Increasing Revelations Of Jesus — Sandeep Poonen

The Road to Emmaus and the Fading Vision of Christ

First, from the story of the two disciples on an emace, I appreciate what we heard today too, as a reminder and what we heard on Sunday. It's a wonderful timeline of the story of disciples as they're going along journey.

When Circumstances Make Christ Seem Distant

It starts with them obviously must have been disciples of Jesus at some point, but then something bad happens. Their view of Christ becomes dim or they don't see Christ anymore. That can happen in our lives too.

Some situation can shake us and we can not see Christ in the situation. And they're walking back home to their old lives, emace. And that's when Jesus meets with them and shows them through the scriptures.

Hearts Burning as God Opens the Scriptures

It could be in us as we come to church, as we are looking, reading the scriptures in our quiet time, it may be as we're something. The Lord opens up the scriptures to us and says, it's all according to my plan.

I'm a God of love. I'm your father. I've loved you always. These things that you think are horrible are actually exactly what God wanted to have in your life. And he opens up the scriptures. And as we see God's words and we see God's plan, our hearts start to burn within us.

And we are gripped and we want to know more. And if we stick with God and we're pressing with him and we're not satisfied with just scripture being open in a particular situation, suddenly seeing God, we say, Lord, we want more.

Seeing Christ’s Sacrifice in the Breaking of Bread

And God may show us a little bit of what he did for us, his sacrifice for us. Their hearts burned within them on the road to Emmaus because all their pain dissipated. Their pain went away as they saw God was behind all of this tragedy of Jesus dying.

But going into their home with Jesus was something further than that. When they went into the home and Jesus breaks the bread, to me, that's a symbol of God showing them the pain of Jesus. Because that's when their eyes are open to the last supper.

And then they see what Jesus did for them. And so that's part of the transition is, God not only resolves the pains in our lives, but he also wants to open our eyes to the pains in his life. The thing that caused him pain, sin, the sacrifice that he made for us.

And that's the progression of how God says, you come to me with your pain, I'll resolve your pain because I'll show you in scripture that I'm a loving father, I've got everything under control. But that's not the end of the story.

He wants you to take you into his home and he wants to show you as he breaks the bread, you know who I am, I'm the one who died for you. I'm the one who was broken for you. And then our minds go off of ourselves and our pain and all of these things of why did this happen to what God has done, what Jesus did for us.

And then we start to see what wretched sinners we are, what great love Jesus had for us. That's what I feel the broken, when God breaks the bread and eyes are open, it's another revelation of Jesus much greater.

Leaving the Comfort of Emmaus to Serve Others

And I mean, I think as we heard, as I was listening today too, I saw there was more to the story that after that revelation of Jesus, we have a temptation to stay in Emmaus. The home was in Emmaus, which is warm springs, the comfortable life as a Christian, having seen Jesus, recognizing what Jesus has done for us.

There's the temptation to remain in that beautiful, comfortable life of being a born again Christian and walking with God. And God says, no, I want you to get up and go back to Jerusalem, become uncomfortable again, become uncomfortable and go back to Jerusalem and tell your disciples there.

And as they went back to the disciples out of the warm springs, out of the warm, comfortable life of being Christian and a personally holy life, God says, become uncomfortable, do the things you're not comfortable with, go tell others, go be there for other people.

Humble yourself, consider others more important than you. Don't be so interested in your interests and your preferences, considers others more interested in you, that's a mark of humility, as we heard.

Then we go back to Jerusalem and we tell other people and that's where we see a greater revelation of Jesus as we heard earlier today. That's where we see an even greater revelation of Jesus where we touch his side and he speaks to us and he tells us more.

He shows us an even more intimate view of who he is. I don't know where we are in the journey. Some of us may be in the questioning stage of, Lord, why did you allow this to happen to me? And God wants to meet with us and open up the scriptures to us and our hearts can burn with us, burn within us.

Some of us may be having burning hearts and our hearts have been resolved of all these questions that we've had in our life. God says, it's not enough. I want you to take me back to your house. I want to have a little bit more intimate time with you and I want to show you not your pain, but I want to show you my pain as I was broken for you.

Get your mind over yourself. Think about me. Think about my love, not your questions. And God opens our eyes to that. But even that is not enough. That's what the monks and the monasteries and the mystics, they want to be all alone with God all the time.

God says, that's not my plan. I want you to get up out of your comfortable, warm springs and come and be with the disciples, those broken other disciples. And we find out, it says there in Luke chapter 24, that Jesus had also met with them, right?

