The harvest is great

Sermon - Part 328

Series
Sermon

Transcription

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[0:00] So I read the word of God in the gospel according to Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10. After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also and set them two and two before his face.

[0:28] And to every city and place whether he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them the harvest truly is great but the laborers are few.

[0:40] Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. Go your ways. Behold I send you forth as lambs among wolves.

[0:51] Carry neither cows nor script nor shoes. And so leave no man by the way. And into whatsoever house ye enter first say peace be to this house. And if the song of peace be there your peace shall rest upon it.

[1:06] If not it shall turn to you again. And in the same house you may are eating and drinking such things as they give. For the laborer is worthy of his hire going out from house to house.

[1:18] And into whatsoever city ye enter and receive ye eat such things as I said before you. And heal the sick that are therein. And say unto them the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

[1:33] But into whatsoever city ye enter and receive ye not. Go your ways out into the streets of the same and say. Even the very dust of your city which grieveth on us we do wipe off against you.

[1:48] Notwithstanding be ye sure of this that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom and for that city.

[2:01] Whant to thee, Choraz, and whant to thee, Bethsaida. For if the mighty works have been done in Tyre and Sidon, it shall be done in you there a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

[2:15] But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon of the judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell.

[2:28] He that heareth you heareth me. And he that despiseth you despiseth me. And he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.

[2:40] And the son he returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

[2:54] 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. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.

[3:14] In that hour, Jesus, rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast heard these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

[3:30] Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. 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.

[3:48] And he turned and looked to his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them, and to hear these things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

[4:09] And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law?

[4:21] How riddest thou? And he answered and said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbour as thyself.

[4:36] And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right, his do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And to his my neighbour.

[4:49] And Jesus answered and said, A certain man went down, from Jerusalem to Cherokee, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

[5:02] And by chance, there came down a certain place that way, and when he saw me, passed by on the other side. And likewise, a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

[5:17] But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, poured in him oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

[5:34] And on the morrow, when he departed, took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him. And whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

[5:47] Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbor unto him, that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

[6:02] And it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village. And a certain woman named Martha, who sealed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.

[6:18] But Martha was cumbered about my servant, and came to him, and said, Lord, thus thou not care, that my sister have left me to serve alone. Bid her wrath, for that she help me.

[6:31] And Jesus answered, and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled, about many things, that one thing is needful.

[6:42] And Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. May God bless to us, by giving of his word, to his name, with the praise and glory.

[6:57] To sing again to his praise, in Psalm 40, the first six verses, the king of Alma, Psalm 40, I waited for the Lord, my God, and patiently did bear.

[7:17] But then to me, he did incline my voice, and cry to hear. He took me from a fearful pit, and from the mighty clay. And on a rock, he set my feet, establishing my way.

[7:30] He put a new song in my mouth, though God to magnify. Many shall see it, and shall fear, and on the Lord rely. Blessed is the man, whose trust upon the Lord relies, respecting of the proud, nor such, as turn aside to lies.

[7:47] Lord, may God, for many are the wind, as thou hast done. My gracious thoughts, to us, but far above all thoughts, are gone. Nor a man can recommend to thee, if they declare, and speak of them I would.

[8:03] They more than can be, none but are. I waited for the Lord, my God, and patiently did bear. I waited for the Lord, my home, and礼儀 merger, and礼儀 move, and礼儀儀rah, and礼儀 mês.

[8:35] In my, my voice, I cry to Him. He took me from a beautiful day, and from the highly day, and from the wrong He set my feet, His hand is in my way.

[9:20] He put the news on me, my love, and from the highly wide, when He shall see Him and shall fear, and from the glory night.

[9:53] For blessed is the man who's right, the honor of our lives, Reskt me all the pride of our Son, that German's time to rise.

[10:27] O Lord, my God, who may be I, the Father, the Father, the Son, I give the soul to the sword of God, the Father, the Father, the Father, the Son, In honor and honor, and welcome to Thee in every day, and seek the end, my holy Lord, and have me loved on.

