3191. The True Aim Of Preaching

A Sermon Published On Thursday, March 31, 1910.

Be it known to you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins. {Ac 13:38}

For other sermons on this text:

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3191, “True Arm of Preaching, The” 3192}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3547, “Simple Fact and Simple Faith” 3549}

   Exposition on Ac 13:13-49 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2366, “Sure Mercies of David, The” 2367 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Ac 13:13-49 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2899, “To You” 2900 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Ac 13:14-42 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3547, “Simple Fact and Simple Faith” 3549 @@ "Exposition"}

1. Paul’s mode of preaching, as illustrated by this chapter, was first of all to appeal to the understanding with a clear exposition of doctrinal truth, and then to impress that truth on the emotions of his hearers with earnest and forcible exhortations. This is an excellent model for revivalists. They must not give exhortation without doctrine, for, if so, they will be like men who are content with burning powder in their guns, but have omitted the shot. It is the doctrine we preach, the truth we deliver, which God will make powerful to bless men. However earnest and zealous we may be in speaking, if we do not have something weighty and solid to say, we shall appear to be earnest about nothing, and shall not be at all likely to create a lasting impression. Paul, if you notice, through this chapter, first of all gives the history of redemption, tells the story of the cross, insists on the resurrection of the Saviour, and then he comes to close and personal dealings with the souls of men, and warns them not to neglect this great salvation.

2. At the same time, it was not all doctrine and no exhortation; but, even before Paul wound up his discourse, and left the synagogue, he made a strenuous, pointed, personal appeal to those who had listened to him. Let such of our brethren as are passionately fond of mere doctrine, but having little of the marrow of divine mercy or the milk of human kindness in their souls, do not care to have the Word pressed on the consciences of men, stand rebuked by the example of the apostle Paul. He knew well that even truth itself must be powerless unless it is applied. Like the wheat in the basket, it can produce no harvest until it is sown broadcast in the furrows. We cannot expect that men will come and make an application of the truth to themselves. We must having our heart glowing, and our souls on fire with love for them, seek to bring the truth to bear on them, to impress it on their hearts and consciences, as in the sight of God and in the place of Christ.

3. The subject to which Paul drew attention, the target at which he was shooting all his arrows, was forgiveness of sins through the man Christ Jesus. That is my subject tonight; and when I have spoken on it briefly, I shall then have a few words to say about his audience, and what became of them.

4. I. PAUL’S SUBJECT was superlative,—the subject of subjects,—the great master-doctrine of the Christian ministry: “Be it known to you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins.”

5. “The forgiveness of sins” is a topic which will be more or less interesting to every hearer here in proportion as he feels that he has committed sins, the guilt of which appals his conscience. To those good people among you who fold your arms, and say, “We have done no wrong either to God or man,” I have nothing to say. You need no physician, for you are not sick. You, evidently, would not be thankful for the heavenly eyesalve, for you are not blind. The wealth that Christ can bring you will not induce you to bow the knee to him, for already you think yourselves to be rich and increased in goods. But I shall be quite sure of the ear of the man whose sins have been a burden to him. If there is one here who wants to be reconciled to God, who says with the prodigal, “I will arise and go to my Father,” I shall not need to study how to choose my words; let them come out as they may, the theme itself will be sure to enlist the attention of such a one, who says,—

   How can I get my sins forgiven?

   How can I find my way to Heaven?

While we attempt to tell him that, we shall ensure his attention. This is our aim; and this we will do if God permits.

