Luke (Session 10) Chapter 10

well i want to welcome you to the study of luke and we are in chapter 10 and of this interesting interesting book uh the major sections of luke we had obviously inducted a few chapters then they had the galilean ministry that went from chapter four to chapter nine and now we're going into the next section which is towards jerusalem chapters 10 through 19. the first up to chapter 9 is considered the great galilean ministry that was the focus that's where he called his disciples and so forth now they're going to get some practical experience and teaching on their way to jerusalem get to chapter 19 through the end we're going to have this final offer of the kingdom the rejection of that the sacrifice and then of course the resurrection and ascension in the last chapter so there's 24 chapters and we're almost at the halfway point here so we're going from the galleon ministry last time now to towards jerusalem a major another section opening up here and so in this chapter we're going to spend a few verses about sending out the disciples this is something that's recorded only in luke by the way it's interesting and we're going to answer the question what shall i do that is posed to him by a lawyer we're going to get the very famous parable and i don't think it's a parable i think was an actual incident but anyway the parable of the good samaritan and uh then they finished a visit to bethany with some lessons now luke was a greek physician and being a greek he's a gentile being a physician he's focusing on jesus humanity and matthew focuses on jesus's kingship setting up his king kingdom matthew's focus is the lion of the tribe of judah and so on mark is really peter's emanuensis and it really deals with jesus as a servant matthew's gospel or greek mark's gospel is like a shooting script it's action action action all the way through john the last one deals with who jesus actually is this deity but luke really focuses on his humanity it's a very that's one reason i think it's so popular with people you really get a feeling of jesus humanity luke was a gentile and as such he focuses on the reality that the gospel has for all nations many things that are very jewish he really sort of passes over he really puts things in perspective for the gentile and that's another reason that's probably so popular to many of us the old testament by the way it isn't just luke the old testament makes it clear that the messiah would bring blessings to all nations there are many prophecies throughout the old testament that gentiles will be beneficiary of god's kingdom especially in isaiah but they're all the way through there if you look for it luke helps us to see through matthew's jewishness this jewish veil if you will and and and luke in a sense gives us a broader perspective it isn't so absorbed as matthew is with the kingdom and the kingship and all of that and so now this section that we're going to be in also contains instructions similar to those that were given the 12 in chapter 9. there's the 12 we're going to encounter shortly here the 70. and only luke talks about those guys and he sends out 70. now there's a big dispute among scholars is at 70 or 72 and but in any case the 70 is sent out with a very special urgency and now jesus is focusing on jerusalem and he's teaching his disciples openly about the cross that's coming and that may surprise many people now this chapter 10 is going to open with an incident only luke talks about this is not one of those things that's in all four gospels luke chapter 10 verse one after these things the lord appointed other seventy also and sent them two by two before his face into every city and place whether he himself would come okay now the question that lurks behind all this is not a big deal but i just want you to be aware of it whether 70 or 72. if you dig into this you'll discover it's not easy to resolve some greek manuscripts in verses 1 and 17 have 70 and other greek manuscripts have 72 and the manuscript evidence is strong for both accounts so it's not easy to resolve this one no big deal i just want you to be aware of it because you'll hear both numbers used in different places is there significance neither seven here they're say there's significance to both of them the potential symbolic significance of 70 moses you may recall in exodus 24 had 70 elders that his father-in-law suggested he appoint and he did and was effective to delegate the lesser work so there were 70 elders under moses we also notice from genesis in genesis 10 and 11 that would list all the nations of the earth there are 70 of them it's very interesting there are 70 that went down to egypt from the family but they came out as a nation but in the recounting of that then uh we also discover there are 70 from from the biblical point of view there are 70 different nations that make up the world now when you get to the septuagint the greek translation they list 72 nations rather than 70. so that doesn't help any there were 70 members of jacob's family that went down to egypt during the famine in genesis 46. now the sanhedrin also was made up of 70 members because you didn't count the high priest unless there was a timeout and moses commandments are heard in 70 languages according to rabbinic tradition that may not be a heavy argument from our point of view but i'll mention it in passing here now what about 72 well the jews had local councils of 72 we find out from references in the mishnah there were 72 translators of the septuagint in the letter of versus aristeas in the uh in 270 bc the old testament was translated into greek by 72 of the best hebrew scholars in alexandria telling me philadelphus funded it they got the best scholars