They had left Jerusalem, and they were on their way to
Emmaus, about 7 or 8 miles from Jerusalem. Afternoon, Sunday
afternoon, after Christ arose from the grave on Sunday morning,
and our Lord joined them and walked with them for a while. And you heard the message this
morning. Then in verse 28, when they drew nigh unto the village,
Emmaus, whither they went, he made as though he would have
gone farther. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us. It
is toward evening. It is getting later now. The
day is far spent. So he went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as they
sat at meat, He sat at meat with them, there were three of them,
these two men and our master. He took bread, and he blessed
it, and he break it, and he gave it to them. And their eyes were
opened, and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight.
And they said one to another, Did not our hearts burn within
us? while he talked with us by the
way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures. Now it's late
in the evening. I can imagine it's six, seven
o'clock even, Sunday evening. Nevertheless, it says in verse
33, they rose up that same hour. They left the table and they
returned to Jerusalem, this seven or eight miles. Here they go
back to Jerusalem. They knew the house where the
eleven disciples would be assembled, and so they headed that way.
In verse 33, they rose up the same hour, returned to Jerusalem,
and they found the eleven, all eleven apostles, with the exception
of Judas, who had betrayed our Lord and tamed himself. And them that were with them,
evidently some of these women were with them in this room in
this house. They were talking about the Master's
resurrection. For the next verse said, saying,
now this is not these two men, Cleopas and Luke talking, this
is the eleven. They came into the house. And
these eleven disciples and the people who were with them, they
said to these two men, the Lord is risen indeed. The Lord is
risen. They greeted them with that word.
The Lord is risen. And he has appeared to Simon. He has appeared to Simon Peter.
He did appear to Simon Peter before he appeared to the other
disciples. Now Mary saw him at the sepulchre.
Remember? Turn back to Mark chapter 16. Mary saw him at the sepulchre.
But the other disciples had not seen him, none of the eleven.
But here in Mark chapter 16, These women came to the tomb
there, and they saw the stone was rolled away, verse 4. It
was very great. And entering into the sepulchre,
they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in
a long white garment. They were afraid. It was an angel. And he said unto them, Be not
afraid. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, which
was crucified. He's risen. He's not here. Behold the place where they laid
him. And go, go your way, and tell his disciples, and Peter,
and Peter, tell his disciples, and these angels added, and tell
Peter, that he goeth before you in the Galilee, there shall you
see him, as he said unto you. And they came, and our Lord in
between that time, and when he appeared to the eleven, He appeared
to Simon Peter. Peter had denied him so shamefully,
so terribly. I want you to read that. I went
back and read it again. I want you to read it with me.
It's found in Matthew chapter 26. Peter's great denial. You know, Peter boasted in front
of the disciples. He boasted. The Lord said he
was going to Jerusalem. He'd be killed, and Peter said,
He said, all of you be offended. He said, I won't. I'll stand
with you even to death. I'll stand with you even to death.
And our Lord said, Peter, the cock will not crow three times
this night before you'll deny me. Three times. And here it is in Matthew 26.
It says in Matthew 26, verse 69, the soldiers Matthew 26, verse 69. The soldiers
mistreated him, didn't they? In verse 68, they said, prophesy
to us. Are you the Christ who smote
thee? Now, Peter sat without in the palace. Evidently, our
Lord was here in the soldiers' hall, and Peter was sitting right
outside. He followed the Lord there. The Scripture tells us
he followed the Lord down to this soldiers' hall where they
were brutalizing him and mistreating him. And Peter sat without in
the palace, and a damsel came unto him, saying, Thou also was
with Jesus of Galilee. Peter denied before them all,
saying, I don't know what you're saying. This is the man who said,
I'll never deny. I'll go to death with you. This
is the man who loved Christ. He said, Lord, you know everything. You know I love you. This is
a man who's afraid. deeply afraid. And when he was gone out into
the porch, another maid saw him and said to them that were there,
This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied
with an oath, I do not know that man. After a while came unto him they
that stood by and said to Peter, Surely, surely thou also art
one of them. Your speech betrays you. Now,
he's going to let them know he's got another way of talking, too.
