In your Bibles this morning, Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10, we begin reading in verse 1 and read through the first 17 verses. And I look forward to preaching this morning. The title of this morning's message is Lessons from 70 Servants of the Lord. We're going to watch Jesus send out 70 of his servants to serve him and carry the gospel message before him and before his face. He's going to go behind them. He's going to be in the same places. But we learn some things about being servants of the Lord from Jesus commissioning and sending out these 70 servants. I want you to know that God did not save you to just sit and soak, and as the old preacher said, sit and soak and sour. God saved you to serve The Lord. How do I serve the Lord? I'm going to tell you how you serve the Lord. You serve the Lord by serving others. You serve the Lord by sharing the gospel with the lost. You serve the Lord by determining to live your life investing in the lives of other people. for the sake of the gospel and for the hope of eternity. God's called us all to serve Him. And I hope that you've determined where you are to be a faithful servant of the Lord. Oh, I beg of you, be a faithful servant. You know that God did not design the Christian life to be a spectator sport. where you come to church and observe and get entertained and leave. God expected us to come together like this on a Sunday morning to hear the Word and then take the Word into the highways and hedges and out into the community and be used for the glory of God. Somebody described church work like a football game one time. A football game, you know, is 22 people in desperate need of rest being observed by thousands of people in desperate need of exercise. And that's not what a church is supposed to be like. And we are called of God to serve. There's some things in this pastor's scripture that I believe will be a help to you as we learn some lessons from 70 servants of the Lord. Follow along with me as we read God's word. Luke chapter 10, beginning in verse 1, the Bible says, After these things the Lord appointed other 70 also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. 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. Carry neither purse nor script nor shoes, and salute no man by the way. And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the Son of Peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it. If not, it shall turn to you again. And in the same house remain eating and drinking such things as they give. For the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you, and heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you. Notwithstanding, be 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 than for that city. 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. but it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. For thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell. He that heareth you heareth me. He that despiseth you despiseth me. He that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me. And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. What an interesting passage. This is the only place in the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, where this story is given to us. We meet up with 70 folks that Jesus sends to serve the Lord. There are some lessons to be learned from these 70 servants of the Lord. We'll just jump right into it. The first lesson that I want you to learn this morning, number one, is God goes with his servants. God goes with His servants. Now, the first verse says this, in verse number 1 of chapter 10, After these things the Lord appointed others seventy also. I'll stop there for just a moment. And a lot of folks want to speculate the significance of the seventy, the number seventy. And there are some interesting things. You know, the number seven in the Bible is a number of completion, and it's a great number, and the number of heaven, it's got, there's some interesting things. And 70 may have some significance, but I can't put my finger exactly on what the number 70 has to do with. And I'm the kind of guy that just kind of cornbread and beans, and so I just think that there was 70 people there that Jesus could send out to serve him. And so we got a group of 70 servants of the Lord, And these 70 servants, they're sent two by two. And the Bible says next, in verse 1, before his face. Now what's that mean? Before his face. Now look, bottom line is, he sent them two by two. in places that he was going to go. And Jesus actually, in his word here, confirms that notion because twice in his verse we have this idea that Jesus, where the disciples are going, where the seventy servants are going, Jesus is also going to go there. He sends them before his face into every city and place. Verse number one, the very last phrase, whither he himself would come. And so, bottom line is, before his face and then he says, wither he himself would come. The Bible just wants us to know that these servants are going places where Jesus is going to go. Now, what's the significance? I think this is so important. You know, God has called