Would you turn back to Luke chapter
24? While you're turning there, tonight
we're going to observe the Lord's table. And the Lord said, this
do in remembrance of me. And one of the things that I
find sad, and yet I know it's necessary, is the fact that we
have to be reminded. But when we observe the Lord's
table, we're doing this in remembrance of who he is and what he did
on our behalf. What a blessed privilege to do
this. And I'm going to speak from Acts
chapter two upon this subject. What is the church? What is the
church? And we're also going to be having
a get-together for Evan Farrell. He's going to Poland on a deployment
soon, and we want to wish him well. And we'll do that after
the services tonight. Now, Luke chapter 24, verse 32,
And they said one to another, These
two men who had been walking on the road to Emmaus, and the
Lord came to them, 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. I've entitled
this message Heartburn. And it's my prayer that God causes
that to take place with us and that he opens to us the scriptures. I turned to verse 13 of the same
chapter. And behold, chapter 24, verse
13. And behold, two of them went
that same day. the same day that the Lord was
risen from the dead, to a village called Emmaus, which was from
Jerusalem, about three score furlongs, about seven miles is
about what that is. And these were two of the 120
that were in the upper room. These were disciples of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Verse 14, And they talked together
of all these things which had happened. Now, these men were
talking about the death of Christ and how disappointed they were.
They were talking about all the things that had happened. And
when you read this passage of scripture, you read that these
men were very ignorant, very ignorant. The things that they
think, you think, how could they be disciples? But they were of
this 120. And here's the point I want to
make about these fellas. These fellas responded appropriately
when they heard the truth. Now, yes, they were ignorant.
But when they heard the truth, as we're going to see, they responded
appropriately. When they heard Christ preach
the gospel to them, their hearts burned within them. And so while
none of us are where we ought to be, I hope that we respond
to the truth appropriately, like these men did. But they were
speaking of the death of Christ, and they were disappointed, as
we're going to see. 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 this conversation,
trying to make sense of what had taken place, and they were
disappointed. They thought the Lord was going
to restore the kingdom back to Israel. They thought Israel would
once again be a worldwide power like it used to be, and they
were just disappointed with what had taken place, and they were
trying to make sense of what all had taken place. And then
the Lord himself drew near them. Oh, I pray that's what happens
right now, that the Lord would draw near and speak to our hearts. Verse 16, but their eyes were
holding that they should not know him. When he drew near,
they didn't know it was him. Why didn't they know it was him?
Because he prevented from it. He held their eyes to where they
couldn't see and couldn't understand. 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? They were so sad, and
it showed on their face. They were disappointed. What
they had hoped for had not taken place, and they were wondering,
what has happened? We do not understand. They thought national Israel
would be restored and Christ would be the king, and they would
once again be a mighty nation. And the Lord asked them, what
are you so sad about? Verse 18. And 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? How is it that you don't know
about what's taken place? All of Jerusalem knew about it.
Did you just get here today? Are you a stranger? You're not
from here? That you don't know what's taking place? Verse 19,
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. Now they had too low an opinion
of Christ. That's where the problem was. He was a prophet. No, he
still is that prophet. He is not a was. He is an is. I am that I am. They demonstrated way too low
a view of Christ. Let me ask you a question. Do
you think you have a high enough view of Christ? I'll assure you,
you don't. Nor do I. 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 make a mistake. They thought the chief
rulers did this. No, God did this. Remember, him
being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken him with wicked hands and crucified him.
He was no victim. He laid down his life himself.
The chief priests and the rulers, they were just God's pawns performing
God's will, doing God's purpose. That's the way everybody is.
I want to ask you a question. When I say something like that,
do you have a problem with that? I don't. I love God being in absolute
control. He's the one who delivered him,
not the chief priests. They were simply pawns in God's
hand doing God's purpose. Verse 21, but we trusted that
it had been He which should have redeemed Israel. We thought He
was going to redeem Israel and all they understood was some
kind of political redemption. All they understood was He is
going to put us back in power, and it didn't come out. We're
still under Roman rule. We're still under the Roman government,
under their thumb. We're still where we were. We're
disappointed. Things have not turned out the
way we thought it would. We trusted He would have redeemed
Israel, and they didn't realize He did redeem Israel, and He
did something much more glorious. He completely saved all of God's
elect. He made the way open to God,
and they didn't see it. All they saw was political disappointment. But let me remind you of something,
believer. You may be disappointed over
many things, but do you know something infinitely greater
is going to take place? That's God's promise. And they
were disappointed. They didn't know that something
infinitely greater would take place. Verse 22, Yea, and certain
women also of our company made us astonished, which were early
at the sepulcher. And when they found not his body,
they came saying that they'd seen a vision of angels, which
said he was alive. We're confused by all of this.
