Last month I preached on the “The Holy Spirit Upon You”. I connected the work of the Holy Spirit in the ministry of Jesus with your own calling to be His instruments in a broken world. Jesus’ mission statement in Luke 4:18-19 is also our blueprint for ministry.

Now in Luke 10, the very next time Luke mentions the Holy Spirit, we see the first example in the gospel of Jesus working in His disciples beyond the twelve apostles. I think there’s a significant connection between the two. Luke 4:18 begins, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me”. He told the Nazareth synagogue, “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” Now in Luke 10, we see Jesus entrusting 72 disciples to go out and do the very works that He said were being fulfilled.

What this says is that Jesus always intended His disciples to be the extension of His Messianic ministry. The culminating word of Jesus to validate this is what we today call the Great Commission. Each of the four gospels, and the Book of Acts expresses Christ’s commission to bring the gospel to the nations. Luke’s gospel and Acts both connect the proclamation of the gospel with the in-filling of the Holy Spirit and being clothed in His power. Luke 24:46-49 says,

He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, ⁴⁷ and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Acts 1:8 repeats Jesus’ promise immediately before His ascension into heaven: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Now let’s read the opening of Luke 10: After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.  

There may be some intentional symbolism in Jesus sending out 72 disciples two by two. Thirty-six pairs of disciples are three times twelve. Three is the number of God and twelve is the number of Israel’s tribes, and of the apostles. Symbolically, sending 36 pairs of disciples suggests the Triune God coming upon the twelve tribes of Israel, or the divine anointing of The Spirit extending from Messiah to all of God’s people.

First, we see the principle of teamwork. In a practical sense, sending disciples out two by two as His advance men allowed mutual support without demanding too much from those Jesus expected to receive them into their homes. Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 says, “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. ¹⁰ For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.” There is synergy and strength in disciples working together to achieve common goals. The Latter Days Saints have built their worldwide church by sending young people out two by two to proclaim their message. I don’t agree with their message, but I do agree with their method.

There is also a divine anointing on the prayer and efforts of believers who work together. The Church universal is a global community of believers, a kingdom of the faithful, and a royal family of God in the making. How much stronger is the Church when believers believe that where even two are gathered in His name, Jesus is in the midst of them? Continuing from v.2:

‘And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”’ The first work of disciples in advancing Christ’s kingdom is to pray for more laborers who will enter Christ’s harvest of souls. This is the priority of prayer. Remember that before Jesus began His ministry in Galilee he fasted and prayed forty days in the wilderness. Fasting is effectively prayer by other than verbal means. It is a faith appeal to God to act in the life of the one fasting and those for whom the faster intercedes.

Praying, then, for the harvest and harvesters is the first work of a Spirit-anointed disciple. There are many good works you can do after you have prayed, but nothing you can do effectually until you have prayed.

I like to pray as I go. I don’t pray long prayers, but I do pray frequently, whenever I have a break from the toil or endeavor of the moment. Being quick to lift up short, poignant prayers whenever human needs or crises occur keeps one attuned to the potential for harvest.

Henry Blackaby, in his renowned study Experiencing God, planted churches in Canada by first seeking God in prayer as to where He was already moving and then starting his outreach there. We are dependent on the Holy Spirit to inform us where God has already laid the seeds of church growth or a harvest of souls. One reason I believe that there is real potential for a mighty revival in the Pacific Northwest is that numerous prophetic leaders have declared this is where God wants to birth a great revival. In some ways the Pacific Northwest is virgin territory for an evangelical awakening, such as used to occur east of the Mississippi in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, because we’ve never experienced a great revival before. Moving on to v.3:

“Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road.” The next mandate from the Lord was to send His disciples out solely dependent on faith. So along with the principle of teamwork and the priority of prayer, we see the practice of faith. They were utterly dependent on God for their protection and provision.

Notice the phrase “lambs in the midst of wolves.” They were not physically weaker than any of the people around them, but were entering a spiritual environment that was dominated by the upper middle-class Pharisees, the most stoutly conservative Jews in Israel. Without a strong faith in their leader, Jesus, and his commission to preach the gospel of the kingdom, they could have been devoured intellectually and spiritually by synagogue leaders who were better versed in the Hebrew Scriptures than they were, and were socially and politically much more powerful.

For centuries, the Pharisees, or “Pure Ones” as their name implied, set the spiritual tenor of Judea after the Babylonian captivity. They were the heirs and descendants of a true religious reformation of the late sixth and fifth centuries BC, led by prophets like Zechariah, Haggai and Malachi, by the priest Ezra and political leaders like Zerubbabel and Nehemiah. Judea had also had a religious revival during the 2^nd century BC uprising led by Judas Maccabeus against the oppressive Seleucid, Hellenistic dynasty.

