YP Address—D. Andersen
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General Meetings, Toledo, November 1972. Addressed by brother Dan Anderson.
May we turn together to Luke's gospel.
Chapter 24.
This comes at the end.
Of the gospel that Luke wrote.
But even though it's the last chapter.
It's not a small chapter. It's not a mean chapter.
There's really a lot of good things in this chapter, many, many things to meditate upon, and I'm sure we're not going to be able to meditate on everything in this chapter.
But I would like to.
Revolve my thoughts this afternoon.
Around the seven open things we find in this chapter, there might even be more.
I remember some years ago.
Speaking on this chapter, especially on the open things and I haven't seen the mall yet.
But up to this time, I see seven, and perhaps that's enough.
For this afternoon, I don't know if we'll get through them all. The Lord might come before we are finished, and we never know how the Spirit of God might lead as we're speaking.
So we just have to leave it in the Lord's hands.
And.
Thinking of this, I would suggest to you young men.
Who perhaps from time to time, get up to speak.
That you be very much independence upon the Lord to lead you by His Spirit.
And maybe when you get up to speak.
You don't know what to say.
But perhaps you feel the Lord would have you get up to speak.
And no doubt some of you have already experienced that when you do.
The Lord comes in and leads by his Spirit, and he gives you something to say.
Or how we need to be independent upon the Lord.
In the meeting, when we speak, whether it's in the reading meetings.
Or perhaps in an open meeting?
Or perhaps is in the gospel. Or when you get up on the street corner to speak.
Look to the law, Trust Him to guide you by His Spirit to give you word. Sometimes it may be short, sometimes it may be longer.
For all, how needful it is for us to be guided by the Spirit of God.
Luke Chapter 24 now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning.
They came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.
And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.
And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed there about, behold, 2 men stood by them in shining garments, And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them.
Why seek ye the living, or the living One among the dead? He is not here, but is risen. Remember how He spake unto you when He was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men.
And be crucified, and a third day rise again. And they remembered His word, and returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things unto the 11. And to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene and Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and other women that were with them, which told these things unto the apostles. And their words seemed to them as idle tales. And at least but not.
Then arose Peter, and ran unto the sepulchre, and stooping down to beheld the linen clothes late by themselves, and departed, wandering in himself at that which was come to pass.
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Here we have the open sepulchre.
And what a wonderful thing that is to have the open sepulchre.
Now I don't believe that.
The stone was rolled away to let the Lord out.
But it seems that from the connection we have here in the third verse it says they entered in and found not the body of the Lord Jesus. It would seem to me that the stone was rolled away to allow them to look in to see that the Lord was not there.
And that must have had a tremendous impact upon them.
Because these women were coming.
With these spices.
To anoint his body.
But he wasn't there. He's gone, Risen.
As they were told, he's not here, he's risen.
Don't you remember? He told you, then they remembered.
The risen Savior. The resurrected Savior. What does it tell us?
It tells us not. The word the Lord Jesus came into this world to do was finished.
He'd been crucified.
He laid down his life. His sight had been pierced. The blood had been shed.
And he was buried.
He completed the work that God had sent him to do.
And God put the seal of approval upon that work by raising him from the dead. We read in the book of Romans. He was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.
He had glorified God the Father.
Now he was raised by the glory of the Father.
Not only that.
Seated at God's right hand.
And how precious it's been for us to have that before us in our meetings, in the reading meetings.
That he's at God's right hand and there he's our intercessor.
Interceding forums.
And what a greeting he got.
When he went back.
He didn't get any greeting when he came into this world. He was rejected despite.
But after he finished his work, he went back to heaven.
And Jehovah said, Sit down with my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. What a welcome he got.
I believe that tells us of the welcome that we're going to get because now.
We have believed in Him, were associated with him, and were accepted in the beloved.
And we're going to get a welcome like that when we get to the glory.
Since they remembered his words.
Yes, they remember that he spoke about being raised again, rising from the dead.
But they seem to have forgotten.
But it had to be brought to their attention. We're just like that.
And even young people have to have things brought to their attention. And the older we get, the poorer our memory is, and we have to have things brought to our attention. But God by his Spirit knows how to do this and we're so thankful.
