Now, for the message today, we're
turning to Luke chapter 10, and I want to bring the message from
verse 1 down through verse 7, and we'll consider this whole
portion of Scripture where the Lord is sending out these 70
men from verse 1 down through verse 16, but we'll consider
this message in two parts. I'm taking the title for the
message today from the words found in verse 2 of Luke 10. And here's the title, The Harvest
Truly Is Great. The Harvest Truly Is Great. It can't be anything else but
great because our God, everything He does, He is the great God
and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The harvest of souls
is what He's talking about there. That is sinners saved by His
grace. The harvest is truly, truly,
it is great. It is a great harvest. That is,
there are a great multitude of chosen, blood-bought sinners. We read a moment ago, and that's
what prompted me to read Revelation chapter 5. There is a redeemed
out of every kindred, tribe, nation, and tongue under heaven,
redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, who declared
the Lord is worthy of all honor, power, glory, and blessing both
now and forever. There are a great multitude of
sinners chosen, saved by God's grace, and blessed with so great
salvation. Salvation because we have a great
God and Savior who cannot fail. The harvest will be a bumper
crop. It will be a good harvest. Truly
the harvest is great. You see, without the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him crucified, there would be no harvest, would there? It would be a failed crop. There
would be no harvest, no sinner saved. All would be hopelessly
lost without God, without Christ, without hope, and without salvation
forever. Now, let's take a look at verse
1 for just a moment. After these things the Lord appointed
other seventy also. Now this is 70 men apart from
the 12 apostles that were sent. This is 70 plus those 12. And sent them two and two before
his face into every city and place where he himself would
come or would go. Now, as I mentioned earlier,
the only record we have of these 70 men being sent out is found
here exclusively in the account of Luke, in Luke 10, verse 1-16. We have the Lord sending out
70 of His chosen serpents to preach the gospel of peace The
gospel of the kingdom of God, as it says there in verse 9,
the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. Over in Luke 9, if
you want to turn over there, when He sent out the twelve to
preach the gospel, He said in verse 2 of Luke 9, He sent them
to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. Now when
we preach the kingdom of God, what is involved in doing that?
We're setting forth the person and work of the King, the Lord
Jesus Christ. We learn here in this portion
of scripture the importance the Lord places upon the preaching
of the gospel. Now a lot of places and a lot
of different churches, they have relegated preaching to the scrap
heap. They have a lot of fun, a lot of emotion, a lot of tradition,
a lot of ceremony, not any preaching at all. They've relegated preaching
to be meaningless. But here the Lord Jesus Christ
shows us the importance that he places upon the preaching
of the gospel. Whenever and wherever and to
whomsoever the Lord Jesus Christ is to come in saving power to
any of his chosen, elect sinners, he will cross their path with
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, that the power of God
unto salvation. Now I'll give you a good example
of that. You remember the eunuch that traveled from his home country
all the way to Jerusalem and was traveling back? The Lord
sent Philip to one sinner and preached to him the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord crossed his path with
a man who knew the message, preached the message, and God used that
word to quicken that sinner. The method has not changed. The
Lord is still doing the same thing. This is God's chosen means
and appointed method of grace and it has not changed. He's
still today crossing the path of His elect with the true gospel
sent from God through men to declare it. The Lord has not
changed the method of grace because He has not changed. Now why so? Who are we to question him? It
says it pleased God to do so. By the foolishness of preaching,
it pleased God to call out his people through the foolishness
of preaching. Now, there's a lot of foolish preaching going on.
