The Two on the Road to Emmaus

Why do I call Romans is best chunky bottled because seducing Christians for centuries. I think of trying to Romans eight because it gives us the gospel in one chapter talks about the doctrine of the Trinity, father, son and Holy Spirit, how to determine one time saying to me that this was in some way calling into question inspiration of all of Scripture isn't all of Scripture breaks and the greatest and I said well, just answer this question if you gratuitous to live dry read the first few chapters of Chronicles, which is a list of names are driving. Romans eight and I think the answer is always Romans eight because it says everything that needs to be said about the gospel in one chapter. Romans eight a teaching series with Derek Thomas to learn more visit Lincoln era.org/teaching series on the road to Emmaus. Two men encountered the resurrected Christ not remember Jesus notices that the confidence of these men were sad. They were not leaping for joy as they made their way back to Emmaus.

Obviously they had not yet been persuaded of the truth and the reality of the resurrection of their sorrow would soon turn to joy Jesus saying they change their account today on Renewing Your Mind. RC scroll continues his look at those who came face-to-face with Jesus and is going to point out one of the most important things we can ever know about our Savior. There is an American tradition that I joined and was sent home with our grandchildren's the telling of knock knock jokes.

I love not knock jokes knock knock.

Who's there.

Oswald Oswald, who Oswald Magnum, you all know the knock knock sexual during the trial of the century new knock knock joke was created. I don't know who thought about that.

The knock knock joke when something like this, not knock.

Who's there OJ OJ who your on the jury idea was that everybody in America had heard of OJ Simpson and was aware of all of the publicity surrounding the murder of his ex-wife and Ronald Goldman couldn't imagine finding somebody in America who hadn't heard all of the news of that particular incident while a similar surprise takes place right outside of Jerusalem immediately after the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

We read in the 24th chapter of the gospel according to St. Luke this following account. Now, behold, two of them that is followers of Jesus were traveling the same day to a village called Emmaus which was 7 miles from Jerusalem. And they talk together of all these things which it happened and so it was while they conversed and reasoned that Jesus himself drew near and went with them, but their eyes were restrained so that they did not know him. Now you get the picture. These are two men who were leaving Jerusalem right after all the events surrounding the crucifixion of Christ and his subsequent resurrection and there, busily engaged, thinking, reasoning, talking about all of the reports that they were hearing and the latest news bulletins from C and and at the time, and while they are so engaged in this conversation. Jesus himself draws near, but he comes incognito. We don't know whether it was something about him that made him on recognizable but the text would indicate something else, namely, that God, for one reason or another had kept their eyes from seeing him as he was, and concealed his identity from them, or if you ever were a fly on the wall and the scene of history. Would you love to have been there. On this occasion and just watch the events unfold as Jesus comes up and joins in kind of eavesdropping on their animated discussion about what had just so recently taken place. And so Jesus said to them what kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad and then the one whose name was Cliff us answered and said to him, are you the only stranger in Jerusalem and have you not known, the things which happened there in these days it's as though clippers turned to Jesus and said knock knock is anybody home. What have you been haven't you heard what is taken place here that Jesus doesn't lie at this moment, he doesn't say no I don't. He simply evades their question and answers the question with a question playing dumb like a fox for a moment saying what things that's were I would love to be the fly the wall and watch these guys having this conversation with Jesus himself and Jesus is playing like Lieut. Colombo piece of blank when he more than anybody knew exactly what had taken place. But once there view of the matter. He wants to hear how they understood what had taken place in the previous hours and where their heads were about his death and resurrection, and so our Lord said to these two men, what things. One thing's so they said to him, the things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and crucified him, but we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel in deed. Besides all this, today's the third day since these things happened yes and certain women of our company who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us when they did not find his body. They came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels. Who said he was alive, and then certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they didn't see not remember Jesus notices that the confidence of these men was sad they were not leaping for joy as they made their way back to Emmaus.

Obviously they had not yet been persuaded of the truth and the reality of the resurrection. Mary had come to the tomb in the morning hours, and she saw someone appear to her there that at first in her own grief she thought was the gardener until she heard his voice speaking softly to her saying her name Mary.