That if we have ever read the Word of God about anything, we've ever heard the truth.
About something later on, perhaps when it's needed, the Spirit of God will bring it back to us. But there's one thing about it.
If there's something of the word of God that's never gone through your mind, either by reading it or by hearing it.
There's nothing there for the Spirit of God to bring back. That's why it's so important to meditate upon the Word of God to read it.
Because of once it's gone through your mind, the Spirit of God can bring it back to you.
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Says in verse 11. Their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not.
There are many that think of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and many other things in the Word of God as idle tales.
And they don't believe them.
But it's a remarkable thing that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
One of the best established facts in history.
Greenleaf's Manual of evidences that are used as a basis of law study.
In law school makes this statement.
To the effect that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the best established fact in history.
Isn't it amazing that a secular book like that?
Would admit it. The man who wrote it admits it.
Well, it's said only from the from the standpoint of law course, the.
Course, because in order to prove a case there has to be testimony, there has to be witnesses, a certain number of witnesses too.
But the witnesses to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ are many. Over 500 saw him at one time after he was raised from the dead.
Foundation we have in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And Paul says if Christ be not raised, there's no hope.
There's no basis for our faith where all men most miserable.
What now? Is Christ risen from the dead? Young people, we have something to stand on.
We really have something to stand on.
The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we have it mentioned more than once in the Word of God.
We read in the book of the Acts that the resurrection was preached.
And those who preached got persecution because of it. Why? Because it's fundamental.
It's fundamental. It tells us of the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
His victory over the world. His victory over sin. His victory over Satan.
That's why the truth of the resurrection is hated.
All that's cleave to this blessed truth.
Let's not think of it as an idle tale and not believe it. It's not so, it's the truth.
And we who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm sure you know this, dear young people.
We who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Know that there is something different about this.
There's something that comes into our lives. There's a power that we get through receiving the Lord Jesus Christ, who died with, buried and rose again.
And we have life in Christ, resurrection life.
And we have life in the Spirit.
We not only have the life, but we have the power of that life, which is the Holy Spirit.
And there's no excuse for us not to be victorious.
To go on victoriously through this sea.
It's not trying to be victorious, but it's going on in simple dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ who has gotten a victory.
Thanks beyond to God.
For his unspeakable gift and thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We go on then, and we read about.
2.
That we're going away from the center, from Jerusalem.
And it says in verse 13 And behold, two of them went that same day to a village called the mayor, which was from Jerusalem, about 3 score furlongs, and they talked together of all these things which had happened.
And it came to pass that while they commune together, and reason.
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Jesus himself drew near and went with them.
But their eyes were holding.
That they should not know him.
2 Going away from Jerusalem.
Away from the center, away from the company that they belong to.
Why? They had become very much disturbed.
Upset they were communing, they were reasoning, talking about all that had happened.
And the more the reason, the more the further they got away from the center, the further they got away from the company that they belong to.
And it says further down they were sad.
Jesus says to them, what manner of communications are these that you have one to another as you walk in our side now didn't they didn't know that it was Jesus their eyes were holding?
But they should not know him.
Well, this is a sad thing.
We got away from the law.
Dear young people.
Let us not allow ourselves to get away from the law.
Away from his people. Away from the company of his people.
Because we may get so under the government of God.
Their eyes will beholden.
God wants us to feel.
What a sad thing it is.
To be away from him, to be away from the company of his people.
And there are young people who've gotten away from the law, as well as older people who've gotten away from the Lord and away from the company of its people.
And I can't help but feel that everyone of them is sad.
They must be sad. They're not happy for sometimes they try to put on a good front, you know, and, and make us believe that. Well, they're still happy. But if you knew the truth, let's write down deep in their hearts, they're not happy, they're sad.
And there's one thing sure that the Lord doesn't want us to be sad.
But the Lord didn't reveal Himself to them. Here their eyes were holding, but they should not know Him.
Well, there was something about the presence of the Lord there, even though they didn't know who he was.
That caused them to open up and talk to him.
Well, there's something about the law that way, you know.
Sometimes we're not even conscious that we're in the presence of the Lord, but the Lord is still dealing with us.
The Lord is still speaking to us.
