Back in your Bibles to Luke chapter
10. Luke chapter 10. You can also
follow me and your pastors' commentary if you wish to. Every now and
then in our daily mundane, boring lives wherein we find ourselves exercising
the privilege of speech in conversation with other persons, a unique
privilege that is only given to mankind, not the animals,
not to say that they don't communicate, but they don't speak with the
same specific articulation that we have because we were created
in the image of God. One of the unique distinctions
between us and the animals is that we have the ability to communicate
in intelligent speech, which has all sorts of implications
to it. But we talk a lot as human beings. We engage in a lot of conversations. And to tell the truth, most of
our conversations, if we were to sum them up in light of eternity,
would be frivolous, ethereal, empty, temporary, fleeting, not
having any real eternal value. This is the truth. Much of what
we do can be constituted as windbagging. We don't have a whole lot that
we say on the average day with the average individual that is
of any real significance. We try to value what we say,
but the reality is in light of eternity, much of what we say
as the scriptures would indicate our vanity. But every now and
then, every now and every blue moon, every couple of years,
maybe, maybe every 10 years, Maybe once in a lifetime, we
Christians might find ourselves inadvertently slipping into,
by accident, not on purpose, on accident, having a conversation
that matters. We discover that we're actually
talking to somebody about spiritual things. We're surprised. We're actually talking about
the things of God. That's amazing to us. We are engaging in matters that
are of a redemptive nature. And it's astonishing that we
are actually having this conversation. We are sort of having an out-of-body
experience. Here we are actually quoting
scripture and engaging with people about eternal matters. And we
might even find ourselves on occasion talking about Jesus. And that's really shocking to
us because that's not generally our normative dialogue. We just don't do that. And on
those occasions, it may very well be that the individual with
whom we are speaking is actually listening, you know, and they
are actually concerned about what we're talking about and
when that actually takes place. where we are speaking the gospel
and we are testifying to the goodness of God in Christ. And
we might even be able to, at that moment, say we are instructing
people in the way of life. We are utterly amazed, are we
not? We kind of on the inside say,
Lord, thank you. Thank you, Lord, for an opportunity
to actually talk about things that matter. And what we discover
in that process is a joy that emerges in our soul that is otherworldly
and even astonishing to us. Is this not true? Well, shame
on us. Not that the joy is a shameful
thing. I want to explain that in a moment. But what's shameful is how intermittent
we are when it comes to talking to people about the things of
Christ. Did you know, child of God, you
were made to tell men and women about Jesus? Did you know that
actually he created you like the instruments we talk about
in music theory class, of which you only really are satisfied
when you make that noise that glorifies God? He designed you
for that, and so seldom do we find ourselves Satisfied in the
discourse of biblical truth. Well in our text Luke chapter
10 verses 1 through 26 I want to actually try to frame your
thoughts around what has just occurred in the life of these
disciples And I want you to to really make the personal application. This is so very important God
help every ear in here to avoid the religious Activity of hearing
only may God make an application in your heart and mine today
if you will note in the Account that we have before us that it
opens up in verse 27 after our Lord gives that long discourse
with the disciples returning And notice what it says in verse
27. This is, I'm sorry, verse 17.
This is the first point in your outline. And the 70 returned
again with what? Joy. And the 70 returned again
with joy. That's our first point in the
outline. They returned with joy. Now I want you to hear me now.
They didn't leave with joy. They didn't go with joy. They
didn't depart from the presence of Christ with joy. They left
on a mission. They left with a purpose. They
left with a task to perform. They returned with joy. They
left with a mission. They departed with a task, a
very clear objective they were called to as the people of God.
They returned with joy. They went out with the gift and
calling of telling men and women about Christ. They came back
with the gift of joy. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
They didn't go out with joy. They came back with joy. In other
words, the rate of exchange for their mission was what? Joy. Please hear me. Please hear me. These disciples have discovered
something that I know that we must discover. That joy is only
manifested as we do the will of God. That joy is the fruit
and by-product of the obedience of faith. We may very well ask
the question, how come I do not have this joy that is so evident
in the kingdom of God? Well, are you doing what constitutes
the benefits of joy after you do it? Am I making a good observation
here? See, because I know, like you
know, there are lots of joyless Christians, which is an oxymoron. This here really is a contradiction
in turn. But we ought not to be surprised
because to be a joyless Christian simply means to be functioning
outside of your calling. To be a joyless Christian simply
means that you are not doing those things that accrue to you
the joyful consequences. It's absolutely amazing how the
narrative Luke is actually opening up the disciples return because
they're like little kids. These are grown men, but they're
coming back and the narrative says they are full of joy. Now I want you to mark this children
of God. Joy is a gift. It's in your outline. Joy is
a gift. You don't muster up joy. You
can't fabricate joy. You can't create joy. You can't
pump up joy. Religious circles like to try
to get you joyful, but you can't be made joyful by music or by
noise. You can only be made joyful by
the consequence of obedience to Christ. Joy, listen to me
now, is the fruit of obedience, the obedience of faith. It is
the sign of God's listen. favorable presence in your life
when a man or woman is rejoicing I'm talking about I'm talking
about eternal rejoicing I'm talking about gospel rejoicing watch
this now here and I want you to mark this when joy is manifesting
itself it is the evidence of God's favorable presence in your
life it is the evidence of God's favorable presence in your life
it is not the sum total of God's presence in your life Certainly,
we have other emotions and other expressions that are appropriate
to the season. But here's what I want you to
understand. It's impossible. Child of God, hear me. It's impossible
for God to be in your life in a favorable, sensible way and
you not be full of joy. It is impossible to know the
God of glory and not be full of joy because the nature of
the kingdom of God, Romans 14, 17, is righteousness, peace,
and joy in the Holy Ghost. Listen carefully to me. When
God is near in a favorable way in your life, affirming that
you are actually operating according to your calling, the immediate
net result is going to be what? Joy. Joy then is the overflow
of God's goodness in your life. It's the overflow of God's goodness
in your life. This is why Paul prayed in Romans
chapter 15 I Pray that the God of peace would fill you to full
with joy while you believe That the net result of believing God
and living the life of faith would be for you always the favorable
presence of God Manifested by what's the word joy. I want you
to hear this now joy. I It's that otherworldly characteristic
that tells people when you have it that you are in a whole nother
realm of contemplation outside of your circumstances. That your
circumstances do not dictate for you where you are with God.
