Take Care How You Listen – Part 1
Luke 8:4-21 (4-10)
June 24, 2018

This morning as we continue on in Luke’s gospel we come across
A story that I think most in here are familiar with.

Those of you who have been attending here for many years should be very familiar with it since it is one of my favorites, and one that we have referenced many times.

Most of the time when we have studied this parable we have studied Matthew’s version.

• Matthew 13 lists several parables of the kingdom and this is the first in that list.
• From Matthew’s perspective this parable is used to explain why not everyone enters the kingdom of heaven.
• From Matthew’s perspective this parable is a very encouraging parable to anyone who has grown frustrated in their evangelistic efforts.
• It explains that the problem with unbelief is not the fault of the preacher, nor is it the fault of the message, it is the fault of the evil human heart that will not receive it.
• And so Matthew seems to take much encouragement in the ministry from this parable.

Luke however, hears this parable
And he picks up on a tremendous WARNING for the people.

And that warning is simple.
It is recorded down in verse 18, “So take care how you listen”

That is what this entire section in Luke’s gospel is about.
It is a sermon on the importance of listening,
And more specifically of listening to what God has to say.

And from the time God began to reveal His word to His people
The warning has been the same. Be careful to listen to it.

Moses warned the children of Israel.
Deuteronomy 8:1-3 “All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to give to your forefathers. “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.”

• Perhaps you remember our Lord quoting that verse during His temptation in the wilderness.
• It was the reminder from Moses that nothing is as valuable as the word of God.
• You can live without bread, but you cannot live without God’s word.

We talked about this in our study of SOLA SCRIPTURA several months ago, but you must understand that GOD DWELLS BEYOND US.

If God put man on the earth, but determined not to speak
Then man would know very little of God.

Certainly we would have the knowledge of GENERAL REVELATION
That is to say there are some things you can learn about God simply from creation.
• Creation teaches that there is a creator (it came from somewhere)
• Creation teaches that there is a sustainer (someone keeps it going)
• Creation teaches grace (David saw this in Psalms 8 when he couldn’t figure
why God would give such care and preeminence to humans)
• Creation teaches the power of God (thunderstorm)

General revelation can certainly teach you some things about God.

BUT GENERAL REVELATION CANNOT TEACH YOU
HOW TO PLEASE GOD OR HOW TO KNOW GOD.

To know that, God would have to tell us.
He would have to choose to make His will known.

This is what we call SPECIAL REVELATION, and it is when God speaks.
I would certainly remind you that apart from this you could not know God.
• You could not travel far enough…
• You could not swim deep enough…
• You could not fly high enough…
• You could not look inwardly enough…
• To ever know anything about what God desires if God did not tell you.

That teaches us to value any time God chooses to make His will known.
We should listen when God speaks,
And we should listen to everything God has to say.

Well certainly in our day we are speaking about the Scripture.
God speaks to us in the Bible.
Listening to that should be our greatest priority.

Now, in Jesus’ day, God was incarnate among them.
And that means that not only did they have the Old Testament,
But they also had Jesus speaking directly to them.

Listening is of the utmost importance.

And that is what Jesus is going to teach them here in Luke 8.
Now we certainly will not get through the entire text this morning,
But we are going to begin.

We can break the entire passage down into 5 points.
#1 THE PARABLE GIVEN
Luke 8:4-8

First we recognize the context.
(4) “When a large crowd was coming together, and those from the various cities were journeying to Him, He spoke by way of a parable:”

We see that Jesus is again faced with an enormous gathering of people.
• Matthew’s gospel indicates that again the crowd was so big that Jesus got in a boat and pushed away from land.

What you have is a tremendous opportunity
To give the message that the masses most need to hear.

Think about that for a second.
Put aside fears of public speaking and all of that, let’s just assume everyone in here is a great orator.

Now, if you were given an opportunity to speak to a massive crowd.
They are going to fill up United Spirit Arena and you get to address the crowd, WHAT IS THE MESSAGE YOU ARE GOING TO GIVE?

What is it that you think the world most needs to hear?

Well, this is that message from Jesus,
He takes the opportunity to issue a very solemn warning to this crowd.

But the PECULIAR thing is that,
“He spoke by way of a parable:”

And here it is.
(5-8) “The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled under foot and the birds of the air ate it up. “Other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. “Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out. “Other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great.” As He said these things, He would call out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Jesus gathers a massive crowd and the first thing He does
Is give them a lesson on farming.

Only it’s really not even a lesson on how to be a better farmer,
It’s really more of an observation about the struggles of farming.

• He doesn’t tell them how to be more efficient…
• He doesn’t tell them the secret to better crops…
He really just tells the people that farming is difficult
Because there are some very real obstacles.

We hear the story related as 4 different soil types.

We first listen to THE HARDENED SOIL
(5) “The sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell beside the road, and it was trampled under food and the birds of the air ate it up.”

Today we have high-tech planters that are pulled by GPS guided tractors
So that the farmer puts the seed exactly where he wants it
And at the desired depth.

But in Jesus day it was slightly less technical.
They went out with a bag of seed slung over their shoulder
And they scattered the seed out on the ground.

Inevitably some of that seed landed on the walking path.

• Walking paths are kind of a lost concept in our day too because everyone drives everywhere, but in a culture where everyone walks, there are literally paths cutting everywhere because everyone walks as the crow flies.

• I remember in college they used to put up yellow cords with stakes all over the place because college students were notorious about cutting across the grass if it would save 5 steps and before long paths where cut all through the grass.

Well that’s what happened in a field.
People were always walking through the middle of it.
(Remember Jesus’ disciples walking through that field and picking the heads of grain?)

Well when sowing some of that seed fell on that walking path
• And it either got trampled and ruined.
• Or if it set there long enough the birds would eat it.

And every farmer listening to Jesus would say, “That’s right”

And then Jesus moved on to THE ROCKY SOIL.
(6) “Other seed fell on rocky soil, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.”

This doesn’t speak so much to soil with a lot of rocks in it, though that could be the case, it speaks more of SHALLOW SOIL WITH A BEDROCK UNDERNEATH IT.

I’ve got a layer of bricks in my backyard by the door that someone put there years ago. Dirt covers them now, but grass doesn’t grow well there because there is no depth of soil and there isn’t much water to be had.

Well sometimes that happened to farmer as well.
The soil looked ok, it was just shallow.
Getting the seed to sprout wasn’t the problem, getting it to last was.
• There wasn’t enough moisture to be had
• When it got hot or dry, the plant that once came up withered and died.

And again every farmer listening would say, “That’s right, it’s happened to me.”

And then Jesus moved on to THE WEEDY SOIL.
(7) “Other seed fell among the thorns; and the thorns grew up with it and choked it out.”

And every farmer knew about this one too.
It’s NOT that they deliberately planted in the weeds,
But let a rain come and you’ll discover weeds you didn’t even know you had.

Our land here was virtually goat-head free in May,
But give us a few rains in June and we found out that they’re everywhere.

That happened to this farmer too.
• That soil already had a seed in it, which he didn’t see,
• When the rain came that weed grew and choked out his crop.

And again every farmer knew exactly what He was talking about.

And then the final scenario is THE GOOD SOIL.
(8) “Other seed fell into the good soil, and grew up, and produced a crop a hundred times as great.”

And of course by “good soil” he meant that
It wasn’t HARD, it wasn’t SHALLOW, and it wasn’t filled with WEEDS.

So this seed was able to take root and grow
And produce the fruit that the farmer intended whenever he planted it.

AND SO JESUS GIVES A FARMING STORY.

And then comes the sermon.
(8b) “He would call out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

It is a peculiar sermon to say the least.
• For one it doesn’t explain what the farming story meant…
• It’s really even kind of difficult to see what it has to do with the story at all…
• And beyond that, there is no subject of reference…

That is to say Jesus tells them “to hear”
But He doesn’t tell them what they should hear.

In short, He gets this massive crowd together,
Gives them a story about the realities of farming
And then the only sermon is,
“Do you have ears? Then you should use them.”

I saw a Facebook video this week of Chris Pratt giving advice to a younger generation. He called it 9 rules to live by.
• The first was: Breathe, if you don’t you’ll suffocate

And everyone says, “Yeah, that’s obvious”

Well, listen to what Jesus said, it wasn’t a whole lot different.
“You have ears, use them”

And that’s it.
Simon Peter close us in prayer.

And there is no record anywhere that the crowd in general
Had a problem with this.

Certainly in our day we know that people would be fine with a sermon like that so long as it was short and a little funny.

THE DISCIPLES HOWEVER WERE PERPLEXED.
First, they were confused why Jesus would give such a cryptic message to the crowd.

Matthew 13:10 “And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

It must have seemed like a wasted preaching opportunity.

But more than that, they were confused because
They didn’t know what the parable meant either.

And that brings us to our second point.

The Parable Given
#2 THE PARABLE QUESTIONED
Luke 8:9-10

So we see that the disciples are digging a little deeper.
• They didn’t get it.
• They didn’t know what He was driving at.
• They understood the farming analogy, but not the point.

So…
(9) “His disciples began questioning Him as to what this parable meant.”

And I think we can widen the scope here to more than just the twelve when Luke says “disciples”. Up in verse 1 Luke referred to them as “the twelve” so the fact that Luke calls them “disciples” here seems to indicate that it’s more than just them who are curious.

What they are is the people in the crowd
Who care enough about what Jesus has to say
That they aren’t going to leave until they understand it.

Let me give you a modern day equivalent.
Daily Bible reading.
• You open your Bible to the daily passage read it, but don’t understand it.
• You don’t know what God means, or what the point is.

Do you say “Oh well” and close your Bible, check it off the list, and go on your way?
Or do you stop, pray, and ask God, “God, I don’t get this, would you help me understand?”

WELL THERE’S THE DIFFERENCE.
• Some in this crowd would come to hear Jesus, but rather or not they understood anything didn’t matter to them.
• And then there were some who did value what Jesus had to say and so when they didn’t understand they were motivated to ask about it.

AND JESUS GIVES THOSE INQUISITIVE DISCIPLES AN ANSWER.

(10) “And He said, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in parables, so that SEEING THEY MAY NOT SEE, AND HEARING THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND.”

Jesus addresses the group that digs deeper, and what does He tell them?

“To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God”
Ok, I’ll tell you

WHY?
• Because they were more worthy…No
• Because they were more intelligent…No

Why? Because they wanted to know.
• And they were willing to stay a little longer and push a little deeper if that’s what it took to gain understanding of what the Lord meant.

Very early on after I was saved I ran across a passage
That dictated how I was going to read the Bible.

Proverbs 2:1-6 “My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.”

