1.     Luke 9:51 says, “And it came to pass, when the time was come that He should be received up, He stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.”  This means our Lord was getting closer to the cross. 

2.     With unfaltering courage and determination, our Lord pressed on – “He stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” (9:51).

3.     The climax of His mission would soon be realized.  Here in Luke 4, we are in the shadow of the cross.

4.     Along their way to Jerusalem, our Lord and His disciples were to pass through a Samaritan village.   This particular village proved to be inhospitable and unfriendly to our Lord.

5.     To properly understand the background to this passage of Scripture, one must know something of the history of the Samaritan people.

6.     For hundreds of years there was hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans.  The Samaritans were descended from the Assyrians and other heathen nations that had invaded the northern kingdom of Israel and intermarried with the Israelites.

7.     Because they were descended from the Israelites, the Samaritans still retained some traces of the true faith, but since they were also descended from the heathen, they mixed the true worship of Jehovah with heathenism (cf. II Kings 17:24-33; John 4:19-26).

8.     The Samaritans were superstitious and idolatrous, proud and bigoted.  This is why they were unwilling to receive Jesus as the Messiah (Luke 9:52, 53).  They did not like the fact that our Lord was heading toward Jerusalem (9:51, 53).  Why Jerusalem?

9.     These Samaritans felt slighted.  Harry Ironside wrote, “Realizing that (our Lord) was not going to settle down among them as their teacher, but was extending His ministry to those whom the Samaritan hated, they in turn vented their spite upon Him by refusing Him entertainment.”

10. James and John were offended at the attitude of the Samaritans.  They wanted our Lord to send fire from heaven down on the heads of these inhospitable Samaritans (Luke 9:54).

11. But our Lord rebuked these two disciples (9:55).   He said, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.  For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them” (9:55, 56).

12. John and James’ had it backwards!  Our Lord did not come to earth to destroy men’s lives.  He came to save their souls. 

13. I would like for us to focus on our Lord’s words in Luke 9:55 – “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.”   These are sobering words.  These men were traveling with our Lord every day for three years.  And yet they still misunderstood His mission. 

14. And they still did not know themselves.

15. You may have heard about the funeral protests of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas.   The pastor’s name is Fred Phelps, and apparently most of the members of his small congregation are related (his children and grandchildren, etc.).  They stand out in front of the funeral with signs saying, “THANK GOD FOR IEDs” (improvised explosive devices, i.e. “booby traps”), and “THANK GOD FOR DEAD SOLDIERS.”  That is sick.

16. If our Lord rebuked James and John, what do you think He would say to these funeral protesters?  They were even planning on protesting the funeral service of the young Amish girls recently murdered in PA.

17. Beloved, this is the age of grace.  It is characterized by grace, not vindictiveness.   Galatians 5:22 and 23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

           Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

18. Before moving on, let me say this.  The apostle John was rebuked by our Lord (9:55) but he learned his lesson. 

19. And now for nearly 2,000 years, John has been known as the “apostle of love.”  Interestingly, John later returned to Samaria and preached the Gospel there (cf. Acts 8:14, 25).

1. THE SPIRIT OF COMPASSION
2. THE SPIRIT OF SACRIFICE
3. THE SPIRIT OF OBEDIENCE

I. THE SPIRIT OF COMPASSION

1.     James and John wanted to see fire come down on the heads of the Samaritans.  They lacked compassion on these lost souls.  But Jesus had compassion on them (Luke 9:55, 56).

2.     W. Graham Scroggie, in his book, A Guide to the Gospels, wrote that the Gospel of Luke is the “Gospel of sympathy especially for the outcast; sympathy, not for sin, but with the sinner...Jesus has pity for all who are in need, and Luke illustrates this by recording that the boy of Nain was the only son of his mother (7:12); that the ‘little maid’ of Jairus was his only daughter (8:42); and that the lunatic boy was the father’s only son (9:38).

3.     “In this Gospel Jesus is the Good Shepherd seeking lost sheep, and the Good Samaritan caring for wayside victims” (p. 368).

4.     We need the compassion of Christ.  But all too often we react like James and John.  Sometimes when a person slams the door in my face I am tempted to react like James and John – “Sons of Thunder” (cf. Mark 3:17).

5.     It is not a coincidence that in the very next chapter of Luke we find the parable of the Good Samaritan (cf. Luke 10:33).

6.     The “certain lawyer” attempted to justify himself, and asked Jesus: “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29).  Our Lord answered him with this beautiful parable (10:30-37).

7.     Beloved, we are surrounded by multitudes of lost sinners – desperate sinners, wicked sinners, hard sinners, confused sinners, religious sinners, haughty sinners, poor sinners, affluent sinners, young sinners, and old sinners.  We need the compassion of Christ.

