The Danger of Indifference

Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for the truth of your word and how priceless it is. And I pray that today we'd understand the value of that word more than ever before. The good news of Jesus Christ, our glorious Savior. We pray in your name, Amen. What a fitting intro to our time this morning in God's Word, Jesus' priceless treasure. You know, the great thing about being a Christian is that you know Jesus Christ in a very unique and personal way. He becomes your Savior. He becomes your Redeemer.

He becomes your King. He is truly your Deliverer. And we are in the fall season and we are about to embark on that wonderful season of Thanksgiving and Christmas where we introduce people to that glorious gift of Christ. We talked to them about Luke chapter 2 and the good news that brings great joy. And it truly is news that brings the greatest of all joy. And we possess that good news because we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We also possess that great joy, right? If you know the good news, you have great joy.

Those who do not have great joy probably have not experienced the good news. Because the good news invariably brings great joy. And so we go and tell people about that good news. And as we go and tell them about the good news, we must realize that as good as that good news is, it's only good if you understand how bad the bad news is. Right? Because the bad news is this. You are not saved. You have no joy. And the reason you don't is because you're dead in your sins. You're separated from God. And you will experience eternal damnation forever and ever and ever.

That's the bad news. It's as bad as it can get. So what makes the good news so good is that you can be saved from all of the bad news. And in our presentation of the gospel, we must help people clearly understand how bad the bad news really is or we can effectively present to them the greatness of the good news. And so we come to a point in our text this morning to help us understand that when we present the gospel to people, they truly must understand how bad things really are for them. They are headed for a Christless eternity.

They are headed to a place of eternal torment, judgment, and damnation. Now those are words we don't like to share today. We don't like to talk about those kinds of words today because they're so negative. And yet wouldn't it be interesting that in our gospel presentation we actually spoke as Jesus spoke. What a novel idea. Just say it the way Jesus said it. And it might help our presentation of the gospel. Now the Bible is filled with warnings about impending judgment. The Bible begins with a warning.

Genesis chapter 2. Our Lord God says, you can eat of any tree in the garden freely. Step one. Step one. The tree, the knowledge of good and evil. The day you eat of that tree, you'll what? You'll die. That's a warning. God gives a warning because he is concerned about your destiny. Adam and Eve heard the warning. They ate and they died immediately. Not physically, but they died spiritually. In other words, they were separated from God at that moment. And because of spiritual death, physical death came into existence.

And if before you die physically, you don't rectify your spiritual condition, you will die what the Bible calls eternally, eternal death. Forever separated from God. That's the bad news. But God gives a warning. He begins by creating man, creating woman, giving them a garden, giving them paradise to live in and says, look, here's where you live. This is what you can do. Now there's one thing you need to know. If you eat of this tree, you will die. It's a warning. Bible ends with a warning. Did you know that?

Bible ends with a warning. Revelation chapter 22, verse number 18, I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of the prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book. So God begins his book with a warning. He ends his book with a warning. If you do this, you will die.

If you do this, you will be separated from God forever and ever and ever. God warns people about impending judgment. Hebrews chapter six, verse number two, tells us that judgment and eternal judgment was a part of the Old Testament economy, the Old Testament law.

So people would begin to understand the consequences and the seriousness of disobedience to God. You see, we live in a day where we don't like to be too negative with people. We don't want to tell them the bad news for fear they might get upset with us. God says, if you don't tell them the bad news, you haven't told them the whole truth.

You can't give them a half truth in giving them the gospel. You must give them the whole truth in giving them the gospel. So the Bible begins and ends with a warning. And all throughout the pages of scripture, it's filled with warnings of judgment, cursing, damnation to those who do not obey. Over in Genesis chapter six, God said these words. Genesis chapter six, and the Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land and from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, for I am sorry that I have made them.

God was so angered over the sinfulness and the iniquity of man that he was going to destroy all of mankind. He preserved eight, Noah and his family, and they would begin anew. But God said, enough is enough. If you go over to the book of Deuteronomy, it says in Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse number 36, see now that I, I am he, and there is no God beside me. It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded, and it is I who heal, and there is no one who can deliver from my hand. God says, I am the one who judges.

