Wednesday March 3, 2021 PM

We're gonna be in Luke chapter 8 verses 1 through 3, and before you read the text, let's go ahead and pray. Father, I thank you for gathering us together tonight. We thank you for your provision in our lives.

We thank you that you are faithful day in and day out, and that you prove this to us. Lord, I pray that you would help us to trust you and take each day as you give it, and to trust you for your provision, and I pray that you would help us to follow you, and that we would pay close attention to your words, so that we will know what direction you would have us go.

We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. So we're starting Luke chapter 8. The title for our lesson tonight, if you look at verses 1 through 3, is Ozion Haste, which you'll recognize out of one of our hymns, and it's helpful to remember that Luke has been building to these themes through the first seven chapters.

We have chapters 1 and 2 focusing very deeply on the prophecies that surround the Messiah, and Luke starts with a hefty background just like Matthew does. You know, Matthew starts with a genealogy and even uses the word that we get our word Genesis from, the genesis of Jesus Christ.

He's saying here's a new beginning here, and the beginning is through Jesus Christ, and he lays it out. Luke has a lot more detail in the stories that he tells, and brings in the prophecies and the fulfillment of the forerunner, John the Baptist.

But everything about John the Baptist, and all the build-up about John the Baptist, really is just an amplification of the importance of Jesus Christ. And we see that Jesus is all that the prophecy said he would be, and we find him preaching and showing power over evil spirits, over sickness, disease, and death.

Preaching the Word of God, giving clarity to the scriptures that nobody else had. And when we read in chapters 3 and 4, and even in 5, what we discover is that Jesus is saying, here's what these Old Testament passages mean in light of my arrival, and he preaches the kingdom wherever he goes.

He preaches the gospel of the kingdom wherever he goes, and there are many who welcome that, and rejoice in that, and others who resist that. And then he gives some extra definition to what the kingdom is in chapter 6.

He preaches a kingdom sermon. The kingdom of heaven is like, and the people in the kingdom are like this, and the kingdom functions like this, and like this, and then here are the practical applications of that, what it looks like on earth.

And then we see him back on a tour of doing things, forgiving sins, and preaching, and clarifying who John the Baptist was. And we have, I think when we get through the end of chapter 7, we have really exhausted the introduction by now.

I think Luke has really set the scene for everything else that is to come. It's important to provide that transition from John the Baptist to Jesus as much as it is to understand we're moving out of Old Covenant territory into New Covenant territory.

Trying to understand that transition is so important. And interesting, when you read Luke 8, 9, and 10 together, and go ahead and read into the first part of chapter 11 where the model prayer is offered when Jesus is teaching his disciples how to pray, that section hangs together so well.

And we have in chapter 8, Jesus preaching and doing powerful things, miracles, showing his authority, and as he's doing that, the twelve are with him, and they watch him do it. But then in chapter 9, he sends the twelve out, and they go preach the kingdom, and they bring his power and authority with them where they go.

And then in chapter 10, he sends 70 out, and they go out preaching the kingdom, and the power of God is on display wherever they go. And then we get to the model prayer, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

So it's the whole thing, 8, 9, and 10, 8 starts off here in verses 1 through 3. And we read this, 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 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, and Susanna, prayed for him from their substance.

So we're reading about the spreading, we're also reading about the kingdom. We should always be doing when we read our Bibles, like not comparing ourselves amongst ourselves, we should be comparing Scripture with Scripture.

How do we know what this Scripture is and see how that fits together in Christ? So when you read the Gospel of Matthew, you will find variously these two expressions, kingdom of God, kingdom of heaven, in the very same passages.

So whereas in one part, maybe he's saying kingdom of heaven. You use the analogy, these are the same. And some people have made a career out of separating those two, but they're not separate in the Bible.

So let's start with, so we'll give a definition to the king, a definition to it. So here's a definition. His authority administered on earth, I think is the plain meaning, you can't have a kingdom if nobody's in charge.

And Jesus said that his kingdom wasn't worldly, meaning that the power then comes from heaven. So it's God's heavenly authority, and it's administered on earth. It's not an authority that has no impact or doesn't matter at all in the everyday life.

Jesus commanded people to do things and expected them to do things. We are not to be hearers of the word only, but also doers of the word. God's heavenly authority administered on earth through his chosen servant.

And again, the kingdom in the Old Testament has been expressed in shadow, and in type, and in picture, and in promise. God's chosen servant in the garden was Adam. God's chosen servant on the ark was Noah.

God's chosen servant in Canaan was Abraham. God's chosen servant up out of Egypt and brought into the promised land and formed into a nation is Israel. And we have further pictures we can see in Moses, and in David, and so on and so forth.

But there's God's authority, which matters in the here and now, and it's being administered through his chosen servant. But all these servants, the lower case s servants, were always a shadow, or a type, or a picture, or a promise.

