Master of the House

Luke chapter 24, we're going to begin at verse 13. Now the whole life of Jesus Christ was one of glory from beginning to end. Even before he was conceived in Mary's womb there was glory about it because the Bible says that she conceived when a cloud of glory overshadowed her and there was that miraculous conception within her womb.

Even though her life was filled with this glory and even though the life of Jesus was marked with glory from beginning to end, there is something especially glorious about the resurrected Lord Jesus. When we see the snapshots of the resurrected Jesus throughout the Gospels, there's something amazing. There's just an extra note of his splendor, of his majesty present.

And one of these snapshots we're going to take a look at this morning in the Gospel of Luke chapter 24 verse 13. Now this is after Jesus is risen from the dead, after he has appeared to Mary Magdalene and other of the women who were his followers at the site of the garden tomb, and after Peter and John hearing the report of the women raced to the tomb and discovered it empty. Here we go, Luke chapter 24 beginning at verse 13.

Now behold two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. Well two of them, two of who? Well two of the followers of Jesus.

I hope you're aware that there were more than just 12 followers of Jesus. There were many women who followed him who were not of the 12 disciples. There were other followers of Jesus who encompassed a larger group of his beyond just the 12 disciples.

As a matter of fact, in the book of Acts chapter 2, it says that on the day of Pentecost when the followers of Jesus were gathered together, there was about 120 of them. So of these 120, two of them are on their way that particular Sunday morning walking from Jerusalem to a little village called Emmaus. And it's about a seven mile walk.

And as they were walking, they couldn't turn on the car radio and keep their hearts and minds busy. They couldn't plug in a cassette tape. They couldn't keep some noise on like we so often like to do all the time.

They just had the quietness of the countryside around them. And so what did they do? They talked. Isn't that glorious sometimes just to walk and to talk together? And that's what they were doing.

And as they were talking, they were talking about something that was very heavy on their heart. And you know what it was that was heavy on their heart? Well, all the events of the past few days. See, Jesus had come into the city of Jerusalem on a note of triumph.

You remember all those crowds around him shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna. And they're welcoming him in as a conquering king, as a general. It's just magnificent.

This is glorious, Jesus. And all his disciples, all his followers are going, Yes, now is the moment of Jesus's glory. The whole nation is going to recognize that he's the Messiah.

We're riding a hot streak here. It's just going to go wonderful. Yes, thanks be to God.

Thank you, Lord. And then in the days after his triumphal entry, Jesus is in Jerusalem. And it always seems like he's having a confrontation with the scribes and the Pharisees.

And the disciples are going, Yes, isn't this glorious? Jesus is standing up to the forces of religious darkness and oppression. He's going to take over and bust this whole thing loose. It's so wonderful.

Until Friday night, when Jesus has a meal with his disciples, a Passover meal. And as they're eating the Passover, he says, Now, guys, I've told you this before, but I have to tell you. Again, I'm going to go away, but I'll send the Comforter.

I'll send the Holy Spirit in my place. And his disciples, you've seen it in the cartoons where a guy hears news and the jaw drops down to the ground. Well, as much as it's possible for a flesh and blood human being, that's what happened to the disciples.

They couldn't believe it. Jesus, you're leaving. You haven't established your kingdom yet.

You haven't put us in the positions of prominence and glory beside you. Come on, Jesus, this isn't what we signed on for. And then all of a sudden that night, he's arrested and tried and beaten and tortured and crucified.

And it all happened so fast. It was like in a fog and they couldn't believe it. And every hope and every dream that they had had was just shattered.

Jesus was no longer there and he was gone. And then to put it all on top of this, they had heard some rumors. Oh, Mary Magdalene and that other Mary, they were talking almost foolishness that they had seen the risen Jesus and Peter and John while his body was gone.

We don't know what's happening. They didn't know what to make of it. See, my friends today, after a great tragedy or crisis, special counselors are often brought in to help people get through it all.

They need special help in dealing with all the stress and grief that the crisis brings. The problem is sometimes called post-traumatic stress syndrome. It's the difficulty of feelings that you have to deal with after a great crisis, after a great calamity.

And if there is such a thing, these two disciples were suffering from it. Their world had been turned upside down because the one whom they believed to be the Messiah didn't take the throne of Israel. He ended up on a cross.

And not only was that shattered, but now they're thinking, listen, they arrested Jesus. What are they going to do with his followers? Maybe we're next. So what happens to these two depressed disciples as they're walking along the way? Something very marvelous.

Verse 15. 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. Well, isn't that marvelous? These two disciples walking on their way on the road to Emmaus.

