LUKE 24:13-35 JESUS IS RISEN INDEED2014 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 24:13-35 Jesus Is Risen Indeed

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2014.

Perhaps you've heard the statistics. I'm sure you have. They've been around for a long time. Women speak many more words than men speak, right? The numbers are about 20,000 for the ladies to speak each day and about 7,000, which they say that the men speak every day. And so by those studies that they've done, they decide or they determine that women speak about three times more than men do, right?

But back in 2007, there was another group that decided, you know, those numbers don't quite seem right. And so they did another study and did lots of recordings and such. And they came up with a different conclusion. And that is that on average, men and women speak the same amount of words. They just do it in different times in different ways. And so they came up with a number of 16,000 words a day on average...

Whether you're a man or a woman, those are the number of words that you speak. And so you can follow whichever study or believe whichever study you'd like. But it's a good thing to consider is how many words do you speak or will you speak today? Just doing some quick math, let's assume that the 16,000 words a day is accurate. There's about maybe 60 of us in this room right now. And so that means collectively amongst us,

We will speak 960,000 words today, almost a million words between us. And then tomorrow we'll speak another million words. And then the next day, another million words. And you can understand these will add up quite quickly. But as we think about the number of words that we speak, the reason why I bring it up

is to ask us to consider this morning how many of those words that we speak, how many of the words that you will speak today will be to Jesus?

And not just about Jesus and not just about church or whatever, but how many of those words will you speak to Jesus? What we see happening in Luke chapter 24 this morning, I titled the message, Jesus is risen indeed. Because last week we saw that the tomb was empty, now we will see Jesus reveal himself

to a couple of his disciples. And the reality that he is risen means that he is alive and that we can talk to him. That we have someone to communicate with. We have a Lord who is risen, who is alive, and who is able to hear and receive the things that we have to share. And as we see these two disciples encounter Jesus, we learn very clearly that

That he desires to have this kind of close fellowship with us.

Not only that, but I would suggest to you this morning that as we talk about these communications with Jesus, that you yourself can know for sure that Jesus is risen. Just like these two disciples discovered that Jesus is risen with their encounter with him, that you can have an encounter with Jesus. And you can know for yourself for sure that Jesus is risen indeed. And

And so there's four points I'd like to walk you through this morning as we look at this passage. The first one is the biggest. It's in verses 13 through 24. And that is to converse with Jesus.

converse with Jesus. We see this begin in verse 13. It tells us that two of them were traveling the same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from Jerusalem, and they talked together of all these things which had happened.

So these two disciples, this is on Sunday, the day that Jesus had risen from the dead, but they didn't know that yet. They'd heard the reports from the ladies about the empty tomb, and now as they're walking away from Jerusalem, it tells us that they are talking together.

It's quite a normal thing to do, right? These two people as they're walking along the road are talking. Not surprising, not unique. That's what we do. It's what we have done as humanity since our very existence, our creation back in the garden. We have talked to one another and communicated with one another.

The methods have changed in some ways, you know, throughout the years. We very rarely, you know, use smoke signals to converse with our neighbor any longer. But we still use our voice just like Adam and Eve did. Later on, you know, they learned to write letters. And so there was that kind of communication that would go back and forth. And we would have conversation in writing. There was then, you know, the development of the telegraph, which was like, you know, a

Just shattering people's understanding of the world as far as how fast information could go from one point to another point. And then across the Atlantic, across the Pacific, you know, for the messages to be able to be sent. It was groundbreaking. It was amazing as now there's able to be conversation between continents. Conversation across the world.

And then, of course, that developed into our phone system. And so now we're able to pick up the phone and talk to people. And that developed into the cell phone system. And then we had, of course, email and text message. Then came social media, then Skype and FaceTime and these, you know, visual video platforms.

and such, and on and on and on we could go. There's so many ways that you and I have to communicate with each other today. And so there's lots of conversation going on.

Lots of conversation happening all around us in our lives. And we're participating in it and speaking, but then also in hearing. And it's just a normal part of life. And so as these two guys are walking, they're conversing in the way that is normal for them. They're talking as they walk along the road. And they had a lot to talk about. Verse 14 tells us that they were talking about all the things which had happened.

Now again, remembering the day that this is happening, this is Sunday when Jesus resurrected. Over the past week, a lot has transpired. The previous Sunday, it's what we know as the triumphal entry. That's the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. And people had palm branches and they were shouting out, Hallelujah and save now. And they were praising Jesus as the Messiah as he entered into Jerusalem.

