Luke The Orderly Account of Truth - Helpers in the Harvest - Luke 10:1-16

Welcome to the roots. If this is your first time

where it's all about Jesus. We love God, we love people,

We reach the lost, and we make disciples. That is

our mission here. I've genuinely had a great weekend this weekend.

It's really just been a full, very very full weekend.

But it's been a good weekend. Yesterday was our church barbecue.

Who was there? Who? Uh? And let's just do a

special little thank you to the Andersons for they cooked

that delicious meat, the biggest burgers We've ever seen, the

biggest burgers I've ever seen. It was incredible and delicious.

It was a great, great time. And so that was awesome.

In this morning, like Greg had just said, we had

our men's breakfast, which is awesome. We got to open

God's word, learn about how to be godly people in

a pagan society and submit to authority. Woo. That was fun, right,

especially in the crazy times that we live in. It

was good. It was edifying. It's awesome. Now here we

are Sunday evening church time before our week starts, before

our members meeting. All of that weekend get to uh

once again be refreshed, rejuvenated as we worship our Lord

and receive from his word and and and hopefully be

refreshed and and actually find some rest with him. My goodness.

We uh yeah, so this is I'm really grateful that

we all got to be here before we start our

work week. I do actually have a couple of questions

for you guys. So if you're gonna help me, I'm

gonna we're gonna do some hand raising to my questions.

Does that work? Can you? Can you work? Yeah? Yeah, solid, solid,

you love that. Okay, so raise your hand. If you've

ever worked a job before? Okay, solid, look at this?

All right, that's that's pretty good. Okay, how about this? Uh,

how many of you have worked a job? Uh that

was understaffed? Uh? Oh yeah, basically all of us? Right, Okay,

well let's let's let's try and even the plane feel

Uh how about has anyone ever volunteered somewhere before? All right?

All right, how about volunteered somewhere that was understaffed? Kids?

Ministry is like what you know? Yeah exactly, That's a

hilarious joke for all of us church goers. I'm just kidding. Okay,

one final one, how many of you have worked somewhere

that was understaffed, undersupplied, and the job description was just

chaotic or all over the place. Yeah, yeah, those are

not fun. Those are overwhelming jobs. They're not fun. You

don't look forward to them Sunday. You're like, I hate

that it's Sunday. I wish it wasn't Sunday. I don't

want to go to work. And so those jobs can

be overwhelming, they can be burden some. But what's awesome

is that today we're actually going to be looking at

a place in the scripture where there is a lot

of work to be done, that there's few people to

do it. But because of God's great mercy, we're going

to see provision for this work. We're going to see

a very defined, specific and clear task list or job description,

and best yet, the out come of the job doesn't

rely on the workers. Let me let me explain that.

That means that what comes out of you doing what

you're supposed to do that doesn't rely on you. What

you are required to do is rely on God's provision

for the work you're going to do and have faithful

obedience to the simple task list of the job at hand. Today,

we're going to be looking at the Christian work of evangelism.

Whoa right, look at that, we erupted with brilliant plause. Right,

I know, I know, So I know you came to

church to be refreshed and rejuvenated, and now we're talking

about work. That was probably the last thing that you

were hoping for or expecting. But the thing is is

that on Sundays we're not just supposed to find rest

on our on the Lord's Day, on our Sabbath, or

just be rejuvenated or refreshed, but we're also when we gather,

the point is to also be reminded, reminded of what

God has said, reminded what God has told us is important.

And so today my hope is that as we learn

or remind ourselves about the importance of evangelism and the

plan laid out there, that it would actually be encouraging,

so that we'd be resting as we hear God's word

and rejuvenated, but also now excited and reminded of the

important work that we have ahead of us. So what

I'm gonna do is I'm gonna read today's text, I'm

gonna pray, and we'll break it down together. Does that

sound good with me. All right, let's look at it.

We're opening to Luke chapter ten. We're starting a new

chapter of Luke. We've made ten chapters so far. That's awesome.

It's been a long time. Starting in verse one, going

through verse sixteen. If you don't have a Bible, we'll

have them at the connect booth out on the lobby.

Go grab one. They're free. Please take it. It'd be awesome.