[11:40] Contenere and with God's help, consider those words in the chapter that we have read. The Gospel according to Luke, chapter 10, written at verse 38.

[11:58] It came to pass as they went that he entered into a certain village. A certain woman named Martha received him into her house. She had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word.

[12:13] But Martha was cumbered about me to serve, and came to him and said, Lord, does thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?

[12:25] Bid her therefore that she help me. And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things, But one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

[12:46] Especially those words in verse 42. But one thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall be not taken away from her.

[13:02] And we read that in a certain village called Bethany, about two miles outside of Jerusalem, there lived a family, two sisters and a brother, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.

[13:28] And we are told that they were a family whom our Lord loved. And they loved our Lord.

[13:45] And whenever he was near, he stayed with them. And some have seen in that family a picture of the church.

[14:03] Martha, the church serving. And Mary, the church worshipping. And Lazarus, the church risen.

[14:18] And perhaps there was no one in that family in a condition as wonderful as Lazarus.

[14:32] He would be the object of wonder. For it was proved that he was dead. And that he was resurrected from the dead.

[14:46] And he was now restored to his family. And he would be an object of wonder. Teaching the power of our Lord over life and over death.

[15:05] And as he came to this home, we read that Martha began preparing to serve him.

[15:19] And Mary sat at his feet and listened to what he had to say. And we read that Martha was offended because of the conduct of her sister.

[15:41] And she asked the Lord to rebuke her sister because how unhelpful she was in her work.

[15:53] And instead of our Lord rebuking Mary, he rebuked Martha. And he did so very solemnly.

[16:07] Now we are not to suppose that Martha did not have grace. For in the Gospel according to John and the 11th chapter, she makes a confession that perhaps is unique in the New Testament regarding our Lord.

[16:32] She confesses that he is the Son of God. That he is an anointed Savior. And that he has come to save.

[16:47] Now that is a very clear and almost perfect confession of the person and of the work of Christ.

[16:59] Martha is a believer. And she is also a unique believer from this point of view that she is strong in grace and in faith.

[17:13] But we see that our Lord rebukes her because at this time she did not have her priorities right.

[17:25] She was cumbered about. She was troubled with the things of this life. while she neglected the eternal verities, the spiritual.

[17:44] And Jesus teaches the necessity first of all that we pay heed to him and to his word.

[17:58] That we listen to what he has to say in the midst of a world that is filled with trouble and anguish and sorrow and death and so on.

[18:14] Listen to what he has to say. And you know that this is the secret of life. That we listen and we hear what Jesus has to say to all of us.

[18:34] He defends Mary. Jesus will defend his people not only from their enemies but from other believers if they do not walk as they should.

[18:52] Remember that there is intercession continually. to keep to protect the church and here Martha is rebuked and the Lord will defend his own at all times and in all circumstances and perhaps I should say that though this is hidden from us it will yet in a great measure it will yet be revealed.

[19:23] now this is what he has to teach do not be swallowed up in the world do not be over concerned regarding the things that are seen the things that are the things that are temporal but pay attention to the things that are unseen and especially the word of God for it is the word of life and you see what occurs if we do not listen to what he has to say we live we will come to live in this world as if there is nothing outside of it as if there is nothing but the things of time and of sense and of reason remember that there is the invisible and the eternal outside of the existence that we now know here on earth and remember the one who teaches this the one who is familiar there in the unseen and the eternal and to teach us with authority an authority that is absent from every other source and author in my father's house are many mansions if it were not so

[20:56] I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you and this is why he encourages Mary and what she has to do she listens to her Lord and why he rebukes Martha that she might join Mary in worshipping the Saviour now having said something concerning the relationship with our Lord and Martha's condition at this time we hear what he has to say to her one thing is needful in other words we need one thing and we believe that here our Lord refers to himself now you think of the world in which we live and think of our priorities all the things that we need or that we think we need and listen to what the Lord has to say one thing is needful on this earth and that is that we believe on the Lord

