You would like to turn with me this morning to the book of Matthew. We're going to finish up a sermon that we started last week, authorized to evangelize. Um, today in particular, we'll be looking at Matthew chapter 10, our keywords for our worshipers and training for our young ladies who are in Sunday school this morning. They learned the words attributes and ordinances and works. Now, none of these will be brought up in the sermon today, but they learned some new words this morning. They were actually working on a catechism question about the third commandment. And so let's turn now to the scriptures. We'll read the text that we're going to study this morning, and then we'll get right into the sermon. Matthew chapter 10, Jesus summoned his 12 disciples and he gave them the authority over unclean spirits to cast them out and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness. Now the names of the 12 apostles are these, the first was Simon, who is called Peter and Andrew, his brother and James, the son of Zebedee and John, his brother, Philip and Bartholomew Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector, James, the son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus, Simon, the zealot and Judas, the scared, the one who betrayed him. These 12 Jesus sent out after instructing them, do not go in the way of the Gentiles and do not enter into any of the city of the Samaritans, but rather go 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, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out the demons. Freely you receive, freely you give. Do not acquire gold or silver or copper for your money belts, or bags for your journey, or even two coats or sandals or staff for the worker is worthy of his support. And whatever city or village you enter into, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay in his house until you leave that city. As you enter the house, give it your greeting. If this house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. Whoever does not receive you nor heed your words as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off of your feet. Truly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in that day of judgment than for that city. Behold, I sent you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be shrewd as serpents, as innocent as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts, and they will scourge you in their synagogues. And you will even be brought before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who speaks, but it is the spirit of your father who speaks in you. Brother will betray brother to death and father his child and children will rise up against parents and cause him to be put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but it is the one who endured to the end who will be saved. But wherever you persecute you in one city, flee to the next. For truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he should become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they malign the members of his household? Therefore, do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be made known. When I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetop. Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both the soul and the body in hell. or not two sparrows sold for a cent, and yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear. You are more valuable than many sparrows. Therefore, everyone who confesses me before man, I will also confess him before my father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I will also deny him before my father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man's enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. And he who loves his son or his daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for my name's sake will find it. 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 shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. When Jesus had finished giving these instructions to his 12 disciples, he departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities. And so what we have been looking at for the last couple of weeks is Jesus going and teaching and preaching, performing miracles and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom. The kingdom is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. And Jesus has been going out and he's been teaching and he's been preaching. And now he is now going to command of his disciples to do as he does. Jesus always leads by example. And then he commands his disciples everywhere to come and to follow him. The heartbeat and the pulse of the life of Christ is salvation to men. He came to this world to seek and to save that which is lost. And the way that he claims those lost souls is through the proclamation of his gospel, through the good news. And so he goes and he shares this gospel with people. And he uses the miracles of healing and casting out demons and causing blind people to see, deaf people to hear, the mute to speak. He's coming out and He is using these miracles as a way to authenticate His message of the Gospel. He's using these miracles as a way to prove to others who He is. And now He is going to empower and authorize His disciples to go and to do the same. So we got through most of that last week. We got to like verse 8. But what I want us to realize, one of the things most important is that It is the proclamation of the gospel that is most important to us as a church. And if we do not go out and reach the loss for Christ, this church will fall in and collapse and die. He has commanded us to go and to share the truth with all people in every nation. And we must be about our father's business. And he is, not only has he done it, but now he is commanding his disciples to do it, and his disciples when they did it, and now the command is for us to go and to do the same. The message of the gospel is the most important thing that can come from this pulpit. The message of the gospel is the most important thing that can