Jesus Departs for Jerusalem 09/10/2023

First Baptist Church Leominster

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So Paul was addressing the Jewish issue. One of the challenges of the early church was, if Jesus is a

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Jewish messiah, why did not more Jews embrace him as their king, as their messiah?

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And Paul explained why in Romans 9, 10, 11. Romans 9, he said,

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God never intended to save everybody who is a descendant of Abraham, physical descendant of Abraham, but rather remnant.

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And then he explained in Romans 10 that the time had come to the gospel that all people everywhere, whether Jew or Gentile, can be saved if they call upon the

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Lord Jesus. And now in Romans 11, Paul explains that the blinding of the

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Jewish people to salvation was in the purpose of God, in order for God to show mercy upon the

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Gentile world. When Israel broke the Mosaic covenant, they became as guilty, sinful as all the

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Gentiles of the world, so God could show mercy on anybody and everybody, whether Jew or Gentile.

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But here in Romans 11, he speaks of the temporary nature of the blindness of the

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Jewish people. And we would argue that it anticipates a time when Jewish people will become

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Christians toward the end of the age. He says that if the casting off of the

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Jewish people brought such blessing to the Gentiles, can you imagine what their return to him would mean, except life from the dead?

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In other words, I think it anticipates the coming of Christ and the resurrection. Romans chapter 11,

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Jason. Romans 11.

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I ask then, has God rejected his people? By no means, for I myself am an

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Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew.

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Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah? How he appeals to God against Israel?

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Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.

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But what is God's reply to him? I have kept for myself 7 ,000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.

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So too at the present time, there is a remnant chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works.

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Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace. What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking.

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The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written. God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.

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And David says, let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them.

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Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see and bend their backs forever. So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall?

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By no means. Rather, through their trespass, salvation has come to the

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Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now, if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the

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Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean? Now, I am speaking to you,

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Gentiles. In as much then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow

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Jews jealous and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?

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If the dough offered as first fruits is holy, so is the whole lump. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.

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But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches.

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If you are, remember it is not you who supports the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.

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That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith.

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So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

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Note then the kindness and severity of God, severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness.

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Otherwise, you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in.

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For God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree?

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Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers.

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A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come.

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And in this way, all Israel will be saved. As it is written, the deliverer will come from Zion.

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He will banish ungodliness from Jacob, and this will be my covenant with them when

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I take away their sins. As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake.

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But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

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For just as you were at one time disobedient to God, but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you, they also may now receive mercy.

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For God has consigned all to disobedience that he may have mercy on all.

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Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways.

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For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?

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For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever.

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Amen. Let's pray. Lord God, as we reflect upon this passage, especially the end of the doctrinal section of Romans, Lord, we rejoice that you are over all of these things, that you are sovereign over all of these things.

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And Lord, Paul could barely control himself when he cried out, oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God.

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Lord, you are infinitely wise, you are infinitely good, you are infinitely gracious.

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And Lord, we look forward to learning more and more about your character and the work that you have done. So Lord, we ask for wisdom as we open up your word and as we continue to worship you, we pray that we would hear the truth that is proclaimed and that you would take it to our heart and we would believe it and that we would be changed.

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Lord, we pray that we would line up under your word, that we would line under its authority. We pray for wisdom,

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Lord, as we walk through these things. Thank you in Jesus' name, amen. Well, let's turn back in our

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Bibles to Luke chapter nine as we continue to work through this gospel.

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And today we arrive at a great turning point in Luke's gospel account of our

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Lord's ministry. The last time we were in Luke's gospel two weeks ago, we gave attention to our

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Lord's words to his disciples in which he had once again foretold his suffering and death that would take place in Jerusalem.

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Jesus spoke of his suffering at Jerusalem immediately after he had cast a demon out of a boy, a feat that none of his disciples were able to accomplish.

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And so here again are our Lord's words to his disciples in verses 43 through 45.

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But while everyone marveled at all the things what Jesus did, again, healing this boy of his demon possession, he said to his disciples, let these words sink down into your ears for the son of man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men.

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But they did not understand this saying and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it.

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And they were afraid to ask him about this saying. And so although the disciples did not understand the words of the

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Savior, and they were afraid at this time to ask him for an explanation, they nevertheless began to dispute with one another incredibly as to which of them would be greatest in the kingdom, the promised kingdom that they thought would soon appear.

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And so here's Luke 9, 46 through 48. Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest.

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And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child, set him by him and said to them, whoever receives this little child in my name receives me.

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And whoever receives me receives him who sent me for he who is least among you will be great.

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But then we read that John spoke up, telling Jesus that the disciples had encountered a man who had been casting out demons in his name, in Christ's name.

