The Sufficiency of Grace, part 1 (Luke 10:1-24, Jeff Kliewer)

Oh great God, we are so thankful indeed to be in your presence today, to have this experience of taking communion, to remember your body and blood, to stand in your presence and sing praises to your name, and then to sit at your feet and listen to your word.

Lord, thank you that we have this opportunity. There's no greater privilege than to be able to sit at the feet of the Lord, to learn from you, God. So we pray that your word would speak today. As a preacher, Lord, I pray that I would just fall in behind the text and let your text do the speaking.

God, thank you for your word to us today. In Jesus' name, amen. Heard of an incident that happened in a seminary classroom where a guy raised his hand and asked a question of the seminary professor that bothered the professor.

Now, recognize that there's a difference between professors and pastors. Professors in a classroom can say things that pastors wouldn't necessarily say. Pastors have to be more kind and can't be quite as blunt sometimes, and this professor just basically spoke his mind.

Now, the question was, how come we always study these verses and spend so much time thinking and talking about the Bible and learning theology when it doesn't always seem relevant? He said, I mean, the student that says, says, they're starving people in Africa.

Why do we spend so much time sitting and listening when we could be going and doing more? The professor looked at him, fixed his gaze on the student, and he said, son, the Bible is an eternal book. You're the one that's irrelevant.

And he turned around and walked back to the chalkboard and began teaching again, and the students were flabbergasted. And I think that the professor did overstate his case because we as humans created in the image of God are eternal beings, we will go on forever, so there is a certain relevance to who we are, but the larger point of what he was wanting to communicate I think was important for us, and that is to say that when we come to the word of God, it doesn't always have to be about us, and it doesn't always have to tell us what to go and do.

Sometimes we're to sit and listen, and maybe, just maybe, it's okay if the word of God is all about him. So in the text today, in Luke chapter 10, we will find some of the things that we are to go and do, and let's not minimize those things.

We are called to go be good Samaritans. But before we go and do, the importance is placed upon sitting and listening, like Mary at the feet of Jesus when Martha was too busy doing, to really hear what the Messiah was saying.

So turn with me, if you will, to Luke chapter 10. There's a few movements in this text. The first begins with another sending out. This time, instead of the 12, it's 72 followers of Christ who are sent out.

When they return, they receive a very important teaching about grace and the importance of grace. Next, we have a challenge from a lawyer who doesn't understand grace and seeks to justify himself by works.

And finally, we have a woman named Mary who sits at the feet of Jesus and receives grace that's falling from his lips, receiving the word of God, listening. And so in all, the text leads us to sit at the feet of Jesus, to receive his grace, to contemplate what is this grace by which we are saved.

We are not saved by doing good works. We are saved by grace. And so salvation is by grace from first to last. In the beginning, you have disciples sent out to preach Christ, and that message that comes to them is nothing but grace.

Those people sitting in darkness had no access to light, but God in his grace sends messengers, and that's how the gospel came to each one of us. Whether through a preacher or through your parents or through your grandparents or through watching something on television or hearing on the radio, the message about Jesus Christ came to you.

But Jesus will take it one step deeper than that because a lot of people hear the gospel and yet some believe while others don't. There is also an inner work of grace where the Holy Spirit quickens the heart of the people who hear, that they would understand and believe the gospel.

Jesus explains that in Luke 10. So let's move into it now. As we learn about grace, beginning with Luke 10, one and following. After this, the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.

And he said to them, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

Go your way.

Behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no money bag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say peace be to this house. And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him.

But if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you, heal the sick in it, and say to them, the kingdom of God has come near to you.

This mission is the sending out of 72 followers. Now, who are these people? We know about the 12, but from Acts 1, when it's time to replace Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus, we learn there that there was also a group of followers that kind of hung around the disciples, and were there throughout the three years of ministry that had taken place thus far.

These were not appointed apostles. Remember, Jesus went on a mountain to pray, and he came down and appointed certain ones to be the 12 apostles, but there was a larger group of friends and others who had been there the whole time while Jesus had gone in and out among them.

So here we learn that there's 72 of them. Now, verse one, it says the Lord appointed 72. It says that if you're reading the ESV. But anybody here reading the King James right now? It says 70. Interesting.

