The Mission of the Seventy Disciples (2) 10/8/2023

Is going to come and read for us and then pray for us please.

Romans 14.

Romans.

Chapter 14 I'll be reading from the English Standard Version.

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.

One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables.

Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the

one who eats, for God has welcomed him.

Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another?

It is before his own master that he stands or falls, and he will be upheld for the

Lord is able to make him stand.

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike.

Each one should fully be convinced in his own mind.

The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord.

The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God.

While the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord, and gives thanks to God.

For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.

For if we live, we live to the Lord.

If we die, we die to the Lord.

So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.

For this end, Christ died and lived again, that he may be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Why do you pass judgment on your brother?

Or you, why do you despise your brother?

For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

For it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess

to God.

So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

Therefore, let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather

decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.

I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for

anyone who thinks it is unclean.

For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love.

By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.

So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy

Spirit.

Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.

So let us then pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.

Do not for the sake of food destroy the work of God.

Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong to make another stumble by what he eats.

It is not good to eat meat or drink or wine, drink wine, or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.

The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God.

Blessed is the one that has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves, but whoever has doubts is

condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith.

Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.

Let's pray.

Our Father, we thank you, Lord, for all the blessing and the mercy that's been shown to us, but in particular, Lord, now

we thank you for your word.

We pray that as it is proclaimed before us, Lord, you would sanctify us, grow us in our faith,

and Lord, for anyone who does not know you, Lord, that they will be drawn to you and you would work within their souls

this day, and Lord, we just ask you to send forth your word that your kingdom

would grow, and Lord, we just thank you and ask you to be with us.

Grant us this understanding of your word.

Illuminate the text before us and help us, Lord, to understand it and have the strength to obey.

We thank you, Father, in.

Jesus' name, amen.

Let's turn in our Bibles to Luke chapter 10 once again,

and just a reminder, we have a fellowship meal every Sunday after church, and we hope that you can stay

with us.

It's a good time to visit, get to know one another.

Now, last Lord's Day, we began to address Luke's account of our Lord sending forth 70

disciples on a short -term mission trip, and we addressed last week how

the ESV says 72 disciples, and that that is

another alternative reading in the Greek manuscripts through the centuries,

and it may indeed be what Luke originally penned.

We're not sure.

But here, Luke 10, Jesus sent his disciples ahead of him in advance of Jesus

visiting towns and villages on his final journey to Jerusalem, where he would be betrayed

and he would suffer, of course, and die and be raised the third day.

And so last Lord's Day, we were able to give attention to the details of the first four verses of this episode,

and today we'll continue our study of the details that Luke has provided for us, and then we'll attempt to draw some

instructions and implications for us.

And so there are 20 verses here.

It's a long passage.

Let's read them again.

After these things, the Lord appointed 70 others also and sent them two by two before his

face into every city and place where he himself was about to go.

And 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 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 out 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 that day for Sodom than for that city.

Woe to you, Chorazin.

Woe to you, 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 sackcloth and ashes.

But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.

And you, Capernaum, who were 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 then the 70 returned with joy, saying, Lord, even demons are

subject to us in your name.

And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

And behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power

of the enemy.

And nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are

written in heaven.

This is a lengthy passage, and it's a rich passage.

Last week, we spoke about the uniqueness of this short -term mission within the setting of our

Lord's earthly ministry.

The Lord Jesus sent these disciples ahead to herald his

coming.

They were to herald the inauguration of the promised kingdom of God,

that God had promised David.

The promise was that one of David's descendants would sit forever on his throne, ruling over the people of God.

Here are God's words to David in about a thousand BC.

When your days are fulfilled, you rest with your fathers.

I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body,

and I will establish his kingdom.

He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

I will be his father, and he should be my son.

If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the blows of the sons of men.

But my mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before

you.

And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you.

Your throne shall be established forever.

That had a short -term prophecy regarding Solomon, David's son, but ultimately

it looked forward to Jesus Christ, David's greater son.

Now these 70 men were quite limited in their understanding regarding the kingdom, and the

manner that our Lord sent it to heaven, to his throne.

But we can assume some things that these men understood.

They were convinced that Jesus was traveling to Jerusalem, and that upon his arrival, the promised kingdom of God would commence.

Perhaps they thought the Lord Jesus would cause a great revolt or rebellion in assuming kingly authority over the

Jewish nation, overthrowing the Roman tyranny.