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But this man had done so independent of them, of the disciples.

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And so John told Jesus that they, the disciples, rebuke this man. And so here verses 49 and 50.

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Now John answered and said, Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us.

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But Jesus said to him, you do not forbid him for he who is not against us is on our side.

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And then lastly, we read of Jesus setting out from Galilee to travel to Jerusalem, where he would be crucified, but then be raised from the dead and exalted to heaven's throne, the kingdom of God being inaugurated, the promised kingdom.

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And so after having embarked on their journey, they encountered some Samaritans who refused to assist them.

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And so James and John asked Jesus if he wished that they would destroy them.

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But Jesus rebuked his disciples and reaffirmed his mission to save lives, not destroy them.

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And so here verses 51 through 56, and then the end of our chapter, chapter nine.

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Now it came to pass when the time had come for him to be received up, that he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem and sent messengers before his face.

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And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans to prepare for him, but they did not receive him because his face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.

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And when his disciples, James and John saw this, they said, Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them just as Elijah did?

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But he turned and rebuked them and said, you do not know what manner of spirit you are of, for the son of man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them.

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And they went to another village. And again, this concludes

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Luke chapter nine. Well, the few verses that we've just read records the last few days of our

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Lord's Galilean ministry and is setting out on his journey to Jerusalem. Luke 9 .51

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is a pivotal verse in the gospel of Luke. If it were not for John's gospel, the length of Jesus's ministry in Galilee could not be determined with any degree of certainty.

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And from John's account, we conclude that our Lord Jesus had probably been ministering in Galilee for about three years.

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Now, the journey from Galilee to Jerusalem would have been a distance of about 90 to a hundred miles, and it could have been traveled in just a matter of days.

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And yet let us take note of the lengthy and detailed coverage that Luke gives to this journey, the journey from Galilee to Jerusalem.

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Luke records Jesus leaving for Jerusalem in Luke 9 .51. Luke tells of Jesus arriving at Jerusalem in Luke 19 .41,

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and then he enters the temple. And so whereas Luke devoted about six chapters, chapters four through nine, to Jesus's Galilean ministry,

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Luke included about 10 chapters of material to cover the journey from Galilee to Jerusalem.

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This travel narrative of Luke contains the bulk of Luke's gospel. But again, we're talking about a relative short period of time in the life of Jesus and his disciples.

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Well, what is the emphasis of this journey in Luke's account? Well, the journey itself keeps before the readers the resoluteness of Jesus to fulfill his father's will in experiencing suffering death at Jerusalem, and then to be raised the third day.

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From this point onward, the sufferings of Jesus come to the forefront. He's mentioned them up to this point, but they really become the focal point from Luke 9 .51

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until he arrives at Jerusalem. The fact that Jesus has resolutely set his face to go to Jerusalem and continues his journey underscores this matter, his destiny.

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By the way, there may be a similarity to Isaiah 53, I think it's verse 10, where it says the servant set his face like a flint.

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Here Jesus sets his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem. But further in this journey,

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Luke gives emphasis to the meaning of discipleship to Jesus. And this is important.

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It's a narrative tool that Luke employs. The Lord told his disciples that just as he was doing his father's will, which would ultimately lead to his death at Jerusalem, so too his followers must be willing to deny themselves and be willing to surrender up their lives and follow him in this same course.

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Now, one final point can be made about this journey as recorded by Luke.

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Because the Lord's death would occur soon, a sense of urgency is brought before the disciples and would -be disciples to act immediately and resolve to follow him fully if he bids them to do so.

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But Luke through this travel narrative is able to press his readers with a sense of urgency. And we'll point this out as we progress through these chapters.

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The urgency and vital importance to become disciples of Jesus Christ and to live resolutely and faithfully unto him.

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And the travel narrative is employed by Luke to press this home to you and me as readers of this gospel.

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And so in the story that unfolds in these following chapters, Luke shows that the time was short. The window of opportunity was closing upon the nation of Israel.

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The judgment of God would come upon Israel, would soon follow, which occurred, of course, in AD 70 by the

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Roman armies. And so there was a sense of urgency for the Jewish people to respond immediately, completely, fully.

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One must respond immediately to Jesus's biddings. And that is conveyed or transferred to the reader where there's a sense of immediacy and urgency that comes upon us as we read this account.

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This is the way it's told, formulated, very clever, of course, inspired by the

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Holy Spirit. And so we read that at this great turning point in our

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Lord's ministry, that his disciples really reveal their ignorance and insensitivity of what was going on and what their master was going to experience.

