The Lord’s Chosen Ministers

The Lord's Chosen Ministers

(No. 2319)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JULY 30, 1893.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING, JUNE
23, 1889.

"In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, Ithank You, O Father,
Lord of Heaven and earth, that You have hid these things from the wise
and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so
it seemed good in Your sight." Luke 10:21.

THE habitual state of mind of Jesus was, I think, a deep calm. Beyond
all ordinary men, He possessed His soul in peace. We find Him sleeping
in the midst of a storm, the very best thing that He could do. He knew
that, rocked in the cradle of the deep by His great Father, He was
supremely safe, so, finding a pillow, and going near the stern of the
ship, He fell asleep.

But there were times when His spirit ebbed out. He was always a Man of
Sorrows–the surface of His soul was often disturbed with storms of
grief–and then we read that "Jesus wept." Sometimes, however, the tide
was at the flood, and so we here, read, "In that hour Jesus rejoiced in
spirit." It is very seldom that we read this. So seldom did He show His
joy that it was recorded at once by the Evangelist. Luke took care to
note that, even as others had mentioned His tears. Jesus was a man of
constant grief, a mourner all his days, and yet at times the deep calm
of His spirit was stirred by something other than the north wind. The
south wind blew and all was joyous and bright with Him–"In that hour
Jesus rejoiced in spirit." I thought that this would be a profitable
theme for meditation for a short time, tonight, in contrast to that of
this morning. [Sermon #2091, Volume 35–Jesus Wept.] I do not intend to
go so deeply into this subject as I did into that, but I think that
there are some matters here which may be instructive to us.

I. First, let us ask, WHAT WAS THE OCCASION OF OUR MASTER'S JOY? "In
that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit." You may judge a man by his joy–as
a man rejoices–so is he. What made Christ rejoice? If I were to put
the question to all of you who are happy, tonight, "What makes you
rejoice?" some might, perhaps, be ashamed to answer my enquiry, but
there was no reason why Jesus should blush at that which made Him glad.

First, I notice that He rejoiced in stirring times. He had sent out the
70 disciples. They had gone, in 35 pairs, all over the country, telling
that He was coming and He was reckoning upon going to every city and
place to which He had sent His heralds. Seeing what was done and what
was going to be done, the Savior's heart rejoiced. Some people like
laziness–Christ loved activity. This morning I showed you that there
was no indolence in Him, for He wept, and that old word, indolence,
means not grieving, does it not? But He did grieve, so there was no
indolence in Him in the old and literal classic sense and, certainly,
no indolence in Him in the sense in which we now use the word. He could
weep and, therefore, He could work. He could feel and, therefore, He
could bestir Himself. And in stirring times He felt Himself glad. How
some of us long to see the Church of God fully astir! We seem to have a
dreadful calm, nowadays, like that of the "Ancient Mariner" when–

"The very deep did rot.

Alas, that ever this should be!"

We need the wind from Heaven to stir our sails and set the ship in
motion. We need the breath of the Holy Spirit to speed us to our
desired haven. It was not thus with Christ, for He rejoiced in times of
activity!

He rejoiced, next, when He was surrounded by faithful preachers. There
were 70 of His disciples–quite a little Conference! He felt Himself in
good company with the seventy–all faithful preachers of the
Word–gathered around Him. You say that it was not many. No, but it was
a good beginning! It was a noble beginning that, out of a few disciples
(and He had not many, at most), He should be able to pick out 70 who
were fit to be sent out to preach! They must have been a fine class of
men, though they were simple-minded fishermen and peasants. And to find
70 of them who could be sent to preach and declare that the Kingdom of
Heaven was at hand, who were fit to be trusted with miraculous power,
might well make Him glad! Brothers, when we see plenty of preachers of
the Gospel, when we see the Lord calling one and another to go forth
and proclaim His Word of Grace, then do we, also, rejoice in spirit!

