Sent Into the Harvest, Equipped for the Work - Matthew 10:1-15

And with me as we read our Scripture today, and as always,

once we finish reading, recite with me.

This is the word of the Lord. Amen.

We're going to begin in Matthew chapter 10, going through verses

Matthew 10 · chapter mention

one through 15. This is the word of the Lord

beginning in verse one. It says.

And he called to him his 12 disciples, and gave them

authority over unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal

every disease and every affliction.

The names of the 12 apostles are these.

First, Simon who was called Peter, Andrew his brother James

the son of Zebedee, John his brother Philip and Bartholomew,

Thomas and Matthew the tax collector.

James the son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot and

Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. These 12 Jesus sent out

instructing them Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no

town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the

House of Israel, and proclaim as you go, saying, the Kingdom of

heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead,

cleanse lepers, cast out demons you received without paying,

give without pay. Acquire no gold or silver or

copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics

or sandals, or a staff, for the labourer deserves his food.

In whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in

it and stay there until you depart.

As you enter the house, greet it, and if the house is worthy,

let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let

your peace return to you. And if anyone will not receive

you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your

feet when you leave that house or town.

Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of

judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

This is the word of the Lord, Amen.

All right, you guys can have a seat.

And if you have not already, go ahead and turn in your Bibles to

Matthew chapter 10. And we're going to be continuing

Matthew 10 · chapter mention

on in our sermon series, the King and His Kingdom.

And the title of our sermon today is sent into the harvest

equipped for the Workman. What a fitting title for today

as we again celebrate the sending out of redemption Bear

River. And this passage, I think, is

very encouraging for us as we look at what that means.

And so this passage is kind of a continuation of what we studied

last week in Matthew Chapter 9, where we see that Jesus was

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

encouraging his 12 disciples to pray for laborers to enter into

the harvest or the field of ministry.

And so our passage today reveals the answer to that prayer where

Jesus has subsequently now called and commissioned these

same men as the laborers that he is going to send out for that

work. And you might be familiar with

the saying, be careful what you pray for, right?

But I like what Charles Spurgeon said about prayer.

He said where the Lord leads us to pray, He means to provide,

and that is exactly what Jesus does.

As we begin looking through this passage today, we see that Jesus

is granting his divine power and authority to these men so that

they can minister, so that they can take the gospel to an

unbelieving Israel. Jesus gives them strict

instructions regarding where they are to go, what they're to

do, and even how they are to prepare for this journey.

And finally, he encourages them in the face of certain

opposition as they shine the light of Christ into a sinful

world. And so as we unpack this text

today, a central theme kind of begins to emerge.

And that's our main point this morning.

It's that when Jesus calls us to serve him, he always equips us

for that work. So let's begin our study here.

In verse one it says he called to him his 12 disciples and gave

them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out to heal

every disease and affliction. Now, historically, whenever

ancient kings would issue a decree throughout their Kingdom,

they would entrust emissaries to proclaim that decree to the

people who fell under the rule of this king.

And the words and the actions of those emissaries were to be

received just as though the king himself were speaking.

And so anyone who rejected the order that was taken out by

these emissaries, these ambassadors for the king, anyone

who rejected that, would face judicial consequences from the

king himself. And so in the same way, today in

this passage, we see that Jesus has issued a proclamation in

verse 7 that says the Kingdom of heaven has come near.

That's the proclamation, OK. And so these emissaries, these

apostles, the sent out ones, they have been given this decree

along with the warning for those who reject God's holy

proclamation. So let's look first here at

exactly how Jesus equipped these men for ministry.

What we see here is after summoning his 12 disciples

together, the text tells us that straight away Jesus gives them

authority and power over unclean spirits and over all, all manner

of physical affliction and ailment.

