LUKE 10:1-20 SENT AHEAD OF JESUS2012 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 10:1-20 Sent Ahead Of Jesus

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2012. Well, as I said this morning, as we look at Luke chapter 10 verses 1 through 20, we are covering a larger portion of scripture than normal.

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And the reason for that, as I wrestled through and prayed through the different verses that we're looking at today, I thought about the different ways that we could break it up. And there's a lot of meat in here that we could really take some time to work through.

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But as I sought the Lord on this, I really understood that God wants us to have the whole picture here. That he wants to give us an overview of the beginning of their call to their return. And so we see Jesus sending out these followers and then what happens when they return back having completed their mission. And he wants to give us that whole picture that, well, you and I might understand what the call to ministry is like.

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And so this morning I titled the message, Sent Ahead of Jesus, as these followers are sent ahead of him. And there's five points I'd like to share with you. And I share these points with you not just because this is what they did, but because these are things that God wants, well, to impress upon our hearts because like these followers of Jesus, you and I are sent.

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sent ahead of him to prepare the way as he is returning very soon. So let's start out now in verse 1 with the first point, and that is that followers are sent. Verse 1 says, 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.

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Now last week, as we finished up Luke 9, we talked about choosing to follow Jesus and the importance of that choice and that it was a daily choice. That you don't just choose to follow Jesus, you know, one day a long time ago at a harvest crusade or in a church service and you chose to follow Jesus. But Jesus says to take up the cross daily and follow him. That it's a daily choice that we are called to make. And

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And many responded as we gave that opportunity last week. And I pray that you responded as well, whether you stood up or not, that you said, yes, I want to follow Jesus. I choose to follow him because life is found in his name. But here's the next part of choosing to follow Jesus. Here's what you and I need to grasp hold of and understand that when we choose to follow Jesus, now as his followers,

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He sends us out. And he sends us out ahead of him. It says, the Lord appointed 70 others also. We saw back in chapter 9, the sending out of the 12 disciples.

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But you know, it wasn't just the 12 disciples that were there around Jesus as he was ministering. Sometimes there was big crowds, sometimes there was smaller crowds, but there were also those others who were followers of Jesus, who believed in Jesus and were following along with him. And so from this crowd of however large it was, Jesus appoints 70 disciples.

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He says, you guys are my followers, so now I'm going to send you out two by two. I'm sending you out, he says, before my face to every city and place which I'm about to go. I find this amazing. Jesus sends out his followers to prepare the way as he is journeying towards Jerusalem. I find it amazing because God has chosen to use people.

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You and I, we can look around sometimes. We can see the people on either side and we can say, God, why do you use people like this? And yet it's amazing that God has chosen to send people to accomplish his work. You know, God could use angels and they would probably be much more articulate in communicating the message. I've never read in the scriptures of an angel getting tongue-tied or kind of stumbling over his words.

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Now they're much better equipped, much more better well-spoken. They know how to use proper grammar. They could communicate the message much better. And their presence, I'm sure, would be much more powerful than our meager presence. But God hasn't chosen to use angels to deliver his message. He's chosen to use people. He could use dreams. He could roll away the sky and peek his head in and say hello.

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But he hasn't chosen to do that. He's chosen instead to use us to send his people to prepare the way. And so these 70 are appointed and it says that he sends them before his face into every city and place which he himself is about to go.

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He's on his way to Jerusalem. And as he's making this journey, there's all these little stops he's going to make on the way. And so these groups are sent out two by two to prepare the way, to announce that the King is coming, that the kingdom of God is at hand. It's interesting that throughout Jesus's ministry, whenever he would do a miraculous work, many times he would tell the person who received the miracle, don't tell anybody about what I did.

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Not because it was a secret, but because he wasn't yet ready to announce himself as the Messiah. It wasn't yet the time. And there were those who would pronounce, who would announce, say, hey, you're the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus would say, don't talk about that just yet. It's not the right time to announce that.

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But here, now in Luke chapter 10, as Jesus is on his final journey to Jerusalem, which ends up with the triumphal entry, where he announces himself and presents himself as the Messiah. In preparation for that, he sends these 70 followers of his ahead to say the King is coming. That they would be looking for the King. They would be looking for the Messiah. The kingdom of God is at hand. God is doing something.

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And so these were advanced teams to go before, to prepare the way, to awaken the expectation in the hearts of the people. So as Jesus journeyed to Jerusalem, the hearts of the people would be looking for that Messiah that had been promised, that Savior that they were looking for. These were advanced teams. They were going before Jesus so that the way would be prepared when he got there.

