The sermon by Jason Dohm, titled 'From Disciples to Apostles,' explores the transformation of Jesus' followers from learners to messengers with divine orders. This transition is rooted in Jesus' compassion for the scattered and weary multitudes, leading him to send out laborers into the harvest. The sermon highlights the dual roles of these men as disciples, meaning learners, and apostles, meaning messengers sent with orders. It emphasizes the significance of their transition from learning at Jesus' feet to being sent out to preach and perform miracles. Dohm discusses the importance of pre-existing relationships among the apostles and how the gospel unites diverse individuals into a cohesive group. The sermon also explains the initial focus on the lost sheep of Israel, as Jesus fulfills specific promises to the physical descendants of Abraham. Through this narrative, Dohm illustrates how the gospel's power to transform and send out disciples applies not only to the apostles but to all believers, urging them to embrace their role in expanding God's kingdom.

So the reason that we started the reading of the sermon text back at the end of last week's text in Chapter 9, Verse 35, is pretty obvious. Jesus has been traveling through the towns and villages of Galilee. He's been preaching, and he's been healing, casting out demons. He's even been raising the dead. And as he's going from city to city, he's observing these multitudes that gather when he comes.

And what he's observing is that people are wearied and they're scattered like sheep without a shepherd and he has compassion on him. When Jesus sees this, he has a reaction to it, and that reaction is compassion. And he tells his disciples that they should pray that the Lord of Harvest would send laborers out, because there's an abundant harvest, but the laborers are few. And then in our text for this week in chapter 10, we're switching to Jesus actually doing what he was telling the disciples to pray for. He's actually sending out laborers into the harvest to reap.

So all this is in response to Jesus's compassion for the people. In verse 1, he talks about his disciples, these 12 men. And disciple in the Greek, the word that we're seeing as disciple in our translations, comes from the Greek word that literally means a learner or a pupil. So these are Jesus' pupils. He's been teaching them.

For sure they were there when the Sermon on the Mount has been preached. And in verse 2, he switches words. In verse 2, he actually switches to the term apostle. So he's been using disciple all along, but we haven't seen the word apostle yet. But in verse 2, he begins to use the word apostle associated with these men.

An apostle comes from the Greek word that means a delegate or a messenger or one sent forth with orders. And this is what we see in this text. Here are men that Jesus identifies. And he's called them. And he's sending them forth with orders.

And so they're going from the status of pupils. They've been learners. They've been at his feet learning. They've been following him around Galilee from town to town learning, watching him do things, hearing him teach things. And now they're switching to be those who are sent forth with orders.

Both words, both disciples and apostles, have both very broad meanings that collect up many more people than just these 12 men and also have very narrow meanings. In other words, sometimes it's used just for these 12 men. We don't really need to get hung up in that today. She's probably using it in the very narrow sense. But the significance of what the word actually means.

From these men going from being pupils and learners and transitioning into being men who are sent forth with orders from their Lord is really the key significance in this passage. They've been watching Jesus. They've been hearing Jesus. When he went to raise the dead man's daughter, he took his disciples with him. And they've been following him around.

They've been hearing everything that he said. They've been seeing everything that he did. And now they're being sent out to say what he's been saying. And they're sent out to do what he's been doing. In Mark and Luke both record this.

But they recorded a little bit differently along the lines of what we've seen in past text in the sense that Matthew's condensing, Matthew's getting right to the point, and Mark and Luke actually have more extended versions of the same accounts. In Mark 3, they're appointed. And then they're not sent out until Mark 6. So there's an intervening period that Matthew condenses, but Mark keeps them separate. So they're appointed in Mark 3 and sent out in Mark 6.

In Luke 6, they're chosen, and they're not sent out in Luke until chapter 9. So again, there's intervening chapters in both Mark and Luke. We get a sense of that actually in this text where it says in verse 1, his twelve disciples. And so Matthew doesn't comment on exactly when the twelve became the twelve, when he pulled them together into a distinct group. But they're called his disciples, as if it was preexisting even in this text.

And we know from Matthew chapter 4, verses 18 through 22, that he's already been calling them. Peter and Andrew are called in Matthew 4. James and John are called in Matthew 4. And in that text, he says, follow me, and I will make you fishers of man. So here we are in chapter 10, and he really has made them fishers of man.

He's sending them out to preach and work miracles as he's been doing. In Matthew 9, we see Jesus come by the tax booth and call Matthew. So we haven't seen all of them be called individually, but we have seen individuals called prior to this point. And they've been brought into a very distinct group of 12 men. We're beginning here the second discourse.

The first one was the Sermon on the Mount. Then we had a narrative that talked about all the things that he's been doing. And now we're getting into the second section of teaching in the Book of Matthew. And there are five of these discourses. So we're in the second one now.

And in this second discourse, there's a really clear objective. It's a commissioning. It's a commissioning of these 12 men. It's setting them apart, setting them aside, making them into a very distinct group of men that are separated. And he's commissioning them.

He's charging them. He's instructing them on what they're to do, what their life is getting ready, getting ready to be like. So there's two objectives that we see in this discourse. The first is the immediate objective. He's got something he wants them to do right now.

And he's going to send them out into the cities and towns of all of Jerusalem after the lost sheep of Israel. But he also has something that's longer term. So 1 through 15, the text we're in today, just deals with the very immediate. He's talking to them about what they're going to be doing tomorrow and the next day and the next day and and so on, but the very immediate term. And then when we get in 16 through the end of the chapter, we're looking at things that don't really come upon them then, but they'll really need to know for the future.

