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These verses and much we haven't touched on, but be nice to get an outline, at least a little bit of the last part of this chapter, and so I'm going to suggest that we start reading at the 25th verse.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 24 and verse 25.
O fools, and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken ought not Christ to 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, And they drew nigh unto the village, whether they went, And he made as though he would have gone further.
But they constrained him, saying, abide with us first 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 meet 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 11 gathered together, and them that were with him.
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. And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, peace be unto you. But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said it to them, Why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself handle me, and see, For a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as you see me have.
And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy and wondered, he said unto them, Have you hear any meat? And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and about a honeycomb.
And he took it, and did eat before them. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which was written in the row of Moses, and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, And thus it behoove Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name among all nations.
Beginning at Jerusalem and your witness of these things, and behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, But Terry, in the city of Jerusalem, until you be endued with power from on high. And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them, and it came to pass. While he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And we're continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.
We often find that there are things that he said that just reading them on the written page sound to us very harsh.
And there are certainly times when, like here, he gave rebukes and admonishments. But I think one thing we miss on just reading the written page is the tone of his voice.
And the intonation with which he said things. And so where we started this afternoon, it sounds very harsh. Not, he says, Oh fools and slow of heart, sounded pretty harsh. And there are other times, but try to in your soul consider the tone of voice, and the look on his face when he said it. I believe, I suggest, that this was said while it was a rebuke and an admonishment with all the tenderness and grace.
That the Lord Jesus could do it with. You know, there were times again when the Lord rebuked the leaders of the day, and different ones, and they came away and marveled at the gracious words that preceded out of his mouth. And that interesting, because it was the weight, not just what he said, but the way he said it. And I want to pass along something to exercise my own soul, and perhaps it will exercise yours as well.
There are times when it is necessary to give rebuke and admonition.
And that's one of the characteristics of Scripture. It's given to us to admonish and correct and so on. But when we do it, whether it's in a individual setting or whether it's in a collective setting like this or in the local assembly meetings, let's be exercised that we do it with very much love that well, what we say might hurt in us in a way and it may be indeed be a rebuke.
00:05:23
Remember, there is a way to admonish the Saints of God without scolding them. So perhaps a funny expression, but I really believe that there's a way to admonish one another without scolding. And we see here the effect that this had. He gave what sounds like a very severe rebuke, but then what does he do? He opens the scriptures, and that's another thing, brethren, we need to be exercised about when we give rebuke, and I believe Bruce alluded to it.
In the previous meeting, it needs to be based on the word of God.
Let the word of God speak. Let the word of God admonish and correct, and let's learn to do it in love. And it. Just one other comment about this opening verse. Notice how long he had spent with them before he did this. He listened to them as was said this morning. He let them talk as was said this morning. He didn't immediately accost them earlier on.
And say, oh fools and slow of heart to believe no, they had walked with him for a time. And I believe again that if we're going to be a help to our brethren in that way, and this is something for brothers and sisters alike, because brothers and sisters alike, we can be a help and in the this way. But we need to learn to walk with somebody. We can't come to somebody out of the blue and admonish them if we haven't walked with them, if we haven't sat where they sat, if we haven't listened to them, if we haven't put our arm around them and shown them love.
Well, the Lord Jesus did that.
Then he gave the necessary rebuke, and then He gave them the Scriptures concerning Himself.
It's interesting that this chapter has seven questions in it, and I believe in the 26th verse their heart was redirected to the word of God, and then in verse 32 and they said one to another. Did not a heart burn within us while he talked with us, by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?
Their affections were aroused as the opening of the Scriptures and then?
The 38th verse.
And he said unto them, Why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
There was only one left for them to lean on.
And then in 41 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? He's truly man, and truly God.
For those precious people.
Well, it's beautiful to see here the way that the Lord approaches these dear ones.
He could easily, as we mentioned earlier yesterday, he could easily have revealed himself to them right away and if we could say it in natural terms, solved their whole problem in an instant by showing who he was.
But he was not going to be with them.
From that time on.
Only for a period of a few more days. And then he would ascend back to the Father, and they would have to learn him through the Scriptures, and of course later on by the power of the Spirit of God.
So he directs their hearts to the scriptures. Before he reveals himself to them, he opens the scriptures.