And this in itself, this action in itself is something that we

see throughout the Bible that is reserved specifically for God

because he alone is the source of all power and is the ultimate

authority. Like when Moses LED his God's

people out of Egypt. God demonstrated his power

through Moses by parting the sea, by bringing forth water

from a desert rock. We look at prophets like Elijah

and Elijah. We see again that God has

administered his power so that deaf ears and blind eyes might

be open to believe the prophetic words that come from the mouth

of the servants of the Lord and John the Baptist in the New

Testament, we see Jesus called him a burning lamp.

He was sent by God for this specific purpose, pointing

people to the true light of men and Jesus.

And so these are just a few examples for us in Scripture

where we see that the authority, this power and authority did not

originate from within these men themselves, but instead was

given by God so that they could accomplish God's redemptive

purpose that he had set them apart for.

And that's exactly what we see today in this passage.

Now, the Greek word that's used here when we look at authority

is the word exusia. And it does not simply mean that

Jesus is just giving them the right to do these things.

This is an authority that kind of implies a legal rule, as well

as the power and might that's required to carry it out.

Because without this divine power and this divine authority,

the ability to perform such works like healing the sick,

like raising the dead, those things fall short of being

miraculous, apart from the divine power that's given to

these apostles here. And so, as we've seen all

throughout our study of Matthew, whenever we see Jesus himself

exercising this kind of power, what was it to do when he cast

out demons, when he was healing the sick, when he was raising

the dead? It was to demonstrate his divine

authority and establish him as Lord and King for all those who

witnessed these miraculous events.

And so at this pivotal milestone we see here in Jesus earthly

ministry, he knows that his time is almost at hand.

He knows that, and he knows that others must be raised up to

continue on, to carry on the work of the ministry that he

began. And so this calling that we see

today, this commissioning that we see today of these 12 men

paired with this power, this authority from Jesus to carry it

out, it is essential. It's essential that they go in

this power. Why is that?

Because it overcomes human weakness and incapability while

glorifying the one to whom true power and authority belong.

Now, I would argue that God has never ceased in performing

miracles. Will we all agree with that?

I think God still does that today.

I think we can agree with that, but I think also the Bible

teaches us that these miraculous signed gifts that were

distributed almost exclusively among the early apostles, the

foundation of Christ Church to prove that they were operating

as direct emissaries of Christ for the gospel.

And so as as we look through the text, the text is describing

this authority as covering both the physical and the spiritual

realms. These men operating in the power

of Christ, they were given the ability to meet the physical

needs of those to whom they were to go and minister by healing

the sick and the afflicted, but also to tend to their spiritual

well-being by acting against any unclean or demonic spirits.

And so this highlights for us 2 corresponding themes that we see

throughout this passage, but that also echo Jesus himself,

right? Who was both fully God and fully

man, existing in both the human and the spiritual nature within

the person of Jesus. Because we think about mankind's

greatest need. What is the greatest need that

we as humanity have? It's our spiritual condition

before holy God that takes precedence over any physical

ailment that we might have, right?

Because while our bodies here are to be destroyed, we have an

eternal soul and eternal spirit that will live on, that will

exist far beyond our physical bodies.

And, and yes, Jesus healed the blind.

Yes, he raised the dead, he cleansed lepers.

But it was always to point to the greater need for spiritual

healing, because while man looks on outward appearances, God

judges the heart. And so by giving these men the

ability, the power, the authority to heal sickness and

disease and to cast out these demons, those who experienced

these physical healings, they were receptive when they were

confronted with the reality that spiritual renewal was what they

needed the most. And this is a renewal that's

made possible only through faith in Jesus, whose Kingdom and

authority these men were sent out to proclaim.

And that's going to bring us to our first take home point for

today is that only God's divine power carried out in Christ

Jesus can fulfill our greatest need of spiritual renewal.

Only God's divine power carried out in Christ Jesus can fulfill

our greatest need of spiritual renewal.

And I think this is vitally important to remember as we

study this passage. One of the core values of

Redemption Church, you'll see it right over here on one of these

banners, is that every member is a missionary.

We are mobilizers for the gospel wherever we live, wherever we

work, where we shop, where we play, we spend time with our

friends and our family. And we all know that when we

walk with other believers or that when we're seeking to lead

others to Jesus, we often times can rely too heavily on

ourselves to do that, which can quickly lead us to

discouragement and ultimately to fruitless ministry.

