The Need for a Glimpse of Christ

Now, I don't hurry up here because I feel I have to speak, but I have something that's a burden to me and might fit in here with what we've been hearing. Luke 24, please. Sorry to my preaching brethren who maybe were thinking of getting up, but if you just give me a few minutes.

Luke 24, reading at verse 21. We had trusted our hope that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.

Verse 24, and certain of them which were with us went to the sepulcher and found it even as the women had said, but him they saw not. But then he said unto them, O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

And they drew nigh unto the village, whether they went. And he made as though 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 tarry with them.

And it came to pass that as he sat at meat with them, he took bread and blessed it and gave to them, and their eyes were opened, and they knew him. And he vanished out of their sight. Many times in this day in which we live, in 2023, there is obviously times when you and I get our chin on the cement.

And there is a remedy for that. There is a definite remedy for it. I want to just take 15 minutes, if I can, to lift our spirits in view of this ridiculous age in which we are living in.

That which was right when I was a boy is wrong, and that which was wrong when I was a boy is now right. And maybe the younger ones in this generation, maybe the younger ones in this building don't see the tremendous changes that... You're not an old man yet, Larry. That older people have, that old people are.

But I've lived long enough to see that what is... We have to contend with today can be defiling, it can be discouraging, it can be anything but encouraging. So what is the remedy? The remedy is in Luke 24, when they too were depressed. This six and a half mile walk that they had to Emmaus, it must have been a lovely time because the Lord Jesus drew near, unknown to them that it was Him.

But the Lord drew near. Marvelous when the Lord draws near. Matthew chapter 28, we were just noticing recently.

In Matthew 28, the Lord Jesus visited them. The Lord Jesus was told to go into Galilee, and I will appear. And before they get to Galilee, the Lord meets them and they say all hail.

He visits them. Thank God for the times that the Lord visits you. And thank God for the times when there are visitations from the Lord.

So here they are, two people that are depressed, two people that are discouraged, two people with their chin on the cement. The Lord draws near. It so excites them.

It so moves them, this six and a half mile walk, that when they get to the house, they cannot go any farther. They constrain Him to come in. It so blessed them that they have to have more.

You ever sit at a conference when you think to yourself, my, I wish it had gone on for another hour, and you were being blessed, you were being fed. These two people were being fed, and as they come to the house, they compel Him, they wish, they pray, they beg, they beseech Him to come in. He did.

I often think, what if He hadn't have? But He came in and He sat down with them, and when they took the bread, whatever they had, the muffins, somebody had muffins like we had this morning, the muffins and the coffee, and the two in the house, when they served the muffins and the coffee, and He broke the muffins, and their eyes were open. What did they get? They got a glimpse. That's exactly what Larry was talking about Friday night.

They got a glimpse, and when they got a glimpse, their whole world changed. Their whole world absolutely changed in a split second of time. But it never would have changed, dear brethren, if they had never got the glimpse, if they had never been visited, if they never would have sat at His feet.

Men and women have been sucked away from the divine truth. They have been led away by the wicked enemy that we've been hearing about, and they've been led away because they didn't get the glimpse. They listened to the wrong one.

I believe that I am speaking to some today, and probably every audience that we do speak to, there are some that are cold of heart and some that have gone astray, including the speaker. Did you know that the speaker needs to be restored? Gone astray. And when we've gone astray, we've missed the glimpse.

This is the result of the glimpse. So just give me ten minutes. The result of the glimpse that they got.

Number one, they were rising above the oppressing circumstances. Every Christian here has circumstances that nobody else knows about. Those circumstances might be oppressing.

They might be depressing. They might be such that it would cause sickness, mental pressure, the anxieties of life, that which is legitimate, oftentimes can make individuals very, very depressed. So there's oppressing, whether it's at the office, whether it's a bad marriage, whether it is whatever, as far as the circumstances are concerned, there is oppressing circumstances.

When I get a glimpse, I might not forget the oppressing circumstances, but I can rise above them and I can go on. But I have to have the glimpse, dear brethren. I've got to get that glimpse.

And if I don't get the glimpse, I could be depressed. I could go on for days and maybe weeks without getting, rising above. I've been there.

Cancer wasn't supposed to knock at my door. I didn't think it would ever happen. And when it did, this fellow at six foot four went flat.

Very oppressing. It's ugly and it's deadly. There was one thing I had to have.

I said, Lord, the Lord and I had to talk for two days. I was doing all the talking. And on the second day, he finally did the talking.

And I shut my mouth and I listened. And the Lord said to me, you know, Al, you're no dazzling knight. You're no Christian that's above head and shoulders above the rest.

Who do you think you are? What do you mean cancer can't come to your door? I said, Lord, you're right. We had to get glimpses. And if I didn't get the glimpses, I didn't survive.

The Lord only knows I should have gotten more glimpses. Oppressing circumstances. Oh, dear brethren, you've got to get those glimpses.