Then in verse 31 he opens their eyes and then going on in verse 45 he opens their understanding.
And I would suggest.
Without laying a tremendous amount of emphasis on it, but just to make a comment, by the way, that that is the order in which we gain intelligence in the things of God.
First of all, being familiar with the word of God.
00:10:00
Then being drawn to the person of Christ. And then we have our understanding opened because intelligence in divine things comes through the heart and the conscience, doesn't it? It does not come through the intellect.
Not that there's anything wrong with an intellect. Not that there's anything wrong with acquiring knowledge. But intelligence in the things of God comes through the heart and the conscience, and through an acquaintance with Christ himself.
Then and in that way our understanding is opened, isn't it?
To see the two walls here. I think there's more than that in the chapter, but in verse 25 that we read.
Slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken, and then in verse 27 and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself.
It's I read recently and I appreciated it, that in the book of Matthew we have primarily.
The prophets quoted and the fulfillment of them demonstrated in the life and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's true.
But when we read the book of John, it's not so much the prophets that are being fulfilled, but it's the types that are being expounded. That was a new thing, wasn't it? So we have the prophets in verse 25, but in verse 27 it's all the scriptures types are not understood until we have the reality.
The prophets could be understood in a measure before there was a reality because they speak of the future. But types are completely dark until we have the reality. You can imagine the Lord Jesus speaking for Moses. Think of him leading in so many places He could he could have read to them. But I think of Leviticus 23, the Passover, Exodus 12 and Leviticus 23 where we have the seven feast of Jehovah and on and on.
Those are types. They were completely dark before the Lord opened them up. What a wonderful meeting that was. And that's the privilege that we have today, isn't it? Not only to understand prophecy in a measure, and some measure better than it's ever been understood before, but also to understand the beautiful types? They're like gemstones, aren't they?
Scattered throughout the Old Testament, but we don't understand them until we have the New Testament.
The things concerning himself.
It's wonderful to realize that if we're going to understand the scripture.
We really need to understand that the scriptures point to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And in so doing we can understand the scriptures better.
Than two names. The Old Testament is Christ. That's true, isn't it? The New Testament is Jesus.
Concerning himself, that's what the scriptures are about.
It's significant too, not to skip over, but in connection with these comments that when they return to Jerusalem and the Lord Jesus came and stood in the midst of them, in the 41St, 4th verse, there's something else added. And that's the Psalms, the things concerning himself in the Psalms, because the Psalms give us the feelings and expressions of the Lord Jesus as he walked through this world and as he went through the circumstances of life as a man.
And I'll just say this in passing that that's why it's important to go back to the Psalms and read them in that light. You know, there are so many who read the Psalms and they see nothing beyond some practical exhortations for our life. And and there are certainly many practical exhortations and things we can apply to ourselves.
But when we go back to the Psalms, it's good to see that many of those Psalms bring before us feelings and expressions that you don't have in the Gospels. I suppose that's why on Lord's Day morning, when we come to remember the Lord Jesus and the breaking of bread, we often read some of those psalms, the 22nd Psalm, the 40th Psalm, the 69th Psalm, the 102nd Psalm, those beautiful expressions. And there's nothing will pull at our heartstrings.
00:15:07
Like going back and reading the expressions and feelings of the Lord Jesus as a man, to see what entered into his very soul. Reproach hath broken my heart. I looked for some to take pity, and there was none. I sink in deep mire. All thy waves and my billows have gone over me. If those things don't touch our hearts, brother, and I don't know what goes on within our hearts. But it's interesting that it was not until they returned back to Jerusalem.
And were gathered together with the others, if I can put it for our purposes in this way, in a in a place of corporate obedience, that he could expound the Psalms to them, I'm just going to leave it there. But there's many who enjoy the Psalms from a practical standpoint. But isn't it wonderful that as those gathered to the Lord's name and the teaching we've had, we've had much brought out in writings and ministry as to that aspect of the Psalms being the expressions and feelings of Christ?
Passing through the circumstances of life as a man.
Really have an outline of the Old Testament in that verse. Don't wait. So when you mentioned the Psalms, think you were specifically referring to the Book of Psalms. But really here it's broader than that, isn't it? It includes that, but it includes what we commonly call the poetic books, beginning with Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon.