You can follow along. I'm also have it on here

on the screen. Here says after this, the Lord appointed

seventy two others and sent them two by two ahead

of him to every town and place where he was

about to go. He told them the harvest is plentiful,

but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore,

to send out workers into his harvest field. Go, I'm

sending you like lambs among wolves. Do not take a

purse or bag or sandals, and do not greet anyone

on the road. When you enter a house, first say

peace to this house. If someone who promotes peace is there,

your peace will rest on them. If not, you will

return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they

give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not

move around from house to house. When you enter a

town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you.

Heal the sick who are there, and tell them the

Kingdom of God has come near to you. But when

you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into

its streets and say, even the dust of your town

we wipe from our feet as a warning to you.

Yet be sure of this, the Kingdom of God has

come near. I tell you it will be more bearable

on that day for Sodom than for that town. Woe

to you, Cherism, woe to you, bet to say it afray.

If the miracles that were performed in you had been

performed entire Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting

in sackcloth and ashes. But it'll be more bearable for

Tire and Sidon at the judgment than for you and you, Coprinium.

Will you be lifted up to the heavens, No, you

will go down to hades. Whoever listens to you listens

to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. But whoever rejects

me rejects him who sent me. Let's pray, Father God,

we give you this time, and we just asked that

as we've opened your word, as we break it down,

that it would be a seed planted in our hearts,

that we'd be encouraged to the things that you've called

us to, that we'd be equipped to do what you've

called us to. Well. Got in that above all, that

our affection for you would grow, that we would love

you and live a life that would serve you and

loved you, Lord God, and that it would be clear

and in so, Laura, God, please be with us today,

use your word, move here in this place. We love you,

We thank you, and give you this time in Jesus name,

we pray Amen. Okay, So we've been in a series

titled Luke The Orderly Account of Truth. In this series,

we've been going verse by verse through the carefully investigated

account of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus

Christ as put forth in the Gospel or by our

gospel writer, Luke the Doctor. Our hope, as well as

the hope of the gospel writer Luke, is that the

reader of this gospel account will have their faith built

and their certainty grow as they learned and confirm again

and again the amazing things that Jesus taught and did.

Now the last several weeks, we've been looking at a

chunk of text where Jesus has been teaching his disciples

what it looks like to be one of his followers.

So for example, that you shouldn't be prideful, you shouldn't

be thinking of yourself as better than others, but as

humble servants of one another. Last week we looked at

kind of an intense text where we got to see

there was people who three different instances specifically where people

wanted to follow Jesus or were asked to follow Jesus,

but one of them didn't quite get the full scope

of what he was asking for. He didn't realize what

all that was going to mean. And two others actually

made excuses to delaying to immediately follow Jesus. And last

week we ended with this verse before we get to

our text, it was this word from Jesus, he said,

Jesus replied, no one who puts a hand to the

plow and looks back is fit for the service in

the Kingdom of God. So last week we looked at

Jesus's teaching those around him the heart, the expectations, and

what it takes to be fit for the service in

the Kingdom of God. And now this week we're gonna

see Jesus put those he had points to work. If

you're taking notes, today's message is titled Helpers in the Harvest.

Helpers in the Harvest today is a big chunk of text.

I don't know if you realize that it's a big

chunk of text. So what I've done is I've split

it into three parts to just kind of help break

it down, help us understand it, and kind of bite sizes.

So the three sections that we're gonna be looking at

will be as follow as and we'll get we'll get

to them, but we're gonna look at the three sections.

The first section will be that there's work to be done.

There's work to be done. The second part of this message,

we're gonna be looking at the working conditions and task

list or just basically the job description. And then finally

we're gonna look at the importance of the work. So

we're gonna jump right into it. If you're taking notes,

we're gonna start with our first section, which is that

there's work to be done. Did you guys say that

there's work to be done? Yeah, So let's look at

our first verse, which kind of gives us the context

for this whole event. After this, the Lord appointed seventy

two others and sent them two by two ahead of

him to every town and place where he was about

to go. So Jesus is now appointed seventy two people,

paired them up, which by my calculations thirty six, and

he sends them out here. It says that Jesus sent

them ahead of him to the towns that he was

about to go to. So he didn't just say, hey,

go to these towns, let them know come back. He said,

go to these towns. And he had this intention to

go to these towns. And we actually see that last week,

I believe he had set his face or a couple

weeks ago, he had set his face towards Jerusalem. So

now he's going to start making his way towards Jerusalem,

and these are some of the towns it seems like

he's going to be visiting on his way. So just

like John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus's arrival,

now we have these disciples being sent to prepare these

towns for Jesus's arrival. And just like we looked at

a couple weeks ago. Actually, at the start of chapter nine,

Jesus equips his twelve apostles and sends them out. And

now he equips these seventy two and sends them out

on their own missions trip. And now Luke is going

to zoom into this event. That's kind of just the setting.