And then as Jesus spent the week in Jerusalem, we often refer to that as Passion Week. And there was a lot of events that were going on as Jesus was encountering the religious leaders and dealing with them. And he was ministering in Jerusalem and in the temple through that week.

During this time also was the feast of Passover. And so that was taking place at the same time. And then of course we know that Jesus was crucified this week as well. And then now this is the third day and they've heard now there's the reports of the tomb being empty by these ladies and a couple of disciples who went and visited it.

And so just considering the previous week for these guys, they had a lot to talk about. And they were talking about all the things that had been going on, all the things that they had heard, the things that they had witnessed. They had a lot of things to discuss.

Just as I would say that probably in your life, you could think back to the past week and think, you know, there's a lot that has happened. There's a lot that you could talk about as well. I don't know what's happening in your life, but as I look back this past week in my life, I understand that there's been a lot to talk about.

Now, I'm not trying to compare it to these guys, and I'm not trying to say it's, you know, the biggest week ever, but there's been a lot of conversation this week for myself. Well, one of the things that happened is we noticed early on in the week that our air conditioner was not working right at home, and there was water kind of going everywhere where it wasn't supposed to go. Things weren't working right. It was not functioning well.

And so we began to have a conversation, my wife and I, about, well, what do you think that water is? Well, I don't know. What do you think it is? I don't know either. What do you want to do about it? I don't know. And there was this conversation that transpired. And then I picked up the phone. I called Dave Burns because I know he used to work on those things. And so I said, hey, let's have a conversation. And I began to talk to him. And he was asking questions. And we're going back and forth. And

Then later on he came over and we had some more discussion. And then I was able to talk to a professional and he was going to come out. And we had a conversation and we decided, never mind, don't come out because it's going to be too expensive. And then we had another professional conversation on the phone. He came and visited, gave a quote. There was conversation with him, then conversation with me and Kim, then back again conversation with Dave. And then

On and on and on and went. So this is all happening this week. And then Thursday, that was the big day where we found out, yep, we got to completely replace it. And so those were more conversations because now it's going to cost quite a bit of money to completely redo the system.

So now what do we want to do? And then, so I was talking with my father-in-law, who's also a contractor, and had some discussions with him. We decided, you know, we can't deal with it right now. Let's move the women's Bible study from our house to the church tonight so that, you know, the ladies can be nice and cool. And so we did that. And so we got here Thursday afternoon and got set up for the women's Bible study. And then I turned on the air conditioning unit here in the sanctuary and noticed that

wait, the sanctuary air conditioning is not working either. So then I had to have some more conversations and I started to make some phone calls and I called up Dave Byrne and he said, don't come to my house because I don't want my air conditioner to break.

So we were able to get it fixed, and so it is functioning, even though it might not feel like it at the moment. But it's just one of the things that we've been talking about. It's not the worst thing I've ever experienced in my life, but it's what we've been talking about all week long. Just before service, Jake approached me, and he said, you know...

It's a big week coming up, Tuesday. Apple's making some announcements. What do you think? And he wanted to have the discussion about, well, it's going to be one phone or two phones. What are the sizes going to be? What's the wearable device entry going to be like? And some of you are like, who cares? And I understand. But it's just conversation. It's things that we talk about. And I'm sure as you look back in your past week, there's been a lot to talk about. And there will be a lot to talk about this week as well. But here's what I want to say from all of that.

Whatever is going on in your life, whatever it is that you're talking about, Jesus desires to be included in that conversation. Whatever you're talking about all week long, Jesus wants to be a part of it. He desires...

For you to talk to him about those same things that you talk to everybody else about as well. And we can see that as we go forward now in verse 15. It says, 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. Verse 17. And he said to them, What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk together?

and are sad. Here Jesus desires to be part of this conversation so much so that as these guys are walking along the road

He catches up with them. He appears to them. He draws near to be part of this conversation with them. Now, we get the understanding here that this was a pretty intense conversation. It tells us in verse 15 that they conversed and reasoned. And the idea of reason, it means to seek or to examine together.

It gives this picture of, you know, this back and forth of thoughts and theories and hopes and desires. And there's this exchange that's going on as they're reviewing the events of the week. And each one's sharing, you know, what they saw and what they heard and what so-and-so said and the different aspects. And then, you know, the things that happened that morning with the empty tomb. And so they're trying to figure out.