And the Prophets? We might puzzle about that a little bit. We might say, well, what about books like Joshua Judges, First and Second Samuel, 1St and 2nd Kings, First and Second Chronicles? Well, the answer is quite simple, isn't it, That if we think about that just a moment.
And if we understand how the Jews referred to it, they referred to the former and the later prophets.
Were those who wrote what we call history? Because in a sense, history is simply prophecy that's already taken place. No historian can record every detail. He has to pick certain details that give the tenor of the times. And that's what divine history is, isn't it? It's a prophetic or priestly view of the history.
Of God's people. And that's a remarkable treasure. So in a sense, in that sense it is prophecy and the Jews understood it that way. And then of course the prophets that foretold as well. So as we've often heard, prophecy is both foretelling and forth telling. What we call the historical books are mainly forth telling, aren't they? Whereas the later prophets are more foretelling, Speaking of the future. But at both both cases they are prophetic.
Found that the Lord through of that time that he had expounded the scriptures to them, if we could say it with all reverence.
Had not merely given them.
If we could say it this way.
More intelligence in the scriptures. He drew them to himself, didn't he?
Here was one who not only communicated to them intelligence.
But he created in them a desire to have more.
When they get to where they were going, it's it's very instructive to see the Lord doesn't force himself on them, does he?
He makes as if he's going to go further. Why?
Because he wanted to draw their hearts out.
Had they really understood? Did they really want to know more? And the answer was yes. Now we know. Of course, in the East that's part of normal hospitality over there, and I suppose they might have done that even out of courtesy, but I believe here there was a sense in their souls.
Here is what we need. Here is the answer to our discouragement.
Someone has the answers, real answers, Not merely some little cliche or not merely some pleasant talk, but real answers to the discouragement and the problem that we are having. And they invite the Lord to come in with them. Of course not even at that point knowing who He is.
And that's what the Lord desires to do with our hearts, doesn't he? When we go to the Word of God, if we read it in the right way, it will reveal Christ to our hearts and create a hunger there to know more. And that's what it did when the Lord expounded it to them.
00:20:22
So what happened between verse 16?
And verse 31.
Verse 16 says.
But their eyes were holding that they should not know him.
And verse 31. Their eyes were open and they knew him.
What happened?
Brother Dave, a brother, asked me about that.
Earlier today and wondered if it could be talked about in this meeting.
Their eyes were Holden, but then the time came when their eyes were opened.
And what was it that is specifically referred to here that opened their eyes?
It says in verse 30 and it came to pass as he sat at meet with them. He took bread and blessed it and break and gave to them and their eyes were opened.
There are different thoughts on this, and I would very much like to hear what others would say.
Many times when I was younger.
I heard brethren say, Well, they recognized him because.
They saw the nail prints in his hands. And that's a beautiful thought. And it may well have been true, and it may well have been that there was the recognition that here was the one, the very one, about whom all those scriptures spoke, and there were the signs right before them that he had suffered for them.
But I well remember many years ago.
An old brother now with the Lord.
Saying these things and it much appealed to me and I pass it on for your consideration.
He said, concerning what I have just mentioned.
Yes, that could well have been true.
But, he said. I wonder if there isn't a deeper thought here.
And I'm only quoting him. I'll pass it on.
He said I would not go into someone else's home as a guest and start serving the food.
My wife and I have had the privilege of traveling a good deal and we have been in many homes and never once have I sat down at the table and started to serve up the food. I think our host and Hostess would wonder what was the matter with us if we did.
And rightfully so. That is their prerogative.
But hear the Lord Jesus.
Without any, without assuming anything in the sense of natural things.
Quietly picks up the food, breaks the bread and serves it.
And the brother made the remark he said he was showing them.
That not only was he the one who suffered for them, but he was the one who must have the first place.
Back when the Lord was on earth, before He went to the cross, it was He who would take a boy's lunch and break it and serve thousands of people. And here He was in resurrection once again taking the 1St place. And it did not seem out of place to them for Him to do it, because suddenly they realized this is.
The Lord. And that very much appealed to me.
He was showing them who he was, but in a sense of showing.
That he must have the 1St place and if you backtrack a little bit.
Through the Lord's life on earth.
A number of times he does that.
Quietly showing them that it was his glory that was before them.
For example, when he sent the 70 out to preach and they came back so overjoyed.