That you are not denying your circumstances, you are not setting
them aside as irrelevant or insignificant, but the dimension in which you
are operating is a dimension where what matters is whether
or not God's with me in this. The only thing that matters is
if God is with me in this. No, it doesn't matter how bad
my situation is. The only thing that matters is
God with me in this. The only thing that matters for
me is am I doing the will of God in the midst of this horrible
situation, which I may not even be able to explain. I just need
to know is God with me in this. It's got with me in this and
we'll unpack this here in a moment because the mission that these
men were called upon was not a mission where they were going
to have unending success without conflict and trouble. But the
joy of the Lord is so much more valuable to us that I would rather
have that with trouble than to have no trouble without that. I would much rather experience
the super abundance and overflowing grace of God because of his favorable
presence in my life. as a consequence of Him granting
me grace to do what I'm made to do. I'm made to preach Christ. I'm made to live for Christ.
I'm made to glorify Christ. I'm made to honor Christ. I want
Him to take this flute that He made me out of and blow every
note. I want Him to manifest His glory
in everything that I am because I know to the degree that He
uses me according to Him having made me, I will be satisfied
and God will be glorified. You don't take flutes and play
drums with flutes. You understand what I'm saying?
And you might like the acoustic guitar, but you can't take that
strand and play it like you do a fiddle. You just can't do it.
They weren't made for that. And when you and I are operating
according to how God made us, we will be full. and it will
never be based upon our circumstance. And this is so critical. Please
understand that what's taking place here is such a powerful
truth. Now, let me just permeate your
thinking with just a few verses. If you don't believe me, if you're
not persuaded, and I understand if you're not, because if you
haven't been rejoicing in Christ in a while, this is an alien
thing I'm saying to you right now. But the scriptures are very
clear that the tenor of the kingdom of God, wherever it is, is joy. Psalm 48 verse 2, you know it,
beautiful for situation. The joy of the whole earth is
Mount Zion. That's absolutely amazing because
what he's saying is the mountain upon which the temple sits where
the people of God worship is resounding with joy and is reverberating
around the world and all the nations know in that place they're
rejoicing. In that place, there's joy. And the scripture says, because
the great King is there. Our joy is rooted in our relationship
with Christ. It's rooted in what God has done
for us. It's rooted in God's presence, his favorable presence
in our life. You remember what Nehemiah said
in the eighth chapter of Nehemiah. We quote it often, but I still
fear that it's not a real experience in our life. The joy of the Lord
is our, you do not believe that. You do not believe that for if
you believed that the joy of the lord was your strength now
follow me for a moment Then you would be craving for that experience
more frequently than you do If you really believe that the joy
of the lord and see to understand the joy of the lord, you have
to be informed Joy is not merely a sort of glandular experience
The joy of the lord is a consequence of things, you know to be true
taking place in your life This is going to unpack as we open
up the scriptures. But when a man or woman has every
right to rejoice in the Lord, they know something about God,
what God has done, what God is doing and what God will do, which
produces this joy in their life, of which for them, this joy becomes
for them, watch this now, an evidence of God's strength in
my life. The joy of the Lord is an evidence
of God's strength in my life. Remember, joy flows from obedience. Obedience flows from faith. Faith
flows from love. Joy flows from the obedience
of faith, which flows from love. You can't obey God if you don't
love him. In fact, this is exactly what he wants us to understand.
In order for us to obey God, we first got to love him. See,
this is a relational thing. To obey God in the cause of the
gospel, you've got to love him. Faith works by what? And the
net of a faith works by love and the net effect of love is
joy Is joy it's going to come out because what you are doing
is recognizing that there's a collaboration taking place There's a relationship
taking place here. There's a dynamic that's taking
place as I am operating in my calling they return with joy
the psalmist speaks of joy isaiah 61 3 we were Closing out our
women's theology class this year and the subject was beauty for
ashes and one of the promises is this That he will trade the
broken-hearted The vexed the person who's weighed down with
depression is called the garment of heaviness with the oil of
gladness He will exchange the garment of heaviness. You know
people love to boast about how burden they are and That's a
dreadful thing, but it's a bondage. You know, some people only get
attention if they talk about how bad they got it. And what God says in the scheme
of redemption, because of Christ's great love wherewith he loved
you, he's changing that garment and giving you another garment.
And that garment is the garment of gladness and joy. Now watch this. It's the oil
of gladness for the spirit of heaviness. What is this? The oil of gladness. It's the
visible manifestation of the grace of God in your life. The
oil was placed on the body to be visibly seen. And just as
much so, joy should be something that cannot be hid. As the face
shines with the oil, so the joy emanates from the soul. telling
men and women that whatever the circumstances are, I'm still
all right. That's precisely what God has
called us to do. We're getting ready to see how
this plays a major role in your witnessing. The disciples are
experiencing this joyful dynamic of which just has them elated.
And this is a pattern that runs all through the scriptures. I
want you to understand this all through the scriptures, not here
merely in this isolated event with Christ and the 70, but all
through the epistles. And in fact, I was noting as
I was working through some epistles in terms of the subject of joy.
Do you know every epistle speaks of joy? Every epistle speaks
of joy. Every epistle speaks of joy.
And do you know the book of Revelation? Closes out with a crescendo of
absolute blissful joy revelation 19 speaking concerning the bride
who had made herself ready You know what hell heaven does is
shout Hallelujah Hallelujah, why because the lamb's bride
hath made herself ready and we're getting ready to party It's the
wedding feast terminology now folks is happy at that point
because there's all kind of benefits at the table and And I'm just
telling you the world ends in terms of God's view of things
with a party Because of the obedience of faith given to the church
of the living God to do what the church has been called to
do Which is what I want to press down on your heart today. The
title of our message is in this Rejoice in this rejoice they
return with joy. They left with a mission. They
left with the task They return with joy point number two. This
is so fascinating to me I'm so thankful to be going through
the gospel of Luke because I am learning so much about my master.
Can I say this? If you are rejoicing in what
God is doing through you, you can be sure that God is rejoicing
in what he is doing through you. If you are rejoicing as a consequence
of what God is doing in your life Be sure that God is rejoicing
as a consequence of what he's doing in your life One of the
things I want to drive home over this year as we learn what it
means the value of witnessing is this this in him concept where
you are in Christ and Christ is in you is so profound a concept
Because we have, by virtue of that thought, that idea, that
enormous, tremendous idea that Christ is more concerned with
our joy than we are. That he's more concerned with
our state of being. That he's more concerned with
what he has accomplished for us than we are. We saw this a
little bit last week, didn't we? Our great mediator praying
to the father for us that we would successfully arrive at
that state of glory Of which eye has not seen ear has not
heard neither has entered into the heart of men So once once
one gets a grip of the second person of the godhead, here's
what you learn christ is totally invested In all that he has done
for you that you achieve it that revelation itself ought to drive
you to want to experience everything that God has called you for.
That revelation itself ought to drive you to want to enter
into what I'm calling now, not only joy, but the joy of the
Lord. Look at it now. My second point
is His joy in them. Look at verse 21 through 24.