I am the one who rules. Over in the book of Job, Job 21, verse number 30, for the wicked is reserved for the day of calamity. They will be led forth at the day of fury. God says there is going to be a day of fury.

There is going to be a day of calamity for the wicked person. Again, it is a warning about what is going to happen to those who rebel against God. Job 31, verse number 3, is it not calamity to the unjust and disaster to those who work iniquity? What is the end of the unjust? What is the end of those who work iniquity? Disaster, calamity, that's going to come upon them. Psalm 9, verse number 7, but the Lord abides forever. He has established his throne, listen carefully, for judgment. He's established his throne for judgment, and he will judge the world in righteousness.

He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity. God has a throne, and that throne is a throne of judgment, and he will judge all of mankind. Over in Psalm 96, Psalm 96, verse number 13, before the Lord he is coming. For he is coming to judge the earth, he will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness. Again, it's a warning. The Lord is going to come, and when he comes he's going to judge his people. And how will he judge them? He will judge them in his faithfulness, because that's who he is.

Over in Proverbs chapter 1, verse 24, the Lord God says, Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention, and you neglected all my counsel and did not want my reproof, I will even laugh at your calamity.

I will mock when your dread comes, when your dread comes like a storm, and your calamity comes on like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come on you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they shall not find me, because they hated knowledge, they did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would not accept my counsel. Again, it's a warning. It's a warning of impending judgment to those who refuse to listen to the counsel of God. And all throughout the scripture, the warnings are clearly evident, and God disperses them all throughout the Bible, because he wants you to understand there is very, very bad news for those who do not believe and follow him.

The Bible says in the Gospel of Luke, the 13th chapter, if you don't repent, you will likewise perish.

It's a warning God gives. Terrible disaster in Luke chapter 13. Terrible disaster that Caesar would mingle some of the sacrifices on the altar with dead people's bodies, killing them. Or that a tower in Siloam would fall over and kill innocent people walking by. And God says it's just a warning, that's all it is, that if you don't repent, you will likewise perish in your sins.

Over in Acts chapter 17, it says this in verse number 30, therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead. There's a fixed day that's coming in which God will judge the world in righteousness. Romans chapter 2, verse number 5, because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourselves in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

Verse 16, on that day, when according to my Gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus. There is coming a day when God will judge every secret of man's heart. The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 1, verse number 7, the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in a flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus.

And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction in the way from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he comes to be glorified to the saints on that day. And then it says over in the book of Revelation chapter 6, verse number 15, and the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and every free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

For the great day of their wrath has come. Who is able to stand? And that's why the writers of Hebrews said in Hebrews 9, verse 27, it is appointed unto man once to die, after that the judgment. Why do I share all those verses with you? It's because the Bible is filled with warnings about impending judgment that will come upon those who rebel against the authority of God. And God is in a habit of warning people about that judgment. Why? Simply because he doesn't want them to face that judgment. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

In the Bible we see God as Savior. We see God as Deliverer. We see God as Redeemer. But we must also see him as Executioner and Judge. You just can't take bits and pieces of God, accentuate them and expect the world to understand God. They won't. So you must present him for who he really is. In John chapter 5, it tells us in verse number 25 or 23, yeah 25. Truly, truly I say to you an hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear shall live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself.

And he gave him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man. He is the Executioner. He is the Judge. Yes, he is Redeemer. Yes, he is Savior. Yes, he is Deliverer. That's the good news. The bad news is that if you don't believe in him as Redeemer, Savior and Deliverer, you will experience him as Executioner and Judge and be separated from him forever. That is so, so crucial. So having said that, listen very carefully. The more of God's truth you know, the more severe your eternal damnation.

The more of God's truth you know, the more of God's truth you hear, the greater the damnation in hell. Put it this way. The greater the revelation rejected, the greater the retribution you will receive. The more you reject the revelation of God, the greater the retribution will be for you in eternity. Hebrews 10 points that out to us. Verse 26, For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. In other words, if you hear the truth and you refuse to obey the truth and just keep going on sinning willfully against the law of God, there remains no more sacrifice for sin.

There is only one way of salvation. It's through Christ. It's through his sacrifice on your behalf. If you reject that, there is no other opportunity for you to go to heaven. There is no other way to heaven except through Christ. No other way. Verse 27, But a certain terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. What's awaiting those who in the face of full revelation go on sinning willfully? The future for them is a fiery judgment, a more severe expectation of judgment.