But regardless of what errant assumptions they may have held, these 70 disciples would call the people they encountered

to repent of their sins in order to prepare themselves for the kingdom of God that was at hand.

In their proclamation, they were to declare to the people their responsibility to respond in

repentance from sin, and to receive Jesus and his teaching in order to gain

entrance and participation into this kingdom that was about to be inaugurated.

Now again, last week we dealt with the first few verses.

We want to continue now in our study of the verses themselves before we address

some implications of them.

When our Lord was about to send forth his disciples, he gave them instructions on how they were to conduct their work,

and how they were to respond and react to the people they encountered.

He first set before them the great scope of their work.

There was a great need, but relatively few laborers to meet it.

Jesus said the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few, therefore pray the

Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

Verse 2, but in addition Jesus warned them that their mission would be

dangerous, for not all would welcome them in their message.

Verse 3 records, then he said to them, go your way behold I send you out as lambs among

wolves.

Jesus then gave them instruction regarding provision for their journey.

Interestingly, the instructions are worded negatively in that Jesus told

them three things that they were not to take along.

These three prohibitions are in verse 4, Jesus told them carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor

sandals.

They were to trust God to provide for them through the kindness of the ones to whom they ministered the Word of God.

This was unique to their mission.

Instructions were changed at a later time.

These disciples were to be diligent and devoted to their task, not allowing anybody or anything to deter or

distract them from their mission, and so Jesus instructed them greet no one

along the road.

That might seem strange to our ears, but to have done so would have slowed and limited

their progress.

Apparently this saying forbids greetings people on the way, because Oriental greetings were

important, long, and time -consuming.

The reason lies in the need for urgency on the task of missions.

If they stopped and greeted everyone along the way, they would have been slowed down, deterred in

their mission.

They had a message to proclaim to the towns, and they were to travel quickly and steadfastly, not allowing themselves to

be deterred or delayed in their duty, and so there was a great sense of

urgency and importance that their message be proclaimed to as many people as possible in the limited time

given to them.

They were on their way to Jerusalem.

Now again, we addressed these first few verses last Lord's Day, but let's continue now with verses 5 through 7.

These verses contain our Lord's instruction on how these disciples were to approach houses in

which they were invited to lodge temporarily.

Jesus gave three words of instruction of the manner they were to conduct their mission.

First, Jesus spoke of the way they were to enter the house to which they were ministering.

Verse 5 reads, but whatever house you enter, first say peace to this house.

Their first words to be expressed to a household were those of greetings, peace to this house.

Their effort was to be directed towards the well -being of those they encountered.

Yes, there was a message of judgment, but principally it was a message of opportunity and

salvation.

It was not just an occasion of urgency and importance to be pressed upon the occupants, but it was an opportunity for

them to receive God's great blessing upon them, peace unto you.

That is, if they responded to the message of the disciples in faith.

But this greeting of peace was not merely a wish of the disciples for the well -being of that household,

but rather it was a pronouncement of God's blessing of peace upon those who responded to their

message in faith.

As one said, it follows that the special mention of the greetings in this context must convey some

deeper sense.

The word peace is no longer an empty formality, but refers to the peace which is associated with the coming of

the salvation of God.

The greetings which they give on entering a house is not a wish, it's a gift which is either

received or rejected as such.

Jesus told his disciples that if someone received them and their message in faith, they may pronounce God's peace

to them.

Verse 6 records, and if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it.

If not, it will return to you.

The state of peace with God could either be bestowed freely or withheld by the messengers.

They had that authority to declare the condition, spiritual well -being

condition, of the people that heard them.

This would be a pronouncement of these messengers that those who received them and their message of Jesus as the

promised Messiah would be assured that they have a part in it, that they could be assured of their

citizenship in the kingdom of God that was about to commence.

So the disciples would pronounce God's peace upon those who believed on Jesus of Nazareth, who was on his way

to Jerusalem to establish the kingdom of God.

On the other hand, if the disciples' message of the kingdom was not received in faith, no pronouncement of God's

peace would be pronounced on that person because of his unbelief.

The Lord then told his disciples how they were to respond to those who received them.

Jesus said, remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for

the labor is worthy of his wages.

Do not go from house to house.