Because when they got back to Jerusalem, they find that the others who were with them were saying, hey, actually the Lord has already appeared to us too. Imagine what a beautiful confluence of stories.

It wasn't just the two disciples and the maize. It was Peter telling him, by the way, let me tell you my story too. And in the fellowship of the saints, we all hear about how Jesus has met with one another.

That's a much greater recognition of love. You know, that you being rooted and grounded in love may know the length and the breadth and the height and the depth together with all the saints. That's why we gather together.

And it's in that moment beyond that where Jesus says, I'm going to show you myself in an even greater way. I allow you to even touch me, almost like a physical touching that didn't happen earlier. And so I see a beautiful extension, beyond our troubles, beyond an intimate relationship with Jesus in private, to fellowshipping with the saints.

And God says, my saints are broken. My children are also in different stages of life, but go and tell them, go and tell them what you learned from Jesus in your own broken ways. Don't be ashamed. And I'll meet with you.

I'll meet with you in a more personal way than you've ever met with before. That is why it's so important. To not despise the gathering together and to really say, Lord, this is all because I want to get out of the comfort of my own life.

Humility Means Giving Rather Than Receiving

I want to give. It is truly more blessed to give than to receive. These are the words of Jesus. And that doesn't mean that we have to be quick to speak. As we heard, we can be like Jesus was in the temple, even though he probably knew more of the Bible and more of the answers than those priests.

He was listening to them. In Luke chapter two, verse 46, as we heard. What humility of Jesus, knowing more than all these priests, knowing more about God as a father than those priests and those religious people, but listening to them and asking them questions.

God’s Dwelling Place for the Humble and Contrite

Much we can learn about Jesus. Also, one other thing I wanted to show you was in Isaiah chapter 66 in that passage that we've heard in Isaiah chapter 66. As we heard, Jesus, God is looking for a place to live.

What is a place that God can live in? Imagine if God created the whole heaven and the earth. Imagine if the president of the United States wanted a place to live. Imagine if Jeff Bezos. Imagine if Jeff Bezos wanted a house.

Have you ever wondered what the richest man in the world, what his house looks like? What if the richest man in the world came and told you, hey, come visit my home. What would you expect? Would you expect voice activated doors, voice activated showers?

You just walk into a room and the air conditioner turns on, perfect for my temperature, different from your temperature. You're sitting in one room and it's 69 degrees. I sit on the other side of the room and it's 65 because I like it a little cooler.

You can imagine what the richest man in the world can do all kinds of things. And you're like, wow, what a cool house. Then you ask, okay, that's the richest man. What about God? What kind of house does God want?

He's got the whole heaven and the whole earth. Does he want a foot massage? Does he want fans blowing in his face? What does he want? And then we see in Isaiah 66, verse two, what he's looking for. The whole God who created the whole heaven and the earth says, I want those who are humble and contrite who tremble at his word.

And what does that look like? Look, we can meditate for the rest of our lives what that looks like. But I just wanted to point out verse three, Isaiah 66, verse three, because the prophet here is telling me a different kind of people who are not humble, who are not contrite in spirit and it didn't tremble at my word.

And here's what these people are. Verse three, he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man. He who sacrifices a lamb is like one who breaks a dog's neck. He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine's blood.

He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol. What does that mean? I don't know if you have thought about it, but I was thinking about that. What does that mean? That one who kills an ox is like one who slays a man in the beginning of verse three.

Choosing God’s Way Over Religious Activity

This is what it means. The one who kills an ox is the one who was offering an ox to God. This is a peace offering. It's like a bull. God said, if you wanna offer a peace offering, you come with a bull.

If you want to offer a sin offering, you sacrifice a lamb. That's that next statement. Then he talks about a grain offering. These are people who are offering things to God. And God is saying here, one who kills an ox as a peace offering is just as bad as a murderer.

Think about that. God is saying that the one who offers a peace offering before God with an ox is as bad as a murderer. And one who offers a sin offering, that's the lamb, is as bad as a guy who just takes this dog and just twists his neck.

And the one who offers a grain offering is as bad as this pagan person who offers up swine's blood and worships an idol. What is God saying with that? God is saying, I don't care about all your religious activities.

I don't care about all your Bible studies. I don't care about your quiet time here and there. It's just as bad as being a murderer. Why? Because it says in the rest of verse three, it says that because they choose their own way.

That's it. That's what the difference is. And that is the mark of one who's not humble or contrite or trembling at God's word. It's a very simple definition. They choose their own way and they have some secret delight in some sin.

