Matthew chapter 10 will begin reading at verse
5 and will take us our text today and end at
verse 15. Matthew writing, he said, These twelve,
the apostles, Jesus sent out and He commanded
them saying, Do not go into the way of the Gentiles,
and do not enter a city of the Samaritans, but
go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And as you go, preach, saying, the kingdom of
heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the
lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely
you have received, freely give. Provide neither
gold nor silver, nor copper in your money belts,
nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor
sandals, nor staffs, for a worker is worthy of
his food. Now whatever city or town you enter,
inquire who in it is worthy and stay there until
you go out. And when you go into a household,
greet it. And if the household is worthy, let
your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy,
let your peace return to you. And whoever will
not receive you nor hear your words when you
depart from that house or city, shake off the
dust from your feet. Assuredly, I say to you,
it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom
and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for
that city. Let's pray. Father these are very
sobering words when we consider what Jesus had
just said about the final judgment Those to whom
much is given Lord you require much at their
hand We who have been given the gospel and given
great revelation Father our duty is to receive
it and act upon it Lord would you help me this
morning to preach Lord exactly what this text
says And Father, I pray that as it's being preached,
Lord, your spirit will work in the lives of the
saints and the lives of sinners. Awaken the sinners
to their own peril, Lord. Awaken them to their
own just condemnation. And Father, Lord, I pray
that they would flee to Christ. But to the saints
who have been brought into this covenant family,
Lord, would you help us to see a little bit better,
a little bit more deeply? little bit more richly
what Christ has done for us. Lord, we need your
help. We confess that we can do nothing apart
from you said Lord this morning would you use
the preaching of your word to mature us in our
faith we pray in Jesus name amen. I believe that
probably many maybe most but certainly not all
of you might be familiar with the popular Lord
liar or lunatic argument that was put forth by
CS Lewis. It's often called Lewis's trilemma
So here's what CS Lewis said when it comes to
the claim of Christ of being the divine son the
Messiah He said you really only have three options.
That's it. He said here are the three first of
all Jesus would be a liar Okay, that means he
intentionally deceived people He wanted them
to believe something about himself that he knew
was not true. He was trying to he was a con artist
trying to pass himself off as the Messiah, yet
wasn't. That's one option. Secondly, you can
believe he was a lunatic. That means Jesus truly
believed he was divine. He believed he was the
divine son, the Messiah, but yet he wasn't. So
he was just a deluded man. Or thirdly, you can
believe that Jesus is Lord. You believe he was
telling the truth that he really is the divine
one. Now there are some today, if you read this,
there are some who try to thread that needle
just a little bit. So there are so many people
today, they will reject the claim of deity. They
will say Jesus is not God, but they do espouse
that he was a good moral teacher. He was a great
philosopher, or perhaps they might even say he
was an enlightened rabbi, but he was not God.
But think about Lewis, what he's saying here.
If Jesus claimed to be God, and yet knew that
he wasn't, well you could not call him a good
moral teacher. He would be a liar. Or if you
say, well he truly believed he was God, but he
wasn't, well we wouldn't call someone like that
a wise, noble teacher. That's a crazy man. He's
a lunatic. And Lewis said the best evidence after
studying the life and teachings of Jesus, and
after you weigh all the evidence, you must conclude,
he says the best argument is that Jesus was telling
the truth and he indeed is Lord. Now there's
really only one choice. There's really just one
decision that you must make when it comes to
Christ. And this is the decision. You either
reject him or you bow down before him. remaining
neutral is never an option given to us in the
scriptures and we're going to see that in our
text today. That neutrality is not an option.
So when the gospel is proclaimed, when the claims
of Christ are preached, someone has to make a
decision about these claims. Is Jesus who he
said he is? Is he Lord or is he not? Now last
week we looked at our Lord. He was beginning
to build his church and he called out 12 men.
whom he commissioned, whom he sent. They became
the apostles. And we looked at that in depth
last week. Now remember, apostle simply means
sent one. It's a Greek word, apostolos, one who
is sent. But today we're gonna see their commission.