The disciples might be greeted with hospitality, receiving encouragement and provision from their hosts,

and when this occurred, they were to be grateful, content, accepting the support and assistance afforded them.

So the Lord was declaring that their spiritual work warranted physical assistance and encouragement.

As one wrote, the suggestion is that the disciples are entitled to their food and drink in return for their

spiritual gifts to receive material help.

And this, of course, is a biblical principle set forth in both the Old and New Testaments.

Paul expressed it in Galatians 6, 6.

One who has taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches.

Jesus then shifted his instruction with regard to their dealings with individual households.

He spoke to his disciples how they were to approach the cities that they entered, the towns that they entered.

We read in verses 8 and 9, whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat such things are set before you,

and heal the sick there and say to them, the kingdom of God has come near to you.

The Lord had granted to these 70 disciples spiritual power, enabling them to heal ailing people

wherever they went.

And this healing power gave credibility to them as legitimate messengers of God who were speaking

forth the truth of God's Word to them.

Their ability to heal the sick validated them as messengers, God's messengers.

And the disciples could then declare, the kingdom of God has come near you.

Later in Luke chapter 11, verse 20, we'll read of the Lord saying, if I cast out demons

with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Well here, when these disciples healed the sick, they could say, the kingdom of God has come

near to you.

But what were they to do if a city refused these missionaries and their message?

Well, we read of our Lord's instruction in verses 10 through 12.

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.

But I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that

city.

The disciples were to pronounce God's judgment upon the inhabitants of the city.

They rejected them and refused to believe their message.

They were to make this pronouncement of certain judgment by an action of removing their sandals and removing the very

dust of the city from them.

It was an acted out parable, as it were.

This was an action that Jewish people commonly practiced when they departed out of a Gentile

city, a city they regarded as under the wrath of God.

The idea here is that perhaps the Jewish city that they approached, if that city

refused to hear them and embrace their message, they lied under God's condemnation.

And these disciples wanted to disassociate themselves from this unbelieving community.

And so this action was to press upon the people of the city their great guilt and condemnation.

Those who refused to believe on Jesus were to be regarded as alienated from God's

people under the wrath of God, even though they might have been Jewish people.

The guilt of this city lies in the great privilege that had been offered to its citizenry to have part in the kingdom of

God.

With great privilege and opportunity comes great responsibility and accountability.

The kingdom of God, of course, with a sphere of salvation that God imparts to his people.

Although the kingdom of God was before them, they refused and rejected to respond in repentance.

Repentance of their sins in order to enter the kingdom.

But perhaps this last and final act of the disciples shaking the dust off of their feet, the

sandals, would awaken them and move them to repent and believe the gospel of the kingdom.

As one wrote, by means of these words the grievous character of rejecting good tidings or the gospel must be

impressed upon the minds and hearts of the people.

They must be told that in rejecting Christ's messengers, they are rejecting him.

In fact, they're shutting themselves out.

The rejecters will bring down upon themselves its curse.

Let this be proclaimed to them loudly and clearly in order that they may still repent.

And of course, by way of application today, we're not only proclaiming the good news of sinners

salvation through Jesus Christ, we're also proclaiming the bad news.

If you refuse or fail to believe on Jesus Christ, you're under God's wrath.

The disciples of Jesus were to pronounce the wrath of

God upon the city.

God's wrath upon that city would be more severe on the day of judgment than the judgment of God that had fallen upon the

city of Sodom.

Sodom and Gomorrah are set forth in the scriptures as the people who are under the severest measure of God's wrath.

It couldn't have been worse for you if you were a citizen of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Jude 6 and 7 speaks of them in conjunction with fallen angel demons.

And the angels who did not keep their proper domain but left their own abode, he, God, has reserved in

everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day as Sodom and Gomorrah.

And the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality

and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of

eternal fire.

But as horrific will the final judgment be upon the inhabitants of those cities, Sodom and

Gomorrah, the wrath of God in his final judgment will be more severe on those who had been told of

the kingdom of God through Jesus Christ but refused to repent of their sins and

submit to its King, Jesus.

Think about that.

As one wrote, the point is that if there is no hope for Sodom, there's even less for a city which rejects the

gospel.

Greater privilege brings greater responsibility.

Now these words reinforce a very clear teaching of Scripture that there will be different degrees of accountability

and culpability when the human race stands before the Lord Jesus on the day of judgment.