Your speech betrays you. And it will, too. So he began
to curse. Verse 71, he began to curse and
to swear. He said, I know not the man.
And immediately the cock crows. And Peter remembered the words
of Jesus which said unto him before the cock crows, you'll
deny me three times. And he went out and wept. Can you imagine? Bitterly. His heart in him was a stone. He had denied his Lord. He had
cursed and sworn. He had an opportunity to confess
Christ, to glorify God, And he cursed and swore, and he said,
I don't know. And our Lord, in great grace and mercy and goodness
and love, sent an angel to tell these women to go tell my disciples
and tell Peter. Tell Peter that I'm going to
meet you. I'm going to meet you. We know
from Paul's writings in 1 Corinthians 15 that he appeared to Peter
first. Our Lord's gracious, forgiving,
loving, kindest people. Jim, the Lord, is my shepherd.
He is my shepherd. He is a forgiving, loving, good
shepherd. He'll never forsake us. We'll
forsake him. We'll deny him, but he'll never
deny us. First Corinthians 15, verse 5.
It said, verse 4, he was buried, he rose again the third day according
to the scriptures, and he was seen of Peter. And then, of the
twelve. Don't you know, well I wouldn't
even try to touch that reunion when Christ arose and met Peter. And Peter had wept bitterly,
I imagine he's still weeping, when he met his Lord. Christ
forgave you. He forgave you of every sin. I never will forget when a dear,
dear friend of mine killed himself. Shot himself in the head and
died. And it was told to one of my
sons, it was Paul, that this man with whom they grew up, whom
they loved, of the gospel, had killed himself. And Paul said,
Well, the Lord who forgives the first sin will also forgive the
last sin. All manner of sin and blasphemies
shall be forgiven, except one, and that's to deny the gospel.
That won't be forgiven. Well, I had to dwell on that
a little bit because the disciple said that The Lord's risen and
He's appeared to Peter. He talked to Peter. Peter was
the oldest. Did you know that? Peter was
the oldest. Peter was the spokesman. Peter
was embarrassed. He was humiliated. And the Lord
reached down and lifted the weak disciple and the fallen disciple
and restored him. He got back where he was. So
don't leave. Don't go away. Just confess your
sins and be forgiven by a loving, gracious master. That's so. All right. Verse 35. So now these men speak up and
they told the eleven. See, they are one of that seventy. I told you that this morning.
Cleophas and Luke, they were not of the eleven disciples. They weren't of the twelve. They
were disciples. So they came in where these men
were meeting. And they told him what things were done in the
way and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. I want
to dwell on that just a moment. Cleopas and Luke, their eyes
were holding and they didn't recognize the Master. The Lord
did that on purpose. He veiled their eyes. Because
he wanted to talk to them. He wanted to reveal the Word
of God to them. But when they came in and sat
down at the table, It wasn't the Lord's table, that is, communion. It wasn't the table at the Passover
and that sort of thing. It was just a meal, just a common
meal. There was three men, the master
and two men. And they sat down to bread. And
that's when our Lord revealed himself to them. That's when
their eyes were opened. He took that bread and thanked
God for it and broke it. They said, we know who you are.
And I'm saying this, an ordinary meal, no matter if one of us
sits down or two of us or three of us in our homes, let it be
a time of breaking bread and giving thanks to God. Doesn't
have to be a big table loaded with people where you have somebody
grace the table. Our Lord, when he sat down with
these two men, graced the table, offered thanks to God, blessed
the bread. I tell you, when it's blessed,
it goes down better, doesn't it? It might stay down better,
too. All right, so he blessed the
bread and made himself known. And as they thus spake, these
men, here's the eleven, here's the women with them, here are
these two, Cleophas and Luke. And as they thus spake, Jesus
himself stood in the midst of them, himself, and said unto
peace beyond the earth, our Lord himself. You see, our redemption
was undertaken back before the foundation of the world, undertaken
by himself. Our redemption was accomplished
by himself becoming a man, himself. Our redemption was accomplished
by our Lord Jesus Christ giving himself for our sins. The scripture says this, when
he had by himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand
of God. The scripture says he put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself. The scripture says the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout. And how wonderful this
word is. As they spake, the Lord himself
stood in their midst. He said, My peace I give unto
you. My peace. The Lord Himself. Isaiah wrote, The Lord Himself
shall give you a sign, and a virgin shall be with child. Just sometimes
take the concordance and go through the scripture and read how many
times that word Jesus Himself. Himself. See, only Christ can
save us. Only Christ can redeem us. Only
the Son of God Himself can put away our sins. But verse 37, they were terrified.
