Which turned back to Luke chapter
nine. And tonight I'm going to be speaking for Matthew chapter
seven on the straight gate and the wide gate. But I've entitled
the message for this morning. Take nothing for your journey. Take nothing for your journey. One of the more stressful tasks
that I ever face is packing. I hate to pack. for a journey. I hate it. I don't know why I
hate it, but I do. I hate it. I wish I had one of
those wives that just do everything for me on this thing of packing.
I always have to pack myself. And Lynn hates packing, too.
She hates it probably worse than I do. As a matter of fact, every
time we go off on a journey, there's always tension between
the two of us because we've been so stressful over the last, you
know, it takes, you know, 15 minutes for me to quit being
mad at her and her to quit being mad at me, and now we can go.
I hate packing. Can you imagine going on a journey
without taking anything? Just taking off. You're commanded
in this passage of scripture, not to take a staff to lean on,
not even to take a script, a leather bag, a suitcase. Don't take a
suitcase with you, putting anything in it for your trip. You're not
to take any food. You're not to take any money
to buy food, and you're not to take an extra coat. Only what
you have on. Take nothing. Take nothing for
your journey. This is truly a journey of faith,
isn't it? Take nothing for your journey.
We're looking to the Lord as our provider for everything.
Now, this is when the Lord sent the disciples out by twos to
preach the gospel. And he is telling them to travel
like this. Literally. I mean, they went out the door
with nothing. They didn't have a suitcase.
They didn't have anything to eat. They didn't have any, uh, they
just had on her coat. That's all they had was their
coat. And you and I have a journey
as well. A race to run, a course to finish, a walk to walk, the
walk of faith. Oh, that we might be enabled
to take nothing for our journey and to truly be 100% dependent
upon him. Just like the disciples were
when they went out on this journey. Now in verse one, it says, then
he called his 12 disciples. together. Now, this journey begins
with the special call of God. As far as our experience goes,
our journey begins when he calls us the call of Christ. In Mark's account, it's stated
like this. He called whom he would. He called
whom he would, and they came to him. Now, let me say two things
about this special call that we're talking about, or that
the Bible's talking about. First, this call is a sovereign
call. Not everybody's called. And the
scripture points that out. It could be you're called and
the person sitting beside you is not. And the Bible makes an
issue of this. Turn with me to first Corinthians
chapter one, hold your finger there in Luke nine. First Corinthians chapter one. This call is a sovereign call
in verse 22 of first Corinthians chapter one for the Jews require
a sign. Something they can see that verifies
that the truth is being said. The Greeks seek after wisdom,
but we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews. The religious,
this is a stumbling block and under the Greeks, the intellectuals,
it's foolishness, but unto them, which are called, you see that
not everybody's called, but unto them, which are called. Both
Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of
God. Look in verse 26 of the same
chapter. For you see your calling brethren, how that not many wise
men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. God doesn't call all of these
people. This is a sovereign call. He
calls whom he wills. And this call is always effectual. God never calls someone and they
don't respond. If you didn't respond, he never
called you. Because everybody he calls, they respond to his
call. Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth. Zacchaeus, make haste, come down. For today I must abide in my
house. He made haste and he came down
and he received him joyfully, the scripture says. He said to
that little dead girl, made I say unto thee arise and she arose
from the dead. This call is always effectual. Now back to Luke nine. Then he called his 12 disciples
together and it says he gave them power and authority over
all devils and to cure diseases. He gave them two things that
they did not have. He gave them power and he gave
them authority. Two things that they did not
have. Now, by nature, we have no spiritual
power. You know why? Because we're dead
in sins. Life has power. Power is the
ability to do. Life has power, but no man by
nature has this spiritual power because he's dead in trespasses
and sins. If I'm wrong on the fall, I'm
wrong on it all. Now, I know that's a simple statement,
but it is so very important. If I'm wrong on the fall, I am
wrong on it all. Chew on that for a moment. What
happened in the fall of Adam? What happened? Did he mess up? Did he die spiritually? Lord said, in the day you eat
thereof, you shall surely die. And what we believe regarding
the fall of Adam will determine what we believe about everything
else. If I really believe that Adam died spiritually in the
fall, I know that salvation must be a completely a work of God's
grace from the beginning to end that he's got to do it all because
a dead man can't do anything. He gave them power, meaning He
gave them life. Now, inability can be summarized
by this statement our Lord made in John 6, verse 44, when He
said, no man can come to Me. No man has the ability to come
to Me, except the Father which has sent Me draw him. And I will
raise him up at the last day. We don't have the ability to
come to Christ. If God doesn't draw you to Christ,
you won't come. That's the fact of the matter.
