Luke 10:21-24

Luke chapter 10 verses 21 to 24. In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank thee, O Father Lord of heaven and earth. Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and has revealed them unto babes, even so, Father, so it seemed good. in thy sight. All things are delivered to me of my father. No man knoweth the son, no man knoweth who the son is but the father, and who the father is but the son, and he to whom the son will reveal him. And he turned him unto his disciples and said privately, Blessed are the, eyes which see the things that ye see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and I have not seen them. And they hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. May God bless to us is sacred and holy word this morning. Baba Pamongi, a native convert in India once wrote to his friend, and he said, how I long for my bet. Not that I may sleep, but that I might commune with my God. What shall I render unto him for all the revelations and gifts that he gives me? Were there no historical evidence of the truth of Christianity, where there are no well-established miracles, still, I should believe that the religion propagated by the fishermen of Galilee is divine. The holy joys it brings to me must be from heaven. I think people of the world would find what gives the Christian joy is something that is very strange to them. They just don’t understand it. Because we find joys and things that they can’t imagine. I remind you of the words of Abakha, the last few words of the book, Abakkah. Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines. The labor of the olive shall fall or fail, and the field shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from, befold and there shall be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. My friends, it is the salvation that we have in Christ that gives us the great joy, regardless of what is taking place around us in this society. Jesus, we’re told in Scripture, was a man of sorrows and well acquainted with grief. certainly as you go through this world there is much to be grieved about and one could imagine Christ being grieved about many of the things in his day with regard to the religious situation regard what was happening at the temple and the selling of the various animals and the coin changers and everything else we know this all perturbed him his father’s house was supposed to be a house of prayer and he made it a den of these as he said and yet in our text we find here’s one time we read that Jesus rejoiced our Lord despite his sorrow must have possessed a peaceful and happy spirit the father says of the son thou lovest righteousness and hateest wickedness therefore God thy God hath anointed thee with the oil gladness about thy fellows when we think about that a moment there has to be some joy in Christ that he had with regard to the relationship to his father with regard to the people of God that have come to know him and here we see it occurring in our text it is what Christ rejoiced in that I want to emphasize this morning and I think that’s something we need to ponder what made him joyful because that ought to gain your attention and he is our example so whatever gave him joy ought to give us joy as well the word uh rejoiced that we read about here in verse 21 that Jesus rejoiced here is a very strong word it means almost to leap for joy it was like overwhelming joy that he found in this so what made Jesus Christ so joyful and the question is does it make you joyful as well Well, as we look at this, let me begin by saying this. You learn from Christ for what to thank God the Father in verses 21 and 22. And we read here in that hour, Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and has revealed them unto babes, even so Father, for so it seems. good in thy sight. All things are delivered to me of my father. No man knoweth who the Son is but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, and he to whom the Son, and He, to whom the Son, will reveal Him. You should thank God for the salvation of souls. Christ here rejoices because of the Father granting salvation to God to God. sinners. The 70 disciples have gone out and they’ve gone from town to town, from city to city, working miracles and preaching the gospel. And their master was glad when they returned with tidings of success. In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in Spirit, we read. Now, his joy was not primarily what they were rejoicing over, because they were rejoicing over the fact that the dean, demons were subject to them if they cast them out in the name of Christ. But I believe here that if Jesus would, what pleased Jesus was that people from so many different villages and towns where the gospel had been preached had actually come to know the Lord through this preaching. They were brought to salvation. Dead sinners were made alive and then added to the kingdom of God. Well, many Jews rejected the gospel. In fact, it seems like the closer you get to Jerusalem, the center, the hub of religious society there, the more adamant they were, or more hostile they were toward the gospel. But out here in Galilee, in the more