The Road to Emmaus

Thank you for that good prayer. Good morning and it's blessing to be with you all again and to worship with you here at Camp Creek. The passage that I have on my mind is in the Gospel of Luke chapter 24. If you want to go ahead and turn there with me, but I speak I normally when I have a passage I'll I'll go ahead and read the passage first and then try to give context as necessary. But today I feel led to um just because we're jumping into this portion that's so rich in the gospel message. I want to try to give a little bit of context of where we're at because so much of the first of all there's four gospel records the synoptic gospels and then the gospel of John. And a large portion of these gospel records have to do with the very last week of the life of Jesus Christ before he's crucified. Um, so there's a lot of detail in there about just the kind of final days leading up to the crucifixion and his death and his resurrection. And so I'd like to try to compress just a little bit um perhaps a kind of lengthened weekend and look at uh where we're at in this story before we look at um the familiar account of the two disciples on the road to Emmas. So starting back, you can think um it would actually be Thursday evening. um Thursday evening, which would have been by the Jewish reckoning, the 14th day of the month of Nissan. This was the Passover day. And it was Thursday evening that the Lord Jesus Christ gathered with his disciples in the upper room. And he shared with them the Passover meal and then instituted the Lord's supper with them. He shared that meal with them. And um around this time is when Judas's Scariot went out that evening, this Thursday evening, went out to betray the Lord Jesus Christ to the chief priests and to the rulers of the Jews for 30 pieces of silver. He betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. At this point, the Lord was with his disciples out in the Mount of Olives. He was praying by himself alone to the father um preparing and speaking to the father in preparation for going to the cross the next day. And he had asked his disciples to stay awake with him and to just watch for a while and to pray with him while he went alone by himself to pray. And he came back and found them sleeping. Um but it was at this time that the company who had sought Jesus and who Judas the Scariot had betrayed the Lord Jesus to they came upon them. They came and found them. And uh the Lord Jesus after a little bit of a discourse there submits willingly to be arrested to this this company a large company about 600 men that came to to arrest him. So he submits and allows them to take him. If he hadn't allowed it they wouldn't have been able to but he allowed himself to be taken willingly by these men. Um, this was all taking place Thursday evening. Over the course of the night, Thursday, it was a horrible night for the Lord Jesus Christ. He was not allowed a moment to sleep, a m a moment to rest. He was scourged and beaten, whipped. He was taken through multiple false trials. Um, he was taken before Pilate. And Pilate, as soon as he heard he was a Galilean, he said, "Well, this is actually Herod's jurisdiction and I would love to get buddy buddy with Herod." So he sends the Lord Jesus Christ over to Herod. And Herod said, "I've been waiting to meet this man." So he puts him on trial before Herod. Um, and before Herod, the Herod questions him, asks him a number of questions about the claims that the Lord Jesus had made in his ministry. And to that Jesus answered, "Not a word." Which fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, saying, "As a sheep, before her sheerers is dumb, he opened not his mouth." So before the trial of Herod, the Lord Jesus Christ did not speak a word. Herod mocked him and beat him, sent him back to Pilate. And Pilate continued to question him and eventually he came to the conclusion, I find no fault in this man. And he told the Jews, you know, he's, as far as I can tell, he's innocent. I'm going to release him to you. But the Jews were were um more persistent. They said, no, give us Barabus instead. We'll take this this proven criminal, this murderer, um, and we want to crucify the Lord Jesus Christ. That was their intent. And so they decided to um take Barabus back unto them, set Barabus free, and to crucify the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Pilate gave them um authority to do so. He said, "I wash my hands of this. His blood is upon you." And they said, "Yes, his blood is upon us." So that took place all over Thursday evening. This is the 14th day of of Nissan in the Jewish calendar, which is the Passover. And that's not a coincidence because the Passover of course we know in the Old Testament this was the story from Exodus where it was the 10th plague that the Lord uh cursed Egypt with where he smoked the firstborn of all of the land of Egypt. And the way that he told his people that they would be spared by this is by uh slaying a lamb and to sprinkle the blood upon their doorpost. And it was this substitution, this sacrifice um that would obtain mercy at the hand of the angel of death who would come and and pass over their house as soon as he saw the blood upon that household. So that's what the Passover celebrates and that was um that Thursday evening. But remember the Jewish days are not like our days. They don't start in the morning and end in the evening. The way their calendar system works, it actually starts in the evening is the beginning of their day. So the Jews stayed the 14th of Nissan started Thursday night and went till around Friday evening. So that whole day on Thursday um was the Passover. It was Friday morning um around 9:00 a.m. in the morning. Mark tells us it was the third hour but but 9:00 a.m. according to our clock that the Lord Jesus