Well, again, welcome to our continuing
Bible study in the book of Luke this morning. And we're in chapter
nine. If you turn in your Bibles there, please, to Luke chapter
nine. Today we'll be looking at verses
49 through 56. And as we were the last time
we were together, remember that the Lord had been
instructing his disciples Remember, he brought the little child in
because the disciples were saying, well, I'm better than you. I'm
the greatest. Who's the greatest? Who kicked
out the most devils? And the Lord said, well, whoever
would be least, he shall be greatest. And we spent our time on that
block of scripture last time. And so here we are in verse 49, and
we'll read these these verses here. And then again, we're going
to find that, uh, this is all rooted in the old Testament.
So beginning in verse 49 of chapter nine, and John answered and said,
master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name and we forbade
him because he followed not with us. Remember, they just got through
fighting with each other about who cast out the most demons
and who is the greatest. And now they're saying, well,
we saw somebody we don't even know doing that and he's not
with us. And we saw one casting out devils
in thy name and we forbade him because he followed not with
us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not, for he that is
not against us is for us. The time was come that he should
be received up. He steadfastly set his face to
go to Jerusalem and sent messengers before his face. And they went
and entered into a village of the Samaritans to make ready
for him. And they did not receive him
because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And
when his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, Lord,
wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and
consume them, even as Elijah did? And he said, he turned and
rebuked them and said, you know not what manner of spirit you
are of. For the Son of Man has not come
to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another
village. So these disciples are kind of
full of themselves. And anyway, they've kind of involved
themselves in taking on more authority than what really was
given them. And that's what we read there. And
in the matter of forbidding one whom they saw casting out, we
saw one casting out devils in thy name. And we have no personal
knowledge of this person. He's not with us. Well, There's
a valuable lesson to us there. The Lord says, don't forbid him
not. He's not just for us. So I get a couple of scriptures
there that talk about that and the fact that they wanted fire
to come down and consume them Samaritans who nobody liked anyway. And he says, no, that's not what
we're about. So we'll look at a couple of
those things as we go through here. So the question here really
is a basic one of to whom belongs all power and authority? Well,
it belongs to Christ. And because they didn't know
who that person was that was casting out devils did not mean
that he was not necessarily one that was of Christ. So they didn't know that. And
we still don't know that, but you know, Elijah said kind of
the same thing in the Old Testament. He said,
and it's recorded, if you turn over to Romans chapter 11, we'll
read Romans chapter 11, verse one through five. And here Paul is quoting that
text from the Old Testament. He says, I say then, hath God
cast away his people? God forbid, for I also am an
Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. And
essentially, he's saying the same thing as the disciples.
He says, we're the ones with you. We're the disciples. God has not cast away his people
which he foreknew. Watch ye not what the scripture
saith of Elias, how he maketh the intercession to God against
Israel, saying, Lord, they've killed thy prophets and digged
down thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved
to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image
of Baal. Even so, at this present time also there is a remnant
according to the election of grace. Elijah didn't know those
7,000. He didn't have any idea that
he was unaware of them and maybe that's the way it was with these
disciples. And the other thing to consider here is Who's in
control? It's God Almighty, the Lord that's
in control. And he will take care of those
that claim a relationship based on words or deeds. So if these
were fakers out there, he's gonna take care of it. It's kind of
like the tares and the wheat kind of a program. And turn over to Matthew chapter
seven, verse 20. Matthew 7, 20, we'll read 20
through 23. Wherefore, by their fruits ye
shall know them, not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord,
into the kingdom of heaven, that doeth the will of my Father which
is in heaven. Many will say unto me in that
day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in
thy name cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful
works? And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity." We don't know, the Lord said,
don't forbid that man from doing that. And we don't know which
way that went, but we leave it up to God, who is the one who
knows and rules. So one of those two outcomes
we could expect. That man was either with the
Lord or not. And if he was not, then the Lord
will deal with him at the proper time, you know. Remember in the
tares, he says, well, if you throw them out, if you read them
out now, you're going to tear up the, the good stuff too. So
leave it alone and I'll have my people take care of it at
the right time. So, so not for us to worry about
that. And so the second part we come
to here today is, is the time came to pass that he should be
received up. He steadfastly set his face to
go to Jerusalem and that, that part of it, uh, We're gonna go
to the Old Testament from chapter 50 of Isaiah. But still, we're
not understanding the purpose of him who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will. And his will was to set
his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem. And that was his purpose. He was going to go to Jerusalem
and redeem his people, his church. Today I'd like to really look
at the personal application to each of the elect, each sheep
to the church individually and collectively. And again, as I
mentioned before, we find this is rooted in the Old Testament.