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They show their ignorance and insensitivity by exhibiting their petty personal competition as to which one of them was the greatest of Jesus's apostles.

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The manner our Lord responded to them provides us with a better understanding of the desires and the attitudes that should characterize his disciples.

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Shouldn't be like they were. Disciples who are committed to follow and serve him.

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And so before us in verses 46 through 48, we read of the disciples' faulty opinions and attitudes they had regarding themselves and their relationship with one another.

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And then in verses 49 and 50, we read of their wrong attitude toward an outsider who was nevertheless attempting to serve in Jesus's name.

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And then in verses 51 through 56, we see their wrong attitude toward unbelievers. Their relationships were really messed up.

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The disciples needed much learning and much development in both their attitudes and actions before they would be effective representatives of Christ after he was glorified.

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And so in the passage before us, we'll first consider the strife among Jesus's disciples. Verses 46 through 48.

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We will then consider the disciples' reaction to a rather strange exorcist. I use strange in quotation marks because that's how a commentator described him.

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It was kind of strange for them to meet this man. And then thirdly, we will read of the departure of our

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Lord and his disciples from Galilee and the reception they received in a Samaritan village. So there are the three divisions of today's message.

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First, the strife among Jesus's disciples. With the importance stressed in this passage on the destiny of Jesus in Jerusalem, one cannot but be struck with the crass ignorance and insensitivity of his disciples.

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In the first several verses, we read of the total failure on their part to understand how they were to regard and relate to themselves and others about them.

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And so again, we read, then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest.

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And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child, set him by him, and said to them, whoever receives this little child in my name receives me.

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Whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all will be great.

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Luke wrote, then a dispute arose among them. We see in these few verses, the disciples' faulty attitude toward one another and their wrong perception each one had of himself.

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They were men who were characterized by sinful pride and petty jealousies, which resulted in needless argumentation.

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J .C. Ryle addressed their pride and ours as well, appropriately. In the first place, the

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Lord Jesus gives us a warning against pride and self -conceit. We are told that there arose a reasoning among the disciples which of them should be the greatest.

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Wonderful as it may seem, in other words, strange. This little company of fishermen and publicans was not beyond the plague of a self -seeking and ambitious spirit.

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Filled with the vain notion that our Lord's kingdom was to appear immediately, they were ready to wrangle about their place and precedency in it.

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Each thought is claimed the strongest. Each thought is owned, deserts, and right to honor most unquestionable.

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Each thought that whatever place was assigned to his brethren, a principal place ought to be assigned to himself.

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And all this happened in the company of Christ himself under the noontide blaze of his teaching.

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There is something very instructive in this fact. It ought to sink down deeply into the heart of every

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Christian reader. Of all sins, there is none against which we have such need to watch and pray as pride.

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It is a pestilence that walketh in darkness, a sickness that destroyeth at noonday.

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No sin is so deeply rooted in our nature. It cleaves to us like our skin.

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Its roots never die. They are, these roots, ready at any moment to spring up and exhibit a most pernicious vitality.

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No sin is so specious and deceitful. It can never wear the garb of humility itself.

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It can lurk in the hearts of the ignorant and the ungifted and the poor as well as in the minds of the great, the learned, and the rich.

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It is a quaint and homely saying, but only too true, that no Pope has ever been received such honor as Pope self.

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Let a prayer for humility in the spirit of a little child form part of our daily supplications. Of all creatures, none has so little right to be proud as a man.

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And of all men, none ought to be so humble as the Christian. Amen.

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It really is quite stark to read of the disciples. The Lord just told them that they were now on their way to Jerusalem where he would suffer and die, and rather being broken and concerned about their savior, they were concerned about which one of them was going to be the greatest.

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The language in Matthew's gospel is a little bit different than the Greek, my memory serves me faithfully, it doesn't always, but the form of the verb suggests really they were arguing, who do the people regard as the greatest?

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They think I'm the greatest. No, they think I'm the greatest. It really is crass, crass pride and an argument among these people.

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Now, Luke does not tell us how this dispute arose or which one of the 12 started the dispute.

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His description suggests that all 12 were involved in disputing with one another. I can imagine

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Peter, James, and John, however, making a case for themselves. One of them must be the greatest, after all, they were privileged, weren't they?

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They just came down from the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus, but they were all guilty in that they all displayed in their disputing with one another petty jealousy and crude insensitivity.

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They were unconcerned about their master's fate, rather, they were each concerned about their own place in the kingdom, which they thought would soon appear.

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They didn't understand the necessity or meaning of the Lord's death, but they did know that he was the

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Messiah and that at Jerusalem, the messianic kingdom would be inaugurated, and yet here they were arguing as to who would have the greatest place of honor in the kingdom.

