Address—Caleb James
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Just wanted to read a couple of verses, uh, before we pray in Matthew's Gospel chapter 3.
Matthew, Chapter 3.
And verse 16.
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting upon him. And lo, a voice from heaven saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Let's pray.
Forgotten our Father, we give thanks this evening for our Savior, the Lord Jesus, the one who thou would set before our hearts. We thank thee for the Lord Jesus, the man Christ Jesus, the mediator between God and man. And we thank thee that we can know the Lord Jesus and have a relationship with him. We uh, just pray for each of us here, Lord Jesus, that.
Our walk with the Lord Jesus would be, umm, deepened. Our faith in the Lord Jesus would be deepened, uh, as we are here together at camp, we thank you for what we've had.
Before us in the scriptures and justice, do ask for the help and Thy blessing now.
We would open up the Scriptures again. We pray for the Spirit's help to both the hearers as well as the speakers. So we pray this now and the precious and worthy name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
Just wanted to read.
2 verses each and two different psalms. First in Umm Psalm 113.
Psalm 113.
And verses 5:00 and 6:00.
Psalm 113.
Who is like unto the Lord our God, who dwelleth on high, who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth?
Then in Psalm chapter 8, Psalm 8.
And verse 3.
3:00 and 4:00.
When I consider thy heaven, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the Son of man that thou visitest him?
This morning we had a nice discussion in the reading meeting about the unique and special interests that the Lord takes in his people. And, uh, I think David had some understanding of that well as well here in this, uh, Psalm where he's writing. He could look up and see the stars and the moon and even the sun, and he knew that it was a very big creation.
And, uh, today the scientists still don't even really know how big the universe is. They speak in terms of light years.
The nearest star is like 3 or 4 light years away from the earth, and umm, most of us probably can't even really understand distances of that magnitude. But the Christian can look at the universe and read about God the Creator in the Bible, and we know that the universe is a little reflection of the greatness.
Of God. Elsewhere, the Psalms say the heavens declare the glory of God.
And the firmament shows his handiwork. And we also read that God is light and God is love. And we we can't measure that. We can't quantify that in any way. That's the greatness of God. And it really is incredible.
Umm, to think that a God this great would be interested in people as tiny and insignificant as we are. God who would send his Son to this earth? The Lord Jesus God manifests in the flesh.
And would die on the cross, that we might be reconciled to God.
There are some religions that present an impersonal God. In other words, God isn't interested in having a relationship with us. But that's not the God of the Bible, and we know that. The writer of Hebrews quotes this fourth verse in Hebrews 2IN relation to the Lord Jesus.
Well, God has a very personal and intimate relationship interest with us, I should say. And umm, I was thinking about a passage in the New Testament that would show us a little something of how God would work in our lives as individuals and also would show us something about the purpose that God has in mind when he does work in our lives. Umm, Luke chapter 24, please.
00:05:23
Many are very familiar with this chapter, I'm sure.
And uh, this is one that has become a little more meaningful to my heart.
In recent weeks, Luke chapter 24 and, uh, we'll just read a few verses there.
Beginning at verse 13, Luke 2413.
We know that this is the umm, the day of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And we read about two people here who are walking away from Jerusalem, verse 13. And behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem, about 3 score furlongs about 7 or 8 miles from what I understand. 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 holding, that they should not know him. And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these, that you have one to another as you 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 has not known the things which have 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 indeed, 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 all this, today is the third day since these things were done. Yeah, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre. 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.
UMM went to the sepulchre and found it Even so, as the women had said, but they saw him not.
Then He said unto them, O 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 into 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 into tarry with them.
And it came to pass, as He sat up, meet with Him, He took bread and blessed it, and brake and gave to them, and their eyes were opened, and they knew Him, and he vanished out of their sight. And they said 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, and then 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 how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
We'll just stop there. Here were two people who had an appreciation for the Lord Jesus. They, uh, no doubt saw him before he went to the cross and they probably heard him speak and they probably missed miracles that he performed. And, umm, they trusted in the Lord Jesus in some measure. And, uh, here these two people.
Have a need, They're discouraged, they're disappointed. And, uh, a few weeks ago at the conference in Kirkland, a brother commented how the Spirit of God works to produce a need in our hearts. And I appreciated that thought a lot. The Spirit of God works to produce a need in our hearts and ultimately any believer or unbeliever.
Has a need.