And we're going to look at Isaiah chapter 50 and really 49 through
53 deal with this pretty extensively. But we're just going to look
at chapter 50 today because it's has direct context to what we're
reading here in Luke. So if you turn to Isaiah chapter
50, as regards to him steadfastly setting his face to go to Jerusalem,
and we find it recorded here in Isaiah exactly what that was
all about. In verse one, thus saith the
Lord, where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I
have put away, or the creditors? Is it whom I have sold you? Behold,
for iniquities have you sold, and for your transgression is
your mother put away. It's just a picture of the fall.
It's just a picture of the ruin of the fall. Your iniquities,
you sold yourself. We're just born in sin and we're
sinners by nature, practice and choice. We're sold out to sin,
we're in bondage to sin. But the good news comes in verse
two, through the rest of verse seven there. Wherefore, when
I came, was there no man? When I call, there was none to
answer. Is my hand shortened at all that
it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold at my rebuke, I dry up
the sea, I make rivers a wilderness. Their fish stinketh because there's
no water, and dieth for thirst. Boy, what a picture of the almighty
nature of God, the almighty power of God. His sovereignty and his
power. He says, I clothe the heaven
with blackness. I make sackcloth their covering. Verse four is just a declaration
of the gospel. The Lord hath given me the tongue
of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season
to him that is weary. He wakeneth morning by morning,
he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. I've got the
gospel, I've got the good news. In verse five, the Lord hath
opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away
back. You know what Philippians said,
he became obedient, Being found in fashion as a man, he became
obedient, humbled himself, became obedient unto death, even the
death of the cross. He said, I was not rebellious,
neither turned away back. In verse six, he says, then he
gets more graphically in describing what he would go through. It
was not a surprise to him what was in store for him. Some of
that stuff we sang in that hymn. So I gave my back to the smiters,
and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face
from shame and spitting. And worse than that, he endured
the cross. For the Lord God will help me,
therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore,
I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be
ashamed. He knew that because he would be victorious. There
was no other possible outcome. So that is kind of the back story
here to what we're reading in Luke chapter 9. He set his face
to go to Jerusalem. He set his face like a flint.
And again, this gospel speaks to the rebellious nature of everyone. The church is pictured by Israel,
ruined by the fall for your iniquities. Have you sold yourself? Secondly,
it speaks to his absolute almighty power to redeem and deliver them
from that predicament that we find ourselves in, from that
absolute disaster of the fall. We were just talking this morning
about just Every day we wake up and we find out that the fall
was worse than we thought. More terribleness erupts every
day. It seems like the nature of man
is that you think they get to the bottom and then somebody
hands them a shovel and they dig a little deeper. So anyway,
it tells us of his absolute almighty power to redeem. He says, is
my hand shortened? Is anything gonna stop me from
redeeming my people from my church? No, it's not. You know, we find
that recorded for us, the outcome of it in John chapter 17. If
you turn over to John chapter 17, we'll read two verses there. that are directly related to
Isaiah 50 verse two. Is my hand shortened at all that
it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? In John chapter 17, this great
prayer of the Lord, if you get an opportunity, you might tune
in to Bill and Sermonatio and he's ran a series on this chapter
17. prayer of the Lord. So, in verse
1, it says, These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes
to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come, that thy son
also may glorify thee, as, or because thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life, to as many
as thou has given him. And that's recorded in Matthew
2, all power is given unto me in heaven and earth. He has all
power. And in Isaiah 52, it says, have
I no power? Do you not understand that I
have all power? So thirdly, God is, in regards
to the gospel here, the Lord has given me the tongue of the
learned that I should know how to speak a word and season to
him that is weary. Well, there's nothing more wearisome
than being in bondage of sin. And so in regards to that, we
find that God has chosen by the foolishness of preaching, preaching
the good news of the substitutionary sacrifice of his son in the place
or the stead of those elect, those sheep, those church that
we various names that the people of God are referred to. There
in Isaiah 54, 50 verse 4, he's given me the tongue and learned
that I should know how to speak a word in season. That means
at the right time. It means that at the time that
God appoints, he's gonna make his gospel effectual to his people. And the other Wednesday night,
our pastor was talking about Paul on that Damascus trail.
