me in your Bibles to Luke chapter 10. If you're looking in one of the pew Bibles, it is page 815.
Last week we concluded our series in Messianic prophecies from Isaiah, and today we are starting
a series in the middle section of the Gospel of Luke. Chapters 10 through 19 will be journeying
through this section of Luke from now until Easter Sunday. We've entitled this series With
Jesus on the Road of Discipleship. If you see one of these blue cards in the row in front of you,
that lists the text that we'll be looking at from week to week. If that's helpful for you to take,
feel free to take one home with you and spend some time reading and meditating on these words
beforehand as a way of preparing for worship. But this morning we're looking at chapter 10,
verses 1 to 24. So I'm going to read these words to us. Luke chapter 10, beginning at verse 1.
After this, the Lord appointed 72 others and sent them on ahead of Him two by two into every town
and place where He Himself was about to go. And He said to them, The harvest is plentiful,
but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into
His harvest. Go your way. Behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no money
bag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say,
Peace be to this house. And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him, but if not,
it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide,
for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and they
receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, The kingdom of God has
come near to you. But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say,
Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless,
know this, that the kingdom of God has come near. I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for
Sodom than for that town. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done
in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and
ashes. But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum,
will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. The one who hears you,
hears me. And the one who rejects you, rejects me. And the one who rejects me, rejects him who sent me.
The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.
And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I've given you authority to tread
on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless,
do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are
written in heaven. In the same hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding
and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except
the Father, or who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Then turning to the disciples, he said privately, blessed are the eyes that see what you see.
For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see and did not see it,
and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.
Are we there yet?
Anyone who has ever taken a long car trip with young children knows those words well.
Two summers ago, before we had a third child, we drove to Wisconsin.
Our most ambitious journey ever, over summer vacation, the first day we planned to leave
after church on a Sunday and drive for 12 hours till Indiana.
An hour and a half into our trip, we found ourselves in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the
Tappan Zee Bridge, and it wasn't the kids.
It was the adults who were saying to each other, how much longer will this be, and why exactly
did we embark on this journey anyway?
In the course of the Christian life, I think we can sometimes find ourselves asking a similar
question.
As we seek to walk with Jesus through this present age toward the hope of eternal glory, sometimes
we ask, are we there yet?
How much longer will it be?
The section of Luke we'll be looking at over the next four months is called the Journey to
Jerusalem.
If you look at chapter 9, verse 51 and 53, it says twice that Jesus set His face toward
Jerusalem.
Now, that phrase might ring a bell because it comes from Isaiah 50, which we looked at two
weeks ago.
Isaiah described a servant of the Lord who would set His face like flint, who would obey without
flinching, who would suffer without deserving to, and who would ultimately triumph over His
adversaries.
And it's very likely that Jesus consciously understood His own vocation, His own calling
in light of passages like that one we looked at from Isaiah.
So, we see Jesus here heading toward His final destination of Jerusalem with resolute confidence,
determined to obey the will of God, aware that He would suffer for His obedience, but also
trusting that there in Jerusalem He would triumph.
But the surprising thing is, as determined as Jesus is to head toward Jerusalem, it takes Him quite a long time, at least in the way Luke tells the story, for Him to get there.
It takes all the way to chapter 19.
Almost half the book is this journey to Jerusalem.
And several times in this section, Luke says, 9.57, they were going along the road.
10.38, as they went on their way.
11.53, as He went away from there.
13.22, He went on His way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem.
And the way Luke tells the story almost provokes us as the hearers to ask the question, when are we going to get there?
Why is this journey taking so long?
But as we look at these chapters over the next four months, I want us to remember this.
When we're walking with Jesus, the destination is essential, but the journey matters too.
If you're trusting Jesus to be your Savior and Lord, your destination, your spiritual destination for all eternity is secure.
You're headed toward the right place to be with Him.
But trusting Jesus as Savior and Lord also means trusting Him at every step of the journey.
Trusting that He's teaching us.
Trusting that He's leading us.
Trusting that He's with us.
Trusting that He's sanctifying every step of our earthly journey.
And what we're going to see over the next four months is how in the course of His journey to Jerusalem,
Jesus takes every opportunity to teach His disciples.
To shape and form them into the people that He wants them to become.
Because they would become His earthly representatives after His ascension.
Right?
