When God Speaks, Listen - Luke 9:1-6

Luke 9, 1 through 6, verse 1.

And he called the twelve together, that is Jesus, and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases.

And he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and heal.

Now Jesus has ministered now for some time.

He has preached the good news that his kingdom has come and that all who would repent of their sin might be saved because of his future work just in a little bit, to die on the cross in the place of sinners, to forgive them of their sin.

Well, right now, he has pulled twelve aside out of the greater group of disciples that have been following him.

He's called twelve apostles, twelve messengers, and he is going to send them out to Galilee before he heads off to Jerusalem, where he will, of course, be accused and killed.

And this is somewhat of a practical apprenticeship opportunity for these twelve apostles.

You see, the apostles would be sent out from Jesus at his ascension after his spirit would come and dwell within them to evangelize and establish churches and disciple.

Now, Jesus performed his miracles with the power of his spirit, the Holy Spirit, which would empower the apostolic gospel ministry.

But the Holy Spirit wouldn't be sent to indwell the apostles and the church at large until Jesus ascended and sent his spirit.

But in this moment of Jesus' ministry, you have now a temporary empowering given to his twelve apostles for the type of ministry that they will later perform.

They will have his power for a proof to people of the word they bring and who they bring it from.

They have been learning from Jesus daily as disciples.

Now they're given an opportunity to apply it as apostles sent out on a temporary apostolic assignment.

A temporary mission with temporary power to prepare them for the later evangelic, uh, evangelistic ministry that they will take part in after Jesus ascends, to prepare them to not have much and travel a lot, to prepare them to rely on the kindness of others, to prepare them to receive rejection, resolve to keep going out and moving forward with the gospel.

That's what Jesus does here.

He gathers them and he sends them out and prep for what they later will do.

He says to them in verse 3 take nothing for your journey, no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, and do not have two tunics.

In other words, the mandate Jesus gives here is hey, you're gonna go out and you're gonna travel light.

You're not gonna take much with you at all.

You need to be on the move every moment.

Don't take even the things that might be needed for basic living.

In other words, go and depend on me for everything to find people, to provide food, whatever you need, depend on me.

So that you can later learn, we would say what they'll later need.

Verse 4 whatever house you enter, stay there and from there depart.

But verse 5 is the part of the text that we are going to spend quite some time on this morning.

It's almost shocking.

And I want to feel the weight, us to feel the weight of it.

Verse 5.

And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town, shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.

This is where we're going to spend our time this morning.

If you have an outline, you can follow along.

Point number one, as you see on your outline, is your relationship with the Bible, that is God's word, reveals your relationship with God.

Your relationship to and with the Bible reveals your relationship with God.

As we talked about last week, Jesus had many disciples following him during the greater portion of his ministry, but he chose from them twelve apostles.

The word apostle literally means one who is sent.

And it was used in Greek, apostolos, in Jesus' day, for someone who would be sent as an ambassador to another country or to another person from a king or high official to carry on the message that king or high official had to wherever they're sent.

They would repeat only what they were taught and told to repeat, and they would carry with them the same authorial weight that the words of the person that shared it with them would have on the person they're sharing with their audience.

An ambassador, an apostle, doesn't get to make up their message.

If they were sent by a king, their job is to faithfully deliver the word of that king.

That's the work of an apostle.

So here's the thing to reject a messenger of the king is to reject the king himself.

That's what Jesus is doing with the twelve.

Jesus chooses twelve men, he commissions them, and he sends them out with his own authority.

And whoever receives me receives him who sent me.

In other words, how you respond to the messenger Jesus sends reveals how you respond to Jesus.

And how you respond to Jesus reveals how you have responded to God the Father.

In fact, Jesus in John 8 implies when talking to the religious leaders in the context of that passage, that though they have Abraham's blood, they are not Abraham's children because they rejected God by rejecting Jesus, his apostle, and the message he brings from God.

He actually tells them in John 8, you can go look at it, that Abraham is not their father, but Satan is.

Those were strong words in Jesus' day.

But there is direct application to us today.

Here's the application.

You cannot claim to have a relationship with Jesus while simultaneously rejecting the apostles that he has sent, the apostles' word in your Bible.

Because they are Jesus' authorized messengers.

You say, does that really matter?

Well, it absolutely matters because our culture loves to separate the two.

See, what are you talking about?

Have you ever heard someone say something like, I love Jesus?

I'm just not sure about Paul.

Maybe they'll like what Jesus says about love and mercy.

But when it comes to Paul and his words from Jesus about marriage, sexuality, gender, judgment, or the church, they decide, I'll take Jesus, but I'll leave Paul.

Let me tell you, that is impossible.

There is not a category for that in Christianity.

Christianity doesn't give you that option.

Paul did not invent his words.

He was a commissioned, authoritative voice inspired by the same spirit that rose Jesus from the dead, sent by God, sent and chosen by Jesus.

You reject the one Jesus sent, you reject Jesus.

The authority of the apostles wasn't ultimately their own.

It rested in the one who chose them, called them, and commissioned them.

