["Pomp and Circumstance"]
You
Good evening and welcome to Verity Baptist Church. Let's go ahead and find our seats this evening
Find the seats and find a hymnal close to you and turn to page number 31
Song number 31, we will open the service when he lives
I serve a risen Savior, his in the world today
Song number 31, sing it out on the first
I serve a risen Savior, his in the world today
I know that he is living, whatever man may say
I see his hand of mercy, I hear his poison cheer
In just a time I need him, he's always near
He lives, he lives, Christ Jesus lives today
He walks with me and talks with me, a long last year away
He lives, he lives, salvation to and from
You ask me how I know he lives
He lives within my heart
Song number 31, on the second
In all the world around me, I see his loving prayer
And though my heart grows weary, I never will despair
I know that he is leading throughout the soul he blasts
His appearing will come at last
He lives, he lives, Christ Jesus lives today
He walks with me and talks with me, a long last year away
He lives, he lives, salvation to and from
You ask me how I know he lives
He lives within my heart
Sing it out on the last
Rejoice, rejoice, O Christian, lift up your voice and sing
Eternal Hallelujah to Jesus Christ the King
The hope of all who seek him come true
The lover is so loving, so good and kind
Sing it out, he lives, he lives, Christ Jesus lives today
He walks with me and talks with me, a long last year away
He lives, he lives, salvation to and from
You ask me how I know he lives
He lives within my heart
Amen, great team, welcome to Verity Baptist Church here on our Sunday evening service
We are glad to see everyone here this evening
Let's open the service with a word of prayer
Dear Heavenly Father and Lord, we thank you for the day, thank you for everything that you've done for us
Lord, thank you for sending your son, Lord, to die for our sins
We pray that you bless the service, we pray that you bless the singing, the preaching, and the fellowship to come
We love you in Jesus' name, I pray, Amen
Alright, it's now time for our favorites, where if you're selected, we will sing a stanza from the song that you pick
Go ahead Madison
Song number 55
We'll start with song number 55
When the roll is cold up yonder, I'll be there
Song number 55
Sing it out, on the first
When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more
When the morning breaks eternal, bright and fair
When the saved, the versed shall gather open on the other shore
When the roll is cold up yonder, I'll be there
When the roll is cold up yonder
When the roll is cold up yonder, I'll be there
Sisi
24 on the last
And can it be that I should gain
Song number 24
Sing it out
On the last
Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature's night
Thine eye did use a big, big break
I woke up the dungeon flamed with light
My chains fell off, my heart lost me
A world closed and full of hope and part of me
Amazing love, how can it be
That now my God should stand for me
Song number 449
On the first
Far away the noise of strife upon my ear is calling
Then I know the sins of worth be set on every hand
Doubt and fear and things of earth in vain to me are calling
None of these shall leave me from you there
I'm living on the mountain, the cloudless sky
I'm drinking at the fountain that never shall run dry
Yes, I'm missing all the manna from the bountiful supply
For I am dwelling from Bula Man
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
Let's sing it out on the first
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
How once was lost, but now am found
Was blind, but now I see
40 on the last
There's no disappointment in heaven
Song number 40
Sing it out, song number 40 on the last
There'll never be creep on the corner
No funeral train in the sky
No graves on the hillsides of Gobi
For there will never more die
The old will be on their forever
Transforming a moment of time
Immortal will stand in his likeness
The stars in the sun to a chime
I'm bound for that beautiful city
The Lord has prepared for his own
Where all the meeting of all ages
Jingle me around the white throne
Sometimes I grow homesick for heaven
And the moments that there shall be hope
What a joy that will be when my Savior I see
In that beautiful city of God
448, song number 448
This will be the last song for Favorite
Brethren, we have met to worship
This will be the last song, so let's sing it out
On the first
Brethren, we have met to worship
And adore the Lord our God
Will you pray with all your power
While we try to reach the Word
All is vain unless the Spirit
Of the Holy One comes out
Brethren, may the holy manna
Will be showered all around
Amen
We want to welcome you to the evening service here at Ready Baptist Church
We're so glad you're with us
Let's go ahead and take our bulletins and we'll look at some announcements real quickly
If you do not have a bulletin, just raise your hand
And one of our ushers can get one for you
If you need a bulletin, just put your hand up and we will get one for you
The verse this week, 1 Peter 1.3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
Which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again
Unto a lightly hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
And that's a good verse there
We like that, if you open up your bulletin, you'll see our service times
Sunday morning service, 10.30 a.m.
And we had a wonderful service this morning
We're glad you're back out tonight for the evening service
And we do invite you to be with us on Wednesday night
For the midweek Bible study at 7 p.m.
And we call it the most encouraging service of the week
It's nice to get out once you've been back in the world for a couple of days
To separate and be back with God's people on a Wednesday night
We encourage you to be here of course for that
If you look at our soul winning times, our main soul winning times on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m.
And soul winning is when we go out in the community, we knock doors, we invite people to church
And we preach the gospel to anyone who's interested
We have additional soul winning times on Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays at 2 p.m.
And we'd love for you to join us for any one of those soul winning times
If you are a first time guest, if it's your first time here at Verity Baptist Church
We're glad you're with us
We have a gift we'd like to give you as you walk out of the church building tonight
If you go out our main foyer or if you go out our secondary foyer
You'll see a little table set up and on that table you'll see these little gift bags
Please grab one on your way out as a gift from us to you for being our guest tonight
There are several resources in this bag that we'd like you to have
The one I'd like to highlight is this documentary that our church made
It's called Being Baptist
It's very well made, very interesting, we think you'll enjoy it
And we want to give this to you as a gift
So please make sure you don't leave here without grabbing one of these gift bags on your way out
And if you are a guest, we'd ask that you please take a moment and fill out the little survey questionnaire in your bulletin
If you need a pen, just raise your hand
And one of our ushers can bring you by a Verity Baptist Church pen
You're welcome to keep the pen as a gift from us as well
We're not going to do anything odd with your info
We would just like to have a record of your attendance
We actually would like to send you a little gift
But we need your information to do that
So please take a moment to fill the card out
When we're done with the announcements, we're going to sing a song
When we're done singing, we're going to receive the offering
And as the offering plate goes by, you can drop this card in the offering plate
Or you can hand it to me after the service
I'll be standing at the main door greeting people on the way out
If you look at the announcements there, we of course are a family integrated church
Children and infants are always welcome in the service
We do not separate children from their parents for any reason
However, we do have mother-baby rooms and daddy rooms available for your convenience
If you're not sure where those rooms are at, you can look at the back of the bulletin
And you'll see a layout of our church building
It'll show you where the restrooms are, where the mother-baby rooms are, where the daddy room is
All of the rooms have comfortable seating
They've got monitors set up so you can watch the service and listen to it
So if you have a child that's been distracting during the service
Or if you need some privacy, we would encourage you to use those rooms as needed
If you look at the announcements, of course if you need to be baptized, please let us know
We'd love to baptize you
And if you let us know on your survey card there
We'll follow up with you and we can talk to you about baptism
We have a baptism lined up tonight, so we'll have a baptism after the service
And if you've already spoken to somebody, you know you need to be baptized
And all you need to do is at the end of the service, after the preaching
While we're singing the last song, if you go out that door
One of our staff guys will meet you there and we'll get you situated for baptism
If you look at the announcements and upcoming events, of course today is Easter
And we want to wish everybody a happy Easter as we're celebrating the resurrection of Christ
This morning we had our choir sing
Of course we had the Cadbury eggs and all of that in the morning
We appreciate you being back tonight
We of course still have the free gift for all of the guests
And I'll still be preaching an Easter themed sermon tonight from a different passage
A different passage and a different sermon
But we appreciate you being here
If you look at the announcements there, of course we have the baby shower for Miss Karen Jimenez
This Saturday, April 15th at 3pm
And we invite all the ladies to be a part of that
And we have Mother's Day coming up
We want to invite all of the ladies to an afternoon tea in honor of Mother's Day
On Saturday, May 13th at 3pm
That'll be in our fellowship hall
