Join me in Luke this morning
in chapter 22 as we proceed through this chapter. Today we find ourselves beginning
in verse 35, and if we recall the context of what's been going
on, they were in this room, they had the observance of the Last
Supper, We have a conversation that Jesus
has with Peter. the Lord saying, Satan hath desired
to sift you as wheat, which was our message last week, sifting
as wheat, and what that amounted to. And then that concluded with
him foretelling that Peter was going to deny him three times
that he even knows him. And we found that that was applied
to all of the disciples, not just Peter, but they were all
going to, before the night was over, they would all deny even
knowing Him. So, in verse 35, He's still continuing
His conversation. And just kind of to, you know,
you're about to be hauled away and separated from your disciples. things are going to rapidly move
to a conclusion here, and you just have a lot of things you'd
like to say to them. And remember, we mentioned that
much of what he said was recorded in John chapter 14, 15, 16, and
then his prayer that he prayed for them in John chapter 17.
But just the Just imagine if you only had
just a short time to say a few words to those whom you love
from eternity, what things you might want to talk to them about,
what things you might say to them. And he reminds them in here in verse
35 of Luke chapter 22, and he said unto them, when I sent you,
without purse and script and shoes, lacked you anything. And
you remember that? We had that recorded earlier
in Luke where he sent them out by twos and he said, don't take
anything with you. And you'll be, everything you
need will be supplied. And everything was. He said,
did you lack anything? And they said, nothing. We didn't
lack anything. And what a testimony that is
to the provision that the Lord makes for us. And again, it's
not always what we might consider the things that we think are
necessary, but the things that He has purposed the things that
He has willed, that He deems important, that we're supplied
with. And I think we find that true
in today's lesson. He said, when I sent you out
without purse and script and shoes, lacked you anything, and
they said nothing, then He said unto them, but now, He that hath
a purse, let him take it, and likewise a script. And he that
hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. For I say
unto you that this that is written of me must yet be accomplished
in me. And he was reckoned among the
transgressors, for the things concerning me have an end. And
they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto
them, it is enough. It was kind of an odd thing on
the surface. As we look at this, in my Greek
Interlinear, the text reads, He that hath wallet or bag, let
him take it, and he that hath not, let him sell his garment
and buy a sword. And here we have these two words,
buy and sword, that we find that are extensively used metaphorically
in Scripture. A couple of key words here, and
they're usually used in connection with spiritual revelations and
teachings. And we must always remember that Jesus said, search the Scriptures.
For in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they
that testify of me." And again, later on in Luke, we find when
he talked to those two on the road to Emmaus, he expounded
to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
And so we must always remember to kind of make the main thing
the main thing as we view these Scriptures. So many times, if we were just
to look at things physically, some of the things that would
be taught would be sort of contradictory in connection with viewed in merely a physical sense. For example, in Proverbs 22,
verse 23, it says, buy the truth and sell it not. So how does a person go about
buying the truth? The truth is a thing that can
be believed or not be believed, and in spite of the evidence, doesn't really mean anything
to a person that doesn't believe the truth that's being expounded.
Pilate said, what is truth? Truth is just whatever we say
it is. In a physical sense, in viewed from his standpoint, Whatever
we say is true is the truth, but in biblical terms and in
spiritual terms, there are spiritual truths that are absolute, but they can't be understood
in a physical sense. The Scriptures are very plain
that unless a person is born again, he really can't see those
things or understand them. And Paul commented on that extensively
in the New Testament as well. The natural man just can't receive
those spiritual truths because they're spiritually discerned.
Neither can he know them. And so when it says, buy the
truth and sell it not, it's just an admonition to seek after that
truth. And it's a word that's written
to the Lord's people to look into those things and search
the Scriptures and rightly divide them and to know them. And sometimes
we get more opportunity than others to look into those things
and see what's revealed. Another example we have found
in Isaiah chapter 55 in verse 1, he says, Ho, pay attention,
Ho, Everyone that thirsteth, come
ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without
money and without price." So from a physical sense, that's
kind of an oxymoron. How can you buy if you don't
have anything to buy with? How can you drink if you're thirsty? So again, in a spiritual sense,
they're perfectly clear and they make all the sense in the world
to one that's experienced grace and knows the gospel and where
the water of life comes from. and come and buy wine and milk
without money and without price. And we can't buy those things
physically. We have that song, that hymn
we sing, Nor silver nor gold hath retained my redemption.