When Mary Magdalene heard that there was instant recognition of that voice. She turned and she looked at him and said bone. I meaning master or teacher and so this woman was face-to-face with the risen Christ, and she and her friends ran back to Jerusalem came to the disciples and announced to them that they had found the empty tomb that they had seen angels that seen the risen Lord and Peter and John raced to the garden to but when they arrived, there was no sign of Christ, but the tomb was empty and the grave cloths were folded perfectly on the floor and we hear the record of angels that were there at the tomb, who announced saying do not look here for the living.

He is risen, but until Jesus appeared in the upper room and showed himself on a couple of occasions to his disciples, they still were not sure they didn't give a lot of credence to the testimony of the women they thought the women were just being emotional and being excitable and now two of the company of followers of Jesus are making their way to Emmaus and they're talking about these things and they're talking about their broken hearts. They're talking about their disappointment when Jesus said, what things they said are you the only one in Jerusalem that doesn't know these things talking about Jesus of Nazareth. Amen we all recognize was a prophet mighty in Dean's in acts and in the word of God. He was the one we hoped would redeem Israel but obviously they had lost that hope they're trying to explain the soul to the stranger who was falling beside them and they said we had. I hopes for him. We left everything to follow him. We trusted him.

We watched him perform miracles and we invested our souls in him, but he allowed himself to be taken into custody and to be killed or trying to figure it out were reasoning with each other and then we hear this incredible story from the women who say that they went to the tomb this morning and that the tomb was empty and they couldn't find his body. Now they're trying to wonder and figure out what happened to the body. And so Jesus spoke to them, O foolish ones O foolish ones in the slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken, not the Christ to have suffered these things and enter into his glory and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. This stranger appears to them that he listens to their tale of woe and their expression of disappointment and their bewilderment at the tales that they were hearing from the ladies and their sort of mocking the women and all of a sudden the stranger looks at them and says hello foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the Scriptures say concerning the Messiah.

These things that you've just witnessed didn't spring de novo from the head of Zeus these things that you've just encountered were predicted over and over and over again on the pages of Scripture here let me show you Jesus begins to give them an elementary Bible lesson starts in the Pentateuch, probably with Adam and then to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Joseph that he goes to the Exodus and the prophecies given by Moses of the prophet who would become the one like Moses and he gives a rehearsal of all of the predictions found in the prophets of the Old Testament.

All of those statements that God had revealed in the Old Testament the converged on the person of Christ. Sure he quoted to them from the prophet Isaiah about the suffering servant of Israel who would be bruised for their iniquities, and he opens up the word sin. Incredible thing then when Jesus takes the task of being an apologist for the truth claims about his own person and about his own work, the ghost of the sacred text and shows the years, centuries, times, millennia before the Messiah ever appeared. There are specific concrete prophecies spelled out about the nature of his mission of his life and of his death.

I don't remember the number but I once read a number given by mathematician who said that the odds against a chance combination of the confluence of all of the specific prophecies about Jesus of Nazareth that they could come to pass and focus on one person accidentally in history were like 64 Julian Dillion Google flex to one was astronomical. I don't know the number because I don't know what you call a number with that many zeros after it. And so Jesus rebukes them for their unbelief for how slow they are to wake up and come to grips with the reality of Christ forward to love the been in that Bible class and heard that exposition so then they drew near to the village for they were going and he indicated that he would have gone farther but they constrained him, saying, abide with us, for it is toward evening and the day is far spent, and he went in to stay with them. Now it came to pass, as he sat at the table with them that he took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them than their eyes were opened and they knew him and he vanished from their sight line incredible account the 7 mile journey is over. They arrive at Emmaus and Jesus indicates that he's going to continue on his journey and is about to bid them farewell, but they're so impressed by the teaching that they've just heard from Christ that they begin to plead with him, no, no, not stay with us a little longer have dinner with us stay the night with us, please. Who knows where Jesus was headed for what his next mission was that he accedes to their requests and he goes in to an in perhaps and there he sits down to dinner with these men and continues this face-to-face conversation and when the bread was served just as he had done only hours earlier in the upper room. He took the spread and he broke it, and he blasted to those who were at the table with him and he distributed to them and at that moment. Their eyes were opened and they knew him. Can you imagine the X substantial poignancy of that moment are sitting at a table breaking bread with the risen Christ. And when they sat at the table.