But the Pharisees, sadly, were soon to be the most virulent opponents of Jesus’ ministry, because his message was radically different than their punctilious legalism. And His gospel rested on His authority as the Anointed One, and not on the opinions of earlier, dead rabbis who wrote the Mishnah to interpret the Law of Moses. Sadly, those who were the most religious Jews in Jesus’ time became His greatest enemies. After his crucifixion, they hardened their opposition to Him throughout the Roman Empire, creating a lasting, bitter legacy that Jesus called “synagogues of Satan” in His Revelation to John.

Jesus’ command that the disciples not carry additional cash, sandals or knapsack made them dependent on God and others to supply their needs. This was a tough lesson in faith, because if others didn’t open their homes to them, these disciples would go hungry. But God provided for them all, as Jesus believed He would.

Anytime you start a new work of God, the immediate crisis is almost always one of material or financial provision. Jesus warned that the cares of this world and deceitfulness of riches – the desire, in other words, for a financially carefree life, can choke the word of God. Why? You cease being dependent upon God to provide for you and rely exclusively on your

Jesus wanted His disciples to learn a fundamentally important principle of faith that He taught everywhere He preached: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all [the things you need] will be added to you.” By divorcing them from the practical means to earn their keep He was forcing them to be radically dependent upon the kingdom to provide for them. Great leaders of the faith down through the ages have practiced and proven this principle of faith.

Even so, the believers were not divorced from the surrounding community. They were dependent upon God to provide for them through other people. Reading on from v.5: “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ ⁶ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. ⁷ And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. “⁸ Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you.”

It is the Spirit of God who goes before us to open doors to people’s homes and hearts when we are good news bearers. Jesus’ order was simple: any house that opened for the disciples was where they were to stay. Those who welcomed them were “sons of peace.” They were to speak their peace, the shalom of the believer upon them. We have authority as believers to speak our peace upon others who bless us. Why? Because God has granted His peace to us, so that we may pass it on to others. Did not Jesus say the night before His death:
“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled nor let it be fearful.”

So along with the principle of teamwork, the priority of prayer, and the practice of radical faith, Jesus taught them to pronounce peace upon those who supported His disciples. This simple command reveals another really important principle: the transmission of authority, blessing and anointing from one believer to another. Churches ordain new ministers through the laying on hands. Prophets like Samuel and Elisha anointed leaders with flasks of oil. David commissioned his son, Solomon, to build the temple and continue his new dynasty with the transmission of final words. God uses leaders to transmit authority, blessing and anointing on other people. In so doing, God affirms the continuity of divinely authored traditions that give continuity to His work through the generations.

The disciples were to eat whatever was set before them. This is a basic social grace that the servant of God must humbly bear. We have no right to demand that others cater to our desires when we set out to do the Lord’s work. When Christian ministers expect to receive first class accommodations, they separate themselves from the mass of people who can’t afford that. You who are in prison today won’t get first class treatment in here. So you’re being schooled to go out into the working world without an attitude of entitlement. The basic humility of accepting whatever God brings your way will give you the rugged endurance to succeed where others might be prone to give up.

Now Jesus moved from instructions on how to live into how to minister to others. “Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ ¹² I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.”

The key commands were to heal the sick and declare the kingdom of God. That was the only gospel the disciples were authorized to speak, because Jesus had yet to pay for our redemption through His blood. The kingdom of God still functioned under the Old Covenant of Mt. Sinai, but the King Messiah was among them; and Jesus made all the difference. Because of Him, the disciples had authority that rabbinical students and scribes of their time lacked to heal the sick. This was an extension of Jesus’ mandate to “to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind.” Salvation from sickness is a part of Jesus’ salvation. He releases people from captivity to painful infirmity.

Jesus knew that the disciples were destined to encounter opposition. Wherever obdurate synagogue leaders, like those who tried to kill him in Nazareth, held sway, they could turn a town against them. The devil lays his traps several steps ahead, causing unwary people to reject the message of the kingdom. They are like the rocky soil in the parable of the sower who do not comprehend the word, and so have it snatched from their minds before it can bring the fruit of conviction. In truth, most people don’t comprehend the gospel because they don’t want to submit to its radical claims and demands.

I know I was that way back in my senior year of college in 1975 and ’76 when I attended a liberal college chapel on Sunday mornings. As long as the minister didn’t preach repentance of sin and commitment of faith to Christ, I was comfortable attending chapel. But whenever someone preached surrender to Christ as the cost of salvation, and obedience to Christ thereafter, I was uncomfortable. I wanted a soothing sermon without any real accountability to God. Less than two years later, however, in the US Army God confronted me with the need to repent and believe. Thank God, I obeyed God when the opportunity to see clearly and believe in Christ came to me.