It says, Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Verse 29, How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant? Those in the Old Testament who died under the law of Moses, who understood the law of Moses and realized that that law was given to lead that person to cry out for mercy to God because man can't keep that law, that man who disobeyed that law and did not cry out for mercy died in their sins and experienced eternal judgment.

Yet those who live in the realm of the new covenant and have heard the revelation of the Messiah and have realized that what the Old Testament said was true and still reject that truth, there is a severer punishment for that person. In layman's terms, it's best put this way. If you go to a Bible-believing church that preaches the gospel week in and week out and you refuse to come to saving faith, your judgment in hell will be greater than those who have never heard the gospel. Oh, their judgment will be in hell, but yours will be more severe.

It will be greater. It will be more intolerable than those who experience hell anyway. In other words, it's better for you not to come to a Bible-believing church. It's better for you not to hear the truth. It's better for you to be a pagan on a land far, far away, never having the opportunity to hear the gospel because the hell that you will face will not be nearly as severe as the hell those who come to a Bible-believing church and hear the gospel week in and week out and refuse to give their life to Christ.

That's what Hebrews 10 says in layman's terms. So, you say, why are you telling us this? Because that's exactly where we are in Luke chapter 10, in the presentation of the gospel. That's exactly the place we come to in Luke chapter 10 when you give the warning to people, the admonition to people as to the severity of their rejection. Turn with me in your Bible to Luke chapter 10 if you're not there already.

It says these words in verse number 12, I say to you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will be brought down to Hades. The one who listens to you listens to me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and he who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.

Our Lord gives us a principle, a very true principle, on how it is we conclude the message. And that is, you need to respond. Because having heard the gospel, having heard the truth, to reject it only puts you in a greater degree of punishment in eternity. Now this is what Jesus said all throughout his ministry. Let me give you a couple examples.

Luke chapter 11, verse number 29. And as the crowds were increasing, he began to say, now notice, the crowds are increasing.

The numbers are growing. And Jesus says, this generation is a wicked generation. That's how you greet the crowds when they begin to increase. This is a wicked generation. It seeks for a sign, and yet no sign shall be given to it but the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so shall the Son of Man be to this generation. Verse 31. The queen of the south shall rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment, and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

And behold, something greater than Solomon is here. Now this is remarkable, because Jesus says there is a pagan queen who traveled a far distance to bow at the feet of a man to hear his wisdom.

Something far greater than Solomon is here, that's me, the Son of God, and you won't even begin to do that. So he's saying that the queen, who's the pagan queen, on the day of judgment will stand up in your presence and join in in your condemnation, because you refused the obvious Messiah before your face. God is saying there's a greater judgment for those who hear the truth, and know the truth, and refuse the truth, than for those who never hear the truth. Over in Luke chapter 12. Again, Jesus says in verse 47.

And that slave who knew his master's will, and did not get ready, or act in accord with his will, shall receive many lashes. But the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but a few lashes. There is a comparison between the many lashes, who know the obvious, and the few lashes, who don't know the obvious. Because there's a greater punishment in eternity, for those who hear the truth, and refuse to believe that truth, than for those who never heard the truth.

And that's where Jesus is in Luke chapter 10. About these cities, who reject the message of the 70. When they go out and present the truth. There are six cities he mentions. Three in the Old Testament, three in the New Testament. There's Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon, who all perished, and experience eternal damnation. And then there is Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, who when they die, they too will experience damnation, but to a greater degree than Tyre, Sidon, and Sodom. And this is how Jesus exhorts his 70 to go out, listen carefully, and conclude their gospel presentation.

Conclude it on a negative note, not a positive note. Conclude it, not with an affirmation, but with an admonition. With a warning about what's going to happen, now that you have refused the obvious truth that's been presented to you. So important. This 70 group of people began with the commission. They were appointed by God. That commission led to a motivation for them to go out and proclaim that gospel. That motivation then was seen in the proclamation, and what is they see when they bring the gospel of peace to a city that's not at peace with God.

