Wednesday March 10, 2021 PM

We are in Luke chapter 8 and looking at verses 1 through 3. We looked at this last time we were together and giving the title O Zion Haste from one of our hymns. It is important to remember that Paul's companion Luke, the beloved physician, is giving a history of the person and work of Jesus.

That's why this is a gospel. It is a history of the person and work of Jesus and he is writing to a man named Theophilus. Some people think that's what his real name was and people say well that was kind of a title or a a pseudonym that he used for his patron.

And so Luke says he's writing an orderly account of the things that happened so that Theophilus will know what happened and when and in what order and so on. So Luke is very helpful in giving us a timeline, a chronology to follow.

And Luke has a very robust and generous first part of his gospel dedicated to what's all the different surrounding events to Jesus' birth. So we hear about Zacharias and Elizabeth and John the Baptist and the angel to Mary and the meeting between Mary and Elizabeth and all the different things that happened beforehand and a full narrative about his birth with the with the angels singing and and so on.

A genealogy, a very thorough genealogy at the end of chapter 3, at the end of a look at John the Baptist's ministry. And then in chapter 4 we begin to see Christ's ministry as he goes and he preaches and he delivers people powerful miracles time after time and he keeps on saying something over and over again.

And it's something that the birth narratives, the birth stories about Jesus, it's something that the preaching of John the Baptist all pointed to. And so what Jesus starts saying in chapters 4 and 5 and 6, completely agreement with everything that happened before.

And it's this. The gospel of the kingdom. He went preaching the gospel of the kingdom wherever he went. The good news of the kingdom. And by quoting and preaching from Isaiah and by healing people and delivering people through the interactions that he was having with folks, the shape of the kingdom begins to emerge.

More clarity as we go along. What does he mean when he says, you know, good news of the kingdom, glad tidings of the kingdom. And he goes into further detail, especially in chapter 6, as he gives a kingdom sermon.

So this, hey, these are the folks that are in the kingdom, what they look like and how they operate. And here's the main goal, here's where we're heading. And then in chapter 7, as we have been seeing before, so also in chapter 7, we begin to see some critical miracles and we see a critical transition.

As John the Baptist is now in prison and Christ's ministry is expanding, John is diminishing and Jesus is expanding. As it should be, as the Old Covenant needs to come to the close and the New Covenant is getting started.

And then we come to chapter 8. And so in chapter 8 and all the way through the beginning of chapter 11, we have a series of stories and each, really a three series of events and stories. And each one begins with a kind of a launching of a campaign.

And in chapter 8, it's Jesus and he's the main focus and he's heading out and he's teaching his 12 disciples. And then in chapter 9, he sends out the 12. And then in chapter 10, he sends out the 70. And so there we see this expansion of his influence and his ministry, an expansion of the kingdom.

And it's really capped off very fittingly by Jesus teaching his disciples how to pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So we're talking about the kingdom, spreading the kingdom.

We've talked about that last time, both the meaning of the kingdom and the method of it. Under the heading of the meaning of the kingdom, we have this definition. What is the kingdom? Again, if you read Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Luke, Gospel of Mark and so on, you have very similar passages.

You've noticed this as you've read through those first three Gospels. Similar stories, similar parables, similar sayings. And in one Gospel and another Gospel, everything's the same except sometimes Jesus says kingdom of God, sometimes he says kingdom of heaven.

But they're both in the very same story, very same parable or so on. Which is telling us that this is synonymous. Well, so what is the kingdom? Our definition that we're working with is God's heavenly authority.

Because it's his kingdom, it's the kingdom of heaven. God's heavenly authority administered on earth. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So God's heavenly authority administered on earth through his chosen servant.

Through his chosen servant. Of course, the kingdom was in shadow in the Old Testament. We see that God's chosen servant was Israel. And God's heavenly authority was administered on earth through his chosen servant, who was Israel.

And it was administered well sometimes, and it was administered very badly at other times. But we keep that in mind as we move from Old Covenant to New Covenant, as shadow is replaced with substance. As Christ has come to fulfill that which was in shadow, that which was a picture.