You can sign up through your survey questionnaire on the back
There's a place for you to sign up for different events
And of course this is always a fun time for the ladies
They'll be having a tea in honor of Mother's Day
But all ladies are invited
There is a gift basket that'll be valued at over $50
That'll be given away
And you can sign up through your communication card
And of course the next day is Mother's Day on Sunday, May 14th
We'd love for you to make plans to be here for that
We're going to have the children's choir singing on Mother's Day
In honor of Mother's Day of course
And then we'll be giving out the BBC t-shirts to all the ladies
We have ladies t-shirts
For ladies, girls, any ladies or girls that are in attendance on that service
Not just mothers
We'll receive a t-shirt as a gift from our church
So we encourage you to be here for that
And then of course men's preaching and beat tonight for the men
On Friday, April 21st at 7pm
This is an activity for men
And if you're a man of our church, we'd love for you to be a part of this
We'll have several guys from our church preach
They'll preach about 10 minute sermons
And then we'll have pizza afterwards
You don't have to preach if you come
We won't make you do that
But we'd love for you to be a part of it
And you can fellowship with the men of the church
Children's choir begins next Sunday, April 16th
They'll start practicing at 5.15pm in the playroom
So the room right on the other side of the main foyer
It's for ages 4 to 12 years old
And they're going to be practicing for Mother's Day
Homeschool group, they've got PE class this Thursday, April 13th
There's other things there for you to look at
Please don't forget to turn your cellphones off
Or place them on silent during the service
They're not a distraction to anybody
You should have one of these cards in your bulletin
And we want you to be aware of a brand new sermon series
That will be starting next Sunday
This is in the morning, the morning service
We're going to start a series called
Helping people reach their full potential
We're going to be learning about how for you biblically
To reach your full potential
Personally, in your marriage, with your children
In every area of life
And we want to encourage you to be here for that
Maybe you can invite a friend to come with you as well
If you look at the back of the bulletin
Birthdays and anniversaries for this week
This week we have Miss Emily Gessler
And Miss Julia Gessler have a birthday on April 12th
Daniel Santos has a birthday on April 12th
Miss Christine Ortiz has a birthday on April 15th
And Jeffrey Love has a birthday on April 15th
Praise reports, salvation, money matters
All those things are there for you to look at
Obviously Easter is a busy time for us
And let me just give you some numbers real quickly
I like to call our church the working church
And that's because we've got a workforce around here
And in preparation for Easter this week
Over the last four weeks
Our church gave out 10,000 invitations door to door
Through our soul winning
Our mailing ministry mailed out 5,700 mailers
And of course we had 72 soul winners out on Thursday night
70 soul winners on Friday night
126 soul winners on Saturday morning
And this morning of course we had a great turnout
The choir did a great job
The orchestra did a great job
We had 270 in church this morning for Easter
And considering the fact that we started this church 12 years ago
With just a few people in a living room
The Lord has blessed and we are thankful for that
I think there's 175 here tonight or something like that
So praise the Lord for that
I think that's it for all of the announcements
So we're going to go ahead and sing the chorus of the week
Which is the insert in your bulletin
And we're going to sing Beyond the Cross
As we prepare to receive the offering this evening
Beyond the Cross, sing it out on the first
Leading strain for my journey
I know at the cross
Where Jesus once died for me
And I ask this is the place
Where hope abides
And this is said to be
Beyond the cross
Is a tomb that is empty
You won't find me there anymore
And beyond the tomb
Is life everlasting
And hope forevermore
Good, sing it out on the second
When I saw the assurance
When I went to the tomb
To the place where his body once lay
And I won't help you see
Is there hope here for me
And this I heard him say
Beyond the cross
Is a tomb that is empty
You won't find me there anymore
And beyond the tomb
Is life everlasting
And hope forevermore
Amen, good singing, we'll have the guys come up
And help us with the offering at this time
And if you're a Verity Baptist Church member
We'd love for you to take a moment
If you haven't done it already
And fill out the survey and questionnaire as well
Just to get everybody's updated information
You can drop it into the offering plate
Or you can drop it off into a box in the main foyer
Let's go ahead and bow our heads
And have a word of prayer
Heavenly Father, we do thank you
We thank you for allowing us to gather together tonight
We pray that you bless the gift and the giver
We pray that you bless the preaching of your word
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen
Amen.
And it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned
Jesus himself drew near and went with them
But their eyes were holding that they should not know him
And he said unto them
What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another
As ye walk and are sad?
And the one of them whose name was Cleopas answering said unto him
Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem
And hast not known the things which are come to pass therein 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 of 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 besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done
Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished
And were early at the sepulcher
When they found out 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 sepulcher
And found out even so as the women had said
But him they saw not
Then he said unto them
O fools and slow of heart to believe all 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 expanded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself
And they drew nigh into the village whither 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 opened and they knew him
And he vanished out of their sight
And they said one to another
Did not our heart burn within us
While he talked with us by the way
While he opened to us the scriptures
And they rose up the same hour
And returned to Jerusalem
And found the eleven gathered together
And them that were with them
Saying the Lord is risen indeed
And appeared to Simon
And they told what things were done in the way
And now he was known of them in breaking of bread
Let's pray
Heavenly Father thank you for this evening
God I thank you for your word
And for our church Lord for everyone that's here
As he please meet with us tonight
Give us all tender hearts at the message
As he please be with our pastors to strengthen him
And from the inner spirit
We love you
And in Jesus' name we pray
Amen
Alright we're there in Luke chapter number 24
And of course we have been making our way
Through the Gospel of Luke
We've been on a journey with Jesus
Is what we've called it
And we've been spending
We've spent really over a year
Studying the Gospel of Luke together
Verse by verse
Chapter by chapter
And we have planned it
So that we would be here in Luke chapter 24
On this day of course
The day that we celebrate the resurrection
Of the Lord Jesus Christ
This morning of course
I preached on the subject of the resurrection
And if you remember this morning
We dealt with Luke 24 verses 1 through 12
And also verses 36 through 46
Which had to do with his resurrection
And his appearing before the disciples
On Wednesday night
We're going to finish the Gospel of Luke
And we'll be dealing with verses 47 through 53
And I'll be preaching on the subject
Of the ascension of Christ
Which is probably the least talked about event
Of the Lord Jesus Christ
But we'll be learning about the ascension
And I think you'll be interested to know about that
Tonight we're going to deal with these verses 13 through 35
And this morning as we were going through our passage
I told you that we were skipping these verses 13 through 35
Because I'll be preaching a sermon about that tonight
And the reason that I think this passage
This portion needs its own sermon
Is because it's such a great passage
And it's often known as the passage of the road to Emmaus
And of course we know that the Lord Jesus Christ
Has risen in verses 1 through 12
The women are now aware
They went to the sepulcher expecting a body
And they have been told that Jesus was resurrected
And they have gone back and told the 11
What the angels told them
But at this point no one has actually seen the risen Christ
Now after this story verses 13 through 35
We see Jesus appear to the disciples
And He has them handle them and all those things
But this is actually the first time in the Gospel of Luke
That Jesus is visibly seen after His resurrection
Now if you study the Gospels you'll notice that after
The resurrection there's documented for us
Several events several times in which Jesus appeared
To His disciples in His glorified body
And some of the Gospel writers give us different stories
And different things
Luke chose to give us really this one story
And he kind of goes into detail about it
It's a very interesting story
And what we see in this passage
Luke 24, 13 through 35 is two disciples
They're not necessarily 12 of the apostles
They're just two regular followers of Jesus Christ
And they are on the road to a town named Emmaus
In verse 13 you'll notice there the Bible says
And behold two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus
Which was from Jerusalem about three score furlongs
And of course today we know that from Jerusalem to Emmaus
Is about a seven mile trip
So these two disciples are on their way walking down this road
From Jerusalem to Emmaus
And it's a seven mile walk, seven mile hike
As they make it to this town
Notice verse 14
And they talk together of all these things
What things?