We will see where they were sent, to whom they
were sent, and what was the message they were
to preach while being sent. So let's pick up
our text in verse five. These 12, the 12 he picked,
we saw last week. Jesus sent out and he commanded
them saying, don't, do not go into the way of
the Gentiles and do not enter the city of the
Samaritans. Here's what you're to do. Go rather
only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
So what you find here, Jesus is sending these
men out on an itinerant preaching mission, but
it's going to be restricted. It's restricted
to the bounds of Israel, particularly though,
in this case, to Galilee. Remember, Jesus primarily
in his earthly ministry was located in Galilee.
That's north Israel. And if you've been to Israel
or you know anything about Galilee, on the north
is Gentiles, on the east is Gentiles, on the
west is Gentiles, and to the south is Samaritan
territory. So it's surrounded by foreigners all
about. And the Lord told these 12 men, because
they're there in Capernaum, Galilee. He said,
you do not go anywhere outside of Israel. stay
in Israel. And this is very fitting because we
have to consider Israel's priority in salvation
history. The apostles went only to Israel because
God's saving plan was to bring the message of
the kingdom to His chosen people first, to this
chosen nation. That would fulfill promises and
it would also fulfill prophecy. Jesus sent them,
notice the text here, to the lost sheep. of the
house of Israel. Why? Their mission was actually
an extension of his mission. That meant their
audience was the same as his audience. In chapter
15, Jesus said about his own mission, I was not
sent except to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. Whom are the twelve sent to? To whom?
The lost sheep of the house of Israel. So Christ
sends these 12 men out to preach, but we've already
seen there's glimpses. We start to get a little
bit of an inkling that the Gentiles will be included.
We can go back to the beginning. In chapter 2,
we see it was the Magi, what we call the wise
men. These were probably Persian people. These
were Gentiles. So you have these Gentile Magi.
They came in when Jesus was born, bringing gifts
and bowing down before him. Somehow they got
it. probably from Daniel. Earlier in Matthew,
though, we also saw Jesus, he performed healings,
and one of the healings is he healed a Roman
soldier's servant. Later on, we see him heal
a Gentile who had been demon -possessed. We also
know that Jesus spoke explicitly about Gentiles
being brought in in chapter 8. Notice the text
in chapter 8. I say to you that many will come
from east and west, that's Gentiles, sit down
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom
of heaven, but the sons of the kingdom, that's
the Jews, they will be cast out into outer darkness,
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
But what we see right now, Israel is going to
be the focus until Jesus finishes his own ministry,
which will culminate in his death and resurrection.
And after that is accomplished, after Jesus dies,
after he is resurrected, you're going to find
the gospel will begin to expand beyond the borders
of Israel. In fact, by the time we get to the
end of Matthew's gospel in chapter 28 at verse
19, Jesus commands these same men. He then says,
go into all the nations preaching the gospel.
But first, salvation had to be offered to Israel.
Salvation first goes to the Jews. and then later
to the Gentiles. But isn't that what Paul said
about his own ministry in Romans 1 -16? For I
am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power
of God to everyone who believes, to the Jew first,
and also to the Greek. Now, so that's to whom
they were sent, just to Israel right now. But
what were they commissioned to preach? What was
their message? Look at verse 7. As you go, preach
saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Ah,
we've been studying Matthew. We know that sounds
eerily familiar. That's the same message that
John the Baptist preached in chapter three, repent
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's
the same message that Jesus himself preached
in chapter four, repent for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand. Do you start to see what's going
on here? The apostles have the same audience
and the same message because their mission is
an extension of his mission. They are his ambassadors
sent out with his authority. So their message
will be the same as his. Now there are some who
say, well you have to understand at this time
an earthly messianic kingdom was offered to Israel
first and only after they rejected it did that
gospel, the kingdom, they say changed to the
gospel of salvation and then it was preached
and offered to the nations. I have a great problem
with that. Matthew knows nothing of two different
gospels because there are not two different gospels.