He's going to zoom in and kind of give us

the specifics of why they're doing what they're doing, what

Jesus told them to do, and the purpose of all

of this. So let's look at it. In verse two,

he told them the harvest is plentiful, but the workers

are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to

send out workers into his harvest field. Jesus tells them

there's a lot of work to be done, but few

workers to do it. How would you respond? How do

you respond? Let's just pull it back. When you go

to work and they give you a they say there's

a lot of work to be done, and some people

have called out. What's your first response, Maybe complain, I'll

put that on me. Okay, procrastinate, put that on me. No.

What he tells them to do is to pray. And

here's what's actually really amazing about this part of the text.

You have seventy two who want to follow Jesus, who

have been appointed to do the work of the ministry

with him, and he tells them the best news that

they could hear, the best news that they could hear,

and that is that the harvest was plentiful out of

something that just might sound like more work, and in

one sense it does mean lots of work. But in

another sense this is great news, because bad news would

be that there's no harvest at all. We're not really farmers.

I don't know if you guys are farmers. I'm not

a farmer. But if you're living is things supposed to

be growing and they don't, that's problematic. That's problematic. But

Jesus says, the harvest is plentiful. The workers are few,

so there's a lot of work to be done. But

that's good news. No one wants to be told there's

no work for you here, go home. So Jesus says,

the harvest is plentiful. There's work to be done, but

his work that will not be done in vain, and

it will yield something. It's gonna be fruitful, productive work.

But then he says that there's not a lot of

workers to do the work, so he tells them to pray,

and who does. He tell them to pray to the

Lord of the harvests, that is the harvest that belongs

to God. It's his harvest. He's sending workers out to

go bring in his harvest. So he tells him to

pray that he sends workers to bring in the great

harvest that is ready for the getting. Pray that God

will provide for what's already his This is really reassuring.

He's like, like he didn't He's the owner of the property.

He said, it's really right. I don't have enough people

go help me. And I believe, honestly that if we

prayed more for the people that we wanted to see saved,

I honestly think that we would be more prepared when

people are ready to receive the gospel. I think a

lot of times like people like we maybe we see

that open door, we see that window, but we haven't

even been praying. We haven't been praying, so we're we're

not even close to prepared to share the gospel to

pluck the vine. I don't know how we would. I

don't know how what we call evangelism in this analogy,

but like when people are ready, are we ready? But

if we want to be ready, I think much prayer

needs to go into that. And obviously it's not saying

like that's not exactly what's saying here, but I was

just thinking about it when I was going over in

my notes, I was like, how often do we pray

before we go out? How often do we pray for people?

How often do we pray that people would come to

the Lord? And then once those opportunities up, now we're

actually kind of bold. Now we're actually ready because this

is what we've been praying for, right, we're expecting him. Anyways,

coming back to our message, this is really cool because

he says the harvest is plentiful, which imagine being told

that there is a field filled with gold, so much

gold that you alone are not gonna be able to

get all of it. You're gonna need help. There would

be work to get done, right, we'd all be in

that field digging. You're like, do I gotta keep any

of this? Because that sounds dope, you know, but there's

work to be done, and that's good news. I think

imagine if we had this attitude towards evangelism, or imagine

if we have this attitude towards how we evangelize that

there are not only people who need Jesus. We all

agree with that. We know we need Jesus, we know

the world needs Jesus. We know everyone needs Jesus, but

there are those out there who were waiting to hear

about Jesus. Imagine if we flipped our mindset instead of

just going like, yeah, everyone needs Jesus, but we went like, no,

there are people out there waiting to hear about Jesus.