us all to serve him. I want you to think in your heart, there's someone in your life right now that you're praying for. There's a family situation that is so big and out of your control and you need God. You're struggling right now and you're burdened yourself and you don't know how in the world this problem could be solved. You don't know how these folks can be rescued. You don't know how there's any possible solution to the task that it seems like God has put on your heart to pray over and even act towards. You say, I don't know how we could ever make a difference. I don't know how this could ever change. Let me give you an encouraging word from the 70 servants of the Lord. Everywhere Jesus sent them, Jesus was there also. He was going behind them. He was going to be there. And in that age and time when Jesus was alive, the Bible says Jesus was going to go everywhere these servants went. In the day that we live today, I want you to know something. Jesus is there. God is present. And God is the one who will prove himself faithful and mighty in the burdens that you bear. in the work that God has given you to do. God has given you something to accomplish, a family to raise, a work to do. I want you to know something. If you'll serve the Lord with your life, if you'll keep sharing the gospel, if you'll keep loving and praying and investing, and even instructing and aiding and helping, if you serve the Lord, you don't have to be afraid. Because everywhere you attempt to serve the Lord, God is going to be there. And it's God that has to do the work anyway. So many times God calls us to do things that are so much bigger than we are. And need so much more than we have to offer. I want you to know something, that is a sweet spot to be. Because you can be sure if you'll serve the Lord, Jesus is going to be there also. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. We don't have to move forward in our service to the Lord, scared to death that we will be insufficient. You should move forward in your service to the Lord knowing that you're insufficient, but God is your sufficiency. Does that make sense? So many of us think that we've got to have all of our ducks in a row before we can do something for Jesus. If you're waiting for your ducks to get in a row, your ducks are not going to get in a row. Some of them are already dead. Just serve the Lord and expect Jesus to meet you there. I had a sweet thing happen just last week. I got a call. Someone asked if I'd go by the hospital and see a couple that was there. There was a man that had been sick and was in the hospital in the emergency room. The family asked if I'd go by and see them. They were sure that their brother was not saved. I said, sure, I'd love to. And you know, that's an unnerving thing. I've done this for 20 plus years and it's unnerving and it's scary to walk into a hospital room and to talk to somebody you've never even met before. You have no idea what you're getting subjected to. But I said, sure, I'll go. And I walked in the hospital and into the emergency room and into a room in the emergency room and there was a man in the hospital bed and his wife by his side. I started talking and told them why I was there and who had told me about them and that they were here. I told them I wanted to pray with them and just kind of chatted for a minute and then we got to the point. I asked the man, I said, Sir, has there ever been a time where you asked Jesus to save you from your sins? Do you know for sure if you were to die today you'd go to heaven? And you could tell that God had been working in his heart already. He said, no, I don't go to church, I don't know the Lord, I've never been saved. And I began to give him the basic gospel message. that he was a sinner, that Jesus loved him, that Jesus died on the cross, and the reason Jesus died on the cross was to pay the price for his sins. I told him again that Jesus had been buried, rose again, defeated death, held in the grave. If you'll receive and trust Jesus and ask Jesus to forgive your sins and be your Savior, you can be saved. And after I gave him a brief gospel message, I looked at him and I said, Sir, would you like to pray and ask Jesus to be your Savior? And the man said, I don't even know how to pray. And I smiled at him and I said, you know what's sweet? You don't have to know how to pray. I said, if I were to lead you in a prayer and help you, Something to say to ask Jesus to be your Savior. Would you like to do that? He said, yes. And I led him in a simple prayer. Went something like this, Dear Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. Please forgive my sins. Be my Savior. I'm trusting in you. Help me to live for you from this day forward. And that man prayed right there in the hospital room and got saved. It was sweet. It was sweet. And it was genuine, it was wonderful. And I looked at his wife, I said, Ma'am, have you ever been saved? She said, no. I said, would you like to be saved? She said, yes. And I had the joy and privilege of leading her to the Lord. She got saved. Now I've told you all that, not to tell you what an awesome preacher I am, because