Saying, Lord, even the devils or demons are subject unto us through thy name.
00:25:04
And the Lord shared in that.
But then he gives them a very gentle and yet very firm twist on things, he says.
Rejoice not that the devils are subject unto you.
Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
Why? Because even in service for the Lord, there was a danger that they became occupied with who they were and what they were doing.
The Lord says in so many words, Don't rejoice in what you have done so much. Rejoice what I have done.
And here he is going to be ascended soon.
Risen. Glorified.
And the whole future, if you like, was going to rest on a risen and glorified Christ who would have the first place in everything. And I just suggest that.
It starts here.
But again, I say I'd love to hear the thoughts of others on this.
Mark 16 and verse 12.
After that, he appeared in another form under the two of them as they walked and went into the country.
So must have been super something supernatural. He appeared to them in another form.
Who he was.
Would you say burn, that he had a glorified body that they didn't immediately recognize? Is that the thought seems that way Because when he appeared in their midst, not until they looked and saw the the nail prints in his hands and his side did they believe it seemed. Is that right?
Well, I enjoy that thought and again I repeat, I did not want to take away from it in any way by what I said.
I didn't know you're not saying that. I merely mentioned that along with that, there was an additional and perhaps a deeper thought that here was one who.
Quite consciously.
And without assuming anything.
Took the first place.
It shows too, doesn't it, that between the verses that Brother Dave mentioned, the Lord had a perfect timetable in his reaching these souls and their restoration. It might not have been according to what we would have considered to be appropriate, but it had its purpose and in the end had its desired effect. And the question might be well raised to why, when they finally recognized him, did they? He vanished out of their sight.
Well, I believe the answer again is very simple. They were in the wrong place. They really ought not to have been at Emmaus. They ought to have been back at Jerusalem with the others who were gathered together in the upper room. And so when they finally recognized him, he immediately vanishes out of their sight. Now, in that regard I'd like to give a little outline of what we have here up to this point and what follows. We can only hope in these few moments of readings to get little outlines, but.
I believe it's very important because I believe there's been a great misunderstanding between realizing that there's a difference between the Lord being with us as individuals and in the midst collectively.
There are two very, very different things.
Just say this is a preface to my remarks, and that is when you go through the scriptures. There's it when you have.
A have scripture or principle concerning the individual aspect of things. There's always a comparable truth concerning the collective.
Just give you one other example. The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me, that's individual. What is the collective truth of that? Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. That's collectively as the Church of God, the people of God, as the Church of God. And I believe we have it brought out in a very beautiful way here because as we said the other day, the Lord, or maybe it was this morning, the Lord Jesus is always with us.
00:30:02
He never leaves us nor forsakes us, but that is very different brethren, than the Lord Jesus being in the midst of his own collectively. Now I just want to point this out by going back and noticing what some expressions that led up to this incident where he vanished out of their sight. We mentioned it in the 15th verse. Jesus himself drew near and noticed this went with them even though they didn't know who it was, even though they were going in the wrong direction.
They were in a bad state of soul. He was with them. Then when we come to the incident here, they say to him abide with us. Verse 29 and the end of the verse. And he went into Terry with them. Verse 30. He sat at meet with them. They spoke of him in verse 32 as being with us, but as a result of what took place when he vanishes out of their sight, and because their hearts had burned within them.
They immediately rise up and they return to Jerusalem, where the 11 are gathered together and the language of the Scripture changes for the whole rest of the chapter. He'll never read of him being with them individually. Again, notice what he says in verse 36. And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood not with them, but in the midst of them. And I think there's one other expression but.
Time, he said. He says that. But now when they return to where the others were gathered together, he can come and be in the midst with them. You know, I often hear Matthew 18 and 20 misapplied, But wherever Christians get together, the Lord is with is is in the midst. Wherever Christians are, the Lord is with them, and wherever our dear fellow believers are either individually in their homes.
Or even together for.
Meetings. Perhaps it's to remember the Lord for Bible study, for prayer. Meetings where the Lord is always with them. Because He's with us individually, He'll never leave us nor forsake us. But it is only as we follow the word of God in the power of the Spirit. It's the man bearing the picture of water that we hear so much about that we can claim to have the Lord in the midst. And so it wasn't till they returned back that the Lord came and stood in the midst.