boondockish area, out there further away, we see there were many people who came to know the Lord. through the preaching of the 70 and the disciples and through Christ’s own teaching and preaching in these various towns and villages, the small places, if you would. There’s much in this world that certainly was perverse and had to grieve Christ, but men and women receiving the glad tidings of the gospel made his heart glad. So Christ rejoices because the Father granting salvation here. to sinners. Now, you should follow Christ’s example. You too live in a hostile world, where the gospel is often despised and rejected. We have multitudes that are walking on the broad way that leads ultimately to destruction. They’re hardened in their sin and their unbelief. Yet here and there, perhaps only a few at times, embrace the gospel. And in this we should rejoice. During the early years of the persecution of the church that we find in the book of Acts, the Christians were scattered everywhere, we told. And they began to preach the gospel, wherever they went. And the church at Jerusalem sent Barnabas to go as far as Antioch to just see what was going on. And after hearing the news that a great multitude of Grecians had believed the gospel. And when Barnabas came to Antioch and had seen the grace of God at work in these people, the Bible says he was glad. And he exhorted them all that with purpose of heart that they would cleave under the Lord, Acts 1123. For Barnabas, we read, was a good man in Scripture, and that joy that he had was one evidence of that good. Is he rejoiced when he saw others brought to Christ when we saw the grace of God at work. Paul and Barnabas and certain other Christians passed through Venus and Samaria declaring the conversion of the Gentiles in Acts chapter 15 and the scripture records they cause great joy unto all the brethren. The Jewish believers rejoiced about these other people. The Samaritans and others believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do not we read Jesus saying, I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents. My friends, if the angels rejoice, we should be rejoiced. This is God’s work and he’s saving souls. How is it with you in this respect? Do you rejoice in God’s saving sinners, sadly in our day and age, we have such a low view of salvation. People don’t appreciate the arm of the Lord in it. Many people think of it as an active man. You know, you say the sinner’s prayer, you walk down the aisle of the church, I walk forward during an evangelistic meaning or something of this nature, and that’s how they look at it. And it’s basically man’s action. You ought to bless God when anyone is truly brought to salvation because it is the arm of the Lord in action. We don’t always fully appreciate as we ought. The depravity of man and the power of God that is at work in the conversion of sinners. And therefore, we don’t rejoice as we should. The Armenian believes the human will is the ultimate cause of regeneration. Armenianism is a works religion that basically teaches to the extent that man must accomplish the good work of repentance and faith he can be saved as the spirit works generally in everybody and all this. There’s one Armenian will put it. God cast his vote for you. Satan cast his vote against you. and you get the deciding vote. My friends, let us see that the salvation of the soul is a divine miracle. One is reminded in Ephesians chapter 1 how Paul compares it to the power that resurrected Christ from the dead. It is that kind of power that it takes to save a soul whose dead in trespasses and sins. And if we can, if we can, we could grasp that. If we could grasp that idea, we would rejoice because we would know there’s no way anyone ever would get saved unless God reached out his arm and touched that person and grabbed hold of them and brought them themselves. So for any person to be saved, we ought to rejoice. Look at God’s power. Look how he saved this person from their sins. Look at the life that’s been changed by God’s grace. my friend, that’s all God’s almighty power being displayed. So you should give thanks for the salvation of souls. You should give thanks for God’s sovereignty in granting salvation. The Bible says here that God hides salvation from some, the wise and the prudent. God the Father is declared here to be the God of the Lord, of heaven and earth. this tells us he is the maker of heaven and and all the all the creatures inhabit that in heaven and earth. the scripture tells us in Revelation 4. thou hast created all things. They are and were are and were created. God creates all things creates all things to bring glory to himself in one way or another. As the maker. As the upholder, as the ruler of heaven and earth, God can do whatever he places with his creatures. He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say on him, what doest thou? Daniel 435. As the Lord of heaven and earth, then, the Father decides the eternal destiny. of all people. We read Romans 9, where he is portrayed as the sovereign potter who makes vessels under mercy and vessels under wrath. According to his good pleasure and will, Scripture portrays God