It's not physical money that enables us to obtain those things. They're spiritual. And again,
so here in our scripture today in Luke chapter 22, he says,
sell your stuff and buy a sword. Well, what's that mean? Swords
in the ordinary sense, in the physical sense, are used for
combat or defense or for assault. But we find the Word of the Lord
is seldom used in merely the ordinary sense. And each word
that the Lord speaks always carries the sense and purpose of Him
who is eternal, and who is eternally always about the redemption and
the saving of the people whom God the Father gave Him in the
covenant of grace. It's always about that. All the
Scriptures are always about that. And metaphorically, swords are used
a lot in the Bible. They're talked about a lot. And
they're used in a physical sense. They're always slaying someone
with the edge of the sword in the Old Testament. But you know,
most of the time you find that happening as the Lord is sorting out the chaff there. When you go into the land, I
want you to slay everyone that's there with the edge of the sword,
because they are not my sheep. And so we find that the title
of our lesson today is called The Sword of Division. And that's,
metaphorically speaking, that's a lot of the times what we find
the sword pictures spiritually. In Revelation chapter 2, it talks about the Lord having a
him that hath a sharp two-edged sword. Well, he doesn't need
a sword. He doesn't need a physical sword
to accomplish anything. By His Word, We have creation. By His Word, everything exists. And so for him to have to rely
on a physical sword just makes not much sense. But he says he
does have a two-edged sword. And then in verse 15 of chapter
2 of Revelation, he says, So hast thou also them that hold
the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate, You know,
most of these Scriptures that talk about these churches that
he's talking to, he says, you've left your first love. They always
kind of start out that same way. You've left your first love.
But, he says, you also hate them that have the
doctrine of the Nicolaitans, those that doesn't say very much
about them. that the very word Nicolaitans
means to conquer over the people and so it would kind of imply
that you have in your body those that you hate that they try to
lord it over the people and they try to insert themselves over the people
and draw the things to themselves instead of to the Lord. But he
says, which thing I hate, repent or else I will come unto thee
quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
Well, if you take that in a physical sense, does the Lord have a big
old Wacken sword coming out of his mouth? No, he does not. It's
a spiritual metaphor that means that he is going to address them
in a spiritual sense. And it doesn't align with scripture
to make this seem that Jesus had in mind worldly or physical
combat or self-defense. And you know, that very thing
might have been in the minds of the disciples when they were
with Him. Because they, at this point,
they didn't have spiritual clarity on a lot of things. But the Lord
put those things in their minds and in their hearts. And then
at a later time, we find, for example, many of those things
in Acts chapter 2, they say, oh yeah, that's what that meant.
Oh yeah. When the Spirit came to them,
they said, oh, well now we understand what that meant. And He was talking
about this Scripture. He was talking about that Scripture.
So, as He talks to the disciples, He says, you should go out and
buy a sword. Maybe in their mind they thought, hmm, maybe we're
supposed to fight a physical fight here. And in fact, later on in Luke, the disciples,
when they came to arrest Jesus, they said, shall we smite with
the sword? And Peter yanks out the sword
and smites off the ear of Malchus the servant. And he said, no,
that's not what we're here for. That's not what this is about. we have to look at it in a different
light. He said to Peter in John 18.11,
The very purpose of him being there was not to fight against the
government of the time or the religious fakery that was going
on. His mission was the redemption
of his people and going to the cross to pay for that was the
essential part of that. Laying down his life, a ransom
for the sheep. In John 18.36, Jesus answered,
My kingdom's not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world,
then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered
to the Jews. But now is my kingdom not from
hence. And many times, in the Old Testament,
we find that when the Lord was directing them into the land,
they would go to a place and He would say, okay, you're all
armed, you're all ready, you got all your battle gear and
everything, stand still. Don't do anything. I'll take
care of it. So what was the purpose of the
sword? So we need to look back to what
Jesus previously taught regarding this, and the teaching must again
be in line with the message of Isaiah 53, which is what he quotes
here in this text in Luke chapter 22. He says, four, he starts
it out with four, He says, for I say unto you that
this that is written must be accomplished in me. And he was
reckoned among the transgressors. Well, that comes from Isaiah
53, 12. He says, that which is written,
and that's where it was written. So we would have to go back to
Isaiah 53 to glean what we could from that. So... Lost my page here. Okay, back
on track here. We look back again to our lead-in
verse in Luke 22, 35. When they were sent out, they
lacked nothing. They were totally supplied for every eventuality
by the Lord God Almighty. And what's important to note
there is not that they got all this physical stuff, but what
was their mission? What were they supposed to be
doing? They were supposed to be going out and delivering the
gospel. That was their primary task there. And while they were about doing
that, they did other things. They healed and cast out demons
and things. But those things were kind of
physical in nature. and had limited effect, but the
gospel was the thing that had the lasting, eternal effects. And the Lord used that to reach
out and call out to His people. He says, my sheep will hear my
voice. They'll hear the Gospel and they'll
come to Me. So we must look back to what
Jesus previously taught here. And the message must then be
in line with the message of Isaiah 53, which starts out with, to
whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Who hath believed our report?