to translate the jewish scriptures from the hebrew into greek because the average jew in those days spoke greek that was the standard language he wanted the scriptures that's why they did the septuagint but the the records at least some of the records show that there were 72 six for each of the two six from each of the twelve tribes people speculate so that the septuagint also has a tradition of 72 nations in genesis 10. so there's no easy way to get a bias or perspective on this the 70 or 72 whatever we'll call them 70 from now on just realize there's some different views we're people other than the 12. we're not talking about the 12 apostles now we're talking these guys who apparently remained with the 12 remain with jesus on his journey they were to give these 70 were to give the gospel a jump start verse 2 therefore said he unto them the harvest truly is great but the laborers are few pray therefore the lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest now this is widely misunderstood what harvest is he talking about he's talking about the presentation of the kingdom prior to his arrival in jerusalem that's the harvest you and i aren't harvesting we're sowing seed different era different things okay here there the issue was this the kingdom which they rejected instead of accepting the kingdom they uh crucified him but jesus goes on to go your ways behold i send you forth as lambs among wolves carry neither person or script nor shoes and salute no man by the way strange admonitions here isn't it see their mission was dangerous from verse three required haste in verse four there's an urgency here and into who whatsoever how she enter first say peace be to this house and if the son of peace be there your peace will shall rest upon it if not it shall turn to you again wow and in the same house remain eating and drinking such things as they give for the laborer is worthy of his hire go not from house to house now this is special instructions for these people at this time you don't need to extrapolate this in your own neighborhood going house to house different issue okay different issue all right and in whatever city you enter and they receive you each such things as are set before you really even if it's not kosher anyway let's go on and heal the sick that are therein and say unto them the kingdom of god has come nigh unto you these people are selling a kingdom message okay it's a message that's going to be rejected nationally but into whatsoever city you enter and they receive you not go your ways out into the streets of the same and say even the very dust of your city which cleaveth on us we do wipe off against you notwithstanding be sure of this that the kingdom of god has come nigh unto you notice their job is to announce it not convince them okay they were to declare the kingdom of god through hospitality people would show whether or not they believed the message of the kingdom to the believing cities the message was to be the kingdom of god is near you the messiah was coming and he would bring in the kingdom question guys did he did jesus bring in the kingdom no they killed they killed him didn't they they didn't accept the kingdom now these things are blinded he will say as he rides that donkey let's go on here even the cities that rejected the message were to be told that the kingdom was near it wasn't their job to make the people believe verse 12 but i say unto you that it shall be more tolerable for that day in that day for sodom than for that city boy that's weird woe unto thee corazon woe unto theeva theater for if the mighty works had been done in tyre and sidon which have been done in you they had a great while ago repented sitting in that cloth and ashes but it shall be more tolerable for tyre and sidon at the judgment than for you this is an application that's totally too lit you are judged by what you have what's been given to you and uh since corazon and betheada had had the opportunity to see much more more is required of them wow where's that put us we have more visibility the word of god is more available to us today than it's ever been in the history of mankind think about it now if we look at a map of northern israel side and entire course are on the phoenician coast corazon and mercedes right there on the sea of galilee and then he continues and val capernaum which are exalted to heaven shall be thrust down to hell these are tough words from the ruler of the universe capernaum was his headquarters it's very operated out of substantially and yet and yet capernaum is also there on the north shore of the sea of galilee jesus warned the surrounding towns against rejecting the 70 because that meant rejecting jesus and the father that's the linkage he also singled out his adopted hometown capernaum which also had been a site of his miraculous words the miracles they saw there left him without excuse verse 16 he that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despises me and he that despises me despises him that sent me that's bad news the seventy returned again with joy saying lord even the devils are subject unto us through thy name so the 70 went out they had those instructions they came back and apparently excited boy it went well apparently even the devils are subject unto us through thy name it's kind of interesting how many people are just preoccupied with demons but i'm not going to go there getting 2 verse 18. and he said unto them i beheld satan as lightning fall from heaven the question is what does that mean when did that happen when did satan fall from heaven the number of people have different views on this they're hard to justify at the cross the cross hadn't happened yet that can't be what he's talking