[22:30] Jesus Christ that we might be saved now you remember in another place the Jews came to him and they were concerned about the relationship with God but they were at least apparently concerned and they asked him what things plural what things shall we do in order to please God this is what Jesus said this singular thing you will do believe upon him whom thou hast sent in other words believe in me this is the one thing needful for all of us in all our circumstances in all our care one thing is needful and that is Christ his person and his work and we can think of some of the things that he has done for us to meet our need our need and our need is great for we are creatures who have fearful responsibilities before God we have been made not for ourselves not to please ourselves or to please our fellows we have been made to please

[24:16] God to glorify God and to enjoy him forever now we must try to understand the terms that we use the scriptural terms not to understand what we mean what is it to glorify God we glorify God when we exalt the attributes of God when we exalt his attributes you know what his attributes are what he is God is spirit infinite eternal unchangeable God and he is being power holiness justice goodness and truth and as we exalt those attributes as we commander the government of law then we please

[25:25] God we glorify God and if we do not exalt those attributes we do not glorify him and this is our end this is why we exist to please our maker this is man's chief end his only end is to glorify his making our maker has not left his ignorance he has revealed himself in his word holy men of God speak as they were led by the Holy Spirit and this is what he tells us in his word that all of us have sinned all of us have not glorified God we have sinned and are sinning against him in thought in word and in deed and in order that we might understand in everyday language what this means

[26:37] I remember what C. S. Bergen said he left this written for us for the church and said something like this we are all descendants of a disreputed gardener who lost his employment because he has stolen his master's property you think of what scripture teaches all of us are descendants of this person and he has brought into our experience death natural spiritual and eternal and the danger is this that we are ignorant of it of our state before God by nature we are ignorant we are this is what scripture has to say concerning us we are so dead that we have lost our feeling we are unconscious of this fact that all is not well between ourselves and

[27:54] God we can even go this far the fool said there is no supreme being there is no creator and it is it is incredible the lengths that our fellows will go to in order to disprove the existence of God it cannot be disproved God has revealed himself he is speaking to us he is teaching us we are in need of all is not well now again we might see the penalty that is due to us because of our sin and you know what we try to do in society in everyday life that when one breaks the law we speak of punishment fitting the crime when a person breaks law he has to pay for it and rightly so when we look at this penalty we understand something of the crime what is the penalty the penalty is eternal separation what do we mean by eternal it is above reason it is a timeless state and condition timeless there is no time and here in this timeless condition we are separated from

[29:52] God we will not we will not know we will not have fellowship with him he will say to us separate yourself from me do you know what when I described hell Gehenna as this day God said depart from me but the parable of the rich man of Vassarus gives us another insight into the penalty and it is this that along with this separation there is pain and there is suffering we believe that the greatest suffering of all will be separation from God not to know him not to be with him and as we shall attempt to see the greatest joy that a human being can experience can experience is the joy of fellowship with

[31:06] God that is to reach the very sin of life to be in fellowship with him now this is our condition by nature we are separated from him and we do not realize either our separation or our need he must teach us and it is through the word that he will teach us concerning our need of him and may God grant that all of us might understand what it is to be a sinful lost creature in his presence one has said a sinner is a sacred thing the Lord hath made him so the sinner is a sacred thing that is that God has come to convince him of his need of salvation and it is through this convincing that we will come to realize our need of

[32:25] Christ now this is what he does in our word he convinces us of our need of him and then he shows us that he is able to meet our deepest need now what would be your deepest need as a sinner that the guilt that a guilty conscience would be relieved some of us know in a measure what a guilty conscience is others do not to a great or a lesser degree but I think that it is true of all of the Lord's people here tonight that you realize what it is to be guilty before God and thankfully this guilt it serves a purpose the purpose is not to harm or to destroy the purpose is to convict and to lead to salvation relief of conscience through