Need for Christ. The only difference is the unbeliever doesn't know where to go to meet that need unless the Spirit of God shows them. But on the other hand, the believer should know where to go to meet that need. He has a need of Christ.
And the Lord understood that need. So here in verse 15 it says the Lord Jesus himself drew near and went with them.
00:10:01
We know from the Scriptures that God has angels who are ministering spirits, and angels probably help us out in many more ways than we realize or are aware of. Umm, but there are some things that are too precious to the Lord Jesus to commit to the responsibility of angels. We read in First Thessalonians that the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout.
And, uh, to call his people home to the father's house. But here it says.
Jesus himself drew near and went with them.
The Lord Jesus knew their hearts and He knew their need, and He knew what the answer was to this problem that they were going through. But I really appreciate the way that the Lord Jesus approaches them. He doesn't just show up and give them the answer. He asked them some questions and He listens to them talk.
I heard a thought a few months back that.
In a spiritual sense, it's more difficult to address an individual than it is to address an audience like this. And at first I didn't believe it, but I thought about it some more, and I think that's true. Spiritually speaking, it's harder in a way to address an individual because when we sit down with somebody, we don't really know where the conversation is gonna go. We don't know what's gonna come up. We don't know.
What their needs are or how to meet those needs?
But the Lord Jesus here knew their needs, but He still draws them out before he gives them the answer to their their difficulty.
I find uh, speaking for myself that I I often times have more answers and questions when I talk to people, umm, the Lord Jesus and ask these people two questions.
And, uh, a couple of months ago, I had dinner with a neighbor of mine named Albert. And Albert's about my age, a few years older, I think. And umm, he's a brother in Christ and he loves the Lord, He loves the Scriptures, but he would tell you that he struggles with some things in his Christian life as, uh, we can relate to to some degree. And a couple of months ago when I was having lunch with Albert.
He he shared with me a very specific burden that he had, a challenge that he had.
And so being the good friend that I was trying to be, I I listened. And then I just started rambling off a bunch of ideas that could possibly be solutions to his problem. And umm, once I got done.
He just looked at me with this blank look. He didn't disagree with what I said, but he didn't agree with what I said. And I was a little puzzled that, that he gave me that look. And so that evening I went home and I, I told my wife about that and told her what I, what I said to him. And I said I don't know why he gave me a blank look. And she said maybe he wasn't looking for answers.
And I realized that I had missed it. Albert wasn't looking for answers. He already.
Probably had plenty of them. He was looking for someone to understand him, someone who he could confide in and umm, we see something different here with the Lord Jesus. He asked him two questions, 1St and verse 17 he says what manner of communications are these that you have one to another as you walk and are sad and they answer that question.
Uh, in one verse they tell them that they're a little bit confused about this.
Person. Jesus.
And they refer to the Lord as possibly being a stranger. And I don't think the Lord is ever a stranger in our circumstances. Umm, send the Lord probes a little bit deeper there in verse 19. And he asked them, well, what things? And umm, then they pour out their hearts before the Lord. They lay their burden at the Lord's feet and he listens to them. And I don't think that the Lord Jesus interrupted him either of these people as as I might have.
On, umm, the Lord Jesus listens to them and then we get down to verse 25 and he gives them something of an answer. Uh, verse 25. The Lord Jesus says, O fools, or another translation says, O senseless 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?
It seems like these people had a burden on their hearts and they had a big question on their minds and it was perhaps due to a partial reading of the Word of God. And I wonder sometimes if a lot of questions and troubles and my life and our lives are created because of just a partial reading or perhaps a partial focus of the Word of God. Maybe we're focusing on one part and we're neglecting another part.
00:15:20
We know that the word of God is rich and umm, you know, it always impresses me how balanced the word of God is too.
Far more balanced than we as as human beings are. Umm and uh, the Lord Jesus goes on here.
In verse 27 it says, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them, and all the scriptures things concerning himself.
I wonder sometimes.
What this message was that the Lord Jesus gave to them were not really given any details of this message. We're just told that he spoke to them, uh, about himself and the scriptures and umm, I wonder if it would maybe limit the application of this passage if we were given this message in full detail in the word of God. Because remember, the Lord Jesus was working here with two individual people.
Who are unique in God's eyes and very different than you or I. And they were dealing with something that was.
Very different than what you or I may deal with. But the Lord Jesus sets himself before them using the word of God and umm, that's what the Psalmist encourages us to do. He says I have set the Lord before me.
