chapter of the book of Luke,
beginning at verse 21, about five things which deserve our
attention. The 21st verse, it says, in that
hour, Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from
the wise and the prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Even so, father, for it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered to me
of my father, and no man knoweth who the son is, but the and who the Father is but the
Son. That is, no man knows who the
Son is but the Father, and no one knows who the Father is but
the Son. And then in the last statement
he says, And he to whom the Son will reveal him. The Son will
reveal the Father to some at his will. and according to his good pleasure. And he turned him unto his disciples,
turned into their direction where they were at, and he said privately
to them, not to the multitude that had gathered to hear him,
or gathered for some reason or the other, but he turned privately
twelve disciples and said this, he said, Blessed are the eyes
which see the things that you see. For I tell you that many prophets
and kings, and I think he has reference to prophets like Isaiah, Ezekiel,
Moses, kings like David, And I tell you that many prophets
and kings have desired to see the things which you see, these
disciples, and have not seen them and to hear those things
which you hear and have not heard them. Now, the first thing that I think
that deserves our attention is the fact that this 21st verse
says, and when it says it, it is the
only instance in the Bible, or the only instance on record,
of our Lord Jesus Christ manifesting a glad and happy spirit, a glad
attitude. that he rejoiced in the Spirit. I think I told you Wednesday
night we talked a little bit about some verses in the middle
of this chapter. I told you that it's recorded
three times in the Bible that the Lord Jesus Christ wept. But
only one instance on record does it tell us that our Lord Jesus
Christ rejoiced. Now, if we could find out what
made him rejoice, what made him happy, what made him glad, well,
maybe we could find something to rejoice about. It wouldn't
be hard for us to find something to rejoice about, I'm sure. But
if we could find out what he rejoiced about, well, I'm sure
that we could have him as an example. in order that we might
rejoice. Well, what was the cause of his
joy? That's the question. In that
hour, at that time, Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit. What caused him
to rejoice? Well, it was because of the reception
of his gospel by the weak and the lowly of these Jewish people. It made him happy. He rejoiced
because of these ones that were cast down, the weak and simple
ones, the poor and the lowly, were recipients of his gospel. That is, that they believed in
his gospel. And that caused him to rejoice.
Now, there is no doubt in my mind that he saw this world and
its true picture in that he was God as well as man. And he saw
much in this world to cause him to grieve as a man. But here, when it says he rejoiced
in spirit, The cause for his rejoicing was that there were
some in this world, though they were lowly and poor and despised
and outcasts of society, they received him joyfully and gladly
and believed his word and believed his gospel, while the wise and
the prudent stood on the outside and rejected his gospel. That
caused him to rejoice, and that ought to cause you and I to rejoice,
especially when we understand somewhat of the blindness and
the wickedness and the unbelief that is so prevalent and manifest
in this world. The blindness of men, blind to
their needs, blind to the beauty of the gospel. Everywhere we
look, all we need to do is look around us, and we see a blind
man. We see a wicked man. We see a
man that can't see, groping in the dark, indifferent. But when
we see one, when we see one that can see and can understand, and
can come to the knowledge of the truth of the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ, we ought to rejoice because it is a wonder
and a wonderment. It is amazing that any at all
ever believed the gospel. We are all alike. All are sinners. All of us are blind and wicked
and evil. And so when we see one who fits
this description, who is poor and weak and lowly, see him become
a recipient of the gospel and receive the Lord Jesus Christ,
well, that will give us cause to rejoice. His heart was refreshed. saw what was taking place and
made him happy and he's glad. Well, you know, there's very
little in this world we can find to cheer about. There's nothing here. We're living
in a world that hates God. And the majority of the peoples
that inhabit this planet at any given time The majority of them
now, not the minority, the majority, the majority of these are walking
in the broad way that leads to destruction. There's very few
that have the clear-cut knowledge of the truth of the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The majority, the majority. what the percentage would be,
I don't know, but I bet it's 90%. I bet 90% of the people
that are alive at any given time are walking in that broad road
that leads to destruction and misery. Only few there be who
believe to the saving of their souls. Only a few, just a few,
think of it, just a few, just a small minority. No wonder he
says here to these disciples, he turned to them privately and
said, Blessed are the eyes which see in the things that you see. How blessed we are and privileged
we are here tonight, these 35 or 40 of us. that we see, that we hear, that
we understand, that we know who the Lord Jesus Christ is. We
know what He did, and we know why He did it. And that God has
singled us out and revealed Himself to us who are insignificant and
poor and lowly. Why? He said, I thank thee, O
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hid these things
from the wise and approved. You've hid them. They can't see
them. The majority, I said, can't see
or they can't understand. They're walking the broad way.