Jesus also rejoiced because all these 70 had found a welcome. It seemed
rather an experiment to send out 70 unlettered men to proclaim the
Kingdom of God. It was like sending lambs into the midst of wolves!
Would not some of them be stoned to death? When the muster-roll was
read, would not one or two, at least, be missing? But no, "the seventy
returned again with joy." They had all been welcomed! Everybody seems
to have received them and entertained them–and they came back in high
spirits! And the Savior, seeing them return thus, not as preachers
without congregations, but itinerant ministers who had been listened
to, everywhere, with respectful attention, our Master felt, I say, that
He, also, must rejoice, so, "Jesus rejoiced in spirit."

It is of no use having ministers if they have nobody to preach to and
it is very likely that, before long, we shall have more ministers than
hearers if things go on as they now go! We have so many of our brothers
with marvelous gifts of dispersion that we have seen magnificent
congregations that used to gather around earnest Evangelical preachers,
scattered to the winds! There is nothing in that to rejoice over,
except for Satan to rejoice! But when you see a people made willing, in
the day of God's Power, to listen to the heralds of the Cross, then you
may, indeed, rejoice!

Jesus rejoiced, further, because He heard that the Power of God had
rested on them all. The 70 had healed the sick and, to their own
astonishment, they had cast out devils–and they mentioned it with
great exultation! "And He said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning
fall from Heaven." Oh, Brothers and Sisters, we need not rejoice
because there are many professed preachers! And it might not be a sure
ground of rejoicing if they all had congregations. But it is a safe
reason for joy when the Power of God rests upon them! Only give a man
that old Power of God with him and I am not afraid but what he will
have a congregation, and I am certain that grand results will come of
his work! If God is with us, His Word which we preach cannot fail! It
will not only reach the ear, but it will pierce the heart! It will
awaken the spiritually dead! It will turn hearts of stone to flesh!
There is still a Divine Power going with the preaching of the Word of
God. The Gospel is still the Power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believes! And when we see that that is the case, and that men and
women are being converted, then I am sure that, like our Master, we
shall do well to rejoice in spirit!

Further than this, our Savior rejoiced in spirit because He saw that
Satan's kingdom was being shaken. To fetch Satan down from his throne,
is no small thing–how is it to be done? Well, the philosophers may try
their magnetism, but the devil is to strong for them. The orators and
rhetoricians may try their rounded periods and decorate their orations
with quotations from the poets, but the devil never stirs for them. But
preach Jesus Christ–say that His Kingdom is at hand, proclaim that He
is come to save the lost and that whoever believes in Him shall live
eternally–in a word, preach up Christ, and you soon preach down the
devil! He does not come down by slow degrees. He falls, like lightning,
from Heaven! You have seen lightning–you may have seen it in that
great storm a fortnight ago–it took no time at all to come down from
Heaven! Just a flash and it was here! So, where the Gospel is preached
with Divine Power, Satan comes down from his throne in human hearts and
human minds as rapidly as the lightning flash falls from Heaven! And
when we see his kingdom shaken, then, like Jesus, we rejoice in spirit.

Still, I do not think that I have hit the center of the target yet. The
Lord Jesus deeply rejoiced in spirit because of the men by whom this
work had been done. What sort of men were they? Upon this I shall have
to dwell a little further on. But there was this about them–they were
glad to have been put into the King's commission. "The seventy returned
again with joy." They had never been so happy before–this doing of the
Lord's will had been a great delight to them! You could see it by the
very spring of their feet and the flash of their eyes. They came back
to their Master, delighted, and Jesus caught the contagion of their joy
and He rejoiced in spirit! People who serve Christ, willingly, who feel
a delight in doing His will, are sure to bring delight to Christ's
heart. Are you, dear Friends, in your holy work, doing it with joy, or
do you serve the Lord because you cannot help it, like slaves driven to
their toil by the overseer's lash? Jesus cannot rejoice over you if
that is the case. But if you can say, "I delight to do Your will," then
you will make His heart rejoice!