For those who had received many opportunities and much knowledge of the kingdom of God but choose to ignore or

reject its implications, they will be judged more severely than what may be regarded as

the greatest sinners of the biblical record.

Think about that and the privilege we enjoy in today's world as Americans.

Then our Lord spoke with the greatest accountability and culpability upon those communities where he'd been preaching and ministering

on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

Again he's on his way to Jerusalem but now he's pronouncing judgment on the cities that he had left.

We read in verses 13 through 16, these clear and hard words of our Lord of the certain and severe

condemnation on Judgment Day.

Woe to you, Chorazin, the town on the shores of Galilee.

Woe to you, 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 sackcloth and ashes.

But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.

And you, Capernaum, who were exalted to heaven because that's where his ministry was

for several years, you'll be brought down to Hades, the place of death.

Aside from Sodom and Gomorrah, Tyre and Sidon were the objects of God's severe judgment in history.

These kingdoms once secure and thought were invincible, God destroyed with the

Babylonian armies in the 6th century BC.

But the cities who had witnessed the miracles of Jesus and heard him teaching and preaching to them will receive

greater condemnation, greater damnation on the day of judgment than they, even Tyre and Sidon,

Gentile cities.

Jesus then gave his disciples understanding they would be speaking on his behalf when they proclaim their message of the

kingdom of God.

Verse 16 records his words, he who hears you hears me, he who rejects you

rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects him who sent me, referring to God the Father.

And so Jesus Christ came, he had the authority of his Father, God the Father, and when these

disciples spoke in the authority of Jesus Christ, they were speaking on his behalf.

To reject the disciples and their message was to reject God.

To fail or refuse the message proclaimed by the true spokesman of Jesus Christ was to reject

God himself.

And the same is of today, isn't it?

As you, as we as a church, as I proclaim the Word of God, it's great privilege and

opportunity, but if it's refused, rejected, great condemnation

is upon those because they've not just rejected you or me, they've rejected Jesus Christ,

and in rejecting him they've rejected God the Father.

No hope for them.

Well, although Luke does not tell us of the disciples departure and the details of their mission,

Luke does record their return and the report they gave Jesus.

Verse 17 tells us of the joy and amazement of their successful mission.

Then the 70 returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us

in your name.

The disciples knew and acknowledged that it was in the name of Jesus they were able to see the results that

they had accomplished.

And in all spiritual accomplishments of disciples of Jesus are due to his blessing upon them and his working

through them.

It wasn't because of them and their ability, their knowledge, their

cleverness, it was because because of Jesus who had sent them and

empowered them.

Jesus's response to their announcement is set forth in verse 18.

He said, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

There are a number of places in Scripture where they speak of the demise of the devil,

of stripping him of his authority and power in the spiritual realm.

Of course, we know that due to Christ dying on the cross, he brought about the devil's defeat.

When our Lord rose from the grave, ascended into heaven to the throne of his Father, Christ was

exalted in authority over the devil.

And so when that occurred, in a sense the devil was bound or cast out of heaven.

That's an expression showing the demotion of the devil under Jesus

Christ.

He didn't have the power that he formerly had, namely to prevent the gospel from going out into the

Gentile world.

Peter wrote of the exaltation of Jesus Christ and the demotion of the devil and his forces.

Peter wrote of the resurrection of Christ who has gone into heaven, is at the right hand of God.

Angels and authorities and powers have been made subject to him, and that includes the devil

and his forces.

And here they are subject to the disciples of Jesus because of the name of Jesus.

Well, Jesus then affirmed that he would grant his disciples all authority that they would need in order to accomplish his

work through them.

Verse 19, behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions over all the power of the enemy.

Nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Here the serpents and scorpions are metaphors for satanic spirits and forces.

The servant of Jesus Christ is invincible.

While he is in service to his master, affing have been called and sent upon a specific

mission.

When his servants are serving on his behalf, they would trample on any spiritual enemy that they encounter.

However, their great success in the Lord's service and the great spiritual authority that they wielded was not to be the

primary source of their joy or satisfaction.

For far greater than performing miracles of healing or casting out demons is to have assurance

that one is redeemed from his sins by Jesus Christ.

Having the gift of eternal life, to be a citizen of the kingdom of God,

this should be the supreme cause of the rejoicing of the disciple of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said in verse 20, nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather

rejoice because your names are written in heaven.

