On the Emmaus Road

[0:00] We're going to turn back to Luke chapter 24. I want to bring some thoughts from the passage that we read together there, but we can possibly focus on the words of verses 25 through to 27.

[0:21] And he said to them, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that Christ sheets out of these things and enter into his kingdom?

[0:34] And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Now this was either the third or the fourth time that Jesus appears after he rose from the dead.

[0:53] He first of all appeared to Mary, and then he appeared to the woman that had gone to the tomb, and he met with them on the way back.

[1:05] And he then possibly met with Peter. There's a reference in 1 Corinthians 15 at verse 5, which says that he was seen by Cephas, or Peter, and then by the twelve.

[1:22] So it's more than likely that he appeared to Peter before he appeared to these two that were on the road to Emmaus. There is also a reference here in verse 34, saying, The Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon.

[1:42] So he obviously met with Peter at some stage before he met with the twelve. We haven't got anything recorded of what to place in that interview with Peter, other than the fact that he did meet with him.

[1:59] Now this incident that we read of here, the two on the road to Emmaus, isn't mentioned by any of the other evangelists apart from Mark, who says that he appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country.

[2:21] So as these two men are walking on the road to Emmaus, they're naturally talking about the subject that's closest to their hearts.

[2:35] They're talking about the events that have taken place over these last few days. We read in verse 15, While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus threw near them and went with them.

[2:52] But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, What is this conversation that you're holding with each other as you walk? And they stood still, looking sad.

[3:05] Then one of them named Cleopas answered him, Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?

[3:17] Now the response that Cleopas gave gives us two facts that were evident.

[3:30] The first is that everybody in Jerusalem, and there would have been a lot of people in Jerusalem at that time, because it was the time of the Passover.

[3:45] Cleopas is surprised that there was anybody in Jerusalem that didn't know what happened in these last few days. So it's made clear that the Lord's crucifixion was not something that was done in a corner.

[4:04] It was evident to thousands of people, which could have verified the facts of what took place. It's not that the disciples pretended that this happened.

[4:18] Everybody in Jerusalem knew that it happened. And the second thing is that it was dominating their minds.

[4:33] It was dominating their minds to the extent that he surprised that there's any stranger in Jerusalem that didn't know what they were thinking.

[4:45] Remember when he met with Mary in the garden? She spoke to him thinking that he was the gardener.

[4:57] And she spoke to him even though he was a stranger, as if he should know exactly what she was talking about.

[5:08] She doesn't go into any detail. She's expecting that everybody in Jerusalem should know who she's referring to. Now there's an attractive element in what we read there of Mary and of these two disciples that were on the road to Emmaus.

[5:33] And that is that if our minds are picking up with the things of Christ, which they ought to be if we have an interest in Christ, he should be near to our hearts.

[5:51] And if we are meditating upon the things of Christ, then he himself will draw near to us and he'll alleviate all of our doubts and our darkness concerning the things that might be troubling us.

[6:14] His question had been met by a counter-question and that in turn was met with another question from himself as he said to them, What things?

[6:31] Now Jesus knew what things better than anybody. He's the one that they're talking about. He knows exactly the things that are going through their minds.

[6:44] Yet he wants them to declare it. And that's exactly what he expects of us when we approach human prayer. He knows very well the things that are troubling us.

[6:58] He knows them better than we ourselves know. But he wants us to open up our hearts. He wants us to explain the things that may be troubling us, the things that might be causing us a problem.

[7:17] And the reason that he wants us to do that is that if we open up our hearts, he will open up his heart to pour into our hearts the peace that we're looking for.

[7:33] But if we don't think about these things and if we're unwilling to express them at the throne of grace, then we deny him the opportunity of answering our queries and the things that are bothering us.

[7:51] Now he knows what our needs are and he's more than willing to meet with our needs. Just as he knew the needs of these two.

[8:02] And he was more than willing to meet with their needs. He was wanting to alleviate their fears and their concerns and he encourages them to tell them what it is that they're being troubled by.

[8:20] Now when Christ drew near to them he did so in order to give them grace.

[8:33] Because he knew that they were really sad. They were distressed. And he doesn't like to see his people distressed or sad.