I feel like that would change going like all right,

like I'm gonna go find them. Let's go figure out

where they are, because they're out there. They exist. We

know everyone needs Jesus, but there's some people out there

waiting to hear about Jesus. And here's the deal. It

may not be everybody, as we're going to clearly see

in this text, but the confidence and fervor that it

brings knowing that they are out there, knowing that exists,

should help our intentionality to get to work. There's a

Lord that they belong to, and we get to be

part of the work of bringing them in. Now Jesus

has told them to pray for workers, and can you

guess what he does next? He answers the prayer, which

is kind of cool. He answers the prayer and sends them.

We're now kind of enter the second part of our

text today. It's the largest chunk of our text. But

before we do that, I need you to repeat after me,

I'm a helper in the harvest. Help there's work to

be done. It's true, all right. Our second part of

the text, the working conditions and taskless. We're literally just

going to see Jesus give a job description, say here's

the thing, here's the thing, here's the thing, here's here's

what you're supposed to do. Here's a provision, here's how

we're gonna provide in this situation. Like this is what's

going to happen. Really, a lot of this isn't going

to apply to us in a literal sense. There are

gonna be things that we can glean from this. Tried

to squeeze this lemon, see what we could get out

of it. But we are gonna be looking at what

Jesus instructed them to do on this mission, see if

we can glean anything from it. Jesus first sends them

out and tells them the working conditions. You ever look

at a job application and see what the conditions of

the work are. You're gonna be on your feet for

sixteen hours, you have to crawl in an attic. In

the crawl space. You're the helper, so you're gonna be

in there all day. You're gonna work at home. You're like,

all right, okay, you got my attention. Jesus says, it's

looking verse three, go, I am sending you out like

lambs among wolves. How's that for working conditions? Lambs among wolves?

Jesus is saying, this is somewhat dangerous work for me.

This would just be dangerous work just on wolves. They're

ferocious people out there. In Matthew, we actually kind of

get like. He tells the same thing to the twelve

Apostles when he sends them out, and he actually adds

some at the end that I thought would be helpful

for us. Says, I'm sending you out like sheep among wolves,

which most of us would be like, uh oh, so

therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.

That was very helpful. I thought it was very helpful.

The definition of shrewd is having or showing sharp powers

of judgment. So because it's dangerous work, they need to

have sound judgment. They need to stay innocent, watch yourself,

watch how you speak, act, and live. If you don't,

you might get eaten alive. And I think this makes

sense because I don't know if you've ever tried sharing

the gospel after swearing, gossiping, mocking, or crew joking. But

that's a sure way to be dismissed very very quickly

and not taken seriously. So we must take the task

very seriously and watch ourselves. Don't hurt your gospel witness.

A question that I wrote down is does how you

live help or hurt your gospel witness? So stay sharp.

The way we can do that help our judgment is

to read our Bibles, stay innocent, to live in accordance

with that word. Let's look at verse four. Do not

take a purse or bag or sandals, and do not

greet anyone on the road. That is, you don't need

anything extra for this mission. Don't worry about your provisions.

In Luke twenty two, when Jesus later asked the twelve

if they lacked anything after they didn't take those things.

This is what they said. It's kind of funny. Then

Jesus asked them, when I sent you with without purse

bag or sandal, did you lack anything nothing? They answered,

they didn't lack anything. Were straightforward. He said, don't go

with these normal provisions that you would normally take. And

later he was like, hey, when I didn't send you

with those things, did it work out? Like? Yeah, we

were good. We had everything we needed. Why why did

they have everything they needed? Why didn't they lack anything?

It's because God provides for the mission that he was

putting them on. They didn't need anything extra to do

what God had called them to do, and if they

did need anything, God would provide and did provide it.

How often do we make excuses to not obey because

we think that we don't have what we need to

do it. If God calls us to do it, then

we're equipped enough and He will, through his provision, provide

what we lack. If you look at almost any story

in the Old Testament, and honestly a lot in the

New Two, God's calling people his mission, setting people on

his mission, and most of the time they're like I

can't talk good, I'm a nobody, and he's like, perfect,

let's go. You know, like he's like, you're just the guy.

Let's go. So we need to not discredit that. Don't

let your means be an excuse for not obang God.

