Good to see you again. It's been
a while. Been a couple of years, I believe.
I'm glad to be back with you. I'm honored that Brother Todd
would ask me. It's a privilege. I thank you. It's good to see you. Thank you
for that reading. Thank you for praying for me.
I don't take that for granted at all. God forbid that we should
grow lukewarm like the church at Laodicea. Oh boy, this wonderful gospel
we have, this blessed privilege. Let's look at a story where the
people, the two disciples heard a preacher and their hearts were
anything but lukewarm. Their hearts were burning. Luke
24, look at the gospel of Luke chapter 24. This is a familiar
passage to nearly everyone in here, I'm sure. I know what the Todd's preached
from it many times, and for me to say the same things is not
grievous. If I had a text and a title, it would be found from
verse 17 and verse 38. The Lord said to these two disciples,
verse 17, what manner of communication are these that you have one to
another as you walk and are sad? Why are you sad? And in verse
38, They were troubled, they were
terrified, they thought they saw a ghost. And he said, why
are you troubled and why do thoughts arise in your heart? What he
was saying is, why do you always think the worst? That's what
he was saying. Anybody guilty of that? Why do
you always imagine the worst, when our Lord has only promised
his people good things, that all things, no matter what they
are, no matter how frightful they may seem, no matter how
troubling they may be, no matter how deep the troubles, he's promised
us that they work together for our good. Isn't it? Why are you
sad? And I hope that at the end of
this, they were not sad after he finished preaching, and I
hope it will be the case with us. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my
people. Two disciples, verse 13, were
walking along that same day to a village called Emmaus, about
seven miles long. They were walking along, talked
together of all the things which had happened, and communing together,
it said. These two disciples of the Lord
Jesus Christ, two believers, were walking along, talking to
each other about Christ crucified. and they're communing together.
That's a good thing, isn't it? There's nothing better, nothing
more profitable than to walk together with a brother, meet
together and talk about these things, commune around these
things, around our Lord, the communion of our Lord, of his
body and his blood. Vital, it's life, it's our life. And our Lord promised that where
two or three are gathered, didn't he promise? Every time, where
two or three are gathered in my name, talking of me, commuting
together of me, thinking about me, he said, I will be there
in the midst. And that's exactly what he did.
Look at verse 15. As they reasoned together, Jesus
himself drew near and went with them. He was with them. So this
is a wonderful thing. It's a good thing we're doing
here tonight. Sheep. It's the nature of sheep. The
nature of a sheep is gregarious. That's where we get the word
congregate. Sheep must flock together. It's the nature of
sheep. Goats can be alone. Goats can be out there on their
own. Goats can eat anything, not sheep. They have to have
green pasture. Sheep must gather together. You
remember the ark, Noah's ark? There were seven clean animals.
All of the clean animals were gregarious animals. All of the
clean animals flocked together. There were seven of them. The
number of perfection. Sheep must flock together. They
must. And wherever sheep are, there's
a shepherd. A shepherd is always nearby.
Always. And if there are just two or
three here tonight, Not in theory, not in principle, but in actuality,
the Lord said, I will be there. Didn't it? Oh my, I hope I'm
one of those two or three, don't you? Well, brethren, let me just
say this about it. Can two walk together except
they be a grave? These were two believers walking
together, talking together. Can two walk together except
they be a grave? Light can't have fellowship with
darkness. Christ can't have fellowship with Baal. Sheep must coexist
with goats. We must have commerce with, business
with, do business with, and live in this world. But we're not
of this world. And we cannot have fellowship.
There is no fellowship with this world. They are of the world,
John said, and they speak of the world. and the world is darkness,
dimness, and anguish of spirit, and it'll bring you down. Make
your companions those that fear the Lord. Walk with those that
know the Lord. David said, I am a companion
of them that fear thee. That's who he made his intimate
companion. Iron sharpeneth iron, so doth
hearty counsel of a man's friend with a man's friend. God's people,
make them your My pastor used to say that, our pastor used
to say that. The two most dangerous things for believers in this
world are the things of this world, we're so tempted by them,
and the people of this world. Our Lord warned the people, the
children of Israel about the people of the world that they
would steal their hearts away. Make the people of God your companions.
I don't know about you, Well, I do know about you. You enjoy
getting together with the brethren, and when you do, you hope that
the conversation will, at some point, turn around to the things
of Christ. I had three or four couples in our home, and we were
carrying on like we do, and the Lord knows our frame, and we're
like that. But I was disappointed that the
conversation never turned to the things of our Lord. It felt
like a waste of time. like the time wasn't redeemed.
