Luke 9:51-56

Luke chapter 9 this morning reading verses 51 to 56 for our text and study this morning. And it came to pass when the time was come that he should be received up. He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers before his face, and they went and entered into a village. of the Samaritans to make ready for him. And they received him not, and they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when the disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, Lord, will thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elias, did. But he turned and rebuked them and said, You know not what manner of spirit you’re off. The son of man has not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. In the book of Revelation, chapter 11, we have an account of the two witnesses that were sent by God. These extraordinary messengers of God have great powers, the smite, the earth, or the land, referring to the land of Israel, with all manner of plagues. And they appear to be God’s last witnesses to the nation before the Holocaust of 70 AD, and the final blows of his wrath are poured out upon Israel. Now, what is fascinating is how these witnesses are able to protect themselves. For we read that if any man will hurt them fire precedes out of their mouth and devirth their enemies. Now, without getting into all the details of that particular passage, you might be thinking this morning, yeah, that’s the way it ought to be. you oppose God’s messengers and they strike you down. On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus is going to pass through Samaria in our text. And he sends messengers, evidently, James and John, ahead of him, to make accommodations for him in some village of the Samaritan. he and the rest of the disciples. But the Samaritan village at which they stopped would not receive Christ, and they were forbidden to stay there. James and John were quite disturbed by this, provoked, in fact, and requested that they would be able to command fire to come down from heaven and consume the village. And perhaps you’re thinking again, Yeah, that’s the way it’ll be. But your Lord, you’ll notice in our text, forbids such a spirit of retaliation to be in his people when Christ and his gospel are rejected. So let us consider this passage carefully, lest we be guilty of disobeying God’s will. I want to talk about your response to the gospel’s rejection. Now you see Christ’s determination here to accomplish the work of redemption. Verse 51 says, and it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. Now he’s already talked about in verse 21 of, or verse 44 of this chapter about the son of man being delivered in the hands of men. In verse 22, he spoke about the son of man that has to suffer many things and be raised the third day. He’s talked about his death. But you should realize there was a time fixed in the counsel of God for Christ to die, to rise, and to ascend to heaven. Jesus Christ knew full well what lay ahead of him, and yet we read he resolutely set out to go up to Jerusalem here. He foresaw in his mind’s eye by his betrayal by Judas, his betrayal by Judas, his the unjust trials that he would have to endure, the mockery, the scourging, the condemnation to death, and the cruel death on the cross. He saw his burial in the grave, his resurrection three days later, and eventual ascension to heaven to sit upon his throne of glory. All of this was in God’s eternal purpose that Christ knew full well. The words received up here speak about Christ’s ascension. You see, all these things have a time in God’s purpose that has been set for them, and the time for him to rise is also set. And so he talks here about his being received up. Reminds us of Mark 16.9. So then after the Lord had spoken, under them, his disciples. He was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God. He was received up. We also read something of this sort in 1 Timothy 316. We read about great is the mystery of godliness that Godliness that God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, received excuse me, preached under the Gentiles, believed on the world, and received up into glory. So again, we have the words received up having to do with his resurrection. But the key point here is that Christ never flinched, never thought, well, I don’t know if I really want to do this or not. The suffering that lay ahead of him. His heart was. was set on paying the price and doing the will of his father. He was going to die for the redemption of those given to him by the father, his elect, the sheep of the pastor of the Lord. He is the great shepherd is willing to lay down his life for the sheep. They might have life. Thus Christ here fairly directed, directly headed to Jerusalem, knowing the time was up. And it’s now time to fulfill these aspects of his death and suffering and the glory that was to follow it. He went cheerfully. He went courageously. Though he knew. do all that would befall him. You should be thankful that you have such a ready and willing savior. What a wonderful thing it is to see how willing Christ is to die for his people. He came for that purpose, and nothing’s going to deter him from