That he is the real deal. And we talked about the method of spreading the kingdom. That he went through every city and village. And that he was declaring the glad tidings of the kingdom. That he was making disciples.

And that he was delivering people from all manner of difficulties, and demon possession, and sicknesses, and so on. Now let's talk about sustaining the kingdom tonight. Sustaining the kingdom. No good to spread it and then not sustain it.

What sustains the kingdom? What sustains God's heavenly authority on administrating, administered on earth through his chosen servant Christ? What sustains that? Well, obviously it's much the same way that it spreads, but with some emphasis.

And so really, we see that the verses 1 through 3, chapter 8 of Luke. Now it came to pass afterward that he went through every city and village preaching, and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God.

And the twelve were with him, and the certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities. Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, and Joanna the wife of Husa, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for him from their substance.

Now this is an introduction, not only to chapter 8, but also 9 and 10. How is it that Jesus and his disciples are able to travel from town to town and just keep going? And what does Christ want to be done as his disciples are spreading the kingdom or the gospel of the kingdom?

Well, we see that through the chapters. If you read it for yourself, you see that one of the things that happens again and again is preaching the Scripture. Jesus does it. He has his disciples go do it.

He has the 70 go do it. There is a preaching of the Word of God. Now, Jesus has already been doing this, especially when you look back in chapter 4 of Luke. We have a very good example. Now, Jesus was always bringing the Word of God to bear on any particular situation.

But it's interesting, in the Gospel of Luke, he seems to have a fondness for Isaiah. So often, he is quoting and alluding to Isaiah. But in Luke chapter 4, he actually reads from Isaiah. In Luke chapter 4, verses 18 through 19, he's in the synagogue, and he's reading, "...the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.".

Now, when you go back and you read Isaiah, you find Isaiah 49, 8 through 9, saying much the same thing. Isaiah 61, 1 through 2, saying the same thing. And so, Jesus is taking these Old Testament passages, and passages that would be familiar, passages that would have been read on a regular basis, and he just out and out says, in verse 21, "...today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.".

Now, that's a hard sell. They have a hard time believing that. And one of the main reasons why is that they still live under oppression. The Romans are still in control, and there's an Edomite on the throne named Herod, and who wants that?

The Romans actually control the vestments of the high priest. High priests can't put on the vestments unless the Romans give them permission to, because they're scared of a religious revolt. So, they're controlling the high priesthood.

They're controlling the Sanhedrin who gets appointed there. So, they don't really have any autonomy on their own. They're under the oppression of the Romans. They themselves have not been exalted. They themselves have not been brought to glory.

Because they're reading these passages, and their plan is for Messiah to come and exalt Israel, and that's not what happens. The Messiah comes, and God is exalted, and the Messiah comes, and He has the glory.

So, this is a hard sell. And they don't take kindly to what He says, and they try to throw Him over a cliff. The Son of God didn't interpret Scripture the way they liked, so they wanted to throw Him over a cliff.

But Jesus is preaching the Scripture anyway, and He is proclaiming the kingdom, clearly interpreting the Old Testament. One of the themes throughout the Gospels, especially the Gospel of Luke, is Jesus, time and again, explaining what is the meaning of the Scriptures.

What is the meaning of the Scriptures that they had grown up learning, and hearing at their mother's knee at first, and then going to synagogue, and having one of the rabbis read to them, and teach them about the Word of God.

And they were blessed to be hearing the Word of God all the time, and even throughout the Roman Empire, wherever there were ten Jewish men, they would have a synagogue. And as we read in Acts, Moses has been read throughout the Roman Empire.

But Jesus comes and says, this is what it means. And without fail, He continually shows Himself as the meaning of the Scriptures, which was delightful for some who had eyes to see and ears to hear by the grace of God, and it was very offensive to others.

But He kept on preaching the Scripture, and that's what sustains the kingdom. And how is that? Because the Scripture is the scepter of the Lord's authority, Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord. Well, what is the means of His Lordship?

Well, it's His Word, even as it was in the garden. What was that which had authority in the daily life of Adam and Eve? It was the Word of God. God made them in His image, and those made in the image of God are meant to live according to the Word of God.