So his first objective is the things that are at hand, but then the longer term objective is He's preparing these men to turn the world upside down. He's taking fishermen, and he has them in a discipleship program that is going to literally send them to the ends of the earth. Tradition has all of these men but one being martyred and in different parts of the world. And so he is advancing a discipleship program to make these fishermen and tax collectors and zealots and on and on into a cohesive group of brothers who are going to turn the world upside down. And this, we definitely have something to learn in the way of application of this, that Jesus can turn a disciple into an apostle.

Jesus teaches so that he can then send out. And that is not isolated to these 12 men. Of course it applies intensely to these 12 men. But there's definitely things that need to be applied to us. Jesus is discipling us.

We're his disciples. He's teaching us. He's training us. He's disciplining us for a purpose that we would be Become those who are sent out with orders and sent out with orders might be sent into the kitchen to homeschool Sending out doesn't have to look like what we see in this text. But absolutely, we're not learning just because there are interesting things to learn.

We're learning because Jesus turns disciples, He turns pupils into those who will be sent out to expand his kingdom in this world. So we're going to divide the text into three parts this week. And the first part is verses 1 through 4, which I'll read again, Matthew 10, verses 1 through 4. And when he had called his 12 disciples to him, he gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease. Now the names of the 12 apostles are these.

First Simon, who was called Peter, and Andrew, his brother. James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother. Philip and Bartholomew. Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector. James, the son of Alphaeus, and Labias, whose surname was Thaddeus, Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.

So Jesus, in this section of the scripture, he calls his 12 disciples to him. In Luke 6, where Jesus is first naming his 12 disciples, it says that Luke 6, verse 12, it says, that he went up onto a mountain to pray, and he prayed all night. And in the morning, he called these particular twelve men to himself. So Matthew doesn't tell us this, but this is what's just happened when he calls his disciples to himself. He's been up all night praying on a mountain.

He's been praying and praying and praying all through the watches of the night. And now he calls these 12 men to himself. And in Luke 6, it says that he chose 12 and that he named them apostles. And so apostles is descriptive. It is meaningful, but it's not just descriptive.

It's also a title. These men are going to be something particular. He's not just describing them with apostles. He's actually giving them an office and a title that's going to be very meaningful in the New Testament. In Mark 3, where the 12 were appointed, it says that he called them and he called those he himself wanted.

So this is not just you 12 come with me. This is you and you and you. It's a very particular selection. He called those he himself wanted, says Mark 3.13. And then in Mark 3.14, the very next verse, it says, then he appointed 12 that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach.

That they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach. That they might be with him, and that he might send them out to preach. And this is Exactly what we see in Matthew, disciples and apostles. Disciples, that he might be with them, see what he's doing, hear what he's saying, and then that he might send them out, that he might make them apostles, those who were sent out with orders. Here are five observations about these men.

And I'm sure there are many that I missed, probably great observations that I didn't even think of. But here's five that I thought of that are meaningful. First, order is significant. The order is not random at all. There's the listing in Matthew 10.

There's the listing in Mark 3. There's the listing in Luke 6. And in all three listings, Peter's always first, Judas is always last, And that means things. No titles are ever given here or anywhere else in the New Testament. So to make Peter the pope is inappropriate.

However, to acknowledge that Jesus has a special place, has an emphasis among the disciples is completely appropriate because the order is significant. We see it not just in the list but in the accounts themselves. When you look at the accounts, Peter is the leading man among these 12 men and from the very first day there was a betrayer among them. There was a devil among them, it says in John. And Jesus knew it all along from the first day, from the day he called Judas Iscariot's name.

He knew that he was a devil. He knew that he was a betrayer. And yet, for his own purposes, he brought him into the 12 anyway. Peter, James, and John are here at the top of all three lists. And Andrew is actually here.

I think there's a significant reason for that. But Peter, James, and John, in the book of Mark, it's three different times. They're singled out by Jesus to come aside for separate teaching, including going up on the Mount of Transfiguration. And So order is significant. That's the first thing.

Second observation. Coupling, they're named in pairs. A and B, semicolon. C and D, semicolon. E and F, semicolon.

Why is that? I think Mark 6 verse 7 gives us the answer to this. They're sent out two by two. They really are coupled. They really are paired.

They're not just U-12 scatter gun. U-12 Just go in 12 opposite directions and then come back. No, that's not how they're sent out by Jesus They're sent out two by two and so they're given to us in in this list in in pairs in Luke 10 After the sending out of the 12, and they've come back and there's been some more teaching, in Luke 10, Jesus sends out 70. Guess how he sends them out? Same way.

Two by two. This is Jesus's pattern. So it's significant that they're given to us the list of 12 in pairs. Number three, pre-existing relationships. Pre-existing relationships.

There's the presence of both brothers and friends among the disciples. These are not 12 men who never knew each other. Now there might have been some of the 12 who didn't know, some others of the 12. But by and large, there are many preexisting relationships that exist. Let's start with brothers.

And we know for sure Peter and Andrew are brothers. Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist, and he hears John the Baptist say, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And he follows That lamb of God to see what that's all about and then when he spent time with Jesus he goes to tell Peter We found the Messiah these are brothers James and John are brothers There might be two more sets of brothers here So Matthew is called the son of Alphaeus. James is called the son of Alphaeus. Now, it's probably more than two men in Israel named Alphaeus.

And nowhere does it say they're brothers, but they're both the son of Alpai. It's possible that they were brothers. In John 1, we get the account of Philip, who has been called and is listed here. And He goes to get his brother. And his brother is named Nathaniel.

And you'll remember the account. Jesus says, yeah, I saw you under the fig tree to Nathaniel. And We don't know why that's so significant to him, but that elicits from Nathaniel, you are the son of God. And the verses that come after that, this is the very end of John 1. This is John 1, 45 through 51.