They were afraid. They supposed they'd seen a spirit.
This is not the first time that I've read that reaction. Our
Lord told his disciples that he would suffer and die and be
raised the third day. He told them that over and over.
They had, Peter had seen him, the women had seen him, told
them that. But still here they are unbelieving.
It's amazing. Here they're afraid. Suppose
they'd seen a spirit. They went through this another
time. Turn to Matthew 14. It's just, we're so human. And these men, I can identify
with them so well because they're so human. Our Lord walked in
the room and stood there in front of them, and they were afraid.
They thought they'd seen a spirit. But way back there, in Matthew
14, verse 25. Verse 24 says, Now the ship was
now in the midst of the sea, and tossed with waves, and the
wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the
night, Jesus went unto them walking on the sea. He came walking to
them. And when the disciples saw him
walking on the sea, they were troubled. They should have been
comforted. They should have been filled
with joy. But they were troubled. They were afraid, saying, It's
a spirit. And they cried out for fear.
It's a spirit. The straightway Jesus spake to
them, saying, Be of good cheer. It's I. Be not afraid. How many
times does he have to tell us that? Lord, I'm with you always,
even to the end of the earth. Be not afraid. My peace I give
unto you. Be still and know that I'm God.
Why are you troubled? Why are you troubled? Look back
here at our text. Verse 37, they were afraid, they
were terrified, supposing they'd seen a spirit. And he said, why
are you troubled? Why are you troubled? Why do
these thoughts of doubt and fear rise in your hearts? Is anything too hard for God?
That's what he said to Sarah. God said, you're going to have
a son. She lied. He said, anything too hard for
God? Why are you afraid? Why are you troubled? I like what Paul said to old
Agrippa over here in Acts 26. Acts 26. You know, these marvelous miracles
that I'm reading about today and preaching about, Christ raised
from the dead. Christ appearing to His disciples.
Christ walking along in the flesh. His quality of His body hadn't
changed. The color of His body, the shape
of His body, the manliness of His body. Here He's walking along
with them. And they didn't know Him. They failed their eyes. But when He did reveal Himself,
they frightened. He said He'd rise. Listen to Acts 26, verse 8. Paul speaking to King Agrippa.
And he said, why should it be thought a thing incredible with
you that God should raise the dead? Why would these disciples, they'd
been with him, they'd seen him, seen him raise the dead. They
saw Lazarus walk out of the grave. They saw the widow's son rise
from the coffin. They saw the blind healed. And
yet, they were still afraid. Is anything too hard for God?
God who makes the world out of nothing. God who made this complicated,
wonderful body we have out of the dirt, breathed into it the
breath of life that became a walking, living, thinking, speaking, hearing,
seeing soul. And for Him to restore someone
from the grave, is that too hard for God? Why are you troubled? Why do these thoughts arise in
your heart? Is it too hard for God to do
that? Is it incredible that God should
raise the dead? Look at verse 39. You hold my
hands and my feet, touch me. It's I myself. I have people often ask me, will
we know each other in heaven? He said, touch my hands. each other, your hands. And I
know they did. I know Peter did. He came out
of there, took him by the hand. His feet, one of the women, Mary,
I guess she was always at his feet. That's where she wound
up, at his feet. Handle me. The Spirit doesn't
have flesh and bones as you see me have. Listen, my friends,
a real man redeemed us. A real man lost our soul, and
a real man restored our soul. By man came death, by man came
life. That's right. He said, I am a
man, flesh and bones, hands and feet. Touch me, handle me, see. A spirit does not have flesh
and bones as you see me have. I see so many things here. I
see that Christ himself redeemed us. Christ the man redeemed us. When we chose a high priest,
we chose him from among men. In Adam we're dying, Christ we're
made alive. God's law was upon man. Man had
to keep it. Man had to die. The justice of
God had sent man to death. So Christ died as a man. He was
raised as a man. He came back as a man. He went
to heaven as a man. And there's one God and one mediator
between God and men, and that's the man. Let me show you that
in 1 Timothy. That's the man. By man came death,
by man came the resurrection, the restoration, the salvation. In 1 Timothy 2, verse 5, this is one God. You see it? One God
of heaven and earth, Creator. There's one Mediator. Not a half
a dozen, not Mary, St. Jude, the priest. Just one Mediator
between God, and He didn't say between God and man, mankind. He's not everybody's Mediator.
