I invite you to turn back with
me now again to our text in Luke 24. And my subject this morning is
Opened Treasure and Burning Hearts. In our text, the Lord's disciples
were cast down, confused, and to say the least, depressed. They'd given all to the one that
they believed to be the Christ. They'd give it all up. They'd
give up their fishing, give up their boats, give up their livelihood,
they'd given up everything to follow him. And then, They saw him taken
by the Jewish leaders, those they once highly esteemed, turned over to the Romans for
crimes that he hadn't done, and they watched him tortured, beaten beyond recognition, and then crucified on a cross,
nailed to a cross. They watched him breathe his
last breath. They saw his body taken down
from the cross. They followed the people, no
doubt, who took him to the tomb, and they watched them carry him
in, come out without him, and roll that big stone over the
doorway to that tomb. And then they watched the Roman
soldiers giving charge over that tomb, the guardian. And all of a sudden, nothing
made sense anymore. nothing was going right anymore. All their thinking had been a
blitz race. At least until the Lord appeared. Until the Lord appeared and began
to show them in the scriptures those things which must have
taken place. And he said, O fools and slow
of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. How
foolish it is for us not to believe the word of God. There's no excuse
for it. The scriptures themselves have
proven themselves to be the word of God. Besides that, God gave
evidence to those who he used to write the words of this book
by supernatural things that they did, confirming them to be the
writers of scripture. And not only that, not only these
outward signs, which they did, raising the dead and all these
things that they did. Imagine Elijah standing there
before Ahab and the queen, the old evil queen, and standing
there and these high priests out there laughing and mocking
at him. And he said, well, let's do this. Let's dig a trench here. And
well, first of all, he said, whichever God consumes his sacrifice
by fire, that'll be the real God, that'll be the true God.
And they put that sacrifice out there and they danced and that
didn't work and they chanted and that didn't work and they
marched around and they cut themselves with knives and Elijah made fun
of them. He said, maybe your God's hard
of hearing. Maybe you need to speak louder. Boy, you can just imagine those
priest's faces turning red and just doing everything in their
power. Nothing happened. That sacrifice just laid there.
Now, he said, I'm going to tell you what I'm going to do. I'm
going to dig a trench around this thing. And I'm going to
fill it full of water. I'm going to fill it full of
water. Gonna pour water all over the
sacrifice, all over the wood, gonna fill the trench up. Then
he prayed and God sent fire down from heaven and consumed that
sacrifice and licked up all the water. There's nothing left. I believe what that man had to
say, wouldn't you? But not only through these outward
things that they did that God enabled him to do, not only did
he verify these men to be his spokesmen, to be the writers
of scripture, but the things which they said. Here's how you
knew a man was a prophet. If anything he said didn't come
to pass, take him out and stone him. Wow. Boy, I tell you, you wouldn't
wanna get all beside yourself and spit something out that you
didn't mean to spit out. Everything that man said, if
he's God's spokesman, why wouldn't it come to pass? And if it didn't,
he's not my prophet. Everything in the word of God
that he said was gonna happen has
happened, hasn't it? Sure it has. Everything. Old fools. There's no excuse
for not believing God, Russell. Well, you just, that was written
for that old generation. No, it's written for you. Written
for you. Old fools. Slow of heart to believe
all that the prophets have spoken. And how foolish it is for us
not to believe the word of God, not to be able to perceive it,
and thus be able to rejoice in God our Savior. Old fools. Slow of heart to believe
all that the prophets have spoken. Now listen to this, verse 26.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things? Well, I thought the Old Testament
was about Samson shoving down them pillars in these miraculous
ways. I thought it was about Moses. I pictured this man, big
long hair and everything. Boy, he'd been through the mill
and now he comes out there in that shepherd's staff like he
did in the movie and held out that staff and that seed is peeled
back. I thought that's what the Old
Testament was all about. The Old Testament's about Christ. There's no other way to know
that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ except the Old Testament. Now that's what our Lord's telling
them. Old fools. You think religion
has saved you? You think keeping special days
has saved you? You think tithing and giving
has saved you? Oh, 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? They thought the suffering and
death of Christ was an evidence of him being a fraud. That's
what they told Christ. They said, were you so upset? Well, we thought this had been
he. It was evidence to them that he was a fraud. Rather, it was the evidence of
his being the Christ. And why were they so wrong about
these things? Why did they make such foolish
judgments about Christ? Christ told them, I could go
back and show you in the scriptures, I've highlighted them for my
own and numbered them. But if you go back and look at
it, how many times did the Lord said, I must go up here, I must
be turned over to these religious rulers and be crucified and I'll
raise again on the third day? He told them in those words over
and over and over. And one old converted harlot
believed it and understood it and the rest of them didn't.
