ignorant of his death, ignorant of his crucifixion. They consult fleshly reasoning,
I think. We thought that this was He who
would have redeemed Israel. That's what we thought. Well,
He told you who He was and why He came and what He's doing and
where He's going and He's going to die. On the third day, He's
going to be raised from the dead. He told them all that in just
those words. Fleshly reasoning says this.
Here's what they come up with. Jesus of Nazareth was a great
prophet, mighty in deed and word before God. Oh, he was more than
a prophet. He was much more than that. He
was a prophet, but he was much more than a prophet. He was that
prophet of whom Moses and the rest of the prophets on the picture.
This was that prophet. This was God coming into the
flesh. Less your reasoning analyzes
the life of Christ and sees a truly good and kind man dying before
his time. One old evangelist was crying
on TV, and he said, if I'd have been there, I'd have stopped
it. The devils in hell couldn't stop that. Nobody could stop
that. They did what God's hand and
God's counsel determined before to be done. Ain't nobody going
to stop the death of Christ. That's why the whole of creation
was created. This was a manifestation of God's
glory and the salvation of his people. You couldn't stop that
crucifixion. You've heard folks say that they
died before their time. No, they didn't. Nobody dies
before their time. Jesus says firmly in scripture
there's a time to die. Ain't that what it says? Wesley Reasoning saw a man overstepping his authority and
sidestepping their traditional understanding. And actually there's
no end to what natural man reasons and imagines concerning the death
of Jesus of Nazareth. But here's what these two men,
and Cleophas in particular, said when asked about the manner of
their conversation. He said, we trusted it had been
he which should have redeemed Israel. We've studied the four
Gospels here, verse by verse. And we have, by their inspiration
of God, examined our Lord's birth, life, death, burial, and resurrection. What do we think? What do we think? What do we
know about His crucifixion? What do we know about what took
place? What do we really believe about
this man, Jesus? Well, listen to what our Lord
says to these men. These are two believers. These
are saved men. These were men chosen of God. This was His elect, and they
were walking along after The most monumental work in the history
of the world had just taken place. Then said He unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe
all that the prophets have spoken, ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into His glory? Now there's three or four things
here that I want us to see. And the first thing I want us
to see is our identification with these men. Can I take my
place with these men walking on that road? Two men, two disciples. They
were believers, followers of Christ. They trusted that Jesus
of Nazareth was the Redeemer prophesied throughout the Old
Testament. Yet they were still ignorant
of so many things. Actually, I think this is over
in one of the books of Timothy. I can't give you chapter and
verse, but you can look it up when you get home. They said,
Lord, we believe. No, he said, though you believe
not, yet he abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself. And then
they said in one of the Gospels, I'm trying to quote, they said,
Lord, we believe. Help thou our unbelief. Believers still have unbelief.
Their faith is not perfect faith. And it's my personal experience
that the more I know, the more I realize how ignorant I am and
how little I know. Oh, fools! Can I take my place before the
Master? as a fool. Only a fool would speculate on
a subject when he has all the facts plainly stated in a book
to which he has access. First time I was ever confronted
with a man about the gospel, I invited him to service, he
said, why? Nobody ever asked me why. And
I said, well, we got an evangelist down here. We're having a revival
meeting. He said, well, what's he doing?
And I said, well, he preaches the gospel. He said, you wouldn't
know the gospel if you met it in the middle of the road. I
said, well, you mean I don't know? Well, he said, if you know
the gospel, what is it? And for the first time in my
life, I realized I didn't know what the gospel is. Did you know
the gospel is a person? It's a person. It's not a plan. It's a person. Yeah, but you
say, the gospel, it points the way. Yeah, but he said, I am
the way. Huh? It's a person. The gospel is a person. It's
all about Him. Who is this man? Why did he come? What did he do? Where is he now?
What's his plan? What's he going to do in the
future? What's this thing all about?
It's about man. The Lord Jesus Christ. Old fools. Only a fool would speculate on
a subject when he has all the facts in a book that he has access
to. We carry it to church with us,
don't we? How often do we read it? Do we really set our mind
and heart to study it and to know what it's saying? They were
slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken.
Now over in Acts chapter 10 verse 43, Peter said this, to him,
to this person, give all the prophets witness. that through
his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission
of sins. That's what the prophets say. In Revelation 19.10, it says
that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. That's
what prophecy is all about. God testifying of his Son. Is it not so with you and I?
