HEARTBURN
Luke 24:13-35
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: “It’s going to be a Bad Day when…”
1. You see a "60 Minutes" news team in your office.
2. You call Suicide Prevention hotline & they put you on hold.
3. You turn on the news and they're showing emergency routes out of the city.
4. Your twin sister forgot your birthday.
5. Your car horn goes off accidentally and remains stuck ‘on’ as you follow a group of Hell’s Angels on the freeway.
6. Your boss tells you not to bother to take off your coat.
7. Your income-tax check bounces.
8. You put both contact lenses in the same eye.
B. HEARTBURN: BAD & GOOD
1. Yes, these kinds of things are the reason for Tums, Rolaids, Pepto-Bismol -- -- HEARTBURN!
2. Other Culprits of heartburn:
a. Too many candy bars,
b. Spicy food late at night.
c. One baby had eight pennies in his diaper!
3. A POSITIVE HEARTBURN
a. All these examples were Heartburn in a Negative light, but there is a Positive Heartburn.
b. Let's read together in Luke's Gospel:
C. TEXT
13 Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. 14 They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. 15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him. 17 He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. 18 One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?” 19 “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. 20 The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; 21 but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. 22 In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning 23 but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. 24 Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” 25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. 28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. 32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” 33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
D. TITLE: “Heartburn.”
I. JESUS NEAR, BUT UNRECOGNIZED
It’s strange to think of it, but Jesus had been as close as two feet to these two disciples. They had been close enough to breathe on each other, yet they didn’t recognize Him.
A. OTHER CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH JESUS
1. Abraham, when the 3 men came to him. One of them was the “Lord” who “rained [down] fire from the Lord out of heaven” (Gen. 19:24, 2 “Lords”), so it was Jesus.
2. Jacob wrestled with the Angel who was later said to be God, thus a theophany of Christ.
3. Joshua – met the Captain of the Lord's Host, who told Joshua to “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy” (Josh. 5:15), just like God told Moses at the burning bush.
4. Mary Magdalene, in the garden near the tomb (John
20:14) supposed He was the gardener, but it was the resurrected Christ.
5. Five of the Disciples (John 21:4) went fishing. They saw a man on the shore who asked them if they’d caught any fish. When they said, “No,” He told them to cast their nets on the opposite side of their boat. It was Jesus.
B. REASONS THEY DIDN’T RECOGNIZE HIM
1. He appeared "in another form" Mark 16:12.
2. Luke 24:16 "their eyes were kept from recognizing Him."
3. ILLUSTRATION
a. Actor Cary Grant once told how he was walking along the street and met a man whose eyes locked onto him with excitement. The man said, "Wait a minute, you're... you're -- I know who you are; don't tell me --, Rock Hud... No, you’re...
b. Grant thought he'd help him, so he finished the man's sentence: "Cary Grant." And the fellow said, "No, that's not it! You’re..."
c. There was Cary Grant identifying himself with his own name, but the man had someone else in mind.
d. John says of Jesus, "He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him" (John 1:10).
e. And even when Jesus identified who he was – the Son of God -- the response was not a welcome mat, but rather the Crucifixion.
C. WHEN DID JESUS COME TO THEM?
1. Vs. WHEN THEY COMMUNED AND REASONED TOGETHER ABOUT CHRIST
a. Jesus said, "Where ever 2 or 3 are gathered together... there am I in the midst." This is a good indicator for the need of holy conversation even when we’re alone.
b. “Commune” – means “intimate conversation.”
c. “Then those who feared the LORD talked with each
other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honored his name” Mal. 3:16. (God is touched by those who care about His Kingdom!)
2. WHEN THEY WERE DOWNCAST, SAD, DEPRESSED…
How many times are we low, and don't realize that the blessed/precious Christ is walking right there with us!?
D.THE NEED FOR COMMUNING TOGETHER
1. Verses 28, 29; “28 As they approached the village to
which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.”