And we don't even realize that the Lord has drawn near to us.
But he said, I will never leave thee, nor for safety.
No, he won't leave us or forsake us. He'll always be near to us.
Even when we're not conscious of it, he's near to us.
And how sad it is to think that the Lord.
Is so loving, so compassionate, so sympathetic that he will draw near to us in our wayward condition.
And he'll go along with us, and we're not even conscious of it. But all the while he's working in our hearts to restore our soul.
Nor he never leaves his children.
He never leaves one who's really his. Never.
That verse in Hebrews that says I will never leave thee nor forsake thee should read I will never, never leave the nor forsake thee.
Let's think of it.
In our wayward condition.
We don't really know anyone of us.
How near we are to the Lord, and how far away we are from the Lord in our state of soul.
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And everyone of us needs.
The Lord should draw near to us, and to go with us, and walk with us, and to speak to us.
But we don't find that he says very much.
Sort of opens up their hearts.
Speak to him. And so we read. And one of them, whose name was Cleopas answering, said unto him, And thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and has not known the things which had 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, might indeed and word before God, and all the people. And now 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 with us went to the sepulchre and found it Even so, as the women had said, but him they saw not.
Well, they say quite, quite a little to the law. They're talking to the law.
Dear young people, is it your practice to talk to the Lord?
Of course, they didn't know it was the Lord to whom they were speaking.
But still they were talking to the law.
And this is important, that every day we have a talk with the Lord. Talk to the Lord.
Don't forget to pray.
The Lord Jesus warned even his disciples.
Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation. Oh how we need to pray. Talk to the Lord.
And you can talk to him about anything that might be on your heart.
The Lord Jesus is the most approachable person that there ever was.
And you can tell that as you read the gospel.
Little children came around him. They were not afraid of him.
And this woman back when came to him.
Viewers approachable.
And dear young people, always remember that the Lord Jesus is approachable.
Or maybe you've done something that has given you a back conscience.
And you feel a little reluctant to come to the law.
And you don't tell him your heart.
Don't do that. Come to the Lord. Just open up your heart to Him.
You can tell anything.
And oh, how good it is for the soul to get into the presence of the law.
And justice open up the heart and tell him everything.
Don't hide it. You can't hide it anyway. You may try to hide it, but you can't hide it. He knows all about you.
And yet you may know.
That you can come to you time and again he says, Come unto me.
We were reminded this morning.
About Joseph.
Presence of Joseph said, Come near unto me.
Come near unto me. Well, they didn't feel much like coming near to him.
But still Joseph said, Come near unto me.
And I believe they've heard something in that voice.
They saw something in his face.
That gave them courage to come here to see it.
Well, you'll hear something in the voice of the Lord Jesus.
And you'll see something in him by faith, too.
That you will give you that goal to come, to kill, come near, to heal.
Or he does want to be near us, and he wants us near himself, and even though we're not near to him, he's always near to us. There are two sides to this, you know.
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Well, after they talked to the Lord.
Then the Lord talked to them.
And how does the Lord talk to you now?
You have his words right here. This whole book is the word of God.
Sometimes you get bibles with red letters in it. Read words.
They are supposed to be especially the words of the Lord Jesus.
But actually.
The words of the Lord Jesus.
Are no different from any other word that we have in the Bible is all the word of God.
And I trust that we think of this whole book as the word of God. It's so important to remember that. And maybe there's some passages of Scripture.
That you find it's a little boring for you to read, especially when you get into all of those genealogies and May.
But watch, when you're reading those genealogies, all of those lists of names, you'll find little things hidden in there.
That have a message for you. So don't skip over anything. You skip over any part of it. You're going to miss something.
There's so much in this Bible.
That we need, and it's God talking to us as the Lord Jesus Christ talking to us. We talked to him, He talks to us.
Now what does the Lord say?
Verse 25.
Then he said unto them.
Old fools and slow heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken.
It would seem that the Lord gets right down.
To the difficulty.
If this hadn't been true of them, that they hadn't been slow heart and they had believed all that the prophecies spoken, they wouldn't have been reasoning and they wouldn't have been sad.
Reading the Word of God.
Believing what God tells us and seeking grace not to be slow heart to believe it.