He's a Mediator between God and men. His men. Believing men, not unbelieving.
Unbelieving men don't have a Mediator. All mankind doesn't have a mediator.
If we had a mediator, we'd all be saved. But there's one mediator
between God and men, and that is the man, the perfect man,
the holy man, the God man, the crucified man, the risen man,
the ascended man, and the man who is our great high priest
in faith pertaining to God. Vital, that's so vital. That's
the reason this verse 39, I'm not a spirit, I'm not a ghost,
Christ said, I'm a man. And if there's one man in glory,
there can be another one. And another one. And another
one. And another one. And all these men and women here.
Because that man is the mediator of these men. He's the Lord of
hosts. He's the Lord of hosts. Amen. But I'll tell you something else
I see here. Let's read verse 40. And he said,
It's I myself, handle me and see. So when he had thus spoken,
he showed them his hands and feet, and I know they touched
them. And while they yet believed not
for joy and wondered, he said, Do you have any meat? And they had a piece of broiled
fish and a honeycomb. That's good eating. Our Lord, our Lord, our great
shepherd, standing there, you have something to eat? And they
hand him that fish, and our Lord took it and chewed it and swallowed
it. Took that honeycomb, just ran
down his hands and ate that honeycomb. He's showing us what our glorified
bodies are going to be when he takes us out of the tomb. See,
he went to the tomb. That's where we're going someday.
He came out of the tomb. And we're looking at him here,
like he came out of the tomb. It's I, myself. He had the scars
in his hand. You remember? He told Thomas,
he said, look. See the scars? Look at my side. That's where they put the spear.
It's I, myself. What do we need? What else do
we need? It's I, myself. Hands and feet. I'm eating with
you. I've got flesh and bones." The Bible says flesh and blood
shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Not our kind of flesh,
lost flesh, sinful flesh, natural flesh, but his kind of flesh,
glorified flesh. When he died on that cross, he
died in the likeness of sinful flesh. When he arose from the
grave, he arose in the likeness of divine, glorified flesh. Let me show you that, 1 Corinthians
15. This is so plain that when you
read it, if you haven't seen it before, you say, where have
I been? With veiled eyes, that's where. Look at this, 1 Corinthians
15. Verse 35, some men will say, well, how the dead raised up,
with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest
is not quickened, except it die. It's got to die. This body's
got to go back to the dust. God said that. And that which
thou sowest, thou knowest not the body that shall be. You plant
bare grain, maybe wheat, maybe corn, when you sow, corn or grain,
you don't sow what's going to be, you sow the shriveled, wrinkled,
dead piece of corn. But God gives it a body designed
by him as it please him, and to every seed his own body. And
all flesh is not the same flesh. There's a kind of flesh of men,
that's what we've got now, natural flesh. There's a flesh of beasts. There's a flesh of fish. There's
a flesh of birds. There's also celestial bodies
and bodies terrestrial. But the glory of the celestial
is one, the glory of the terrestrial is another. There's one glory
of the sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the
stars. One star differs from another in glory. So also is
the resurrection. It's sown corruption, natural
flesh. It's raised in corruption. It's
sown in dishonor. It's raised in glory. It's sown
in weakness. Boy, talk about power. It's raised
in power. It's sown a natural body. It's
raised a spiritual body. There's a natural body. There's
a spiritual body. As it's written, the first man,
Adam, was made a living soul. The last Adam, man, was made
a quickening spirit. That was not first, which is
spiritual. Old Adam was first revealed, but that which is natural.
