Luke chapter 10 verse 1 Luke 10 1 after these things
the Lord appointed other 70 also and sent them two and two before
his face into every city and place whither he himself would
come. There were only 12 apostles,
but the Lord sent out 70 others here to preach his gospel. And
in this passage, we're going to look, Lord willing, at verses
1 through 16 this morning, just a verse and a passage at a time.
But we're going to see and learn primarily the vital nature of
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. How How important it
is that doesn't seem like strong enough of a word, but it's the
right word important vital The preaching and the ministry of
the gospel in this world is clearly from the Word of God The most
important thing happening in this world right now Think about it. This is the one
business our Lord has given us to do and He said, go and preach and love one another while you're
doing it. It's how sinners are saved. We
pray for our children and our grandchildren and our friends
in this world that we love, that God would save them. We
don't know whether he'll save them or not, but if he does,
we know how he'll do it. They're going to have to hear
of Christ, aren't they? They're going to have to hear the gospel
of the Savior. And when this is done, when this
ministry is done, when God has called the last sheep, this world
is done. This world is over. It ends on
that day. Read 2 Peter chapter 3. God's
people receive their spiritual sustenance. How do we feed on
Christ? By hearing of Him. We partake of Him by faith in
the preaching of the gospel. We commune with Him in our souls.
Feast upon Him. We get our comfort and our peace
in trial and tribulation. We get our education. We learn
of Him. I know some things this morning
I didn't know last time we met about Him. by God's grace. We grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We're encouraged and
we have sweet fellowship with our Lord all through the ministry
of his gospel. And I'm glad we see in this verse
that the Lord sent them two by two. That'd be an easy thing
to pass over, but I'm so glad about that. Companionship, fellowship,
and the encouragement of other believers is important in the
ministry. The Lord deliberately did it
that way because he knows we need that. He knows that we need
each other's support and encouragement and fellowship. in the ministry. They could have covered twice
as much ground if they had just manned up, you know, and did
it all by themselves. That's not the Lord's way. Not
my way either. I don't want to do it alone. The harvest is plenteous, though,
after all. Wouldn't they have been better
off splitting up, you know? But when the Lord of the harvest
sends forth his laborers, he does not send them alone. Remember when Elijah thought
he was alone. He said Lord to take me out of
here. Let's just go And I understand that But not only does our Lord
go with us, of course, that's That's the main thing, but he
understands Better than we do our need for one another Where
churches were established there was just one pastor, but that's
because there was a congregation of believers there to encourage
one another to be a blessing to one another and to their pastor. And you are, more than I can
say. And notice that he only sent
them to those cities and places whither he himself would come.
I'm glad the Lord is not going to send me anywhere that he's
not going to go. Oh, what a blessing that is.
Two things here about this. What a weighty and sobering thought
that there are cities to which the Lord Himself will come and
there are cities to which He will not come. He is the Lord. He does as He pleases. He saves
who He pleases. He blesses who He pleases. He
speaks to whom He pleases. And He sent them particularly
to those cities where He would go Himself. I like that word
in the text. Himself. And also, secondly about that,
what an encouragement in the work to know that it's not up
to us. He just sends us before him,
like he did John the Baptist. To speak for him, yes, but if
he doesn't come and bless, what I say, however true and wonderful
it might be, it's not gonna help you. He's got to come here today
and bless you and teach you and save you. Verse two, therefore said he
unto them, the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are
few. Pray he therefore, the Lord of
the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. Now, when we look at our community,
we look at the people around us in this city and around surrounding
area here. We don't know how much wheat
we're looking at and how much of it's tares. We really don't
know. He never told us to separate
the wheat from the tares. But what he told us to do is
preach to everybody that will listen to you. Everybody that
will receive you. We're going to see in this text
if they won't receive you, if they don't want to hear it, then
go preach to somebody that will. But he never told us to separate
the wheat from the tares. But his harvest is great. It's
not about so much quantity. It's about who his people are
and who he is. The greatness is in him and his
purpose, the fulfillment of it. I'd love to be there when that
last sheep is called, wouldn't you? And let's just all go home
together. That'd be a good day. It's going
to be a good day, isn't it? This is a good day, too. This
