Welcome back, friends. We want to conclude the message we started last week: Walking with the Resurrected Jesus. Our text was taken from St. Luke 24:13-35; 44-49.

PRAYER:

Father, may You open our eyes that we may see wonderful things out of this text today, in Jesus Name. Amen!

These two disciples, not part of the twelve, walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus, seven miles away, were disappointed, dejected, demoralized. And they were conversing, talking about the difficulty they had experienced over the weekend: the disappointment. And Jesus was listening. And then He joined them. He joined in the conversation. He pretended He did not know what was happening. And then they told Him what happened. And of course He started talking to them. He said, O foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken, ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the scriptures, the things concerning Himself.

So Jesus followed them in. And as He prayed over the meal, their eyes were opened, and they recognized Him; and He varnished. And the disciples said to one another, did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the scriptures to us? This is verse 32.

So we were talking about this burning of the heart. And that is where we stopped last time. The hearts of the two disciples of Jesus Christ burned within them. And what does that mean? We asked. We said it means that their hearts glowed, their hearts were set on fire, their hearts were greatly moved, their hearts were warmed towards God and the things of God. And the question we asked was, what produced this burning? What set their hearts aglow? Their hearts were set on fire; their hearts were set aglow by Jesus Christ through the instrumentality of the scriptures. He used the scriptures to set their hearts on fire.

Friend, nothing will set your heart on fire like the Word of God accurately explained or expounded. People think that cock and bull stories will set people’s heart on fire. No: it is the Word of God, not just the scriptures – but the scriptures accurately expounded. In verse 27, He accurately expounded to them, in all the scriptures, the things concerning Himself. The text says that Jesus expounded the scriptures to them. To expound. What does that mean? It means to unfold the meaning of what is said or to explain. Notice that He expounded the scriptures comprehensively, specifically and relevantly. In verse 27, and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the scriptures. It was comprehensive. It was also specific and relevant, the things concerning Himself. It was about Himself. O how I pray that the preachers and teachers of the Word in our land will preach and teach nothing but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified, and Him who is resurrected, and Him who is glorified at the right hand of the father – the soon-coming King. He expounded the scriptures comprehensively, specifically and relevantly. This is what the two disciples now recognized as the opening of the scriptures to them.

Luke 24:32

³² 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?”
Jesus opened the sense of the scriptures. Jesus explained those scriptures: what they mean. Today we have preachers and teachers who do not explain the scriptures. They tell stories. This is what He said about Himself. It was about Himself, the scriptures He expounded. It was about Him. And if you don’t know it yet, the whole scriptures are about Jesus Christ, from Genesis to Revelation. It is this expounding of scripture, the explaining of scripture: specifically and comprehensively and relevantly. It is teaching people about Jesus Christ. This is what He has called all His disciples to do. There is one other thing that the reason Christ does set a heart on fire. He does not only expound the scriptures or open the scriptures. He also opens the understanding of the believer to comprehend the scriptures.

Luke 24:45

⁴⁵ And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.

No wonder the psalmist prayed in Psalms 119:18,

¹⁸Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law.

And that was the prayer I prayed when I started. He causes His disciples to understand the scriptures. He will give you understanding, if you pray and ask Him to do so. Before you approach the Word of God, let me tell you, friend, what God need is today…God is in dire need of disciples who:

1. Do not invent their own stories or doctrines, but rather expound the scriptures. Only the truth that people know will set them free. Jesus said, you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Only the truth that you know.
2. God is in dire need of disciples whose hearts are set on fire for Him and His cause. Nothing can set a heart on fire for God like the scriptures. As I said earlier, cock and bull stories can never set the minds of people on fire. New theological discoveries cannot, pop psychology cannot do it either. Telling you to feel good about yourself, love yourself some more – when the problem is that we love ourselves too much already: that cannot set people’s heart on fire. It can make them shout, but for a moment. At the end it has no lasting effect.

Let me conclude with the evidence of a heart that is set on fire.

Luke 24:33-35

³³ So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, ³⁴ saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon [that is, Peter]!” ³⁵ And they told about the things that had happened on the road [that is, the road to Emmaus], and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.

Now evidence of a heart that is set on fire for God.

1. Such a heart forgets self.

They did not mind walking another seven miles without resting. A total of fourteen miles.

1. They forgot about their personal business that brought them to Emmaus in the first place. They forgot that they were the ones constraining Jesus earlier to spend the night with them because it was late and perhaps not safe to travel. They forgot all that. That is the evidence of a heart that is set free. It forgets self. But when we find so much selfishness among Christians…it is because their hearts are not on fire for God, for when the heart is on fire for God self will take the back seat, and God will take the driver’s seat. The heart that is set on fire cannot help but tell others about Jesus Christ.

Luke 24:35

³⁵ And they [that is, the two disciples that Jesus met on the Emmaus Road] told about the things that had happened on the road [that is, the road to Emmaus], and how He was known to them in the breaking of bread.

They could not help but tell their experience to Jesus. When Jesus met the Samaritan woman and spoke into her life and her life was changed, her heart was on fire for God. the scriptures says in John 2, she left her water pot, forgot the business that brought her there, and went back into the village and said, come see a man who told me everything I ever did. We don’t find Christians today talking about Jesus, but we talk about everything else under the sun, we talk about the world, we talk about politics, we talk about how to make more money, how to improve ourselves – and those kinds of things, because our hearts are not set on fire for God. May the resurrected Christ cause your heart to burn for God, brother; may the resurrected Christ cause your heart to burn, sister, this week and always, in Jesus Name.

PRAYER:

Father, I want to bring to You now these my beloveth friends. As many as have listened attentively to Your Word, may You give them understanding, may You cause their hearts to burn, as You open the Word to them. From now on open their understanding also, and the entrance of Your Word will give them light, give them life, give them health, give them strength for another day. I commit them into Your hands, and I say thank You, in the Name of Jesus. Amen!