Teenagers, we've been talking about textual variance, how we don't have the original manuscript, but what we do have is copies, and so many copies that are distributed across the world that we can compare and contrast, and we can know what the original text was, except at certain points, less than 1 of the text, where there are variants, and it never makes a difference in terms of any major theological doctrine or any major truth, but there's certain differences, and what probably happened in this case is a scribe was reading the Book of Luke and changed 72 to 70 at some point in order to make it match the 70 elders of the Sanhedrin, plus the number one chief priest made 71 of the rulers of Israel, but looking for a parallel, just like you have 12 tribes in Israel and you have 12 apostles that are sent out, you have 70 elders, I think that a scribe at some point made an amendation there thinking he was correcting it, and there were certain texts that flowed from that translation that had error in it.

That would be a good guess of where the difference came from, because the earliest text and the majority text does say 72, which is the more likely reading. The point is, there are textual variants that you'll run across.

Don't be surprised when those happen. God still has preserved his word, and in every doctrine that we believe, there is sureness around what the Bible actually says. So is it 72? Is it 70? It doesn't matter.

However many it is, they go out, they're sent on ahead of Jesus two by two into every town and place where he himself was about to go. Recall last week, we learned in Luke chapter nine, it says that Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem.

At that point in the text, it's what's called the travel narrative. From that point in Luke nine, until really he enters Jerusalem, he's on a journey now. He's traveling throughout Israel, but his face is set to go to Jerusalem.

And so in Luke 10, when it says he sent them on ahead of him, the literal Greek there is before his face. Jesus has his face set to go to Jerusalem, and now he's sending messengers ahead of his face, before his face, to prepare the way of the king.

That's the picture that we have in Luke 10, one. In verse two, he says to them, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

We have a mention here of prayer. There's a problem presented, which is that there's not enough workers, not enough people to go forth proclaiming the kingdom of God to the ends of the earth. How do we solve this problem?

Do we go out and recruit more converts? Do we go out and work harder to cover more ground? No, the answer is pray. We are a dependent people. As Christians, we depend on God's grace for everything. And prayer is that lifeline that we have to God.

When a problem arises, the solution, the first solution that we have is to pray. We'll learn this again at the end of the chapter. But mark that well. The answer, and I don't know what each of your problems are, all of us are facing different things.

But the solution here is prayer. Imploring God for his grace to send more workers into the harvest. Verse three, go your way. Behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. It's encouraging, right?

You get to be a lamb sent out to preach to wolves. That's not gonna go well for the lamb, is it? Unless there is supernatural protection. Unless there is grace. Unless there is provision that's not natural.

Who are these wolves? Those are unbelievers. Those who will reject the message that they bring. And some of them pretend to be sheep. Wolves in sheep's clothing. Using the same scriptures. Saying that they speak for Jesus.

And yet, truly wolves at heart. Verse four, carry no money bag, no knapsack, no sandals. And greet no one on the road. We talked about the first part of this last week. That God wants us to be dependent upon him.

So often he strips us of our security blankets. And causes us to step out into an unknown place where we need to depend on him. But notice here at the end, and greet no one on the road. What does Jesus mean by that?

I think it communicates the seriousness of the mission. As they go forth to proclaim the kingdom of God, they're not to get distracted on the side of the road. And go down a rabbit trail. Shoot in the breeze with an old friend.

And then get back to work. The idea is, you're on a mission. You're sent with a purpose. Remain serious and committed to what you're called to do. Because we are a people that are prone to distraction.

Greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say peace be to this house. And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide.

For the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and then they receive you, eat what is set before you. I'll testify that when you're on a mission trip, sometimes that's hard to do.

Ryan will know that.

I remember when I went on a mission like this, just sent out for 10 days to Turkey. We flew to the capital and then flew over to Ankara. Got on a bus and went to Kayseri in the middle of Turkey. And this was right, not too long after 9 -11.

And there were beheadings and things like that that were hitting the news. We got to Kayseri and we just were, each one of us in our team to just go to a house where there was a man of peace. Anybody that would welcome you into their house and you stay there all week long.

So I went and I stayed in that home. And it turned out it was a peaceful place. And we got to share the gospel in the city and talk to people. But I'll tell you what, it is hard to eat Turkish food if you're not used to it.

They have one thing called ayran, which is like a yogurt kind of drink, only it's not sweet, it's really salty. And when they put that before you, if you don't drink it, you're offending them. So you have to drink what's set before you.

If you're ever on a mission trip, remember this. It's offensive not to eat and drink what's put before you. So you just have to do it. You just have to drink what you don't like. And that's the case here with the 72.

