1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000 Let's hear the word of the Lord. Matthew 10, starting at verse 1. 2 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:48,760 Good morning everyone. It's great to be together today on the Lord's Day and 3 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:54,920 something else happened this week that was special. We had a day where we 4 00:00:54,920 --> 00:01:02,240 reflected on the great sacrifices of many young men who were recruited by 5 00:01:02,240 --> 00:01:09,720 their nations and sent out to battle with great evil forces that threatened 6 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:16,120 our freedom. I don't know how you spent your Anzac Day but there were many 7 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:21,620 things on different media platforms to get us reflecting on the things that 8 00:01:21,620 --> 00:01:28,120 these young men experienced, like stories of how they saw horrid things which the 9 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:33,440 enemy had done to people and how they were equipped and commissioned with 10 00:01:33,440 --> 00:01:38,840 putting things back in order by destroying the enemy in the places that 11 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:44,400 they had invaded. Now I mention all of this because we come to a part of 12 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:50,920 scripture this morning where in a very similar way Jesus, the King of God's 13 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:58,240 kingdom, recruits a group of men also as to send them out to start to engage and 14 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:05,920 drive back great evil forces with the authority and power of God himself. But 15 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:10,320 before we get into the text that we have before us this morning, why don't we ask 16 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:18,360 our Father to help us in the task? Would you please pray with me? Father God, we 17 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:23,600 ask that you would please enlighten the eyes of our heart this morning by the 18 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:30,320 work of your Holy Spirit, that you would show us more of our Savior, that you 19 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:37,840 would cause us to behold him, that you would change us, that we would take the 20 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:42,920 gospel and do something with it in the power and the authority that you give 21 00:02:42,920 --> 00:02:49,920 your church. We ask for this in Jesus name, amen. Now if you've been with us 22 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:54,600 for any amount of time you'll know that we've been in the book of Matthew 23 00:02:54,600 --> 00:03:01,960 following the public ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ which has been focused 24 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:08,560 on the kingdom of heaven invading earth through his ministry. That's what we've 25 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:15,160 been looking at since chapter 4. God through his prophets promised Israel 26 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:20,840 that God's perfect order would come and put things right which the enemy being 27 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:26,720 sin, death and the devil himself had destroyed through the fall of Adam. And 28 00:03:26,720 --> 00:03:33,840 as we've seen Jesus has done this in a number of ways. In chapters 5 through to 29 00:03:33,840 --> 00:03:40,040 7 we explored the sermon on the mount in which Jesus revealed the intent of the 30 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:46,400 law given to his people Israel which pointed people to the very heart of God 31 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:53,300 to which we are to live. Then we moved on to chapters 8 through to 9 and we 32 00:03:53,300 --> 00:04:00,440 explored a series of events that Jesus engaged in with the enemy and its 33 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:09,280 ravaging effects. And what did we see? Well time and time again Jesus was able 34 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:14,760 by just the word of his mouth to heal the sick, give sight to the blind, make 35 00:04:14,760 --> 00:04:23,060 demons flee, forgive sin and even raise the dead. All this went to prove that 36 00:04:23,060 --> 00:04:27,560 Jesus not only had the power and authority of God but that he was the 37 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:36,080 long-awaited King of the kingdom, the long-awaited Messiah. This morning and 38 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:40,600 as Liam mentioned just before over the next few weeks we're going to be 39 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:48,140 looking at Jesus's disciples being prepared to be sent into Israel so that 40 00:04:48,140 --> 00:04:55,040 they under the authority of God himself might push back and even destroy the 41 00:04:55,040 --> 00:05:01,000 enemy within their nation. And so if you have your Bibles with you this morning 42 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:08,360 look with me at verse 1. We read Jesus called his 12 disciples to him and he 43 00:05:08,360 --> 00:05:15,080 gave them authority to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and 44 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:22,400 sickness. Okay so the first thing that I want you to see here is Jesus chose 45 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:29,800 these disciples so as to send them. Let me say that again Jesus chose these 46 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:36,720 disciples so as to send them out. Now believe it or not this wouldn't have 47 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:42,920 come as a shock to these guys and I say that because all the way back in chapter 48 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:50,160 