These two were walking together and they were talking of these
things and our Lord himself appeared to them and walked with them
and talked with them. How blessed this is, how blessed
we are. There's nothing else worth talking
about, is there? Nothing else worth talking about, nothing
else that we're really interested in, huh? And after the Lord preached
to them, their hearts were burning. And our Lord drew near to them,
verse 15, it says, 16, their eyes were holding that they should
not know Him. He was with them, but they didn't
know it was Him. And He began to preach to them,
and this is by design. Our Lord hid His identity from
them by design. And they thought, even after
He preached, that He was just a preacher. Keep that in mind, because a preacher sent by God
is the voice of God himself. If you're going to hear from
the Lord, you're going to hear through a preacher. And he's
not just a preacher. How many times have you heard
the gospel? And you thought the Lord was speaking to me, not
that man. That's the way it is. If the
Lord blesses that preacher to pray, they didn't know it was
the Lord. They just thought it was a preacher and they didn't
want him to leave. And their hearts were burning
after that. May our hearts burn after this. Their eyes were beholden. Turn with me to Second King,
the book of Second King. You may know this story, but,
um, Elisha had a servant and he was terrified at the enemy,
the Philistines, wasn't it? The Syrians that were surrounding
them. Do the present events in this world trouble you? Are you
troubled by the taunts of that man in North Korea, anybody?
Sure you are. You're lying if you say you don't.
Could he send a rocket to this country? Absolutely. Absolutely. Will it be bad for God's people?
Absolutely not. No matter what. When the Lord
in Luke 21, Matthew 24 and Mark also, when the Lord began to
tell His disciples who asked Him about the last day and the
end time, He didn't say anything good about this earth. There
was nothing good. It was all dire warning. It was
all bad. He said there'd be wars and rumors
of wars and famines and pestilence and earthquakes and calamities. And He said they'll hate you
and they're even going to kill you. Your parents will rise against
you. Your brothers and your sisters will rise against you. He said
they're going to kill you in the name of God, in the name
of religion. He said Jerusalem, the mighty
city, just like New York or Washington, D.C., is going to be leveled.
Not one stone left standing on another. There's nothing good
about planet Earth. It's all dire. It's all destruction. But he said, when you see all
these things coming, lift up your heads. He's talking to his
people. Lift up your heads, your redemption
draweth not. It's not bad news. It's good
news. Your redemption draweth not.
That's what he said. He kept saying it over and over
again. Fear not. Fear not. It's bad for the world,
but not for my people. It's all good. All good. Well,
this young man went outside in verse 15 of 2 Kings 6, 16, 6,
2 Kings 6. Servant of God went outside,
get some wood or something. And he saw a host of horses and
chariots surrounding them. And he went back in and asked
my master, what shall I do? What shall we do? What are we
gonna do? Look at what Elisha said. Same thing our Lord kept
saying. Fear not. Fear not. They that be with us are more
than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed. Lord, I pray
thee, open his eyes that he may see. Open his eyes that he may
see. And the Lord opened his eyes,
opened the eyes of the young man he saw. The mountain was
full of horses and chariots of fire round about him. Who? One man, Matthew, one. One man. Who is he that can harm us? David
said that. Though a host should encamp against
me. Didn't he say that? Whom shall I be afraid? The Lord
is my salvation. Can you say that? You need to
be able to say that. Well, look at our text. Go back to our text.
He said, why are you sad? Why are you troubled? What's
the problem? And verse 17, Luke 24. What manner of communication
are these as you walk and are sad? And one of them named Phileopas
answered and said, are you a stranger in Jerusalem? Have you not known
the things that you've done? in these days, and he said, what
thing? And they said, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, the prophet,
mighty indeed, and word before God and all the people. Are you
a stranger in Jerusalem? Who's talking like a stranger? They're talking like they never
heard a thing the word of the Lord said. They talk like strangers
to the covenant, strangers to the promises of God, strangers
to the truth, weren't they? Christ was so long with them.
One time he said to Philip, have I been so long time with you
and yet you haven't known me? How long must I suffer with you? How long must I bear with you?
How long have we, some of us, been under the gospel? I've been
under the gospel a long time. Do I ever have doubts and fears
and worries and troubles? Sure I do. What's wrong with
me? Oh ye of little faith. One time he said to his disciple,
why don't you have any faith? Didn't he say that? Why is it
you have no faith? You act like you don't have any
faith. Down there in that verse 38 he
says, whatever it is, it is I. Whatever it is, whatever the
troubles, whatever the terror, whatever it is, it is I. I the
Lord do all these things, no matter what they be. It is I. They were still troubled. They
were uncertain of the outcome. We're not uncertain of the outcome,
are we? We know the end from the beginning.