You and I have more reason to rejoice before God than if you and I could go out and cast out demons

and conquer every enemy before us, because we're the objects of God's saving

grace.

Your names, it speaks of a heavenly register.

The ancient cities, they would have a register of the citizens of a city, and here it speaks

of your names being written, of course, and Revelation speaks about the Lamb's book of life.

It's a registry of the citizens of the New Jerusalem, of the redeemed of all

ages.

To have an inheritance and citizenry in the eternal

kingdom of God is the greatest possible blessing a human being could ever hope to receive,

and we have it now in Christ, thankfully.

Well, we've now worked through the verses of this passage, and

we should draw some instruction and implications for ourselves,

even while we recognize that there are some unique details about this mission and these

70 disciples on this occasion.

Their sense of urgency should be a pattern for us today, but again, their urgency was really

conditioned on the fact that Jerusalem was just before them, just a few days off.

This gave them a sense of urgency, and Luke is able to convey that in his words,

and so as we read the gospel today, the Gospel of Luke, a sense of urgency is compelling us as well,

but a different reason, perhaps, should move us and motivate us.

But let's consider the mission and how it may compare with ours, and see how their activity can

encourage us in our mission.

First, they had a commission somewhat like ours.

The cardinal characteristic of a disciple is that of a learner.

The disciple is one who follows his master about.

That's what a true Christian is, a disciple, being instructed by the word and examples of his teacher,

but the learner or disciple is not learning the teachings of his master simply for his own benefit or

gratification.

A disciple is being taught and trained in order to carry forth the mission of his master

after his master has passed from the scene.

These 70 disciples, having been instructed and having observed their master, were now commissioned to conduct a mission of

preaching, and they went forth from Jesus in obedience.

And we too, as Christ's disciples, have been given a commission by our master.

Jesus said to us, go therefore and make disciples of all nations,

baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever

I have commanded you.

And so as these 70 disciples, the Lord has commissioned you and me and our church,

giving us the responsibility to represent him and proclaim the good news regarding him to the world in which

he's placed us.

This is our task, and we're to obey him and fulfill what he's called us to do.

That is upon each of us as disciples, as Christians.

We're to go and bear the good news of our Lord Jesus.

We must always have this sense of calling and commission upon us.

We've been given marching orders, a directive, and we should use every means and every occasion to present the claims of Christ

before others.

Whether or not we perceive people will respond to our message should not govern whether we speak or not.

This idea of present -day church ministry, go out there and look for seekers.

No, you go out and look for sinners, anywhere and everywhere, whether or not they're seeking.

And we preach Christ to them.

For weeks and weeks and weeks, I was not a seeker.

I was a sinner and hated Christ, hated Christians, and didn't want to hear anything about it.

I'm glad they weren't looking for me as a seeker or I would have never heard the gospel.

We have a commission, and if the opportunity is there, we have been instructed to tell them the gospel of Jesus

Christ, the gospel of his kingdom.

Our message of the gospel is quite similar to their message.

We too are to press upon people the reality of the kingdom of God over which Jesus is reigning,

and their responsibility to repent of sin and to believe on him as their Lord and Savior as the means of entering that

kingdom.

The gospel is much more than this is how you can get your sins forgiven.

It's the good news that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Jesus is Lord, you're not.

As long as you insist on being your own Lord, you're lost in your sins.

Jesus is Lord over his kingdom.

This is the heart of our message ultimately, but it's not one that is broadly proclaimed, frankly.

We are also to pronounce and assure people that upon their faith in Christ, God's peace is upon them,

or we are to declare to them their certain condemnation on the day of judgment for their continuance in sin and unbelief.

He who believes not the wrath of God abides on him.

We've got good news to declare to sinners,

but currently there's bad news for them.

That ought to motivate them to turn to Christ.

And so they had a commission somewhat like ours.

They had conditions somewhat like ours, verse 2.

We read in verse 2, he said to them, the harvest truly is great, but the labors are few.

There is opportunity before them.

The harvest is plentiful.

They needed to be told of the great prospects for success in their ministry.

It was harvest time.

There were souls out there, souls ripe for picking.

All they needed to do was to proclaim their message and the Lord would assure their results.

We may also be assured of God's blessing when we do the work in his way.

He has many people out there.