Well we know that this day
That they are taking this trip to Emmaus
Is the first day of the week
And we know that Jesus has resurrected
And what they're talking about
Is the events that have taken place over the last several days
The fact that Jesus was arrested
The fact that He was crucified
The fact that He was buried
And now three days later
There is talk of the fact that His body is missing
Verse 14 says
And they talked together of all these things
Which had happened and it came to pass
That while they communed together and reasoned
Why don't you notice here verse 15
Jesus Himself drew near
We of course see here the resurrected Christ
This is Jesus in His glorified body
And the Bible tells us that He Himself drew near
And went with them
Now if you understand the ancient world
You'll understand that traveling through these roads
In these ways was a common thing
Obviously in these days
The primary mode of transportation was walking
We see this all throughout the Bible
When Jesus tells the famous story of the Good Samaritan
He tells the story of a man who's on a road
Between Jerusalem and Jericho
And we know that on that road
He was assaulted
The story that Jesus tells us about the Jew
That was helped by the Good Samaritan
Was that he was on this road
And he was attacked
And he was robbed
And he was beaten
And he was left to die
He was left half dead
So as people in this ancient world
And I want you to understand this
Because you and I live in America in 2023
We live in California
So this might seem a little odd to us
Because especially now in our day and age
Everybody so has their face in a screen
That it's odd to ever have any sort of human communication
Or contact with anybody
And if anybody, you know, it'd be an odd thing
If you looked at someone
Or made eye contact with somebody
Or, you know, waved at someone
I mean you'd be, probably, might get arrested
If you tried to do anything like that
But in this day, in the ancient world
It was not out of the ordinary
For you to be walking down a road
And for other people who were walking down the road
To even strangers
To begin to walk together
And talk as they went
Because of the fact
It was a very dangerous time
And there's strength in numbers
So if you are walking down a road
You've got a seven mile trip ahead of you
And you happen to come across a stranger
You would probably begin to walk together
And talk together
As you go down the road
Because it would be a safe thing to do
So Jesus, the Bible tells us
Drew near and went with them
Notice verse 16
But their eyes were holding
That they should not know him
So Jesus appears and begins to walk down
This road towards Emmaus
With these men
I want you to understand the context
You have two disciples going down the road to Emmaus
As they're walking, they're talking
Very lively about the events that have taken place
And then this third man
Goes down the road with them
Begins to walk with them
The Bible tells us this man was Jesus
But they did not recognize him
They did not see him
And they did not realize
That it was the Lord Jesus Christ
Now let me just say a couple of things about this
And I'll say this just by way of introduction
Go to John if you would
Keep your place there in Luke 24
That's our text for tonight
But if you would turn over to John chapter 20
Just the next book over
Let's talk about the book of John
And let me say this
It's very common
For
As we see the appearance of Jesus
After his resurrection
It was very common for him
To not be recognized
After his resurrection
For him to appear to his disciples
And his disciples to not realize
That it was him
Let me give you an example of that
John chapter 20 and verse 11
Another example of this same thing
John 20 and 11
The Bible says but Mary
This is of course the famous Mary Magdalene
Mary stood without
At the sepulcher weeping
This is again
She has not yet seen the resurrected Christ
She's standing outside of the sepulcher
She's weeping, she's mourning
The Bible says and as she wept
She stooped down
And looked into the sepulcher
Verse 12
The one at the head
And the other at the feet
Where the body of Jesus had lain
And they say unto her, woman, why weepest thou?
She said unto them, because they have taken
Away my Lord
And I know not where they have laid him
If you remember from this morning
We talked about the fact that nobody expected
Nobody
Nobody was expecting that the body would not be there
Here we have Mary
Who's weeping at the sepulcher
The angels ask her, what are you crying about?
Why weepest thou?
And she says, because they have taken away my Lord
And I know not where they have laid him
Verse 14
And when she had thus said
She turned herself back
Notice what the Bible says
And saw Jesus standing
But notice what it says
And knew not that it was Jesus
Jesus saith unto her, woman, why weepest thou?
Whom seekest thou?
She, supposing him to be the gardener
Sayeth unto him, sir, if thou was born in hence
Sayeth unto him, and I will take him away
Verse 16
Jesus saith unto her, Mary
And she turned herself
And saith unto him, Rabboni
Which is to say, master
So I want you to notice that
It was a common thing for the disciples
To not recognize Jesus
After his resurrection
Now there's a lot of questions about this
And let me just give you some thoughts
I mean, I'll tell you what the Bible actually tells us
But I want you to understand some things
When you look at the Bible
It's a change to the body of Christ
We believe that his glorified body
Of course, looked like
His body before
And your glorified body
If you're saved
At the resurrection, at the rapture
Will look, you will look
The way you look today
I know that's disappointing to some of you
But it's the truth
We know that because of other passages
In scripture where
They're identified by their looks
Even the Lord Jesus Christ himself
When he appears in his glorified body
To John on the isle of Patmos
In the book of Revelation
The Bible says that his likeness was as the Son of Man
So we know that he looked the way he did
His figure might have changed a little bit
Isaiah 52
Which is part of the prophetic
The famous prophecy in Isaiah 53
One of the most famous prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ
In the Old Testament
Tells us that his face was marred
So there might have actually been some sort of
Disfigurement to his body
That made him look a little different
And that's up in the air
And you could maybe consider that
Here, for example, with the story with Mary
The Bible tells us
Supposing him to be the gardener
Saved unto him
Sir, if thou is born him
Hence tell me where thou has laid him
And I will take him
But the Bible also tells us here in verse 16
Jesus saith unto her, Mary
And then the Bible says
She turned herself and saith unto him
Rabboni
So obviously she was not facing him
He walked up behind her
And he said to her, woman, why weepest thou
Whom seekest thou
And she supposing him to be the gardener
So we see that here
But we see this in other passages as well
Go back to Luke 24
I won't take the time to go through them
But we see Jesus, he goes to the disciples
When they're out fishing
But they go back to their old life
Peter said, I go fishing
And Jesus appears to them on the shore
And he begins to talk with them
And they don't realize that it was Jesus
And part of this had to do with maybe the fact
That his face had changed a little bit
Part of it had to do with the actual
Physicality
Maybe they had their backs to him
Maybe he was far away on the shore
But the Bible tells us here in Luke 24
That one of the reasons why they could not
Recognize Jesus
And the main reason why they could not
Recognize Jesus was because he did not
Want them to
Notice Luke 24 16
But their eyes were holding
The word holding means
They were held back
That they should not know him
This was miraculous
God had performed a miracle here
Jesus had performed a miracle
Where their eyes had been held back
Where they saw this individual
But they were unable to recognize
Him as Jesus
Now you might be wondering why is it that
Jesus would do this after the resurrection
And on Wednesday night
I'll be speaking on the subject of the
Ascension and we're going to talk about the
40 days between the resurrection
Of Christ and the Ascension of the Lord
Jesus Christ and how Jesus'
Interaction with the disciples