What Solomon taught there is that there is tremendous wisdom and knowledge and understanding to be had from the Lord.

But there are prerequisites to gaining it.
• You must “receive” it.
• You must “treasure” it.
• You must listen to it or “make your ear attentive”
• You must meditate on it or “incline your heart to understanding”
• You must greatly desire it or “cry for discernment”
• You must ask for it or “lift your voice for understanding”
• You must value it or “seek her as silver”

And then you will gain what you seek.

Point being, gaining the truth of God
Goes way beyond just reading it and closing your Bible.

At times one must wrestle with God about it.
The phrase I use is “hammer at the rock”
(That’s why Sunday school teachers learn so much, they’re forced to wrestle)

WELL THAT’S THESE PEOPLE HERE.
• They weren’t content with a farming story they didn’t understand
• So they decided to stay behind while everyone else went to Dairy Queen
• To see if the Lord might explain it a little deeper.

And the Lord agreed.
“To you it has been granted”

MIGHT I REMIND YOU that the only way we understand the truth of God
Is if God grants us the privilege of understanding it?

1 Corinthians 2:11 “For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.”

You can’t understand God’s thoughts unless God grants you insight to it.

In fact Paul goes on to say:
1 Corinthians 2:14 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”

And that’s the point.
The only way you understand the truth
Is if God grants you the right to understand it.

And He doesn’t grant that right to people who won’t listen.
For all those who aren’t worried that they don’t understand it.
“but to the rest it is in parables”

MOST PEOPLE ASSUME that the parables of Jesus were like modern day illustrations. They think Jesus gave them to make the truth easier to understand.

• That’s not true.
• Jesus did not speak in parables to reveal the truth.
• Jesus spoke in parables to conceal the truth.

Illustrations only work as an aid if the truth is first articulated.

If I come up to you out of the blue and say, “It’s like watching a blind-folded monkey shoot a bow and arrow with his feet while riding a merry-go-round.”

Now, just by saying that, you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about.
Unless I first say, “Have you ever seen Lance play golf?”

Illustrations aren’t helpful until you have the point they illustrate.
Jesus here gave the parable, but not the truth behind it.

AND HE DID SO THAT HE MIGHT CONCEAL THE TRUTH.

In fact, He even gives a Scripture reference.
“so that SEEING THEY MAY NOT SEE, AND HEARING THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND.”

To put it another way, here is what Jesus just said.
• I gave the truth to them hidden in a parable
• So that they would be accountable for having heard the truth,
• But also so that they wouldn’t understand the truth they were given.

Wow!
Now, on the surface that might sound cruel or even counterproductive to what we assume the ministry of Jesus should be.

But let’s dig a little, especially into that passage Jesus quoted, and see if we can’t understand a little more why He gave the truth in such a cryptic fashion.

TURN TO: Isaiah 6
• Of course you recognize Isaiah 6 as that famous chapter of Isaiah’s commissioning.
• He saw the Lord.
• He repented.
• He volunteered for service with the famous, “Here am I, send me”

Then came the Lord’s mission, to which he was assigned.
(READ Vs. 9-10)

That is the same passage Jesus just quoted.
• It was a commission, not to enlighten men, but rather to prove their ignorance.
• It was a commission, not to educate men, but rather to bind them under condemnation.

And Isaiah understood the difficult nature.

Look at his question.
(READ Vs. 11-12)

Isaiah’s mission was to go and reveal to people that though they thought they knew the truth, they did not.
• Though they thought they could see, they were blind…
• Though they thought they could hear, they were deaf…
• Though they thought they could understand, they were insensitive…

It was a ministry meant to expose the blindness of men.

And that is the ministry Jesus says He is on as well.
He is preaching in parables to reveal their blindness.

But there is more that can be gleaned from the prophet Isaiah.
When we understand the condition of the people he preached to,
It helps us understand the condition of the people Jesus preached to,
Since they were comparable.

TURN TO: Isaiah 28

Isaiah 28 begins with a message convicting the sin of Judah.
(READ Vs. 1-8)
• First Isaiah confronts the “proud…drunkards”
• It speaks of arrogance and iniquity, and Isaiah assures the people that the Lord is coming to judge such sinners and set the world right.
• He also addresses the bad preaching of the day which has not confronted or corrected the immorality of Judah.
• In fact, in verses 7-8 he compares the prophets to drunkards and their sermons to vomit on the table.
It’s not what you’d call a “feel good” sermon.

Now, in typical Judah fashion the people don’t want to hear it.
(This illustrates their blind eyes, deaf ears, and insensitive hearts)

(READ Vs. 9-10)

They resent the fact that Isaiah would have the audacity to correct them and in effect ask, “Who does he think he’s talking to?”

They even mock him with their “Order on order, order on order, line on line, a little here, a little there.”
• In the Hebrew those words are all monosyllables which indicates a sort of mocking response like “nya, nya, nya, nya, nya, nya”

In short, these people don’t want to listen to the truth.
(Perhaps that helps you better understand why God commissioned Isaiah
To go and prove how blind they were)

So, notice Isaiah’s response.
(It teaches us about the dangers of not listening)

(READ Vs. 11-13)

Did you catch God’s response?
• “Fine, you don’t want to listen. The next time I speak to you it will sound like nya, nya, nya, nya, nya”
• The next time you hear the truth it will be “through stammering lips and a foreign tongue”
• “The next time you get the truth it will come to you in a language you can’t understand.”

And that is what happened.
God exiled these people into the foreign land of Babylon.

Now, there is STILL MORE here for us to see in our understanding.

Read again that verse 11, “Indeed, He will speak to this people through stammering lips and a foreign tongue.”

You’ve actually seen that verse quoted elsewhere.

TURN TO: 1 Corinthians 14:20
(stay with me, there’s a point to be made here)
• This is the chapter in which Paul addresses speaking in tongues and more specifically the Corinthian abuse of the gift.
• You may remember that all the Corinthians wanted to speak in tongues.
• Well in this chapter, Paul explains it.

(READ Vs. 20-22)
Paul gave the Biblical basis for tongues, and what does he say it is for?
It is “a sign”, he says, “not to those who believe but to unbelievers”

No, it is NOT for evangelistic purposes.
We just learned in Isaiah that receiving truth through a foreign tongue
Was a sign of God’s judgment, not of evangelism.

If God wanted to give you the truth in a way for you to understand it,
He’d send a prophet to speak clearly in your language.

But if you refuse to listen to the message when it is clearly presented
God may resort to giving you the truth through a medium
That you cannot understand.

So, if the truth is only being given to you in a foreign language, That is a sign that you are not listening when God is speaking.

(And we could say a lot more about the abuse and misrepresentation of tongues here, but you see the point)

Take Pentecost for example.
• Here is a group of Jews at the Feast of Weeks,
• When the Holy Spirit comes,
• All the guests start speaking in foreign languages.

They weren’t speaking the language of the Jews, they were speaking of the glorious works of God in their own native tongues.

It was a symbol of the judgment of God on Israel.
• The people had rejected the truth incarnate in the person of Jesus.
• They had rejected the preaching of Jesus.
• And now, they were getting the truth, but in a medium they could not understand.

AND THIS IS PRECISELY WHAT JESUS IS DOING HERE.

He is speaking in parables, which cannot be understood apart from explanation, as a form of judgment against people who do not listen.

“but to the rest it is in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.”

• For years these people had been ignoring the prophets which is why they
didn’t recognize Jesus when He arrived.
• For years these people had been ignoring the Law of Moses which is why
they didn’t recognize their need for Jesus when He arrived.

The people were like the people in Isaiah’s day who did not want the truth.

Isaiah 30:9-11 “For this is a rebellious people, false sons, Sons who refuse to listen To the instruction of the LORD; Who say to the seers, “You must not see visions”; And to the prophets, “You must not prophesy to us what is right, Speak to us pleasant words, Prophesy illusions. “Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, Let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

And because they would not listen, now Jesus was speaking in parables.

THAT’S A PRETTY SEVERE ISSUE ISN’T?

Does that teach you anything about how serious Christ is when He says you had better listen to Him?
• He’s not offering up suggestions for you to take at your leisure.
• When Christ speaks, He expects to be listened to.

IT’S STILL A PROBLEM TODAY
2 Timothy 4:1-4 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”

Do you not see it?
• Today people flock to hear motivational speakers that will assure them that God’s fullest purpose is to make you successful.
• Today people crave a new “prophetic word” or “ecstatic utterance” because they have seemingly grown bored with the Bible.
• Today people ignore Bible exposition and the labor of Bible study because it takes too long and doesn’t gratify the flesh.

It’s the same old problem of people not wanting to listen to the truth.

But what if God made it so that you could no longer grasp it?
Do you understand how severe of a judgment that would be?

Jeremiah 5:30-31 “An appalling and horrible thing Has happened in the land: The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?”

• You may have no problem neglecting God’s word.
• You may actually like that the sermon is short.
• You may enjoy the fact that the preacher just gives happy illustrations.

It’s all well and good.
“But what will you do at the end of it?”

What is the final consequence of not having access to God’s word?
I’ll tell you what the final consequence is…JUDGMENT.

Because apart from God’s special revelation you cannot know Him.

(18) “So take care how you listen”

We’ll leave it there this morning and pick it back up next time.
But hopefully you are challenged to look at your Bible a little differently now.

The Blessed Life
Psalms 1
June 17, 2018

Well tonight we begin a new Sunday Night study.
We’re going to begin working our way through the Psalms.

And we are calling this study “God”.
That’s really what a study of Psalms is.

It is a desire to know God.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 “Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.”

Knowing God is a key treasure in life.
And Psalms is a great place to do that.

One of my favorite and most rewarding daily Bible study plans
Is any time I read a Psalm a day
And write down something knew I learn about God.

We study these Psalms to reach for the heart of God.
We’re seeking to know how God reveals Himself through His word.

And Psalms is very unique in this because not only is THEOLOGICAL,
But it is also HIGHLY EXPERIENTIAL.

These Psalms are certainly inspired by the Holy Spirit, as is all Scripture,
But they also come through humanity in all manner of circumstances.

• We find Psalmists in victory
• We find Psalmists in defeat
• We find Psalmists in joy
• We find Psalmists in despair
• We find Psalmists in confidence
• We find Psalmists in confusion
• We find Psalmists in evangelism
• We find Psalmists ready to give up

These Psalms represent men who knew God and experienced God
And found who He is and why He matters

And because these Psalms represent the hymn book of Israel
They are also the TRUTHS of God
They felt COMPELLED TO TEACH to the congregation.

The church’s music is a tremendous way to teach doctrine
The Psalms do just that.
And as these men walked through life and experienced God there,
They felt compelled to pass that knowledge on through song
That the congregation might know Him in this way as well.