We don't understand it. Verse 24. And certain of them
which were with us, talking about when Peter and John ran to the
sepulcher and found it empty. You can read the count further
in John chapter 20. 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. Now here, They are in this state
of confusion. What has happened? We don't know. Now look what the Lord said to
them. Remember, they still don't know who he is. Their faces are
whole and they can't see who he is. 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? Was there not a necessity for
Him to suffer these things and then to enter into His glory? Now, if the Lord said to you,
you're a fool and you're slow of heart to believe, how would
you respond to that? That's me. That's me. And then he asked
this question, was it not necessary for Christ to suffer these things? And was it not necessary for
him to enter into his glory? Look in verse 7 of this chapter.
This is what the angels said to the women at his empty tomb. He said in verse 6, He's not
here, but He's risen. Remember how He spake unto you
when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must, it's absolutely
necessary for Him to be delivered into the hands of sinful men.
And He must be crucified, and the third day He must rise again.
Now, why must He be delivered? Because it's God's will. Regarding everything, It's God's
will. It's God's purpose. And He was
delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. That's why it was necessary for Him to be delivered. Not
because He was powerless or He was a victim, but because this
was God's purpose. Never forget, the cross is the
purpose of God. Why must He be crucified? Why
was it necessary for Him to be crucified? Because He was guilty. Now understand, when Christ died,
the reason he died was because he was guilty. The sins of his
people became his sins, and he became guilty of committing those
sins. Now, you know he never sinned
in his person. He knew no sin. He did no sin. When he was made
sin, that doesn't mean he started committing sin, and it doesn't
mean he started thinking evil thoughts and things like that.
No, no. But I know this, my sin became his sin so truly that
he owned it as his own sin. He was guilty of it. That sin,
if you're a believer, that sin you've committed in the last
10 minutes, he was made to own that sin before his father as
his sin. And God is just, God is holy,
God is righteous, God must punish sin. That's why he was crucified. He was guilty. He was guilty.
It wasn't the innocent being condemned, it was the guilty
being condemned. That's how truly my sin became his sin. Why must
he be raised from the dead? because of the achievements of
His death. He put away sin. He made that sin to not be, to
be no more. It's gone. I must be saved. He must be raised because He
rendered complete satisfaction to God. God was so completely
satisfied with what He did that He raised Him from the dead.
And Christ says to these people, ought not Christ to have suffered
these things, and then to enter into His glory, having achieved
everything He set out to do, having completely satisfied God,
having completely satisfied His people, saving His people from
their sins, ought not He to enter into His glory? Verse 27. Now, This is, there's no more important
verse of scripture than this in all the Bible. And I told
Liv this morning, I've got the task of preaching the whole Bible
in a very limited amount of time. I'm not gonna go any longer than
usual, but I'm gonna preach the whole Bible right now. If you
wanna know what the Bible's about, here it is. Verse 27, and beginning
at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all
the scriptures the things concerning himself. Now there you have a
summary of the entire book. He began to expound unto them,
beginning at Moses and the prophets, he expounded to them in all the
Scriptures, the things concerning himself. Don't miss this, all the Scriptures. Do you know all the Scriptures
are with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ? All of No exceptions. Every law, every story, every
historical event, every man, they're all given to illustrate
and expound the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything. Everything in the
Bible is with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. All of it. He said he began to expound in
all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Wouldn't
you have loved to have heard this message on the road to Emmaus? It was a seven-mile walk. And
as he walked with these men, he said, oh, fools, slow of heart
to believe all that the prophets had spoken. Was it not necessary
for Christ to have suffered these things? And He went into the
Old Testament Scriptures to expound to them the things concerning
Himself. I love that passage in John chapter
5 verse 39 when He says to the Pharisees, You search the Scriptures,
and in them you think you have eternal life. And they are they
which testify of Me. Now, I think of Him speaking
to them. When it says, in the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. That was me. I'm the one who did it. I want
to say this as reverently as I can. But when the Lord promised
Adam and Eve in the garden about the seed of woman that shall
crush the serpent's head I am the seed of woman. I am the virgin
born, God the Son, who never had an evil nature and able to
crush the serpent's head. That's me. When Abel offered
that sacrifice that God said because of it, Abel was righteous. Thee have I seen as righteous.