Here it is. They're coming back. Lord, Lord, Lord. Now watch how
Christ responds in verse 21 in that same hour. You see that?
In that same hour, the way Luke uses the term hour, he's talking
about in that same event, in the context of what's happening
now, Jesus, what? Rejoiced where? In spirit. And the way Luke is using this
narrative is that he's teaching us once again, that the joy that
Christ is experiencing is a spirit-filled joy. Christ is rejoicing in spirit
because they are rejoicing in what they have experienced. Isn't
that astonishing? Here they're coming back, Lord!
And Christ is going, Lord! Lord! He's going, Father! He's more excited for them because
he has a greater understanding of the impact, what they're making,
than they do. But his joy is that they are
actually fulfilling that for which they are made. And it causes
him to break out in vertical praise Speak to the father about
things that him and the father knows and these guys are now
just now Experiencing listen to what verse 21 through 24 says
and I'm not going to expand it I just want you to hear it in
this context. He rejoices in spirit and he says I thank thee
Oh father Lord of heaven and earth Because you have done what
hid these things from the wise and the prudent now if I were
to leave this in this context and just deal With it on his
basic proposition. I would be assuming that what
God is hiding is The message of the gospel from the wise arrogant
people that think that they can get to God by their own good
works You read Matthews 11 and it seemed like it would say that
but I'm here to share with you What was hid was not so much
the message of the gospel But the experience of the grace that
comes from being a partaker of the gospel and sharing it with
people that those who actually move out in obedience because
they know him and love him and share the gospel with people,
they experience something for which others it is hid. What's
hid from them is the joy that comes with cooperating with God
in the cause of Christ. It's the secret thing that me
and my brethren talk about around here every now and then. In fact,
I heard it this morning. I was admonishing, kind of quietly,
or slightly admonishing one of my brothers to let the young
men pull the tables out, because he's a little older now, right?
60, 65 years older. And they're out early pulling
the tables. I'm saying, man, leave that for the young fellas.
And he said, I would, but I don't want them to have my joy. I don't
want them to steal my blessing. I don't want them to know what
I have. So I'm gonna keep pulling the tables out because I get
something out of this. And I've been telling you that
for years. Pastor, sit down. Sit down for
what? What am I gonna get out of sitting
down? I don't get revelations in my office. I get revelations
at my desk at my study when I sit down But when I'm here, I don't
get revelation sit down. I get revelations when I sweep
When I pick up a chair when I help a sister, that's how I get revelations
Why would I let you steal my revelations? Now if you don't
know about that, then they're hidden from you They're hidden from you And the
master is thanking God for having poured out the spirit of joy
on these disciples because they went and did what Christ told
them to do. Excited for them and saying,
Father, I thank you've hid these things from the wise and the
prudent. You've revealed them unto what? You know what babes
are? People that simply act out of
obedience to Christ, not worrying about the consequences, not trying
to find a way intellectually or logically to get out of obedience
of faith. They just do it because he said
do it. He calls them babes. In the New Testament, the babe
is the true believer who by an authentic faith moves out because
Christ said it. We'll let Christ deal with the
consequences. Here's what he says. You've revealed them to
babes for so it seemed good in your sight All things are delivered
unto me of my father and no man knows who the son is But the
father and who the father is but the son now mark this this
is glorious. You know what he's doing He is
standing before crowds of thousands along with his own 70 and the
12 and telling the crowd Listen, you don't know what's going on
But my father has made me manifest to those whom he has purpose
through the preaching of the gospel And he has hid my glory
from those who will not listen to the gospel. This is glorious
to us See what Christ is rejoicing in is I want you to get this
is the glorification of himself by his father His Father is glorifying
the Son through the message that these people are preaching, and
in glorifying the Son, they are glorifying the Father. I told
you this last week. There is a mutual glorification
between the Father and the Son that keeps them both ecstatic.
If a man or woman comes to know Jesus, watch this, Jesus is glorified. If they come to understand more
about his person and work, Jesus is glorified. If they come to
understand something about the finality of his cross work and
the putting away of our sins by the sacrifice of himself,
Christ is glorified. And if Christ is glorified, the
Father is glorified. Let me help you. All the gods
of the heathen are idols. There is only one true God. this
God is revealed to us in the gospel as God the Father God
the Son and God the Holy Ghost the world through Jesus has come
to learn that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but
have everlasting life will you listen to me this glorifies the
Father What the Son has done glorifies the Father. Will you
hear me? What rejoices the Son is that God is known by having
done something no other person could do or would do to redeem
sinners to himself. This glorifies God. This is what
rejoices Christ. Ah, father, you will be glorified
in that you will be the God who tells the world, the only way
you can get right with me is through my son. In order to get
to me, you've got to go through Christ and Christ has to do for
you that which no other human being, angel or God could ever
do. This brings the father glory. This is why those of us who are
born of God, we cry Abba father. He is glorious to us. He is glorious
to us. He is glorious in that he gave
his only begotten son. Now, again, John 3 16 is trampled
all over foot, but you better call that holy ground. Because which one of you are
going to give your son for the redemption of the soul of one
person? God gave his son glorious. Do you hear me? Glorious, glorious. And then, you know, the world
gets to see that glory when we proclaim it to them in the gospel. This is what excites the son. Father, no one knows you but
me and no one knows me but you and him to whom you will reveal
him or I will reveal them. It is the prerogative of the
Godhead to reveal the glory of God and the person of Christ
to whom they will. But it will only be done through the preaching
of the gospel. Are you hearing me? This is what
makes our text so very important. They have returned with joy.