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Matthew Henry wrote, ambition of honor and strife for superiority and precedency are sins that most easily beset the disciples of our

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Lord Jesus, for which they deserve to be severely rebuked. They flow from corruptions, which they are highly concerned to subdue and mortify.

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They that expect to be great in this world commonly aim high, and nothing will serve them short of being the greatest.

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This exposes them to a great deal of temptation and trouble, which they are safe from, that are content to be little, or at least least, and to be less than the least.

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The disciples had much to learn, even after three years of ministry with Jesus in Galilee.

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Well, we then read, and Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and sent him by him.

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The Lord knew what they were thinking and what was motivating them. Jesus perceived the thoughts of their heart.

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The Lord knows what you and I are thinking, and he knows the attitudes and motivations of our hearts.

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I suppose that can be comforting or very unsettling. Our thoughts are as plain to Jesus as if they were spoken before him.

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Jesus is the listener to every conversation, the hearer of every thought that comes into our minds.

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He is the viewer of every image that we put before our eyes, which you put on that computer screen you're putting before the eyes of King Jesus.

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The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. And so Jesus Christ is perfectly acquainted with the thoughts and intents of our hearts.

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We read that he perceived the hearts, the thoughts of the disciples. Hebrews 4, 12, and 13 speak of this, of course, of the scriptures, but also the person of Jesus Christ.

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For the word of God is living and powerful, sharper than any two -edged sword, piercing even to the division or distinguishing of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

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What Jesus is said to have done here in Luke 9 is said to be done by him here in Hebrews 4.

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There's no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

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Jesus is a listener to every conversation, the reader of every text message that you may punch into your phone, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

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He is the hearer of every thought that courses through our minds. Jesus declared that the words we speak in this life, whether they be the thoughts we speak in our minds, but certainly the words we speak with our mouths will either exonerate us or condemn us on the day of judgment.

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One of the areas of evangelicalism is somehow Christians are not gonna be judged by their works, that's not true.

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Scriptures say all humanity is gonna give an account of our works on the day of judgment. Our works won't condemn us, of course, as Christians, because we stand in the righteousness of Christ, but our works, our words will either validate our claim to be believers or they will reveal that we were but hypocrites, not true believers.

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Jesus himself declared, I say to you, every idle word men may speak. He doesn't say

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I declare to you every idle word that non -Christians speak. They'll give account on the day of judgment for by your words, he's talking to his disciples, for by your words you will be justified.

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And we need to clarify that. He's not saying that we are declared to be righteous, you know, the doctrine of justification where God declares us to be righteous, our sins forgiven, we have the righteousness of Christ credited to us through faith alone.

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That's not the doctrine he's talking about here. Here, the word justified, a synonym could be vindicated.

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By your words, you'll be vindicated on the day of judgment or you're gonna be condemned by your words. Your words reveal whether you're a true

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Christian or not, ultimately. We ought to put a guard on our lips and our thoughts by the grace of God.

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Well, knowing their thoughts and desires and recognition and preeminence, Jesus set a child before them. Actually, Jesus set a child next to him and that's significant.

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Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by him. We might assume that Jesus chose a child because of its purity or innocence, but this is probably not the case.

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Interestingly, a child was commonly regarded in the ancient world as of no importance.

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I recently read a detailed history of the Russian Revolution and in the days of Lenin, he died in 1924, but in the days of Lenin, when war communism was instituted between 1918, 1924, he broke down every possible institution in society, including the family, and there were seven to nine million children who were on the streets alone, who were starving to death.

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Total, total slaughter. Well, here Jesus took a little child and set it by him.

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He was basically showing honor to this child in front of these disciples.

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And so a child in the first century was really regarded as having little importance, no importance, and again, take note,

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Luke does not say Jesus set this child before them, but Jesus set this child by him. The place beside Jesus suggests honor for the child.

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This would have been unusual, and the disciples would have taken note by this. The Lord called a child to sit next to him.

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Of course, children seemed to be found frequently by his presence, and so here he calls a child to come to him even as he is among 12 grown men.

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And so the child seemed to have come readily, come immediately, of course children felt comfortable with Jesus and desired to be with him.

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He then told his disciples who would be great in the kingdom, the one who receives or ministers to the well -being of this child.

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I didn't put it in my note, but we could contrast with this with Matthew's account, where he tells his disciples, you need to become as this little child, but that's not the message here.

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You need to minister to this child. You need to show regard for this child, treat this child with importance.

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You need to serve this child. Here's a good summary of the teaching of these few verses.

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The disciples did not understand Jesus's role as a suffering servant, and so could not grasp its implications for them as his disciples.