In the defense of these men, they didn't have the understanding
that you have, that you and I have. They didn't have the finished
book, did they? Though the Lord told them what He was going to
do and where He was going to go and He was coming back. Still,
the thoughts of Him leaving, they didn't even want to hear
it. But we have the end, don't we? We see the last chapter.
Why are we troubled? You say, but I'm troubled about
my children. We should be. We should be. Troubled about
their souls. That's the one thing needful.
We just need to pray for our children, because that's the
one thing needful. If they don't know the Lord, high boy, that
if they do, Don't be troubled. Don't be troubled. When we talk of this world, like
these men talk of this world, being put in terms of worry and
doubt and fear, we talk like strangers to God's Word. We talk
like strangers to all the promises that our Lord has made. All the
promises of God in Christ are yea and amen. And when we get
together, we ought to be exhorting one another so much more as we
see the day approaching. An absolute sovereign God reigning
and ruling does all things no matter what they are and all
work together for our good and a Christ who came to finish his
work of redemption and he did just that. He's now seated at
the right hand of the majesty on high working all things together
for us. There's nothing to fear, nothing
to worry about. Let not your heart be troubled.
I just heard my pastor preach on that, John 14. Meaning, don't
give way to all the distress and doubts and fears and worries
that this world does. He said, let not your heart be
troubled. Don't give way to these things.
Well, our Lord asked them one thing. They said, Jesus of Nazareth,
Jesus of Nazareth is a prophet. Mighty in word and deed, but
the rulers took and delivered him, didn't they? That's what
they said. They're talking like Armenians. Who delivered up the
Lord to be killed? God delivered him up. He's more
than Jesus. He kept telling them that, telling
them that. And yet they talk like they didn't
even know it. Well, look at verse 21. We trusted it had been he which
would have redeemed Israel. We trusted. You know, they thought
like the Jews, they were caught in the same trap. The Jews were
looking for Christ to come to set up an earthly kingdom. The
Jews wanted the splendor of Solomon and the power of David. The Jews
wanted a health and wealth nation with no Roman tyranny. The Jews
wanted what so-called Christians want today, don't they? An earthly
kingdom where everything's all right. That's what these fellas
seem to be wanting. And they lost sight of the fact
that our Lord said, my kingdom is not of this world. If it were,
I would buy it. And neither is our home here.
We trusted it would have been He that redeemed Israel. He did. He did redeem Israel. He came
to redeem His people. That's why He came. He didn't
come to set up an earthly kingdom, but to establish a heavenly kingdom,
a spiritual kingdom, to redeem His people. And He is a Jew which
is one inwardly, not outwardly. His true Israel, His true elect,
that's why He came. And He did redeem them. On Calvary's
tree, He did redeem them. Are they stranger to everything
He said? Are you a stranger around here?
Anybody talks like that. They're the stranger to the truth,
aren't they? Well, they said certain women
came and told us. They went to the sepulcher, and
they found that there's no body there, and they came and said
that he had arisen. If you despise the messenger,
you won't hear the message, but the Lord chose a woman to be
the first to go give the news to those disciples. Mary Magdalene. He chose the chief of sinners,
and she went running with this news. Glad tidings. He's arisen. Oh, they didn't believe her.
I don't think they, until later, they really thought much of Mary
Magdalene. What does she know? What can
she tell us? Well, that's who the Lord Jesus
to give this message. Like Manoah's wife. Don't you
love that story of Manoah's wife, Samson's mother, that told his
husband that was full of doubts and fears, if the Lord was going
to kill us, would he have told us these things? Would he have
accepted this burnt offering? Huh? Would he have showed us
these things if he was going to kill us? These women, they didn't believe.
Look at verse 25. Our Lord said, Oh, fools and
slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
Oh, fools. That's me. I'm so foolish. I'm
so slow of heart to believe, so full of unbelief. Are 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? Huh? Isn't that why he came to suffer?