that. So you should realize there was a time fixed in the counsel of God for Christ to die, to rise, and to ascend in the heaven. Now, let me say an application of this text, that you should strive and pray to have the same mind as Christ. For as much as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, let us arm ourselves likewise with the same mind. Seek by the strength that the Lord gives you, the steadfast, the steadfast, the steadfast. set your face wherever God’s duty calls us. Whether or not it involves danger or suffering. Whatever God has called us to do, let us steadfastly set our face to do. Look with me at Acts 21. We see this in the life of Paul. 21 verses 10 through 14. We read here, Luke is the writer, but he talks about himself as the companion of Paul. And as we tarried there many days there came down from Judea, a certain prophet named Agabus. And when he was come unto us, he took Paul’s girdle and bound his own hands and feet and said, thus saith the Holy Ghost, so shall the Jews of Jerusalem bind the man that oneth this girdle and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. And when we heard these things, both we and they of that place besought him not to go up to Jerusalem, then Paul answered, what mean ye to weep to break my heart? I am ready, not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying the will of the will of the Lord be done. Here is Paul. He’s going to have a witness before his own people. And if it means his death, then I will die. but you will be bound. And his companions don’t want them to be bound. They’re harmed in any way. He says, I’m committed to this. I’m committed to this. I’m committed to whatever the Lord would have happened in my life, and I will fulfill my duty before the Lord. As a believer, whatever trials, whatever sorrows we find, lying before us, let us have the mindset of Christ, that in Christ’s strength, in Christ’s name, which it set our face as fearlessly and as cheerfully to do the will do the will of God. Like your Redeemer, look forward to death for what lies beyond it, that you will be with Christ. That you too will sit upon the throne of His glory. That you will rule and reign with the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us contemplate death under the pleasing prospect of being received up to glory when we die. Your body may be laid in the grave, but your soul will send up to be. with the Lord and it immediately enters into glory. Samuel Rutherford said this and I thought it was appropriate to our text this morning. If God had told me some time ago that he was about to make me happy as I could be in this world, and then had told me that he should begin by crypticrypt, me in arm and limb, removing me from all my usual sources of enjoyment, I should have thought a strange mode of accomplishing his purpose. And yet, how is his wisdom manifest even in this? If you should see a man shut up in a closed room idolizing a set of lamps and rejoicing in their light and you wish to make him happy, you begin by blowing out all his lamps, then throwing open the shutter, the let in the light of heaven. It’s from the letters of the letters of Samuel Rutherford. Sometimes the happiness must come through suffering. There’s an internal happiness that God grants his people even in the midst of suffering. And they willingly will do it. So you see Christ’s determination to accomplish the work of redemption. The second thing we see in this text is you see the rejection of Christ, by a village of Samaritans. In verses 52 and 53 here, back in the gospel, according to Luke. Christ sent messengers we read here before his face. And they went and entered to 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. Now Christ sent messengers before, he sends messengers before he comes to dwell with you. In order to take the shortest route from Galilee to Jerusalem, you would go to Jerusalem, you would go. through Samaria. A lot of Jews would avoid Samaria. They’d take the long way around Samaria. The Christ often went through, save the time. He sent messages before him, and here we find out that they’re going to be James and John that actually were sent. To make accommodations that he could stay with his other disciples in one of the villages of Samaria, I guess for the night. This was usual, proper when a group of people are traveling, they’re to have to have some kind of accommodation for the evening. Christ here sends his messengers who are gospel ministers to prepare his way. Now we should realize that God today also sends his messengers before him to prepare the hearts of men to receive Christ. by proclaiming the gospel to them. The message of Christ’s servants is to tell you who he is, that he is the Lord of Glory, that he is one who is now appeared in human flesh, that he came in the fashion of a man, and he came as the savior of the world for Jew and Gentile alike. He came to offer himself as a sacrifice for sin, that he might reconcile people to God, just as John the Baptist and the disciples understood that Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world. And he will take up his abode with sinners and dwell in their hearts. So these