Thank you for selecting this message by Dr. James Hoffman. Dr. Hoffman preaches verse by verse through the entire book of the Bible. From all of us at Living Water of Lapine here in Central Oregon, we hope that it will encourage you and feed you spiritually. And if you would like to leave a message after the sermon, our contact information is found on the sermon page where you found this sermon. Now may God richly bless you as you listen. Pastor and Christian author, Dr. Kent Hughes, among many other notable things, has written this brief statement about Jesus. There we are. Here is what Dr. Kent Hughes has to say. He delights to bring fire to cold hearts. We do not need more light. We need heat. I could not agree with Dr. Hughes more. The church today has a lot of light, but not enough heat. The natural result of actually believing the light that we have would be greater heat, or said differently, more passion about the truth that we know. I speak for myself, and I believe I also speak for the church as a whole today. We are slow to believe. I think that our passage today in Luke is designed to bring us what we need. I want it to ignite flames in my heart and in your heart. As far as light is concerned, you are probably very familiar with our passage that we come to today in our study through Luke's gospel. I'm sure you've heard numerous sermons on this passage, especially around Easter. You've read this many times before. You already have the light. Now may God give us more heat. A major theme of our passage today is that God delights to bring fire to cold hearts. We're going to see Jesus pursue two of his disciples who had turned away from Jerusalem and were going home to Emmaus. Their hearts were cold, and Jesus met them on the road and gave them a holy heartburn By the time Jesus finished his conversation with them and going through all the scriptures with them, they looked at each other and they said, were not our hearts burning inside when he spoke with us? They needed it. And so do we. He delights to bring fire to cold hearts. We need more light. We don't need more light, we need more heat. So please God, give us holy heartburn. Now one of the most amazing things about Luke 24, which we came to in our study of Luke the last time that I was with you a few weeks ago, is that it has three stories about post-resurrection appearances, three accounts of what happened after the resurrection. We have the women at the tomb, which was the passage that we were in the last time we met. We have this wonderful story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus who meet the risen Christ. That's the passage we come to today. And then next week, in the last part of chapter 24, we will have Jesus appearing to the 11. all of the apostles, minus one, in the upper room. Now, here is something that really strikes me very hard about Luke in giving us three post-resurrection appearances in this short time period right after Jesus rose from the dead. You see, Luke also wrote in his follow-up book to his gospel, in the book of Acts, He wrote that Jesus was on earth for more than a month before he returned to heaven. Luke, the same author, said that Jesus was teaching his disciples and continued appearing to the people for 40 days. Now there could be little doubt that there would have been many more dramatic experiences that people had of meeting with the risen Lord than just these three incidences in the last chapter of Luke's gospel. You know, that tells me that there must be something remarkable about the three that he preserved. If Luke knew of many more, but only preserved three, then it's probably right for us to assume he must think that these three, in all their details, in all their features, convey to us a meaning about the resurrection, perhaps in a better way than any of the other appearances that he had in those 40 days. In other words, we have the right to say not only did Luke write these three things down because they actually happened, but because they teach us something of vital importance more clearly than the other appearances. What do they teach? What do we learn? Allow me to suggest three things. Now, there's probably more, but these are three things that I notice, and these are three things I'm gonna emphasize here in this message. Number one is a slowness in Christ's followers to believe. That's the title of our series that began a couple of weeks ago as we had the first part when we worked our way into Luke chapter 24. The title of this series is Slow to Believe. You know, by all means, Do not be satisfied to remain in a state of weak belief, but then don't unnecessarily beat yourself up because of the deficiency that you see in your faith. The close followers of Jesus who spent three years at his side were slow to believe. Number two, God delights to bring fire to cold hearts. Hallelujah for that. Number three, our greatest need is not for more light, but for the light that we already have to produce the heat that it ought to be producing. Now, of course, all scripture is important, but in light of our recognizing how special this passage is, And as an expression of our heart position, of standing at attention to it, I'm going to ask you to do something that I have not done here in a long time. Those of you who are able, those of you who can, would you please stand with me right now as I read the majority of our Bible text for today, and would you do it symbolically as a gesture that you are positioning your heart as though it is standing at attention, ready to receive the Spirit's instruction. Please, God, give us holy heartburn. And so here is our passage, Luke 24, starting with verse 13. It says, 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 the 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 were holding with each other as you walk? And they stood still looking sad. Then one of them named Cleopas answered him, Aren't 