That means not only do we learn about God through this study,
But we also learn how to worship Him accordingly.

For these men took what they knew
And put it into a form of worship to God.

Our hope and our desire is to see the God they saw
And to worship Him as they did.

That being said, we begin tonight with the first Psalm.
Many a commentator has commented how this Psalm is so fitting to begin the book, for it reveals to us a foundational truth about God.

So let’s work our way through this Psalm and see what we learn.
It is a Psalm that contrasts two types of people.
We have here the righteous man contrasted with the wicked man.

And what becomes apparent to us right off the bat is that
The Psalmist says that the righteous man is “Blessed”
While the wicked man “will perish”

Let’s look at them.
#1 THE RIGHTEOUS MAN
Psalms 1:1-3

This man is not yet referred to as the righteous man
(that designation will come at the end).

Here he is merely referred to as “blessed”
It is a word that simply means “happy” or “happiness”

And the Psalmist says “How blessed”
Or we could say “So happy”

And then the Psalmist begins to give some of the criteria
Which fuel this man’s happy life.

1) WHAT HE AVOIDS (1)

“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!”

Just a quick reading reveals to us that one of the chief characteristics of the blessed man is that he avoids wickedness.

Romans 12:9 “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.”

That can certainly be said of this man.

But beyond the wickedness in general
One can also see that we are talking about
More than just wickedness in general.

The Psalmist is obviously referring to this man’s propensity to avoid a WICKED INFLUENCE.

• He is staying away from “the counsel of the wicked”
• He is avoiding “the path of sinners”
• He is avoiding “the seat of scoffers”

Certainly we understand that wickedness does not sit idle in our world.
EVIL IS AMBITIOUS.

God told Cain from the beginning:
Genesis 4:7 “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

Peter reminds us:
1 Peter 5:8 “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

We are aware that our world isn’t just evil,
But our world is passionate about that evil.

Our world wants evil,
• Then it wants you to tolerate its evil,
• Then it wants you to approve of its evil,
• Then it wants you to participate in its evil,
• Then it wants you to share its evil.

And the Psalmist is aware of that.
He knows that the wicked don’t keep to themselves in their wickedness
But that they also offer their “counsel” to you.

Our world is full of ADVICE
Our evil world is full of COUNSEL

• Academia (scholars) love to share how they are experts on things…
• The Media loves to share their “unbiased” info…
• Psychology has the answer for all human behaviors…
• Advertising loves to appeal to the fallen human flesh…

They’re all full of advice and counsel on how you should live your life.

But the Psalmist warns that following the advice of the world
Is NOT the means to blessing (happiness).
In fact, the blessed man “does not walk in the counsel of the wicked”
He doesn’t listen to them, let alone follow their lead.

And there is a progression spelled out here in this first verse.
Do you see it?

Look at what the blessed man avoids
“does not walk in the counsel of the wicked”

The word for “wicked” there speaks of a guilty one
And it deals with their CHARACTER.

They are just sinful people in general
And the blessed man doesn’t listen to what they have to say.
He won’t follow their advice.

But the progression continues
“nor stand in the path of sinners”

This moves further than just listening to,
This actually denotes following down their path,
And again the blessed man doesn’t do it.

“sinners” here is also a word that speaks of guilty people
But the emphasis here is on their ACTIONS.

They aren’t just wicked people with wicked ideas,
They are wicked people with wicked actions.

This man doesn’t do what they suggest
And doesn’t follow where they lead.
That’s why he’s happy

The third level is:
“nor sit in the seat of scoffers”

This would be to make the full blown transformation
Into becoming one of them.

You listen to the advice of the wicked and then follow the path of the sinful,
It won’t be long before you will take your seat among them
And start offering sinful advice to others.

That is what a scoffer is.
Proverbs 9:7-8 “He who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself, And he who reproves a wicked man gets insults for himself. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you, Reprove a wise man and he will love you.”

A scoffer is one who has no concern for what is right,
And no interest in being corrected.

That is where all the counsel of the wicked leads.
• It starts with sinful advice
• It moves to sinful action
• It results in a sinful attitude

But the blessed man ignores it all.
• He won’t listen to their advice
• He won’t follow their example
• He won’t join their ranks

That is what he avoids
2) WHAT HE PURSUES (2)

“But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.”

This man isn’t interested in what the world has to say.
This man isn’t interested in what the world thinks is right.

This man is really only concerned about 1 voice.
This man is only concerned about 1 opinion.
GOD’S

• He runs to God’s word for his counsel
• He runs to God’s word for the answer
• He runs to God’s word for advice

David said:
Psalms 119:97-104 “O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, For they are ever mine. I have more insight than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, Because I have observed Your precepts. I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word. I have not turned aside from Your ordinances, For You Yourself have taught me. How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! From Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way.”

• He didn’t run to the wicked for advice for “Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies”
• He didn’t run to the scholars for counsel for “I have more insight than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation.”
• He didn’t even go to the experienced for advice for “I understand more than the aged, because I have observed Your precepts”

He found value in God’s counsel, not man’s.
Psalms 19:7-14 “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.”

And we could go on and on with passages which illustrate this point.
But I think it is clear.

This man saw no need in gaining the logic or wisdom of the world
Because he had at his disposal the very wisdom of God.

And frankly the opinions of “The View” or “Oprah” just didn’t hold the same weight.

And not only does he choose God’s wisdom over that of the world,
He is also diligent to learn God’s wisdom.

“in His law he meditates day and night.”
That is to say that this man really wants to know what God thinks.

It is devotion to learning and obeying the will of God.
That is yet another characteristic of the blessed man.

What he avoids; what he pursues
3) WHAT HE IS LIKE (3)

“He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.”

There is a very fitting analogy; “like a tree”

And do you catch all the analogies?

“firmly planted” – He Is Planted; he is heavily rooted
• This is no potted plant which is mobile.
• This is no wishy-washy individual, here today and gone tomorrow.

“by streams of water” – This Is His Provision
• Because he is tapped in to God’s word, he is tapped in to all that he needs for life and godliness.

“which yields its fruit” – He Is Productive

We could certainly turn to the parable of the vineyard in Isaiah 5
Or even listen to Jesus talk about the vine and the branches in John 15.
Either way we understand that God expects fruit.

Remember this one:
Matthew 21:18-19 “Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.”

If you are familiar with that story you know that
• It wasn’t the season for figs, but this fig tree had leaves.
• A simple fact about the fig tree is that it puts on figs before it puts on leaves.
• Therefore if this tree had leaves it was sending a message, “I have figs”
• Jesus found this tree to be an imposter, and consequently a symbol for the hypocritical religion of Israel.
• Jesus cursed that fig tree.

That is the opposite of the righteous man here.
He has fruit.

And not just fruit, but:
“in its season” – He Is Precise

Luke 13:6-9 “And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. “And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ “And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.'”

It’s not just fruit, but fruit when it matters.
This man has it.

“and its leaf does not wither” – He Is Perseverant, not a quitter

“and in whatever he does, he prospers” – He Is Prosperous

In short, he does things God’s way
And therefore he enjoys God’s power behind his actions.

AND THIS IS THE BLESSED MAN.

He is the type of individual Jesus alluded to:
Luke 11:27-28 “While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.” But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”

• He won’t follow the advice of the world,
• Instead he digs deep into the word of God to get His instruction
• And the effects of that instruction are a productive and prosperous life.

That is the Righteous man.

Now let’s look at the other man.
#2 THE WICKED MAN
Psalms 1:4-5

Here we simply find that “The wicked are not so”

That is to say they
• Are not Planted
• Are not Provided for
• Are not Productive
• Are not Precise
• Are not Perseverant
• Are not Prosperous

This man is the absolute opposite of the first man.
It seems to be that he can be much easier identified with
That ROCKY SOIL that Jesus spoke of.

Matthew 13:20-21 “The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away.”

That man didn’t really listen to God,
He just listened to whatever sounded best at the moment.

It’s no wonder then that he didn’t push through, didn’t persevere,
Didn’t produce fruit and didn’t prosper.
This man is not a tree.

In fact, the Psalmist has a comparison for this man.
“But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.”

Isaiah 40:6-7 “A voice says, “Call out.” Then he answered, “What shall I call out?” All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, When the breath of the LORD blows upon it; Surely the people are grass.”

Isaiah 40:23-24 “He it is who reduces rulers to nothing, Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble.”

In short, they are useless and they can’t stand,
Which is precisely what the Psalmist says.

(5) “Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.”

That is to say when God passes over all humanity,
The wicked will not survive,
And none of them will make it to the abode of heaven
Where the righteous dwell.

There is a torrent of judgment coming that the wicked cannot endure.

And we should most certainly remind ourselves of the parable Jesus gave
About the wise and foolish man.

• The wise man of course building his house on the rock (Christ)
• And the foolish man building his house on the sand (himself).
• Both faced the storm, but only the one on the rock survived.

WHY?
Because only Christ was righteous enough to withstand the judgment,
And only those fixed on Him survive it with Him.

BUT THE POINT OF THE PSALMIST here is simply made that
It is far better to be righteous than to be wicked.

Regardless of what it feels like today,
It is the righteous man who ends up being happy
And it is the wicked man who ends up perishing.

And that is a very clear and obvious point about life in this Psalm.
• In this world you will be continually faced with choices.
• In this life you will be continually offered advice.

On one hand there is the counsel of the wicked who call you to follow their plans, and do their deeds.

And I don’t mind telling you that
There is a certain amount of appeal to what they offer.

• They almost always offer exactly what the flesh desires, and so there is a certain amount of appeal there.

• And if you follow their advice, most of the time there is even a season of enjoyment, there may even be a season of pleasure.

• In fact, many times in the Psalms you’re going to hear Psalmists lament that it doesn’t seem right that the wicked are seeming to have so much fun.

• The problem of course is that it isn’t permanent. There is a day of reckoning that will render all of that enjoyment null and void.

On the other hand however there is the advice of God.
• It is found in His word.
• It must be sought and it must be studied, and it must be meditated on in order to glean its instruction.

But the promise is that it is worth it and worth it forever.

So the simple opening advice is that
It is better to be righteous than to be wicked.

But the question that must be asked at this point is:
WHY?

Carrie and I have some old Rock Hudson / Doris Day movies that we watch from time to time and there is one called “Pillow Talk”.

And in the movie Tony Randal is trying to convince Rock Hudson to stop womanizing, find one woman and settle down.