Paul suffered persecution when he first arrived in Corinth.

The Lord appeared to him at night.

Don't be fearful, Paul.

I've got many people in this city.

Before anyone was converted, Paul was assured of success.

God's going to call his people unto himself and we can be assured of that.

We can apply the classic words of the psalmist, which is commonly quoted with

regard to evangelistic efforts.

Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.

He who continually goes forth weeping buried seed for sowing shall doubtless come again with

rejoicing bringing his sheaves with him.

And that ought to be our comfort and concern, but also assurance.

However, let me interject this note as well.

There are seasons in the Lord's work.

Just as a farmer plows and plants and waters and waits and then the harvest comes, so it is with the

work of the Lord.

These disciples were promised an abundant harvest.

True revival was to be expected.

A time of great joy and great responsiveness was at hand.

You know, the Lord had been ministering for three years.

They could expect revival, but they had work to do to see it realized.

Go tell them about the kingdom.

And so we see at this stage in Jesus's ministry, the ministry of the Word was in a harvest stage.

But sometimes because of conditions of society, the condition of churches and the moral and spiritual

state of Christians or of non -Christians is not a time of harvest.

And it's important to discern the stage of the Lord's work in any given setting, whether it be a society, a church,

or an individual.

Well, in what way?

Well, sometimes the work of God is more like plowing than harvesting.

It's not yet harvest time, nowhere near it.

The landscape is characterized by dryness and barrenness.

Go preach a kingdom of God in a Muslim country and see how you do.

I remember talking to somebody years ago, he was a missionary, was at a

big American missions conference, and some man, missionary, was

up there talking about the hundreds and hundreds of souls coming to Christ.

And my friend Steve was sitting next to an older guy, missionary.

Where do you serve?

I think it was somewhere in the Middle East.

How many converts have you had?

Well, in my ministry I've had two.

A lifetime of missionary work, two.

It's not always a type of harvesting.

Sometimes there's a ministry of plowing.

The ground is hard, fallow, incapable of producing any growth, let alone bear fruit, because their

hearts are hard and their minds are ignorant, and generally they're indifferent and presumptive.

They assume all is well, even though every indication about them would suggest otherwise.

Sin is viewed as a trifle.

God is not seen as threatening judgment.

The people remain positive, at peace with themselves, and they assume, presume, that God is at peace with

them too.

Those are not conditions for spiritual harvest.

And Israel was like this much in much of her history.

The people needed to be awakened out of their lethargy and informed of their true condition.

That's what John the Baptist did, right?

We read of Jeremiah's prophecy with an eye on the attitude and outlook of the people.

Thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, break up your fallow ground and do not sow among thorns.

That was not a time of harvest, that was a, there was a time needing for plowing there, breaking up that hard ground.

Circumcise yourselves to the Lord.

Repent.

Take away the foreskins of your hearts, you men of Judah, inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Lest my fury come forth like a fire and burn so that no one can quench it because of the evil of your doings.

And so in times like these, the Word of God is more like a plow, digging and churning,

bringing up evil, breaking up the hard earth so that the soul might be prepared for planting.

The Word of God during this stage is at work revealing sin and God's judgment upon it.

It's often the law of God in the, in the Word of God that the Holy Spirit uses to perform this

plowing of the soul.

And it's extremely important during this stage to recognize what God is doing and respond to his word in

humility.

We need to become teachable, humble, to believe the worst of

our state.

Lord, don't tell me what I want to hear, tell me what I need to hear.

We must know thoroughly our true condition, true standing before God.

In short, we must ourselves respond by doing a deep work of introspection, uncovering corruption,

preparing ourselves to receive the Word of God.

The prophet Hosea used this same kind of word picture of Jeremiah.

He declared to Israel, break up your fallow, that is unplowed ground, for it's time to seek the Lord.

And so in this sense of plowing, the work of God is to produce conviction of sin, lead to repentance, turning from

sin.

And this must be done before God's blessing of revival comes.

But after this plowing stage, then there's a second stage.

Sometimes the work of God is like sowing seed.

After the work of repentance or even during the work of repentance, the people are ready to receive instruction.

It's generally after God's judgment that he brings blessing.

It's after purging that healing comes.

It's after sifting of the shaft that the true grain or fruit begins to show itself.

It's after the law brings a sense of sin that God's grace in the gospel comes in its fullness.