And to be in the midst of something or someone is to be the focal point.
And, brethren, we claim by the grace of God and on the ground of Scripture to be gathered to the Lord's name. We say the Lord is in the midst. Is he really the focal point? Is that what we have before our souls? When we come together on Lord's day, morning, or any other occasion, we're with one another as believers. But if we come together in the assembly and the Lord is in the midst, he is to be the center. It's like the hub of the old fashioned wagon wheel.
It's the center, and it's what holds everything together. And if we lose sight of the Lord in the midst.
The enemy is going to be successful in discouraging and scattering the people of God.
There's difficulty among young people and other people.
They they make a mistake in feeling that the Spirit of God is in the assembly, no matter where he is. This, the Spirit of God, is everywhere. And where they see blessing, they feel that that's the very same thing. It's a different thing for the Lord to be in the midst.
And for the Spirit of God to be wherever Christians gathered. Is that right?
And so we see blessing. And then the spirit of God is blessing. He's blessing believers wherever. God has no favorites. He is feeding the people of God. Am I thankful for that? Is Christ honored for that? Then I'm thankful for it. If I've got the same thing on my heart that God's got on his heart. But.
I can't walk in that place if the Lord isn't in the midst. And there's things that go on in certain places that I can't go along with, you know it's not. We can't paint it with a broad brush, you know, I can be thankful what God is doing.
But they cannot claim that God is in the midst unless they're gathering on ground that is commensurate with the Scripture. Don't you see that burn with Elijah? And Elijah, two of the greatest prophets in the Old Testament? We never read They went up to Jerusalem.
But there was great blessing. God raised them up amongst his people, amongst the 10 tribes. And there was great blessing. As you say, that doesn't excuse us. If God brings us to a place, the Lord brings us to a place where he's the Lord. Jesus is in the midst. We're responsible for the light He gives us. But Paul said we. He said, whether in truth or pretense, Christ is preached. And I therein do rejoice. Yeah, and will rejoice. And so we can be thankful for it wherever the word of God goes forth.
00:35:30
Wherever there are faithful believers who are either propagating the gospel or encouraging the people of God. But these ones had a responsibility. When the Lord disappeared, vanished from their sight. Their hearts had burned within them. They had realized they had a responsibility to return where the others were gathered together. And what a blessing they got to find the Lord not just with them. He was with them in their home. He was with them on the Emmaus Rd.
But now there's a special blessing. There's something that is unique now, and that is that he can come and stand in the midst.
We have to distinguish 2, don't we, between the Spirit of God being in the whole house, which is Christendom, isn't it? So it's true that the Spirit of God indwells the house collectively.
And this concerned the early brethren, didn't it? Some of them had been clergymen, and Mr. Darby wrote one of his early pamphlets was He looked at clergy as the modern day sin against the Holy Spirit. How could that be?
Because he said the Spirit of God has been usurped, often used the example.
Kind of along the lines of what you were speaking about before, Bill, that if I were invited to the White House, which I've never been, but if I were invited to the White House, I went there, take over.
Much less than somebody else's house. But that's what happens in Christendom, doesn't it? The spirit of God is the president, and yet his place is usurped. But that's different from what you've been speaking about, isn't it, Jim? Matthew, 1820. We need to listen to it carefully for where that's a particular place. I know the NIV says wherever, and that's an incorrect translation.
Where two or three are gathered together, sometimes we hear it quoted unto Christ.
That's not exactly right unto my name. There am I in the midst of them. Why does it say unto the Lord's name?
And it recognizes all his rights. And where do we learn about the rights that the Lord has? We learn them from the scriptures, don't we? So it's a particular place where the Lord's rights are respected according to the directions of Scripture. But that's very different from the Spirit of God and dwelling the house, isn't it?
Chapter 2 is the, I think, the verse you're referring to.
Where it says in verse 19. Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the Saints and of the household of God.
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief coroner stone, in whom all the building fitly framed together, groweth onto an holy temple in the Lord, in whom he also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. So based upon the work of Christ, his ascension, and etcetera, in the Spirit of God, sent down not only to unite us together in one body, but the Holy Spirit of God has taken up his residence in the household of God in God's house.