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 have happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find the 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 a woman 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. Thank you, you may be seated. So late in the afternoon, and as it progressed into evening, darkness lifted from Golgotha, the sun was Full upon him, Jesus cried out in triumph and breathed his last from the cross. But those gathered around did not recognize that that was victory. As Christ hung motionless, the warm sun came back out. It spread over his spilled blood. Those who had hoped in Jesus drooped their heads and slowly trudged away from the scene. The icy fingers of death had tightened their grip around their hearts with the chilling, numbing grief. Despairing hands would prepare his cold body for burial and lay it in a tomb. So deep was their despair that no one, no one possessed even the slightest thought of a resurrection. When at dawn on the third day, the women found the tomb empty, still no one suspected resurrection. It appeared that they did not believe even after the angels announced that he had risen. And when Peter inspected the empty tomb, instead of believing, he went away wondering, not believing. For sure, all those who had followed Christ were still in unimaginable despair that afternoon. Though they had heard all these bits and pieces about an empty tomb. Now today, as we pick up the story, two of them are on the road to a village named Emmaus, located a short distance from Jerusalem. They were devastated. They had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel, we saw in verse 21. But a Messiah who managed to get himself imprisoned and handed over to Romans, who then crucified him, was just a disappointing delusion. They had supported Jesus, and because of that, their life had not been easy. Now they ached with grief and confusion. The scriptures promised a Messiah and they thought Jesus was the one, but Jesus didn't seem to deliver. They needed a word from God. Did God care? Indeed he did. And our resurrected Lord understood perfectly the confusion in their hearts. Cleopas and the other follower of Christ walked along the road to Emmaus. Others were perhaps rushing past them, but they didn't even notice. They were so involved in their own grief. However, the resurrected Christ knew the condition of their souls. Our omniscient Savior understood. They were in despair for several reasons that our passage is going to make clear. But let me give you the first. Number one, they were looking for life without a resurrection. They were just looking at life. They were looking at their lives and Jesus's life. Life was all they could see. And as far as they could tell, Death is the end. Death was the end of Jesus. Death would be the end of them. They were looking at life without a resurrection. Anybody who looks and thinks and discusses life without a resurrection, anybody who looks at this life and says, life is all there is, There is no eternity. There are no rewards. Justice will never happen. Evil will always prevail. Anyone who locks into that line of thinking will go into despair too. You'll stop in your tracks. You'll be downcast. As believers, you and I will despair whenever we lock our minds on life without resurrection. Life's disappointments, ministry frustrations, inevitable letdowns, defeats, especially our own failures and regrets, will take us directly to despair whenever our life forgets or ignores the resurrection. Life for us can seem like it did to Jesus' disciples that Friday when Jesus hung so lifeless on the cross, but we have to remember Sunday is coming. There is a resurrection. The late Dr. Lockwood preached a now famous sermon, it's Friday, but Sundays are coming. As these two followers of Christ walked home in their condition of deep, deep, deep anguish. You know, I don't picture it as gloom. You see, Luke chose a word in the Greek language here, the original language in the New Testament, to describe their conversation with each other. And he used the word syzēteō. And that carries the idea of an edgy bantering back and forth with animation. They probably made emphatic gestures with flailing arms and maybe some stomping feet. and all of their confusion, when Jesus walked up to them after a while, he gently asked them what they were discussing. And Luke uses another interesting Greek word here as he describes what Jesus asked them. He used the word antibalo for the word discussing. What are these matters you are discussing, antibalo? And anteballo means throwing back and forth at each other. These confused followers were in a heated and lively debate, trying to figure out why their expectations for Messiah had ended so abruptly. When Jesus interrupted their intense debate, Bartek says they stood still, looking sad. I picture this like this, that some yahoo, some fellow traveler has broken in, intruding on our conversation here. It says they stood still, like it said. Took a moment, but Cleopas, still with a contentious spirit, gave him what I see as a snarky reply. Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem these past few days who doesn't know these things? You know, the tone of that comment kind of makes sense in the wording that Luke is using here, that they were having some kind of contentious discussion as they were walking in their despair. And then Jesus, get this, Jesus looks at me and says, what things? Does anybody else find that funny? This part of the story is what's called literary irony. That's when those who are reading it or hearing it have a knowledge that the characters who were part of the story do not have. Irony jumps off these pages when Jesus asked them what they were discussing, and then he has them clarify what things. When Luke's gospel was read in the first century in those churches around when it was first spreading, I'd be willing to bet anybody that many of the listeners who heard it burst out with hearty laughter at that point. They appreciated the humor and the irony by knowing that it was Jesus who stood before them and was asking these questions to these disciples who were so clueless. You know, Cleopas might have been a bit snarky, but Jesus wasn't. With marvelous psychological tact, Jesus was giving Cleopas a full opportunity to unburden himself. Do you see that here? Cleopas had let it all out. His confusion, his depression, his disillusionment, his shrinking faith, his anger. And look at Jesus' response. Did he reject him for that? He certainly did not. Jesus coaxed the two followers to reveal their true thoughts. You know, sometimes we hold back. We're not honest with God, with what's going on inside, because maybe we fear he's going to reject us. No, Jesus was encouraging it. He wanted them to unburden themselves. Jesus coaxed these two followers to reveal their true thoughts, which were by and large their doubts. And only when they did so, that is when Jesus cleared their confusion, spent time with them, You see, our Lord honors spiritual honesty. You know, in the book of Habakkuk, we see something very, very similar to this. The prophet Habakkuk used powerful emotive language to honestly express his complaints and his questions before God. And we see that in the opening of the book of Habakkuk in our Older Testaments there. And then as the book proceeds, we see that God answered his depressed prophet so wonderfully that Habakkuk finally breaks out with this prophetic ecstasy. Let me show it to you here. Habakkuk 3, 17 through 19. Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit beyond the vines. The produce of the olive fail, and the fields yield no food. The flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God the Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the deer's. He makes me tread on my high places. That came after God answered him. And God answered him after he was honest. with God. Our Lord invites honesty from his people. The book of Psalms is very clear on that point. God wants us to tell him the truth. He knows anyway. Now, verse 16 tells us that the whole time Jesus talked with them along the way to Emmaus, their eyes were kept, let's put the passive there, their eyes were kept from recognizing Jesus. Now, does that mean it was God's direct intervention that kept them from recognizing Jesus? Maybe. Jesus needed to instruct them from the Scriptures. If they had recognized Christ, they could have been so overwhelmed, full of questions and curiosity, that Jesus might not have been able to show them very much Scripture at all. Luke does not really tell us why they could not recognize Jesus. It might have been God directly, or could have been other factors. Perhaps God allowed them to be blind for the reason that I just cited, but other factors may have been the more direct cause of it. I will tell you that I believe there are several factors that cause you and I to be blind to spiritual truth. And these same factors appear to be in play As we read here with these followers. Jesus may be in your life right now and you don't recognize him. You might be walking right alongside of you. In other words, you might be saying, where is God in my situation right now? Look at the mess. Just like these despondent disciples. Here Jesus is right alongside of them. Just as he is with you. But in blindness to him, you're saying my life makes no sense. All the promises of God have just come to be void. You're walking around downcast and Jesus is right there. You're in the very same condition. What causes us to be so blind? And looking at these probable reasons why these despondent disciples were blind, check to see if this is ever the case with you. The first reason is what we've already been talking about, despair. They were so depressed and so negative in their confusion that it was beyond their capacity to make any obvious connection with these tidbits of the empty tomb. If you have ever experienced extreme depression, or if you have ever tried to help someone who is depressed, You know that such people are amazingly resourceful in finding reasons not to take comfort in anything you say. They're determined to hear everything as bad news. You know, this is exactly what I see these two disciples doing. about the empty tomb. To them, the empty tomb just was compounding the tragedy in their eyes. They thought someone had stolen the body, adding insult to injury. So good news. An empty tomb was bad news. Ironically, Cleopas even mentioned that it had been three days since Jesus's death, not recalling that Jesus had said over and over and over before his death that he would be put to death and rise again in three days. Second reason for spiritual blindness. is a misunderstanding of what our real need is. The despondent disciples needed to be redeemed, but notice how far away they were from understanding the redemption that the Messiah was to bring. Remember verse 21, we read Cleopas said, we thought he was going to redeem Israel, but instead, He was crucified. Now here's what the whole problem was, this word redeem. The word redeem. Now when you and I think of it, right away we think spiritually, not politically. But the word redeem, as Cleopas thought of it, it meant to be released from Roman slavery. And this is what they thought was their greatest need. Cleopas thought the only problem they had, the only slavery he needed to be released from, was political slavery. He believed and wanted that Jesus Christ would be just like the original David who redeemed by defeating Israel's political enemies and making Israel into the world's predominant kingdom. The son of David, Messiah, needs to do the same. They said, what we really need is salvation from the Romans. If we could just have economic freedom, if we could just have political freedom, then every need we