Jesus is determined to reach His destination, but He's also determined to take advantage of every step along the journey to teach His disciples what they need to know.
And who they need to become.
And in a similar way, God is determined that every follower of Jesus reach our destination.
But sometimes it's a long journey.
And there's a lot of things He wants to teach us along the way.
So that's what's ahead of us in the next few months as we embark on this series with Jesus on the road of discipleship.
This morning in particular, we're looking at Luke 10, where Jesus sends out 72 others.
In chapter 9, He had sent out the 12 apostles on a sort of missionary excursion journey.
And here He sends out a larger group.
Jesus had 12 apostles who were sort of His closest disciples.
But He also had many other dedicated and devoted disciples that we see, for example, here.
Verse 1 says,
Jesus sent out these 72 ahead of Him into every town and place where He Himself was about to go.
So they're performing a function a bit like John the Baptist.
Sort of the advance guard.
Prepare the way for the King.
Verse 1 to 16, we see Jesus' instructions as He sends them out.
Verse 17 to 24, we see Jesus' response when they return.
Now there are many ways one could summarize this passage.
But this morning I want to focus on three characteristics that Jesus is building in the 72.
And three characteristics that we need as followers of Jesus as we embark on the journey of this new year.
And the characteristics are humility, confidence, and joy.
Humility, verses 1 to 7.
Confidence, verses 8 to 16.
Joy, verses 17 to 24.
That's what we're going to look at this morning.
So first, humility, verses 1 to 7.
Consider Jesus' instructions to the 72 in these verses.
Right?
Some of the specific directions He gives them.
First, they're not to go it alone.
He says two by two.
Jesus sends them out together for companionship, for protection, for accountability, for unity, as they bear witness to Him.
Verse 2, they're to pray.
Before Jesus tells them to go, He tells them to pray.
Independence on God.
Verse 3, they're to be simple and sincere as lambs in the midst of wolves.
Wolves probably representing the hostile opposition.
Verse 4, they're to travel light.
Verse 5 and 6, they're to offer peace to all.
They're not to try to guess in advance who will receive them and who will reject them, but everyone receives the same offer.
Verse 7 and 8, they're to receive hospitality but not abuse it.
That's why Jesus says, eat and drink whatever they provide.
That is, don't complain.
But then He says, don't go from house to house.
In other words, no freeloading.
No mooching.
In a word, the messengers of Jesus are to be humble.
Humility is making much of Jesus and less of ourselves.
Sometimes the word humility is misunderstood.
Being humble does not mean being shy, mumbling, looking down at the floor all the time.
It doesn't mean constantly talking about how bad you are or never expressing your real feelings.
No, none of that is what humility is really about.
Humility is expressed in these qualities.
Being prayerful, being peaceful, being simple and sincere.
Not violent, not self-seeking, not manipulative, not pretentious.
Humility is simply recognizing who we are before God.
And living before the presence of God.
Now, some of you might say, okay, I see the main point.
Humility, that's fair.
But what about these details?
Don't we apply these verses rather selectively?
Some of these verses are frequently quoted.
Verse 2, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labors into his harvest.
If you hear a sermon about the world mission of the church, you might hear that verse quoted.
Or verse 8, eat what is set before you.
Right?
That's a parent favorite.
Probably almost all of us have quoted that to our children in one form or another at some time.
But others are less fashionable.
How about verse 4?
The modern equivalent of verse 4 would be, don't carry a wallet or purse.
Don't carry a backpack.
Walk barefoot.
And don't say hi to anybody that you pass by.
Now, a few Christians throughout history, like Francis of Assisi or Teresa of Avila, have insisted on going barefoot and living in poverty in an attempt to literally put into practice this command.
But most of us read verse 4.
We decide it doesn't sound very practical.
And therefore, it must not apply to us.
Our reasoning is, verse 2 sounds good, so I'll quote it.
Verse 7 helps me with my children, so I'll quote that too.
Verse 4 sounds bad, so I'll ignore it.
But as some non-believers have rightly pointed out, that is not a very consistent or compelling way to interpret Scripture.
We have to have a better way of interpreting Scripture than that.
Now, common sense is a gift from God.
We shouldn't throw it away.
Common sense can sometimes protect us from doing foolish things out of a misguided zeal.