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I think that's interesting to consider. They were advanced teams. They went ahead of the Lord. You know, sometimes we expect that when we're involved in the work of God, that we're just going to show up and the work's going to be done already, and that we just kind of give those closing words. Hey, do you want to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord? No.

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We just kind of do the wrap up. And you know God's done everything in advance already. But what we see here is Jesus sends the disciples ahead of him. And that is the case. That is the reality. In two aspects. We could consider in a person who. Well God is calling them to himself. He's calling them to salvation. And he uses advanced teams.

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It's believers who go in and talk to and minister to and deliver the message of God and awaken the hearts of those people. That they're receptive then when the Lord comes and they're given that opportunity to receive salvation that they're able to receive. But then also the other aspect to consider is we know that Jesus is coming again. And the reality that we need to grab hold of

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is you and I, as believers in Jesus, as followers of Jesus, are his advanced team to prepare the world around us for his return. We're preparing the way. He's set his face to return. He's promised he will return. And we're to prepare the way so that when he comes, the people are ready to receive him. And so he sends out

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These followers. The word sent here, it's apostello, which is apostle. They're sent out. It literally means to send forth on a certain mission. He gives them a specific mission, a specific task, a specific call. And the same is true of you and I. That we have a certain mission. We have a certain call that he has sent us forth to.

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The general mission that we have, we find in Matthew chapter 28. It's the great commission that you and I are to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Jesus says, teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

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Amen. And we know that that great commission is for us today. It's not just for the 12, not just for the 70 that we read about here, because Jesus says, even to the end of the age. He's talking to a much broader audience. It's those followers who believe in him all the way up into his return until the end of the age. That's our general mission.

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the great commission, that you and I are to make disciples. Our specific mission, what he has sent you to do, is specific to you. It's specific to your calling, your gifting, and his plans for your life. We know from, Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2, that God has laid out good works ahead of us, and that we are to walk in them. The path is laid out.

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You've been sent on a mission. He's set out the work ahead of you because you are sent as a follower of Jesus. And we're to fulfill that call that he has sent us to. Well, let's move on now into verse 2 and we find the second point there. And that is that we are to pray for more to be sent. Not only are we sent as his followers, but we're to pray for more to be sent because not everybody who's sent goes.

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And so we need to pray that they would go and enter into the field that God has called them to. Verse 2 says, 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. So he says, Hey guys, I want you to go. Here's the plan. You're going to go. You're going to go out before me to all the places I'm going to be. But you also need to pray. Pray that God would send out more laborers.

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Because although there's 70 of you, and that sounds like a lot, there's more work than you're able to do. The field is greater than you're able to harvest. And so you need to pray that more laborers would be sent to be able to accomplish the work. This phrase really took me aback as I was studying it this week.

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It's a verse that we're familiar with. We've heard this before. The harvest is great, but the laborers are few. There's a similar verse in John chapter 4. It's something, if you've been around the church for a while, you've heard about this verse. You've read this verse. The harvest is great, but the laborers are few. And it caused me to pause and consider, and I would ask you to pause and consider this morning with this question. Has this been your observation?

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Jesus says the harvest is great but the laborers are few and so we know we can believe that. But is that your observation? Is that what you have seen? That as you look around there's so much more spiritual work to do than there are laborers to do it. Is that what you've noticed? Is that what you have observed? Now I would ask you to consider that because well if you don't see this truth that Jesus says

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then I suggest you need to hang out in a different field. There's a tendency for us as believers to kind of flock together, and it's very comfortable. It's a lot easier to all stick together, but the result of that is we look around, and there's a lot of believers with not as much work to do, and so you get Christians, you know, standing around with their hands in their pockets and

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goofing off and joking around and chit-chatting and hey fellowship is great but the harvest is greater and there's not enough laborers and i would suggest to you if you don't see this reality you need to hang out in a different field i know it causes us or calls us really then to step out of our comfort zone we talked a little bit about that last week as well jesus is calling us out of our comfort zone

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Yeah, it's easier to hang out with a bunch of Christians, but there's a great harvest out there. The laborers are few. And if you don't see that, man, there's more harvest than there are laborers here where I'm serving the Lord, then you need to move on to a different field where you can be involved in a work where there's not enough laborers to accomplish it all. Too many workers in one field means we should go to a different field.

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Find a field where there's more work than there are labors. Because as we look around at the world around us, there are many needs and opportunities and many who need to hear the message of hope and life and love that's found in Jesus Christ. And so he says, therefore pray the Lord of the harvest because the work is much greater than you can handle. Pray. Ask God to send out labors into his harvest. Notice whose harvest it is.