The conversation goes something like this.
• “You need to stop chasing all these girls, and going out with a different woman every night.”
• “Why?”
• “So that you can find one woman and spend the rest of your life with her.”
• “Why?”
• “Because that’s what a man wants, to come home to the same woman night after night.”
• “Why?”
• To which Tony Randal finally says, “Well if you want you can find crafty arguments to any point.”

Well that’s the question here.
• Why should a man avoid wickedness?
• Why should a man reject the pleasures of this world?
• Why should a man ignore the offers of the sinful passions of life?
• Why should a man resign himself to digging deep into the word of God?
• Why should a man refuse himself all that his heart desires?

This is where we get to the foundational knowledge of God I promised you

Here is why:
(6) “For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”

Probably better understood:
“the LORD approves the way of the righteous…”

Do you understand why we prefer righteousness to wickedness?
Do you understand why we prefer morality to immorality?
Do you understand why we abstain from evil to pursue good?

The answer is
• Because the God who created us,
• And consequently the God who will judge us,
• And the God who has the power to either reward or destroy us
Said that righteousness should be selected over wickedness.

The primary reason we choose righteousness is not because righteousness is always is more fun.
And it is not because righteousness makes us feel better.
WE CHOOSE RIGHTEOUSNESS
BECAUSE GOD APPROVES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.

We reject wickedness because God disapproves of wickedness.

It’s as simple as that.

And that is the “blessing” that this Psalmist is talking about.

He ISN’T SAYING
If you’ll reject the advice of the wicked and dig deep into the word of God then your life will be filled with sugarplums and ease and money and good health, etc.

Everyone that interpreted Psalms like this one in that manner ends up finding themselves disillusioned when life goes south.

WHAT THE PSALMIST IS SAYING
Is that if you will reject wickedness and pursue righteousness then you will be happy in knowing that God approves of you.

And the approval of God is more important
Than any other thing you can achieve.

This, by the way, is the advice of the wisest man who ever lived.
It’s so fitting.

TURN TO: ECCLESIASTES 2:1-23

Did you hear him recount how he tried to find blessing or happiness in all that he could under heaven?

The problem of course is that
• All of those pleasures were short lived and none could transcend the grave.
• He couldn’t find anything that would last.
• It was all like trying to bottle up the wind.

And after 12 chapters of this sort of explanation
He concludes his advice to the young man like this.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.”

He told the young man that there is one thing
You should be acutely aware of more than anything else.

YOU SHOULD BE CONCERNED ABOUT BEING PLEASING TO GOD.

• All the temporal pleasures in the world are worth nothing if you end up
offending your Creator.
• True blessing is standing before God at the judgment and hearing Him
welcome you in as one who is approved.

Being known/approved by God matters.
Matthew 7:23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

So there’s our first lesson on who God is.
• God is righteous and God approves of righteousness.
• God is righteous and God scatters the wicked.

This, above all else, is our primary motivation for righteousness.
This, above all else, is our focus as we seek to be blessed.

And certainly we remember that
This is only achievable through Jesus Christ
Who is Himself our righteousness.

He makes us pleasing to this righteous Father
Through His sinless life and atoning death.

AND THIS IS GOOD BECAUSE
OUR GOD IS RIGHTEOUS AND HE NEVER ACCEPTS ANYTHING LESS.

The Ministry of Jesus Christ
Luke 8:1-3
June 17, 2018

This morning we get an interesting passage of Scripture to look at.
It really almost feels like a parenthetical section.

• We are fresh off the story of the woman in the Pharisees house who demonstrated great love to Jesus,
• We are about to hear one of the most famous sermons Jesus ever preached.

But in between these two stories we get these 3 verses
Which show us not only the ministry of Jesus,
But also who is accompanying Him in this ministry.

It certainly follows along that continual theme of Luke
To make sure we are aware of exactly the type of people whom Jesus is using and who are being saved.

• Again we are reminded of the willingness of our Lord to save even the most
forgotten and rejected.
• Again we are reminded of the propensity of our Lord to use the overlooked
and the outcast in His ministry.
• Again we are reminded that those who seem so unworthy of salvation are
also the ones who often times end up being the most devoted followers.

To put it plainly, the most devoted followers
Are the ones who were most aware of their need.

These 3 verses are indeed brief,
But they certainly fit Luke’s overall perspective well.

What I also like about these 3 verses are
The simplicity with which they describe the ministry of Jesus.

What we have here is a typical day in the ministry of Jesus.
And there are certainly things which we can learn from this text.

3 things
#1 A SEEKING SAVIOR
Luke 8:1a

“Soon afterwards, He began going around from one city and village to another, proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God.”

If you were to ask what a day in the ministry of Jesus was like,
I feel like most people would immediately start listing tremendous miraculous works.

I think the mindset for many is that every day of Jesus was filled with healings and miracles and deliverances from demons, on so on.

And certainly the miracles of Jesus are not to be overlooked,
They do furnish the validation to His ministry that is vitally important.

However, at the same time, focusing only on the miraculous works
Seems to miss the heart of Jesus’ ministry.

Jesus was first and foremost a preacher,
And preaching was what He did day in and day out.

While days without a miracle may have occurred,
It is doubtful that days without preaching occurred.

And certainly Luke has revealed this primary devotion of Jesus already.

Luke 4:15 “And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.”

Luke 4:16 “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.”

Luke 4:31 “And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath;”

Luke 4:42-44 “When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them. But He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.” So He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.”

Luke 6:6 “On another Sabbath He entered the synagogue and was teaching; and there was a man there whose right hand was withered.”

All of those reveal His determination to enter synagogues
And proclaim the truth to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

But synagogues where not His only places of preaching.

Luke 5:1 “Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret;”

Luke 5:17 “One day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing.”

That was in the house that would eventually get the roof torn off.

Luke 6:17 “Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was a large crowd of His disciples, and a great throng of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon,”

That of course was the Sermon on the Mount

Luke 7:24 “When the messengers of John had left, He began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?”

All of those are various places where Jesus set up shop
And began to preach to the masses

And that is not even to mention all the various teaching moments
Jesus had with the disciples, or even with other people, like the mini-sermon Jesus preached in the Pharisee’s house just last week.

The point is that Jesus was a preacher.

That is what Luke is showing us.
“He began going around from one city and village to another”

It is possible that by now He has worn out His welcome in the synagogues.
• We certainly know that a point comes in His ministry where He is no longer welcome there.

• In fact we learn in John 9 that by that time even anyone who confessed Jesus would be thrown out of the synagogue.

• With all the hostility we’ve already seen between Jesus and the Pharisees, I don’t think it’s too far-fetched to assume that He is no longer welcome there.

But that doesn’t stop Jesus.
He just starts preaching “from one city and village to another.”

He isn’t limited to highly populated areas,
He’ll preach and cities and villages alike.

After all, any shepherd who will leave the 99 to go and find the 1
Most certainly doesn’t limit his search only to the populated areas.

Jesus is taking the gospel to the people.
He is “proclaiming and preaching the kingdom of God”

That is to say, He is proclaiming how access into the kingdom is obtained.
• He is preaching repentance
• He is preaching faith
• He is preaching forgiveness
• He is preaching salvation

Each and every stop presents an opportunity to offer forgiveness of sins
Through repentance and faith in Him.

And really, more than the miraculous stories we read about,
THIS IS THE NORM.

• Yes He works miracles…
• Yes He does the extraordinary…
• But the norm of His ministry; the day in and day out work; is that of preaching about how to enter God’s kingdom.

And I do think it’s important for you to see that
Since that is an aspect of the ministry that we most certainly replicate.

We may not have the power in our fingertips to restore sight to the blind, or cleans the lepers, or raise the dead,
But we all have been given the authority to proclaim the gospel.

Acts 1:8 makes that clear.
Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

We follow this example.
And it is really quite clear.

Jesus was not on a social mission.
• That is to say, His main objective was not to rid the world of all hardship and suffering.
• His goal wasn’t to hand out bread or install air conditioning
• He wasn’t distributing clothing or food or tents

He was preaching the gospel.

Nor was Jesus on a political mission.
• His main objective was not to rid the world of all it’s injustices
• He didn’t set out to overthrow tyrant leaders or crooked monarchs
• He didn’t confront Rome
• He didn’t fight political battles over statues or school systems or other political things

He preached the gospel

He will state it clearly later in His conversation with Zaccheus
Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

And that is what He is doing here isn’t it?
He is going where the lost are to make sure the lost hear the gospel.

Certainly the DAY WILL COME when Jesus will return
And then His ministry will be very social and very political.

• We know that He will wipe away all injustice…
• We know that He will reign on David’s throne…
• We know that He will destroy the wicked and then put an end to war…

But that is not what He did when He first came,
And that is not what He left us here to accomplish.

We take our cues from the daily ministry of Jesus
And see the simplicity of the job.

Go to where the lost are and preach the gospel to them.
It’s really not that complicated to understand.
• He didn’t ask us to figure out ways to get the lost to come to us…
• He didn’t challenge us to cure the world of all its social problems…
(In fact we are reminded that we’ll always have the poor)
• He didn’t challenge us to fight political battles for political turf…

He simply told us to go out into this world to where the lost are
And to preach the gospel to them.

That’s what He did day in and day out.
He was seeking the lost to give them the message of good news.

A Seeking Savior
#2 THE STEADFAST STUDENTS
Luke 8:1b

“The twelve were with Him”

These are the disciples whom our Lord called to Himself.
Luke 6:13-16 “And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles: Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew; and Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.”

• These were the men who Jesus would endow with authority to proclaim His gospel after His ascension.

• They would take His truth as ambassadors and proclaim His message to the world that had rejected Christ.

• Right now they are in their training phase.

They were “with Him”
That is, they were watching Him and listening to Him.
Jesus is discipling them.

The simplest way I know to define DISCIPLESHIP is
When you reproduce yourself in someone else.

You not only set the example, but you also encourage following
And for them to imitate how you do it.

It is what Paul meant when he wrote:
1 Corinthians 4:16 “Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me.”

1 Corinthians 11:1 “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.”

Well that is what Jesus is doing here for the 12.
• He’s showing them how to approach a city
• He’s showing them how to address the crowd
• He’s showing them what things are important to teach
• He’s showing them how to handle opposition
• He’s showing them how to endure

THEY ARE BEING TRAINED.

Later, He’ll send them out.
Luke 9:1-2 “And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing.”

Their internship is coming,
But right now they are still at His side learning all they can.
They are “with Him”

I think it is also important to note that they are “with Him” in the sense that they have stayed with Him.

Theirs is a culture that is increasingly rejecting Jesus.
The religious establishment is already antagonistic.