He knows what you have, right, he knows what he's

asking you to do. He knows what you already have.

And I think, as specifically as it regards the gospel

and sharing the gospel, if you don't think you know

enough to share the gospel, just share the gospel, Okay,

I'll explain that the gospel is sufficient and what God

uses to save people. Everything else you learn should only

better help you understand Christ and Him crucified. Everything else

you learn will be just to support you getting to

the gospel. Getting to Christ in Him Crucified. That is

the gospel message Christ in Him Crucified. Everything else is

just to help you get there. So let's look at

it back in verse four, do not take a purse

or a bag or sandals, and do not greet anyone

on the road. That one's kind of interesting, right, don't

greet anyone. And I believe from what I was reading

in the commentary. So it seems kind of interesting. Why

are You're like, what's up? But it seems and people

believe that it's just like, don't get distracted, don't stop

at the water cooler having conversations, not doing the work.

Get to the place I sent you to and do

the work. Right, You're on a mission, let's go. So

now Jesus is going to give them provisions for when

they do get there, what they're supposed to do. Let's

look at it, verses five through seven. When you enter

a house, first, say peace to this house. If someone

who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them.

If not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating

and drinking whatever they give you. For the worker deserves

his wages. Do not move around from house to house

like I said. These are these It's literally just instructions, right,

that's what we're reading the job description kind of the

like taskless manual for Jesus's people that he's putting on

mission and his disciples what he's sending them to do.

So he tells them to find a house to stay at,

pronounce peace to that house, and if anyone who is

there who promotes peace, then the peace stays and if not,

the peace returns. This is ultimately thought to have been

a sign of whether or not like the place that

they stayed with ended up being like with a righteous

person or not. Right, whether or not that's that peace

stayed was just kind of this sign of whether or

not that person was a righteous person or not. It

says to eat what is provided by that house, for

the worker deserves his wages, and not to go from

house to house. And here we see actually kind of

a couple of cool things. The first thing is don't

be picky for what you are provided for. So when

you show up to the house and someone does feed

you take it, don't complain. Next where it says for

the worker deserves his wages. And I think there's there's

kind of two things there where there's an aspect of

like it's okay to accept the provision and because of

what you're your work. Also it's like you don't need

to reject the blessings of others, right, So like if

someone's like, hey, thank you so much, I want to

bless you, they're like, no, no, no, I could never

take that blessing from you, you know, like you know

what I mean, Like that's it's like it's okay, like

let let it. Let you be provided for and then

to stay in one home. And really that's like, don't

go seeking better and better accommodations through the town, right, Like, oh,

the househo've that has wheat bread, but I heard the

house down the road has sour dough bread. Yeah, men's breakfast.

It was a great time. So don't go around seeking

better and better accommodations throughout the town. Go there, stay there.

And I actually, if I remember correctly, there's other places

in the New Testament that talk about false prophets and

how basically they go from house to house just like

depleting people's resources. Right, So it's kind of an interesting contrast.

Let's look at uh. Yeah, so we've seen the first

piece of which is the working conditions and provision for

the work that Jesus lays out. And now he's saying like, hey,

everything that you could need is provided for. Here's the

instructions for that. Now he's going to point or get

to the point of the mission or the heart of

the mission. And really that is the message of the mission.

Let's look at it. In verse eight and nine, when

you enter a town and are welcomed, Eat what has

offered to you, heal the sick who are there, and

tell them the Kingdom of God has come near to you.

He says to welcome, or that when welcomed to the town,

eat what's offered, heal and preach to them. And what

are they preaching. They're declaring the same message that John

the Baptist preached to the people of Israel. They're preaching

the same message that Jesus has been going around proclaiming.

That is the good news, The Kingdom of God has

come near. That's that God's promised kingdom, God's promised king

was on the scene, on the move and at work.

The time was near for God to do what he

had promised from what Yeah promised to do from long ago.

And really it was this wake up call to the people.

That's what John the Baptist did. That's what Jesus is doing.

That's what he's sending his disciples to do. It's this

wake up call. We see in the next verse what

they were to do if the town rejected them Verses

ten and eleven. But when you enter a town and

are not welcomed, go into its streets and say even

the dust of your town we wipe from our feet

as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this.