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He's the Lord of the harvest, and it's his harvest. It's really not your ministry, my ministry, our ministry. It's his work, his ministry, his kingdom. And so we're to pray for more to be sent. Well, now as we move on to verses 3 through 9, looking at a bigger chunk of scripture, we see that the disciples here are sent with instruction.

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They're sent with instruction. Now, as we look at these instructions, we can see some important principles from them. Your specific instructions will be different, probably, because your specific call will be different than their specific call. Again, they were sent on a certain mission, a specific mission. You are also sent. Your mission is unique and

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to you. And so the instructions that God gives to you will pertain to your specific call. Whether that be called to be a workplace witness or called back to the emeritus office

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senior home or maybe you're called to youth ministry or called to a home bible study wherever you're called it's specific to you it's specific to what god has set before you and i can't answer that for you and nobody else can you have to have your own relationship with god and walk with him

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and follow his instruction. And so your instructions will be different and particular to your call, but the principles that we can find here in verses three through nine will remain the same. And so there's five principles I'll share briefly with you. Again, there's a lot of meat here. We could spend a lot of time, but God wants to give us a little bit of an overview. So I'll be hitting these pretty rapidly. The first principle we find is that we need to expect hardship.

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Expect hardship. Verse 3 says, go your way. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Notice first of all in verse 3, he says, go your way. Again, they had a specific mission, a specific call, and Jesus says, now go do it. Go your way. Go the way that I've called you to go. Follow the path that I've set before you.

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I really like what John Corson has to say about this as well. He says, don't be surprised if when you obey verse 2 and pray for the Lord to send out laborers into the harvest, don't be surprised when verse 3 happens and the Lord says, go your way. And he sends you out into the harvest where he uses you to answer your own prayer. Don't be surprised because God wants to send you out. But as you go, you need to expect hardship.

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Because notice what he says. He says, behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Now, I don't think it's really a great mystery, the relationship between lambs and wolves. I'm sure you understand the picture of what he's saying here. You're not the predator. You're not, you know, the, I think it was Lambo, right? The attack sheep, right? You're not...

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You're not sent out to devour and destroy. You're the prey. You're the prey. And there's wolves that are out to devour. There's wolves that are out to destroy. And you're not to go as a wolf, but as a lamb. And so we need to expect hardship because that means there's going to be some great opposition, some great difficulty. There's going to be some pain. There's going to be wrong done to us.

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We need to expect hardship. Jesus said in John 16 verse 33, in the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. It's a promise. You and I can expect to have tribulation. We can expect there's going to be danger.

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There's going to be hardship. Sometimes we just kind of expect, hey, God's sending me out. Everything's going to be wonderful. Just flowers and roses and, you know, everything's just laid out ahead of me. That's not the picture Jesus paints here. You're the lamb walking through the midst of the pack of wolves. Now, Jesus is not asking us to do anything except what he has done because that's how he came, as a lamb. He came as a lamb.

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And you might say, well, look what it got him. He was crucified. Yes, you might be crucified as you follow the path that God has set before you. You might be crucified. Expect hardship as you follow your call. Well, the second principle we find is that we are to use the resources he gives us. Verse 4 says, neither carry money bag, knapsack, nor sandals, and greet no one along the road.

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So as he's giving the instruction to these guys, he says, okay guys, you're going on a journey. Now what do you and I do when we're going on a journey? We make sure to pack. We make sure we got extra pairs of underwear, extra pairs of socks, you know, all the things that we might possibly, perhaps, maybe might need packed in the suitcase.

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We got our backup credit cards. Maybe your traveler's checks. I don't know if anybody uses those anymore. But you know, you got your reserve funds just in case something happens. When we go on a journey, we try to make those preparations. Jesus gives them this instruction. Don't take any money. What? Are you serious? And don't take a knapsack. That's no suitcase. Don't take any extra clothes. Don't take an extra pair of sandals. Don't take extra money.

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Go your way. And so from this, I say we need to use the resources that he gives us. And sometimes that's no resources at all. Now in Luke chapter 22, Jesus will be talking to his disciples and he reminds them of this. He says in verse 35, hey, when I sent you out without money bag, knapsack and sandals, did you lack anything? And they said, no, we didn't lack anything. God provided for us.

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Amazing how that happens. But then Jesus goes on in Luke 22, 36 to say, but now I'm telling you, when you go, if you have a money bag, take it. And if you have a knapsack, take it. And if you have a sword, take it. And if you don't have a sword, then sell something and buy a sword so that you can take it. So the instruction later on is going to change because again, these instructions are particular to that specific call that they had right then.

