Luke 10:1-2

Luke chapter 10 for our text this morning. I’m going to read the first 12 verses, but our focus this morning is really going to be on verses 1 and 2. After these things, the Lord appointed other 70 also and sent them two by two before his face into every city and place where he himself would come. therefore said he unto them the harvest truly is great but the laborers are few pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest go your ways behold I send you forth as lambs among wolves carry neither purse nor script or shoes and salute no man by the way and into whatsoever house ye enter first say peace be to this house and if the son of peace be there your peace shall rest upon it if not it shall turn to you again and in the same house remain eating and drinking such things as they give for the labor is worthy of his hire, go not from house to house. And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as they set that are set before you, and heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the street of the same and say, even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you. Notwithstanding, be ye sure of this that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for Sodom than that city. Thank God bless to us, his sacred and holy word this morning. During the early years of the Reformation, Melanchthon was working with Martin Luther. And on one occasion Melancthon rose to preach a sermon on the text from John 10, I am the good shepherd. But looking out upon his numerous audience, Melanchthon’s natural timidness, overcame him, and all he could do was keep reading the text. I am the good shepherd. He just couldn’t preach to those who were gathered to hear the word of God. Luther, who was present. with him at this time at length went to the pulpit and said to him, you are a very good sheep. Then telling him the lengthen to sit down, he opened the scripture and preached a very good sermon from it. In the kingdom of God, there are sheep and there are shepherds. And the problem is always having enough shepherds for the number of sheep that are out there. we have here the occasion of the sending out of the 70. By the way, this is only recorded in Luke’s gospel. You don’t find it in any of the other gospels. He’s the only writer to relate this account. Now, these men were not apostles, but evidently they were capable of preaching the gospel, or he sends them forth to do so. they too were followers of Christ but not as closely associated with Jesus Christ as the apostles were. It seems that just previously, some of them may have been weighing the duty to follow Christ as we looked at in a previous study in verses 57 and 62 because they might have had a part in this service if they had been willing to be disciples. because verse 60 says, let the dead bury the dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. So maybe, at least this one, was one that could have been sent for at this time. We don’t know the names of these 70 men. You know, we’re given the names of all 12 of the apostles, but these 70 are nameless. It’s not important, evidently, for us to know what their names are. But the sending forth of these disciples and Christ’s instruction to them is important because it benefits us today. It has something for us to learn as we ponder it. All ministers and teachers of the gospel, I think, will find the things that are related in this text beneficial and useful. Here is a prayer for laborers. that’s what we find here. Let me begin by saying this. You find that God would have men sent forth to preach the gospel. After these things, the Lord appointed other 70 also and sent them two by two before his face into every city and place, whether he himself would come. Now the first thing we should recognize here is the Lord must appoint you to this office of elder or preacher and to preach the gospel of Christ. Many assume this office without being sent from God. Now, Jesus knew that the regular instructors of the people of Israel, whether they were scribes or Pharisees or Sadducees or Levites or whatever the case may be, they were commonly leading people into error. But they were the authorized clergy, so to speak. They were the ones that had the authority, according to their thinking. And they’re the only authorized people of the nation. This is why whenever the disciples preached, you find them being challenged. What right do you have to do this, to preach the gospel? So they were forbidden by the Jewish leaders to teach the people. people. All these religious leaders are the so-called authorized would teach the doctrines of men traditions for the Word of God. These men did not understand the law of God in its spiritual implications, such as lusting after a woman was the same as adulterred, such as unjustified anger being the same as murder, as Jesus explained in the sermon of the Mount. And so these authorized teachers, shamefully, were neglecting their duty, or perhaps they were performing it without heart or sincerity in what they were doing. And so the common people were like sheep without a shepherd. They were weighed down by cares and anxieties that