His joy is in them and it's a spiritually prompted joy. It's rooted in
thankfulness to the father. It's an indication, watch this,
of God's honor to Christ through the gospel. Please, when we talk
about the love of God, you cannot talk about the love of God accurately
without talking about the propitiation of Christ. Here in is the love
of God manifested that he gave his son as a propitiation for
our sins. Did you get it? Let it sink in. God loves everybody. Can you
please explain to me how? When you are headed to hell.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? Divest yourself of this emotionalism
and understand that there's only one manner in which God can love
the sinner. And that's in the sacrifice and
sufferings of his darling son, Jesus. It makes every sense to
me that God will not entertain any response of any human being
apart from them submitting to the crown rights of the one that
said, yes, father, I'll die. I'll die. It makes all the sense
in the world to me and it makes all sense all the sense in the
world to me That if the son before the world began said yes to the
father Everything that's happening in the realm of time now must
submit to glorifying the son. It only makes sense to me It
only makes sense to me. I hope it makes sense to you
too. There's a joy that's taking place. That's Thoroughly spiritual
it's rooted in thankfulness to God is designed to honor Christ
and Christ is so glad to see what's taking place here Say
powerful reality taking place point number three in our outline
the prophetic character of witnessing the prophetic character of witnessing
There are a number of implications in this text that opens up in
verse one and two, and I want you to see them. This is where
the joy now begins to be explained. And after these things, the Lord
appointed other 70 also. Do you see that? And sent them
two by two before his face into every city and place where he
himself would come. Let's go to work. Our Lord didn't
just pick 70 out of the blue as if it didn't have any divine
purpose or significance in it. When he chose these 70, he chose
these 70 to establish a very prophetic truth. In fact, he
chose the 12 back in chapter 9 and sent them out the same
way. and then afterwards chooses the
70 to do precisely the same thing. Now, all the Jewish scholars
and all the Jewish rabbis, all the Jewish priests, the Sanhedrin,
all of them are, they are amazed at what Jesus is doing because
they understand the prophetic implications. There are three
sets of truths here that you must understand that Jesus just
did. He basically showed the whole
Jewish nation that he was the Messiah. He was the ultimate
archetype of Moses. That what Moses did in the Old
Testament, Christ is doing in the New Testament. Most people
called him crazy when he went up into a high mountain, according
to Mark's gospel chapter three, and called unto himself whom
he would. I mean, what are you doing? He's doing the same thing that
Moses did. And guess what the text said, people came. And then
it got worse, because he started ordaining men to preach the gospel. He ordained the twelve in chapter
9, and the Sanhedrin knew, what in the world is he doing? The
only twelve people we regard are the patriarchs. Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, and the twelve boys. What is Christ saying?
What is he saying? I am establishing the actual
Israel of God. I am establishing the 12 tribes
who represent the spiritual government in this New Testament age. They
will be my 12 watchmen. They will establish the foundation
of what we call the New Jerusalem. All of the apostles are gatekeepers
and foundations to this message of redemption where sinners from
every nation and kindred and tongue will come into the New
Jerusalem. Am I making some sense? Israel understood that. Why 12?
Because it corresponded to the Old Testament 12. And the Hebrew
people knew that the number 12 represented what? Spiritual government. Spiritual government. The number
12, spiritual government. And then when he sends them out
in 70, he is actually making a strong statement to the Sanhedrin. Because the Sanhedrin were a
body of elders who were made up of a number of men, approximately
70 men. That's what the Sanhedrin means,
70 elders. Whoa, you got 70 elders in this Old Testament system
under the high priest and those who are Operating under this
Jewish paradigm and Jesus now is setting up 70 more now Which
70 are we to listen to the Sanhedrin are these brothers who are now
going forth preaching Jesus? You see what he's doing He's
setting up his spiritual kingdom in the midst of this material
kingdom letting everybody know watch this now the kingdom of
God is here The kingdom of God is here. The kingdom of God is
here. Men with an understanding grasped
fully what he was doing. This is what I meant about him
rejoicing and the father rejoicing at what he was doing. Because
when the 70 went out, they went out with the blessing of the
father. The father blessed their work imminently. This is why
he turned to the disciples when he turned to the 12 not the 70
and not the thousand he turned to the 12 He said fellas what
you are seeing taking place prophets of all didn't see this So let
me help you understand this 70 thing if you recall in the book
of Numbers It's in the book of Numbers chapter 11. You can go
there. I want you to see the model numbers 11 24 through 30
where Moses It's ministering before God and
the the spirit of God does something extremely unusual But it's going
to serve as a model for us here in numbers 11 Notice what it
says in verses 24 through 30. I want you to see this This is
where the people of God are complaining about God's provision for them
and God should wipe them out But what God does instead of
wiping them out is bless them Now, aren't you thankful that
God doesn't act like you do? So on this occasion, rather than
wipe them out, because you know, if I was hanging with Moses,
and so did John say this, and brother James, Lord just rain
fire down from heaven. We know you can start a new body,
but he didn't do that. They were complaining and bickering
and murmuring. You know what God did? He poured
out his spirit upon 70 men and caused them to prophesy in the
camp. Listen to the language. Listen
to it over in Numbers 11 verse 24. Are you there? Listen to
it. And Moses went out and told the
people the words of the Lord and gathered, how many men? What
are they called? Elders of the people and sent
them around about the tabernacle and the Lord did what? Came down. a cloud and spoken to them and
took of the spirit that was upon him that is Moses and gave it
unto the seventy elders and it came to pass that when the spirit
rested upon them what did they do they preach they prophesied
and they didn't stop what's taking place a universal witness of
the presence of God's glory in Christ to all these knucklehead
people who were questioning whether or not the kingdom of God is
present these 70 men preached notice what it says in verse
26 but there remained two of the men in the camp the name
of one el dad the other me dad and the spirit rested upon them
and they were of them that were written but were not but went
not out unto the tabernacle, and they prophesied in the camp.
Do you see that? This is where it had come down
later on, where Moses was told all these guys are prophesying.
And you know what Moses responded by saying, I wish everybody in
the house of God prophesied. I wish everybody was so full
of the spirit of God that wherever they went, as soon as they get
bumped into, let me tell you about Christ. Because The fullness of the Godhead
bodily is Christ. And if you've got Christ, you've
got all your answers solved. That is the answer to your problem.
Your problem is not this, that, and the third. It's not enough
Christ in your life. You know what God says? What
you need is me. I will solve all your problems.
I am your sufficiency. I am your shield and exceeding
great reward. I am your table. I'm your feast.
I'm your bread. I'm your wine. I'm your water.
I'm what you need. Am I telling the truth? I'm what
you need. You don't need this, that, and
the other thing. You don't need a new job, new car, new house,
new home, new husband, new wife, new body. You don't even really need a
new change of mind. You just need God to enter into your mind. And so the 70 here in the book
of Luke is a depiction of Christ's triumph by the gospel universally. He first starts with the 12.
The 12 apostles here are going to be the foundation of the church.
These 70 are going to be the ones who represent the whole
of the church, spreading the gospel everywhere. This is why
in the book of Acts, he starts with the 12. He says, you preach
this gospel in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and then where? The uttermost parts of the world.
This is what Christ is rejoicing in. He is seeing a foreshadow
of the triumph of the gospel around the world. And I must
ask you, saints, because for us this year, the meditation
is on what? Witnessing. Do you bear the testimony? Do you bear the testimony? Point
number four in our outline. This is very important. Our Lord
Jesus going back to Luke chapter 11 our Lord Jesus Christ Instructing
the disciples the 70 Some call it the 72 I could argue about
that I don't want to do that. Now the term 70 and 72 are both
valid terms. You will see this in the genealogical
table in the Genesis account this is where the old Jewish
Eschatological scheme is drawing up the number 70 in the table
of nations in Genesis chapter 10 with Noah Ham Japheth and
and and and sham there were 70 nations in chapters 10 verses
1 through 32 that emerged These are the nations that filled the
whole world because the world was destroyed in the flood Noah's
family started the earth all over again and you have in these
three lines the whole prophetic scheme there was 72 70 plus 2 There are 70 in the Hebrew, 72
in the Greek. And this is where you have the
70 and 2 in our account, as well as in the Numbers 11 account.