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Later on, the instructions are different. The call has changed, but the principle is the same. Whether he says, take your money bag with you or don't take your money bag at all, use the resources that he gives you. And if that's no resources, then be willing to trust him and go even with no resources. Because sometimes the Lord sends you with nothing.

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And you could think about it in several ways. With nothing to say, you might think ahead of time, how can I go? What am I going to say? And the Lord might send you with nothing to say. And He's going to provide for you at the moment that you need it. Sometimes He'll give you a message on your heart, something to say before He sends you. Either way, you need to go to follow the path that He set before you. Whether you have the money that you think you need, whether you have the words that you think you need, or the extra clothes that you think you need,

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Whatever the case may be. Sometimes they'll send you with nothing. Sometimes they'll say, sell everything and go. To the disciples in Luke 22, he says, make sure you take a sword with you. Now you and I, we may not need a sword in the ministry that God has called us to, but you know what? You might. There's many places in the world where you're going to need to be able to defend yourself. You're going to need to stand up for those who are unable to stand up for themselves.

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And so use the resources he's given to you for the call that he's given to you. And he also says, greet no one along the road there at the end of verse 4. You know, time is a resource and you need to use that resource that he's given to you to accomplish what he's called you to do. The idea of greet no one along the road is not, you know, be rude and just shun everybody. It's

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But the greetings in those days were very long and formal. It wasn't just a, hey, nice to meet you. All right, got to get going. Have a nice day. And you move along. The greetings that he's talking about, they were engagements. They were, hey, let's sit down. Let's have a meal together. Tell me your story. I want to tell you mine. It was these long exchanges that would happen. And Jesus is saying, look, I'm not giving you time to hang out

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To goof off along the way, you need to get where I'm sending you to go so that you can deliver the message I'm giving to you. So don't stop along the way. Don't get distracted or sidetracked along the way. Use the time that He's given you well to accomplish what He's called you to do. The next principle we find in verse 5 and 6 is that we're to offer peace. Verse 5 says, but whatever house you enter, first say, peace to this house.

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And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it. If not, it will return to you. So we're to offer peace, Jesus says, as you go into the home. Now, in those days, there were not, you know, lodgings or hotels or motels. It was not, you know, readily available for people to just, you know, book a room at a place as they were journeying through. They would

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to the hospitality that was, you know, famous in that culture. And so people would just open up their homes to those who were traveling by. And so Jesus says, look, when someone opens up their home to you, then offer peace and say peace to this house. You don't have to worry and figure out ahead of time if they're peace people, if they are going to receive the message or be part and responsive to the kingdom of God. You don't have to worry about that. You just offer peace.

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And if a son of peace is there, then your peace will remain. Otherwise, it will return back to you. I think Paul says it in a different way in Romans chapter 12 verse 18. He says, If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. That's what Jesus is saying. As far as you're concerned, offer peace. There are some who are going to reject. We'll see that in just a few minutes. There are some who are going to be offended. There are some who are going to be up in arms,

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Just as we saw as Jesus was journeying through Samaria, the Samaritan village said, nope, we don't serve your kind here, Jesus. Move along. There's going to be those who reject. But as far as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. That you're not to go and just, you know, cause trouble and stir up trouble. If people are offended, make sure that it's not that they're offended at you, but that they're offended at the one that you represent.

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As far as it depends on you, live peaceably, offer peace, represent Christ well. Well, the next principle we find here in this portion is to be content. Look with me at verse 7 and 8. It says, 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. Verse 8, whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you.

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So again, looking at the hospitality that they would be receiving, when you have a house that's opened up to you, stay there at that house and receive the hospitality. Eat and drink whatever things are set before you. Now, this doesn't sound very strange to us, but I try to imagine what it would be like for these followers of Jesus as they're hearing these words. Jesus says, just eat whatever is set before you.

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These were Jews who were following Jesus. And you know, they had very strict regulations and guidelines for food. They couldn't eat just anything. They were very particular about what they ate, how it was prepared, what it was prepared with. They had very strict regulations. Jesus says, just eat whatever is set before you. What if it's not kosher?

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Just eat whatever is set before you. This is important. He says it twice in verse 7 and verse 8. Just eat whatever is set before you. This is radical for them. I mean, this is, he's calling them to obey him over their culture, over their upbringing, over everything they've always known, which of course is what Christ calls us to do. And so they're to be content with whatever food is set before them.