is a good day, too. But there are a whole lot of
people, I know this too, there's a whole lot of people that need
to hear the gospel. A whole bunch of them. And the
laborers are few. The laborers are few. That's
true too, isn't it? Very few. I believe somebody
said that this morning already in a prayer. Very few. But notice that he doesn't say
make everybody a teacher. You know, there's not that many
laborers, so let's promote everybody to be a teacher ordain a bunch
of people to preach. Everybody, you know, in a lot
of churches, everybody is involved in some way or another because
they don't, you know, otherwise they get jealous of the ones
who are. I'm kind of jealous of the ones that just sit there
a little bit, just a little bit. But it is a great privilege to
study and to preach. I don't want to give you the
impression that it's not, it is. But not all are preachers and
teachers. Everybody has their talents and
gifts. We talked about this before a while back. But everybody is
gifted in some way or another. Some things we don't even think
of as gifts. Because they just come naturally. That's why it's
a gift. It comes naturally to you, but
not natural to your flesh. It's natural to the Spirit. When
He gifts, He gives you a gift. Some to just be an encouragement
to people. Some to be wise in the scriptures. So I know some
people that aren't preachers that are wise in the scriptures.
Wiser than most of the preachers. Than this one for certain. But
the Lord gives us in different ways. Some are just hard working
people and some are just your personality. Things are a gift.
They are gifts that the Lord gives. But not all are preachers
and teachers. But he said laborers. Send forth laborers. And notice this. He says pray.
Pray to the Lord of the harvest whenever we identify a need And I don't want this to sound
I don't want you to take this the wrong way But our first thought
is always what are we going to do about that? When our first
thought ought to be Lord. Here's a need Isn't that what
he said pray you the Lord of the harvest? That he would send
forth laborers We're not going to be able to do anything without
him. It's time to pray. It's time to pray. In every church, there are takers
and there are givers. And in this sense of the word
giver, I don't just mean money. I mean what he said, laborers.
Those who give of their time and their effort and their gifts
and their money and other things. Some just come in here in every
church, and I don't mean church in the strict sense of believers. I don't know always who's a believer
and who's not a believer. I don't know for sure about anybody. But what I'm saying is this,
in any church group, there are some who just come and listen,
and they don't contribute any effort whatsoever beyond that,
any time, any skill, any money, any anything. Not even, in some
cases, ever any encouragement of any kind. But they benefit
from the ministry and they come and I'd much rather they do that
than not come. As long as you can hear in peace
and not be a problem. I'd much rather that than not
come at all. And as long as you're here and
there's hope for you. But some are laborers. I believe those
whom the Lord teaches are going to be laborers. The way prosperity of any kind
is enjoyed is in God's world. This is the way God has made
it to be. It's by labor. Somebody's gonna
have to do something. God's gonna have to cause it
and they're gonna have to do it. And there are those in the
church that think about all the time, what needs to be done?
What can I do? How can I be a help? How can
I be an encouragement to somebody? And look, All of us have a little
bit of this in us and all of us have a little of the opposite
of it in us too. The very best at it neglect. Most mature believers
still need to learn it. Still need to grow. But they want to be part of the
meeting of every need in the church. I know some folks like
that and you know you just can't hide that. You're just either
that way or you're not. Be honest with yourself. It's all by God's
grace anyway. We're not bragging on anybody,
any person but Him. But God sends laborers. God sends them. We're all takers
by nature. We're all worthless, lazy takers
by nature. But don't miss the most obvious
thing about this is that it is labor. And we know that, don't
we? The ministry is labor. If a harvest,
he uses that analogy of the harvest for a reason. That's some of
the hardest work you can do. Plowing and planting and tilling
and watering and sowing and reaping and some of the hardest workers
in this world. And it's clearly part of the
analogy here because he said laborers. It's labor of mind,
body, and spirit. Our natural thinking has to always
be overcome and struggled against constantly. The way we think
about things, typically by nature, is in worldly terms. You can't
think that way in a church, in spiritual matters. It don't apply. And we always have to be struggling
with that. There's always something that
needs to be done, and so physical labor is involved. And there's
always also, it's a spiritual battlefield, isn't it? The spirit
wars against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit. Who
are we fighting? Ourselves. And Satan and evil
and all that. Principalities. It's not flesh
and blood. It's our spirit, our evil. And the evil in this world. And nowhere is that warfare experienced