I know better. You know why I've told you all that? Really, all I am is the servant of the Lord. And all you are is the servant of the Lord. And I'll have you know something. I walked in that hospital room on that day, but Jesus had already been there. And God was already working. And the Holy Spirit was already moving in those people's hearts. And God did the work. All I did was get the glorious privilege of being a servant of the Lord. They got to follow and do and go somewhere. Jesus was already there. I want to let you know something. If you'll just simply determine, God, will you just let me be your servant and I'll go where you want me to go and I'll do what you want me to do, then you rest in the fact that anywhere you go in service to Jesus, He'll be there. He's faithful like that. You see, here's lesson one from 70 Servants of the Lord. God goes with His servants. Lesson number two, the harvest is plenteous. Now let's look at the second verse, verse number two. The Bible says in verse number two, therefore said he unto them, the harvest truly is great. but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest." Now, you know, we could spend hours preaching on that one verse, but I want to emphasize something that I think is important for us to remember today. The Bible says, Jesus said unto them, the harvest truly is great. Now, Jesus likens the need of the gospel, the need of people to come to faith in Jesus. Jesus likens that unto a harvest. You can imagine, Jesus had this agriculture mindset. His mindset was that he was looking on a great field that needed to be reaped, it needed to be harvested, it needed to be brought in. He's looking at this great work that needs to be done, and he says, the harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few. The emphasis I want to make for just a moment is that the harvest is plenteous. You know what we're tempted to do? And the devil loves when Christian people get complacent. You know what the devil wants us to think? The devil wants us to think that Chill Howie doesn't need a gospel witness. See you later. One less announcement, hallelujah. The devil wants you to think that Chilhoewy doesn't need a gospel witness. Gladespring doesn't need a gospel witness. Marion doesn't need a gospel witness. Abingdon and Bristol, they don't need a gospel witness. There's churches everywhere, but I want you to know something. God wants you to know that the harvest is plenteous. The devil wants you to think that there's no need for an aggressive work for the gospel sake, but God says the harvest is plenteous. There's a work that needs to be done and God wants us, His people, to be serving Him. If you're determined to serve God with your life, God will give you many opportunities. I found out a long time ago, anybody that says, I can't find anything to do for Jesus is looking for something they want to do rather than something that God says needs to be done. And if we'll just decide, hey, look, I'll serve God where God gives me an opportunity to serve Him. The opportunity to serve the Lord is going to be great. The harvest is plenteous. I was saying about this and how often prone we are to kind of have blinders to the needs. If you walk through the grocery store knowing and looking for opportunities to serve the Lord, you're going to find one. If you walk through the parking lot at Walmart, you're going to find an opportunity to serve the Lord. There's opportunities everywhere you go to serve the Lord. May God help us be faithful to serve Him. The harvest is plentiful. This reminds me of asking teenage boys to clean something. How many of you have ever asked a teenage boy to clean something? I can speak from experience. It works like this. Hey, listen, go clean your room. And so, in a little while, you can tell that they're finished cleaning their room because they've come back to doing whatever they were doing before. And then you go and, you know, you've got to inspect what you expect, right? That's how it works. this parenting thing. You've got to inspect what you expect. So then you go to their room, and when you go to their room, the thing you see is there has been some effort put forth. It's true. There has been some effort put forth. And maybe the bed's made and some things are put up. But when you walk in that room, it don't take but just a second to say, well, why didn't you do that? And why didn't you do this? And why is this still undone? And why have you done... Have you cleaned your room? Yes! But then you go in and you're like, there's a lot left to be done. You know what people do? We're like teenage boys cleaning our rooms. We think, ah, there's not anything to do around here. There's no work to be done. There's not a harvest in our area. But we have the same perspective as a teenage boy cleaning his room. And the truth is there's lots of work yet to be done. And there's lots of people who need you to minister to them. And I want you to understand that the harvest is plenteous. There's a lot of work to do. May God help us to humbly find and do what God has given us to do, not just the preacher, not just the missionary, not