For just leaving it, submitting to the word of God, accepting the truth of it.
What a help it is.
But over slow heart, unbelieving, doubting the word of God, doubting the law.
What does it mean? It means that we're just causing sadness for ourselves.
Well.
The one who wrote this gospel, he believed at all. He believed at all. Luke believed at all. Do you believe it all?
How needful it is to believe the whole word of God.
We may not understand at all.
And we may not be able to explain something, but when the word says a certain thing.
It's for us to believe us, then maybe the understanding of it will come later on.
Maybe we'll get an explanation later on.
But just because we don't understand a certain portion of scripture, that's no license.
For disbelieving it.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? Here we have brought before the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, and Peter speaks of that, and how important these two things are. The sufferings of Christ is death and the glory.
Suffering first, glory afterwards.
This is a pattern for us, isn't it?
It's suffering. Time now for us glory time is coming.
Can we expect any difference, anything different from what the Lord received? It were suffering time first for him.
Now he's in the glory.
It's suffering time for us now. That comes first afterward.
Glory.
But the glory that the Lord had before him.
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Sustained him.
And going through the suffering.
And if we keep the glory before us.
The thought of being with Christ, being associated with him in glory.
I've helped us.
Bear the suffering, the trials, the persecution, the reproaches that may be heaped upon us here, and I know you young people have these very problems.
In school, after work.
Wherever you meet up with unbelievers, with those in the world, it's not easy.
It's not easy to be true to Christ.
As soon as you mentioned.
The word Jesus, as soon as that is heard from your lips, in that kind of company, you're a marked person.
You're a marked person, and some of you know about it already.
But the Lord can give you grace.
To own the name of Jesus. And I'm not saying that you need to.
Preach a lot, speak a lot.
Know all you need to do.
Is say some little thing about the Lord Jesus?
And that will be enough.
And then let your life be according to it.
And I believe the Lord will sustain you in that.
And keep before you the glory, because glory time is coming. Reigning time is coming.
Reward time is coming.
We want to seek grace from the Lord to be faithful now.
Be faithful.
Well, the apostle Paul was faithful, faithful unto death.
He's going to get a crown.
We want to hear that. Well done thou good and faithful service.
Now we read and beginning at Moses, and all the prophecies founded unto them, and all the Scriptures, and things concerning himself.
It was Jesus himself that drew near to them. Now he's expounding or opening up the Scriptures.
And telling from all the scriptures of things concerning himself.
Some people think of the Word of God, the Bible, as a book of history.
Well, there's history in it, but it's not primarily a history book.
What we can say, it is his story. His story.
We have hymn books.
But this is a book about him.
Hymn book. A book concerning himself, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what a book it is, from beginning to end, and all much could be said about that.
But what a wonderful exposition this must have been as they were walking along toward amazed.
And I don't know just when the Lord.
Drew near.
But it was about 7 miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus.
And it would take quite a while to make that journey.
And there would be plenty of time for the Lord.
To expound the word concerning himself.
And in a way that nobody else could do it.
There has never been anybody like him.
Which bound the scriptures.
What an exposition they must have had that day. What an opening up of the Word of God.
It's a wonderful thing to have the word of God opened up to us. And you know, dear young people, we have as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have in our hearts dwelling in US.
The Holy Spirit.
And he is the one that we've been told takes the things of Christ and shows them to us.
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When you read the word of God.
Remember this, that the Holy Spirit is in you, and He's the one that can open it up to you. The Lord by His Spirit can do that.
Open up the scriptures, the open scriptures.
Well, we're thankful that God is still faithful and He opens up His word to us. I believe we had an example of it in our reading meetings, how we were sitting there and God by His Spirit opening up. That chapter 2 is the second of Hebrews opening and up to it.
How wonderful.
Is thinking of us and he wants to feed us. Who are his people? He wants to feed you, dear young people.
And he has plenty of food here for and he can open it up to us.
In such a way that it will feed our souls.
We read on, and they drew nigh into the village. Whether they went, and he made as though he would have gone further.
He wasn't going to push himself on them to think of that. The Lord will not push himself on anyone.
Maybe you're away from the law, just like these two were your strengths from the law.