• Certainly by now it is becoming obvious that Jesus isn’t getting rich…
• Certainly by now it is becoming obvious that Jesus isn’t forming an army…
• Certainly by now it is becoming obvious that Jesus isn’t gaining earthly
power…

In fact, it is not uncommon for Jesus to be rejected by the masses
As demon possessed, or as a drunkard who eats with tax collectors and sinners.

We’re familiar with the account in John 6.
John 6:66 “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.”

There were times when nearly everyone left.
But not these 12.

John 6:67-71 “So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. “We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” Jesus answered them, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?” Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.”

These 12 were staying.
In fact, we learn at the end of Jesus’ ministry that He was keeping them.

John 17:12 “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.”

This is yet again a day in the life of Jesus.
• On one hand He is preaching to the lost.
• On the other hand He is discipling and training those whom He has called.

You see in that, Jesus performing on a daily basis
The very mandate He will leave for us.

Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Jesus didn’t just command that, Jesus lived that.
That was His daily routine.

That means that as His followers
It is our job to go and preach the gospel to the lost
It is our job to then disciple those who are saved to do the same.

This is basic ministry as modeled by Jesus.
And I’m glad Luke shows us that.

HOWEVER, in spite of that informative verse,
I think the main thing Luke wanted to show us comes in verses 2 & 3.

A Seeking Savior, The Steadfast Students
#3 THE SHOCKING SUPPORTERS
Luke 8:2-3

Now, Luke is NOT the only one to mention these women,
Other gospel writers mention them to.

But only Luke includes them
As part of the daily ministry and routine of Jesus.

Some things we already knew about these women, and other women in the gospels.

Last week we saw their propensity for overwhelming love.
• We saw that unnamed woman wet His feet with her tears and dry them with her hair.
• Later we know that Mary (sister of Martha) will do the same as she figuratively anoints Jesus’ body for burial.
• Of course that is after the famous story of her sitting at Jesus’ feet as He teaches.
• Or of course of Mary Magdalene clinging to Jesus in the garden after He rose from the dead.

TURN TO: John 20:11-18

We know about their propensity for great faith.
• Who could forget the Canaanite woman who approached Jesus that her daughter might be healed, and even after it appeared Jesus was unwilling she just kept trusting?

TURN TO: Matthew 15:21-28

And certainly we know about the tremendous dedication of these women.
• There at the cross
• There at the tomb
• First to believe He rose from the dead

Matthew 27:55-56 “Many women were there looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee while ministering to Him. Among them was Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.”

I’ve always remember the quote, though I don’t remember who said it:
“No woman denied Him, No woman deserted Him, No woman betrayed Him; yet it was a woman, who by act of intuition, tried to save Him.”

(Of course that was Pilate’s wife who had the dream regarding Christ)

We are certainly aware of the tremendous love and faith and dedication of the women listed throughout the gospel accounts.

WHAT LUKE ADDS TO THAT LIST IS THAT
• These women didn’t just pop up from time to time,
• They were integral pieces to the daily ministry of Jesus.

Let me break these two verses down a little further and Luke gives 3 important pieces of information about these women.
1) WHO THEY WERE

Luke actually lists 3 by name and then seems to broaden that list by saying “and many others”

WE HAVE “Mary who was called Madalene” (Magdala was her hometown)
• This was NOT the woman we just saw in the last story
• This was NOT the woman caught in adultery form John 8 as Hollywood likes to suggest
• This was NOT the sister of Martha and Lazarus

This Mary is distinguished by the fact that
From her “seven demons had gone out”

That doesn’t necessarily imply that she was an immoral woman,
As not all who were demon possessed were immoral,
But it does make very clear that she was a TORMENTED woman,
And most certainly an OSTRACIZED woman.

WE ALSO HAVE “Joanna” who is revealed as “the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward”

• This may well have been where Herod got all his information on Jesus.

AND WE HAVE “Susanna” who is not mentioned anywhere else in Scripture.

ALONG WITH “many others”, like perhaps His mother, Salome, or any other of the women mentioned.

That’s who they were
2) WHY THEY WERE THERE

“some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses”

Very simply these women were there
Because they had been delivered by Jesus.

• We know “Mary” had been delivered from 7 demons,
• But this also explains how “Joanna” had come to follow Jesus. (Jesus had healed her.)
• Jesus had done the same for “Susanna”

They were there because Jesus had set them free.
He had mercifully delivered them from the bonds that afflicted them.

And now, they follow in line with the woman we saw in chapter 7.
THEY LOVED MUCH

And this love is seen from them, not in anointing Jesus’ feet, but in another way.
3) WHAT THEY DID

“who were contributing to their support out of their private means.”

This was their alabaster vile.

• Nothing is said how much any of these women had.
• We don’t know if they are rich or poor.
• It really didn’t matter, the focus is on the fact that they contributed.

Their story is the same story as the woman in chapter 7.

• That woman saw a Savior whose feet had not been washed and she took the job upon herself.
• These women saw a Savior with other needs and they stepped up to do the same.

Many of you have seen the Amy Carmichael quote from the mission video we’ve shown on numerous occasions.
“You can give without loving, you cannot love without giving.”

That describes not only the woman of chapter 7, but these women as well.
• They loved Christ.
• They were grateful to Christ.
• And so they gave to Christ.

And here’s something interesting, JESUS LET THEM DO IT.

Does it surprise you that He didn’t just miraculously supply food for His followers at all times?

Most of the time they bought their own food.
• That’s why Philip actually told Jesus on the day that crowd of 5,000 arrived
that 200 denarii was not enough to buy food for that whole crowd.
• They were used to having to buy their own food.

Beyond that we know they had money they reserved for the poor
Because Judas used to pilfer out of it.

Jesus could have supplied food at all times
Jesus could have snapped His feet clean too
But He didn’t. Instead He set the precedent for ministry.

These women weren’t the preachers.
• I can certainly imagine they bore testimony to the deliverance and healing Jesus had worked in their lives, but they weren’t the preachers.

Instead, they ministered through the support of Christ.
And in so doing they were a vital part of His ministry.

• It was their sacrifice that allowed Jesus and the 12 to travel from city to city and village to village.
• It was their sacrifice that funded the mission.

And that is yet another picture of the ministry of Christ
And the ministry that still continues.

There is a very practical side to the ministry of Jesus.
We understand that we live in a physical world with physical needs,
And things like work and sacrifice and giving
Are required to make those ministries go.

And so certainly here we see from Luke a real basic blueprint for ministry.
We see what it is: Going, Preaching, Discipling, Learning
We see how it goes: Sacrificial contribution from those who have been delivered

And that is all good stuff to see.
But I think Luke uses this story for a greater point.

BUT HERE IS THE MAIN POINT TO ALL OF THIS.
I don’t think Luke is as concerned in showing you WHAT they were doing as he was with reminding you WHY they were doing it.

These women served because they had been delivered.

Their ministry was born out of love for the Savior.

I think Luke purposely adds this information
Right after the story of the woman who washed Jesus feet with her tears.
• That woman’s story is not peculiar.
• That woman’s love is not strange.
• That woman’s love is meant to be the norm.

Everyone who has been delivered by Jesus should have that kind of love.

No, it doesn’t always mean washing Jesus’ feet,
Sometimes it means contributing to Jesus’ ministry.

But the motive is the same.
Those who have been delivered much, love much,
And those who love much, clearly sacrifice much for Him.

ISN’T THAT WHAT WE LEARNED LAST WEEK?
A lack of love for the Savior indicates a lack of deliverance by the Savior.

Or, as Jesus put it.
“He who is forgiven little, loves little.”

You just cannot over emphasize
The importance of the church’s love for Christ.

What is the greatest commandment?
• To love God with all your heart.
• And without it, ministry is half-hearted, cold, and even dead.

When Jesus recommissioned Peter, what was the main thing He first wanted to know? (He asked him 3 times)
• “Do you love Me?”

Evangelism and ministry and sacrificial giving are far too costly
If there is no love for Christ.

I fear that too often we buy the message that
Our lives are all about Christ proving His love for us.

He proves His love for me by:
• Healing me when I’m sick…
• Providing for me when money is tight…
• Protecting me in danger…
• Delighting me when I’m unhappy…
• Giving me friends when I’m lonely…
• And anything else we can think of.

I’m afraid that far too often our mindset is that
“If Christ loved me, then He’d….”

That is the mark of a selfish people.
And anywhere we see a lack of commitment to Christ,
This is the root cause.

A lack of sacrificial devotion for Christ
Only indicates that I love myself more than I love Christ.

It’s when I’m only interested in how Christ can love me.

But when is the last time you asked how you could prove your love for Christ in the midst of your circumstance?

• How do you show Christ love when you are sick?
• How do you show Christ love when you are poor?
• How do you show Christ love when you are in danger?
• How do you show Christ love when you are unhappy?
• How do you show Christ love when you are lonely?

And perhaps one should ask,
If Christ treated me the way I treated Him, would I feel loved by Him?

It’s not hard to tell how His early followers felt about Him.
• They left it all to follow Him.
• They gave it all to fund His ministry.
• They risked it all to tell the world who He was.

AND THE CHURCH MUST RETURN THERE
If we are ever to be who we are intended to be.

Stewards of the Gospel
Matthew 13:51-52
June 10, 2018

Well tonight we are going to officially bring to a close
Our study of 500 Years of Reformation.
For me it’s been some of the best 14 months of my life
Examining the nuances of the gospel.

Having looked at the SOLAS, we have sought to put a little appendix on this study by making sure that we also understand the expectations of those SOLAS.
• We have said that Grace does not lead to licentiousness
• We have said that Faith does not produce laziness
• We have said that the Glory of God does not produce complacency

Each of those comes with the expectation that
We now live holy, active, passionate lives for God.

And tonight I want to close with one last vitally important reminder,
And it is namely this:
That as those who now understand the gospel,
We are those who are required to share it.

John MacArthur shared a story that he read in a Presbyterian publication in a sermon I heard recently. I shared it on Facebook, but I wanted to read it to you tonight as well.

“On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur, there was once a crude little lifesaving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea. And with no thought for themselves or their safety, they went out day and night, tirelessly searching for the lost. Many lives were saved by this wonderful little lifesaving station, so it became famous.”
“Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding area, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time, money, and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought, and new crews were trained, and the little lifesaving station grew.”
“Some of the members of the lifesaving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and poorly equipped. They felt a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. So they replaced the emergency cots and beds and put better furniture in the enlarged building.”
“Now the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members. And they decorated it beautifully and furnished it exquisitely because they used it as sort of a club. Fewer members were now interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions, so they hired lifeboat crews to do that work. The lifesaving motif still prevailed in the club’s decorations, and there was a liturgical lifeboat in the room where club initiations were held.”
“About this time, a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in loads of cold, wet, half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick, and the beautiful new club was considerably messed up. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where the victims of shipwrecks could be cleaned up before coming inside.”
“At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the lifesaving activity altogether because it was unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal social life of the club. Some members insisted upon lifesaving as their primary purpose. They pointed out that they were still called a lifesaving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the lives of various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own lifesaving station down the coast, which they did.”
“As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that occurred in the old. It evolved into a club, and yet another lifesaving station was founded. And history continued to repeat itself. And if you visit that coast today, you’ll find a number of exclusive clubs along the shore. Shipwrecks are still frequent in those waters, and most of the people drown.”