But we can't simply let our individual and cultural instincts have the final say in how we interpret and apply the Bible either.
If we only put into practice the commands that sound good or seem useful to us already,
and we disregard the ones that sound impractical or difficult,
then we're just using Scripture in a self-serving way to be a sort of microphone for our own desires.
But God has given us the Scripture not only to comfort us and strengthen us and encourage us,
but also to challenge us and correct us even at the deepest level.
And so if Jesus is truly Lord over our lives, we need to be willing to take to heart the hard sayings of Scripture
and not just the ones that we like instinctively.
So how do we wisely interpret and apply a passage like this?
Well, first of all, we need to step back and remind ourselves, what are we reading here?
We're not reading Jesus' instructions to all of His followers in all times and at all places.
No, we're reading Jesus' instructions to 72 of His followers who had a specific job preparing for His journey back in the day.
They were sort of the advanced publicity team, if you want to put it that way, announcing His coming.
And later on in Luke 22, 36, Jesus explicitly revises some of these commands.
In that verse, He says,
Now take a money bag and a knapsack, if you've got one, and even a sword.
We can interpret that another day.
Okay?
So on the one hand, Jesus' instructions to the 72 are just that, His instructions to the 72.
But on the other hand, we still follow the same Jesus who gave them all these instructions.
And to the extent that these instructions express Jesus' unchanging character,
and the character He consistently requires of His followers,
we can and should rightly apply them to ourselves.
Or here's another way to put it.
What's the Gospel of Luke?
It's the story of how Jesus fulfilled the promises that God had made to His people Israel in the Old Testament.
It's one part of the larger story that we read in the whole Bible.
It begins with the story of creation, and then the fall, and then God calling a people Israel,
and then the Gospel is God fulfilling the promises that He had made to Israel in the person of His Son, Jesus.
But that chapter of the story has been finished.
Jesus has died.
He has risen.
He has ascended into heaven.
And we live in the next chapter of God's unfolding story,
which begins in the book of Acts, when Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to empower His followers
to proclaim His salvation to the ends of the earth.
So, as we read through the Gospel of Luke,
our goal is not to imitate everything that the disciples do in the Gospels.
Our goal is to faithfully bear witness in our words and in our deeds to all that God has accomplished in Jesus,
to let our stories be an echo of His story.
Now, in the storyline of Luke, the sending out of the 72 actually anticipates the next chapter in the story.
It points forward to…
It's sort of a miniature version of what's going to happen in the book of Acts on a much larger scale.
The worldwide mission of the church.
That's probably why Jesus appointed 72 in the first place.
Now, some translations, if you have a King James Version, it says 70.
Or a New American Standard says 70.
If you have an ESV or an NIV, it says 72.
And you might say, well, why the different numbers here?
Either way, it's almost certainly a deliberate reference to the nations of the world that are listed in Genesis 10.
So, the Hebrew text of Genesis 10 lists 70 nations, representing the entire world.
The Greek translation of Genesis, which was popular in Jesus' day, because many people spoke Greek, lists 72 nations.
That may be why some of the manuscripts of Luke say 70 and some say 72,
because there's different copies, because it's about half and half.
We're not quite sure what was the original number, but either way, 70, 7 times 10, or 72, 6 times 12, represents the world in its fullness.
And so, what we see here in Luke 10 is a tiny little preview of the message about Jesus going from all nations to all nations.
Now, here it's just a small representative people, a group of people within Israel going to the towns of Israel.
But what we're going to see in the book of Acts is that Jesus' messengers are people from all nations going to all nations.
So, the question we need to ask ourselves is not, how do we obey Jesus' instructions to the 72?
But does the way we carry ourselves as followers of Jesus today point to that same Jesus who gave these instructions back then?
So, that's a big picture of sort of how do we interpret the Gospels.
Keep that in mind over the next few months as we journey through Luke.
But getting back to the main point, the first point here,
do our lives reflect the humility that Jesus calls for in verses 1 to 7?
It's not just here that Jesus calls His disciples to humility.
It's the first of the Beatitudes.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Over and over, Jesus says,
The greatest among you must be like the least.
The one who leads like the one who serves.
Without humility, there is no way to faithfully bear witness to Jesus
apart from a growing humility.
And I think some of these characteristics can point us to expressions of humility.
Are we people who walk two by two?