And now comes the admonition to those who reject that gospel of peace. It all began with an appointment that led to an attitude, that led to their appeal, and now leads to their admonition as they leave the cities. Symbolically, they already dust the, or clean the dust off of their sandals once that city has rejected. Symbolically, it's a, it's a gesture of judgment, but now this is what they say to those cities. And that's important for us to understand, because it helps us realize how quickly our Lord is going to come and to judge man for his sin.

And so this 70 has been sent out to proclaim the gospel. It's, it's, it's okay to say, you know, I'm sorry, didn't accept the truth. I'm going to pray for you. I love you. That's okay to say, but Jesus never said to say that. You can say that. It would not be wrong for you to say that. In fact, I will go so far as to say it's very nice for you to say that, but it's certainly not needful for you to say that. See the difference? It might be nice, but it's not needful. What is needful is what Jesus says is needful.

You see, we, we have a, we have a hard time presenting the gospel to people because we don't say it the way Jesus said it. We have retooled, reinvented the gospel in a way that makes it palatable to people's ears. And therefore, we have false conversions, thousands of them, millions of them all the time, because people don't know the truth. And our job is to give them, give them the truth. See, and Jesus wants us to know like the 70, they needed to know what to say to those cities who said, we're not interested in the gospel of peace.

We're not interested in your Messiah. We're not interested in what you have to offer us. What do you tell them? Okay, we're out of here. Nice knowing you. Thanks for the opportunity. No, what you need to say is what Jesus said you need to say. Let's look at it together.

Here he says, verse 12, I say to you, this is Jesus speaking. This is the Lord God speaking. This is what I'm telling you to say. I say to you, this is so important. It will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city. What city? Well, the city that rejected the Messiah. The city back up in verse number 10, but whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, even the dust of your city, which clings to your feet or to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you.

Yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near. And you say to them, I'm saying to you, this is what you say to them. As you wipe the dust off your feet, this is what you say. It will be more tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. Now you have to understand. Now what is the day? It's the day of judgment. It doesn't say judgment in verse number 12. It says in that day. Matthew's account, Matthew 10, Matthew 11 tells us it's the day of judgment. What day is that? That's Revelation chapter 20.

Revelation chapter 20, which says, and I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it, excuse me, from whose presence earth and heaven fled and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small standing before the throne and the books were open. And another book was open, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead, which were in it. And death and Hades gave up the dead, which were in them.

And they were judged every one of them according to their deeds and death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was in the lake of fire. It's the day of judgment. We know that when man dies, if he doesn't know the Lord, he goes directly to Hades. He goes directly to hell, but there is going to be a second resurrection.

That's all those who are not a part of the first resurrection, the believers at that second resurrection in Revelation 20, they will stand before the great white throne judgment of God.

And there they will be judged according to their deeds. It's that day that Jesus is referring to in Luke chapter 10, verse number 12. And they will be cast out of the presence of God forever. This is their final sentencing. It's appointed to the man to die after that judgment. Men will be judged as soon as he dies. This is their final sentencing. Why is it called their final sentencing? Because when a man dies, his soul goes to hell. But the final judgment, there's a resurrection of his body so that it's joined together with his soul, so that his body and soul are cast into the lake of fire forever.

That's Revelation 20, verse number 15. That is the final sentencing. And so Jesus says, on that day, those who have been exposed to Christ will face a more severe judgment than those in Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon.

Those who know the truth will experience a greater, greater judgment. Now think about this if you're a Jew and they're going to Jewish cities and you reject your Messiah. And someone says to you, it will be more tolerable in the day of judgment for Sodom than for you. Now to a Jew, that is extremely offensive. See, in our gospel presentation, we don't want to say anything that's going to offend anybody. But if you're a Jew, you're offended. Because Sodom is the epitome of wickedness, vileness, cruelness, crudeness, perverseness, homosexuality.

We know the story of Sodom. The Jews knew the story of Sodom. The remnants of the destruction of Sodom are in the land of Israel even today, where the Dead Sea is. There's nothing there. It's a barren place. Because God charred that city with fire and brimstone because of their rebellion against His authority. The story is recorded in Genesis 17, 18, and 19. And in Genesis 18, 20, it says these words, And the Lord said, The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.