about there is a view it's very controversial it's that it happens to be one i lean to but that does not make it correct i'm just being candid with you it's a view that i happen to lean towards can't prove it and that is that it occurred between genesis the first two verses of genesis 1. and that suggests that the creation that we see from verse 2 on is a recreation of a world that had been judged there are hints of that in isaiah 45 and in jeremiah 4 and other passages and there's a whole study you can get into you need to understand it's a very controversial idea and there are a number of fundamental guys that re that accept that there's a number of good scholars that don't one of your great authorities and this is g.h pember he's pro he's written extensively on it and i won't spend i don't want to spend more time on it than it deserves here but just get our genesis commentary and we get into that there if you want in any case though we know satan's power is broken because jesus has authority over it we see expressed again and again and again through the gospels okay he continues jesus behold i give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you who is he talking to the seventy is he talking to us i'm not sure there's a lot of evidence that their situation is different than ours this leads to another debate do we have permanent power for all christians there are many that would would you know sell that idea on the other hand was this power unique for their particular ministry the evidence seems to stack up in favor of the second view the disciples had to have the power of healing to get their message to get credible get credibility to the people okay we noticed that that was true up until the cross once you have the resurrection of christ and you have the church being born and so forth we notice something very strange that the if the incidents of healing get fewer when you get to paul there are healings but they're not predictable paul himself had a thorn in the flesh he called it pray three times god says my grace is sufficient for you he had a friend trophamus that was was he left sick why didn't he heal him we get the impression that this healing sign or authentication was operative before the cross essentially not the only i'm not saying god doesn't heal don't misunderstand me but i'm i'm not sure what we mean when we say the gift of healing because in every situation god is sovereign i think it's a mistake to presume that by some ritual you can guarantee healing because that just doesn't happen there's too many cases where god is still sovereign yes he'll heal but it's a whole different context anyway he continues here notwithstanding in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven these guys came all excited because they had all this experiential uh evidence with the healings he's saying that's not what you should be rejoicing about should rejoice that your name's written in heaven vastly more permanent vastly more significant and that's that we should be certainly in that camp i like what walter martin says i never met a demon i liked he used to throw that out freely he was anyway let's go on here verse 21 in that hour jesus rejoiced in spirit and said i thank thee oh father lord of heaven and earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes even so father for so it seemed good in thy sight how interesting it is how god uses the humble the seemingly ill-equipped and he rejoices in that the foolishness of god the people who are following jesus were not the important people of the nation they were not considered the wise and learned now both paul and luke will come later they're not in that crowd a decade later or more they had become like the people there they become like little children to enter in the kingdom and thus they knew the son and the father that's exciting jesus christ all things are delivered to me of my father and no man knoweth who the son is but the father and who the father is but the son and he to whom the son will reveal him okay and he turned then he turned him to unto his disciples and said privately blessed are the eyes which see the things that you see for i tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which you see and have not seen them and to hear those things which he hear and have not heard them very privileged very privileged they were all things are delivered to me of my father jesus says and no man knoweth who the son is but the father and of the fathers but the son and he to whom the son will reveal him the one they reject is the only one who can open the portal to the father they that rejected him were blinded and we're going to see him declare that officially when he rides that donkey into jerusalem now those that are rejected were blinded but not forever paul will tell us in romans 11 25 that israel was blinded in part until the fullness of the gentiles come in and come in where now there's a question that constantly comes up for all of us what shall i do it's genesis 3 7 once again remember jesus 3 7 adam and eve tried to cover themselves with coats of fig leaves adam and eve had sinned and they tried to cover themselves with leaves they that was the first act of religion on the planet earth religion is man's attempt to reconcile himself with god he can't do that god taught him that there in verse 7 of chapter genesis 3. god gave them skins to cover them why because it was more durable and fig leaves no no no it's a teaching they're being taught that by the dead by the innocent death they would be covered it's a it's a it's a theological teaching genesis 3 7. well we have this now this comes up with this lawyer behold a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him