INTRODUCTION:

1. The number seventy was a popular number among the Jews. According to Genesis 46:27 and Exodus 1:5, the family of Jacob that came into Egypt consisted of seventy.
2. The number of elders that Moses appointed to assist him was seventy (Numbers 11:24, 25).
3. The number which composed the great Sanhedrim, or council of the nation Israel, was seventy.
4. Peter asked our Lord, "How oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven" (Matthew 18:21, 22).
5. Albert Barnes said, "It is not improbable that our Saviour appointed this number with reference to the fact that it so often occurred among the Jews, or after the example of Moses, who appointed seventy to aid him in his work; but it is evident that the office was temporary -- that it had a specific design --and of course that it would be improper to attempt to find now a continuation, of it, or a parallel to it, in the Christian ministry."
6. The key words here in verse 1 are not "other seventy" (10:1). The key words are "the LORD appointed" them, "and sent them."

1. THEY WERE APPOINTED BY THE LORD
2. THEY WERE INSTRUCTED BY THE LORD
3. THEY WERE WARNED OF OPPOSITION BY THE LORD

 

I. THEY WERE APPOINTED BY THE LORD

1. The word "other" (10:1) tells us these seventy men are distinct from the twelve apostles.
2. There was much wisdom in sending them out "two and two" (10:1).
3. Ecclesiastes 4:9-11 says, "Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?"
4. Albert Barnes said our Lord sent them out two and two "that they might aid one another by mutual counsel, and that they might sustain and comfort one another in their persecutions and trials."
5. One of the most important teachings of our Lord is found here in Luke 10:2 -- "The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few..."
6. Matthew 9:37 and 38 says, "The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest."
7. Our Lord said in John 4:35, “Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”
8. Consider our Lord’s words. If the fields were white unto harvest back then, they surely are white unto harvest now.
9. The great evangelist, John R. Rice said, “the trouble is not with the circumstances, the sinners, the world, but with the church, the people of God.”
10. Another great preacher, W. Graham Scroggie, said: “Are not most Christians guilty of a criminal ignorance of the world’s need of Christ?”
11. I heard a preacher say, “We complain that sinners are too hard, but the problem is that we are too hard.” He was right.
12. Consider the compassion of Jesus. Luke 19:41 says, “And when He was come near, He beheld the city (Jerusalem), and wept over it.”
13. Do we weep over this wicked city of New York? With all of its sin and shame. The Psalmist wrote, “Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law” (Psalm 119:136). That is compassion.
14. And, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:5, 6).
15. In Matthew 28:19, our Lord said, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
16. Our Lord said “Go” but most Christians aren’t going anywhere. Most Christians won’t even walk across the street to give a sinner a tract.
17. In Mark 16:15, 16, our Lord said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”
18. Our Lord said, “Go” but not too many are going. The field is ripe for the harvest, but Christians are avoiding the field.
19. I am not referring specifically to the foreign mission field. Our Lord said in Matthew 13:38, “The field is the world.” The NYC area is a mission field.
20. We have millions of lost sinners right here in our backyard.

 