[8:46] He wants to help us. He wants to journey with us. He wants to have fellowship with us. He wants us to open up our hearts to him.

[8:58] He wants to alleviate our concerns. He wants to give us grace to help us in our time of need. And as he encourages them to open up their hearts the root of the problem comes to the fore.

[9:15] Their doubts. We thought that it was him that was going to redeem Israel. Now that comes from those that have lost sight of their first love and lost sight of their first faith.

[9:39] They're in darkness. And they're overcome with this darkness.

[9:50] They have lost their hope. We were hoping that he was going to be the one that would redeem Israel. and we see that Jesus' tone changes when he next addresses them.

[10:07] In verse 25 O foolish horse and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?

[10:23] Now this sudden change of tone seems strange until we recollect that unbelief is probably the greatest answer that we give to God.

[10:46] Let's consider how we all sounds feel if somebody questions doubts what we've told them. It hurts us that they're not accepting what we know to be the truth.

[11:03] They've got no reason to doubt us. We haven't deliberately gone out of our way to deceive them. And we feel offended. Now if that's the effect that that has on us who are sinners and who can deceive people how much more does that affect the God who cannot lie, who never deceives anything.

[11:28] As he told his disciples, if it were not so, I would have told you so. He never tells anything that will mislead. He always speaks the truth.

[11:42] Now unbelief is simply calling God a lie. That's what unbelief is. sin is a sin and it's the sin that will condemn sinners to our lost eternity.

[11:58] We can be forgiven all sins but we will not be forgiven this one. If we refuse to believe what God has revealed to us in Christ, then that's the only thing that will see us ending up in our lost eternity.

[12:17] That's how silly is the sin of unbelievers. It's a great insult to God that we question.

[12:29] Now, he says, was it not necessary that Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? We thought that because he had suffered and because he had been put to death, that he couldn't have been the Messiah.

[12:52] He couldn't have been God's chosen one to redeem this sin. But Jesus turns it around and says, that's the very thing that proves that I am the Christ because this is what was prophesied.

[13:08] Do you not know the word of God? God, if it had happened any other way, you could question whether I was the Christ. But the very thing that's making you question is the very thing that ought to make you assured that I am the Christ.

[13:27] Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and then entered into his glory? Now, there's a strong reason why he had to suffer these things.

[13:45] He had to pass through the terror of death. He had to make atonement for the sins of his people and he had to enter into the very jaws of death before he could experience the power of the resurrection isn't that what all hope is in?

[14:10] Yes, his death is important but it would be of no importance had he not risen again. Our faith would be futile.

[14:25] He needed to suffer and die in order to triumph over death and rise again. wasn't it necessary he said that Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory because this is the only way that he could redeem this sin.

[14:51] This is the only way that he can redeem himself. This is the only way that he can bring many sons to glory because he himself had been made perfect through suffering.

[15:08] That's what makes him the perfect redeemer. The fact that he did suffer and the fact that he did triumph over death.

[15:22] the great messianic servant whom God was going to exalt had to first of all tread the path of pain and of death.

[15:39] Now all of that had been made plain in the scriptures. They shouldn't be dirty. the very thing that was causing them to be sad is the very thing that should be causing them to rejoice.

[15:57] But they couldn't see it. Yet this thing runs throughout the whole scripture and that's where he begins.

[16:08] Beginning with Moses and all the prophets he interprets to them in all scriptures the things concerning himself. Now we don't know exactly what scripture he expounded.

[16:22] We would love to have heard that certainly. But we know that there was no shortage of material that he could expound and make clear to them that this is what proves that he was the Messiah.

[16:40] He could have started with the seed of the woman that was destined to bruise the head of the serpent. And he could have said to them isn't this what happened three days ago when I encountered him who had the power of death and isn't this the victory that I now have over him that you've already heard that he has risen.

[17:07] He hasn't yet revealed himself to them. He could have gone to Abraham and said this was the Lamb of God that God was going to provide to make sacrifice for the sins of his people.

[17:28] He could have gone to the Passover Lamb. He could have gone to the great high priest entering into the holy place. He could have gone to the rock that was slithered out of which came living water.

