Greater Knowledge Without Obedience Brings Greater Judgment!
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The Danger Of Knowing But Not Obeying The Gospel
Luke 10:1-16
If you have been here at The Bridge for very long, you have probably figured out that we believe in Heaven and Hell. We believe that both are real. We believe that every person who has ever lived will spend eternity in one or the other. We believe that once a person is cast into Hell, he can never escape. There are no second chances after death. The Bible does not teach the idea of reincarnation. The Bible says, “it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment.” We also believe that Heaven and Hell are the ONLY places people will go after death. The Bible does not teach that there is a place called purgatory, where some people go because they are not so bad as to go to hell, but not good enough to go to heaven, and so they must spend time in purgatory suffering in flames until they have been purged of their sins enough to enter into heaven. That’s actually a blasphemous idea, because it means that Jesus’ sufferings on the cross are not enough to save your soul, but you must add your own suffering to His in order to finally make it to heaven.
Although we have taken Luke 10:1-16 for our text, we are going to focus our attention on Luke 10:12-16. In this passage, Jesus gives us some very sober teaching on the kinds of people who will face the most severe punishments in Hell. If I were to condense the teaching of Jesus Christ in Luke 10:12-16 it would be, “Greater Knowledge Without Obedience Brings Greater Punishment.”
However, before we zero in on vs. 12-16, let me back up and give you the context. In Luke 9, we saw Jesus appoint the 12, and send them out to preach, heal, and cast out demons. Here in Luke 10, we are going to see exactly the same thing, except for the fact that Jesus is going to appoint and send out 70 others. They were to go into various cities, heal the sick, cast out demons, and preach the gospel of the Kingdom. In so doing, they would prepare the way for Jesus, who would come to those same cities at a later date and minister to the people. Now, note the progression. First, we see Jesus preaching, healing, and casting out demons by Himself. Then He widens the ministry circle by sending out the 12 to preach, heal, and cast out demons. Then He widens the ministry circle further by sending out the 70. Finally, we will see in Mark 16, that Jesus appoints His entire church to preach, heal, and cast out demons. Jesus was the pebble that was tossed into the stream, and the 12, and the 70, and the Church are the ripples that follow.
Now, in Luke 10:1-9, we have essentially the same instructions that we find in Luke 9 and Matthew 10. What were Christ’s instructions to them? Basically, they must be prayerful (“Beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” -10:2), courageous (“Go, behold I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves” -10:3), trusting (“Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes” – 10:4), content (“Stay in that house, eating and drinking what they give you… do not keep moving from house to house… eat what is set before you” – 10:7-8), compassionate (“and heal those in it who are sick” – 10:9), and faithful to the truth (“say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you’” -10:9).
In vs. 10-11 Jesus says, “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 our feet we wipe off in protest against you; yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’” Jesus forewarned His disciples that not everyone would receive them or their message. Some would reject them. How were they to respond in this situation? Wipe off the dust of their city from their feet in protest against them. What was Jesus speaking about? Basically, they were giving a visual picture of those people being separated from God. The disciples were to leave the city, and leave its dust behind. This would portray the truth that the city stands alone without God, and must answer for its deeds. When the people reject Christ’s disciples, in essence, they are rejecting Christ and the God who sent Him. It is a fearful thing to reject God and then have to face Him again. The disciples were to warn them that the kingdom of God came near them, but they have lost the opportunity to enter. Now, only God’s judgment remains. Now, we saw those same principles earlier, when we studied Luke 9, so we won’t spend a lot of time on them today. Instead, we will focus on what Jesus teaches next – the danger of knowing but not obeying the truth.
In verses 12-16, Jesus launches into an extremely interesting and solemn warning, that you and I in this place need to listen to very, very carefully. Greater Knowledge Without Obedience Brings Greater Punishment. That is my proposition this morning. I’m going to use that short sentence as my outline. There are three things in that proposition that we need to think about. 1. Greater Knowledge. 2. Without Obedience. 3. Brings Greater Punishment.
1. Greater Knowledge
In this passage Jesus lists six cities – three Old Testament cities and three New Testament cities. He contrasts Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon, with Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Capernaum. Let’s fix our attention first on the ancient cities.
Sodom. Sodom is the most well known of the three ancient cities that Jesus speaks of. And it was well known for its wickedness, and God’s judgment upon it. You may recall that in Genesis 18 three men appear at Abraham’s tent. We find out later, that one of them is the Lord, and the other two are angels. Abraham showed these men great hospitality by butchering a calf and cooking it for them. Afterward the men left and went toward Sodom, where they had a mission to bring judgment upon it. Genesis 18:20 is very instructive. It says, “And the Lord said, “The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave.” The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was so great that God Himself came down to destroy these cities! What was their exceedingly grave sin? Well, Genesis 19 tells us. When the two angels arrived in Sodom, Lot greeted them and took them into his house. However, a great crowd of men from the city demanded that Lot bring out his two visitors so that they could commit homosexual acts with them. When Lot pled with them not to do this wicked thing, they almost broke the door down trying to get in. Finally, these two angels inside, grabbed Lot, pulled him inside, and struck the men at the door with blindness. Now, what would you do if you were instantly struck blind? I think I would stop my wicked deeds, and just try to get home. Instead, they wearied themselves, trying to find the door! So, what was the result? After these angels had rescued Lot and his family, the Lord rained on it fire and brimstone and utterly destroyed it.
