The Mission of the Seventy-Two

Today on the Lord's. The addition of Renewing Your Mind. There's on the idea that is taught repeatedly here in the teaching of Jesus that we want to ignore or forget or thought away from us. It's this idea that we will be held accountable for everything that we've done everything we said everything that was left undone. Truth is, Jesus upheld the idea of hell and judgment, and accountability is not something the human heart wants to hear is when it is a clear message of Scripture controversies: preaching from the pulpit. He occupied for many years and seen every strap. This text is from the Gospel of Luke chapter 10). Again, our father is on this.

Your Lord's day. We pause to reflect on his words. We ask your help. Help us to have ears to hear in our hearts that are open and willing to be instructed by him melt the hardness of our hearts over the negative hostility that we have, to you that we may be you are willing disciples, for we ask it in Jesus name, amen.

Before I undertake the exposition of the text that you just heard I'd like to ask you three question first.

Do believe in God.

Second, you believe in Christ is the son of God, and third, do you believe in hell is obviously if you believe the first you must also believe the second and if you believe the second you must also believe the third as we realize that our Lord taught more about how they did about heaven, but any contemplation of the reality of hell, necessarily makes us uncomfortable not only because it's a place we hope never to visit or to abide but it's also a place that we desire that none of those whom we love or even know whatever go there, but let's keep that in mind as we examine this text this morning where we have Luke's record of the sending out now not of the 12 but of the 70 or 72, depending on which translation you have in front of you a question of the number of those sent on this missionary journey as a matter of a textual variant with some copyist copied the original as 70 others is 72 and none of us know for sure which it was but in any case we know that there are great similarities between this commission met Jesus gave to the larger number with that which he gave to the 12 when we began chapter 9 with Jesus sending the 12 on a mission. Now he sends a larger group I group 6 times larger than the original 12 and he appointed them to go 2 x 2 into all of the cities where he was about to go. Then he said to them at the beginning of this commission. The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Elsewhere he said the fields are right on the harvest they are ready for the harvest the time of planting the time of pruning the time of sending is finished now the crops have come in and they are to be harvested and this is a plenteous harvest that is before us. But the problem is the laborers are few therefore pray that the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers into his heart how we can apply that to the world in which we live today which is right because it has ever been in history for the harvesting of the people of God and we are called in the church to be the laborers to go and gather that harvest where not the Lord of the harvest, nor do we even have the power to bring the fruit of the harvest we can plant and we can water, but only God can give the increase. He doesn't need us to harvest his elect he could do it without us. He doesn't need us to proclaim his word to the rest of the world he could speak from the heavens to the whole globe if he chose to do so, but he has given us not only the duty and the responsibility as laborers into his harvest that is given us the unspeakable privilege to participate with them as those who carry the message of the kingdom to the lost of this world, and as he sent them as lambs among the wolves, so he sends us in similar circumstances. Then the rest of this portion of instructions follows. Generally speaking, the same list of instructions that he had given to the 12, at the beginning of chapter 9 when it talked about stay at the house where you enter and give them peace will give you peace and take not all this extra equipment with you when if they reject you shake the dust off your feet, and so on. So I'm not going to comment further on that other than what we did with respect to the commission of the 12, but at the end of this portion after he tells them to announce the kingdom of God and he says whatever city you enter, and I don't receive you go into its streets and say very dust of your sitting which clings to us we wipe off again soup.

Nevertheless, know this, the kingdom of God has come near to you.

The reality is, folks. Most of the mystic was right there at hand. And in this very hour, at this very moment in this very place where you are present.

The kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is near to you so near touch so near to swallow you up yet, there will be people who will leave this building this morning who will miss that.

He said, but I say to you that it will be more tolerable in that they for Sodom than for that city, while the futilely and turned away from the nearness of the kingdom of God to you dear one on the day of judgment. It will be more tolerant for Sodom and Gomorrah that it will be for you on the judgment day you will wish you lived in Sodom, you would wish that you were a citizen of Gomorrah that are central Florida or wherever you're from. If you miss the kingdom that is near want you to notice here a couple of things about this warning that Jesus gave first of all, not only here but again and again and again. Jesus is the great teacher proclaimed that there would be a day of judgment, and that every human being would be summoned before the tribunal of God for that last judgment. If there's any concept in the New Testament we find difficult to tolerate there's any idea that is taught repeatedly here in the teaching of Jesus that we want to ignore or forget or put away from us. It's this idea that we will be held accountable for everything that we've done everything we said everything that we've left undone that God has called us to do. Dearly beloved.

This is a moment in the future that is inescapable is impossible to avoid.

We will be there each and every one of us and secondly Jesus here indicates that there will be different levels of judgment people have this erroneous idea that all sin is equal and if you send in one way there's no greater guilt than that which you received. I heard a man say to me once while I've lusted after that woman. I might as well commit adultery with her Nana Jesus never said that all sins are equal. Some sins are far more egregious than other. All sin is serious. Of course, is James that if we sin against one-point law, we sin against the whole law but there are degrees of sin. The apostle Paul warned his readers not to keep up our pile up or treasure up sin against the day of judgment, and so here again we see Jesus talking about different levels of accountability and obviously the principle that he's using here is that our culpability is directly related to the light that we have received so every time you hear the gospel preached.

It's a double-edged corn if you embrace it. It is to your blessedness if you reject that every time you reject that your heating up guilt against that day of judgment.

Jesus goes on and it gets worse.

Now the others oracles of doom. The prophetic type of techniques to express God's judgment.