Jerusalem's behind them. Emmaus is in front of them. They're walking on the way.

And a third man joins them. Mind if I join you? May I walk with you? Fine. And so Jesus walks with them.

But it says that their eyes were restrained so that they didn't know it was him. Now, I've seen depictions of this in the movies. And whenever they do that, they put one of those capes or hoods on Jesus, you know, like he's the secret agent Jesus or something, you know.

In modern terms, you know, they have like dark sunglasses on or something like that. I don't think that's why they couldn't tell it was Jesus. The Bible says that their eyes were miraculously restrained.

God was doing a spiritual work and withholding from them what they would normally do and see and recognize that that was Jesus. They couldn't see that it was Jesus. Jesus was right there, right beside them, but they couldn't see it.

And so they're walking and they're talking. The stranger with them is silent at first, and he's just listening to what they're saying. He's listening to the grief in their hearts.

He's listening to their shattered hopes and expectations. And he's thinking, these guys are my followers. So I need to say something.

Jesus speaks up there in verse 17. And he said to them, what kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are so sad? In other words, Jesus was saying, it's just kind of an elaborate way of saying, what's he talking about? They're walking along and Jesus doesn't say anything at first. He just listens.

He's right there and they're saying, Jesus is gone. I can't believe it. Jesus is gone.

I don't know where he is. I don't know where his body is, but I know he's gone from this earth. They nailed him to the cross.

They couldn't believe it. There were the scribes and the religious leaders. They were mocking him on the cross.

It's just so horrible. I wonder if we're next. Jesus is gone.

And Jesus is right there walking beside them. And he says, guys, what are you talking about? Now, I know this account is true and accurate because nobody would make something like this up. Take a look at verse 18.

Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to him, are you the only stranger in Jerusalem and have not known the things which have happened here in these days? In other words, mister, don't you know anything? Don't you read the newspaper? Don't you hear the gossip? What, are you the only guy in Jerusalem who doesn't know what's going on? Now, if this guy knew it was Jesus, he would have never talked to him this way. But, you know, he's a little annoyed. He's down.

He's depressed. And he just kind of turns. He's kind of sharp with them.

You know, what are you thinking? I mean, don't you know anything? I love Jesus's response. Look at it in verse 19. And he said to them, what things? You know, you just got to wonder.

Jesus, if he wasn't smiling on the outside, he was certainly smiling on the inside, just thinking, this guy doesn't think I know what's going on. I know what's going on no better than he knows. But I want him to tell me what he knows about myself.

This is interesting. So often, the Lord will put us in these situations where we're tested. You know, I just wonder if that next person who you get into a conversation with about the Lord Jesus Christ, maybe they're a stranger.

Maybe you never met them before. Maybe they're just an angel unawares. And the Lord just kind of sent them to see, well, do you know the message? Can you talk to somebody about it? Jesus kind of feeling him out right here.

Jesus knows, but he asks him, he says, what thing? He's skillfully playing along, encouraging the men to reveal your hearts. So what do they know about Jesus? Look at the rest of verse 19. And they said to him, oh, 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. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. Yes.

And certain women of our company who arrived at the tomb early astonished us when they said they did not find his body and came saying that they had also 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. Well, on the one hand, I think this is very remarkable that the disciples here knew so much about Jesus and could explain it.

Well, they knew his name, right? Jesus. They knew where he was from Jesus of Nazareth. They knew he was a prophet.

It says that right there in verse 19. They knew he was a man who was mighty in deeds and in words. They knew that he had been crucified.

They knew that he had promise as a redeemer. Look at it right there. It says in verse 21, but we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel.

And they also knew that some people had said that he had risen from the dead. Well, they knew a lot about Jesus, didn't they? They knew more about Jesus than I think a lot of people in this world know about Jesus. But did it change their life? Were they happy or sad? My friends, they were very sad.

They were greatly discouraged. They thought that their whole life had fallen apart around them. And I find this very significant.

And please focus in on this point. My friend, this morning, you can know the name of Jesus. You can know where he's from.

You can know that he's a prophet. You can know that he's mighty in what he did and in what he said. You can know that he's been crucified.

And you can know that he had promise as a redeemer. And you can know that other people say he's risen from the dead. But if you yourself do not personally know the risen Lord Jesus, where are you? You're the same place that these men on the road to Emmaus were.

You have no hope. See, it's not enough to know all these other things about Jesus. If you don't know personally the risen Lord Jesus in your life, then as Paul says in the letter to the Corinthians, his first letter to the Corinthians, everything else is in vain.