We're encouraged to wake up in the morning and spend some time reading, some time in prayer, and perhaps we go to meeting. Perhaps we read the Bible with our families. Perhaps we go to a a camp like this where the Lord is.
Is set before us as a group and umm, that's very important in our lives, to set the Lord Jesus before us on a routine basis.
Especially as he's revealed in the Word of God and umm.
The word of God we know has its focus on the Lord Jesus Christ, and when the Spirit of God was right in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, he had the Lord Jesus before him and.
Sometimes.
We may see something about the Lord Jesus and the Word of God that we never saw before and it makes our hearts burn. That's what the Lord Jesus did here. He takes their slow hearts and he turns them into burning hearts. And umm, that's what it should be when we read the Word of God, when we see Christ in the scriptures and we perhaps see something of the Lord Jesus or enjoy something of the Lord Jesus that we've never enjoyed before.
A couple weeks ago we were at the beach on a family vacation and, umm, it's neat to walk up and down the beach and, uh, oftentimes in the sand, right by the water, you see maybe pretty rocks or pretty shells and you can pick those up and you might save them as treasures. And then what's interesting, what's really interesting is you turn around and you walk across that same stretch of the beach.
And you start seeing little precious things that you didn't see the first time you walked on that stretch of beach. So you turn around, you walk across it again, and each time you're seeing new things.
New precious things. And that's something, uh, how the Lord Jesus would like us to see him in the Scriptures, there's a verse that says open thou mine eyes that I might behold wondrous things out of thy word.
Then in verse 29 it says they constrained him saying abide with us.
And I just wonder if this is the reason for why the Lord Jesus drew near to them, if what we have in verse 29 is ultimately the purpose that the Lord Jesus had when He came alongside them. When he saw them walking along, He realized they were discouraged. He came alongside them ultimately with the intention of accomplishing what we have in verse 29. He wanted them to value His company.
Uh, more than perhaps they had before. And that's perhaps what the Lord Jesus wants to do in our life.
John epistle, I think it is. He talks about the Fathers. The fathers have known him, which is from the beginning. In other words, they are satisfied with Christ and they don't look for anything else to bring them satisfaction in life outside of the Lord Jesus.
Verse 30.
Their eyes were opened and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight. I find that a little interesting that as soon as they realized who the Lord Jesus was, he disappears on them.
00:20:08
At this time, we know that the Lord Jesus had gone into death and he had risen from the dead and he was the first born from among the dead, as Scripture says. He was the first in a, in a new order of manhood called the new creation. The Lord Jesus had entered into, uh, new conditions, could we say? And, umm, he wanted them to have a relationship with him and resurrection life. And in other words, he wanted to have a spiritual relationship with these people.
Not a physical, not just a natural relationship. And that reminds me of what the apostle Paul says in Second Corinthians. He says we walk by faith, not by sight. And speaking honestly from my own heart, that that can be a real challenge to walk by faith, not by sight.
We see sometimes these sports stadiums that are packed full, 100,000 people to observe a sporting event. But then there may be, umm, the word of God opened in that same locality and maybe just a handful of people are there to hear the word of God spoken of and read. And, uh, I find in my own life that it's, it doesn't take much energy to sit down.
And surf the Internet for an hour or a couple hours or whatever.
But it does take some, uh, some focus and, umm, intention to sit down and and read the scriptures and to study it a little bit.
That's perhaps because, naturally, we prefer to walk by sight, not by faith. Umm, just in closing, I wanted to, uh, look at one verse in Colossians chapter 2.
Lord Jesus really knows how to draw our hearts and point us in the right direction, as He did with these two on the road to Emmaus.
They were heading away from Jerusalem, but then they were headed back to Jerusalem. So one verse in, uh, Colossians chapter 2.
Discretion and closing.
Colossians 2 and verse 6.
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye and him. We received him by faith, and the Lord Jesus desires that we walk by faith, not by sight.
That's really all I had. Should I just close with prayer? OK.
I've gotten our loving Father. We just give thanks for these few scriptures that we could enjoy together and umm.
We just thank you for the work of the Spirit of God to make the Scriptures real to us and to show us something of the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks that on this earth we have the opportunity to know the Lord Jesus and be like the Lord Jesus. And we look forward someday to being with the Lord Jesus for eternity. We just commit our way to Thee for the rest of this evening, giving thanks again for this opportunity that we have to pull away from our everyday lives and.
Be together with, uh, some people who will spend eternity with. We give thanks for thy mercies to us and safety for today thus far. In Jesus precious name, we pray.
Amen.