like in the church. And we know that in this laborious
effort that the labor is not primarily physical. There are
some physical aspects to it. But you know, listen to Acts
6.1. This is important, I think, too.
And this is something that I need to take to heart and all of us
do. In Acts 6.1, it says, In those
days when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a
murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews. because their widows
were neglected in the daily ministration. In other words, there was just
a typical, whenever you have a group of people gathered together,
there's going to be problems. Somebody's getting neglected.
Something ain't right. There's an issue. There's a disturbance.
There's a dispute. Then the 12, the apostles called
the multitude of the disciples under them and said, it is not
reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.
Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest
report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, who we may appoint
over this business, but we will give ourselves continually to
prayer and to the ministry of the word. Now that's important
for me, but it's also important for all of us. And I'm not, I'm
saying this today as a compliment to all of you that it's this
way here. We know that this church that the important thing is the
ministry, the word, Christ, his gospel. And it says the same,
please the whole multitude. Everybody, that's not just good
for me, that's good for all of us. If all of us emphasize that,
if all of us are praying for one another and for me and for
everybody, for this whole thing, that God would have mercy and
continue to bless us and not leave us to ourselves Cause us
to grow in his grace and knowledge of our Savior and always praying
about that and acknowledging that the ministry It's not about
the physical just stuff that's got to happen that's got to happen
But it's got to happen so that there's a ministry in support
of the ministry and they chose Stephen a man full of faith and
of the Holy Ghost and several other they chose out seven men
who the Lord had blessed and to handle things like that. Look
at verse three. Go your ways, behold, I send you forth as lambs
among wolves. Now that's a short scripture
with a lot of teaching in it. Four things I want us to consider
about this. This world hates the gospel we
preach. What wolves do to lambs is they
kill them and eat them. And that's, that's, it's, it's
their nature. It's a problem with their nature.
This world will do that to us, not because they like what we're
doing, but because they hate us. They hate us. The carnal
mind is enmity against God. And when you go as an ambassador
of God's son, they are enmity against you. Number two, we should
be careful. Clearly he's saying, be careful.
As he said in Matthew 10 16 listen behold, I send you forth as sheep
in the midst of wolves Be he therefore wise as serpents. We're to be mindful of this and
be smart But don't be like them Be harmless
as don't be a wolf Be as harmless as a dove They want to destroy
christ and everybody Who preaches him? If they don't want to destroy
you, it's because they just don't know you well enough. You think
about that. You think about that. This world
doesn't love our Savior any more than they did when they nailed
him to a cross and spit in his face. I'm glad they don't know me well
enough. But be as harmless. Don't be
like them. Don't want their destruction.
I hope that God will save them. He said, love your enemies, pray
for them, which despitefully use you and persecute you. I
want God to put him out of business, but wouldn't it be wonderful
if he put him out of business by giving him a new heart? That'd
put you out of the heresy business real quick, wouldn't it? Whatever he does is right either
way, but be as harmless as a dove, he said. But beware of men for
they will deliver you up to the councils. They will scourge you
in their synagogues the minute they find out who you are. And then the third thing about
this is we don't stand a chance. What chance does a sheep have
against a wolf? Absolutely none. We're outmatched. We're told to be careful, but
sheep need more than just to be careful. They need somebody
to protect them, to care for them. Which brings us to the
fourth thing. He said, behold, I send you. That's my favorite part. If he
sent us, he'll keep us, he'll protect us, he'll watch over
us. I wouldn't want to be a lamb
at the mercy mercy of a wolf, would you? But I tell you what
else, I wouldn't want to be even more than I wouldn't want to
be that. I wouldn't want to be a wolf trying to devour one of
his lambs. I would not want to be that.