And you know, he said we would too. Peter wrote a whole book
that's full of talk of God's people suffering from the first
chapter to the last. First Peter. It's first Peter. Paul wrote, he said, it's given
unto us not only to believe, but to suffer for his name. And
our Lord came to suffer. He came to suffer. He came to
live, to establish a righteousness for his people and put that to
him and he came to suffer. He came to suffer as a sin-bearer,
as a sin-substitute, as a burnt-off friend. Suffer the wrath of God,
the judgment of God. Endure the justice of God against
our sins. He made sin for us on Calvary's
tree. That's why He came, and that's
what He did. And he put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself on Calvary's tree. And he told them that. He kept
telling them that. That's why he came. And that's
what he was going to do. And three days later, he was
going to come out of that grave like the high priesthood old
that came out of the holy of holy. Redemption accomplished. The sacrifice accepted. God is
well pleased with his sacrifice. He would come out victorious
over sin, hell, and death. Rejoice. Ought not Christ to
have suffered? And beginning at Moses, look
at verse 27, beginning at Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded
unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
That's all the Bible isn't it? That's Genesis to Malachi. He
expounded unto them all the things concerning himself. For they
are they which testify of me, Christ said. To him give all
the prophets witness. You know these things, don't
you? Want to hear it again? Boy, their hearts burn when they hurt.
How long did he preach? I don't know, but it wasn't long
enough. Long time, perhaps. It wasn't long enough. One time
Paul, when did I begin? One time Paul preached all night.
And the people never grew tired of him. When our Lord began to
preach, and no man spake like he did. Oh, what it must have
been to hear him preach. The half hadn't been told. We
think we've done some preaching. I think the Lord is going to
preach throughout eternity. Maybe begin in Genesis 1.1, preach
a couple thousand years, and clear this thing up for us. And
then go to verse 2. Oh, the half has never been told,
but He did. He told the whole, the full council didn't. He preached
Himself. He showed Himself. He revealed
Himself. Where did He begin? What did
He preach? Well, he had to preach the woman's seed, didn't he?
You know he did. That was the first message. He preached that
to the first sinners, didn't he? That was him walking in the
garden when the voice of the Lord walked in the cool of the
day. That was Jesus Christ. He's the Word of God. And he
began to preach the woman's seed that was to come. And he preached
to these two disciples. Are two persons worth preaching
to? He did. One time my dad was going, a
fella called him on the phone from West Virginia and had a
little church up in the mountains and he said, and dad was on TV
at that time and pretty famous, so to speak, and this preacher,
some regular Baptist up in the mountains, he said, Brother Mahan,
he said, would you come up and preach for us? He said, I know
you preach to a lot of people and all that. And he said, but,
he said, we just got a little group here. And he said, how
many would it take for you to come to preach to us? And my dad said, two. You listen,
and we need to preach. Two. The Lord himself, where
two men, two disciples, were gathered together in his name
with a sincere desire to worship him. communion together around
the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. The Lord himself met
with them and preached the word to them. Did he preach the woman's
seed? Most certainly. And he preached
himself. He said, Jesus of Nazareth, who
came, that was the woman's seed of whom the Lord promised. The
virgin born. You remember the story? Mary
will tell you. He was born of a virgin. Why? Because this holy thing is not
of man, it's of God. The Son of God who lived before
the world began. The eternal Son of God. God manifest
in the flesh. Not with the seed of man, but
the seed of God in Him. Sinless humanity. God-man come
to put away the sins of God's people. Crush the serpent's head.
He made sin Himself. You know He preached that day.
What else did He preach? Did He go to Exodus? The Passover
Lamb? You know He did. You can't preach the Gospel without
preaching the Passover. When the Lord said, this is it.
This is the Gospel. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. Christ, men, Jesus of Nazareth
who hung on that cross, God come in the flesh, That's the Passover
Lamb. Do you remember John the Baptist
saying, Behold the Lamb of God? That's Him. The blood on the
doorpost and the lintel? That's the Lamb of God. He came
to put away His people's sin and everybody under the blood
and everybody in Him. God will pass over in judgment
and have mercy and grace and save them and deliver them when
the destroyer comes. You know he preached the Passover
lamb. What else? The smitten rock. There's not
enough time. The smitten rock. The serpent
lifted up on the pole. He said that before, didn't he?
In John 3. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man, must the Son
of Man be lifted up. Now everyone that looks to Christ
and Christ crucified will have eternal life. You know he did
that. What else? The kinsman redeemer. So many things. The shepherd,
the Lord, the shepherd. Oh, the bridegroom, Solomon's
song. Oh my, bringing back the ark,
the defender of the law. The great physician in Jeremiah,
did he preach from Isaiah 53? You know he did. He did that
before. The Lord preached himself. What do we preach? What does
your pastor preach? Christ and Him crucified. After
he preached, After he prayed, they drew nigh to the village,
verse 28, where they went. He made as though he would have
gone further. You see, they still think it's just a preacher. Do
you understand this? That if God gives you a gospel
preacher, it's the greatest gift he can give to you on this earth. Our Lord Jesus Christ is seated
in the heavens right now. He's unseen. He doesn't speak
out loud. He's through speaking out loud.