8.     The Bible says, “And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them” (Matthew 14:14).

9.     I remember driving down the highway into Brooklyn one night with a pastor from California.  As we drove all we could see on both our right and our left were huge apartment buildings.  I said to the preacher: “Whenever I see these big buildings I am reminded of the Scripture, “And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them” (Matt. 14:14).  The preacher said he himself often felt the same way.

10. How do you feel when you drive down the busy streets of NYC and LI?  How do you feel when you see people packed into subway cars like sardines in a can? 

11. We certainly have a great multitude of lost sinners right here in the NYC area.  May we have compassion on them!  May we see them as the Lord Jesus sees them!  May we have a burden for lost souls heading toward eternity in hell!

12. Oftentimes we hear Christians joke and say they have been memorizing Scripture.  Then they say they have memorized John 11:35.   What is John 11:35?

13. “Jesus wept.”   Well, it may be the shortest verse in the Bible but it is not the least important!  Jesus wept because death has passed upon all men, “for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12).

14. Jesus wept.  We need the compassion of Jesus.  Psalm 126:6 says, “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”

15. But instead of weeping, oftentimes we would rather send fire down on sinners’ heads (Luke 9:54).

16. But our Lord rebuked James and John, and said, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.  For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them” (Luke 9:55, 56).

17. Luke 19:10 says, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

18. John 3:17 says, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

19. John 5:34 says, “These things I say, that ye might be saved.”

20. John 12:47 says, “For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.”

21. Before moving on, let me add this: not all Christians want to send down fire upon sinners.  However, many still lack compassion.  Many Christians do not have a passion for souls.  They ignore the vast multitudes of sinners that surround them. 

22. Or they do not ignore them, but they never witness to them. 

23. When the apostle Paul came to Athens, Acts 17:16 says, “his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry.”

24. Is your spirit stirred when you see all of the idolatry here in NY?  The statues of Mary, the Hindu flags, the Muslim mosques, the Jewish temples, and the JW’s all over the place?

25. The saloons, the liquor stores, the nightclubs, the topless bars, the smut stores, and so on.  Is your spirit stirred?  Is your heart broken?

II. THE SPIRIT OF SACRIFICE (LUKE 9:57, 58).

1.     There are precious few Christians these days who have the spirit of sacrifice.  We have our monthly “Sacrificial Sunday” and many members do not participate.

2.     Many do not even tithe or give to missions.  Several members told me that our missions conference was a blessing but it bothered them that some members stayed home.

3.     To be frank, some Christians do not want to hear about missions and stewardship and sacrificial giving.  There is a spirit of materialism and a spirit of covetousness that has crept into many churches and it has a deadening effect on the Gospel ministry.

4.     Bro. Cloud mentioned a few churches that gave generously to missions, and God poured out His blessings.  We have heard other missionaries give similar testimonies (cf. Luke 6:38).

5.     Our Lord is saying to this “certain man” in Luke 9:57 (and to all of us gathered here today), “Do you really understand what it means to follow me?”

6.     We sing, “Follow, follow, I would follow Jesus” but do we really mean it? 

7.     Following Jesus may mean forsaking many of the comforts and conveniences of life.  It may mean moving half way around the world to be a missionary (Luke 9:57, 58).

III. THE SPIRIT OF OBEDIENCE (LUKE 9:59-62).

1.     Let me stress that there are many things in this life (family ties, friends, job, etc.) that are good in themselves but if they are in competition with God they are wrong.

2.     God wants complete obedience, not partial obedience.

3.     Oftentimes people put their family before God, and that is wrong (cf. Luke 14:25-27; Scofield notes – p. 1096).

4.     “Looking back” (Luke 9:62) can be fatal.   Many of the Israelites looked back to Egypt and died in the wilderness.   Lot’s wife looked back and she became a pillar of salt.

5.     That is why our Lord said in Luke 17:32, “Remember Lot's wife.  Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.”

6.     Procrastination is a form of disobedience (Luke 9:61, 62).   They say, “He who hesitates is lost,” and this is certainly true in the spiritual realm (cf. Acts 24:24, 25; 26:27, 28).

CONCLUSION:

1.     Do you remember what happened in Luke 4 when our Lord visited the synagogue in Nazareth?  Luke 4:18, 19 says He read these words from Isaiah 61:2, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

2.     Then the Bible says our Lord “closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down” (Luke 4:20).

3.     If you compare this passage in Luke 4 with Isaiah 61:2 you will notice that our Lord stopped before He got to “the day of vengeance of our God” (Isa. 61:2).

4.     Why did He do that?  Because we are now living in the dispensation of grace, not the day of vengeance.   But soon the “day of vengeance of our God” will commence.  Thank God, it has not arrived yet.

5.     In the meantime we must do everything we can to proclaim the Gospel and warn sinners.  Because soon this age of grace will come to an end (cf. II Thess. 1:7-9).