Christ was hung on the cross. He had been beaten, whipped, scourged. They had passed lots for his clothes and he was uh he was stripped and he was put on the cross at 9:00 am and he hung on the cross until 300 pm. But it wasn't until the noon hour that the the Lord darkened the sky. It became dark. And so for those three hours, it was a great darkness upon the land. And um in those uh final three hours at the end of that at 3 p.m. is when he cried out, "It is finished." He said, "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." And he gave up the ghost. Um So that would have been actually there's another feast that that day fell on. That Friday was actually the feast of unleavened bread. And I was uh part of what stirred my thoughts on this was going through the the Bible reading plan. I was reading through Leviticus and just was reminded of some of the order of these days. But the day in which he was actually uh well he was crucified on Passover, but this was the uh the next day is is the feast of unleven bread which was similar to the the account in Egypt. Uh the reason this was instituted was because when the Lord delivered his people out of the hand of the Egyptians, he said, "You have to get out of town quickly." And so the reason it's unleavened bread, at least in those days, there's a symbolic meaning, too. But it was basically they didn't have time to let the bread ferment. So they had to quickly get up out of the land of Egypt. And that was kind of the the ritual that began there. But of course, we know there's a deeper meaning in that leaven is a picture of sin. And so that's why we use unleavened bread in the communion service. So we have this kind of ordering of events here. Um, but in looking at this, I noticed something that was interesting. Uh, the feast of unleven bread. It's a 7-day feast. So, it goes from Nissan 15 to Nissan 21. There's a lot of details here, but there's something kind of cool in here that I noticed that I'd never seen before. So, I want to just as part of the introduction, uh, make note of this. Hopefully, you'll find it interesting, too. When the Lord Jesus Christ was was crucified, the that evening is when the feast of unleven bread began. And the first day and the last day of that feast were something called a holy convocation. They were kind of special days in the feast. The middle days were kind of more normal. There were still sacrifices as part of the feast, but the first and last day were what was called a holy convocation. And that meant that whenever they happened, these were a Sabbath day. There were special offerings and these were considered a Sabbath. No work was supposed to be done except for the work of the priests in the sacrifices. And so that Saturday, this is partly why when Jesus was taken off the cross and as they're trying to bury him, they kind of had to do it with a a bit of haste because that evening is when the feast day began. And so they had to do it a little bit quickly because he needed to be buried because it was considered work for them to bury him. So he needed to be buried and placed in the tomb before this Sabbath day, the holy convocation, the Saturday began. And so he's placed in the tomb, they uh in the borrowed tomb of Joseph of Arythea. And then the feast of unleven bread begins. And it's interesting that this was actually called in scripture a high Sabbath. Another detail here, but the day in which the beginning of this feast started was sometimes a different day of the week. You know, in the Jewish uh every single Saturday to the Jews is their Sabbath day. Every single Saturday is a Sabbath to the Jews, but occasionally it would line up where a Saturday is also the beginning of one of these major feasts. And remember, this is one of the the big feasts in which every Jewish male had to take a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. That's why Jerusalem was packed for the Passover. Packed during all the proceedings that took place of the crucifixion of Christ. Packed for the first day of the feast of unleven bread. Usually they would go home on the second day at least. Um they would stay through the first day and then usually leave on the second day and go back home. But remember, everyone is still in Jerusalem and they're preparing for this this feast of unleavened bread. um everyone would have been preparing to go to the temple for these these great sacrifices that were made. But remember, it's a high Sabbath. It was already a Sabbath day because it's Saturday, but it's also this holy convocation, the first day of the feast of unleven bread. There's something interesting about that to me that I noticed. If you remember towards the end when Jesus is about to give up the ghost, when he's hanging on the cross and he cries out, "It is finished." There's a note in there that says the veil of the temple was rent and twain. You remember that note? There's an earthquake that happens, but there's a special note that the veil of the temple is rent in the midst. It's rent in half. And that to me, I when I was reading it for most of my life, I've always kind of passed over that. I've gone, that's interesting. I know the Lord's doing something there. I know it's kind of probably symbolic, but I don't quite understand um what I what I kind of now see to be a very serious and uh powerful note that that happens here. the veil of the temple. This is what separated the holiest of holies from the next section of the temple. And so this was the portion of the temple that only priests could go into. You have the veil and then the holiest of holies where the shakina glory of God resided and where only the high priest could go in once a year on the day of atonement. People had died for going in here and doing things improperly. It was serious business. So this veil that