that, and I mean by that, that is not truthful. But there is
true preaching going on that people regard as foolishness,
and true preaching, God will bless that. Now, today I want
to look at verse 1, down through verse 7. Now notice verse 1 again,
after these things, the Lord. appointed." After these things,
the Lord appointed. Now, after these things refers
back to all those events that we studied in the previous chapter
or chapters, and I'm thinking specifically in chapter 9, look
at verse 22. In Luke 9, 22. Here is what we learned here
about the death and suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. After
these things, Luke 9, 22. The Son of Man must suffer many
things, be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes,
and be slain and raised again the third day. Many things. 44, again He says, Let these sayings,
Luke 9, 44, Let these sayings sink down into your ears, for
the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men. Again
He is talking about His death, His suffering, that He must suffer. Again in verse 56, Luke 9, For
the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, He came
to save sinners. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that the Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. After the Lord declared that
He must die for His people, the Good Shepherd must lay down His
life for the sheep, the Lord chose these 70 men. Now these
70 men are just like you and I, sinners. Saved by the grace
of God. And he sent these men out to
declare the message of the king. You see, the sheep must hear
this message. As the Lord said, My sheep, they
hear my voice, I know them, and they shall follow me. The Lord
appointed these men. Now, I didn't get much past that
word appointed when I started looking at this. The Lord appointed. And I could do a whole message
just on that word appointed. The Lord appointed these 70 men
and sent them before His face two by two in every place that
He would go. Now, first of all we know this,
without Him we can do nothing. Without Him we can do nothing.
When we go preaching the gospel of Christ, we never go alone.
He said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature and remember this, lo I'm with you, I'm with you always. He said he'd never leave us,
he'd never forsake us. We never preach the gospel alone,
we never preach in vain or labor in vain in the gospel preaching,
in the ministry of the Lord. The Lord will always bless his
word to the hearts of his elect. He said, I'll send out my word,
and it shall accomplish all my purpose, whethersoever I am pleased
to send it. You see, the gospel being preached
is a saver of life unto life, or a saver of death unto death. Let me just read that to you
over here in 2 Corinthians. Chapter 2, he said, Thanks be
unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ. We never
labor in the ministry in vain. We never preach the gospel in
vain. He always causes us to triumph
in Christ. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14. He always causes us to triumph
in Christ, and make manifest the savor of His knowledge by
us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet saver
of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish. To one
we're a saver of death unto death, to the other a saver of life
unto life." Who is sufficient for these things? Well, we're
not sufficient, but He is our sufficiency. Thanks be to God
who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, this word appointed. The Lord appointed them and sent
them everything the Lord has accomplished. He does so by His
sovereign appointments, by His eternal decree. The Lord knows all things, because
the Lord has decreed all things. All things are of God. Of Him,
and through Him, and to Him are all things, to whom be glory,
both now and forever. Amen. Romans 11, verse 36. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
appointed heir of all things. Is He not? Let's see if we can
find that. If you'll turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 1. If you don't want to turn, just
sit and listen and I'll read it to you. Hebrews chapter 1,
the Lord Jesus Christ is the appointed heir of all things.
Hebrews 1.1, God who in sundry times and diverse manners spake
in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these
last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed,
you see that word, he hath appointed, He hath appointed to be heir
of all things, by whom also he made the world, who being the
brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person,
upholding all things by the word of his power, when he by himself
purged our sin, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on
high." He is the appointed Lord and heir of all things. Now, you know what the good news
of that to the believer is? He is the heir of God and we
are joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. Our inheritance
is incorruptible, undefiled, that does not fade away, that's
reserved in heaven for you. The Lord Jesus Christ came and
died by the Lord's appointed time. In the fullness of time,
God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law. The Lord's death, it
was by the appointment and the decree of Almighty God. Him being
delivered by the determinant counsel and full knowledge of
God, you have taken and with wicked hands have crucified and
slain. In our salvation, it is by His
appointment. Now I want you to see this. Find
1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 9. Our salvation is by His appointment
as many as were ordained to eternal life believe. 1 Thessalonians
5 verse 9. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, He has appointed us to obtain salvation by our Lord
Jesus Christ. I say right here in the book
of 1 Thessalonians, so our salvation is by His appointment, His decree,
His doing. Not only that, The believers'
trials that we are called to endure and have the privilege
of enduring for the gospel's sake, these two are also appointed
by the Lord. Find 1 Thessalonians chapter
3, look at verse 3. That no man should be moved by
these afflictions, for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto
appointed. In this life you shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer, I have overcome." And in the calling
of a man to preach the gospel, it is by the Lord's appointment. We don't appoint, the Lord appointed
me to preach the gospel. No one sent me, the Lord appointed
me, and the Lord sent me, for it says over here in 2 Timothy
1, verse 11, Paul says, Whereunto I am appointed a preacher. an apostle and a teacher of the
Gentiles. 2 Timothy 1.11. You see, everything
he does is by his sovereign appointment. Salvation is by his appointment.