Old fools and slow of heart, slow of heart to believe all
that the prophets have spoken. If I could just receive and believe
all that God's witnesses have testified, what peace and rest
and assurance would I have in all things? Huh? All things. Secondly, I want us to think
about this, verse 26. He said, ought not Christ to
have suffered these things and enter into His glory? They never thought about His
death glorifying God, did they? No, they thought about how it
affected them. They talked about their hopes,
their reasoning, their ideas, their statements. Not one mention
is ever made of the glory of God. The suffering and death
of Christ was necessary. There's no reconciliation with
God apart from the death of Christ. He died, the scripture said,
just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. He reconciled us, it says over
in the book of Colossians, in the body of his flesh through
death. to present us holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in His sight. If you go back to the old prophets,
what did they picture? They showed us, by the inspiration
of God and through the law of God and the pictures and types,
they showed us the lamb had to die. The lamb was of no benefit
alive, it had to die. No bloodshed, no atonement, no
death, no cleansing, no death, no forgiveness of sins. And the
reason behind the cross is the manifestation of the glory of
God. He's showing us how God can be
just and yet justify ungodly sins. That's what He's showing.
He's showing to us the glory of His love. For a righteous man, some might
even die. But God commendeth His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He's showing us the glory of
His love, the glory of His mercy, of His grace, the glory of His
justice and righteousness. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things? Did the father unjustly punish
his son? Think about it. In Hebrews 10.10 it says, by
the witch will. His death was the will of God. And by the witch will we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all. He said in the volume of the
book, it's written of me, I come to do thy will, O God. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and enter into His glory? The glory of salvation
is the accomplished redemption of chosen sinners. When God saves a sinner, He saves
him through the death of Christ and He manifests Himself as just
and justifier, declares Himself righteous, you can read it in
Romans chapter 3, declares Himself righteous in the remission of
sin. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things, and to enter into His glory? And when God calls
a sinner through His gospel, He calls him to obtain, or to
the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is,
he sees the benefits in it, and he benefits from that glory manifested
in the Son. benefits from the glory. Listen to this, Romans 8 verse
30. Whom he called, them he also
justified. We all know that quoted all the
time, but listen to this. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. He glorified them. Oh, what glory
to awake with his likeness. What glory to stand in His presence. What glory to be welcomed into
glory, one with Him. You can't even look yourself
in the mirror and imagine God putting His hand out and saying,
well done, thy good and faithful servant. But that's what He says
in His Son. Alright, now watch this. Here's
the third thing. Our Lord began at Moses. You mean He carried a Bible?
No, He didn't need one. He is the Word. He's the Eternal Word. He went
all the way back to the book of Genesis, brother. He began
at Moses. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy. First five books of the Bible.
Just gave them the highlights. They didn't have a New Testament. All they had was Genesis and
Malachi. And they heard them read every
week. That's what our Lord said, you read them every week. They
knew what He was talking about. He went back in the books of
Moses and He just started in Genesis. Oh my soul. and all the prophets, all the
scriptures, all of them, the Psalms. And he expounded unto
them and all the scriptures the things concerning himself. That
city of refuge, he said, is talking about me. Not talking about a loophole
in the law, talking about me. That year of Jubilee that you
look so forward to, that's talking about me. That lamb, every year you bring
a lamb, all during the year, bringing all these sacrifices,
all this stuff, you just keep bringing. That's talking about
me, you see. And he showed them the things
concerning himself. And after He departed, they said
one to another, didn't our heart burn within us when He opened
to us the Scriptures? I tell you, it's one thing to
sit down and read the dead dry letter. I'm not trying to draw any kind
of a question mark on the Word of God or call it anything other
than it is, it is the Word of God. Our Lord said to the Jews,
you search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal
life. You read and study them, and
you arrive at this doctrine, and that doctrine, and some other
doctrine, and you think you have eternal life. But they are they
that testify of Me, and you won't come to Me that you might have
life. When does a man's heart really burn within him when he
reads the Word of God? When God opens it to him. Boy,
I don't need anybody. When the Lord opens that up,
that's it. I see it. I get it. And there's
not a band of college professors can come in here and convince
me otherwise. When God reveals himself to you in the scriptures,
your heart burns within you, don't it? Huh? Ain't that what
we pray for? Oh. Does our heart burn within us
when the Scriptures are opened to us through the Gospel? It
will if He opens them. Yeah, it will. And then lastly,
here's the result of these things. Verse 34. They returned to their
brethren. And here's what the head say.
The Lord is risen indeed. We shall wait. He opened to us the Scriptures.
We saw Him. He's alive indeed. And all that the Lord Himself
through His Word and His Spirit will open to us what no man can
or will and fill our hearts with excitement and expectation.