Book of Luke - Ch. 10, Vs. 1-6 (08/10/2003)

Oh, I was wondering, Bobby. Chapter 10. And see,

I think I remember him reading down through verse 5. I mean through verse 4, through verse 4.

But OK, I'll just start with verse 1 then.

So now we're at Luke chapter 10, verse 1. We're 30 minutes behind where we were two seconds ago. OK, let's read together.

After these things, the Lord appointed other 70 also and sent them two by two before his face into every city and place, whether he himself would come.

That's kind of interesting, that he himself would come. Part, think about that for a minute as we go on.

Therefore said he unto them, the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye, therefore, the

Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. Go your ways.

Behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, nor script, nor shoes, and salute no man by the way.

And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it.

If not, it shall turn to you again. Well, I was going to start there, so let's just, we'll probably stop on that verse.

This is an excellent part of the chapter for you as a laborer in the field, a soul winner, as some people call it, or a person who witnesses.

Excellent material to think about as far as methods, methodology. And it is very different than the way it's done in the modern church in many cases.

So let's start back and go over verse one. Let me make sure I didn't want to go down another verse here. No, that's okay.

I think verse six will work as a stopping place. Notice that he appoints these 70 people, and in my view, the fact that it specifies that he appointed them indicates also to us that some of the things that these 70 do might not be something you can do unless you're appointed to do it.

Although I think generally as you take the passage, you kind of see some guidelines for any of us who are going to be witnesses.

The only part that I think would bear itself up for further discussion would be the part on healing.

And if we get to that today, which we may not since we've backed up a little bit, we'll discuss it.

In fact, I wish it would be during my time. I know Brother Otis would like to talk about it too, though. But these people were appointed and they were sent out two by two.

And it says before his face. And so I would say the first thing to understand when you're gonna witness, if you're gonna go out and talk to people, whether it is where you did it on purpose or whether you're doing it as you go, either way, you need to remember this, that you're simply preparing the way for the

Lord. You can't save anybody. You're preparing the way for him to come and work in their heart after you've given them the gospel if they will even receive it from you.

Some will and some won't. And it tells you how to deal with that situation as well. But it is very clear in verse one that they were merely going to prepare the way for the

Lord. It is the Lord who saves, we know that. But sometimes when we go witnessing, if we're not careful, we really believe we can talk them into it with our personality or with our technique, like a salesman would.

And if you do that, then you did it in such a way that you don't expect the Lord to show up at that house.

And you're trying to make it happen before he gets there. And that is very poor witnessing technique.

In fact, it's awful. Verse number two, therefore said he unto them, the harvest truly is great, but the labors are few.

Now, how would you answer that in the light of the verses that talk about narrow is the gate, and few there be that are in thereby, wide is the gate to destruction.

Jesus said that there are few that will enter in. So what does he mean when he says the harvest is great?

And there are few, but there are few laborers. And so go and pray that God would send more laborers.

How does that fit with the other verse? Don't get to go home till you answer it.

What does that mean? They be talking about, it's our job to go and do this, but we don't know who it is and who it is.

So we should go to everybody that we're able to do this. Well, yes, and I think you'd have to agree, too, that even in agriculture, if you went to do the harvest, aren't there gonna be a few tares growing there with the wheat?

And so your job is just to harvest, to work it. It's not to decide who's who.

So that's a good answer, Virg. I think that's a great deal of the answer to that question that I asked.

Another thought that I had, too, to go along with that is that here you're dealing with the very kernel of the very beginning of the church, the start of gospel going anywhere.

And even if you only considered the Roman Empire, the known world of that day, it truly was huge compared to these first 12 men, and then these.

You have a few more going out, but compared to the number of people in the world that needed to hear the gospel, as Virg said, they all need to hear it because it's offered to everyone.

The gospel message is offered freely to every human being, and so it was just a huge undertaking to start with Jesus and then his three men that are in his inner circle and then the 12 apostles and then to go out to these 70, and then later we find out there were around 500 that had seen him after he rose from the dead, and we don't know how many exactly total disciples there were when it started, but there weren't many compared to the whole world were there.