The Kingdom of God has come near here, he says.

If a town rejects you, go into the streets and

declare the sign of judgment. We saw it a couple

of weeks ago when Jesus sent out his apostles that

this wiping the dust from your sandals, which in this

case they didn't have any, or wiping the dust from

your feet, was meant to the Jewish people. Basically, let's rewind.

When you were wiping the dust from your feet, as

a Jewish person, it meant that you were coming from

a gentile land. You're coming from a gentile town or place,

and you didn't want to take any of that worldly

dirt with you back into the holy land of God's

promised people. And so to wipe off the dirt from

your feet among the villages in Israel was to treat

that town like an unbelieving, worldly, gentile town. It was

a sign of judgment against them as they rejected those

sent by God. Now they are being rejected. So next

time someone rejects you because of Christ, clap your crocs

at them, but catch this. They don't just proclaim the

sign of judgment and move on. They still preach to them,

They still declare the message. I think this is huge.

We see here the point of their remission. It wasn't

to just go visit towns or make friends or heal

or pronounce judgment, but it was to preach to the towns.

It was the same thing no matter what town rejected

or accepted, whether you're faced with reject or acceptance, they

were to preach. It's because it was an important message.

This news of the kingdom, this pronouncement of the nearness

of God's promised kingdom, was the preparation for the people

to straighten up and get ready. It's too clevent of

someone running into the classroom saying, the teachers on the

way back in the room, stop gouven off. Or maybe

your parents just got back from their date and you

guys have torn up the house and you're like, we

got thirty seconds before they get to the door. You've

been left alone. But now the people in charge are returning.

This was the opportunity for those out of line to

repent of their ways and make themselves ready and prepared

for the Lord, and for those who had been waiting

this was good news because they're like sick, we've been waiting.

We've been waiting for this the entire time. Which one

were you when your parents went away on a day?

Were the one who's like ooka wait for home, dead

to get back home, I love them, or either one

who's like I like being able to do whatever I want?

So is here the King was coming to take back

and claim his people in his kingdom. Now, those who

have been living like their own kings wouldn't like this news,

but those who had been waiting for their lord would

now be rejoicing. This is why the gospel is either

good news for some or the most dreadful news to others.

It's the news that the king is coming home. And

I don't know if you've ever seen the movie robin Hood,

specifically the Disney cartoon one. That one's definitely the best one,

one of the best ones. I don't know if you've

ever seen that movie. But in robin Hood, the scene

and the setting for the whole story is that the

rightful King has been off fighting a war, and while

he's been away, there's been those who have propped themselves

up like the true king and have started to mistreat

the people and ruin the land. And so finally, at

the end of the movie, when the King returns, those

who have been oppressed by the phony King and all

his men rejoice that they're gonna be set free. But

when the phony king hears that the True King has returned,

he hates it and he dreads it because he knows

that his time has come to an end, that he

will face judgment for his injustice and treason to the

One True King. That's why the Gospel is either the

greatest news or the most offensive news. It's offensive to

those of us who have propped up ourselves as king

of our own lives. Well, you're telling me, I'm not

the king of my own life. You tell me I

don't rule. It's offensive to those places where sin still

reigns in us. Why I have to submit that to him?

I like the other guy who was in charge. It's

offensive to those places in our life that have yet

to yield to the One True King and his rule

in his kingdom. But it's the greatest news because the

True King has returned to set us free from the

tyranny of our sin and the bondage of death. It

is good news for anyone who would believe in him.

So this message that they were proclaiming that is that

the king has come. This is also the message that

we proclaim. But now it's fully realized in the defeat

of death and sin by Jesus is death on the

cross in our place and his being raised to life

three days later, showing his victory and power over sin

and death. So he is the victorious king who can't

be held down. But now he is subjecting everything to

himself as the rightful ruler and king. And Jesus ends

their taskless with this warning to those who would reject

this message verse twelve, I tell you it will be

more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

And when Who's re Genesis, it's like who Jesus says,

for the towns that reject the king's messengers and their message,

that will be more bearable for Sodom than for that town,

which is crazy because to Israel, they knew the story

of Sodom. They knew and would have thought of them

as the most wicked of the wicked. They were so

wicked that God was like, I am kind of done

with these towns. So I'm like everyone like like, we're

just gonna rain fire. We're gonna You're not gonna find him.