There's only one gospel of God's saving reign,
one gospel of the kingdom, and it is located,
it is found in Jesus Christ. Now here's how I
can show this. In chapter 24 of this same book,
the Lord tells us in chapter 24 verse 14, this
same gospel of the kingdom will be preached,
the same gospel. that the apostles preached,
that John the Baptist preached, that Jesus preached,
it's going to be the same gospel 24 -14. It'll
be preached in all the world as a witness to
the nations and then the end will come. So the
same message, the same gospel that we're preaching
today, this gospel of the kingdom, you may have
heard it as the gospel of Christ. There is no
difference. It is being preached on in the nations
even today. Now, There is a slight nuance here,
a slight difference. The apostles went out and
they were preaching, the kingdom of heaven is
at hand. It is near. Why were they preaching
that? Because at that time the king, Jesus, was
still on the earth. He had yet not died, risen
again, and ascended to his father. Today we preach
the kingdom of God has come in Christ. It is
inaugurated. Now listen carefully, I've said
this so many times that I don't know that we
get it. The kingdom is here in seed form, but
it's not yet here in its full fruition. The kingdom
on earth today is in the church. Why do I say
that? Because he's building his kingdom. That's
what he's doing. In the church, Christ is confessed
as king. What is our confession as Christians?
Christ is the Lord. And he is ruling over his
people today by word and sacrament. The kingdom
of God has come, yes. But we're still praying,
your kingdom come. Why? Because it's not yet
come in its consummation form. It's not yet come
in its fullness. That awaits when Christ comes
again. But the kingdom is here. And right now
we're still proclaiming, and this is what people
have to understand, we go out preaching Christ
is king. He is the crucified risen and returning
king. So if the gospel is the good news about
the kingly rule of Christ, then the question
we must answer is, how do you get into that kingdom?
If the kingdom, the gospel of the kingdom's good
news, you want to be in that kingdom, how do
you get in there? Repent of your sins and believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. In Acts 20, the apostles
were preaching. Notice what they said, testifying
to the Jews and also to the Greeks, that's Gentiles.
What were they preaching? Repentance toward God
and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Acts
2 38, the day of Pentecost. Peter said, repent
and let every one of you be baptized in the name
of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and
you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Mark 16, verses 15 to 16. He says, go into all
the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
He who believes and is baptized will be saved
and he who does not believe will be condemned.
And finally in Acts 16, this is the Philippian
jailer. Do you remember he said, sirs, what must
I do to be saved? And what did Paul and Silas
tell him? They said, sir, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and you will be saved, you and your
entire household. So when we're preaching this
gospel, it calls for a response, repentance of
your sin, turning from your sin and faith turning
to and placing your trust in Jesus Christ. Now
as we go back to our text in Matthew, we're going
to see that the Lord sent these men out with
miraculous authority. Look at verse 8. He told
him, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise
the dead, cast out demons. That's amazing stuff
right there. So Jesus gave these men authority
to do what? Exactly what he had been doing. They
are his, they're doing everything he did. They're
preaching like he did, they're going to the same
people he did, and they're performing the same
signs and wonders that he did. There would have
been an expectation if these men truly were Jesus'
ambassadors, and everyone in Galilee knew about
Jesus by this time. If you're going to go into
town and you're saying, I represent Jesus, then
there would have been some expectation. Well,
where's the evidence? I mean, we know about Jesus,
and if you're sent by Him, prove it. Give some
evidence. But even more importantly than that,
their message was that the kingdom of heaven
was at hand. I mean, if I come in and I'm preaching,
the kingdom of heaven is here. It's near. What
proof, what evidence is there to my claim? Well,
this is evidence. The sick are healed. Lepers
are now cleansed. Dead people are being raised
to life, and all those who are bound by demons
and have been troubled and afflicted by demons
are being set free. I mean, those are miraculous
signs, and they all point to what life in the
kingdom of God will be like. So what they're
going out saying, what they're going out preaching,
here's what they're saying. The kingdom you've
been waiting for, to the Jews, it's here, it's
here right now, if you will receive Jesus as
your king. Do you recognize him? Do you remember
what John said about Jesus? He had come to destroy
the works of the devil. Well, if Jesus had come
to destroy the works of the devil, John clearly
tells us that, then that means when the kingdom
comes in its fullness, in its consummate form,
you'll not find disease there. There will be
no death there, and certainly there'll be no
demons there. So these apostles, not only did
they confirm their message, but these were signs.
They were signs, they were hints, if you will,
showing what life in the kingdom of God will
truly be like. In the kingdom, everything that
was messed up is now restored. It's restoration.
