Luke 10:1-16
The Greatest Sin of All
Since \\#Luke 9:51\\, Jesus had been headed to Jerusalem. He will not
arrive there until \\#Luke 19:41 \\. (That is 10 chapters worth of
material Luke recorded about Jesus’ final preaching campaign.) It was
not a direct trip. The Scriptures tell us plainly that Jesus went
through the midst of Samaria and Galilee \\#Luke 17:11\\. If that
verse is giving us a chronological account of Jesus’ journey, then
Jesus zigged and zagged for Samaria is south of Galilee and closer to
Jerusalem than Galilee. He preached in city synagogues
\\#Luke 13:10\\ and passed through many cities and villages
\\#Luke 13:22\\ on this journey. He will end the trip passing through
Jericho \\#Luke 19:1\\ and coming over the Mount of Olives
\\#Luke 19:28-29\\.
The crowds will be great on this journey—all the way into Jerusalem
itself. It stands to reason that the seventy sent had something to do
with those crowds. Let’s note some thoughts from the charge that
Jesus gave to them.
I. The lost have a need.
Luke 19:2 Therefore said he unto them, The
harvest truly is great, but the labourers are
few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest,
that he would send forth labourers into his
harvest.
A. Jesus described the world as one large harvest.
1. "Great" refers to the size of the harvest.
2. It is large because the whole planet needs to be gathered
into God’s heavenly barn.
3. Since the days of Noah when mankind began to fill up this
globe until today, this has been true.
4. This is a perpetual need that is ever growing.
a. It is estimated that the world did not reach its first
billion inhabitants until the year 1804.
b. It took 123 years for it to double, 1927.
c. It was not until 1960 that we reached the 3 billion
soul mark.
d. But in just 14 more later, 1974, we added another
billion (4 billion).
e. 5 billion came in 1987.
f. 6 billion in 1999.
g. 7 billion in 2011.
h. If you were born in or around 1968 (49 years old), the
world population has doubled in your lifetime.
B. In John 4:35, Jesus added another detail.
John 4:35 Say not ye, There are yet four months,
and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you,
Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for
they are white already to harvest.
1. Jesus died on the Passover, a spring Holy Day.
a. I have been to Israel twice in the month of March and
was amazed to see how beautiful the flowers and
blossoms were.
b. I read where barley is harvested from January to
March. (John Gill on John 4:35|
c. It may well be that as Jesus made this comment as He
walked by some field that would soon need to be
harvested.
2. But Jesus was not speaking of fields of wheat, barley, and
corn. He was speaking of the harvest of souls.
3. No matter where you live and no matter when you live,
there will always be someone who will enter heaven if you
go find them.
a. While America may be on the road to becoming barren
and parched, there are many places on the globe where
the gospel harvesters are collecting souls for God’s
kingdom.
b. Through missionaries, gospel radio and television,
the printed word, the gospel seed still finds lodging
in the soil of men’s hearts and produces fruit.
c. Our job is not to count the harvest.
d. Our job is to sow the seeds.
e. There is a great need in the world today for Jesus.
II. The saved have a command.
Luke 10:3 Go your ways: behold, I send you forth
as lambs among wolves.
A. Historically, the church has attempted to receive that
harvest.
1. \\#Luke 9:1-6\\ Jesus sending out His twelve disciples
was the first attempt to evangelize the lost world.
2. \\#Luke 10:1-16\\ He followed that up by sending out
the seventy.
3. \\#Matt 28:18-20\\ Jesus will commission the disciples to
win the world with the gospel but that won’t officially
begin until after \\#Acts 10:1\\.
B. Notice that the church first went out with…
1. No printed page.
2. No earthly provision
a. In fact, they were commanded NOT to take it.
Luke 10:4 Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor
shoes: and salute no man by the way.
b. They were to rely solely on God to meet their needs.
3. No earthly protection
Luke 10:3 … I send you forth as lambs among
wolves.
a. Lambs living among wolves are just to-go food.
b. The only protection that these were to have was God.
C. But they did have God and His command.
1. If you are your God’s command, you will have God’s
provision.
a. You can rely on that.
b. If you a need, you have God and if you don’t have
what you think you need, God doesn’t want you to
have.