And that was where Satan attacked. You don't need God's Word for your authority, you can be your own authority. And the preaching of the Scripture, therefore, is not simply for information sake. It's not simply for inspiration, you know, I feel inspired to to be better and do better.

But the preaching of the Word, the taking of the Word of God and explaining it in terms of who Christ is and then making application of that to our lives, that sustains the kingdom because it points to the authority of Christ in all of life.

Everything that we've got going in our lives, Jesus is in charge of it. And well, if He's in charge of it, then what does He say about it? You know, we are the stewards, He's the master, and how does He want things to be stewarded?

In our family, in our marriages, in raising our children? What about grandchildren? What about a legacy? What about our homes? What about our time? What about our interests? How do we interact with people at church and our neighborhood and so on?

Whatever it is, Jesus is in charge of it, and the way we go about it is laid out for us in the words. That's how the kingdom spreads, going to all nations and make disciples of all the nations, teaching them to observe or to keep all that I have commanded you, because He has all authority in heaven on earth.

So that's how the kingdom spreads, but it's also how it's sustained. If the scripture is not preached, if the scripture is not preached, if the Word of God is not taken up in its plain and consistent meaning, in its Christ-exalted meaning and then applied, then how is it that we are submitting to Christ's authority?

Well, we're not, unless the scriptures are being preached. So that's how the kingdom is sustained. The kingdom is also sustained by equipping the saints, and I've talked about that at the beginning of 8, 9, and 10, how that expands.

The 12 are with Him in chapter 8. Now listen to the beginning of chapter 9. Then He called His 12 disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. And He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

And He said to them, take nothing for the journey, neither staffs nor bag nor bread nor money, and do not have two tunics apiece. Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them.

So they departed and went through the towns, preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. So their ministry was very much modeled after that which Christ had. This is what Jesus did, now they're doing it.

They're going out and they're doing it. And now notice, if they reject them, they shake the dust from their feet as a testimony against them. Why? Because they just rejected Jesus Christ. They rejected the Messiah.

They have, they as a town or as a city or as a community, they have rejected the kingdom. They have rejected the kingdom. And so that's a very serious thing. And this is emphasized at the beginning of chapter 10 as well, after the 12.

And then what do we have in chapter 10, verse 1, after these things the Lord appointed 70 others also and sent them two by two before his face into every city and place where he himself was about to go.

Then he said to them, the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way, behold I send you out as lambs among wolves, carrying either money bag, knapsack, nor sandals, and greet no one along the road.

But whatever house you enter, first say, peace to this house. And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it. If not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages.

Do not go from house to house. Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. And heal the sick there and say to them, the kingdom of God has come near to you. But whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, the very dust of your city which clings to us, we wipe off against you.

Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you. But I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.". You know, the kingdom never came near into the streets of Sodom, and the gospel was never preached there.

But in these cities, yes, they had more light, more revelation, they were more accountable for what they had heard. Now, it's interesting that in equipping the saints, you notice what Jesus does not equip them to do.

He does not equip them to make friends and influence people, right? He does not send them out to make political alliances and networks and to build support for a political revolution. It's not that kind of kingdom.

It's not a kingdom of political revolution. Where you could have, you could have got 70, that's a lot, 70 going to about two, 35 teams going out to all of these towns and villages and cities. And working, they could go and they work the alliances, who are the city elders, we're gonna go to the city gates, we're going to, you know, whoever can bring us in, yeah, but we wouldn't actually want to be spending time in the city elders house.

We want to get his ear. And then we're gonna go from town to town, from city to city, go on this grand tour. And what if we get, you know, two, three hundred cities all ready to rise up and follow the Messiah?

Wow, now you've got a revolution. That's not what he told them to do. He also did not equip them by making sure that they had the most money and the most tools and the most resources. It's like, look, you're just, you're just gonna go and you're just going to do these, but he equipped them by modeling what it looked like when he was preaching the kingdom.

And so you have the, you have the signs and wonders accompanied with the preaching of the scripture, and it's saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. It has come near. It's right, you know, it's right here, right at your, at an arm's length of you.