There is life where there was once death. There's
wholeness where there was once sickness. In fact,
there is what we would call shalom, peace. And
I've told you many times, shalom doesn't simply
mean absence of conflict. Shalom means life as
God intended. It's human flourishing. It's life
before sin entered. This is what they were to
do. Then Jesus gave another thing though. He
said, hey, by the way, don't charge for your
services. Look at the latter part of verse eight.
Freely you have received, now you give freely.
Don't take money with you and don't take more
than what you need. It's basically verses eight
through 10. Now, notice here, the apostles were
forbidden from charging a fee. They couldn't
do it. Their ministry was to be characterized
by generosity, not by profiteering. The authority
had been given to them freely. It was a gift
to them, and Jesus said, you're not going to
profit off the use of that gift. I've given to
you freely, now you go out and give to people
freely. So now they come, they're preaching about
the kingdom and life in the kingdom, not about
enriching oneself, but about service. That's
what life in the kingdom is about. Who sent these
guys? Jesus. Do you remember what was written
of Jesus? Though he were rich, yet he made himself
poor for your sake, that you and I, by his poverty,
might be enriched. So Jesus comes and he made
himself poor so that we his people might be enriched
by him and he tells his apostles, you're going
to go out and do the very same thing. You will
not profit off of this ability. You go out and
teach the people and you perform these mighty
acts of healing and you don't take a dime from
anyone. Now that's important as well because
that's going to safeguard the gospel message.
Because if you start charging or people start
paying you, There's going to be accusations of
greed. Think about this. Had these guys come
and they had these big money bags with them,
which is what they would have received offerings
in, or had they taken honorariums for speaking
fees, for preaching or performing miracles, there
would have been an accusation, no doubt there
would have been an accusation, made by others,
that these men were simply getting rich off the
backs of poor, gullible Jews. So Jesus said,
don't do it. You don't charge anyone. But he
did say it is okay to receive food and lodging.
Why? A worker is worthy of his hire, or his food,
as it says in our text. And that's an important
point as well. If you go back to ancient Israeli
culture, or really ancient Mediterranean culture,
you see that hospitality was highly valued. Highly
valued. It was a godly responsibility, and it
was commonly practiced. So you would have people
traveling. They didn't have a lot of hotels.
They didn't have a lot of places of lodging.
So people just took strangers into their home.
It was very common. It was well respected. It
was well practiced. This is how these men, even
though they're strangers, they could depend upon
the gracious hospitality of others to give them
food and to put them up for the night. So not
only can you not charge a fee, guys, Jesus said
you're going to travel light. Notice the text.
He doesn't want them to be hindered by possessions.
Instead, he wants them to trust him for their
provision. So don't take two tunics. You got
the one. Don't take two pairs of sandals. Don't
take with you two staffs in your hand. So this
is a bare bones ministry, right? So our Lord
is sending out these men with almost nothing,
and they're gonna have to trust God to supply
for their needs. This would be a great test of
faith for these men. It's a great test of faith.
Now, sometimes you're looking at this and you're
like, well, why don't you guys do that today?
Why don't people do that anymore? Notice this
is not a command to us today. This passage is
descriptive. It's not prescriptive. So what I
mean by that, it describes the first apostolic
mission. This is not a recipe, it's not a prescription
for all future missionary endeavors or how missions
must work today. In fact, Jesus later, after
he dies and rises again, he changes this provision.
If you look in Luke 22, I think I put up there,
yeah. When I sent you without money bag, knapsack,
and sandals, did you lack anything? No, their
mission was a success. No, Lord we didn't lack
anything. Now he said to them, but now things
are different. If you have a money bag, take
it. And likewise a knapsack. And if you don't
have a sword, well sell your clothes and go buy
a sword. The conditions after the crucifixion.
We're different from those in the early ministry.
See, in Matthew 10, we're in his early ministry.