Just as Jesus said, however, there are times where you have to shake the dust off your feet toward those who are hardened toward the gospel. Don’t waste your time trying to convert mockers to Christ. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Do not throw your pearls before swine, and do not give what is holy to dogs, lest they trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.” Proud, embittered people who spit the grace you offer them back at you are those to whom Jesus was referring. People who despise the good news of Jesus when it is offered to them, harden their hearts with each rejection, and face a judgment worse than Sodom if they don’t repent. God holds those who hear the truth and reject it far more accountable than those who never hear it. This is what Jesus emphasized in the next passage from vv.13-15:

Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ¹⁴ But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. ¹⁵ And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.

The astonishing thing Jesus said was that the very cities where He had done some of His greatest miracles were headed toward the greatest condemnation. Undoubtedly, hundreds of poor and humble people from these towns who followed Jesus throughout Galilee were expressing their faith with their feet in following him. But the town leaders who resisted coming to hear him prevented these towns from being firm bases for Jesus’ movement.

They rejected His gospel because He drew most of his followers from the lower class, outwardly more sinful am ha-aretz or “People of the Land”. The am ha-aretz were Jews who didn’t adhere to the diligent legalism of the Pharisees. They were regarded as boorish or ignorant sinners by the Pharisees who were not faithfully adhering to the Covenant of Moses. To be labelled am ha-aretz was a put down; but those were the people Jesus was sent to minister to and who responded positively to His message.

To Pharisees critical of His identification with ordinary Jews, Jesus ironically replied, “It is not those who are well but those who are sick who need a physician. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” The Pharisees were, ironically, in a worse position spiritually than the less learned Jews who listened to Jesus. They were not righteous at all compared to Messiah and had a hidden sickness of the soul that needed the Great Physician. But they were in denial, because in their mind legalism had been their salvation, and not the righteousness that comes through faith.

Now Jesus added another layer to his claim of authority. V. 16 says, “The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.” Jesus was speaking with royal authority. In the first century, an imperial legate spoke with the authority of Caesar wherever he was sent. If you didn’t obey the legate’s sealed mandate, you were defying Caesar, which was an act of treason. It has always been that way with kingdoms, and Jesus was advancing His kingdom.

Friends, we are called to be good news bearers to a hurting world. When we speak the truth of the gospel to others we speak with divine authority. The gospel IS the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. The name of Jesus has divine authority to save, because His name means salvation and He backs His good name with the power of the Holy Spirit to persuade others to believe. We just need the courage to speak His name and willingness to save, and the discernment to do so appropriately and graciously.

Then Jesus released the 72 disciples to proclaim the kingdom of God, or as in Matthew’s gospel, “the kingdom of heaven”. There is no distinction in meaning between the two terms. Heaven was an indirect synonym for God in Jewish culture. It had been used for centuries by the Pharisees to avoid accidentally speaking God’s name in vain and violating the third commandment. But the Pharisees were right about one thing: God’s kingdom is heaven, and heaven is the final destiny of the righteous. The Pharisees cultivated the hope of eternal life, which had been promised through prophets like David, Isaiah and Daniel. Attaining heaven was the believers’ final salvation; and so it is today.

Now Jesus was sending His disciples out to bring heaven down to earth. Salvation, Jesus the Messiah, was living amongst them, and those who heard the disciples’ message with faith would receive the benefits of it, ultimately resulting in salvation. But the immediate benefit Jesus promised was healing. Reading on from v. 17:

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” ¹⁸ And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹ Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. ²⁰ Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

In Luke’s gospel, Jesus’ commission to these disciples was simply to heal the sick, and made no mention of casting out unclean spirits. But Luke, being a physician, undoubtedly saw the connection between casting out unclean spirits and healing. Jesus affirmed that He had given them authority over all the power of the enemy, and divine protection from injury. He also connected the casting out of demons with the fall of Satan from heaven. Scattering evil spirits spelled doom for his kingdom – his ability to manipulate, dominate and control people.

Demons are irremediably perverse spirit creatures who project their twisted, amoral nature onto the people they infest. It is the nature of spirit life to interact with other living spirits. God intends for us to derive our life from His Spirit; but demons are spiritual parasites that intrude into our consciousness wherever we permit to substitute their lusts for God’s love.

Jesus was the only prophet in Israel’s history who cast out demons. It set Him apart from all the great prophets before him. Under the Old Covenant, the Israelites were protected from Satan’s dominion so long as they adhered to the covenant and never violated the major commandments. King Saul, however, was oppressed by an evil spirit when God withdrew His Spirit anointing from him. Jesus came proclaiming a greater authority than the old covenant – the gospel of the kingdom – His divine authority as Messiah the King.

