King James Bible Study – [And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. – Mark 8:34]
Date: Friday, October 25, 2024
Chapters: Luke Chapter 10
Message: Working For Jesus
Hello My Friend,
Do you realize that we are only eight weeks away from Christmas and nine week away from the end of this year? I am not going to lie, I am looking forward to a new year, I just hope it is not going to be a repeat of this year. I heard a preacher say, something like this, “Do not believe it when they tell you that God will never give you more than you can handle because in order to get you to depend solely on Him He will give you more.” Now, this is not to say that those who accept Christ as their Saviour are going to suffer all the time, but the truth of the matter is that we do face some challenges because of our faith. Jesus, said this, [Luke 10:16 He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.]
Jesus, says this to all His believers, while we are going to face some hardships because of our faith, rest assure that He has our back because when they mess with us they mess with God and He is no one to mess with. Yesterday, we learned about those who are spiritually deaf and blind to the Word of God, today, we are going to learn about those who are spiritually dead. As we continue in the reading of the Gospels, we return to Luke after Jesus had sent the twelve out preaching the Gospel in the neighboring cities, and told them that there is a cost of following Him. Here is a recap of what He said.
[Luke 9:57-62 And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest. 58 And Jesus said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. 59 And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 60 Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. 61 And another also said, Lord, I will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. 62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.]
What is the cost of following Jesus? One; Invite Jesus into your heart and home, and keep Him there. Two; Preach the Gospel to those who are spiritually dead. And three; Never look back at the life you lived before you accepted Christ as your Saviour. Jesus, did not just have the twelve following Him, that truly believed in Him, there were several others, we learn from Luke that just like Jesus appointed the twelve to go out into the towns preaching the Gospel, He sends another seventy out.
[Luke 10:1-6 After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. 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. 3 Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. 4 Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way. 5 And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. 6 And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again.]
[whither he himself would come.] Now, Luke makes sure to point out that the disciples were sent to towns that He would walk Himself. We need to understand that while Jesus does invite all to come to Him, that does not mean that He wants His people to endanger themselves by going into places that He would not go, [2 John 1:9-11 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.]
[if the son of peace be there,] In other words, if they would be received by the people there then they would receive the peace that comes by the blood of Christ, [Ephesians 2:13-14,18 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.]
[if not, it shall turn to you again.] In other words, if they would be rejected by the people then they would receive the condemnation that will come back to haunt them by rejecting Christ, [John 3:18-19 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.]
If you think that it is difficult to be a Christian living by faith today, try being a lost soul who has no idea where they are going. You see, when they reject us it is really not us who they are rejecting, it is Jesus and He knows this. Jesus, goes on to tell them what will happen to those who will and will not receive them.
[Luke 10:7-11 And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. 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. 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.]
[for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.] In other words, those who labor in Christ’s work, whether they receive Him as their Saviour or not, will receive compensation for their efforts, but they need to be careful not to receive anything from anyone belonging to idols, in fact, they were to get out of there immediately, [1 Corinthians 10:20-21 But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. 21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.]
[that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.] Those who reject Christ will have a huge awakening when they discover that they had several opportunities to receive Him before they died and denied Him each and every time, and that includes the religious nuts who think they are saved. In fact, Jesus, starts upbraiding the towns who rejected Him and tells them what will come of them, [Luke 10:13-15 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! 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 sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment, than for you. 15 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell.]
[they had a great while ago repented,] If those of old who rejected Christ before us could speak to us from hell, they would be telling us that repentance is the only option. I know it sounds harsh that billions of souls who sincerely have a heart for God are in hell because they lived under the visage of their religion. The problem is that if they sincerely had a true heart for God then they will accept that there is only one way to God and that is through His Son, Jesus Christ. Religion and ignorance to it,saves no one, if anyone doubts or changes the Gospel in any way, it is not the Gospel of Christ, and therefore, there is no salvation, [Acts 17:30-31 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.]
I will never forget the day that I finally had someone accept Christ as their Saviour, I was so excited that I dropped the papers I had in my hands and told everyone how it happened. Now, with that said, when we do reach people we need to be careful that we do not boasting about all the power we have in us, as if to have had them saved ourselves. Now, as the seventy return, they began boasting about how the devil had no power on them, but Jesus had something to say about that.