And getting away from the company of his people.
The Lord is near you.
But he's not going to press himself on. He's not going to push himself on you.
But what does he do?
He tenderly draws you along, just like we see here.
He makes as though he would have gone further, or he didn't want to go further, really.
No, he would love to abide with them.
But he wanted something to come from their own hearts.
And we read further down that in this wonderful opening up of the scriptures.
They confess that their heart was burning within them as he talked with them, by the way.
Their hearts have been warmed up.
The love that was emanating from this person, going with them.
For doing something for them.
And so it says, they constrained him.
That's what the Apostle Paul speaks of. The love of Christ constraineth us.
Even perhaps when we're not conscious of it as these two, they were not conscious that it was really the Lord, but it was still the love of Christ being shown to them.
That caused them to constrain him.
This to come and abide with them. They constrained him saying abide with us.
Oh, we want Someone Like You.
To come into our home.
So they opened up their home. Here we have another open thing.
First the open sepulchre, then the open scriptures.
Now the open fold, they open up their home to him.
Well, what does he do?
It says in the end of verse 29 he went into tarry with them. He went in.
Or it's nice for us to have our homes open to.
The Lord even now.
Many of our young people are starting new home.
It seems like we're having a.
Flock of weddings in Des Moines.
For couples getting married within about three months.
New homes are being started.
Our trust, those holds will always be open to the Lord Jesus.
I hope there's not anything that gets into those homes that would make them feel like keeping the Lord out.
That it's really not a place for the law that would give them a conscience.
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About Speaking of the Lord in their homes and making him feel at home, as it were.
Don't allow anything to come into the home that gives you bad conscience.
That would be contrary to the principles of the Word of God, to the principles of holiness.
Oh, it's so easy for these things to slip in, and then it seems that there isn't any room for the Lord. And this is the the worst about it. This is the most sad thing about it. There's no room for the Lord. Something has come in to displace the Lord.
And how sad that is.
Because the Lord has gone to glory and there's a place for us up there.
Plenty of room in heaven for us, Plenty of room for us with the Lord.
All that there might be room for him in our homes.
As well as room for Him in our hearts.
Verse 30 it says, and it came to pass, as he started to meet with them, he took bread and blessed it, and break and gain to them.
I suppose there was something familiar about this.
It says in their eyes were opened and they knew him.
Well, it was the Lord himself, I believe, opening their eyes. The time had come now. The proper time had come.
For their eyes to be opened up to see him.
The period that they had been under the government of the Lord, when their eyes were holding without an end.
And how wonderful to know that the Lord has everything under control and He knows just exactly the right moment.
To open up our eyes and give us a revelation of Himself.
Well, I think of that over in the Congo when the Lord was speaking to us.
About the truth of the Church, truth of the one Blood, the truth of being gathered simply to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we had been seeing this truth.
But there was something that we need.
It seems that the Lord was leading us along like these two.
But during that period of time.
It was as though our eyes were holding and we didn't see him.
So then the Lord allowed an experience to come into our home.
We were expecting the birth of our twin girls.
And as soon as.
They had been delivered.
My wife collapsed.
Couldn't find any faults.
We thought she was gone.
But it was right there.
At that time.
I got a glimpse of the Lord.
A glimpse that I had never had before.
And I saw, yes, the Lord is able for anything.
The law who has said, were two or three are gathered together unto my name, they am I in the midst of them.
He is able for everything and we can trust him in simplicity.
In the little gathering, whether it's a small gathering or a large gathering, we can trust Him to take care of everything.
Well, that's what was needed.
To get our eyes open to get a glimpse of him.
And from that moment on, we wanted to be with the company of his people that were gathered to his precious name.
Well, it took some time to find that place.
But we're thankful.
And we believe that we're in the place where the Lord has placed his name.
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And to find that he is sufficient.
For everything that we need.
As a company of God's people.
Eyes open, opened eyes just to get a glimpse of the Lord Jesus that He might lead us along. What happened?
Well, it says you vanished out of their sight.
Well, perhaps when we first read this we might think that, well, that's sort of cruel, isn't it?
He lets them see him, and he vanishes.
Is gone.
Well, remember, these two were not with the company that they belonged to.