They had no earthly idea who he was but one God remove the scales from their eyes and they saw him and recognize him and instantly he vanished from their midst.

If you think they were puzzled before they met the stranger on the road to Emmaus. Can you imagine their consternation. Now I don't know whether they were giddy just sat there and started the line had give each other high fives and site can you rely what we just experienced. It was the point been with Jesus. He's a lot one my favorite texts of all Scripture follows up on this account. Verse 31 reads then their eyes were opened and they knew him and he vanished from their sight. Now hear this and they said to one another did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us on the road and while he opened the Scriptures to us. Clear process to his friend Trevor move back there on the road to mirror what he was talking out of Isaiah was at the reference to Moses was feeling funny I something strange happened to me when I was listening to him teach the Scriptures. I had a strange feeling a sense of warmth of heat wasn't from the sun. It wasn't on the surface it wasn't external. It was something that developed deep within my soul did not. Our hearts burn within us. As we heard him teach from the word of God. How many times in church history have we heard that testimony, John Wesley when he stood in the crowd at Aldersgate and heard the lesson from the book of Romans. The lesson that turned his life upside down.

Afterwards, John Wesley said, as I was standing there hearing the word of God. My heart was strangely warmed warmth is the opposite of coldness when the Scriptures describe our natural condition is fallen human beings they describe.

It is this that we have hearts that are like calcium, they are recalcitrant they are reified. They were like things inert stony coal, but the spirit of the living God has the power to take the word of God and peers that stony heart and turn that heart of stone into a heart of flesh, that it begins to beat and pulsate and make alive. But a cold heart can't do that.

It has to be warm it has to become sanguine for faith to come alive did not.

Our hearts burn within us as he was teaching us from the word Jesus didn't need to do it from the word he could've just said over in your eyes follow us the living word is here. Here I am. Look at the marks in my hand, look at the marks of my four head.

I am the crucified Lord. He could've simply done it directly and immediately, but instead he said no I'm going to do it through the medium of sacred Scripture and the Bible tells us that the power of the word of God is living, it is vital in the spirit of God works with the word of God to bring life out of death to bring warmth out of coldness and that she is old and the frost that it descended upon these men's hearts was mount by the teaching of sacred Scripture, what an experience to be face to face Jesus and not even know who he lives as the two men on the road to Emmaus, we discover there was far more to Jesus than they realized.

Not only is he the son of God is also the focal point of the entire Bible. As it says in Luke chapter 24, beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. That's just one of the many important lessons about Christ that we learned in the series we been featuring all week here on Renewing Your Mind. It's titled face-to-face with Jesus.

It features 12 messages on some of the dramatic encounters that Jesus had with various people in Scripture will be glad to send you the DVD of the series when you contact us today with your gift of any amount there couple of ways you can reach us to make a request that one is online@renewingyourmind.org or you can simply call us at 800-435-4343 one of the important lessons we learned today was how all of Scripture points to Jesus Christ our desire is to see Christians just like you come to a deeper understanding of the Bible and what it teaches about Christ, salvation, and how to live for God's glory. Another resource that we provide to that in is asked Ligon here, we have trained team members and time zones around the world who are waiting to answer your questions maybe you have a question about theology, the Bible or apologetics. Or perhaps you're wondering about an apparent contradiction in the Bible. If you're looking for answers, you can find this resource online@ask.ligonhere.org that's ask.Ligon here.org.

Thank you for being with us today. I hope you'll join us again tomorrow as we learn about perhaps one of the most dramatic conversion stories in Scripture tells us that just before Paul arrives in Damascus having a growing sense of the gleeful anticipation of continuing this harassment of the Christian community. Suddenly, the noonday sky is filled with the light that is brighter than the sun is blinding in its dimensions that it knocks people to earth all terror stricken now suddenly here's this voice coming from heaven speaking to him my name was Saul of Tarsus became the apostle Paul. That's tomorrow. On renewing your