Now, inability does not take away responsibility. Understand
this as well. Adam, when he sinned and fell,
was not a victim. He was not a victim. And the
sinner is not a victim. We're sinners by birth. It happened
as a result of Adam's fall. We're born into this world, sinners,
sinners by nature, sinners by choice and sinners by practice. He gave them power life. That's where that power came
from life. And he gave them authority. You see by nature, men have no
rights. They have no authority because
of their sin. They have no claim on God. Now, when people hear the gospel
of God's grace, how that God elected a particular people to
be saved and Christ died for the elect and God, the Holy spirit
calls the elect the response of the natural man is. How can
it be fair for him not to save everybody? How can, how can that
possibly be fair for God to not save everybody when he could,
how could that be fair? Well, when I make that statement,
all I say by that is that I'm a victim. I'm a victim. And it's not right for God to
not do something for me, that God owes me salvation. God is indebted to me. But when
God saves a man, all of a sudden he gives them power, authority,
or the right Um, you know, Revelation 22, 14 says we have a right to
eat of the tree of life. Now this is what the Bible means
by justification. This thing of having a right.
You know, I hate this thing of entitlement. Entitlement. In our nation, people thinking
all this stuff is entitled to them. I just hate that very thought. People think this is entitled
to me. I've got, I've got this sense of entitlement. I don't
have heaven by entitlement. I have heaven by right. It's
called justification. I don't get in by, it's not entitled
to me, I have it by right. You see, when God saves somebody,
He justifies them so they stand before Him truly, literally,
without guilt, righteous before Him. That's what the Gospel is.
It's how God makes a sinner righteous. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on him that justifies the ungodly. Now here's my hope
that God will actually justify, make me an ungodly sinner to
be without guilt just before God. And now heaven is mine by
right. I have authority in that sense.
I have right to eat of the tree of life. He gave them power and
he gave them authority. And this authority and power
was over all demons, they could cast them out and they were able
to cure diseases. They were given this miracle
working power as they went out. And can you imagine going out
to preach like that when you had this miracle working power?
Well, they did. This is when he sent out the
70 or just the 12 by twos. Now let's back to our text in
Luke chapter nine. It says in verse two, these people who were
given this power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases,
he sent them To preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick,
he sent them to preach. Now understand this, what we're
doing right now, preaching. You're sitting to a man who's
preaching to you. You're sitting listening to a
man who's preaching to you. What we're doing right now is
the ordained means of God for the salvation and the edification
of God's elect. What we're doing right now. It
pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Turn with me to Romans chapter
10. Hold your finger there, Luke 9, and turn to Romans chapter
10. Verse 13, for whosoever Shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Then Paul asked
these questions. How then should they call on
him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how should they preach except
they be sent? Now, if God saves you or if God
saves me, he's going to cross our paths with a preacher that
he has sent. He sent them to preach. And what was the subject matter
of their preaching? Look back in Luke chapter nine.
He sent them to preach the kingdom of God. And to heal. the sick. It was their message,
the kingdom of God. Now that's not just some vague,
generic, hazy, you know, kingdom speech and kingdom of God. Kingdom
means something. The word kingdom means the sphere
of sovereignty. The sphere of sovereignty, it's
your jurisdiction. It's what you have sovereign
rule over. You know, when we talk about
the United States being sovereign, a sovereign country, that means
we don't answer to any other country. I mean, in the sense
that we're sovereign. We don't have to go by their
rules. We got our own rules. And we use the word sovereign
loosely. Really, there's no such thing
as anyone who's sovereign because only God is sovereign. Sovereignty
means independence. God is independent. You and I are totally dependent. We are totally dependent on an
utterly and entirely independent God. I love to think of the independence
of God. When he created the universe,
did he ask for your help or your thoughts on it or did he consult
with you? No, as an act of his will, he brought the universe
into existence independently. You think of all the affairs
of providence, he controls every one of them.
Why? Even the things that are passing
through your mind right now, he is in control of whatever
you're thinking. He is in control of that's how
sovereign he is. Every event that takes place,
no matter what it is, He's in control of it. It happened because
He willed it. He didn't have to wait and see
what was going to happen. There was not a sequence of events.
He had to see if it would take place before this would take
place. No. Everything that happens, He controls because He's sovereign. the king's heart is in the hand
of the lord as the rivers of water he turneth it whither so
ever he will the lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposing
thereof is of the lord he's independent in all of providence controlling
everything it's not hard for him either you think of how hard
it is for you to get what you want done i mean all the events
got to take place Not so with the Lord. He's utterly independent. And most especially is he independent
in salvation. That means he didn't have to
wait for you to do anything. He's independent in salvation.
Salvation is of the Lord. Now we use the term sovereign
grace. That's a good term. Sovereign grace. Somebody says,
why do you talk about sovereign grace? Well, because a lot of
people use the word grace from the Bible, but they mean it totally
different than what the Bible means by it. They mean by it
that God used to be holy, but now he's found a way to let off
men more easy. He now saves by grace. He offers
you grace. He used to require strict obedience,
but now he offers you grace. Here it is, and it's up to you
to accept it or reject it as to whether or not you'll be saved.