And this is a distinct and different thing, as you say you put it. It's more general than the truth, the precious truth of Matthew 18 and 20. And so as I recall driving around and a brother when I was first saved and driving past the Baptist Church, and he said, oh, the spirit of Christ is not in there. And I am not so sure about that. I said under my breath to myself, But later as I began to read these scriptures and learn, it's really not a correct thing to say.
Not necessary either.
But it's not a true or correct thing to say based upon this aspect of the truth, which is different than Matthew 18 and 20.
Jeremiah chapter 14 that might be helpful to read.
It would.
Maybe move our hearts to what kind of attitude the Lord was trying to produce, or what character things the Lord was bringing out when we find ourselves in in a great dearth, in great trials and troubles, as these ones on the road to Emmaus were. And why does the Lord go through all this with Him? Why do they depart? Why?
00:40:14
Why does he have to speak to them the way they are? He's drawing their hearts out. He's drawing our hearts out to come to some conclusions and and to be freed and to be in the enjoyment of himself. And I was thinking of of the verses in Jeremiah 14, starting with let's say verse seven. You know, they had called him a stranger.
This is kind of interesting. They had called him a stranger, Artela stranger, and know us not these things. And then it says here in verse seven, O Lord Thor, iniquities testify against us. Do thou it for thy name's sake, for our backslidings are many. We have sinned against thee all the hope of Israel the Savior. Therefore, in a time of trouble, why should a cell be a stranger?
In the land, and a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night.
Why shouldst thou be a man, a Stony, as a mighty man that cannot save?
Yet thou, O Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name.
Leave us not.
You know whether I perceive the Lord is in the midst or not. Whether I focus on whether the Lord is in the midst or not myself, personally, that does not change the fact, does it? He is in the midst.
And this is something if our hearts would would just long onto that the Lord is in the midst, discouragement is.
Something that it's like walking a tightrope that leads to departure. That's what discouragement does. So if you find yourself saying I'm discouraged.
Beware, because you're liable to leave. And we're experienced in this, aren't we, brethren? We're experiencing, we're hearing they left, they left. We're often hearing that they left.
But you know, just remember that the Lord is in the midst. The fact is never changed. And why should he leave us? And why should he be as a stranger? And why should he be as a mighty man that cannot save?
It's it's wonderful, isn't it, to realize that our ups and downs does not change his position a bit.
The Lord is in the midst too, is to be be a place of peace and rest for the Saints of God. When the Lord came and stood in the midst, and they didn't at first recognize Him, there was trouble in their minds. They were afraid. But there's a little expression added in John's Gospel that we don't get here in our chapter. It says then where the disciples glad when they saw the Lord when they recognized who it was in their midst.
It brought a gladness and a joy to their souls. You know, we come on an occasion like this, or even in our home assembly settings, and we're glad for one another, aren't we? I've watched brethren here greet one another. We're glad to see one another, but brethren is our paramount.
Thought and focus the one who has promised to be in the midst. If we are simply occupied with dear brethren, and thank God they are dear brethren. But if we're simply occupied with them, we're going to, in the language of the 119th Psalm, see an end of all perfection, you say? Well, that brother let me down, but I'm sure that brother won't let me down. That sister offended me, but all I know that sister she'll never say something to. Oh, be careful, We're going to see an end of all perfection if we're looking for it in one another.
But we won't see it in the Lord. And it's interesting when you find someone, come and they.
They observe the breaking of bread and they see the Lord in the midst by faith and they rejoice and they want to take their place at the Lord's table. They talk about the Lord being there, being gathered to the Lords name. But you never saw someone leave the Lords table and say they were leaving the Lord.
What is the difference? They've lost sight of the one who's in the midst. They've got their eye either on someone or something, and they've lost sight of the fact that the Lord is there. And again, it's like the hub of the old wagon wheel. What holds the spokes together? It's the hub in the middle, and if the the spokes become detached from the hub, then the wheel is going to eventually deteriorate and fall apart.
00:45:08
And if we lose sight of the one who's in the midst, he's the one.
Brethren, let me just tell you a little story that I think helps to illustrate this.
I knew a sister. She's with the Lord now in an assembly many, many miles from here and in fact in another country. And this sister was very discouraged. She had got her eyes on brethren and circumstances and she said to an older brother on a Saturday night, I am never coming to meeting again.
And this brother, very wisely, all he did was quote her one verse of scripture. Remember, Sister, he hath done nothing amiss.