6. The Christian minister tells men the basis for pardon, the exclusive method, (for there is a monopoly in this matter,) the exclusive method by which God will pardon sin. “Through this man,” says the text; that is to say, God will pardon, but he will only pardon in one way,—through his Son Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus has a monopoly on mercy. If you will depend on the uncovenanted mercy of God, the mercy of God apart from Christ, you shall find that you have depended on a reed, and built your house on the sand. Into the one silver pipe of the atoning sacrifice God has made to flow the full current of pardoning grace. If you will not go to that, you may be tempted by the mirage, you may think that you can drink there to the full, but you shall die disappointed. You must die, unless you come for salvation to Christ. What does he himself say? “I am the door: by me if any man enters in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” He who believes in the Son of God is not condemned; but he who does not believe—may he go right too? No, he is condemned already, because he does not believe. “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.” These are Christ’s own words, not mine. He who believes shall be saved, “but he who does not believe shall be”—what? Pardoned for his unbelief? No; “shall be damned!” There is no other alternative. The expression might seem harsh if I were its inventor; but, since it came from the lips of Christ, who was the gentlest, meekest, and most tender of men, God forbid that I should affect a love of which the Lord himself made no profession! “He who does not believe shall be damned.” God presents mercy to the sons of men, but he has chosen to present it in one channel only,—through that Man who died for sinners, the Just for the unjust, so that he might bring them to God.

7. Why is it that forgiveness comes to us only through Jesus Christ? The whole economy of redemption supplies us with an answer. The man Christ Jesus is a Divine Person. He is the Son of God. You will never doubt that reconciliation is an effect or result of infinite wisdom if you once clearly understand the condition that made it prerequisite. Though his people were objects of God’s everlasting love, their sins had kindled his fierce anger, as it were an unquenchable fire. Inasmuch as God is just, he must from the necessity of his nature punish sin. Yet he willed to have mercy on the fallen sons of men. For this reason Christ came into this world. Being God, he was made man for our sakes. He suffered from the wrath of God what we, the offending sinners, ought to have suffered. God exacted from the man Christ Jesus what he must otherwise have exacted from us. On his dear devoted head was laid the curse; on his bare back fell the scourge that must have tortured our souls throughout eternity; those hands of his, when nailed to the tree, smarted with our smart; that heart bled with our bleeding. “The chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed; surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.” Substitution, then, is the cause of it all. God will forgive sin because the sin which he forgives has been already atoned for by the sufferings of his dear Son.

8. Many of you know the story, in old Roman history, of the young man who had violated discipline, and was condemned to die. But his older brother, a grand old soldier, who had often been to the front in the battles of his country, came and exposed his breast, and showed his many scars, and exhibited his body covered with the orders, and insignias, and honours of his victories, and he said, “I cannot ask life for my brother on account of anything that he has ever done for his country; he deserves to die, I know, but I set my scars and my wounds before you as the price of his life, and I ask you whether you will not spare him for his brother’s sake”; and with acclamation it was carried that for his brother’s sake he should live. Sinner, this is what Christ does for you. He points to his scars, he pleads before the throne of God, “I have suffered the vengeance due to sin; I have honoured your righteous law; for my sake have mercy on that unworthy brother of mine!” In this way, and in no other way, forgiveness of sins is preached to you through this man Christ Jesus.

9. It is our business also to preach to you the instrument through which you may obtain this pardon. We read the question in your anxious eyes, “I can understand that Christ, having stood as a Substitute, has received from God power to pardon human souls, but how can I obtain the benefit, how can I draw near to him?” Did you ever read that Moses described the righteousness of faith, and Paul endorsed his description “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who shall ascend into heaven, or who shall descend into the deep?’” You have no reason to climb so high or dive so low. “The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart; that is, the word of faith, which we preach.” You have no need to go home to get to Christ. You have no need even to come here to find him. He is accessible at all hours, and in all places,—the ever-present Son of God. “But how shall I come to him?” one says. Oh! you need not torture your body: you need not afflict your soul; you need not bring your gold and silver; you need not bring even your tears. All that you have to do is to come to him as you are, and trust in him. Oh! if you will believe that he is the Son of God, and is able to save to the uttermost, and if you will cast yourself on him with your whole weight,—falling on him, leaning on him, resting on him with that whole recumbency which needs and lacks no other support, you shall be saved. Now cling to the cross, you shipwrecked sinner, and you shall never go down while clinging to that. If you are enabled by the Holy Spirit to put your sole and simple reliance on Christ, earth’s pillars may totter, and the lamps of heaven may be extinguished, but you shall never perish, neither shall anyone pluck you out of Christ’s hand. Trust Jesus; that is the way of salvation. “What!” one says, “if I trust Christ tonight, shall I have my sins forgiven?” Indeed, forgiven tonight. “What! if I just rest in Christ, and look to him?” Even so. “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

   There is life for a look at the crucified One,

      There is life at this moment for thee;

   Then look, sinner, look unto him, and be saved,

      Unto him who was nailed to the tree!

