WWUTT 2371 Whoever is Not Against Us is For Us (Luke 9:49-56)

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When Jesus came to earth the first time, it was not in judgment to pour out fire and wrath on sinners, but he came to give his life as a ransom for many.

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And we must show the same mercy as Christ when we understand the text. This is when we understand the text studying

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God's word to reach all the riches of full assurance in Christ. Find all our videos online at www .wtt

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.com as well as links to follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Here's your teacher,

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the gospel according to Luke, we come back to chapter 9.

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In the section we're looking at today, Jesus begins his journey toward Jerusalem.

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Let me start reading in verse 49, we'll go through verse 56. Hear the word of the Lord. John answered,

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Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.

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But Jesus said to him, Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.

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When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

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And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make preparations for him.

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But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem.

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And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?

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But he turned and rebuked them, and they went on to another village.

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And so in this passage that we're looking at here today, we're finishing up one section where Jesus has been with his disciples going throughout

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Galilee and ministering and preaching. And we're starting a new section where Jesus is heading toward Jerusalem, where he's going to go and die.

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He's going to be buried and rise from the dead, and he will even ascend into heaven. That's being mentioned here in the section that we're looking at today.

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Now John appears in both of these sections. At one point, he tells Jesus, we tried to stop somebody from casting out demons because he's not with us.

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And Jesus said to him, do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you.

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And then in the next portion, the Samaritans don't receive Jesus. And so once again, it's John, along with his brother

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James. They say to Jesus, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven? And Jesus rebukes them for suggesting such a thing.

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In both of these occasions, Jesus is instructing his disciples on a mission of mercy.

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This is not judgment. Jesus has not come to bring judgment to the world. He has come to give his life as a ransom for many.

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And so there is going to be this mission, this sharing of the gospel that is going to go throughout the world. The judgment will come later when

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Jesus returns, but that's not his mission now. So let's come back up to verse 49 as we finish up the time that Jesus and his disciples have been in Galilee.

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Once again, John says, Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he does not follow with us.

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But Jesus said, do not stop him for the one who is not against you is for you.

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Now there's an interesting contrast between this particular passage and what will have come up later on in chapter 11, where Jesus is going to be accused of casting out demons by Beelzebul.

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And so in that particular case, yeah, these people are against us because they're accusing

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Jesus of being of Satan. So those people are against us. But here there's someone casting out demons and doing so in Jesus name.

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Now, even though whoever this is, maybe it's a disciple of John the Baptist, we don't know. But whoever this is, is not part of the disciples that are following Jesus.

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He's doing it in Jesus name. He's casting out demons in Jesus name, but he's just not part of the group of people that are following Jesus.

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Now, I say the group of people because, of course, there's the 12. There's the 12 apostles that Jesus chose.

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And then even from the 12, there's an even tighter inner circle that we have seen of Peter, James and John.

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They were the three that went with Jesus up on the mountain of transfiguration. But there are even more disciples than this, than just the 12.

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Coming up in chapter 10, which we'll get to in a couple of days, probably on Wednesday, Jesus sends out the 72.

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So you've got many more disciples than that. And we've seen suggestions elsewhere of there being other disciples along with Jesus and not just the 12.

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Remember, there was the group of women that would minister to them as well as they went.

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So it's not just 12, although Jesus has chosen 12 to be those disciples that he would really pour into.

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And then, of course, there's the core three that are in the midst of that. Peter is even something of a leader among them.

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But there are more disciples than just this. Now, Jesus says they're not against us.

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So whoever it is casting out demons in Jesus name is doing so in Jesus name.

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This appears to be a very, very genuine display of somebody who believes in the power of Christ and is calling upon his name to have authority over these evil spirits.

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Praise God that there is someone else out there even who is advancing the message of the kingdom and the power of the kingdom through what they demonstrate.

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So Jesus says and teaches his disciples this. The one who is not against you is for you.

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There is not a reason for you to have to stop a ministry that is very much in line with everything that we are doing.

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And so a lot of times for us as Christians as well, we need to recognize where our partners are, even though there might be some disagreements.

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Perhaps we're part of different denominations. So there's some secondary, maybe tertiary doctrines that we disagree on.

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But we understand those core doctrines, all of us together, loving Christ, proclaiming the

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Christ of the Bible, our doctrine as far as soteriology or the study of salvation goes is all solid, very sound.

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And so we can recognize those Christians that we may have some other disagreements with, but yet all part of the same mission to tell people about Jesus, calling out sin and telling them the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is only by faith in Jesus who died on a cross, who rose again from the dead, that we can be forgiven our sins and have eternal life.