in this manner. He hath made all things for himself, yet even the wicked. For the day of evil, the scripture tells us in Proverbs 16. for. Clearly God has hid the things related to the gospel from some individuals. What are the things that are related to the gospel that could be hidden? Well, one thing is the person of Christ, who he really is. That he’s God manifested in the flesh. That he’s the Son of God. That he’s the Messiah. That he’s the Redeemer. That he’s a perfect Savior. That could be hidden from people. They may never grasp that sense. significance about him. Or the blessings of his work. For he is the one who grants grace, righteousness, salvation. And people may not understand that. God hides these things by not illuminating your mind by the work of the Spirit. Therefore, it’s not revealed to you. You can’t see it. Scripture reveals man is spiritually blind so that he cannot see, that he cannot comprehend the spiritual truths related to the person in the work of Jesus Christ. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned. And therefore, if God withholds spiritual illumination, He hides the mystery of the gospel from certain people. Now, there are some people in our world who are colorblind can’t make out colors. I guess they have a black and white world, if you would. You may show them a chart and might have a message on it in color, but to them the chart’s blank because they can’t distinguish the colors. Now, I don’t know if they can do an operation on your eyes to fix that or not. but if you could have your color vision restored, then you could read the message. Otherwise, it remains hidden. And this is the way it is sort of spiritually. The Lord hides the mystery of the gospel from the wise and the prudent, from those who we are worldly wise. Because if he makes you wise unto salvation, then you’re truly wise. But worldly wise, we’re talking about here. The wisdom of the world makes you proud and increases your natural enmity to the gospel of Christ. Men of great learning. Vast knowledge. Wise in the eyes of the world, such as government leaders and sometimes religious leaders and human philosophers, those with prestigious Ivy League educations and so forth, people with all the degrees after their name. Not many wise, men. after the flesh, not many mighty, not many no more are called. As 1. Corinthians 1.26 tells us. So God hides salvation from some. He just doesn’t illuminate them. It doesn’t reveal it to them. But God reveals salvation to others, and this is what he’s rejoicing. In particular, but he rejoices in all that God does. For everything he does is right and good. He rejoices in the fact that he reveals it on the baby. Now, the word reveal here means to uncover, to unveil it to them. Now, Paul was, you remember, was stricken with blindness when he saw the full glory of Christ on the Damascus Road, and he was blind for three days. And Ananias was sent by God to recover Paul from his blindness. And when he healed Paul, we read these words immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales. And he received his sight. Scales here is the coating that would form in pots and pants when you’re cooking. Or in metal containers of some sort, some kettles, and so forth. There’s some kind of coating that was sort of on his eyes and it fell so that now he could see again. When God reveals the truth of the gospel, he removes the very veil that keeps people blind. The babes here are those who are but children and understanding. Of course, until their faculties are changed, their mental faculties are elevated by God’s spirit, they cannot grasp the truth. But babies, here chiefly to be understood of all those, whatever their age is. I’m not talking about age as far as little babies or something. But those who are lowly, those who are humble, those who are simple-minded, the common lot of people, those unlearned in God’s law, those lowly in station like Christ’s disciples who were fishermen and tax collectors, and those low in the people, the world’s status. The Spirit of God enables them to understand and believe the gospel, like taking away the veil from their eyes, and makes them wise unto salvation. Isaiah 28-9 says, whom shall he teach knowledge, and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? It’s up to God who does these things. So God reveals salvation to others. Now, it’s God’s good pleasure. tells us in this text, which determines who is saved and who is not. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight. It’s as if Jesus said, so it is and so let it be, since it’s thy will to do this. My friends, God is sovereign in granting his grace to an individual. God is not influenced by anything in man. He’s not looking at had to see whether this person will believe or not and then decide whether he’s going to save them or not. No, no, no, no. He operates solely according to the good pleasure of his own will. He worketh all things after the counsel of his own will so that his ways are past finding out and you cannot know or predict what he will do. We don’t know who he’s going to save. Who hath known the mind of the Lord or who has known the mind of the Lord? or who has been his counselor? Romans 1134. My friend, he doesn’t take input from man. Blessed are thou Simon Barjona for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto you, which is in heaven, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Let me make this observation and we should beware of being proud of our own wisdom and prudence in embracing the gospel, as if we have accomplished anything at all. People commonly wish to take credit, some credit, in their salvation as if it were some cooperative effort between God and man. I think Jesus completely demolishes this in the teaching that he lays before us here in this text. This never does justice to God’s sovereignty and salvation to teach something like that. The fatal flaw in Armenian the theology is that they don’t believe that God is sovereign in salvation. When they talk about God’s sovereignty, they may talk about God’s sovereignty in all kinds of areas, but it’s one area God won’t touch. So we’re told. The Armenian asked, what ought God to do to man who is this creature? It’s not the right question to ask. What do you mean? God has some kind of obligation to man? God owes man nothing. If this is case that he can’t do whatever he pleases to do. The Armenian asked, what can be done about the man who resist God’s grace and his purpose to save him? Another foolish question. For the Bible tells us very emphatically that God’s will is irresistible. Who hath resisted his will? We read in Romans 9. The sovereign Potter can do whatever he pleases to do. who are you to question what God does? you’re just a man. You’re just a creature. God’s purpose of grace is irresistible. When God exerts his power to save a person, that person’s going to be saved. You know, when we pray about God’s saving people, and I know Armenians do the same thing, we ought to recognize he’s the only one he can. If someone said, when you’re Armenian, you may teach Armenian theology, but you pray like a Calvinist. We should give God thanks for his sovereignty of salvation, that he’s does as he pleases. Let us be thankful that that’s the case. The third thing here, you should give thanks unto God for the wonderful relationship between the father and the son. Notice, he says here in verse 22, all things are delivered to me of my father, and no man knoweth who the son is but the father and who the father is but the son, and he to whom the son will reveal him. We see the vast confidence that the father has in his son here that all things are delivered to me of my father. Now it is true. As God, Christ is equal to God the Father. There’s no question about that. But as the God man, as the mediator, he has delegated authority given. And so we find here, as the meteor, Christ has granted the right over all things, in and for the benefit of his church. and thus Christ has the right to gather his church to appoint ministers, to bestow the spirit as he pleases, to open and close heaven and hell as he pleases. He wills and dispose of all enemies and all creatures as he will. All angels, good and back, are at his command and disposal. and all the elect are delivered to him, to be preserved, to be redeemed, to be saved. All men are placed under his authority to do as he pleases with them. All animals are directed according to his will as well. All the blessings of grace, all the promises of everlasting covenant, are distributed by the son of man as he pleases. That’s the vast confidence the Father has in the God of man, his son, mediator. Now, we see the good understanding between the Father and the Son here. The Excellency of the Son of God is a mystery. His transcendent glories, the perfection of his nature, his work and office as the mediator. All that is committed to his charge is certainly a mystery. Neither man nor angel can know. these things in a comprehensive way, only the Father knows this. No man knoweth the Son, but the Father. So unless you were taught of God, unless it is revealed to you, you can’t know these things. You can never attain a right knowledge of the Son. It’s impossible to obtain it otherwise. The distinction of the Father from the Son and the glory of the Father’s person is also a mystery, no man, nor angel, can perfectly know the Father. No man know the Father but the Son. How can we know the Father? Unless, again, it’s revealed. We don’t know the Father like Christ knows the Father. Can you imagine the intimate fellowship of the Holy Trinity, the persons of the Trinity with one another, is such that they have intimate knowledge of one another. We don’t have that knowledge. What knowledge we have must be obtained from Revelation by the Son, who is the express image of his person. So Christ, by His Word, and by His Spirit, makes the Father known unto us. Otherwise, we wouldn’t know the Father. Let me make this observation then. It is foolish to think that man is capable of finding and believing in the true God without divine teaching and revelation. There are those who talk about the heathen out there in the darkest jungles and so forth, somehow or other they could find God and believe in God and could be saved. No, they can’t. They need the gospel. They need divine