come from your professions of faith. As you go and you meet your family and your loved ones, your friends, your co-workers, the lost out around you. As you go out into this world, you are proclaimed to go and to share this gift with the world. And that is what we are supposed to be about. And that has to be the central message of this church. He says that if I be lifted up, he said, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto myself. And so Jesus is showing his disciples how to do it, and now he is authorizing and commanding them to go and do the same. One of the other things that we're gonna see as we get into this text today is that this is not a yellow brick road to the Emerald City. This gospel message, this task of going and reaching the lost, is fraught with danger and strife and persecution. It's a tough life. It's not easy. It commands of us to die to ourselves and to live for Christ. It commands us to keep our eyes on him, to forsake all things for his sake. And that is the message of the gospel. It is for us to die to ourselves and to live for him. So we have to be sure. We have to be sure. That we are doing just that we have to be sure that we are going out And so what he's going to do now is he's going to teach his disciples. He's going to show them He's gonna he's not only led by example But now he's going to show them what they are to do and how they are to do it. So let's start today we'll pick up where we left off last week in verse 8 and We start in verse 8, it says, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out the demons, freely you have received, freely you are to give. And the message of the gospel was authenticated to these disciples by their power to go out and do the same things that their shepherd had done, to heal the sick, to raise the dead, to cleanse the lepers, and they were to go out and they were to freely share this with everyone. Go as representatives of Messiah. Their work, their first work was to proclaim the kingdom and prepare the way for the coming king. Those Israelites who were willing might become subject of this heavenly kingdom and they were informed of its near approach. The message to be proclaimed by the disciples is the exact message that was proclaimed by Jesus. Repent and believe, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out the demons. Having ministered to souls, they were also to bless the bodies of men and thus they would confirm their message by their miracles. All of this was being done without fee or without reward. Their powers had not been purchased and their miracles were not to be sold. So often in the modern world, we see these evangelists going around with these healing ministries and the gist or the focus of the ministry is what? You pay me and I'll heal you. And it's just simply wrong. Verse 9 says, do not acquire gold or silver or copper for your money belts or a bag for your journey or even two tunics or sandals or a staff for the worker is worthy of his support. The essence of this instruction is to travel light and not make special provisions for their material needs while they are on their mission. Verse 11 says, whatever city or village you enter into, who is worthy in it, stay there until you leave. And when you enter into a house, give it your greeting. Peace be upon this house. As we go and we are to share in the gospel with others, we are to be very courteous and open. We are to have the goodwill of men in our hearts, and we are to share that goodwill with others. You come with a blessing. You give a blessing and you leave blessing them. We ought not ever enter into a house without wishing it good. And we are not to leave a house without striving to make it better. And if the house is worthy, verse 13, let your peace come upon it, but if it's not worthy, let your peace return to you. To be the willing host of such messages is indeed a blessing. But to oppose them is to forfeit God's peace, because to receive them is to receive Jesus, and to receive Jesus is to receive God. As you go out and you share the gospel with others, you're not going to meet everyone that's going to like you or care about you or want to listen to what you have to say. We are to go to them in love, and let them respond in whichever way they will. But remember, they are responding to God's truth. They are responding to what they think of Jesus. Verse 14 says, whoever does not receive you nor heed your word as you leave that house or that city, shake the dust off of your feet. This is a hard part of us being Christians, of us doing what we are called to do. We are supposed to disclaim all fellowship with those who will not fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not to be angry or denounce them with bitterness. We are simply to shake the dust off of our feet and to go elsewhere. This shaking of the dust was a symbolic act by which Jews disclaimed all intercourse with those whom they deemed heathenish or profane. When they returned from the Gentile country, as they passed the boundaries, they stopped and they carefully cleansed their shoes from all dust of the polluted region which adhered to them. If people will not hear, we must make them see that we disown them and count them to be unclean because they refuse Christ Jesus. Many of you in this room may have this custom at your house. I used to date a young lady that was Korean, and when I went to her house, I had to take off my shoes before I went into the house, right? Well, what is the reason for that? It's so that you don't track your mud and your dirt into the home. And so it's that same attitude. We are to go and to share the gospel with others. And if they do not receive the message that you share, you are to show them disapproval by simply shaking the dust off and saying, I will have nothing to do with that. And to walk away and to not carry the dirt and the debris of this world back into our homes. You're not to be mean. You don't have to beat people over the head with a Bible. You don't have to tell them they're