But if he speaks, if he's going to speak to his people, he's
going to speak through a preacher. You believe that? That's what
our Lord said. He sent out his disciples, those
apostles, and 70 others, and he said, if they receive you,
they receive me. If they hear from me, they're
going to hear through you. If they don't hear you, they won't
hear me. That's what he said. And these men received this preacher. with such gladness and such joy
and such thanksgiving and such gratitude as if it were the Lord
himself. And they constrained him, said,
don't go, please don't go. I hear you praying for your pastor.
Good, good. Pray that the Lord doesn't take
him. Pray for your preacher. Pray
that the Lord will give him a message for you. Because if you're gonna
hear from the Lord, you're gonna hear it through that preacher. If
your children are gonna hear from the Lord, they're gonna
hear it through that preacher. pray for him. They just thought
it was a preacher. But the Lord was speaking. The
Lord was speaking. And they constrained him. And
he made as if he was going to leave. Oh, man. And they said,
abide with us. And it was toward evening. So
he did. He went in and tarried with them. And it came to pass,
verse 30, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread and blessed
it and break and gave it to them. And their eyes were open and
they knew him. And then he vanished out of their
sight. How are our eyes open when he breaks this bread of
life? We sing that song, one of my favorites. One of my favorite
songs to begin the worship service. Break thou the bread of life,
dear Lord, to me, as thou hast broke the bread by the sea of
Galilee. If the Lord will break this bread
of life, to open the scriptures of our understanding, Christ
will be revealed to us, and our hearts will burn, and our troubles
will lessen. And that's what they say in verse
32. They said one to another, did
not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the
way, while he opened to us the scriptures? Did not our hearts
burn? Oh, for this burning, burning
heart whenever the gospels pray. As I said at the beginning, that's
providential, you read that. The church that lay at the sea
grew lukewarm to it. And he said, I'll spew you out
of my mouth. How dare you grow lukewarm to the story of my son
who came down here for such unworthy and wretched creatures as you.
You've forgotten that you're wretched, miserable, poor, blind,
and naked. And you've forgotten what a wonderful,
glorious, amazing gift of God's sovereign, electing grace it
is for you to have this gospel. Don't grow low corn. Don't be
like the children of Israel who loathe this light bread. He said,
or I'll take it from you. Oh my. Did not our hearts burn with
that? And they left, and our Lord appeared
to them again, and down in verse, I heard Brother Todd preach from
there, wonderful. He appeared to them. You know,
people say Christ can't get in the door unless you open the
door. He is the door. But he came in, and verse 38,
37, they were terrified, and the friar didn't suppose they'd
seen a spirit. And he said unto them, why are you troubled? Why
do thoughts arise in your heart? Why do you always think the worst?
Why are you troubled? Why are you so sad? Didn't you hear what
I said? And he showed them receipts for
their redemption. He showed them the marks of a
redemption accomplished, the blood applied, sins gone, his
hands, scars, and his faith, didn't he? If you're not faithful,
don't believe him. And I say the same thing to you.
Why are you troubled? Why are you sad? Huh? Yeah, bad
things are happening. Yeah, troubles come and expect
it. Our Lord said, expect it that
when it comes, you won't, it won't catch you by surprise.
He said, pray always watch and pray always that these things
don't come on you unaware so that you may be able to stand
before the Lord. Having done all he said in Ephesians
six to stand. Yes. Watch and pray that these
things don't take you unaware because it's not peace and safety.
like the false preachers say. But if you're in Christ, that
flood hit Houston, didn't it? We were worried about our brethren,
weren't we? No need to worry. They're in
the ark. They're in the ark. Hurricane
went through Florida, didn't it? We have to worry about them?
God sent the hurricane. Nahum 1 2, I think it is, says
he hath his way and the world went. He's the one that sent
it. God's people. safe in the everlasting
arms of their Lord and their Savior who sent these things.
Judgment to the world, good things for God's people. He's bringing
them out. He's calling them out. Be not troubled. Be not sad. Be not afraid. Fear not. It is
I, he said. May the Lord bless his word with
our hearts. Amen.