saying master what shall i do to inherit eternal life boy that is a good question that is a good question master what shall i do to inherit eternal life interesting use of phrase and this shows up all through the scripture of course there are three matters that you heard here that there is a life that is eternal right there is a life that is eternal he understood that it's an inheritance it's inheritance it's not something you can earn but it is something you can forfeit those aren't the same thing it is an inheritance and a an inheritance can be forfeited ask reuben about that ask esau about that go through your bible and find people who did not inherit because of a lack of obedience and faith the third matter here is by what means can qualify for that appearance what what means can qualify what what do you have to do to qualify for that inheritance that's really what the the this lawyer was zeroing in on now the question in this case was not sincere as can be seen from two points in the text the lawyer wanted to test jesus it's sort of a test question if you will he called jesus a teacher destiny that's a that's sort of luke's equivalent of a jewish rabbi the second point is that jesus answered the man's question luke recorded that the man wished to justify himself when you get to verse 29 that'll make it very clear so he's not asking for information he's trying to justify himself jesus answered his question with two other questions some people call that the socratic method answering a question with another question and he answered his question with two other questions driving the law expert back to the old testament law that's what he had that's what he used he said to him what is written in the law i'll read this thou that's jesus responding to him with a question now the expert interestingly enough answered correctly by quoting the shema from deuteronomy 6 5 which later jesus will identify as the greatest commandment the shema deuteronomy 6 5 thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart all thy soul all my strength and all thy mind and leviticus 19 18 love your neighbor as yourself those are the two commandments in another context jesus highlights as the that says it all one must love god and one and one's fellow man in order to keep the law properly notice this lawyer linked the concept of the law with the concept of love implicitly that's not obvious and yet it is obvious and he answering said thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart with all i saw with all my strength with all my mind and thy neighbor as thyself those are quotes out of the torah deuteronomy 6 5 the shema and leviticus 19 18 love thy neighbor as thyself okay so he's quoting the small as i say and he correctly connects law with love even the question of loving a neighbor okay but here's where you begin to realize he's he's weaseling out of this and he said it he said and jesus said unto him thou hast answered right this do and thou shalt live if you can let's let's us let us not get confused ourselves for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified you can do all the law-keeping you can you try to do all you can you won't do enough to justify yourself because you can't do it perfectly the law is our school master it's intended to show us our need for a savior the law is to show our need for the perfections that are available only by the grace of god through jesus christ paul nails is in romans 8 for what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh god sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit that's the challenge to walk by the spirit not the flesh because the flesh can't justify you by walking after the spirit we have imputed to us the righteousness of christ when he paid our entrance fee to heaven and on the cross the technical term for that is justification use the word salvation that's ambiguous that can mean many things that's justification the minute you trust christ you have his righteousness imputed to you you can't add to it it's insulting even try that's called blasphemy trying to add to what christ completed on your behalf shows you don't understand the situation but the lawyer but he willingness justify himself synergies and who is my neighbor the very fact that he's going down that road tells his questions was it like a setup not a not a quest for information but an attempt at justification who is my neighbor i love your neighbor so well who's he's making a question okay now this is gives rise jesus then just tells them a story many people regard this as probably the most elegant story ever written that's just a story very brief very simple very direct very poignant it's in the posture of a parable and it technically probably is a parable but i personally suspect it wasn't a contrived story it actually happened jesus is recounting something that actually happened because it serves his purpose here so in parables people don't have names when you luke 16 the players there have names it tells you they're not parables they're actual events we don't have a name here but i also suspect this was an actual event anyway jesus answered he said a certain man went down from jerusalem to jericho now to go down if you've been to jerusalem and go to jericho in you drop about 3 000 feet and 17 miles you go down to jericho okay he fell among thieves this area was notorious for briggins and what have you a certain man went down from jerusalem jericho and fell among thieves which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him and departed leaving him half dead that's descriptive isn't it very graphic very simple as i say it wrote from jerusalem jericho descends about 3 000 feet in a 17 mile trip i'm always fascinated