He'd been involved in religion a really long time, since the
day he was born. But the season for him did not
happen until he was on that road to Damascus. And he said, when
it pleased God to reveal his son in me, that's when it happened.
Not one second before, even though he'd been in religion all of
his life. So that's what we find there. At the proper time, he makes
his gospel come to his people, or he makes the, the people come
to the gospel. Somehow he intersects them in
ways that are involved in what we call the fabric of grace,
where he works all things for good to them that love God, who
are the called according to his purpose. He works all things
according to his will and purpose. And fourthly, in the covenant
of grace, the exact nature of all that Christ would suffer
as the substitute for his people is laid open and bare. He says,
I gave my back to the smiters and them that pulled off my,
man, that, I always said somebody come and yanked off some of my
hair off my face, we'd have a little problem, right? He put up with
that. And the shame and the rejection
and the despising All that was laid open and bare
there, and you can go through chapter 49 through 53 in the
psalm and get the graphic details of all the things that he would,
and he writes them as in the I am tense. all my bones are
all hanging out. I'm dry as a potter. He doesn't
say, I will be, or this will happen to me. He writes it in
the present tense as it's happening then in his eternal nature. He says, I gave my back to the,
that's not, I'm going to give my back to the smiters, or I'm
going to let them pluck off the hair of my face. I'm going to
let them spit on me. He says, I did that. I gave my back to the smiters.
I hid not my face from shame and spitting. And you know, in
Hebrews, the 12th chapter, we used this verse here some time
ago in another lesson. called looking unto Jesus. And
verse two of Hebrews chapter 12 says, looking unto Jesus,
the author, and that we learned that that word author means the
commencing point that, you know, when somebody writes something,
that's the point at which it begins. It didn't exist before
they wrote. whatever it was, it didn't come into existence
until the author penned it. He's the author and the finisher
of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured
the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right
hand of the throne of God. So all that is encompassed in
this verse that we find here. in both Luke and in Isaiah. He set his face to go to Jerusalem
to do that, to endure that. Fifthly, as we just mentioned,
he set his face as a flint. Now, flint is a mineral rock
that's very common in that area of Palestine and Israel, and
it's common all over the world, really. And it has a lot of applications
and when you strike it with iron it can make sparks for making
a fire. It's really hard. But you know
one of the things that's interesting about flint is it's predictable. When you break it, it breaks
in a particular way. It doesn't just break randomly,
like if you just take a rock, any old rock, and hit it with
a hammer, it just kind of shatters indiscriminately. But flint breaks
in a particular way that's predictable. And I find that interesting as
it's applied to the Lord, that it breaks often. That's why the
Native Americans used it for making arrowheads and knives
and whatnot, because they could count on the way that it broke.
They could count on it reacting in a certain way when they applied
pressure to it, it would react the way that it was meant to
from all eternity. Interesting note about Flint
there. He set his face like a flint, and flint's really hard. It just means it was immovable.