We're gonna clean, We're gonna let this place. They're so

wicked that God sent fire from heaven to level it

because of their wickedness, and on that day will be

more bearable for them. It's a very intense pronouncement of

judgment for the towns that rejected this good news. But

why such intense language, Why such intense judgment. We're gonna

move to our last part of our text. You're write

down the importance of the work. The importance of the

work or the importance of the response to the work.

Both are important. So good, I'll last three verses three,

four verses. Woe too, Charisan, woe too, Bethseta for the

miracles that were performed, and you had been performed entire

a sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in

southcloth and ashes. But it'll be more bearable for tire

Asidon at the judgment than for you and you, Copernium,

Will you be lifted up to the heavens, No, you

will go down to hades. Whoever listens to you listens

to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. But whoever rejects

me rejects him who sent me. Jesus pronounces these woes

to these towns where he's been doing ministry. He's been

doing ministry in these areas, and now he pronounces the

woes to them, saying that if those other gentile towns

had received the works of Jesus' ministry, they would have repented.

In other words, those gentile, unbelieving cities would put you

to shame because they would have responded properly, whereas you haven't.

And because of it, on judgment day, it will be

more bearable for those wicked gentile cities than those cities

of Israel, that is, those cities that didn't recognize, receive,

or repent to their truth. King. He says, you may

think highly of yourself, Coprinium, but you will be brought

down in the end. Why all this judgment, really, it's

because of the seriousness of what they had done. We

see it in the last verse here verse sixteen. Whoever

listens to you, listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me.

But whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me. Jesus

finishes these instructions by telling his disciples that he was

sending that whoever listens to them listens to Jesus, but

whoever rejects those that Jesus sent not only reject Jesus,

but they reject the one who sent Jesus, that is

God the Father. And that's why this work is so important.

So why the response of others to God's work is

so important, Because how you respond to God's message and

messengers is how you respond to God. Some people think

that they can reject God's word, reject his messengers, reject

this church, and still keep Jesus. What's left, what's left

for you? They want to reject the message of Christ

and those that he sent, and they still want to

try and keep Jesus. You can't those on mission for Jesus,

those put on mission by him with his message on

their lips. If they and their message are rejected, then

it is ultimately God the Father and God the Son,

the Lord Jesus Christ who has been rejected. That's why

this is so serious. That's why this is this work

is so important, not because the workers are important, but

because the message from the one they work for is

most important. They've been given a very intense, serious job.

It's an amazing job, a beautiful job, but it's very

very important. And if the King's representatives or they were

the messengers, they are the ambassadors sent ahead of the

coming king to make ready the people for the king,

the King who is coming. And now we we like them,

are the messengers. We are the ambassadors sent ahead of

the coming king to make ready the people for his return.

And if the king's representatives are rejected, then how much

more are they going to reject the king? So why

for anyone who hasn't put their faith in the good

news of Jesus needs to understand the weight of the

news being declared to them. The King is coming, and

he will either save you when he returns, or he

will judge you for your treason, as you've propped yourself

up as a king of your own life. Life, your

life truly belongs to him. So what are our prayer,

our hope is is the surrender? Surrender, Put down your arms,

stop your treason and believe in the one who can

save your soul from judgment. Stop opposing the true King.

And here's what's really beautiful. Here's what's beautiful about the gospel.

It's that the true King took the judgment that was

due your treason and sin. That's what's beautiful about the gospel.

That the True King took the judgment that was due

your treason and sin and suffered in your place, and

has promised that for all who believe in him, he

would give them the crown of life and make them

co errs with him in his coming kingdom. This is

such good news. I've never heard of a king like that.

This is an incredible king. Is the greatest act. That

the true King went from riches to rags, so that

those who believe in him would go from filthy rags

to glorious riches in him. And for those of us

who have put our faith in this good news, this

is too good of news to keep to ourselves. There's

a harvest out there, God's harvest, and we, as his

redeemed people, have been put on mission with him to

go before him to be helpers of his harvest and

bringing it in or bringing them in. So you say

it with me, I'm a helper in the harvest. Now

here's the deal. We talked about the outcome of that

work earlier not relying on you. And that's because it's

not on you to save anyone. Understand that it's not

on you to save anyone. You try as you might,

can't change anyone's mind, but you can share the news

that does have the power to change hearts and save lives.