revelation. There’s no other way to be saved. They’re never going to do it on their own. How can you know the Father or the son without the revelation that it’s provided for us in the Scriptures and being taught of God? So you learn from Christ what to thank God the Father for here. Secondly, you should thank God for the full light of the gospel that you enjoy. Now, verses 23 and 24, let’s look at that. and he turned him unto his disciples and said privately blessed are the eyes which see the things ye see. for I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which you see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them. It was the privilege of Christ’s disciples to see Christ in the flesh to see the Son of God in human form. to converse with Christ in person, have interaction with Christ, to be eyewitnesses of Christ’s majesty on the Mount of Transfiguration, to witness firsthand the miracles done by Christ and indeed to see His glory as the only begotten of the Father. In addition to what their bodily eyes saw, we also should recognize they were were given spiritual sight. The people in general beheld Christ, but they saw no beauty in him that they should desire him. There was nothing desirable they thought in Christ at all. But his disciples saw Christ with the eyes of faith and saw something desirable in Christ. They knew he was the son of God. They knew he was the mediator. They knew his suitableness a savior and Redeemer as the promised Messiah. And so they believed in him. Their eyes were blessed. Well, others were not. The disciples’ ears were blessed as well. They heard the words of truth from Christ’s own lips. We don’t always fully appreciate the kind of teaching they must have had. When we have it written out for us in Scripture, some of the things that Christ said, can you imagine sitting under his teaching? They heard the great prophet that Moses had promised would come. They even heard a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved son. Here ye him. They heard with spiritual ears the gospel. They truly heard so as to believe. So the people of God, and we must say, the condition of the New Testament Church was therefore more blessed than that of those who were under the Old Testament. The gospel was more clearly expounded to us without all the shadows and types and figures that are found in the Old Testament. Many prophets and kings desire to see Christ in the flesh. They wanted to see Christ’s day. They wanted the promise to be fulfilled in their day. And to know more fully the mysteries of grace, but such a privilege wasn’t granted to them. Kings. We can imagine those under the promises of the Davidic covenant in particular, such as David, and Solomon, Jehosephat, Josiah, and Ezekiah, and so forth. Desired to see the days of the Messiah. Likewise, prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Zachariah, and so forth. inquired and had searched diligently into those things pertaining to Christ that was revealed to them, and yet they did not fully understand it all. But all these Old Testament saints, as great as they were, died in faith, but not yet having received the promises that they knew were coming in the Savior. They only saw them afar off the Bible, says. The Spirit of Christ testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, but they were not privileged to witness whereas the disciples saw him in person, heard and preach, witnessed his miracles, felt the power of his teaching. You, like these disciples, live now under the light of the new covenant and enjoy the fullest revelation. of the things of Christ. So you have a privilege what the Old Testament saints did not possess. Now you were indebted to God for this full light of the gospel that has been provided for you. You live now in the light of the sun compared to the Old Testament saint who was in the moonlight. He had light. Not as light as much light as you do. You understand hundreds of passages of Old Testament of Scripture which have now been revealed to us in the New Testament as referring to Christ in his work. We have so much fuller understanding of these things. They’ve been unlocked and made known to us. You have a great responsibility then to make good use of these privileges that you have, not to neglect them, not to waste them. You have every advantage then to draw near under God. every incentive to search the scriptures the greatest motivation to study carefully the person and the work of Christ the Savior is granted to you because you have the fullest knowledge available. Remember, to whomsoever much is given, much will be required to let us take heed under that. We’ve had all these privileges. Let’s take advantage of these privileges. Let me close. The Christian is an unusual person because we find joy and things the world can’t imagine. You ought to rejoice in all the things that Christ rejoiced in. The salvation of souls, God’s sovereignty and salvation, the wonderful relationship between the Father and the Son, and the full light of the gospel that you possess. Let us rejoice in these things. Let’s not take them for granted. Let’s close with a word of prayer this morning. Thank you.