Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Niver. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Niver. After the Lord had made himself
known to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, here is what
they had to say. Verse 32 of Luke chapter 24,
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 scripture? I've entitled this message, Heartburn. And it is my prayer that the
Lord gives you and I this blessed heartburn. And if the Lord is
pleased to bless this message, you will understand the Bible. Now that's how important this
message is. If God gives you and I the grace
to see what has been said, we will actually understand the
Bible. What a blessing that would be.
Now I want to begin reading in verse 13 of Luke chapter 24. We're going to work our way down
to where these two disciples spoke of their heartburn. In
verse 13, Two of them went that same day
to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem, about three
score furlongs, about seven miles. These two were a part of the
120 disciples that the Lord had at his death. And verse 14 says,
they talked together of all these things which had happened. They
talked about the crucifixion of their Lord. and they were
very disappointed. They didn't really understand
what had taken place. Verse 15, and it came to pass
that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew
near and went with them. Now they were having a hard time
making sense of what had taken place. We're going to see that
as we read in this passage of Scripture. They thought that
the Kingdom of Israel would be restored. and that Israel would
once again be a mighty nation and the Lord Jesus Christ would
be the ruler of that nation. And things didn't happen as they
thought. They thought we're looking for
a political kingdom. And they were very disappointed
and sad when they were speaking of what had taken place in the
last three days, how the Lord Jesus had been crucified. Verse
16, but their eyes were holding that they should not know him.
the Lord prevented them from being able to see who he was
as he spake with them. Verse 17, and he said unto them,
what manner of communications are these that you have one to
another as you walk and are so sad? He could look at them and
tell that they were very distressed. And he said, why are you so sad?
And what is it that you're talking about that you're so upset about? He could see their disappointment,
verse 18. 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 in these days? Is this the first day you've
been here? Are you not from here? Why, all of Jerusalem knows what
has taken place in the last three days. How Jesus of Nazareth was
crucified. and put in a grave. And some
people came and said, some angels, three days later, some people
came and said, some angels said that he was risen from the dead.
And indeed, some people saw that his tomb was empty. And we don't
know what to think about this. Verse 19, and he said unto them,
what things? And they said unto him concerning
Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty indeed in word
before God and all the people. Now here's the first problem.
Yes, he was a prophet, but he was more than a prophet. He's
God the Son. He's the Son of the Living God.
He's the God-Man. I don't know that they understood
that at this time. Now let me say this about these
disciples. They seem very ignorant. There's
so much they didn't know. Were they disciples? Yes, they
were, and I can tell you how I know. Because that when they
heard the truth, their response was appropriate. True disciples
are always going to respond to the truth. And they did, as we
shall see. But they say in verse 20, and
how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned
to death and have crucified him. Now, once again, they were wrong.
Yes, the chief rulers did deliver him, but the scripture says him
being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken and with wicked hands have crucified and
slain. This was God's will being done. These chief rulers, these
priests, were pawns in God's hand performing God's purpose
because it was the will of God that Christ die on Calvary's
tree. We're going to consider more on that in a moment. But
it says in verse 21, but we trusted that it had been He which should
have redeemed Israel. They didn't realize that He did
redeem Israel. They were just looking for a
political kingdom, and they didn't realize that He did actually
accomplish redemption for the Israel of God, the true Israel,
every believer, all of God's elect. He did redeem them. But
they said, 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
had seen a vision of angels, which said he was alive. And
certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, talking
about when Peter and John went to the sepulchre, and found it
even so as the women said, but him they saw not. All they saw
was this empty tomb." Now, here are these two men. are walking
down the road talking about these events that had taken place,
but they had no understanding. Now the Lord is going to reveal
himself to them. Like I said, if you and I can
get a hold of what the Lord is saying, we're going to understand
the Bible. He said to them in verse 25,
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? Was there not a necessity
for Christ to suffer? Was there not a necessity for
Christ to enter into His glory? Look back in verse 6 when the
angels are speaking to these women. They say, He's not here.
but is risen. Remember how He spake unto you
when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered
into the hands of sinful men, and He must be crucified, and
He must rise again the third day. Now, why must He be delivered
into the hands of sinful men? Because it was God's will. Him
being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of
God, The cross was the will of God for His own glory and the
salvation of His people, and that's why He must be delivered
into the hands of men. He wasn't a victim. He was in
control of the entire event. He must be crucified. Why must
He be crucified? That's referring to His death.
