The Gospel Brings Responsibility — Anton Bosch

Well, welcome. Good to be together again this morning. I think there are folk I can't see over on that side, but we thank God for no rain. It's cold, but there's a bit of sunshine, and I believe the Lord is here, and He'll minister to us.

Jesus Sends the Seventy to Preach the Kingdom

So let's turn to the Word, and we're in Luke 10, and we'll read verses 1 -16. Luke 10, reading verses 1 -16. After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go.

Then He said to them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go your way, behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves.

Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals, and greet no one along the road. But whatever house you enter, first say, Peace to this house. And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it.

If not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give. For the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whatever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you.

And heal the sick there, and say to them, The kingdom of God has come near to you. But whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, The very dust of your city which clings to us, we wipe off against you.

Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you. But I say to you that it will be more tolerable in the day of Sodom than for that city. Woe to Chorazin! Woe to Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago sitting in dust, sackcloth, and ashes.

But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you. And Eucaponim, who exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. He who hears you, hears me. He who rejects you, rejects me.

And he who rejects me, rejects him who sent me. And so Jesus sends out the 70 with a very specific commission. Part of the commission was to obviously preach the message or the gospel of the kingdom to heal the sick.

He doesn't specifically say to cast out demons, but as we'll see in the passage next week, they are casting out demons because they come back rejoicing because demons are subject unto them. And then he gives them instructions and says that they are not to take anything with them.

They are not to make any provision. They were to trust God for their provisions as they go out. They were not to go from house to house looking for better accommodations, looking for a better deal. But they were simply to remain wherever they are received.

And then he says, and I think we ended with verse 8 last Sunday, whatever city you enter and they receive you, each such things as are set before you. In other words, be content with whatever the Lord of the harvest provides.

The Lord of the harvest pays the wages. And remember in the Old Testament, people would come together at the time of harvest to help the farmers with their harvest, even if they were fishermen or they were in business or in some other kind of endeavor.

They would all come together and help the farmers to harvest. And they would actually sleep at the threshing floor during that time. We see that in the story of Ruth and Boaz. And obviously the farmer would provide the food for the laborers.

And so the principle is that the Lord is the Lord of the harvest and He will provide for those that He sends out. Now he says, heal the sick there and say to them, the kingdom of God has come near to you.

The Kingdom of God Comes Near Through Gospel Preaching

This is really a core part of this passage. The kingdom of God has come near to you. What is the kingdom of God? And I suppose we could get into a long debate and a long discussion about the kingdom of God.

We know that the kingdom of God is spiritual. It is made up of everyone who is born again. The kingdom of God ultimately is revealed in the millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the kingdom of God also is maybe a shortcut for that or an easy way just to deal with that is to speak about heaven.

Heaven has come near you. And remember, what is heaven about? Heaven is about God and the presence of God. Heaven is about those who are permitted to enter into heaven and into the presence of God. And so he's really saying heaven in the sense of God and His kingdom has come near to you.

Now if we look at that, we say, well, who and in what form did it come near? And I suppose in a sense we can say, well, it was Jesus because Jesus really is the embodiment of the kingdom of God. But remember that Jesus had not yet appeared in these cities.

He was sending them out ahead of Him. And He was saying, go and preach and heal the sick and tell them the kingdom of God not will come when Jesus eventually comes to the city, but the kingdom has come.

The kingdom of God has come near to you. So the kingdom of God came near to them in the preaching of the kingdom. And I think that that is an important key to understanding the passage because what we're going to deal with this morning is the rejection then of that message.

And all of the verses that we have read deal with that particular aspect. So the kingdom of God comes near. It doesn't mean that you enter into, but it becomes accessible. It becomes close so that one is able to participate in it if you so choose.

And it comes near in the form of the preaching of the gospel. And so they preach the gospel of the kingdom. Our message is a little different in that we preach the gospel of the cross, which ultimately leads to the kingdom and the end result is the same.

It's just that Jesus hadn't died yet, and so the message is a little bit different before the cross to after the cross, but the net result is still exactly the same. And so the kingdom of God has come near you.