Nothing else really matters. Friends, if Jesus isn't risen in glory, then it doesn't matter what his name is. It doesn't matter where he's from.

It doesn't matter that he was a prophet. It doesn't matter that he did marvelous things and said marvelous word. It doesn't matter that he was crucified.

It doesn't matter that he had promise as a redeemer. And it doesn't matter that other people say he rose from the dead. If he did not actually rise from the dead, then none of those previous things matter.

And these disciples knew it. And that's why they were so depressed. My friends, those things are true of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And it's true that he is risen from the dead. And that's the one thing that these men didn't know. And when Jesus is going to explain this to him, it's going to change everything in their life.

Did you notice those words in verse 21? But we were hoping. Friends, their long speech to Jesus about who this savior was that they were following. It's all about disappointed hopes.

It's about shattered expectations. Friends, they had hoped that Jesus was going to be the kind of conquering Messiah that the nation of Israel longed for. They had hoped that, well, being associated with that kind of conquering Messiah, that they would be in positions of status and prestige right alongside of them.

But their hope was shattered. It was disappointed. And so now having only the words of others to go on, they don't believe that Jesus is risen from the dead.

You know, some people will tell you that Jesus never rose from the dead. They'll explain it like this, that the disciples in an exercise of wishful thinking simply imagined him to be there, that they all kind of had a group hallucination together. They hallucinated.

Jesus was their invisible friend. And they believe that he was there. My friends, look at these two disciples on the road to Emmaus.

Are they in a place of wishful thinking? These are men looking at the cold, hard facts. Matter of fact, they have even heard that Jesus might be risen and they don't believe it. They are only going to be demonstrated to.

They're only going to be persuaded by proof. And Jesus is going to give them that proof beginning here at verse 25. Then he said to them, oh, foolish ones and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken, not the Christ who have suffered these things and enter into his glory.

And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them and all the scriptures, the things concerning himself. Oh, my friends, isn't it glorious? Jesus says, listen, guys, you're foolish. And he says, you're slow of heart to believe.

I love that phrase. You know, a lot of times people think that what keeps them back from following Jesus Christ or giving all of their life to him is a head problem. You know, I'd follow Jesus, but it's that whole evolution thing that bugs me.

I don't get it. You know, I'd follow Jesus. But, you know, this thing about miracles, loaves and fishes walking around, I don't know about that.

If you could just solve that problem for me, then I'd follow. You know, I'd follow Jesus. But, you know, did Adam have a belly button and and where did Cain get his wife anyway? You know, I'm not going to fall until I know these things.

Oh, my friends, let me tell you that that people's unbelief, it's not a head problem. It's a heart problem. He says slow of heart to believe, not slow of head, slow of heart.

And these men were slow of heart to believe in Jesus is going to minister to their heart by the word of God. And so he starts teaching them what's revealed in the prophets about the suffering and the and the glory of the Messiah. And he teaches them from Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 50 and Daniel six and and Zechariah 12 and Psalm twenty two.

And he just lays it on him. Friends, I say I look at verse twenty seven, I can't believe it. So the beginning of Moses and all the prophets, he expounded to them and all the scriptures, the thing concerning himself.

I tell you, as you leave here today, you can get a cassette tape of this morning's message or of other messages, but listen, you you could trade in everything you had if you could get a cassette tape of this message right here. Oh, my heavens, what glory to hear Jesus himself teach from beginning to end the glory of the Messiah, to tell him that that the Messiah was the seed of the woman who had had his heel bruised by Satan, but is going to crush his head, that he was the blessing of Abraham to all nations, that he was the high priest after the order of Melchizedek, that he was the man who wrestled with Jacob, that he was the lion of the tribe of Judah, that he was the voice from the burning bush, that he was the Passover lamb, that he was the prophet greater than Moses, that he was the captain of the Lord's army to Joshua, that he was the ultimate kinsman, redeemer of the book of Ruth, that he was the son of David, who was a king greater than David, that he was the suffering savior of Psalm twenty two and the good shepherd of Psalm twenty three, that he's the wisdom of Proverbs, that he's the lover of the song of Solomon, that he's the savior of the prophets and the suffering servant of Isaiah fifty three, that he's the Messiah, the Prince of Daniel, who would establish a kingdom that would never end. Friend, that Bible study, when I get to heaven, I'm going straight to the video room and I'm taking a look at that one on film.

Oh, it's spectacular. And they must have been blown away, but I'll tell you what the subject of the whole message was. You know what the subject of it was? The subject was Jesus.

Did you notice that at the end of verse twenty seven? He expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. I shouldn't do it. The week before Easter, I just shouldn't even open up the mail.