He rejoiced in these men because, when they came back, having done
wonders, they ascribed it all to Him. They said, "Lord, even the devils
are subject unto us through Your name." They did not begin to pilfer
the Glory and take the

honor to themselves. Christ is glad to have a people who lay all the
honor where it ought to be laid, and put the crown on the right head. I
believe that there is nothing that angers Christ more, in His
ministers, than to hear them talk about what they have done, without
duly ascribing all the Glory to Himself. When they do ascribe it to
Him, then Jesus rejoices in spirit.

But He rejoiced most of all that, of all these seventy, He could say
that their names were written in Heaven. It is an easy thing to become
a preacher, or a teacher, an evangelist, or what not–but are our names
written in Heaven? As Christ would have us rejoice most over that, no
doubt He rejoices most over it when He sees that we not only have our
names written down in the Clergy List, or our denominational Handbook,
but that our names are really written among the living in Zion–those
who are quickened by His Grace, washed in His blood and truly made to
live by His Spirit! "In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit." I have
shown you the occasion of His joy. When you have similar occasions,
dear Brothers, dear Sisters, mind that you rejoice in spirit, too!

II. But now, secondly, WHAT WAS THE NATURE OF CHRIST'S JOY? Jesus
rejoiced in spirit."

The answer to this question is, first, that it was spiritual joy. There
is a good deal of joy in the world, even among religious people, that
could not be called spiritual. I am not certain whether all the
expressions of joy one hears at some excited meetings are worthy to be
put on the same heap with this joy of Christ. There is mental joy.
There is a sort of physical joy, when one gets excited and stirred
up–this is but bronze or silver–but spiritual joy is the gold of joy
and the gold of that land is good! If, down deep in his inner life,
one's spirit can rejoice in God, he is the man who is like his Master
when He rejoiced in spirit!

You who have the Revised Version, which often teaches us much, will, I
dare say, be surprised to read in the margin the following rendering,
"In that same hour He rejoiced by the Holy Spirit." That is a very
remarkable rendering, and I think a correct one. That is the kind of
joy that Jesus had, joy worked in Him by the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit was poured upon Him without measure and, as part of the fruit of
the Spirit is joy, the Spirit gave Him much joy, as well as much love.
Beloved, pray God to give you joy by the Holy Spirit! All the other joy
in the world, if heaped up together, would be only so much smoke and
vapor! But joy in the Holy Spirit is solid bliss and lasting pleasure.
Here you have the great ingots of joy. How ponderous they are, how
precious they are, how immeasurably valuable, how infinitely
beneficial! Joy by the Holy Spirit–often very calm and quiet, for, "He
leads me beside the still waters"–but a very wonderful joy. The joy of
God, like the peace of God, which passes understanding–this is a joy
which passes all measure or bound. That was the joy of
Christ–spiritual joy and joy by the Holy Spirit.

Notice, also, that it was joy about others, a perfectly unselfish joy.
Jesus had seen others blessed, healed, prepared, instructed, made ready
to hear more of the Gospel–and He rejoiced in that. And He had seen
others made useful. Oh, what a mercy it is when you can rejoice in
other people's usefulness! Did God ever bless you very largely and did
there come along somebody whom He blessed more than you? Now, I am sure
that you rejoiced in that other man's success if he was a hundred miles
off! But I am not quite so certain that you rejoiced in it if he came
into your Sunday school and had a class that took some of the scholars
away from you. I am not quite certain that every minister in the world
would leap for joy if a Brother settled close beside him and had twice
as large a congregation as he had, and did 10 times as much good.
Hearts need a little schooling at such a time as that, for, as the
stars love to shine, they sometimes like not only to shine out but to
outshine!