Why? Why were they so ignorant of
these things? Because they were ignorant of
the scriptures. They were ignorant of the scriptures.
They were looking at the scriptures in the light of traditional understanding. They were looking at the scriptures
in the light of what they've been taught in religion their
whole lives. I was taught my whole life growing
up in religion, and I know they don't all hold the same view,
but I was taught that there's gonna be a time when the Lord
comes down and raptures his church out of the world, and the rest
of the world just gonna be sitting here. What happened? What happened? You see, I see
stickers on cars. If you see this car without a
driver, I've been raptured. I was taught that my whole life.
I believed that. I believed that was coming. Why?
Because I was ignorant of the scriptures. They were looking at the scriptures
in the light of traditional understanding. Well, you know man has a free
will. Where does it say that? Religion says that. God doesn't
say that. God tells us over and over, it's
not of him that willeth. They were looking at the Scriptures
in the light of traditional understanding. They were looking at Christ as
an earthly king. We thought this had been He that
was going to redeem Israel. We thought He was going to come
and restore Israel back to its former days of glory. Going to
build the palace and the temple is going to be all just beautiful. It's going to be all intact and
the priesthood is going to Once again, standing glory. We're
gonna be outstanding in the world. The whole world gonna look at
us and say, wow, what a God they have. They thought that's who Christ
was. They were looking at Christ as an earthly king. On one occasion,
it said they were gonna take him by force and make him a king,
because he fed 5,000 of them. The very things that made his
prophecy dogmatic and certain, they still viewed as vague and
confusing. And then beginning at Moses and
all the prophets he expounded unto them and all the scriptures,
the things concerning himself. And when he had vanished out
of their sight, they said one to another, did not our hearts
burn within us? We walked along the way, and
he opened to us the scriptures. Now I'm going to tell you something. Men and women's hearts will always
burn when he opens to you the scriptures. You can't figure them out. I've
tried. I've tried to sit in and take
this book like a science book and read it, and you can't put,
it just don't fit. Things just don't fit. And then
along comes a man that God has blessed, and he takes this book,
And by the Holy Spirit of God, He opens these two covers and
He'll take something that was meaningless to you 15 minutes
ago and He'll begin to open those scriptures to you and show you
what those scriptures have to do with the salvation of your
soul. And your heart all of a sudden will just begin to burn. You mean there's hope for me,
the sinner? I'll tell you, a sinner made
a sinner by the Holy Ghost. Oh, that's an amazing thing.
When he hears the truth, it means something to him. You mean I'm not plumb gone? Listen to the man, David. He
was a prophet of God. He wrote the Psalms. God said,
this is a man after my own heart. But now this man's king. And
his head gets all swelled up, and he goes out there, and he
looks down, and there's a maiden down there. Not a maiden, a married
woman. And she's down there taking a
bath on the roof, and he looks down there, and he begins to
plot. How can I have her? And then once I've had her, how
do I keep her? How do I keep everybody from
knowing what I did? So then he begins to plot and
plan the murder of her husband. Premeditated murder, there's
no other word for it. This is a man after God's own
heart. You know what David prayed after
the Lord showed him what he did and restored him back into the
fold? You know how David prayed? He said, I thought I was clean
gone. And then the word of the Lord
came to me. Oh, how men's hearts burn within
them when the Lord opens to them the scriptures. Why? Because the scriptures must be
fulfilled. Huh? No way that scripture ain't
gonna be fulfilled. No way. There's nothing declared
in the word of God which shall not come to pass. The word must
become flesh and dwell among us. Humanity and divinity in
one body, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
That has to take place. Why? Because God said it would. God chose Christ to be our federal
head and representative. He put us in Christ. He put us
in a covenant union with him. Made us one with him to reconcile
us to God. And he was wounded for our transgressions. You see that crucified Christ
on that cross, suffering, suffering as no other man had ever suffered.
