Luke 6:12-19 Sermon for May 10, 2026
Well, good evening!
The last two weeks, we spent a ton of time going through some necessary teaching points where we explored what it means to pour new wine into old wineskins and why this isn’t something we should do, and we explored just last week what SHADOWS and TYPES are in the Old Testament and how these things point to the substance, that is, Jesus Christ.
In both weeks, we also talked about how and why the Old Testament is pointing to Jesus, who will be fully revealed in the New Testament. The main idea would be this: whenever we read anything in the Old Testament, we should be asking, “Where is Jesus?” or “How does what I just read point to Jesus?” We should not move forward to the next Bible reading until we’ve answered that question.
Today, we’re taking a look at a passage where Jesus choses His 12 disciples. And one thing you should have in the back of your mind as we walk through this passage, verse by verse tonight, is that it is immediately followed by the famous Sermon on the Mount. We will get to that part next week. So excited about that by the way.
But, really quick, the Sermon on the Mount in Luke is often called the Sermon on the Plan and it is a much more concise version of the one we find in Matthew’s Gospel. Luke’s account is Luke 6:17-49, and we will be spending a few weeks on this. Actually, we will be in the Sermon on the Mount through the last Sunday of June. So, do all that you can to really study up on it. Read the counter part found in Matthew spanned across 3 chapters, five through seven!
Next week, I will be preaching on the Beatitudes portion of this famous sermon, which are absolutely beautiful words of our Lord!
Alright, so, let’s take a moment and turn to Luke 6:12-19. The last couple of weeks, I actually read the entire passage and then preached on it. Today, I will be taking us through it verse by verse, give or take. SO, a lot of pauses.
During those days he went out to the mountain to pray and spent all night in prayer to God (v 12).
Jesu spends the entire night in prayer BEFORE something happens next and that’s the choosing of the 12 disciples. Now, our Lord is sovereign and He has already ordained who will be his disciples. And yet, He prays before a major decision.
One thing to note is that this isn’t some filler detail to stretch out Luke’s account. No, Luke highlights it to shows that His ministry flows from communion with the Father.
This is important for us today, especially as those in church leadership of any sort. Or for all believers before they make any major decision in life. You must always pray.
Listen, I want to highlight something here and be extremely vulnerable for a moment. When I stepped in to pastor Kingdom Bound Church, I knew I had a decision to make. To either be completely dependent on God through abiding, prayer, and communion with Him. In which prayer is the golden thread that weaves our story here. OR to be like a majority of pastors and lead through human charisma and human strategy.
What do I mean by the latter part? To lead through spiritual manipulation, oratory skills, modern leadership skills, and so forth. To use that gifts and talents that God has given me to pastor a flock in a such a way that the spotlight remains on me and give the allusion that I want the spotlight on God.
I’m telling you that this happens way to often. Many people when choosing a new church are looking for a dynamic preacher who will keep them entertained. What many people are NOT looking for is a preacher who will be humble ambassadors of the grace and truth of God and teach Scripture.
Let me give you the most recent stat: estimates are about 1,500 to 1,700 pastors leaving ministry per month due to burnout, conflict, or moral failure. Most of this has to do with burn-out. Most of this has to due with the fact that we’ve defined pastoral leadership success as absolutely ANYTHING BUT faithfulness to the call of God on the lives of men.
And when you dig deeper into these stories, you’ll find that key components of these guys that fall out of ministry includes a lack of prayer life, a lack of dependence on the Father in their leadership framework, a lack of abiding in Jesus, and a lack of remembering that it is their call that sustains them.
Now, my friends, I’ve decided that I was going to aim to be the kind of pastor that relies, not on my own strength, character, personality, and charisma, but rather, on total dependence of God. What this means is that it is my goal to last long here, through both valley and mountain-top season. Why? Because I am powerless. I am not the point here. Jesus is. This isn’t my church. It’s Jesus’. I am totally dependent on the Triune God.
So, please pray for me without ceasing in this matter. I look at the text, and I am immediately convicted. What good is it to do all kinds of events, service planning, sermon preparation, leadership selection, without rooting it is the preceding requirement of prayer? If the Lord Jesus prayers, how much should we?!
Do we not understand that prayer is absolutely necessary and powerful? Imagine going to a car show and seeing this classic, muscle car. You marvel at it. You gawk at it. You are mesmerized by it. You are fortunate to be let it and go give it a spin. You go to turn on the car and nothing starts. After a few attempts, you ask the person why it isn’t starting.
“Oh,” they said, “It has no engine.” Huh? No engine. That’s what it’s like for a church without prayer. That’s why we are seeing so many churches in the news lately doing bafoonery stuff and going off the charts. It’s purely a spectacle but lacks a source connected to God. Let’s continue.
When daylight came, he summoned his disciples, and he chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles. Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John; Philip and Batholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot; Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor ( vs 13-16).