4 as Jesus walked along the shoreline and recruited Peter, Andrew and James and 49 00:05:50,160 --> 00:05:59,120 John he had said to them follow me and I will send you out to fish for people. Now 50 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:03,140 as we've noticed as we've been working our way through this book over the 51 00:06:03,140 --> 00:06:09,920 months Jesus's ministry gathered many many people because the masses were 52 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:15,760 absolutely astounded with his miracle working power and it was from these 53 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:21,040 crowds that Jesus collected some other guys to train up and we see some of 54 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:27,880 their names there in verses 2 through to 4. Now we did this because as we saw last 55 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:34,080 week as important as the signs and wonders were as they testified to God's 56 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:40,680 very real power being at work among them the miracles were not the point of 57 00:06:40,680 --> 00:06:48,360 Jesus's ministry. Now as we saw putting our faith in Jesus is the point of his 58 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:54,560 ministry that's how we receive the blessing of the kingdom it's by putting 59 00:06:54,560 --> 00:07:00,440 our faith in Jesus and so these guys needed to know a bit about what Jesus 60 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:08,640 was about before they were ready to be sent. Now up into this point these guys 61 00:07:08,640 --> 00:07:13,600 had been pretty much in the background and part of the crowds that listened to 62 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:19,920 Jesus and followed him around but now something changed in that Jesus called 63 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:26,800 them to himself so as to send them and he did that because if you look at verses 64 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:34,240 37 and 38 of the previous chapter you'll notice that Jesus had said to these very 65 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:42,440 guys that the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few so pray to the Lord 66 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:49,600 that he might send some workers out. So something's happened there and these 67 00:07:49,600 --> 00:07:56,720 guys were being prepared to be sent out prepared for this ministry and I just 68 00:07:56,720 --> 00:08:03,080 want to say a couple of things on how our Lord prepared his disciples for this 69 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:10,960 ministry. First Jesus called these men to follow him and second he taught them. 70 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:18,680 I'll say that again first he called these men to follow him and second he 71 00:08:18,680 --> 00:08:24,640 taught them. Now as I said before there were many many people who had come to 72 00:08:24,640 --> 00:08:33,600 Jesus because they'd heard great things about this Jesus but it seems that Jesus 73 00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:38,520 wanted these particular men to be a little bit more closer to him than the 74 00:08:38,520 --> 00:08:45,920 others so as to learn privately from him and that's before you can be that's 75 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:53,160 because before you can be a teacher you must be a student and thus Jesus wanted 76 00:08:53,160 --> 00:09:01,320 these guys to have access to himself. So we might say the way that Jesus trains 77 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:09,000 his people is that he calls them to be in his presence and have fellowship with 78 00:09:09,000 --> 00:09:16,680 himself. I like the way that 18th century Puritan and pastor theologian Matthew 79 00:09:16,680 --> 00:09:22,600 Henry puts it the best preparation for the work of the ministry is acquaintance 80 00:09:22,600 --> 00:09:29,560 and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's important to note here. Jesus 81 00:09:29,560 --> 00:09:38,840 equips those he will send out with first being a follower and disciple of himself 82 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:43,960 and I want you to take note of that because Jesus doesn't send people out 83 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:51,520 who are unprepared, unequipped and unfamiliar with a life of following him. 84 00:09:51,520 --> 00:09:57,200 We see it in the way that he treats his own disciples. Jesus sends out his 85 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:03,400 disciples that was always the plan but he doesn't do it straight away. Now he 86 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:09,200 wanted them to have been following, listening and hearing what he had to say 87 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:16,200 and learning what it meant to be part of the kingdom of heaven. Remember verses 88 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:24,760 37 and 38. Jesus wanted to send workers out into the harvest because it's 89 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:31,240 plentiful but if his disciples just saw the miracles, heard the rumors, got caught 90 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:35,600 up in the hype and went out running out teaching wrong 91 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:41,060 information then people would get the wrong idea and be led to the wrong 92 00:10:41,060 --> 00:10:49,040 conclusions. Jesus sends his people out into the field of ministry in some 93 00:10:49,040 --> 00:10:55,760 measure equipped and prepared for that ministry. It is one of the great 94 00:10:55,760 --> 00:11:02,320 tragedies of the internet age. There's a whole bunch of people out there in 95 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:09,640 YouTube land teaching and preaching from their bedrooms to millions and millions 96 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:17,480 of people