separates the kind of priestly court from the holiest of holies is separated by this veil. And when I heard the word veil, I don't know what you all picture when you hear that. I kind of thought it was just a sheet. I thought it was just like a bed sheet that was hung up and you kind of couldn't really see through it. It was kind of uh you know too dark to see see in. This was if you look at the specifications in Leviticus and in the Old Testament, this was quite the sheet. This was quite the veil. It was 60 feet to 90 feet tall depending on what system you use. At least 60 feet tall, 30 feet wide, and a hand breth. So, it's like 6 in thick of this this just crazy thick uh fabric material, 60 feet tall, 30 feet wide. This is the veil that was rent in half when the earthquake happened. When the Lord Jesus cried out, "It is finished." That's the veil that was rent. That's much more powerful than the sheet falling off a hook or something like that. I don't know what I had pictured before, but this is a powerful thing the Lord does. And it certainly um causes any idea that this could have been an accident or that something else happened. This was the hand of God and nothing else could have I mean it would have be incredibly hard to cut even that thing. Uh it's it's a hand breath thick and it was rent in half. Now here's the interesting note. If this that happened on Friday, remember at the end of the in the evening on Friday when the Lord Jesus Christ was hanging on the cross, Saturday is the feast of unleven bread. It's a high Sabbath. No work is allowed in this day. So what do you think the priests thought as they went throughout their business that day on this high feast sacrificing animals performing the the the meat and the drink offerings? They are not first of all they see the veil of the holiest of holies rent in half and they by the law can't fix it. The entire day it is made to just be there. The veil is rent open. The holiest of holies is exposed, if you will. They're probably fearful. The common people couldn't even go in to see this veil, as I understand it. So, who knows to what degree they even um publicized what had happened. Do you even the people who went to the temple to see these sacrifices and take take uh part in these offerings, they might have not even known that the veil was rent. But here this this kind of symbol of this uh of the holiness of God being hidden away and and obscured is rent and no one can fix it. The priests are not allowed to fix it. So they're doing all of these sacrifices. To me, what this is, it's a bit of a humorous note, but I think it's an impactful note. The Lord is almost saying these ceremonies have been fulfilled. What you're trying to protect is already out there. There is already access by the bloodshed of Jesus Christ for his family to God. No longer did we need this this uh Old Testament, you know, kind of hidden away. This kind of glory only one man can go in there. We each have access through the blood of Jesus Christ on our behalf to now access the throne of God, the glory of God. His spirit is even in us. Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's a that's a powerful note to me that that they would have had to and for 40 years really until Jerusalem was destroyed in AD70 as was foretold. Uh they would have continued these same ceremonies year after year, the feast of unleven bread, the Passover, the day of atonement, all these kind of um certainly they would have fixed the veil eventually, but not on that first day. They weren't allowed to. Um they continue with these sacrifices but surely a part of them thought this is really odd that we crucified this man who claimed to be the Christ and same day there was a major earthquake the veil of the temple was rent. Um strange things are happening in Jerusalem. We were offering all those sacrifices but we knew that there was the veil was open and we weren't destroyed. Something has changed. Something in the law has God has done something. He's telling us something. And I think that's why in Acts chapter 6, um, when when the the gospel is being spread, it says, "Many priests were converted." I think that's why the priests are sitting there kind of scratching their head for a while and going, "Why is all of this happening?" And the gospel finally comes to them and and they understand and they say, "Oh, this was the man. This was the Christ." They begin to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. So that all took place on Saturday. That was the first day of the feast of unleven bread. And then we come to Sunday, which we're all very familiar with. It was early first thing in the morning when the women Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James and some other women went to the supplr and found that the body was missing and they see the two angels that say he is not here but he is risen. So they run and tell all of the disciples and Peter and John go sprinting to the suppler in their famous race and they observe the same thing that the body is not there. This is where we pick up in chapter 24:13. This is the uh events leading up to this account. Luke chapter 4 24 13 to read a lengthy passage all the way to verse 35. And behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmas which was from Jerusalem about three score furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him. And he said unto them, "What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another as you walk and are sad?" And the one of them whose name was Cleopus answering said unto him, "Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?" And he said unto them, "What things?" And they said unto him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him." But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. And beside this, beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done. Yay. And certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the seeler. And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went to the sephiler, and found it even so, as the women had said, but him they saw not. Then he said unto them, "Oh 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?" And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them, and all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And they drew nigh to the village, whether they went, and he made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, "Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent." And he went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass as he sat at meat with them, he took bread and blessed it and break and gave to them, and their eyes were open, 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?" And they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the 11 gathered together and them that were with them, saying, "The Lord is risen indeed and hath appeared to Simon." And they told what things were done in the way and and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. It's an incredibly interesting account here. Um, but certainly on the tales of all that has gone forth, you can perhaps relate to these disciples, and we'll see this here in a moment. It's the same day. This is after the women have already gone to the sephiler and seen the body was not there, come back and spoken to the disciples and told them we haven't seen it. Peter goes and confirms it. Comes back and they're like, "Yeah, this is true. It's after this that these disciples set off back home to leave Jerusalem to head back home to Emmas." It says it was a a distance about three score furongs. That ends up being close to eight miles. It's not incredibly far, but a decent walk. Eight miles back home. And the whole way as they're walking together, they're just kind of reviewing everything. They're hashing it out. They're going over all the details and saying, "What? What did we miss? What what happened here? We were sure he was the one. Clearly, he wasn't." And this beautiful picture here, Jesus himself. Begins to walk with them. I don't know. He just appeared on the way and he begins to take up company with them. But there's a note that their eyes were holden or restrained. So, they didn't recognize him. these followers of Christ um by the Lord's intent, by his own will, he caused them to not know who he was. And we'll look at that here in a little bit and why that would be the case. But as they're walking with him and talking to him, they don't know this is Jesus. They think it's just a stranger. And so, um he's asking them essentially, "Hey guys, what are you talking about? Why are you so sad?" And they say, "We're given the name of one of them was Cleopus. We don't know a whole lot about Cleopus, and we aren't even given the name of the other disciple." So, they're not um we don't need to know that. Um he says, "Are are you a stranger? Do you not know anything that's happened?" And he said, "Well, what's what's happened?" He said, "The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth." This is the first thing I'd like to to take note of. He says, "Which was a prophet mighty in deed and word for God and all the people." That to me is the first note that these disciples have since lost hope. they are in uh they're in perhaps in a state or in a season of of unbelief that they're struggling with their faith. They're weak in faith because I I I think I don't think it's too bold to assume that if they were followers of Christ, if they had taken any company with the apostles, they would have believed steadfastly that Jesus was Christ, the son of the living God. They describe him now as a prophet. They say he was just a prophet. He's mighty in word and in deed. Remember when Jesus asked the question to his apostles, we know they knew who he was because he said, "Well, whom do men say that I am?" They listed a number of prophets. They said, "You're either a prophet or you're one of these prophets come back to life somehow or their spirit is in you. I don't know." But uh he says, "Well, who do you say that I am?" Peter says, "Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God." So if these men were followers and disciples of Christ, they would have known or believed that he was the Christ, the son of the living God. And yet to this stranger and in their sadness and in their, you know, in their in their state of struggling faith and weak faith and hopelessness after the events of the crucifixion of Christ, they say he was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people. But the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, have crucified him. And this is a heartbreaking verse here in 21. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. That's what they said. They said, "We thought he was the one. We had believed that he was the one." I guess we were delusioned to think that he was the Christ, the one who would save us, who would redeem Israel. And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done. I want to ask you, can you relate either at this point in your life or in another point of your life to the state of these disciples to say perhaps you you step back from your day-to-day life and go, I had thought it would have gone differently. I thought the Lord had different plans for me. I thought he had promised different things to me than I'm seeing right now. And perhaps it's not what I thought it was. Perhaps I misinterpreted it. Um, I know the Lord's been good to me, but perhaps I'm just confused on how I got to where I'm at and I'm confused because I had trusted or I had expectations or I had plans that it would go differently. It would look different. If