Now shine out as much as you like, but never mind about outshining, for
that is emulation of a kind of which Christ will never approve. He
rejoiced to see the 70 shining. He delighted to see them all useful.
Pray for your Brothers and Sisters, that God may make them more useful
than they are and more useful than you are. Did not your Lord say, "He
that believes on Me, the works that I do shall he do, also, and greater
works than these shall he do, because I go unto My Father," as if it
were a delight to the Master that His pupils should, in some respects,
excel Him? Remember Moses, when they came to him, and said that Eldad
and Medad were prophesying in the camp? Those two fellows had not been
properly ordained, yet they were prophesying in the camp! What did
Moses say? "Stop them directly. They have not, 'Rev.' before either of
their names and certainly they have not D.D., or any of the other
letters of the alphabet after their names! Shut those fellows up"? No,
no! Moses said, "Would God that all the Lord's people were Prophets,
and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!" And is not that what
Christ would say and have you say? Oh, let us have joy in our

hearts when souls are saved, even though we may not be the instruments
of their salvation, or any of our denomination, but somebody quite
apart from us! God has blessed him and God be blessed for blessing him!

Our Savior's joy, again, was quiet and devout joy. "Jesus rejoiced in
spirit." I do not find that He sang a Psalm, or even a hymn from Moody
and Sankey, or that He took a timbrel and danced. I think it would have
been very much out of place for Him to have done that–for Him it would
have looked very eccentric. But our Savior, when He rejoiced in spirit,
prayed and thanked God. The same calm which had sustained Him in His
seasons of sorrow, supported Him in His hour of joy and kept Him sober,
still, quiet! The Lord give us much of this joy! Still waters, you
know, run deep. Let me also say that deep waters run without turmoil.
When the river is very deep, there will not be half as much noise as
when it is but shallow and, therefore, rattles and raves over the
stones which it barely covers!

Christ's was quiet and devout joy and it was also meek and lowly joy.
Though He rejoiced in spirit, what He said was, "I thank You, O
Father." There was no assumption, no taking of anything to Himself. Did
not He send out the seventy? Were they not called by Him? Yes, but He
said, "I thank Fou, O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth." Perhaps God
would give us more joy if we were more meek when we had it, but,
sometimes, when our heavenly Father trusts us with a few jewels, we
hang them in our ears and are as pleased with them as children with new
toys–and we forget our Father and only remember how pretty we look–as
we think. Then the Lord takes them away again. Many a child would have
more sweets to eat if they did not make him sick. Many a preacher of
the Gospel would have more success if it did not make him proud–and
many a laborer for the Lord would bring more souls to Christ if there
were not danger of his losing his own soul if he were much honored in
that way. Our Master, when He rejoiced in spirit, was as meek and as
lowly as when He stood before His adversaries and was led as a sheep to
the slaughter.

III. But I must not detain you much longer and, therefore, I come to
the last point which is the special one upon which I want to dwell at
this time. WHAT WAS THE EXPRESSION OF OUR SAVIOR'S JOY? When Jesus
rejoiced in spirit, how did He show His joy?

Well, He showed it, first, by thanks to His Father. He said, "I thank
You, O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth." Oh, that our joy might never
take the form of a foolish song, but might always be in the shape of
thanksgiving or thanks-living, or both of them together–a happy
combination– thanksgiving with the mouth and thanks-living with the
life! Our Savior, I say, praised God when He felt joyful. Do you not
think that that should be a lesson to us to try to be joyful before we
praise God? Do you feel very dull and heavy? Well, sing! Remember that
the Apostle James said, "Is any merry? Let him sing Psalms." Psalms are
best sung when the heart is glad, therefore seek to shake off your
sadness when you come into the House of God! And before you begin to
praise the Lord, endeavor to be joyful, cheerful, happy. Did I not say,
the other day–"Do not leave your bedroom until you feel that
everything is right between you and God"? I would also add to–"Do not
begin to sing until your heart sings." Try as much as possible to be
glad. Does God want slaves to Grace His Throne? It is the heathen who
cut themselves with knives and think that their god is pleased with
their misery! But our God delights in the joy of His people. Be glad
before Him. "Let us come before His Presence with thanksgiving, and
make a joyful noise unto Him with Psalms." Sing unto the Lord all you
people and rejoice before Him. The singing of God's praises should be
accompanied with joy–and when there is joy it should be attended with
the singing of His praises.