Oh no. When he gave the Great Commission
in Matthew 28, 18, he spake unto them, saying, All power is given
unto me in heaven and earth. Go ye therefore and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Ghost. What are we teaching? We're teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. Tell them
everything I told you. And lo, I'm with you always,
even unto the end of the world. The one who sent us has all power
in heaven and earth. And he loves us even more than
we love ourselves. And that's saying a lot. Verse
four, carry neither purse nor script nor shoes and salute no
man by the way. The preacher is to be provided
for by the Lord who sent them. And he does that primarily and
routinely. here in the text and here in
this place. Through the kindness and generosity
and faithfulness of those who believe and receive the gospel
they preach. Is that how he did it there?
Those that receive you stay in their house and eat with them
and live with them and enjoy. We'll talk about that in a minute.
But then the second part of this verse he says salute no man by
the way. He's not saying you can't wave and be friendly and
Greet people he's teaching them. You're not teaching them to be
rude. He's teaching them not to be sidetracked You got business
to take care of Don't be stopping off and having conversations
with people To the neglect of the business
at hand all right so verse 5 and into whatsoever house you enter
first say peace to this house first say that That's the first thing you say
now. That's our desire. When we don't
know either way, what we want is peace on. We want God's blessing
on. That's what we want. And if the
Son of Peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it. If not, it
shall turn to you again. So first say peace. We don't
know when If we come to a house or if somebody comes here, when
we first are introduced to somebody in the context of the preaching,
we don't know whether the peace of God will ever come to them
or not. Why they're there, what their motives are, what their
thoughts are, or what their reaction will be. Clearly from the context
it may not. There may not ever be any peace
there. But we first say peace. We desire it for them. That's
what we want. We wouldn't be there if we didn't.
The Lord didn't come down here to condemn the world, but that
the world through him might be saved. We're not preaching the
gospel to condemn people. We're preaching the gospel because
it's the power of God unto salvation. You're already condemned. You
don't need me to do that. We say peace. We preach because we desire God's
peace. Upon those to whom we preach
and the world speaks of different kinds of peace We could go over
that but you understand there's a whole lot of different kinds
of peace. There's peace that shouldn't exist But peace and there's peace that
ain't never going to exist anywhere that they still talk about it
But peace in the context of the preaching of the gospel can only
be one thing it's the peace made by the blood of his cross That's
what we preach Christ crucified And He made peace between God
and sinners. We are reconciled to God by Him
being made sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. It means you're forgiven because
God's Son paid your sin debt on Calvary. That's what we hope
when we first meet somebody. That's what we want for them.
And if the son of peace shall dwell there, there's some controversy
about what that means specifically. I believe it just means if there's
somebody there who is a son of peace. This is what it hinges
upon. Not just our words, although
we ought to mean them. When we say peace be unto you,
we're sincere. We want the blessing of God on
everybody we meet, if it's God's will. But peace upon that household
either already lives there or it don't live there. That's what
he said now. It's either there or it's not.
And that's up to God. And we bow to that. We bow to
that now. If there's no son of peace there,
that may be talking about the spirit. That may be talking about
Christ. Most said it wasn't talking about
Christ, but I'm not sure. It may just mean if there's anybody
there who's a who will receive the message, who has that blessing
from God, that desires peace with God. And if that's not there,
whatever it is, then they're not going to hear
you. They're not going to hear you. They're enmity with God
and they're not going to hear you. Then look at verse 7, in
the same house remain, if there is, If they do receive you, then
in that same house remain eating and drinking such things as they
give, for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house
to house. Now, there's a couple of things
here, but just very briefly, when you are received and welcomed,
stay there while you're preaching in that area, stay within. Enjoy what is theirs what they
have to give you as if it was yours and notice that it's not
gratuity You've earned it It's not gratuity. He said the labor
is worthy of it. It's not it's not charity and
Don't be dissatisfied with what's given you though Notice that
don't go from house to house and what's meant by that is don't
be dissatisfied. Don't say well boy, you know
that bed is that they've got for me. I ain't very comfortable.