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And maybe the case is that some of the meat is sacrificed to idols, as we'll see is a problem later on in the New Testament. It's a concern. Well, what if this meat was sacrificed to an idol? Can I eat it? Again, Jesus says, just eat whatever's set before you because the labor is worthy of his wages. The labor is worthy of his wages. Jesus says, look, you're doing my work. The food that they set before you, the drink that they set before you, I'm taking care of you. It's wages for your labor.

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as you do the things that I've called you to. And he says there at the end of verse 7, do not go from house to house. So the idea is to be content. Whatever hospitality they want to show, be content with that. Don't look over at the neighbor's yard and say, well, they've got a nicer yard with a hammock. I wonder if they'll let me stay there. Don't be looking for those better opportunities. Be content.

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They were the ones who opened their home to you. So be content to stay there as long as you're in that city. I was thinking back to a time when we took a bunch of the youth to American Samoa and we did a VBS out there and outreaches. It was a great mission trip. But there was so many of us, we had to be divided into groups and we all stayed at different homes.

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And I had the great privilege of staying at the home of the Jennings where they prepared for us these amazing banana macadamia nut pancakes. And man, they were just so good. They were all, it was amazing. And there was like all you could eat basically. And so we were all excited. And so later on, as all the groups staying in the different homes got together, we're all comparing notes.

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You know, one group had warm showers. The rest of us had cold showers. One group had this, you know, nice, you know, right on the beach, right on the coast kind of home. It was beautiful. But I was very happy with my home. The banana macadamia nut pancakes. I mean, they were amazing. And so you had this kind of comparison like, well, maybe I should go, you know, where the view is. Or maybe I could talk to Tom and maybe I could get over to where the pancakes are. And there's this idea, the mentality like, hey, maybe I could get into something better.

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And Jesus is saying, no, just be content. Don't go from house to house. Be content. Stay there. I was even thinking about this verse yesterday as we were at Emeritus. Because there we are talking with all of these different people. And there's all kinds of, you know, different levels of functionality and stuff amongst the people. And so I was there sitting with one guy. And

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We had a good time interacting, but as hard as I tried, I could not understand anything he was saying. I got maybe a couple words that I understood, but I could not understand. But, you know, I figured, well, hey, I'm not going to let that stop me. So I would ask him a question, and he liked to talk. And so he would just talk, and he would just start talking and talking. He would keep on talking for a little bit longer. And then when he'd stop talking, then I'd say, I'm sorry.

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Okay, well, how about this? And I'd ask him another question. And then he would talk some more. I have no idea what he's talking about, but I would just interact with him in that way. And then when I got opportunity, I would share with him. And who knows if it related to anything he had to say. But I just prayed, Lord, you know what's going on. So you direct my words. You direct what's going on here. Well, as I'm doing this, behind me,

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I had Jonathan and Alfred and Richard Guillen, and they're talking to this other guy. And this other guy was alert. He was sharp. He was interacting, and they were all laughing and having a good time together. And I started thinking about, don't go from house to house. Because, you know, there is that temptation, isn't there? It's like, man, I want to talk to someone who can talk back, and I understand what he's saying, and he understands what I'm saying, and I want that. We can always look around and see, well, maybe there's something wrong

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better that I could do. But we need to be faithful wherever God's called us. And if he's called you to minister to someone that really you can't understand, well, be faithful to that. Be content with the ministry that you've been given by God. Well, the final principle from this passage in verse 9 is that we need to deliver the message. It says, "...and heal the sick there and say to them, the kingdom of God has come near to you."

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When you get there, stay there, be content. All of these things Jesus is saying and do the ministry. Heal the sick and deliver the message. The kingdom of God has come near to you. All of those previous things are just to get them to the point where they can be there to do the ministry and deliver the message that he's given to them. And that's for us as well. The whole point why we were there yesterday was not to just give some old people a good time, but to deliver the message.

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That's what we're called to do. Deliver the message, the good news of the love and grace of Jesus Christ. And so we're sent with instructions. They'll be particular to the call that God has given to us, but they'll be these same principles that we can abide by. Well, fourthly, as we continue on looking at verses now 10 through 16, we see that they're sent to rejection.

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This isn't a very exciting point for us, but it is one that we need to consider. Verse 10 says, But whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, verse 11, 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.

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Jesus says, look guys, I'm sending you out. I've set the path before you. Here's the instructions. Here's the principles to abide by. But be prepared because not everybody is going to receive you. And some cities you go to, they're going to reject you. They're going to want nothing to do with you. They're going to kick you out of their city. Imagine that for a moment. Here you are on a mission for Jesus. He told you to go. He gave you the instructions and you get there.

