Returning to Luke's Gospel, chapter 24. Luke's Gospel, chapter 24. And as I mentioned, we are going to watch the video on Uganda this evening. And due to that, our time here is slightly constrained and it would normally be my intention to read probably about 40 verses from this passage, because what we're going to say involves 40 verses roughly, but we don't have time to do that this evening, but we will. read from verse number 44 down to the end of verse 53 and we will consider the other verses in the passage as necessary. Certainly it is a familiar passage, the Lord Jesus Christ has risen again, he's met the disciples on the road to Emmaus, he's appeared in the upper room and we take up our reading there at verse 44. And it is the Saviour speaking. And he said unto them, These are the words which I speak 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. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name, among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high. And he led them out as far as Tibethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them. 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 were continually in the temple praising and blessing god amen amen we trust the lord bless the reading from his word This evening, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is certainly fundamental to the Christian faith. We cannot, this evening, emphasize how vital, how important it is to our beliefs and to our salvation. 1 Corinthians chapter 15 points out to us that if Christ had not risen again from the dead, then our faith is in vain. Myself being here tonight bringing the word of God to you is basically a waste of time. That is what Paul says, it's in vain. But Christ is risen, our faith is not in vain. And we can rejoice in that. The hymn writer said, lives again our glorious King, hallelujah. Where oh death is now thy sting, hallelujah. Once he died our souls to save, hallelujah. Where's thy victory, boasting grave, hallelujah. And because of Christ, because of his work of atonement, resurrection, we have a hope. We have a hope that we are saved, that we are redeemed. We have a hope that one day we will be resurrected and we will be with Him forevermore. But as we turn to Luke chapter 24 for a few moments, We have here the resurrection of the Saviour in view, the events that took place recorded for us by Luke, the events that took place after Christ rose again. And such an event has a great impact upon our lives, not only upon our souls but throughout our whole being. And in this passage, such a dramatic change took place upon the disciples. A change took place within them because Christ had risen again. We have the disciples, the two on the road to Emmaus. And we have that from verse number 13, moving down the passage. But notice verse 17. A stranger draws alongside. The stranger is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. But they did not know that. And he said unto them, verse 17, what manner of communication are these, that ye have one to another as ye walk and are sad? And so we have here these disciples on the road to Emmaus and they are sad, they are downcast. The reasons are given if we move down that passage we can see that it concerned Jesus of Nazareth which was a prophet mighty indeed and word before God and all the people and they were concerned because they had trusted in him that he would have been the one to redeem Israel from the Roman rule. But he was put to death, he was crucified. Women had come off their company to the sepulchre, verse 22. Verse 23, they found his body and this vision of angels and said that he was alive. And the language itself is implying that they were concerned, they were not sure whether these things were true or not. But the disciples, And those in the upper room went from being those who were sad and downcast to those who were filled with joy. Those who went into the world and shared the gospel of Christ and saw a great work done. There was a dramatic change all because the risen Christ appeared to them. I want us to consider this evening the blessed effects of seeing the risen Christ. The blessed effects of seeing the risen Christ, there are four thoughts that I want to leave with you. And we see, first of all, that there was encouragement. There was encouragement. As I said, these saints were downcast, but they were encouraged because of Christ appearing to them, because of Christ speaking to them. And we must acknowledge here in these things that not only is the presence of Christ seen, but also the word of Christ. They saw his physical presence, but they also heard his words. They were not just encouraged because of the physical presence of Christ, they were also encouraged because of the words of Christ. And in all that we see here tonight, we will see clearly that it was the physical presence of Christ, he was alive, plus it was his words that made this dramatic change in their lives. They were downcast, but the appearance of Christ encouraged them. We have noticed verse 17 where they were sad, where they were troubled. The disciples themselves in John chapter 14 were told by the Savior that he would leave them, that he would return again, that he was going to prepare the way of salvation for them. But they did not understand these things. The Savior himself said to these disciples, verse 25, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. The word fools there is not a reference to those who are wicked, in the sense of the wicked being fools, but rather they were fools because they were slow of heart to believe. They failed to understand, they failed to believe, and Christ called them