Changed and was not the same
As it was before so we'll deal
With that on another night
But let me just say this, I believe that
To some extent, one of the reasons
Why he would make it so that they would
Not recognize him, part of it
Was just the fact that he wanted to surprise them
He wanted to be able to speak
With them and then surprise them
That hey, you weren't
Expecting me to be resurrected
But here I am
Another reason might be
As we get into this passage, I think you will
See it, that he's trying to get
An honest report from
Them and if they would have
Known that they were talking to
Jesus, they might not
Have been as honest as they are
So he was trying to
Speak to them and not have them
Change their thoughts or
Attitudes based off who
He was and we know that
History tells us there are many
Accounts of famous
Kings who would go out
Into the community and go out
And speak to the people of their kingdom
And they would dress themselves as
Peasants and they would dress themselves
As the common man so that they could
Speak to people without people
Thinking they were the king and therefore
Changing the way that they
Would speak to them. I feel like I can
Understand this to an extent, being a pastor
I've noticed sometimes when I
Meet people, they'll speak to me
And they'll maybe act
Just normal and as soon as they find out
Oh, what do you do for a living? I'm a pastor
Of a church and then all of a sudden, you know, everything
Is like, oh, well praise the Lord
Hallelujah. And it's like,
You know, two minutes ago
It was like blankety blank blank
You know, and so
Oftentimes people will
Change the way they speak
Or the way they act or the way they
Portray themselves based off
The person they're speaking to. So I think
That Jesus wanted to have a
Conversation with these men but he wanted
An honest conversation so
Therefore their eyes were holding
Back that they could not recognize
Him. And I'd like to give you some thoughts
Regarding this conversation that
Jesus has with these men on the
Road to Emmaus. I'd like to give you four thoughts
And maybe you can write these down. I always encourage you
To take notes and on the back of your course of the week
There's a place for you to write down some things
I'd like you to notice, first of all, we see in this
Story the disappointment
That they had in Christ
The disappointment that they had in Christ
And this might be the reason why
Jesus held back their eyes
Their eyes were holding
Because he wanted to speak to them
About their heartache
And their heartache
Was actually rooted in
The disappointment that they had
In Christ himself
We read of course that these men
Were on the road to Emmaus
We read that Jesus appears to them
And he begins to walk down the road
And to speak to them. Verse 17
The Bible says, and he said unto them
This is Jesus speaking
To the disciples, but they do not know
It is Jesus speaking to them
He says to them, what manner
Of communication are these
That ye have one to
Another as ye walk
And are sad?
I want you to notice their hopelessness
They are sad, and Jesus is identifying
He's pretty much walking
He walks up to them and he says
What's wrong? What manner
Of communication are these?
That ye have one to another? As ye walk
He says, and are sad
Notice verse 18
And one of them, whose name was Cleopas
Answering said unto him
Art thou only a stranger
In Jerusalem?
I want you to notice the way they respond
They said
You must be new around here
You must not be around from
These parts
You must be a stranger
You must be a foreigner
Just traveling through
What we're talking about
Art thou only a stranger
In Jerusalem?
And has not known the things
That are come to pass
Here in these days?
Jesus begins to walk with his disciples
And he asks them the question
What are you talking about?
What is this communication?
Why are you so sad?
And they respond to him
You must be new
You must have just got here
It's the front page
It's the headline
Everybody knows what's going on
You must have just got here
What do you mean what are we talking about?
They said
Art thou only a stranger
In Jerusalem?
And has not known the things
That are come to pass
There in these days?
Notice the response of Jesus
Verse 19
And he said unto them
The sense of humor of Jesus
I want you to grasp it fully
Here because Jesus
In my opinion is having a little fun
With these guys
He's Jesus
He's the resurrected Christ
He was crucified
And buried
He was beaten
And he is now resurrected from the grave
He's walking with his disciples
Who he knows well
And they know him well
And they look at their eyes
And he walks up and he says
What are you so sad about?
And they say
What do you mean what are we so sad about?
You must be new around here
Everybody knows what we're sad about
Don't you know what's going on?
Don't you know of the things that have happened around here?
And then Jesus says to them
What things?
And they said unto him
Concerning Jesus of Nazareth
The mighty in deed and word
Before God and all the people
And how the chief priest and our rulers
Delivered him to be condemned to death
And have crucified him
And I want you to notice verse 21
Verse 21 is probably why their eyes were holding back
Verse 21 is probably why Jesus did not want to be recognized
Because I don't know that they would have been this honest and truthful with Jesus
If they would have known that he was listening
I want you to notice the disappointment that they had in Christ
In verse 21 they say this
But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel
They said we trusted
We had confidence
We believed that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel
What does that mean?
They thought he was the Messiah
They thought that he was the Christ
They thought that he was the anointed one
They thought that he was the chosen one
Now I don't have time to get into these details
But often what happens with these Old Testament Jews
And what happened with these believers in the New Testament
During the life of Christ
Is that they had the wrong idea of the Messiah
See the Bible prophesies the coming of the Messiah in two different ways
You have the first coming and the second coming
The first time that he comes to this earth
And the second time he comes to the earth
The first time he comes as a lamb
The second time he comes as the lion of the tribe of Judah
The first time he came in humility
The next time he will come in glory
The first time he came as a babe
The next time he will come as a king
And what they thought was they did not understand
The prophecies of the first coming of Christ
They thought that the Christ who would come
Would be the one who would come with a rod of iron
Who would be the redeemer of Israel
Who would, they trusted that he had been
He which should have redeemed Israel
And then they say, verse 21
And beside all this
Today is the third day
Since these things were done
And I said it this morning
But I'll say it again because it's Easter
And this is really just another
Easter sermon
And it is this
That our religion is not a religion of the teachings of Christ
It is not a religion of the parables of Christ
It's not a religion of the miracles of Christ
Our religion is Christ
The religion of Christ
The belief in Christ
The idea of Christ
The message of Christ
We talked about it this morning
But it hinged on what he claimed about himself
And the problem with Jesus
If I could say it that way
Was that he said too much about himself
He said, I am the Son of God
He said, I am
Seven different times in the book of John
He says, I am the way
I am the door
I am the bread
He equated himself to a deity
Because he was deity
He said, I am the way
The truth and the light
No man cometh unto the Father
But by me
He goes to a funeral where he resurrects a man
And he says, I am the resurrection and the light
The ministry of Christ
And look, you need to understand this
Because today, Christianity hinges on
Is Jesus who he said he was?
And for these disciples
The problem was
That the man that they had been following
The man that they had been trusting
Had said too much about himself
And like we said this morning
When Jesus died
Everything he claimed about himself
Died with him
So we see their disappointment
The disappointment they had in Christ
Look at it again, verse 21
But we trusted, past tense
You're not trusting anymore?