Afterwards, Christ was revealed. And that first man, is of the
earth, earthy, and that second man is the Lord from heaven.
And as is the earthy, so are we who are earthy. As is the
heavenly, so are they who are heavenly. As we have borne the
image of the earthy, thank God, we are going to bear the image
of the heavenly. Now I say unto you, brethren,
flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither corruption
inherit incorruption. But I show you a We're not all
of us die, but bless your heart, we're going to be changed." That's
right. In a moment, the twinkle of an
eye changed into his image. David said, I'll be like him.
I'll wake with his likeness. So there you're looking right
now at you and me when God raises us. Let me show you somebody
else eating. Turn to Genesis chapter 18. I
told you a while ago about those angels that appeared to Abraham
and Sarah. Genesis 18, look over here. Genesis 18, verse 1. The Lord
appeared to him in the plains of Mamre. He sat in the tent
door in the heat of the day, and he lifted up his eyes and
looked, and lo, three men stood behind him. And when he saw them,
he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed himself to
the ground. He said, My Lord, if I have now
found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy
servant. Let a little water, I pray thee, be fetched, and
wash your feet, and rest yourselves on the tree, and I'll fetch you
a morsel of bread." Now he's talking to the Lord. It's the
angel of the Lord. I'll get you some bread and comfort
to your hearts, and after that you just pass on. But now, therefore,
are you come to your servants?" And they said, So do, as thou
hast said. And Abraham hastened to the tent
unto Sabaoth and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine
meal. Knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. Abraham ran
unto the herd, and feshed a calf tender and good, and gave it
to the young men, and they dressed it. He took butter and milk,
and the calf which he had dressed, and set it down before them.
And he stood by under the tree, and they did eat. Heavenly beings. I read a while ago, I mean over
at the house a while ago, about a crystal water coming from the
fountain. And I read about twelve trees
with fruit in their season. I'm looking forward to some of
the meals I'm going to have in his kingdom. All right, I've got to quit. Verse 44, he said, These are
the words that I spoke to you while I was yet with you, that
all things must be fulfilled which are written in the law
of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. And
then opened he their understanding that they might understand the
scriptures. Let me show you three things, and I'll stop. They had
the scriptures before, but they didn't understand them. The Pharisees
had the scriptures. Our Lord said, you search the
scriptures. In them you think you have life. In my early life,
I had the scriptures. Didn't know anything about them.
It takes a revelation of the Spirit of God to understand the
Scriptures. He opened their understanding that they might understand the
Scriptures. You see that? Now the second
thing. He didn't open their understanding
without the Scriptures. He expounded to them the Scriptures.
Then he opened their understanding so they could understand it.
He didn't give them understanding without the Scriptures. People
who are taught of God are taught with the Scriptures. I teach
the Word of God. The Holy Spirit has to make it
effectual. But He won't make it effectual without the Word.
I can't close this book and run up and down this platform and
out here and up that aisle and down screaming and yelling and
carrying on a bunch of foolishness and teach you the Scriptures. spoke to them and said all the
things Moses wrote, and the prophets, and Isaiah, what you read a while
ago, he told them. And then he opened their understanding
and said, this is what it means. He opened their understanding,
but not without the scriptures. Not without the scriptures. And
the Spirit teaches by the scriptures, not without them, and never contrary
to them. He never teaches contrary to
the scriptures. He always teaches the scriptures.
That's the gospel. He opened their understanding.
In verse 46 he said to them, Thus it is written, and thus
it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead
the third day, that repentance and remission of sin should be
preached in his name, in his grand and glorious name, Jehovah
Raper, Jehovah Sid Kennedy, Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah my God and Savior,
among all nations, and begin at Jerusalem, and you witnesses
of these things.