Turn back to Luke chapter 10.
Tonight, I'm going to be preaching upon this subject. The strength
of sin is the law. Now, the first Corinthians chapter
15, the strength of sin is the law that goes against our natural
way of thinking. But that's what the word of God
says. What does that mean? Look in
verse 21, once again, at Luke chapter 10. In that hour, Jesus
rejoiced in spirit. I've entitled this message, What
Jesus Rejoiced In. Who is Jesus? He's the son of Mary. He's the
son of God. He's the creator. I think of
the vastness of this universe. The closest star to us is said
to be four light years away. Light travels 182,000 miles per
second. So how far would that be in four
years time? And that's the closest star.
What about the galaxies? The vastness of space? I've heard
that it's ever expanding. I don't know how many, how anybody
knows that, but it's the vastness. He made it all. And I think of
the minuteness of the atom. He made that as well. He is The
creator, he spake the world into existence. That's who Jesus is.
He is the express image of God and the brightness of his father's
glory. He's not like God at all. He
is God. He's Lord of all. He's the savior. He's the sinner's friend. Now,
what did he? rejoice in. It's not without significance
that this is the only time recorded in the four gospels that Jesus
was said to rejoice. The only time. Right here. We read where he was a man of
sorrows and acquainted with grief. We read where he wept and he
groaned in the spirit In Gethsemane's garden, he said, I'm exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death. But here's the one time where
it was said he rejoiced. And a stronger word is used.
He rejoiced greatly. and exalted. It was something
you could visibly see. They couldn't help but miss.
He's rejoicing in spirit. Now, obviously this is not the
only time he rejoiced. We know that. Proverbs, let me
read this scripture to you from Proverbs chapter eight, verses
29 and 30. This is the Lord speaking when
he gave to the sea, his decree that the water should not pass
his commandment. When he appointed the foundations
of the earth, then was I by him as one brought up with him. And
I was daily his delight rejoicing always before him. Now this is certainly not saying
this is the only time the Lord rejoiced, but yet it's not without
much significance at the only time it's recorded in the gospels
that he rejoiced is right here And it would behoove us to know
what it was he rejoiced in at that time. Something particular
happened at that time. Jesus rejoiced in spirit. Now
we considered this last week. It was the time of the return
of the 70 verse 17 of the same chapter. And the 70 returned
again with joy saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto
us through thy name. I imagine they were awful happy
about that. I would be too. And he said unto them, I beheld
Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give you power. I give unto you power to tread
on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy
and nothing shall by any means hurt you. notwithstanding in
this rejoice, not that the spirits are subject to you. Now that's
a command. He said, do not rejoice in that, but rather rejoice because
your names are written in heaven. Now they were told to rejoice,
not in something they could see, but in something which they could
not see. They were told to rejoice in
something that was written. And you know, the only thing
we're allowed to truly rejoice in is that which is written. And
they were told to rejoice in something that they had absolutely
nothing to do with personally. How much did you have to do with
your name being written in heaven? If you're in the Lamb's book
of life, if you're one of God's elect, if he chose you to salvation
and your name is written in the Lamb's book of life, how much
did you have to do with that? Your heart says nothing. He did it all. Now, can you rejoice? Can you truly rejoice in that
which you had no part in? I don't know what else there
is to rejoice in. Lamb's Book of Life, that great, glorious,
stupendous truth of God's electing grace. The truth that God is
God. You know, the alternative to
election is a weak God. That's all I can say. A non-existent
God. Election says God is God. He chooses who will be saved.