Samaritans were privileged in a way that Christ was coming to their village. And Christ’s messengers were heralding his nearness. It is through the preaching of the gospel that Christ is made nigh. Look with me at Romans chapter 10, if you would. Romans chapter 10 in verses 6 through 11, we read these words. But the righteousness, which is of faith, speaketh on this wise, say, not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down from above? Or who shall descend into the deep, that is to bring Christ again from the dead? Well, what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith, which we preach. That thou shalt confess with thy mouth, the Lord Jesus, and shall believe, in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved. With the heart, man believeth under righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For this scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. My friends, it is through the preaching of the gospel that Christ draws nigh to people. You hear about the Savior. We don’t have to bring Christ down from heaven or bring Christ up from the dead, but he’s before us and said before us in the preaching of the Word of God. So to hear the Word of God is to have Christ near you in some sense. Beware them. Unless you follow these evil people who rejected Christ and they did not receive him. The Samarans would not admit Christ into their village. They were hostile toward him. Don’t come in here. We don’t want you. They wouldn’t listen to his teaching. They didn’t care whether he healed any of their sick or not. Therefore, they rejected Christ in his message. Now, they didn’t have a good reason for this rejection. But it appears they were. were disturbed that Jesus had set his face to go up to Jerusalem. Why would they be upset by that? Well, if you remember the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, when Jesus talked with this woman, that their Jews had a longstanding controversy about the place of worship. The Jews would worship at Jerusalem with the temple that was there. Whereas the Samarans worshipped at Mount Garrison and the temple they had erected there. And so there was this conflict. And since Jesus preferred Jerusalem worship to their own, they seemed to have contempt for him. At least that’s what it appears like to me. So they ordered Christ to keep out. They sent his messengers away in utter rejection. My friends, there are many who are guilty of the very same sin. They shut Christ out of their lives. They want nothing to do with Him. They want nothing to do with His Gospel. Beware of this. Beware of rejecting the messengers of Christ who call upon you to believe in Jesus Christ. It is by faith that you receive Christ. As many has received Him to them gave you the power to become the Lord. the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. My friends, we should take advantage and seek the Lord while he is near. In the gospel message, call upon him while he is near. So you see the rejection of Christ by a village of the Samaricans here. Thirdly, you see the desire of James and John. to punish these Samaritans in verses 54 through 56. And when his disciples, James and John saw this, they said, Lord, will thou, that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elias or Elijah did. But he turned and rebuked them and said, you know not what manner of spirit ye 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. Now, friends, you can understand this harsh spirit. And in some ways, we could commend them for a couple of things. One, they had great zeal for the honor of Christ, did they not? James and John were quite upset that Jesus Christ could be treated so harshly by these Samaritans, these heathen. They ought to be thankful. that Christ is coming to the village. Everywhere Christ went, he did good for the people. Healing all manner diseases, casting out the devils. Bringing the message of life and salvation. And we may be eager to honor Christ and so eager to honor Christ that rejecting him or his gospel would provoke us to anger. I can understand that. We see also another good. thing here, they’re willing to submit to Christ’s will. James and John didn’t commence calling down fire from heaven. They asked Christ, would you like us to do so? Should we do so? When provoked by those who reject Christ, it would be good for us to seek the master’s will and pleasure before we decide to act on our own. Lord, will thou that we command fire to come down from heaven. I don’t consume them. Too many times we act on impulse. We do what we deem best. We have an emotional response to things. Remember, it’s Christ will that should govern you and I and not our own emotions. I’ll give them that. I also will mention this. They thought they had a biblical warrant to punish these Samarans, didn’t they? Had not the prophet Elijah called. all fire down from heaven upon the soldiers, these groups of soldiers of 50 each, who came to arrest him because of the King of Samaria wanted to arrest him and probably put him to death. We see that account in 2nd King’s Chapter 1 in verses 7 to 15. Two sets of 50 came, and both times fire came down. They treated. the prophet quite