2. He would have gone on, if there hadn't been prayer/the request for him to stay with them. In our prayer lives, we often go so far and then stop. We need to go a little further.
3. How many never plead for tarrying! The Lord Jesus will not force an entrance into our lives, but he can be constrained to stay with us longer. We need to commune with God!
II. CHRIST RECOGNIZED
A. WHEN AND HOW
1. Invited in, He likely sat at the Head of the table. The Master's Place is conceded to Him.
2. When the heart is truly yielded to God/Christ, the moment of revealing is near. (when heart tender…)
3. Suddenly, He was there! They recognized the Voice, the Blessing, and I think, the sight of the nail-scarred Hands.
4. Like Paul at his conversion, the scales fell from their eyes. It was similar to what we do when we "pray through." That's when we have a breakthrough into the presence of God and sense that God has heard and is going to answer our prayers.
B. NOT NOTES, BUT HEARTS COMPARED
1. Verse 32. Not Heartburn, but burning hearts!
2. What were they feeling?
3. Fire -- symbol of the divine presence, also of the first
love of God's people for God.
a. Seraphim -- "burning ones."
b. Burning Bush -- Exodus 3:2, "Behold, the Bush burned with fire, and the Bush was not consumed."
c. Shekinah Glory -- Pillar of fire by night; Exodus 13:21-22; 14:24; Numbers 14:14.
d. Jeremiah 20:9, "His Word is like burning fire, shut up in my bones."
C. THE INWARD FIRE MUST NEVER GO OUT
1. The Old Testament priests were told that the lamp
and the fire at the Temple must never go out. They are a symbol of our relationship with Jesus.
2. Luke 12:35, "Be dressed, ready for service and keep your lamps burning."
3. Matthew 25:8, "Give us some of your oil! Our lamps are going out!"
4. Revelation 2:5, "or I will remove your lamp stand from its place."
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: “Know His Voice”
1. In northeastern Uganda, clashes are occurring between rival tribesmen. Cattle rustling is a major problem in Uganda.
2. During the dry season, when local communities must move with their herds in search of pasture and water, rival tribes seek to steal each other's cattle. The cow is the center of the tribal value system.
3. In one incident, one tribe made off with more than 600 heads of cattle, the Uganda Peoples Defence Force (UPDF) operations officer in eastern Uganda, Lieutenant-Colonel John Mulindwa, told the BBC;
4. “The Ugandan army daily attempts to reunite cattle with their owners. The biggest difficulty lies in proving
ownership.” The BBC's Nathan Etungu witnessed the process beginning in a village north of Mbale.
5. He told the BBC's Network Africa that when an elderly woman stood before the herd, a remarkable thing happened.
6. She called her cows by name and to the amusement
of the soldiers, as each cow heard her voice, it lifted its head and then followed her. As far as the army was concerned, it was as strong a proof of ownership as one could find.
7. Jesus said, "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." - John 10:27. Jesus knows each of us by name and He is calling us to follow Him. Today in prayer, ask the Lord to give you a hearing ear to follow His will.
8. [When out in the fields…] "The shepherd calls sharply from time to time, to remind them of his presence. They know his voice, and follow on; but, if a stranger calls, they stop short, lift up their heads in alarm, and if it is repeated, they turn and flee" - W. M. Thomson describing sheep in Palestine (By Peter Kennedy).
B. THE CALL
1. When was the last time you had a burning heart? You need one daily.
2. RESULTS OF A BURNING HEART:
a. They returned to the 7 1/2 miles journey in the dead of the night, to tell others they had seen the Lord.
b. When first converted, we traverse whatever difficulties stood in our way to tell others about Jesus.
c. Do you need your lamp relit?
3. SPIRITUAL HUNGER
a. I heard of a Christian conference in South America, where native traveled 250 miles ON FOOT to get there! That's hunger!
b. The Queen of Sheba traveled many hundreds of miles to hear the Word at Solomon's lips. Do we have that kind of hunger?