They're on a mission trip, wherever they go, God will provide for them. It might not always taste the best. But his provision is there for you. Verse nine and following, heal the sick and say to them, the kingdom of God has come near to you.

So here is the large point that we're seeing so far. In God's grace, he sends missionaries out to proclaim the kingdom of God. The kingdom has come near to you. Now on this side of the cross where we sit, we understand more about this kingdom.

Namely, that the king himself was crucified to pay for sin. And that he rose from the dead. And so our message is now more full and robust. We go forth preaching this message. And it's only the grace of God that sends that message to anyone.

People without the gospel are sitting in darkness. And the gospel, this message of Christ being king, who died and rose, it's light that bursts onto the scene. It comes into their house out of nowhere.

And so it is to this day. Go to China and you'll find the gospel being preached from house to house. In Iran today, hundreds of thousands believing the gospel. The gospel is running to the ends of the earth.

And it has been since the beginning when Jesus sent out the disciples. It's the grace of God that sends this outward message. Mark that for what Jesus is about to say. Now in 10 and following, you find another reality.

And that is when the gospel goes forward graciously to a people, God holds responsible those who hear the message. As the light of the gospel comes to them, they are responsible for what they hear. Matthew Henry puts it this way.

The fairer offers we have of grace and life by Christ, the more we shall have to answer for another day if we slight these offers. So here in verse 10 and following, they hear the message of the gospel and yet they won't believe.

Many of them.

Verse 10, but whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless, know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.

I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven you shall be brought down to Hades. Notice, the rejection of the gospel is grounds for punishment and a stricter, more severe punishment.

Bethsaida was where the disciples were sent out last week we studied. They had gone out from there. So they went right into that town and many of them rejected. It would also be the hometown of Peter, Andrew, and Philip, I believe.

From that town. They go preaching to their own town and they are rejected. Chorazin isn't much, we don't know much about that, but Capernaum, of course, we know about that, right? Capernaum was where Jesus has been for these three years, working miracle after miracle, and yet, by and large, the crowds are not genuine disciples.

And so the comparison is made to Sodom. When back in the Old Testament, Lot had settled in Sodom, and we're told he was a preacher of righteousness there, even though he was compromised. He had compromised in his walk with God.

Yet he preached righteousness there and the Sodomites rejected Lot's preaching. And because of their sin, God rained fire down from heaven and destroyed that city. What we are learning here is that the judgment on a people who rejects the gospel is even worse than the judgment that fell on Sodom.

There's a more severe judgment for those who have received the message of Christ and yet reject. So whose responsibility is it to believe when the gospel comes to them?

It's on the hearer.

The responsibility belongs to the hearer. And likewise, the fault for sin is with the sinner. A pot can't say to the potter, why did you make of me like this? My sin is only because you made me a sinner.

No, the presentation in the Bible is that Adam and Eve were created in the image of God and without sin. And sin entered in through their decision and their culpability. And from that sin, sin passes on to all of the generations that come from Adam because all sin, we're told in Romans five, it's both inherited and something that we actively do.

So God holds responsible the sinner. And that brings us into this next portion of teaching because it seems antithetical to what I've said so far. I think the problem is we don't always have the capability to understand.

Sometimes our minds, being finite, can't grasp the deep things of God. Sometimes we fall short in our understanding. I remember when I was a kid, I used to think that it would be possible for me to fly.

Theoretically, if I could only get my arms strong enough. If I curled up in a little ball and lifted hard enough on my knees, I thought if I could only lift as much weight as how heavy I am, then I would naturally fly.

There was a hole in my reasoning. To me, it made all the sense in the world. So I would lift weights trying to think, I can really get strong enough to fly.

But it was foolish.

I wasn't thinking properly. In fact, I got my hair cut the other day and I think that the hairdresser had some flaws in her understanding. She brought up Groundhog Day to me. And she said, I really don't understand Groundhog Day.

I think it's a farce. And I said, what do you mean? She said, it's the same both ways.

I said, what do you mean?

She said, well, if the groundhog sees the shadow, then it's gonna be six more weeks of winter. But if he doesn't see the shadow, then spring starts in six weeks. And I said, you mean kind of like heads you win,.

Tails you lose?

And she's like, yeah, the whole concept doesn't make sense. I was like, are you saying you don't believe in it? No, no, I know, it's just a superstition. But in her mind, that's the concept of Groundhog Day.

