00:00:00.000 - 00:00:33.820

[ Silence ] [MUSIC PLAYING] [Music] ♪ The blood that Jesus shed for me ♪

00:00:33.820 - 00:01:06.220

♪ Way back on Calvary ♪ ♪ The blood that was shed ♪ ♪ From day to day ♪ ♪ He will never lose ♪

00:01:06.220 - 00:01:20.100

♪ His power ♪ ♪ He's still ♪ ♪ Far down ♪ ♪ And close ♪

00:01:20.100 - 00:01:43.840

♪ My fear ♪ ♪ And it drives all my tears ♪ ♪ The blood that keeps me straight ♪ ♪ From day to day ♪

00:01:43.840 - 00:02:21.220

♪ It will never lose its power ♪ ♪ It reaches to the highest mountain ♪ ♪ It goes to the lowest valley ♪ ♪ The blood breaketh his strength ♪

00:02:21.560 - 00:02:42.580

♪ From day to day ♪ ♪ He will never lose his power ♪ ♪ He reaches to the highest mountain ♪ ♪ He reaches to the highest mountain ♪

00:02:48.420 - 00:03:13.540

♪ He goes to the lowest valley ♪ ♪ The blood that gives me strength ♪ ♪ From day to day ♪ ♪ He will never lose his fight ♪

00:03:13.540 - 00:03:46.960

♪ To his heart ♪ ♪ It reaches to the highest mountain ♪ ♪ It flows to the lowest valley ♪ ♪ The love that is the same ♪

00:03:46.960 - 00:04:12.400

♪ From day to day ♪ ♪ It will never lose its power ♪ ♪ It will never lose its power ♪ ♪ He will never lose his power ♪

00:04:12.400 - 00:04:45.900

♪ He will never lose his power ♪ - Amen, amen. Hear this word recorded in the gospel according to St. Luke, 24th chapter, verses 13 through 16.

00:04:45.900 - 00:05:15.620

And behold, two of them that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about three score furlongs. And they talked together of all these things

00:05:15.620 - 00:05:36.500

which had happened. And it came to pass while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.

00:05:36.500 - 00:05:52.100

But their eyes were holdin' that they should not know Him. The subject of the message

00:05:52.100 - 00:06:10.980

resurrection road. resurrection room. Resurrection has to do with

00:06:10.980 - 00:06:30.500

a different look. Mary Magdalene came to the grave looking for the Lord. We expect to see death.

00:06:30.500 - 00:07:15.500

We come to the tomb in gloom and the sense of doom. Death has its mourning related to it. It has to do with pain and suffering. Whether we see death as a victory or as a defeat

00:07:15.500 - 00:07:35.500

depends upon the way we look. As it has been said, whether you think the glass is half full or half empty depends on how you look at it.

00:07:35.500 - 00:07:58.680

So resurrection has a particular particular way of life. It's a peculiar people seeing life in a particular way. The women who come to the tomb were asked by an angel,

00:07:58.680 - 00:08:25.420

"Who are you looking for?" They came to anoint a dead body and they were surprised to find a vision of the Savior.

00:08:25.420 - 00:09:22.040

The man who met them there asked them the question, the angels asked the question. All who were related wanted to know what they were seeking or who were you looking for. Those of us who are on this side of the resurrection look to see what happens after Easter. What happens on that Sunday evening following the announcement early Easter morning?

00:09:22.040 - 00:09:55.000

Luke tells us that two travelers were on the road to Emmaus. Emmaus is a village located some seven miles from Jerusalem. They may have thought of it as the road home. I choose to call it in this message, Resurrection Road.

00:09:55.000 - 00:10:21.520

You think of roads leading somewhere, however there are some roads that lead nowhere. You turn off on them and they peter out somewhere along the way before you reach where you'd like to go. These travelers know where they want to go.

00:10:21.520 - 00:10:38.520

They are not hitchhikers. They are on the road to Emmaus. They are not wandering aimlessly on a road from Jerusalem. They are travelers.

00:10:38.520 - 00:11:13.520

And they are walking on the road of life. They're pilgrims. They're companions. Two of them. Luke tells us the name of one of them, Cleophas, and he does not mention the other person. Some wonder whether or not it was Luke himself, and some have reached that conclusion.

00:11:13.520 - 00:12:03.800

It certainly makes a journey more pleasant and oftentimes more meaningful if you have the right companion with you and you can converse as you go along the way. Well these travelers are engaged in conversation concerning the things that had happened. As they walked and talked, Jesus, the resurrected one, joins them on their journey.

00:12:03.800 - 00:12:38.840

They did not recognize him because they were so busily involved in their conversation, so preoccupied with the events that had occurred that they did not notice this stranger that joined them along the way. thought of him just as another person. In fact, they really didn't take a close look.