You will be saved, not by repentings and tears; not by wailings and workings; not by doings and prayings; but coming, believing, simply depending on what Jesus Christ has done. When your soul says by faith what Christ said in fact, “It is finished,” you are saved, and you may go your way rejoicing.

10. So we have preached God’s way of pardon, and man’s way of obtaining God’s pardon; but we are also enjoined to preach about the character of this forgiveness of sin. Never had messengers such good news to deliver. When God pardons a man’s sins, he pardons them all; he makes a clean sweep of everything. God never pardons half a man’s sins, and leaves the rest in his book. He has pardon for all sin at once. I believe that, virtually, before God, all the sins of the believer were laid to the account of Christ so that no sins ever can be laid at the believer’s door. The apostle does not say, “Who does lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” but “Who shall?” as though no one ever could. I am inclined to think that Kent’s words are literally true,—

   Here’s pardon for transgressions past;

   It matters not how black their cast;

   And oh! my soul, with wonder view,

   For sins to come here’s pardon too!

11. It is a full pardon. God takes his pen, and writes a receipt. Though the debt may be a hundred talents, he can write it off; or if it is ten thousand, the same hand can receipt it. Luther tells us of the devil appearing to him in a dream, and bringing before him the long rolls of his sins, and when he brought them, Luther said, “Now write at the bottom, ‘the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin’”: oh! that blessed word “all”—“from all sin,”—great sins and little sins; sins of our youth, and sins of our grey hairs; sins by night, and sins by day; sins of action, and sins of thought,—are gone! Blessed Saviour! Precious blood! Omnipotent Redeemer! Mighty Red Sea that drowns every Egyptian!

12. It is a full pardon, and it is likewise a free pardon. God never pardons any sinner from any other motive than his own pure grace. It is all gratis. It cost the Saviour much; but it costs us nothing. It is a pardon freely given by a God of grace, because he delights in mercy.

13. There is, too, this further blessing about it, that while it is full and free, it is also irresistible! Whom God pardons, he never condemns. Let him once say, “Absolvo te,” “I absolve you,” and no one can lay anything to our charge. We have heard of men who have been pardoned for one offence, but who have committed another, and have therefore had to die; but when the Lord pardons us, he prevents our going away to our old corruption. He puts his Spirit in us, and makes new men of us, so that we find we cannot do what we used to do. That mighty grace of God is without repentance; God never repents of having bestowed his grace. Do not believe those who tell you that he loves you today, and hates you tomorrow. Oh beloved! once in Christ, the devil cannot get you out of him. Get into the sacred clefts, sinner, of that Rock of ages which was cleft for you, and out of it the fiends of hell can never drag you. You are safe when once you get into that harbour. Get Christ, and you have gotten heaven.