And there's a big division there. And as it says in Hebrews, The
gospel was preached unto us as well as unto them, but to them,
to a certain segment, it didn't achieve any results, not being
mixed with faith in them that heard it. So we have that division
there. To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? And that tells you that the arm of the Lord must
be revealed. That's the only way that it can
be discovered, and not by any physical
or natural means. And in Matthew 10, we have a
record in Matthew 10 where the Lord is describing to the disciples
about all the things that are going to happen to them. And
most of it's not good in a physical way. And he says to them a strange
thing in verse 34 of Matthew 10. He says, think not that I'm
come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but
a sword. Well, does he sending a big chopping
sword to chop the world in half or do something kind of crazy
like that or to instigate all kinds of physical battles that
achieve nothing. Well, a sword here is not used
in the ordinary sense, but it's a metaphor describing a dividing
action. as is explained in the following
verses. He says, I came not to send peace,
but a sword. For, and this word for, just
as we have in Matthew, directs us back to what was previously
said. It's a linking word there. For
I am come to set a man at variance, against his father, and a daughter
against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and
a man's foe shall be they of his own household. That's this
dividing sword that he's talking about here. I came not to send
peace, but a sword. And we have that parallel verse
found in Luke chapter 12, verse 49. I am come to send fire on
the earth, and what will I if it already be kindled? But I
have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I constrained
till it be accomplished? Suppose ye that I am come to
give peace on earth? Nay, I tell you, nay, but rather
division." So in one instance he uses a sword, the term metaphor
of a sword. In this word he just says, I am come to give division. For
henceforth there shall be five in one house divided three against
two, and two against three. And for from henceforth there
shall be five in one house divided three against two, or two against
three there in Luke 12, 52. The sword then is really just
a synonym for the division caused by the gospel. And as he's preparing
his disciples to go on without him, It's kind of a forewarning
to them that, you know, you're going to be taking the sword
of the gospel and the sword of the Spirit, and you're going
to be going out. And there's just going to be tremendous division.
And he said, you know, if it was for self-defense, he would
have said, you need to gear up. Earlier in Luke 21, if you recall
back to our lessons in Luke 21, he said, you know, some of you
they're going to treat badly, and some of you they're going
to cause to be killed. They're going to cast you out
of the synagogues, on and on and on it goes in Luke 21, 16
I think. He doesn't say, so, You need to carry a lot of armor
with you and weapons. And you need to be able
to fight them off so they don't kill you. He doesn't say that.
He says, you know what? Don't worry about that. He says,
the very hairs of your hair are numbered. The hairs on your head
are all numbered. That's how valuable you are to
me. But in this world, some of you are going to be killed, and
practically all of them were, except John, who died of old
age, and Patmos there, but the rest of them all met an untimely
from our standpoint, end of some external death implementation,
we'll call it. They were killed, you know, and
even Paul. That couldn't have been the meaning
that you need to be prepared to defend yourself against everything
at all costs and so go buy a sword. So it's just a synonym for division
caused by the gospel. And so when you buy that, you
know, a lot of times we say when you buy into something, it means
you wholeheartedly go into it. fully persuaded. So it's kind of a metaphor nowadays
for kind of a similar type issue. So the truth of that revelation
is that Christ died for the ungodly and He came to save sinners not
the already righteous in their own eyes. And there's a big division
between those, and we see that over and over and over and over
again in all the Scriptures that we read. Thank God I'm not like that guy.
And that guy says, Lord, please apply the atonement to me as
a sinner. One who I self-identified as
a sinner because the Spirit with the sword, the Word of God revealed
to him his condition, and the remedy for it was the atonement. And that's what the scriptures
say. So as we go back to The root
of this, he says, for, as we mentioned earlier, for I say
unto you that this that is written of must yet be accomplished in
me. So we must go back to Isaiah
53 and kind of take a look at some things that are talked about
there And we quote Isaiah 53. I don't think there's too many
messages go by that we don't refer to Isaiah 53. So let's kind of go back and
review that a little bit and look at the sort of division
as we would First right off in verse 1, it
says, Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the
Lord revealed? Well, that just says that not everybody believed
the report. And you must have to say, well,
why would one person believe the report and not another? And
the answer is, to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? The
ones that the arm of the Lord is revealed to, they end up believing. and the ones that it's not revealed
to, don't. For he shall grow up before Him
as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground. He hath no
form nor comeliness. And when we shall see Him, there's
no beauty that we should desire Him. We don't, any of us, desire
Him in our natural condition. He's despised and rejected of
men. That sounds like somebody we
want to follow. We despise Him and reject Him. We don't want
anything to do with Him. a man of sorrows, and acquainted
with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him, and
he was despised, and we esteemed him not." And then we turn the
page and it says, "'Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried
our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God,
and afflicted. He was wounded for..." Here's
this arm of the Lord revealed. Here's what happens. It turns
out he was wounded, and this is the good news. He was wounded
for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. And the chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. And all we like
sheep have gone astray, and we've turned everyone to his own way,
and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." Again, we have the issue of division. He couldn't have laid on Him
the iniquity of everybody that ever born, because clearly that's not the
case. There was a lot of people that didn't get on the ark. He
didn't die for their sins, or they would have been in the ark.