How would the Jews of Jesus’ day have viewed Sodom? They knew that homosexuality was punishable by death according to their own Law. They knew God called it a detestable act in Lev. 20:13. They knew God called it an abomination in Lev. 18:22. A respectable Jew would have looked upon Sodom as the most wretched and wicked of ancient cities.
Tyre and Sidon. Tyre and Sidon were coastal cities along the Mediterrean Sea, just North and West of the Sea of Galilee. They were known for their commerce, their materialism, and their idolatry. In Isaiah 23, and Ezekiel 26 we have prophecies of God’s judgment and destruction of these two cities. Interestingly Tyre was a city on an island, just off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Because of this, no armies could conquer it. That was true, until Alexander the Great. Alexander decided that he would never stop until he had brought the people of Tyre into subjection to his kingdom. So he took stones and timber from the shore, and built a land bridge all the way out to the island, and then attacked and conquered the city. Tyre was destroyed. At the time of Jesus, it was still there, but it was only a hollow shell of what it had been formerly.
These Cities Had Little Knowledge of Divine Truth. All three of these cities were pagan, gentile cities. The only light of divine truth that Sodom had would have been from Lot who lived within its walls. However, Lot was in a backslidden state, and probably didn’t spend much time proclaiming God’s truth to the Sodomites. The cities of Tyre and Sidon were even more in the dark spiritually, having precious little of God’s truth. Now, it is important to note that God destroyed the people of these cities for their wicked and vile sins, in spite of the fact that they knew little or nothing of the true and living God. Now, let’s consider the three other cities of Jesus’ day that He mentions here.
Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. These three cities were clustered close together along the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Chorazin was a little village, about two miles from Capernaum. It doesn’t exist today. Bethsaida was the home of Andrew and Philip and Peter. It was the place where the Lord fed the five thousand. It was also the place where Jesus healed a blind man by spitting on his eyes. And then we have Capernaum. Capernaum was Jesus’ headquarters. He spent lots of time there. He preached there, and healed there, and cast out demons there, and did many mighty miracles there. These three towns were literally only a few miles from each other. They had such great spiritual privileges. They had often heard Jesus preach, and had often seen His miracles. They had received divine revelation from the lips of the Son of God Himself. Jesus had taught them spiritual truth. He had taught them about His Father, and His kingdom, and heaven and hell, and their need to follow Him. There were no cities on the face of the planet with more spiritual privilege than them, because they had heard the most truth, and seen the most miracles which gave evidence that this truth was from God. They did have greater knowledge.
2. Without Obedience
Now, what did Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum do with all this rich spiritual truth that they heard? The fact is that they heard, but they didn’t obey. The listened, but they didn’t apply what they heard. They ignored Christ’s summons. They rejected the truth that He taught. Now, we have no record of them being outright hostile to Christ or His disciples. We don’t read of them trying to throw Him off a cliff like they tried to do to Him in Nazareth. We don’t read of them trying to stone Him or beat Him, or persecute Him or drive Him away. No, they tolerated His presence, but they did not surrender to Him as Lord and follow Him! They were just indifferent to Him. I’m sure they were fascinated with His miracles, but they did not obey His teaching and follow Him.
They Didn’t Receive Christ’s Messengers. Verse 10-12 says, “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 our feet we wipe of in protest against you; yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ I say to you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city.” Christ had sent 70 of His representatives, His ambassadors into those towns and villages and Jesus knew ahead of time that many would not receive the messengers or the message that they brought. In fact, in verse 16 Jesus says, “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.” Jesus knew that some would reject His disciples. In reality, they were rejecting Jesus who sent them. Further, they were rejecting God who sent Jesus who sent them. So, these cities, favored with so much light and knowledge, rejected the messengers, and the message.
They Didn’t Repent. Notice verse 13, “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.” Tyre and Sidon would have repented. The implication is that Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum didn’t! They heard the truth, but didn’t repent. Perhaps they even enjoyed listening to Jesus. But it didn’t move them to action! They didn’t apply His teaching to their lives. They didn’t forsake their sins, and cry to God for mercy.
Oh, my friends, be very, very, afraid of hearing truth and not obeying it! That is the sin the brought eternal judgment upon these cities. The more knowledge you have, the more responsible you become. I’m speaking to some very responsible people this morning, because you have heard much truth. Make sure that when you read your Bible, or go to a Bible Study, or sit under the preaching of the Word here on Sunday mornings, you are determined to apply that truth to your life.
3. Brings Greater Punishment
Now, what happened to the peoples of Sodom, Tyre and Sidon? They were condemned and eternally judged. How do we know? Because Jude 6-7 says, “And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.” Listen to that again, Sodom and Gomorrow are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire. I think it’s clear. The people of Sodom are experiencing eternal punishment in Hell. Now, if the people of Sodom are under eternal punishment, I think it’s safe to assume that the inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon who also experienced God’s judgment and destruction, are also in that same place.