If we're depending on ourselves for that work, we have to

remember that the power of the Holy Spirit of God that He has

given to all who are in Christ, it is fully sufficient to

overcome our spiritual weaknesses and our inabilities.

And because of that, we can live boldly as emissaries, as

ambassadors for Christ, because we're trusting the work to the

one who actually holds the power, the true power and

authority, and who alone can affect real change within the

hearts of men. And so as we look into our next

section here in verses 2 to 4, we might ask the question, well,

who were these men? Who were these 12 guys that

Jesus has called apart here? And I think as we look briefly

at who these men are or were, we begin to see a snapshot of

ourselves and how Jesus really uses ordinary, unremarkable men

as laborers in this harvest. So let's read verses 2 to 4 as

we continue on. It says the names of the 12

apostles are these. First, Simon, who is called

Peter and Andrew, his brother, James, the son of Zebedee, John,

his brother Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew

the tax collector. James, the son of Alpheus and

Thaddeus. Simon the Zealot and Judas

Iscariot who betrayed him. Here's a fun fact for you.

Did you know that one of the one of the reasons, one of the

catalysts for John Wickliffe when he translated the Bible

from Latin to English, was that he took a survey of English

clergy at that time and he discovered that less than 1/3

were able to name these 12 apostles?

Can you believe that? Now, I don't know if that

number's gone up anymore today. I certainly hope so, Hope that

we all here could name the 12 if we were quiz.

But when we look in the Bible, really, other than Peter and

James and John, you know, there's very little that's given

in Scripture about the lives of these men.

I mean, we see, you know, bits and pieces here and there.

We see maybe their first encounter with Jesus described

in Scripture, maybe some brief details of when they were

following him along. But I think for the most part,

these men are just kind of seemingly anonymous throughout

Scripture. And I think we often look at

these 12 men more as a collective, as the 12, rather

than as individuals. But here's what we do know.

Here's what we do know about these men.

We know that some of them were fishermen, just common guys down

by the banks making a living catching fish.

We know that one was a tax collector, the most hated man

probably in all the village. We know that one was a political

rebel, a zealot. We know that two were called the

Sons of Thunder for their volatile personalities.

And we know that one would become the betrayer.

And though these men were were outcast, they were downtrodden,

they were despised. Their encounter with the living

God made person in the flesh, in the person of Jesus, that took

them from ordinary men who God used for an extraordinary

purpose. Now does that mean that they

always did everything right? Of course not.

But Jesus summoned them here as disciples.

Notice this change. He summons them as disciples,

those who have been following Him, those who've been learning

from Him, and now in his power, in his authority, in his

commissioning, He sent them out as apostles, the sent out ones

acting in the authority of the king to proclaim his Kingdom.

But before Jesus sets them on their way here, he gives them

strict instructions on where and how they are to go.

Let's look here in verses 5 through 8 it says these 12 Jesus

sent out instructing them go nowhere among the Gentiles and

enter no town of the Samaritans to go rather to the lost sheep

of the House of Israel and proclaim as you go, saying the

Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead,

cleanse lepers, cast out demons you received without paying,

give without pay. Now think as we study this

section here, it's important for us to note that this directive

here that that Jesus has given them to to go out exclusively

first to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.

This is only for this specific time in the ministry of these

apostles, because later we look in Scripture, what do we see

especially we look at the Great Commission.

We look in Acts, we see Jesus using language like make

disciples of all nations and you will be my witnesses to the ends

of the earth, indicating to us that the gospel was always meant

to reach, to go out and reach those far beyond Israel.

But for this specific moment, for this specific mission, it's

their instruction to go to the lost sheep of the House of

Israel first. Why is that?

Well, like a blue tick hound that's chasing a raccoon.

You might have already struck this trail of biblical symbolism

here. Jesus sent 12 apostles.