And salvation really is all of grace. Salvation is of the Lord. At that hour, when that took
place, Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank Thee, O Father. We're given this spontaneous
outbreak of joy. I thank Thee, O Father. And the word thank is a different
word than what is ordinarily used. It is literally, I make
thankful confession. This is something I want everybody
to hear. I make thankful confession. I thank thee, oh father. Now
this is the uncreated son speaking to his father. And we're given
the great privilege of listening in. Don't you want to hear exactly
what it is he rejoiced in and who it is he's speaking to. I
thank thee, O Father, he says in verse 21, Lord of heaven and
earth. Now, his lordship speaks of his
sovereignty. That's how he identified his
father, the one who is Lord of heaven and earth. And I love
to think of his lordship. He's the Lord. God the Father's
the Lord. God the Son's the Lord. God the
Spirit is the Lord. Lordship speaks of his absolute
sovereignty. He's the Lord of creation. He
created the universe. I love to think of him creating
things. I love to think of him just speaking this universe into
existence. What power. He's the Lord of
providence. That means that everything that
takes place, the flight of a piece of dust, the destruction or the
raising up of an empire, everything that takes place in your life
and everybody else's life, he is in control of. He's the first
cause behind all things. He's the Lord of Providence.
And most especially, he is the Lord of salvation. He reigns in salvation. If you're saved, there's one
reason. He saved you. Is that what you believe? He
saved you. He did it on purpose, and he
did it by his grace. You know that if you're saved.
He saved you. Now, what does The Lord rejoicing,
and what does the Lord thank his father for? Look in verse
21. 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 revealed them unto babes. Now he thanks his father that
he had hid these things, concealed them so that the wise and prudent
would not and could not see them. That's what it says. And the
Lord thanked his father for this. I thank thee that you've hid
these things. What things? The things of salvation. The mystery of grace, the way
God saves sinners, what's contained in verse 20 when he talks about
their names being written in heaven. How many religious people
that you know know anything about the Lamb's Book of Life? If you speak of the Lamb's Book
of Life to the average religious person, they say, what in the
world are you talking about? I mean, I know it's in there somewhere,
but I don't know what it is. I guess it's got the names of the folks
who were saved in it, and they don't really understand. The
Lamb's Book of Life is the names of those who were given to the
Lamb before time began. Oh, the wise and the prudent
have no interest in this, and God has hid these things from
them. Who are the wise and prudent?
The sophisticated and the cunning. Those who are wise in their own
eyes. I love that scripture, the Lord
knoweth the thoughts of the wise. that they're vain, that they're
empty, that they're meaningless. Proverbs 26 verse 12 says, seest
thou a man wise in his own conceits? There's more hope for a fool
than him. Who are the wise and prudent?
Those who seek to help out God with the wisdom of words. Paul
said, Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not
with wisdom of words, trying to package the gospel or make
it more attractive or less offensive to the natural man. You take
the meaning away when you do that. That's what the wise of
this world do. They try to help out God. God says, I don't need
your help. Not with wisdom of words, lest
the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. God has actively purposely, justly
hid these things from the wise and prudent. He makes sure they'll
never see them. And he sent them strong delusion
that they should believe a lie. That's what the scripture says.
Second Thessalonians 2.10, because they received not the love of
the truth, that they might be saved for this cause. God just
sent them strong delusion. that they should believe a lie,
that they all might be damned who had no pleasure in the truth,
but had pleasure in, who believed not the truth, but had pleasure
in unrighteousness. That's the testimony of God.
Turn with me for a moment to John chapter 12. Verse 37. But though he had done so many
miracles before them, Yet they believe not on him that the saying
of Isaiah, the prophet might be fulfilled, which the Lord
spoke, Lord, which he spake might be filled, which he spake, Lord,
who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord
been revealed. Therefore, they could not believe
because Isaiah said again. Now this passage of scripture,
I'm getting ready to read. It's the most often quoted passage
in the New Testament from the Old Testament. This passage I've
written right here. This is quoted more times than
any other passage from the Old Testament. Here it is. He hath
blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should
not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart,
and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said
Isaiah when he saw his glory, and he spake of him. He's hid these things from the
wise and prudent. Next, the Lord thanks his father
that he had revealed these things, the things of salvation to babes. Now, the word babes here is the
word that's always used to refer to infants. Infants. Now, what do you know about an
infant? If he knows anything, there's only one way that infant
knows anything. It's because God revealed it to him. They
didn't figure it out. Not smart enough. Infants. What can infants do? Well, they
can be dependent. That's it. They're completely
dependent upon somebody else to take care of them. And they
can make a mess. They can cry. But as far as doing
anything, they're completely dependent. I'm an infant. I am completely
dependent on Him to save me, to keep me, to preserve me, to
give me faith, to reveal Himself to me. I am completely dependent. That's a good place to be. You
know, I think it's interesting when we raise our children, we
want them to be independent, don't we? We want them to be
able to take care of themselves and be good citizens and so on
and strong and do well in what they do. We want them to be independent.