The kingdom of God had come near every city that had heard the gospel of the kingdom, whether it was just two of these witnesses that had gone into that city. And remember, these 70 witnesses that are now preaching are nothing special in the sense that they are not the 12.

They are just ordinary followers of the Lord Jesus. They may have been in that second sort of circle, that second tier of those who are following Jesus, remember, or maybe the third even if you count the three, and then the 12, and then the 70, and then the other different circles beyond that.

But none of their names are mentioned. We don't know any of these people's names. We don't know anything that any of them particularly did. Some of them may have been those who were part of the first church and maybe their names appear in the book of Acts, but it doesn't mention that there was this man in the book of Acts and that he was part of the 70.

They're an anonymous group. They represent, in a sense, every Christian who preaches the gospel. And remember that we have been given the same commission that they have. Go into all the world and preach the gospel.

And so the 70 represent us, in a sense. They're nothing special. They don't have any title. They're not called apostles or evangelists or anything. They're just called the 70, and they're sent out. And in the same way, God sends us out.

But in sending those 70 plain, ordinary people, the kingdom of God is brought into contact or people are brought into contact with the kingdom. The kingdom comes near every one of those places where the gospel is preached.

And the same is true today. And so does the kingdom of God come near Los Angeles today? Yes, it does, because of those who are preaching the gospel, not just us but everyone else who is preaching the gospel, is bringing the kingdom of God near to the city.

The kingdom of God has come near to the United States for 300 years because from the beginning there were those who preached the gospel. And even today there are those who are preaching the gospel. So the kingdom of God has come near to the Western world.

The only places where the kingdom of God has not come near are those places in... I don't even want to mention and say it's third world countries, but those places in Central America, in maybe Central Africa, in remote parts of the world where the gospel has never been preached.

And there are places where the gospel has never been preached. Those are the only places where the kingdom of God has not come near. But the kingdom of God has literally come near to this world today in that the gospel has been preached everywhere.

Cities and Nations Cannot Repent, but Individuals Can

Now the question then is how do we respond and how does cities and nations respond? Now before I deal with that, I need to again just clarify this point and that is that there is no such thing as a Christian city or a Christian nation in that sense.

The cities that Jesus mentions are not saved as a city or they are not rejected as a city. The individuals within those cities are saved or rejected. So when he speaks about the city, he's simply speaking about the majority of people in that city.

In the old days we can say that the world rejected the gospel of the kingdom or the gospel preached by Noah. Let's just call it that. The world rejected the gospel preached by Noah. The whole world was condemned.

But some were saved, Noah and his sons and their wives. And so while the world was condemned, there were still the true believers. The same happens with Israel. While God has a covenant with Israel and Israel rejects God and God ultimately rejects Israel, there are still those within Israel that are saved.

And so the fact that he mentions these various cities does not give us permission to generate or to create a doctrine of saying, well, a city can be saved. A city cannot be saved. Jesus didn't die for cities.

He didn't die for nations. He didn't die for regions or for states or for counties. He died for individuals. Only individuals can be saved. But obviously if you find a majority of people in a particular city who receive the gospel, then God's treatment of that city as a whole may be a little different to a city that rejects him.

All right, so now let's get to verse 10. But whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into the streets and say, the very dust of your city which clings to us, we wipe off against you.

Nevertheless, know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you. So it is possible for a city, then and now, or a nation to wholly reject God in spite of the fact that there may be individuals. We have an example of this in the book of Acts.

You remember Paul goes to a city which still exists today, the city of Athens. And he preaches there. He preaches in the streets. He preaches on Mars Hill, or he defends the faith on Mars Hill to the leaders of the city and the philosophers.

And then he leaves the city. And it seems that there is maybe three or four or five people at the most who are saved. It doesn't look like he established any church there. It's the only place that Paul preached without establishing a church, where there was a small minority that are saved.

But he leaves the city because the spirit of the city was such that they rejected the message of the gospel. And only a few again are saved. Now, he says, if that happens to you, you need to shake off the dust.