That is, side by side with other Christians.
That's why so many of the commands in the New Testament epistles include the words,
one another.
Love one another.
Serve one another.
Pray for one another.
Bear one another's burdens.
Teach one another.
Admonish one another.
Encourage one another.
Don't be a lone ranger Christian, unattached and unaccountable.
It's not the way Jesus intended His followers to live, here or ever.
Are we people of earnest prayer?
As Jesus encourages in verse 2, and as Jesus encourages in chapter 11,
which we'll get to in a couple weeks with the Lord's Prayer.
Come to adult Sunday school this month as a way to come together in prayer.
Spend time learning about prayer and spend time praying with one another.
Are we straightforward?
Are we sincere and unpretentious like verse 3 talks about?
Again, this is not confined to this passage.
The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1.12,
Our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience that we behaved in the world with simplicity
and godly sincerity.
Can the world look at us and say,
You guys are the real deal.
You're not faking it.
You're not putting on a show.
You're not in it for personal gain.
Have we forsaken all forms of manipulation and greed?
I think that's partly why Jesus tells the disciples not to take anything with them on this first mission.
So they won't be tempted to use their worldly possessions in manipulative ways.
No.
All they have is the message and the character that Jesus has given them.
Do we offer the gospel to everyone?
As here, they're supposed to offer peace to everyone.
Or rather than judging people in advance,
based on how we think they'll respond.
We get into all kinds of trouble when we judge people in advance.
And Jesus says the offer is the same, whether people accept it or reject it.
You haven't failed if you offer something to someone and they reject it.
No, you've been faithful.
Do we receive help and hospitality without complaining and without taking advantage of people?
See, all of those are marks of humility.
They're all expressions of godly humility.
And humility is so foundational in the Christian life.
We have to begin here.
That's the first point.
Jesus is building humility in his followers.
But second, Jesus not only builds humility in his followers,
he also builds confidence.
We see this in verse 8 to 16.
Now, in these verses, we see that Jesus' followers, like Jesus himself,
will experience both acceptance and rejection.
Do you notice that?
We've seen that already in verse 6.
If a person of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him.
If not, it will return to you.
Verse 8 and 10,
when you enter a town and they receive you.
Verse 10, whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you.
Jesus is not a naive optimist.
He's upfront.
Not everyone will receive him and his message.
At the same time, he's not a despairing pessimist.
Not everyone will reject it either.
It's not fruitless.
And sometimes, he says,
the ones who seem most likely to receive it end up rejecting it,
and the ones who seem most likely to reject it end up receiving it.
That's the point of verse 13 to 15.
Jesus declares woe on Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum.
So these were all towns on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee,
which was sort of the home territory where Jesus and his disciples spent most of their time.
Now, Philip and Peter and Andrew were from Bethsaida.
Jesus lived for a while in Capernaum.
But Jesus says, for the most part, those towns,
his sort of home base, if you will, would not receive his message.
They would not be very open to it in general.
And by contrast, Jesus says,
Tyre and Sidon,
now those were towns that were sort of notorious for their wickedness and oppression.
They were denounced by the Old Testament prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel.
Jesus says those towns would have repented.
The implication is,
some of the places you go,
you think it's the least likely place
that someone will ever be receptive to anything about Christianity,
and they welcome you with open arms.
And you go to some other places and you think,
of course, this is our home territory.
Of course, people are going to be open to Jesus.
And they say, yeah, we've already heard all that already.
We're not interested.
And we see that, of course, in the book of Acts.
The gospel of Jesus takes root in the most unlikely of places.
And in verse 16, Jesus reminds us
why faithful followers of Jesus will experience both acceptance and rejection.
He says, because we represent him.
The one who hears you, hears me.
The one who rejects you, rejects me.
The one who rejects me, rejects him who sent me.
So one writer put it this way,
he leads us.
Our mission is Christ's mission.
When we are persecuted, he encourages, supports, and protects us.
When we preach, he preaches.
When we are heard, he is heard.
When we are rejected, he is rejected.
Our salvation comes only from him.
Jesus says, if we are being faithful to him,
we will experience both acceptance and rejection.
Now, of course, Christians can behave in ways that are foolish and unfaithful
and experience rejection for that reason.
We're not talking about that.
Jesus is saying, faithful followers of Jesus will experience acceptance and rejection.
