Open your Bible to Luke, and
it's chapter 10 again. Luke chapter number 10. And I'm already looking ahead
to two or three other messages on this great chapter. The Lord
willing. Luke chapter number 10. Last Sunday evening, we spoke
about the joy of the 70 at the success of their ministry. It was wonderful how the Lord
blessed these men. They were able to cast out devils
in the Savior's name. Look at verse 17 of Luke chapter
10. They returned again with joy,
saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy
name. I know that they said through
the Savior's name, but as we all know, pride grows naturally
in our hearts. The Lord corrected them, and
I think it's for this reason, because even though they said
through thy name, they first of all said unto us, and I know
what our tendency is. We'll begin to emphasize the
unto us more. and under-emphasize his name. That's just the way we are. And
they went forth rejoicing. They went forth and did this
work and they came back and they're rejoicing what they had been
able to do and what they had witnessed. And I can understand
their joy at people being converted. The Spirit of God working mightily
in the hearts of these that listened to their message of the Kingdom
of God. Sinners were brought into the
fold of salvation. They were brought to see who
the Lord Jesus is. You can be sure of this, when
these 70 went out setting forth the Word of God, they preached
Jesus Christ and the necessity of His work of redemption. The
Savior had instructed them. He was their teacher. They were
his students. They were his pupils. They listened
and then he sent them forth two by two and they went out preaching
the gospel of the kingdom and God blessed. And it is delightful. It is glorious when we see God
remove the veil of spiritual blindness. When God opens the
ears of the deaf. When God gives a new heart of
faith. to believe the Lord Jesus. To receive Him as our prophet
and our priest and as our king and then we see others receiving
Him in the same way. It's a glorious thing. It's a
great time of thanksgiving when a sinner finds out he's lost. When a sinner finds out he's
on the dunghill of sin and the Lord raises him up and washes
him. And he puts the fragrance of
the beauties of the Lord Jesus upon him. And he robes him in
the garments of salvation. And he stands accepted in Christ
Jesus before God Almighty. And when we see that work, we
rejoice. We're always glad, we're delighted,
and we ask God, Oh Lord, please convert people. That we might
hear that joyful cry of a sinner who says, God has done something
for me. God has revealed the Savior to
me. But our Lord gives this word
of instruction to these men. Notice what He says in verse
number 20. Notwithstanding in this, rejoice
not that the spirits are subject unto you." Now listen, if your
joy, if your joy or if our joy as a congregation is connected
with seeing results, which are wonderful to see, But if our joy is connected with
seeing results, when we don't see results, then
the joy fades away. I know how we all are by nature. We have this unhealthy tendency To rejoice when times are good,
when life's going smoothly, when things are going to, you know,
sort of suit us, we rejoice. It's easy to rejoice then. But if our joy is based on the
things that happen around us, even if it's the spiritual awakening
of other sinners, if our joy is only tied to that and connected
with that so that when nobody's being converted, we don't have
any joy, then we're looking to the wrong source for that joy. You see, if your happiness, if
your delight is connected to things that happen around you,
even if it's the conversion of sinners, then your joy and your
happiness and your delight, it is connected to a very fragile
and fickle thing. Because sometimes we see results And a lot of the time, we don't
perceive any results to be going on. And if that's the only reason,
if that's the only thing that motivates you to joy and to happiness,
is for something good to be going on around you, then you don't
have the right motivation for joy. And that's the way it was
with these men. They come back and they are all
exuberant. They are all thrilled and they
are so happy. And I can just see them come
in and you know, if it was today, it would be like giving one another
high fives, you know, and they just come in. This is a great,
oh Lord, even the devils are subject to us. We had such power
in our preaching. We saw so many converted. And the Savior said, I saw, I
actually saw Satan fall like lightning from the sky. There
were great things happening. But don't rejoice in this. Because
this isn't always going to be going on. But I'll give you something to
rejoice in, He said. That your names are written down
in heaven. That you know God. Moreover, that God knows you. That you're loved with an everlasting
love. That your name has been written
down in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the
world. An act of God's free and sovereign grace in that rejoice. Rejoice that God has done something
for you. I spoke to the lady today on
the phone. And I was setting up the hospital
for a while. And it was a delightful phone
call. She lives in Canada. And she
was telling me of the grace of God to her. And she said, the
Lord's done something for me. She said, what should I say when
people ask me, what's happened to you? I said, well, tell them
the Lord's done something for you. The Lord has given you a
love for the gospel. You know, it's glorious when
God gives us a love for the gospel. That's the most wonderful thing
that happened to anybody in the world. And the fact that God
has chosen you unto salvation as evidenced by faith. Isn't that the evidence of election?
We believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not the reason for
election. It's not the origin of election.
It's not the basis of election, it's the result of election.
If God appointed you unto eternal life before the world began in
the Lord Jesus Christ, sometime at the appointed time in your
life, God will cross your path with the gospel of His free grace
in Christ Jesus. You'll be born again in the Spirit,
and you will discover to the amazement of your soul You've
been on God's list all along. He's always loved you. He's always had thoughts of love
and affection toward you. Your name was written down in
His book of salvation before He ever made the world. Now listen, let's make sure the
basis for our joy is what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. And let's be ever so careful
that our joy is not connected to, not tied to, things that
are going on around us. Because if your joy, if my joy,
is connected to things going on around us, well, our joy is
going to be up and down. There will be no stability to
our joy. There will be nothing lasting
to our joy. There'll be nothing settled to
our joy. But if we rejoice in the grace
of God to us through Jesus Christ, that's a grace that never changes.
There are no highs and lows with His grace. Well, maybe I should
say there are no lows. It's all high. It's all high. It's all glorious. It's always
glorious in Christ Jesus. the grace of God to us, that's
the cause for rejoicing. So that even when you're sick,
still rejoice. If nobody new is coming into
the congregation, we'll ask God to bring them in, but we'll still
rejoice. Because God's still on the throne. And He's done
something for us, He's able to do something for others. But
my joy is not connected with what goes on around me. My joy
is eternally tied to Him who loved me and who gave Himself
for me. That's the basis of my joy. And
when that's the basis of our joy and our delight and our happiness,
it'll just be level. It won't change. I fear we find joy in things
that are temporal to the exclusion of finding joy in things that
are spiritual. In fact, I might just ask you
this. Actually, I will ask you this.
What does it take to make you joyful? What does it take to make you
feel delighted in your heart, for your heart to well up with
with just happiness and joy. What does it take? More money? I've met some people with money
and they didn't seem to have any joy at all. They seemed quite
miserable. Better health? The only lasting joy we have
is in our God. in our God and what he's done
for us. We must find our joy in things
that are eternal. That's why the apostle Paul wrote,
rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Well, yeah, but he was a great
preacher and, you know, the Lord was using him mightily and people
were taking care of him. Wait a minute, that's one of
the prison epistles, the epistle of Philippians. He's in prison
when he said that. You mean his joyful wife is in
prison? Yeah. Because his joy wasn't
based on his present surroundings. He found his joy in his Lord.
in God's grace to Him. Our rejoicing is to be tied to
the spiritual blessings and good things that God has given us
in Christ Jesus. Look over at a couple of references.
Look at John chapter 14. John chapter 14. Listen to what
the Savior said to His disciples. John chapter 14, verse 28. John 14, 28. He says to these
men, You have heard how I said unto you, I go away and come
again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice. You'd rejoice in me telling you,
I'm going away. Because I'm going away to give
my life a ransom for you. I'm going away to pay sin debt.