II. THEY WERE INSTRUCTED BY THE LORD (10:2-9)

1. The instructions begin with going and praying (10:1, 2).
2. Sinners are heading towards eternity in hell. Who will warn them? Who will protect them from the wolves? (cf. Luke 10:2, 3).
3. Our Lord said, “The labourers are few” (10:2). It is sad that pastors have to beg Christians to help out around the church, to come back on Sunday night, to support the prayer meeting, to tithe, to contribute to missions, to go out soulwinning, etc.
4. Our Lord said, “The labourers are few” (10:2). Do you recall that our Lord gave specific instructions in Acts 1:8? The disciples were not to stay in Jerusalem. They were to spread out into “all Judea,” and then move up into Samaria, and finally “unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
5. But the disciples did not leave Jerusalem. They were comfortable. They did not want to leave their so-called “comfort zone.”
6. So what happened? They were persecuted and the Lord moved them (cf. Acts 8:1-4).
7. Many of us remember how churches were packed the Sunday after September 11, 2001. But soon things went back to normal.
8. The spiritual condition in America today is far worse than it was on September 11, 2001. We have to look at the world the way Jesus looks at the world. It is a world full of people slipping into hell.
9. One preacher said our Lord “saw not only humanity, but the devil and his angels; He saw not only the saved, but the souls that were torn and frightened by ten thousand evil spirits, darkening the day with black, bat-like wings that shut out the very sun” (WA Criswell, Expository Notes on the Gospel of Matthew).
10. That is a rather picturesque way to describe the spiritual battle we face. Notice the contrast: "great harvest" and "few laborers."
11. Our Lord has instructed us to pray for the Lord of the harvest (10:2). A.J. Gordon said, "You can do more than pray after you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray until you have prayed."
12. Evan Roberts was in the middle of the great Welsh revival in 1904 and 1905. He said, "God wants a thing done; God moves a believer to pray that it may be done; and then God does it in answer to that prayer."
13. Great book on this -- Working With God Through Prayer by D. Edmond Hiebert.
14. God "sends" (10:1, 3). Mildly as lambs to show gentleness (10:3).
15. We are to expect opposition from "wolves" (10:3).
16. We are to travel light (10:4). We must not salute any men we see along the way (10:4; cf. 9:61, 62).
17. Greetings in our Lord's day tended to be complicated and time-consuming. However, this does not mean we are not to be polite (10:5).
18. Application: while out knocking on doors, some believers like to socialize. While we are always encouraged by kind greetings and words of encouragement, we must always keep in mind our purpose -- to win souls.
19. "Peace" (Shalom) is a popular Jewish greeting, and it characterizes the Gospel message we proclaim (10:5, 6).
20. "As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" (Romans 10:15).
21. Peace is available for those willing to accept the Gospel. But those who reject the Gospel there is no peace. Isaiah 48:22 says, "There is no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked."
22. Isaiah 57:20 and 21 says, "But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."
23. "It (your peace) shall turn to you again" (10:6b) means that "your peace shall not come upon the house that rejects Christ.
24. This is the only reference in Scripture to the term "the son of peace" (10:6). Albert Barnes said it "means one disposed to peace, or peaceful and kind in his disposition."
25. Our Lord said in Luke 10:7, "Go not from house to house." This does not mean, "Go not from house to house proclaiming the Gospel," but "Go not from house to house eating and drinking" (cf. 10:7, 8).
26. In his commentary, Albert Barnes quotes a Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book, vol. i. p. 534): "The reason [for the command, 'Go not from house to house'] is very obvious to one acquainted with Oriental customs. When a stranger arrives in a village or an encampment, the neighbours, one after another, must invite him to eat with them. There is a strict etiquette about it, involving much ostentation and hypocrisy, and a failure in the due observance of this system of hospitality is violently resented, and often leads to alienations and feuds among neighbours; it also consumes much time, causes unusual distraction of mind, leads to levity, and every way counteracts the success of a spiritual mission."
27. Throughout the Gospels, we see that our Lord and His disciples healed the sick as they proclaimed the Gospel (10:9). The emphasis is always on the spiritual needs of men, but we are not to overlook their physical needs.
28. "The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you" (10:9). It was near but they had to believe the Gospel. Our Lord told Nicodemus, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).

 

III. THEY WERE WARNED OF OPPOSITION BY THE LORD

1. Our Lord repeatedly warned His disciples of opposition (10:10-13). The Jews taught that the dust of the Gentiles was impure, and was to be shaken off. "Wipe off" the dust of your feet (10:11) means these unbelievers passed up their opportunity to get saved.
2. Barnes said, "We do wipe (the dust) off against you" means our Lord and His disciples regarded opponents of the Gospel "as impure, profane, and paganish, and that they declined any further connection with them" (cf. Acts 13:51; 18:6).
3. "But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom..." (10:12). God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as the neighboring cities of Admah and Zeboim. They were destroyed by fire and brimstone on account of their great wickedness.
4. Our Lord said that their punishment will be "more tolerable” (10:12), that is, not as severe, than that of the people who reject his gospel.
5. The people of Sodom were not favored with as much more light and instruction (cf. Luke 12:47, 48; Matthew 11:23, 24).
6. In the Bible, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is often referred to as a warning of divine vengeance, and as sure proof that the wicked shall not go unpunished (cf. II Peter 2:6; Jude 7).
7. Sadly these warnings are ignored today, and most people do not read the Bible. Some "liberal Christians" twist the Bible and teach that these warnings have nothing to do with homosexuality.
8. Matthew Henry said, "The Sodomites indeed rejected the warning given them by Lot; but rejecting the gospel is a more heinous crime, and will be punished accordingly in...the day of judgment (Luke 10:14).
9. These cities, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, upbraided by our Lord here in Luke 10 and in Matthew 11, had been blessed by the personal presence of our Lord. The people in these cities had heard Him preach and had seen His mighty miracles.
10. But despite their great privileges and advantages they rejected Christ, and refused to believe in Him. And so today Chorazin and Bethsaida are two big piles of rocks (Luke 10:13, 14).
11. Capernaum (10:15) was our Lord's adopted home town. In Matthew 9:1 it is called "His own city." Capernaum was "exalted to heaven," but because they rejected Christ they were "thrust down to hell."
12. Those who "hear" and believe will be honored, but Christ-rejecters will be judged (10:16).

 

CONCLUSION:

1. These warnings in Luke 10 remind us there are different degrees of punishment in hell, just as there are different rewards in heaven.
2. The greater the privilege the greater the responsibility.
3. For example, consider the great privileges of Judas Iscariot. Referring to the treachery of Judas, our Lord said to Pontius Pilate, "he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin" (John 19:11).
4. Cf. Luke 12:47, 48; 20:46, 47.
5. I will close with a statement by a great preacher from the past, W.G.T. Shedd, who said: "The rejection of the doctrine of Endless Punishment cuts the ground from under the gospel. Salvation supposes a prior damnation. He who denies that he deserves eternal death cannot be saved from it so long as he persists in his denial."