you've felt that now or have felt that before and perhaps you can find company in these in these disciples and throughout this account, I encourage you just to to tune in and and see what happens and how the Lord eventually comforts them. Listen to this. Even they said, "Yay, and certain women also of our company, made us astonished, which were early at the suppler. And behold, when they found not his body, they came, saying that they have also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. And certain of them which were with us went in the that's went in the suppler and found it, even so, as the women had said." So they even heard the reports that his body was missing. And that's the point when they decided um you know obviously the women and and Peter probably went in the morning to the sephiler but later we're going to find that it was towards evening when they arrived at their destination um on this Sunday Sunday afternoon Sunday evening they had heard this report that his body's missing that angels had been seen and they said yeah we're going to hit the road I'm I'm not buying it it's all hope is lost um I don't see much merit in that story there has to be another explanation we're we're just we're calling it calling it quits. I don't believe anything can come of this. That's when they hit the road. This is listen to what Christ tells them. Oh 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? He begins all the way at the book, the beginning of this book, beginning at Moses and all the prophets. Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. So he started all the way at the beginning of this book and walked them through the whole Old Testament and explained how each part of this of the Old Testament pointed to himself. He said, you see this picture here of the ram caught in the thicket. That's me. That's a picture of me. You see this picture um of deliverance in Egypt. That's me. I'm the redeemer. He doesn't say it's me. He says it sounds like this is this Jesus person you're speaking of. They still don't know his identity. Um but he goes through and and what a sermon that would have been. He preaches the entire Old Testament, all of all of Moses, the first five books, all of the prophets and expounded unto them in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. And they are just lifted up by this and and they eventually are like arriving at the village of Emmas, whether they went and there's this interesting note that he would have gone further. So, he was just going to keep walking by him. They said, "Well, hold on, sir. Hold on a minute. We like what you're saying. Will you come abide with us? Will you come stay with us tonight? It's late anyways. The day is far spent. And he went in and carried with them. And it came to pass as he sat at meat with them, he took bread and blessed it and break gave to them. So they've constrain this man. They they want to hear more. They want to continue to commune with him. They invite him to stay with them. And it's at the dinner table. They're about to partake of the bread and he blesses it and breaks it and is diiving it out to them. And it's at this point that their eyes were open and they knew him. Suddenly that kind of fog or the cloud that had uh restrained them from knowing who he was is is removed and they see this is Jesus. This is the one we know. And at this point he vanishes out of their sight. How mysterious is that? They're going well I actually know who you are. And and then he's gone. He's gone out of their midst. What an interesting position that would have been. Can you imagine the conversation that followed of what just happened? You know, we're so, you know, distraught by the events that take place. And then suddenly we hear this report that Jesus is alive, his body's missing. We've walked with this stranger, but now he comes into our house and we know it's Jesus all of the sudden he's gone. What would you do in that position? What would you do in their in their place? They say to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us?" while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the scriptures. And they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the 11 gathered together. They speak to one another and said, "Did it touch you as much as it touched me, the things that he was saying on the road." Now notice these were the things. This was their experience before they knew it was Jesus. They thought it was a stranger who just opened to them the word of God. And this is what caused their heart to burn. Now, I'm sure it was the best sermon you've ever heard because it was Jesus giving it. But my point is that um it wasn't because it was Jesus necessarily that this caused their heart to burn. It was the story. It was the actual gospel message itself that caused their heart to burn. That's the best I can come up with for why the Lord would have caused their eyes to behold. That's the best explanation. And and you might think, well, why is that? It's kind of a complicated question, but from what I can tell, the Lord knows that he's not going to be with them bodily at all points. He knows he's going away. He will send them another comforter. And as brother John has so aly told us that this comforter, the Holy Spirit, is not another type of comforter. It's a it's a comforter of the same kind that that resides with him and comes upon them in a mighty way, especially at Pentecost. Um, but is with every one of us. Every child of God has this this comfort of the Holy Spirit in them. But he knows that he's going to go away in a in a tangible sense. He's not going to be with them, walking with them as he did in his ministry, in his earthly ministry. And he knows persecution is going to come specifically upon probably these two men and the rest of the apostles, the