Their sin was exceedingly grave. And you know the story about the perversity of Sodom. Those who are homosexuals, biblically, are called Sodomites. Because that was the perversity of that city. And you know the story about the two angels that came to rescue Lot and his wife, his family. And the men of the city, all the men of the city, saw those two angels and went after them to have sexual intercourse with those men. And so they went to Lot's house and Lot wouldn't let them in. Lot was even so concerned that he even offered his daughters to the men of the city.

But the men of the city didn't want his daughters because they were homosexual. They were one of those men and God struck them blind, the men of the city. And even in the midst of their blindness, God struck them blind. They still were trying to beat down the door to go after those two angels. You know the story. The angels took Lot and his wife and his kids and took them out of the city and God charred that city, burned it to a crisp because of the greatness of their sin. And here was a Jewish person hearing this.

And they would say to themselves, wait a minute, I'm not like the Sodomites. I'm not an idolater. I'm not a Canaanite person. I'm not a perverse person. I'm not an immoral person. In fact, I'm a son of Abraham. I'm a child of God. I'm one of the chosen people of God. I am a Jew. I am an upstanding Jew. I go to the synagogue regularly. I worship God. I'm religious. I am faithful. This statement to me is completely inconceivable that you would say it would be more tolerable in the day of judgment for Sodom, that is the citizens of Sodom, than it would be for me, a Jew who's religious, who's faithful, who's a son of Abraham.

That does not go over very well. But remember, the judgment is not related to someone's sin as much as it is related to one's rejection of the truth. That's important to understand. Sitting under the gospel is high-risk behavior. And those who reject the truth are held to a higher standard than those who never heard the truth and die in their sins. And that's the point that Jesus is trying to help his 70 to understand. There's Tyre, there's Sidon, and we can go into great detail. Tyre and Sidon were the Phoenicians.

They were seaport cities in the northern part of Israel. Tyre is today modern-day Lebanon. And they were destroyed by God. And remember in Ezekiel chapter 28, there was a word given to the king of Tyre. And it would be the Lord God, through the pen of Ezekiel, prophesying about the fall of Satan and the pride of Satan in Ezekiel 28. Remember that story about the downfall of Satan? And what God is doing is equating the rejection and sin of the king of Tyre with the fall of Satan. Because those in that city were of Satan.

And in verse 20 of Ezekiel 28, it talks about the punishment and the judgment that comes upon Sidon, this wicked city, this cruel city. And the Lord God uses Tyre and Sidon as illustrations along with Sodom for the Jewish people. And remember it was Tyre and Sidon, according to Amos chapter 1 verse number 9, and also the book of Jeremiah, that would capture the Jewish people and sell them as slaves. The Jews hated anything about Tyre, Sidon, or Sodom, let alone to be associated with people like that.

They didn't want to be associated. And yet God's message to the cities is clear. The Jews saw themselves as the best of the best. And they saw Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon as the worst of the worst. They're the worst, we're the best. They're sons of Satan, we're sons of God. We're children of the living God. We are sons of Abraham. We are faithful, we are obedient, we are religious people. And Jesus says these words, he says, woe to you Chorazin, woe to you Bethsaida.

Now Chorazin is about two and a half miles from Capernaum. Bethsaida, a little bit further than that from Capernaum, home of Andrew, Philip, and Peter. Every time we go to Israel we go down to Bethsaida to preach on Luke chapter 10, to help you understand the men of the city and the message to that city. And Bethsaida, along with Chorazin, along with Capernaum, had seen the miracles of Christ, unlike any of the other villages or cities had seen. And it heard the message of Christ, unlike all the other cities had heard.

And so Jesus says, woe to you Chorazin, woe to you Bethsaida. If the miracles had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. Jesus says, look, if Tyre and Sidon would have seen what you saw, they'd have truly mourned over the sin and truly repented from their sin.

So the question comes, why would Tyre, Sidon repent in dust and ashes, if they saw what Capernaum, Chorazin, and Bethsaida saw, and they didn't repent? What's the difference? Simply this, the worst condition you can be in is a self-righteous condition. Self-righteous people see no need to repent. And that's where the Jews were. They were self-righteous. They were chosen people of God. They lived in the holy land. They lived in the promised land. They were God's people. They were self-righteous people.

