Luke 24. Favorite section of Scripture
for sure. We're going to begin reading
in verse 13 and go to verse 32. It's the two disciples on the
road to Emmaus. These two disciples surely must
have had a most profitable journey for Christ accompanied them along
the way. Verse 13 of Luke 24, And behold,
two of them, that is the disciples, went that same day to a village
called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem, about three score
furlongs. And they talked together of all
these things which had happened. It came to pass that while they
communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went
with them. But their eyes were holding that
they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner
of communications are these, that ye have one to another,
as ye walk and are sad? And one of them, whose name was
Cleopas, answered and said unto him, Art thou only a stranger
in Jerusalem, and hast thou not known the things which are come
to pass there in these days? And He said unto them, What things?
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 cheap 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 sepulcher, and they found not his body. They came saying that they had
also seen a vision of angels which said that he was alive.
And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulcher
and found it even so as the women had said, but him they saw not. Then Christ said unto them, O
fools and slow of heart to believe, all the prophets have spoken."
Stop right there for a minute. Melinda and I have been talking
about this for the last couple of weeks. You would think as
many miracles, the loaves, the feeding from
just a couple of fishes and loaves, raising a few folks from the
dead. It had never been done, never
been seen, and has never been seen since. And all the miracles
that Christ had done, you would think they were His disciples. That is one who follows after
the way of Christ. You would think that they would
believe. What about us? How slow are we
to believe all that the Word says? We doubt our, doubt faith,
and then it brings forth fear, and then it's subject to reason,
and then the things that you see and hear people say, or the
news or whatever, and we just throw out the Scriptures. God's
sovereign, but, no, they saw these things, they handled. As John says, the word of life. O fools and slow of heart to
believe all the prophets have spoken. That's all they had.
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. 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 sat
at meat with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and break it,
and gave it 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 with us by the way and while He opened to us the
Scriptures? Now I'm going to look at one
verse, and that is verse 27. That will be our text. And beginning at Moses and all
the prophets, He, Christ, expounded unto them in all the Scriptures
the things concerning himself. You'll notice in verse 27 the
statement of which three points we will venture to look at for
this morning for our use of notification. The first thought is He expounded
unto them. Beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, He expounded unto them. Expounded, that word literally
means to translate or to thoroughly explain. Wouldn't you wouldn't
have been sitting in on that lesson, this lesson. When we
communicate, teachers or otherwise, to someone, in the sense given
here, we explain, we try to thoroughly tell the meaning or give the
sense of this book. When we're talking to somebody
about the Gospel or whatever, if we're just normally communicating
with somebody, we've got to define and we have to give the sense
and we have to try to thoroughly explain. With this book, when
we speak with somebody, with respect to Christ, we desire
to speak regarding His person, His work, and His worth, because
all the Scriptures are about Him. He's the only one that will
do any of us, at any time, any good. Not philosophies, not men's
reasons, not declarations of faith, but Him in Him alone. He is the Savior. We are the
ones in desperate need of saving. He is the Great Physician. We
are the ones who are sick and dying. We are dying patients.
He is the Glorious and Great Shepherd. We, the elect, the
remnant of the church, are the lost sheep who have gone astray.