Tonight we talk about that lifesaving mission
And the reality that as those who have the gospel,
We are under obligation to preach it.

I’ll begin by reminding you that
We have NO PROBLEM FINDING VERSES in Scripture
That reveal the believer’s responsibility to go and proclaim the gospel.

Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

1 Peter 3:13-16 “Who is there to harm you if you prove zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.”

Luke 9:60 “But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.”

Matthew 10:7 “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘ The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

John 20:21 “So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

Luke 24:44-48 “Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. “You are witnesses of these things.”

Mark 16:15 “And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”

And hopefully you get the picture.
Going to the lost with the message of the gospel
Is a command for every believer.

We could spend time on any one of those verses this morning and make that point.

We also have no problem citing examples of people who did this.

Woman at the Well
John 4:28-30 “So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men, “Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?” They went out of the city, and were coming to Him.”

The Gaderene Demoniac
Mark 5:18-20 “As He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was imploring Him that he might accompany Him. And He did not let him, but He said to him, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.”

The Cripple from the Bethesda Pool
John 5:15 “The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.”

The Blind Man
John 9:24-34 “So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner.” He then answered, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” So they said to him, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?” They reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. “We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.” The man answered and said to them, “Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. “We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. “Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. “If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” So they put him out.”

Peter and John
Acts 4:18-20 “And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

And that list goes on and on and on
We didn’t even mention Paul or Stephen or Philip

The point to be made is simple.
As believers in Christ, WE ARE WITNESSES

Everyone who has come to Christ and been forgiven of their sin
And been filled with His Holy Spirit
Is expected to share what great things God has done for you.

But tonight I want to go even a little farther than that.
Certainly we are witnesses,
I want you to understand we are also STEWARDS

We have been ENTRUSTED with the precious truth of the gospel.
• It is ours to BELIEVE
• It is ours to DEFEND (as in protestant reformation)
• It is ours to PROCLAIM

This is the purpose of the church.
1 Timothy 3:14-15 “I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”

The church is in fact “the pillar and support of the truth”
Truth has been entrusted to us.
If the rest of the world is to get it, they will get it from us.

Paul said:
1 Corinthians 9:16-17 “For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.”

Romans 1:14-15 “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”

I want you to understand:
The world is dependent on the fact
That those with the truth will distribute it.

Romans 10:14-15 “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!”
The eternal destination of the world
Depends on our willingness to take the gospel to them.

And what I want you to understand tonight is that
Jesus expects that as His disciple you will do just that.
It is our stewardship
It is our mandate
It is our responsibility

And that is the point behind this parable we look at tonight.
This passage is only two verses so we will break it into two points.
#1 THE DISCIPLE’S BLESSING
Matthew 13:51

You don’t see the word “blessing” mentioned anywhere in that verse
And it sort of causes a person to wonder what we’re talking about.
That is because the blessing was mentioned way earlier in the chapter.

Jesus says here, “Have you understood these things?”

Well, first we would do well to ask, “WHAT THINGS?”
Jesus is referring to everything that is recorded in Matthew 13.

Matthew 13 is a powerful, powerful chapter.
It is a chapter containing 9 parables.
They all refer to the kingdom of heaven

You might not be able to list them all,
But I promise you that you are familiar with all of them.
THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER (13:18-23)

The first parable of the chapter speaks of a sower who went out to sow seed.
• Some fell on the hard soil
• Some fell on the rocky soil
• Some fell on the weedy soil
• Some fell on the good soil

Why everyone isn’t entering the kingdom.
The reason everyone isn’t entering is because ¾ of them have bad hearts.
(It’s not the fault of the seed or the sower; it is the soil)
• Some hearts are too hard (won’t listen)
• Some hearts are too shallow (won’t endure)
• Some hearts are too divided (won’t commit)
• Only one heart will accept the word, let it grow, and produce the fruit.

THE PARABLE OF THE TARES (13:24-20, 36-43)
Jesus spoke of a farmer who sowed wheat, but an enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat. When it was discovered Jesus said to let it remain for a while,
But in the judgment the tares will be removed and burned.

The parable explains why the unrighteous exist, why they remain,
And what will ultimately happen to them.

THE PARABLE OF THE MUSTARD SEED (13:31-32)
Jesus said the kingdom is like a mustard seed in that it starts small,
But it grows to be the largest.

For us it explains why the kingdom appeared insignificant and small,
But how it would grow to something great.

THE PARABLE OF THE LEAVEN (13:33)
Jesus spoke of the kingdom being like leaven in that it spreads in a supernatural and almost unexplainable way.

It explains how the kingdom grows.

THE PARABLE OF THE TREASURE IN THE FIELD (13:44)
THE PARABLE OF THE PEARL OF GREAT VALUE (13:45)
Jesus spoke of a man who found a treasure and how he hid it, bought the field, and paid a price of all that he had to gain it. Jesus also spoke of a pearl merchant who sold all he had to acquire a fine pearl.

These parables spoke of the value of the kingdom.
It may indeed cost a lot to enter it, but it is worth every penny.
Even a treasure hunter and a pearl merchant knew it was worth all they had

THE PARABLE OF THE DRAGNET
Jesus spoke of a dragnet being gathered collecting all sorts of fish, but at the end the good fish being gathered and the bad fish being destroyed.

No doubt this parable mirrored that of the wheat and the tares and explained not only the judgment of those not in the kingdom, but also the urgency of the kingdom since no one knows when the net will reach the shore.

But each of these parable Jesus gave spoke about the kingdom.
Why it is small
How it grows
It’s great value
Why unbelievers exist
What will happen to them

Matthew 13:34 “All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable.”

And I hope you remember why He spoke to them in parables.
Jesus was very definitive about this.

TURN TO: MATTHEW 13:10-17

And there we have the blessing I was talking about.
Jesus was just revealing the most sought after information the world could have ever desired, and He revealed it in a way that most of the people couldn’t receive it.

In fact Jesus specifically said that the mysteries of the kingdom
Had not been granted to most of them.

(16) “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears because they hear.”

And that is the blessing Jesus is confirming here in verse 51

“Have you understood these things?” They said to Him, “Yes.”

They didn’t understand it because they were so smart
They didn’t understand it because they were so persistent
They understood it because God had chosen to reveal it to them

AND THIS IS A BLESSING!
1 Peter 1:10-12 “As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven — things into which angels long to look.”

What a statement!
This salvation that you enjoy
This salvation that you understand
IS THE MOST PRIVILEGED INFORMATION OF ALL TIME

Prophets for centuries “made careful searches and inquiries”
Peter said “angels long to look” into these matters

But all of these prophets and righteous men never fully understood everything about salvation and the kingdom of God.

And then on one day, in one chapter Jesus sat down
And just spilled it all right there for the disciples.
This group of scraggly fishermen, ex-tax collectors, and under cover terrorists just received information that had been sought for centuries.

• They now knew the Messiah
• They now knew the way of salvation
• They now knew about the kingdom of God
• What it is
• Where it is headed
• How to enter it
• The penalty for missing it

To sum it all up they had been entrusted with the gospel

Matthew 13:16 “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.”

You and I also have that blessing.
• NOT ONLY DO WE HAVE THOSE PARABLES
• WE HAVE BEEN PRIVILEGED TO LEARN THE GOSPEL!!!

WE ARE BLESSED AS WELL.
We have the Scripture!
• We have that special revelation from God
• We have everything pertaining to life and godliness

We know about Grace!
• We know that God has chosen us
• We know that God atones for His elect
• We know that God secures us

We know about Faith!
• We know that it is a gift from God
• We know that is all God requires for justification

We know about Christ!
• We know about His active and passive righteousness
• We know about His actual atonement
• We know about His victorious resurrection

We know about the Glory of God!
• We know that God ordains all things for His glory

And since there are many in the world who do not have this information
I would say that definitely makes you blessed.

• You could have been raised Hindu, never told about Christ.
• You could have been raised Muslim, being told Muhammad was the savior
• You could have been raised atheist, denying all truths about God
• You could have been raised in remote area…
• You could have been raised speaking a language with no Scripture available…

Do you get the point?
You are blessed, just as the disciples were.

But let me remind you:
Luke 12:48b “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.”

And that brings me to my next point.

The Disciple’s Blessing
#2 THE DISCIPLE’S BURDEN
Matthew 13:52

Now I don’t use the word “burden” here in a negative sense
So much as I do in a serious sense.
It is a stewardship
It is a responsibility
It is a job entrusted

It is your burden in the sense that you must do it.
It is your responsibility

Your privileged information
Makes you liable for the responsibility that comes with it.

“And Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

Now first Jesus is referring to “a scribe”

What is a scribe?
A scribe was one who literally wrote and rewrote copies of the Law or the Scriptures.

And because of this, they became known as
The chief theologians and teachers of the day.

After all, who could have a better knowledge of the Scriptures
Than the people who spent their time copying it?

For an example: Ezra was a scribe.
Ezra 7:6 “This Ezra went up from Babylon, and he was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all he requested because the hand of the LORD his God was upon him.”

Ezra 7:10 “For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.”

So a scribe was both a skilled learner and a qualified teacher.
(You may not feel like one, but I promise that
You know more of the truth of the kingdom than most of the world)

But Jesus says in this verse that the scribe has become something.

“every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven”

So we are talking about a “scribe who has become a disciple”

WHAT IS A DISCIPLE?
A disciple is a learner

So Jesus is talking about a scribe who has learned something new
This scribe has actually learned about “the kingdom of heaven”

SO WE ARE OBVIOUSLY TALKING ABOUT A BLESSED SCRIBE.
Scribes were responsible for teaching the truth,
What a blessing that this scribe now knew the truth about the kingdom.

And Jesus is about to explain the RESPONSIBILITY of this scribe.

(52) “And Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

It was the responsibility of the “head of a household”
To give provisions or rations to the family.
They were the stewards.
And they divvied it out to the family as it was needed.

And Jesus here tells they twelve that they are now those stewards.
You have been taught something valuable
You now know something other people need to know
Stored in your treasure is information other people need

And what does the “head of a household” do?
He “brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

He takes what he has and dispenses it to those who need it.