I'm going away to justify you by my blood. I'm going away to
remove your sins from you as far as the east is from the west. If you love me, if you love me
like you ought to, you would rejoice. You would
rejoice in my words, I go unto the Father, for my Father is
greater than I. I go unto the Father on the basis
of my completed work of redemption and reconciliation. And if you
really understood where I was going and why I've got to go,
you'd rejoice. You'd rejoice. You wouldn't be
saying things to me like, Lord, don't go to Jerusalem. Lord,
those people are trying to kill you. You better stay away from
them. You'd rejoice and you'd say, oh Lord, I know you're going
to have to suffer, bleed and die, but you're going to rise
again because of our justification. And oh Lord, we believe you and
we love you and we worship you. Look at John chapter 16. John
chapter 16. And verse 15, 16, 15, all things that the father hath
are mine. Therefore said I that he shall
take of mine and shall show it unto you a little while and you
shall not see me. And again, a little while and
you shall see me because I go to the father. Then said some
of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto
us? A little while, and ye shall not see me, and again a little
while, and ye shall see me, and because I go to the Father. They
said therefore, What is this that he saith a little while? We cannot tell what he saith.
Now look at verse 19. Now Jesus knew that they were
desirous to ask Him, And he said unto them, Do you inquire among
yourselves of that I said a little while, and ye shall not see me,
and again a little while, and ye shall see me? Verily, verily,
I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world
shall rejoice. The world of the wicked, the
world of my enemies, they shall rejoice. in seeing me crucified. And you shall be sorrowful, but
when you realize what is happening, when you realize what an awesome
transaction Calvary is going to be, your sorrow shall be turned
into joy. Into joy. He says in verse 21, A woman,
when she is in travail, hath sorrow, because her hour is come. But as soon as she is delivered
of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish for joy that
a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow,
but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice. and your joy that I'm going to
give you, nobody can take it from you. You see, if you have
a joy that the Lord gives you, nobody can take that away from
you. And the events of the world all around you, I mean the stock
market can crash, and Iran can get a nuclear weapon, And things
just go absolutely crazy in the world according to the way we
think they ought to go? But, if we see Him on His throne
and realize what He has done for us, our joy can't be disturbed. Can't be disturbed. That's why the Apostle Paul says
in Philippians chapter 3, he says, we rejoice in Christ Jesus. That's what he said. We rejoice
in Christ Jesus. Oh, I don't think he could rejoice
in the fact that, you know, he had maybe leg irons on him or
something like that. But he said, I rejoice in Christ
Jesus and I rejoice to know that the Lord is working all these
things out for my good. I rejoice to know that. Well, these 70, we don't know
what happened to them. He did say to them that, well,
go back to Luke chapter 10. He said this to them in verse
number 10. He said, but in whatsoever city
you enter and they receive you not, so he does tell them this,
you're not going to be received everywhere. But when you're not received,
go your ways out into the streets of the same and say to those
people, even the very dust of your city which cleaveth on us,
we do wipe off against you. Notwithstanding, be you sure
of this, that the kingdom of God has come nigh unto you. But
I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable in that day
for Sodom than for that city." You're going to meet some opposition
out there, he says. And then he says this, drop down
to verse 16. He that heareth you, heareth
me. And he that despiseth you, despiseth
me. And he that despiseth me, despiseth
him that sent me. What became of these 70? Well,
I would venture to say some of them were martyred. After all,
the apostles were all martyred with the exception of John. They
tried to kill him. John died of old age, apparently. And I wouldn't be afraid to say
that some of these men suffered martyrdom. They suffered, for
sure, great persecution. But even in the midst of the
persecution, they could rejoice. They could rejoice. In fact,
they could rejoice in the persecution, that they were persecuted for
the gospel's sake. Well, after our Lord said that
to them, notwithstanding in this rejoice not that the spirits
are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are
written in heaven, this is what the Scripture says in verse 21.