going to hell. Most of them already know they are going there. We are to proclaim the gospel. Jesus died to save sinners like you. And if you will turn and believe him, you will be forgiven and you will be saved. Please turn from sin and self and turn to Christ and he will forgive you and he will save you. And we are not to be surprised by their reactions. If you will notice in the gospels, most of the people rejected. It is not our business to save them. It is our business to share the gospel with them, to share the truth and let God do the work of salvation. Do not be surprised at the reactions of the heart of those who you share with, because many will hate you for what you tell them. He says, truly, in verse 15, truly 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. When these disciples would go out and share the message of the gospel with the lost in the world around them, they would turn from those who rejected them and shake the dust off of their feet. But they left the judgment to God. They didn't have to judge the people themselves. They simply turned and went about their father's business of sharing the promises and the truth. But there was a warning that was given that those that rejected the disciples, those that rejected the messenger, were rejecting God. They were rejecting Jesus. And he said, it will be more tolerable for you It'll be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on judgment day than for those who heard Christ's truth and covered it up. They rejected it. I want you to think about that for a minute. Sodom and Gomorrah was a filthy and awful place. And God judged that land with fire and brimstone. He simply destroyed those people because of their rejection of Him. And I want you to think about the implications of this. He says it will be better, it's more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that city that rejects him now. You see, the gospel message has been clearly proclaimed and they reject him. The people in Sodom and Gomorrah didn't hear the gospel. They were simply destroyed because of their wickedness. But one of the things they're showing us here is that Sodom and Gomorrah was judged in a temporal sense when fire and brimstone was poured upon them on this earth. But there is still a coming day when the people of Sodom and Gomorrah will still stand before God and be eternally judged. You might hear people say this. I have a family member who loves to say this all the time. He says, if God don't step in and do something about the United States, he's going to owe an apology to Sodom and Gomorrah. Now there's a truth to that observation, but the reality is this. God is not going to apologize to anyone. But what we need to understand is this, those people that were judged in Sodom and Gomorrah will still stand before the judge and answer for those actions. But what Jesus is saying here is, is that the people who hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and reject it are gonna have a worse fare than the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. To whom much is given, much is required. And it should break our hearts when we see the gospel of Jesus Christ being rejected by our families and our loved ones, by the stranger we meet on the street. But again, that's God's work. We simply share the message and let God do the work. It does not require great open sin for a soul to be ruined forever. They only have to keep going on hearing without believing, listening without repenting, going to church without coming to Christ, and by and by, they will find themselves in hell. I want to share this quote with you from an old preacher named J.C. Riley. He said, Is Christ dwelling in our hearts by faith? If not, we are in fearful danger. We are far more guilty than the men of Sodom who never heard the gospel at all. We may awake to find that in spite of our regularity and our morality and our correctness, that we have lost our souls for all of eternity. It will not save us to have lived in the full sunshine of Christian privileges and to have heard the gospel freightfully preached every week. There must be experimental acquaintance with Christ. There must be personal reception of this truth. There must be vital union with Him. We must become His servants and His disciples. Without this, The preaching of the gospel only adds to our responsibility. It only increases our guilt. And at length, we will sink more deeply into hell. These are hard sayings, but the words of scripture which we have read are plain and unmistakable. They are all true. These matters of the gospel, this matter of salvation, has eternal ramifications, and we should approach it gravely and somberly. Indeed, the faith of those who reject Christ will be worse because of the fuller light of the dawning of the kingdom of God that has now been rejected. To reject Jesus' messengers is thus to reject God and to incur his final judgment. So they were told to go and to share this message with the world and he is going to now give them a promise that as they go out and they share this message that they will meet with persecution and resistance. So in verses 16 to 23, we're going to see the promise of persecution. I want you to think about that. The church is the body of Christ. The church is the spiritual body of Christ. And what they did to Jesus' physical body when he was here walking this earth is the same exact way that the world will treat the spiritual body of Christ. The world, the flesh, and Satan's attitude towards Jesus Christ and his body will never change. They hate Him. And if we are His, they will hate us too. Hostility with the world and hostility in our homes is something that is promised by Jesus. Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. to be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. As we share the gospel, we must be moderate in our expectations. We must not think that a universal success will attend our labors. We must reckon on meeting with much opposition. We must make up our minds to be hated and persecuted and ill-used, and oftentimes by our nearest relations. Human nature is far more wicked and corrupt than we think. The power of evil is far greater than we suppose. It is vain for us to imagine that everyone will see what is good for them and believe what you tell them. We need to pray for wisdom, good sense, and a sound and sober mind. We are not to be extremists. To avoid persecution by holding our tongues and keeping our religion entirely to ourself, that's one extreme. We are not there in that direction. To court persecution and thrust our religion upon everyone we meet without regard to the place or the time or the circumstance is another extreme. We do not have to run around and beat people over the head with bibles. We are simply to share with them what the Bible says. I can't tell you the number of times I've heard people say, oh, preacher, you are really stepping on my toes today. Well, the truth of the matter is that any pastor knows that the goal is not your toes. It's your heart. And so I go around and beat you over the head with a Bible or stomp on your toes with the message of the gospel. But if it doesn't reach your heart, it doesn't matter. And so what we need to understand is, is that this command, this gospel that we are to go in to share is our privilege, but it is the work of God. It is the words of God. It is the spirit of God that reaches the hearts of lost men and women. And we need to simply go and share that truth and let God do his work, remembering that many will reject. We also need to make sure that we don't get into the attitude of supposing that, well, I don't need to try to reach them. They're too lost. Or, ah, they'll never listen. Or that guy won't ever hear what. Remember. that each and every one of you in this room, if you are a born-again, blood-bought child of God, if you have a regenerate heart and you're in this room this morning, it is because someone shared the gospel with you. Someone was praying for your salvation. And but for the grace of God, there goes I. And we are to go and to share that message with everyone, not picking and choosing who it is that we wish to share with. We need to pray for the spirit of knowledge and judgment and sound wisdom and a sound mind as we go. The disciples were sent to fierce men to convince them and therefore they must be wise to convert them and therefore they must be gentle. The weapons of Christians The weapons of Christians is that we are weaponless, except for the word, the sword of God. We are to be prudent and discreet, wise as serpents, but we are to be loving and peaceful, harmless as doves. The Christian missionary will need to be wary to avoid receiving harm, but he must be of a guiltless mind that he do no harm. We are called to be martyrs, not maniacs. We are called to be simple hearted, not simpletons. We're to use wisdom, we're to use love, we're to use the word of God. The vulnerability of sheep, is enhanced by their stupidity. But disciples are not to be like that. Even though we are His sheep, we are to be as wise as serpents. Snakes have an instinct for self-preservation. They get out of the way when trouble threatens. The disciples' cunning is to be directed towards not harming opponents, but upon their own survival and the commendation of the gospel. Verse 17 says, but beware men for they will deliver you over to the courts and they will flog you in their synagogues. Our attitude must be one of caution towards men. We must not commit ourselves to them nor rely on their patronage, but at the same time, we must make use of every opportunity to testify of our Lord before them. Our protector and our Lord is in heaven. We don't have to look to men to protect us. You will even be brought before governors and kings for my name's sake and as a testimony to the Gentiles. Some of the greatest opportunities to preach the gospel of Christ were furnished to his disciples when they stood in front of kings and princes. Thus, the persecuting spirit with which Christianity was sought to be crushed was the very means for its rapid growth and its dissemination. There's a saying that the blood of the martyrs are the seed bed of the church. That it is the blood of the martyrs that fertilized and brought forth the fruit of the gospel. And it's true. If you go anywhere in the world today, did you know that In many churches in America, all over this country, the congregations are scattered with a spare few. But in countries where people are dying for the gospel, people are crowding in the caves and the barns, the attics and basements, and numberless flocks of people are gathering together in the name of Christ if you go to Iran and Iraq and you go to China and you go to Indonesia and you go to all of these countries where Christianity is being persecuted where Christians are dying for the name of Jesus Christ the church is exploding Because where we are weak He is strong. These are the places where the gospel is exploding. It's when persecution comes that the gospel explodes. This has been proven throughout history, and it can be observed in the world around us today. Verse 19 says, when they deliver you over, do not worry about what you are to say, for it will be given to you in that hour what you are to say. I know of many a preacher that use that as a way to not prepare a sermon. They say, oh well, he'll give me something to say when I get there. But that's not what this is talking about. This is talking about when you're a Christian and you're proclaiming the gospel that you'll have to sometimes stand before people that are opposed to you, but don't worry about what you'll say in those times. God will give you the wisdom to say what it is that you need to say. For it is not you who speaks, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. Don't worry, leave it to God. Men of God are simply instruments for God. When you go out and share the gospel, you don't have to know all the theology. You don't have to know all of the Bible verses. You simply have to know the