[33:46] Christ Jesus and he does this by substitution remember that word substitution it reveals to us the secret of salvation this guilt that we have it can only be taken away by retribution God must punish he must his nature his speed demands retribution that is a word that is forgotten today in our society retribution there is no such thing the law is being dishonored and so on there is no retribution God demands retribution substitution the soul that sins shall surely die substitution who will die for us may you ask yourself this question your reason tells you what

[35:04] God has said the soul that sins shall surely die there is no escape from this your conscience tells you also that your reason is correct this is the feeling that you have before God and then he shows us that the Lord laid upon him the iniquities of us all upon him he has become the substitute these are the words that theologians use to describe two acts imputation and counter imputation imputation God imputes to Christ God imputes to Christ our sin and the counter imputation

[36:06] God imputes to him our sin we by counter imputation lay our sins upon him by faith you see our sin is no on the head of one who is to sacrifice who is to die in a woman's dead that is the glory of the cross of Calvary the wisdom and power of God in that he imputes to Christ his son the individual sins of the church and that will satisfy first of all God the judge of all and it will satisfy conscience we have problems regarding conscience it is possible for conscience to be instructed conscience is not the supreme rule for us

[37:22] God's law is above conscience the puritans used to puritans taught that whenever a person has a guilty conscience before God an individual if he is guilty he will immediately try to justify himself before God this is as it was something of the spontaneous we will defend ourselves the believer will defend himself and if the believer will defend himself certainly the unbeliever will defend himself also he will defend himself by self righteousness before God and from another point of view his conscience once it is satisfied in

[38:23] Christ has no business no authority whatsoever to condemn after God justifies now we mean by condemning coming to our own conclusion when we are depressed when we are troubled by something that we have done conscience has no right to say to any believer in Christ there is no salvation conscience again has no right because the law that condemns has been exalted and made honorable for the believer in Christ Jesus he is our righteousness he is our sanctification he is our redemption and all that you are asked to do is to accept him to rest upon him and to believe in him that this salvation complete and perfect might be used and part of our problem today in the church is this that we have ceased to think spiritually or biblically there is a great deal of confusion there is a great deal of trouble that we have brought upon ourselves and bring upon ourselves because of our failure to understand the way of salvation in

[40:16] Christ Jesus it is a perfect instrument and it brings a perfect salvation we can stop here and say this is what God says to every believer this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased through Christ Jesus our Lord now there is here there is riches beyond measure if we had the understanding to draw from it all that is in Christ all that he has done and is doing for us he is our sacrifice he is our saviour we need him he meets our need just in our word he is also our guide through this life we need him we need him as a guide after salvation salvation the believer is left on this earth and there is no more dangerous place in

[41:48] God's universe than this world that is what scripture tells us it is fraught with danger it is surrounded we are surrounded by danger inwardly outwardly and the greatest enemy of all is self not as we often think the devil he is a powerful enemy but this is the danger self because we have in us an ability a spontaneous bias to sin and to evil and we are surrounded by temptation that will carry us away from Christ and this continues it is a continuing pressure upon us in the world and only the believer realizes this he fights against the world the flesh the devil and the need is this that we have won to bring us safely through this world with all its sorrow and trouble and temptation to bring us safely through and this is what he says all power is mine in heaven and on earth

[43:33] Mary and Martha saviour has all power in heaven and earth now we should ask ourselves why does he have to say this surely he has it already is he not god is he not almighty why then does he have to say to us all power is given unto me he says it as the as one has said the man who is god the saviour of sinners the man who is god it is given to him by the father as the god man as the mediator and that power is as the mediator to rule over all his and all our enemies and that is why we have providence and the decrees of god and the eternal will that is beyond the decrees god rules god in christ rules he has all power and he will teach and lead and prepare his church for a better place here we are no continuing city he is leading them in a right way now should we not be careful regarding god's providence when we believe this he does all things well he has done this well the saviour will lead you and bring you safely home we need him as a guide we need him also as our ruler and our king just a word concerning his kingship over his church remember what he says in 2nd corinthians chapter 4 i'm sorry 1st corinthians chapter 15 1st corinthians chapter 15 when he says he must reign until all enemies are put under his feet the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death now we should pay attention to what he has to say the last enemy that he shall destroy is death death is a thing it is not a creature therefore