And God actually respected Abel. That sacrifice simply points
to the power of My precious blood that can make somebody like Abel
or you respectful to God. Where He sees you and He respects
you because of who you are through the blood. I am Abel's sacrifice. That ark that you read of in
the Old Testament. That ark, where everybody that
was in it, the eight souls that were in it, were saved, they
were safe, they were secure. That ark, everybody outside of
the ark, was destroyed. That ark represents me. You know,
that atonement, that pitch that was on the inside and on the
out, that kept the water out and kept everybody safe in, that
represents my atoning blood. That ark is me. When Abraham rejoiced to see
my day, it's because he saw that ram that was offered up in the
stead of his son. I am that ram. And that was given
to typify my substitutionary sacrifice. I am Isaac, the one
of the supernatural birth, the one who was the child of the
promise that represents Me. I am Joseph. You remember how
Joseph said to his brethren, you meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good to save much life. That's reference to me
and my cross. You meant it for evil when you
crucified me. You meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good to save much life. You remember that? burning bush
that Moses saw that could not be consumed. That's me. I am that burning bush. I am
the one who said from the bush, I am that I am. You remember when he said to
the Pharisees, when they said, you're not yet 50 years old,
and you tell us you've seen Abraham? He said, before Abraham was,
I He is the great I am that I am who appeared to Moses. And what
about the Passover? When the Lord said, when I see
the blood I will pass over you. He was talking about my blood.
He wasn't talking about the blood of the Lamb. The one thing he
was looking for was my blood. When I see the blood I will pass
over you. I'm that tabernacle. That tabernacle
in the wilderness, inside it, it had the Shekinah glory of
God, but it was covered over with badger skins and it just
looked like up to the untrained eye. And those who didn't know
what it was, it just looked like nothing impressive. But they
didn't know the very Shekinah glory of God dwelt on the inside. That all is given to represent
me and different aspects of my character. I'm the manna. that
came down from heaven. I'm the bread of life that was
only given to represent me. I'm that smitten rock. You remember
when Moses smote the rock and water came out of it to give
Israel to drink. When I'm smitten and only by me being smitten
can you live. He's expounded them in all the
scriptures the things concerning himself. I am the atonement of
Leviticus chapter 16. Those two goats, the scapegoat
and the goat that was sacrificed, they represent me. What I did,
that I bore the sins, just as the scapegoat bore the sins of
Israel, I bear the sins of the elect. It was all given to illustrate
who I am and what I've done. I'm that brazen serpent. You
know, everybody that was bitten, what'd they do? They looked at
that brazen serpent and they lived. You know everybody that
was not bitten did? They were trying to keep the
serpents away. They were looking for ways to keep the serpents
from biting them, but everybody that was bitten, bitten and seeing
their sinner, they looked to that brazen serpent and lived.
That's me. I'm Joshua. Remember how Moses
couldn't bring the children of Israel into the promised land?