But why does Jesus Christ thank God? What is His special objective in
thanking Him? Well, He thanks Him for a great Truth of God that some of
you do not like. I cannot hide it, whether you like it or not. Jesus
thanks His Father for the Doctrine of Election–"I thank You, O Father,
Lord of Heaven and earth, that You have hid these things from the wise
and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so
it seemed good in Your sight." With whom does the choice of men lie?
With God! And in His choice His Son greatly rejoices! So let it be with
us–let Him do what He wills, and let us rejoice in Him! "Though He
slay me, yet will I trust in Him." Let Him do whatever He wills, I know
that it is right. It is not for us to judge God's conduct, but to let
God's conduct be to us the rule of our life, the rule of right–

"He sits on no precarious throne, Nor borrows leave to be,"

nor does He stand at your bar, or mine, to ask us what He shall do, or
what He shall not do. "He gives not account of any of His matters." And
over the head of us all there rolls the thunder of this Word of God–"I
will have mercy on whom I

will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have
compassion." No claim can be set up by the creature! None have any
merit whatever before Him and, therefore, with that absolute
Sovereignty which He claims as God, He distributes His favors according
to this rule, "Shall I not do as I will with My own?" But many hearts
cannot bow to that Law of God–the iron sinew of their neck will not
bend to a God who is God! A nominal god is all very well, but a real
God of Infinite Power and Divine Sovereignty is rejected by many, but
not by His dear Son! He says, "I thank You, O Father, Lord of Heaven
and earth." We who truly know the Lord, adore the God of electing love!
He cannot do wrong. He must be right. And if He chooses to let the wise
and prudent be blinded, while He opens the eyes of babes, we thank Him.
What we do not understand, we accept with reverent adoration.

The Savior especially thanks His Father for the chosen ministers round
about Him. Somebody might have said, "Why, these 70, You are their
Leader, but they are a precious poor lot! Look at them! Put the whole
70 together and they would not make one man of the size of a Pharisee,
either in property, or in propriety, or in power to boast and say that
they have kept the Commandments from their youth up! Why, they are a
parcel of sinners, the whole 70 of them! And besides that, look at
their coats–nothing but working-men's jackets. There is one of them,
Peter, who has an extra coat, but he is only a fisherman. What a lot
they are! And these are the men who are to proclaim the religion that
is to conquer the world? It is certainly not abreast of the times–it
is not up to the modern thought of this period–very far from it! All
that it has gathered is a parcel of poor, illiterate persons."

Well, the Savior thanks God that He has not given Him any wise men. He
thanks God that He has not saved any of the people who think that they
have great understanding. He congratulates Himself that, upon the
whole, He has the people He likes best–"I thank You, that You have hid
these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them
unto"–what? Well, He says, "babes." They cannot say anything worse
than that of the Lord's chosen ministers–just a lot of babies! Jesus
thanks God that He has revealed the Truth to these babes and so do I!
Oh, Beloved, what a mercy it is that the Lord does, by His Grace, call
these babes, while the wise men, and the understanding men are not
called!

Suppose the very wise and prudent had been called to go and preach?
What would they have done? Why, in the first place, they would not have
gone at all because any prudent man would have said, "He sends us forth
as lambs in the midst of wolves! That is not prudent, so I shall not
go." Certainly no wise men would have gone upon such an errand–they
would have said, "No, thank you." And so you still find the wise and
prudent. They will not go on Christ's errands. They have errands of
their own–they have plenty of their own work to do–they are going to
reform the world by their own inventions! But to go on Christ's errands
and simply to say what Christ tells them, oh, no, not they! They have
such a lot to say of what they have made out of their own heads that
they cannot go out to simply repeat what Christ has said to them.