Well, we did trust
But then he died
We believed that he was life
But then he died
We believed that he was the resurrection
But then he died
We see the disappointment of the disciples
But we trusted that it had been he
Which should have redeemed Israel
And beside all this, today is the third day
Since these things were done
Yea, and certain women also of our company
Made us, notice again, made us astonished
The word astonished means
Filled with sudden
And overpowering surprise
Made us astonished
Which were early at the sepulcher
And when they found not his body
They came saying that they had also seen
Visions of angels which said he was alive
And some of them
Which were with us
Went to the sepulcher
And found it even so as the women had said
Look at it, last part of verse 24
But him
They saw not
They said
Are you new around here?
It's all everyone's talking about
Jesus of Nazareth
He was a prophet mighty in deed
And word before God and all the people
And we trusted
That it had been he
Which should have redeemed Israel
But then he died
And everything he claimed
About himself
Died with him
You understand why
Jesus might want to have held their eyes
Jesus might want to have held their eyes back
He wanted to document this for us
There was a disappointment
That his disciples had
And it's not just these two
All of them, the disappointment they had in Christ
But I want you to notice secondly tonight
Not only do we see the disappointment
They had in Christ, we also see
The disbelief they had of Christ
Look at verse 25
Then he
Now up to this point they've done all the talking
He's just asked questions
What manner of communication are these that you have one to another
As you walk and are sad
And they're telling him all about Jesus
And how they're disappointed and how they trusted
And they thought he was, but now he's dead
And now all of that's gone
And then the Bible tells us in verse 25
Then he said unto them
O fools
Imagine a stranger saying that to you
O fools
And slow of heart
To believe
He said unto them
O fools
O 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
Notice verse 27
And beginning at Moses
And at all the prophets
He expounded unto them
In all the scriptures
The things concerning himself
Why don't you notice that
They had a disbelief
And Jesus said
You're slow of heart
He says O fools
O slow of heart to believe
Isn't this what 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
In all the scriptures
The things concerning himself
Let's run a few verses real quickly
Go to Acts chapter 3
After Luke you have John and then the book of Acts
Acts chapter number 3
Luke, John, and then Acts
Acts chapter number 3
See the Bible
had all the answers
for them already
Let me just give you a quick application
Everything that breaks your heart
Cause isn't that what we see with these disciples?
Broken hearts
By the way Jesus is gentle with them
He's not upset with them
He understands the situation they find themselves in
They had put all their eggs
They had put all their Easter eggs
Into that basket of Jesus
And then he died
They don't believe
They're disappointed
But please understand something
The problem was not
with the Bible
The problem was with their lack
of understanding of the Bible
The problem was with their lack
of understanding of the Bible
The Bible had already answered these questions
The Bible had already told them these things
That's why he says
Beginning at Moses and in all the prophets
He began to explain to them what the Bible says
They got it, praise God
Acts chapter 3, look at verse 18
Notice the disciples after the ascension
Acts 3, 18
But those things which God before
This is the disciples speaking
Which God before has showed
By the mouth of
All his prophets
That Christ should suffer
He had so fulfilled
Acts 3, 18
Look at Acts 3, 21
Whom the heaven must receive
Until the times of restitution
Of all things
We'll look at this verse again
During the ascension
Which God has spoken by the mouth
Of all his holy prophets
Since the world began
Go to Acts chapter 10
Verse 43
Notice what the Bible says
Acts 10, 43
To him give all
The prophets witness
The him there
Is referring to Jesus
To him give all the prophets witness
That through his name whosoever believeth in him
Shall receive remission of sin
Do you know that the entire Bible is about Jesus Christ?
You know that Jesus
Is the red thread
That goes through the entire Bible
You say pastor why are we going to begin
A brand new Bible study
Next Sunday night in the book of Numbers
We're going to go chapter by chapter
Through the book of Numbers
Why would we do that?
Why are we going to start a Bible study
Not this Wednesday night but next Wednesday night
In the book of Galatians and go verse by verse
Through the book of Galatians
Why is it that for the last 12 years
You have gone and taught us line upon line
Chapter after chapter
Book after book
We've studied verse by verse
The book of Genesis and Exodus
And Leviticus and Joshua
And Judges and 1 Samuel
And 2 Samuel and Ezra
And Nehemiah
Excuse me not Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther
We've studied Job
We've studied Isaiah
We've studied Ezekiel
We've studied Amos
We've studied Joel
We've studied Matthew
We're finishing up Luke
We've studied Galatians and Jude
And we're going to keep going till we've studied the whole Bible
You say why? Because the whole thing is about Jesus Christ
Amen
Every chapter you can find Jesus in it
Every book you can find Jesus in it
The entire Old Testament led us up to Jesus
The entire Gospels is all about Jesus
The entire Epistles
And everything after the Gospels just points us back to Jesus
It's all about Jesus
The Bible says to him
Give all the prophets witness
Amen
Jesus
And all the answers were there
And I just want you to understand this
Whatever problem you have
Whatever heartache you have
Whatever issue you're dealing with tonight
Whatever makes you sad
That you might not ever say out loud
You might not ever say it to me
Because I'm a pastor and you just wouldn't say those things
To a pastor
You might not say it out loud
Because you're afraid that God would hear you
Or Jesus would hear you
There are some things you've had
There are some things that have not gone the way you thought they should have
There are some issues that have happened in your life
And you're sad
And your countenance has fallen
And there's depression there and discouragement
But let me tell you something
The problem is not in the Bible
The Bible has the answers
You just need to learn the Bible and find the answers
The Bible has the answers to every problem
The Bible has the answers to every issue
The Bible can help you with anything and everything
The issue is not with the word of God
But with the knowledge of the word of God
This is why Hosea said
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge
Jesus begins to deal with their disbelief
Jesus begins, the Bible tells us
Go back if you would to Luke 24
Verse 27
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets
Why?
Because look, you need it all
All scriptures given by inspiration of God
All of it
You say, you're going to preach through the whole Bible?
I'm going to preach through the whole Bible?
You say, what are you going to do?
Once you've done that, I'm going to retire
No, I'm just kidding
I mean, we've already preached through like 45% of the Bible in 12 years
I think we can finish the rest of the thing in the next 10 years
I'll probably be only
I'm 37 years old right now
I'll probably be 45, 46
By the time we're done, you say, what are we going to do?
Once we finish, we're going to do it again
We're going to dig into it again
We're going to learn it again
We're going to study it again
Because the Bible is alive
Because the Bible is fresh
Because the Bible has the answers that you need
Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, the Bible tells us
We see the disappointment they had in Christ
We see the belief they had in Christ
But I'd like you to notice thirdly there in verse 27
We see the discourse they were given by Christ
Notice this in verse 27
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets
Notice this little phrase
He expounded unto them
You say, what does that mean?
He began to preach a sermon to them
He began to teach a Bible study to them
This was the greatest sermon never recorded
Praise God for all the sermons that are recorded in the Bible
Some amazing sermons recorded in the Bible
The great Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew 5, 6, and 7
We've got the other sermons where Jesus rebuked in the Pharisees
And other chapters of the Gospel
We've got some of the sermons of the Apostle Paul and others
Stephen and others who preach sermons
Great sermons and the prophets
We've got sermons translated into the Bible
We've got some of the sermons of the Apostle Paul and others
Stephen and others who preach sermons
Great sermons and the prophets
We've got sermons translated into the Bible
We've got some of the sermons of the Apostle Paul and others
Stephen and others who preach sermons
Great sermons and the prophets
We've got sermons transcribed
Sermons they preach
Praise God for that
Here we have a sermon that wasn't transcribed
We're just told that he expounded unto them
In all the Scriptures
The things concerning himself
You say, why would he do that?