They were of the company at Jerusalem.
Because they had mentioned this in verse 22, certain women also of our company, they said.
While they knew where the Lord would be.
They would be back. He would be back with that company.
But he had allowed them to get a glimpse of him, to draw their hearts back.
Have you strayed away from the Lord? Have you strayed away from that company?
Maybe the Lord has given you a glimpse of himself. What for? To draw your back?
Back to himself, back to his company, back to your company. And there's only one company that we can speak of as our company.
And that's the company of those gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ gathered around himself.
Our company.
And anyone?
It doesn't matter who he is or where it comes from, if he takes his place there, that's gathered through the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's part of our company.
Part of the Lord's company.
Not peculiarly our company, but it's his company.
And how important it is that his company be our company and to be sure that when you take your place anywhere.
That it's his company.
In which you're taking your place.
Verse 33 says they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the 11 gathered together and them that were with them.
Isn't that nice?
Word garlic together.
The assembly of the Lord's old gathered together. They've been going the other direction, out to a maze. Some say that that means Hot Springs. I don't know what they were going out there for. Maybe going out there to forget everything.
Have a rest from all the confusion and upset.
The Lord wouldn't allow that. He wanted them back with His company.
So they returned and they found them there.
And it's been lovely.
For some of us who've been gathered.
To the name of the Lord Jesus Christ coming out of these places that answer to Emmaus.
And to find that the Lord had his company.
How important it is for us to go on with the Lord according to His words.
That if there are any others that the Lord is taking out of system, out of those places, that an answer to a mayor and wants to gather them to his precious name. How wonderful it is if there can still be a company that's called His company.
Guided simply to his precious name, where they can come.
Well, what will they say?
The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon.
We had something said about advocacy in our reading meetings. Well, when the Lord appeared to Simon, it was to restore his soul. But it seems that when he was talking to these two going to mayors, it was more in the character of high priest to feed their souls, to warm their hearts.
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And to draw them closer to himself and draw them back to that company.
At Jerusalem.
And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was made known of them in the breaking of bread.
And as they thus speak, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and sat unto them. Peace be unto you.
Peace be unto you. When you dear young people who know the Lord took the Lord as your Savior. You got peace. Through believing, being justified by faith, we have peace with God.
That's the peace of salvation.
Have you ever had the experience of getting the peace of being gathered?
The peace of being gathered, gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There's a peace connected with us.
I'm sure there must be some of you, dear young people this afternoon who are wondering about this, wondering about being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the ground of God and the truth of the one Body, and so on. And perhaps you're in a state where things are a little confused for you. Maybe you're like these two, going to a mayor, reasoning about it, talking about it, and you're a little bit sad too.
And in a way, you wish you were gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in the way you wish you were at the Lord's Table, but things just aren't clear to you and you're just hanging back.
Remember, the Lord is in the midst.
It says here Jesus himself stood in the midst of them. Wouldn't you like to be where the Lord Jesus is in the midst?
Wouldn't you like to be part of that company that's gathered to that one that's in the midst?
Well, take that step. You know the Lord wants you to remember Him.
You know the Lord wants you there at his table.
You know you don't know everything about the truth. You can't understand everything. You don't have to understand everything.
But at least if you know this, that the Lord wants you there and you see that the Lord is there, oh, how important that is to see that the Lord is there.
Just take the step.
A step by face.
And I believe you will have this peace. You will hear the Lord saying to you.
Peace be unto you.
I remember when I got that piece.
It just seemed like I could hear the Lord saying peace.
It's a wonderful thing to find a place where the Lord is in the midst.
And justice to be where he is.
Well, these disciples seem to understand everything, and they were terrified.
Suppose they'd seen the spirit. They were troubled.
But what does the Lord do?
Verse 40 says he showed them his hands and his feet.
In another place it speaks out.
Seeing his side.
What are they reminded of? That he was crucified?
And also that his sign was pierced.
And the precious blood had flowed up.
Ah, now they.
€1000 It's wonderful to see that this is the thing that brought before the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ, just like we had this morning, the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the one we're occupied with.
Now we notice something else and.
Verse 44 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 were written in the law of Moses.