So in that sense, if you view the whole world as the harvest, Jesus was saying, you need more helpers.

He later, through Paul, told Timothy to try to identify people who would be saved, yes, but also who would be able to teach what you're teaching so you can multiply the process.

Okay, well, that was a good answer, Virg. Yes, mom? That's a good point.

Well, that brings to mind, what you said brings to mind a thought.

I can remember a time in my young Christian life where I felt responsible for everyone to get saved, and so if they didn't,

I just felt down all the time, and Jesus here did not put that responsibility on them.

They said, pray and ask God to send more, so it's God's responsibility to send the correct number of laborers.

That's a good point. It's not our responsibility. It's God's responsibility to send the correct number of laborers, yes.

It'd have to. But you yourself cannot reach them all, so don't think you can.

Right, right. So our responsibility is twofold.

It is to go do what we are supposed to do in our circle of life and to pray that God would send others into other areas that we can't possibly reach, so that's very good.

Okay, takes us to verse three. Go your ways, behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.

How do you like that verse as a witness? What does that say about the nature of human beings?

Some of them may even attack, that's right. Carry neither purse nor script nor shoes and salute no man by the way.

Why do you think it says that? Right, and also because God is omniscient and has foreknowledge, and he could see the

TV evangelist the day he said this. Because every TV evangelist carries a purse with him.

And he has skinny, how do you say it, alligator shoes, alligator shoes and big rings.

And if I knew what a script was, they probably have one of those too. Otis said what that was, that's the reason

I thought he covered it, because he defined what is a script, and I didn't know. I still don't, I don't remember.

Does anybody remember? If I thought I was teaching this today, I would have looked it up, but I didn't think I was teaching this today.

I was gonna start with verse six. It may be so. You suppose that's it?

I don't think you spell it the same way. That would be a T at the end of it. But that's a good point, it's like Hollywood now.

I know what you're thinking, but that's not what it is. It's an old English word for something. I don't know what it is.

What we'll do is I know Otis, he will reteach this anyway. So he'll tell us what a script is.

Salute no man by the way. Give me some conversation on that part.

First of all, what does it mean, salute a man? I think you're exactly right.

It is a description of the serious nature of the commission.

It's like war. It's not like socializing.

It's like a battle with the enemy who has designed to destroy all human beings, including the elect.

And he's perverted enough to think he can do that. And so we have a serious commission and we're supposed to, when you go witnessing, you watch, and I've had this happen, many of you have.

You're going to run into a situation where someone else is gonna try to take up all your time because you're probably supposed to be talking to the next person rather than that one.

And they'll just wanna, oh, I hadn't seen you since high school, how you doing, all that.

And you have a purpose of witnessing at that time period and so they'll take up all your time.

And you're not to allow that. Also, I take it this way,

Bill, and I like your answer very much. I think that I read into it also that we're supposed to understand that methods and personality are not going to come to play in salvation.

In other words, if I feel that I have to really do a great greeting and salute you properly and really butter you up, so to speak, to try to get you to get saved, that's not how it works.

And into whatsoever house you enter first, say, peace be to this house.

And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it.

If not, it shall turn to you again. That was gonna be my starting verse, but it'll be an appropriate closing verse for the lesson.

What do you think that means before I tell you what I think it means? That way, if your answer's better,

I'll just say that's what I thought, too. But I think

I know what that means. What do you think it means? I don't know, but it's actually somewhere in his place.

If he has appointed us to be in a certain place and he's led us to that place, that's where we're supposed to stay.

And it's almost clear to know it's already a well in there, it's not gonna go to another. Very good.

I would rephrase it only slightly, because it is true that there are gonna be some places he appointed you to be where they're not gonna get saved.

And why that helps you or me, I don't know, but I just know he has us witness to people that don't get saved.

And I'm not sure it has anything to do with helping us, but what it is is the whole human race will be judged by the gospel.

So the goats have to hear it, too, because that's what they'll be judged by.

All men will be judged by the gospel. So it is, sometimes we don't think it's important just to tell the gospel to someone and they don't get saved.

We say, well, that was a waste of time, but it's not, because it's part of God's plan. Yes. Yes, it does.