But he said, there's a few who have revealed these things that
concern the gospel and the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
babes, the babes, the little ones, the insignificant ones,
the outcasts. Oh, very little in this world
to rejoice about. But boy, when you see one that's
a recipient of the gospel, boy, you can rejoice. That's what
caused our Lord to rejoice. Let us be thankful that any of
us all are converted. If left up to ourselves, we wouldn't
be converted. If God would have walked by,
if he would have passed by, that's what the hymn writer had in mind
when they wrote that hymn, Pass Me Not, Pass Me Not. Oh, while on others thou art
calling, Do not pass me by. That's what he's talking about.
He understood that. That hymn writer understood what
I'm talking about here. While on others thou art calling,
do not pass me by. Our Lord could have walked by
us. He could have passed by us. And we've been this evening,
as other men, indifferent and unconcerned, walking where? To
Broadway. spend our leisure time at home
on a Sunday evening or Sunday morning, the Wednesday night.
We'd have no interest in the gospel of our Lord Jesus. We'd
grow weary. I heard a fellow say not too
long ago, he said he told the preacher, he said, I'm in this
business of going to church. He said, I'm weary of it. I'm
weary of it. I'm tired of it. It's wearing
me out. And he said, we have On Monday
night, we have deacons meeting. Tuesday night, we have Sunday
school, a preview of the coming Sunday school lesson. Wednesday
night, we have prayer meeting. Thursday night, we have choir
practice. And Friday night, we have brotherhood
meeting. And Saturday night, we have...
He said, you're wearing me out. Now, that'd wear me out. I'd
wear me out seven nights a week for some sort of organization
and all that. But oh, what a privilege it is
that God's given us eyes to see and we're not involved in organizations. We're not involved in all these
things that would take up our time and weary us. But all we're
involved in is the Lord Jesus Christ and hearing the good news
and the glad tidings. that he died for sinners. Oh,
let us be thankful that any at all are converted unto God. It is hard to realize the sinfulness
of man's sufficiency. Every conversion of a soul is
likened to a miracle in itself. If we could just grasp the awfulness
of our ruin, our state, our condition. We're so far off from God. We're ten million light miles away
from God. Since the fall of man, we have
fallen so far away from God that there's no semblance whatsoever
of that which is pleasing unto God in us. We're like dead dogs. Sinfulness. It's hard to realize
the sinfulness of man's sufficiency. That's the reason I say that
every conversion is like a miracle. Why, it's as great as the Lord
Jesus Christ raising dead Lazarus. Lazarus comes forth, a great
miracle, but it is a greater miracle in the conversion of
a soul when God speaks peace to a soul and reveals to him
the knowledge of the truth. And another thing that I think is ought to be considered in
these verses of Scripture that I read to you, is the sovereignty
of the Lord Jesus Christ in this matter of saving sinners. He said, I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hid these things from
the wise and the prudent and has revealed them unto babes. Now, the meaning of this is very
simple. Now, you can complicate it if
you want to, but it is very simple. And the meaning is this, there
are some from whom salvation is hidden, and there are others
to whom it is revealed. That is how simple this statement
is. There are some to whom salvation
is hidden, and there are others to whom salvation is revealed. Now, that sets forth the sovereignty
of Almighty God in salvation. There are some converted and
there are some still dead in trespasses and in sin. And the
only thing we can say about it is acknowledge the words of our
Lord Jesus Christ As he acknowledged after saying it here in the last
line of this 21st verse, he said, Even so. Now, he says the even
so at the conclusion of I thank thee that thou hast hid these
things from the wise and the proof, and hast revealed them
unto me. And he said, Even so. For it seemed good in thy sight."