And we dealt with this in chapter 9 when he sends out the 12 with the same message, just to remind you, or for those maybe who weren't with us on that occasion. This is a tradition that they had that when a Jew visited a Gentile territory and they returned back to Israel, when they crossed the border, whatever defined the border, they would shake off the dust from their clothes, they would shake off the dust from their shoes and their feet, and by that they were declaring that they want to bring nothing of the Gentiles into Israel.

That even the dust of the Gentiles is contaminated and we're not going to contaminate the nation of Israel, the land of Israel, with even the dust of that nation. So it's a declaration that where they have come out of, where they have passed through, is Gentile and is rejected of God and is not worth saving.

It's not worth saving the dust on your shoes. Nobody gets to, whenever you clean your car and sweeps up all the dust off your car and say, well, I'm going to put it in a bag and I'm going to save the dust that's on my car.

It's not worth saving. It has to be dusted off, it has to be washed off, it has to be discarded. And he is saying then that the same thing would be true of these cities. Now, he's not dealing with Gentile cities.

He's dealing with Israel cities, cities in Israel, Jewish cities. And when they then were to do this, what it would be, would be a declaration that this city is no better than a Gentile city. Even though they were Jewish and claimed to be part of the covenant of God, they were no better and they were to be discarded.

Nothing of that city, including the dust, was worth carrying with you. Now, that's a tremendous statement of judgment and of damnation. Now, I'm going to apply all of this. I'm going to deal with the passage and then bring the application a little later.

Degrees of Judgment and the Warning of Sodom

Then he says, I say to you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city. Now, I'm going to spend a bit of time on this because this principle that he establishes here applies to the other cities that we find in the next few verses.

We all know who Sodom was. Sodom and Gomorrah were the two cities that were destroyed by God by fire from heaven that don't even exist today, that were totally annihilated and, as far as we can establish, are now under the Dead Sea, that the fire burnt so hot, it seems, that it actually created this indentation in the earth that eventually filled up with water and now is the Dead Sea.

It is gone. It is dead and buried. And, of course, the reason for that is the exceeding wickedness of those cities. And, of course, the sin of those cities was where we get this word Sodom, Sodomy, homosexuality.

Now, I want us to be careful that we don't build a whole doctrine around the issue of homosexuality as though that is the only sin. For some Christians in America, there's only two sins. The one is abortion and the other one is homosexuality.

Everything else is fine. Nothing else is a problem. All sin is abominable before God. Whether it is homosexuality or whether it is abortion or whether it is murder or whether it is lies or whether it is adultery, it is sin.

And when that sin reaches a certain level, God says, I've done with you, with an individual and maybe even with a city. And so, the example that he then uses, and he's going to use two other cities, Tyre and Sidon, these are the most evil and wicked cities in the Old Testament.

Now, what he is saying then is that the cities that he is sending the Seventy into are Jewish cities, cities in Israel. And he is saying that those cities, if they reject the gospel of the kingdom, it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for those cities.

Now, you can understand the problem this must have created in the minds of the hearers because their understanding is these are Israelite cities. These are cities in Israel. God has a covenant with Israel.

These are God's people. How can it be more tolerable for Sodom, that wicked place, than for this city? And of course, we'll see the answer why this difference in a moment. But I want us also to understand that he is not by this approving of Sodom.

He's not saying Sodom is going to get away with murder, just to use the expression. Sodom will be judged. Sodom has been judged, and it will be judged again in the last judgment. But what Jesus is highlighting here is a differential in judgment.

In other words, there are degrees of judgment. Now, we don't have many other scriptures to back this up, but we have the words of Jesus here. And so, if he says it's going to be more tolerable for Sodom, what is going to happen to the inhabitants of Sodom?

And remember that in all of the city of Sodom, they didn't find any men except Lot. Because remember that Abraham pleads, and he says, Well, if there's 50, and he gets down to 10, and eventually it's not even 10.

All there is, is Lot and his family. And even of his family, his wife was more involved in the city than she was with the things of God. So here's the city in which there is not a single believer. Everyone in the city is exceedingly wicked.