It was set in a particular way and it was not going to be detracted
or distracted. And so for the church, again,
the sheep, the elect, the born again, there has to be some recognition
of the personal application of these things that we've just
talked about. Each one of these. He's written of by a spirit as
the lamb that was slain from before the foundation of the
world with his face set to go to Jerusalem and accomplish that
in time. So it must be that before the
foundation of the world, his face was set as a flint even
then for the sole purpose of the redemption of the church
by sacrificing his life in the place of each one whom the father
gave him. Isn't that a remarkable thing
to consider? When we think about, and again, I want to stress that
each person that's redeemed, that's born again, that's the
elect, think about that in terms of your own self, that from before
the foundation of the world, his face was set like a flint
for you in a personal way, not just a, random universal type
way. It's not that at all. For Christ suffered once for
sins, for the just, for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit sacrificing his life in the place
of each one whom the Father gave him. It's just remarkable. So as we
apply, each of us apply this most wonderful fact to the Lord
in this personal way, we have to acknowledge and give praise
for a salvation that's all of grace, that was rooted in eternal
electing love from before the foundation of the world. If you're
born again from above, You must acknowledge that the Father,
by grace, gave you to the Son to redeem before the foundation
of the world. We view that as eternity, but
it's called various things. And we read that in John chapter
17, verse two, he says, as thou has given him power over all
flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given
him. That's pretty specific. That's
not a universal concept there. That deals with a specific known
entity. And it's repeated several times
throughout that prayer in John chapter 17, if you care to read
that. The I am, the great I am we refer to the Lord as, that
expresses his eternal existence as I am. He said before Abraham
was, I am. Tell them I am that I am has
sent you. It's an expression of his, it's
not what we are all rooted in time can consider, but he is,
is not bound by those concepts, those rules. The I Am identified
and knew personally and intimately every single one whom the Father
had given him that he would lay down his life for in time, and
if you're born again from above, this is you. He set his face
as a flint for you because he has known and loved you from
eternity. That's what it tells us in Jeremiah
31.3. The Lord appeared to me of old
saying, I've loved thee with an everlasting or eternal or
an I am love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee at the season, at the time that was appropriate. And we often wonder, man, I wish
you had done that a long time ago. But we don't have that control
over that. We have to be patient and wait
for that season In John chapter 10, we have a little bit about
this. In John chapter 10, verse three
and four, the Lord is explaining this concept to some folks and
he says, to him, the porter openeth. The porter is the one that was
by the door and kept out the ones that weren't supposed to
come in and opened the door for those that were supposed to come
in and assisted those in many capacities. To him the porter
openeth and the sheep hear his voice, he calleth his own sheep
by name. It says he calls them by name
and leadeth them out. You know, it says he knows every
hair on your head. He says the very hairs on your
head are numbered. That's how intimately he knows you. And when he put forth his own
sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. When he intersects them with
the gospel and they're born again, they know him. And he knew them already. While we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us is what the scripture says. While we were in the most
unlovable condition, that we could possibly be in when we
rejected him, when we wouldn't have anything to do with him,
when we despised him, when we were just among those that were
around that cross that mopped and shamed and spit and blasphemed. He could look down there and
say, that's one of my sheep, I'm dying for you. I set my face
like a flint to come here and do this for you. I'm the good
shepherd, and I know my sheep, and am known of mine. That's
John 10, 14. As a father knoweth me, even
so I know the father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Again, very specific, not a universal
prospect there where he died indiscriminately for everyone
in the world, then it's up to you to except to reject that,
that's just not in the scripture. If you be born again from above,
he's purposed that at the time which he has appointed you would
intersect with the gospel of his substitutionary death in
your place. Not for everyone promiscuously,
but for you personally. He set his face as a flint to
declare the gospel that he died for you. The Lord has given me
the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak this
word in season to him that is weary. Come, you that are weary,
that are heavy laden, you that are crushed by that burden of
sin, and I'll give you rest. You know, as 1 Corinthians says,
for after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching. to
save them that believe. And when you're unregenerated,