14. All things are yours when Christ is yours; full pardon, free pardon, and everlasting pardon; and let me also tell you, present pardon. It is a notion still current that you cannot know you are forgiven until you come to die. Oh beloved! when people talk like this, it shows what they know, or rather, what they do not know about it. There are some here who can bear witness; no, there are millions of God’s people who, if they could speak from heaven, would tell you that they knew their pardon long years before they entered into rest. If you had ever been locked up in prison, as some of us were, and had been set at liberty, you would know what present pardon is. Five long years it was with me a bitter agony of soul, when nothing but hell stared me in the face, when I had peace neither night nor day, and oh, what joy it was when I heard that precious truth, “Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth”; I felt the pardon really fall on me! I was as conscious of pardon as this hand is conscious of being clean after I have washed it, and as conscious of being accepted in Christ at that moment as I am now sure that I am able to stand here and say as much with my mouth. A man may have this infallible witness of the Holy Spirit. I know that, to some stolid minds, it will always seem fanaticism; but what do I care whether it seems fanaticism to them or not, as long as it is real to my heart? We consider ourselves as honest as others, and have as much right to be believed; whether they credit our sanity and our sincerity or not does not affect us one bit, as long as we know that we have received the grace. If you counted on a clear profit of ten thousand pounds on some speculation, and someone said to you, “It is all foolery”; the proof would be unanswerable if you had received the amount, and had the bank-notes in your house. Then you would say, “Ah! you may think as you like about it, but I have the cash.” So Christians can say, “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God;…and not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” When someone tells a Christian that he is not forgiven, he says, “Oh! you may say what you like about it; but I have the witness within that I am born by God. I am not what I used to be; if I were to meet myself in the street, I should hardly know myself; I mean my spiritual self,—my inner self, for I am so changed, so renewed, so turned upside down, that I am not what I was; I am a new man in Christ Jesus.” The man who can say this can bear to be laughed at. He knows what he is doing, and at the coolest and most sober moment of his life, even when lying on his bed sick and ready to die, he can look right into eternity, soberly judge by Christ, and find him to be worthy of his confidence, and, thinking of the blood-washing, find it to be a real fact. There are a thousand things in this world that look good enough until you come to look at them in the prospect of the grave; but this is a thing that looks better the nearer we get to eternity, and the more solemnly and deliberately we take our account of it in the sight of God.

15. Oh, yes! there is a present pardon; but what I want to say most emphatically is, that there is a present pardon for you. “Who is that for?” you say. Oh! I am not going to pick and choose from the midst of you. Whoever among you will come and trust Christ, there is present pardon for you. What! that grey-headed man there, seventy years old in sin? Yes, blessed be the name of the Lord, if tonight he should rest in Christ, there is instantaneous pardon for him! And is there a prostitute here? Is there a drunkard here? Is there one here who has cursed God? Is there one here who has been dishonest? Is there one here over whom all these sins have rolled? Why, if you believe, your sins, which are many, are all forgiven you. And though there should be brought before us one so guilty that we might well recoil from him, yet, if he can only trust Christ, Christ will not recoil from him, but will receive him. Oh! was that not a wonderful moment when the Saviour wrote on the ground, as the woman taken in adultery stood before him, when all her accusers, being convicted by their own consciences, went out, leaving the sinner and the Saviour alone together, and when Jesus Christ, who hated all kinds of sin, but who loved all kinds of sinners, lifted himself up and said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and sin no more”? Ah! poor sinner, Jesus Christ does not condemn you. If you condemn yourselves, he never will condemn you. He will only condemn your sin, for that is what he hates, but he does not hate you. If you and your sins part, Christ and you shall never part. If you will only trust him now, you shall find him able to save you even to the very uttermost from all these sins of yours which have become your plague and your burden. May God help you then at once to trust him, and to find this present pardon,—this pardon which will last you for ever, and which you may have now!

16. Now, as I said before, all this will be good news only for those who want pardon, and not for those who do not require it. I have nothing to say to those who do not want it; why should I? “Those who are healthy have no need of the physician, but those who are sick.” God will have something to say to you, one of these days. I remember, and I hope you have not forgotten, the story of the rich man. It is more than an allegory, it is fact. You know that, while he was in this world, he had fared sumptuously every day. He was clothed in purple and fine linen, and as for God’s child, Lazarus, he thought he was a poor miserable beggar, only fit to be with the dogs, and he despised him. He looked at him, and said, “Oh! I am a gentleman; I am dressed in purple and fine linen; I am not one of your beggarly saints lying on the dunghill, though they call themselves saints, and all that; I am rich.” Now, it so happened that he did not see himself; he had scales over his eyes. But he found out the truth one day. You remember Christ’s words, “In hell, he lifted up his eyes!” Ah! and he saw then what he had never seen before. All that he had ever seen before that had been a glamour over his eyes; he had been dazed and benighted. He had been the beggar all the while, if he had only known it; while Lazarus, who had won the beggar’s garb, was waited on like a prince and carried by angels into Abraham’s bosom. So the poor beggar, covered with wounds and sores, who thinks he is only fit for the dunghill, he is the man Christ will save, he is the man Christ will take up to heaven at last. As for your self-righteous men, who think themselves so good and excellent, they will be like the tinsel and the gilt, and will all be burned up in the fire; the varnish and paint will all come off; God will knock the masks off their faces, and let the leprosy that was on their brow be seen by all men. But, sinner, you who are such, and who know it, to you is preached tonight forgiveness of sins, through the man Christ Jesus.