by this for a number of reasons when john the baptist was preaching in the jordan near jericho at bethlehem so many people from jerusalem went out to hear him that the temple had to send an inquiry team out there you're talking 17 miles of the roughest desert around that people would want and they didn't take it didn't get a cab you know they walked you know well anyway going on anyway so this guy's lying there half dead and by chance there came down a certain priest that way and when he saw him he passed on the other side didn't want to have anything to do with this i suspected he even walked a little faster because he these guys that did that deed are probably still in the area he saw me pass by on the other side likewise a levite when he was at the place came and looked on him and passed by on the other side i gather he's on one side of the road there and they gave them a wide berth now you understand the different priest and levite a priest is a direct descendant of aaron of the tribe of levi yes but if he's of aaron he's a priest if he's of the tribe of levi not of aaron he's a levite okay and and did service in the temple typically levites are descendants of levi but not of aaron they're members of tribal levi but they're not priests okay they assisted the priests that is aaron's descendants in the temple and in some other areas too now we get these are two guys that are the sort of the pivotal members of that culture except they're jewish obviously priest and anyway you need to understand the background of what makes a samaritan i'll explain in a minute but you need to understand that he is the one that is despised by the jews they will have no dealings with this loser okay but a certain samaritan as he journeyed came where he was and when he saw him he had compassion on him now need to get to get the flavor here you understand where samaritans came from the roots of this scorn between jews and samaritans goes back centuries in fact seven centuries when assyria conquered the northern kingdom as an israel god's judgment the assyrians conquered the northern kingdom you realize after psalms death the nations split into two groups the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom the northern kingdom went from bad to worse and jeroboam led the northern kingdom into idolatry they prospered for two centuries but then god wiped them out for their idolatry and their social injustice the southern kingdom also fell in idolatry but lasted more than a century longer and in honor of god's commitment to david they didn't go he didn't get wiped out they were into captivity for seven years and then returned big difference but getting back to the northern kingdom that god used the assyrians to wipe out the northern kingdom and that's different than what happened to the south the assyrians had a very interesting policy when they kept captured people they would take them and mix them up into areas where they're not used to living they would ship the locals out to another part of their empire and they bring other captives from other parts of the empire here they deliberately co-mingled them to avoid any nationalism any cohesiveness that might lead to rebellion that was the policy but what that means is they really ended up erasing their cultural roots in a sense okay and and so that's to break down their tribal loyalties and family loyalties and so forth so the israelites in the northern kingdom that were captives of the assyrians lose their identity as jews the residents of northern kingdom became mixed some jews and non-jews co-mingled and having families and generations or two go by so they are considered half-jewish not exactly jewish not accepted by the jews and yet sort of you see that's why that's what the capital of the northern kingdom was samaria so they're known as samaritans the descendants are the samaritans did embrace the torah and in some aspects of judaism in fact in certain debates about the torah the samaritans are more correct than the jews there are several areas where they have difference of opinion and if you study that area you discover that samaritans are more correct examples leviticus 23 19. the feast of first fruits the feast of first fruits in the text of the torah it's the saturday excuse me it's the morning after shabbat after passover passover because it's nailed to the calendar it can be any day of the week in any particular year whatever day it is that following shabbat the next day after shabbat which we call sunday is the day you have the feast of first fruits and that's all predictive of jesus christ who of course is is discovered to be resurrected on the first day of the week anyway the jews have a slightly way of different way of interpreting that's not as correct by the way but the jews anyway viewed the non-jews as lower than low these are half jews these are samaritans they're presumptuous in the jewish mind but that's why this story carries a certain poignancy because the priest and the levite pass without helping this despised low life presumably comes along has compassion on the sky and turns out to be an example we all want to follow but a certain samaritan as he journeyed came where he was and when he saw him he had compassion on him and he went to him bound up his wounds pouring in oil and wine set him on his own beast that is the samaritan's beast brought him to an inn and took care of him he's not finished that's just for starters ready for this and on the morrow when he departed he took out two pens and came to the host and said him take care of him and whatsoever thou spend us more when i come again i'll repay thee he left a blank check so to speak you take care of it and i'll make it good when i come back