The law can't bring you in. Only Joshua, the Savior, can. I am Samson, who delivered more
by his death than by his life. I'm Boaz, that kinsman redeemer
who had the right to redeem Naomi of everything she lost, and he
had the ability to redeem Naomi from all she lost, and he's the
kinsman redeemer who has the ability to redeem you and the
right to redeem you. That's who he is. I am David. The Son of David. David's Son
and David's Lord. He represents me. When David
fought Goliath, all that did was represent the Gospel. If
David wins, all of Israel wins. If David loses, all of Israel
loses. David won. All of Israel wins. That's given to illustrate the
Gospel. I'm David. I'm Solomon. I'm the builder
of the temple. Can you imagine this message
during this walk? I am Elijah's sacrifice that
was consumed by fire that God accepted. I'm the one Isaiah
saw high and lifted up. It was my train who filled the
temple. I'm the one who is holy, holy, holy. The Lord God of hosts,
the whole earth is full of His glory. That's me. I'm the one
Isaiah wrote about in Isaiah 53 about that substitutionary
sacrifice. All the Scriptures are of me. Why, I'm Jehovah Sidkenu,
the Jeremiah wrote of. In Jeremiah chapter 23, this
is the name wherewith he shall be called Jehovah Sidkenu, the
Lord our righteousness. That's speaking of my righteousness,
my personal righteousness being the personal righteousness of
every believer. Jehovah Shama that Ezekiel speaks
of at the last part of Ezekiel at the end of the book where
he said the Lord is present. I am the presence of the Lord.
If you want to know the Lord's presence, you're going to have
to know me. I am the son of God that Nebuchadnezzar saw in the
Fire, with the other three children of Israel. Remember when they
were thrown in, bound? And then Nebuchadnezzar says,
didn't we throw three in? Lo, I see four. And they're loose,
walking, and the fourth is like the Son of God. Christ says,
that's me. That's me. I am Hosea. that loved Gomer, that wicked
woman, that was all given to represent my love to the children
of Israel. Now that's what he did. He preached
the whole Bible to them, and every passage of Scripture, everything
in the Bible is given to represent the Lord Jesus Christ. New Testament,
Old Testament. Why do we take the Lord's table?
We're going to do that tonight. Why do we take the Lord's table?
To remember Him. What's baptism all about? Baptism is His salvation. When He lived, I lived. When
He died, I died. When He was raised from the dead,
I was raised from the dead. This is everything in the Bible. Every doctrine is only understood
in light of Him. How do you understand election
if you don't see your chosen in Him? How do you understand
redemption if you don't understand you're redeemed by His blood?
How do you understand justification if you don't understand you're
justified by His righteousness? He is all the message of the
scripture. You know, when the Bible says
Christ is all, that means a whole lot of things. He's all that
God is. He's all God has to say. He's
all in salvation. But He's all in the Bible. You
have not understood any part of the Bible unless you see that
He is the meaning. And you might not even know the
meaning, how to get there, but you know what it means even before
you try. I know that this is given to reveal who he is and
what he did. Now, verse 28. And as they drew nigh unto the
village, whether they went, he made as though he would have
gone further. They got to Emmaus and he acted
like he was going to keep on going. And all the time he knew
he wasn't. but he made them think he was. Why? Here's why. Verse 29, 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. He's going to have us ask him to abide with us. And he's
going to do what it takes to cause you to cry out, oh, you're
going to constrain him. Lord, be with me. Let me have
your presence. Don't leave me to myself. be
my teacher, be my savior, abide with us. That's why he acted
as though he would have gone further. And he went in to tarry
with them. And it came to pass, verse 30, as he said it, meet
with them, he took bread and blessed it
and break it and gave it to them. All of the sudden, the guest
becomes the host. They thought they were going
to serve him and serve him dinner. It ain't gonna be that way. He is the host. He's the one
who provides. And I'm sure that was strange
where all of a sudden the guest becomes the host. And he's the
one who starts breaking the bread and giving to them. And you know
this prefigures the Lord's table. It's a reference to that. It
came to pass as he said it, meet with them, verse 30, and he took
bread and blessed it and break it and gave to them and their
eyes were opened. Who opened them? He did. He did. Their eyes were opened,
and they knew Him. They knew exactly who this was,
who had become the host, and they thought He'd been the guest.
And He was made known in the breaking of bread. And you know
when Christ is made known? When you understand something
about why He was broken. That's when He is made known.