So here's a question for us.
How do we maintain a steady confidence,
a level-headed conviction in the face of both acceptance and rejection?
That's what Jesus is building in his disciples here.
You know, I think for us, I think sometimes people's acceptance
can tempt us to become big-headed instead of level-headed.
All right?
If everyone speaks well of us,
when a Christian ministry is outwardly successful,
when many people come to faith in Christ,
when people look at you and say,
oh, how good you are, how respectable you are,
how wonderful your family is,
we can be tempted to take all credit for ourselves
rather than to give all praise to God.
We can be tempted to become more concerned
about always having a good appearance
so that everyone always speaks well of us
rather than being genuine and truthful
about our weaknesses as well as our strengths.
We can be tempted to make it our goal
to always please everyone
and meet all their felt needs
and tell them everything they want to hear.
We can even fall into the trap of thinking
that we have become someone's Savior,
that they need us,
rather than pointing them to Jesus.
But notice how Jesus commands His messengers
to act when people receive them
in verses 8 and 9.
First He says,
eat what is set before you.
In other words,
receive from those who receive your message.
And then He says,
heal the sick.
In other words,
give generously.
Do all that is in your power
to help people physically,
spiritually,
whatever that looks like.
You see,
if you tell someone about Jesus
and they become a Christian,
you have not become their Savior.
You're simply a messenger of the King.
Or as somebody said it,
one beggar telling another beggar
where to get some food.
It's a good way to think of ourselves.
Now, you're both fellow citizens
of the kingdom of God.
And over time,
you may well have as much to learn
from someone that you lead to Christ
as you have to give and teach to them.
There's a partnership that is established.
That's one of the great things
about being a Christian.
Sometimes you become a mentor
to a younger Christian,
and three years later,
you find that they're mentoring you.
They're speaking into your life.
They're challenging you.
They're praying for you.
They're standing beside you,
and you thought that you were helping them.
And God says,
oh yeah,
I always meant to go both ways.
But sometimes,
people's rejection
or the fear of people's rejection
can tempt us in other ways.
And perhaps that's the main challenge
Jesus is preparing His disciples
to face here,
because He talks quite a bit
about rejection.
Sometimes when we fear rejection
or when we've experienced rejection,
sometimes we're tempted to deny
or back away
from difficult truths of the gospel.
But do you notice that
the message Jesus tells His disciples
to proclaim doesn't change
based on people's reaction to it?
Verse 9 and verse 11.
Verse 9 tells them what to say
when people accept them.
The kingdom of God has come near to you.
Verse 11 tells them what to say
when people reject them.
Know this,
that the kingdom of God has come near.
The message is the same.
King Jesus,
right, they're saying,
King Jesus is right around the corner.
Come to Him.
He's the world's true Lord.
We're not saying Jesus is coming.
We're saying He has come.
He's died.
He's risen again.
And He will come again.
He is the true Lord of the world.
He's the true Lord of the world.
So we need to be courageous
and truthful
in speaking the truth.
I think another temptation,
if we face rejection
or if we've been mistreated,
sometimes Christians can be tempted
to take revenge
in one way or another,
to hold grudges,
to see whole groups of people
in negative ways.
Look back at chapter 9, verse 52.
It says,
Jesus sent messengers ahead of Him
who went and entered a village
of the Samaritans
to make preparations for Him.
But the people did not receive Him
because His face was set toward Jerusalem.
And when His disciples,
James and John,
saw it,
they said,
Lord,
do you want us to tell fire
to come down from heaven
and consume them?
But He turned
and rebuked them
and they went on
to another village.
Jesus says,
no,
your job
is not to take revenge
on people who hurt you.
It's not to make sure
that they pay.
What does Jesus say
to the 72?
If they don't receive you,
wipe the dust off your feet.
That was a symbolic gesture
in the ancient world
that in some ways
was sort of
giving a warrant,
warning people
that they were making
a deeply wrong choice.
But then Jesus says,
keep it moving.
Don't get in,
don't stand there
and get in a public argument
and yell at each other.
Don't stand there
and get in a public argument
and yell at each other.
Don't go on social media
and rant.
Right?
That's sometimes
how Christians
take revenge today.
You blast somebody
on Facebook.
Before you post something
on social media,
you need to ask,
is Jesus pleased
with what I am saying?