This brother told me this story himself because I was not present on the occasion.
He said at 10:50. I wondered if she was going to show up at the breaking of bread 5 to 11.
One minute to 11, the door opened. The sister sat down in her usual seat.
And she was remained gathered to the Lord's name until the day the Lord took her. And I had the privilege of taking her funeral. But I thought, what wisdom to just point that discouraged soul away from everyone else and everything else. And to say, sister, he's done nothing amiss, brethren. The one in the midst, he's done nothing amiss. If we're focused on him, if we're in the enjoyment of the person and work of Christ, we're going to be preserved by His grace.
Well, there is an app. I'm sorry Vern. Go ahead.
That quote, probably wrongly, the brother, he said. Love your brethren, serve them faithfully, overlook as much of them as you can, but never let them be your object. Christ is that he that loveth father and mother more than me, cannot be my disciple, and so anything, even family.
If it takes precedent over the Lord.
Be his disciple.
And so there is.
A real example here for us isn't there both individually and collectively?
The Lord how gracious he was to these two. On the way to Emmaus, he seeks them out.
He walks with them for approximately 7 1/2 miles, all the way to Emmaus.
Going in the wrong direction, yes, but the Lord graciously does that in order to reach them. He burns into their souls a desire.
To hear more by ministering to them the scriptures.
But then, as we've already had before us, there comes a point when he vanishes out of their sight.
As it were, the Lord is saying to them now, if you want to know more, there's something that has to be dealt with.
And the Lord does that in our individual lives, doesn't he? If we fail, if we become discouraged, if we do get our eyes on something else except the Lord, how gracious the Lord often is with us. And this works in every phase of our lives, too.
He graciously seeks to restore us, but then there comes a time when he may put his finger on something in your life or mine and say now.
That has to be dealt with.
If I'm willing to do it, we will have the experience of these two. On the way to Emmaus, they went back to Jerusalem.
Quite incredible. No problem. The night is far spent. 7 1/2 miles back was no problem because their hearts had been touched and they were fully restored. If on the other hand, and it happens that our will gets in the way and says no Lord, not that, maybe we don't say it out loud, but that's really the problem. No Lord, not that.
Then we lose the blessing, don't we? Then we lose any further growth. We lose the enjoyment of Christ.
Pride may keep us going on with something rather than humbling ourselves, but I believe the Lord very often brings us to that point where in grace he ministers himself to us, but then says now deal with that, deal with that.
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May the Lord give us grace to do it, as these two did, and once again were restored to the Lord.
And to their brethren as well. I'd like to say to that I don't mean to discourage anybody by saying if you don't focus if if he isn't the main object, that doesn't change the fact. All I'm saying is this.
One who has left, where the Lord is in the midst, and they're out there right now that the Lord will bring them around and they'll remember that he's still there.
That doesn't change. He's still there and and I wonder what these two on the road to e-mail. It's like it's been said.
He vanished, but they knew where he would be.
And so the.
He chose.
Place his name.
What you say, brother Bill? I think there's a nice picture of that and some Solomon chapter five. We know that in the earlier chapters of Southern Solomon, the bride is attracted to the bridegroom in such a wonderful way. Her response is lovely. But we come to the fifth, Chuck.
Two, he says. I sleep, but my heart waketh.
To me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled, to think of those precious terms all put together right at this time when she or her heart has grown cold and she's content to be at a distance from him. And he says, my head is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of the night. I put off my coat. How shall I put it on? I washed my feet. How shall I defile them? My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door.
And my bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved, and my hands dropped with myrrh and my fingers with sweet swelling, Mirror upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone.
I believe that this matter of him vanishing is such an important ingredient in in restoration.
Sometimes in our in our desire and longing that someone's restored.
You see some some activity, some work, you see a softening and we're just right there because we want to encourage it. I wonder if sometimes we we don't allow this process.
Of vanishing of the Lord being able to draw the heart so that because it's been going in the wrong direction, but now as it's turned, it needs impetus.
You say, why did he leave her when he was calling for her? Why did he leave her when her bowels yearn for him, or you might say up when their hearts burned within them? Well, because he wanted that movement back to himself. He didn't want that to happen again. And so she goes through quite a thing to try to find him.