And that's all we can say. That's all we can say. No need
to argue about it. Sovereignty of God. Then another
thing I want you to notice. I want you to notice the character
of those from whom the truth is hidden. He calls them the
wise and the proof. And I wouldn't want you to gather
a wrong lesson from this statement. It does not, and I do not mean
to infer, not now or any other time, that there are any person
or persons upon the topside of God's green earth that are deserving
of God's grace and God's salvation. I don't mean to say that or infer
that. And I would want you to get that
out of what is read here when it says that God has hid
these things from the wise and the prudent. We're all alike. None of us have
any merit. None of us have that which is
deemed necessary by God for our acceptance, a righteousness that
meets the demands of God's holiness. None of us have it. The wise
and the prudent are the babes, the weak and the lowly. None
of us have the merit or the righteousness that God demands. As a matter
of fact, all of us together, the wise and the prudent and
the weak, the babes, all of us deserve the wrath of God and
the condemnation of God. That's what we deserve. But when
he talks about the wise and the prudent, I think he has reference
to the religious. He has reference here to the
scribes and the Pharisees. They were the wise and they were
the prudent. If you remember over there in
the first book of Corinthians when he talks about the wisdom
of this world, he said that no man knows God by the wisdom of
this world. He said it's an impossibility
for a man to know God by and through the wisdom of this world.
Now you see, the wisdom of this world, that's accumulated and
achieved by an individual often makes a man very proud. Makes him very proud and it increases
his natural enmity to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
the man who has no pride of knowledge or fancy so-called morality to
fall back on, often has the fewest difficulties in coming to the
Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn't have anything to unlearn.
Most religious people have to unlearn a whole lot before they
ever come to the knowledge of the truth. Most men that are
full of the wisdom of this world, The wisdom of God offends their
dignity. It offends their pride. They
say, well, are you putting me on the same level with a harlot
or with a thief? That offends man in his wisdom. I'm better than that. I'm not
like them. I haven't fallen into immorality,
such as this fellow has, and so forth. It offends them. Publicans, the Bible says, publicans
and sinners, they enter in the kingdom of God. They're the first
to enter into the kingdom of God, publicans and sinners, the
Bible says. While the religious, the Pharisees
and the scribes, stand on the outside and argue about it. And
they're right. Don't argue about it. Believe
it. Bow to it. That's what I'm saying. Just
bow to the Lord Jesus Christ. Say, Lord, I don't feel like
I'm a sinner. If that's the way you feel. Say, I don't feel like
I'm that bad. Tell God about it. He'll make you feel bad.
You see, the way to feel good is to feel bad. You can't feel
good until you first feel bad. Can't do it. There's no way up
until you first go down. There's no way to be full until
you're empty. That's all there are to it. There's
no way to get better until you're sick. There's no way to be a
subject of resurrection until you're dead. Just bow to God. Believe what
God said about you. Man's pride refuses to let him
do that. He won't believe, I'm not that
bad. impugn the integrity, the wisdom
of God Almighty. You're saying, God don't know
me like He says He knows me. But He does know you. He knows
what's in man's heart. He's the maker of the heart.
And He knows what's in that heart. And only the maker of the heart
can be the breaker of the heart. If He breaks your heart, then
you'll plead to Him. Nothing blinds the soul to the
beauty of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ as a vain idea that
we, or you, or me, are not as ignorant and wicked as somebody
else, and that we've got a character that will bear inspection. That's
what fogs up the view of the soul, when he thinks his character
can bear up to an intense inspection, blinds his eyes to seeing the
beauty of the gospel of Christ dying for sinners. If a man is never a sinner, he's
got no hope if he's not a sinner. Happy is the man who's learned
by the grace of God and the power of the Spirit of God through
the Word of God. Happy is that man who has learned
that he is poor and wretched and miserable and blind. Blessed
is that man. Happy is that man. Well, then
the next thing I want you to consider is the majesty and the
dignity of the Lord Jesus Christ as manifested in these few passages
of Scripture that I have read to you. It says here in verse
22, which sets forth His majesty and splendor and dignity of His
Godhood. He said, All things are delivered to me. Now, this
is the very God of the very God talking. This is the Lord Jesus
Christ, the God-man. That's the end on the topic.
