Luke chapter 24 and verse 13. And behold, two of them went
that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem
about threescore furlongs. 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 drew near and went
with them. But their eyes were holden 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 the one of them whose name
was Cleopas, answering, said unto him, Art thou only a stranger
in Jerusalem, and hast 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 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. 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 had also seen a vision of angels
which said that he was alive. 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 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 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,
whither 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 brake, 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 with us in the way, and while he opened to us the
Scriptures? And they rose up the same hour,
and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together,
and them that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed,
and hath appeared to Simon. and they told what things were
done in the way and how he was known of them in breaking of
bread. Amen. May God bless this reading. These disciples were the Lord's
people. These disciples were converted. I'm not sure if it
was two men or a man or a woman or whatever it was. Certainly the case that they
had been disappointed, they were amongst the disciples of the
Lord. But it is also true that they seem to have been dull and
slow, the Lord calls them foolish in spiritual things. And I think
many of us might feel a little bit like Cleophas and his partner
here as they were travelling. I got a nice feeling that it
was his wife, but who knows? I think sometimes we feel like
these two. We feel as if we are constantly
walking on the Emmaus Road. and there's disappointment in
our hearts and we're looking down at our feet and we're not
quite sure what is happening around about us. We're ever being
taught holy things, but never truly learning our spiritual
lessons. And we gratefully acknowledge
the Lord's mercy and salvation but we struggle to deepen our
understanding of his ways and means in providence. We wander
along, mourning our circumstances, and we fail to discern even when
the Lord draws close to us. We fail to recognise Him. We
fail to see Him. And when He speaks to our concerns,
we fail to understand that this is the Lord and He's blessing
us with these comforts and we become inured to them. This passage tells us about a
hidden sermon. I don't know whether you noticed
that. There's a hidden sermon in this
passage. It's a concealed communication
from the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a detailed scriptural exposition
of the substance of the ministry of the Old Testament
concerning himself. It's unrecorded for us. but the
content of it is most illuminating. It's instructive, it's informative. These men could say, or this
man and woman, whoever it was, could say, did not our hearts
burn within us as he opened this sermon to us, as he expounded
these things to us? The Lord Jesus Christ preached
a sermon that day on the road to Emmaus, and there were only
two people listening. We complain about the size of
our congregations. This is the Lord's Sermon on
the Emmaus Road. Beginning at Moses and all the
prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things
concerning himself. I wonder if you've ever noticed
that sermon was even there. I wonder if you've ever wished
that it had been recorded, that somebody had written it down.
that it was set out in our Bibles by God the Holy Spirit, the greatest
Old Testament exposition ever made. And yet surely that's the reason
why the Holy Spirit has withheld it from us, because by its very
concealment, It provides us signposts to tell us where to find the
Lord. We have to find the Lord in all
the Scriptures. We are to look for the Lord in
all the prophecies. We are to look for Him from Moses
and all the holy... We think to ourselves, well,
it's easy to find Him in the Gospels, it's easy to find Him
in the Epistles, but we've to find Him from Genesis to Revelation
because this book speaks about one covenant. One Christ, one
Lord, one faith, one baptism. This is the gospel from cover
to cover. And the Lord Jesus Christ expounded
himself there in the hearing of these two. He has given us, as it were,
a map. He has provided us with these
road signs. He has shown us where to find
him. And where was that? Well, that
was in exactly what we are about to do right now. It was in the communion service.
It was in the breaking of bread. Look what they said in Luke chapter
24, verse 35. They told what things were done
in the way and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. What we're about to do now will
be practised by countless religious people. They have their communion,
they break their bread, they take their mass, however it is
they want to call it. But it is you and it is me. It is the disciples, it is Christ's
church, it is Christ's people, it is Christ's bride that find
him in the breaking of bread. It is Christ's people that know
him in this communion service. We know his suffering. in this
service. We know his shame in the breaking
of bread. We know his pain and what he
suffered. We know his body. We know his
blood. We know his substitution for
me. We know his sacrifice in this
breaking of bread. We know his trouble and we know
his success. And it's that understanding of
who Christ is in the breaking of bread that opens the whole
of Scripture to us and shows us Him in the Old Testament and
the New, in the Gospels and in the prophecies. In all the Scriptures,
Christ is seen when we understand who He is in the breaking of
bread. If you can see Christ today,
if you can see the Lord Jesus Christ in these elements as they
pass between us, in this bread and wine, simple bread and wine,
you will see him everywhere you look in scripture and he will
teach you of himself. I'm just going to pray now for
the bread and the men will come up and distribute it. Again,
if you don't want to participate, you know what to do and they'll
pass you by. Heavenly Father, we thank Thee
that Thou has given us the opportunity to share in this service this
morning. We thank Thee for the elements, the bread and the wine
that are about to pass between us. We thank Thee for the picture
that they give us in our consumption of them, of the union that we
have with the Lord Jesus Christ and his sufferings and death.
And we thank thee that they are the key, the signpost and the
map, the picture to show us the Lord Jesus Christ and all of
his accomplishments that are prefigured and reported and discussed
and presented in the word of God from Genesis to Revelation.
And we thank thee that in properly understanding what the Lord Jesus
Christ has done for us as our substitute and sacrifice, that
we can discover him in all the scriptures. We pray that thou
wilt bless this service to us, bless our hearts as we participate
in it, and make the Lord to be clear and real to us in our minds'
eye and by faith. And may he be glorified in our
hearts as we share together in this fellowship. We pray that
thou wilt bless the bread now to each one as it passes, for
Jesus' sake. Amen.