DO YOU LIKEWISE
Pastor Doug Eaker, February 5, 2012
204 North Main Street, LaFayette, GA  30728, www.lifegatechurch.com

Luke 10:1-25

10:1 After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.

After what things? Jesus had just said that it would be a hard thing to follow Him and that you had to receive Him as a little child, and not look back once you start to move in your calling. Then He appointed other seventy to go out and spread the gospel. The disciples were not in this group, it was as the NIV says "seventy others". Then He tells them how great the harvest is and how few of them there were.

2 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.

Then He warns they will be like lambs among wolves. This is like saying, you can’t do this on your own, only with My protection, My guidance, and My anointing.

3 Go your way: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.

In the next few verses He tells them what to take with them, how to react if they are received and how to react if they are rejected. He also told them to do it in peace.

17 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, "Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name."

When they returned they were able to say how successful they were because they did things His way and He worked with them. Then Jesus said this.

18 And he said unto them, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

19 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."

20 Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven."

Then comes the warning, don’t get overly excited that devils (notice it’s plural) are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. There will be many that will cast out devils in the name of Jesus, prophesy in the name of Jesus, and perform many miracles but will hear depart I never knew you, you evildoers. You can find that in Matthew 7:23. I could chase a rabbit here, evildoers doing miracles and prophesying, but I won’t. Jesus can use anyone He wants and He does.

23 And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see:

24 For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

KJV

Jesus tells His disciples that many prophets and kings wanted to see these things that the "seventy others" had but didn’t, and to hear about these things but didn't.

Luke 10:25-29

25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

Notice it says a certain lawyer, not just any lawyer, but a certain lawyer, one so EDUCATED he thought he could challenge God and even tempt God. A professor once told a class (I attended) "You can send an idiot to college and give them a diploma and what do you have, an educated idiot." If Bill Engvall had been standing there he would have said "here’s your sign."

26 He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?

So Jesus being cool as always, knowing he was a lawyer, asked him a question.

27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

28 And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

You got it right, so why have you not been doing it and teaching it?

Do this and you shall live. The original question was "what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus essentially told him, you know what to do, do it and you shall live, and be heaven bound. But the other side of that is, don’t do it and you will die and be hell bound.

But the lawyer trying to be cool and justify himself asked another question.

29 But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour? KJV

This is a set up for Jesus to go into the story of the good Samaritan. Luke 10:33

 33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him

Just as it was a certain lawyer, it was a certain Samaritan, and it was also a certain man that was mugged in the story of the Good Samaritan.

We have heard this story many times.

A man was going from Jerusalem to Jericho and was mugged; he was stripped, beaten and left half dead. Then a Priest came by and did all to avoid doing anything for the man. He even crossed to the other side of the road.

Then came a certain Samaritan and did all he could to help the man recover from all he had gone through.

Then Jesus asks this certain lawyer, "Who was this man’s neighbor?" The lawyer said "The one who showed mercy toward him."

Jesus just said "Go and do the same."

Luke 10:36-37

36 "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

37 The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."

Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

God has a sense of humor and He uses it to get His point across. A couple of weeks ago, when I had just started on this message, I was headed to work at about five minutes till six. I try to time it right so I will arrive at the same time others arrive. As I was pulling out on 136, in the dark, I saw someone walking on the other side of the road with a gas can in his hand. Right then a thought popped into my mind; practice what you are going to preach.

I wonder where that thought came from. I obeyed, stopped and picked him up, took him to Pit Stop, took him back to his car and then went to work. I was10 minutes late for work, but so was everyone.

What I would like us to learn from these two stories is that if you are sent, He will work with you, devils will be subject to you in His name, and YOU can pray for the sick and they will recover. Who is on your mind that you want Jesus to go to? Jesus wants to go, He is waiting for you to go first to prepare the way. We all have people who are on our heart, who we want to get saved, who we want to enter the Kingdom of God. Whoever it is, be it family, friends, coworkers, whoever, JUST GO.

As in the story of the Good Samaritan, help people. We all have an opportunity to help people come across our path often, don’t miss an opportunity.

 You can’t solve all their problems, or heal all their wounds but you can do something.

DO YOU LIKEWISE

Luke 10:1-25

10:1 After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.

The seventy had listened as Peter, James, and John told of seeing Jesus talking to Moses and Elijah. Luke 9:30. They also knew that there was a spirit that the disciples could not cast out. Luke 9:40. But Jesus did. They also heard about James and John wanting to call fire from heaven upon men that were doing the same thing they were because they didn’t know them. But Jesus stopped that. These seventy went out and did things that caused Jesus to say he saw satan fall from heaven like lighting.

We now have the whole Bible. We can now say "after these things, send us out."

Let’s make satan fall from heaven, let’s tread on serpents and scorpions, and take power over the enemy.

With God all things are possible.

LET’S START TODAY.