He anointed 70 and 2 stayed in the account. So you have the
70 plus 2. But the number 2 simply corresponds
to what we understand is the valid and credible what? Witness. Out of the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses,
let every word be established. And so he sent them out 2 by
2 to authenticate the message. And so this is what Christ is
doing. This is what he has done. And he's affirming the authenticity
of his Messiah ship. He has a right to establish the
character and nature of the kingdom of God. And it is spiritual.
Jerusalem is a spiritual institution. It is not political. It is not
social. The kingdom of God is spiritual.
Are you guys hearing me? It is spiritual. It started in
that little plot of land 2,000 years ago, and it's been spreading
around the world ever since. Christ is happy. The disciples
are happy. And do you know what? Let me
just say this for the record as we continue. You're saved
because of this kind of work. Because somebody brought the
gospel to you. Somebody preached Christ to you wherever you were. That's why. And this is the thing
you and I must get a hold of. Christ thoroughly rejoices in
the fruit of his people telling men and women about Christ. So
here we go. Point number four, actually going. Do you see that? I've told us
about this before. We got folks who like to be taught,
but they don't want to go. This is what happened when Jesus
says, Climb in the boat and go with me to the other side so
I can show you what it's gonna be like in that fierce Dark pagan
realm where I have to cast out that legion of devils in the
demoniac. Come on Go with me and if you
go to Matthew's account the vast majority stayed on the shore
There was only the disciples that went with him. That means
a lot of people don't mind hearing about Jesus, but they don't want
to experience the dynamic that comes with telling people about
Christ and I'm just here to tell you the truth. That's what the
book says. Read it for yourself. And this is why I suspect that
Christ is rejoicing that even 70 would come. Tens of thousands
of people hearing the God man preach, watching him heal every
sickness, meeting every need. Wouldn't it follow that tens
of thousands of people would get up and go wherever he say
go and do whatever he say do? But only 70 and only 12. and nothing has changed. But
now watch this in Luke chapter 10. This is what Christ says
over in verse two. This is very important to hear.
Here's what he says. Therefore said he unto them,
the harvest truly is what? But the laborers are few. Pray
ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would what? Send
forth laborers into the harvest. Point number four, actually going
means seeing things the way that God does. You and I will never
do anything for God unless we see it the way God sees it. This
is true. You will never open your mouth
for Christ to an eternity-bound soul until you see that soul
the way Christ sees that soul. You will never be willing to
suffer to see a man or a woman delivered out of the pit of hell
until you see that soul suffering in that pit of hell the way God
sees them suffer. You will never share the gospel
with an individual on their deathbed about to cross over into eternity
Until you see the blackness of eternity like God sees it You
won't tell them you got to see what God sees to talk like God
talks You just do or you won't and I'm just helping you The
reason why you don't is because you don't see it the way God
sees it. Now. Here's what Christ did He told the disciples, you
got to go. And then he told them, I want
you to understand. I know your worries. I know your fears. I
know your unbelief. I know your doubt. I know all the excuses,
but the harvest is white. They couldn't see that. They
had no visual comprehension of the characteristic of the harvest.
They had no idea that seed was sown, that time was spent. that the harvest was growing,
you can't see a spiritual harvest. God has to reveal it to you.
They are being commissioned to go out and speak to human beings
just like themselves and just like we all were. I wonder what's
going to happen when I start telling them about Jesus. Well,
what you need to know is whether or not the harvest is white.
Do you know what white means? White means you can just about
pick that thing up without even any struggle, put seeds on your
shoulders and go back home. And do you understand what that
means? It wasn't by your works. All you're doing is reaping what
somebody else sold, somebody else labored, somebody else toiled,
and you get the benefits of picking it up. That stuff just about
to jump up in your arm and you're carrying it home. They that go
forth weeping, bearing precious seed, that's Jesus, shall doubtless
come again, what? Rejoicing, bringing their sheaves
with them. Who is that? That's us. This
is what Jesus was saying in John chapter four when the disciples
was all hungry about going get some Subway sandwiches. He said,
go ahead. I'll get go get you some Subway.
I got I got some business over here in Samaria. You don't understand
this. And when they came back, he was
talking to a Samaritan sister. Now, you know, Jews don't Jewish
brothers don't talk to Samaritan sisters like that. And the disciples
said, look, here go Jesus again. Here he goes again. Here he goes
again. He probably needs something to
eat because, you know, we don't do that. And when they came with
the food, they said, Master, you hungry? He says, listen,
my meat. You know, and this is what happens
when you get full of the spirit, isn't it? See, I don't know about
this. See, that's why I eat so much. Because if you was full
of the Holy Ghost, you would not eat that much. Our master
said. My meat is to do the will of
him that sent me. OK, so let me help you just in
case you got mad right there. I know you get mad at what I
say. Let me help you right quick. Isn't it true? that when God
is pleased to touch you and open your mouth and reveal the deposit
that's in there, I'm getting ready to talk about revelation
here in a moment, and it causes men and women to listen to you,
that mundane things like eating goes way out the window, at least
for most of you. I mean, maybe some of you get
more hungry as you witness, but for most of us, our satisfaction
comes in talking to people about Christ. In fact, when I'm talking
to people about Christ, I don't want food. If you fix a plate,
it's going to sit there and get cold. Because I am so committed
to the fast that's taking place right now, I want to see a soul
blessed by revelation of God's glory. I want to see them advanced
in the kingdom of God. I want my brothers and sisters
in Christ to be more rooted and grounded in Him. I want problems
solved. I want issues dealt with. I want
them to see that God is all things to all men if they trust Him.
And that is an exceedingly important thing in the moment. in the moment. So Jesus says to his disciples
in John chapter 4, he says, fellas, don't say that there's four months
to the harvest. See the idea? We'll get a blessing
down the line. Jesus wasn't walking around as
if there was four days to the harvest. He was carrying those
brothers through all of these countries while he was picking
up sheaves. Are you hearing me? While he was picking up sheave,
the disciples are wondering what he's doing. He said, fellas,
look, don't you see what I'm doing? It's harvest time. Pick
them up. And in less than 24 hours, the
disciples watched the whole city of Samaria, Samaria come to Christ
through just the one little word of a woman whom Jesus sat there
and convinced that he was the water of life. They were blown
away. The whole city. because God sees
things differently than we do. You and I will not go unless
we see it the way God sees it. You will not go. We only go when
we see things the way God sees them. Point number five, we must
believe that He is with us in the work. Actually, what I'm
doing as I'm working through these points, and I was dealing
with this way back when I even started contemplating what the
Lord had laid on my heart concerning us being witnesses, Because one
of the great errors and sin of the Christian is that a few years
after you come to Christ, you fail to realize what one of his
major priorities is for saving you. And then you get distracted
from the primary privileged objective of telling people about Jesus.