suffering anguish in his heart before God, bearing our sins
in his own body on the tree, made sin for us. He was wounded for our transgressions,
bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and all we like sheep have gone astray. We turned
everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. for the transgression of his
people was he stricken. Well, what gospel did that come
out of? The gospel according to Isaiah chapter 53. Oh, fools,
and slow of heart. Not to believe everything the
prophets have spoken. You know, the Old Testament said
that Christ must be born and come into this world by way of
a virgin. But when he came by way of a
virgin, her husband was ready to put her away privately. How much do you know about those
scriptures? Not much. The Lord himself shall give you
a sign, Isaiah said. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bear a son, and you shall call his name Immanuel, God with
us. Isaiah 9.6, unto us a child is
born, unto us a son is given. The son of God was given. He
wasn't born, he was given. But there was a child born. The government shall be upon
his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Everything about the Christ was foretold. His coming was the coming of a great high
priest, that's what they said. A priest after the order of Melchizedek
was gonna arise. without beginning of days or
end of time or without father and mother. This man, Paul said,
because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable priesthood. He
came into this world as a high priest. Well, what's so significant
about that? Well, the high priest alone could
take that lamb, carve up that lamb and lay its body on the
altar, on that altar of fire, and take this blood in a vessel
and take that blood and enter into the holy of holies. Go through
the first part, under the veil, into the holy of holies and make
atonement for your soul. And Christ, becoming a high priest,
a better things to come. With a better and more glorious
and eternal sacrifice, entered into heaven itself. and obtained
eternal salvation or eternal redemption for us. Huh? Oh, everything about his coming
was foretold. He's the priest. He has an unchangeable
priesthood, wherefore he's able to save to the uttermost those
who come unto God by him. Everything concerning his person
and work was foretold in the scriptures. He didn't leave men
to their own imaginations to work out the details. They're
plainly declared in the scriptures. To him give all the prophets
witness. Now listen, that through his
name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of
sins. How do I know what remission
of sins is all about? How do I know what this coming
Redeemer's work is all about? because of the prophets. To him
give all the prophets witness. In Acts 13, having set before
them several prophecies of the Old Testament, and in each instant
showing how it was concerning this coming Redeemer, he then
applies these things to Jesus of Nazareth, and he tells them
in verse 38, that through this man, is preached unto you the
forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are
justified from all things from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. Old fools and slow of heart to
believe all the things that the prophets have spoken about this
coming redeemer. Isn't that what he told them?
And they just sit there awed by what they were hearing. Totally
awed, Bo. He went back to the book of Genesis,
Russell, and he went through Genesis, and Exodus, and Leviticus,
and Numbers, and Deuteronomy. And then he started up through
the prophets. And each book he would go in
in three or four places and show them how everything that that
man wrote was concerning the coming Redeemer and His sacrifice. And what He would accomplish.
His accomplished righteousness. His accomplished redemption. by him all that believe are justified. What made these men's hearts
to burn? All these things in the scriptures
must be fulfilled. God doesn't say a thing and then
it just falls on the ground. God says a thing. He said, I'm
not like these other gods that you worship. I declare the end
from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not
yet done saying my counsel shall stand and I'll do all my pleasure. He not like the God of this world
changes his mind from time to time. James talks about it. He said all these gifts, these
good gifts, these perfect gifts, they come down from the Father. with whom is no bearableness,
neither shadow of turning." Why'd their hearts burn? All of a sudden,
they understood what the message of the prophets was. This coming
Redeemer. And this coming Redeemer fit
that to a T. Fit that to a T. He wasn't He
wasn't evidencing Himself as a fraud. He was evidencing Himself
as the Son of God, fulfilling the will of God. And secondly, it was what made
their hearts to burn within them. It was the sufficiency of all
things He was chosen to fulfill. I listen to men talk about salvation
and they might as well just be talking about a hope, a hope,
a hope. There's a sufficiency in Christ.
Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sin. There's no doubt about it. Every
one of his elect gonna be saved. They're all gonna hear the gospel.
The Holy Spirit's gonna come in power. He's gonna come in
the Holy Ghost. He's gonna make known to them
their election of God. They're gonna see these things.
God's gonna abound toward them in all wisdom and prudence. He's gonna He's gonna make them
to know His redemptive will. He's gonna make them to know
what's going on in this world. He's gonna make them to know
that what He did was for them. We know that the Son of God has
come and given to us an understanding that we may know Him that's true.
Now listen, and we're in Him that's true. Well, I just don't know. Not what God says. Not what He
says. He said to know Me is eternal
life. The sufficiency of all things
He was chosen. God said He shall see the travail
of His soul and what? Be satisfied. Preacher's got God all upset,
angry. You have to say certain things,
have to do certain things, have to promise certain things, otherwise
he's just sitting up there madly. Ain't what scripture said. Scripture said he saw the travail
of his son's soul and he was satisfied. He was satisfied. He said this about our Redeemer. This made their hearts to burn.
The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. It pleased the Lord through the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. You know what I know about that?