that haven't been prepared and haven't been equipped. Those that the 97 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:25,480 Lord calls he equips. He doesn't send us unprepared which means if we're to serve 98 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:32,080 Christ in whatever capacity and in whatever place well we must first know 99 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:40,680 him and be in fellowship with him. We must first be his disciples and sit at 100 00:11:40,680 --> 00:11:47,920 his feet and have communion with him, fellowship with the risen Lord. Now 101 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:53,960 obviously we can't be like these first men who physically sat at the feet of 102 00:11:53,960 --> 00:12:02,000 our Lord and so the question begs how can we do that? How can we commune with 103 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:09,400 Christ? How can we sit at his feet? Well brothers and sisters might I say this is 104 00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:15,920 why gathering together as the people of God around the Word of God and listening 105 00:12:15,920 --> 00:12:24,760 and thinking and praying on his Word is so important. Faith comes by hearing and 106 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:31,520 hearing by the Word. What we do on a on a Sunday morning in our Bible studies in 107 00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:38,440 our one-to-ones in our private reading time isn't just an intellectual pursuit 108 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:47,080 but a feeding on eternal words, a feasting on the manner sent from heaven. 109 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:56,680 Also that we might be corrected, edified, trained, shaped and built up in our most 110 00:12:56,680 --> 00:13:04,840 holy faith. It's a wonderful thing to be in the Word, memorizing the Word and 111 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:12,920 meditating on the Word either corporately or individually. I heard this during the 112 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:19,200 week some Christians used to be called Bible moths because they would literally 113 00:13:19,200 --> 00:13:27,800 live in their Bibles. Would you say that of yourself? Do you love to study the 114 00:13:27,800 --> 00:13:34,620 Word? Would you say that you love to know our Lord's Word, to understand what Jesus 115 00:13:34,620 --> 00:13:41,160 has to say about this world and what he has to say which applies to the 116 00:13:41,160 --> 00:13:48,240 things that apply to our own lives? Are you hungry to hear from our God? These 117 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:53,360 things are the product of the work of the Spirit in the disciple, someone whose 118 00:13:53,360 --> 00:14:01,480 heart yearns to know the words of our Lord. And just going back to the subject 119 00:14:01,480 --> 00:14:08,360 of faith, well that's another way in which we grow in intimacy with our Lord. 120 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:16,640 It's by exercising the faith that we see, our faith in the things that we see in 121 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:23,960 the Word. Think about last week and how important faith is. Our faith in Jesus 122 00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:31,040 will always lead us to trust him in what he has to say. Faith in Jesus will always 123 00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:38,560 lead to action. Faith is integral in our sanctification and discipleship and 124 00:14:38,560 --> 00:14:48,920 learning to trust our Lord is vital. One of the ways that our Lord grows us to 125 00:14:48,920 --> 00:14:57,360 trust him more and more is through uncertain circumstances. This is why I 126 00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:01,920 personally love being around men and women who have faithfully followed Jesus 127 00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:07,280 through it all, because they testify to our Lord's faithfulness through the 128 00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:12,920 hardest times, when everything around them didn't make sense and seemed so 129 00:15:12,920 --> 00:15:21,200 dark, they walked by faith and not by sight and their testimony is always to 130 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:26,520 the faithfulness of our Lord in the darkest valleys who's leading and 131 00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:33,200 guiding them. Now it might not always be through tragedy, but that's what Jesus 132 00:15:33,200 --> 00:15:40,760 does with his disciples. He teaches us to exercise faith in him, teaches us to 133 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:48,360 trust his word because he wants to grow us in intimacy with himself. And so one 134 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:55,600 last thing to add here, knowing his word and trusting him will always lead us to 135 00:15:55,600 --> 00:16:02,800 speaking to him. He speaks to us through his word, we walk according to his word 136 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:09,680 by faith and we speak to him as we live and trust and abide in him. That's what 137 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:16,880 prayer is. Prayer is the soul responding to our God who's speaking to us through 138 00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:23,480 his word and we trust by faith that our words are heard by the living God who 139 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:30,040 desires intimacy with his people. Brothers and sisters, being a disciple 140 00:16:30,040 --> 00:16:39,880 means being with Jesus. I don't know what our Lord will call you his disciples to. 141 00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:45,800 For some of you it might be to something local, for some of you it might be to 142 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:52,480 another city, even to another nation, but what I do know is that you belong to him 143 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:59,920 