17. II. We shall now proceed to remind you of THE CONGREGATION TO WHOM PAUL ADDRESSED HIMSELF, AND WHAT BECAME OF THEM.

18. The text says, “To you is preached forgiveness of sin.” Never mind the Jews and Gentiles Paul preached to; the verse is quite as applicable now as it was then. “To you is preached the forgiveness of sins.” My dear friend, it is a great privilege to be where the message of the forgiveness of sins can yet be heard. To you is preached the forgiveness of sins; but not to the tens of thousands and millions who have gone the way of all flesh, unpardoned and unsaved. How is it that you are spared? Your brother is dead; some of your children have died; but you are spared. You have been at sea. You have been in peril. You have had the fever. You have been near death; and yet here you are kept alive, with death so near. Is this not a privilege that to you is preached the forgiveness of sins. What would they give to hear it once more? What would they give to have another opportunity? But it has been said of them,—

   “Too late, too late! ye cannot enter now.”

19. “To you is preached the forgiveness of sins.” I said that this was a privilege; but it is a privilege which some of you have despised. Those who heard Paul, had never heard the gospel before; many of you have heard it from your youth up. Alas! I cannot help saying of some of you that I am ready to despair of your conversion. You do not improve. All the exhortations in the world are to you as if they were spoken to an iron column or to a brazen wall! Why will you die! What shall be done to you? What shall be said to you? To you is preached the forgiveness of sins. When you die, careless, Christless, unsaved,—when we throw that handful of dirt on your coffin lid, we shall have to think, “Ah, that man is lost, and yet to him was preached the forgiveness of sins!”

20. Well, but it is still preached to you. Notwithstanding that you have neglected the privilege, the gospel is still preached to you. Gladly would I point with my finger to some of you, and say, “Well, now, I really do mean you personally. You people under the gallery whom I cannot see, and you upstairs here,—every one of you,—to you, is preached the forgiveness of sins. God has not sent us tonight to preach to your neighbours, but to you,—you, Mary, Thomas, George, John, Sarah,—you, you personally,—to you is preached the forgiveness of sins, and it is with you now, tonight, to consider what reception shall be given to the message of mercy. Shall a hard heart be the only answer? Oh, may the Spirit of God come over you, and give instead of that a quickened conscience and a tender heart, so that you may be led to say, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner!’”

21. Do you ask, “What became of those to whom the Word was preached with such thrilling earnestness?”

22. Some of them raved at a very great rate. If you read through the chapter, you will find that the Jews were filled with envy, and they spoke against those things that were declared to them by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming, and so on, until Paul shook off the dust of his feet against them, and went his way.

23. But there was another class. The forty-eighth verse says, “When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.” Ah, that is the comfort! There are some, whenever the gospel is preached, who do not like it. A person was once very angry with me because, in preaching on the natural depravity of man, I had charged man with being depraved, and I had said that man was proud. The man would not confess it, and there he was proving the truth of the assertion as regarding himself all the while that he was proud, because he could not bear to hear the truth told to him about it. If he had said he was proud, I should have thought I had made a mistake; but when he got on his high horse, and got into an angry temper, I knew that God had sent me to tell him the truth. Outspoken truth makes half the world angry. The light blinds their eyes.