That's what it says. There's some secret fondness they have for what God says is an abomination. But that's a very simple way to know. You want to be humble and contrite and tremble at God's word? Are you choosing your way or God's way?

Christ’s Suffering and the End of Self-Centered Complaining

Are you choosing to look at the situations and be all troubled? Or you're allowing Jesus to come alongside and say, hey, you foolish people. Don't you know that this was meant to happen? Don't you know that your life is not whether you're healthy or wealthy?

Don't you know that Jesus Christ, your hero, suffered? Why are you complaining? Don't choose your own way. And he opens up the scriptures and the hearts can burn within us. And then God wants to take us further.

God wants us to show himself that look, now that you've got yourself out of your own problems, let me show you my pain. Let me show you a little bit of what I went through on Calvary. What I went through at Gethsemane.

What I went through when I was an 18 year old and my father died. Let me tell you what I went through when I was 25 years old and I didn't sell any tables all month. And the money was running out and Mary and my brothers were all wondering where that would come from.

And we see the pains of Jesus. And we obviously see the sacrifice of Jesus as he breaks the bread. And he says, you see what happened to me? I was broken. And our eyes go off all of our own breakings.

And God shows us his breaking and we shut up. We have nothing more to say. And when God shows us his breakings, how he was broken for us, we will stop all complaining. And our eyes will be open to see who Jesus really is.

Getting Up to Feed Christ’s Sheep

And then God says, get up. Get up and go tell your fellow disciples. Get up, if you love me, feed my sheep. Stop sitting in your quiet comfort of your warm springs. Tell other people, I have an even further greater revelation of who I am.

I want you to know me as close as if you're touching me. I want you to see me as so real, so that as we heard in Luke chapter 24, we can have hearts that are constantly praising God. And that cycle can repeat to where we've been filled with the Holy Spirit more and more.

Speaking to Others in Their Own Language

Then we can speak in tongues, in the tongues of other people, in their needs, in their language, so that we can reach them. Whether it is in the tongue of an angel or not, it doesn't matter. I'd much rather speak in Tamil and Telugu and Malayalam and reach the Malayalees and the Tamils and the Telugu than speak in some angelic language and not reach anybody.

So I wanna be able to have that gift of the Holy Spirit, to speak to other people in their language, so I can tell them about Jesus. So let's be humble and contrite and tremble in God's word. And let's not choose our own way.

The Warning Against Empty Religious Observance

Otherwise, God says, you're no different. You can come to church on Sunday, you can give up all your smoking and your drinking and your watching R-rated movies, that's great, but you're just as bad as the murderer.

You're just as bad as that heathen person who's drinking swine's blood or offering swine's blood. Imagine that. God's saying one person's offering a grain offering, another one is working with it, worshiping an idol and working with swine's blood.

They're both the same to me. There's a very strong warning that God is saying in that passage. God in heaven could build a whole house for himself. He doesn't need a house. But he says, out of all the people I've chosen, I've chosen those who are humble and contrite and tremble in my word.

So you're not fooling me with all your religious activity. You're not fooling me with all your quiet times. If you're choosing your own way, or you have a secret delight in anything that is sin, and a humble and contrite person who trembles in God's word and say, God, anything you say, I will do.

Prayer for Rivers of Living Ministry

It must be the heart. May God help us. We can close in prayer. Father, we thank you, Lord, that you speak so clearly and that you have ordained, Lord, that you will be found in cowsheds and in the manger, Lord.

So we want to give up all our desires to sit in the warm springs of Emmaus. Even when we see you so clearly, Lord, and you open our eyes to your truth, we want to get up, God, and go with a purpose to the people of God, to minister to them, to give them a word and to share with them, Lord, of how you're meeting with us, to encourage them, because that is the way in which you will reveal yourself.

You will appear among us and give us an even more intimate knowledge of ourselves and yourself. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that this has been your way. Thank you, Lord, that those who have been faithful to obey this are receiving the benefits of being watered themselves as they seek to water others.

We see, Lord Jesus, that this is your way, Lord. We pray that we may be gripped with this life of seeking to water others so that we can have greater and greater waters that come out of our hearts so that it's even rivers, Lord, that are flowing to bless more and more people.

There's so many in our lives, Lord Jesus, who need to hear the truth. There's so many of our friends and family who are still untouched by the truth. Lord, we want those rivers from our heart to reach them, Lord.

We want our trickle to go into a lake, to go into rivers. We pray, Lord Jesus, that we may seek to do it your way. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.