fools. It is interesting to notice that they were discouraged, that they were downcast, because they did not understand these things. The Lord Jesus Christ explains the Scriptures to them. He says to them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. If they had believed what the prophets had spoken, they would have known that these things would come to pass. The birth of Christ, his life, his ministry, his death, his resurrection, all those things were found in the Old Testament Scriptures. And sometimes when we are discouraged ourselves, it can be because of a lack of understanding of the Scriptures, a lack of reading the Scriptures, a lack of communing with the Lord. Not always, but certainly there is a major part for the The Word of God to play in our lives. The Word of God ought to be read on a daily basis. We ought to immerse ourselves in the Scriptures because they do encourage us. The words of Christ encourage us. The words of Christ change our hearts from being downcast to being encouraged. And it's happened to us many a time. We've maybe been concerned about something. We've maybe been feared about something. And we've turned to the scriptures and the Lord has given us a particular verse. When I went into college, I was absolutely petrified. And one of the passages that the Lord used to call me was in Jeremiah 1. And the Lord says to Jeremiah, be not afraid of their faces. And he goes on to apply that and to mention that, to speak about that. But that was an encouragement from the Lord. I was concerned about dealing with people and about going forth into the Lord's work and the Lord said, be not afraid of their faces and for he was with me and we have all experienced encouragements on different levels and in different situations from the Lord. His word encourages us. It was Richard Sibbes, the Puritan who said that the comforts of Christ are greater than any trouble can be. The comforts of Christ are greater than any trouble can be. It was Edward Payson who said that this visit from the Saviour came at a time when it was needed. They drew alongside, or Christ drew alongside them on the road to Emmaus and Christ came at a time when that visit was needed. When we are discouraged, when we are downcast, when we wonder what is going on, the Lord has a time and a place to come alongside and encourage us. It's not always our time, but it's the Lord's time. He has that time. Edward Payson said, the faith and hope and courage of its members were reduced to the lowest point of depression, and unless revived by his presence must soon have expired. One member, referring to the disciples, one member after another would have returned to their original occupation and the church would have scattered and become extinct. This is what he said in regard to the depression, the sadness, the sorrow that the disciples feast. The appearance of Christ changed all that. We notice at the end of the chapter they worshipped him, they returned to Jerusalem with great joy. There was a great and mighty difference took place because Christ His appearance, his words encouraged his people. Notice here, secondly, there was enlightenment as well. There was enlightenment. Verse 27, we see that the Lord Jesus Christ, to those in the route to Emmaus, expounded the scriptures. Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. And he did the same with the disciples in the upper room, verse 45. is a verse that we are going to focus on for a moment. Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the scriptures. Only the saviour through the working of his spirit can open the scriptures to us. The disciples had failed to understand what was being taught in the Old Testament scriptures regarding the saviour and the discouragement and sadness stemmed from that particular fact. It was Matthew Henry who said that if they had given the prophets of the Old Testament their due weight and consideration, they would have been as sure of Christ rising from the dead that morning as they were of the rising of the sun. The scriptures would have made them certain that Christ would rise again. The Lord Jesus Christ is the message of Scripture, we see that clearly in these verses. Notice verse 44, where the Saviour refers to the law of Moses and the prophets, the Psalms, and he brings to the disciples those things that concern himself. Men today try to take Christ out of Scripture, they try not to focus upon The Saviour, but the Word of God is focused entirely from Genesis to Revelation. Christ is the message. He is central to our theology and to our doctrine. And they received a great lesson. They were taught by the Saviour. They were taught by the Saviour. Psalm 2, Psalm 23, Isaiah 53, all those passages, many more. refer to the one who was the Messiah. Christ who came, Christ who died. Isaiah 53 brings to our mind the Saviour upon the cross. Psalm 16, if I remember rightly, refers to the resurrection as well. And the Old Testament Scriptures showed forth that Christ was the Messiah. He fulfilled these prophecies. But we must notice here that there was enlightenment because Christ opened the Scriptures to them. There are things in the Word of God that we find difficult to understand. Things we will not ever fully understand. There are things in the Word of God that men who have been preaching and reading the Word of God for 60 years still struggle with. There are things that I don't know. There may be things I may never know. There certainly will be. But we need to pray for enlightenment. We need to pray that the Lord will open his word to us, that he will teach us the things that he wants us to know from the scriptures. May