just the youth pastor, not just the Sunday school teacher or the deacon, but every one of God's children God has called us to serve because the harvest is plenteous. There's another emphasis here in this passage of Scripture. The Bible says the laborers are few. It's sad, but there are plenty laborers. out there, but a lot of folks unwilling to labor. Lots of laborers, but folks unwilling to labor. There's an old song that I love, talking about the harvest field, and one of the lines in the song, it says, push away from the table, look out through the window pane. There's a harvest of gold and grain. And we need to say, look, I'm willing to serve God, willing to roll up our sleeves and get in the ditches and do the right thing because the harvest is plenteous. Lesson number three. Lesson number three. God's servants must be humble and dependent. on God. Now I want you to see something here. It's pretty fun how the Lord begins to give us some more details. Verse 3, He's going to send these 70 servants out and here's what He wants them to know. I'll just have you know, this little talk that Jesus has with His servants is probably not the most encouraging. It's actually a little bit scary, but they are going to have to be humble and dependent. Look at what the scripture says in verse 3. The Bible says, go your ways. Behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. The first thing Jesus says to his disciples, he says, look, I'm sending you out as lambs among wolves. Now, if you were playing a video game and you got to pick your character, it's going to be a brawl. Which one do you pick? Do you pick a wolf or a lamb? I'm going to pick the wolf every time. I want the wolf character. But here's what God says. When you go out and serve me, you're going out as lambs before wolves. Why is that important? Why would the Lord Jesus begin sending his disciples out with this picture and this idea that you're going as lions before wolves? He already wants to make it clear to his disciples that if you're going to do my work, you're going to need me. If you're going to do my work, you're going to need me. And our strength is not the strength of our flesh, but our strength is the strength of the Lord. He says you're going to have to be humble and dependent, needing God's protection. He continues and he says, not only am I sending you out as lambs among wolves, but he says the verse before, he says, carry neither purse nor script nor shoes. Now he says next, what I want you to do is I don't want you to carry with you any extra money. That's a little bit scary, isn't it? He says, I don't want you to carry any extra money. He says, don't take a lot of extra money with you. You just go knowing that I'm gonna meet your needs. He says, you go without purse. Why did he say that? I want you to know there's missionaries that have to raise support and they should, and this is not a message against that. But this is an emphasis on the fact that when we serve the Lord, we need to be humble and dependent on Him. He says, look, I'm going to meet your need. Don't take your purse. Don't take your script. The next thing is your script. The script is like a bedroll. It's your bedding. He says, don't take your extra money. Don't take your bedding. You just go and watch, and I will meet your needs. I'm going to provide for you. You need to go humble and dependent. He says, do not take your purse, nor script, nor shoes. This means extra shoes. And some of you folks are like, oh no, I can't go on a trip without extra shoes. How many of you know somebody that likes to take lots of shoes when they go on a trip? And I see those hands, and I see people hoping that their husband don't raise their hand. But he says, no extra shoes. He says, I just want you to go humbly, depending on me. Does this mean that missionaries shouldn't take extra shoes? No, that's silly. But it does give us this picture. He sent these 70 folks out. He says, I want to meet your needs. You need to be humble and dependent upon me because God is going to be a faithful provider. Can I tell you something? If you decide to serve the Lord, and you should, God is going to protect you. If you decide to serve the Lord, God is going to provide for you. It's a fact. Look at the next phrase in verse 4. He says, "...carry neither purse, nor script, nor shoes, and salute no man by the way." So that means God wants all of His servants to be stuck-ups. They don't say hi to anybody. Now, there's an emphasis here that you need to note. So the culture of the day was they were really big on greetings. It's the Jewish culture that would greet folks with the holy kiss. And we say no to that in our church functions. The holy kiss, something that's Old Testament. We're not doing that. Don't start it. So, but this was the way they lived, that they would greet each other and they always put on like these big, oh, I'm so glad to see you. They were very loud, emotional people and they would salute each other and they would have these long greetings and it was just like frivolous niceties. It was things that were not of utmost importance. It was things that was a distraction