The one weapon Jesus gave His disciples to cast out demons was His name. It’s the only weapon we need as well. The demons were subject to the disciples in His name. Subject is a powerful verb. A king’s people are his subjects; and the demons recognized that Jesus was Messiah the king on earth. Then and now, the Holy Spirit is His agent of enforcement, Who persuades demons to leave through fear or by giving them a foretaste of hellfire.

Jesus used simple, forceful commands to cast out demons. That’s how you should speak to demons as well. There’s no need for loud, angry harangues – just “Shut up and get out!”. Exorcism is not a struggle between a demon’s will and yours, but a power encounter where you release the authority of Jesus’ name and expect the Holy Spirit to back it up. He wouldn’t lead you into a confrontation with a demon if He didn’t intend to use you to drive it out. You have the same authority to give a directive to an unclean spirit as a C/O has to give one to you. They must obey you, because you bear the name and authority of the King of Kings, just as a C/O bears Washington State authority as law enforcement agents.

I have only witnessed one forced expulsion of a demon in my lifetime. It was on New Year’s Day 1980. I had contended with the evil spirit that became manifest in a friend of mine for roughly fifteen hours, mainly because he was reluctant to force the spirit out. This demon had been a part of his life since earliest childhood and expelling it may have felt like losing a piece of his soul. But when he finally accepted that the evil spirit had to go, I saw his face turn beet red, his eyes rolled upward, and he let out a scream that lasted about five seconds. This powerful demon that ruled his tribe’s medicine cult had been driven out by Holy Spirit hellfire.

Scripture intimates there’s a spirit behind every aberrant behavior or deeply seated psychological affliction. Demons are predatory and parasitic creatures who enter people’s wounded and vulnerable psyches. Demons can also cause physical infirmities, because there are connections between the human spirit, mind and body. The Holy Spirit gives discernment as to the operation of unclean spirits in people’s souls.

Sometimes bizarre behavior or thinking is an indicator of demonic influence. Demon possession is not the literal meaning of the biblical, Greek verb daimonizomai, but rather demonization. There is a spectrum of control that demons may exert over a human soul from nagging interference all the way to the insanity exhibited by the demoniac of the Gadarenes from whom Jesus cast out a “legion” of demons with a simple command.

When the disciples reported to Jesus that the demons were subject to them, Luke says ‘He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this way was well-pleasing in Your sight. ²² All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”’

This is the only passage in the gospels that explicitly says Jesus rejoiced, and indeed rejoiced greatly. Luke reintroduces the Holy Spirit for the first time since Jesus’ mission statement in chapter four. Yet the context is one of Jesus rejoicing, not performing miracles. Romans 15:13 says, “The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” There is Holy Spirit-inspired joy in doing the work of the kingdom!

What caused Jesus to exult was that God bypassed the proud, learned Jews of His time and endued spiritual babes: humble, new disciples to be the agents of His kingdom. They were unlearned, but trusted Jesus to extend His ministry through them. They released captives from sickness and fear and set the oppressed free from satanic bondage. This was a history-making development, a change in the spiritual landscape of Judea that would one day envelop the earth with the good news of Christ’s kingdom! Jesus rejoices the same way over you who are prisoners of the state, but are at the same time citizens of heaven by His grace and your faith.

So rejoice that the Father has revealed the Son to you, and the Son has revealed the Father to you in turn. Your faith is a divine gift, because you are surrounded by men who have the same right to hear and believe the gospel, but never avail themselves of it. Your willingness to come to church to be taught of the Lord validates that you want His salvation and eternal life.

Jesus rejoiced greatly that His disciples had tasted victory over God’s enemies – the demons – in His name. But then he told them: “Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

In the end, the authority to do good works in Jesus’ name, including exorcism, is only confirmation that He is living inside of you. Jesus even warned that there would be those who prophesied, cast out demons and even did miracles in His name but rejected by Him for practicing lawlessness. When Jesus fills your heart with His love and truth, doing works of faith in His name is the overflow of your love for Him, not the demonstration of your anointing. Everything we have comes from Him; therefore we should be careful to give Him all the glory for whatever we may accomplish in His name.

Your names are written in heaven when the Holy Spirit enters your heart after you repent from sin and turn to Christ to be saved. I challenge you to examine your hearts today to ensure that you have genuinely surrendered your life to Jesus. Saying the sinner’s prayer is only effectual when it is matched by a sincere desire to follow Christ faithfully for the rest of your life. Genuine salvation perseveres to the end; it may bow under pressure or affliction, but it never breaks. Faith in Christ must be a constant commitment to Him and the truth of His word, or it is a counterfeit. I urge you to examine your hearts today to determine once and for all that you are His disciple, and are determined to be so until He calls you home to heaven. Let us pray.