I think I'll go, no. They received you. Your blessing
is upon the house and the Lord is using them. Be satisfied with it. Be happy
with it. Be thankful for it. Don't be picky. Don't be so mindful
of the comforts of the flesh. In verse eight, into whatsoever
city you enter and they receive you, eat such things as are set
before you. Sometimes it's a house, sometimes
it's a whole city. There may be a gathering of people
that say, come on down to the so and so, we're going to feed
you and we want to spend time with you. But everything is predicated
upon this, if they receive you. Now from our point of view, that's
a question that still needs to be addressed, whether they're
going to receive us or not. We don't know. God does know,
but we don't. But everything from our point
of view is predicated on that. I'll tell you this, everywhere
I've ever been received for the gospel's sake, I've been received
all around this country for years for the gospel's sake. Come preach
to us. And some real good things have
been set before me. I've always been real well taken
care of. God's people just tend to be
that way. And I want us to be that way
and you are that way. I want us to continue, let me
say it that way, continue to be that way because I believe
we set good things before those that come here and I want to
treat them like royalty. Thank the Lord for them. Verse
nine, and heal the sick that are therein and say unto them,
the kingdom of God is come now unto you. Now think about that. Those two things go together.
Healing the sick and saying this, the kingdom of God has come unto
you. Now what a great blessing it would be to have somebody
like this come to town. Can we travel back to this time
and think about that for a second? To have one of God's sent spokesmen
come to town and start healing everybody that's sick. And more
importantly, preaching the gospel That's the power of God to the
healing of the soul. What a wonderful, can you imagine
being able to do that to bring those who are
sick, or maybe you're sick with some disease that nothing can
be done about it, but you can come down there and be healed.
And that is evidence, as we've seen elsewhere in scripture,
that the kingdom of God is coming. Because when men try to fake
that, it's just foolishness. Only God can do that. But it's even more of a blessing
now that they get to hear from God. And know they're hearing
from God. That's what the healing was all
about. To wake people up to the fact that this is not just another
opinion being given. God clearly sent these fellas.
Because look at the power he gave them. And so, he also gave
them a message. That's the power of God to the
salvation of the soul. Think what a blessing also though
it would be to be that man. To be that man. All believers
now, we have something precious. We have something priceless.
We have something that can benefit sinners so much that we can't even begin
to describe it. What a blessing it would be.
It's more blessed to give than receive. Can you imagine how
gratifying it would be to be able to heal someone of the palsy
or blindness? To heal someone's child? That'd
probably make you pretty good friends with them from then on,
wouldn't it? If nothing else happened but that. To cast out
a devil that was harming their child? But even more of a blessing than
that, to be able to tell sinners that there is forgiveness with
God. if we had any idea what that means. There's forgiveness with God
through the finished work of salvation accomplished by his
son, through the shedding of his precious blood for sinners.
So in this scenario, everybody wins. When God sends his gospel,
everybody wins except those who refuse to receive it. Everybody else is just happy
and blessed Thanking God the one that came and the ones they
came to Just wonderful But before we talk about what a terrible
thing it is to not receive the gospel, let me say this And we're
gonna see that next but but I can't heal anybody of a physical disease
But I can preach to you by God's grace and by His providence and
grace and appointing. I can preach to you the one that
does heal in every way. Doesn't matter what kind of healing
you need, if you're going to be healed, it's going to be Him.
It's going to be the one that made you and the one who gives
life to whomsoever He will. And who can and does heal The
souls of sinners like us, I can pray to him for you. I can do
that. Here's what I'm saying, such
as I can do, that's what I want to do. That's what I want to
do. And that goes for all of us. May God give us grace to
do what we can. And think about this for a moment
in this verse before we move on. The kingdom of God has come
now unto you. I don't believe it comes now
to everybody in this sense. Everyone is subject to his rule. Whether you like it or not. Whether
you call him Lord or use his name as a cuss word. And that's
all you use it for. You're under his rule. But the
kingdom of God comes now in different senses. The kingdom of God If
the Kingdom has come nigh you, then the King has come nigh you.