And what you don't use, you lose. And I'm going to get ready to
tell you what the problem is with that. But here our Lord
Jesus Christ is telling the disciples to go forth and preach. And here
is what I'd let you know. When he tells them to go forth,
he's not suggesting or even remotely implying that he won't go with
them. There's nothing that God ever calls you and I to do that
he is not with us in that work. Do you remember what Mark's gospel
says in Mark chapter 16? Keep your hand here and go there.
I want to show you two passages to underscore this one truth.
If you ever do anything for Christ that lasts, it's Christ working
through you to do it. If you ever do anything for our
Master that lasts, it was Him working in you the will and the
do of His good pleasure. See, now you can do stuff for
the Master that don't last. That's the stuff you do. But
the stuff He does through you will always last. See, in Matthew
7, there were a whole bunch of folks who said, I prophesied
in your name. I preached in your name. I laid
hands in your name. But the master said, but I wasn't
in it. Remember that? I wasn't with you. In fact, I
didn't know you. You didn't know me. I didn't
know you. Your ministry was not buoyed up or borne up by a relationship
between you and me. It was not an in him ministry.
It was in you and you alone. And in him ministry is a ministry
where Christ is the foundation, Christ is the cause, Christ is
the objective, and Christ gets the glory. Did you get that? An in him ministry where Christ
is the foundation. He is the cause by which the
ministry acts. And he is the one who gets the
glory out of the ministry. That's an in him ministry. And
many religious people don't understand that. And so they are compelled
to create works out of their own energy and by their own flesh.
And the works of the flesh and the work of the spirit are two
radically different words. They don't even come close to
the same scenario. You can get a lot done in the
flesh. You can get a lot of people caught up in the flesh. But the
distinctive quality between spiritual things and carnal things is evident
to those of us who are born of God. I constantly warn people
who are seeking to be grounded in the true, to examine the assemblies
and the churches that they are a part of. Because if the same
carnal principles operate in the world, operate in the church,
then you can know for sure you are not dealing with the kingdom
of God. If the same principles that operate in the world are
operating in the church. If the same motto, if the same
ideas, if the same worldviews, if the same notions, if you can
comfortably, listen, if you can comfortably conflate carnal,
secular, worldly, humanistic, self-centered ideas with scripture,
then you know it's not the gospel. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
And this is why our present day apostate church looks so much
like the world. Because his foundation is not
Christ. His methodology is not Christ. Its objective is not the glory
of God in Christ. But for us to do it Christ's
way, he must be in it. He must be in it. Listen to Mark's
Gospel, chapter 16. Are you there? Verse 17. And these signs shall follow
them that believe. In my name shall they cast out
devils. In my name they shall speak with
new tongues, not unknown tongues, new tongues. They shall take
up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not
hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick and shall recover
them. So then after the Lord has spoken unto them, he was
received up in heaven and sat on the right hand of God. That
means he took his rightful place as the King and Lord of the universe
from which he is able to disperse his authority and power. And
they did what? Went forth. And what preached
everywhere? Here it is. The Lord working
with them. Now, how does he sit on his throne
in glory and work with them down here by his spirit? Are you hearing me by the spirit
of God? Is Christ working through his
church as they go by the spirit of God? Is Christ working through
the church as they go? The Lord working with them and
doing what? Confirming the word. with signs following, and Mark
closes out, amen. Go back to our text. I just want
you to mark this. I want you to get this now. If
you decide to go, oh Lord, I'm gonna step out. I'm getting ready
to tell him. Oh, oh help, Lord. I'm getting
ready to open my mouth. I need your help, because I ain't
done this in a long time. I'm getting ready to tell him
about Jesus. Help me remember those Bible verses. Where was
that verse in John 3, 16? I forgot. Ask the Lord to be with you. Humble yourself. Humble yourself. Flesh and blood does not enter
into the kingdom of God. Humble yourself. It's not by
power nor by might. It's by my spirit. Humble yourself. It's the spirit that quickens.
Humble yourself. It's Christ that works in you.
Humble yourself. Ask God to open your mouth. And
cause you to say the right things to the right people at the right
time so that they start thinking about God humble yourself That's
what it takes. You got to humble yourself and
say God help me do what I am not naturally capable of doing
I told you before telling people about Christ is a warfare This
is why we don't do it Because it's a warfare and here mark
this now when you begin the process of telling people about Christ
you have exposed yourself That's verse one of chapter 10. And
he appointed 70 other. See the word appointed? It's
our literal word to display or expose or to show. This is the
same Greek term used in Luke chapter one, verse 24, where
it speaks concerning John the Baptist being in the wilderness
until the day of his showing. What do you mean? Until God opened
up the door and let his servant come out and be known to the
world that he was a preacher of the gospel of the glory of
God in Christ. Until you and I are actually
doing what God called us, we're obscure, we're hid, we're unknown,
we haven't been set forth. But when you are doing what God
has called you, you are appointed. You are now on display. They
now know you for who you are. You got a target on your back
with a bullseye and the devil's going after you. That's why we
don't do it. That's why we don't do it. This
is why Christ is rejoicing. Because he knew from the point
that he had appointed them to the point that they returned
with joy. They went through all kinds of
conflict. You heard verses three through
nine. Now, when you go, I'm here to tell you, not everybody's
going to receive you. And when you go, you got to go
by faith. Don't wait till you got $50,000 in your bank account
and three suits. Go now. And trust me, every step
of the way, be sensitive to my providence, because I'm going
to open doors where no man can open them. And I'm going to allow
you to be in a city here. And they're going to accept you
and hear your message. Stay right there until you're
done. Now, that city that wants to turn you upside down and land
you on your head, just quietly shake the dust off your feet
and let them know Christ will be here in a little while and
then go to the next city. Now, see, this is the obedience
of faith. This is where men and women believe
that God not only appointed them to do what they are doing But
he has now empowered them to do what they are doing and they
cannot but do what they're doing because they understand This
is the way that God is what glorify did not say last week when the
son told asked the father father Listen, I'm coming home because
I'm done. I'm tired. I'm through my work
is done But my disciples have to stay here. I Am NOT praying
for you to take them out of the world. I Now, come on now. Can I talk to you for a few more
minutes? I know you're hungry. But doesn't it get tough sometimes?