Have I said it
to this person's face?
Especially before
you post it publicly.
the apostle Paul
wrote this in Romans 12.
He says,
if possible,
as far as it depends on you,
live at peace
with everyone.
And then he says,
beloved,
never avenge yourselves,
but leave it
to the wrath of God.
For it is written,
vengeance is mine,
I will repay,
says the Lord.
To the contrary,
if your enemy is hungry,
feed him.
If he is thirsty,
give him something to drink,
for by so doing,
you will heap burning coals
on his head.
Do not be overcome
by evil,
but overcome evil
with good.
That's how
the Bible teaches us
to deal with rejection,
is by overcoming evil
with good,
with truth
and righteousness
and faithfulness
to God.
So in the phase
of both acceptance
and rejection,
Jesus urges his disciples
to maintain
a steady confidence.
Now before we go on
to the third point,
let me give a brief challenge
to you if you're not
a Christian.
You might have noticed
back in verse 1,
Jesus is referred to
as the Lord.
And then verse 2,
Jesus says,
pray earnestly
to the Lord
of the harvest
to send out laborers.
And in verse 3,
he says,
behold,
I am sending you.
So Jesus says,
I'm sending out laborers.
I hear and answer prayer.
I am the Lord God himself.
Did you notice that?
Now you might say,
well,
what's my point
in saying that?
Well,
sometimes you can learn
what somebody really believes
by listening
to their offhand comments.
You hear someone,
they're not trying
to prove something.
They say it
as if they assume it,
but they're not trying
to prove it.
Jesus is not trying
to prove
his divine nature
in verses 2 and 3,
but he certainly
assumes it.
Or look down
at verse 22.
All things
have been handed
over to me
by my Father,
and no one knows
who the Son is
except the Father
or who the Father
is except the Son
and anyone to whom
the Son chooses
to reveal him.
In other words,
Jesus claims
to have an absolutely
unique relationship
with God the Father.
Now,
some scholars say,
ah,
we can disregard
such statements.
They were just added
later on by Christians.
Jesus never actually
said anything like this.
But here's a problem.
Verse 22 appears
not only here in Luke,
but also in Matthew chapter 11.
And the most skeptical
New Testament scholars say
that the material found
in both Matthew and Luke,
but not Mark,
sometimes known as Q,
is some of the earliest
source material we have
in the New Testament.
So even if you're working off
a rather skeptical account
of how the New Testament
got put together,
verses like this one
are the earliest ones,
not the latest ones.
So here's the point.
You can see this
in almost any chapter
of the New Testament
of the Gospels.
Jesus believed
that he was God.
Was he right?
Or was he wrong?
If he was right,
you should worship him
and devote your entire life
to following him.
If he was wrong,
you probably shouldn't
trust anything else he says.
There's not really
a sensible middle ground.
If you respect
Jesus' moral teachings
and his example,
you need to wrestle
with his belief
that he was God
and say,
was he right
or was he wrong?
So first,
Jesus teaches us humility.
Second,
Jesus gives us confidence.
And third,
and finally,
he shares with us joy.
Verse 17,
the 72 returned
with joy.
Because their mission
had met with
an unexpected success.
Even the demons
are subject to us
in your name.
Verses 18 and 19,
Jesus affirms
that what they're saying
is true.
He says,
Satan's kingdom
is on its way down.
Perhaps Jesus is saying
that Satan is being defeated
as his messengers
cast out demons
in his name.
Perhaps he's envisioning
Satan's ultimate downfall
and saying this is
the beginning of that.
Either way,
Jesus' disciples
have authority
over Satan
and demons
when they call upon
his name.
That is,
when they rely upon
and call upon
the power
and authority
and character
of Jesus.
That's what his name means.
His power
and authority
and character.
And Jesus has promised
to protect us
from anything
that could truly,
eternally harm us.
Spiritual protection
and spiritual power.
power.
These are privileges
for all of Jesus' followers.
It's not just the power
that the twelve apostles had.
These weren't the twelve apostles.
It's not just a promise
that Jesus made
to people who are alive
in his day.
And it's not only
for Christians
who attend Pentecostal
and charismatic churches.
Jesus says in verse 20,
the spirits are subject
to you.
That applies to all
of his followers.
Now,
I am not an expert
in casting out demons.