So go look that up this afternoon or sometime this week and look. The wording there looks to me like Nathaniel's being called. It looks to me. So it doesn't say that Nathaniel is one of the twelve, but we know that multiple of the disciples had two names. And it's very possible that Nathaniel is Bartholomew.

So you can't draw a straight line from A to B there, but it's quite possible, actually, when you look at the accounts. When you compare John 1, 45 through 51 and see what Jesus says to Nathaniel and then when you compare that with John 21 1 & 2 which is after the Resurrection it says that Jesus appeared to disciples and Nathaniel is named in that group So either the term disciples been you being used there in a broader sense, which is possible. Or Nathaniel just had a different name, and it's probably Bartholomew. So that's a long way to say it really doesn't matter. Either There were four out of the 12 disciples that were brothers, and that's significant.

Or it's much stronger than that. It could have been six out of 12. It could have been as many as eight out of 12 were sets of brothers. Additionally, it's not just brothers. It's also friends.

We find out in Luke 5, 7 through 10, that Peter and Andrew are fishermen, and they have partners. And their partners are named James and John. So These two sets of brothers were actually partners in a fishing business. We find that out in Luke 5. We also know that Philip, Andrew, and Peter are all from Bethsaida, which is not a big place.

It's a little fishing village. Chances are they knew each other from Bethsaida. So the point of this is that these are not 12 totally disconnected randomly selected men. They're not 12. The providence of God has been at work in brothers.

The providence of God has been at work in brothers. The providence of God has been at work in friendships. And Jesus is taking the strength of pre-existing relationships and He's drafting the strength of that into his twelve disciples. And so they're not starting off cold in this. Many of them know each other and have known each other for a long time.

And Jesus is making use of the strength of these pre-existing relationships. And that's all part of his providence. I want to make application. Maybe there are some young people in these chairs that God in his providence has put together in this place to develop bonds and friendships and learning to fear the Lord together. Maybe they're brothers.

Maybe they're friends. And what God is intending to do with that, and we think it's just after churches are just playing together and it's meaningless. But God is actually building something that he's going to use for the glory of his kingdom, for the spread of his kingdom. Ten years from now, twenty years from now. Think of that brothers.

I see a lot of brothers sitting on these row and a lot of sisters sitting on these row. And we might think, because it's become the pattern in our culture that just, after you're 18, that's kind of over, except for Christmas and Thanksgiving. No, no, that's not what we see here. What we see is God using these relationships, these friendships, and these family relationships to expand his kingdom and to turn the world upside down. May it be that we can look back in 20 years and say, isn't that amazing how God used that friendship that formed in the year 2011, or that God used these brothers to be in ministry.

We have modern examples of that. We have men like Paul and Ted Tripp. And their ministries are very connected. They grew up in a godly home, and now they are serving with all their might and they're advancing the kingdom of God. May it be so of us that we have some Paul and Ted trips here sitting in these rows and that we begin to think that way that maybe the providence of God has put us together to give us strong friendships, strong family relationships, and that he's actually building strength in now that he intends to draft for his purposes later on.

We should think that way, brethren. We should pray that way that God would be pleased to do that, as he has obviously been pleased to do in his selection of the disciples. Number four, the power of the gospel. Now let's think about brother relationships again. Without the fear of the Lord, often brotherly relationships are a lot more Cain and Abel than they are Andrew and Peter, than they are Andrew and John.

Brotherly relationships without the fear of the Lord can be some of the most competitive, contentious relationships on the planet. But under the power of the gospel, they can become some of the most blessed, some of the strongest relationships. And this is what we see here. Jesus and the power of the gospel, the fear of the Lord, causing brothers to function together in the right way, not in the Cain and Abel way. Next, how about this?

How about Simon the Zealot, this group of people that are dedicating themselves to the overthrow of Rome. They're not very influential at the time of Jesus, but they're really the reason the Romans sweep in at 70 AD because the Zealots are trying to throw them out of Israel. And it's a strong reaction against that. And Simon is one of those. He's called Simon the Canaanite in this list.

Canaanite, that transliteration of that is zealous. And the other accounts call him Simon the Zealot. The list in Luke calls him Simon the Zealot. And the list in Acts 1-13 calls him Simon the Zealot. So probably when it says Canaanite here, it has nothing to do with where he's from.

It has everything to do with that he's part of this faction that hates Rome and can think of nothing else but getting Rome out of Israel. Now he's roommate with Matthew the tax collector. The sellout, the employee of the occupying nation. Think of the power of the gospel to take to these men who have passions in completely different directions who you wouldn't want to put in a room together absent the gospel. Here's what the ESV study Bible says.

Apart from Jesus' call and influence on their lives, Matthew and Simon would have had deep animosity toward each other with Matthew as a tax collector, working in the service of Rome and Simon as a zealot seeking to overthrow Rome. So you're seeing these different types of men from very different walks of life being thrown together in the close quarters. And it's the power of the Gospel that makes this not a disaster, but something that is powerful for the spreading of the Kingdom of God. Lastly, number five, the fifth observation about these 12 men, the providence of God, even in the selection of Judas Iscariot. Again, Jesus has been reading minds already.

The Pharisees are thinking, why is this man blasphemed? And Jesus says, why do you say in your hearts? He knows the heart of Judas. Already, he knows that in John 12, Judas will be in charge of the money box, and he'll be stealing from them. He knows that he'll betray him, and he'll sell him out for 30 pieces of silver.

All this is known to Jesus. None of that escapes and this is just part of the providence of God. Here's what J.C. Ryle says, All ministers are not necessarily good men. We see our Lord choosing a Judas Iscariot to be one of his apostles.