And here's the rejoicing Savior. The rejoicing Savior. That's
what I want to talk about in the time that's left tonight. The rejoicing Savior. In that
hour, Jesus rejoiced. in the Spirit. And He said, I
thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast
hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed
them unto babes, even so, Father, for so 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 Father,
and who the Father is but the Son, and He to whom the Son will
reveal Him. Here's the rejoicing Now we're
all familiar with the great hymn written by Philip Bliss, Man
of Sorrows, what a name for the son of man who came, the son
of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim, hallelujah, what
a savior. He wrote that in 1875. He died,
by the way, in 1876 in Northeast Ohio in a train wreck. But he wrote that song. But that
expression, man of sorrows, it didn't originate with Philip
Bliss. Isaiah wrote it by the leadership of the Spirit of God.
In Isaiah chapter 53 verse 3, He is despised and rejected of
men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it
were, our faces from Him. He was despised, that is, He
was held in contempt. He was scorned, and we esteemed
Him not. That is, He was of no value to
us. Our Lord knew something about
sorrow. He knew something about grief.
We don't have the time to get into it tonight, but in John
11.35, the shortest verse in the Bible, It's full of meaning. Jesus wept. We're told to weep
with those that weep. Rejoice with those that rejoice.
Here's some people weeping and our Lord wept with them. We read in Hebrews 5, who in
the days of His flesh, when He offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to save
him from death, and was hurt in that he feared, though he
were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered,
being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation
unto all that obey him, called an high priest after the order
of Melchizedek." He was a sorrowful man, our Savior was. He said to his disciples, In
the garden of Gethsemane, my soul is exceeding sorrowful unto
death. Luke 22, 24 says, being in agony,
he prayed more earnestly, and he sweat, as it were, great drops
of blood falling to the ground. And I know those words are beyond
our comprehension. But I'll say this shows the weight
of the sin that he bore and the sorrows and that punishment that
lay upon him and the necessity of his human nature to be upheld
by his deity. I like that statement and especially
like this statement there in Hebrews 5 when it says In the
days of his flesh, he offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears. But when he left this world,
there's no more crying and no more tears. In the days of his
flesh, and when we leave this world, no more crying, no more tears. He shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, there shall be no more death, neither sorrow
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former
things..." Oh, good news! Child of God. The former things
passed away. Passed away. But these tears
of our Savior indicates the reality of His human nature. He was a
man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. But our Lord did
rejoice. He did rejoice. Look real quick
at a few verses. Go back to that passage Brother
Stan read to us in Isaiah 62. Isaiah chapter 62. Our Lord rejoices. And scattered throughout the
Word of God are these statements about God's joy, God's delight,
the Lord rejoicing. Isaiah 62 verse 5, For as a young
man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee. And as the
bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice
over thee. Our God rejoices over us. Our God rejoices over us. I'll give you another reference. Look at Jeremiah chapter 32.
Jeremiah chapter 32. Excuse me, look at verse 37. Jeremiah 32, 37. God says, behold, I will gather
them out of all countries, whether I have driven them in mine anger,
in my fury, and in my great wrath. And I will bring them again unto
this place. I'll cause them to dwell safely.
They shall be my people and I will be their God. These are God's
new covenant promises. And I will give unto them one
heart and one way. that they may fear me forever
for the good of them and of their children after them. And I will
make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn
away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their
hearts that they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice
over them to do them good. I will plant them in this land
assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul." That's
what God says. I rejoice over them. Look at
Zephaniah chapter 3. The book of Zephaniah chapter
3 and verses 14 through 20. The book of Zephaniah chapter
3 verse 14. Sing, O daughter of Zion. Shout, O Israel. Be glad and
rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. Well, what is it
to rejoice about? What the Lord has done. The Lord
hath taken away thy judgments. There's no judgments for you.
He's cast out thine enemy, the enemy of your soul, the king
of Israel, even the Lord in the midst of thee. Thou shalt not
see evil anymore. Watch this. In that day it shall
be said to Jerusalem, fear thou not. And to Zion, let not thine
hands be slack. The Lord thy God, Jehovah thy
God, Jehovah who saves in the midst of thee is mighty. Oh,
bless His name. He will save. He will rejoice
over thee with joy. He will rest in His love. Literally, He will be silent
in His love. He has no words of vengeance
or wrath or malice against His people. Because Christ Jesus
drank the cup of divine indignation dry for all of God's children.
