Words of Woe
by Rev. Kirby Williams
Analyzing the dire consequences of rejecting Jesus' offer of redemption, righteousness, and peace.
Text: Luke 10:10-16
Date: 05/21/2023, the Combined service.
Series: "Luke: Thy Kingdom Come" Part 105
Description:
In this message we continue to study the sending of the seventy-two disciples as a model of the missional outreach of the church. Jesus turns from giving positive instructions to His evangelists on how to bless the people they meet, to negative instructions of what do do when their message is rejected. With words full of compassion, sorrow and indignation, Jesus launches into a sequence of dire warnings aimed at all who will not receive His message of redemption, righteousness, and peace. Speaking first of the towns and villages they will visit, and then of specific cities in Galilee, Jesus makes stunning statements of the severity of the judgment they will face. For those who have been exposed to the Gospel and fail to receive it will face harsher judgment than even the pagan, Gentile cities famous for egregious moral sin. Ultimately we will extend Jesus' compassionate appeal to our own cities and the people who live there, to heed His words of woe and receive His words of peace while there is still time.
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I. Introduction, 1Pet. 3:15.
II. Exposition of the text, Luke 10:10-16.
A. Context
1. The missionaries and the mission field.
2. The specific instructions.
3. The objective of peace, Luke 10:6.
B. The judgment that comes from rejecting Jesus.
1. Shaking the dust from their feet, vs. 10-11.
a. The symbolism of the gesture, vs. 11a.
b. The town that does not receive, vs. 10.
i. The nature of the rejection, Luke 9:53.
ii. The nature of the judgment.
c. The warning of being "cut off", Matt. 8:11-12, Acts 18:6, John 15:6, Matt. 3:9-10.
d. The Kingdom is near, vs. 11b.
2. Stunning words of judgment, vs. 12, Mark 13:32, Matt. 7:22.
a. The significance of Sodom.
i. Egregious moral sin, Gen. 13:13, Ezek. 16:48-50.
ii. An Icon of God's wrath and judgment, Gen. 19:24-25.
iii. A pagan Gentile city.
b. Comparative judgment.
i. Not all are judged the same.
ii. The reason for the harsher sentence, Matt. 12:31-32, Heb. 6:4-6.
3. Woe to specific cities, vs. 13-15.
a. Woe to Chorazin and Bethsaida, vs. 13a.
i. The woe to Chorazin, John 21:25.
ii. The woe to Bethsaida.
b. The comparison with Tyre and Sidon, vs. 13b.
c. Repenting in sackcloth and ashes, vs. 13c, Jonah 3:6-8.
d. The warning, vs. 14.
e. Woe to Capernaum, vs. 15.
i. The importance of Capernaum, vs. 15a.
ii. Capernaum's arrogance.
iii. Capernaum's woe, vs. 15b.
iv. Qualifying Capernaum's transgression, Luke 9:20.
4. Woe to you, vs. 16.
a. A familiar formula, Matt. 10:40, Mark 9:37, John 13:20, 12:44.
b. The consequences of rejection.
i. The authenticated Word.
ii. The cost of rejecting the Word.
iii. The ultimate rejection.
III. Application
A. An appeal to our culture.
B. An appeal to those who have not received.
1. Understanding the sovereignty of God, Isa. 42:8, 45:5, John 5:22-23, 14:6.
2. Rejecting all of Redemptive History, Heb. 10:28-31.
IV. Conclusion