rest of the the disciples. Many of them were martyed and killed for the cause of Christ. And so I believe what he's trying to teach them here is that what you need to take comfort and what you need as your source of hope, that is with you always. We have the story. You walked with me. You know this of a truth. The things that I've told you, the things that was prophesied. You believe that. You believe the good news of Jesus Christ even when he's not right there. He says, "We'll walk by faith, not by sight." It's kind of similar to the story of of Thomas. It reminds me of that a little bit when um Thomas says, "Except I stick my fingers in the prince of his hand or thrust my hand into his side, I'll not believe that he's risen." Jesus appears to them and says, "Come on, Thomas. That's the prince and thrust your hand in." He says, "You've seen and believed, but there's a blessing to those who believe even when they see not." And I think this was a special blessing to these disciples, but I'm thankful it's in the word of God because you and I um we don't get we've never seen the Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh either for generations and generations of of the followers of Christ to come. We would not have the blessings that these disciples had and these apostles who who got to walk with him for three years and to see him in the flesh to heal to um to cure leprosy to give sight to the blind. Um but we have the same record. We have the same promises. We have the same prophecies. And we see the exact same Jesus. We can know him and we can be stirred up and our hearts can burn within us through faith, through the same message. We have the same old story today. Um,

um,

this is the same thing Peter says in that he and the other disciples went up on the mount, the mount of transfiguration, and they saw the Lord Jesus Christ transfigured before them, and he he took on this white and glowing appearance before them. But if you actually flip over to second Peter chapter uh chapter 1 verse 19, he says, "We have a more sure word of prophecy." Now, that's saying something. If you had seen the Lord Jesus Christ transfigured before you into this glorious presence that you can hardly behold because it's so bright and glimmering and gleaming and and reulgent in your sight and you say, "I would rather have this book than to have experienced that." That's quite that's saying something. And so if Peter says that, I'll take his word for it and trust that we have the same very same word. Um so that to me is why that's why I think he he held their eyes, why he restrained their eyes to know him. And it's of great blessing and benefit to us to see that. And I want to ask you, this is a bit of a personal note, but they they use the phrase, "Did not our heart burn within us? while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the scriptures. And I I asked you earlier if you'd ever if you feel currently or if you've ever felt when you look at your life that perhaps you had trusted a promise of God and now you're not quite sure that you're seeing the result of it. Well, think back to you can remember a time when maybe you first remember hearing the gospel message and feeling your heart burn within you. Do you feel that that's as apt of a description as I do to feel that that kindling in your heart to feel the lump in your throat and to just I can't find any other worldly explanation for that besides that it is a supernatural occurrence even if kind of our day-to-day life has become um maybe more dry than we wish it had. Do you remember that feeling when you were just kind of lit on fire by the story of the gospel and just brought to your knees in humility to see the sovereignty of God that he would choose one such as you? Who are we before this holy God? Do you remember how you felt? Don't explain that away to yourself. Don't ever look at that experience and say, "Perhaps I was stirred up. Perhaps it was false. Perhaps it wasn't. Perhaps I was kind of making more out of it than it was." It's not. that is a supernatural um work of God in your heart. And and I assume that it wasn't just the first time. For me at least, it's been time and time again that you go back to this word or you hear it preached or you're just uh meditating on something and it just seems that the Lord just comes and and delivers to you. It's much like what he does to these disciples where he's breaking bread for you again. He just gives you your daily meat, your daily bread to get you through that day. And it's a way that no one really would understand. It's it's so personal that he just has been with you and providing for you all along. And so time and time again, we'll go through seasons perhaps where it feels a little more dim, where it feels a little more dark, and where we perhaps go through seasons of doubt. And first of all, theologically that is not your salvation is in jeopardy. If if if our faith or the the steadfastness of our faith is necessary to get us to heaven, Lord, help us. We're not going to make it. We're not. Our faith is weak. our faith waxes and waines. Um, we want our faith to be strong and it ought to be our chief concern to to stay strong in the faith and to to remind ourselves of this word on the on a daily basis. Um, so that first of all, it'll endanger us that that Satan would love to come up and and find a sheep who's kind of drifted. That's easy prey for the devil. And that's when you're in the most danger is when Satan can come and pick you off like a roaring lion. is when we're in the kind of in the in the body of the other flock and in the close care of the shepherd, which we always are. Um that we are a little bit more we're able to kind of handle the winds and the storms that come in this life because the Lord is with us and we feel his presence