Because that is exactly what he deserved. You see, he took
upon himself the sins of all of his people, so they actually
became his sins. And he became guilty of committing
those sins, even though he didn't do it. This is the great mystery
of the Gospel. He never sinned, he knew no sin,
but he took my sin, he took the sins of all of his people. Thou
shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from
their sins. He took my sins and my sorrows. He made them His
very own. He owned them as His own. And
when God's wrath came down upon Him, it's because He was guilty. My sin became his sin. And just as truly as my sin became
his sin, his righteousness becomes my righteousness. That is how
a sinner can be righteous before God. He must be crucified and
he must be raised from the dead. Why? Because he rendered complete
satisfaction to God. Those sins were paid for. Those
sins were put away. Those sins were blotted out.
Those sins were cancelled. God was completely satisfied
with what He did and He must raise Him from the dead. Now
let's go and read. 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. Now, if you want to understand
the Bible, understand this. The Bible is concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. Everything. All those stories
in the Old Testament, all those sacrifices, all those feast days,
all those individuals, the Psalms, the prophets, they're all concerning
Him. To Him give all the prophets
witness. And every word of scripture is
given to illustrate the Lord Jesus Christ. This book is not
a rule book. It's not a book of morality.
It's not a book to teach you how to live. It's a book concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now notice how he says that.
He says in verse 27, in the beginning of Moses, and all the prophets,
he expanded unto them in all the scriptures, the things concerning
himself. I think of the passage of scripture.
He may have began with, oh, how I would have loved to heard this
message. Genesis 1 1 in the beginning God created the heaven and the
earth and the Lord said to them I'm the one who did that All
things were made by him the scripture says and without him was not
anything made that was made. He's the creator of I have no
doubt that he spoke of that seed of woman, the first gospel promise
in Genesis chapter 3, the seed of woman that would come and
crush the serpent's head. The seed of woman, the Lord said,
is me. I don't have the seed of Adam. I don't have a sinful
nature. I'm the virgin-born son of God. I had to be virgin-born so I
would remain holy. He could only be holy. And I'm
the one who had the power to crush Satan's head. He would
have taken him to the story of Abel. When Abel brought that
more excellent sacrifice than Cain, it was because I'm the
one that sacrifice pointed to. And that sacrifice made God respect
Abel and see Abel as righteous. That points to me. And then he
would have went into Noah's ark. That ark, everybody in the ark
was saved. Everybody outside of the ark
was judged by God and destroyed. I am that ark. Everybody in me,
everybody that I represent, they're all saved. I am the ark. It was pitched with in and out
with pitch which means atonement. What keeps the wrath of God out
and keeps people safe? My blood atonement. That ark
pictures the gospel of myself. And what about Abraham who rejoiced
to see my day? Abraham, when the Lord told him
to offer up Isaac, his only begotten son, And then that ram caught
in the thicket was given to take that boy's place. That's the
gospel substitution. Abraham rejoiced to see my day
and he saw it and was glad. When God appeared to Moses in
the bush that could not be consumed, that's me. The wrath of God could
not consume me because of who I am. I consume the wrath. And
that picture's my salvation. When God's voice came from that
bush, I am that I am, that's me. I am that I am. That's what the Lord said. I
am the great I am. Not I was, would be, could be,
should be, or will be. I am that I am. The Passover lamb was killed
and God said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. That was a reference to my blood. He's looking for my blood as
the reason as to why he would pass over you and not judge you. That's every believer's hope.
When God said, when I see the blood, that's the one thing he
was looking for, the blood. I will pass over you. The Lord
says, I am that manna. I'm the bread that came down
from heaven. I'm the rock that was smitten and water came out.