that's incredible i won't ask for a show of hands but would you do that i don't know we all have opportunities to do that from time to time take care of it whatsoever that's about us more when i come again i'll repay thee now jesus the punch question here which now of these three thinketh now was neighbor unto him that fell among thieves see the ultimate neighbor was the spirit was jesus whose compassion contrasted with the jewish religious leaders who had no compassion on those who were perishing the religious leaders should have been concerned for the lostness of the souls they dealt with they had no concern they skipped laws they said he that showed mercy on him that's the lawyer answering the obvious question he that showed mercy on him then jesus said to him go and do thou likewise that gives you obedience to luke 19 18. now by the way this parable stands on its own two feet there's nothing one need to add to the story it's pretty straightforward here's a guy that had needs he was rejected by the usuals and this exception comes by and just gives of himself that's the story now so i say it stands there are people who try to build all kinds of analogies here and i'm not here disparaging and i want to show it to you because it may broaden your horizon but i have to tell you i'm not sure they fit that much some suggest an allegorical application of the spirit and the the danger of this is you'll focus on the allegory rather than the reality of the story itself but in an allegorical sense the man could represent mankind he'd fallen among thieves and was left half dead and of course satan was a murderer from the beginning we learned in john 8 right so the man can represent all of us collectively we're all half dead if not worse the priest represents ritualism and ceremonialism he passed by the aside he had no constructive part of this at all the levite there's your legalist guy maybe okay the real point is none of these can save only the parable giver can save so i lay that out there i'm certain this is one of those rarican i usually enjoy the allegorical illustration aspect of these in this case to me i'm not disparaging it but it doesn't capture the real essence of the story which is personal compassion of this guy who did some good okay enough of that let's move on now it came to pass as they went that he entered that jesus entered into a certain village and he's this happens to be bethany by the way and a certain woman named martha received him into her house this is a household that had martha and mary and a guy by name of lazarus this was a house that was in bethany which was very unique in that it's just on the other side of the hill if you go up over the hill you're up over the mount of olives you go down through the catherine valley and you're jerusalem this was a place that was close enough to jerusalem during a holiday to be considered it's inside the legal distance of what's called a sabbath day's journey and so this is a very popular place for this is where jesus frequented this family they're very close friends that's why that's another side that's why lazarus becomes so important in the story later and so forth but anyway martha received him in her house and in john 11 we have more of this now bethany is just a little bit east maybe south a little southeast of uh jerusalem but a more meaningful thing is just on the other side of the kidron valley just over the mount of olives jesus had to be in jerusalem for three mandatory feasts one is passover but that's misleading because when they say passover they're using the term collectively to represent three faiths passover itself the feast of unleavened bread which is an eight day thing and the feast of first fruits which is the morning after shabbat after passover those three feasts together are always together so they collectively call it passover but denotatively passover is one of those three pieces of it connotatively passover refers to all three that confuses many people the other one that's obligatory is feast of pentecost feast of tabernacles there are seven feasts of moses but these three counting those first three is one these three are obligatory it was not optional if you're an able jewish male you need to be in jerusalem for these feasts jesus was jewish and he had kept the law so he had to be in jerusalem for those feasts okay that gets confusing because you know there's three feasts and they're listed in in deuteronomy anyway so he when he had to go there he would stay in bethany at the home of lazarus mary and martha they were all close friends that's the context of the event that we're about to explore here a little bit now martha had a sister named mary which also sat at jesus feet and heard his word so get the picture jesus there he's the houseguest he's teaching mary's at the feet learning okay now there's going to be a contrast between these two sisters that's easily misunderstood but a sharp contrast here martha was busy busy busy making preparations for a meal while mary sat and listened to jesus okay martha gets a little frustrated because mary's not helping martha there's things that need to be done and mary's sitting there learning from jesus where would you be on that occasion probably at his feet trying to learn too yeah i understand but martha was cumbered about with much serving and came to him to jesus and said lord dost thou not care that my sister have left me to serve alone bit her therefore that she helped me that seems reasonable enough doesn't it jesus answered senator martha martha thou art careful and troubled the word careful is like anxious and troubled about many things the word careful miramaneo it's a full of concern you could translate it act she was