So there was a flaw in her thinking. She also mentioned something about Daylight Savings Time. She said that she's sad that it's almost over because she won't be getting the extra hour of sleep every night.

I told her, I think that just applies to the first night. She's not here today, honey. So anyway, sometimes our thinking doesn't fully carry all of the presuppositions and all of the knowledge that we think we do.

We're not always able to contemplate and understand the deeper things. And here we go, let's go into the deep things that Jesus has to say. Seems antithetical, 17 and following. When 16, the one who hears you hears me and the one who rejects you rejects me and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.

But now the 72, evidently they've been sent out and they come back. In verse 17 it says, the 72 returned with joy saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us.

In your name.

And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

Okay, pause there for a moment. The 72 have come back, they're filled with joy because they were able to cast out demons and Jesus affirms that, he says, yeah, I saw Satan fall when you were out ministering.

He could also have reference to Isaiah 14 and when Satan was originally cast down from heaven. He affirms that, he says, you do in fact have authority and Satan cannot harm you, but don't rejoice in that.

Rejoice that your names are written in heaven. That when you stand before the great white throne and books are open, the book of works, and none of us could stand because we're sinners. Rejoice that there's another book called the Lamb's Book of Life.

And when God turns that page, your name is written there. And you have automatic entry into the kingdom. Rejoice that your names are written. Rejoice that you're saved, that you're a believer, that grace has reached you, the message came to you, and here's where the teaching gets deep.

In that same hour, verse 21, he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.

Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

And so the teaching is that yes, it's required that the gospel go out, outwardly. You need a preacher in order for someone to hear. The preacher has to be sent. The gospel has to go. Unless your ears hear this message, how can you believe?

But the teaching here is that there's something more that needs to happen. You have to have ears to hear, not just physical ears. We learn this in the parable of the soils.

You have to be enlightened.

The eyes of your heart need to open. Spiritual ears need to take this in, that you would believe. In that same hour, he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank you, Father. Jesus, filled with joy now.

Remember the joy that the disciples came back having because of what they were able to do? Now Jesus rejoices in a different way. He rejoices in the plan of the Father, that wise and proud men who are dead in trespasses and sins, that even when the gospel comes to them, they reject and are hardened in their sin.

But that while this is the case with all of us, that we're dead in our trespasses and sins, in which we formerly walked, according to Ephesians 2, 1. That there is something called grace. And that God in his grace sends the gospel and he also sends his spirit to work inwardly to take a heart of stone and remove that heart of stone and give a heart of flesh, which is the only reason on earth that a sinner like me is standing here right now, rather than doing something else on a Sunday morning.

It's only by God's grace. And there's no difference between me and my neighbor who doesn't believe this message that I'm preaching today. God's grace is essential. Without it, there's no gospel being sent to our ears.

But God's grace is also sufficient. His grace is able to transform an enemy of God into a child of God. His grace is able to give ears to hear and believe the gospel message. Let's look at the text and see, is this what Jesus is saying?

We need to study the Bible inductively, allow the scripture to speak. Verse 21, in that same hour, he rejoiced. It's Jesus rejoicing in the Holy Spirit and saying, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden.

Sounds so counterintuitive, and my limited mind that used to think I could fly isn't enough to understand these things. He's hidden things from the wise and understanding, those who think they're smart.

No one will come to this doctrine apart from a full belief in the inerrancy of scripture. Because what I'm saying to you about grace right now.

Is revealed.

It's not human reasoning. It's not the revelation of a mind that is just smart enough to figure these things out. The wise and the understanding will never come here to say that grace is sufficient to save.

It's counterintuitive. It's against human reasoning that God would hide these things from the wise and understanding and reveal them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. And all these things resound to the praise of his glorious grace, that God is a savior and his salvation is something that he doesn't just make possible through the death of his son.

It's something that he accomplishes by grace. Verse 22 and following. All things have been handed over to me by my father and no one knows who the son is except the father or who the father is except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him.

Our minds at this point object. In our reasoning, we say, no, no. It has to ultimately depend on me. Ultimately, I have free will. Ultimately, I get to decide where I go, to heaven or to hell, to be saved or to be lost.

And yes, it's true that the creaturely will that we have, the will that we have as being people created in the image of God is capable of making choices but the teaching of scripture is that we choose evil.

We choose sin and we are dead in our trespasses and sin. And the teaching of our text today is that Jesus is the one who chooses to save. Anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. It's the free will of God that saves.