24. When the Jews kicked against Paul’s preaching, did Paul feel disappointed? Oh, no! or if he did feel depressed for a moment, there was a strong cordial at hand,—that very cordial by reason of which Jesus rejoiced in spirit as he saw the goodwill of the Father in revealing to babes those things that are hidden from the wise and prudent. Here was Paul’s comfort,—there were some on whom there had been a blessed work; there were some whose names were written in the Book of Life, some concerning whom there had been covenant transactions; some whom God had chosen from before the foundation of the world; some whom Christ had bought with his blood, and whom the Spirit, therefore, came to claim as God’s own property, because Christ had bought them on the bloody tree, and those “some” believed. Naturally they were like others, but grace made the distinction, and faith was the sign and evidence of that distinction.

25. Now, you need not ask tonight whether you are God’s elect. I ask you another question,—Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? If you do, you are his elect; if you do not, the question is not to be decided yet by us. If you are God’s chosen ones, you will know it by your trusting in Jesus. Simple as that trust is, it is the infallible proof of election. God never sets the brand of faith on a soul whom Christ has not bought with his blood; and if you believe, all eternity is yours; your name is in God’s Book; you are a favoured one of heaven; the divine decrees all point to you; go your way, and rejoice.

26. But if you do not believe, you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity. May eternal mercy bring you out of that state, yes, bring you out of it tonight! Oh, that I had the time and power to plead with some here who know that Christ died, who know that he can save, who know the gospel, but who still do not trust in that gospel for their salvation! Oh, may you be led to do it, and to do it now, before today is over! We want and pray for the conversion of many more besides you. If we had these souls given to us, what a sign it would be for good, and what a comfort! May the Lord bring you in, and bring you in tonight! Oh, trust him, soul, trust him! May God help you to trust him, and his shall be the praise, world without end!

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Lu 24}

1-11. Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed about it, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: and since they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1106, ‘The Lord is Risen Indeed’ 1097} remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee, saying, ‘The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.’” And they remembered his words, and returned from the sepulchre, and told all these things to the eleven, and to all the rest. It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and other women who were with them, who told these things to the disciples. And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they did not believe them.

What an emptying power unbelief has! No news could ever be more full of solace than the news of a risen Saviour; but to the ears of unbelief this news, which made all heaven glad, seemed to the disciples only as idle tales. Unbelief tied the hands of Jesus once when he was at Nazareth, for “he did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief”: and unbelief seems often to tie our heart-strings too, so that they can give out no sweet music. Oh Lord, help us to overcome our unbelief, and enable us to always confidently believe the truth that comes to us supported by such testimony as these good women gave to the disciples!

12-14. Then Peter arose, and ran to the sepulchre; and stooping down, he beheld the linen clothes laid by themselves, and departed, wondering in himself at what had happened. And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about sixty furlongs. And they talked together about all these things which had happened.

As was most proper, those who feared the Lord spoke often to each other. Just as Elijah and Elisha talked with each other as they went towards the Jordan where Elijah was to be translated, so these two disciples were talking together about the great events that had recently happened; and especially talking about the death and the reported resurrection of Christ. This was most natural, for what is uppermost in the heart will soon be uppermost on the tongue. They had had their minds greatly exercised concerning the departure of their Lord, and it was only natural that they should speak of it. If we never talk about Christ, we have great reason to suspect whether he is really in our hearts at all.

Christ’s declaration to his disciples, “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them,” was literally fulfilled in the case of these two disciples going to Emmaus.

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

And, beloved, if you would have communion with Christ, have communion with each other. If my Lord will not reveal himself to me, perhaps he will reveal himself to others, therefore let me get into the company of his chosen, and then, surely, when he appears in the midst of their assembly, I shall have a share of the fellowship that they will enjoy.