Here's why
Because they had a disbelief
And the answer to your lack of faith
Is the Word of God
Let me prove it to you
If you're there in Luke
Go past John, past Acts, into the book of Romans
Romans chapter 10
Luke, John, Acts, Romans
They had a problem
They were discouraged
They were disappointed because of their disbelief
So he gave them the Word of God
Romans 10 17
So then, Romans 10 17
So then, faith cometh by hearing
And hearing by the Word of God
You know what you and I need more than anything?
The hearing of the Word of God
This is why Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5
You don't have to turn there
He said, despise not prophesy
Prophesying there is a term
The way that you and I would say it would be preaching
Despise not preaching
You know what I would do if I were you?
I would be
Under the preaching of God's Word
Every chance I would make
I would be
Under the preaching of God's Word
Every chance I got
Every opportunity I got
Every time the Word of God was open
And a man of God
By the power of God
Expounding on the Word of God
You say, why? Because faith cometh by hearing
And hearing by the Word of God
And it is our lack of faith that brings us problems
It is the fact that we don't trust
The problem is not that the Bible is not there
But we're not trusting what the Bible says
You say, why don't we do what the Bible says
Because the truth is you would never say it out loud
I would never say it out loud
But the reason we don't do
What the Bible tells us to do
Is because we don't trust the Bible
Otherwise you would have a marriage
The way the Bible tells you to have a marriage
Are you listening to me?
The reason that a wife
Fights submitting to her husband
Though that's what the Bible says
Is because honestly you never say this out loud
You never say it to me
You never say it to God
You'd only say it to Jesus
If your eyes were holding back
And you didn't think you were talking to Jesus
But the truth is you don't really trust the Bible
That's the reason you husbands don't love your wives
And provide for them
You send them off to work
Because you don't trust the Bible
That's the reason you don't raise your children
The way that God has told you to raise your children
Because can we be honest?
You don't trust the Bible
You say, well how do I fix that?
Get under the preaching of the word of God
Faith cometh by hearing
And hearing by the word of God
The more you learn of the word of God
The more the word of God
Has an effect on your heart
And faith will begin to grow
In your heart
The Bible says that he expounded
Unto them
And all the scriptures
The things concerning himself
I don't know what passages he went to
The Bible doesn't document it for us
I don't know what he showed them exactly
The Bible doesn't document it for us
If I had to guess, I would guess that he probably took them to Genesis 3.15
I mean the very first prophecy of Christ where the Bible says
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman
And between thy seed and her seed
It shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel
I don't know that he went there
But I would guess that he would start there
If I had to guess, I would guess that he went to Genesis 22
And talked about that great picture of Abraham
Sacrificing his son Isaac
And how that pictured the father
Sacrificing the only begotten son, the Lord Jesus Christ
I don't know that he went there, but if I had to guess
I think he would go there
If I had to guess, I would think that he probably spent some time in the book of Leviticus
And going through all the different Levitical sacrifices
And showing how they all foreshadowed
And were a picture of the coming Messiah
I don't know where he went
If I had to guess, I would say that he went to Psalm 22
If I had to guess, I would say that he went to Isaiah 53
If I had to guess, I don't know where he went
When he went through the Bible, the Bible tells us
That in all the Scriptures, that beginning at Moses
He began to teach them
Beginning at Moses and all the prophets expanded unto them
And he began to reveal himself to them
And I'm just here to tell you something
The Bible will transform your life
I'm not sure if you're there in Romans 10
But I'd like you to look at Romans 12 real quickly
In verse 2
Romans 12 and verse 2
And be not conformed to this world
But be transformed by the renewing of your mind
You say, how do you perform discipleship?
How do you get transformed to the image of Christ by the renewing of your mind?
See, some of you are probably here tonight and you're like, oh no
I think I've heard of places like this
This is like some, you actually believe the Bible?
Is this some sort of a cult?
I assure you, we're not a cult
Cults try to keep people in
This type of preaching throws people out
What I will tell you is that we believe the Bible, yes
And we preach the Bible
And it will transform your life if you allow it to renew your mind
And if you want to accuse us of brainwashing
I would just say that your brain probably needs to be washed
You need a renewing of your mind
Because we've been doing it wrong
And God says the answers of life are in the Bible
But be transformed by the renewing of your mind
Go back to Luke 24
I said, number one, we see the disappointment they had in Christ
Number two, we see the disbelief they had of Christ
Number three, we saw the discourse they were given by Christ
And then lastly, tonight I'd like you to notice
The discovery they made in Christ
There's three thoughts regarding this discovery
Why don't you notice, first of all, the invitation
Luke 24 and verse 28, the Bible says
And they drew nigh unto the village whether they went
And he, this is Jesus, made as though he would have gone further
I want you to understand the wording there
The wording when it says that he made as though he would have gone further
The way that we see that wording, sometimes the way that
When our King James Bible was translated to 1611
The way that they worded things was oftentimes
Sometimes different than the way we word things
So when you and I read that, we think that he's faking
Like he's pretending that he's going to keep going further
But he's not really going further
That is not the idea here
What's actually being said is that he began to go further
His actions were, in their eyes, as though he was going to continue on without them
They were on this road to Emmaus
They had been walking for seven miles
Jesus has been expounding unto them the word of God
And, verse 28, when they drew nigh unto the village whether they went
And he made as though he would have gone further
He's just going to keep walking, verse 29
But they constrained him saying, abide with us
I want you to notice the invitation
They invite Jesus
You say, what can we learn from this?
Here's what we can learn from this
You have to invite Jesus
I like that song we sing, pass me not, O gentle Savior
Hear my humble cry
The truth is this, that Jesus will not force himself upon you
Jesus is not a Calvinist, sorry to say it
He will stop if you'll invite him
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
They said to him, they still don't know it's Jesus
They said, it's late, it's dark now
It's not safe out there to go and keep walking
Why don't you stay with us?
And they constrained him saying, abide with us
I want you to notice they invited him
They invited him in and as a result, verse 30
And it came to pass as he, Jesus, sat at meat with them
He took bread and blessed it and break and gave to them
And just for the record, this is not a reference to the Lord's Supper
This wording is used throughout the Bible simply for them having a meal together
They invited them and they fellowshiped
Go to Revelation chapter 3 real quickly
Revelation chapter 3
In your life and in my life is the same way
And by the way, let me just say this
Yes, this applies to salvation
You've got to call upon Christ by faith to be saved
But I would remind you that these disciples are already saved
The actual application is this
That if you're going to have fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, you must invite him
This is illustrated for us in Revelation chapter 3
When Jesus is speaking to the seven churches in Asia
Here in Revelation chapter 3 and verse 20
Speaking to the Laodicean church
The Bible says, this is Jesus speaking
If you have a red letter edition Bible
You'll notice that these letters are in red
He says, behold, I stand at the door and knock
This is not a salvation verse
This is a sanctification verse
He is standing at the door of your heart
He says, behold, I stand at the door and knock
If any man hear my voice and open the door
I will come into him
Isn't this what happened in Luke 24?
I will come into him and will sup with him
And he with me
Here's what I want you to understand
Jesus wants to have fellowship with you
He wants to walk with you and talk with you
He wants to fellowship with you
But you've got to invite him
He made as though he would have gone further
Until they invited him
And the question I have for you, Christian, is
When was the last time you invited Jesus to have fellowship with you?