There's 12 tribes of Israel. There's got to be something

there, right? So let's let's bark up this tree

for just a minute. We look at Romans chapter one,

verse 16. It says I'm not ashamed of the

gospel. For the gospel is the power of

God unto salvation for all who believe what first to the Jew

and then also to the Greek, giving us this clear

chronological precedent here, that the gospel was meant to go

first to the people of Israel, to the nation of Israel, to

ethnic Israel. But Paul goes on in Romans 96 to

say this, that not all who are descended from Israel are

Israel, meaning that there's some different Israel.

Is there some true Israel and some untrue, indicating that the

true Israel here is made-up of a people outside of this ethnic

birthright that's promised through Abraham, through the

seed of Abraham and Jacob in the Abrahamic covenant.

We look back in the Old Testament in this Abrahamic

covenant that God made with Abraham and later with Jacob,

which was kind of the first stage in this yet to be fully

realized covenant of grace that we see proceeding down through

the Mosaic and through the Davidic covenants.

And we're not going to get super deep in the weeds there, but.

Just understand that that all these are only formally

completed and carried out in the new covenant through the

finished work of Christ. And so as we look back in the

Old Testament prophets, we're going to see exactly who this

true Israel is here. If we look in Isaiah chapter 49

Isaiah 49:3–6

verses 3 through 6, it says the word of the Lord says, and he

said to me, you are my servant Israel and whom I will be

glorified. But I said, I have labored in

vain. I've spent my strength for

nothing and vanity, yet surely my right is with the Lord, and

my recompense with God. And now the Lord says he who

formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring back Jacob

to him, that Israel might be gathered to him.

For I am honored in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become

my strength. He says, And it's too light a

thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes

of Jacob, to bring back the preserved of Israel.

I will make you as a light for the nations that my salvation

may reach to the end of the earth.

So there again we see again just exactly again what Jesus was

telling us in the Great Commission in Acts.

This was always for a greater people than just Israel.

And in verse 3 here God calls the servant Israel.

But by verse 5, we see that that servant, not this ethnic nation

of Israel, but rather the promised mediator who fulfills

the broken works of the Mosaic covenant and actively

establishes this new covenant for the elect that God has set

apart. So who is that servant?

Who is that mediator? I thought we fixed that gas leak

in here. Who is it?

Jesus. It's Jesus, right?

Yes. And so at the exact same time

here, what we see is we see that Christ Jesus is identified as

the true Israel here, but we see that this servant, this true

Israel has a specific mission to the people of the ethnic people

of Israel. So we're the ethnic nation of

people. That's those who were born in

this birthright of Jacob, descended from that lineage.

We see where that nation has failed under the covenant of

works. We see that Christ succeeds.

He renders the perfect obedience that the nation of Israel could

not, securing righteousness for his people.

Now looking at verse 5, it says formed me in the womb to be his

servant. This is Speaking of the

incarnation where Jesus took on flesh.

In this eternal decree, Christ was appointed that mediator of

the covenant of grace from eternity past, right?

This is something that God established within himself,

within the triune being of who he is from eternity past.

And so this physical incarnation where Jesus was born and took on

flesh and lived as a man, that was specifically designed for

this mediatorial role here that we see to bring back Jacob in

verse 6, to bring him back and gather Israel.

This is Christ's initial earthly ministry that was strictly to

the lost sheep of Israel that when we continue on in Matthew,

you'll see in verse or starting chapter 15 and verse 24, Jesus

says that very thing that his ministry is first to Israel.

But this gathering together that it talks about here, it's not

merely just an ethnic restoration of this ethnic

people, Christ is gathering within this group the the true

Israel, the elect, the true Israelites, the elect within

Israel, the true spiritual seed of Adam.

So you see the difference here again, back to that those

corresponding themes of the physical and the spiritual

operating here within this passage.

And as we mentioned in Romans 96, not all who are descended,

meaning physical descendants in this lineal bloodline, not all

who are descended from Israel are Israel.

And so while Jesus's work, his ministry, his death, his

resurrection have retroactively now secured salvation of the Old

Testament elect and this 1st century Jewish remnant, the

Bible calls it this small portion that would be saved.