Trials are by his appointment. They're called precious trials.
And the calling of a man to preach the gospel is by the Lord's appointment. And not only that, but in death
and judgment, it is by his appointment. Now, you remember in the book
of Hebrews, don't turn, let me just read it to you. I could
quote it, but I'm going to read it so I get it exactly right.
And it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that,
judgment. It's appointed. You will not
be late for that appointment. The Lord's going to, He's appointed
the day, the hour, the minute of our death. It is appointed
unto man once to die. And after that, judgment. And
in final judgment, the Lord hath appointed a day in which he will
judge the whole world by the Lord Jesus Christ. Judgment and condemnation is
by his appointment. Unto you therefore which believe
he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient, the stone
which the builder disallowed the same is made the head of
the corner, A stone of stumbling, a rock of offense, even to them
which stumble at the word, being disobedient, whereunto also they
were appointed." You see? You see how big that word is
there? The Lord appointed. Look back at Luke 10. You see,
you could make a whole message just on that one word. Everything
the Lord does in the life of His church and of His people
is by His sovereign appointment. And all things in the affairs
of this whole universe, all things are of God by His appointment.
Now, verse 2, Luke 10. Therefore said He unto them,
The harvest, the harvest is truly, the harvest truly is great, but
the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore, pray ye therefore,
the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers
into the harvest, laborers into the field. Now, the harvest truly
is great. Because the Lord has redeemed
a great multitude of sinners. And the Lord is determined to
save them and bless them in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord instructs
us in what caught my attention there. The harvest truly is great. But the Lord said, but laborers
are few. So what are we to do? Pray. Pray ye therefore, pray. The
Lord instructs us to pray for more servants to be sent into
the field to be used of the Lord. Notice carefully, pray ye therefore
the Lord of the harvest. Now, we have a great privilege
to call upon the name of our Lord and cry unto Him. You see, He is the Lord of all
things. Peter preached at Pentecost this
same Jesus, whom you crucified. He is both Lord and Christ. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Pray ye therefore unto the Lord
of the harvest." Turn for just a moment to Luke 18. Men ought
always to pray. We are to bow to His Lordship.
We own His Lordship, but certainly we don't make Him Lord, but we
call upon the name of the Lord and we pray unto the Lord. Luke
18 verse 1, He spake a parable unto them to this end, that is
to this purpose, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. We have the great privilege of
praying unto our Lord. We read Thursday night, pray
without ceasing, in everything give thanks. You remember 1 Thessalonians
5, 17? Pray without ceasing and in everything
give thanks for this is the will of God and Christ Jesus concerning
you. Now pray ye therefore that the
Lord of the harvest would send forth laborers into his field. Now, we may not be able to give
to support missionaries like we ought to, or like we. desire to do. We may not be able
to go personally into the mission field ourselves to serve the
Lord, but the Lord has given us all the privilege of praying
to the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers
into the field. One of the best and effective
means of promoting the cause of the gospel and the gospel
cause is not only preaching, but praying unto the Lord. Now I find myself praying that
constantly, Lord, bless the ministry of the gospel here and in other
places. I remember years ago reading
a story about Charles Spurgeon. Charles Spurgeon, as you recall,
had a very, very large ministry there in London, England back
in the middle 1800s. Someone asked him one day, what
do you attribute to the success of your ministry and how the
Lord has blessed your ministry to the salvation and the calling
out of so many people? And he said, well, It's God's
purpose. It's God's grace. But when you
get right down to the nitty-gritty, he said, you know what he said?