harshly like, get down. You know, you need it. The king wants to see you. And he said, it’s something like if I be a true prophet, may fire come down from heaven to destroy you. Well, it did twice. The third commander that came with his 50 was much more gentle with the prophet. He said, wouldn’t you come down? The king wants you. Would you be willing to come down? more gentle because he respected what had happened previous to that. Now, you could understand the disciples saying, hey, Elijah did that. Why can’t we do this? And they seem to think they can’t. I mean, it’s like nothing. You know, if God’s power rest upon them, they could do this. Now, this example was not really applicable. to the case of the disciples. In Elijah’s case, there was a threat on his life. And he was opposing all the willful and gross idolatry of the nation, and the king was opposed to him and it was going to do him harm. And we find that this action by Elijah seems to be directed by God, for God told him the third time, go down with them. But the first two times, he basically said, well, if I really. be a prophet, let fire come down from heaven and destroy you. Didn’t actually direct it. It was still in God’s hands to send the fire. But he’s basically saying, well, if I’m a true prophet, we’ll see whether that be the case. It seems to me that he was following Jehovah’s will. He wasn’t just willy-nilly doing this. But when you can consider these Samaritans, they are not threatening anyone’s life. The disciples were not. in any danger. There were no soldiers that were sent against the disciples here. In this case, there was no warrant for some kind of horrible judgment to fall upon them, like fire from heaven consuming them. By the way, when you think about the two witnesses in the book of Revelation, it was also the threat on their life and the judgment that came out of their mouth, the fire that came out of their mouth, I believe was a pronouncement. that came from the word God against them. Besides, if these Samaritans had been consumed by fun, they would have been sacrificed to human resentment. And the rest of their countrymen may have resented the fact that the disciples had done this, and perhaps they wouldn’t have listened to any other messages that were brought their way. It would work perhaps against Christ’s mission. So we have to be careful, not to, grab a text of scripture and think, well, we can use this. Make sure that it actually applies here. We’re careful about how we’re applying this, especially in a situation like this. When you’re calling fire down from heaven to destroy something, we can’t just justify our actions. Say, well, I have a scriptural precedence. Well, is this really the same as your situation? When cases are not really parallel, then we are not right to do. such a thing. So you can understand the harsh spirit. I can understand it. But we see Christ rebuke of the desire to retaliate against his rejectors here in verse 55 when he says, you know not what spirit you are of. In all that we do, we ought to consider what kind of spirit is prompting us to do it. there are some who think there was some truth on their side that they have the right to harm others. It justifies. Do you realize what great evils have taken place against the people of God by others claiming to be the people of God who do not consider what in what spirit they were acting? Do you think that the Lord is pleased with those disciples of his who have such a fiery spirit which is eager to consume others? And yet in church history, we see such things happening. Too many of the spirit of the Jew in the Old Testament, he said to his friend, come see my zeal for the Lord of Host. And then what did he do? He goes out and slaughters people of the House of Israel and the House of Judah, who were of the royal family and leaders. Now, he had permission from God to take care of the House of Israel. But not the House of Judah, but he was going to show how zealous he was. for the Lord of us. He would get them all. My friends, people have killed in New Testament times thinking that they were doing the will of God. Remember how Paul, when he was known as Saul, attack Christ’s church. He thought he was serving God. Do you realize how often those officers among the Church of England and the Presbyterian Church used the power of civil government to harm independence, whether they be Baptist, whether they be congregationalist? Why do you think John the Bunyan was thrown in jail? He wasn’t of the official state church. How dare you preach and you’re not of the official state church? People were imprisoned. People were put to death, burned at the stake. We talked about praying for this family, or this church in Ontario, pastor? Very similar. Why is another church turning him in for doing what God commands him to do? My friend, independence would often secretly meet in barns, in fields, in the forest, for worship, to avoid persecution by the state church that was presently in power. Do you think that Christ was pleased with such behavior? by these men who would do this to his church. Such a fiery spirit against all those who don’t worship according to their specific