The covenant promised to bring into this new covenant a

spiritual Israel had to take place before the Gentiles were

brought into that fold, right? Do we understand that is that is

that crystal clear? Maybe?

OK, that's again, covenant study is something you can you can

take into your own hands. And I encourage you to do that

because the more you study this, you see that God never fails to

uphold his promises in establishing these covenants.

Because Jesus, who is the true Israel, commands these 12, 11 of

whom, with the exception of of course, Judas, were true

spiritual Israelites by faith to act within his divine power.

They're to meet physical needs. They're to meet the, the, the

spiritual needs with the gospel. And they're to begin with the

lost sheep of Israel. Because here's the why.

Because it is in direct fulfilment with the law and the

prophets. And that's our take home point

#2 for today is that gospel ministry is firmly founded on

the eternal truth of who Jesus is.

Gospel ministry is firmly founded on the eternal truth of

who Jesus is found in the Word of God.

And like these apostles, when we take part in gospel ministry,

and when I say we, I don't just mean we as as pastors and

elders. I mean all Christians, friend.

It's not based on our opinion and it's not based on our

feelings because opinions can be swayed and feelings can deceive.

It has to be rooted in something else.

It has to be founded. It has to stand on some other

truth other than what we say that truth is, because that's

not truth. The truth is found in who Jesus

is and what he's already done. It's firmly set in the Word of

God because Christ Jesus is the fulfilment of that word.

And so the more time that we spend studying and treasuring

His Word, the more those beauties of Christ are revealed

to us. From Genesis all the way to

Revelation, this is the story that God wrote and it has its

glorious fulfilment in Christ as the cornerstone of his gospel.

Now that was a lot to take in there.

That was a lot of meat. Let me let me let you chew that

up for a minute. And I want you to think about

something here as we take a slow down.

You know, as school is kind of winding down this year, the

summer's getting ready to kick in to full swing here.

Memorial Day typically is kind of the ushering in the

inauguration of summer. I'm sure there's a lot of you

that are preparing for maybe summer trips, long summer

vacations. Now if you're anything like me,

you err on the side of being over prepared.

I often will pack multiples of the same item when in reality I

probably only need one. Or realistically maybe maybe

none. Usually it's none.

But I live by this mantra. 2 is 1 and 1 is none, all right?

Meaning if you got one of something, it's just like you

got nothing. So always bring 2.

Good rule to live by. But because of this, even when

we go on short family hikes or adventures, my pack often looks

like this. Can anybody relate to that?

You over pack, you bring too much, you don't use most of what

you need. And like anybody who's preparing

for a long journey, these 12 apostles here, they're likely

already mentally preparing, making a mental inventory here

of of all the physical provision that they would need for this

journey. But as we look through the next

couple verses in our text here, the next set of instructions

that Jesus gives to these 12 is not what they should take, but

what they should not take. So let's continue on in verses 9

and 10. Here in verse 9 it says acquire

no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your

journey, or two tunics or sandals or a staff for the

laborer deserves his food. Now Jesus tells his apostles

here, don't take any gold, don't take silver, don't take don't

take copper. In other words, don't worry

about money. Don't pack a bag, don't take a

bunch of extra clothes, don't worry about what you're going to

wear. Don't take a staff.

He says you'll be protected, don't worry about food.

He says, I'll make sure that your belly's full.

I'll make sure you're fed. Now, Jesus is not saying these

things because they won't need these things.

Of course they're going to need all these things, right?

But his desire for them is to focus entirely on the work at

hand and to rest securely in the provision of their Savior.

That's Jesus's desire here. Because remember, when Jesus

calls us to serve him, he always equips us for that work.

And friends, this has been a challenging struggle for me

mentally, spiritually, going all the way back to when we moved to

Utah from South Carolina to help plant Redemption N Davis.

And even now as we look at Redemption Bear River and

planting up there, struggle with that sometimes.