What will happen to them in the judgment? What will God do with them? He will cast them into hell. The scripture is clear about that. And yet he says that it will be more tolerable. In other words, the city that rejects the gospel will be more harshly treated in the judgment than Sodom.

And from that, the only way I can understand that then, is that there are degrees of punishment. Degrees of heat. I don't know how to describe it. I don't know how to explain it. But there are degrees.

It doesn't mean that some are getting off easy. It just means that some are judged more harshly. You see, it's easy to say, Well, maybe I'll get off easy in the judgment. I may not make it to heaven, but I'll get off easy.

No, nobody's going to get off easy. It's going to be terrible for the best of sinners. For the best of unbelievers. But it's going to be worse for others. Now, what he is saying then, is that these Jewish cities will be more harshly treated in the judgment than that wicked city of Sodom.

For what reason? Because Sodom had heard the gospel. Sorry, these cities had heard the gospel. Did Sodom not hear the gospel? Well, we don't know whether Lot preached the gospel. We know it says that he vexed his soul daily over the sins of the city.

Did he preach to them about God and God's goodness and God's faithfulness and the need to repent? I don't know. But clearly what Jesus is saying is that those who have heard the gospel will be more harshly judged than even this most wicked city of all time.

Then he says in verse 13, Woe to Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! Now, these cities are, and really we speak about cities, but they're really villages. But these towns, let's call them rather towns, these towns are two very small towns near Capernaum.

There is no record of Jesus. We know that some of the disciples came actually from these towns. But the Bible doesn't say that these cities rejected the gospel. And then he's going to speak about Capernaum.

Let me jump ahead and then come back to verse 15. And you Capernaum, remember that was where Jesus had based his ministry. Did they reject in these three cities, I'm going to group them together, Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum.

Is there anything in the scripture that they rejected Jesus? That they wanted him crucified? That they chased him out of town? No, they did nothing of the sort as far as we can understand. So why does he say woe?

And of course, remember that word woe is a terrible word. Woe, why does he say woe to those three cities? Because they turned against Jesus? No. Because they wanted him crucified? No. It was Jerusalem that called for him to be crucified.

May have been people from these cities there. So what's the problem? The problem was the indifference to the message. The indifference to the message. They went against it and they were not for it. Jesus was just another passing fad.

He was just another preacher. He performed some miracles and it was great to watch him. It was great to eat the food that he made and all of these things. But they remained unchanged and indifferent. And folks, here's the problem.

Is that the vast majority of people in this city and in this nation and in the western world may not have rejected the gospel. But they are indifferent to it. They are not affected by it. They do not believe it and therefore they do not repent.

And you'll see that repentance is a heart, is a core of this issue. And so the fact that we are tolerant of Christianity does not cause us to escape God's wrath. It's only when we believe and we repent.

So woe to you, Corison, and woe to you, Bessida. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago sitting in sackcloth and ashes. Tyre and Sidon were two other cities on the...

I've got my sides mixed up. On the west coast. North west coast of Israel. Right up in the north. Remember the furthest north city was Dan and right across that on the coast were these two cities. They were known in the Old Testament and the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesied against these cities because of their evil and their wickedness.

So they were Israel cities in Israel but they were so evil and wicked that God prophesied that they would be totally destroyed. And the prophecy was fulfilled. It happened exactly as God had promised.

Those cities were totally destroyed. They were major harbors at one time and in fact people from all over the world go to scuba dive there now to go and see these cities that are now or these harbors that are now submerged and that have slipped into the sea because of God's judgment and God's wrath upon them.

So of all of the cities in the Old Testament that God could mention the most evil and wicked cities and in fact the devil is likened in the Old Testament to the prince of Tyre. In other words, he is the most wicked individual and he is associated with this city.

That is how evil these cities were. But Jesus is saying that if they had seen the miracles that Israel had seen, that Capernaum and that Chorazin and Bethsaida had seen they would have repented. Now, does that make God unjust then?

Obviously God is not unjust. They had the prophets. The prophets specifically prophesied against those cities and warned them of God's wrath. And that was all that was required for God to be righteous and just.