But there was always the prophetic anticipation of the coming of the kingdom. Daniel 2, Daniel 7, so on and so forth. And then when Jesus comes, he says, the kingdom's here. It's a great expression in Mark chapter 1 verse 15, where Jesus says, the time is fulfilled.

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. Well, what he means at hand is, it has come near. Well, in the very previous verse, Jesus came near into these regions and then began preaching, the kingdom has come near.

Why did the kingdom come near? Because he had come near. And that's what he's doing here in Luke. He's preaching the kingdom. He's saying, God's heavenly authority is to be administered on earth through his chosen servant.

And that's why he's preaching the Old Testament, where he prays and he's preaching God's kingdom and God's Messiah. And he's saying, here's the kingdom. And he has so many parables about what it's like.

About that kingdom is expressed in substance, in true fulfillment, as we see in Christ and his ministry. So that's the direction of the kingdom. The direction of the kingdom, though, is this news. Well, it's good news, right?

That's the direction of the kingdom. It doesn't say, it does not say that he came, went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the sad tidings of the kingdom of God. It's not her glad tidings of Christmas every year.

Chapter one, fear not, fear not of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Those are the glad tidings of the kingdom heralded by the angels.

See, it's for all people. It's heavenly authority that matters on earth, and it's through a chosen servant who was born in the city of David, the Messiah, who is Lord. He's King. I mean, Herod knew it was about a king that mattered on earth, and that's to him that it was bad tidings.

That's why he tried to kill all the children in Bethlehem. He couldn't bear the thought. In Luke chapter 4, verses 18 through 19, Jesus is preaching. Here's an example of his preaching, and he's quoting Isaiah.

He says, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

That's glad tidings all the way through. That's just glad, glad, glad, glad tidings. So, the definition is through his chosen servant, and this is good. This is hope-filled. This is glad tidings. That's the direction of the kingdom.

Now, let's think about the method. How is the kingdom spread? Knowing what the kingdom is now, how is the kingdom spread? So, notice it says that he went through every city and village. He went through every city and village.

When you think about method, there's all sorts of methods today. I get spam email all the time that, you know, it's like, here's a method for your church to make more money. You know, capital investments, and or how to get people to give more, or you know, how to organize your numbers to bring more people in, and all this very stuff.

There's all these methods, okay? And it's interesting. I was listening to a conversation some people were having, and one of them was talking about when the seeker-sensitive movement swept through all the churches in North America.

The method about, you know, finding out what the world wants out of a church and then giving it to them. Okay, that method that has boosted numbers and boosted profitability and turned all sorts of churches into nonprofit organizations.

What now? Oh yeah, nonprofit. But, you know, where are we today with the seeker-sensitive movement? You know, you keep on asking the world, world, what do you want from the church? And we're going to give it to you.

And then the world finally comes down and says, you know what we want you to do? We want you to shut down. And then all the seeker-sensitive churches say, okay, well we'll give the world what they want.

They just told us they want us to shut down, so we'll shut down. We won't meet. That kind of backfired, didn't it? That's not a very good church growth strategy. If you hold a grenade long enough, it goes off.

So what's Jesus' method? He went through every city and village. Every city and village. So not just one city, not just the cities, but he went through every city and village. He was showing a thorough, a thoroughgoing preaching of the kingdom.

That city matters, that village matters, that city matters, that village matters. Every single city and village. And in this, Jesus is showing a model. And in fact, he will instruct his disciples to do the same.

He's showing a model of how he wants it to be done. This is why, just even in practicalities, who really cares about that particular dialect that 20 villages speak? Who cares about them? Why waste resources on them?

Why would New Tribes or Wycliffe or anybody send anybody there to get the gospel to them in their own language? Because Jesus went to every city and every village, right? So he's sowing seed. He's casting the seed in all the areas.

And in fact, chapters 8, 9, and 10, all of them mention city and village, or town and countryside, city and desolate place, city and village. Which I think is important, because if we, many today, many today, speaking of method, have a presupposition that Christ's method for spreading the kingdom was to only strategically work in large cities, in the city.

The city is where God's heart is. It's not the village, it's not the countryside, it's the city, right? Because that's where you could be most effective. But when you read what Jesus did, he went through every place.

He went every single place. And I think that confusion is somewhat alleviated when the model prayer in Luke 10, and of course you can see it in Matthew 6, but it's studied in light of the Great Commission.

If you were to take up the model prayer, this is how Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, and then look at that in light of the Great Commission, I think that both would make a lot more sense. And in, well at the beginning of Luke 11, he teaches them 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. Well, that's comprehensive, but it's also intensive. Every place. Give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins.

For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Also interesting that, what was the sign that Jesus gave to that generation? He said a wicked and perverse generation asked for a sign, and no sign will be given to it, but except for what?

The sign of Jonah. And what is the sign of Jonah? Resurrection, right, yeah. So Jonah was in the fish, and then came out of the fish. Jesus was in the earth, and came up out of the earth. What did Jonah say after he got out?

What was his message? That he went through the entirety of the city, not part of the city, he went through the entirety of Nineveh proclaiming one message. What was it? Yeah, he never said repent though.