And it's not because we haven't seen God's provision and God's

goodness for our church and for our family.

Trust me, we've seen it, we continue to see it, but there is

just a deep seated self dependence, this self-reliance

that is just ingrained in all of us and our fleshly nature.

It's there and it can paralyze us.

It can paralyze us. And maybe you felt like this

before. Maybe you felt like God is

leading you to do something. But we fear taking action

because, oh, what if everything's not just perfectly

in the right place and everything's not just as it

should be? And what if I don't have this?

And what if I don't have that and you're paralyzed and you

don't act? That is disobedience to what God

has called you to do. And this is precisely why Jesus

tells these men, forgo your fear and trust in the provision of

the Lord here. Now, when the Lord called me to

step away from the workforce and commit to full time ministry, I

wrestled with that. I wrestled with that a lot.

I had a good paying job with good benefits.

I felt like I was doing a a good job.

I was doing well in providing for my family and that's

important. That's important.

Hear me now that is important in our role as providers, as

protectors of our family. But if that self reliant need

for provision stands in the way of doing something that God has

called you to do, friend, it's imperative that you set that

aside. As hard as that may be, it is

imperative that you set that aside and step into a faith

filled, fully dependent relationship with Jesus.

That is what He wants for all of us to lay down our fears at His

feet to give Him our burdens. And Jesus previously taught this

to these same men. If we look back in Matthew

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6, remember Matthew 6? That one's not in there.

Turn in your Bibles. You're already in Matthew right

there. Should take you just a couple

pages. Matthew 625 to 33.

What does He say? Therefore, I tell you what,

don't be anxious about your life, what you'll eat, what

you'll drink about your body, what you'll put on is life not

more than food in the body, more than clothing, right?

Then he goes on through the passage and what does he say at

the end? He says seek first the Kingdom

of God, and all these things will be added to you.

Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all of these things that

Jesus has told them to leave behind will be there.

He's simply saying, look, as you go, as my emissaries, as my

ambassadors, as my apostles, seek first the mission that

you've been sent for. Seek first the Kingdom of God,

not just taking it to those who are far from God, but in your

own relationship with me, in your own walk with me.

Those are the things that you should seek first.

Because what is Jesus doing here?

He's pointing out the greater spiritual need because listen,

when we enter territory that is hostile to the gospel, we need

far more than physical provision.

We need to be ready for spiritual warfare.

Amen. We have to be clothed in His

righteousness. We have to be protected by the

armor of God. We have to be fed by the bread

of life. And when we are, we can walk in

confidence knowing that whatever we might lack physically, we are

abundantly provided for in spirit as we go about His work.

And sometimes, friend, that spiritual provision, that faith

that has been strengthened by our good provider, that's all

we've got to fall back on sometimes.

That's all we've got sometimes because, listen, we're always

going to need more money. We're always going to need more

food. We're always going to need new

clothes. Our health may fail,

relationships may break. But the Kingdom that these men

were sent out to proclaim, it's not an earthly Kingdom.

It's going to be subject to age and to entropy.

This is an everlasting Kingdom where neither moth nor rust

destroys. It's an eternal rule where

Christ reigns supreme and brings the dead hearts to life.

And in our final section of text today, we see this sobering

warning for these who ignore this royal decree.

Let's look as we finish up here in verses 11 through 15.

Get us on, get us on. Verse 11 there.

Who's I got the slides? All right, Verse 11 through 15,

it says here. And whatever town or village you

enter, find out who is worthy in it.

Stay there until you depart. As you enter the house, greet

it. And if the house is worthy, let

your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let

your peace return to you. If anyone will not receive you

or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when

you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be

more bearable on the day of judgement for the land of Sodom

and Gomorrah than for that town. So finally, Jesus instructs them

here when they arrive in a town, go look for those people who are

going to be hospitable to you, who are going to receive you

well, not just physically, not just meeting your needs, but to

those people, they're going to hear what you have to say.

You're going to listen to this gospel message that you

proclaim. Go find those people.