He said, my people, pray for the ministry of the Lord here
in the tabernacle. We should always pray for one
another. He said, my people, pray for
me. We should always pray for one another and forgive one another. We should always pray for the
servants and the ministers of the Lord. I trust you pray for
me. I do for you. and pray for the
success and the furtherance of the gospel ministry right here
where we live, right here in Zebulun. When I go away from
here, which is not very often, and I limit myself about going
and preaching other places because I don't want to be away from
here, we read about The fervent and effectual prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. But when I'm away from here,
and other people ask me about the ministry of Zebulun, and
they ask me, where is Zebulun anyway? You know what I tell
them? I said, it's the center of the universe. That's right. It is the center of the universe,
and it is for us. This is our ministry. All of us. I hope you feel the
privilege and responsibility to be part of this ministry.
All of us are in the ministry. Believers are. All of us serve
the cause of Christ. We're all members one of another. We are to pray for one another.
Let me show you this scripture. I'll have you turn and read this
with me. This is familiar, but Ephesians chapter 6. Pray for this ministry, I trust
that you do. Ephesians chapter 6 verse 11,
put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rules
of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places. Are you with me? Ephesians 6 verse 13. Wherefore take unto you the whole
armor of God, that you may be able to withstand the evil day,
having done all to stand. Stand therefore having your loins
girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness
Christ our truth, He is the truth, Christ our righteousness, your
feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, we're
going to see that in just a minute, above all taking the shield of
faith wherewith you should be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked, take the helmet of salvation, the sword
of the Spirit which is the word of God, look at verse 18, praying
always. with all prayer and supplication
in the Spirit, watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication
for all saints." Now watch this, verse 19, "...and for me." Paul
said, pray for me. that utterance may be given,
that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mysteries of
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ." Let us pray for one
another, and let us pray for those who minister the gospel,
and I would specifically ask you to pray for me. I'm a poor
sinner. I need the Lord's grace to help
me minister the gospel unto you. Now, look back at Luke 10. Verse
3. He said, Go your ways. Behold,
I send you. Now, the Lord said, I send you. Prayed that the Lord of the harvest
would send forth. Behold, I send you forth as lambs
redeemed by the blood of Christ. But I send you forth as lambs
among wolves. Now, here's one of the many reasons
ministers of the gospel need the prayers of the Lord's people.
I send you as lambs among wolves. Now, just naturally speaking,
if you put a lamb and a wolf in a general location, who's
going to win? That wolf's going to have his
way. We talked about that earlier today. The wolf's going to have
his way. Now, who are these wolves here? Well, the Lord describes
false prophets as wolves. Wolves. Sometimes they appear
to be angels of righteousness, as the Scripture says. They're
wolves. They have sheep clothing, but
they're wolves inwardly, ravening wolves. They are many who would
stop the preaching of the gospel if they could, especially these
false prophets. When we take a firm and bold
stand for the gospel, we will encounter enemies of the gospel. Our Lord said in John 15, if
you want to turn with me, John 15, He said, they've hated me,
they're going to hate you. They're going to hate you. Marvel
not, He said, if the world hates you. In John 15, So look at verse 18. If the world
hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. Now he
doesn't say, now I'm going to send you forth and everything's
going to come up roses. You're going to have trial. You're
going to have trouble. If you were of the world, the world
would love his own. But because you're not of the world, but
I have chosen you out of the world, Therefore the world hateth
you. Remember the word that I said
unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they
have persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they have
kept My things, they will keep yours also. But all these things
will they do unto you for My name's sake, because they know
not Him that sent Me." The Apostle Paul put it this way in 2 Timothy
3. 2 Timothy 3. Verse 11, persecution and affliction
which came unto me in Antioch and Iconium, what persecution
did I endure? them all the Lord delivered me."