But when the Lord raises his children, he raises them to be
completely dependent. And the more you grow in grace,
the more dependent you'll be. You've hid these things from
the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes, infants. Turn
to first Corinthians chapter one. Verse 26, For you see your calling, brethren,
how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not
many noble are called. There was a very wealthy lady
in the 1800s or 1700s that was part of the one of the people
who supported her name was Lady Huntington and she was, she was
mighty. You know, one of the, one of
the mighty of the world. She was a, she was an aristocracy,
noble and all that kind of stuff, had a big position. And she said,
I'm so thankful for the word him. Doesn't say not any, says
not many. I'm thankful for the word. I'm
thankful everything the Lord says, but he said, uh, not many, but verse 27, God hath chosen,
this is who God has chosen, the foolish things of the world to
confound the wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the
world to confound the things which are mighty, and the base
things of the world and the things which are despised hath God chosen,
yea, and things which are not, which are nothing, to bring to
nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in
his presence. Now that's God's agenda. Now, he's hid these things, these
things of salvation from the wise and prudent and revealed
them unto babes. Now look back in Luke chapter
10, verse 21. In that hour, Jesus rejoiced
in spirit. and said, I thank thee, O Father,
Lord of heaven and earth, that you've hid these things from
the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. And look what
he says next. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in thy sight. Now, remember, he's exulting
at this time. He's rejoicing. And that word, even so, is quite
often translated, yes. Now, when I'm watching a ball
game, matter of fact, I did it last night. I was watching the
Reds game. four home runs hitting that game. And when, I remember,
what's his name? The guy that, Ryan Ludwig. He's just back up. He hit his
first home run and we need him to do well. And you know when
he hit that home run I go, yes! I was happy. I was happy. I mean,
yeah, that's the response to truth. Yes. Yes. And you know, that's the way
the Lord responds. Not that, you know, I'm, I'm not saying
the Lord about a ball game. You know, you know that he's
talking about what his father did. You know what he says regarding
his father, hiding these things from the wise and prudent and
revealing them unto babes. Yes. Yes. Yes. For so it seemed good in
thy sight. Here's his reason for doing what
he does. It seemed good in his sight. Now, does it seem good in your
sight as well? Do you say yes? Now, if you don't, you're not
like the Lord, because this is what the Lord said yes to. This
is what the Lord rejoiced in. his father's sovereignty in salvation. The fact that he himself had
hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them
unto babes. It seemed good in his sight. Now look at verse 22, same scripture. Remember, this is the time when
the Lord Jesus is rejoicing. He says in verse 22, all things are delivered to me of my father. And no man knows who the son
is, but the father. And who the father is, but the
son, and he to whom the son will reveal him. Now the Lord has
put all things into the hands of his son. Don't you like that? I love the Lord having everything
in his hand. I'm in his hand. You're in his hand. He's an absolute
control. All things in providence, all
things in salvation. Now what that means is whether
or not I'm saved, it's up to him. I don't have any control
in this thing. Whether or not I'm saved, it's
up to him. Do you know that so? You know
that you have no control in salvation, anything else for that matter,
but particularly in salvation, you're in his hands. All things
are delivered to me of my father. And he goes on to say, no man
knows who the son is, but the father, you know what the Lord
saying there, he's saying I'm so infinitely ineffably great. incomparably great. I'm so infinite
that no one has the capability of knowing me but my Father.