We cannot doubt that he who knew all hearts knew well the characters of the men whom he chose. And he includes in the list of apostles one who was a traitor. We are not to think it impossible for them to do very bad things or to expect them to be above the reach of harm from flattery, covetousness in the world. We are to prove their teaching by the Word of God and follow them so far as they follow Christ, but no further. And then J.C.

Rowell just proceeds on to talk about this is the great reason why You ought to be praying for your pastors, because they're not all good men. And this isn't separate from the providence of God. This isn't somehow the plan of God jumping the tracks. But even for his own good purposes, he does things. We know what the purpose was, looking backwards.

And that's normally how it works, isn't it? We know what the purpose is, looking backwards. At least sometimes we do. But it's not out of the realm of possibility for God to put man in a place, put a man into a function for his own purposes. And so we should always try our pastors by the word of God.

And because we have this example that should illuminate our minds and help us to think about these things rightly. Let's move on to the next section, verses 5 through 10. These 12, Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying, do not go into the way of the Gentiles and do not enter a city of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick.

Cleanse the lepers. Raise the dead. Cast out demons freely you have received, freely give. Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your money belts nor bag for your journey nor two tunics nor sandals nor staffs for a worker is worthy of his food." So Jesus is sending them out, but before he sends them out, he gives them very clear instructions. Isn't Jesus so kind to do this?

Not just go out, but go out and do this, do it here. And he's very clear with them, and he gives them lots of guidance here. He's giving them a charge. He's commissioning them. He's instructing them on what they ought to do and what they ought not to do.

In 936, Jesus is filled with compassion because he's looking on these people who are weary and scattered, like sheep without a shepherd. And so he's responding that, and he's sending them to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And he tells them, and adieu, do not go into the way of the Gentiles. In other words, into the roads that lead to the Gentiles, stay home, stay in Israel, and do not enter the city of the Samaritans. They would actually have to go through Samaritan territory to get to parts of Jerusalem.

So you can't say, don't go into the way of the Samaritans without saying, don't go to Judea at all. Because if they're going to Jerusalem, they're going to have to go through the way of the Samaritans. So with the Samaritans, he says, don't go to their cities. So they'll be passing through Samaria, but they won't be entering into the cities. So don't go the way of the Gentiles, and don't go into the city.

Don't enter the city of the Samaritans. But do go to the lost sheep of Israel. In 2nd King 1724, it says that after the Babylonian captivity, the king of Assyria sends Gentiles into Samaria to live in their cities, it says, and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its city. So he's pulled out, the king of Assyria has pulled out the population, by and large, from all these territories. But he's sent in people, not Jews at all, not Israelites, but Babylonians and people from other Gentile nations.

And he's repopulated this area with Gentiles. And so when Jesus comes onto the scene, this area of Samaria is more Gentile than it is Jew. At best, it is half-breed. And at worst, it's just strictly Gentile. In fact, we find out in John 4 that they've got a very different kind of religion.

They worship on this mountain when God says that you ought to worship in Jerusalem. That's what the woman at the well is saying. So they're very syncretistic. They've blended a lot of things together that came from Babylon. And so there's a little Jewish presence there, but it's mostly Gentile territory.

This is why Jesus is saying this. So another thing we'll notice here is that it's not a prohibition to minister to Gentiles if they happen to encounter them. It's to stay out of the way of Gentiles and not to enter the city of the Samaritans. We see that this is Jesus' practice, and yet he encounters Gentiles. He's already encountered a Roman centurion, and he's ministered there.

So when he encounters these people, He is not withholding his mercies from them, but he's not going to them. There's a difference. Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 21. Why only Israel? Matthew 21, starting in verse 33, answers that question.

Although this concept is so familiar in the New Testament you probably know already. But Matthew 21, starting in verse 33, makes it very clear. Here another parable. There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. And he leased it to vine dressers and went into a far country.

Now when vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the vine dressers that they might receive its fruit. And the vine dressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all, he sent his son to them, saying, they will respect my son. But when the vine dressers saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir.

Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance. So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers? They said to him, he will destroy those wicked men miserably and lease his vineyard to other vine dressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus said to them, had he never read in the scriptures the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

This was the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken, but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder." So Jesus understands the sequence of redemptive history, of course. It's his redemptive history is what Jesus has ordained. And in the sequence of redemptive history, it is the sun being sent to the current bind dressers.

That's where we are. And it must be so. Specific promises have been made to the Israelites, to the physical seed of Abraham. And Jesus has come to fulfill those very specific promises. And we're seeing him do it in Matthew, one after the other after the other, specific promise made, specific promise kept.

And there will come a time in redemptive history when Jesus destroys those wicked vine dressers and he replaces them with a nation of those who will render God his fruit in its season. But it's not that time yet and so it's the time for dealing with the promises that have been made by God, for dealing with the vine dressers that are currently occupying the vineyard. And that is the Jews. After the resurrection, the handcuffs come off. In Acts 1, verse 8 says, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and even into the ends of the earth.

And so you see how the geographical reach of the gospel is going to explode after Acts 1-8. Resurrection has happened. And they'll start in Jewish territory. In fact, if you look all through the book of Acts, this is what is practiced. They go, Paul, even Paul, even the apostle to the Gentiles, what is he always doing?

He's always going to the synagogue, and he's reasoning with them until they'll have no more of it. And then He goes to the Gentiles. And at a certain point, God releases him even from that, and he just goes to the Gentiles. But this is what God is doing. He is fulfilling the promises that He's made to His people.