The Son of God is passing by this way. I believe that's true
here. I believe the Kingdom of God
has come down here right near to us. In College Grove, Tennessee,
of all places in this world, and so many other places around
this country, but how many desert places are there in between?
Kingdom of God has come near you He may not be here forever. He may not be here long. I believe
he's here now He is the kingdom What is the kingdom of God we
can describe that in different ways First of all and preeminently
it's a king There's no kingdom without a king and there's no
not but one And then there's a people There's a people, there's
a government and a kingdom and an earthly kingdom. A kingdom
is a sovereign dominion. King over one kingdom has no
jurisdiction in another. He's king over that kingdom and
that kingdom only, a realm of dominion. A king of one country
is the king of that country and the king of another country is
king of that country. Every king has a specific and
well-defined sphere of dominion. And the kings of the earth have
a temporary dominion. But within that realm, during
that reign, the word of that king is law. There's no debate
about it. There's no discussion about it.
There's no vote. His will is supreme and to be obeyed. What about the kingdom of God?
What does that teach us about the kingdom of God? Well, turn
to Daniel 4, we need to look at this. Turn to Daniel 4 verse 34. Daniel
4 verse 34. And at the end of the days, I,
Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding
returned unto me. You remember the story in the
context of this previous to this verse. He had boasted of his
kingdom that he had raised up, and all of the power and authority
that he had, and God brought him down, turned him in. I sort
of say turned him into an animal but showed him what he was by
nature a dumb senseless animal but at the end of the days when
God got good and ready he gave him his sense back and gave him
his kingdom back and Nebuchadnezzar said I lifted up my eyes into
heaven and And my understanding returned unto me, and I blessed
the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever. If a kingdom has a bad king,
that's a terrible thing, but at least it's temporary. We have a good king, we have
a perfect king, we have the heavenly king of kings and Lord of lords,
and he don't die, and I'm so glad. And here's the result of
that. His dominion is an everlasting
dominion. He liveth forever. And he reigns
forever. He don't give up his throne.
He don't come down. His kingdom is from generation
to generation. And all the inhabitants of the
earth are reputed as nothing And he doeth according to his
will. So his reign is forever. But how far does it reach? What
is the realm of his dominion? All the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth. If you're in heaven or on earth right now, he's your
king. And none can stay his hand. He
does as He pleases and you can't stop Him. Or saying to Him, what
doest thou? Have you ever said that to somebody?
They're doing something that you think is absolutely crazy.
You say, what are you doing? What are you doing? You can't
say that to God. You have no right. No right. God's authority is eternal and
universal and his word is law and it's truth and it's vital.
And his word, what is the message of his word? Honor my son, bow to my son,
believe on Christ, serve Christ, follow Christ, hear Christ, trust
Christ, rest in Christ, commit yourself to Christ. The message
of His Word is Christ and what He did for sinners. When you
tell sinners that the Kingdom of God has come nigh unto them,
you know what you're telling them? You're telling them to
bow. You're telling them to bow to King Jesus, kiss the Son.
God has set His King on His holy hill of Zion. Kiss Him lest He
be angry. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in Him. You're telling them to believe.
You're not telling him to choose. That's what the message of the
false gospel of this world is these days. You've got a decision
to make. Not if the kingdom of God has
come down to you, you don't. He chooses. You bow. He controls
everything. Everything is up to him. Not you, not me. When you say
the kingdom of God has come down to you, that's what you say.
Christ said my kingdom is not of this world. It's a spiritual
kingdom. I fear that many churches try
to blend the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of God
together. They're not the same. What is important in this world
is insignificant in his kingdom and vice versa. What is valuable
in this world is worthless in the kingdom of God. He's brought
to nothing the wisdom of this world God uses the things of
this world And this world is subservient
to his spiritual kingdom But the fashion of this world passes
away in this his kingdom endures forever Verse 10 But into whatsoever
city you enter and they receive you not Go your ways out into
the streets of the same and say Not only quit preaching to them and
go away, but let them know why. Even the very dust of your city
which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you. Notwithstanding,
be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come down to you.