and we're trusting on his strength. But our faith is not the steadfastness of our faith is not what we need to get to heaven. Um scriptures say that if uh the foundation of God standeth sure if we uh if we do not abide in faith he abideth faithful. Our Lord abides faithful even when we doubt even when we have uh seasons where we're struggling with our faith. So here um the Lord once again and the reason I mentioned that is I've heard this the scripture um said that it's a a pattern of preaching and and used to to teach other denominational doctrines that say that here we see that this is how people are saved. The the gospel is preached, Christ is revealed and the hearts kindle or burned and using that as a a teaching of that's how the heart transformation takes place in the new birth. Clearly we know that preaching of the gospel is not necessary to save a child of God. spirit workketh in our hearts. That's the work of the spirit. He doesn't need the gospel to reach someone. And so here we see um what I would not say is a pattern of the the pattern of regeneration. This is the pattern of strengthening a weak hurting a weakened faith and unbelieving child of God. That's the pattern here. And that's something I take great comfort in. And now look at their response. It's late in the evening. That's why they decided to turn in and ask this man to stay with him. And it was already evening when they were coming home and they said, "It's already the day is far spent. It's toward evening. Come in and abide with us. They begin to share this meal." So it's even later the Lord Jesus appears before them and then vanishes out of their sight. What's their reaction here? Verse 33, they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem. That's another eight miles back. They just came eight miles. They see this man. He appears before them and they go, "That was Jesus. We're going back." They load up again eight miles back to Jerusalem. They find the 11 still gathered together and they say, "The Lord is risen indeed. He he's appeared unto Simon." I don't know what that means. He hath appeared to Simon. I don't think we have other record of that um in the scripture. So, I really don't know what that means. And if you have light on it, please share it with me. But they come back and say, "The Lord is risen indeed." And they told what things were done in the way and how he was known of them in breaking of bread. Notice this because my thought would have been, you know, perhaps I would at least be tempted to say, "Let's go back in the morning. Let's sleep here for tonight. We'll go back in the morning to Jerusalem." But notice in verse 36, as they these two disciples are telling this story, as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and saith unto them, "Peace be unto you." As these disciples march there eight miles back, just get into the the assembly of the of the 11 disciples again together and say he is risen, Jesus appears before them again. Would that have happened if they decided to wait till morning? Or would they have missed it? Would he have still appeared to the 11 and them not been present? I don't know. All I know is that they went back and they went to the place where they could find Jesus again. They found him there. That's another lesson to us. Um I think it's a lesson for the church. Jesus can be found in this place. This is the bride of Christ and he has promised that where two or three are gathered, he will be in the midst of them. That would be our anticipation to say, I want to go to that place. Yes, there's there's blessings of of of fellowship with the saints. There's blessings of singing songs together for our own hearts. We get comforted by that. But our chief, I submit to you, our chief uh intent should be Jesus is there. That's where I want to go. I want to see my Lord again. I want to hear about him. I want to sing songs to him. He's worthy of it. He's the Christ. He's the Messiah. He's my savior. The one who redeemed me. I want to go see Christ. That ought to be, I would say, our primary intent for coming here week after week after week. He told me he'd be here. We have an appointment. I want to go see him. There's, of course, a multitude of blessings that come with that. I'm not negating those at all, but I think our chief aim should be I want to see Jesus. And I will um there's a beautiful the go read after this the account of of what Jesus says to them for the end of this chapter. Um I'll go ahead and stop here and and I would like to say one there's a hymn that came to mind. First of all the hymn um sweet rivers the third verse. Um I view the monster death and smile for he hath lost his steam and Satan trembles all the while triumphant I can sing. I hold my Savior in my arms and will not let him go. I'm so delighted with his charms. No other good I know. That that's a that's a verse that I just about can never sing through because I start crying. But that ought to be the Now here's I believe what would have continued to give these disciples strength to say we had already left him. It's this it's the age-old story of even after the resurrection happened. Disciple after disciple turned away from Jesus. Peter, you see, denied him three times. And yet, Christ looks on him and at the end, he has great mercy and love for him and says, "Strengthen the brethren." So, time and time again, when you see disciples and apostles and you and me struggling and saying, "Is this all real? Can I'm turning aside from him once again to see that he'll come up beside you. He'll strengthen you. He'll restore you back to the same fellowship that you've always known." Thank you for your attention this morning. And is there some that we can sing as the doors of the church are open. Number 250.

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