He's giving them every opportunity. He's showing so much mercy for the physical descendants of Abraham, even though he knows exactly what they'll do with that mercy, with the sending of more and more servants, with sending his very own son. But a day is coming when those vine dressers will be replaced and the Gentiles will be brought in. And some of the Jews will be saved, and many of the Gentiles will be saved, but there will be no separating wall. Right now, there's a separating wall between Jew and Gentile.

They're very peculiar people. But that veil is going to be torn. And the dividing wall is going to be brought down. One people will be made. But that has not happened yet.

And that's why these 12 men are being sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. This is the practice of Paul. This phrase occurs over and over again in the New Testament for the Jew first and also to the to the Greek. For the Jew first and also to the Greek. So he's telling them to do two things.

This is his commission. He's sending them out, and he's telling them to do two things. Preach and heal. Preach, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and heal the sick. Cleanse the lepers.

Raise the dead. Cast out demons. So what are we seeing? We're seeing they're to preach exactly what he's been preaching and what John the Baptist was preaching before him. Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand is what John the Baptist is preaching.

Matthew 3 and Matthew 4, Jesus comes onto the scene. He's preaching, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And now he's sending out his 12 disciples. And he says, preach that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And in the parallel text in Mark, Mark 6, 12 through 13, it says this.

So they went out and preached that people should repent. So repentance might be left out in Matthew, but it's part of the overall scheme of the Gospels. The parallel account in Mark records the preaching of repentance. And Mark says, and they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. So Jesus is instructing them in Matthew 10.

And we're seeing in Mark 6. What he instructed them to do, they did. They preached repentance and that the kingdom of heaven is a hand and they did all all of these miracles that in verse 1 he had empowered them to do. I kind of skipped over that in verse 1 but the reason I did because we're going to talk about it now which is that He gave them power to do these things, and then he tells them, use the power that I've given you. It's important, and it goes with the preaching.

Matthew Henry says this about this message, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Here's what Matthew Henry says. Not that they must say nothing else, but this must be their text. On this subject, they must enlarge. Let people know that the kingdom of the Messiah, who is the Lord from heaven, is now to be set up according to the scriptures.

So it's not just that they go from one block to another saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. This is their text. This is the central point of what they're saying as they go out in these six different directions two by two to proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. So they're to do all these miraculous signs, and they're to do them in concert with the preaching that he's given them to do. This is for two reasons.

The first reason is that the miracles authenticate the message they're preaching. The miracles actually testify to the truth of what Jesus has told them to preach. There will be those as they go out that will be contradicting them. And those who contradict will be better dressed, better educated, and better connected. There will be religious leaders who do have two tunics and sandals, and that have come out of the schools of the day.

And So these disciples are going to have natural disadvantages to those who contradict. But Jesus arms them to overwhelm all the natural disadvantages that they have. So it won't matter that they're underdressed. It won't matter that they're not as educated. It won't matter that they're not as educated.

It won't matter that they're not connected like those who contradict them. They'll be doing signs and wonders that won't be able to be duplicated by those who contradict. Here's what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2, verses 1 through 5. And I think this is exactly what we're seeing here in Matthew 10. And I, brethren, when I came to you did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God.

For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God." Jesus Christ is not arming them with oratory. And amazing things to say, he's arming them with power, Because the Gospel is not in persuasive words of human wisdom. The Gospel is in the demonstration of the Spirit and power.

And this is what Jesus is doing in Matthew 10. So first, it authenticates the message that it's preaching. We're talking about the miracles that they're able to perform. Up to raising the dead. The second thing it does is it paints a picture of the message that they're proclaiming.

It's a word picture of the message that they're proclaiming. It's a word picture of the message that they're proclaiming. Matthew Henry says this, the design of the gospel was to conquer the devil and cure the world. That's what the gospel does. It assaults the devil.

That's the gospel. It cures the world. That is the gospel. And so they're given the ability to do these things physically, which the gospel promises to do in the inner man. And so when somebody's physical body gets healed, that's a down payment that says that the gospel is able to heal the broken spirit.

The sinful heart can be healed by the gospel. And when someone is raised from the dead, it's a physical picture of what the gospel is able to do in the inner man. And when the devil is cast out of someone, it's a physical picture of what the gospel does. It's an assault on the kingdom of darkness that pushes it out. And the kingdom of darkness cannot resist the power of the gospel.

It gives the hearers of the gospel the confidence that The gospel of the kingdom of Jesus Christ can do in the inner man what you're watching happen in the physical bodies, whether it be freedom from demon possession or whether it be healing or whether it be raising from the dead. And this is the message of the gospel, that the gospel overthrows the curse. Since Genesis 3, we've been living under the curse. And it's physical death. And this is a mighty declaration that the gospel can overthrow all of that, can undo all of the things that were done in the garden when man threw off the rulership of God.

Praise the Lord that we have these signs that we can see that the curse has been reversed by the work of Jesus Christ in an ultimate sense. Does that mean there's no more aches and pains? No, of course that's not what that means. But it's a demonstration, a picture of what the Gospel does to the inner man in an ultimate sense. Then he says in verse 8, the second part of it, freely you have received, freely give.

That's what Scott's preaching the same text over at Hope and That's the name of his, that's the title of his sermon. Freely you have received. Freely give. I'd already printed our handouts. So I was just stuck with my title.

Many of the commentators on this phrase, freely you have received, freely give, they veer towards the financial gain that could be had. Think. You can heal the sick. You can cast out devils. If you're going to set up a practice with those gifts.

This would be a lucrative practice You'd be making profit record profits again this quarter if you wanted to turn it into financial gain So a lot of commentators say Jesus is saying they should not turn this into financial gain. And while that's true, and I think that's a right application of it, it's much broader than that. It's not primarily about money, but it's primarily about the liberality of the mercy of God. God is so liberal with his mercy. He's given it to us freely, in abundance, without charge.