They didn't have to have miracles. But what Jesus is saying is if they had the miracles they would have repented. And we say, well, we haven't seen miracles. All the miracles we see on television are fake.

It doesn't mean that there aren't real miracles. Yes, there are real miracles. We have seen real miracles in the last 17 years that I've been in this church. Maybe not to do with healings and those kinds of things but real, real miracles.

But even if we don't see miracles does that mean that we get off lightly? No, Tyre and Sidon didn't have miracles but they had the word. The prophets preached to them and they did not hear. Now, here's the bottom line.

What is God looking for? Is He looking for just acceptance of the message? No, clearly He is looking for repentance. In the second last line on the screen, if you can see it I don't know if the sun is washing it out but they would have repented.

That is what God was looking for from Tyre and Sidon. That is what God was looking for from Capernaum. That is what God was looking for from Bethsaida and from Chorazin. And that is what God is looking for from us in the United States today is repentance.

And remember again, there is no such thing as national repentance. A nation cannot repent. A city cannot repent. Individuals in the city need to repent. So they would have repented long ago sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

But then He says the same thing. It will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you. So what does this mean to us today? How does this apply to us? Well, I think the application is pretty clear.

Repentance as a Change of Heart and Conduct

The United States has heard the gospel for 300 years. I'm not saying it was a Christian nation. I don't believe it ever was. The facts just do not bear that out. But the gospel has always been preached from the Puritans right through to today.

The gospel has been preached. And just like the cities of Israel, they boasted in the fact that they were Israel. They were part of Israel. And because we are part of Israel, we thank God that we are not like Sodom and Gomorrah.

We are not like the Gentiles. When we go to the Gentile cities, we'll shake the dust off our feet because we are the people of God. And Jesus says, No, you are not the people of God because you are indifferent to the gospel.

And that's the problem we have today is that there is an indifference to the gospel. There is not repentance in the hearts of individuals, let alone in mass. And I know people talk about repentance, but in fact there is no repentance.

And remember that repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of heart or of character that leads to a change of actions. And until our actions change, there has not been repentance. There may have been sorrow, there may have been remorse, but there is no repentance.

Until we change, nothing is going to happen. But here's the problem is that it has become fashionable for us to blame society. And right now, the Republicans are blaming the Democrats and saying, Look how evil they are.

Look at their sins. And yet there are those in the Democrats who are looking at the Republicans and saying, Look at their sins. Look at what they do. And folks, here's the problem. It is not the sins of the Democrats that's the issue.

And it's not the sins of the Republicans that's the issue. It's the sins of the church that is the issue. God's concern is not with Democrats and Republicans. His concern is with individuals and specifically with the body of Christ.

The Church's Indifference and Compromise

And when the body of Christ tolerates sin amongst them, and there is sin in the church today like it has never ever been before, every kind of sin, idolatry, materialism, the worshipping of gods of gold and of silver.

And yes, we point to abortion out there, but there's abortion happening amongst Christians. Not just physical abortion, but spiritual abortion. We point to adultery out there, but there's adultery amongst Christians and amongst Christian leaders.

We point to the rise of demon worship out there, but demon worship has come into the church. And God says it's going to be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for the American church.

Folks, this is the reality. Just to clarify a point I've just made, you say, well, where does the church worship demons? Folks, one of the most circulated videos this last week is a video of a woman called Paula White.

And you'll know her as the prime spiritual advisor to President Trump. In that video, she is praying stroke prophesying and calling for angels to come to the aid of the President. But if you look at what she is doing, if you look at her actions, if you look at her words, she is not calling on angels, she is calling on demons.

There is no difference to what she was doing on that platform than what the witch doctors in Africa and the shamans in South America do. It's the same spirit. It's the same stuff. And the whole Christian world, the whole Christian church is saying, look at this wonderful thing that's happening.

It's demon worship. Folks, it is demon worship. I cannot be more specific than that. And if you have a modicum of spiritual discernment and you watch that video, first of all, you won't be able to watch it through the end.

It is that evil. And if you have any spiritual discernment, you'll recognize that this is not godly worship. This is witchcraft. And yet we brought it into the church. And the Christians are saying this is great.