I'm gonna say that again. You can't save anyone, but

you can share the news that can save them. We

know that God has lost sheep out there. We know

that God has people out there who he has already

started to work the ground on and we have the

privilege of being a part of that work. We don't

know who they are, We don't get to decide who

they are, but they are out there waiting to be found,

waiting to hear the news that will change their life

forever like it did for you, like it did for me.

And God, by his grace, has us as his helpers

in this. He's brought us on mission with him. He

doesn't need our help. But it's cool that we're going

to be a part of the greatest miracle ever seeing

someone raised from spiritual death to spiritual life. We get

to share that news with them. Paul talks of this

great work, that we're ambassadors representatives of the Lord most High,

the God of reconciliation, that we are to bring this

good news to the lost and dying world in desperate

need of true hope. And we shouldn't dare keep this

to ourselves. I need the band to come up. Please.

It's so good to tewo Corinthians two fourteen through seventeen.

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as

captives in Christ's triumphal procession and uses us to spread

the aroma of the knowledge of Him everywhere. It's beautiful.

We are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among

those who are being saved and those who are perishing.

To the one, we are in aroma that brings death

to the other, and aroma that brings life. And who

is equal to such a task. Unlike so many, we

do not peddle the word of God for prophet. On

the contrary, in Christ, we speak before God with sincerity

as those sent from God. We who have been saved

by the King, We who have been rescued by the

True King from our sin and bondage, are now a

part of the parade and procession to spread the news

of salvation and the way of salvation to those who

would submit and yield to the True King. The great

Christian work of evangelism to declare the light in the

way of hope to a lost in dying world. And

I don't know if you guys know this. The world's

pretty lost, the world's dying. It is not doing well.

Our King is our Lord is we have the only

thing that can provide hope and peace. It's great Christian

work of evangelism to declare the light and the way

of hope to a lost and dying world. With the

promise of redemption and hope for anyone who puts their

faith in Jesus is too important not to share. So

look at Two Corinthians five seventeen. This is a classic

Christian ambassador text says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,

the new creation has come, the old has gone, the

new is here. All this is from God who reconciled

us to himself through Christ and gave us the Minute

of Reconciliation. That God was reconciling the world to himself

in Christ, not counting people's sins against them, and he

has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are

therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal

through us. We employ you on Christ's behalf. Be reconciled

to God. That's what we're saying. That's what we're bringing

to the world. The King is on his way. Are

you ready? The King is ready, He's going to be here.

Are you reconciled with him? Yet? What do you mean

reconciled with him? You don't know. We're not doing good.

We've committed treason against this king. With so much of

my breath, either blasphemis I live for myself. I prop

myself up as king the good news. The God made

him who had no sin, to be sin for us,

so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

As God's co workers. We urge you not to receive

God's grace in vain, for he says, in the time

of my favor I heard you, and in the day

of salvation I helped you. I tell you, now is

the time of God's favor. Now is the day of salvation.

My prayer is that we as a church would be

known as helpers in the harvest, as those who are

on mission for the Lord, the true King, preparing his

way those who have a passion for finding and bringing

in those the Lord is saving to himself, not so

that we would get glory as a church, but that

we would rejoice and give glory to God to see

that our lives are not wasted in vain. We see

him use us as a church for his good purposes.

What more could we ask? What more could we want

than for it to see him use us for his purposes,

not set ourselves up as king we're back to treason.

That every Sunday when we gather to worship the King,

that this is a place filled with rejoicing because of

the great salvation he has brought, and where we grow

to look more like him and to be continuously equipped

for this work, for his work, until the day that

he returns. To say it with me, I'm a helper

in the harvest, and there's work to be done. To friends,

there is to be done. The Lord has made it

clear that he will provide what we need, that we

are to share the good news with everyone, and that

it's a work too important to neglect. So this week,

as we know that there's work to be done, I

pray that he uses you, he uses me. He uses

us as a church to bring the light of the

Gospel and prepare the way for him to change the

lives of those around us. Amen, would you guys please

name