shepherd and know that he loves his sheep and know that he has many that are still astray. And you simply go and share his love, share his truth, share his word with them. Don't worry about what you'll say. And don't worry about them asking you questions that you don't know because they're going to ask you questions that you don't know. But if they're asking you a question that you don't know, that gives you the opportunity to say, I don't know, but give me a few hours, I'll get back to you and I'll try to answer that question for you. Maybe you've just opened the door of opportunity to continue to share truth with someone. So don't be worried about how you will present or what you'll say. willing to go and to do. It says in verse 20, verse 21, brother will betray brother to death, his father his child, and children will rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. Jesus knows the hearts of men. He forewarned his disciples of the pitiless tempest which will beat upon them because of man's hatred to truth. And you will be hated by all because of my name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. The classes and the masses will turn against you because of the name of Christ, because of the doctrine of truth, and because of the rules of your master. But whenever they persecute you in the cities, flee to the next, for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes. Let us be diligent to our holy calling. Let us preach the gospel while we can do so in peace. For perilous times do come upon the children of God. And the Lord may appear before we think. Disciple is not above his teacher nor slave above his master. I want you to remember this Jesus did not command his disciples and Jesus is not asking me and you to do anything that he did not do himself He leads by example and he expects us to keep that example Those who try to do good for souls of others must not accept expect a fair better than Jesus did They can expect no more respectful treatment by a hostile world than their master has already experienced. I know that many of you in this room have shared with me and I've shared with you the frustrations of trying to win a loved one or a lost one to Christ. There's no reason for us to be shocked when they reject. And there's no reason for us to be disheartened when they reject. They rejected Christ. And if you are truly sharing the gospel with them, remember, you are sharing the very words of God. If it's the spirit of God that is in work in you, and you're sharing that message with someone else, it's not you they're rejecting, it's God. And you don't know their heart. You don't know what's being stirred in them. You do not know what will happen when those seeds are planted. Keep sharing, keep loving, keep telling them the truth. Verse 26 says, therefore do not fear them for there's nothing concealed that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known. Those who try to do good must look forward with patience to the day of judgment and anticipate the future and not be overwhelmed by the present. What I tell you in darkness speak in the light and what you hear whispered in your ear proclaim upon the housetop. The good news is not meant to be kept under wraps. However little some people may wish to hear it even though for the time being Jesus teaches his disciples and what he teaches them is in the darkness and in their ears in the coming days of their Testimony their witness before governors and kings and before the world The good news will no longer be hidden the things that you hear today in this room we're to go and to share and with the world. Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul, but fear Him who is able to destroy both the body and soul in hell. Those who try to do good must fear God more than man. Let us fear the Creator. Let us fear the greater and not the less. There is no cure for a fear of men like the fear of God. Think about that person that you want to share the gospel with and being worried about what they're going to think or what they're going to say or how they're going to act. Think about that time that you have to stand on the righteousness of Christ and His truth and point out the sin and the rebellion in another person's life. How do you think that they're gonna react to that? They'll probably hate you for it. They'll probably cuss you to your face. But we are not to fear men. Think about the God that you will offend if you do not tell them. On that last day, all will be revealed. How many opportunities came before me that I didn't take? How many times was I given the opportunity to tell someone the truth and love, to share the gospel with someone, and I failed to do so? If we fear God, we do not have to fear men. He then reminds them of how important they are and how valuable they are, are not to spare a soul for Nassarion and yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father. Now Nassarion was a copper coin valued at about one sixteenth of a day's wage. Fear of God is balanced by our trust in God. The disciples, Heavenly Father, the God who can destroy hell is also the God who cares, who can destroy in hell, is also the God who cares for the little birds. So our fear of God can rest in our trust in God, that He is good and He always does what is right. And not only that, He cares for you. The very hairs of your head are numbered. Some of you in this room, like me, got a little less hair now than you had in the past. Matter of fact, this morning when I took a shower, I probably lost 10 or 12 down the drain. But every one of those hairs that went down the drain this morning, God knew them. He knows the number of hairs on your head. He knows your every thought. He knows your every fear. He knows your every doubt. He knows your every day. He knows every breath that you have left in your body. He is God and He is good and He is in control and He will take care of you and He will protect you and He will watch over you and He will even be with you in suffering and trials and sickness