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and the people don't receive you. Is that supposed to happen? How can that happen? Well, don't forget, people rejected Jesus himself. Sometimes we get confused. We think, hey, God told me to do this, so I'm always going to have victory. Victory is assured because God told me to do it. It's going to be accomplished because it's what God laid upon my heart.

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But what we see is, Jesus says, look, some cities, even though I'm sending you to them, they will not receive you. They will not receive you. Now, whether or not the cities received them, that really wasn't the disciples' responsibility. Their responsibility was verse 11. If they don't receive you, then here's what to do. They were responsible for

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to follow His instructions. They were responsible to be faithful to the call that He had delivered to them. They weren't responsible for how the people responded. And since people rejected Jesus Himself, it should be no surprise that they reject His followers. That's not very shocking. We saw back in chapter 9, Jesus going through the Samaritan village and they said, No, get out of here. We don't want you here. To Jesus...

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So it's no surprise that some cities would do the same to his followers. But notice he says, still deliver the message there in verse 11. Nevertheless, know this, he tells them to say, that the kingdom of God has come near you. So even when they don't receive you, still deliver the message. And notice that the message doesn't change. Notice the message doesn't change. How many times...

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You don't have to raise your hand or speak out loud, okay? But just think about it for a moment. How many times have you attempted to say you're sorry, but in the attempt, it's not being received very well, and then you say, forget it. I'm not sorry then. You changed the message, right? Originally, you were saying, hey, I'm going to be, I'm sorry, you know, for that was your intention. That was your plan, but oh, you're not receiving it. Well, I'm not sorry then. You deserve it.

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When it comes to the message that God has given to us, listen, we don't have the liberty to change the message. And when people don't receive it, well, we still deliver the same message. The kingdom of God has come near you. The kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus is coming. Get ready. Be prepared. He's on his way. The message doesn't change. We need to still deliver the message to those who reject us.

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I think it's interesting also in verse 11. He says, the very dust of your city which clings to us, we wipe off against you. That was something they would be familiar with. Wiping the dust off you from a place that was like, hey, you know, I'm out of here. But I think it's interesting to consider Jesus gives them the instruction to do this. He basically tells his disciples, if they're not receiving it, don't try to force it. Don't try to make it happen. Just move along. Go to the next city. Because...

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The labor is great. The harvest is great, rather. And the laborers are few. So don't stay there in a city that rejects you. Move along. Because there are others who need to hear. I think this is interesting for us to consider. You know, we all have friends, we have family. We have people that we pray for, that we minister to. But we need to be careful not to try to force, not to force it, but to move along. Go to the next field.

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Not that we stop praying for people that we love or that we want to reach out to. Not that we stop looking for opportunity to share with them. But listen, we've shared with them. They've let us know. We're perfectly clear on both sides. They know where you stand. You know where they stand. Move along. Look for opportunity. Pray for opportunity for a door to be open to come back. But don't just sit there. The harvest is great and the laborers are few.

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Invest your time in those who are willing to hear the message from God. Verse 12, he says, but I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city. So Jesus explains here, look, this is a serious message and a serious mission. And what I'm calling you to do will have an impact on their eternal judgment. And if they reject you,

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then that means they will have a more severe judgment than Sodom and Gomorrah. This is pretty heavy stuff Jesus is talking about here. He says, look, it's going to be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for the city that rejects you. There's a very real judgment for those who reject the people that Jesus sends. It should cause us to weep for them, not rage at them when they reject or when they abuse us or belittle us.

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We need to weep for that because as we deliver the message, they are now held accountable to a greater degree and their rejection is serious. As we see continuing on, verse 13, Jesus says, Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. He says, woe to you! It's a pronouncement of judgment and sorrow.

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Woe to you, Bethsaida and Chorazin. These are two cities that are on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, very near Capernaum. We don't know exactly what miracles Jesus did there. They're not recorded for us in the Gospels. But he says, look, miracles were done there. You saw great works of God. And if Tyre and Sidon had seen those works, they would have repented. Now, Tyre and Sidon are two other cities that are farther north above Israel.

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They were notorious for their wickedness and God brought judgment upon them for their wickedness. But Jesus says, look, if they had seen the miracles that you saw, they would have repented. Now they were judged for their wickedness and it was right and just for them to be judged for their wickedness. But Bethsaida and Chorazin, you've seen great revelation, great works of God.