Suppose, again, that the 70 had been wise and prudent men? What next
would they have done? Why, they would have tinkered the message, for
certain! There is one of them who would have said, "Well, now, I am
going, you see, to a town of very respectable people–I must tone my
message down for them." Another would have said, "I am going where they
are rather a democratic set–I must introduce a little bit of politics
of a popular kind to suit them." Another would have said, "Well, now,
these people will not come and hear me preach the Gospel, so I shall
have an entertainment, a penny reading, or something of that kind." All
the wise and prudent would have thought that they could do better than
Christ told them to do–therefore He was very glad that He had not any
of them to pester Him! He had only these who would do just what He told
them and say just what He told them–and that was exactly the kind of
people that He needed–men who would do His bidding without question.

Then, besides that, if they had been very wise and prudent, they would
have inevitably clouded the message, for they would have delivered it
in their own grand style–and you know how wise men talk, do you not?
Unless you are a very wise man, you cannot understand them. But these
poor babes, when they went into a town, talked as the people talked,
and everybody could comprehend them! Nowadays, it is thought to be an
evidence of lack of education if you talk so that everybody can
understand you, but, dear Friends, we are not afraid of what anyone
says on that point. Depend upon it, the best education in the world is
that which enables you to convey your thoughts to other people's minds
in a way in which you really get them into their brains! These babes
went and preached what Christ told them because they did not know
anything else. They were men of plain speech-they were Galileans! They
had never learned the scholastic style of speech–Galilee was a notable
place for spoiling the language! These were rough-hewn men and they
spoke out their

message with all their might–and Christ was very thankful that they
were not other than they were, for they did His work right grandly.

Besides, I think that if they had been wise and prudent, they would not
have come back rejoicing–they would have come back with that cold
propriety which is most consistent with the dignity of cultured
intelligence! Are you not all aware that it is vulgar to be happy, that
it betrays the feebleness of your minds if you enjoy anything? The
proper thing is to pick the Truth of God to pieces and find all the
fault that you can with it. When the Bread of Heaven is set before you,
if you are a cultured person, you should not eat it, but try to find
out who baked it and whether they put as much yeast in it as usual.
Such people always quarrel with the Truth if they can. Sometimes I take
up a commentary on some part of the Bible and think that I am going to
learn something. And so I do. And when I have learned it, I wish that I
had never seen it! A vain attempt is made to take the juice out of
God's wheat and to reduce it to dry, useless husks which cannot cheer
the heart, or comfort the spirit. I thank You, Lord, when I get away
from these gentlemen, even as You did thank Your Father that there were
none of them around You. They would have been almost enough to chill
the very life of Christ, Himself.

Once more, if they had all been wise and prudent, they would have come
back, every one of them taking a little of the praise. One wise man
would have said, "I put that point beautifully down at Chorazin."
Another would have said, "I drew a wonderful distinction down at
Bethsaida." "If any good comes of this," another would say, "it was
that wonderful peroration of my discourse that did it. I must have the
credit of it." These poor babes could not think or talk like this, for,
if God did anything by them, they were such nobodies that He must have
all the Glory!

Now I have done when I just say to you that I wonder whether this
brings comfort to you? One poor soul says, "I am not clever. I cannot
be saved." Why not? Why not, when God has chosen the foolish things of
this world? I often hear a person say, "But I have not head enough for
these things." You do not need a head so much as you need a heart, for
the Grace of God works on the heart, first, and on the head,
afterwards. When the head drags the heart, it is often slow work, but
when the heart goes first and the head follows, then it is a blessing,
indeed! If you love Christ and trust in Him, you have all the head that
you need for Eternal Life. "O," says one, "but I am a person of such
small capacity!" Never mind. "Jesus Christ came into the world to save
sinners" whether they are of large capacity or small capacity.