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They were still thinking of the Messiah only in terms of triumph, assuming quite naturally that their position was important.

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The issue was not whether there would be rank in the kingdom, but the nature and qualifications for such rank.

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The point of Jesus's reference to the little child does not illustrate simple faith, as in Matthew, nor does it refer to receiving a disciple who comes in the name of Jesus, as in Matthew 10.

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Rather, it refers to receiving for the sake of Christ, a person who has little status.

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That's the point of emphasis here in Luke 9. This is consistent with Jesus's concern for neglected people and Luke's concern in his gospel, by the way.

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The meaning then is that instead of seeking status for ourselves out of pride as an associate of the

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Messiah, we Christians should, as Jesus did, identify ourselves with those who have no status at all, welcoming them to join us in the kingdom.

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To put another way, in Matthew 10, one receives a Christian apostle as consciously receiving

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Christ himself, whereas here in Luke 9, by ministering to a child, one ministers, without realizing it, to Christ himself.

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This is a very important lesson. Well, after Jesus set this child beside himself, he spoke to his disciples and said to them, whoever receives this little child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me, for he who is least among you all will be great.

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And so he told them that whichever of them would be willing to receive the child in his name receives him, that is, whichever of them would be willing to welcome and care for this child, just as Jesus himself had done, that disciple would be receiving

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Jesus, welcoming and caring for Jesus. And that's how we ought to regard ourselves in caring for those that may be very marginalized from ourselves or from the family or in society.

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To render service unto Jesus was regarded by the Father as having received him, having rendered service unto him,

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God the Father. And so our Lord told his disciples, in his sight, the one who is great is the one who serves the least one.

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The least in their midst was the child. And they were arguing which of them was the greatest in honor or regard.

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And Jesus pointed out the child as being the greatest object of his concern, and therefore the child should be the object of their great concern, not themselves.

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They were just 180 degrees out of sync with the way they should have thought. William Hendrickson spoke of this idea here in Luke 9, 48, the logic is somewhat as follows.

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Jesus is telling his disciples to forget all about themselves. Their rank and importance, and instead to concentrate their attention on this child standing by the master's side.

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They should not only become like this child, again, Matthew 18, but should welcome it, and others like it.

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And so Jesus told his disciples for them to receive this child was to receive him, and to receive

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Jesus was to receive God the Father who had sent him into the world. So the best way to serve

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Christ and his Father is to serve humbly those who are humble and teachable, instructing them and guiding them into truth and in walking in righteousness before him.

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Well, then secondly, we read the disciples' reaction to this strange exorcist.

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Verses 49 and 50. No sooner was this issue dealt with than another incident arose, which betrayed the disciples' narrow and errant way of relating to others.

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And so John spoke up on behalf of the apostles. Now, John answered and said, Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us.

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But Jesus said to him, do not forbid him for he who is not against us is on our side.

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And so here we read of John telling Jesus that the apostles had forbidden a man from casting out demons in Jesus's name.

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In verses 47 and 48, we see the disciples' wrong regard for one another and a too exalted opinion each one had for himself.

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And here in verses 49 and 50, we read of their wrong attitude toward an outsider who was nevertheless attempting to serve in Jesus's name and apparently was successful in it.

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There's no hint that this man was other than a true believer in Jesus who was attempting to further the kingdom of God in Christ by casting a demon out of a possessed person.

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And so as one said, the issue is not one of orthodoxy, but of association. They didn't want to associate with this man because he doesn't walk with us.

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And so it was a matter of rivalry in the disciples' mind. That's another scourge in evangelicalism.

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There's no clear explanation as to why John brought this matter up to Jesus. Why did he do so?

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Perhaps he had become convicted of having had such a wrong attitude respecting himself and he was doubting himself whether they had handled this matter rightly.

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Maybe that's why he brought it up. Now, I would like to think that has given him maybe a positive spin.

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I don't know. John does call Jesus master, perhaps indicating he was seeking our Lord's advice and counsel concerning their action.

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And who was this man, this exorcist?

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It doesn't say. He was probably a true believer, disciple of Jesus. He had probably listened to Jesus, observed him in the past, had come to faith in him.

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He'd not been one of our Lord's regular followers, apparently, but one who had faith in the Lord that demons would depart an afflicted individual if the authority of Jesus was invoked in commanding the demons to depart.

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He was a man of considerable faith. He was doing what the disciples failed to do with the son of that man, just a few verses before our episode.

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And yet they're condemning him because he's not walking with us. I hadn't thought about that conflict there, but clearly it's in the same passage and I think

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Luke is trying to show us this. What the disciples failed to do, cast a demon out of that son of that man.