Now, we have Jesus, upon daylight, choosing the 12. Now, first, we must remember that there were other disciples who walked with Jesus who were not part of the 12. The 12 would be called The Apostles. And this is important to distinguish.
A disciple is one who will apprentice under Jesus and follow in the footsteps of Jesus. An Apostle is one who will be particularly ordained by the seen Jesus to write Scripture and have deep authority. In other words, the office of Apostle, capital A, is obsolete today.
It’s important to understand something here: Jesus chooses 12. Why? To signal the birth of the new Israel. Jesus is reconstituting the people of God around Himself. Jesus is the better Moses, forming a new covenant community.
You have 12 disciples chosen. This mirrors the 12 tribes of Israel. The old covenant was temporary and preparatory. It was built, as we talked about last week, on shadows and types. It pointed to the greater covenant, a greater Mediator, a greater people. Israel’s entire structure was a preview of what Jesus would fulfill.
Really quick before we move on: Ephesians 2:20 says that the church is built on the foundation of apostles and prophets with Christ as the cornerstone. Meaning, the apostles are the new tribal heads, the church is the new covenant nation (1 Peter 2:9), and Jesus is forming a new people, not merely reforming the old one. We’re going to talk extensive about this whole new covenant idea repeatedly.
And one more thing to not miss when we see Jesus praying and then going among the people: this is true pastoral leadership as well.
Today, I am seeing a ton of pastors and church leaders who remain untouchable in their greens rooms. They give great spiritual Ted talks, wear nice clothing, write books and use church money to buy them and force them unto NYT best seller lists, and blah, blah, blah. They’re rarely with the people and this is a massive issue today!
You cannot pastor from anything by humility. You cannot pastor through a screen. You cannot pastor from a distance. You cannot pastor with a chip on your shoulder. You cannot pastor and keep isolated from the sheep YOU ARE CALLED to shepherd. Alright, moving on.
Oh, one more thing: time does not permit us to go into the intimate detail character portraits of each of the disciples here, but we will be digging deep into each of them as time permits. We will take a look at their personal lives, what they did, and what happened to each of them post resurrection. Ok, now we can move on.
After coming down with them, he stood on a level place with a large crowd of his disciples and a great number of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon (v 17).
As we talked about before, what we are seeing here is the full display of human inability to save themselves. We are talking about a great number of people here. They came from everywhere.
And here’s the thing you need to know: you need Jesus even when you think you are having a good, healthy day. You are totally dependent on God 24/7. How often do people come seeking God only when they are going through a crisis and when life is going well, we regard God none?
Did you know that when we do that we are functionally living as if we are god ourselves? It’s either that or we’re totally using God for His benefits only. A name for that is Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. It’s when we view God as a cosmic therapist, whereby God wants people to feel good, happy, and be nice to others. And where we call on God when there is a problem.
A key to all of this is that we need to desire God in our good moments the same way we do when we’re going through dark seasons. That is evidence that we want God for God Himself and not just what we think He can give us.
So, who were these people coming to Jesus that day? Let’s continue.
They came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those tormented by unclean spirits were made well. The whole crowd was trying to touch him, because power was coming out from him and healing them all (vs 18-19).
Alright, so, you had all kinds of people coming to Jesus that day. You had people who were sick, who needed to be healed, AND those experiencing real spiritual oppression from a demonic being. This isn’t something we talk about often but I preached on this a while back and will be touching on this more and more as we venture our way through Luke’s Gospel.
But, it’s worth bearing here this: we take Scripture at face-value. Demons are fallen angels. They oppose God and seek to destroy image-bearers. They can influence, deceive, oppress, and posses people. Unclean emphasizes moral corruption, spiritual impurity, and opposition to God’s holiness.
Now, demon possession is when a demon exerts direct control over a person’s body or speech. No true believer can be demon-possessed. Torment or oppression is when a demon afflicts, harasses, or attacks a person through fear, confusion physical symptoms, nightmares, compulsions, spiritual heaviness, and destructive thoughts.
Torment is real influence without total control. It’s worth remembering this: Demons only operate by permission (Job 1-2), and are within limits. Torment is never random. It is never outside God’s rule. And it is NEVER equal to God’s power. The Devil and his demons are not omni-present, omniscient, and omnipotent.
In the Scriptures, demonic torment highlights human inability. And when Jesus confronts an unclean spirit, Jesus sins instantly, the demons obey, and the person is restored.
As I invite the worship team back up, I’ll end with this: believers cannot be possessed (since they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit). Believers belong to Christ only. They are sealed for redemption.
However, believers can be tormented and oppressed. And what you need to remember that Christ is greater than he who is in the world. You need to remember that Christ has the victory. You need to remember the crushing of Satan. You need to remember that Satan and his minions are on a timeclock and the clock is ticking. Jesus has already said, “Checkmate” when he was crucified and then rose from the grave. Don’t let the enemy feed you a bunch of lies. How do you do this: be in the Word of God constantly, pray, abide in Him, and don’t detach from your Creator.