were deprived of the very gospel. that they needed to hear. They were devoid of the spiritual guidance that the Word of God provided. Many are living today under precisely this same problem. How many there are in the ministry who are false prophets who lead the people astray? How many are ministers who are ignorant of the true teaching of the Word of God like the doctrines of sovereign grace, who promote man’s free will and don’t understand God’s powerful hand in salvation. Oh, they may have graduated from a seminary somewhere. May they have been ordained by a denomination. They are the authorized teachers, but they don’t teach the true gospel, but some perverted form of the government. gospel, and as Paul put it, another gospel and another Jesus. These men appear as messengers of light, spiritual light to people, but the truth of the matter is their agents of Satan that lead people of strength. Many churches have their pulpits ill-occupied by these so-called authorized ministers. It would be better if they were empty. The problem is simply. this. Christ did not appoint them. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. The prophets prophesied lies in my name. I sent them not. Jeremiah 2321 and Jeremiah 1414. A seminary degree, in and of itself, does not make you a true preacher of the gospel. Don’t be fooled into thinking other words. a person needs to be called of God and have the true message to be an authorized. Truly, Christ authorized, messenger of the gossip. So many assume this office without being sent by God. Now, true ministers are appointed by Christ. He sends them out two by two here. Obviously, in order to be a witness, to the people. You had to have two witnesses. And so they preach the gospel and they help one another as they go forth and encourage one another. But here they are. They are appointed by Christ. That’s what stands out here. These 70 men are not authorized by the Jewish religious leaders to preach, but they were authorized by the head of the church. Jesus Christ. You know, when Jeremiah was called to prophesy in Jeremiah Chapter 1, he was very reluctant. He did not feel qualified to do the work. He says, oh, Lord, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child. You know what the Lord said to him? The Lord said, say not, I am a child. For thou shalt go to all that I send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. I’ve called you. I’ll give you the words to say, you just say them. My friends, these are the people that are authorized by the Lord. True ministers preach God’s message. What God says in His Word, we should be proclaiming the truth right from the Scriptures. And say, thus saith the Lord. when we teach. We should be faithful in claiming exactly what God has said in his word. After the defeat of the army of Absalom, Joab, who was Israel’s army commanded, commander, needed to inform King David of what had taken place. Give him the report from the battle. Himeas, who was a son of Zadok, the high priest, Let me run. Let me take the message. But Joab wouldn’t let him. He sent Kushai to be the messenger since the king’s son was dead. So Kushai was the one appointed by Joab to bring the message to David. And off he goes. Tell the king, he says, what you have seen. But Ahimea, as we read, kept pestering Joab. Let me run. Let me run. and Joab said to him, Wherefore will thou run, my son, seeing thou hast no tidings ready. I don’t have anything else to tell you. But Himéahs kept pressing, Joab, let me go. Let me go. Joab finally said, well, run then. Well, Himas decided to take a different route than Cushy. He went by the way of the plane. And he outran him, believe it or not. He actually outran Cusha. and got to King David first. And M.A.A.S. reaching there, related the victory of the army of King David, but then the king asked him that vital question, is the young man Absalon safe? Guess what? M.A.S. didn’t have the answer to that. He said, I saw a great tumult, but I knew not what it was. Well, the king had to wait. So Cushy got there. Cusha. And then he learns about Absalom’s death. He was the appointed message. He had the whole message. And so it is spirit. Because only those who were appointed by Jesus Christ carry the complete message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to people. They’re the ones that are sent. The Lord must appoint you to this office. This is not something to jump into without the Lord’s appointment. Notice secondly here, you should realize an ever-growing number of ministers are necessary. The Lord had commissioned the 12 apostles to go out and preach. Now he had 70 other men to go out and preach. Now these men were going to go out and preach, and then the Lord was going to follow up. He says, wherever I’m going to go, I’m sending you out there, and then I’m going to follow up on these places that you have gone. In the choice of the 12 apostles, we would believe that he was thinking Jesus, our Lord, of the 12 tribes. In the case here of the 70, it appears that the Lord has an eye toward the 70 elders of Israel that were chosen to assist Moses. Now, some translations of the of this passage