What's really going on? What's really happening? And they're working it out as they talk it through with each other. It's a pretty intense conversation as they're upset. They're sad. Jesus observed that they were sad and they were really affected by this. And so it was a serious conversation, intense. And as they were working through these things in this intense conversation, Jesus drew near to them.

And that's a good reminder for us. Listen, there are those times where we have those intense conversations in our lives. Where husband and wife, you know, there's some serious issues to work through, serious things to figure out. In the workplace, you know, sometimes there's those intense conversations that need to be had. And in the midst of those conversations, Jesus draws near.

Now they didn't recognize that Jesus was there. They didn't recognize him as he drew near to them because in verse 16 it tells us that their eyes were restrained so that they did not know him. And so God prevented them. He restrained their eyes so that they couldn't recognize that this was Jesus. Do you ever wonder why God restrained their eyes? I used to wonder but I don't wonder anymore because...

Well, the next verse explains why God restrained their eyes. Look at verse 17 again. It says, You see, if Jesus had revealed himself, the conversation would be over.

It would have ended it because here's Jesus. And so instead of revealing himself, he restrains their eyes so that he can be part of this discussion that is going on. We need to always remember that God desires fellowship with us. This is the whole point of our existence from the very beginning. That's the whole point of creation altogether.

was God created man, man and woman, so that we could have fellowship with him. Remember, back in the Garden of Eden, God would walk with Adam in the garden. It was that fellowship time in the evening that they would hang out together. And that's why God created us, so that we could have those kinds of connections with him. And so again, this morning, I want to encourage you to converse with Jesus. It's why you exist.

Because he wants fellowship with us. He wants to be part of our lives and he wants us to include him in the discussions that we're having. Listen, even if they're light conversations, even if you're speculating about, you know, the future of technology, or if they're intense conversations and you're dealing with serious problems, Jesus desires to be part of

of that conversation. If there's anything worth talking about to the people around you, it's worth talking to Jesus about as well. And so whatever you talk about with your friends, with your family, at church, or at work, or wherever you are, whatever you talk about, talk to Jesus about it as well. Converse with Jesus. He desires to be part of that conversation. What Jesus says, so what are you guys talking about?

And in verse 18, they respond. It says, Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to him, Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem? And have you not known the things which happened here in these days? Cleopas responds. He says, Where are you from? Did you just barely get here to the feast or something? I mean, how could you not know what we're talking about? All of Jerusalem is talking about one thing. Jesus of Nazareth.

All of Jerusalem is talking about his crucifixion. All of Jerusalem is talking about this. How could you not know what we're talking about? Of course, we're talking about Jesus. And so, are you the only stranger? Do you not know these things? And then in verse 19, Jesus says...

What things? 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. Are you the only stranger? Have you not been around? How do you not know these things? And Jesus says, what things? Now, did Jesus know what things they had been talking about? Well, of course he did.

Because he's the one that all those things happen to. He's also God, so he knows their conversation. But on both ends, he knows exactly what they're talking about. And yet he says, what things? Why does he ask them what things that they're talking about? Why does he ask them what they're conversing about? And then as they say, well, don't you know? I mean, everybody knows what we're talking about. No, well, what are you talking about? He says, what things? Because he wants to be part of

David Guzik puts it this way. He says, Jesus skillfully played along with the conversation, encouraging the men to reveal their hearts. He says, Jesus longs for us to tell him our hearts, even though he already knows. There is great value for us in saying it to him. Even though God knows our hearts, even though God knows what's going on, there's great value for us to say it to him, to speak to him.

Jesus here is saying to these guys, you guys are talking to each other about it. Talk to me about it too. I want to hear what's going on. I want to hear what your thoughts are. I want to hear you share about this. And again, in the same way, it's an encouragement for us to talk to Jesus. Talk to Jesus about whatever is going on in your life. And some will think, well, but he already knows. I don't need to tell him. Yes, he does know. But he wants to talk. He wants to hear your voice.

He wants you to share from your heart. And as they talk, as these guys talk, it reveals their hearts. Look at verse 21. It says, but we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel.

Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. Verse 22. 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 seen a vision of angels who said he was alive. And certain 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."

Here these guys reveal their hearts. They say we were hoping that he was the Messiah, that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. But then he died. And so now we've lost hope. We don't think he's the Messiah anymore because he was put to death. Today's the third day. He's already been dead for three days. And so we've lost hope. They figure Jesus isn't the Messiah because, well, he died. Today's the third day.