The grace of God is abundant, and it's freely offered, and we have nothing with which we can pay for it. And so it takes us to Isaiah 55, come buy without money. Buy without money because you don't have money. You don't have the things that you would need to pay For the benefits of the gospel and yet it's freely been given to you. So freely give it away and This of course has application for us.

How free has God been with you with his mercies? How free have been the benefits of the gospel in your life, in your home? Well, if we've freely received, we ought to freely give. We ought to pour it out like it's been poured out on us. Feel like we should camp there, but I have nothing else in my notes.

But we've been, God has been so good to us, he's been so kind. He's been so liberal with his blessings to us. And is grieving to think that I might be stingy with the things he's poured out so freely on us. I think that's the point of what's being said here. God's been so free with His grace, His abundant mercies upon us, we should never be stingy with them.

We should freely give. In verses 9 and 10, he says, provide neither. And then there's this list of things, all of which we would want to pack if we were going somewhere. We would pack all these things. Shoes, extra clothes, Money, a bag full of things.

And Jesus is saying, none of that, none of that for you. For a worker is worthy of his food. I like the way the NASB and the ESV renders this. The New King James is provide neither. It starts that way.

Provide neither, and then there's the list. And the NASB and the ESV, it's along the lines of do not acquire. And when you look at the actual Greek word, that's probably a little better of a rendering. Do not acquire. In other words, don't spend your time and your energy going to pull these things together for the trip.

When we saw John the Baptist, He was a man who just wasn't clothed very nice. He was eating locusts and honey. Not a man spending a lot of time on clothing and food. Cuisine was not on John the Baptist's mind. He had the thing of the kingdom on the mind.

I think this takes us down the same track. Don't spend your time on provisions for the journey, but go. He's sending them out. And this is a demonstration of what he's been teaching these pupils. He's been teaching them, Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body what you will put on.

Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? This just takes us right back to Sermon on the Mount, Chapter 6, When Jesus talks about you can't serve two masters, here's what it's like if money is your master. Here's what it's like if God is your master and God can provide for you. That's where the verse that I just read came out of. It flows out of that.

Don't worry about these things. If you're not going to serve money, don't worry about money, because God can provide the things that you need. So Jesus is giving them a demonstration of this. Now this begs the question, is this the pattern for all time for ministers of the gospel. Amen.

No. When we get to Luke 22, Jesus actually addresses this. Luke 22 verses 35 through 38. Here's what Luke records. And Jesus said to them, when I sent you without money bag, napsack and sandals, did you lack anything?

So Jesus in Luke 22 is talking about this. When I sent you out without any of these things, Did you lack anything? So they said, nothing. They lacked nothing. Then Jesus said to them, but now he who has a money bag, let him take it.

And likewise, a knapsack. And he who has no sword let him sell his garment and buy one." So this was completely appropriate for the task at hand, because Jesus knew he'd already staged the resources that were needed. The resources were there in advance. And he was teaching them to trust that they didn't have to worry about any of these things, just like he said in the Sermon on the Mount. They could just go and they would find that the resources were there.

But that is not the rule for all Christian workers forever. It comes another time where it becomes completely appropriate for them to take their money back, for them to take a knapsack and to buy a sword and to make ready the things that are needed for the things at hand. So this is not establishing a single pattern that it would never be appropriate to do anything else, not at all. Verses 11 through 15, the last section of our text. Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy and stay there till you go out.

When you go into a household, greet it. If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whoever will not receive you or hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city." Jesus now turns His attention to where they should stay.

And this is probably the tough part of the passage, just to make sense of what exactly is He saying here. Greet a house and your peace, rest on it, or peace return to you. What is this all about? Well, let's take it off bite at a time. Verse 11, he says, now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy and stay there till you go out.

Here's the Jason Doam translation of that. Find a brother. When you go into that city, do what you can to find a brother. Find someone who truly fears the Lord, who truly loves the Lord there. Now, you're not able to find a brother in Christ at that time.

Christ is just being preached. But surely there were people who honestly, legitimately feared the Lord, who really did have saving faith in God. Go there. Go to a city and find who that person is. And this is akin to what we see Paul doing in Acts 28 verses parts of 13 and 14.

Acts 28 parts of 13 and 14. The next day we came to Pudioli where we found brethren and were invited to stay with them seven days. So this is just one example of what you see Paul doing. He did this. He would go And he would find a brother when he entered a new city, and he would he would stay there And this is what Jesus is telling his disciples to do here's one thing that bears noting The true people of God are such that when a Stranger comes into a new place and they start asking around, who around here fears and loves God?

We just went down to the convenient mart down the road here, and we just went in and asked the cashier, I'm looking for somebody who fears the Lord, who really loves the Lord. I need to find, they would give you names. Cashier down here would give you names. I haven't done it, but I'm confident they would say, oh, that's Jim Santles, or Stiles Watson, or That's Mike and Beth Matarco. They would say things like that.

And this is built on the presupposition that worthy people, brethren, people who fear the Lord, are known because he's telling them, go and inquire who is worthy. And so it ought to be of people who fear the Lord and love the Lord, that they have a reputation. So when people start to ask around, who really fears the Lord around here? I need to locate somebody who loves the Lord here that they think of us, that we would be on the mind of some in our community. Because this whole instruction is based on such a thought.

We get a lot of helpful information out of Luke 10. Luke 10 is not the sending of the 12, it's the sending of the 70. But many of the same things are present in the sending of the 70. And it helps us to understand what Jesus is saying here. Listen to this, Luke 10, verses 5 through 7.