So He expounds. He translates. Thoroughly explains. So Christ assumes, here in our
lesson, the role of a teacher. The role of a teacher. The role
of a preacher. The best of teachers. Job says
he's one among a thousand. He's the one in whom all the
treasures of knowledge and wisdom reside. And no one, even says
our enemies, in John chapter 7 verse 46, even our enemies
said, never man spake like this man. So when he speaks, and he
speaks like Bruce said very well this morning in Bible class,
he speaks through his people. We are ambassadors as though
God did beseech you by us. And when you go out, I'm not
just a preacher, but believers. What you see, the qualifications,
as one man said, the qualifications of a bishop, elder, deacons,
they're qualifications for all believers. They really are. So, you know, don't think, well,
okay, got to, you know, and if people, if you can't speak, if
you have tongue tied, or if you don't feel like, give them a
car, people a car, invite them to hear the Word. Invite them
to hear the Word. Because as we saw this morning,
this gathering together, it's conducive. Because it's not a
give-and-take forum. I'm done and Nathan stands up
and he starts telling what he thinks. No, it's done in order,
as the Scriptures prescribe. We submit to the authority of
the Word. Everybody does, not just you
all. Everybody, I do. But Christ here
assumes the position of a teacher. He expounded unto them in all
the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. He's not ashamed to
speak the truth to just two people. And I got thinking about this
and this is kind of to two people. Where somebody said we're two
or three are gathered this morning, He's there with them. Gathered
together, together. We're two or three. And we're
going to think it's below our dignity to preach the gospel
to one or two or three people. Oh, that's not a church. I don't
know. I don't know. We've seen days
like that. We sure have. He speaks to two
people, to two friends, to two acquaintances, to two country
folk. No, He will speak, proclaim,
and declare to any that the Father brings His way, or any that the
Father assigns. You go to work, you go shopping,
you go wherever you go, the Lord brings people by. And if He assigns
you to speak with them, you speak with them. Let us listen to what
He teaches as He opens unto us to our feeble understanding,
the mystery of the gospel substitution, regeneration from death to life,
from poverty to his riches, from his love to our unloveliness,
his purity to our leprosy. Oh, may he be made unto us the
very wisdom of God, or I fear we will be left to our worldly
wisdom, which in the eyes of God is foolishness. We must have
the wisdom of God. And even these believers, this
is what I, it's so beautiful, even these believers, he says
in verse 45, then opened he, Christ, Christ opened their eyes
of understanding that they might understand the scriptures, the
things that he was expounding concerning himself. So even a
believing sinner, God has to do something for him. Talk about
free will all you want to, God's will's gonna be done. His will
is going to be done. And even a believer, there's
times that we, which we see when we're going through the Old Testament
studies, Joshua, Judges, that's us all over. So, let us listen
as He teaches. May He be made unto us wisdom,
His wisdom. That's the first thought. The
second thought is beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He
expounded, He declared, He translated, He explained, thoroughly explained
unto them in all the scriptures. Now that word scripture means
literally in the Greek, holy writ. Now remember, they did
not have the New Testament. He just had the Old Testament.
The Old Testament types, the Old Testament pictures, the Old
Testament prophets. Men speak, men pontificate upon
many useless vain and empty things, not so with the high and lofty
Lord Jesus Christ. He speaks from the best of books. He expounded unto them in all
the scriptures. He speaks from the best of books. And though at this time it wasn't
fully completed, And I do admit there are many good books, but
this is the best book. Learn this book before you learn
Bunyan and Gill and Luther and Zwingli, any of these guys. And
if they were, like I always say, if they were alive today, I would
fellowship with them. They are my brethren. Get to know this
book. This is what Christ referred
to when He was expounding to them. It says in the Scriptures
in 2 Timothy, this book can make one wise unto salvation if it
touches a person by the Holy Spirit. You can't just read it
and say, OK, I'm going to be saved. You're going to hear the
Word, this Word, the truth, there's no error here. You're going to
hear this Word as it is preached, as it is spoken, as it is taught.
and the Holy Spirit is going to take these things. And what
does Christ say? He reveals the things concerning Himself. Parents,
use this book to teach your children. And there's many good children
books. I mean, not even biblical books. There's nursery rhymes
and all these things. But this book. Teach your children
out of this book. Go back to the Old Testament
and the lessons and the stories. Children, read this book. Read
the pages, because when you read these pages, you're going to
see all things grace. And that's how God saves, is
by His grace. That's what you're going to see when you read this
book. Herein you will discover by His grace and by His enabling
many truths, such as our utter ruin in Adam's fall, God's supreme
holiness and purity, God's way, not our way, of complete salvation. You're going to read and learn
of Christ, the Lamb slain before the foundation of time. You're
going to see the Holy Spirit's work of drawing sinners unto
the Son. You're going to see your election,
which is all of grace and not of our feeble free will. You're
going to read and see those whom Christ died for, He will successfully
bring with Him the glory. You're also going to see that
none for whom Christ died can ever fall away. What comfort
is that? And lastly, to name just a few
things, you open this book and if you see that they apply to
you, you're going to see comfort and peace and restful promises. All are said to be yes and amen
in Christ Jesus. That's just a few, nine things
I listed when you look at this book. If the Holy Spirit opens
them up to you, you're going to see these things in this book. Thirdly, it says, He expounded
unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
Thirdly, we see in this text, the best book reveals the best
subject. If this is the best book, This
book is going to reveal the best subject. And what is the subject
of this book? Well, it's morality. No, it isn't. It's how to properly
submit to authority and pay taxes and do this and that and how
to be in a marriage. Yes, this book does cover that.