and you are his disciple and all of our lives belong to him and he can do 144 00:16:59,920 --> 00:17:06,000 whatever he wants with us, but might I say whatever he has in store for you, 145 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:12,160 whatever he has in store for me, those the Lord calls he equips and doesn't 146 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:18,480 send them unprepared and we are being prepared, we are prepared by being in 147 00:17:18,480 --> 00:17:25,760 fellowship with him, sitting at his feet, trusting him, talking to him, having 148 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:31,680 communion and friendship with him. So the first thing that we see here is Jesus 149 00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:39,480 chose these disciples so as to send them out, he equips them. The second thing we 150 00:17:39,480 --> 00:17:46,240 see is that Jesus gave them authority and power over the enemy. Now as I said 151 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:52,560 before we've spent weeks in chapters 8 through to 9 exploring the events that 152 00:17:52,560 --> 00:17:59,040 Matthew presented to us of the absolute power and authority that Jesus had been 153 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:05,880 given by God so as to carry out the mission of bringing the kingdom of 154 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:14,520 heaven to bear on his people, but now notice it, Jesus gives this very power to 155 00:18:14,520 --> 00:18:21,680 these 12 chosen men. This is important to notice because as Jesus was sent into 156 00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:26,320 the world and couldn't fail in his mission because of the power and 157 00:18:26,320 --> 00:18:33,960 authority given to him, well these 12 men were going to be sent with the very same 158 00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:41,360 power, the power of God himself into Israel to break down the enemy 159 00:18:41,360 --> 00:18:49,040 strongholds, to set the captives free as they went about preaching on the kingdom 160 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:57,440 of heaven. Now notice it, all that these men were sent out to do would rise and 161 00:18:57,440 --> 00:19:05,160 fall on their having received what Jesus promised to give them. Notice it, where 162 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:14,960 has the source of their power come from? Well not their smart ideas, not their 163 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:20,480 entertaining services, attractive speeches or winning personalities, but 164 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:26,960 Jesus said I'm going to give you this power and that's because he has the 165 00:19:26,960 --> 00:19:35,560 power to give. Jesus has the very power of God to give to his people. He makes 166 00:19:35,560 --> 00:19:42,600 all the difference. He gives power for ministry and power to change situations 167 00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:49,720 and lives. Now in this context the Apostles needed the power of God for a 168 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:53,360 few different reasons and we're going to explore this a lot more over the coming 169 00:19:53,360 --> 00:20:00,120 weeks but for now just look at this. First because these disciples were going 170 00:20:00,120 --> 00:20:06,800 to be a witness of a message that would be very hard for Israel to hear. You see 171 00:20:06,800 --> 00:20:12,920 the Israelites had the law and the prophets but the teachers as we've seen 172 00:20:12,920 --> 00:20:19,480 were leading Israel to wrong applications and so our Lord gave these 173 00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:25,360 men his power in order that as they went and as they taught their teaching would 174 00:20:25,360 --> 00:20:32,000 be accompanied by signs to show that their application was approved by God. 175 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:39,200 These guys weren't just giving their advice but God himself approved their 176 00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:45,600 message. Upon reflection of this the writer to the Hebrews said this 177 00:20:45,600 --> 00:20:51,240 salvation which was first announced by the Lord was confirmed to us by those 178 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:59,960 who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles 179 00:20:59,960 --> 00:21:08,360 and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. 180 00:21:08,360 --> 00:21:16,360 Distributed according to his will. Hebrews 2 verses 3 & 4. Second if you 181 00:21:16,360 --> 00:21:22,240 look at verses 2 through to 4 of the text that we have before us this 182 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:29,480 morning these guys you'll notice weren't exactly credentialed theologians. 183 00:21:29,480 --> 00:21:34,080 No they were pretty much the working class of society and and that's actually 184 00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:40,400 what they would be accused of throughout most of their earthly ministry. They 185 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:48,240 would be accused of by the theologians as being unlearned men. Now think about it. 186 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:57,400 Though they sat at the feet of the greatest teacher to ever walk the face 187 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:03,800 of the planet the theologians of Israel didn't acknowledge what Jesus said about 188 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:08,880 himself and so having the power of the Lord on them would testify to God's 189 00:22:08,880 --> 00:22:16,840 message about his son. Third this power and authority was given so as to show 190 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:22,320 Israel that the devil's rule is coming to an end. For months now we've been 191 00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:27,040 exploring the book of Matthew and we've seen that the king of God's kingdom had 192 00:22:27,040 --> 00:22:33,720 arrived and that as Jesus had traveled around preaching and teaching he had 193 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:40,320 infiltrated enemy lines and the devil and his minions had no power to stop him. 194 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:46,880 And now all Israel was about to see that those Jesus had given his power and 195 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:53,800 authority to were going to go and do the same thing. Through the power of God 196 00:22:53,800 --> 00:23:00,160 Almighty. Through the power of God they were going to go and tear down enemy 197 00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:08,040 strongholds and set the captives free. And church that's still the case today. 