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This man who's now walking with them is successfully doing, casting demons out of a man. And yet they're putting him down.

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So the disciples had rebuked him, calling him off his work. John said, we forbid him because he does not follow with us.

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And Jesus made it clear that they had been wrong in forbidding this man from performing his spiritual service to others.

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Verse 50, Jesus said to him, John, do not forbid him for he who is not against us is on our side.

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We might be reminded of the apostle Paul's attitude revealed to the church at Philippi.

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I want you to know brethren, the things that have happened to me, the bad things actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel so that it's become evident to the whole palace guard and to all the rest that my chains are in Christ.

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And most of the brethren in the Lord, having become confident by my chains are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

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Some indeed preach Christ, even from envy and strife out of false motives. Some also from goodwill.

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The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely supposing to add affliction to my chains, but the latter out of love, knowing that I'm appointed for the defense of the gospel.

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What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached and in this

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I rejoice. Yes, I will rejoice. He had the kind of attitude that the 12 apostles did not manifest here in Luke chapter nine.

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Matthew Henry wrote of this party spirit. It's all too often found among Christian churches and groups.

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Jesus Christ tried them for what they did and warned them not to do the like again or any that profess to be successors of the apostles.

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Forbid them not, but rather encourage him. For he's carried on the same design that you are, though for reasons best known to himself, he does not follow with you and he will meet you in the same end, though he does not accompany you in the same way.

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You do well to do as you do, but it does not therefore follow that he does ill to do as he does and that you do well to put him under edict, interdict rather, accusation for he that is not against us is for us and therefore ought to be countenanced by us, approved by us, encouraged by us, prayed for by us.

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We need not lose any of our friends while we have so few and so many enemies. We've got few enough supporters.

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Why make more? You know, why alienate more who have the same desires and designs we do for the furtherance of the kingdom?

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Those may be found faithful followers of Christ and as such may be accepted of him, though they do not follow with us.

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Mark nine, oh, what a great deal of mischief to the church, even from those that boast of relation to Christ and pretend to envy for his sake would be prevented if this passage of story were but duly considered.

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Amen. We should not be characterized by a party spirit and thinking that we're the only ones in faithful service to our

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Lord. You know, we have doctrinal convictions. We believe what the

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Bible teaches and we stand on that and we don't compromise, but the tent's a whole lot wider than the few of us.

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Thank God. Some Christians see their church as the only true church in the region.

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Others see their denomination as embodying the only true churches in the world. That's how

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George Whitefield started out in the 1730s as a Church of England bishop, but as he increasingly did his evangelistic work, the

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Lord brought about the great awakening in Britain and here in the colonies. When he increasingly received rejection and conflict from Church of England pastors in the churches, he began to run with the

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Presbyterians and the Baptists and the Independents because they had the common concern and interest for the gospel.

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This is not to say that we're to be tolerant or accepting of gross false teaching of others who claim to speak for Christ, but if there is sincere effort to proclaim that truth of Jesus Christ, calling forth people to turn from their sin and believe the gospel, we should rejoice in their efforts and encourage them rather than discourage them in their work.

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Anyone who is not against us is for us. They may not walk with us nor agree entirely with us, but if their desire is to promote the

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Lord Jesus and his kingdom and do so with a message that's not contrary to the biblical message, we should not forbid them.

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Now, the words of Jesus in this verse may seem to conflict with what Jesus said on another occasion, and we're gonna get there in about two more chapters.

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Again, here, Jesus said, "'Do not forbid him for he who is not against us "'is on our side.'"

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But in Luke 11, 23, we read our Lord's words. He who is not with me is against me.

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And he who does not gather with me scatters. It seems to be a conflict, even a contradiction on the surface, that is, they appear to be.

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But whereas in Luke 9, Jesus was rebuking and correcting his disciples regarding their attitudes toward a fellow servant of Christ but who did not walk with them, in Luke 11, 23, the

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Lord would say to those who opposed him, were ones who scattered souls rather than gathering them to the

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Savior. It's an entirely different context. They were scattering because they were promoting false teaching.

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And the footnote in the Reformation Study Bible for Luke 9, 23 speaks to both these verses and their application.

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Those not against us are for us. That's a test we should apply to others. In 11, 23, we find a test we should apply to ourselves.

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Are we really gathering or are we scattering? And so the question should be answered, are you one who's committed to follow

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Jesus as his disciples? Is it your intention to encourage and direct others to become disciples of Jesus Christ?

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Well, you're to be commended. On the other hand, if that's not your aim or purpose in life, then you're scattering rather than gathering.

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Jesus would say, you are against me. If you're not a disciple of Jesus Christ, you are against Jesus Christ.