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And so you will be judged according to me. In verse 14, he says, but it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. Jesus is explaining that judgment is proportional to the rejection, to the level of revelation. They had received a greater revelation, greater works of God were done there, and so it warrants a greater judgment for rejecting God. So he says, woe to you.

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And Jew Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, there in verse 15, will be brought down to Hades. Capernaum also is on the north shore of Galilee. It was Jesus' home base for his ministry in his adult life. They rejected Jesus. Now, this caused me to wonder. This is kind of a little bit of a side note. You can chew on this later. I wonder if this truth here is part of the reason why God has chosen to use people. It's amazing that God uses us.

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Why has he done so? Why has he chosen to do it that way? Well, I wonder if it's because if he brought greater messengers than us, then the people who rejected would be subject to greater judgment. If angels are the ones who delivered the message, but then people still rejected that message that was delivered by these angels, they would be then

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subject to a greater judgment because they had a greater revelation. Greater works of God were displayed before them. If God peeked through the sky and said, hello, you should believe in me and follow me, and people still rejected, which they would, then they would be held to a far greater judgment because the revelation and the works of God that they had seen were far greater. And so God has chosen to use

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fallible people who make mistakes, who stumble, who fall short. And in this way, he's able to show mercy even to those who are receiving judgment. Something to consider. I would encourage you, chew on it, see what God shows you. But let's finish up this point in verse 16. He who hears you, hears me. He who rejects you, rejects me. And he who rejects me, rejects him who sent me. Here Jesus says, look guys,

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When people reject you, they're not rejecting you, they're rejecting me. You are representing me. So don't take the rejection personally. When they cast you off, when they disregard you, don't take it personally. Now in those days, when you were dealing with a messenger, it was treated as if you were dealing with the actual person. Because the messenger represented that person. They didn't have the technology that we have today. So today, it would be different.

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Today, you just pick up the phone and you call. And you have the direct connection between the one giving the message and the one receiving the message. But in between, in those days, was the messenger. The messenger would be maybe what we could consider the phone cord today. The cable between them. Jesus says, look, that's what you are. You're the phone cord. You're the cable. Jesus is on one end. He's calling out to that person, whether they pick up or not.

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Or if they hang up the phone in the middle of the conversation, it's a conversation between them and Jesus. We're just the messengers. They're not hanging up on us. They're hanging up on him. So Jesus says, if someone rejects you, they're rejecting me. Now, just a little, you know, a little caveat here. Now, this also means, you know, we need to make sure that we represent him well. To make sure they're not hanging up on Jesus because I'm a jerk.

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But that they're hanging up on Jesus because they reject Jesus. So I need to accurately represent the Lord to those that I'm ministering to. To make sure the line's clear. To make sure I'm not obstructing the signal. It gives us then a great responsibility to represent Jesus well as his ambassadors. As Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

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But the point here Jesus is making is, look, they're not rejecting you. They're rejecting me. And if they reject me, they reject the heavenly Father who sent me. And so some will reject. We need to be prepared for that. Some will not receive the message. Some will not receive those who are sent by Jesus. But the final point for our portion this morning as we look at verses 17 through 20 is that we're sent to victory.

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sent to victory. Verse 17 says, then the 70 returned with joy saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. Now we have it full circle. They've come back. They've completed their mission, completed their specific call. They're come back and they're just filled with joy. They're so excited. They can't wait to tell Jesus about what happened. Jesus, we can't even believe it. The demons even were subject to us in your name.

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Not only did we heal people like you told us to, but we were able to cast out demons and deliver the message that you gave to us. And so they return with joy. And man, there is great joy in serving God. There's great joy in being part of his work. There's great joy in knowing that he allowed you to be part of that eternal work that he is doing. And so they come back with great joy. And Jesus says in verse 18,

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And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Verse 19. Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Jesus says, as they come back, they're overjoyed. Demons were subject to us and Jesus said, that's no surprise because I was an eyewitness. I saw Satan fall.

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He's already been defeated, Jesus is saying. And so his demons, they're defeated with him. I saw Satan fall like lightning, Jesus says. He says, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions. Jesus says, look, I have the authority and I'm giving you authority. I gave you authority when I sent you out and I give you authority to trample serpents and scorpions. And he says, and over all the power of the enemy.