Dear sister, you've got to get them. And make sure that you sit down with your book. This blessed book.

And sit down and get those glimpses. Just a little word. All it is is just a little word.

It doesn't take much, brethren. It doesn't take much. Just a little bite.

And you'll be able to be lifted up and be able to face it. Number two. When I get the glimpse, I not only can forget or rise above the oppressing circumstances, but I can rise above the offending Christian.

The Christian that offends. The Christian that says a word, he didn't mean it. But you took it wrong.

I took it wrong. And when I take it wrong, I get offended. I failed to turn the cheek.

I took it. A man said to me, I went to a meeting one Lord's Day. Terrible head cold.

Coughing, sneezing. I should have been home in bed. But I thought, you know, she's got to go.

And so I went to the meeting and sneezed and coughed. And all the rest of them were hoping I'd get out of town. But I said to one of the brethren, I said, I got a terrible head cold.

Yeah, he says, I can tell. He says, it always settles in the weakest part of your body. So I went home and I thought, well, I'll tell Gloria and I'll get some comfort there.

And I said, you know what that man said? It always settles in the weakest part of my body. And she says, I agree. So, but there what I could I've done.

I could have been offended. I could have really put my tail between my legs and say, oh, well, what's the use? Mr. Borat was a bad, it was a bad statement, but I took it as a tease. He asked me to preach his funeral, so it must have been all right.

But I could have been offended. I could have gone down. I could have been hurt.

But I got a glimpse. And the glimpse was that the blessed Lord was offended. Who am I to think that I can't take an offense? Who am I to think that they can't talk that way to me? Nonsense.

Who do I think I am? Who do you think we are? We're just sinners saved by grace. And dear brethren, let's turn the cheek. Let's turn the cheek and give them the benefit of the doubt.

When I get a glimpse, I can rise above the offended Christian. When I take a glimpse, I can forewarn the others that are Christless. When I get a glimpse, I can forewarn them.

I have the ability. No, not the ability. I have the energy, perhaps the hard exercise, to warn them, to flee from the wrath to come.

I can rise above the fear of man. I can go after those that are yet in their sins, that are wayward, and they could care less about the Gospel. I can go after those with a heart that loves them.

But I need the glimpse. I need to take a look at His wounded hands. There's the wounded hands that suffered for me at Calvary.

And because of the wounded hand, I think of others that have no appreciation of the wounded hand. They're on the downward pathway. They're going down to death and hell.

And they're going to be there forever, friend, if you and I don't take the Gospel there. But if I don't get the glimpse of the man who died for me at Calvary, my love to the others are not going to be there. I can rise above the laziness that I might have.

If I get a glimpse, I can see the absolute necessity of going after those that are still in their sins. If I get the glimpse, I not only can rise above the offending Christian, I not only can rise above the oppressing circumstances, I can rise above those that are without Christ. But if I get a glimpse, I can rise above.

I can rise above the old chariots. What are the old chariots? The old chariots are this business of worry. This business of it's never going to happen.

This business of evil surmisings. Do you realize that 94% of what you surmise never comes to pass? And that huge percentage that you think is so true it's going to all fall apart, it never takes place to begin with. But dear brethren and sisters, like the great God of Judah, we have a great God today.

May we get a glimpse. Glimpse of the man who went to Darkhawk, off this tree. And if we could get a glimpse of his hands, just get a glimpse.

Dear Christians, dear younger people, how many chapters do you read a day? Well, that's a bad question. Because I don't believe in forcing myself to read chapters every day. But I do force myself to read.

And I remember one particular morning before going to work to face those ungodly men that I rubbed shoulders with. They were ungodly. And when I went to work to face those ungodly men, I remember sitting down and reading my Bible in the book of Proverbs one day.

And I got to one verse. A soft answer turneth away wrath. I didn't read anymore because I got to chewing on that.

A soft answer turneth away wrath. And the reason why that was so precious that morning is because it wasn't one hour in the work day until I had to practice that verse. Because one man came at me with songs.

He really wanted to take me behind the barn. But I had to put that into use. I didn't need the chapters.

I just needed one verse. So the dear young people, yes, read as much as you can. Absorb it.

Absorb as much as you can. I have to tell you one more thing. Sorry, brothers.

One more thing. I got up this morning. I stood up this morning.

And I was going to give the Lord something that I enjoyed throughout the week. And as soon as I got up and I stood on my feet, it went gone. I don't know where it went, but I didn't have it.

I couldn't get it back. What I'm getting at is this. When you get to be my young age, the recall, sometimes the recall isn't there.

So dear young people, absorb your book now. Take time. I never have time to read.

But like the Lord Jesus and Isaiah, where is it, brethren? In Isaiah it says, He wakeneth mine ear morning by morning. He wakeneth to hear what this Father was saying. I have to take the time.

So take the time while you're young. Ere the evil days come. And then you have to say, I have no pleasure in them.

Get a glimpse of the man who went to Calvary.