Because the week before Easter, if it means anything, it means you get the direct mail from all the churches. And I was looking over the direct mail from the churches this week, and I searched, I searched in vain. I searched over them all, and I looked for the name of Jesus and I didn't see it.

And I looked for a mention of Christ and I didn't see it. My friends, do you realize that that's the message of the whole Bible? My friends, the message of the Bible is not how you can be happy. Though, believe me, there's great joy in following Jesus Christ.

The message of the Bible is not how you can have a great family life, though if you follow Jesus Christ, he'll do great things in your family. The message of the word of God is Jesus Christ and him the Savior for our sins. And it's not all about me.

It's not all about you. It's not all about any human being except for our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus taught them, he expounded from the scriptures about himself.

And that's the message we need to hear today. Well, he taught them and he taught them gloriously. He expounded to them.

He just explained what the scriptures meant. And then they were near Emmaus. Can you see him just raffling up in the book of Malachi as he comes near to the city or the village of Emmaus? And notice what happens here in verse 28.

Then they drew near to the village where they were going, and he indicated that he would have gone farther. In other words, Jesus walking with them, talking. Can you imagine these guys spellbound the entire time saying, I don't know who this stranger is, but this guy knows the Bible and this is spectacular.

And as they get to the village of Emmaus, Jesus says, well, guys, nice to see you. What a pleasure. I think I'll be going on.

Isn't that amazing? Jesus was not going to force himself upon these men. If they didn't want him there, they didn't have to say, go away. They could have just done nothing and Jesus would have gone on.

My friends, that's how the Lord Jesus Christ is. He will not force himself upon you. He will come to you and come into your life as a guest.

You have to invite him. You have to open the door. Maybe you're standing back passively in your life and saying, well, Jesus, anytime you want to kick down the door, go ahead.

You know what Jesus says? He says, invite me in. He made as if he was going to go on. But look at verse 29.

But they constrained him, saying, abide with us, for it's toward evening and the day is far spent. And he went in to stay with them. Friend, constrained is a strong word.

They didn't give just a casual invitation to Jesus. They said, well, if you're not too busy, maybe you might want to stay around a little bit. No, they insisted.

You know, when somebody has a gift of hospitality and they just force their hospitality on you and they just won't let you leave. They'll make you take another serving. They'll make you stay around some more.

They'll just force their hospitality. There's no way. No, you're just going to.

That's how it is. That's how these men were to Jesus. Well, I think I'll move on.

No, no, no, no. You come in. We're going to you come in.

Well, no, no, no. We insist you come in. And they sat down and they invited Jesus in as a guest.

Friends, many of us miss out in a close relationship to our Lord, not because there's something obviously evil in our hearts, but just because we don't insist on having a close relationship with him. We kind of figure, well, if the Lord wants to push himself on me, that's fine. But if not, I guess that's fine also.

But Jesus won't push. He won't come unless he's invited. They go in, they sit down.

Verse 30, and it came to pass as he sat at the table with him that he took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they knew him and he vanished from their sight. I don't know what it was about the breaking of the bread and the blessing.

Maybe he prayed a prayer that they had heard him pray before. Maybe they saw his nails, scarred hands as his hands were lifted up in prayer to break the bread. Maybe it was a distinctive way that he did it.

I don't know. Maybe it was just a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit where the veil that had been upon their eyes before was now lifted. And now they saw this stranger, this guy who's been with us, this man who's been with us all along.

It's Jesus. And I would love to be there at that moment. And the way I imagine it, as soon as they say Jesus, he's gone.

I have to tell you, I read that the first time. I said, that's not fair, Lord. Yeah.

What are you doing? You know, here all the time when they don't know who you are, you're with them. And as soon as they know who you are, you leave. What's that, Lord? I mean, is that unfair? What are you doing with that? I'll tell you why the Lord did that.

It's really contained in the next verse. Take a look at verse 32, where it just says, and they said to one another. Now, let me ask you a question.

All that time that Jesus was speaking to them, all the time that they were just entranced with who he was, even though they didn't know it was him, do you think they were talking amongst themselves? Do you think while Jesus was teaching them this Bible study, they say, sorry, mister, can you be quiet for a few minutes? And then they go on and chat about the weather or something like that. No way. Matter of fact, I don't mean to offend anybody here, but if Jesus were right here bodily, physically or mental, I probably wouldn't be paying any attention to you and you wouldn't be paying any attention to me.

We'd be like, yeah, yeah, fine, excuse me. And we would just be focused on Jesus. You know, that's one of the reasons why he ascended to heaven.