[17:46] He was like the brazen serpent that was lifted up with life giving power. He was the great prophet that Moses had spoken of that would be like himself.

[18:02] He's the one that fulfills the sufferings that we read of in the Psalms. the things that he would have to suffer and the things that he was going to do.

[18:17] He was going to do the will of God because that was his demon. He could have gone to Isaiah and pointed out the one who bore the griefs to the cross, the one who was led like a lamb to the slaughter.

[18:44] It was through him that a fountain was opened for sin and unclean. He was foreshadowed by nearly every main character in the Bible.

[18:59] David, Solomon, Jonah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and so on. It was all there before him.

[19:12] Yet they failed to see it. There were so many signposts in the Scripture that he was the Messiah of Scripture.

[19:23] Now, whilst he discussed with his own disciples, this was the rock on which he always took a stand, to overcome all the storms and all the opposition that he encountered, you said the Scriptures.

[19:48] For in them you think you have eternal life, and they are that which testify of me, and you will not come to me that you might have life.

[20:04] We need to come to the Christ of the Scripture, not the Christ of people's imaginations, but the Christ that can be verified from Scripture.

[20:18] They sat in Moses' seat, yet they didn't believe what Moses wrote. He accused him of that. Had you believed Moses, you would have believed in me, he said on one occasion, because he wrote of me.

[20:39] Men who knew the letter of the law had no real insight into the truth, and that's always the danger, that we can know our Bibles, that we don't know the Christ of the Bible.

[21:00] That was the problem in his own day. He said to them, had they ever read what Moses wrote of him, or had they not read what David did?

[21:17] him. But nothing is so final as the statement which he ascribes to the rich man in the parable of the rich man in Lazarus.

[21:31] The rich man was convinced that if somebody were to rise from the dead and go and warn his brothers that they would repent.

[21:43] And what did he say? He declared with absolute authority, if they do not hear the words of Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one would rise from the dead.

[22:04] That's why Paul was not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He didn't try and convince anybody with any other meanings other than the word of God.

[22:18] Because unless people believe in the word of God, it doesn't matter what we convince them of. It doesn't matter what we persuade them to do. Now, these men had listened to the reports that they had got, that angels had appeared and spoken to a woman.

[22:40] They believed these women. But we've got something far more sure than the word that comes from anybody that might have had encounters with angels.

[22:57] It did really happen. but we've got something far more sure than encounters with angels or apostles or the Lord's people telling you something.

[23:12] We have this own world. And this is what we need to build on. God's love. Because it's the power of God unto salvation for everybody who will believe it.

[23:30] Now, we can believe many things, but unless we believe in the Christ that is revealed to us in the Scriptures, then it's going to be of no ability whatsoever to us.

[23:42] we need to search the Scriptures and we need to find our assurance and we need to find our direction in life from the teaching of the Scriptures to us.

[24:01] Our confidence must be in the Christ of the Scriptures. Now, Jesus has risen from the dead. This is the evidence that the rich man wanted.

[24:16] If somebody rises from the dead, they will repent, while Jesus rose from the dead. But people didn't repent.

[24:31] It's the Word of God that will bring us to repentance. It's the Word of God that will bring us to faith. We need the Word of God.

[24:44] This is where he always began. This is where he begins to allay the fear and that unbelief. He starts with Moses and the prophets.

[24:56] He takes them through the Scriptures to give them the evidence that they need to have. Not the evidence, possibly, that they were not. but this is the sure evidence that we all need to have.

[25:14] Because when we put our hope and confidence in God's Word, then we will not be assured. But we will receive the blessings of the salvation that Christ has secured for us.

[25:31] us. And just as he broke the bands of death in the power and in the might of the resurrection, he can do the same for us.

[25:46] If we open up our hearts to him, he will pour into our hearts the grace that we so desperately need. Let us look to him.

[26:00] Where are we going to look to him in the scriptures? Because they are those that testify of him. That's where he's going to reveal himself to us, as the Christ of God, and not the Christ of our generation.

[26:21] May God give out that he would bless to us these things.