However, notice a little phrase in verse 12 and 14, “I say to you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city… But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you.” What does Jesus mean by “it will be more tolerable”? What is He talking about?
In that day. What day is Jesus speaking about? He tells us in verse 14, “But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you.” Jesus is speaking about Judgment Day. When Jesus Christ returns, He will come as Judge, to judge the living and the dead. All men will be brought before Him to receive their eternal sentence from His own lips. What is Jesus saying here in Luke 10? He’s saying that on Judgment Day, the people of Sodom, and Tyre, and Sidon will receive a lighter punishment than the people that lived during His own day and saw His miracles and heard His teachings.
The Bible teaches us that there will be degrees of punishment in Hell. The hottest places in Hell will be reserved for those people who knew the most truth but did not obey it! You may be thinking, “Brian, I think you’re making a bit much of one little passage of Scripture.” OK, let’s look at a few other passages which teach the exact same thing.
Heb. 10:26-29, “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” Now, what is this Scripture teaching? It’s teaching that there were severe and deadly consequences to the person who rejected the Law of Moses. But that’s nothing compared to what people will receive in Hell if they reject the gospel. If you reject the Law of Moses, you’re a dead man. But if you reject Jesus Christ, you will face a far more terrifying eternity than that. Still not convinced? Let’s look at another passage.
Luke 12:47-48, “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few.” The difference in their punishment was the knowledge or lack of knowledge of the Master’s will. The ones who knew it will receive a severe whipping, while the ones who didn’t know it will get off easier. There will be degrees of punishment in Hell, just as there will be degrees of rewards in Heaven.
Woe to you (13). What does that mean. The word “woe” is an interjection which is an exclamation of grief, distress, or lamentation. Jesus is exclaiming that the cities that rejected His teaching will experience eternal grief, distress, and lamentation. They are eternally cursed.
Capernaum will be brought down to Hades (15). Jesus says they will not be exalted to heaven, but brought down to Hades. Hades is the place of the departed dead. When it is contrasted to Heaven, it can only refer to Hell. Jesus was telling His disciples, that the people of Capernaum would be brought down to Hell! Now, if you would have asked the people of Capernaum what were the most vile and wicked sinners who ever lived, how would they answer? They would probably say the people of Sodom, because God brought down such a devastating judgment upon them and destroyed them all. They might also say the people of Tyre and Sidon because of the judgments God pronounces upon them in Scripture and because the king of Tyre seems to be linked with Satan himself in Ezekiel 28. They would probably say that they were among the best because they were God’s covenant people. They were the chosen ones. But, boy are they in for a shock! According to Jesus, when they all got to the judgment, they would find out it is going to be worse for them than for the Sodomites.
Conclusion
Let me do my best to bring these truths home to you today.
My friends, some of you come here week after week, but remain unconverted. You enjoy the singing, and listening to the preaching, but you remain unchanged. Now, I’m very glad you are here. But you need to understand that if you are not determined to believe this gospel that is preached, and repent of your sins, and surrender to Jesus Christ, it would be far better for you to never come back. In fact, if you walk out of this place and refuse to bow your knee to Christ as Savior and Lord, it would be better for you to have never been born.
Being in a place like this can be a tremendous blessing, but it can also be a place of grave danger. The Word of God can convert you, and transform you, and sanctify you, or if it is not obeyed, it can be the means of bringing you to a much hotter place in Hell. It all depends on whether you believe and obey this gospel or just remain indifferent to it.
When are you going to start following Jesus?! When are you going to deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow Him? When are you going to repent of your sin? When are you going to really believe this Good News? A church that preaches the gospel is a dangerous place to be, if you don’t believe that gospel. Oh, come to Jesus this morning! Surrender your life to Christ! Trust in Him!
Are you going to be content, week after week, month after month, to remain as you are? Today is the day of salvation. Why do you wait? Every week that you listen to the gospel, but don’t obey it, your heart is becoming harder and harder to its truths. Cry out to God this morning for mercy.
Do you realize that the gospel is a message that must be obeyed? Listen to the words of 2 Thess. 1:7-9, “when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in 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. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.” I’m calling on you this morning to start obeying the gospel. You say, how do I do that? You obey the gospel by trusting it with all your heart. Stop trusting in yourself, and your imagined “goodness”, and start trusting Christ, and His finished work at the cross where He turned away God’s wrath. You also obey the gospel by repenting of sin. Repenting is simply turning away from all other empty, worthless gods. Anything that stands in your way of trusting fully in this gospel is something you must turn from. Fight with all your might to turn from anything that would lure you away from Christ and Him crucified. We also obey the gospel by surrendering. As long as you refuse to bow your knees to Jesus Christ, you will remain an enemy of God. Saving faith comes from the mind, the emotions and the will. Choose this day who you will serve! Give Christ your life, and begin to follow Him today. Let’s pray.
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