2. When you have God’s command, you do not need any
permission or credentials from man.
a. There are right ways to do things and wrong ways to do
things but if God commands, we must obey.
b. We do not want to steal our employers’ time or wages,
but we have a command to witness for Christ on our
time whether they give us permission or not.
c. We do not want to trespass on property someone owns
and tells us to stay off of, but we have a command
to witness for Christ to our neighbors whether the
neighborhood association gives us permission or not.
d. We do not want to break laws or violate ordinances
that prohibit sharing Christ, but we have a command
to witness for Christ to our community whether our
government gives us permission or not.
D. Sadly, in recent years, the church’s obedience to this command
seems to be suffering.
1. I believe that is primarily due to the American arm of
God’s church becoming less dedicated to the goal of
bringing in the harvest.
2. In an article published by Reuters news dated 2/20/2012,
and titled "In 200-year tradition, most Christian
missionaries are American," several facts about missions
were revealed.
a. According to this article, "the first organized group
of American missionaries to travel overseas" happened
over 200 years ago when 5 young men were ordained
and departed from the New England coasts to travel to
India.
b. Soon after that time, American lead the way by having
the most missionaries of any country.
c. In 2010, America send out 127,000 of the estimated
400,000 missionaries serving throughout the world.
d. The next closest country was Brazil which sent out
34,000 missionaries.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-missionary-massachusetts/in-
200-year-tradition-most-christian-missionaries-are-american-
idUSTRE81J0ZD20120220
3. The sad thing is that by 2010, the US was sending out
fewer missionaries than in previous years.
a. In another article dated 2013, it was stated that
missions have been in a decline since at least 1993.
b. The decline is not just in sending people but also in
the sending of funds.
c. That article said that proportionally, American
churches gave three times more to international
mission during the Great Depression (1929-1941),
than they do today.
https://brnow.org/News/March-2013/U-S-missionary-sending-in-decline-
IMB-strategist
III. The people have a choice.
A. Christians have the command to go but we cannot make the
people believe. That is there choice.
B. Jesus spoke of the people’s two options.
1. The people have the right to receive the message.
Luke 10:8 And into whatsoever city ye enter,
and they receive you, eat such things as are
set before you:
9 And heal the sick that are therein, and say
unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto
you.
a. When you find a people who want God, stay and bless
them.
b. \\#Luke 10:9\\ Those sent out in that first generation
had more power to heal.
c. But every generation of Christians have been equipped
with the power of God to teach, help, and bless those
who receive God.
(1) There are actually three commands that Jesus gave
the church relating to the lost’s need.
Matt 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you….
(a) Go.
(b) To baptize.
i. As I have often said, baptism speaks of
the new life with its new opportunities,
and it is the mark of identifying
yourself with Christ.
ii. Every Christian should be baptized!
(c) Teach them.
i. Teach them about sin, salvation, God,
the Holy Ghost, the devil, the flesh,
the world, and the victory.
ii. Establish churches (fellowships not
buildings) where believers can be
encouraged, grow, taught, organized,
and serve.
d. This is just the beginning of what can be accomplished
and city, village, or community accepts God.
2. The people have the right to reject the message.
Luke 10:10 But into whatsoever city ye enter,
and they receive you not, go your ways out into
the streets of the same, and say,
11 Even the very dust of your city, which
cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you:
notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the
kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.
a. If a people do not want God, they are under no
obligation to receive Him.
b. That’s true of the people we know as well as the
strangers, of the people we love as well as those we
know nothing of.
c. If it is a city, we are not to stay but keep going.
(1) Prayerfully, there will be another Christian who
will pass this way again and offer them the
message.
(2) Yet, that is but a hope and not a guarantee.
d. For we know the truth concerning those who reject
Jesus Christ.
(1) They will fall into the hands of an angry God.
Luke 10:12 But I say unto you, that it shall be
more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for
that city.
(2) Why would it be better to be a Sodomite than to
live in a place that rejects Jesus?
(3) Because to reject Jesus, you have to have the
opportunity to receive Jesus, something the
residents of Sodom and Gomorrah never did!
(4) The greatest sin of all is the sin of rejecting
Jesus!
e. Jesus went on to name some cities where He had spent
much of His time ministering.
(1) Luke only mentioned two, Chorazin \\#13\\ and
Capernaum \\#15\\, but there was a third,
Bethsaida \\#Matt 11:21\\.
(2) These were three cities, 2 on the Sea of Galilee
and one just north of it, where Jesus
ministered.
(3) Capernaum was Jesus’ Galilean headquarters.
(4) But all three of the cities will be judged more
severely than Sodom and Gomorrah.
(5) Why? Because while every person had the right to
reject Jesus Christ, it is the one sin for which
there is no forgiveness and there will be no
mercy.
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