198 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:17,480 We as the disciples of Jesus Christ need our Lord to work in and through us in 199 00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:25,760 the city of Armidale and beyond. And so this is the warning when we don't rely 200 00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:32,200 on him and when we're tempted to do ministry in our own strength then we can 201 00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:40,000 expect no real change. It's tragic many have lost faith in God's power through 202 00:23:40,000 --> 00:23:46,000 the gospel and instead of relying on him they've moved to things like 203 00:23:46,000 --> 00:23:55,000 entertainment or feel good TED Talks to try and win people over. No the disciples 204 00:23:55,000 --> 00:24:01,520 in any time or place we must find our power and authority in Jesus. We must 205 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:09,240 depend on our Lord in all that we do to affect real change in this world. The 206 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:18,840 gospel is the power unto salvation for all who believe. I loved loved having 207 00:24:18,840 --> 00:24:26,600 our AGM last week. It was a real time of celebration but we have to remember 208 00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:32,880 church our best efforts our brightest minds and best strategies will not 209 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:40,200 bring souls into the kingdom of heaven. No we here at Grace Christian Church 210 00:24:40,200 --> 00:24:46,560 must be continually dependent upon our Lord because it's by his grace alone 211 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:53,360 that his goal will be accomplished in our midst. His gospel is the power unto 212 00:24:53,360 --> 00:25:00,880 salvation not our designs not our plans and strategies. Now does that mean that 213 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:06,480 we should expect signs and wonders? Well in the ministry that our Lord has given 214 00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:12,480 us to do we are to be faithful to the gospel message that our Lord has given 215 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:19,440 us and he can and will act in the way that he best sees fit. As we read just 216 00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:26,120 before in Hebrews God will act in accordance with his will when and where 217 00:25:26,120 --> 00:25:34,080 he likes. He has the power. His power changes situations and the gospel is the 218 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:40,200 power unto salvation that we are to faithfully proclaim. That is what we are 219 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:44,640 called to do here at Grace Christian Church and a soul coming into the 220 00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:52,880 kingdom is the most awesome miracle that can happen. But in saying that in saying 221 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:58,080 that we can ask our Lord and if he wants to accompany the gospel proclamation 222 00:25:58,080 --> 00:26:03,000 with other things then that's his business. And so first Jesus chose these 223 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:08,920 disciples so as to send them. Second Jesus gave them authority and power over 224 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:16,320 the enemy. Third Jesus changed his disciples into apostles. Now I want you 225 00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:23,840 to notice the language here that Matthew employs. He begins by saying in verse 1 226 00:26:23,840 --> 00:26:33,640 his 12 disciples but in verse 2 he says 12 apostles. Now we did look at this 227 00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:40,240 before but Jesus had these men follow him so that he could send them out and 228 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:48,320 that's exactly what apostle means. Sent one. And I absolutely love that Jesus 229 00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:55,480 calls them apostles because in the Greco-Roman world an apostle was an 230 00:26:55,480 --> 00:27:02,000 ambassador. One who was sent to all the territory of an empire to announce good 231 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:07,880 news to them that the king had conquered more territory and that their enemy had 232 00:27:07,880 --> 00:27:15,720 been defeated. That's exactly what Jesus was commissioning these 12 to do. Now I 233 00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:20,480 do want to say something about the immediate context here. This isn't the 234 00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:25,240 great commission. This isn't the great commission that we're going to see later 235 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:31,520 in chapter 28 to go into all the nations. Now this commission as we'll see in 236 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:38,200 verse 6 was to go to Israel alone and they were to do that by going to all the 237 00:27:38,200 --> 00:27:44,360 villages and towns announcing that the kingdom of heaven had come near. Now you 238 00:27:44,360 --> 00:27:48,320 might remember as we've been working our way