that's just what it is. It's foolishness. It's like,
who needs that? Well, if you want to be involved
in that religious stuff, that's fine for you. That's good for
you. They have that problem that comes
with the fall of no understanding. They can't understand it. He
said to Nicodemus, unless you're born again, you can't see the
kingdom of God. It can be right in front of you
like me, and you can't see it. In our previous lesson in Luke
chapter 4, when he went to the synagogue to preach, and I think
Norm mentioned this here a little bit ago, they brought him that
roll, the scroll, remember the flying roll. And he brought out
that verse where they brought the Lord the scroll of Isaiah. And that must have been a pretty
long piece of paper and in a roll. He opened it, knew right where
to go. He didn't have the numbers and
the chapters, everything laid out grid-wise like we have it
now. But since he caused it to be
written, he knew right where it was, probably didn't even
need to read it. But he said in Luke chapter four, verse 17
through 19, There was delivered unto him
the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when he had opened the book,
he found the place where it was written, the spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor, to speak a word in season to them that are weary. He has
sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the
captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
them that are bruised, the acceptable year of the Lord, to tell them
that is my arm shortened that I can't save? You know, he's promised and guaranteed
this to each one, each one of those ones that we read about,
John, that the Father gave him to redeem. All that the Father giveth me,
says in John chapter six, verse 37, That's pretty plain. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. Boy, what comforting words those
are to the church. You know, every one of us has
family that we're worried about. Every one of us has friends that
we're concerned about. And every one of us has, in our
own way, tried to reach out to them with the gospel. And generally
we find that it seems to us like we sow the seed and it goes out
on that thorny ground, or that hard ground, or that ground that
the birds came and scooped it away. Yet we know that in the
right time, at the right season, at the appointed time, if they're
one of God's elect, He will make that effectual in them. All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. You know in Acts 13, in verse 47 to 48, that they
were engaged in preaching this gospel to their own brothers
and families and the Jewish people. And it was just roundly rejected. And they said, okay, so we're
turning to the Gentiles because the scripture says that he would
be a light to the Gentiles as well. So they preached the gospel
and a bunch of Gentile people heard it. And in verse 47, it
says, for so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to
be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation
to the ends of the earth. That means just not to the Jews
only, but to every nation, kindred, tongue, and tribe, and people,
not in every single one universal mode, but people out of every
kindred, tongue, nation, tribe. And it says, and when the Gentiles
heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord,
and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. There's
that drawing, that calling, that effectual work of the Holy Spirit,
making that gospel alive to them and breathing into them the birth
of life. And lastly, as we look at this
block of scripture from Luke and Isaiah, Isaiah 50, he says, I'll not
be confounded. I'll not be ashamed. Because
he would be completely successful, completely victorious. Therefore,
he set his face like a flint for you. He said in John chapter
10, verse 27 through 30, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them,
and they follow me. I give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. Boy, is that secure. He's the
author, the one that puts the pin to our faith, and the finisher
of it. He takes care of us from start
to finish. There's no part of it that he's
not completely involved and responsible in. I give them eternal life
and they shall never perish and neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand and my father which gave them me, again we
find that same concept where he was given a people. My father which gave them me
is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of
my father's hand and I and my father are one. Boy, we're just
double secure there. And lastly, we'll close with a verse from
Ephesians chapter five, verse 25 through 27. And as we
read this, I'd just like us again to think about the personal application
of him setting his face as a flint to go to Jerusalem to endure
all that he went through individually for each person, everyone. Husbands, love your wives, even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. That
he might sanctify it and cleanse it with a washing of water by
the word, and then he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but it should
be holy and without blemish. He says, he won't be ashamed. And if you go on and read chapter
53 of Isaiah, it talks about all the things that he endured.
And then he would see the sacrifice and be satisfied. The just and
the justifier. He set his face like a flint
for you. And that will be the conclusion
of our message today. So as always, be free.