Now what happened on the third day after Jesus died? Well, that's the day that he resurrected. And so those women went. They astonished us. There's all these reports. But, you know, we're not that convinced. Doesn't really seem like this is for real. And that's why they're sad. Because they're not believing these reports. But they're having this conversation. And Jesus, you can see, has come alongside. He's given them the opportunity to include him in

in the conversation. And that's what God desires. That's what the Lord still desires today. Earlier this morning, I was talking with Pastor George and he lit up and had a great smile on his face. He got all happy as he was telling me about, well, he had an opportunity to hang out with his grandson. He got to pick him up from school.

He went over to a little cafe there at the Harvest Campus and he was there hanging out with him and he was telling me the story about just how amazing it was and cute it was to be able to sit down with little Ben and have a conversation with him and just hear him talk. And then he was mimicking like he's taking the cap off the water and he's taking a drink and he's putting it down and then looking around and talking and taking some more, you know. And he's like, you know, like just, George is just having a great time

hanging out with his little grandson and even still he lights up as he talks about it you can ask him after service so he'll do the motions for you listen this that's the way that god feels about us too he feels the same way like he just lights up he just gets he he wants to spend time with us and as we spend time with him i think he goes back he tells the angels hey yeah i was hanging out with pastor george and you know he was like playing with his water bottle and you know

He just loves to be with us. Seriously. I'm making jokes, but seriously. It's that same kind of relationship where he just has that desire to hear from us, to hear our voice, for us to talk with him. Even if it's nonsense. Even if he knows better. You know, what we have to say, like, he's like, well, that's way off. He has no understanding. But

But to hear our hearts, to hear where we're coming from, for us to express ourselves to Him. What's happening in your life? Are you upset about politics? Are you happy about your work? Are you wrestling with family issues or excited about vacation? What's going on? What are you talking about? God wants to talk about it with you. He wants to have you talk to Him and share those things with Him. You know, Jesus said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. And so sometimes, sometimes,

Your eyes are restrained. My eyes are restrained. And we can't sense the presence of the Lord. But He's still here. He's still with you. He still wants to hear your voice.

converse with Jesus. Invite Jesus into the conversation. Tell him what's going on in your life. Tell him what's going on in your mind. Tell him what's going on in your heart. And you're like, well, Jerry, you don't understand what's happening in my heart. I mean, if I said these things out loud to Jesus, he'd probably strike me down with lightning. No, listen, Jesus can handle it. These guys were way off base. They had lost hope. They didn't understand the scriptures. They didn't believe the testimony of the ladies or the disciples. And

Jesus isn't like upset with them and offended. He's going to go and minister to them right now. In the same way, listen, whatever the condition of your heart is, talk to Jesus about it. Whatever's going on within, talk to Jesus about it. He longs for that conversation.

But remember that conversation goes two ways. And so here we see the need to share and for us to speak to Jesus. But then also there's the need to receive from him. And that brings us to our second point this morning in verses 25 through 27. And that is to believe the scriptures about Jesus.

Look with me at verse 25. It says, Verse 27.

Here Jesus now has his opportunity to respond to the things that these two are sharing with him. And Jesus responds and he says, Oh foolish ones.

Now sometimes we don't talk to Jesus because we're afraid he's going to come back and say, oh foolish one. But he doesn't say it in anger or anything like that. It's in love. He says, you know, what you really need is to believe what the prophets have spoken. He says, here's the real problem. Here's the real issue. You're slow to believe the scriptures.

Now notice he didn't say you're slow to believe what those ladies said at the tomb or what Peter and John said when they visited the tomb. He wasn't talking to them about not believing the people. He was talking to them about believing the scriptures. Their expectations were not according to the scriptures. What they expected of a Messiah was that the Messiah would come, throw off the Roman Empire and establish a kingdom right there and then.

That was their expectation of the Messiah. And there was scriptures to back that up. The Bible talks about Jesus establishing a kingdom and ruling and reigning here upon the earth. But there's other scriptures about the Messiah as well that talk about his suffering.

And that's what Jesus is saying. He says, you're holding on to one set of scriptures that you really like and that sound awesome, but you're slow to believe the other portions that talk about the suffering of the Messiah. The prophets foretold that the Messiah would suffer, but they missed it. They held on to some promises, but not others. And so what Jesus did in verse 27, he starts with Moses saying,

He goes through the scriptures and expounded to them, it says, the things concerning himself. He showed them from the scriptures that God had told them ahead of time that the Messiah would suffer. That what happened to Jesus on the cross was the fulfillment of what God had declared and that the rest of the prophecies will be fulfilled later on.