and death and pain and sorrow. He will be with you when you stand for Him. The man that fears God has no reason to fear anyone else. So we allow the fear of God and the trust of God to be what we rest in. Do not fear, you are more valuable than the sparrows. Those who try to do good must keep their minds set upon the providential care of God over them. God watches the death of a sparrow and he must more note the lives and death of his people. Since we shall not suffer harm at the hands of men by arbitrary conduct apart from the will and the permission of our father, let us be ready with holy courage to face whatever wrath men may bring upon us. God will not waste the life of one of his sheep. Nope, not even the hair of his head. If we die in God's battle, we live in the grandest sense. For by loss of life, we gain eternity. So, God showed them that as they go out, that they would be persecuted. But not only would they be persecuted, they would be protected by God. And now we're gonna see the results of proclaiming that kingdom. Verse 32 says, therefore, everyone who confesses me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. The question of priorities, whom to fear, leads to a radical choice of loyalty between Jesus and people. If we will have him as our own and confess him before our Father's throne, We must not be ashamed to own and confess him before men. Verse 33 says, whoever denies me before men, I will deny him before the Father who is in heaven. That these encouragements be treasured up in our hearts as we labor for Christ. The Lord knows our trials. He has spoken these words for our comfort. He cares for his believing people. He cares for those who work for him and try to do good. Let us seek to be a part of that number. Every believer must do something for the kingdom's sake. Do not think that I've come to bring peace on the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. Remember that his gospel will not cause peace and agreement wherever it comes. The result of the gospel is division. It divides life from death, and darkness from light, and hate from love, and truth from lies. It is not the gospel that is to blame for that divisiveness. It is the hearts of men. The truth provokes opposition. Purity excites enmity. And righteousness arouses all of the forces of wrong. When you share the truth with people, they're going to react. And not all of their actions are going to be kind. So many today, including us, have itchy ears. We just want to be told what we want to be told. We want to hear what we want to hear. But when the truth comes, sometimes it shows us ourselves. Sometimes it shows us our need for change. Sometimes it shows us that we are not in control and God is. Sometimes it shows us where we are wrong. Pray and ask God to give you a heart and a mind to be receptive to his truth, to his promises, to his word, to his gospel. Pray that he will give you a heart and a mind to be willing to share those truths with others, realizing that not all the time people are going to want to receive that truth that you are sharing. He said, I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against a mother-in-law. And a man's enemies will be the members of his own household. That is a heavy weight. And it is a weight that every true believer will bear. It's gonna cause division in your very homes. It's gonna cause a division between your very bloodlines. And the question is, am I willing to forsake mother and father? daughter, son, for what is right and for what is true. Am I willing to choose God over anything else? No doubt unity and peace are a mighty blessing and we ought to seek them. We ought to pray for them. We ought to give up everything in order to obtain them, accepting truth and a good conscience. But it is an idle dream to suppose that the Church of Christ will enjoy unity and peace before the return of our King. The coming of Christ into the house is often the cause of variance between the converted and the unconverted. The more loving the Christian is, the more he will probably be opposed. Love creates a tender zeal for the salvation of friends, and that very zeal will frequently bring forth resentment. We are to expect this and not to put about by it when it occurs. Animosity on the count of religion often excites the fierce entities. The nearness of kin inflames rather than quenches that hostility. Most of you in this room have children and you know that even when you try to give them advice and share guidance with them and teach them the right way that they're not willing to listen to what you have to say. They're stubborn and they're hard-headed and they're set upon their ways. But where do you think they got it from? And the truth of the matter is, is that when you live for Christ, when you live for the truth, even your very kinfolk, even your very loved ones are going to often stand opposed to you. What are we going to stand on? Are we going to stand on God and His love and His truth, or are we going to yield to our fear of men? He who loves his father or his mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. I want to say this clearly. We must earnestly beware of making idols of our loved ones. By loving them more than Jesus, we must never set them above or even near the throne of our King. We are not worthy to dwell with Christ above nor even to be associated with Him here if any earthly object is judged to us to be more worthy and to rival Jesus Christ. Father and mother, son and daughter, we would do anything to please Him But as opposed to Jesus, they stand nowhere and they cannot for an instant be allowed to come in the way of our supreme loyalty to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He who does not take up his cross to follow me is not worthy of me. True Christians must make up their mind to have trouble in this world, and as Christians shun, or a Christian who shuns the cross is not a Christian at all. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for my name's sake will find it. We find true happiness when we understand this reality, that though Christianity holds out a crown in the end, It brings a cross on the way. That cross is not just a lucky charm to wear around your neck and show everybody what you believe. That cross is a death sentence. That cross says I am willing to die to me and to live for Christ. I am willing to allow the world, the flesh, and the devil to do with me what they did to my Savior. But I'm gonna take up my cross And I'm going to follow Him. Verse 39, he who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for my sake will find it. Many gain the temporal at the expense of the eternal. On the other hand, he who loses his life for Christ's sake does in the highest sense find life, life eternal, life infinitely blessed. He makes the wisest choice who lays down his life for Jesus. 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 shall receive a righteous reward. Whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward. The least service done to those who work for the cause of Christ will be rewarded by God. The eyes of the great master are even on those who labor for him and those who try to do good. Many toil and labor, and to most their work goes unnoticed and unregarded. The strivings of preachers and missionaries and teachers and visitors of the poor may appear very trifling and insignificant compared to the movements of the rulers and the authorities of this world of the armies of the politicians, but they are not insignificant in the eyes of God. They will produce an eternal yield. He said, anybody that does something to one of my little ones, this is not to refer to little children or young persons, or those, especially in humble states, and that is to the disciple, those who are humble and walk in Christ's path. A cup of cold water would be a gift to someone in the Far East who is walking in the heat of the day. The disciples are the little ones. And those who take care of His little ones are treating them as they would treat Christ. And those who reject His disciples, those who reject His little ones, those who treat or ill-treat His servants are showing what they think of Christ. So Jesus has promised His disciples that He has shown us the way to go. He has shown us the way of the cross. He has shown us what it looks like to go out and proclaim his truth, to proclaim his gospel to the world. And he promises us, he gives us the authority, he empowers us with the ability to go and do this. But he promises that in doing so, we will face persecution. We will face toil. We will face trials and tribulations. We will be disappointed by men. We will be disappointed by the world around us. Sometimes we'll be even disappointed by ourselves. But this is an eternal proclamation. This gospel is an eternal truth. These things that we do have eternal ramifications to them. I think of these young ladies, these young children here in this congregation this morning, hearing these words. Not a single one of us in this room knows what those teens are going to do 20 years from now in the life of those kids. When you go out and you're kind to a child, when you're kind to a lost soul, you have no idea what kind of fruit that's going to bear in their lives. But we're commanded to do it. We're commanded to share the truth. We're commanded to live that truth out. We're commanded to take care of His little ones, the servants, the ones that are doing so. The last verse, and then we'll conclude, says this, now that it happened and when Jesus finished giving instructions to His 12 disciples, He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities. So Jesus shows His disciples how to do it. He commands them to go and do it. He gives them instructions on how to do it. He prepares them and empowers them and authorizes them to go and to do it. And then you know what he does? He continues on with the mission himself. And that is our goal as well. Our goal is to go and to do. This morning and last week we discussed and explained. We have been furnished with almost too much instruction on the mandates as disciples. and what we are to be as ambassadors for the kingdom of God. We have a good shepherd who cares for us and he leads us by example. He continues to work this very day by interceding and empowering his people to continue his work on earth as it is in heaven. We have been warned and we have been encouraged that our task is not easy and that we will certainly meet trials and opposition from the world, our flesh and the devil. If you are here this morning and you are a believer, be reminded that you are a direct descendant of these first apostles and that those who followed them were obedient to God's command. Their obedience and love are direct results of the Holy Spirit's work in them and was used of God to reach you. We as individuals in the body of Christ, his church, are not only obligated, but we are commanded to follow in Jesus' footsteps, to take up our cross and to follow Jesus. Ours is the same Savior who sent these disciples forth with such tender solicitude for their welfare. The protection He promised them and the rewards with which He cheered them on with are ours to possess. He has promised us to be with us, His ministers and His people always, even to the end of the world. A life of zeal and activity, an unshaken reliance upon God's providential care, a firm, bold, and uncompromising spirit in preaching the truth in an opposing era, a forsaking all for Christ, and a readiness to sacrifice the dearest tithes of our lives, if found to interfere with the claims of the Redeemer, are all made incumbent upon a faithful profession of His name, and they are connected with the highest rewards in the eternal world. Nor shall the slightest acts of benevolence, if performed in the spirit of the gospel, ever be overlooked by our God and our Creator. He has promised to acknowledge and reward us for our service, but we have to give it to him. Amen? Amen. If you will, Stan will sing our final song today when we bring the gospel.