The watchman that went about the city found me, they smoked me, they wounded me, and so on. You know, if you would have come to her and said, why are you running around? What about your coat? What about your feet?
And all those reasons why she was had left, you might say in the 1St place she'd say. It doesn't matter now. I just. I need to find him.
And so I believe that's an important part of letting the Lord work when he's working with his soul. Again, we'd like to maybe shortchange that, but that that is so important in the soul. And the Lord is drawing. And then there's that hunger, and then there's that longing. And so when she finally finds him, she isn't going to let him go. And there's as a result, there's this lovely description of him in the end of the chapter, and the Song is Solomon 5.
That probably wouldn't have been there had she not gone through this experience.
Regard to Brother Ron, it's interesting how many times in the Song of Solomon the hands are mentioned of the bridegroom. He puts his hand under her head and she sees his hand through the lattice. And it's interesting in our chapter you see the parallel in connection with the restoration of these ones too, and their eventual blessing.
Because there are really three references to his hands in this chapter. In the first reference, the hands aren't mentioned specifically, but you know it has to be. That is, his hands take the bread and he breaks it and he provides for them. That sustenance serves them, that sustenance for them. They've taken a journey, they needed food, and so in love he takes over at the table, has been said, and he serves them. Then we find that in the 39th verse he shows them his hands.
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Uh, behold my hands and my feet as I myself and so on.
And then in our time is almost gone. At the end of the chapter in in connection with his ascension in verse 50. And he led them out as far as Bethany, and noticed this. He lifted up his hands and blessed them. Those very hands that had broken the bread and served them, those very hands that had been pierced with the nails on Calvary's cross, are the very same hands that the Lord Jesus lifts up and gives that final blessing on earth.
To his disciples, before He is taken from this planet to go back to. To the Father, the hour was come that he should depart out of the world under the Father, as it says in John. But I think of it so beautifully. The hands and how often the hands in Scripture speak of the tenderness of love and restoration. Go through scripture and see how many times. And even in even in chastisement and training He uses his hands. The hands of the Father, the hands of the Lord are mentioned.
So often but here the final mention of his hands before he leaves planet Earth is He lifts up those nail pierced hands and he blessed them. He blesses them. And as we said at the beginning of these meetings, it begins, the chapter begins with his resurrection, but it ends with a glorious truth as well. And that's the truth of ascension because it was alluded to at the beginning of these meetings. Christianity sets us in relationship with Christ, but not Christ as the disciples had known him.
Paul in the 15th chapter of First Corinthians says henceforth know we know man after the flesh, though we knew Christ after the flesh. Henceforth know we him no more. And that's why Paul, to be an apostle, was caught up to the 3rd heaven. He didn't see Christ here on earth in the way the others did. No, he got a he saw the man at the right hand of God and brethren, that's what we need, don't we?
We need to see the man at the right hand of God. We need to look up by faith and realize that we are connected to a man, a glorified man who was here on earth, yes, and here accomplished the work of eternal redemption to the glory and satisfaction of God. But our portion is far, far more and far greater than what the disciples enjoyed when the Lord Jesus was with them physically on earth. We have now.
A far more intimate relationship and the capacity and resources that are beyond what the disciples had up until the day of Pentecost. We have those resources now What a what a portion we have. And then brethren, to realize that it's Christ. The first fruits afterward, they that are Christ that is coming. Brethren, we've spoken of the resurrection, we've spoken of his ascension. But brethren, we're going to be there someday too. And those of our loved ones who passed away.
You know there's a funeral scheduled for Tuesday may never take place. The body of our sister Eunice may never be carried to its grave because we're looking for the resurrection. We're looking for the shout. The rapture and the dead in Christ are going to rise 1St, and we which are alive and remain are going to be caught up there. Oh brethren, what a portion we have. But now, while we're here in this world, we now have the power of resurrection at our disposal to live for Christ. We have Christ as the object.
And we have all the resources to glorify Him and reflect something of those glories while we're here in this world.
Christian gets to live because he because White fans didn't get any.
You're not like Moses when Joshua was in the battlefield.
He lifted up his hands, and Joshua prevailed.
But when you put them down, the enemy prevailed. But.
The Lord Jesus, his hands. We don't read of them ever being down, do they? Do we? He's they're up. And the Christian gets the victory.
We sing #23 in the appendix.
In the appendix.