It's after the plowing work of John the Baptist and the planting work of the Lord Jesus that these

disciples could now expect a harvest.

Now when God is working in order to bring forth revival, he brings an individual or perhaps a group of people

from the first condition of indifference to a condition in which there is great ignorance.

When you find an unteachable person, you will probably see an indifferent person with regard to sin in his

life and sin in the life of others.

He's okay with it.

Well, that's not my preference, but you know, let them do what they want to do in private.

But when God deals with a person, no matter how intelligent, no matter how educated, no matter how experienced that

person is, he becomes painfully aware of his own ignorance with regard to matters.

In short, he becomes like a little child.

He becomes teachable.

This attitude should always characterize us as believers, not in that we remain ignorant

as children, but as children we always recognize that we've got so much to learn.

The more I learn, the more I realize I need to learn more.

Well, this stage of the Lord sowing seed into one's soul is characterized by great humility.

You come to know deeply, how can I have been so blind, so deaf in the hearing that I could not see, I

could not understand?

And so as a child, you see things which you thought you knew, but now from an enlightened perspective, you see how

grossly ignorant you were of the substance and reality of the matter.

So you begin to learn, really learn.

You enroll afresh in the school of Christ, and things begin to leap out at you from the Bible, which you'd never

seen before.

And most importantly, you respond to them.

And so growth occurs, sometimes rapid growth, even amazing growth, as the engrafted Word of

God, that the Bible describes, does its work in your soul.

But then thankfully, sometimes the work of the kingdom is like harvesting, and that's what these disciples were

enjoying in Luke 10.

In the time of true revival, the work of God is manifest everywhere you look.

People are learning the Word of God, applying the Word of God, experiencing the presence of God.

They're rejoicing as in the day of harvest.

This was what these 70 disciples were experiencing in their ministry.

It was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 9, verse 1.

Nevertheless, a gloom will not be upon her who is distressed.

This is actually a prophecy of Galilee before the ministry of the Lord Jesus.

As when at first he lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun, the land of Naphtali, the two tribes up there by

Galilee, and after were more heavily oppressed her by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan and Galilee of the Gentiles.

This is quoted in the Gospels, isn't it?

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined.

Speaking of Jesus and his ministry, and then it

there's words to God.

You've multiplied the nation, increased his joy.

They rejoice before you according to the joy of harvest.

That was the greatest time of year for a people in an agrarian culture, society.

As men rejoice when they divide the spoil after they've won a great victory in battle, and now they're

dividing up the spoils of war.

And so we see that these people

were promised that they would experience this harvest.

Isaiah 9 alludes to this, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.

The government will be upon his shoulder, his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting

Father, Prince of Peace.

At the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, and upon the throne of his father David

his government shall increase.

There will be no end.

Upon the throne of David over his kingdom to order it and establish what judgment and justice from this time forward, even forever, the

zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform it.

And so again, it's important to discern what is God doing in a person's life, in a

family's life, in a church's experience, in a community, within a nation.

It's very likely the Lord Jesus has each of us in various stages of growth.

Some have gone through that deep painful plowing process, stripping us of our

self -righteousness, our pride, showing us our ignorance.

Some of us still may be going through it.

Some may yet need to go through it.

They're learning and growing.

The seed that's being sown is beginning to bear fruit.

Some may be experienced at time of harvest, thankfully, because they've already gone through the previous stages.

No one can come to the third stage and skip the first two.

Seed doesn't grow very well on fallow ground.

We would urge you that wherever the Lord has you to be responsive to him.

Do not resist the work of God in your life.

If you're in that first stage of plowing, well, have the attitude, Lord, if you're gonna plow, do it deeply and quickly.

Do it in one pass, if I can go on, and don't let me resist so I have to have the plow scrape

over me repeatedly.

Let me be responsive to your work.

And if you're in the second stage of having the word sown in your heart, if you're in the process of learning, we would urge you to

immerse yourself in the Word of God.

Seek instruction.

Long for understanding.

Ask questions of yourself.

Meditate upon the Word of God.

Ask questions about its meaning and implications.

Come see one of the elders and let's talk about your issues.

Answer your questions.

That's what we do in men's group on Saturday morning.

It's amazing someplace where it takes us.

Great responsibility comes upon them who hear the Word of God and always remember there's great accountability for

them who hear the Word of God and understand it but refuse to respond to it.