Go hunker down there, is what he's saying, and certainly while

the comfort of a soft bed and a nice warm meal by the fire that

would've been greatly appreciated after a long journey

like this. But what have we seen throughout

this text? The mission here is far greater

than the than the ministers. The need of the mission is far

greater than those who are carrying it out.

And hopefully by now you've caught on that Jesus is not

simply talking here about welcoming homes, but willing

hearts. Willing hearts.

This demonstrates the vital importance of the Gospel.

It is the invitation. It is the invitation to enter by

faith the very Kingdom that these apostles were sent to

proclaim. And a worthy person.

In this context, it's not just someone who is offering

hospitality to the King's emissaries.

It's the person whose heart God has prepared to receive the

gospel. And this points us to God's

effectual calling where we see the power of the Holy Spirit

drawing people to himself, leading to regeneration, to

conversion, to fruitful gospel ministry.

The worthy house is, is the receptive house.

They're the ones that God has given ears to hear and believe

the gospel. And just as these apostles

pronounce their Shalom, their blessing of peace on those who

care for them, when the Spirit brings sinful men to Christ, he

bestows his eternal Shalom upon their hearts.

Now, as we conclude our text today, we see that there's

another kind of house that's mentioned here, one that's

inhospitable, one that's unreceptive.

This points to those who hear the gospel.

But despite the earnest efforts. Of the laborers here, they just

outright reject, and it's heartbreaking as that is.

We have to understand the mandate that Jesus gives here

when that happens, while we're called to bring the gospel to

those who are far from God, Jesus instructs here that when

that message falls on deaf ears, don't tarry long.

Don't tarry long. We have to continue out into the

harvest praying that the next house will be a receptive house.

And he encourages his 12 year. Don't internalize that

rejection. Don't hold that rejection, but

instead take that peace of Christ with you.

Take it with you and move on. To rest in the peace of the Lord

is to rest in Christ, knowing that once that decree has been

proclaimed, remember that decree.

The Kingdom of heaven is near. Once that message has been

proclaimed, the emissary's responsibility is fulfilled.

Meaning the job of the messenger is to deliver the message.

That's our job. That's their job.

The job of the messenger is to deliver the message.

And if it's rejected, justice for those who reject belongs

entirely to the king. And in verse 14, here we look at

verse 14 and we if we look on the surface, it's almost as

though Jesus is merely telling his apostles to just leave these

unreceptive places. Just get out of there so fast

that the dust falls off your feet.

But when we dig deeper, there is a deep cultural significance

here in this command to shake the dust off your feet.

In a 1st century Jewish context, this was a highly symbolic

gesture. Now, devout Jews, whenever they

would go and travel to these Gentile nations, they believed

that the very soil, the very grains of dirt in these Gentile

nations were ceremonially unclean.

So when they would travel, before they would cross back

into the border, they would literally shake off their

clothes and their sandals in a physical demonstration of

separation from that. Basically say, look, I'm leaving

the impurity of this idolatry, this Pagan idolatry, this Pagan

world. I'm leaving it behind.

And I don't even want to bring 1 speck of that uncleanliness back

in with me. That's what that gesture means.

And so by commanding his apostles to shake the dust off

their feet when they're leaving a Jewish Home or town who has

rejected the gospel, Jesus is telling them perform this

symbolic action against the lost sheep of the House of Israel.

It's a it's a severe declaration that any Israelite who rejects

the true Israel is no longer part of this covenant and will

not be welcomed into his Kingdom because to God, their rejection

has rendered them spiritually unclean, no different from the

Pagan Gentiles. And so for a 1st century Jew,

this would have been a shocking and severe indictment of their

spiritual condition, and they would have understood it to be

that as well. And so Jesus concludes here by

giving us the royal judgement for those who have rejected his

decree. He says their punishment will be

far worse than that of Sodom and Gomorrah, those ancient cities

that were destroyed in a fiery rain of sulfur for their

debauchery. That was a terrible fate for

those cities, but it was a singular earthly judgement.

Rejecting Jesus negates those covenant promises.