That's why he left right now, so that we would love one another. And then they spoke to one another. And did you see what they said? Verse 32.

Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us on the road and while he opened the scriptures to us? There was a fellowship of burning hearts going on at that moment. You see, all the time while Jesus was speaking to them, even when they didn't know it was Jesus, something was going on inside of them. God was touching their heart in a unique way.

And all the way they could describe it was that their hearts were burning. Of course, it's not a literal fire, but it's just something burning. And at first they just slough it off.

Wow, that was some falafel I had for lunch. Wow, I don't know what that was. And then, oh wow, this is something.

I wonder if my friend's feeling, no, no, no, it's just me. It's just me. And you know, you might feel like that this morning.

Maybe right now, this morning, the Lord is speaking to your heart in a certain way, but you don't even know that it's the Lord. All you know is that something is significant going on inside of you, something spiritual, something maybe you're familiar with, maybe you're not familiar with. I'm here to tell you that that's the Lord God speaking to your heart and touching your heart this morning.

And you're not alone. Just as much as they had it commonly going on between them, but they didn't talk about it until after Jesus left. So the Lord God can touch your heart with his word in a powerful way.

And notice what they did. Verse 33. So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the 11 and those who were with them gathered together, saying the Lord is risen indeed and has appeared to Simon.

Oh, my friends, it's just marvelous to consider that the first thing they did once they had this after talking with one another is listen, seven mile walk. You want to go back another seven miles? They did it with joy because they had to tell people Jesus is risen. Seven miles didn't seem like all that far when they had their lives transformed.

I'll tell you, they walked to Emmaus full of sadness, discouragement, depression. Their lives have been shattered. How do you think they were on that journey from Emmaus back to Jerusalem? Man, they were hopping and skipping and leaping and praising God.

You couldn't shut them up. They were so excited. Anybody would have looked at them.

They say, man, what's wrong with you guys? You're not sad. You're just the opposite. And they would say, we have a risen Lord Jesus Christ.

Everything has changed in our life because we've seen the risen Lord. Friends, it can be the exact same way for you today. Seven mile walk back and they did it with joy.

Friends, I ask you today to. To think carefully about what the Lord is doing in your heart. And I want to ask you to respond to it.

You see, you shouldn't come to Jesus and give him your life because I say you should or because a friend or relative says you should, but because you know that the Lord God is speaking to your heart this morning. He's touching your heart. And you may not have considered that that's God speaking to your heart.

You know, you're not hearing an audible voice, but yet there's something going on inside of you, friends. That's the Lord God speaking to your heart. I beg of you to answer that call, it might not always be there, but you need to respond to it today.

But if you will respond to it, let me point out one final thing that I think is just spectacular about this account. I want you to look with me again at verse twenty nine. It says, and they constrain 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, did Jesus force his way into that home or did he come in as an invited guest? Well, he came in as a guest, didn't he? An invited guest. They had to welcome Jesus in.

And friends, that's how it's going to be if you're going to have Jesus in your life. And I say that not only to the person who perhaps doesn't have a close relationship with Jesus Christ right now this morning, I say that even to the Christian. You know, there's a famous passage in the book of Revelation where Jesus is speaking to his people and he says, behold, I stand at the door and knock and if any man will open, I will come in to him and dine with him, have fellowship with him.

Friends, that's a call that goes out to everybody. Jesus wants to come into your heart today as an invited guest. But I think what's glorious about this is verse 30.

Look at it. It says now it came to pass. He sat at the table with him and he took bread and blessed and broke it and he gave it to him.

Friends, Jesus comes into the house as an invited guest. But when he sits down, what does he do? He takes over. This is my meal now, he says.

I'm going to give the blessing. I'm going to break the bread. I'm going to give it to you.

And isn't that what Jesus does in our lives? Some of us think that because we invite Jesus in that we can kind of tell him what to do from then on. But that's not how it works. He comes in as our invited guest.

But once he's in our house, so to speak, then he says, all right, now I'm taking over the meal. Now I'm the host and you're the guest. This is my house now.

Welcome to my house. I'm going to make it something glorious. And friends, Jesus Christ wants to do that kind of work in your heart today.

And if you'll receive him on those terms, what a great work he'll do. I'm going to give an invitation, an opportunity for people to reach out to Jesus Christ this morning. We're going to do it as we pray.

And I just simply ask you, you need to welcome Jesus as a guest, but then let him in your house, so to speak, to be the ruler, to be the master of that house. And the glory of the resurrected Jesus will do it. It'll be the most glorious thing you've ever done in your life.