The reason men are saved is because I'm smitten and the waters of
my grace came out because of the smiting of the rock. I am
the tabernacle, the Lord says. That tabernacle was given to
represent me. You remember how it was covered
with badger skins, very common on the outside. But inside was
the very Shekinah glory of God. That tabernacle was given to
represent me. I am the great atonement of Leviticus
chapter 16 where you had two goats. One goat was slain and
the other goat, the scapegoat, the sins of Israel representatively
came upon me and I bore them away. That is all given to represent
me. I am the brazen serpent that
Moses wrote up in the book of Numbers. You remember how the
children of Israel complained, we don't have any water. We're
sick of this. We don't have any bread. We're sick of this manna.
And the Lord sent brazen serpents in and bit the people. And many
people of Israel died. And they came and prayed and
said, ask the Lord to do something for us. We're sorry for what
we've done. And a brazen serpent was made. And the Lord tells
us in John 3 that that represents Him. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
and everyone who was bitten. Look to that serpent and live.
That's the look to Christ. Now the ones that weren't bitten,
they were trying to figure out ways to avoid the pain of getting
bitten by the serpents and they were doing everything they could
to keep them out. But all those who were bitten,
who felt sin in their veins, they looked and they lived. When
Moses said, the Lord shall raise up a prophet like unto me, him
you shall hear, the Lord tells them, that's me. What about Joshua? Moses could not bring them in
to the promised land. The law cannot bring you into
salvation. But Joshua, his name means Savior. The Greek translation is Jesus.
Joshua could. What about Samson? The man of
great strength who through his death saved more people than
he ever did by his life. That's given to picture me and
the achievements of my death. What about Boaz in the book of
Ruth, the kinsman redeemer, who is able to redeem and who has
the right to redeem and he can redeem you from all your sins?
What about David, the son of Jesse? David, the Lord has called David son.
and David's Lord. I think of that story of David
fighting Goliath. Most children know that story.
David kills the giant with a sling and a stone, and people always
use that in reference to sporting events, but that's given to represent
the gospel. Salvation by a representative.
If David wins, all of Israel wins. If David loses, Israel
loses. David wins. He defeats Goliath
and all Israel wins. What about Solomon, the builder
of the temple? Christ is the builder of the
church. You go into the Psalms, they
all speak of Him. Christ Jesus is the key to understanding
all the Scriptures. When Isaiah said in the year
that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord high and lifted
up, and His train filled the temple. That's a reference to
him seeing the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ said, all the Scriptures
testify of me. Go on in the Old Testament, in
Jeremiah. Jeremiah speaks of Jehovah Tzikinu,
the Lord our righteousness. The Lord says, that's speaking
of me. It's my righteousness that's
given to every believer that causes him to be just, and that's
their name. Jehovah Tzikinu, the Lord our
righteousness. My righteousness is the personal
righteousness of every believer. In the end of the book of Ezekiel,
we read Jehovah Shama, the Lord is present. I am the presence
of the Lord. I think in the book of Daniel,
I mean, every chapter is given to illustrate the gospel, but
I think of when the three Hebrews were thrown into the fiery furnace
and then Nebuchadnezzar sees them in the fiery furnace. He
said, Did we not throw three in? Lo, I see four. And the fourth
is like the Son of God. And it was He who was within
the furnace where they could not be burned. He is Hosea who
loved that wicked woman Gomer to picture the Lord's love to
the church. You can see in all of these things
that he is picturing himself. Now, if you would understand
the scriptures, understand this. Everything is given to illustrate
Jesus Christ the Lord and his gospel. Let me give you a proof
of that. I think I've already proved it,
but in Galatians chapter 4, we read the story of Abraham and
Sarah. of Hagar and Ishmael. If you
remember the story, Sarah said, Abraham, we need to do our part.
God's promise has not taken place. So here's what you need to do.
You need to go into my servant, Hagar, and have a child with
her, and thus God's promise will be fulfilled when we do our part.
And they had Ishmael. And Ishmael is never acknowledged
as a son. But a few years later, Sarah
indeed did have that child supernaturally after she'd already gone through
menopause. And Paul tells us in Galatians
chapter 4 that these things are an allegory, an allegory to represent
the gospel. The birth of Isaac came supernaturally. The birth of Ishmael was of the
flesh, representing the covenant of grace and the covenant of
works. Now that lets us know that everything,
this Old Testament, people look at the Old Testament and they
think, well, was God really like that? Yes, He's no different.