So you can't use Jesus to overrule the messengers he sent.

You can't say, I'll take the red words, but I'll keep out the rest.

No, no, no, no, no.

All of Scripture is inspired by God, you know, that says that.

2 Peter chapter 1, verses 16 through 21.

2 Peter 1:16–21

The Bible, I quote Vodibakam, is a reliable collection of historical documents written down by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses.

They report supernatural events that took place to fulfill specific prophecies, and they claim their writings are divine rather than human in origin.

They were sent apostles with the authority of Christ inspired by his spirit.

You reject them in the words God has inspired, you reject Jesus.

To receive Christ is to receive his word.

To reject that word is to reject Jesus.

So your relationship with the Bible reveals your relationship with God.

David in the Psalms said that God's word was like honey.

You know, God speaks through his word today.

His word is sharper than any two-edged sword.

Not only does the Bible say his word is sharper than any two-edged sword, his word says that he sanctifies us by his word.

You want to spend time with God, spend time in his word.

That's where peace and joy is to be found.

Again, the Psalms, Psalm 16, in your presence there is fullness of joy.

Do you lack joy, or is there a disconnect between your Christian life and the Christian word?

You can tell a lot about a Christian by the time they spend listening to God.

Number two, proximity to the things of God does not equal a relationship with God.

Proximity to the things of God does not equal a relationship with God.

Jesus sends out the 12, he empowers them by his spirit to accomplish supernatural ministry, again, as a proof of the one who sent them.

And even with all the evidence, people will still reject them.

And Jesus knew it.

Just as they would now, they would later.

He's preparing them for that.

Verse 5, here's what he tells them wherever they don't receive you, when you leave that town, shake off the dust as a testimony against them.

What is that testimony?

And what does Jesus mean by against them?

Have you heard that phrase before?

Maybe you've gone through a difficult situation, or your kids have gone through a difficult situation, and you've said something along the lines of, shake off the dust and move on.

Comes from this passage.

Well, what does Jesus mean when he tells his disciples to shake off the dust from their feet as a testimony against those who don't receive them or the message they've been sent with?

Hear me, Jesus was not just giving them a catchy way to say, haters gonna hate, keep moving.

This was a particular form of judgment, and the disciples knew it.

You see, in Jesus' day, the area of Jerusalem and the Israelite area, the Jewish area was known to be holy land.

That arises a little bit from the book of Exodus, where uh Jesus tells Moses to take off his sandals, for the ground you are on is holy ground.

The land God had given Israel was holy.

It had been uniquely set apart by God for his people.

So when devout Jewish people traveled outside of Jewish territory into pagan Gentile lands and came back in, it was a symbolic gesture to shake the dust off of your sandals, kind of leaving the pagan ideology and teaching behind before you would come into holy territory.

Apostles would have known that.

Symbolism, we're leaving the uncleanliness of pagan territory behind.

Now, here's what makes this command so shocking.

Jesus is telling this to his disciples to do this in Israel.

Shocking.

Shocking.

Do you see what Jesus is saying?

He is saying, you can live in the holy land and still be far from a holy God.

You can have Abraham and your family tree, you can know the scriptures, you can observe all of the traditions, you can live among the people of God and still reject the God who has come to save you.

You see the same thing happen in the book of Acts with Paul and Barnabas.

They are travel on Paul's first missionary journey to Pisidian Antioch.

And Pisidian Antioch rejects them and persecutes them.

They leave to Iconium and Lystra, and they shake the dust off their sandals.

And it's here in Acts 13 where Paul says, We're turning to the Gentiles because these people have thrusted aside God's word, judging themselves unworthy of eternal life.

Those are strong words.

So hear me as I try to faithfully communicate the message of the apostles and the message of Jesus.

What makes someone clean and right with God and able to call God their father, now that his Messiah has been revealed, is not the ground beneath their feet.

It's not whether their family attended worship or they attended worship.

It's not whether they have a God-fearing family or not.

It's not, in the case of our text, even a claim of the physical Abrahamic lineage.

No.

It is whether or not they receive and not reject the Messiah, the promised one.

God the Father has sent his son, the apostle.

And that should get your attention.

Just as the Jewish people dwelling in the promised land cannot claim God as their father if they reject the message of his son's apostles, and therefore his son, the great apostle.

You cannot claim God as your father if you reject the message of his word.

It does not matter your proximity to the things of God.

You can grow up in church, you can know the songs, you can own five Bibles, your parents could have taught you the ABCs of salvation.

You can know when to stand and when to sit, you can have Christian parents, Christian friends, and a Christian vocabulary.

But if you do not know Christ and you do not submit gladly to his word and repenting of your sin, trusting in him and walking after him as a disciple, you don't have Christianity.

Proximity to the things of God, the land, the lineage, the lifestyle is not the same thing as belonging to God by recognizing Jesus is Lord.

It's not the same.

Is not Judas a test case of that truth?

That proximity does not equal relationship?

Judas is actually sent out with the twelfth here.

Judas's feet were washed.