They got the message. They got the gist of it, but he didn't say repent. He also didn't say ask Jesus into your heart. He said, yet 40 days, right? Yet 40 days, and this city will be overthrown. So what did they need to do?

Well, obviously they needed to repent, and the message even got to the king, and he was like, okay, sackcloth and ashes time. We're gonna repent. Yet 40 days, and this city will be overthrown. It's interesting to me that Jesus, when he is giving that as the sign for that wicked and perverse generation, is doing so in a series of statements where he compares them to other people who would have repented if they had gotten the same message, or he puts that sign in a list of things about how, you know, so-and-so was great, but something greater is now here, and so sign of Jonah.

Jonah was in the fish, got out of the fish. Yet 40 days, and this city will be overthrown. Jesus in the heart of the earth comes out, and what happens within that generation? Destruction of Jerusalem within 40 years.

Yet 40 years, and this Judea and Jerusalem will be overthrown. So yeah, he's going to every village and every city, because they're all going to be impacted. They all needed to know, and in fact, Jesus in Matthew 10, he tells his disciples to go to every city and to every village, and then he says in Matthew 10, 23, when they persecute you in this city, flee to another.

Just keep moving. For assuredly I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes. Well, it comes in what way? It comes in the way that God comes and comes and comes throughout the Bible, judgment.

He says you're not going to, he's pointing at his disciples, you guys, you personally, you guys, I'm not going to finish going through the cities of Israel before judgment strikes. But they tried. They tried to get the word out.

And then we see not only the destinations they're going to, but they were preaching a particular message. Jesus is preaching a particular message. So Luke, so we see in verse 1, he was preaching and bringing glad tidings of the kingdom of God.

Again, these are not bad tidings, not sad tidings. There is hope. There is hope. And this is the same declaration that he gave to his disciples to say in Luke 24, 46 to 48, then he said to them, thus it is written, that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem, and you are witnesses of these things.

It was written. And take up the Old Testament scriptures, exposit them, proclaim them, demonstrate them, and this is what the Apostles did throughout their ministry. It was necessary, it was essential for the Messiah to suffer and rise from the dead the third day.

And then again, yeah, repentance and forgiveness of sins preached in his name to all nations. And beginning at Jerusalem, there you have the, you know, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the earth.

And we are reminded from Romans 10 that the kingdom is spread particularly through the preaching of the gospel. How shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they hear without a preacher? And so the kingdom is spread by going the destinations, every place.

Kingdom is spread through declaration, preaching the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, the need for repentance and forgiveness of sins. And notice what Jesus is doing here. As he is doing this, the twelve were with him.

Verse 1 concludes, the twelve were with him. He's discipling them. He's showing them how it's done, and that's why they know how to do it in chapter 9, right? So the kingdom is spread not only by going to all these different places and then declaring the good news of Jesus Christ, the gospel, calling for repentance of sin, faith in Christ, but also by making disciples who will do the same.

By making disciples who will do the same. And disciple making is at the heart of the Great Commission, Matthew 28, 18 through 20. To make disciples of all the nations. And then we see that the last point about how the kingdom is spread is that of deliverance.

You see that certain women have been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, and it lists something that some of them had gone through. Even Mary Magdalene, out of whom seven demons is mentioned. There's an actual change that occurs when the kingdom of God shows up, right?

Not that all the problems go away, but there's actual change that shows up. Rather than being dead and trespasses and sins, enslaved to the devil to do whatever he wants you to do, and all of that, that there's an actual change.

You know, when you're following Christ and you're committed to his ways and you're seeking wisdom and you're fearing God, and so things go a lot better. There's like a big change and you're not consumed by bitterness and gossip and hatred and so on and so forth.

I'm not saying Christians don't ever have problems, they don't ever get addicted to something or ever get deceived by something, but what I'm saying is there is a change. There is a real deliverance that occurs in people's lives when Christ gets involved.

There is actual deliverance from all of these different things, and there's still trials and troubles and so on, but there's a big change that happens. And that's how the kingdom spreads as well. An interesting thing, my wife and I, we had friends that they moved to, had four kids and they moved to Turkey to be missionaries, and this was prior to a lot of the instability that they've had in recent years, and they're no longer there, but they were there for years, and they kept on having people come talk to them about, you know, what was going on in their lives, because the people there, the husbands and wives did not love each other.

They didn't like each other. They didn't love each other, didn't like each other. Homes were hell, and this family's home was a haven, you know, and they treated each other kindly, and they're out in the marketplace, and they're being kind to each other, and they're like, right, and there was an obvious difference and change, and they're like, I need that change, you know.

Of course, then they opened up conversations for them to have with these Muslims, because their life was horrible, but there's a genuine difference, deliverance, and that's how the kingdom spreads as well.

Okay, we'll leave it off there, and then we'll talk about the sustaining of the kingdom next time. Let's go ahead and switch our attention to some prayer requests.