00:12:38.840 - 00:13:15.340

They just kept talking about what they were talking about. There were those who possibly around, some passing this way and some passing that way, but they didn't notice that. They were so preoccupied with the events that had occurred in the last hours. So they were focused on the past rather than the present or the

00:13:15.340 - 00:13:56.300

future. They really were wrapped up in themselves and their conversation. Sometimes we are like that we're so preoccupied, we're so concerned with our own pet projects that we don't have time or we don't take time to see. To see. Resurrection has to do with seeing. So another traveler joins them and they never see him. Another traveler walks with him,

00:13:56.300 - 00:14:28.260

another traveler is beside them, but they never recognize him. And suddenly Jesus, This unrecognized resurrected one joins their company. He butts in. You know what it is when someone butts into your conversation.

00:14:28.260 - 00:14:58.500

We didn't invite you in here. Who are you? What right do you have to interrupt what we're talking about? Jesus but sin. And often that's what happens to us as we journey along life's way. Jesus but sin. So they were so obsessed with their own view of what was happening around them

00:15:07.260 - 00:15:41.260

And that they did not have time or concern from the outside. They had no time to think outside the box. In fact, they didn't even know there was a box. It was Easter Sunday evening, and their faces are twisted with grief, and their voice has

00:15:41.260 - 00:16:08.180

sounds of deep sorrow. And one of them answers the question that is raised by the stranger when he butts in. He says, "What are you all talking about? What are you conversing with one another concerning?"

00:16:08.180 - 00:16:48.300

And they say, "What? You don't know what has happened in Jerusalem in the last hours? You don't know the news? Where have you been, fella?" The things that have happened in Jerusalem, and this stranger, this one who is on Resurrection road who joins them without invitation says to them what things, what things? In

00:16:48.300 - 00:17:26.620

other words the happenings of Easter with all of the sadness and all of the suffering, all of the anxiety, the happenings of Easter have been overshadowed. The happenings, I should say, of Good Friday have been overshadowed by the glorious afterglow of Easter.

00:17:26.620 - 00:18:08.160

Sometimes you can go through certain experiences and they seem so great, the burden is so heavy. And after you get through it, you look back and say, you put it behind you and you recognize the power of God that has been demonstrated in your life so that you don't even understand why you were that worried about it? What things? What things? So well, have you heard the sufferings

00:18:08.160 - 00:18:47.720

that occurred, the crucifixion of the Savior we thought would come and deliver the people of God, we had hoped that he would have redeemed Israel. We had hoped. In other words, no more, but once we did, we had hoped. And you must be the only visitor around here that hadn't heard about what happened. So the Lord, in the presence of the Lord,

00:18:47.720 - 00:19:04.320

is on the other side of the resurrection. So he says, "What things." We all look forward to the day when we come through the darkness. It was near where I lived,

00:19:04.320 - 00:19:28.160

a railroad track and there was a sewage there. We often took a shortcut, going under the tracks, so to speak, and it was dark, but there was what we call light at the end of that tunnel.

00:19:28.160 - 00:19:53.720

They said, "Well now, this Jesus of Nazareth, Haven't you heard that he came as the promised Messiah, but somehow the chief priests and the scribes

00:19:53.720 - 00:20:16.440

and the religious leaders crucified him and it was expected, he had said that he would rise on the third day, But there was no word of that.

00:20:16.440 - 00:20:56.040

So they were walking along sad on Resurrection Road, going to Emmaus, sad without hope, no redemption in view. And they said some women had been to the tomb and they said that they saw him, but they really didn't find his body.

00:20:56.040 - 00:21:24.720

So they have come saying, "We have seen a vision of angels walking on resurrection road." A vision of angels. A vision of those who are messengers from heaven walking along resurrection road. And this vision of angels who came from above

00:21:24.720 - 00:21:41.040

informs them that there is hope, there is light, there is strength, there is a manifestation of God's power on Resurrection Road.

00:21:41.040 - 00:22:00.540

So the traveler joins them and begins to talk to them. They see the life of a new day,

00:22:00.540 - 00:22:15.360

the light of the presence of one who has the power to lead them along the way. And they have the scriptures open to them as the stranger joins them

00:22:15.360 - 00:22:30.560

and begins to explain the purpose of God and the presence of God in human history. And they walk along the way and they come to a particular point along the way

00:22:30.560 - 00:22:56.640

that Jesus acts as if he would go on further and they constrain him and they say to him, abide with us. We have a hymn, "Abide with Us, Fast Falls the Evening Tide."

00:22:56.640 - 00:23:11.880

This is said to have been the favorite hymn of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. And we all wave on this walk. We need the resurrected one to abide with us.

00:23:11.880 - 00:23:31.920

Don't leave us at the juncture in the road. Don't leave us, abide with us. The darkness deepens, Lord with us abide. When other helpers fail and comforts flee,

00:23:31.920 - 00:23:59.120

help other helpless, oh abide with me. And the one who joins the travelers on the Emmaus road says yes to their request. Isn't it wonderful that when we ask the Lord to abide with us, to stay with us, that he stays with us in all sorts and conditions?

00:23:59.120 - 00:24:27.000

He stays there. we can depend on him when we seek his presence and his power. So when Jesus Christ joins us on resurrection road, he goes with us all the way. I am with you all the way, even to the end of the world.

00:24:27.000 - 00:24:42.720

He cheers us when we're sad. He comes and makes us glad. He gives us strength in the midst of our weakness and power to overcome all of the obstacles we may face.