It prospers in his hand. It'll do exactly what he said
it's gonna do. Listen to this one. Thus it is
written and thus it behoove Christ to suffer and to rise from the
dead the third day. He had to do it. He had to do
it. Jesus of Nazareth is not someone
who suddenly appeared on the scene like Joseph Smith or Father
Divine or any one of a thousand other frauds. They gained a recognition. They came in talking a bunch
of trash and people swallowed it down and believed it. They gathered up some followers. And then they vanished. Jesus of Nazareth appeared exactly
according to the prophecy of this book. When the fullness
of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a woman,
made under the law to redeem them that were under the law.
When did he do it? When the fullness of the time was come. What time?
That time that God had ordained before the foundation of the
world. He says that same thing in 2
Timothy 1.10. Timothy, God hath saved us, called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began, but now may manifest by the appearing
of Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. God flooded the church with the
word of his coming. He gave an abundance of evidence
that he was the Christ. In Romans 3, 24 and 25, it talks
about the redeeming blood of Christ and God's free justification
of the Old Testament believers, saying that God set him forth
as the propitiation for our sins. When did he do that? He did that
in the garden. He did that before there was
a big volume of people on the earth. He did that for Adam and
Eve. He sent forth His Son in that
lamb that He slayed. And those skins, His righteousness,
He took those skins of that lamb He slayed and covered their nakedness.
And He took that blood and He made an offering unto God. The word propitiation he uses
here. He set him forth as a propitiation
for our sins, and that word propitiate means to conciliate. What does that mean? That means
he satisfied the offending party, the offended party, he satisfied
them. The blood sacrifice, which was
a picture of Christ, was set forth alone. for sin. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sins. And Paul tells us in Hebrews
9, 7, describing the works of the high priest as a figure,
but into the second went the high priest alone, once every
year, not without blood. And the Holy Ghost is signifying
that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest
while that first tabernacle was yet standing, which was a figure
for the time then present. When they saw that lamb, they
saw that priest kill that lamb, its body put on that altar, its
blood gathered up in a vessel, They didn't think that blood
of that animal was going to make atonement for them. Those who
had the faith of God's elect looked at that thing and saw
that coming redeemer who must come, who must shed his blood.
It was a figure for the time then present in which were offered both gifts
and sacrifices that could not make him that did the service
perfect pertaining to the conscience. Moses and Aaron taught these
things as they were, figures of Christ, typical sacrifices
that were to be observed by faith looking forward to the coming
Redeemer. The Old Testament scripture set forth the death and resurrection
of Christ, both typically under the law and in plain language
under the prophets. In Acts chapter two, verse 30,
Peter, speaking of this very thing, said of David, Therefore
being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to
him that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh
he'd raise up Christ to sit on his throne. And he seeing this
before spake, now listen, of the resurrection of Christ. He will not leave his soul in
hell. His soul shall not see corruption.
David wasn't talking about Solomon, he was talking about Christ.
and he was prophesying of his resurrection. Scriptures don't leave us to
wonder about Christ and his work. I'll tell you what confuses you
is religion. We try to take what we've heard
all of our life in religion about man's free will and man's decisionism
and coming down aisles and and pre-trib rapture and all this
kind of nonsense. And we got all these things floating
around in our head and then we read something in the word of
God and we try to take all of that and try to make something
out of it. And it leaves us just like these
men, sad, confused, and walking down the road not knowing what
happened. Why did Christ have to die on that cross? That's
what they were talking about. Why, why? We thought this was
the Christ. Yeah, but you didn't understand
the scriptures or you would have known that he had to die on that
cross. Scriptures don't leave us to
wonder about Christ and his work. That's the work of religion.
Scriptures always speak of his sufficiency, being justified
freely by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ is set forth in
the scriptures as a complete and all sufficient savior. In the book of Colossians it
says this, don't let these people spoil you through philosophy
and vain deceit. You just keep looking to Christ
because in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily
and you're complete in him who is the head of all all this principalities
and power. He's the head of it. And then the third thing that
made their heart burn within them is that he's God, our Savior. This was God hanging on that
cross, not a man of God, not a prophet of God. He was a prophet,
but this is not just a prophet. This is the God man nailed on
that cross. And ain't no tomb gonna hold
him down. He said, I have power to lay
down my life and I have power to take it up again. My father
gave me this. He's God our savior. His power
and authority is God ought to calm our fears in any situation,
shouldn't it? One preacher called me the other
day and he was talking about all these masks that we wear.
He said, I feel like I'm cheating on God when I put that thing
on. Mary rejoiced in God her Savior,
Jesus of Nazareth, that kind and loving man, that tender and
merciful man, that sympathetic and loving man. He stepped onto
a cloud with some angels and ascended into glory and God put
the crown on his head and set him at his own right hand. You
think there's anything going on in this world that he hasn't
arranged, that he doesn't have total control over? Nothing. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will. Ain't that what scripture says? He said, all power is given unto
me in heaven and earth. You see something in that that's
not in his power? Everything in heaven, everything
in earth. You know why he told them that?