Why was he persecuted? Why was Paul hated? Because of
the preaching of the gospel. Yea, all that will live godly
in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution for the gospel sake. We must always remember the gospel
of God's sovereign grace is still hated by the carnal mind, which
is enmity against God, and the natural man will not receive
the things of the Spirit of God. We must not compromise the gospel. We must not compromise to remove
the offense of the cross. We must contend for the faith
once delivered unto the saints. Paul said, If I preach to please
men, I am not the servant of God. I would much rather tell
the truth about God, about sin and salvation, and offend the
sinner than to tell a lie and to offend God. Now mark it down. But those who hate the gospel
will always seek to murder the servant of Christ. Martin Luther said this, who
was hated for the gospel that he preached in his day, Cain
will murder Abel until the end of the world. Why did Cain murder
Abel? Because of salvation by the grace
of God in Christ alone. Now back to the text. Luke 10,
verse 4. He says, "...carry neither purse
nor script, nor shoes, and salute no man by the way." He's saying
here, go with complete dependence upon the Lord to supply your
every need. He's not sending them out barefooted.
He said, don't take anything extra. You don't need any extra
baggage. Go with urgency and dependence
to preach the gospel. Go with an urgency as ambassadors
of the king on the king's business. Salute no man by the way. And
Paul calls the ministers of the gospel ambassadors. We are ambassadors
for Christ as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you
be reconciled unto God. Remember our study from 2 Kings
chapter 4, when the Shunammite woman came to Elisha because
her son was dead. Remember he sent Gehazi to the
house to lay his staff upon the dead child. And here's what Elisha
said, "'Gird up thy loins, take my staff in thy hand, go thy
way. If thou meet any man, salute
him not. And if he salute thee, answer him not again. You go
to that woman's house and lay my staff upon the face of that
dead child." There was an urgency to the king's business. And there
was an urgency to go and preach the gospel to every creature.
The time is short. We live indeed in perilous time. We are to go and preach the gospel
to every creature. It is our business as the Lord's
people and this ministry to be about the preaching of the gospel
by whatever means the Lord put into our hands. And he's given
us so many good means. Radio, we've been on the radio
here locally and through the internet, the radio ministry
for over 20 years. And then our sermon audio internet
ministry, over 2 million downloads on sermons. The newspaper. We've used the newspaper in the
past and are using it now. Our bulletin ministry that we
send out each week. And we use whatever means the
Lord has put into our hand to promote the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Believing in the sovereign grace
of God does not diminish the zeal of evangelism. Because God is going to use the
preaching of the gospel as a means to call out His people. That's
right. We publicly and openly declare
the Word of the Lord, and He has promised to bless it. He
said, My Word will not return unto Me void. Now, verses 5 and
6 back in our text, And into whatsoever house ye enter, first
say, Peace be to this house. You see, our message in the preaching
of the gospel is a message of peace. Peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. And if the Son of Peace be there,
your peace shall rest upon the house. The message of peace will
be received. If not, it shall return to you
again. Now, peace be to this house.
If the Son of Peace be there. Now, who is the Son of Peace?
Christ. Our message is a message of peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is called in Scripture
the Prince of Peace. He's called in Scripture the
King of Peace, who made peace for us with His own blood. He's called in Scripture the
God of Peace. We're going to see that in our
study in the book of Romans. The God of peace that brought
again from the dead, our Lord Jesus Christ, that great shepherd
of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
that's the only way that we have peace with God, is in Christ,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Our message is a message of peace.
Christ is our peace. He is a God of peace, who made
peace with His own blood. Now look at verse 7 in closing.