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In Philippians chapter one, when the apostle Paul was in prison for preaching the gospel, the

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Philippians had heard about Paul's imprisonment. This was in Rome. He was under house arrest in Rome.

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And so the Philippians took up an offering and had it sent by Epaphroditus to Paul to aid him in the ministry that he was doing.

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He could not leave his home, but he could have plenty of other people come to him. And then some of that money would not only help

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Paul, but would probably, you know, he would give a portion of that to those who really needed it as well.

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The Philippians knew Paul knows those people that truly need it. So they sent that offering to assist the apostle

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Paul. Paul writes a letter to them, thanking them for the gift that they had sent.

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And that's what we have in the letter to the Philippians. But in addition to this, the

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Philippians were also gravely concerned because they had heard of preachers out there that were making things difficult on Paul.

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If Paul was thrown in prison, then he must have done something to deserve it. Or these preachers did not want the same persecution that came upon Paul to come upon them.

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So they would try to distance themselves from Paul. And that really troubled the hearts of the Philippians.

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But Paul would say to them, yeah, there are those that preach out of rivalry, but let us rejoice that the gospel continues to be proclaimed.

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So let me read that to you here from Philippians 115. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill.

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So some will preach Christ with bad motives. But others will preach

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Christ from goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.

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The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.

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What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth,

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Christ is proclaimed. And in that, I rejoice. There are other teachers out there that I think have bad motives in the way that they teach.

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But I may not necessarily call them out because they're still proclaiming the gospel. And there are teachers

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I've had serious disagreements with. As a matter of fact, on the Friday Q &A, you know, we take questions from the listeners and respond to them on the

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Friday episode. Sometimes I have had questions sent to me about this teacher or that teacher.

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What is your view of that teacher? And I've actually not answered those questions. I skip over them and go to something else.

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And the reason why is because I have serious disagreements with that teacher. And they're probably serious disagreements to the point that I would not partner in ministry with them.

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However, I know that they are really making a difference in a lot of people's lives.

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And the things that I know about that teacher, somebody else may not know. And so it's not necessary for me because I don't think it's something that's necessarily disqualifying.

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So it's not necessary for me to have to be the guy standing there going, no, I have nothing to do with that preacher because of this, this, and this.

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It might be that I'm making a bigger deal out of something that I really need to make out of it. So on those occasions where I'm glad that teacher is preaching the gospel and he's had such a ministry and he's reaching other people, praise the

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Lord for that. There may be some things that I'm aware of that most people are not aware of, but it's not, there's not a reason for me to have to cause division where I don't need to.

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So on those occasions, I just won't answer the question. I'll just, I won't even respond to the email, frankly.

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Yeah. Sorry, guys. I know sometimes skipping over those emails because I just don't want to have to put you in a spot of, of having to think, okay, well now what do

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I do? Because I've loved this teacher so much, but now Gabe's telling me this, I don't know what to think about that. Now, if a teacher comes out that this is very plainly disqualified and it's to the point that he's leading people to destruction rather than leading them in the truth, well then

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I'm probably going to say something about it. But even if I have some minor disagreements with maybe their method or the way that they are doing things, or maybe

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I know something about them personally, that's not publicly known, in which case I would just be gossiping by sharing that information.

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Then it's good enough for me to leave them to do what they do. Even if their motivation is out of rivalry instead of out of a genuine heart for Christ and for his gospel to be proclaimed, at least the gospel is being proclaimed.

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And in that I rejoice. And so here Jesus is saying that to his disciples as well.

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Whoever is not against you is for you. Whatever differences there might be there, this man was proclaiming

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Christ, casting out demons by the power of the kingdom. Praise God for that. And there will be many others outside of our own circles who are doing that very thing.

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And we praise the Lord that the message of the kingdom, that the gospel of Christ continues to go forth and is advancing, even if we don't 100 % agree on everything, right?

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Good lesson to take from that exchange between Jesus and John. Well, then John's name comes up again and comes up in this section here, where Jesus now turns his face toward Jerusalem.

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This is beginning a section that is going to go all the way through chapter 19. Jesus has spent time ministering in Galilee, and now he is heading toward what he came to earth to do, and that was to die as an atoning sacrifice and rise again from the dead.

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So we have in verse 51, when the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem and he sent messengers ahead of him who went and entered a village of the

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Samaritans to make preparations for him. Now making preparations for him means that they're looking for a place for him to stay.

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Remember that when Jesus sent out his apostles to go into the villages in Israel, he said to them that you go to those places that will accept you, and if they won't accept you, you kick the dust off your feet and you go to the next place.

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And kicking the dust off your feet was to be a rebuke against those people because they would not receive those who had been sent out by Christ, demonstrating their hearts.