He tells us in the very next statement. Now you go preach
the gospel. You don't preach it thinking
you've got some power. You don't preach it thinking
that you can make something work. You preach that because all power
in heaven and earth been given unto me and I'm telling you to
go preach my gospel. I'll have mercy on whom I will
have mercy and whom I will I'll harden. You can go teach all nations
and baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and
of the Holy Ghost. Boy, don't that make you want
to shout at those men? Now, if the preacher tells you
something, that's one thing. But boy, if he can show it to
me in the scripture. And God the Holy Ghost is pleased
to open it to me and apply it to me and make me see that this
sovereign King of glory, there's a man in glory seated at the
right hand of God, a man. And that man there is my representative. He's my righteousness. He's my
wisdom. He's my sanctification. He's
all things to me. Christ is all. Preacher tells me that, that's
one thing. But boy, if God the Holy Ghost shows me that in the
word of God, my heart will burn within me. It'll burn. What about his love? Where's
the love comparable to his? He said, scarcely for a righteous
man. Here's a righteous man. Here's
a man who's devoted his life to the gospel. Here's a man who
walks a clean life. He preaches the gospel. He walks
by faith. He honors God all of his life. You can't hardly find somebody
that'll die for him. Isn't that what he's saying there?
Scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Peradventure for a good man,
some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Huh? That's his love. That's
God's love. I think back over my life and
survey my sin and rebellion and what's even worse is the life
that I now live. And I'm amazed to think that
knowing me and the thoughts and intents of my heart, yet he loved
me and gave himself for me. And he tells me there's nothing
in time or eternity that can separate me from that love. The
love of God. Boy, I tell you, if that don't
make your heart burn, there's something wrong with you. There's
something wrong with you. He, God, our Savior, and everything
the scripture says about his love and his kindness and his
grace and his mercy and his tenderness, includes the Father. I and the
Father are one. No man knoweth the Father save
the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. We don't know
anything about God. God spoke to me. You're a liar.
You're a liar. No man knoweth the Father, save
the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal. When the Holy Ghost
has come, he don't speak of himself. You know somebody somewhere,
and all they got to say when they come in contact with you,
the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost, they don't know
the Holy Ghost. You can only know the Holy Ghost
by what he preaches. He'll take the things of mine,
Christ said, and reveal them unto you. If you know Christ, you know
the Holy Ghost. You know Christ, you know the
Father. Show us the Father and it's the Bible, son. That's what
the disciples said. Christ said, have you been so
long time with me, Philip? You not seen the Father? You
don't know the Father? Oh. You go and baptize them in
the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Ghost. One day I may lay in my bed and
not be able to do anything, think anything, feel anything. Just lay there. It's not my love for him that
keeps me. It's his love for me. His love for me. It's not my sanity that keeps
me, but his knowledge, his knowledge. And all the traditional ideas
of man, all the affection of men, and all their natural abilities
and experience only left them confused, frustrated, and disappointed. until the Lord came and opened
to them the Scriptures and showed to them the things concerning
Himself, showed them Himself fulfilling all the promises of
God, and showed them in the Scriptures His sufficiency. You reckon Christ actually put
away sin? He said He did. There's sins and iniquities. This is a covenant I'm gonna
share with my people in those days, the Lord said. I'm gonna
write my laws on their hearts. What's that mean? That means
he writes that law full field in Christ. You can't honor the
law any more than you did when you believed on Christ. Because
he honored that law perfectly. He exalted the law and made it
honorable. And he writes that in a covenant
on your heart. I'll write my laws on your hearts
and in your minds. Now listen, and your sins and
iniquities I'll remember no more. Why? Because Christ put them
away. He put them away. You're gonna remember, but he
ain't. They're gone. They're gone. He threw them in the depth of
the sea, far as the east is from the west. My sins are gone if
I believe on Christ. You see how important the scriptures
are? When you see that in the word of God, and you see the
harmony of it, and you see it concerning his son, wow, now
I wanna believe on him. Now I wanna come to him. Now
I wanna rest in him. Now I can rejoice in him. And
your heart begins to burn. Otherwise, what are we doing
here? Huh? We just gather here to go
through the motion. Just another holy day. Oh, no. Oh, no. I come here hoping
this morning that the Lord would open his scriptures to me and
to you and make your heart burn with it. May the Lord be pleased
to do exactly that. Thank you.