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Well, now we come to the third division, the longest of the three, the departure of our

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Lord and his disciples to Jerusalem and their reception in a Samaritan village.

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Now it came to pass when the time had come for him to be received up, and that should be understood, received up on the cross and then received up to the throne of God in his ascension.

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That he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem and sent his disciples to Jerusalem and sent messengers before his face. And as they went, they entered a village of the

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Samaritans to prepare for him, but they did not receive him because his face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.

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And when his disciples, James and John saw this, they said, Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them just as Elijah did?

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But he turned and rebuked them and said, you do not know what manner of spirit you are of.

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For the son of man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.

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With chapter nine, verse 51, the journey of Jesus to Jerusalem begins. Verse 51, as we've said, is a major turning point in Luke's story.

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From this point until Jesus and his disciples arrive in Jerusalem, Luke keeps the journey before his readers.

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We're not gonna cite all these verses, but I wanted to list them to you throughout this travel narrative. Each of these verses

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I listed is alluding or speaking about their ongoing travel to Jerusalem.

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This journey of Jesus to Jerusalem was, of course, to fulfill the purpose for which he'd come into the world. He came to give his life a ransom in order to redeem his people to himself through his death on the cross.

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Jesus said, for even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.

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His entire life was directed toward this end. He was not like a martyr whose courage and boldness resulted in his life being taken from him.

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His journey to Jerusalem was for the purpose of being betrayed, arrested, suffering, and dying upon his cross, being buried, but then rising from the dead to ascend to the throne of his father in heaven.

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And here's a good setting forth of this truth. In the truth, what we mean is he didn't die a martyr.

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He died intentionally. And then remember that we are not to think of him as many on an earthly hero or martyr and martyr regarding a violent and bloody death as being the very probable result of faithful boldness, but to believe that he, looking on from the beginning to that end, regarded it always as laid upon him by a certain divine necessity into which necessity entered with full submission and acquiescence of his own will, and from the beginning knew that Calvary was the work for which he had come and that his love would fail of its expression.

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The divine purpose would fail of its realization. His whole mission would fail of all its meaning unless he died for men.

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The martyr looks to the scaffold and said, it stands in my way. I must either be untrue to conscience or I must go there and so I will go.

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Christ said, the cross is my path and on it and from it I shall exercise the influence to exercise which

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I've come into the world, for which I've come into the world. And there I shall do the thing which

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I came forth from the father to do. Jesus thought his death not as the end of his work, but as the center point of it, not as the termination of his activity, but as its climax to which all the rest was subordinated, without which all the rest was not.

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He does not die and so seal a fateful life by a heroic death, but dies so bearing and bearing away man's sin.

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He regarded from the beginning the glory that should follow and the suffering through which he had to wade to reach it.

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In one and the same act of prescience or insight or seeing ahead of time, he said, lo,

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I have come in the book of the volume it is written of me. I thought that was a good contrast between the death of a martyr and the death of Jesus as a sacrifice.

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We read that our Lord sent forth his apostles as evangelists wherever he intended to visit.

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Came to pass when the time had come for him to be received up that he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem and sent messengers before his face.

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They would announce to the people of the village that they would be privileged to have Jesus of Nazareth visit them as he was traveling to Jerusalem.

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But traveling the most direct way from Galilee to Jerusalem, you had to go through the region of Samaria. And so we read of what occurred.

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As they went, they entered a village of the Samaritan to prepare for them, but they did not receive him.

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Why? Because his face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. The people of the region of Samaria had not all rejected

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Jesus when he came among them. We have that wonderful story in John four of Jesus and the

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Samaritan woman. This was early on before he even began his Galilean ministry.

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After he spoke with her at the well, she went into the city, basically evangelize the city by saying,

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Jesus told me everything I have ever done and he knows everything about you too. And so the people came out in mass to see and hear

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Jesus themselves. And they responded. Many of the Samaritans of that city believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified.

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He told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans had come to him, they urged him to stay with them.

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He stayed there two days. Many more believed because of his own word.

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And they said to the woman, now we believe not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard him. And we know that this is indeed the

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Christ, the savior of the world. But here in Luke nine 53, we read that the people of this village in this region of Samaria rejected

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Jesus because he was determined to travel to Jerusalem. The Samaritans believed that true worship of God was to be rendered on Mount Gerizim, which was right near Jacob's well, where he met that woman.

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But their temple had been destroyed by the Maccabean Jews in about 110 BC. The Samaritans hated the

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Jews and the Jews hated the Samaritans. The Samaritans hated Jerusalem and the temple there.