It leaves the person outside of the Kingdom, resulting in

spiritual death and eternal suffering.

Eternal suffering. That's why it's so much worse.

But that's the righteous and just judgement of the true King.

For those who scoff at his decree, at his gospel.

Now, this was undoubtedly difficult reality for these

apostles here, all of whom were Jews.

All 12 were Jews themselves. I think for us it has to be a

heavy and a sobering reminder for us to sit with today, to

hear that rejecting the gospel brings the judgement more severe

than the fire and brimstone of Sodom.

That's terrifying. It should be.

It should be terrifying. But church, this is exactly why

this mission is so intensely urgent.

And that is exactly why Jesus does not send his laborers out

to do it on their own. Because when Jesus calls us to

serve him, he always equips us for that work.

I like these apostles. Jesus doesn't just give us the

command to go. He gives us the authority, the

provision, the truth of the gospel that can bring dead

hearts to life. The very picture of which we

celebrated through the ordinance of baptism this morning.

Because we don't go into our neighborhoods and into our

workplaces and into our communities with a message that

says if you're good enough, you can make it.

That's not the message that we take.

We go bearing the royal decree of the king.

We carry the gospel that says the Kingdom of God is near and

to enter it you must be born again.

That's what God's Word says in John chapter 3.

John 3 · chapter mention

And that's the hard truth of Scripture, that every single one

of us is born into that unworthy house.

By nature, we are enemies of God.

We are children of wrath. Sin has separated us from God.

It's it's made us spiritually unclean, and it has made us

entirely deserving of God's righteous and eternal judgement.

That's the bad news. That's the bad news.

But the good news is this, that just as Jesus prepared these

apostles for their calling, for their commissioning to serve

him, in today's text, Jesus prepares the hearts for his

redeeming work of those that he calls unto salvation.

God, being rich in mercy, sent the true Israel, the eternal

Son, the true King of kings, Jesus God, who took on the

weakness of flesh and stepped into our messy and broken world.

And He lived the perfect and sinless life that we could never

live any of us. Then He willingly went to the

cross to die in our place. He absorbed the fiery and

righteous wrath of God that you and I deserved.

He took on the judgement of the unreceptive house upon Himself

unto death. But three days later, He rose

victorious over the grave, proving that that debt was paid

in full so that our hearts could be transformed into a worthy

house where the Spirit can dwell.

The Kingdom of heaven has come near.

The invitation is open to all who will believe by faith that

Jesus is that fulfilment of the law and the prophets and all

those covenants, the true Israel, King of King and Lord of

Lords. And if you're sitting here this

morning and the Lord has stirred your heart to respond in faith,

I or one of the other pastors would love to talk with you to

answer any questions you might have about that, to pray with

you after our service. Because this Shalom, this

blessing of the peace of Christ, that's what the gospel preached

today, offers you peace with God.

He's calling you to believe his gospel, to repent of your sin,

trusting not in what you think you can do, but trusting in what

Jesus has already done. And to you, Christian, to those

that are being sent out with redemption, Bear River, just

look. Just look at the harvest around

us. The Lord has placed us here for

a reason. He has called us to step into

the harvest together. We are His appointed laborers.

Yes, there are going to be times where we feel inadequate.

Yes, there's going to be times where we face rejection.

But remember who is sending us and let us lay down our fears.

Trust in His divine provision and step boldly into the harvest

together. He's called us and He will equip

us for this work. Let's pray together.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for this passage today, as we have

seen that there is a a terrifying reality for those who

reject your gospel Lord. And I pray that if today you

have already begun a work in the heart of someone that's here as

they have heard this gospel, Lord Jesus, that you would

deliver unto them salvation and righteousness.

Lord Jesus, that you would do that today.

I thank you for this opportunity to stand together with my

brothers and my sisters with Redemption Bear River and be

sent out in this missional sending much in the way that you

sent out these 12. Lord Jesus, help us to be

faithful in this work. But most of all, help us to rely

entirely on you. It is in the name of our Savior

Jesus that I pray. Amen.