Some people have
far more experience
in that area
than I do.
Some people claim
to have experience
in that area
and they are unbalanced
and untrustworthy.
But don't throw the baby
out with the bathwater.
If you're being afflicted
by a demon,
we will confidently
call upon the name
of Jesus
and command the demon
to leave.
That might not be
the only thing we'll do.
We might do some
biblical counseling.
We might pray
for inner healing.
We might tell you
to go see a medical doctor.
God can work
in all those ways.
We shouldn't rule out
any of them in principle.
But as Jesus followers,
we have power
over Satan
and demons
in Jesus' name.
But having said that,
in verse 20,
Jesus says,
that's not
the deepest source
of our joy.
Don't rejoice in this
that the spirits
are subject to you,
but rejoice
that your names
are written in heaven.
Our abiding joy
comes not from
our present successes
or from the experience
of spiritual power,
God's power
working through us,
but from our
secure salvation.
Do you notice
how the 72 are talking?
Even the demons
are subject to us
in your name.
The content
of their statement
is true.
The tone,
I think,
is a little bit off.
I think that's why
Jesus corrects them.
They seem to be
a little too excited
about the power
that they're exercising.
And Jesus redirects them
like a parent
wisely redirects
a child.
He says,
let me give you
three things
to really rejoice about.
Your names are written
in heaven.
Verse 20.
Is your name
written in heaven
in the book of God?
Some people give
millions of dollars
to have their name
etched on a building
that might possibly
outlast them
a hundred years
if it's not destroyed
or renamed by then.
But if your name
is written
in God's book,
you have a reason
to rejoice.
Because it will never
be crossed out.
Verse 21 and 22,
Jesus says,
rejoice that God
has revealed
His truth to you.
Here Jesus rejoiced
in the Holy Spirit.
He turned to His Father
in thanksgiving.
Why?
Because the plan
which the Father
and the Son
and the Holy Spirit
had conceived
from all eternity
was now coming to pass.
It wasn't the wise
and understanding
that is the people
who thought they knew
all that they needed
to know
who were seeing Jesus.
It was little children.
Again,
humility.
Little children
seeing Jesus.
And Jesus is saying
all of His disciples
are like little children
who see something
and they're so excited
about it
because it's so amazing.
And Jesus delights
in that
as a parent
looks at their child
and delights in them.
You see,
Jesus' disciples
can see
not because we're wiser,
not because we're smarter,
not because we're better,
not because we're more qualified
or more disciplined
or anything.
We have nothing
to boast about
except that the Father
and the Son
and the Holy Spirit
have delighted
to reveal
God's truth
to us.
rejoice.
Your names are written
in heaven.
Rejoice.
God has revealed
His truth to you.
Rejoice.
Verse 23 and 24
that the fulfillment
of the ages has come.
Jesus says,
you are seeing
what people
for generations
have longed for
and hoped for.
When the wise men
came
and followed
that star
all the way
to see
the child Jesus,
said,
finally,
after their long
journey,
the star stopped
over the place
where the child lay.
And when they saw
the star,
it says,
they rejoiced
exceedingly
with great joy.
Because they had seen
the one
that people had been
waiting for
for years.
Do we realize
what a privilege it is
to live on this side
of Jesus coming
to earth
and dying on the cross
for our sins
and rising from the dead
and we can look back
on that
and see
God is faithful
to His promises.
God has done
exactly what we need.
And we can see it.
Other people just had
to take God's word
for it
and trust that it would
happen in the future.
And we can look back
and see
it has happened.
That's
a reason
to rejoice.
Brothers and sisters,
whatever the journey
that you are on
in this new year,
may God fill
us with humility,
confidence,
and joy.
Let's pray.
Father,
we thank You
that You
have delighted
to reveal Yourself
to us
through Your Son,
Jesus Christ.
We pray
that You would
shape
our character,
that we would
become
more and more
people of humility
before You,
people with confidence
in the face
of acceptance
or rejection
and above all
people of joy.
people who rejoice
in the things
that cannot be
taken away from us,
that our names
are written
in Your book,
that You've
opened our eyes
to see You
and delight in You,
and that the
fulfillment of the ages
has come.
Lord,
fill us with all
that we need
to be Your messengers,
Your representatives,
Your disciples,
in this year to come,
we pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.