I'm not talking about salvation
When was the last time you opened a King James Bible
And said, Jesus, I'd like to commune with you
Let me feast on your word
Let me spend time having you speak to me through your word
And I'll speak to you through prayer
When was the last time that an invitation was extended to Jesus
Because he stands at the door and knocks
Waiting for someone to let him in
So we see this invitation
I'd like you to notice also
If you go back to Luke 24
We see an illumination
They've been walking with this man
They don't know who he is
But he's preaching a real good sermon
They're learning and they're like
Wow, I didn't realize that
Oh, I've heard that before
I've heard that before
They're learning and they're like
Wow, I didn't realize that
Oh, I've heard that before
Oh, that's what that means
As they walk down this road
And then he would have gone on
He made as though he would have gone further
And they constrained him saying
Abide with us
We see the invitation
But then there's an illumination
Verse 31
And their eyes were opened
And they knew him
And he vanished out of their sight
I want you to notice that
When they began to spend time with Jesus
How did they spend time with Jesus?
Please understand this
God is no respecter of persons
They in the first century
Literally, physically
With the Lord Jesus Christ
The resurrected Christ
Spent time with Jesus
In the same way that you and I
Can spend time with him today
Spending time in his word
And when they invited him
And they fellowshipped with him
And they spent time
Feasting with him
And feasting from his words
Their eyes were opened
You know the sad thing is
That most people don't know
The Jesus of the Bible
They don't know the real Jesus
They've allowed the secular world
And Hollywood
They've allowed Hollywood
To give him a depiction of Jesus
I mean most people today
Think that Jesus
Is some skinny, effeminate
Long-haired looking hippie
And I'm just, I'm sorry to tell you something
If that's what you think
You obviously haven't spent time
In the word of God
Cause that's not the Jesus of the Bible
But if you spend time
In the word of God
Your eyes may be opened
And you might get to know him
Here's how Paul said it
In Philippians 3 10
He said that I may know him
And the power of his resurrection
And the fellowship of his sufferings
Being made conformable unto his death
I'm here to tell you something
Most people have never met
The Jesus of the Bible
They've met the Jesus in the movies
They've met the Jesus in the Renaissance art
They've met the Jesus in the fun center
Churches of today
But they've never met the Jesus of the Bible
So we see an invitation
We see an illumination
And then thirdly
I'd like you to notice an invigoration
You know what the sad thing is?
I don't think most people have ever actually invited Jesus
To fellowship with them
And because of that
Most people have never actually had an illumination
Where their eyes were open
And they got to know
The Jesus and the God of the Bible
And I think sadly most people have never experienced an invigoration
Notice there in verse 32
And they said one to another
Because remember
In verse 31 their eyes were open
And they knew him
And then he vanishes out of their sight
Of course this is Jesus' glorified body
And we see him do these things
Where he just disappears
Later on we see him just appear in the room
The doors were shut
And he appears in the midst of them
And they think it's a ghost
He vanishes out of their sight
But I want you to notice what they said
Verse 32
And they said one to another
Don't miss this
Please don't miss this
And they said one to another
Did not our hearts burn within us?
It's a spiritual heart burn
It's not like the stuff you have
It's good
Did not our hearts burn within us
While he talked with us by the way
And while he opened to us the scriptures
I'm going to do my best to explain this to you
But unfortunately I don't know
That I have the communication ability to do it
And it's not because I'm a bad communicator
I'm not saying I'm the greatest communicator
But it's not because I'm a bad communicator
Necessarily
Although I may need to work on my communication
Because I just don't know
That this can really be put into words
Unless you've experienced it
Some Christians
Experience revival in their hearts
I don't know how else to say it
I've had conversations with my wife about this
I've had conversations with other pastors about this
I don't know how to word it
I'm praying that the Lord allows me to maybe put it into words
Or frame it into words that would make sense
But all I can say is that some Christians
Just experience this spark
They're alive inside
Let's talk about salvation
This fire that burns in them
This is what these men are describing
They said, did not our hearts burn within us
While he talked to us by the way
And while he opened to us the scripture
There's just something about sometimes
When you go to church
You go to a preaching service
And the word of God is opened
And it is expounded
And it is explained
And it is applied
And your heart begins to burn
And the Holy Spirit begins to burn
Inside of you
And you begin to realize
Yes that's right
Yes I need to do that
Yes I need to go there
Yet there's just a spark
I don't know how to explain it to you
I just can tell you that
It's not in most Christians
The spark
It says I love God
I want to serve God
I want to give him my life
I'll go where he tells me to go
I'll do what he tells me to do
And the average Christian says
I'll show up Sunday morning
I'll show up Easter and Christmas
I'll show up for special events
Unfortunately most Christians
Because they never offer an invitation
They never really have an illumination
They never experience this invigoration
Did not our hearts burn within us
While he talked with us by the way
And while he opened to us the scriptures
I don't know if you know what I'm talking about
I remember as a young person hearing preachers
Preach on soul winning
And the fact that people were dying and going to hell
And we had the gospel and we had the truth
And we had to take it to them
And there was just this burning inside of me
There's just this fire inside of me that said yes
I've got to go with the God
I just I don't understand
Honestly I'll be honest
I'm not trying to pick on you
I don't understand how you go to a church like this
And you're not a soul winner
I don't understand how you can come to a church like this
Week after week and you don't read your Bible
And I'm not picking on you
I'm not mad at you
I'm just saying I don't understand
How you can sin under the preachers
I'm not talking about the preacher
I'm not talking about his skills
I'm not talking about how eloquent he is
Or how dynamic he is
I don't understand how you can sin
Under the preaching of the word of God
And not say
Did not our hearts burn within us
As he opened unto us the scripture
And 2 Peter
I think Peter tries to word it for us as well
I just want you to see it quickly
We'll be done here soon
2 Peter 1
2 Peter 1.19
If you start at the end of the Bible and go backwards
Revelation, Jude, 3-2-1, John, 2 Peter
2 Peter 1.19
I'm thankful for the young people in this church
I honestly believe this
I'm saying this from the bottom of my heart
I believe we've got some of the finest young people in America
Here at Verity Baptist Church
So what I'm about to say I do not say as a criticism
Because I think that they are great
But you know what I pray for the young people of this church?
They would get a spark
They would get a burning inside of them
I'm a second generation Christian
I was born into an independent fundamental Baptist home
So I can understand how this can become second
It can just become so normal
Church and the word of God
And these big days and these big victories and these battles
It can become so second hand
I'm praying that God would do a work in the hearts of these young people
And that they would experience that spark, that fire
That they would one day say
Didn't let our hearts burn within us
While he opened unto us the scriptures
2 Peter 1.19, here's how Peter said it
He said, we have also a more sure word of prophecy
I just want you to notice the consistency of the Bible
The Bible always points you back to the Bible
People criticize you
Everything you answer is from the Bible
That's all I got
And not only is it all I got
It's all I need
It's the word of God
We have also a more sure word of prophecy
Where unto ye do well to take heed
What should I do?