And so it goes. This us all here, you have to
look at who this letter is addressed to. It's the ones to whom the
arm of the Lord has been revealed. That's the us, that's the us
all. And even a little further, we
go down here and it says, he bore the sins of many, not the
sins of us, of all in a universal sense. He was oppressed and he
was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth and he's brought
as a lamb to the slaughter as a sheep before shears is done. So openeth, he openeth not his
mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment and who shall Declare his generation for he was cut
off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people
was he stricken And he made his grave with the wicked and with
the rich and his death because he had done no violence Neither
was any deceit in his mouth Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him and he hath put him to grief and when thou shalt make his
soul and offering for sin and he shall see his seed, he shall
prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities."
Pretty divisive there, pretty much of a strong dividing statement
there. And he says, therefore will I
divide him a portion with the great, And he shall divide the
spoil with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto
death. And he was numbered with the transgressors, which is in
our text here in Luke chapter 22. And he bare the sin of many,
and he made intercession for the transgressors. So very, very
clear there. And if God was satisfied with his
offering for everybody in the world, then he would be satisfied with
an offering for everybody in the world. And there would not
be an alternative future for them, as we'll say. So we have
to, when we look at the Scripture in Luke 22-35, we have to kind
of look at this and say, well, what was he talking about when
he wrote Isaiah 53, when the Spirit through the pen of Isaiah, penned
this down and talked about my right, my servant justifying
many. And he made intercession for
their transgressions and bearing the sin of many. So again, it's
a sort of division. Metaphorically, sword just used a lot in the
New Testament and even in the Old. In Luke chapter 2, when
the dedication of Jesus in the temple, and Simeon's holding
up the baby, and he's praying to the Lord and dedicating him,
he says a lot of things there, and he's talking about the mother
in one instance in Luke chapter 2 verse 34, and Simeon blessed
them, And said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is
set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a
sign which shall be spoken against." A division. He says in verse 35, "'Yea, a
sword shall pierce through thine own soul also.'" Well, there
wasn't going to be a big physical sword to come up and skewer Mary. It was just a metaphor. "'A sword
shall pierce through thine own soul also, that the thoughts
of many hearts may be revealed.'" She's going to be an eyewitness
to a division among a lot of people over the words of her
son. She's going to see a lot of reaction
to his word. And even her own other children
didn't believe in the beginnings. They were at the appointed time. The Word was effectual to them.
Another metaphor we find in Hebrews chapter 4, and just at the beginning
of chapter 4, we find the talk about the gospel. The word preached did not profit
them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. And they
didn't enter into the rest, the rest of Christ as the finished
work for sin there. And in verse 12 he says, For
the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any
two-edged sword. piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." What
a perfect metaphor for the dividing work of that gospel, of the dividing
work of that Word of God. It's like a two-edged sword that's
sharper, but it's sharper than any sword that was ever created,
any sword that was ever manufactured. And it's capable, this spiritual
sword is capable of piercing even to the defining under of
soul and spirit. and joints and marrow, and is
a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." What a
probing statement that makes about the power of the Word of
God. And then, finally, we'll close
with this excerpt from Ephesians, the sixth chapter in verse 17,
where the admonition that Paul writes to those and take on you the whole armor
of God. In verse 17 he says, take the
helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. Not a brass helmet or a bronze
helmet or whatever they might have had at the time, or leather,
and not a physical sword. Take the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God." It's
a metaphor. He said, the sword of the Spirit
is the Word of God. It's just plain as day what he
says there. And you know, he goes on to say,
again, the main thing must always be the main thing, and the preaching
of the gospel is what we're about. in verse 18 and 19, he says,
praying always and making known the mystery of the gospel. So
that's our job, is to take that Word of God and to declare the
gospel. And again, we can't, as it says
in Hebrews 4, we can't make it effectual, we can't make it apply
it to anybody. We can dole it out in truth and
not leave anything out, not add anything to it. We can declare
it fully and in truth because it's the Word of God. It's the
sword of the Spirit. And then we let Him take that
and do the dividing and the work. And when we try to take those
roles on ourselves, it always ends in failure. Because we're
taking away that which is someone else's and trying to add in things
that are not ours to participate in. So we just have to be true. in declaring the truth of the
gospel. So that's it on Sell Your Stuff
and Buy a Sword from Luke 22. Thank you and be free.