And so now with the changing conditions, you
have a change in ministry. Now they are to take
money. Now they are to provide. Back here, they
aren't. But I want us to focus on these last
few minutes, verses 11 through 15. This is what
I think is the crux of the passage here. Whatever
city or town you enter, find out who's the worthy
one and go in. And once you go into house, you
stay there. I'm paraphrasing. And by the way,
when you go into this house, I want you to greet
it. Give a blessing, all right? And if it's worthy,
let your blessing stay. But if the household
is not worthy, take your blessing back. And whoever
doesn't hear you and whoever doesn't receive
your message, he said basically, once you preach,
I want you to get up, shake the dust from off
your clothing, shake the dust from off your feet,
and it's gonna be worse for those people than
it will be for Sodom and Gomorrah in the final
judgment. Now that's a paraphrase there. Now
the Apostles, they went out by pairs. You can
see that in the beginning part of chapter 10.
They were all teared up. All right. So you have
12 men, each going out with two. So there are
six teams sent out to preach in the various towns
and villages throughout Galilee. Why would they
divide and conquer like that? Well, there are
six teams. They're going to quickly cover more
area. Galilee's not very big. And they're also
going to reach more people that way. So you have,
let's say, two men walk into a town or a village.
They were to find out who was worthy. and we're
going to stay there. Now what does it mean for
someone to be worthy? We think worthy means noble
or morally perfect. That's not what the word
is here at all. Keep in mind the context. The
worthy person was the one who was willing to
receive them and show them hospitality. That's
who was worthy in the town. And Jesus said, now,
once you enter a house, stay there. You don't
leave. Don't leave that house until you leave
that area. Now, why was that important? Why can't
they change homes? Don't upgrade. Don't look
for better or more comfortable accommodations.
That's going to compromise your message. He said,
stay where you are. You don't want to look like
you're showing favoritism. You don't want to
have to look like anything's inappropriate because
you might go into this one house and you stay
there that night, but this other brother, man,
he's really got an opulent place. Let's move
over there. Jesus said, no. Wherever you go,
you stay. until you leave that area. Verse 12.
And when you go into household, you need to greet
it. In Jewish culture, the greeting, many of
you have been to Israel, you know, the greeting
is the word shalom, peace. But again, peace is
not the right word, it's wholeness. It's God's
favor. Now this greeting is more than just saying
hi like we would to today. If I say greet someone,
you'll say, hi, what's your name? That's not
what we're talking about. This greeting was an
actual blessing from God. The apostles carried
with them the authority to bless others in the
name of God. And he says if it's worthy, verse
13, if the household is worthy, will you let
your shalom come upon it? But if it's not, Take
your shalom back. Now, what's going on here?
How were the apostles to determine if that household
was worthy or not? They were worthy if and only
if they received the message that they were preaching
about Christ and his kingdom. That's it. See,
Jewish people, just by nature being Jews, they
would have naturally practiced hospitality. They
would have welcomed Jewish men into their homes
simply because they were fellow Jews traveling,
not because they believed the Apostles' message.
But the Apostles' blessing, God's favor, was
tied to something. It was tied to how this household
received that message. If the home in which they
were staying received the gospel, then the blessing
that the apostles brought with them was to stay
up on that house. But if, let's say, that household
heard the apostles preach and they rejected the
message, then the shalom, the blessing they brought
is to be rescinded. Take it back. God's favor,
His blessing will never... rest upon a home,
a town, or a person who rejects his son. Never.
Not a nation, by the way, either. If the people
were to receive the Apostle's message, they received
Christ himself. And if they receive Christ, then
they receive the peace or the shalom of the kingdom
of Christ. God's favorite, still true today,
His blessing, His salvation is directly tied
to how you or anyone receives the good news,
the gospel of His Son. That's what determines
the blessing of God. But there are going to be
people who reject it. We see that in the last
two verses, verses 14 and 15. Whoever will not
hear you, if they don't, shake off the dust from
your feet. So we see here, obviously, Jesus knows
they're going to go preaching throughout Galilee,
but not everyone's going to listen to them. Not
everyone's going to welcome their message. Many
will hear that message and reject it. And I think
it's instructive for us today as well. Friends,
so many of us, we want to make sure that people
enter into the kingdom. But I want you to understand,
look at the apostles. They were only responsible
to preach. They were never responsible for how
others responded to their preaching. We today,
we preach Christ crucified and risen for the
salvation of sinners. But whether people receive
that gospel message, whether they reject that
gospel message, is not dependent upon me or you.
It can never be. And that's the same with the
apostles. They didn't try to twist or strong
-arm anyone. They preached Christ and the people
either rejected it or they received Him. But
if they rejected this message, to reject what
the apostles were preaching is to reject Christ.