through this book if we look at the 239 00:27:48,320 --> 00:27:52,960 ministry of John the Baptist and Jesus who also announced that the kingdom of 240 00:27:52,960 --> 00:28:00,920 heaven had come near. It was to summon people back to the living God. It was a 241 00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:07,640 message of repentance and that message of course is a foreshadowing of the 242 00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:13,760 great commission given to all disciples throughout all time. But for now this was 243 00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:20,200 to the nation of Israel. And I want you to notice a couple of things about this. 244 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:27,160 First it's interesting that Jesus pairs these guys. Matthew records that for us 245 00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:35,720 with the word and. We see it there in verses 2 through to 4. Simon and his 246 00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:43,880 brother Andrew, James and his brother John. Now if we look at the other counts 247 00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:50,400 recorded by Mark and Luke this indicates that these guys were paired up as they 248 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:55,520 went out on mission. In fact it said elsewhere that they were sent two by 249 00:28:55,520 --> 00:29:02,960 two and that is a great lesson in our evangelistic efforts. The church hasn't 250 00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:10,000 been designed to do things individually but together and that's because 251 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:18,000 evangelism and missions is best done when we have mutual support. Now that's 252 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:24,200 not a hard and fast rule for every single situation but it's a good general 253 00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:30,080 application. A church that's on mission together supporting each other and 254 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:35,920 praying for one another will be a community that stands on firmer 255 00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:43,000 ground because we'll be doing it together. All of us are called to witness 256 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:48,480 for Jesus and all of us will have differing contexts in which we are to do 257 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:56,120 that but this is a thing. We are not called to tackle armadale by ourselves. 258 00:29:56,120 --> 00:30:03,800 No we have each other. We have each other's support, each other's prayers, our 259 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:09,120 mutual encouragement and we are to edify each other as we seek to share the 260 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:15,760 gospel with our city. Second and please humor me a little bit this morning 261 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:20,800 because this is quite technical but I want you to see it in our text because I 262 00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:24,200 think it's going to help us in the coming weeks. 263 00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:33,200 Matthew you may have noticed links these men with the number 12 repeatedly. It's 264 00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:39,980 interesting that Jesus out of the masses of people that followed him that he 265 00:30:39,980 --> 00:30:48,200 selected 12 men right. The number 12 is stressed we see it there in verse 1 we 266 00:30:48,200 --> 00:30:55,040 see it in verse 2 and verse 5. 12 men were selected, commissioned, endured with 267 00:30:55,040 --> 00:31:06,760 power and sent. 12 men sent to Israel that just so happened to have been 268 00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:15,320 established by 12 tribes which had been ravaged by the enemy, sin and their own 269 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:23,040 apostasy. And so we might look at this and say by Jesus choosing 12 men he's 270 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:29,760 symbolically making a new people a new Israel if you will. Re-establishing that 271 00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:36,480 which had been torn down. By doing this he's insinuating that he's creating a 272 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:42,160 new Israel and that these men who would become the foundation of the church 273 00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:50,120 would be like the 12 patriarchs that were the foundation of Israel. If that 274 00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:53,600 seems hard to understand don't worry we're going to come back and look at 275 00:31:53,600 --> 00:31:58,440 this in greater detail over the coming weeks as we go through the rest of 276 00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:04,740 chapter 10. But for now church I just want you to see a couple of things as 277 00:32:04,740 --> 00:32:12,160 we bring this passage to a close. First I really want you to notice the kind of 278 00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:18,680 people that Jesus has chosen in this list. We don't have all the back stories 279 00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:23,680 of all these people but the first few guys that are mentioned here Peter, 280 00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:28,840 Andrew and their mates James and John and we know Matthew from just a few 281 00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:36,960 weeks ago. What were they? Well they were fishermen and a tax collector meaning 282 00:32:36,960 --> 00:32:45,280 they weren't the scholars of society or the great philosophers of the age. No 283 00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:53,820 they were were simple working-class men that Jesus chose to build his church. He 284 00:32:53,820 --> 00:32:59,720 chose them to build his church. Now in and of themselves that would be 285 