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Jesus was heading toward Jerusalem, they would hate Jesus too. And so they rejected him.

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The Samaritans showed themselves to be very uncivil and inhospitable to Jesus. As Matthew Henry wrote, how uncivil they were to him.

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They did not receive him, would not suffer him or allow him to come into their village, but ordered their watch to keep him out.

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He would have paid for all he had bespoke, and been a generous guest among them, would have done them good, preached the gospel to them, as he had done some time ago to another city of the

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Samaritans, referring to John four. He would have been, if they pleased, the greatest blessing that ever came to their village, and yet they forbid him entrance.

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Such treatment his gospel and ministers have often met with. And we have.

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So we read of the response of his disciples when they were rebuffed by this Samaritan village.

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We have this rather surprising request of James and John, in another place, in Mark's gospel, he called them by the name of Woynerges, which means sons of thunder.

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And maybe it's this account that had led him to that appellation of James and John.

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When his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them just as Elijah did?

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Now please understand in the New King James Version that we're reading, the expression just as Elijah did is probably a later edition by a scribe.

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If you have an ESV, you'll find that those words are not there in that verse. It was probably added by a scribe at some point.

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It's better to understand it probably added by a scribe rather than being dropped by a scribe. The ESV reads it more simply.

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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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And Jesus's reaction was probably not what they expected. Verses 55 and 56, he turned and rebuked them and said, you do not know what manner of spirit you are of.

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For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. James and John were totally ignorant of the ungodly spirit that characterized them.

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Now we too should be very watchful concerning our perceptions and attitudes. Note, Matthew Henry wrote, and in his commentary, whenever you see him say the word note, it means he's making an application of that verse.

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It's very handy for a preacher using his commentary. Note is what he said.

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There may be much corruption lurking, nay, stirring too in the hearts of good people, and they themselves not sensible to it.

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Boy, that's a truism. We should be careful of identifying ourselves and our gospel with people and movements that claim to be

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Christian, but are characterized by hatred and the desire to destroy men's lives.

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It's contrary to the will of God, and it's also counterproductive in bringing souls to experience salvation.

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We are to pray for and seek the salvation of sinners, not to call

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God's judgment down upon them. We should have compassion upon sinners, any kind of sinner.

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Perhaps we should be intolerant of the false teachers who are deceiving sinners, but for the sinners themselves, we ought to have concern and compassion.

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And so what should be our attitude toward those who do not respond to us and are antagonistic to us? Write them off.

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We gave them their chance, Lord. Divine retribution is now in order. No, their rejection of our message should grieve us.

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Who knows, however, maybe later they'll respond. And in fact, we know that the

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Samaritans did that. Not too many months after this happened here in Luke 9, we read of the

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Samaritans responding to the preaching of the gospel in the book of Acts.

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After persecution came upon the Christians in Jerusalem, they were scattered whenever we're preaching the word.

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Philip, a deacon, went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them.

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And the multitude with one accord, he did the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.

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For unclean spirits cried with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.

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And there was a great joy in that city. Probably not the same village they went into, but can you imagine that fire come down and consume them all?

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This might not have occurred, of course. So may we be warned regarding what we may be harboring in our hearts that's displeasing to our

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Lord. May each of us be more like Jesus in his concern for the lost, seeking to bring them to faith in the

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Savior. Let us have compassion on sinners rather than call for God's wrath upon them now.

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That'll come, but may the Lord have mercy upon them and us. And then we'll close with this.

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We might say a word to the one who's troubled in his soul as to whether Christ will receive him into his family of disciples.

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There ought to be something encouraging here for you. Take heart from what we observe of our

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Savior in these verses that we've considered. As J .C. Ryle once wrote, forever let us bless

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God that we have such a ready and willing Savior. Forever let us remember that as he was ready to suffer, so he is always ready to save.

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The man that comes to Christ by faith should never doubt Christ's willingness to receive him.

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The mere fact that the Son of God willingly came into the world to die and willingly suffered should silence such doubts entirely.

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All the unwillingness is on the part of man, not of Christ. Amen. It consists in the ignorance and pride and unbelief and half -heartedness of the sinner, but there is nothing wanting, nothing absent in Christ.

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Amen. Let's pray. Thank you, Father, for your word and thank you, our

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God, for the messages that are contained and the lessons we learn, our God, through our

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Lord's dealings with his disciples. Help us, our Father, to take these to heart.

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Help us, our God, not to be characterized by ignorance and insensitivity, but let us, our

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God, to have the heart of our Savior, the heart of our Master, our Lord, in seeking the lost and bringing them, our

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God, to experience the forgiveness of their sins and the promise of everlasting life through faith in him.