Have you a teachable spirit? Are you willing to believe what the Holy
Spirit reveals? Are you willing to sit at Jesus' feet and learn of Him?
Are you like the babe that does not doubt its mother, but takes,
unquestioningly, the nourishment she gives? If that is so, you are of
the kind that God has chosen! Come at once to Him. You cannot
understand all mysteries if you need to do so. Give up all your vain
attempts to sweep the cobwebs from the sky, or to climb up among the
stars. Oh, the questions that people can ask you when they really do
not want answers, and if they did, would never receive them! I know
some who are lost in their thoughts–

"Of Providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate, Fixed fate, free will,
foreknowledge absolute" or some other tremendously knotty question. Why
do you got out of your depths? Be a babe and come–simply believe
yourself to be a sinner and trust Christ as your Savior–and you will
know more than all the philosophers can ever teach you! Come and trust
the Lord Jesus Christ and you will find how true it is that He has
revealed these things unto babes.

Are you willing to be what Christ was? He was the childlike Man. He is
called, "The Holy Child, Jesus." Will you be a child to Him and let Him
be a Man for you? Will you take His Book and believe it as you read it?
Will you take Him and trust Him as you find Him? Will you take His
Cross and rest upon it as your only hope? Then, blessed are you, for
you are in the election of Grace! You are one of those whom God has
chosen and for whom Christ thanks Him that He did choose people of that
quality! And while Christ thanks God, you may thank Him, too, and go
home tonight rejoicing! If you are too wise, too clever, too critical
to trust Christ, there is no other way to Heaven–so you see where you
must go. The Lord change your foolish opinion and teach your reason,
reason–and your sense a little commonsense, and save you, for His
mercy's sake! Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON. LUKE101-22.

Our Lord was about to send out 70 disciples to preach the Gospel. He
had already chosen His 12 Apostles. Now there must be 70 disciples,
something like Moses had 70 elders to serve under him. Some have
fancifully likened these two sets of men to the 12 wells of water and
70 palm trees at Elim, and certainly they were for the refreshment of
the people.

Verse 1. After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and
sent them two and two before His face into every city and place, where
He Himself would come. They were to go before Christ and be His
heralds. What a mercy it is when the preacher knows that his Master is
coming after him–when he can hear the sound of his Master's feet
behind him! What courage it gives him! He knows that, though it is very
little that he can do, he is the thin end of the wedge preparing the
way for One who can do everything!

2. Therefore said He unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the
laborers are few: pray you therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He
would send forth laborers into His harvest. The 70 were very few
compared with the many that were needed. There were many loiterers
about, then, as there are now, but the laborers were few. There were
preachers of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, but they were not worth a
penny a hundred. But the true laborers, who watched for souls, and
preached Christ with all their hearts, were very few. It is the same,
today, and, therefore, we are to pray for more laborers. A good
minister always desires to see more good ministers. In a trade, every
tradesman would be glad if those of the same trade as himself would
move to another parish, but in the profession of a Christian minister,
the more the merrier! "Pray you therefore the Lord of the harvest, that
He would send forth laborers into His harvest."

3. Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.
"Defenseless, harmless, into the midst of those who would devour you if
I did not send you. It would be foolhardiness to go on your own
account, but I send you and He who sends His lambs among wolves will
take care of them." As I have often reminded you, the lambs and the
sheep are very defenseless and yet, after all, there are more sheep in
the world than there are wolves. And although it looked as if the
wolves would soon devour the sheep, the wolves are extirpated in many a
country and the sheep are still prized–and it will be so till the end.

4. Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes. This time, when Christ
sent out the seventy, He bade them take no provision, for they might
depend upon the kindness of the people. Afterwards, when He was about
to leave His disciples, He bade them take both purse and scrip, for
they were going among an unfriendly people. But on this first mission
He knew that there was a kindly feeling towards them, so He said,
"Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes."