And Christians from every side, every part of America are getting behind this woman because she is the one who's laid hands on the President. I'm not speaking about politics today. I'm speaking about the condition of the church that we are so blind.

When I look at the preachers and the message that they are preaching, God is not with us. Folks, when the definition of what a Christian is is based on whether you meet inside of this building or meet outside here in the parking lot, what abomination is that?

And you know that there are churches right around us. There is one church two miles from us that condemns us and says you are not Christians because you won't go inside the building because the government has said you can't go inside.

Simply because we are obedient to the word of God that tells us to obey the government. The government has not asked us to do anything that is unrighteous, that is unjust. The government has not treated us any different to the way they treat public bars and restaurants and places of entertainment and movie houses.

They have treated us all the same. We are not being picked on. We are not being discriminated against. Therefore we must obey that command whether we like it or not. And I don't like it. But I need to be obedient to the scriptures.

And because of that, I'm defined as not being born again, of not being a Christian. What has happened to us? What has happened to the church? What has happened to the gospel? Will there be escape for us?

And when I say us, the Christian church in America, will there be escape on the day of judgment? There will be no escape. There will be no escape. And Eucaponium who are exalted to heaven will be brought down to hell, to Hades.

You see, Capernaum was exalted in their arrogance. We are Jews. We are God's people. And folk America has exalted itself to heaven with pride. We are one nation under God. No, God has nothing to do with it.

I wish we were a nation under God. And I wish we were one nation, but we're not one nation. We're two nations and we're not under God right now. Capernaum, you will be brought down to hell. And folk, this is not just applicable to America.

This applies to England, the United Kingdom, Europe, every western country that has had the gospel for hundreds and hundreds of years. Some of those nations have had the gospel for thousands of years.

And they've been exalted in their own pride of saying we are born as a Christian nation. We've always been Christians. Even the Queen is a Christian. But you will be brought down to hell because you've been indifferent to the gospel.

There has been no repentance. You see, that's all he's looking for is repentance. He's looking for a change. And he's looking for a change in your life and in mine and in the life of the church in America.

Forget about the rest of America. Forget about the Democrats and the Republicans. It's the church that's got the problem. And when the church gets its act together, then society will get its act together.

But it's no good preaching to the world when we as a church, and when I mean we as a church, the church universal, if you will, the American church can't get its act together. And then Jesus says, He who hears you, hears me.

Rejecting the Gospel Is Rejecting the One Who Sent It

Now, he's speaking about the 70. Remember, these are not ordained ministers. These are not ordained apostles. These are just ordinary people who he sends out. And he says, whoever rejects your message, rejects me.

Whoever receives the message, receives me. Now, folks, that's no reason for us to be proud and for me to say, well, I'm a preacher. If you reject my message, you're rejecting Jesus. That's not the point.

The point is it doesn't matter who's preaching the gospel, whether it's a prophet in the Old Testament, whether it's Jesus himself, or whether it's the 70, or whether it's one of us, if we're preaching the gospel and that message is being rejected, it is not rejecting the one who's preaching, but it's the one who ultimately sent them to preach.

And obviously, if you weren't sent from God, well, then, obviously, all of this doesn't apply. So, folks, here's the serious thing. There are millions of people today who will hear the gospel in this country and in every other country in the world and who will remain indifferent.

They may not reject it, but they remain indifferent to it. They hear it, it comes in one ear, goes out the other, but they've rejected. The Lord Jesus Christ. The kingdom of God has come near our church.

The kingdom of God has come near this city. The kingdom of God has come near the United States of America. But have we received the message? Has it brought about repentance? And then he says, and he who rejects me, rejects him who sent me.

So it ultimately goes back to the Father. And so here are these simple 70-odd people preaching the message. And Jesus is saying, if you reject their message, these ordinary people, you're rejecting God.

It's that serious. And it will be more tolerable for these wicked cities than for those who reject the message that is preached by those that he has sent. Father, we pray that you'd help us. Lord, it's easy for us to look at the sins of others around us.