we never think, when we come to the word of God, that we can look at these things ourselves, that we can understand these things ourselves. We can go to a commentary, we can go to a book of sermons, and we can say when we come to them, well, these things will teach us the word of God. And yes, those things are good, they have their place, but they do not take the place of the Lord writing his word upon our hearts, opening the scriptures to us. And that must always be our prayer, that the Lord would give us understanding, that we might understand the scriptures. Notice here thirdly that there was enjoyment. There was enjoyment. Verse 41, it says, and while they yet believed not for joy and wondered, He said unto them, Have ye here any meat? There was joy. In verse number 52, there was joy as well. They returned to Jerusalem there with great joy. Notice in regard to the last point actually in verse 32, and it's connected with joy as well, these disciples on the road to Emmaus said, did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us the scriptures? Certainly, their hearts burned within them when the word of God was brought to them, and that would have led to a joy. And when the word of God is open to us, when Christ appears to us, when we are in his presence, there is joy. There is joy. These disciples were filled with joy because Christ was not dead, he was alive. They rejoiced in Christ Jesus. Notice in verse 52, they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. Worshipping God is connected with great joy. Can we truly worship God if we're sad and downcast? Can we? In Philippians 3 verse 3, the Apostle Paul mentions three particular things regarding those who are the circumcision or those whose hearts have been purged by the spirit. Three particular things that identify such people as true believers. which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. And again, worshipping and rejoicing joy are connected together again in this particular verse. And when we worship God, We ought to do so with great joy. We can have sorrow. We can be discouraged with things that are taking place in our lives. But we should still have a joy in who Christ is. The Apostle Paul referred to being sorrowful, yet always rejoicing, always being full of joy because of Christ. And that joy did not disappear when the trials of life came. That joy was always there. That joy helped him through the trials of life. Real joy is founded on the Saviour. Notice here, finally, there was enduement. There was enduement. We see this in verse number 49. And behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem till ye be endued with power from on high. The Lord Jesus Christ in verses 46-48 refers to the great work that had to be done. There is the finished work of Christ upon the cross. There is the unfinished work of Christ taking the gospel to the world. Those who or outside of Christ, those who were sinners coming and placing their trust in Him, the Spirit of God working within them. That is the unfinished work of Christ. A work that will continue until the last day. A work that will continue until the Saviour returns. But notice here, verse 47, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached Repentance and remission, those things that are at the heart of the gospel should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem and ear witnesses of these things. And verse 49 he says the promise of the Father will come. Christ gave them a mission, Christ gave them a commission to go forth. and that the power would come upon them. They would be endued with power. What a promise that was. Christ left again in verse 51. He was carried up into heaven but yet he left a great promise with them. The Comforter would come. The Holy Spirit would come. They would be endued with power. And I want you to notice one particular thought regarding this and we'll close. Christ ascended to heaven. The disciples were rejoicing. They had great joy. The important thing is that they were receiving power for the work. They were downcast at the start of, I suppose, the start of this chapter. They were downcast on the road to Emmaus. But at the end, they're rejoicing. God's work has a future. The work of God has a future. When Christ had died, in their minds, Christ did call them fools, but in their minds they were downcast, discouraged. It seemed to be at an end. Sometimes when someone passes away thinking in regard to the Church of Christ, many would be of the opinion that whether it's a minister, whether it's someone who is heavily involved, that that is the end of things. When the Savior died, certainly these men were confused and downcast. They wondered what was happening. Edward Payson said that they would perhaps return to their former employment, but Christ rose again from the dead. His work had a future. And the future in view here at the end of this chapter is the future that we are currently in as well. It stretches forth into the New Testament Church, into the days of the Reformation. Today, the work of God has a future. And that should encourage us. That it is not through ourselves, it is not through our might, it's not through what we can do. It is through the promise of the Father. It is through the power of the Spirit. It is through the power of God. And in the days of the New Testament church, the Lord did work, the Lord did move, the Lord did save. And the same power that they experienced has not changed, has not diminished. It's the same power we have today. And may we know it, may we be encouraged that God's work has a future. May the Lord bless these things this evening for his name's sake. Amen.