And in the same house, remain eating and drinking, if the Son
of Peace is there, drinking such things as they give, you can
make a natural application for that. For the laborer is worthy
of his hire, go not from house to house to house to house, trying
to find bigger, better, more, stay there and keep preaching
the message of Christ. That statement there, the laborer
is worthy of his hire. The laborer is worthy of his
hire. Now I want you to turn and read
this with me. Find 1 Timothy chapter 5. Ministers
of the gospel who do faithfully labor in the word of the Lord,
and in the preaching of the gospel, for the good of the Lord's people,
and foremost for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, they are
worthy of the prayers of the saints, of the Lord, and worthy
of support in all ways of the gospel ministry. Now, 1 Timothy
5, look at verse 17. Let the elders that rule well
be counted worthy of double honor, talking about the ministers of
the gospel, especially they who labor in the word. Remember he
said, send forth laborers into the field? And the laborer is
worthy of his hire, especially they who labor in the Word and
in the doctrine. Now it may shock you, many people
do not think that preachers labor in the Word. And I guess a lot
of them don't. But this preacher labors in the
Word. Labors in the Word. Some people
have asked me and they bump into me and they say, well, what have
you been doing today? I say, well, I've been at work all day. And
they look at me and say, well, you're a preacher. Where do you
work? Right over there. Studying the Word of the Lord.
Asking the Lord to bless me with the understanding that I might
be a blessing to you. Let the elders that rule well
be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in
the word and doctrine. For the scripture saith, Thou
shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the
laborer is worthy of his reward." Men who preach the gospel should
live of the gospel. That's what it says in 1 Corinthians
11-14. Now, the last statement I want
us to look at here In Luke 10 verse 7, Go not from house to
house to house to house. Now, here's what I'm going to say
about that. I believe what he's teaching
for those who were put in the ministry and those who were sent
to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, Do not go from
house to house, that is, seeking a better ministry or a bigger
ministry. Stay where the Lord has put you. Now, you know this is so. In
most churches, I think particularly about one down the street here,
in the 23 years that I've been here, they've probably gone through
10 different preachers. They go from house to house to
house to house. They come, they stay a few years,
and then they leave. It's unheard of for a pastor
to stay in a church more than a few years. Is it not? You just
check around. I mean, it's just a constant
change. And then, always when someone
leaves a ministry, they always are usually called to a bigger
ministry. More people, more this, more
that, more the other. It's not so among the true servants
of the Lord. They are content to serve the
Lord and His people where the Lord has called them to." Now,
I made a statement the first week that I came here, those
23 plus years ago. I intend to stay here until I
die. I'm either going to bury you
or you're going to bury me. I'm not going from house to house
to house to house. Now, over the years that I've
been here, I have been asked by other churches in other places
who were without a pastor to come and be their pastor. It's
a no-brainer for me. Absolutely no. I am not interested. The Lord called me and put me
in the ministry right here in Zebulun. I don't intend to go
anywhere else. I don't know what the Lord will
bring to pass in the next week or two. I may not be able to
get out of bed in the morning. I mean, I may not even recognize
my wife in the morning. My mind may be completely gone
by next week. I may not, this may be my last
sermon. But it's also true with you.
As someone said, I preach as one who may never preach again.
But you also sit there and listen as one who may never hear another
sermon again as well. The point I'm making is this,
I'm totally sold out, committed 100% to the ministry right here
in Zebulun. Totally sold out. to this ministry here. Ministering the gospel to you
and to this community. Now, may the Lord be pleased
to burden all of us to pray unto the Lord, to promote the gospel
of Christ in every way we can. In every way we can. handing
out a bulletin, handing out a track, inviting someone to listen to
the radio program, inviting someone to listen to the sermon audio
ministry, inviting someone to come to the services. May God
make us all evangelists. You see, as believers, we're
all in the ministry. That's right. Every one of us.
This is not a one-man ministry. We're all in the ministry together.