anxious okay but one thing is needful and mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her she wanted to study at the master's feet and the phrase only one thing is needful refers to listening to his words which mary had chosen to do and that that almost sounds like a admonition not to be helpful no it's a it's question of priorities and we're going to see the same thing in in chapter 8 verse 21 verses the focus of this passage is not that people should be unconcerned with household shores but that the proper attitude toward jesus is to listen to him and obey his words he's what it's all about now this concept that we see here in this portion of scripture is also picked up in one of jesus epistles did you know that jesus wrote epistles he wrote seven of them and you see how many how many epistles are there in the new testament well there's 21 right seven general penalties and 14 by paul no there's 28 we always overlook the seven that jesus put in revelation 2 and 3. and if you look at the letter the first of the letters the first of the seven it's a letter from jesus to the ephesians church at ephesus seven verses in revelation two now the book of revelation is most of you are aware but i like to throw this in anyway is the only book of the bible that has the audacity to say read me i'm special all through the bible there's admission to read the bible collectively only one book has the audacity the hutzpah if i may say read me and you're gonna get a special blessing that's the book of revelation and when you do that you'll discover the only part of it that applies to you directly right now is chapter two and three those seven letters a lot of other interesting things there yes but those seven letters are the rich practical poignant letters to you and i to you and me so if you want a certain blessing if you ever move if you're ever the need of a blessing tell you a surefire way to do it sit down read revelation it's a promise he makes you'll be blessed god promises to give you a blessing if you read that book remember that now revelation two and three are what we need to focus on there's seven letters two for the church seven letters that have a code phrase he that hath ears let him hear that's a little wrap phrase on each of the seven letters okay now the first letter is to ephesus now the ephesians did a terrific job at keeping out false doctrine you've tried to say the apostles and are not and found them liars they were really sharp on their doctrine they're really thorough and diligent on their doctrine getting out keeping out false doctrine that's to be commended jesus does commend him for that and then the report each one of these letters is a report card and we get to the point in the report card he says nevertheless visualize your boss calling you in for a review say you did sure did pretty good on this this this this nevertheless am i going to get a pink slip what's going on here that diligent came at a cost they were very orthodox but they were dead they had lost their first love they were so busy on the business of the king that they had no time for the king you learn about jesus christ from the word of god but you grow in fellowship with him in your devotional time studying the bible and memorizing making outlines and all that's great but they don't replace devotional time at his feet and your fear of god comes from your devotional time they were so busy in the service of the king they didn't have time for the king they needed to be more like mary sitting at the feet of jesus that's where we all need to be no matter how much pressure how much busyness we get entangled with don't be robbed of private time at his feet well okay uh we the galilean mystery we have these primary uh four major sections and we've just gone from chapter nine into chapter ten the first of a series on this traveling towards jerusalem and so in the next session i want you to read luke chapter 11. it's an easy chapter it's good stuff good basic stuff but one of the things you're going to encounter there i want you to don't just read i want you to study chapter 11 for next time but among the topics that you'll encounter of course is a thing we call the lord's prayer now that's an unfortunate label because it's misleading they ask him to teach him to pray and so he gives them a model prayer you should call that the disciples model or it's a model prayer it's not an appropriate prayer for jesus to pray to the father not the lord's prayer you find the real lord's prayer in john 17. and boy is that a tour different that chapter chapter 17 of john you get a glimpse of the devotion between the son and his father different that's the lord's prayer but we use that label for this model prayer that jesus gives his disciples and it shows up in luke chapter 11. and what i'd like you to do for next time when they get a scratch pad and notice the seven petitions that make it up and see if you can understand make your think think through see if you can identify what those seven petition petitions are and there's and uh we'll we'll we'll obviously go through that next time so analyze each of the seven petitions of the lord's prayer and with that let you and i stand for a closing prayer luke is just good practical stuff very real very personal and uh we're going to find that's that i think that's one of the reasons luke is so popular he's so he's so human so personally i love paul but boy he he flies in a different stratosphere luke is right here just at the ground getting us an insight as to you really feel you're at the lord's feet let's borrow

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Length: 52min 38sec (3158 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 15 2020