Realize this is the Bible and do what it tells you to do
When it comes to salvation
Just do what this tells you to do
Not what religion tells you to do
Not whatever church you grew up in tells you to do
Do what this tells you to do
So that you can be saved
When you get married, do what this tells you to do with your marriage
When you have children, do what this tells you to do to raise your children
When it comes to your finances, do what this tells you to do with your finances
When it comes to activities, do what this tells you to do
Hey, you would do well to take heed
To the word of God
We have also a more sure word of prophecy
Where unto ye do well to take heed
Notice it, I just want you to see it
I think this is Peter's attempt to try to put this into verbiage
Try to put this into words
2 Peter 1.19
We have also a more sure word of prophecy
Where unto ye do well that ye take heed
Notice what he says
As unto a light that shineth in a dark place
Until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts
He says when you understand that this is the word of God
And you read it and you apply it
And you take heed to it
He says it's like the sun coming up in a dark place
He says but it's in your heart
It's not the sun s-u-n
It's the sun s-o-n
As it begins to arise in your heart
He says as unto a light that shineth in a dark place
Until the day dawn and the day star in your heart
You say what is Peter describing?
He's describing I believe what these two said on the road to Emmaus
Did not our hearts burn within us?
And here's a question I've got to ask you
And I don't want you to answer it out loud
But I do want you to answer it honestly
You ever felt that?
You ever felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit working in your heart
What do you do with that?
Because you know what the Bible says?
God says quench not the Holy Spirit of God
I think the unfortunate thing is that sometimes people do begin to feel that fire
And they quench it
They begin to feel that fire
And they extinguish it
They begin to feel that fire
And they put it out
And I'm praying that our young people
And I'm praying that our not so young people
That's a nice way of saying you old people
Well get that fire burning in your heart
Some of you never had it
Some of you need to get it back
You say how do you do it?
It's the word of God
The psalmist said
Go back to Luke, we'll finish this up
The psalmist said in Psalm 85, 6
Wilt thou not revive us again?
That thy people may rejoice in me
It's revival in your heart
I like the song
Revive us again
Fill each heart with thy love
May each soul be rekindled with fire from above
Hallelujah, thine the glory
Hallelujah, amen
Hallelujah, thine the glory
Revive us again
There was an invitation
There was an illumination
There was an invigoration
They said did not our hearts burn within us
While he talked with us by the way
And while he opened to us the scripture
Let's finish this up quickly
Notice there in Luke 24 and verse 33
The Bible says
And they rose up the same hour
And returned to Jerusalem
They went back
Apparently all caution
Thrown to the wind
They were telling Jesus you can't keep walking
They're excited
They got something to say
And they're going to go back
The Bible says they rose up the same hour
And returned to Jerusalem
I want you to notice
I just want you to get this
I hope it's okay for me to just take a moment to develop this for you
Because they get there
And they're excited
They just saw the resurrected Christ
And I don't know what these people said
I don't know what Jesus said to them
On the seven miles there
And I'm not sure what they talked about
On the seven miles back
But if they were anything like you and I
I would imagine that they probably talked about
How surprised the disciples are going to be
When they tell them the story
How Jesus appeared to them
I mean I don't know
They might have argued
We know these disciples like to argue a lot
They might have argued about
How are we going to tell the story
Okay you tell them this part
This is a conversation
We were walking down the road
And this guy showed up
And they were probably arguing
Okay well you tell them that part
I'll tell them this part
I'll tell them how he asked us a question
And I'll tell them how you answered
And then you'll say this and you'll say that
And then maybe we'll together say it was Jesus
Maybe we'll, maybe I don't know
I'm just saying if it were me
This is a conversation I'd be having
Then I'll say one, two, three
It was Jesus
And then found the eleven
Gathered together and them that were with them
And then the eleven
Stole their thunder
Look at it verse three four
Saying, this is not them
This is the eleven speaking to them
The eleven are telling them
They walked through the door saying
Hey guys we got news for you
And they said no we've got news for you
Saying the Lord is risen indeed
And has appeared to Simon
And they're like
We came all this way to tell you something
Verse thirty five
And they told what things were done in the way
They said okay well let me tell you my story anyway
We were walking to Emmaus and this guy shut up
You already know but it was Jesus
And they told what things were done in the way
And how he was known of them
In the breaking of bread
You say what can we learn from this
If we can learn this that the message of the resurrection
Does not belong to any one person
But it is for everyone
It's not the message that the pope gives to the people
It's not the message that the preacher gives to the people
It's not the message that the eleven give to everyone else
Here we have these two unknown disciples
We don't even know who they are
We know that one of them is named Cleophas
But we know this
That the message of the resurrection
Is for all
They went to tell the story
And they said we've got a story for you
Now let me tell you something
Christians from the first century
They went to tell the story
And they said we've got a story for you
Now let me tell you something
Christians from the first century
Have been telling the story
I love to tell the story
Of unseen things above
Of Jesus and his glory
Of Jesus and his love
This is a message for you
And it's a message for me
It belongs to all of us
And it's our responsibility
To get it out
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer
Heavenly father
Lord we love you
Thank you for this amazing little story
These two disciples
We don't even know who they are really
But they were on the road to Emmaus
And we see them disappointed and discouraged
At first
And then we see them encouraged and revived
Did not our hearts burn within us?
Lord that's my prayer for every Christian here
That's my prayer for myself
That there would be a fire that would be set in our hearts
That we might be revived again
Revive us again oh Lord
Is our prayer
In the matchless name of Christ we pray
Amen
We're gonna have brother RJ come up and lead us in a final song
And as he leads us in the song
We'll prepare for baptism
And we'll have a baptism tonight
Amen let's grab our songbooks and turn to page 281
Song number 281
Pass me not oh gentle savior
Song number 281 on the first
Pass me not oh gentle savior
Hear my humble cry
Let my heart come to our calling
Do not pass me by
Savior Savior
Hear my humble cry
On others our calling
Do not pass me by
281 on the second
Let me at the throne of mercy
Find a sweet belief
Healing willingly from church shall
Help my unbelief
Savior Savior
Hear my humble cry
While on others our calling
Do not pass me by
On the third
Trust me God
In thy merit
Lord I see thy face
Heal my wounded looking spirit
Save me by thy grace
Savior Savior
Have my humble cry
While on others our calling
Do not pass me by
See it out on the last
Now the spring of all my comfort
Will lie to me
Who have I left beside me
See it out
Savior Savior
Hear my humble cry
While on others our calling
Do not pass me by
All right.
Well, we have Marty Jack Kinnen
coming for baptism and he of course is he's been coming with his dad Robert for several months now and we
Appreciate them. They're a good family and
All the way from San Francisco's praise the Lord for that and you accept the Lord Jesus Christ is your personal Savior
All right by your profession of faith
I baptize you my brother in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost
buried in the likeness of his death
raised to walk in newness
All
Right, well, thank you very much for being here tonight and I just want to of course wish you a happy Easter
Thank you for coming. It was a great day today. I want to encourage you to be with us on
Wednesday night we're gonna be finishing the Gospel of Luke and we've been in the Gospel of Luke for over a year now
And I appreciate your patience with that
We're gonna finish the last few
Verses of the Gospel of Luke the ascension of Christ and of course the most encouraging service of the week on Wednesday night
There's anything we do for you. Please let us know and I'm gonna ask whether RJ if you would not mind dismissing us with a
word of prayer
Let us close in player player prayer
Do you have the fire Lord? We love you and thank you for a great day that we had Lord
thank you for again for sending your son to die for sin and thank you for
Thank you for our salvation Lord, thank you for our pastor and thank you for our church
Thank you for the dear people that would that are here Lord and to praise you and encouraging to me and to everyone here
Lord pray they bless everybody bring us back to church on Wednesday in Jesus and my pray. Amen
You