Doesn't this life get tough sometimes? I just need one honest answer.
I'll tell you honestly, it's not going to hell. Doesn't it get tough
sometimes? Now watch this. Don't you want the Lord to just take
you home sometimes? Just take me home. Take my hand,
precious Lord. Now, am I telling the truth? Weary, worn, and tired. Take
a brother's hand, I'm ready to go. But Jesus didn't say, Lord,
I want you to take them out of the world. I want you to keep
them in the world because the process is just as important
as the position. The position is we are perfect
in Christ, secure in Christ, rooted in Christ. The promise
is that we will be glorified with Christ. In fact, I'm already
glorified with him. But I got to go through the what
process put that big old P word inside your head because you
got to get a child of God This is what we mess it up. It's called
the process the process is what we mess it up because down here
We think we should have a real a real smooth ride from position
a to position Z That the train should be riding smooth and hit
no bumps that the plane should fly and hit no air pockets But
you're gonna hit air pockets and you're gonna find yourself
praying in those air pockets Because you need to remember
that God gave the aerodynamics in the great matter of those
engineers who developed the plane, then he gave us the air to keep
us up in the air. So when I am reminded that God
provided the physics necessary for my brother to fly that plane,
I rest. We didn't get up in this air
25, 35,000 feet by the ingenuity of man. They didn't create a
thing. they only discovered what God
meant to use to get his preachers from one part of the country
to another part so men and women could hear the gospel. Yeah, I'm much more comfortable
flying now because I actually got an elder in this church,
our pastor, who flies three, four, five times a week all across
the nation. The Lord got to get him on here on Sunday. He got
to get me here on Sunday too. And I pray for Brother Chuck
often now. Because to take a plane up and
to bring a plane down is the mercy of God. And then when you
got to do it as often as this kind of individual has to do
it, you got to know that God has given that man a lot of grace.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? But how much more so the ministry
of the gospel? Listen to the excursion. We must
believe that he is with us in the work. He is the one bringing
the work to pass. He is the one fulfilling the
work And here's the part I want to get to because I want to shut it
down now point number six. This is very critical Please
listen to this ladies and gentlemen In the preaching of the gospel
to which we are called to do Here is probably the second or
what we would call penultimate reason for which we would do
this In the preaching of the gospel and sharing the word of
god with men and women satan is devastated He is devastated. He is demolished. His stronghold,
his control, his influence, his ability to maintain men and women
captive of darkness and blindness and ignorance is completely nullified
wherever you tell the truth as it is in Christ. I know you don't believe that.
Wherever you have an opportunity to tell the truth To an eternity
bound soul the potential for Satan to be proven to have been
doomed is maximized The disciples are returning back happy as a
lark happy as could be Jumping up and down Jesus is not going
to take the joy from them Please watch this even though we're
getting ready to now narrow this thing down to our final point
He is not taking their joy away. Don't take people's joy away.
You don't have that a right to do He's not taking their joy
away. He actually enters into their joy as he thanks God publicly
that he is in he has discriminately chosen men and women to preach
the gospel to men and women and see the Blessed response the
disciple says even the devils are subject to us When's the
last time you had a devil subject to you? Let me show you how this works.
You are fearful because you know people malign, they ridicule,
they get back at you when you share the gospel. But you are
compelled because you're in one of these situations where you
know you got this board meeting, this school meeting, this work
meeting, where they're getting ready to espouse something you
know is diametrically opposed to what your God has told you.
And you, as far as you're concerned, there's no one in the room that
knows the truth but you. And you are challenged because
you are vacillating between telling it and losing your job, or not
telling it and keeping your job and being miserable like you
already are because you haven't been telling people about Christ
like you ought to have. Am I telling the truth? Am I
telling the truth? And then as you negotiated and
you hope that you know providence moves it the way you'd have to
show up at the meeting But here comes the day of the meeting
I know you're laughing because you know what I'm saying. It's
true. Here comes the day of the meeting It's 10 minutes before
the meeting. So the lord didn't move As you
saw He didn't move. He the lord didn't move mountains.
The lord didn't move me out of this way. I prayed but he didn't
move So I'm going through this door now. Okay, here we go, Lord.
Now I'm led like a lamb to the slaughter. I'm getting ready
to get chewed up. And you sit down. And they start talking. And you find yourself experiencing
a certain stability of mind and pristine focus on just how abominable
these people are and what they want to espouse. and your spirit
is actually stirred in a way that is abnormal. All of a sudden,
you can't wait to open your mouth. Well, we're going to start the
meeting. Is there anyone that wants to say anything? And your
hand goes like this. You didn't do that. Here we go. Well, I do have something I want
to say. And I wish I had the testimony of one of my sisters
here recently who had to deal with that because she works in
the social services institution and they were trying to plop
down on her this sexual thing. And she was praying, Lord, help
me, pastor, pray for me. I said, I am praying for you.
You got to go through that door, sister. She went through that
door, blew them away and wrote me back an email. So I'm so thankful
that I had an opportunity to say what I wanted to say. And
you know what she found out? Listen to me. She found out that
when you tell the truth, even the unbeliever will bow to it
because it's rational, reasonable, and right. You see, our problem
is unbelief. She didn't lose her job. She
didn't lose her position. She was simply exposed. She was
appointed. She was set forth. She was showing
herself for who she was. Am I making some sense to you?
She was showing herself for who she was. God's not going to let
you starve. He's not going to let you go
broke. If you take a hit for Christ, he'll take care of you. Listen to what our master said
in verse 18 and 19. Listen to it. He says, and he said unto
them when they said, even the devils are subject to us through
your name. He says, I am beholding Satan falling like lightning
right now. You know what he did? He just
prophesied. what was behind the scenes, the net effect of them
preaching the truth. Every time a sinner hears the
gospel and bows the knee to Christ, Satan has fallen. Every time
a sinner comes out of the dungeon, out of the pit of hell, into
the kingdom of God, it's an evidence that Satan is doomed. And Christ
saw that. Every testimony of those 70 men
to Christ only affirmed what Christ had already saw. Now this
is what we call the imperfect verb form. And so he said, I
am seeing Satan falling. And this ties us to John chapter
12, 31. You don't have to go there. Jesus
said, now is the judgment of this world. Now is the judgment
of this world. Listen to me, ladies and gentlemen.