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They did not have a heart for Christ anyway. So go to those places and let them receive you.

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And here they're going to a village of the Samaritans looking for those Samaritans to receive

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Jesus, but he's not received by them. Now in John's gospel, in John chapter four, we have

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Jesus going to a village of the Samaritans, the village of Sychar, and it's there where he meets the woman at the well, reveals to her that he is the

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Messiah. She goes and brings the whole village out to listen to him and a whole village gets saved by the testimony of this woman.

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And then hearing the message of Christ proclaimed as he was with them for a couple of days.

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That's not this village. This is a different Samaritan village and a group of Samaritans whose hearts were not for the

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Lord. Now in verse 51, I kind of brushed over this too quickly, but when the days drew near for him to be taken up, what does that mean?

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Taken up on the cross? No, it's taken up into heaven. Luke's gospel is the first one that will show in the narrative,

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Jesus ascending into heaven. And Luke does it twice. He shows it at the end of Luke, Jesus ascending to heaven.

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And then at the beginning of the book of Acts. So those are the two books, both authored by Luke that have

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Jesus ascending into heaven. So here Luke is mentioning that's coming up.

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Yeah, no pun intended, but Jesus will be taken up and he sets his face to go to Jerusalem.

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It's almost the same as saying that his heart is now inclined to go to Jerusalem. That's where he's going.

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So he sends messengers ahead. They go and enter a village of the Samaritans to make preparations for him.

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Verse 53, but the people did not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem.

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That's a curious phrase. So what does that mean? Was, was he literally oriented to Jerusalem in sort of a religious way so that they knew, well, this man's a

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Jew and that's what his affections are for, are for Jerusalem. The Samaritans did not believe that Mount Moriah, which is where the temple was.

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They did not believe that was the place where we were to worship God. They thought that it was

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Mount Gerizim. That's where we, that's where we are to worship God. And that's, that's in the exchange that Jesus has with the

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Samaritan woman at the well. She says, you say Jerusalem is where we should worship.

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And we say that it's here. So that was contending with the fact that Jesus being a Jew believed that Jerusalem, the temple that was there, that's the place where we're to worship

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God. The Samaritans thought it was another place. So since Jesus is oriented toward Jerusalem, the

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Samaritans discriminate against him here. So again, I don't know if that's like a physical orientation that we do know that the

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Jews prayed toward Jerusalem, Daniel, when he was in captivity in Babylon.

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And then to the Medes and the Persians, he would orient himself to face Jerusalem when he prayed, because that was where the presence of God was in the temple.

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So maybe in sort of a religious aspect, Jesus is orienting himself like that, or it could just very simply be because he was a

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Jew. And so they knew that his desire was for Jerusalem and not to worship

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God on Mount Gerizim. It could be that there was just something spiritual about his heart.

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Once again, his face set toward Jerusalem means that his heart is inclined to go there to do the will of the

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Father. So it could just simply be because Christ had a love for the Father and Jerusalem was where he wanted to go, that the people did not like him.

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They were going to discriminate against Jesus and his disciples because they were heading toward Jerusalem, which they thought even to be kind of blasphemous.

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That's not where God is supposed to be worshiped. He's supposed to be worshiped here. So verse 54, when his disciples,

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James and John, saw this, they saw the Samaritans discriminating against Jesus.

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They said, Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?

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And it's because they make this suggestion that Jesus called them,

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James and John, the sons of thunder, because they're asking for thunder and lightning basically to come down and consume these rebellious people.

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But Jesus, verse 55, turned and rebuked them and then they simply went on to another village.

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He rebuked them because this is not the mission. Jesus coming was not to be in judgment.

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He was coming to save people. The son of man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

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So he has come to show mercy. And though there are certainly times when Jesus would rebuke the rebellious, he still doesn't call down fire and brimstone on these people.

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There would be a proper time for that. But his will was to do the will of his father in heaven.

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And that was to die as an atoning sacrifice and rise again from the dead. So he rebukes his disciples for having this sort of attitude.

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It's interesting that it's James and John who say, do you want us to call down fire from heaven? Remember that when

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God brought judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis chapter 19, how many angels were there that went into Sodom to rescue

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Lot and his family? It was two angels. And those angels even said to Lot, we are going to destroy this place.

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So it's like James and John. They think they are these angels of destruction. They can be that you want us to be your your agents of destruction on this wicked people.

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Tell us and we will call down fire from heaven. It's quite bold of them to think that they even had the authority to do that.

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Remember that Jesus gave them authority to go out and to cast out demons and heal. That's what he gave them authority to go out and do.