It does help us to understand that. You have saved sheep that are already saved.

You have lost sheep that are just as lost as a goat and they look the same, practically. And then you have lost goats who are just as lost, but they'll never be saved, but you don't know who they are.

Only God does. Yes. Mm -hmm.

So you try to persuade everyone to be saved. Yeah, that's right.

Well, it's very clear as you go on beyond verse six that what he says what to do if they don't receive the message, but we're not gonna cover that today, but let me address this verse six just a little bit more.

And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it. You will, if you consider the salvation experience of the other person to be your motive, grading your success as a witness, you really will not witness very much because you're gonna never see a lot of success.

You're just gonna think you fail all the time if that's how you judge your success. But if you understand that when you go into that home or talk to that person or whatever, if the son of peace has already beat you there, then they probably are already saved and maybe they're not as aware of it as God wants them to be, and he's gonna use you to help enlighten them a little bit, kind of like Paul when he was, the things were, blinders were taken off his eyes with Ananias.

Either that or the Holy Spirit is there already, but he has not experienced on the human side the moment of born -again experience, and you're gonna get the privilege of watching that.

But either way, the only way that's gonna happen is if the son of peace is already there. So it just emphasizes again, there is nothing you can do with your personality or your technique or your pleading to make someone get saved.

God has to beat you to them or you're not gonna see them get saved.

They may get saved later, and you're telling them the gospel may have been part of God's plan for them to be drawn to the

Lord later, but you may not be there when it happens. So don't be discouraged even when they reject it.

Some of those are lost sheep. You may think they're a goat, and they're not. They're lost sheep. They're gonna get saved the next time somebody shows them the gospel.

Who knows? But I know this, that if the son of peace is there when you arrive, you're gonna get to see a blessed experience or the result of one that happened just a few moments before you got there.

And if not, it shall turn to you again. What does that mean?

Turn to Psalm 35, 13, and you'll get a great example of this in the

Old Testament. Let's start with verse 12,

Psalm 35, 12. They reward me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul.

But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer returned into my own bosom.

What does that mean? Whatever that means is what's happening there at the last part of verse six. But it's a wonderful thing to understand if you're a witness.

Soul winner. Well, it means this. This may truly be a goat.

It may be one of these wolves that you were warned about here. You're going as lambs before the wolves.

They may say some very hurtful things to you. They may even strike you or they may kill you. Who knows? But they may treat you badly.

And the attitude that Jesus would have is the same attitude the psalmist had. David was so amazingly

New Testament to me. I mean, the insight that he had about God, which he shouldn't have been able to have it on his side of the cross, but he was amazing because his relationship with God was so close that God revealed things to him that other

Old Testament saints didn't even see or understand. But one of the things David knew was even if they despitefully used him or if they reviled against him, he should not revile again.

Just like Jesus, they reviled against him and he reviled not again. He just kept quiet as a lamb before the slaughter.

And so David said that these very people that spoke evil of me and treated me badly, when they were sick,

I used, you know, I would fast for them to be healed and pray for them.

And yet they treat me this way. And he said, but the truth is the prayers that I offered up for them returned back to my own bosom.

Man, what does that mean? That's awesome. It's frightening from the point of view of the other person because what it means is

God refused that prayer for them because they were not one of his.

But God still blessed the one doing the praying because God knows we don't know who they are and that we had the heart of Jesus Christ desiring them to be saved.

And so the prayer returns to us. The blessings of that prayer returned to us and our family. So it's a twofold thing.

When you witness, even if they reject you in the most horrible way, even after you had prayed for them to be saved, two things are happening.

If they are in fact a goat or a wolf, God's not gonna hear your prayer for their salvation because he's not going to save them.

But the blessings come to you anyway because you had the heart for them to be saved and God saw that.

So that's a pretty encouraging verse, that verse six for somebody that's about the business of witnessing.

So let's just stop there for today and we'll pick that back up next time. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for your word. Thank you for the encouragement to be a strong witness for Jesus Christ and for the teaching of the methods that we should use.

And Lord, we ask you to go with us. May each family travel safely back home today.