It's true. You may sense it inside and you
may not like it. But when you share the gospel
with people, you are judging the world. Just get used to it. When you say there's one God,
He's moral, and He's excellent in His morals, He's ethical,
He's excellent in His ethics, He's spiritual, He's impeccable,
He's righteous, He's holy, and He's excellent in those attributes,
and He doesn't change, and you've got to deal with Him, you are
judging the world. When you tell the world God has made a provision
for sinners to escape God's wrath, but Only through Christ you are
judging the world because the world wants to come to God on
their own terms God says you can only come on my terms Now
you're judging the world because you are cutting the lights on
and exposing the world for all of its rebellion except the duty
Because it's only through this exposure that the Spirit of God
lays men low and brings them to Christ Accept the duty he
says now is the judgment of this world now is the prince of this
world Cast out and if I be lifted up, I will draw all men Unto
me see it all goes together It all goes together. We don't get
to draw men unto Christ and not lift him up We don't get to lift
him up and him not knock the devil down because it's all part
of the process So whose team are you on? That's the battle we're fighting
here. He tells his disciples, I see it. I see it, fellas. I
just want you to know, I see it. And here's our, here's our
last significant point. Anchoring our joy. Let me, I
want you to get this. We'll be able to actually build
on this because the next several accounts are actually tied into
this. Rich young ruler is sitting there checking out this whole
discourse and he gonna sneak up to the master and say, master,
I heard you just talking to them about eternal life. How might
I obtain eternal life? So there's a segue here. The
segue, here's what he does as we close. These men are happy,
they are jazzed, they have experienced something, there's power there,
there's success there. We love it when people are saved.
I love to see men and women come to a knowledge of Christ. That
just thrills my soul. My soul is thrilled when Christ
is able to visibly claim another one for his glory. Just thrills
my soul, thrills my soul. And it affirms once again that
the devil is doomed. And I'm so happy for that. And
it's especially a joy when he uses me to make that happen.
I would hope that's the case with you, that before you die, you get to see the conversion
of a soul to Christ because of you. Because of you. I hope before you die, you get
to rejoice God the Father by authenticating your discipleship.
Because here in is my father glorified that you bear forth
much fruit So shall you be called my what? Listen to be a disciple
is to be a mimicker a follower someone who patterned somebody
who are we patterning Christ? Did Christ have fruit? Of course
he did and therefore I want fruit because he has fruit don't you
and that's the whole point It's not about us. It's about him
It's about him. But watch this. I want you to
grasp this now because this is important. Our master said I
See Satan fallen. I see him doom I have given you
power to tread on serpents scorpions and all over all the power of
the enemy and nothing by any means shall hurt you what a promise
right verse 20 notwithstanding in this rejoice not that the
spirits are subject to you but rather rejoice Because your names
are written in heaven. Now, I want to help you with
that. This is so very important, because the way the Bible language
is written is you will think that negatives cancel out everything
behind it and that the only thing that's actually to be affirmed
is what they are now setting forth. But that cannot ever be
true. When the scriptures tell us that
we are not to walk in the flesh, it's not saying don't walk, it's
just saying walk in the spirit. When the scripture says that
we are to worship God in spirit and in truth, it's not saying
don't worship, It's not saying don't come to church. It's not
saying don't gather as a corporate body. It's saying do it from
a right motive with a proper understanding. So one negation
doesn't negate the other. It doesn't wash out the whole
thing. And lots of people think like this. When the Lord says
don't rejoice in this, how can He mean don't rejoice at all
in the salvation of sinners and in the power of the gospel when
He just rejoiced in it? But what He's saying is anchor
that joy this reality. Are you hearing me now? Anchor
your joy so that your joy is not rooted in the experience
but the cause of the experience. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
Make sure your joy is not based upon the immediate experience
for several reasons. First, you're not going to always
have that experience. People not gonna always believe
the gospel. You're not gonna always find yourself subduing
the devil folks are not gonna always come to Christ They're
gonna be times you're gonna cry for what you preach to people
because they're gonna hate you for it But your joy can still
be Rooted in the source and cause of what God has called you to
notice what he said Rejoice in that your names are written in
heaven. Do you see that? And my last
point is anchoring your joy. Saints, you got to anchor your
joy. You and I have to make sure our joy is anchored. Watch this
now. Not in the work that we do, but
the work that he did. Did you hear what I just said?
To anchor your joy in heaven is to anchor your joy in what
Christ has done. To anchor your joy in heaven
is to anchor your joy in the work that Christ has accomplished.
When your joy is in the fact that your name is written in
heaven, your joy is in the fact that before the world began,
God placed you in Christ. Your joy is in the fact that
Christ said yes to the covenant. Your joy is in the fact that
Christ assumed a human nature. Your joy is in the fact that
Christ went to Calvary's tree. Your joy is in the fact that
when he died, he died for you. When he was buried, he was buried
for you. When he rose again, you rose with him. When he went
to glory, you went to glory with him. And so when he says your
name is written in heaven, it's all because of what? Him. That's
where our joy is. And when your joy is in him,
your joy is secure. Now, I want to make this one
final point. There are a lot of people who
call themselves Christian. But if you don't show yourself,
you are no Christian. If you don't tell somebody about
Christ, We don't know. If you don't go, we don't know.
A lot of people want to go to heaven. I want to go to heaven
too. A lot of people want to assume that their names are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life. Revelation chapter 13 verse 8. Revelation
chapter 17 verse 8. I know God wrote a book. I know
he has a citizenry where somebody's name is in it. Paul tells me
in Philippians 3 20 our Citizenship our politics is in heaven from
which we look for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ And a lot
of us assume we are in heaven in that right, but watch this
Can I help you now in order for you to affirm that you are in
heaven? You better talk like you're in heaven. You better
act like you're in heaven. You better act like you're going
to heaven You better act like you think about heaven Your citizenship
in heaven should be manifested by you telling people down here,
there is a glory to be had for sinners in the person of Christ
and you must escape the wrath of God. Look to Christ. Then
people will know that you are citizens of heaven. Are you hearing
what I'm saying? Don't tell me you're a citizen
of heaven and you never talk about heaven. Don't tell me you're
a citizen of heaven and you never talk about the king of glory.
Don't tell me you're a citizen of heaven and you never talk
about the way to glory. Don't tell me you're a citizen
of heaven and you don't talk about the God of glory and the
salvation of glory and the power of glory in your own life. You
don't know about heaven. There's people who do talk about
it. Read it for yourself in Psalm
87. This man was born there. That man was born there. And
God was rejoicing as he wrote their names down. Is your name
written in Zion? Is it written in Zion? If it
is, you better tell people where your address is. You better let
them know where you are. You better tell them there's
a kingdom that cannot be moved. where the God of glory is, and
sons and daughters who are part of a general assembly of the
firstborn written in heaven, just men whose spirits have been
made perfect by the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Listen, do you understand ain't a roach in glory? Do you understand
ain't a rat in glory? Ain't no cobwebs in glory. The
food don't rot in glory. Do you understand what we're
getting when we get to glory? You better tell somebody on your
way to glory what glory is about. Amen. Amen.