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And that was an act of mercy and love, showing affection and compassion on these people to heal them and cast out those demons that afflicted them.

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Here, James and John get a little too big for their britches. We've had these, we've had this power to overcome even demons.

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So what do you say we use this power to bring down fire from heaven on this people that they may be consumed?

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And Jesus rebukes them for their selfishness, thinking carnally out of their flesh.

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Remember, I've said previously, they think that what they're going to go to Jerusalem and do is take over. We're going to ascend to the throne and they have at least enough faith in Jesus to believe he is really the one that is sent down from heaven and has the command of even angels.

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So who is there that's going to stop us when we have the Messiah who's been promised and he's going to take out the

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Romans and the Herod's and everybody else. Watch this. Here's what we're going to Jerusalem to do. That's what they're thinking in their hearts.

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They're looking for an emancipator and they believe that Jesus is that kind of savior. That's how they are interpreting the

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Messiah. According to the Old Testament prophecies, that's not what Jesus came to do, though. Remember, he's previously told them if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself.

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Take up a cross daily and follow after me. That was in Luke 9, 23. And so here

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Jesus rebukes this behavior that they have toward the Samaritans. Previously, John was rebuking a man who was casting out demons.

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Stop doing that. Jesus says, no, he's not against you. He's for you. Well, now here you have the

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Samaritans who are against them. And so John's like, OK, now here's a group of people who are against us. You want me to bring down fire from heaven?

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Jesus rebukes him. Because that's not what they have come to do.

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They're showing mercy and compassion. And if the people are not going to receive that, they're going to go on to the next village.

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But the judgment will come later. This is the mission that Jesus has come to do.

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And likewise, for us as Christians, we must understand that same meekness that we are to exercise.

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It is just really astounding. The number of Christians that I see out there who think that we're here to call down fire from heaven.

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We're going to ascend to these thrones of power and acquire this influence in whatever culture or society that we live in.

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And we are going to exercise that authority in striking down all of our enemies. It seems to be their heart.

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And yet, what did Jesus say of how we are supposed to regard our enemies? Matthew chapter 5.

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You have heard it said, love your neighbor, hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you.

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The enemy being one who is also our neighbor.

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There is no distinction between neighbor and enemy. An enemy is our neighbor. And so we need to patiently endure evil, as Paul instructs

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Timothy to do in 2 Timothy. It doesn't mean we don't exercise justice. Of course, when someone has broken the law, when they have done wickedly, they deserve justice.

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They deserve to have their sin, their wickedness handled under the law so that we may have a civil society.

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That's important for us to do. We're even instructed to pray in 1 Timothy chapter 2 for kings and all those in high positions that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life that is godly and dignified in every way.

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Well, let's not have these hearts in which we're looking for ways and abilities that we may finally strike down our enemies, as that's not the attitude that we are supposed to have.

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Mercy and compassion upon even those who are against us. For Jesus had mercy and compassion on us when we were against him.

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The most powerful agent of change in any culture, in any society, in any age or generation is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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And we need to be out there telling people, personal acquaintances. You know, when I say we need to be out there sharing the gospel, it doesn't mean you need to fill up stadiums like Billy Graham did.

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You need to share the gospel with those whom you love, those whom you are closest to, whom

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I'm never going to meet. Maybe your pastor doesn't even know, but you know those individuals. And you can work to help show them their sin and need for a savior so that they will turn to Jesus Christ and live.

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Somebody did that for you. Someone did that for me. Maybe it was your parent. Maybe it was a friend.

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Maybe it was an evangelist. But it's through the preaching of the gospel that our hearts are transformed.

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Once haters of God, now we love God. Once we hated his law, now we desire to do those things that are pleasing unto the

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Lord. And so let us have these hearts of mercy and compassion toward others because the gospel will save them from hell, from the wrath and judgment of God on that day, on the proper day in which that wrath and judgment is going to be poured out.

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Not when we want it to pour down, but when God means for it to be poured out. A person is saved from that judgment only by faith in the gospel of Christ and praise

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God for his patience so that more may come to faith and be saved. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we have read here.

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And I pray that it reminds us of who Jesus is and the warmth and the compassion that he showed toward us.

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Who, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. God demonstrates his love for us in this way.

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And so may we have hearts of compassion and tenderness toward others as well. Not looking for ways and reasons to divide from one another, but knowing that the true reconciling power that has been given to us in your

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Holy Spirit is through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So give us boldness and courage to share this gospel with others today, that they may know

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Christ and him crucified for our sins. It's in Jesus' name that we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand the

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Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website www .wutt

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.com and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page. Join us again tomorrow as we continue our