chibbolus. You remember in the book of 2nd Samuel, I believe it was, or maybe it was judges, I’m sorry. There was the men of Ephraim who were slain by fellow Jews at the Jordan River for saying Sybilith, because they couldn’t pronounce it right and say shibboleth. My friends, if we don’t match up with some people’s churches just like they do it, sorry, they have the right to call down fire upon you, so to speak. In all that you do, consider what kind of spirit prompts you to do this. Notice this. You must not harm those who reject Christ in his gospel. James and John had a zeal, but it wasn’t according to knowledge. It’s recorded for our learning that they had this kind of zeal. Christ’s kingdom is to be advanced by patient, continuance, and well-doing, meekness and gentleness of spirit in teaching those who oppose ourselves, but never by violence or severity. We don’t call down fire upon from heaven upon those who reject Christ. We move on to others. You are not to use the carnal weapons of this world. The threats, the force that unbelievers would use. That’s not how Christ’s kingdom is built. Do you remember in the book of Daniel? When Nebuchadnezzar set up his own worship center with this giant statue made out of gold on the plains of Dura, there was 190 feet high and nine feet wide, and you want everybody to bow down and worship before his idol, how did he get people to comply? Well, if you don’t bow down, I’m going to throw you in my fiery furnace, and I’m going to burn you up. Needless to say, he got almost universal compliance to worship. That’s not the way Christ operates. Judgment is in the hand of Christ. It’s not in our hand to act this manner, in this manner. We don’t follow the world’s approach to comply or die. Why, that’s the worship of the beast in her book of Revelation we read about. You don’t do it. You don’t worship the beast. The way we say you should worship the beast. beast the state says so you die you can’t even buy herself you must not harm those who reject Christ in the gospel J. C. Ryle in his commentary on Matthew I’m sorry Matthew Poole in his commentary it says this Christ did not approve of the Samaritan worship yet he did not think that the way to change their mind was the call for fire from heaven against them. It is not the will of God that we should approve of any corrupt worship and join with those who use it. But neither is it his will that we should, by fire and sword, go about to suppress it and bring men off. So you should not harm those who reject Christ in the gospel. You should be thankful. thankful for the gracious purpose of Christ coming into the world. Notice verse 56. 4. The Son of man has not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them. Christ came into the world to save sinners. Not to destroy his opposition and unbelievers at this point. He came not as a messenger of vengeance, but as the prince of peace. he came not to condemn the world but that the world through him might believe. Now we ought to fall into this gracious design of Christ first coming because that is what he said before us. We should seek to preach the gospel, to tell others of the gospel of the gospel of Christ in order that all nations may call him blessed. When Christ comes, the second time. He will come in flaming, fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Until then, we are to follow the grand plan of the first coming. Proclaim the gospel that men might be saved. Christ rebuke of the desire to retaliate against his rejectors. Lastly, Christ, response to the rejection of men is the move on elsewhere. You know, verse 56, the last phrase of it, excuse me, yeah, 56, the last phrase, and it went to another village. Now that might seem like an incidental, not important, insignificant thought to some people. But I think it’s great value because it teaches us what to do. They won’t receive you. Move on to another village. Present the gospel there. Let Christ come there. Jesus and disciples peacefully departed. There wasn’t even a sharp rebuke. Now, often he gave a sharp rebuke to the Jews, who should have accepted the Messiah when he was present. But here, we don’t have any fire called down from heaven or any even sharp rebuke. He just moves on to somebody else where they will be received. So when resistance to the truth occurs in our lives, let us follow the same example. People can be very obstinate. They can be difficult. They can be turned vicious towards us as dogs, so to speak. Withdraw. Go somewhere else. God hasn’t elect people who will receive Christ, and the gospel of Christ, see. them out. And if that means moving on, move on. Let me close this morning. You can understand the thinking of James and John. Perhaps you had the same idea yourself sometimes. You wished to sort of you could retaliate against those who reject the gospel in Christ. But your master says, no, you’re not to have such a fiery spirit about you. Fall in line with my purpose. And my purpose here right now, till I come again, is to proclaim the gospel that men might be saved. And that’s our responsibility. If they won’t receive you, go somewhere else. Go somewhere else. Let us close with a word of praise.