But whatever house you enter, first say, peace to this house. This is the greeting in Luke 10, peace to this house. And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it. If not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages.

Do not go from house to house. So I think Luke 10 actually tells us what we need to know to properly understand Matthew 10. And here's the sequence. You're in a new place. You ask for a brother.

You find out where people say there's someone who fears and loves the Lord. And then when you get to that house, you greet them like they're a brother. You greet them with affection. You greet them with a blessing. Peace be unto you is what Jesus says in Luke 10.

So this is the greeting that's being referred to in Matthew 10. He says, greet them. Luke 10 expands on that. And He says, peace be upon you. Peace be to this house.

Peace to this house, is what it says in Luke 10. So you're greeting them with affection. You're greeting them with a blessing. You're greeting them like they're a brother. And then assuming that everything is As advertised, in other words, when you're there, you're living with them, and it turns out to be that the reputation that preceded them was a true reputation.

They really do fear the Lord. They really do love the Lord. They're a brother. In fact, Luke 10 calls them a son of peace. What a beautiful thing to be called a son of peace.

It turns out that they're a son of peace your peace will rest on them and If not, it will return to you So as you find that things are advertised and you remain there there's a blessing on that home because of that. And Jesus actually, at the very end of Matthew 10, gives us a little exposition on that. He who receives you receives me. And he who receives me receives him who sent me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward.

And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man receives a righteous man's reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple assuredly I say to you he shall by no means lose his reward that's what he's saying earlier in the chapter for those who receive someone a stranger who comes into their community and allows them the food for their work, the shelter for their work, that house will receive a blessing. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward. That's what Jesus is saying here, that a blessing will come onto this house. So you greet them with affection and with a blessing.

And if it turns out to be true that they are a son of peace, then God blesses that home. Because when they receive you in the name of Jesus, they're actually receiving God. And He'll bless them. He'll bless them for it. Through the network of His true people, true people, real sons of peace.

There's a network out there. Have you noticed that? Anywhere you go, practically you can find a brother. There's a son of peace. And you can connect like that because there's a common spirit.

We've all noticed that and just appreciated that. When you go to a new city or a new country, we have these brothers here from Malawi now, and we connect just like that because there's one spirit. And so when that happens, This is part of the network that God has of His true people. And God is staging provisions for the ministers of the good news virtually everywhere in the world. You could start now.

You could start walking to the west coast right now, and you could go from community to community, and you could inquire who here fears and loves the Lord, and you get directed to those places and you could tell them, I'm on a mission from God, and they might think it a little strange, but the point is that you could find that provisions were staged in advance for you to walk all the way from one coast to the other because God has put his sons of peace in different parts and in all these communities. And the resources are there. And the laborer is worthy of his food. Finally, he gives instructions on those who reject the gospel of the kingdom. On the notes page, you'll say, what to do with despisers.

That's because that's what Calvin calls people who won't receive the gospel, despisers. And that's right. And he says, whoever will not receive nor hear your words, either in the house or in the city, if they won't hear your words, if they won't receive you, then you shake the dust off of your feet. I think we Think wrongly about what this means. Shake the dust off of your feet.

This is not a spiteful gesture of pride, not at all. Not in any way. Not a spiteful gesture of pride. This is not the Pharisee saying, I thank God I'm not like other men. Enough with you people.

It would be more appropriate to do this in weeping than it would be to do it in disdain. We think back to the Beatitudes, what the people of God are fundamentally like. They're poor in spirit. They're mourning. They're meek.

So the wiping off of the dust from the feet is not another direction than poor in spirit, mourning, and meek. It's consistent with poor in spirit, with mourning, with being meek. And you had better to do it weeping than you had with disdain for the people that you're testifying against. Here's what the expositor's Bible commentary says. And it actually sums up what many of the commentators say.

This is a common thought from the commentators. A pious Jew on leaving Gentile territory might remove from his feet and close all dust of the pagan land now being left behind, thus dissociating himself from the pollution of those lands and the judgment in store for them. So this was a practice of the Jews. Jesus is not inventing anything new here. Pious Jews already did this when they come back from Gentile territory.

They shake off the dust as a testimony that they don't want any association from where they just came from. They don't want to be caught up into the judgment from the places that they visited. In Mark 6 and in Luke 10, he says, shake the dust off as a testimony against them. This is what this is. The shaking off of the dust is a testimony against them.

And it's a very significant act. And it's very well understood by the people in the house that you're leaving behind, or by the city that you're leaving behind. Because that's what they do when they leave Gentile territories. When they go visit the Decapolis and they come back over, they're wiping the dust off their feet. As a way to say, we don't want to participate in the judgment that's going to happen over there.

It's a way to say, for the pious Jew to say, those people are outside of the people of God. And so Think of what Jesus is telling his disciples to do. They will not receive them. They will not hear their words. So Jesus says Give them a picture to say you are outside of the people of God What would it be like for a Jew to see that?

Wait a minute. This is what we do when we get back from the Decapolis. Is he brushing the dust off of his feet? Is he saying that we're outside the people of God? Yes, it is to be as a testimony against them.

So this is a man, a disciple, standing as an ambassador of Jesus Christ, an apostle, one sent forth with orders to pronounce the judgment of God against anyone who will not repent. To pronounce the righteous judgment of God towards those who will not receive the preached message of repentance. We ought to do this. We did this yesterday 20 times when we were out at the abortion clinic. And it's not a despising of the people there.

If you're to be their friend, you ought to warn them that judgment is coming for those who will not repent. This is what the brushing of the dust off of the feet is. It's a warning that judgment, sure judgment, irrevocable judgment is coming for those, anyone who will not repent. Here's what Calvin says. No crime is more offensive to God than contempt of His word.