4. And salute no man by the way. Eastern salutations by the way took up
a very long time–the people saying a lot of fine nothings to one
another. Christian ministers ought to be excused from many of the
lengthy courtesies of life, but if they are not excused, if they are
faithful, they will take French leave to be excused. We have not time
for all those pretty things that some people attend to. If we are to
win souls, we must go to work like the king's couriers who turn not
aside to attend to anything else, but devote all their energies to the
mission on which they are sent.

5, 6. And into whatever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this
house. And if a son ofpeace is there, your peace shall rest upon it: if
not, it shall turn to you again. So that it will not be wasted. Wish
well and your well-wishing will do you good, even if it does nobody
else good. Our chickens come home to roost. If they are curses, they
will come upon ourselves. If they are blessings, they will bless
ourselves as well as others.

7, 8. 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 whatever city you enter, and they receive you eat such
things as are set before you. The Jewish Rabbis, in their
perambulations, were very particular about food. It is said to have
been very difficult to find a dish to their taste. This might be
unclean in one way, and that not up to the mark in another–but here
the Master exempts His ambassadors from attention to these minor
matters. They had something better to do than to be always careful
about what they should eat or what they should drink, so He said to
them, "Eat such things as are set before you."

9-11. And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The
Kingdom of God is come near unto you. But into whatever city you 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 cleaves on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding
be you sure of this, that the Kingdom of God is come near unto you. We
are not to stop and argue–that is no business of ours. We have to tell
our message. If men will receive it, we are glad. If they will not hear
it, with a heavy heart we turn aside and go elsewhere. Our work is to
proclaim the glorious message of mercy through a dying Savior,
salvation through the great Atonement. It is our business to proclaim
it and leave it–the responsibility of receiving or rejecting it rests
with our hearers.

12-14. But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day
for Sodom, than for that city. Woe unto you, Chorazin! Woe unto you,
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. Hearing and rejecting the
Gospel is the crowning sin of all. Whatever else men are guilty of, if
they have not rejected Christ, they have not yet reached the summit of
iniquity.

15, 16. And you, Capernaum, which are exalted to Heaven, shall be
thrust down to Hell. He that hears you hears Me and he that despises
you despises Me; and he that despises Me despises Him that sent Me. If
the messenger delivers His message correctly, and as his Master would
have him deliver it, the rejection of it, when brought by him, has the
same guilt in it as the rejection of Christ, Himself, and the rejection
of Christ is the rejection of God! So Jesus tells us here.

17. And the seventy returned again with joy, Not one of the lambs had
been eaten by the wolves!

17. Saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Your
name. Christ had not mentioned that in the commission. He sent them to
heal the sick. The casting out of devils was included, no doubt, but it
was not specifically mentioned, and this being an extra beyond the
words of their commission, they were especially delighted with it!
"Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Your name."

18-20. And He said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from
Heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and
scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by
any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this, rejoice not that the
spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice because your names are
written in Heaven. That is a higher privilege than to be master over
demons, or to be able to tread on serpents! That day of miracles is
past, but the power of the Gospel is a spiritual power the same as
before. We still cast out devils. Still are men delivered from the
dominion of Satan.

21, 22. In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank You, O
Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, that You have hid these thingsfrom
the wise andprudent, and have revealed them unto babes: even so,
Father; for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things are delivered
to Me of My Father: and no man knows who the Son is, but the Father.
You know that He is the Son of God. You know that He is Jesus of
Nazareth. But you do not know Him, you cannot know Him, as His Father
knows Him! He is known in His fullness only to the Father.

22. And who the Father is, but the Son, and He to whom the Son will
reveal Him. "Can you, by searching, find out God? Can you find out the
Almighty unto perfection?" No, you cannot. The Son of God must reveal
His Father to you, or you will never know Him!