Teachings

Face Like a Flint

Luke 9:51-56

By Dr. Mark E. Hardgrove

INTRODUCTION

Distractions/Intentions/the road to hell

JESUS KNEW HIS DESTINATION

Luke 9:51-56

51Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, 52and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him.  

Knowing what lay ahead, Jesus was able to keep on, keeping on.

We have a destiny, God said, “I know the plan I have for you.”  “The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord.”  We must keep on keeping on, embrace our destiny.

      Keep your eyes on the prize.

JESUS FACED REJECTION AND SO WILL WE

53But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.  

It was the religious folk who rejected them.  Sometimes rejection come from those we least expect it to come from.  Jesus knows what it is like to be rejected and betrayed by a friend.  If we think we are going to make it without facing rejection then we are living in an imaginary world.

      Weak and anemic religion that quits and gives in every time someone hurts our feelings will never make it.  These are the last days when evil men and seducers will wax worse and worse.  These are perilous times.  The day of half-hearted, fence straddling, lukewarm religion is over.

      God is not dead, but complacent and compromising religion is dead.  This is a new day, a day when we are going to have to either get in or get out.  God is drawing a line through the sands of time and challenging us with these words, “Who is on the Lord's side?”

THE DISCIPLES' RESPONSE IS TYPICAL OF MOST PEOPLE

54And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?"  

We want our pound of flesh!  We want vengeance.  (Pastor friends)

JESUS TELLS US HOW TO RESPOND TO REJECTION

55But He turned and rebuked them, and said, "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. 56For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them."  

But in Romans 12:19-21 we read these words from The Living Bible:

19Dear friends, never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God, for he has said that he will repay those who deserve it. [Don't take the law into your own hands. ] 20Instead, feed your enemy if he is hungry. If he is thirsty give him something to drink and you will be "heaping coals of fire on his head." In other words, he will feel ashamed of himself for what he has done to you. 21Don't let evil get the upper hand, but conquer evil by doing good. TLB

KEEP ON KEEPING ON

And they went to another village. NKJV 

CONCLUSION 

There are people here who feel like they've been wronged and they want to either get even, or to recoil into a shell where they can neither touch or be touched.

      Jesus is calling someone here today to tell you that it's going to be alright.  You can make it.  You feel like you've been rejected and you're living in a lonely misery that hangs over your like a cloud.  Jesus said to tell you don't quit, don't stop, loving, don't stop caring, don't stop but go to the next village, go to the next house, go to the next person, but keep your eyes on the prize and keep moving forward.