have would be met. Everything would be all right. In other words, Cleopas thought the only problems he had in his life were, what? Circumstances. Temporal circumstances. He thought that as long as We could change his political circumstances, as long as we could change our economic circumstances, then everything would be fine. But Jesus came to release us from a deeper bondage than that. Cleopas thought the only redemption he needed was freedom from Roman slavery, but the Bible teaches us that Jesus came because we are all spiritual slaves from deep within our hearts. That's much bigger. Because Cleopas didn't see, he didn't see that spiritual bondage, He didn't think he needed anything other, any other kind of redemption other than all he needs is some human general to lead an army. Somebody to come clean things up, get rid of the bad guys. Do you think like that? Do you ever come to God? thinking you know what your greatest need is and you probably don't even have the slightest inclination that it might be what you're thinking your need is far less than what your true need is. Do you approach God's throne as if your circumstances are the real problem? I want Jesus Christ to help me with this temporary matter that's a thorn in my side. It's causing me so much pain right now. Our blindness is often the result of misunderstanding what our real need is. We think that it's only a matter of our being rescued from some temporal circumstance. Lord, get me out from under my financial burden. Relieve me from this health issue. Make my friend, make my family member sorry for how they treated me. But maybe God has a different plan. And it is a whole lot bigger. Just like the problem that the despondent disciples thought they had, God had something much bigger. Let him show you. Let him show you what that is. I believe the three events that Luke gives us here in chapter 24 is to encourage us by seeing that he pursues us. He wants to show us. He wants us to see it. He delights to bring fire to cold hearts. What did he do for them? He opened the scriptures. Luke is trying to show us how we have our eyes opened to the risen Christ. Luke is trying to show us how our cold hearts can be warned. You can have your blindness cured. You can have your coldness melted if you're willing to go to the scriptures. That's the first thing. The Lord, in speaking to the two who were on the road to Emmaus about the resurrection, interestingly, didn't come to them in their despair and saying, you're having a hard time believing that I'm actually resurrected. Take a look at these scars. That would have improved, wouldn't it? We're gonna see next week, he did that with One of his disciples. But he didn't do it here on the road. He did something else. He referred them to scripture. Rather than nail prints. Romans 10, 17. So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Yeah. Now there's something very important to see in our passage right here. It's not enough just to go and read the Bible. What we see in this passage is not that they simply, that Jesus simply explained scripture. What does it say? In beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the scripture. But it doesn't stop there. Where does the sentence go? concerning himself. There are two ways to read the Bible. There's a moralistic way, and there is a gospel-centered, Christ-centered way. These people knew their Bible very well. They probably had enough light, but they had never read it with the hermeneutic which is the interpretive key Jesus Christ gave them that day. What he showed them, and us, is that you can read your Bible as if it's all about you, or you can read it as if it's all about Christ. For example, we might read the story about a little shepherd boy named David. We read how he trusted God against all odds and went up against the giant named Goliath. He walked right up and he slung the stone and Goliath fell down. And reading it as if it's all about us, our primary interest will be to find a moral lesson here to apply to our life to make it better. And what's the moral? Well, the bigger they come, the harder they fall. Or maybe we take from it that we've gotta try a lot harder to be like David. We've gotta just stand up and muster up that courage and fight our giants that are in our life. Okay. At first, reading the Bible like that can be inspirational, but only for a little while. Eventually, the feelings of inspiration wear off, And then if you start to think about it, and you really start to think, well, okay, how do I get this courage? Where does this courage come from? Then it crushes you into powder. I can't really live like that. Boy, this Bible stuff really doesn't work all that well at all. If the Bible is about you, it'll inspire you for a little while, and after a while, it'll press you. Jesus says the Bible is about him. Every part is about him. The law is about Jesus. It shows us we can't measure up. We can't do it fully, but Jesus fulfilled the law. The temple is about Jesus. The temple is a place where you meet God. Jesus is the temple. It's where we meet God. Every hero is about Jesus. Every hero only provided a temporary solution. Things got worse again after they died off. But Jesus is the hero behind all heroes. He will provide permanent solutions. He's the prophet behind all prophets. He is the priest behind all priests. He is the king behind all kings. You need a Savior who will spiritually redeem you forever. Everyone does. It's only when you're reading the scriptures like that, it's only when you're seeing that you can't possibly hold yourself up It's only when you see what he has done for you. Jesus says, let me open the scripture. Let me show you it's all about me. Now when that happens, your heart, my heart will ignite and see him. This is how we have a cold, thawing encounter with Christ in the scripture. He delights to bring fire to cold hearts. We do not need more light, we