from the task that was at hand and the Lord says, don't be just, Don't be caught up with the politics. Don't be caught up with the distractions. Don't be caught up with the greetings. He says, have your priorities right. Do the right thing. Trust the Lord. Serve Him. You know it's easy to get distracted when you're serving the Lord. Have you ever noticed that? He says, let's put away the distractions. Let's put our priorities on doing what's right. And God's called you to serve Him. Serve Him! serving faithfully. The next thing that we see in this passage of scripture, God wants us to be humble and dependent. He tells His disciples, He sends them out, He says, you're going to have to find places to stay. Now this is the part that would make a lot of us very uncomfortable. He says, when you go out on this trip, on this journey, you're going to have to find places to stay. And here's how I want you to do it. He's sent them two by two in groups. And at this moment in time in this culture, for two single guys to stay in an inn would have probably been something to frown on because the inns were prone to prostitution and misbehavior. And so Jesus says, you're going two by two, and here's what you're going to do. You're going to find a place to stay, and here's how you're going to find the place to stay. Imagine this. You go to a town you've never been to. You knock on a door you've never knocked on, and here's what God says you have to do. He says in verse number five, He says, in whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. He says, knock on the door. When they ask you to come in, say, Shalom. on this home, peace be to you, peace to this house. He says, and if the son of peace, verse number 6, be there, your peace shall rest upon it. What in the world does that mean? Now, so in the Jewish culture, the way that they like to talk about somebody that is good at something is, he is the son of. So if someone was peaceful, a really peaceful, godly, gracious person, a good host, they would be the son of peace. If you're a good golfer, you could say, the son of golf. He's a great golfer. If you're a good farmer, the son of farming, you could say, if you are a good speaker, he's the son of speaking. He says, if you go to this place and you find the Son of Peace, you find somebody that's good at being hospital and peaceful. He says, go. Go into their house. Stay with them. In the same house, verse number 7, in the same house remain eating and drinking such things as they give. What does he say to that? He says, go. If you knock on somebody's door, They welcome you in and they're hospital people. Stay with them. And what do they give you to eat and drink? Eat it and drink it. Be thankful. And God is going to provide for them this way. Why do you think the Lord put all that there? I think here's something that you need to know. If we're going to serve the Lord, we're going to have to have partners in serving the Lord. You see, none of us can serve the Lord all by ourselves. It's just a fact. I know that the Lord put me in this position as the pastor of the church because it's something that bothers me, but it's something I have to do and I have to trust in. I'm the kind of guy that wants to be self-reliant. I want to be able to take care of myself and don't want to ask for help. But the truth of the matter is, for more than 20 years now, I've been living and raising my family off of the gifts of people just like you in order that I can do the work that God's called me to do. And there's days it bothers me. Because I just soon do it myself instead of having to depend on somebody else. But that's my pride. The bottom line is, If you're going to serve the Lord, if I'm going to serve the Lord, I've got to have partners. Missionaries, if missionaries are going to serve the Lord, they've got to have partners. But also, I want you to know this, God has called us all to serve the Lord. And God does not expect us to be able to do it all by ourselves. He expects us to serve the Lord and enlist other people around us. And that's good. That's good. The moment that we think that we can do it all ourselves is when we are no longer humble and depending on God. The Lord wants to make it clear to these 70 disciples that he's sending out. He says, you have to stay humble and dependent on me and others in order to do the work that God's given you to do. You see, God is setting the scene. He's making our hearts understand and accept the fact that we're not so good that we can do it all by ourselves. We have an opportunity to serve the Lord, and we need God and others to help us do it. Here's another interesting thing about being humble and dependent. The Lord gives us a little insight. Verse 7, the Bible says, "...in the same house remain eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his hire." Now, I love that phrase. But what did Jesus say to these servants, Lord? He said, look, you're going to go and eat their food and drink their drinks and sleep in their beds. And they're going to provide something for you. He says, that's okay. It's okay. He says the labor is worthy of his hire. He said, that's