I don’t have to explain to you the spiritual application here.
Because they had been entrusted with the knowledge of the kingdom,
They were now responsible to distribute that knowledge to the world.

• They knew why people weren’t entering the kingdom.
• They knew why there were tares among the wheat.
• They knew why the kingdom appeared small.
• They knew how the kingdom would grow.
• They knew how valuable the kingdom is.
• They knew what would happen to all those who did not enter it.

And they were now obligated.

Remember what Paul said?
Romans 1:14-15 “I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”

Ephesians 3:1-3, 8-10 “For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles — if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you; that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief…To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.”

Paul was bound to deliver that which he knew.
And that is precisely what Jesus is saying to the disciples.

AND THAT IS ALSO TRUE WITH US – WE HAVE THIS TRUTH!
And notice EXACTLY what He said.
“every scribe who HAS BECOME a disciple of the kingdom is like a head of household WHO BRINGS OUT of his treasure things new and old.”

Jesus didn’t say every scribe “should” bring out rations.
He said every scribe that is a disciple “brings [it] out”

In other words, one of the distinguishing marks of a true disciple
Of the kingdom is that they share the treasure.

Jesus is saying if you are truly a disciple,
Then you will be a steward.

However, those who pretend to be disciples,
But who are not good stewards are frauds.

Matthew 24:45-51 “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. “Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. “But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Charles Spurgeon said, “Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter.”

That is exactly what Jesus is saying here.
Every true disciple of the kingdom
Is either a faithful steward or a lying hypocrite.

We are responsible for what we know.

Now some would say, “Wait a second preacher! Jesus Himself didn’t tell that truth to everyone. He said Himself that it wasn’t granted to everyone. I think I’ll just be like Jesus and only share it with those who have been chosen to know it, just like Jesus did.”

That would be fine and well except you don’t know who that is.
Jesus did, you don’t.

We are called to share it everywhere.

TURN TO: ISAIAH 6

VERSE 8 And obviously his answer should be our answer.

Here is the mission
VERSES 9-10
(Recognize that? It is the verse Jesus quoted earlier in Matthew 13)

Notice Isaiah’s question
VERSES 11-12

So God told him to preach until everyone is destroyed.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THAT?
VERSE 13

Because there was a remnant that would be saved.
Isaiah didn’t know who they were, and neither do we.

We know that at least 75% won’t accept it because their hearts are bad,
But we don’t know who they are until we share it.

Furthermore we know the kingdom spreads in this manner (like leaven)

And now we find that we are responsible
To share the mystery we have received.

And so we talk about GOING on mission.
• You may not be a preacher
• You may not be an evangelist
• You may not be a teacher

But that doesn’t matter.
ARE YOU A DISCIPLE?

Because those who have received are responsible to share.
You are obligated to share what you know.

And this is how I think we have to close our study of the SOLAS

Certainly they are given for our education.
• There is tremendous benefit in the Christian life in knowing these things.

But it’s not ONLY for our instruction.
• It’s also that we would share what we have been taught.

AT THE END OF THE DAY WE ARE A LIFE-SAVING STATION.
We are under obligation.

Matthew 13:52 “And Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

The Fruit of Forgiveness
Luke 7:36-50
June 10, 2018

When you study through Luke’s gospel, his theme is not hard to spot.
Luke bangs the same drum over and over.

He is constantly highlighting the necessity of humility
As opposed to self-righteousness.

• Luke loves to focus on the overlooked, the down and out, the broken, the failure, etc.

• He is blown away by the Lord’s compassion to be willing to save the worst and most undeserving among us.

• At the same time Luke has no problem revealing just how far the self-righteous are from salvation as well.

Even the most recent story Luke shared echoed that same theme.
• Luke recounted the sermon of Jesus regarding John the Baptist, and how he was in fact a prophet of God, and even more than that how John the Baptist was the forerunner of the Messiah.

• And that’s not strange, Matthew recorded that story too.

But unlike Matthew, Luke pointed out the response to that story.

We read:
Luke 7:29-30 “When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they acknowledged God’s justice, having been baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by John.”

Luke wasn’t about to miss an opportunity to reveal that yet again
It was the humble who are receiving salvation
While the self-righteous are totally missing out.

It is an important theme to Luke,
And one we’ll continue to see over and over again.

Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

And certainly Luke has made no bones about revealing
Who is and who is not a candidate for salvation.

We’ve seen that.

THIS MORNING HOWEVER, Luke shares a story
That reveals a slightly different point.

This story is not about who is being saved, this story is about the evidence of what salvation looks like in one who has been saved.

We know by now that the Lord will save the humble.
That has been a clear theme.

The question for this morning is:
How do you spot someone who has been forgiven?

What we gain from this story
Is not only a doctrinal understanding of the fruit of salvation,
But also we see a story meant to condemn those
Who think they are saved and are not.

We’ve said it many times, before a person will be saved, they must first be convinced that they need saving.

• With many people, especially among those who are moral or religious, we must first crush their false assurance before they are willing to see their need for salvation.

Luke is all about that too.

SO THIS MORNING Luke shares a story with us
Where Jesus not only reveals the true fruit of forgiveness,
But also manages to deliver a crushing blow
To those who are living in a false sense of security.

4 points.
#1 THE SCENE
Luke 7:36-38

Luke begins by revealing that there had apparently been an ongoing request by a Pharisee to have Jesus into his home.

“Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him”

While it is tempting to read this story as one of good will,
That would be a mistake.

Luke has made no qualms up to this point that
Jesus and the Pharisees are not on the same side.

Luke first introduced them back in chapter 5 when they all showed up to sort of check up on Jesus.

• That was the incident in which the 4 men tore the hole in the roof and lowered their paralytic friend down.

• And after Jesus forgave that man we get the first picture of what will be a longstanding battle.

Luke 5:21 “The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”

Immediately following that Jesus will save Matthew and when Jesus attends a banquet at Matthew’s house, the Pharisees will strike again.
Luke 5:30 “The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?”

From there we read:
Luke 6:1-2 “Now it happened that He was passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath; and His disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating the grain. But some of the Pharisees said, “Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

And then again:
Luke 6:6-7 “On another Sabbath He entered the synagogue and was teaching; and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find reason to accuse Him.”

And even after Jesus silenced them, Luke records:
Luke 6:11 “But they themselves were filled with rage, and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.”

And so you get the point.

We are long past trying to make friends.
If a Pharisee wants Jesus over it is only for the purpose of finding dirt. This is not a good will visit.
• This is a time for an interrogation.

That is further made evident later when we realize that when Jesus arrived this Pharisee would not even offer common courtesy protocols like the washing of Jesus’ feet or a kiss or an anointing with oil on the head.

This Pharisee had no love for Jesus, he is looking for dirt.

And according to Luke it didn’t take long for the dirt to arrive.

(37-38) “And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume.”

First, I’ll just go ahead and tell you that,
“No, this is not the same incident recorded in Matthew 26, Mark 14, or John 12.”

This event occurred much earlier in Jesus’ ministry.
• Really the only link between the 2 that might possibly be made is to say that it is possible that this event inspired that one.

But here, as Jesus is reclining at the Pharisee’s house.
(you reclined with your feet away from the table)
We find that in the city there is a woman “who was a sinner”
Most likely she is a prostitute.
And when she heard that Jesus was in town,
She went to the house where He was.

It is important to note the distinction here.
• There is no physical ailment reported for the woman…
• There is no demonic presence reported for this woman…
• She isn’t coming for healing or deliverance from a demon or food or anything like that.
• She is coming because she recognizes that she is sinful.

It’s also important to note that getting to Jesus would not have been easy.
• It’s highly doubtful that the Pharisee would have welcomed her into his home.
• Odds are good that she had to sneak in.

Apparently happened is that when she heard Jesus was here,
She snuck in and made her way over close to where He was.

The story makes it obvious that
In Jesus she had found the forgiveness that she longed for
And as the reality of that overtook here she began to weep.

And because she could not get to His head (due to the position in which He was reclining) she started anointing His feet.

And really, the scene and the affection here are absolutely startling.
• I’m not sure that any one in here would do what she is doing even to their
spouse, and I’m fairly certain that at least half of you bathed before you came.

But trust me, Jesus’ feet would not have been in a desirable condition.
• Dirty roads…walking everywhere…open sandals
• You get the idea

And yet this woman is sobbing so intensely that she can actually wet his feet with her tears, wipe them with her hands, and dry them with her hair.

That as well would have been scandalous since Jewish women
Would not have let their hair down like that, unless they were a prostitute.

And then she takes an alabaster vile of perfume and anoints his feet.

It is a remarkable demonstration of love and gratitude.

That is the scene
#2 THE SCORN
Luke 7:39

First I want you to recognize that the Pharisee
IS NOT SHAKEN at all at this woman’s demonstration of love.

Perhaps he viewed her as a filthy woman and thought nothing of the humiliating display
What he did pick up on was the dirt he was looking for on Jesus.

Now some might have used this incident as a means of accusing Jesus of immorality, I think we can see how that might have happened.

But the reputation of Jesus was so impeccable,
That the Pharisee likely knew that an accusation like that wouldn’t fly.

Instead of accusing Jesus of immorality,
The Pharisee inwardly accuses Him of ignorance.

“If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.”

If you’ll remember, the common view on Jesus at the moment
Is that He is most definitely a prophet sent from God.

Remember after Jesus raised the widow’s son?
Luke 7:16 “Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited His people!”

Now certainly we know Him to be more than a prophet,
But even recognizing Jesus as a prophet is problematic for the Pharisees.

After all, if Jesus does in fact speak from God, then they are in trouble
Because Jesus has openly condemned them on numerous occasions.

Most recently:
Luke 7:31-35 “To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? “They are like children who sit in the market place and call to one another, and they say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ “For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ “Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

Just last week we listened as Jesus condemned the Pharisees as stubborn and selfish children who prove their lack of wisdom by the way they act.
• They ignored John…
• They ignored their sin…
• They ignored Jesus…

So obviously one of the MAIN OBJECTIVES of the Pharisee is
To prove that Jesus is no prophet.

AND THIS PHARISEE THINKS HE HAS THE DIRT HE NEEDS.

HE INWARDLY ACCUSES JESUS OF IGNORANCE.
He thinks he has Jesus because Jesus can’t even recognize
What a sinful woman this is who is washing His feet.
And I promise you, that accusation is just about to come out of the Pharisee’s mouth except Jesus beats him to the punch.

The Scene, The Scorn
#3 THE SERMON
Luke 7:40-47

In a certain twist of irony, the Pharisee is about to accuse Jesus of being ignorant and thus not a prophet,

But before he can say anything Jesus answers the question that he was thinking, thus proving ignorance is not His problem.