[46:27] God's enemies are things God's enemies are pain sickness sorrow temptation those are God's enemies just just as well as Satan just as well as those human beings who will not accept them and who fight against them those things are ruled are governed by this king all of them and we shall leave it there there were words concerning Mary's choice but one thing is needful Mary has chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her she has made choice there must be competition where there is choice there is competition and here

[47:35] Mary has chose an act choice is an act of will and we are taught that every human being has a free will this is part of our nature we have a free will we can make choice we can choose what we want to do but this is also true our choice and act of will is always wrong as sinners we are biased in our act of will and our choice and we choose always at all times as Luther said the will is always free but not always good the world is always free but not always good and that is part of the problem of the believer will when

[48:48] God renews his will there is conflict within him and that conflict will not be resolved until there is perfection in holiness here there is a conflict of wills but that is something else but here Mary made choice now that is part of what we call effectual calling the effectual call of the gospel now in order that we might understand something of what the gospel does you know what a semence is you receive a semence from an officer of the law to appear in a court of law that summons is given to you but it does not it does not give you it only gives you the authority to appear it does not make you appear before that court before the court of law in a word there is no power in the summons of itself to bring you before a judge to a court of law the word

[50:21] I was trying to find was compulsion there is no compulsion in the summons the call of the gospel is a summons it goes out to sinners but there is no compulsion in it in the word itself the compulsion must come from a higher authority and that is God God works through the word through the gospel and when you respond to the gospel God has worked in you to rule and to do his good pleasure in a word this is what someone has said regeneration is the answer to the effect you are called when you say I choose

[51:28] Christ any soul on this earth who chooses Christ as a savior effectively has been effectively called by the gospel that is it's sacred it doesn't lie in any human being it lies in the motivation in the power of the word that goes out to sinners it makes them willing to respond Mary hath chosen that good part that will remain with her you make that choice you respond to the call of Christ in the gospel look unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth now we see what she did as this is brought before us in the gospel of john just just as the father anointed him for the oil of gladness above his fellows this is my beloved son in whom

[53:43] I am well pleased so as he chose Christ as a savior so Mary chose him to be her savior and she did this by anointing him just as the father anointed Christ so she anointed him this is what the church does it elects of Jesus Christ as the father has elected and chosen him to be a savior the church chose him have you chosen him as Mary did have you chosen this good and have you anointed him to be your prophet and your priest and your king there is a very sad incident that occurred in that home there was a descent to the anointing he remembered

[54:52] Judas Iscariot what he said he found fault in other words he objected to the anointing and he placed himself by that objection outside the church may God grant that none of us might descend from Mary's choice and place ourselves outside that we might be inside with Mary and Lazarus and Martha in Christ in his church anointing him as our saviour in fellowship with him this is what she did and she received from Christ this promise you will never lose this good now

[55:56] I should mention also the connection with good they tell us that joy is an apprehension of good present with us and to come what is that you realise something is good and that which is good it's going to remain with you in the future and that will work joy good a sense of good will bring joy and Christ has been set aside to fulfil all the purposes as one has said all the purposes of divine glory he is the supreme good that is a matter of fact it is also a matter of experience and we must experience it we can't describe it not give it to another or taste and see that

[57:20] God is good we trust in him is blessed the church is commanded to acknowledge her Lord to follow in obedience to his revealed will that is his commandment follow him choose the good part that will remain with us let us pray to