But if that's all you see, you haven't seen Christ. You've just
seen religion. But this book covers the best
of subjects concerning Himself. Who needs Christ but those who
are sick, weak, and frail, and destitute of needed perfect righteousness? And where can this said perfect
righteousness be found? It's only in the Lamb of God,
who was sent by God, appointed by God, purposed by God before
time was. Simply put, Jesus spoke of Jesus. Now, we aren't to speak of ourselves,
but He, the Son of God, He revealed unto them, expounded, made plain
in all the holy writ the things concerning himself. Jesus spoke
of Jesus. The diamond cuts the diamond. The master of the house unlocks
his own door. The king brings his own guests
to his bought and purchased banqueting house. We feast with him. at a table already prepared.
These are called, and I love this phrase in the book of Ruth,
you go look and ask, if we could talk to Ruth and Naomi about
this blessing concerning Christ, she would say, it's handfuls
of purpose. It's handfuls of purpose. Which
she didn't know anything about. But she just said, well, there's
stuff here for me to eat. And she gathered them, laid there
on purpose by Boaz, who is the picture of Christ. So these,
if we're going to see the scriptures, if we see the scriptures correctly,
we see Christ, the things in the book all concerning Christ.
These are handfuls of purpose. So what do you mean? Well, when
you grow in grace, and the thunderstorms come, and the waves get high,
and the Lord brings back a scripture, Oh, that was my stay. And then
you realize, He's my stay. So yes, these are handfuls of
purpose. Let us go to Him who hid the treasure in the field,
becomes to us the very map, and will lead the search to find
the treasures. He leads us by the hand. The
delectable mountain, says Bunyan, leads to the celestial city,
which these are all pictures of Christ And He is this and
more to His beloved church. In order to go to Celestial City,
you had to go by those delectable mountains. Those beautiful, beautiful
mountains. He who is truth, you think about
this text here. He who is truth could have revealed
new truth. to the travelers, but he prefers
to expound from the old paths, the scriptures said. These paths
never stale to those who are hungry and thirsty after righteousness. Read it time and time and time
again. I was reading something, I was
talking to a pastor the other day, and I said, I've never seen
that. I was almost embarrassed to say
that. Because, oh yeah, you know, that's okay. It's fresh. This
is like manna. It's fresh. To those who He's
given a hunger and thirst for. Now, if it's just a Sunday, once
here and there, maybe a Wednesday, you know. No. No. I hope we would be like these
brethren. Did not our hearts burn within
us while He talked with us, by the way, and while He opened
to us the Scriptures? Not the political situation of
the day, because that changes. Not about the weather, not about
sports, not about money, not about the money market. But didn't
our hearts burn within us while he talked with us about the scriptures? This is
fellowship. This is true. This is iron sharpening
iron. And they didn't say anything.
They spoke. They told him what was going on. You know, he didn't
know what was going on, but Christ went to the fountain source of
all sure, steadfast, and unerring grace. He went to Himself. No
speculation, no human reasoning, no tradition, no declaration
of confessions of faith, but He speaks all truth, pure truth,
the only truth. It was good enough for, make
a list, Daniel, Micah, Jonah, it was good enough for them.
That's all they had. It will be good enough to bring for Christ to be brought to any
sinner of any age in all manner of sinners. It's the Word of God. Let us
therefore then dig deep into this glorious mine pit. Let us
seek the goodly pearls from this deep sea of God's honoring script. May Christ Himself be our instructor. Let us excavate into this quarry
of holy scriptures. He Himself has done all the work
we could never do, never manage, or even come close to fulfilling.
This morning, it was actually this morning's scripture verse
on my phone. I just looked at this. This is
just amazing. I've seen it before. It's taught
through Hebrews. If you don't get anything, Children parents men women boys
and girls if you don't get anything listen to this verse this is
God speaking for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and
Their sins and their iniquities. Well, I remember no more Isn't that comforting isn't that
peaceful It's in the book It's in the scriptures It's in the
unerring Word of God. It's in this God-breathed book.
That's a promise. Lay hold of that. He says in
John 5, search the Scriptures, for they are they which testify
of Me. Let us not use this book for
trivia. Let us not use this book to prove
points of theology only. Go to this book. First, to seek
God in Christ. Go to this book to prove our
own selves, that is, see what we are, which we're full of sin.
Go to this book to view the beauties of holiness in the face of Jesus
Christ. I say this in closing. He studies
rightly. He or she studies correctly,
rightly, who seeks to see Christ, His work, his accomplishments
all in this Bible from beginning to end because he does say he
is the Alpha and Omega. I pray it would be so for us
here today and all of us here today. Bruce, would you close
us please?