Pray, Lord, give me understanding of your Word, but give me grace as well that I might respond in faith and

obedience.

Don't just give me understanding, give me grace to do it.

Do not let me fail of the grace of God due to pride or bitterness.

Lord, have your way in my soul.

And lastly, if you're in that final stage, you find yourself at a time of harvest, be careful of

the danger that in which to which you're exposed.

The danger primarily is the danger of sinful pride.

Here in Luke 10, for these disciples, it was a time of great opportunity for them to reap a great harvest, but though the

harvest was potentially great, the workers were few.

Things have not changed.

It's the same today.

There are many opportunities in the work of the kingdom, but few opportunists.

There's much work to be done, but there's always a dearth of workers.

Always that way in the life of the church.

We can say that our church has been greatly blessed, but we ought to pray that the Lord sends forth more labors into us

harvest, and I hope the Lord will send more of us.

It's true that all spheres of work are spiritual and that all servants of Christ in whatever we do is

spiritual work, but there are some that need to be sent as full -time servants of Christ.

My first pastor was Floyd Anderson who watched over me,

discipled me.

There are never enough laborers for the great harvest before us.

We always need more servants of the Lord.

There's always some retiring, some failing in health, that can no longer stand themselves, and someone must

stand in their place.

The need is great, but this is important.

Not just full -time ministry people are needed.

Each of us should recognize our full -time responsibility to do the work of God wherever the Lord has placed

us.

In our homes, in our schools, our place of employment.

We're to look for opportunities.

Who in your sphere of influence is doing the work of the kingdom?

It may be, even though you may feel ignorant and unqualified, you might be the best one suited for the task in the

place the Lord has established you.

Seize the moment.

There's not enough others to do so.

Pray the Lord would send more and more to work in his field, the world.

Christ gave these 70 a commission, sent them out, and Christ has given us a commission,

and he has sent us out, and there are a few true effective workers in the kingdom.

May the Lord be pleased to use us.

As we walk out here, you know, they're commonly in back of church, you're going out into the mission,

you're going out into the world of mission, and that's what each of us are doing as Christians when we leave this place.

We have to close.

They had concerns somewhat like ours, not exactly.

They would have opposition, we have also, and the opposition seems to be increasing

and probably will more so.

Each of us too are ignorant in a measure like they were.

There will be those who oppose us, they're wolves that will will take advantage of us

since we're but lambs, but the Lord will sustain us.

They would be received in different ways by different people, we can expect the same.

We shouldn't be surprised when that happens.

The Lord said it would.

But again, lastly, we conclude with this thought.

They had cause to rejoice because their names were written in heaven, and you and I that are in Christ have that same

basis of joy.

Yes, we have great opportunities.

Yes, the Lord gives fruit and we enjoy it.

We rejoice when souls come to salvation in Christ, but the thing we rejoice most about,

my name is written there in the Lamb's Book of Life, and we should

rejoice in that.

There should ever be the basis of our joy that we are the recipients of God's salvation through Jesus Christ,

amen?

So let's purpose to go forth from here with a sense of that peace that God has declared for

us, and a sense of joy that we belong to Christ, and let us always be

mindful of the of the need of people about us.

In their error and ignorance, they need to hear it, and if they don't hear it from us, they might not ever hear it.

Our Father, we thank you for your word, and we thank you, our God, that there are times of harvest

that we can enjoy as your people, and we pray that we would see that in our day, our God.

We have sown much word, our God.

We hope that much has been plowed.

The souls of people have been prepared through your word, and that your word, our God, is

being sown as seed, and that it's buried fruit, and we just pray, our God, that we would see

a wonderful, abundant harvest before us.

Help us, our God, to hear fresh the words of our Lord Jesus to his disciples, to

not say there's three months before the harvest, but rather to look upon the fields white on the harvest, our God.

Send forth us, our God, and give us fruit for our labors.

We desire, our God, to rejoice as in the day of spoil, to rejoice

as in the day of harvest, and so help us, our God.

Continue to bless our church.

We thank you, our God, that you seem to always be in the process of bringing some soul to

salvation through Jesus Christ, through this ministry.

May you continue to do so, but on a far grander scale.

Glorify yourself, Father, through Jesus Christ, through the proclamation of the gospel, for we

pray these things, Father, in Jesus' name, Amen.