Watch that last statement of verse 17. He will joy over thee
with singing. With singing. God singing? God singing? What does God sing
about? What does God rejoice about?
Everywhere in the scriptures where God is said to rejoice,
it has to do with the salvation of His people. That's what brings
Him joy. That's what brings Him delight.
The only thing I find in the book of God that causes our Lord
to rejoice, the only thing that the Lord rejoices in is the salvation
of His people. Our brother read for us in the
beginning of the service in Hebrews chapter 12, who for the joy that
was set before Him, what was that joy? Saving us. Washing
us from our sins in His blood. That was a joyful thing for Him
to do. Look at Luke chapter 15. Look at Luke chapter 15. Here's
the joy of seeking and saving His people. Luke chapter 15. Look at this. You know this well. Look at verse
3. This is one parable of lost things. He spake this parable
unto them saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep,
if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine
in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost until he find
it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders,
rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth
together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with
me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you,
this is our master speaking now, this is our shepherd. He says,
I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one
sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons
which in their own estimation need no repentance. Verse 8,
either one woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece,
doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently
until she find it. And when she hath found it, she
calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with
me! For I have found the peace that
was lost. Likewise, I say unto you, There is joy in the presence
of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. This is
the Lord who is rejoicing. The Lord is rejoicing. Then the
third section of the parable, the lost son and the father,
don't have the time to read it all, but look down at verse, well let's say 21, start there. You know how the son memorized
his little confession speech. And the son said to the father,
Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and
am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said
to his servants, Bring forth the best robe and put it on him."
The righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the very
best robe. Put a ring on his hand. What's
that? That's the ring of sonship. You're
a child of God. Put shoes on his feet. What's
that? Our feet are shod with the gospel
of peace. And bring hither the fatted calf
and kill it. What's that? That's Jesus Christ
crucified for us. And let us eat, let's feed on
Him. Be merry. For this my son was
dead and is alive again. He was lost, he's found, and
they began to be merry. But not everybody's happy. The
older son, he's not happy. He comes back in verse 28. He
finds out what's going on. He was angry. He was angry. See, he represents the Pharisees
who murmured against the Lord back in verse 2. But this older
son, he was angry and he wouldn't go in. He's not going to rejoice.
Therefore came his father out and entreated him. He answering
said to his father, lo, these many years I do serve thee, neither
transgressed I at any time thy commandment. I kept the law that
thou You never gave me a kid that I might be married with
my friends. But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath
devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the
fatted calf. He said unto him, Son, thou art
ever with me. All that I have is thine. It
was meet. It was right. It was fit that
we should make merry and be glad. For this thy brother was dead,
dead in Adam, dead in sin, dead spiritually. and he's alive again. He was
lost and he's found. This is the Lord rejoicing. And
won't this be our everlasting state in glory? What will the Lord say? Enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord. You know what? We've just begun
to enter into the joy of the Lord in His salvation to us. We're just beginning to understand,
aren't we? We just understand a little bit. When we get the
glory, we're going to enter into the fullness of the joy of God
Himself in His salvation to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord rejoices. One more passage. Look at Jude, the book of Jude,
just one chapter of course. The book of Jude, the last two
verses, verses 24 and 25. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling and to present you Faultless. Faultless before the presence
of His glory with exceeding joy. I tell you, I'm going to be happy
as can be when I'm there. But if I could put it this way,
there's going to be somebody who's happier than I'll be to
be there. The Lord Jesus Christ is going
to be so happy and joyful in presenting us to the Father.
Behold I and the children which thou hast given me. Here they
all are. They are all trophies of my grace.
He is going to present us faultless before the presence of His glory
with exceeding joy. With joy that is indescribable. And so Jude says to the only
wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power
both now and ever. Amen. Amen. The Lord rejoicing over his people. Amen.