We invite you this morning to take your Bibles and turn with me to the gospel of Luke. We are winding down our study in Luke's gospel. We have been focused on this now for a little over two years. Bulletin says and that he's pretty good at keeping up on this, that this is sermon number 96 on the gospel of Luke. We have this one and then two more by the end of August. We will be done with Luke and We will go on and study together the book of Revelation on Sunday mornings. So that will be fun. It's all fun. It's God's word. And even when it's not fun, it's great. Even when God convicts us. So pray for that. I'd ask for your prayers. I've been beginning the study and preparation for that. upcoming sermon series as well. But we are we are winding down in the gospel of Luke. We are in Chapter 24. Last Sunday morning, we saw the the the empty tomb. We actually didn't see Jesus last Sunday morning, which we said was a little bit strange because the whole gospel of Luke is focused on Jesus. And we come to this passage and we don't see Jesus. And as we said last week, there probably is a good reason for that. And that is that that Luke, that the angels that appear at the tomb want to point the women and the disciples of Jesus to to the word of Jesus. So the tomb is empty. Jesus is not there. Don't you remember how he told you that he would be handed over and he would be put to death and that he would rise from the dead. Well, in our passage this morning, we we do see Jesus. Jesus does appear to his disciples, though we'll see it's a little bit fuzzy initially. Jesus appears to some walking on the road to Emmaus, but it takes a while for them to recognize him, to to see who he is. But here in our passage this morning, we we see Jesus and we come to see Jesus. a risen and conquering king. So here God's word as we look together at Luke chapter 24, beginning in verse 13. That very day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, what is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk? And they stood still looking sad. Then one of them named Cleopas answered him, are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days? And he said to them, what things? And they said to him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet, mighty indeed and word before God and all the people and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see. And he said to them, oh, foolish ones. And slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? And beginning with Moses, And all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, but they urged him strongly saying, stay with us, for it is now toward evening and the day is now far spent. So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the scriptures And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem and they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, the Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon. Then they told what had happened on the road, and now he was known to them in the breaking of the bread. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever. Let's go to God in prayer once again this morning. Our Father, we thank you for the great truth of your word. And we thank you for this truth that it is not simply some story to make us feel better. To give us motivation or to give us inspiration. But it is. The truth of what happened in history. That Christ died and that Christ rose again from the dead. And that means everything to the world and for us, your people. So, God, impress upon us again this morning, the truth of these things that as Luke is writing, that we might know with certainty the truth of the things we have been taught. Write your word on our hearts this morning, we pray and we give you worship in Jesus name. Amen. I have had the privilege in my life to sit under some great Bible teachers. Great Bible teachers at a Christian college. I had some some wonderful teachers of the word of God who who really inspired me and motivated me to go on to further study in seminary. I had some some some world known professors, writers. respected men, wonderful teachers of the word of God. And my my doctoral work in New Testament, I had I had some of the at least from the world standards, some of the best scholars in the world, top notch writers, authors, biblical scholars. I've had wonderful privilege in my life to to sit under these these wonderful teachers of the word of God, the ones who who I remember the best and who really made a deep impression on my life are those who who brought the word of God together for me. Who helped me to see the whole picture, we we call this biblical theology, those biblical theologians who who helped me to see the the whole picture, the the Old Testament, the New Testament, how it all fit together. Sometimes you read the Old Testament and and just wonder that causes you to to think, why is that here or what does that have to do with with anything or really? But these great teachers, these these men gifted by God helped me oftentimes to see how it all fits together. But I didn't have one like the teacher here. in Luke 24. Wouldn't it have been amazing to be there as Jesus taught on the road to Emmaus? Wouldn't it have been wonderful as Jesus showed these disciples how it all fit together? How he opened up for them the Scriptures, the Old Testament, our Old Testament, About himself. That would have been a wonderful thing, oh, to sit under under Jesus teaching. And brothers and sisters, I want to say to you this morning, there is a sense in which