And so here Jesus gives some insight, some correction to their understanding that they would have a better picture of what the Bible says about Jesus. And in the same way, you and I, we need to believe the scriptures about Jesus. Conversation goes two ways. We are to talk to him and converse with Jesus and share with him what's on our hearts and what we're going through. But then we also need to give him opportunity to speak to us.

Jesus, of course, is not physically here, but he is risen. He is alive. And he still speaks to his people. He still speaks to us. Hebrews tells us that God, in various times, in various ways, spoke to us through prophets and other ways. But now he's chosen to speak to us through his son. And so Jesus still speaks.

And sometimes we refer to him speaking to us in that internally a still small voice. And certainly he does. He speaks directly to our hearts. But I would suggest to you this morning that the primary way that he speaks to us is through his word. And as we spend time in the word of God,

That we are giving him opportunity to speak to us in response to the things that we have been sharing with him. Lord, here's what's going on with my air conditioner. Here's what's going on with the church air conditioner. Here's what's going on with the Apple event this week. Here's what's going on, you know, in our marriage. Here's what's going on in these things that we face. In these things that we're going through. And then as I spend time in the word, I'm inviting him to respond, to share, to direct me.

To help me understand the scriptures. Notice it says in verse 27. He expounded the scriptures. As Jesus responded to them. The way that he did it was through the word. He expounded or explained. He made clear what the scriptures said. And Jesus has given you his word. He's also given you the Holy Spirit. To help you understand his word.

That you would be able and capable of hearing from him. One of my favorite passages is 1 Samuel chapter 3 verse 21. It's right at the beginning of Samuel's life and ministry. It tells us earlier in the chapter that the word of the Lord was rare in those days. But then at the end of the chapter in verse 21 it says, "...then the Lord appeared again in Shiloh, for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord."

The Lord revealed himself to Samuel. How? By the word of the Lord. That's how the Lord reveals himself. That's how the Lord explains and shares with us. It's by the word of the Lord. And Jesus began at Moses and worked through the scriptures to reveal himself to these disciples. In the same way, that's why we encourage you, the body here,

To join with us. We're right now at the tail end of reading through the Bible in three years. We started at Moses. Moses wrote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy in the Bible. So when he started at Moses, he's starting at those first five books. And then he works through to the prophets. This is the Old Testament scriptures that they had at that time. And we do the same. We work our way through to hear from the Lord. To allow the Lord to speak to us and minister to us.

And as we spend time in the Word, it's not just reading it, but it's, well, in conversation with the Lord. Speaking to Him and sharing with Him what's going on in our lives and then inviting Him to expound the Scriptures. Lord, You explain this to us. You help us understand what this means. And we need to be not slow of heart to believe, but we need to be quick to believe as God speaks to us.

That we would hold fast to His Word. That we would hold fast to those things that He shares.

Well, now moving on to point number three in verse 28 through 32, the third point is to insist on more time with Jesus. In verse 28, it says, Do you see this picture? It's pretty cool, right? Jesus said,

up to these guys who are walking down the road and talking. He gives them an opportunity to bring him into the conversation. Hey, what are you guys talking about?

Now sometimes when you're talking to somebody and someone walks up and says, what are you guys talking about? The conversation ends, right? You're like, nothing, never mind. So they could have done that, but he invites himself in. He gives them opportunity. Okay, yeah, let's bring you in. Now let's talk with you about the things that we're talking about. And so now they're all three talking. They're walking down the road and they're having this conversation. And then these two disciples get to the place where they're going.

All right, this is our stop. We're stopping here. And it says that Jesus indicated that he was going farther. Essentially here, Jesus pretended that he was going to keep on going. Why? Jesus doesn't have to walk to get places. But we'll see at the end of this account, he just, boom, he disappears. He's off to do something else. He's somewhere else instantly. That's the way that Jesus is able to get around.

So he doesn't have to walk down the road in order to get somewhere. He's walking at this moment just to hang out with these guys and have this conversation. So why is he pretending like he's going to keep on going? Simple. To give them the opportunity to invite him in. As much as Jesus longs and desires to converse with you, he will not force you to spend time with him.

He's waiting to see who wants to spend time with me. Who wants to hang out with me and hear from me? Who wants to receive from me? Who desires this? Jesus waits for you to invite him in. And so as he's pretending, these guys, they say, no, no, no, no.

don't keep walking. It's late. You know, it's going to be dark. The day is far spent. Why don't you come in? We'll give you some bread. Come and stay with us. And it says that they constrained him. The idea here is that they urged him or that they insisted.