He never changes. He said, I'm the Lord, I change
not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. He never changes,
He's immutable. But all these stories in the
Old Testament, everything in the Old Testament Scripture is
given to testify of Him. And so He was... I would love
to hear this message, wouldn't you? Let's go on reading. He
expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning
Himself. And they drew nigh unto the village,
whether they went, And he made as though he would have gone
further. Now, he never intended to go further, but as far as
they were concerned, he was going to keep on going. Remember, they
did not yet know who he was. But they were so taken up with
what he'd said, they wanted to ask him to stay. And look what
they said. But they constrained him, saying, abide with us, for
it's toward evening and the day is far spent. And he went in
to tarry with them. Oh, they wanted him to be with
them because they were so overtaken with what he had taught them.
Verse 30, and it came to pass as he said it meet with him.
He took bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to them. The guest becomes the host. Now he had gone in to be their
guest. and to eat their food and all
the sudden he's the host serving. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the one who provides, not us. Verse 31, and their eyes
were opened. Who opened it? He did. You see the Lord opens blind
eyes, he opens deaf ears, he opens dead hearts so that people
are enabled to hear and see the gospel. He opened their eyes
and they knew him and he vanished out of their sight. Now all of
a sudden they realize this one who has been walking with us
is nobody less than the Lord Jesus Christ and he is the one
who has opened to us the scriptures. Verse 32, 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 understand
this, the only way the Scriptures will be open to me or you is
if He opens them. The Bible is a closed book. You
and I cannot understand its message. unless He, by His Spirit, opens
to us the Scriptures. That's not something we can figure
out. I think of the Ethiopian eunuch, when Philip said, do
you understand what you're reading? He said, how can I, except some
man should guide me. I don't understand this." And
that's what God uses the preaching of the Gospel for, to open up
the Scriptures. And they said, did not our hearts
burn within us while He talked with us, by the way, and while
He opened to us the Scriptures. Now, when He shows us His beauty
by opening up the Scriptures. When He speaks with us, oh, it's
one thing to hear my voice, it's another thing to hear His voice.
When He speaks with us and shows to us who He is, when He shows
us His holiness, when He shows us His meekness, when He shows
us His power, His omnipotence, creative power, when He shows
us His Lordship, how He controls everybody and everything, when
He shows us His mercy and His grace, Oh, how our hearts burn
within us when He shows us the glory of His cross and the accomplishments
of His cross. When He shows us that everything
God requires of us, He looks to Christ for. And because of
what He did on the cross, nothing else is needed. When He had by
Himself purged our sins, He sat down. He doesn't need any help
from us. He doesn't need any contribution
from us. And when we see that, how our hearts burn within us. When He shows us the freeness
and the reality of His grace, our hearts burn. within us. When He shows us our acceptance
in Him, how He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, and I see it
doesn't have anything to do with my works. There's nothing I need
to do or be. I'm complete in the Lord Jesus
Christ. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him. By grace
you are saved. Oh, when we hear that, how our
hearts burn within us. Did not our hearts burn within
us while He talked with us by the way and while He opened to
us the Scriptures? Now, if you would understand
the Bible, here's the key. It all speaks of Him. Verse 33, they rose up that same
hour. After that trip with the Lord
and then the Lord vanished, they rose up that same hour quickly
to get back to Jerusalem, that seven-mile journey, all of a
sudden they had become his witnesses. They rose up the same hour and
returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together,
and them that were with him, saying, The Lord is risen indeed. You see, if I ever witness something,
I'll become a witness. They had to tell the eleven of
what they had seen. The Lord is risen indeed. And hath appeared to Simon, and
they told him what things were done in the way, and how that
he was known of them. in the breaking of bread. When that
bread was broken, which represented the broken body of the Lord,
what he accomplished on Calvary's tree, that's when it was made
known. And if you and I are ever enabled
to understand the message of the cross, why Christ was crucified,
that's when we'll understand, when we understand what substitution
really means. Now, we have this message on
DVD and CD. If you call the church, write
or e-mail, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Knight, praying
that God will be pleased to make Himself known to you and open
your understanding that you might understand the Scriptures. To
request a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send your
request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
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