we can. And we do. And. Jesus actually and Luke in this passage actually brings these things out for us in this passage this morning. Jesus himself teaches us about himself in the word of God, the Old Testament. We also see something else in this passage, and that is Jesus comes alongside these disciples who are in a state of discouragement and sadness and despair and seemingly near hopelessness. And he comes along and ministers to them. We're going to see also this morning how he he does that because he does the same thing with his people today. I want us to see, first of all, what Jesus does. And the first thing that Jesus does here is he he walks with his disciples. He walks with these disciples on the road to Emmaus. Verse 13, Luke tells us that that day, two of them were going to a village named Emmaus. Now, where is Emmaus? We have no idea. Many scholars have guesses, but they are just that, they're guesses. Some there are some scholars who recently said they've located where Emmaus is. But the problem is it's it's only a little over a three mile journey. Luke tells us here this journey is a seven mile journey from Jerusalem to Emmaus. Where is Emmaus? We have no idea. But seven miles, this is going to take about what, two to three hours. to walk. Maybe back in those days where they walked everywhere they went, they walked a little bit quicker than maybe we typically would today. We're talking somewhere in the range of two to three hour walk. When exactly Jesus appears to them, it's not entirely clear. Does Jesus walk the whole journey with them? He opens up a lot in scripture, Luke tells us. But Jesus comes and and he appears, but Luke tells us that they were kept from recognizing him. Verse 16. They didn't they didn't see who he was. They didn't know who he was. We actually see a similar thing in John's gospel when when Jesus appears to Mary by the tomb and Mary thinks he's the gardener. And then suddenly her eyes are opened and And she sees who Jesus is. She recognizes him. What does this tell us and why don't they recognize Jesus here? Well, one reason it seems to be this, that there's something different about the resurrection body than our earthly bodies. We should be applauding that fact, there's something different about the resurrection body than the earthly body, isn't that isn't that good news? And Jesus' body is somewhat somewhat different here, and they don't recognize him. And perhaps also it's it's true that that God had had hindered them at this point from from recognizing who Jesus was. But he comes to them as they're walking along and he and he asked them a question, he says, what are you talking about? What is all this you're you're saying to each other? And, you know, they don't really respond all that well to Jesus here. When when Jesus asked the question, they stand still, they look sad and they say, are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who doesn't know what has happened? Like we might look at somebody and said, do you live under a rock? And Jesus patiently at this point says, well, What things? Why don't you tell me? We see these two and Luke tells us that they are discussing with one another, verse 15 tells us, discussing together the the Greek word that's used here actually means they are in an intense, passionate conversation. Maybe even bordering on an argument, a debate with one another. Their mood is intense. Verse 17, Luke tells us that they look sad. They're discussing, they're sad, they're at the point of despair. Verse 21, they say, we had hoped that he was the one to to redeem Israel. They're experiencing disillusionment. We thought this was the Messiah. We thought that this was this was the one, but he's gone now and his body is missing and we we don't know what has happened. And what does Jesus do through this? He he walks with them. He listens to them, he hears their their disappointments, he He hears their doubts. And by the way, this is a good lesson for us. And we're going to minister to someone. First, we need to to listen to them. We need to hear their struggles, we need to hear their sorrows before we jump in with our our wise counsel. Understand what they're you're going through. That's what Jesus does. He walks along and he listens. Like a good counselor, Jesus is here. Parents, that's especially important for you. Fathers, listen to your children before you correct them. Know what they think. Know where they are. Jesus does that. God does that with us. Praise God that. God doesn't instantly discipline us for every doubt and every wrong thought. God is patient with his people and Jesus is patient here on the road to Emmaus. He walks with them, he listens to them, but he doesn't stop there. He he goes on, secondly, to teach them. And that actually begins in in verse twenty five and. And Jesus, the wise and patient counselor, actually begins his teaching with rebuke. So our patience and our listening does not exclude rebuke. You idiots, Jesus essentially says here. Oh, foolish ones. and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Our modern word for that is clueless. You're clueless. You haven't gotten it, you haven't grasped it. But then he goes on to patiently teach them they they should have known they should have gotten it. They they had the word of God. They had Moses. They had the prophets. They were read in the synagogues. They they knew the stories. They should have understood. But Jesus goes on to bring it out clearly for them and and what a Bible lesson this must have been. What a lesson