That's what most people mean by grace. Now that bears no more
resemblance to God's grace than a demon does to an unfallen angel.
That's not grace. It has nothing to do with grace.
You see, grace saves. When we talk about sovereign
grace, we talk about saving grace, electing grace, redeeming grace,
regenerating grace, the grace of the father, the grace of the
son, the grace of the spirit that actually saves. Grace is
not offered. Grace saves. Grace is not something
that you accept or reject. It's not something you use. It
uses you. It does something for you. Oh,
the almighty, invincible, sovereign grace of God. I like that. Sovereign grace, saving grace. That's what is meant by the kingdom
of God, his utter and complete independence, his absolute sovereignty. That's our message. That's the
message we preach. This is the gospel. And it also says in our text
in Luke 9, he sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal
the sick. Now that word sick there is the
word that's quite often translated, impotent, powerless, those that
are without strength. I love that scripture for when
we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. Aren't you thankful for that?
There's healing in this message we preach. First Peter 2 24 says,
who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we being dead to sin should live under righteousness by whose
stripes you were healed. You see there's healing in this
message, healing for sinners. Now look what he says. Verse
three. He sent them to preach the kingdom
of God and to heal the sick. And he says unto them, take nothing
for your journey. And this thing of preaching the
gospel, leave behind your arsenal of facts and your ability to
persuade and your plans and strategies in order to get whatever it is
you want done. No staff to lean on, no staff
to of human ability to lean on? No, you lean wholly on me. No
suitcase to put all the things that you've provided and prepared? No, you don't take a suitcase. You don't provide bread for yourself
or money to buy bread? You depend wholly on my provision
and make sure you don't take two coats. There's only one coat
to take. Now in this journey, in this
walk of faith that you and I are called upon to walk, we have
walked a walk. We have a journey. We're marching
to Emmanuel's land. We have a journey we're walking
toward. We are to provide nothing. Now, what I thought of was Genesis
22, verse eight. You remember that passage of
scripture where Abraham and Isaac are going up to Mount Moriah. where Abraham knew he was called
upon to offer him up as a burnt offering. Isaac was not aware
of that and he says, father, here's the wood, here's the fire,
but where's the lamb for a burnt offering? You can't have a sacrifice
without a lamb. And he answered my son, God will
provide himself. a lamb for a burnt offering. Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will
Provide I can't provide anything that he would accept but thank
God he provides the lamb for the burnt offering Not me. I
I'm not bringing a look. He provides the lamb. He provides
the lamb for himself You see for God to do something for me.
He first had to do something for himself He had to make a
way to be just and righteous and holy and still accept somebody
like me And he did something for him. He provided the lamb
for himself. So he made a way to justify me
and he provided himself as the land for the burnt offering.
Oh God will provide. Don't take anything for your
journey. We lean on nothing but omnipotence, not the broken staff
of human strength. We don't carry a suitcase to
place things in that we may need for our journey. You know why?
Because we don't need anything. I love thinking about this. Colossians
chapter 2 verse 9 and 10 says in him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and you are complete. You are complete. You are full. You don't need
anything. That's why I'm not taking anything.
I don't need anything. Now, when you go on a journey,
you're thinking of the stuff you'll need, and you generally
overpack because you take stuff that you didn't need in the first
place, but you're trying to prepare for this. What if it's cold?
What if it's warm? All the different things you
think of when you pack. You don't need anything for this journey.
You've already got it all. Christ is all, and you're not
to pack anything for this journey. We're not to provide any food.
He said, don't take any bread. Don't you love thinking about
Christ being the manna that comes from heaven? He is my bread. He is that bread that came from
heaven. He's that heavenly manna that
we eat on a daily basis. And we don't eat yesterday's
bread. It's always fresh. It's always
today. And, oh, may God deliver us from seeing this heavenly
bread like the children of Israel did as light bread. Our souls
loathe this light bread. No, it's heavenly bread. It's
angels food. Don't provide bread. He provides
all the bread and don't provide any money to pay for the bread.
Don't don't bring any money. You see, everything's paid for.
You know, many sing. Jesus paid the half, the other
half out. Our song is Jesus paid it all. All the debt I owe. Sin had left
a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Don't take any money. There's
nothing. Everything is already paid for.