perfectly okay. And then the Lord does something I think is awesome. He makes sure that these people do not abuse. the generous people of God. Here he says, the labor is worthy of his hire. But then look at the next phrase. He doesn't leave this out. He says, go not from house to house. What does he mean by that? Go not from house. He says, what these laborers are going to find out that there's generous people and you can knock on their door and they have the spirit of peace about them and you can go in their home and they'll provide for you and they'll help take care of you while you serve the Lord. And that's good. The labor is worthy of his hire. But he says, boys, don't you dare. exploit the goodness of God's people. He says, don't you go house to house begging. Don't you go house to house poor-mouthing, trying to exploit God's people. Don't you go house to house taking advantage of the generosity of God's people. Isn't that fun? God makes sure he covers all of his bases. He's good like that. A lesson that we need to learn from the 70 servants of the Lord is that God protects and provides His servants, and God wants His servants to be humble and dependent. Maybe, just maybe, the reason why you've not been able to see God do a work through your life like you want Him to do is because you're still depending on your dirty, rotten self. If you'll just humble yourself and let God use you how you are, the way you are, and depend on Him, I'm going to tell you, the opportunity to serve the Lord is great. Finally, lesson number four from the 70 servants of the Lord is this. All people must respond to the gospel message. Why was it important that these 70 servants are sent out to serve the Lord? Because the message that God gave them, the message of the gospel, was a message that must be responded to by all people. Why is it important that you and I are faithful servants of the Lord? I'm going to tell you why. Because our service to the Lord makes an eternal difference in the hearts and lives of the people that we have the opportunity to minister to. God's called you to serve Him. God's called you to witness, to tell others about Jesus. God's called you to present truth and God's Word to the lost. And I wonder if you take serious the work that God has called you to do. Sometimes I think, if a child's eternal destiny is left up to the faithful witness of their mother, does that child have any hope? If a child's eternal destiny is left up to the witness of that child's father, does the child have any hope? If a grandchild's destiny is left up to the witness of a grandmother or grandfather, what hope does that child have? You see, God has called us all to serve Him. We should serve Him in the most obvious place, in our homes. We should serve Him in the most obvious place, in our jobs. We should serve Him in the most obvious place, in our community. And I want you to be reminded, and I'm asking God to remind you this week, as you do life, There's people all around you that if they do not get the message of the gospel that you know and that you've heard, that you've accepted, if they do not get the message of the gospel, that person may not make it to heaven, may die and go to hell because you kept your mouth shut because you were not willing to be a witness, to be used with God, serve God with your life. You see, the message that God wants us to know from these 70 servants of the Lord is that the work that God called them to do is one that matters for eternity. Prove it. I'll show you from the Bible quickly. The Bible says in verse number 8, He says, Into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. He says, when you go to a city and they welcome you, and they welcome your message, He says, hallelujah, that's wonderful. He says, verse 9, heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, the kingdom of God has come nigh unto you. I want you to notice that when you read that phrase, the kingdom of God has come nigh unto you, this group of people, we've got in our minds this picture of a community of people who've heard the gospel, they've accepted the gospel, they've accepted the servant of the Lord, and they've received the message, they're trusting in Jesus. And Jesus says, when they receive you, when they welcome you, when they receive me, He says, I want you to do something. He says, I want you to tell them, the kingdom of God has come nigh to you. Hallelujah! God's kingdom is there. It's sweet. There's hope for eternity. It's good news. The kingdom of God coming to you is good news when you've received Christ, the King of glory. But, verse 10, when you look at it, but into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, Go your ways out into the streets of the same and say, even the very dust of your city which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you. Notwithstanding, be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you." You see that? He says, but if you go to a place and they don't receive you, He says, go out on the street and wipe the dust off. And you tell them, the kingdom of God has come nigh to you. It's got a different tone. What's the