And he says, All things are delivered to me of my Father. And he said,
No man, without exception, no man knoweth who the Son is but
the Father. And no man knoweth who the Father
is but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal it. This
shows him, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the head over all things. It shows him as one distinct
from the Father, and yet entirely one with the Father. No man knoweth
who the Son is. No man knows that but the Father. And no man knows who the Father
is but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. Christ, what it is saying is
Christ over all, blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the man who trusts in the Lord Jesus Christ knows that
Christ will not fail him. He will not fail you in your
desperate hour. You may have some desperate hours
before you die. But I'll guarantee you this,
every one of us, myself including Dudley, that we'll have a desperate
hour when we're laying there dying. That'll be a desperate hour.
We'll struggle, I'm afraid many will do. We'll say, am I in? Have I been deceived? Is it a
delusion? Is it just an idea? Or am I linked to this person
who can take me beyond the grave? You need no help to get to the
graveyard. It's after the grave that you
need to help. And then the last thing is this,
the privilege of those who hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said to them privately, Blessed
are the eyes which see, and the things which ye see. For I tell
you that many prophets and kings have desired to see the things
which you see and have not seen them, and to hear the things
which you hear and have not heard them. You see, the knowledge
of Old Testament saints and New Testament is as wide and as far
removed as the winter is from the summer. See the death, the coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ and the death of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the resurrection and the ascension of Christ, untied knots
in the Old Testament that could not be understood prior to the
doing and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the reason he says the
kings and prophets have desired to hear and to see what you've
seen and what you've heard, because their knowledge was very valuable.
The average New Testament saint who knows what I'm talking about
when I talk about the gospel of redeeming grace through the
Lord Jesus Christ, conditioned upon the blood and righteousness
of Christ alone, probably, in all probability, knows more about
it than King David did. And King David wrote all of those
psalms there, those psalms of praise to Jesus. But yet he didn't
know the things that you and I know, and the things that you
and I see, and the things that you and I hear. That's how privileged
we are. the great prophets Jeremiah and
Ezekiel and all those. Those Scriptures were tied up.
They were tied up and the knot couldn't be picked out of them
until the doing and the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ and
His resurrection. And they opened up! They opened
up the Scriptures! Why, those folks just had a vague
idea of the coming, the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. That
was a great mystery, how God could become a man and satisfy
himself. That's a mystery. They didn't
understand that back there in the Old Testament. Our Lord Jesus Christ privately
said to them, well, I said, many prophets and kings, David, Ezekiel,
Jeremiah, Jonah, all them fellows back there, Moses, He said they
desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them.
They didn't see them. They are dead. They didn't see
them. They didn't understand them. But the coming of the Lord manifested
and took out the hard places. And to hear those things which
ye hear have not heard them. You say, well, was he talking
about salvation there? Yeah, he was talking about God
saving sinners. See, there's a fellow hurting
there. And behold, a certain lawyer stood up, one of them
scribes, a lawyer, and tempted him. His motive was wrong in
asking the question. He knew what God was talking
about. He knew what the Lord Jesus was talking about. He had
ears to hear. And this is what he said. He
said, Master, what shall I do? and inherit eternal life. That's
what our Lord was talking about. He was talking about some being
saved and some being lost. Some on the broad way, some on
the narrow way. The majority, He said, are on
the broad way and those few that are on the narrow way who do
bow to the Lord Jesus Christ and receive Him and bless His
name. Well, He said, they make me glad
and I rejoice. just acknowledge the truth of
God and say, even so, Father, for it seemed good, and I