It's the free grace of God according to his gracious will that the gospel came to you in the first place. Think of Tyre and Sidon. They would have repented had they been exposed to the kind of miracles that were done in Bethsaida and Chorazin, Capernaum.

Those miracles weren't done there. For whatever purpose God has and according to his gracious will, although he loves and although he sends a witness, it is always and only by grace that the gospel comes and that a heart is changed from stone to flesh.

Maybe you're sitting here today thinking, no, I can make it on my own. I can choose whenever the time comes. I can choose to believe. A better place would be calling on the God of grace to change your heart.

If you don't believe today, don't blame God because he holds man responsible for man's sin and for the rejection of the gospel. But if you don't believe today, fall on your knees and beg him for grace to change you.

Ask him to be merciful to you. We're gonna close at this point in the text. We're not gonna go on to the, because I don't want to slight the parable that comes next. We'll save that for next week. But the point of today's message is deep, yes, and yet simple.

Grace is enough. We are saved by grace through faith and that not of ourselves, it's a gift of God. And the purpose of this is that no one would be able to boast in his sight. I want us to close in prayer and I'll call on Michael and the worship team to come on up.

Think about what we saw today in the text. 70, 72, sent out preaching the gospel. The gospel goes forth and yet most reject. Those who reject are held responsible for their own unbelief and they incur a stricter judgment.

And yet coming back, Jesus says don't rejoice because demons submit to you. Rejoice that your name is written in the Lamb's book of life. Is your name written in that eternal book? Have you heard the gospel and have you had ears to hear, to recognize that grace alone can save?

I would like right now to say go and do. We could do the parable of the Good Samaritan. Go and do likewise, that will come. But until you've sat and listened to the doctrines of grace, till you've heard what Jesus teaches about salvation, it's not time to go and do, it's time to sit and listen.

So right now in your own heart, listen to the voice of God from his word. Close your eyes and bow your heads. Do you hear the message of grace? When you hear about the Son of God who died on a cross and rose from the dead, doesn't everything inside of you leap for joy?

And don't you think, yeah, now for the rest of my life I'm devoted to Christ. Maybe you say, no, I don't know what that passion feels like. Maybe I don't know why Jesus is so valuable, why he's everything.

Maybe there's other things in my life that are more important. If that's you today, ask him for grace. The one thing we're called to do in this passage is to pray. Pray to the Lord of the harvest, to send workers.

Pray right now in your heart that the gospel message will resonate there, that he will change you, that he will save you, that he will turn your heart of flesh, your heart of stone into a heart of flesh, to give you eyes to see, to give you ears to hear, that sitting and listening to the word of God would become the passion of your life.

We are a desperate people, born and conceived in iniquity. Even our righteous deeds are like filthy rags. There's no, not one of us who's righteous. No one even seeks God. Our lips are an open tomb. Our throat's an open tomb.

Our lips with the poison of asps. There's no one who does good. There's no fear of God before our eyes. We are like Bethsaida and Chorazin and Capernaum. We hear of the miracles of Jesus and we've seen enough to believe and yet we don't.

And so we are a people that needs grace. God, change us from the inside. We've heard of a savior who bled and died. Now change our hearts that Jesus would become everything to us, our all in all. Change us on the inside, God.

We're calling to you in prayer right now to give us hearts that truly love you, that we would be Christians who are willing to die, to lay down our lives for the gospel, to go out with no provision but you alone for that to be enough for us.

Jesus, right now I confess that my heart doesn't understand fully, God. God, I am still so divided in my priorities and with my time. I need a new heart.

I need to see.

I need ears. I need grace. Renew me, Lord God. I pray that for each of us, God, that you would give us hearts to believe. I pray that from this day forward, we would be a people that love to sit and listen to your word because we have a hunger to hear and to know.

Forgive us for always just wanting to go and do. Forgive us for always wanting what's relevant to our lives as if we're the center when we're not. God, help us to understand grace and to delight in your grace.

Jesus, you be the center of our universe. Help us to fall down at your feet and worship you daily, to hear your voice. Good shepherd, we are your sheep. Change us. We need grace. Thank you for your amazing grace, Lord.

It saves wretches like us. You are merciful.

You are good.

You do send the gospel out, and we have heard, and so we do delight in that free grace in your salvation, just like the man who wrote the song Amazing Grace, understanding that you forgive even the worst sinners, slave traders, that grace can come to any one of us and take away our sin.

Thank you for your amazing grace. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Let's stand.