Listen to what he says.

Woe to you. Cora's woe to you. Best, Saida. Again, this is the pronouncement of doom and he pronounces that, upon two cities. For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago they would have been in sackcloth and ashes over. There's those pagans in Tyre. Those pagans and Sidon have beheld what you have been there would've been mass repent, but not for you, your hearts have been hard in Capernaum. Capernaum was been exalted to heaven, Capernaum, who was the headquarters of Jesus during his earthly ministry. Capernaum will be brought down to hell he hears you hears me here reject you reject me, and he rejects me rejects the one who sent me missing this request before the cancer I believe in God and reject his son to Say I believe in the son reject his apostles. If you receive the apostles receive Christ to receive Christ you receive the father sent him and vice a versa. Then the report shifts the response of the 70. Upon their return, the 70 returned with joy. We got some good news here. The 70 returned with joy say Lord, even the demon are subject to us to remember when the 12 when out there was not much joy because they failed in so many respects to Bill with the demonic world. But now the 70 come back with a 72 over in their delight.

What you can't believe it.

We went out there and always goes all the cities and the forces of hell, came out against us in the last time we looked they were running away with their tails between their legs. Even the demons were subject to us in your name is that I I know while you were gone.

I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven like a lightning flash in the sky I could see it was a just lightning it was Satan, the great fall from his power because of the ministry that you have undertaken in my name and beloved every time the people of God undertakes the missionary outreach of Jesus Christ of the darkest places on this planet. There are lightning flashes of the Satanic world falling from the sky.

Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions them take this to be a metaphor for all kinds of evil resistance and overall the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you. But nevertheless, it's good that you have this power is good that you had a harvest. It's great that your delighted in the victories that you had, but nevertheless I'm a foster second asking this question. There many blessings that you received in your life. Many good things, family, children, jobs, education, possessions, things of major happy things that have brought you joy.

I want us to think this morning about the greatest thing that has ever happened to us or that ever could happen to us if indeed it has happened to us that for which we should be most exceedingly grateful you know what it is. Jesus had to remind his own disciples. At this point in the midst of their delirious joy over their new found power and victory okay you're happy about that.

It's a good thing.

Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

Jesus said you want to have joy and elation and excitement that let me tell you what the rejoice about your greatest joy is that your names are Ricky in heaven will set me of the say that there written in heaven means that your names are written on the registry book heaven that is recorded there that you are a citizen of that place and that you have an inheritance that is been stored up a legacy to receive as a citizen of heaven, but are some questions I like to explore with you briefly in the time that we have left this morning.

First question is this who wrote your name in heaven if it's there who wrote it. Did you write it, absolutely not. I remember almost jumping out of my skin. Once hearing an evangelist and all of his enthusiasm during his altar call, summoning people to come and commit their lives to Christ and he said, now and write your name in the Lamb's book of life. What types of the folks the Lamb doesn't hand out any plans your name is either in the book of life, or it isn't.

You cannot add it nothing you can do and possibly add your name to that register because the names in that register are written by God and by God alone is the next question when where they rip. If you're a believer in Christ. Your name is in the book of life. Your name is been written in heaven by God. The day you trust in Christ. Now, thanks for laughing because it's laughable now got only wrote in that but once they did it in eternity. Before you were born before you did anything good or evil in the greatest gift that you could ever receive would be to have the Lord God omnipotent from all eternity. Of all the names of all the people that ever lived. He wrote your name in that register and lays us another question. Why did the right your name or my name in that book. The only reason I can find that your name is in that book is that from all eternity. The father determined to redeem a people as a gift for his son that his son would see the affliction the travail of his soul and be satisfied so that all the father gave to him would come to him yes were talking here about the elect, which the Bible doesn't shrink from which the Bible clearly tells us that the purpose by which God redeems us is for his own good pleasure. And for the honor and glory of his son. That's why on our bulletin. We celebrate the five solos of the Reformation, not just solo scriptural by the Scripture alone for solar file by faith alone, but solar Grazie by grace and grace alone, and what that means is to be a recipient of grace is to re-seeing something that you don't merit to receive something that you haven't earned to receive something that you haven't achieved, but rather to receive something that is a gift and purely a gift by a gracious God who bestows it upon us again why did he write my name in that book, not because he looked on the corridor of time and saw that I would do this or that or the other. I don't know why my names I can't give the slightest clue as to why my name is in their and not my neighbors.

I know this, that if my name is in their it has nothing to do with anything I've done or will do in such gifts. Eternal life by the grace of God alone. Jesus said you may be excited. You may be happy because you got power over demons. If you're going to rejoice, rejoice in this, that your name are written in heaven.

When we understand the doctrines of grace.

We understand the biblical doctrine of election, it's time to being finished complaining. Time to start with because this is our greatest name in it is our greatest joy Jesus teaching about judgment and hell makes it clear that we all have a problem of sin problem. The message of the gospel brings us hope, forgiveness, salvation and redemption are available through the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross we have studied from Luke chapter 10 today here on Renewing Your Mind as we continue Dr. RC Sproles verse by verse series through Luke's gospel. We return to the series. Each Sunday and that let me come into a helpful study companion for the series instructor Sproles commentary on Luke in 600 pages. RC traces the record of Jesus life as told by Luke, the man considered by some to be one of the greatest historians of the ancient world. Dr. Spruill demonstrates that this gospel is for believers and skeptics alike written so that you may have certainty about the Son of Man who came to seek and save the lost.

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