And it was kind of along with their culture. You know, hospitality was highly valued. They were brought up to highly value hospitality, especially around the feast. Because everybody would travel to Jerusalem. And so there would always be this need for lodging and for, you know, helping people out as they're traveling from place to place. It was dangerous to be out on the road by yourself at night. And so...

So they're reaching out to him and say, no, no, don't go farther. We insist. Stay with us tonight. It's kind of like, you know, if you are to open the door for somebody and they stop and say, no, no, you go first. And then you say, well, no, no, you go first. And then the other one says, no, I insist. And then you say, well, I insist more. And, you know, that kind of just, it's just polite culture, right? It's just polite manners to let the other person go first. And there's this like, no, I insist.

Now when you say, I insist, you're not like, you know, you got a weapon now. You're like, no, you're going through the door first. You know, it's like, it's a polite insistence. You know what I mean? It's like, no, no, you go first. I really want you to go first. It's that expression of desire.

In the same way as they constrained Jesus, you know, they didn't bind him, you know, okay, hold him down, guys. We got to take him inside. No, no, no. It was just, it was just part of their culture. Like, no, no, no. Don't go. Stay with us. There was this intensity in which they were inviting him to be with them.

And that is what the Lord desires from us. That's what the Lord looks for in us. Jesus wants fellowship. It's why he created us. It's why he died upon the cross so that we could have that connection with him. But he will not force it upon us. He waits for you. He waits for us to insist and say, no, Lord, really, I really want to spend time with you. Do you really want to spend time with Jesus in that way? Will you insist that?

Will you insist on your time together with Him? You can be as close to Jesus as you want to be. That's the reality. Because of what Jesus accomplished for us upon the cross, He paid the full price, the full penalty for all of our sins so that we stand before Him perfect by believing in Jesus.

So all of us, we are on the same plane. We're on the same field. We have no advantages over each other. There's nobody who has an advantage and they're closer to Jesus because they had some advantage. You are as close to Jesus as you desire to be. You know him as well as you desire to know him. He's there. He said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. But the question is, where are you? Where are you?

Will you insist? Will you have that fervency, that desire? Like, Lord, I really want to spend time with you. I really want to hear from you. Do you remember what Jesus wrote to the church of Laodicea in Revelation chapter 3 verse 20? He said, Jesus said, I'm standing here knocking.

I'm not going to kick the door in, but if you'll hear my voice and invite me in, I'm going to come in and I'm going to dine with you. I'm going to have fellowship with you. I'm going to reveal myself to you. I'm going to do a great work. But I'm going to be here knocking and it's up to you whether or not you will invite me in. The Lord loves us and he wants fellowship, but he's waiting to see who will respond. Who really wants to spend time with me?

Well, when we respond and when we invite him in, his promise to the church of Laodicea is, I'll come in and dine with you. And that's what we see in verse 30. It says, 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. Verse 31, then their eyes were opened and they knew him and he vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, did not our heart burn within us while we walked or while he talked with us on the road?

And while he opened the scriptures to us, when he came in, they insisted. No, seriously, like stay with us. We want you with us. This is a great conversation. We want more time with you. He sits down at the table with them. He breaks the bread. He blesses it. And suddenly, bing, the light goes on. Their eyes are opened and they know that it's Jesus. They realize this whole time, it's been Jesus that we've been talking to.

And then he vanished. He vanished. He's off to do other things that Jesus does. But here they are looking at each other saying, our hearts burned within us. No wonder we had that burning. There was something that was happening. God was moving. We didn't quite get it. But now, now we understand. You ever have that happen where you know God's speaking? You know God's like giving you certain things. But it's like you have that burning.

That little bit of understanding here and there and there. You don't quite get how it all fits together. And then suddenly, bam! You see the puzzle is completed. All the pieces are in line. You're like, right there. Oh, it's so obvious. Jesus was right here this whole time. He was with us this whole time. But it was only when they insisted. It was only when they yearned, when they expressed, no, we want more time with you.

That they got to experience this revelation from Jesus. This revelation of Jesus. And the same is true. Jesus desires to do a great work. To reveal himself for you to know him. But he waits for us to insist. He waits for us to make time to spend with him.