And when somebody wanted to enter the kingdom, what did Jesus say? He'd say, repent and believe in the gospel. That's what he would say. Come in as a little child, and enter in this way. So he equips the saints to do this kind of work of preaching the gospel and depending upon the Lord for the effectiveness and the results.

The kingdom is also sustained by the giving of substance. We see that certain women, verse 2 of chapter 8, certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities. We have three listed, Mary, Magdalene, Joanna, the wife of Husa, Herod, Stuart, and Susanna.

And this is many others too. You know, no names given, but there were three notable, and there's a whole bunch of them. And they gave in order for the sustaining of the kingdom. Of course, it matters also for the spreading of the kingdom, but it also matters for the sustaining of the kingdom, so that what they gave would help these things continue.

But notice how they gave. It was responsive to what Christ had done in their life. He had delivered Mary Magdalene from seven demons, apparently healed Joanna, Susanna, and many others of infirmities.

He had come to them, he had shown them grace and compassion, and delivered them. They were believers in Christ. Their lives had been changed. And when they gave, they gave it as a response. They were responding to Christ, what he did for them, his grace, his kindness.

And they, so they were responding to that. And notice they were giving freely. There's no coercion here. It was out of their substance, meaning it was what they wanted to give. It was not such that they hadn't had nothing left, but they were giving out of their substance and supporting the ministries they gave freely.

And they gave varyingly. Mary Magdalene, who had had seven demons, probably didn't have a stable life prior to Christ delivering her, but she gave. Whereas Joanna, who's the wife of a steward of Herod, probably had better, a whole lot more means than someone like Mary Magdalene.

So they gave, I would say, varyingly. Not everybody gave the same amount, and so on. But this is mentioned here, because this is how the kingdom not only was spread, but also how the kingdom was sustained.

So by preaching, and equipping, and by giving. Now, that's not all that there is to it, but here in these three verses, we see things going on in Christ's ministry that still go on today. They're still going on today in our lives, in our church, right?

Chapter 8 happens again on a larger scale. In chapter 9 happens again on an even larger scale. In chapter 10, and it just keeps going. And so, it is a reminder that, yes, we're going to be spreading the kingdom, but also sustaining the kingdom.

How does that happen? We need to be taking up the Word of God and bringing its authority to bear in our lives again, and again, and again. This is how the kingdom is sustained. This is how we show our fidelity to Christ.

We're following Him. He's the King. Also, saints have to be equipped. Saints have to be equipped. Jesus could have done everything better. Like, everything better than these disciples, and who knows who was in this group of the 70.

He could have done it all better than they could have, but He still discipled them, and equipped them, and sent them out to do it, even though they did a very poor, pale comparison to what He did. But then, again, it's about the grace of God, not be a skill in the merits and the professionalism of man.

And we've got to equip saints. Some of us do things well, and we do them because we do them well, and then others don't do them as well, so we don't let them do them. But the Word has to be preached, and applied, and taught, and so on.

And there's work to be done, labor to be done for the kingdom, and so on. And even if others don't do it as well, we still have to equip, and disciple, and train, and help others. And this is the way the kingdom is sustained.

And then giving. These are just notes about, you know, they didn't ask for their names to be put on a plaque, you know, somewhere. And most of them, notice, many others provided for them. Most of them are not named, and this is the way it is.

Remember a few very important people who have given sacrificially, but most of them are not named. But this is how the kingdom is sustained, through generosity, and giving, and so on. Which, you know, I know I'm preaching to the choir on this, and we are very blessed.

But this is, sometimes we get the impression that, you know, and I love watching the movies like Itau, and you know, watching Tim Kazee go, you know, and find the churches in really interesting places.

And hearing the stories about the saints in, you know, all throughout the history, the amazing missionaries, and saints, and so on. And those can be encouraging, and those are very interesting to read.

But this is not the only things happening in the kingdom. Not the only things going on. These are some of the things that are going on that happen commonly, that are normal, perhaps not like super exciting, but they are vital.

And we see them here, and we want to see them here in our midst. Alright, so next time we'll talk about the parable of the sower, a parable of parables. And that'll be a blessing, I'm sure.