16-19. But their eyes were restrained so that they should not know him. {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1180, “Jesus Near but Unrecognised” 1171} And he said to them, “What kinds of communication are these that you have with each other, as you walk, and are sad?” And one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said to him, “Are you only a stranger in Jerusalem, and have not known the things which are come to pass in these days?” And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:—

What little advance these disciples had made in the knowledge of Christ! He had been their Teacher, they had seen his miracles, and yet, though they had been constantly under his superintendence, they had not learned enough to know that he was divine. The Holy Spirit had not yet been given; and, without the Holy Spirit’s divine instruction, these disciples could only say that Christ “was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people”:—

20-25. And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he who should have redeemed Israel: and besides all this, today is the third day since these things were done. Yes, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, who were at the sepulchre early; and when they did not find his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. And certain of them who were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but they did not see him.” Then he said to them, “Oh fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1980, “Folly of Unbelief” 1981}

Supposing him to be a stranger in Jerusalem, yet one who was well acquainted with Jewish prophecy, they had told him exactly what the prophecies had foretold concerning the Messiah. If they had meant to refer to the various prophecies concerning Christ, they could not have detailed facts which would have more accurately fulfilled them, and therefore Christ said to them, “Oh you foolish men, how slow of heart you are to believe all that the prophets have spoken!”

26. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things,—

“Are not those just the very things which the prophets say that the Kristos, the Anointed, must suffer? ‘Ought not Christ to have suffered these things,’”—

26-28. 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. And they drew near to the village, where they were going: and he made as though he would have gone farther.

For Christ never forces his company on anyone; and if we are willing to let him go, he will go, nor will he return until we are heartily sick of having treated him coldly. When we can no longer bear the absence of Christ, then he will speedily return to us. There is an example of this in the life of Christmas Evans, which impressed me very much when I read it. Sandemanianism {a} had spread very much through Wales, and he had been very busy attacking it; but it seemed as if, in doing so, his sermons had lost all their former power and unction, and his own soul also grew very dry and barren, and he had little or no fellowship with Christ. He said that, at last, his soul grew utterly weary of being absent from his Lord, and he could not endure it any longer, but felt that he must once again enjoy communion with his Lord, and experience the power of the Holy Spirit in his preaching. So he stopped at the foot of Cader Idris {b} and spent some three hours in an intense agony of prayer; and the result was that, when he next preached, he did so with all the unction and power which had formerly rested on him. He had grown weary of the absence of Christ, and therefore Christ returned to him. Oh brethren, if Christ makes as though he would go farther, do not let him go, but hold him firmly!

29-33. But they constrained him, saying, “Stay with us: for it is towards evening, and the day is far spent.” And he went in to stay with them. And it came to pass, as he sat eating with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight. {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 681, “Eyes Opened” 672} And they said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?” And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem,—

This shows their zeal and also their courage; this news was too good to be kept to themselves, and although it was nearly night, and they had a good distance to go, in a country that was far from safe for travellers, they “returned to Jerusalem,”—

33-36. And found the eleven gathered together, and those who were with them, saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon.” And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread. And as they spoke, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and says to them, “Peace be to you.” {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1958, “The First Appearance of the Risen Lord to the Eleven” 1959}

No more appropriate greeting could have been given to the troubled disciples.

37-53. But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed that they had seen a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.” And when he had spoken this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they yet did not believe for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Do you have any food here?” And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of a honeycomb. And he took it, and ate before them. And he said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, so that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.” Then he opened their understanding, so that they might understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. And, behold, I send the promise of my Father on you: but wait in the city of Jerusalem, until you are endued with power from on high.” And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.

{a} The Glasites were a small Christian church founded in about 1730 in Scotland by John Glas. Glas’s faith, as part of the First Great Awakening, was spread by his son-in-law Robert Sandeman into England and America, where the members were called Sandemanians. Glas dissented from the Westminster Confession only in his views as to the spiritual nature of the church and the functions of the civil magistrate. See Explorer "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasite"
{b} Cadair Idris or Cader Idris is a mountain in Gwynedd, Wales, which lies at the southern end of the Snowdonia National Park near the town of Dolgellau. See Explorer "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadair_Idris"