What a journey this is. And I love the way he points
out, don't take two coats. Now, why is that? We only have
one coat. We only have one covering. We
only have one garment. The righteousness and merits
of Jesus Christ, his perfect obedience. is my coat. It's the only coat I have. I don't want another coat. This is the only coat I want. And you know, I want, I want
to be, I would, maybe this is vanity, I don't know, but I'd
like, if I died, I'd like for people to say, you know, he was
a fanatic about that. I mean, that's all he talked
about. You know, that'd be fine with me. That would, that'd be
fine. The only code I have, Jesus thy
blood and righteousness, my beauties are my glorious dress, midst
flaming worlds with these arrayed with joy, shall I lift up my
hand. Bold shall I stand in that great
day, for who ought to my charge allay, fully absolved from these
I am, from sin's tremendous curse and shame. I have one coat. That
is the righteousness of Christ. That's why I'm not afraid to
die. Bring it on, because I have all
that's needed. The righteousness of Christ.
I don't want two coats. Do you? I only want one coat. I'm not interested in any other
coat. He said, Don't take two coats. Now, look in Luke chapter
22. The Lord reminds them of this
in verse 35, shortly before his death. Luke 22, verse 35. And he said unto them, when I
sent you without purse and script and shoes, lacked you anything? Did you lack anything? And they
said, nothing, nothing. No, we do not lack a thing. Back to Luke chapter nine. He
says in verse four and whatsoever house ye enter
into there abide in Matthew's account. He says, don't go from
house to house, stay in the same house. Now, that certainly has
something to do with abiding in Christ. We want to stay in
the same house. But he also means be satisfied
to be there. Don't be looking for something
better. Don't be changeable. Don't be fickle. Don't be luxurious. Don't be hard to please. You
just stay in the house that you go into. and eat such things
as they set before you. Don't be troublesome about that.
And you know, we have a message that we want brought into men's
homes and hearts. Everybody ought to believe this
message. Everybody ought to rejoice in this message. This message
I'm preaching right now, everybody ought to rejoice in this as the
good news of the gospel. Now look what he says in verse
five. And whosoever will not receive
you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust
from your feet for a testimony against them. Now, everybody
ought to receive this message. Amen. Paul said, this is a faithful
saying. And it's worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Now, everybody
ought to receive that message. Everybody ought to receive the
gospel. But to as many as received him,
To them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them,
which believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, not
of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God. Oh, this is a message that all
of God's people receive, but not all will. The cry of the
natural man is we will not have this man to reign over us. But
let me tell you this. And I'm saying this with love,
but I sure hope I'm saying it with love. But let me say this. If you don't receive Him, it's
because He never gave anything to you. Because if He ever gives
you something, you will receive it. And if you don't receive
it, it's because it was never given to you. May God give us
grace to receive all that He says. He came to His own and
His own received Him not, but to as many as received Him. To
them gave he power to become the sons of God. Now, what does
he say? And whosoever will not receive
you when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from
your feet for a testimony against them. Turn with me to Matthew
chapter 10 in Matthew's account of this. Look in verse 14. He says, and whosoever shall
not receive you nor hear your words, When you depart out of
that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily
I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom
and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city." Now, what
was going on in Sodom and Gomorrah? It was a bunch of moral perverts,
is what it was. You remember when they said regarding
the angels, bring them out that we might know them. I mean, this
was a desperately wicked bunch of people. God rained fire and
brimstone from heaven to destroy them. And the Lord says that
one who doesn't receive, and that word receive means to embrace
joyfully. It's welcome. You welcome it.
It comes as good news to you. Whoever doesn't receive this
message, it'll be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah
on the day of judgment than for that city. So back to our text
in Luke chapter nine. And whosoever will not receive
you when you go out in that city, shake off the very dust from
your feet for testimony against them. Now, before I go on and
close with verse six, what does it mean to receive Christ? It's a good question, isn't it?
What does it mean to receive Christ? Because whatever that
means, I want to do it. To receive Christ. Let me quote
that scripture again, John 1, 12. But as many as received him,
to them gave he the right, the power to become the sons of God,
even to them which believe on his name. Now what does it mean
to believe on His name? It means you really believe that
the forgiveness of sins comes to you for His name's sake. Not because of anything you do.
Be kind, tender-hearted, forgiving one another. even as God for
Christ's sake. Why did God forgive me? This
thrilled me. He didn't forgive me because
I said I'm sorry. He didn't forgive me because
I promised to straighten up and fly right. He didn't forgive
me for any other reason but for Christ's sake. Man, I love that. I love that. I believe on his name. I'm relying
on his name as my only way into heaven. Now, as many as received
him, to them gave he the right, the power to become the sons
of God, even to them which believe on his name. Verse six. And they departed. I love to
think of them going out like this, don't you? I mean, they
didn't have any suitcase. They didn't have any money. They didn't have anything
to eat. They didn't have two coats. They just went out empty-handed
off in that direction. And when they departed, they
went out through the towns preaching the gospel and healing everywhere. And truly there is healing. in
the message of the gospel. And I pray that that's what happens
right here, that the gospel might be preached and that there might
be healing everywhere. Let's pray together.