need heat. Please God, give us holy heartburn as we look at you in scripture. Fulfilled prophecy is such a wonderful thing. Did you know that there are over 333 precise details prophesying about Jesus in the Older Testament? Centuries before Jesus was born, his birth, his career, his teaching, his suffering, his resurrection, his glory, his ascension, his second coming, that was all prophesied. And Jesus is willing to open the scripture to us. What grief, what despair we can be spared from by allowing him to do so. Verse 28. So they drew near the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going further. Isn't that a curious verse? Why would that be included in this event as it's recorded? I think there is something here for us to see. Let me begin by answering that question. Why in the world is that there? Let me begin by saying this. Do you know that most of us have about all of God that we want? Most of us have about all of God that we want. We don't want anymore. We don't have anymore because we don't want anymore. There are many times in the Bible where our Lord looks like he is going away from us. Like what we see here. Gave the appearance that he was going to be moving on. When Jacob was wrestling with the angel, the angel said, let me go. Genesis 32 verse 26. You got to know that Jacob could not have held on to that angel if the angel really wanted to get away. That fight was fixed. The angel said, let me go. Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. Genesis 32, 26. And that's exactly what the angel wanted to hear. So many times our Lord acts like he doesn't care. A Syrophoenician woman had a demon-possessed daughter, and she said, Master, do something for my daughter. We read this account in Matthew 15 and Mark 7. And Jesus said, get this, look at his response to her. I just came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I can't take children's bread and give it to dogs. Can you imagine him speaking that way to anybody? But he did to this non-Jewish woman. And the woman said, yes, Lord, but even the dogs get crumbs. And he said, woman, great is your faith. You know what Jesus was doing there? He was eliciting. He was authoring. He is the author of our faith. And he was eliciting, and he was building, and he was strengthening our faith in an appearance of rejection. There's so many times it seems like the Lord is trying to get away. But he's trying to build our faith. And he wants us, Lord, he wants us to cling harder to him. What he really wants for us to do is press on. So often, though, we have about as much of God as we really want, and we don't. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." Matthew 5, 6. Now, I'm going to take it on home here, the rest of our passage here today. I saw those smiles when I said, taking it on home. But they urged him strongly, saying, stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spanned. So he went in to stay with them. When he was at table with them, he took bread and blessed it 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 when he talked to us on the road, when he opened to us the scripture And they arose that same hour and they returned to Jerusalem and they found the 11 and those who were with them gathered together saying, the Lord has risen indeed and has appeared to Simon. And they told what had happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of bread. The experience with Christ caused the two from Emmaus to tell others. It gave them holy heartburn, which prompted them to profess Christ. You know the best evidence that we have understood the Bible and that we have encountered the living Christ is that we have something exciting to share with others. The two disciples, immediately left Emmaus and returned to Jerusalem to tell the believers they had met Jesus. He has risen. They had already walked seven miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus. You know, that takes about two hours to walk. And the Bible scholars looking at this passage say they turned right around and they went another two hours. It's probably about nine o'clock at night now by the time they get back there. But that holy heartburn was, must've been some burning, you know, driving them back. I assure you that ironic road to Emmaus experiences still happen today. Some of our Lord's best visits are those that we do not expect. And they often come at the lowest times in our life. When a marriage spouse has walked away. When a loved one has died. When we're unfairly fired from work. When the lessons of life seem so unintelligible. When a sudden twist sends life in a different direction. When a goodbye takes a friend far away. Those are the times God himself seems far away. when in fact he's closer than ever. And we are closer to learning something important about him. You see, Christ knows the geography of our lives, inside and out. He knows the temperature of our souls. He knows whether there's ice or fire. Whatever our state, his method is the same, to meet us on the road to Emmaus with his own person framed in the beautiful context of scripture. He delights to bring fire to cold hearts. We don't need more light. We need more heat. Please, God, give us holy heartburn. Hi, this is Dr. Hoffman. It is our hope at Living Water that this message has encouraged and deepened your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Our sermons are intended to be a free gift to any listener, but at the same time, I thought that I would let our need be known. Living Water, La Pine, is a church that is located in a rural area of central Oregon, ministering to a poverty-stricken community. If God has blessed you through this message, and you have already given to your own local church, if you sense that God would have you help our ministry with a financial gift, You can find out how to do that at our website. It is www.livingwateroflupine.com. Thank you for listening.