he begins with, with Moses and the prophets. And Luke tells us he interpreted all the things concerning himself. And Jesus says in verse 26, was it not necessary that Christ, that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory? You remember, in the first century, we've seen this in past sermons that that the Jews were looking for victor, not victim. Someone who was going to come in and overthrow their enemies, the Romans and overthrow the for many, the corrupt priesthood and become himself priest and king and prophet like Moses. They should have gotten it. But they didn't. Because they didn't see that the Christ had to suffer. He had to go to the cross and then to enter into his glory. And Jesus takes them through the Old Testament and he shows them what is written about him. Where did he go? We don't know for sure, but let me speculate for a few moments this morning. I bet first he went to Genesis 315. Where we see the gospel. really first proclaimed. That the seed of the woman, the heel, his heel would be would be bruised by the serpent, Satan himself, but that that's that seed of the woman would crush Satan's head. Maybe next, he went a few verses later and in Genesis chapter three, maybe he told them about where how God don't you see how God clothed Adam and Eve. He took animal skins and he clothed them. Is that because fig leaves weren't good enough for clothing? No. Two things. There needed to be a death. And God needed to clothe them. God needed to cover them. So maybe Jesus went to Genesis 3.20. Maybe Jesus went to Genesis chapter 15. where Abraham was told by God to to take animals and to and to slice them and to cut them in two and to set the pieces apart the way people would in a in a covenant making ceremony. And and then what happens? Abraham was put into a deep sleep and he has a vision and he sees God as a as a flaming pot passed between the animals. In a covenant ceremony, when you cut the animals and you set them aside and you pass through them, it's a way of saying, if I don't keep the covenant, may what has happened to these animals happen to me. And God says that if this covenant is not kept, may what has happened to these animals happen to me that looks forward to Jesus Christ, the son of God, who was cut off and put to death for his people. Maybe Genesis 22, the sacrifice of Isaac, where God provides a sacrifice. Certainly the exodus, the night of the killing of the firstborn, the blood of the Lamb is put on the doorposts of the Israelites and the angel of death passes over because of that blood, the blood of the Lamb. Maybe Jesus talked about the Old Testament sacrifices, the unblemished offerings that were to be offered to God as a sacrifice, as a substitute for the sins of God's people. Certainly, Jesus might have gone to Isaiah chapter 53, the suffering servant who was wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. All we like sheep have gone astray. But the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all by his stripes. We have been healed that suffering servant, Jesus himself. Maybe Jesus took them to the Messianic Psalms, Psalm 2, the nation's rage against the Lord and his anointed, Psalm 22, Psalm 69, maybe Psalm 118, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. What a Bible lesson this must have been as Jesus opened God's word to his people. One of the great biblical theologians of the 20th century, many of you may not even know this name, a name by the name of Meredith Klein. He was a professor at Westminster Theological Seminary and Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. We had the opportunity to to be in church with him for several years as a family. I was the privilege of being his pastor for a time. Klein was had a number of stories circulating about him, Dr. Klein, and he was actually a professor at Gordon Conwell when I was a student there. And he was a reformed biblical theologian. And and one day a student raised his hand and and said, Dr. Klein, where are you getting this This this teaching about God's election and predestination. Dr. Klein was on a platform much like this in a big lecture hall, and he actually went down and walked down the got walked down the steps and walked up the aisle to where the students were sitting and he put his hand on his shoulder and he said, son, it's on every page of the Bible. Jesus. is on every page of the Bible. Jesus is teaching us here how to read the Old Testament and that is to see him there. The key to the Old Testament is Jesus himself. And that's what Jesus shows these two disciples on the road to Damascus. More than that, we can say. As the Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 1, all the promises of God find their yes in Jesus Christ. Do you believe that? All the promises of God find their yes in Jesus Christ. If that is true, what do you do with that? If all of God's promises are yes and amen in Christ, what do you do with that? Do you trust him? Do you give your life to him, do you follow him? Do you wait patiently on him? When your child is sick. Do you trust him that his plan is perfect and right when your marriage feels like it is falling apart? Do you reflect on the promises of God and know that they are yes and amen in Jesus Christ when you're when you're out of work? And discouragement begins to set in. When you're depressed. when you're listless, when you feel like you have no more reason to live. How do you respond to this truth that all of God's promises for you are yes and amen in Jesus Christ? Third, Jesus reveals