difference? Here's the difference. If you receive Christ by faith as your Savior, the greatest news in all the world is that the Kingdom of God has come to you. The greatest news in all the world is that you have the promise of life and eternal life through faith in Jesus. But if the message of the cross The message of Jesus comes to you and you reject it. The worst news ever is the fact that the kingdom of God has come to you. You see, the difference between the kingdom of God being wonderful and the kingdom of God being horrible is whether or not you receive Christ by faith as Savior. You see, he says that if they reject you, you tell them the kingdom of God has come to you, and that's bad news. He continues and gives us some insight. He says, verse number 12, he says, I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city. The folks who reject Christ, the message of the gospel has been presented. The folks who reject Christ after the message of the gospel has been presented, Jesus says, It'll be better for Sodom in the Day of Judgment than for you. What happened in Sodom? I'm going to tell you what happened in Sodom. God judged Sodom with fire. They were a bunch of vile, wicked people. That's where you get the word Sodomite. God judged Sodom, but Jesus says, People who reject the clear message of the gospel. He says it's going to be more tolerable in the day of judgment for Sodom than it is for them. Now that should cause us to pause. That should cause us to pause. One, we see that there's degrees of punishment in hell. But we also pause because, hey listen, if you sit in a church like this one, where the Bible is preached and taught and the gospel is presented clearly. And you know that you need to repent of your sin and trust in Jesus, but you don't. I don't want to just scare you, that's not my desire. But I'll have you know something, when you sin against great light, when you know the truth and you reject the truth, God holds you to a higher account. than folks like the folks in Sodom who live in a wicked society and never had the opportunity to hear the word. Jesus says it's going to be worse for them than for the city of Sodom. Verse 13, Woe unto you, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! Both of these are cities where the gospel had been proclaimed very clearly and loudly. For if the mighty works which had been done in Tyre and Sidon, Tyre and Sidon, were two cities like Sodom, they were two pagan cities. He says, if the works that had been done in Chorazin and Bethsaida had been done in Tyre and Sidon, he says, a great while ago they would have repented, sitting in sackcloth. He said, you are sinning against great light, verse 14. He says, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. Verse 15, And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell. Capernaum was another city that Jesus had a great influence in. He said, Capernaum, you've seen me. You've seen the working of Christ. You've seen and been exposed to such truth and light. He said, when you reject the message, When you reject the message, it's a sad day. Why is this in this passage of scripture? What's the lesson from the 70 servants of the Lord? Here it is. Folks, I want you to know that the service that saved people offer for the glory of God and sharing the gospel and telling others about Jesus and influencing people's lives Serving Jesus, the work that God has given us to do is a work of eternal importance in the lives of men and women and boys and girls. It's important. It's important that you don't just live for Jesus today on Sunday for a few hours while you're at church. It's important that every day of our lives we're living and investing and serving God every chance we get. God wants us to serve Him. He says this in verse 16, He says to His servants, He says, He that heareth you, heareth me. The Lord puts a lot of stake on His servants, doesn't He? It's sweet. He that hears you, hears me. He that despises you, despises me. And he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me. Folks, I want you to know, If you're here and you're rejecting the message of the gospel and the gospel messenger, it's not me that you're rejecting, it's Christ, it's God the Father that you're rejecting. Put your faith in Him. And if you're out serving folks for the glory of God, you remember, you have an opportunity to serve Him and God will prove Himself faithful. What was the end result of this mission's journey on these 70 servants of the Lord? Verse 17, the 70 returned again with joy. saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. What happened? I want you to know something. Every person that determines to serve God with their lives, every person who determines to serve God with their lives, God gives them joy. God gives them joy. If you live for Jesus, you'll find out that it's very joyful living for Jesus. The Little Kids song said something like this, the best way to spell joy is J-O-Y, Jesus, others, and you. You put those in the right order and you'll have joy. God's called us to serve Him. May God bless us as we serve Him. I pray God will give us souls for our labor.