And if you reject Christ, you rejected God. Luke
10 -16, Jesus said to the apostles, he who hears
you hears me. And he who rejects you rejects
me. And the one who rejects me rejects him who
sent me. Do you see the importance of this? To
reject the apostolic message. This gospel is
to invite judgment. When anyone rejected the
message, the apostles were to do something, shake
off the dust from their feet. Now, this would
have been a very obvious sign to any Jew of that
day, because many Jews, when they would travel,
especially in Galilee, they would travel outside
of Israel into Gentile territory, sometimes having
to do business or just walking through Samaria
even. But anytime they would come back into the
land of Israel, they would leave Gentile land
or Samaritan land, they came back into Israel.
they would shake the dust from their clothes
and shake the dust off their feet. Why? They
were showing separation from those unclean Gentiles.
They're making the distinction there. The apostles
shaking the dust off their sandals from a Jew
who rejected the message was essentially saying
to that Jew, you are no different than a pagan
Gentile. The Jew who rejected Christ was just
as outside the covenant as Gentiles were and
are, regardless of what John Hagee preaches today.
There is no two covenants, friends. This is an
astounding claim. If you reject Christ, if you
were a Jew, it placed you outside of God's covenant
as if you were a pagan. That's what they're saying
here. how one responded to the Apostles' message,
determined whether one received God's blessing
or received God's judgment. Look at the final
verse. This ought to make us fear. This verse
here. We ought to ponder it, meditate upon it.
Jesus said, assuredly, mark it down. I say to
you, it will be more tolerable, it will be more
bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah. in the final
day of judgment than for those who reject what
the apostles were preaching. And you all know
Sodom and Gomorrah, right? They're the two most
infamous cities that God overthrew because of
their extreme wickedness. They were the two most
wicked cities in biblical history. And we know
both of those cities, they incurred God's severe
judgment. And Jesus invokes the name of these
two cities to make a comparison. He said, it
will be better for Sodom and Gomorrah in judgment,
although through their extreme wickedness, than
it will be for those who rejected the gospel
of Christ and his kingdom. Now listen, when Sodom
and Gomorrah were guilty of great sin, tremendous
wickedness, but they did not have Israel's privilege.
They did not have all of that revelation. Israel
was tremendously gifted. They had, the folks
of this, they had the opportunity to witness
not only the apostles preaching, but performing
extraordinary miracles. Remember, they're doing
cleansing lepers and raising the dead and healing
the sick, casting out demons. There is no excuse
or there was no excuse for unbelief. So their
rejection of that revelation brought a greater
responsibility and it brings a greater judgment
as well. Now some people don't believe this,
but the Bible teaches us there will be degrees
of punishment. Not all judgment is uniform, if
you want to say it that way. Jesus said on various
occasions it's going to be more tolerable for
some than others. Now that doesn't mean that
he's getting like a 70 degree hell, I'm not saying
that. But he's saying it's going to be more tolerable
for others depending on the light that was either
received or rejected. It will be. Great revelation
brings great responsibility. To whom much is
given, much will be required. If you've heard
the truth, and think about these people, they
heard the truth, they saw the miracles, they
had access to that great revelation, they looked
at it, and they rejected it. They're like, no,
Jesus is not king. That's not him. God says that
will bring a severe judgment. Paul, in the book
of Romans, he said, look at how Israel was gifted.
They had the covenants. They had the scriptures.
They had the prophecies. They had all the prophets.
They also had the direct preaching of the kingdom.
They had Jesus. And they rejected it. And to
reject all that is fundamentally worse than all
of the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah. It's
what it says. The more clearly one has heard
the message of Christ, the greater the accountability
one has before God. It's a terrible thing for
you today. What that means is if you heard Christ
and you heard it clearly and you continue to
reject it and you die in your sins, there will
be an unbearable judgment. You don't get to reject
Christ and have God's blessing. To reject Christ
with the full revelation knowing that Christ
died, He rose again, He ascended, it is to bring
God's severe judgment down upon your own head.
That's what the Lord's saying. R .T. France in
his commentary speaking of the Jews, he said
their fate will be worse because the fuller light
of the dawning of kingdom is now being rejected.