00:24:42.720 - 00:25:06.320

The resurrected Lord comes to be with us and he cares about us. You can rest assured of that, Jesus cares. Does Jesus care when my heart is pained too deeply for mirth and song, and the burdens

00:25:06.320 - 00:25:41.720

press and the cares distress, and the way grows weary and long? Does Jesus care when I've tried and failed to resist some temptations strong? When for my deep grief I find no relief, though my tears flow all the day long. Oh yes, oh yes, he cares.

00:25:41.720 - 00:25:55.280

I know he cares. His heart is touched with my grief. When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares.

00:25:55.280 - 00:26:24.360

And as they reflect on the resurrection experience, as they thought about the journey that Easter Sunday evening, they said to one another, did not our hearts burn within us as he talked with us by the way. But the thing that's

00:26:24.360 - 00:26:44.080

interesting to me as we follow this story is that when they came to Emmaus and asked Jesus to remain with him. He goes in. And they go in and they sat down for a meal. And as

00:26:44.080 - 00:26:59.480

they sat down around the table and they began to prepare for the eating of the meal, the sharing, holy communion we call it, we're going to do it this morning,

00:26:59.480 - 00:27:26.960

that as he was breaking bread, they recognized him. Their eyes were open. They had engaged in a walk on Resurrection Road and they had met a stranger along the way who revealed himself as the Savior of the world and their eyes were open and they

00:27:26.960 - 00:28:07.680

saw him and they said this is Jesus. Can you imagine how they felt? I remember some years ago early in my ministry here we had a man who had a twin here and he died and I was delivering the eulogy and I looked and I saw this man that looked just like the man I was eulogizing. And the strangest feeling came over me to recognize that someone who has

00:28:07.680 - 00:28:39.600

been considered dead is now alive. It's a strange feeling. It's a wonderful thing that can happen in life. To be on resurrection road, to be sad, to be burdened, and all of these things somehow turned around. It's a wonderful thing. So they said, "This is Jesus." And they decided to go to Jerusalem. Now they had arrived at

00:28:39.600 - 00:28:59.240

decided to go to Jerusalem. Now they had arrived at Emmaus, but now they decide to get up immediately. The scriptures say they rose up. That's resurrection. They rose up. They got up

00:28:59.240 - 00:29:17.960

and made the journey to Jerusalem. And when they got to Jerusalem they told the disciples what had happened. Can you imagine the joy? Can you imagine how they

00:29:17.960 - 00:29:34.880

were uplifted by that experience when they got...but you see when we start out with the story they are going east or west. They're going west.

00:29:34.880 - 00:29:48.880

They're going west to Jerusalem, traveling west. They're traveling toward the sunset when we start. That's the way they're traveling. But when they meet Jesus

00:29:48.880 - 00:30:09.880

and they commune together at the communion table they get up and they start traveling to Jerusalem and they're traveling east. They were traveling west, they were traveling towards sunset, but now they're traveling

00:30:09.880 - 00:30:26.880

towards sunrise. So which way are you traveling this morning? Which way are you traveling? On Resurrection Road, check yourself.

00:30:26.880 - 00:31:00.920

They turned around, they left Emmaus and went to Jerusalem. So let's look at the direction that we're traveling, the way that we're going. They had received a witness from scripture, they had communed together, they had watched him as he broke the bread and now they are fueled, they are refueled, they are retooled,

00:31:00.920 - 00:31:25.920

they are prepared for the journey. Well that's really the true meaning of this season. As we look at it, they returned to Jerusalem, they had something to tell. Oh, when we meet Jesus on Resurrection Road, we have a story to tell.

00:31:25.920 - 00:31:56.320

I have a story to tell of Jesus and his love, a story of how he encountered my life. And every one of us who have been on that road got a story. story to tell how he lifted and how he has directed, how he's protected, how he has helped along the way. We have a story to tell. Thanks be to God that it's a

00:31:56.320 - 00:32:18.160

story of his redemption, a story of his love. We come now to the invitation, with the privilege to accept Jesus as Lord of life. Because the wonderful thing he does when he encounters us and finds us going to Emmaus,

00:32:18.160 - 00:32:37.320

he puts something in us that turns us around so that we can make safely the journey of our eternal destination. and our final home is not Emmaus.

00:32:37.320 - 00:32:54.780

Our home is Jerusalem. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem the golden, Jerusalem that place that God has prepared for his children, that's our home.

00:32:54.780 - 00:33:23.680

We live for a time in the city of man, but our home is the city of God. Thanks be to God. Glory to His name that He encounters His people on Resurrection Road and leads them to the eternal home which is the New Jerusalem. We come now to extend that

00:33:23.680 - 00:34:08.320

invitation to accept Him and to make this journey with Him. He comes to us. As the song says, "I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses. The voice I hear falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses." And then it goes on to say, "And he walks, he walks with me, and he talks with me, and he tells me I am his own." and the joy, the joy, the joy we share as we carry there none other has ever known.

00:34:08.320 - 00:34:27.040

Door is open. [MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] [BLANK_AUDIO]