Those are the hardest people in the world to reach with the gospel. It's a lot easier to go down into the slums of any city and preach the gospel and reach those people than it is to go to any church in America and preach the gospel and reach those people. Because of the self-righteous attitude that people have because they haven't been sitting in church or they carry a Bible to church or they've been a part of a church for a long time and yet had not come to a place of repentance in the midst of overwhelming evidence of their sinful condition.

So important to understand. And Jesus says, but it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you, Chorazin and Bethsaida.

In other words, their judgment will be intolerable but yours will be more intolerable. Theirs will be severe but yours will be more severe because of your rejection of the truth of the gospel. And then, and you Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will be brought down to Hades. Wow. I mean, you go to Chorazin and Bethsaida today, not much there. You go to Capernaum, there's a lot more archaeological evidence because of the remnants that are there. But Capernaum doesn't exist today either.

It's just a city of ruins. And you can go to Capernaum and you can actually be in a synagogue where Jesus actually preached and cast out a demon. You can be in the exact place in Capernaum. So you can imagine the people of Capernaum, this was the headquarters of Jesus's ministry. This is where Peter himself had made his living, his mother lived there. And so that little city on the northern tip of the Sea of Galilee was the hubbub of the ministry of Christ. Capernaum had all the evidence before them every single day of the ministry of Christ.

And Jesus says, you don't think because I had my headquarters there and I performed many miracles there, that you're going to go to heaven because I was there.

You don't think you're going to be exalted to heaven, do you? Just because you were associated with me? Because you saw me? Because you had to talk to me every once in a while? Because you had to go to the synagogue and see me cast out demons? Because you went to the synagogue and heard me preach? You don't think you're going to be exalted to heaven, do you? On the contrary, you're going to Hades. You're going to hell. You're going to hell because you would not reject. You would not receive. Instead, you would reject the truth.

And you know, Capernaum, they weren't antagonistic to Jesus. Neither was Chorazin and neither was Bethsaida. They weren't the kind of cities that would that would seek to throw him into the depths of the sea and drown him because they were they were river cities. They weren't the kind of people who would take him out to try to stone him like his own hometown Nazareth did. They weren't the kind of cities that ran him out of town. We don't want you here like those in Gennesaret did. No, they embraced the Messiah.

They would go to hear him speak. They were there to watch him perform miracles. They weren't antagonistic. They were just indifferent to the gospel. And yet their indifference would lead them to the severest judgment known to man, more so than those in Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon, pagan Canaanite cities full of idol worship, full of immorality, full of homosexuality. Oh, they were they were plunged into a godless eternity. Yes, and they will suffer the consequences of their sin. But for those who hear the truth and know the truth and yet somehow are just indifferent to that truth and don't respond in humility to that truth, well, their judgment will be worse.

It will be more severe. See that? That's how Jesus wants you to conclude. You need to conclude with an admonition. You need to conclude with a warning. What? Knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, Paul said. We know about the terror of the Lord. We know about impending judgment. We know about what the future holds. And now that you know what the truth is, you are really held accountable to that truth. I implore you. I beg you. I warn you. Because of your rejection of the gospel of truth, having heard it, having known it, having seen it, your judgment will be worse than the pagan Canaanite cities of the Old Testament.

Because you would not respond to the gospel of peace. Would it be that that we would begin to conclude our gospel message with a warning? Because we fear what might happen to those who reject. That might be the last opportunity they have to hear. Better they leave with a warning about impending judgment than to leave with affirming words, well, thank you very much. It was nice talking to you. Would it be that we would speak the words that Christ Himself would speak? So when you present the message, you will face two results.

Hostility or humility. Hostility because they were offended that you would even categorize them with the cities of Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon. Or humility because they are so overwhelmed by their sin and their self-righteous attitudes, they fall down on their faces before God and cry out to Him in mercy. That should be your response when you present the gospel. One of hostility or one of humility on those who hear. Because the message that you gave, not you yourself, but the message you gave offended them.

Why? Verse 16, the one who listens to you listens to me and the one who rejects you rejects me and he who rejects me rejects the one who sent me. So if you say this and they listen to you and they receive your words, they have received me. They have embraced me because you've given them my words. If you do it the way I say to do it, if you say it the way I want you to say it and they embrace what you have said, they are going to embrace me because I am the good news of the gospel. I am that priceless treasure that now they obtain.