00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:07,840 impossible but that's the thing. Jesus came to them. Jesus chose them. He called 286 00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:16,080 them. He taught them and he gave them his power and commissioned them. This was a 287 00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:22,920 diverse group of guys and Jesus drew them to himself by his grace alone and 288 00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:32,560 notice it. Jesus didn't set this up for failure. Yes these men made mistakes, 289 00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:38,520 tragic mistakes. One of them would even go on to betray our Lord but despite 290 00:33:38,520 --> 00:33:46,080 their very very human failures our Lord's plan accomplished exactly what he set it 291 00:33:46,080 --> 00:33:51,880 out to do. These men went out and eventually a foundation of a new Israel 292 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:58,320 was set, the church. Not because of their strength and power but because of the 293 00:33:58,320 --> 00:34:05,000 strength and power of the one who had sent them. Jesus being the cornerstone 294 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:13,480 and Jesus is still building his church today and in like manner no matter what 295 00:34:13,480 --> 00:34:19,240 it looks like out there in the dark dark world or within the church itself with 296 00:34:19,240 --> 00:34:28,760 our very very human failings. Jesus hasn't set the church up for failure and 297 00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:33,480 that's the second thing that I want you to think about. I want you to hear the 298 00:34:33,480 --> 00:34:39,720 words of one of these men that Jesus chose and changed into an apostle. The 299 00:34:39,720 --> 00:34:46,760 Apostle Peter who through the breathed out words of the Holy Spirit speaks to 300 00:34:46,760 --> 00:34:55,920 the church today. He says you, you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy 301 00:34:55,920 --> 00:35:02,200 nation, God's special possession that you may declare the praises of him who 302 00:35:02,200 --> 00:35:09,360 called you out of darkness and into his wonderful light. Once you weren't a 303 00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:18,040 people but now you're the people of God. You're the people of God once you had 304 00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:25,480 not received mercy but now you've received mercy. See what our apostle is 305 00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:30,120 saying here? He's saying that we're a new people that have been chosen and 306 00:35:30,120 --> 00:35:35,040 gathered together by the living God to live in such a way that we're to be a 307 00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:44,280 testimony to the world. Much in the same way that Israel was chosen and gathered 308 00:35:44,280 --> 00:35:50,560 to be an example to the Gentiles. So brothers and sisters with that said God 309 00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:59,800 wants all of us, all of us to show the world and declare that the gospel is the 310 00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:08,240 power unto salvation. Which means none of us are useless in the hands of our Lord 311 00:36:08,240 --> 00:36:15,120 and Master. He has chosen us and he desires to use you and me in 312 00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:23,120 accomplishing his good plan and design in this world. All his disciples no 313 00:36:23,120 --> 00:36:29,280 matter how educated you are, how rich you are, how successful you are by human 314 00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:37,280 standards, you are not useless to our Lord when you rely on his power and 315 00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:44,480 authority. Our human limitations are not the limits of what God can do through 316 00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:51,520 you and me. He has all power and authority to change situations and lives. 317 00:36:51,520 --> 00:36:57,240 He has the power and authority to destroy the enemy and set the captives 318 00:36:57,240 --> 00:37:05,680 free and he uses disciples like you and me to do so. And so would you join me in 319 00:37:05,680 --> 00:37:11,320 praying in accordance with this reality that has been given to us by the grace 320 00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:17,240 of our living Lord Jesus. Would you please pray with me? 321 00:37:17,240 --> 00:37:30,440 Lord Jesus we come to you this morning knowing that you have put us in this city. 322 00:37:30,440 --> 00:37:40,520 Knowing that if we think about and look on the statistics it's grim. Lord Jesus 323 00:37:40,520 --> 00:37:47,400 we know that you desire that your church is a city on a hill, a light in the 324 00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:53,600 darkness but Lord we do know that the harvest is plentiful of the workers for 325 00:37:53,600 --> 00:38:01,640 you. This morning Lord Jesus we ask that we would be a church that doesn't 326 00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:08,400 compromise on the gospel. That we would be a church that has communion with you 327 00:38:08,400 --> 00:38:16,720 that is filled by your spirit and that the overflow would be a great want and 328 00:38:16,720 --> 00:38:22,520 a desire and a commissioning from you to go out into this city. We ask that it 329 00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:27,480 would be spirit led. We would ask that your spirit gives us the wisdom and how 330 00:38:27,480 --> 00:38:32,000 to do these things and over the coming weeks that you would teach us what it is 331 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:40,080 to be faithful witnesses to you. Lord this is your church we are your people. 332 00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:47,560 We ask that you would use us for your glory and by your power and authority 333 00:38:47,560 --> 00:39:04,920 that we wouldn't compromise. We ask for this in Jesus name. Amen.