[Luke 10:17-21 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. 18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. 19 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. 20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. 21 In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O 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.]
[I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.] Wow! Can you imagine literally watching the devil, who is fallen archangel Lucifer, being cast down from heaven? When you think about the lengths that Satan went through to bring sin into the world you know that his only target to get back at God was His most precious creation, and that is man. And to think that Jesus gave His life for us, that ought to give you an idea of just how precious we are, [Psalms 139:16-18 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. 17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.]
[rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.] Believe it or not, we do have power over the devil. Yes, he sends his minions to afflict us more times than we can count, but we have something more powerful in us, and that is the Holy Spirit and He gives us the power to use God’s Word to rebuke the devil. However, we ought to be rejoicing in the fact that we belong to Jesus and our names are written in heaven. Why? Anyone who’s name is not written in the Book of Life will be cast into the lake of fire.
[Revelation 20:12-15 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.]
There are going to be two judgments, one is for the saved, where Jesus will show us what we have or have not done after we were saved, and one is for the unsaved, also known as the dead, and they are the ones who will receive the second death. The reason why Jesus points out that the wise will not get saved is because they are the ones who will never see Him because they think that their own righteousness will save them. Jesus, turns to the disciples and tells them how blessed they are to have this information. Now, hearing all this besides the religious fools were some lawyers, one of them popped up, thinking that he could trip Jesus up, tempted Him with a question.
[Luke 10:23-26 And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: 24 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 those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. 25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? 26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?]
[What is written in the law? how readest thou?] In other words, if they that had read and believed what is written in the Scriptures then they would know the answer to that question. You see, while God designed His Word in a way that it needs to be read continuously as He reveals more to us as we mature in our faith, but whatever we interpret must never change the structure of the Word itself, [Galatians 1:6-8 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.]
This man thinking what he could get Jesus to say something that goes against the Law of Moses tries to justify himself of his own good works, [Luke 10:27-29 And he answering 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. 28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. 29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?]
[But he, willing to justify himself,] The Jews thought themselves able to both to justify themselves before God by their own works, and make it out to men, that they were truly righteous persons. Well, exactly who is our neighbor? Of which Jesus answers with a parable.
[Luke 10:30-33,36-37 And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, 36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? 37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.]
[Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.] The priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan, who was the stranger, out of all the three, the only one to have compassion on the man was the stranger. We cannot keep the Gospel hidden in the church, we must take it out into the world and show them Jesus. Why? Because the world will not just randomly walk into a church unless one; they were invited or two; they were from another church looking for one. Jesus said, [Luke 14:23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.]
There is one more thing that we must be aware of, we can get into such a routine that we forget that we need to have a personal relationship with God ourselves. Let me tell you, if all we do is work and do not have time to rest in the LORD, we will wear ourselves out to the point that the quality of our job gets affected. We learn more about this as Jesus visits with two sisters, Martha and Mary.
[Luke 10:38-42 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. 40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me. 41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: 42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.]
[But one thing is needful:] [Cumber; to draw around, to draw away, to distract; to be driven about mentally; to be over-occupied, too busy, about a thing.] Without even realizing it, we can get so busy that we become distracted from the things that are important. My problem is that I get so caught up in numbers and or pleasing people that that is the reason why I tend to take charge and get defensive when the things I am working so hard for are not working. I can expect that when I do something wrong to be chastened for it, but when I am going above what is expected and still get chastened that is when I am on the defense. That is also when God reminds me that I am cumbered and need to focus on what is more important, [2 Corinthians 7:11 For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.]
Jesus Christ Revealed/Magnified: [Luke 10:16 He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.]
Today’s Prayer: Jesus, Thank You Lord, for all the joys, sorrows, and tears you place before me so I can be Your witness and truly be blessed by serving You in the ministries that You have called me to do. I want to be a witness and testimony for others to see the amazing life that they too can have when they become Your bride. I know the devil and his wolves are on my back and waiting for me to fall, but by Your power I know I can remain standing. I have confidence in knowing that Your Spirit in me is more powerful than anything the devil uses to distract me, and he can never defeat me because my name is written in heaven and for that I rejoice. In ask these things in Your name Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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