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Now some have really badly misunderstood this verse. There's another similar one in the book of Mark chapter 16. Because here it says the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions. And so some have taken this that Christians are supposed to handle snakes and deadly creatures like that. And so there's snake handlers. You might be familiar with this. It was just in the news back in May. There was a pastor back in West Virginia saying,

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And he was doing one of his Sunday morning services where he was handling poisonous snakes. And he was bit by the snake and he later on that day died. That's not what Jesus is saying. He's not saying you should go play with poisonous snakes. He's not saying you should go play tag on the freeway. He's not saying you should be

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foolish with how you conduct yourself and purposely put yourself in harm's way. That's not what Jesus is saying at all. A better picture is in Acts chapter 28 where Paul the apostle is there stranded on an island with the rest of the people who are shipwrecked. He's building a fire and a snake comes and attaches to his arm and he shakes it off in the fire and he suffers no effects from it but through that he's able to share the gospel to the island.

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That's what Jesus is talking about. That's what he's saying here in verse 18 and 19. He says, look, I have the authority. And so he says, nothing there in verse 19 shall by any means hurt you. Again, some people misunderstand this and say, nothing bad should happen to Christians.

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And if bad things happen to you, well, you don't have enough faith or you're not a good believer, whatever the case may be. Listen, the point isn't that nothing bad will ever happen to you. The point is, Jesus is saying, I have all authority. Nothing will happen to you apart from my will. Nothing will happen to you apart from God's will. Satan cannot override God's plans. That's the point Jesus is making. Consider Job. Remember in Job chapters 1 and 2?

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Man, poor Job afflicted with such great things, but Satan had to ask permission and get God's permission in order to inflict Job with those things. Now you and I look at that and we go, man, God, why would you do that to poor Job? He was a righteous man. And we might think to ourselves, if I was God, I wouldn't do it that way. But the reality is, look, if you were God,

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and you knew all things, and you knew the beginning from the end, you would do it exactly the same way. You would, if you knew what God knew. We don't understand God's ways. It doesn't make sense to us. And there's a lot of difficulty that we face. And bad things do happen, and difficult things happen, and there's pain, and there's heartache, and there's difficulty, especially as you seek to fulfill the call that God has given to you. Again, you should expect hardship.

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But the point is, you don't have to worry that Satan is going to thwart God's plan. Jesus says, I have the authority. Nothing is going to happen to you apart from my will. Verse 20. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.

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This verse is a key, essential, man, you need to have it bold and underlined and highlighted, whatever you do in your Bible. Here's what we need to rejoice in. Remember what the real victory is. Your name is written in heaven. You have eternal life. There is great joy in serving the Lord. There's great joy in being part of His work. There's great joy in seeing the results and the fruit of His work. But never let that distract you.

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From the real joy that you have. That is eternal life. You know, there's a tendency, there's a desire for us that when we've tasted that joy, it's a great feeling, man, to be used by the Lord, to serve the Lord. It's awesome. And there's a tendency, there's a desire in us to want to recreate that, to do that again. You know, we had a great time yesterday at Emeritus. It was overwhelming, just amazing how God worked.

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We can never try to duplicate that. We can't say, well, let's just cancel all the other outreaches and let's just always go back there. Try to recreate that. I mean, there is so great joy that, hey, if God calls us back there, then great, then we go back there. But we need to follow Him first and we can't just pursue something because it brought us such great joy. We had such a good time.

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You know, last week at second service, it was amazing. As we were talking about choosing to follow Jesus, and God told me to just invite people up. If you need to choose again to follow Jesus, and there wasn't even enough room in the front. The response was great. As many of you chose, again, yes, I need to follow Jesus. And so there's a temptation. Well, I'm just going to call people up front again today. Because that was great. It was so exciting. But listen, it's not about chasing that joy.

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You need to remember where the real victory is. And that is that your name is written in eternal life. And sometimes there's going to be rejection and sometimes there's going to be victory. And sometimes people are going to respond and sometimes they're not. Sometimes God's going to instruct you to do something wonderful and great and sometimes He's going to instruct you to a hard, difficult field. You're a real victory though. You are victorious ultimately because your name is written in heaven. And His work for you

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is far greater than any work that you could ever do for Him. You have eternal life. And so that is what we must take joy in. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank You, Lord, that You love us so much that You humble Yourself to minister to us, to give us the opportunity of salvation, to give us that hope of eternal life. And then You take it yet further and You involve us in Your eternal work.

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God, you're so amazing to us. Help us, God, to be those that you send out. Lord, that we would not be fearful and unwilling to go, but Lord, help us to believe in you and trust in you and follow you as you instruct us, whatever that call may be. Lord, to a ministry, to a workplace, to a church, to a foreign land, wherever you go or wherever you call us, Lord, help us to go. I pray, Lord, that you would

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Help us to keep the focus of our hearts and minds, the joy of eternity that you set before us. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.