For He does not enjoin them to make use of so solemn a mode in expressing their detestation of adulterers or murderers or any description of malefactors. Do You understand what Calvin is saying here? This is the sin that sends men to hell. Murder will not send you to hell. You can be forgiven.

Murderers in the Bible are redeemed and brought into the kingdom of heaven. Adultery will not send you to hell. Adulterers in the Bible, there are examples of adulterers being redeemed and brought into the kingdom of heaven. But this, not receiving the commandment of God to repent, will send you to hell. This is the deadly sin, rejecting the words of Jesus Christ, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

This is the sin that sends men to hell. For those who persistently refuse the free offer of grace, this is what will take them into hell, will put them on the wide path that leads to destruction. And so this physical act, this picture, is a declaration of the truth of verse 15. It's just a declaration of Sodom and Gomorrah. And the things happening there, It'll be worse for them.

Here's verse 15. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. Lot was there. They felt judged by Lot. Lot kept saying, I mean, it's not recorded, but you get the sense of that.

Lot kept saying, that's not right, this is not right, this is not right. So when the day comes for Lot, they say, this man is always judging us. There was a testimony in Sodom and Gomorrah against them. But everyone who followed had an example. Everyone who followed had a hole in the ground that you could go and look at, desolate, a burnt out place that still would not grow anything from the sulfur.

Supposedly there's such a place to this day that is desolate and covered over with sulfur And you could never plant anything there. You could never put anything there. This is the testimony, the example of Sodom and Gomorrah. So while they had a testimony, everybody after them had Sodom and Gomorrah as an example. And now these people have had the apostles of Jesus Christ to come and preach to them and confirm their preaching with miracles.

What will it be like in that day? Sodom and Gomorrah never enjoyed the things that these people who are rejecting the disciples have enjoyed. Four applications. Jesus teaches, then he sends. Jesus disciples and trains and He lets you come with Him and watch His works, and He gives you the doctrine that explains the Word of Life, and then He sends.

This is the pattern. This is the pattern that we see here. This is what Jesus desires to do among us. He wants to teach us not so that we know interesting things, but so that he can send us out with orders. This should be our expectation.

It should be our expectation that the Word is preached for this purpose, not so that we just learn interesting things about the passage, but it's part of a training program, not my training program, but God's training program, that He would teach us the things that are in His Word and our expectation is that the very next step is that we're sent out by Him with orders. Second application, the gospel brings together all kinds of people, doesn't it? The gospel brings together all kinds of people and then it molds them into a family. It actually makes them into a people. And this is the great commission.

He is molding us together. His providence has brought us together into this building on this day. And He wants to use that to make us into a ministry unit for the spread of the kingdom. We're not just little individuals. Here's a comment and go.

God is building us into a ministry unit. Do you believe that? You ought to believe that. That's what God was doing with these 12 men. That's what God's doing here.

That's what He's desiring to do in every local church. Is to raise up a group of people who are joined together, who are so much stronger together than they ever could be individually and to advance his kingdom that way for his own glory. Third application. Think about provision on both sides of ministry. If God ever sends you to do anything, He can supernaturally provide for you.

He can send you out barefooted, with no money, and knowing that he's already staged the resources there. This should give us so much confidence to go to obey God in anything, to obey God, not to go do great things for God or just make up things and go try to do them, presuming that God will get with our program and put things there in advance. But it does mean that no matter what God tells us to do, that if He tells us to do something, The provision is more certain than anything else in your life. So we don't have to worry. What about the other side of that?

We ought to be ready to receive. We ought to be ready to be the Son of Peace, to put our resources in play for the Kingdom of God, so that the people that God is mobilizing to do various things. We're not just talking about preachers, we're talking about people that are being mobilized to do various things for the kingdom of God. And maybe we're the ones to receive them, and house them, and feed them for now. Maybe this is why God has given us an abundance, has given us resources.

This is so that we'll be the son of peace that's ready with resources to help the person that God is mobilizing to advance His kingdom. Lastly, I'll leave us with the warning that Jesus leaves us with in this text. And I'll quote J.C. Ryle. Men are sadly apt to forget that it does not require great open sins to be sinned in order to ruin a soul forever.

I'm going to read that again. Men are sadly apt to forget that it does not require great open sins to be sinned in order to ruin a soul forever. They have only to go on hearing without believing, listening without repenting, going to church without going to Christ, and by and by they will find themselves in hell. This is the message that Jesus ends us with in this text. Sodom and Gomorrah had the great open sins.

These people just wouldn't hear his disciples. And it will be more terrible in the day of judgment for those who turned out, those who brought the message of repentance, then it will be from those men in Sodom and Gomorrah who sinned those great open sins where we wag our fingers and say, look at them. Didn't they deserve the sulfur and the fire to come down upon them? And yet, there will be those who have gone to church without going to Christ, who have listened but never repented, and it will be worse for them than it ever was for Sodom and Gomorrah. This is true because God says it's true.

We should hear. We should walk circumspectly in this world. God has warned us. This is the nature of the shaking off the dust of the feet. To warn people with tears that the judgment is coming.

It is sure. It is sure. No one can turn it back. Let's pray. Oh Father, thank you for your word, thank you for your word.

What would we do without it? We'd depend on ourselves, we'd think so many wrong thoughts. I thank you for this text, God. And I pray that you would press it upon our souls so we would understand it deeply and that you would teach us to love every word of the Bible and to esteem all the instructions that you give us through your word and to labor to put it in practice and to cry out for the help of the Holy Spirit to be faithful to the light that you've given us to walk by. May it be so in Jesus' name, amen.