But if they reject your words, they truly are not rejecting you per se as much as they are rejecting me. And if they reject me, they are rejecting the one who sent me. They reject your words. They rejected God. Don't take it so personally. It's not about you. They rejected God. They rejected Christ. They rejected the gospel itself. And God himself is the essence of the gospel, the Redeemer, the Savior, the Deliverer of man. And all throughout the scriptures Christ would say, if as they treat you, so they treat me.

If they respond to you, so that's how they respond to me. Because we are one in the same. You have embraced the priceless treasure. Now you are embarking on presenting that treasure to those who need to hear it. They receive it. They received me. If they reject it, they rejected me. If they reject you, it's because they reject me. I'm the one giving the warning Christ says.

I'm the one telling them that they're going to be judged. I am the one telling them that there is going to be a severer judgment for them because they have heard the truth. They have seen the truth. And now they have rejected the truth. It's me, Jesus, who is saying it. You are just relaying the message that I've given you to them. That's it. That's it. Would it be that we would end our gospel presentation the way the 70 were compelled to end their gospel presentation? Oh, and by the way, guess what?

Next week the 70 come back. Depressed? No. Dejected? Oh, no. Not in your life. They come back exuberant. They come back filled with joy because they see the mighty power of God working in that ministry. You know, maybe we don't come back from our gospel presentations rejoicing as we should because we haven't studied the way Jesus wants us to say it. And when we do it the way Christ wants us to do it, listen carefully. Here's the bottom line. Whenever you do what Jesus asks you to do, you are always blessed.

You are always filled with joy. When you don't do what Jesus asks you to do, you're not filled with joy. I mean, how much more basic can it possibly be? And these 70 come back filled with joy, rejoicing, watching God do a work. Why? Because what you're doing is giving them the words of God. It's not your opinion. It's not your way of saying. It's the words of God. You're saying the words of God. You are giving them the message that God has compelled you to give them. And you are being obedient to his word by following it precisely as he has said to follow it.

So if there are results, guess what? It's because God brought forth the results. If there are conversions, it's because God brings forth the conversion. I don't convert anybody. You don't convert anybody. We don't transform. We're just relayers of the message. We're ambassadors for Christ. Our job is just to make sure we don't mess up the message so we get it out there right so people can hear it. So next time you present the gospel to somebody, would you please do it the way Jesus wants you to do it?

In with a warning. Maybe there's somebody you need to talk to today. Maybe there's somebody in your family and you've never given them a warning. The warning that Jesus gives them. How come? How come you haven't given them the warning? Say, well, you can only give it to them so many times. Well, I don't know. You just give it to them as Jesus gave it to them. Maybe you have a neighbor, a friend of yours at work, and you've never given them the warning. You go back to them and say, you know, I've given you the gospel.

I talked to you, but you know, I forgot to give you the bad news. I gave you all the good news, but I forgot to give you the bad news. And maybe that's why the good news really isn't good to you because it's really, really good to me. It's so good to me. It's brought great joy to my life. And maybe the reason you don't have great joy in your life is because you haven't embraced the good news and you haven't embraced the good news because you don't know how bad the bad news is for your life. So let's guess what?

I'm here to tell you all the bad news for your life based on what God says is your eternal destiny without him.

That would probably get somebody's attention because they want to hear good news. They don't want to hear the bad news, but if you don't get the good news or the bad news, why would they ever embrace the good news? Right? Tell them the truth. That without Christ, without God, they will perish for eternity. And having known the truth because you presented it to them, they are so, so worse off than any pagan city that has ever perished before on the day of judgment. And you don't want that for them.

You want them to embrace the gospel, the good news of Christ. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for today, Lord, and in your word. What a joy to know that we have the words to say. Give us the boldness to say them the right way. Give us the boldness to explain to people the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth that those who hear would know and in humility respond to that truth. Would it be, Lord, that we would understand the response of people in a way that would bring glory to you, knowing that, Father, we have effectually presented the truth of the gospel to those who need to hear.

And when we come back next week, we'll see why the 70s were so joyous simply because they did what you told them to do. And maybe for us, Lord, our joy is so wrapped up in external circumstances instead of eternal truths. Maybe wrapped up in you and your truth, Lord Jesus. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.