And in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me now, that's all they have, the Old Testament scriptures. The New Testament scriptures were not written yet.
And the Lord himself divides the Old Testament scriptures into three parts.
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The Law of Moses, the Psalm, and the Prophets.
And they all speak of the Lord Jesus.
Then it says in verse 45 then open either understanding that they might understand the scriptures.
The opened understanding and where is it? The open? The understanding is open.
Right there when they're gathered together around the Lord Jesus Christ. Here we have the picture of the assembly.
Right here.
And that's where in a special way their understanding is opened up. And I believe we have that experience these.
Days when we were together in our reading meeting.
How the Lord opened not only the word.
But he opened our understanding.
To take it in. And it came to mean something to us, and the Lord came to mean more to us.
And this, I believe, tells us how important it is for us to attend.
The reading meetings in our assembly.
Because it's there in a special way that the Lord opens our understanding to understand His Word.
And I can testify to the experience that I've had along that line.
Oh, I went to Bible school for three years.
But Bible knowledge was crammed into me.
And it lodged in my brain and didn't have a chance to get down into my heart and look much less into my feet.
That's what happens in places like that.
The assembly is the place where God wants us to learn the truth and that is where He opens our understanding and week by week.
Month by month, year by year, here little there, little line upon line, precept upon precept.
Our understanding is opened up to take it in.
And I've learned more.
In the assembly, many times more have I learned in the assembly.
Than I ever learned in the Bible school.
Oh, what a what an arrangement God has made. We thank God for you can't improve upon, you can't find a substitute for.
Then the Lord gives them instruction as to being a witness.
And we find that he tells them.
What they're to preach. Verses 4647. Thus it is written, and thus it behooves praise to suffer and rise from the dead. The third day that repents and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. That is, they were to get their mouths open. Now the open mouth to tell forth this wonderful message, the gospel.
That Christ suffered and died, rose again from the dead. Well, that's the gospel that Paul speaks of in First Corinthians 15. And that's the heart of the message that we have to preach. And you young men, I know you get out on the street corner, some of you, perhaps you go to jails and other places to preach. What is it you preach? Well, this is what we're talking about.
Christ died for our sins according to the scripture, who was buried and rose again the 3rd day according to the scriptures. Before you say I can't stand up in the street corner to preach, well your knees perhaps shake. Will I know something about that too?
But look to the Lord for grace.
And he'll help you to get your mouth open.
The Lord wants us to open our mouths. And you know, it's a wonderful thing about that word witness. It comes, I believe, from the same word from which we get the word martyr.
In other words, we're not only to speak.
Of the Lord by our words, but also by our lives.
So if we're speaking for the Lord by words, let us seek grace from the Lord that our lives might be in conformity to it.
Then we have one more open thing.
Verse 50. 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.
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The heaven was open to receive him.
He had finished the work he came to do.
He'd walked this scene for 40 days, showed himself alive.
Now it's time to go go back to hell and the heaven was opened up to receive him.
And he's told us.
That has gone away to prepare a place for us.
And heaven is open to everyone that believes in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And one of these days, perhaps today.
The heaven will open again, as it were, and the Lord himself shall descend, will be caught up to meet him.
And will be taken.
Up to the Father's house, where those mansions are.
Where the Lord is prepared to place for us, well, He's gone there as a man. So there's a place for us as men there who have believed in Him and received Him as our Savior.
What a what an expectation. Are you really looking for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you waiting to be caught up to meet Him in the air?
This is a test for everyone of us.
Do I want the Lord Jesus Christ to come today?
I like to have him come right now. Well, then we begin to think about, well, I'd have to leave this, I would have to leave that, and I wouldn't be able to get back home to take care of this and that and the other thing. I have plans made and I won't be able to carry them out. You know, there are all kinds of things that can go through your mind when you're thinking about the Lord coming right now. And it becomes a real serious test for us.
Do we want him to come now?
Would we like to see heaven open the Lord descending? We'd be caught up to meet Him.
Ah, when we think about it in sincerity, in reality.
We say yes, Even so, come, Lord Jesus, what is there here that we want, if we can be with the Lord, all that the Lord might satisfy our hearts in such a way that we say yes, Lord, every day, every moment.