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 when he speaks
from his word and opens to us the scriptures, you know what
happens out of that? Our hearts burn. My heart's not burning. Well, and he didn't open up the
scriptures to you. If he opens up the scriptures
to me or you, you know what we'll do? Our hearts will burn when
He shows us His beauty, the glory of His attributes, when He shows
us His love, when He shows us His justice, when He shows us
His sovereignty, when He shows us His immutability, when He
shows us that He's eternal, that He never had a beginning. Oh,
our hearts burn when we see Him. We love Him just as He's revealed
in the Scriptures. when He shows us our acceptance
in Him. How God actually accepts me. That God actually sees me as
beautiful. That God actually sees me as without fault and
without sin and holy in His sight. Oh, how our hearts burn when
He shows us our acceptance in the Beloved. How our hearts burn
when He shows us the glory of His cross and our complete acceptance. How because of the blood of His
cross, Everything's fine. I'm perfect in God's sight. I
am righteous before God. Do you see glory in the cross?
What God actually accomplished? How He made a way in the cross
to be absolutely just and declare me to be righteous. And I really
am righteous through what Christ did on the cross. All my sins
put away, cast behind God's back, separated from me as far as the
east is from the west. Oh, my heart burns when I really
am enabled to believe that the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished my salvation. How our hearts
burn when He shows us the freeness and the reality of His grace.
Salvation really is by grace. It has nothing to do with my
works. How that makes my heart dance for joy. How that makes
my heart burn. Oh, our hearts burn when He opened
to us the scriptures. You see, if He opens to us the
scriptures, our hearts will burn. If I'm the one doing it, ain't
nobody's hearts gonna burn. But if He does it, oh, how our
hearts burn within us. We can look at each other and
say, did not our hearts burn while He opened us the scriptures? Verse 33, And they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem. Now
remember, this was a seven mile walk. They'd just got to Emmaus,
but the same hour after the Lord vanished, they said, we need
to get back to Jerusalem. They now became witnesses. They were going to tell the 11
of what they had seen. And let me say this. May the
Lord enable me to say this the right way. If I ever see something,
I must be a witness. If I'm not a witness, it's because
I've never seen anything. But if the Lord has opened to
me the scriptures and shown me the gospel of Christ, I must
tell others. That's a must. And that's what
happened with them. They had to get back and tell
the 11 what took place. And they rose up the same hour
and returned to Jerusalem, verse 33, and found the 11 gathered
together, and then were with them. Now, I think it's interesting
if you read Mark's account, when these two fellows came and told
the 11 about what had taken place, you know what scripture says
about the 11? They didn't believe them. They didn't believe them. Why didn't they believe them?
Same reason you and I don't believe when we don't believe. There's
always, I believe. Lord, help thou mine unbelief. That's always the case. They
didn't believe them, but that didn't take away from the truth.
And here's what they had to say. Verse 34 saying, the Lord is
risen indeed. And he has appeared to Simon. Now, Paul points out in 1 Corinthians
chapter 15 of the Lord's special appearing to Peter, and that
might be what they're talking about. I really don't know. It
might be the other guy's name was Simon. I'm not sure. But
he appeared to Simon, and they told, verse 35, and they told
what things were done in the way, and how he was known of
them in breaking of bread. Now, I try to put myself in their
place. They've invited this one. to come into their home and they
fix him dinner. And they're so excited. They
don't know it's the Lord, but they know they've loved what they've heard.
And they're excited about this. And all of a sudden, this one
who is their guest is the host. He's the one supplying the bread. And he was made known in the
breaking of bread. He will be made known to me and
he will be made known to you only when he makes himself known,
and he makes himself known through the breaking of bread, which
is a reference really to the cross, you know, the Lord's table.
This is my body broken for you. This is the blood of the testament
shed for you. It's only when you see that all
God requires of you was accomplished by Christ on Calvary's tree,
in the breaking of his body. When you see that, you know what?
He has made himself known to you. I'd like to have continual heartburn,
wouldn't you? Continual heartburn. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would open to us the scriptures and that you would
cause us to see that every scripture is concerning thy blessed son
to teach us of thy gospel. Lord, we ask that we might be
given this heartburn that comes from seeing your glory.
Lord, we ask in Christ's name that you would bless this message
for your glory and for our good. Give everybody in here, oh Lord,
would you be pleased to make yourself known to us through
the gospel. Lord, ask in Christ's name that
not one person in this room would be left to themselves But
by your gospel, by your spirit, you would speak to each person
here according to your will. Lord, let us be like those two
men on the road to Emmaus. For Christ's sake, in his name
we pray. Amen.