Insist on more time with Jesus. James tells us in James chapter 4 verse 8, draw near to God and he will draw near to you. He's ready. He wants to be close to you. He wants that kind of fellowship. And so he says, draw near. And the moment you take a step towards God, he's right there. He's not far off. Like, okay, walk a thousand miles and then maybe God will think about drawing near to you. No, it's not like that at all.

but he will not force himself. And so the moment you express interest, Lord, I really want to be with you. I really want to know you more. I really want to hear from you. Then he's right there and he will draw near to you. If you will draw near to God, he will reveal himself to you. So insist on more time with Jesus. Now by more time with Jesus, please don't get the misunderstanding that I'm not saying that what we're supposed to do

is just read the Bible all day, every day, and do nothing else. Like, let's all just quit our jobs, lose our homes, move into a monastery, and we're just going to read the Bible all day, and pray, and worship, and that's all we're going to do all day long. No, no, that's not the picture here. The picture is that we have special times where we insist, and we're spending time with the Lord, and He reveals Himself to us, but then notice, when their eyes were opened, then Jesus vanished.

You see, it was a special time that he wanted to spend with them and he revealed himself to them. But then he was gone because now it was their chance to respond to what had happened and to, well, to share with others what the Lord had said. And that's the picture for us that we need to grasp hold of.

That we're to desire to converse with Jesus first of all. And as we talk with him, he's going to be responding and speaking to us through his word. And as we insist, as we're wrestling with passages or spending time with him in prayer or meditation or spending time, you know, like we have the men's retreat coming up, guys. Listen, that's a time where you insist. You're like, I'm setting aside a weekend. I'm paying money to go and I'm going to go and hear from Jesus.

And it's amazing. God responds every time. I'm always amazed every time. But he does it every time. I go. I spend time at a retreat. I go to a conference. And the Lord reveals himself. And he speaks. And he ministers to me exactly where I'm at with exactly what I need. And we have those special times. But, you know, like Peter said, there at the Mount of Transfiguration, when Jesus is in his glory, he's like, this is awesome. Let's build some tabernacles. We're just going to stay here the rest of our lives.

No, no, no. You got to go down the mountain and there's work to do. There's things that God has set up for you. There's things that he wants you to share. And so that's what we see with these guys. Jesus vanishes because now they've had the encounter. They've had the revelation and now they have work to do.

And there's this pattern that, you know, we're involved, we're engaged, we're ministering to people around us, we're living the life he's called us to live. We spend some time with Jesus. He gives us what we need to then go back and live that life and minister to people and do the things he's called us to do.

And so we need to have those times though where we insist, no, I'm going to devote this time. I'm going to devote this day. I'm going to devote this 15 minutes. I'm going to devote this weekend. And I'm just going to sit at your feet, Lord, and hear from you. Well, then as he reveals himself, that brings us to the final point in verses 33 through 35.

We are to tell others that Jesus is risen. As we encounter Jesus and it's revealed to us, he's alive, look at how he's working. Then now we get the opportunity to share that with others. In verse 33 it says, So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together saying, The Lord is risen indeed and has appeared to Simon.

So these two disciples, when they're walking away from Jerusalem, they're sad. And I can imagine their pace is slow. They're kind of like dragging their feet. You know, they're just bummed out over what had taken place. It's seven miles to Emmaus, so it takes them a long time to get there. But then as soon as they see Jesus, then they rush back.

That very hour it says they return to Jerusalem. So they're going fast back to Jerusalem. Their heart is completely different. Their attitude is completely changed. And as they head back to Jerusalem it's with excitement. They meet up with the disciples who are gathered together. And before they even have a chance to share about their experience...

The disciples are announcing and sharing about Peter's experience. And they're saying, the Lord is risen indeed. He has appeared to Peter, appeared to Simon. We got to see a little bit of that last week as Peter ran ahead of John to the tomb. And he saw that it was empty. The Lord rewarded him for that desire. Again, he insisted, I got to see for myself and find out what's going on with this empty tomb.

And the Lord said, all right, I'm going to show myself to Peter. I'm going to reveal myself to Peter. Now think about this. Remember that Peter is the one who denied Jesus, right? He denied Jesus three times on the night that Jesus was betrayed. And yet Jesus appeared to him. Sometimes we don't converse with Jesus. We don't insist on more time with Jesus because we've blown it. And we think, even if we asked Jesus,

He's not going to want to spend time with us. Look what I've done. Because we forget about the cross. Even though we know about the cross, we forget the cross. At the cross, Jesus paid for all sin. And so in those moments of weakness, in those moments that you've blown it, and you think, yeah, he doesn't want to spend time with me. He doesn't want to hear from me. He's tired of hearing from me, maybe, you might say. But it's actually in those times...

that he especially wants to meet with you. Peter, the one disciple who kind of went farther than all the others, he didn't just run away. He denied the Lord three times and Jesus appeared to him personally. Yeah, you might have blown it. Yeah, you might have messed up. But Jesus still wants to reveal himself to you. Insist on time with Jesus. Converse with Jesus.