have 72, which is a manifest corruption. By the way, I checked the Nessel test, the text, and they actually have the 72 in brackets. They have the 72, but they got it in brackets because they don’t have a text port. It’s an unjustified departure from the Greek of the vast majority of manuscripts. Another indication of why we use the King James version. From the sending of the 70, It appears, to me at least, that the cause of Christ has grown. More people need to hear. More people are being brought into the kingdom. And there must have been a considerable number of disciples if they needed 70 men to go out and preach. Although Jesus Christ faced much opposition, as we know, his labor wasn’t in vain. He is gathering in the elect among the nation. of Israel. He’s getting the lost sheep of the House of Israel, that he’s come to save. The 70 appear to be those of whom Peter speaks later in the book of Acts chapter 1. The men who accompanied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us. Maybe from the 70 they appointed another apostle, you see, because these men were the ones that were in and out among the people of God at this time. We’re preaching and evidently was it Matthias, I think, is the one they chose in chapter 1 there. By lot. Remember it was by lot because it’s the Lord’s duty to appoint and apostles and so forth. So they did it by lot and left it up to God’s hand and he picked Matthias there to replace Judas. We see the kingdom of God it is just like Jesus said. It’s like a mustard seed. It starts out with a little group of people. And then slowly but surely, we see it growing and it gets bigger and bigger and grows into this huge tree, which the birds of the air can flock and settle into. Even in times of opposition, even at times of hostile style persecution. Christ’s followers may grow and thrive. Notice that like the Israelites when they were in Egyptian bondage, how cruelly they were treated. And though afflicted, what do we read? They multiplied exceedingly. Because that’s the way God works at times. We’ve heard about China. Of all the places you would think you wouldn’t have have the church growing and thriftingly. it would be in China under all this heavy regime of communism. And look what’s happening. God is still working, isn’t he? And for this reason, God always needs men to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. He’s constantly calling men into the ministry. Russell read Isaiah 6th this morning. Here we have Isaiah’s conversion and an account of his calling into the ministry, both in one chapter. He sees this spectacular vision of Christ sitting as a king in royal rose upon the throne in heaven. And he shrank from his glorious presence, and he cries out, woe is me, I am undone because I’m a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the means. midst of a people of unclean lips. And the Lord has one of the seraphim take a live coal from off the altar there in heaven and press it to the lips of Isaiah. And the seraphim says, lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thy iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is purged. That was his conversion. But then we hear the Lord saying this. Whom shall I send? and who will go for us? The Lord seeks the right man to pray claim the message to the nation and the nations around Israel. It’s a rare thing to find one fit for this duty to go for God and carry his word to his people. They have to be God appointed. In Isaiah, out of gratitude to the Lord for his salvation, says, here am I. Send me. And the Lord sends you. God made Isaiah willing. He’s purified his lips already so that he can proclaim the word by this coal that touched it. God always needs laborers to go forth into the field and preach the gospel. Has God made you fit for this work? Are you willing? Are you made willing? Are you made willing? You have a desire to do this. Christ is calling men to the ministry. You may be one of them. You got away that carefully. But never enter into the ministry lightly. This is work for serious men. I have to say, it is at the same time the most rewarding and the most difficult position to be in. So you find God would have men sent forth to preach the gospel here. I secondly, you are called upon to pray to God to send forth laborers. And here we see in verse 2. Therefore, said he unto them, the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. The work of harvesting here is a great work. Much to do. Well, we don’t have too many laborers. There’s much toil in care that are needed to secure the production of the harvest. He calls these ministers laborers. There are people who are like ripen crops. in the field, which are ready to be harvested, ready to be brought to salvation. However, there are needed laborers to preach the gospel to them. And bring these elect souls to Jesus Christ. Jesus, knowing the secret counsel of the Lord, knows that there’s a great harvest. However, he fully realizes that God works through means to this. end to fulfill his eternal purposes. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. How shall they hear without a preacher? As John 10 tells us. So the Lord desires laborers. Friends, the work of the ministry is a hard work. It’s not an easy work. We have to labor in the word. If you want an easy, comfortable life, never enter the ministry. That’s not where you want to go. You’re not fit to preach if you’re not willing to work hard and put some sweat and strength into the work. The lazy minister is going to have much to answer for on the day of judgment. Because the ministry demands a lot of what might call brain power. We have to be thinking. We have to put a great deal of thought into the teaching. We must ask that the Lord would open our eyes first so that we may present the truth to the people of God. We have to have a spiritual mindset to derive various teachings from a text of Scripture. How does this passage relate to people today? What is the essence of its teaching? This requires much prayer and study. You have to be a workman, the scripture says, who rightly divides the Word of Truth. The harvest can’t be reaped by preachers who are not willing to labor in the Word. So much toil and care are needed to secure the production of the harvest. Winning souls for Christ is like gathering the harvest. This requires the laborers to be in the field among the wheat. We can’t be in an ivory tire situation where we don’t have contact with the common people of this world. We have to be able to relate to our hearers and the common sins and problems of the day. You have to be able to know the kind of temptations. The average person is facing. The sins, the that plague men. They must see that you’re truly concerned about their souls. And you have an interest. You can’t be indifferent and be a preacher. Laborer also has to use a sharp sickle to cut down field and harvest souls. Now, it’s interesting in Romans chapter, or Revelation 14, he uses is a sharp sickle to do some harvesting work there. But your sickle is a sharp two-edged sword of the Word of God. And with it, we find that our sermons are meant to cut people, to prick the conscience, to cut straight through to the heart of individuals. God cannot use preacher who never troubles a man’s conscience who never alarms people about the state of their condition sinners must be cut down and fall to the ground if they’re going to be harvested must be a sense in which they are humbled before the Lord and the laborer must gather the wheat of these stalks that are cut down and put them into bundles. the preacher must bring the wheat together, bring God’s people together into the church. Once you cut down the center, you also need to comfort them with the promises of Christ that are found in the Word of God. And they need the words of comfort and hope as repentant sinners. And these souls need to be gathered into the church and need to be preserved. And they need to be preserved. so the work of harvesting souls is great but the laborers are few. You must pray for Christ to fulfill the need of laborers. A supply of laborers is obtained we’re told here by our prayers. Pray ye the Lord of the Harbors. Do you ever pray for God to raise up men to preach? Think about that in a minute. Isn’t this exactly what Jesus is telling us to do in this text? Prayer is one of the most powerful means of helping forward, then, the cause of Christ in this world. My friends, you may not be gifted to preach. You know and I have a lot of money that you can help support a work that’s doing maybe evangelistic efforts somewhere. But you can always pray. Every Christian can pray. If there is a lack of faithful preachers, perhaps the problem is we haven’t prayed for them. Pray you the Lord of the harvest. Who else can call men and gift them with the Lord? Who knows which best men need to be employed in this business? There is a great neglected duty then that we find. The duty is plain. but how often have we obeyed? When’s the last time you prayed for Christ to raise up men to preach the gospel? Sadly, this is not a common petition you hear in most churches today. But if there’s a family of the Word of God in our world or our country, maybe I’ll look back to this. We haven’t asked, and therefore we haven’t received. Sound preachers come, but eventually he died. They have to be replaced. How can Christ’s kingdom advance without such laborers to reap the fields. So let us be honest in our prayers for such preachers as Christ gifts his church and blesses the church. Let me close this morning and say this. During the years, the early years of the Reformation, Lankton was more like a sheep than a shepherd. He just wasn’t to preach, ready to do that. Sadly, in the kingdom, there seems to be always a shortage of shepherds to care for the sheep. We need men appointed by Christ to do the work of the ministry. Many have not been sent by Christ, but they’ve entered in the ministry. But how few men are willing to undertake this difficult and demanding work and say with Isaiah, here am I, send me. So you’re called upon to pray to the Lord of the Lord of them. harvest to send forth laborers in the field to do this work. Let us not neglect this important duty then and may Christ continue to expand his kingdom. Let’s have a word of prayer.