Judas heard the teachings of Jesus.

Judas had a lot of proximity, closeness physically to Jesus and his teachings, but did not have an abiding relationship with Jesus.

They not only had general revelation to know there is a God, but they heard the specific and special revelation that Jesus had come to pay the penalty for their sin.

The king had sent them his word and they rejected it.

And that's why this passage is sobering.

Shaking the dust wasn't just communicating, hey, we're moving on.

It was communicating you have been brought the only hope for the salvation of your soul, and you have said no.

And his apostles are moving on.

Which brings me to point number three.

Do not presume on the patience of God.

You've heard this preached, you know, it said some people might some people may tell themselves, I have plenty of time to turn to Jesus.

I'll ask for forgiveness later.

I'll get my life right, quote unquote later.

I'll repent later.

Like Jesus, I know what you want me to do.

I know that you've come to save me from the punishment of a sin.

I know that the proof of God's love is that you even came.

I know that if I turn from my sin and trust in you in faith, that I will not experience the punishment of my sin because you already have in my place.

Hear me closely.

When Peter said God is patient, not wishing any to perish, he was not saying that God's patience has no end.

That's why Paul says in Romans chapter 2, verse 4, do not presume on the riches of Kindness and forbearance and patience.

Romans 2:4

This kindness, he says, is meant to lead you to repent immediately.

He is kind and that you're not dead yet and you've still heard the gospel.

God's kindness is not evidence that your sin is not a big deal.

God's kindness is that you have time now to turn from your sin and trust in Christ.

Do not mistake God's patience.

The patience of God is meant to lead you to repentance, not give you an opportunity to postpone repentance.

Now, let me be clear.

That doesn't mean that somebody who has run from Jesus, who's now dying, isn't on their deathbed, does not have an opportunity to trust Christ.

The opportunity to trust Christ being presented to them is still there if there's still breath in their lungs.

The thief on the cross is an example of that.

But hear me, be very careful thinking you have tomorrow, if tomorrow is your plan to trust Christ.

Hebrews 9.27 is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.

Today is the day of salvation, and if you wait till tomorrow, it may be too late.

There is no repentance after death.

And there are no it is no back and forth with Jesus after you die when you stand before Him.

So if your plan is, I'll follow Jesus later, please understand again, you should not make plans about tomorrow when you don't know if you even have it.

God knows the number of your days.

You don't.

And another point, pointed out by the great R.O.C.

Sproul, which I think I just want to talk about, God's patience may not even last your entire life.

Have you read Romans 1?

God's patience with you may not last your entire life.

Romans 1 describes people suppressing the truth of God.

They know the truth, but they don't want God because they want their sin instead.

And three different times, the Apostle Paul says that God's judgment is rendered by giving them up to what they really want.

Romans 1.24, God gave them up in the lust of their hearts.

Romans 1.26, God gave them up to dishonorable passions.

Romans 1.28, God gave them up to debased minds.

You do not want to be in a place where God gives you up.

God in his judgment may not stop you from getting what you want.

God and his judgment may just give you that.

You know, a lot of people, when they think about the judgment of God in this age, they think of horrific storms and great natural disaster.

And yes, we do see kind of fire fall down from heaven in the book of Revelation, but what Romans 1 makes very clear that God's judgment in this present age might be is removing restraint so that you can actually have what you really want, your sin and not Jesus.

That should frighten you.

Not as a believer to cower in fear like you'll lose a relationship with the Lord, but if you're sitting here and you say, I'll wait till tomorrow, you've heard the gospel many times, again and again.

Be careful that you do not harden your heart.

In fact, Hebrew says, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

Notice the word today.

You know what makes Jesus telling the disciples to shake the dust off so serious is that these people heard the good news of Jesus and they said no.

And Jesus told his disciples, you can go.

This is an image of obstinate rejection.

So hear me this morning.

If God's spirit, if God's spirit convicts you today, would you turn from your sin and trust in Jesus for salvation today?

The good news of the gospel is that God, the creator of everything, looked down upon hopelessly sinful men and women, and instead of destroying them rightly in his wrath, looked down in grace with love upon those he created, and sent his one and only Son, his messenger, the second person of the Triumph Godhead, Jesus, to share the good news of hope, the hope of salvation for all who believe, who would turn from their salvation, look to Jesus, who is crucified in their place, bearing upon himself the guilt of sinful man, bearing upon himself the very punishment of God toward man who turned against him, so that all who would turn to him for mercy would be saved.

Three days later he resurrected, so that all who turn to him for mercy and are saved would likewise resurrect when Jesus returns, to live with him forever in a place of peace in the presence of God.

If you know that message, you've heard it repeatedly, do not harden your heart, turn today.

I am not an apostle, but I stand here as a choice servant this morning to just share the message the apostles would continually share to say, please turn.

This might be the day.

If you've heard the gospel again and again, but never surrendered your life to Jesus, do not confuse patience with God's approval over your life.

Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.

Make today your first yes to Jesus' gospel invitation.

Today.

Today.

Let's pray.