And Jesus begins His sermon with a parable.
(40-43) “And Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say it, Teacher.” “A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. “When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?” Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.”

While it is true that some of Jesus’ parables can be difficult to discern,
This is not one of them.
Even an angry and judgmental Pharisee could not miss this point.

There was a “moneylender” and he had “two debtors”.
• “one owed five hundred denarii” (about 2 years wages)
• “one owed fifty denarii” (about 2 months wages)

And the moneylender “graciously forgave them both”

The debts were totally absolved and no reasoning was given but grace.
It was a benefit which was not deserved, could not be earned, and was not paid back.

This man just wiped the slate clean because he was gracious.

And the question was:
“which of them will love him more?”

And of course the Pharisee picks up on the obvious point, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”

And Jesus says, “You have judged correctly”

And we have no problem understanding the symbols here.
• The “moneylender” is Jesus.
• The “debtor” who owed the most is the woman
• The “debtor” who owed the least is the Pharisee

We should also point out here that
• The concept of owing a little or a lot is not an accurate representation of what each actually owed,
• But was rather a matter of self-evaluation of what they each thought they owed.

If you want to get honest:
Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
• We are familiar that “there is none righteous, not even one.”
• We know that “all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.”

James even reminded us that:
James 2:10 “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.”

So Jesus is NOT INSINUATING that while the woman was a big sinner
That the Pharisee was only a little one.

The difference is that the woman was aware of her sin,
Whereas the Pharisee was not.

But both of them had been offered forgiveness at the hands of Jesus.

And what was the woman’s response?
• She jumped on it!
• She was grateful for!
• And she loved Him enormously because of it!

What was the Pharisee’s response?
• He rejected it.
• Didn’t think he needed it.
• Was offended that Jesus would even insinuate such a need.

And that is what Jesus points out.

(44-46) “Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. “You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. “You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume.”

Jesus just revealed which of the two values forgiveness the most.

The Pharisee thought so little of Jesus that
• He didn’t offer to wash his feet (even to allow a slave to wash His feet);
• He didn’t greet Jesus with a kiss;
• He didn’t provide any oil to anoint his head.

And incidentally, all of those were mere hospitalities.
They were the equivalent today of “taking someone’s coat” or “giving a handshake or a hug” or offering a cool drink of water.

The Pharisee refrained from any and all pleasantries with Jesus.

But the woman…
Not only did she do the obvious hospitalities, but she did them in an unbelievable way.

• She didn’t just have a slave wash Jesus’ feet, she washed them herself, and she used here tears and her hair to do it.
• She didn’t just give Jesus a kiss of greeting on the cheek, she kissed His feet.
• She didn’t just anointed His head with oil, she anointed His feet with expensive perfume.

You get the obvious contrast there.

The question Jesus is asking (and the one the Pharisee has already answered) is “Why?”

Why did you refrain from standard hospitality?
Why did she go way over the top?

And the answer:
(47) “For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

What is the answer?
“she loved much”

Even more than that,
• She was more aware of her sin than the Pharisee was.
• She valued forgiveness more than the Pharisee did.
• She was more grateful for it than the Pharisee was.

“have been forgiven” there is a verb in the perfect tense
Which indicates an action in the past with effects into the present.

That means that this woman was forgiven in the past,
But still enjoys that forgiveness in the present.

That is important to understand so that your doctrinal wires don’t get crossed.
• This woman did not earn forgiveness because of her love.
• This woman loved because of her forgiveness.

Jesus didn’t forgive her because she put on such a display.
She put on such a display because Jesus forgave her.

She loved Him because He forgave her of here enormous sins.

And that is the point that Jesus just made to the Pharisee.

Obviously implied in the sermon is this:
• Simon, you obviously aren’t in touch with your sin.
• Simon, you obviously don’t understand the value of forgiveness.
• Simon, that is obvious because you have no love for the One who forgives.

Don’t miss that Jesus just condemned Simon.

#4 THE STATEMENT
Luke 7:48-50

This is beautiful and tragic all at once.

Jesus looks at this woman and says, “Your sins have been forgiven.”
Again in the perfect tense, indicating an action in the past.

Jesus didn’t just forgive this woman, she was already forgiven
(we aren’t given that story)
Jesus states it here to reveal to the crowd what a gracious Savior He is.

He is that gracious moneylender.
He will forgive sinners, even vile sinners, even prostitutes

Certainly NOT LOST IN THAT EQUATION is that
All forgiveness assumes responsibility for the loss.

If someone borrows $100 from you and doesn’t pay you back and you forgive the debt, then you pay the debt. You’re the one out the $100.

For Jesus to forgive this woman is a contractual agreement that
He will assume all her debt and pay her tab.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

That means that on the cross Jesus suffered as a prostitute before God.
He did not become a prostitute, but He was treated as one.

Jesus made that agreement at some point in the past,
This woman so rejoiced in it that she came and anointed Him,
And Jesus again announced those details to the crowd.

What should have happened is
One by one people in the crowd should have jumped at the opportunity to have their debts forgiven as well.
• They should have said, “Me too!”

Instead, they opted to continue in their scorn.
(49) “Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?”

But Jesus doesn’t flinch.
He looks at the woman and assures her, (50) “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

Again the distinction, she was justified by faith, not love.
Faith brought forgiveness.
Forgiveness brought the love.

And so you have the story.
• A vile sinner forgiven and rejoicing in it.
• Another vile sinner rejecting and scorning the Savior because he doesn’t think
he needs it.

That actually not the only story like that.
Luke 18:9-14 “And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

That’s a very similar story isn’t it?

What’s the difference?
In that story the focus is on the humility that leads to salvation.

But that ISN’T what our story today is about.
Our story is about the love that is produced by salvation.

Jesus doesn’t here tell the Pharisee how to be saved.
Jesus tells the Pharisee how He can tell that He is not saved.

How do we know the Pharisee isn’t forgiven?
How do we know the Pharisee isn’t saved?
He has no love for Christ.

Consequently, that’s exactly how we know that the woman is saved.

Luke uses this story not to reveal how to be saved, those are coming.
Luke uses this story as a litmus test to allow us to see if we are saved.

How do you know if you’ve been saved?
How do you know if you’ve been forgiven?
The answer is easy: BY YOUR LOVE FOR CHRIST

Let me give you THE DOCTRINAL STATEMENT from Jesus again:
“he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

And this is so important.

We are not legalists, not by a long stretch.
We will never tell you that you can earn God’s favor
• Through attendance of worship,
• Or through committed praise,
• Or through fervent prayer,
• Or through faithful study of His word,
• Or through generous giving,
• Or through sacrificial evangelism.

We will never tell you that if you do those things then God will accept you.
That’s not true.

However we most definitely believe the doctrine of regeneration.
We wholeheartedly believe that if you have been saved then it will be evident in
• Your attendance of worship,
• Your committed praise,
• Your fervent prayer,
• Your faithful study of His word,
• Your generous giving,
• And your sacrificial evangelism.

And I’ll be honest, I am so glad Luke included this story.

If there is one thing that plagues the American church more than any other it is this: A LACK OF LOVE FOR CHRIST

That’s a bigger issue than our complacency
That’s a bigger issue than our immorality
That’s a bigger issue than our ignorance
That’s a bigger issue than our comfort
In fact, all of those things are byproducts of the main thing.

The American church (by my estimation) is losing her love for Christ.

And can I remind you of what a problem this is?
Revelation 2:1-7 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ‘Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place — unless you repent. ‘Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’”

We’ve preached that passage enough in recent years
That I won’t go all through it again here this morning.

But the simple point is that for all the things Ephesus had going for them:
• Doctrinal accuracy
• Commitment to truth
• Ability to expose heresy
• Hatred of distortion and immorality

For all the things going for them,
They were missing one very important thing.
“you have left your first love”

They didn’t love Christ.
And if you’ll remember, the Lord was about to remove their lampstand.
That is to say, they were about to no longer be a church.

Friend, there is no greater evidence of salvation
Than an all-encompassing love for Christ.

WHAT DOES THAT LOVE LOOK LIKE?
Well, look at this woman.

She had an EAGER LOVE
• Did Jesus have to invite her to the Pharisees house?
• Did someone have to make her come?
When she got word, she went to where He was.

She had a HUMBLE LOVE
• Nothing she did there was about her feelings or enjoyment.
• Everything she did there was to benefit Christ.
It was not about her feeling loved by Him,
It was about Him feeling loved by her.

She had a SACRIFICIAL LOVE
And I’m not just talking about the sacrifice of washing His feet.

Think about what it took for her
To muster the courage to enter that house at all.
Do you have any idea the scorn she faced just for entering?

In case you haven’t realized it,
The Pharisees are pretty big on stoning women caught in adultery.

And yet she risked it all, not to earn forgiveness,
But to show gratitude for the forgiveness he had already received.

She had a SINCERE LOVE
• She didn’t just run in, wet His feet and run out.
• She didn’t just run in, give Him some perfume, and run out.
• The key word in verse 38 is “kept”

This wasn’t about her schedule, or about her convenience,
This was about loving Him.

She had an EFFECTIVE LOVE
Isn’t it phenomenal that while the Pharisee
Didn’t seem impressed at all by her acts, Jesus was?
He got her message.

She was there to make Him feel loved even through a humiliating process.
And it is obvious He felt loved by her.

And then we bounce her actions off the church today
Who claims to appreciate the forgiveness of Christ.

And yet to us everything is a burden and secondary priority.
• Worship is too inconvenient, or too long, or too boring.
• Private Prayer is too tiring
• Corporate Prayer is too intimidating
• Corporate Singing is too embarrassing
• Bible study is too exhausting
• Evangelism is too difficult
• Giving is too expensive

Based upon our attitude one has to wonder is there any love for Christ at all?

I think that’s the very question that the American church must answer.
I think that’s the very question that we must answer.
Do we love Christ at all?
Is there any affection for Christ?

And the next question is the really painful one.
If we have no love for Christ then how can we claim to have been forgiven?

If I could ask for one thing this morning
It would be that our church, that my life,
Would be marked by a definite and evident love for Christ.

And I would tell you one more truth based upon this reality.
Since it is true that great forgiveness produces great love
Then we also know the means to growing our love for Christ.

Get in God’s word, two things will happen.
1) God will reveal your sin, and how you fall short
2) God will reveal the gospel and the forgiveness of that sin through Christ

And the end result will be love for Christ.
Do you know what we call that? REVIVAL

Revival begins when the church catches a renewed understanding
Of the gravity of her sin and the enormity of Christ’s forgiveness.

That is when love for Christ begins to grow.
And this is what I pray for.