himself. He reveals himself to his disciples. After this wonderful Bible lesson, they arrive at their home and Jesus is going to continue on. And they say, stay. It's late. Darkness is coming. Come in and be with us. And Jesus, Jesus does. It's a good thing they invited him in. I wonder if. I might have thought. I've had enough. Two hours of teaching. I've had enough. Be well, go on your way, and he invited him in. He eats with them, he actually did you notice? He actually takes the bread and he blesses it and he breaks it and he gives it to them. Jesus, actually, the guest becomes the host. That's what the host would do. And Jesus does it on this occasion. And Luke tells us that he was revealed to them in the breaking of the bread. God opened their eyes. When the bread was broken, they saw who he was. And then he vanished. He disappeared. C.S. Lewis. Wrote that Jesus, quote, passed through a fold in space. I have no idea what that means. But I also have no better way of explaining it. He disappears. He's he vanishes from their sight. And now they're excited, it's it's evening, it's dark, it's dangerous out on the roads. There are robbers and bandits out on the roads, but they're so excited they go back the seven miles to Jerusalem. And they don't even have time to to tell first what has happened to them, they come to the the 11. Remember, Judas is no more. And those who were gathered with them and and those that they went to to see, say to them, the Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon. By the way, in the in the Greek here, the word indeed is first. Indeed, the Lord has risen. Truly, the Lord has risen. And he has appeared to Simon. Luke wants to point us to the word. We've seen that in the first 12 verses. We we see it again. And in our passage this morning, he points them to the word. You want to see Jesus, you want to know Jesus, go to the word, but hear the appearances of Jesus. Confirm the resurrection for them. And praise God for it. We have these eyewitnesses who have passed their testimony down to us. They witness that Jesus really had risen from the dead. As I mentioned last week, they actually go to their death proclaiming that Jesus rose from the dead. If they didn't really see him, if they knew it was a lie. Do you really think they would have gone to their death proclaiming it? The appearances confirm it. But here in these first thirty five verses of Luke, Chapter 24. Luke gives confirmation to us. And he gives us the means to be assured and to grow in that assurance, that blessed assurance, as we sang about a little bit ago. The word. And the sacraments. They repeat and Luke repeats at the end of this passage in verse thirty five that Jesus was known to them in the breaking of bread. He was revealed at the supper in their home at the breaking of bread. And by the way, I don't at all think that that was some kind of Lord's Supper there. It wasn't communion there, they were just having a meal. But the fact of the matter is this the Greek phrase that's used twice in this passage revealed in the breaking of bread is the exact same phrase that's used in Acts chapter two, verse forty two, that the early disciples devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the prayers and to the fellowship and the breaking of the bread. Certainly there, the sacrament, of the Lord's Supper. So while we don't have the Lord's Supper going on in this home in Emmaus, it's pointing to the Lord's Supper. Jesus is revealed to us in his word and in his sacrament. When you've loved to be there. Here, Jesus. Seem revealed in the breaking of bread, see his appearances. In the way that God has ordained for you, you can. In the word, in the sacraments, Jesus is revealed to us. And when we devote ourselves to these things, you know, often what happens to us is what happened to these early disciples when they say did not Our hearts burn within us while he talked to us and while he opened to us the scriptures. Didn't our hearts burn within us? That can happen today. That happens to saints today, John. John Wesley actually was a minister before he was converted. John Wesley actually went on a missions trip before he was converted. He went to America. John Wesley wrote at one point there that I went to America to convert the heathen, but who will convert me? John Wesley was in a meeting. Where he heard the preface To Martin Luther's commentary on Romans being read. And he heard the gospel as if for the first time. And Wesley says, my heart was strangely warmed. God does that. God continues to to warm our hearts. In his word, in his sacrament, God continues to to convict us of sin. God continues to to encourage us of of the truth of his word in the means of grace. And it happens ultimately, brothers and sisters, by resting in the gospel truth. That Christ has died and Christ has risen, he has risen indeed, let's pray. Our God, how we praise you for the great things that you have done. We praise you that salvation is all of you. And we can know you, our God, not through what we have done, but because of what you have done in the Lord Jesus Christ, who loved us, who died for us and who rose again. Our Father, we pray that you would impress these things on our hearts as we read your word, as we study your word, as we hear your word taught and preached, as we celebrate the sacraments together, continue to impress the truth of these events on our hearts. So that our lives might be lived to your glory and to your praise, we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.