Now this means something different to those who refuse Christ. If you are against if you are
anti-christ against christ opposed to his rule and his way and his
will Then the kingdom of god has come
now unto you is a fearful thing fearful But I say unto you that
it shall be more tolerable in that day for sodom than for that
city woe unto chorazin woe unto thee bethsaida For if the mighty
works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in
you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth
and ashes. But it shall be more tolerable
for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum,
which are exalted to heaven, shall be thrust down to hell."
Terrible words, awful, awful words. But think about this,
now Sodom, let's see if we can just Be simple and clear about this.
Sodom is mentioned here. Sodom and Gomorrah together at
times, but Sodom kind of stands for that whole event that took
place. But Sodom was so vile and corrupt
and abominable in the sight of God that God brought hell to
them. He brought hell right down upon
them. God made a spectacle of punishing
that city for its open depravity and evil. You think about that. But our Lord says in our text
that to hear the gospel of Christ preached and to reject him is
worse than all of the evil and debauchery of Sodom put together. All of their evil put together. The Lord Jesus Christ, here's
why. The Lord Jesus Christ is so altogether
lovely. He is so worthy of our receiving
his word with joy and with gladness and with relief. Thank God there's
forgiveness. Thank God there's mercy for sinners
like me. He is so altogether lovely and
worthy that Paul said in 1 Corinthians 16, 22, if any man love not the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the issue here in
our text, isn't it? You come preaching Christ and
they say, you know, look, you go take that to somebody else. I've heard preachers tell me
that their earthly families have said things like that to them
when they just tried to have a To honor the Lord or thank
him for something at a family gathering. We don't want to hear
that here. It's got no place here. That's what they're saying
to you. You know why? It's because they hate Christ.
If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul said, let
him be anathema maranatha. Let him be accursed when the
Lord comes. Let the Lord come back to this earth and give them
what they deserve. bring the curse down upon their
heads and put them in hell where they belong. If you can't say amen to that,
you just don't know who he is now. It's all about how lovely
he is, how beautiful and perfect and gracious and wonderful he
is. And then this final verse, what
a blessing. He that heareth you, heareth
me. Now he's telling this to his preachers, but you know what?
These weren't apostles. He sent them out to preach the
gospel. Has the Lord given you a ministry in your home? In your life? At work? I believe
he has. This is not just about ordained
ministers. He that heareth you heareth me. If you're an ambassador of Jesus
Christ, to hear you is to hear him. And he that despiseth you despiseth
me. And he that despiseth me despiseth
him that sent me. Now this kind of speaks for itself.
It's serious, isn't it? It's sobering. Not everybody
that says they speak for God speak for God. But you need to find somebody
that speaks for God. Oh, you got to hear from God
now. I know I say this a lot, but
maybe one day God will say it and just use my voice to say
it. Maybe he'll say it to all of
us. We must hear from him. The gospel is not optional in
this world. The church is not something we
can just take or leave. We've got to hear from him. If
you're out there, maybe you hear this on a recording of some kind
or something, and you don't have a pastor, a church. Go find one. You need to hear from God and
you need to hear from Him all the time. You need to hear from the Lord
Jesus Christ. You need to hear of Him and what
He did for sinners. This is vital. You need to find somebody that
speaks for God and hear him as if God himself was speaking to
you, because he is. And if someone is speaking for
God, there's nothing more evil than to set that aside. And let
me impress one final thing on you here, that word despise here,
Now we know that this world hates, they utterly abhor the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's all of our flesh. That's
our nature. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. But you know what this word here
means, despise? It just means to set aside. You don't have
to go out of here today fuming and the veins in your neck standing
out and red in your face and cussing and fuming. to be one of these that despises
God. All you have to do is just set
it aside. It's not that important. Not that important. I've got
my life. I've got other things. I'm just
going to put that over here on the back burner. That's exactly
what that word means. To set aside, to disregard. To
do that is more evil than all of the wretchedness of Sodom
put together. May the Lord impress that upon
us, the Word, how precious, how blessed we ought to count ourselves to be among those that by His
grace hunger and thirst after Him. Let's pray.