And so Peter has this encounter with Jesus. He tells the other disciples and then when these two disciples come, they're telling them, hey, the Lord is risen. He's appeared to Peter. And this is how it's supposed to be when believers gather together. That as we're

you know, out and about doing our thing throughout the week that we're seeking the Lord, conversing with him, believing the scriptures, insisting on those special times with him. And he's speaking to us and revealing himself. And then when we get together, then there's that opportunity, there's that passion, that excitement to say, look what God did in my life. Look what God's doing in my life.

In verse 35, these two, it says, they told about the things that had happened on the road and how he was known to them in the breaking of bread. Oh, you heard from Jesus. You saw Jesus. You heard about what he's doing. You had an encounter with him. Oh, we had an encounter with him too. And here's what happened for us. And that's what it's meant to be as we gather together.

That it's not just, you know, we come and we worship and that's important. We hear a teaching, that's important. But then there's that fellowship where as we share what's going on in our lives and how God's at work and how he's speaking and how we're relying upon him, it stirs us up and encourages us. It helps us to go forward.

Every week is not always a happy ending week. Sometimes we're in the midst of the walking down the road to Emmaus, still bummed out, discouraged, trying to figure out what's going on, not understanding. This doesn't all happen overnight and it's going to go through cycles and phases in our lives. But as we gather together, we share with one another. That's what fellowship is. Listen, I'm struggling. I'm on the road to Emmaus, you might say. I don't understand. I can't figure out the pieces. I don't know what's going on.

I'm looking for Jesus to reveal himself. Or you might come back and you say, look at what God's done. That's one of the blessings of our Sunday evening service where we have the time where we share prayer requests and then praise reports. We get to be part of the Emmaus Road all the time as we're wrestling through things and then watching God work. But as we gather together, it's meant to be like this. That we are able to say, the Lord is risen indeed. Jesus is risen. We're able to tell one another that

Because we've encountered him. Because he's spoken to us. He's revealed himself to us. Have you encountered Jesus this week? Has he revealed himself to you in a unique way, a special way this week? I encourage you, share it with others today. Before you head out and go on and do whatever you have for the rest of the day today, share it with others. Encourage one another. Let each other know this is what God's doing.

We stir up and encourage each other in this way. But maybe you're on the other side. If you have not encountered Jesus recently, well, here's what I recommend. Number one, converse with Jesus. Just start talking to him about whatever's going on in your life. Whatever you would talk with anybody else, talk to Jesus about it as well. And then believe the scriptures about Jesus. Open up the word and spend time with him. Allow him to speak to you.

You can jump in with us. There's reading schedules on the back table. Go through the Bible in three years with us. We're in the book of Thessalonians right now. And just jump in right where we're at today and just invite him to share. Invite him to expound the scriptures to you. And then insist on more time with Jesus.

Set aside time. Set aside. Maybe, you know, it's just a half hour that you can just dedicate and I'm just going to spend this time with the Lord. Maybe it's a day. Whatever it might be. But just insist. Have that desire. Invite Him. Constrain Him. Insist. Again, not with a commanding, you know, I'm Lord, you do what I say, Jesus. No, not like that. But just insist. Like, no, Lord, I really want to be with you. I really want to hear from you. I want to know you more.

And he will reveal himself. It's not always instant, but he will. It's guaranteed. Jesus, or the Lord says throughout the scriptures, if you seek me, you will find me when you search with all your heart. And so when you insist, God will reveal himself. And when he does, then you'll have opportunity to let others know that Jesus is risen. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for your amazing grace towards us and that you continually, repeatedly, over and over desire to meet with us and you speak to us and you reveal yourself to us. I pray, Lord, that you would help us, that you would stir up within us the desire to know you more, that we wouldn't get complacent, Lord, and just think, well, I've been Christian this long and so that's good enough, but

Lord, that we would strive to know you more, to draw near to you, to be more like you. Help us, God, to have that passion and zeal in our lives. And Lord, as we encounter you, I pray that you would help us to be bold and share those things with the people around us, that they would know that you are risen indeed. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.