To reject Jesus' messengers, that is the apostles,
is to reject God, and it is to incur his final
judgment. It's terrible if we think about that.
There is nothing worse than the prospect of hell.
To stand before God and to have him say, depart
from me, I never knew you, and to cast you into
the abyss. Modern people mock it. They mock the
idea of a final judgment. They say there's no
way that's going to happen. That's just left
over from an ancient religion in a crude time.
But if you look clearly, you can see that Jesus
took the idea of final judgment very seriously.
There's nothing ambiguous about this. Jesus says
the matter of final judgment is a settled truth.
We will all stand before the judgment seat of
Christ. Everyone's going to stand before God
one day. You're like, well, now what, then? There
is one Savior, one Lord, one King. And that is
Christ Himself. So you've got to decide. Is He
a Lord? Is He Lord? Or is He a liar? Is He a
lunatic? You're saying, well, He's Lord. Well,
is He? If He's Lord, then you receive Him by
repenting of your sin and placing your faith
in Christ. And if He is your Lord, if He's your
Lord, you must bow before Him. recognizing His
sovereign authority over all of us. See, friends,
to be a Christian is to no longer be our own
master. We have been bought with a price, and
we are to glorify God in our bodies. So many
people think, well, Jesus is standing there.
He's inviting. God is just inviting sinners to
come to Jesus. That's not what the Bible declares
at all. God's not inviting anyone. He's commanding
you. The Bible commands you to come to Christ.
Look at Acts 17. Truly, these times of ignorance
God overlooked, but now He commands all men everywhere
to repent. Why? Why must they repent? Because
He has appointed a day on which He will judge
the world in righteousness by the man, that's
Christ, whom He has ordained, and He has given
assurance of this. He's given you proof to all.
What's the proof that He's really going to judge
the world? By raising Him from the dead. If you
disobey this command to repent, then in great
horror, you will find yourself on the receiving
end one day of God's unbridled judgment for all
eternity. It's a dreadful thing, it's a fearful
thing, it's a terrible thing to fall into the
hands of the living God. Can you imagine anything
worse? Is there anything truly, anything more
dreadful than the prospect of hell? Have you
ever thought about it and just gripped your heart
and panic set in? I mean, it has me. There's
before like, Lord, do I truly know you? I've
thought about that. I'm like, it's just gripped
me because you think about time and we think
time will end. There is no time. It's eternity.
To reject God's King is to do the unthinkable.
So I tell you today, flee to Christ and be saved.
All those who come to him, he says, I won't reject
anyone. I receive every single sinner who comes
to me. All those who bow before him, he receives.
Today, friend, it is not a laughing matter. It
is not a small prospect. It is the most important
business transaction of the soul. What will you
do with Jesus called Christ? Let's pray. Father,
I pray that, Lord, you would use feeble words
from a very feeble man to do what only you can
through the foolishness of what I just did save
those who believe. Lord, may you open eyes, may
they believe that, that yes, there's the final
judgment, and yes, they indeed are great sinners
and they need to repent and trust Christ. Oh,
Father, by your Spirit, awaken them to that truth.
God, bring sinners into your kingdom. Save church
members, Lord, who perhaps are just nominal,
Lord, just cold and dead inside, and yet their
name is on a roll. God, awaken them to righteousness,
awaken them to judgment, and awaken them to salvation,
Lord. The true gift, the true gift is Christ.
Lord, this is what we celebrate, Lord, in this
meal. God, that Lord, we truly commune with him.
We share with him. We participate in his body
and his blood because there is no other means
of salvation than the body and blood of Christ.
What is our only hope? It is that Christ has
died for us and risen again. Lord, everything.
Lord, we put all our eggs in that one basket
named Jesus. Lord, for the saints today, Lord,
who are struggling, Lord, God, would you help
them see anew, get a glimpse, Lord, of the glory
of Christ, encourage them, mature them, grow
them up into Christ, Lord, we pray. Help us now,
Lord, as we come to the table in a very serious
way, Lord, but also in a very joyful way, knowing
that we have been brought in because Christ has
died for us. And we thank you for that truth.
In Jesus' blessed name we pray. Amen. Deacons,
if you'd come, prepare the table.