That's how great the Lord Jesus Christ is. The only one who can
truly know him, the only one who can truly see who he is and
know him is the Father. You know what the Father said
to him? The Father said to the Son, Thy throne, O God, is forever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. That's who he is. And only the
Father truly knows him. Now, I know him. I know him. He knows me. But you want to
think of my knowledge of him? Very small. Very small. But the Father knows him all
together. You know, even Paul, speaking
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said, now we see
through a glass darkly. Isn't that so? We see through a glass darkly. But then, one of these days,
face to face, then shall I know, even as also I'm known. The Lord
is saying, I'm so great. The only one who can truly know
me is the father. What he says next. All things are delivered into
me and my father and no man knows who the son is, but the father
and who the father is, but the son. Christ Jesus is the only one
who can truly know God. He said, nobody knows God but
me. But he didn't end there. He said,
no one can know who the father is, but the son and he to whom
the son will reveal him, uncover him. You see, he's covered up
and we can't see unless the Lord Jesus Christ is pleased in his
infinite mercy to reveal him. You and I are shut up to revelation. Now I want you to turn to Matthew
chapter 11. where this same passage is used. But Matthew gives us
a detail that Luke does not give us. And I want us to see that
detail in Matthew chapter 11, beginning in verse 25. At that time, Jesus answered
and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. because
thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and has
revealed them unto babes even so father for so it seemed good
in thy sight. All things are delivered unto
me of my father and no man knows the son but the father neither
knows any man the father save the son and he to whomsoever
the son will reveal him. Just what we read in Luke chapter
10, but let's go on reading. Next, the Lord says, come unto
me. All ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. and learn of me for I am meek
and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden
is light. Now this one who is God, this
one in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in His
body. This one who rejoiced in spirit
and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
You've hid these things, You've concealed them, so that they
can't see from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed
good in Thy sight. This one who said, All things
are delivered unto me of my Father. And no man can know me but the
Father. Neither knows any man the Father's sake except the
Son, me, and whosoever it is that I reveal him to. And then he says, come to me. Now this is what is known. People
call it the great invitation. And it sounds in very many respects
like an invitation. I wouldn't deny that. But even
better, it's a great command. Come. unto me." Now everything
that I've said regarding Christ thanking God that he'd hid these
things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes,
that in no way prevents any sinner from coming to him. He says,
and this is his command, come unto me. All ye that labor and
are heavy laden. Now, I come to the Lord Jesus
Christ because he commands me to. He said, come unto me all ye
that labor and are heavy laden. Now what's he speaking about?
He's talking about under the burden of the guilt of sin. Labor. Burdened. Heavy laden. I'm that. I labor under the burden of sins
committed, giving in to temptation, a sinful nature, and a hypocritical
self-righteous nature. That is in me. and I labor and
I'm heavy laden with it. Sin is a heavy, heavy burden. And the Lord tells everybody
like that, come to me. Now I don't come to Christ because
I know I'm on the elect. I don't come to Christ because
I know he died for my sins. I don't come to Christ because
I know I'm born again. I come to Christ because he tells me
to come. That's all I need. He said, come to me, all ye that
are weary, heavy laden. And he says, I will give you
rest. He's willing and he's able. I got excited when Paul read
that passage of scripture in Hebrews chapter four. There remaineth
a rest for the people of God. For he that hath entered into
his rest hath ceased from his own labors as God did from his. When God rested from creation,
it wasn't because he was tired. It's because he was finished. It was done. It was very good. The Lord looked at what he did
and behold, he was very good and he rested because there's
nothing else to do. Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ
speaks of giving us rest, it's rest because there's nothing
to do. He didn't say, come to me and
I'll show you what to do. He didn't say, come to me and
I'll give you what to do to make yourself better. If you do this,
everything will be okay. No, he said, come to me and I'll
give you rest. Two things. One's right. Do and done. Don't you love the simplicity
of that? Do and done. When do you rest? You rest when
there's nothing to do, when the work is finished. If you try
to rest when you've got something on your mind that has to be done,
you don't rest. You don't really rest. But oh, how do you rest
when the work is finished? What were his words from the
cross? It is finished. My salvation was done, and I
rest in Him. Now look what he says next. Verse
28, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest. You know, coming to Christ, is
the motion of spiritual life. Living things move, don't they?
If something never moves, if there's no movement at all, it's
like a rock. It doesn't have any life. Living
things have motion and coming to the Lord Jesus Christ is the
motion of spiritual life. Come to me. And you do it without
making a physical move at all. It's something done in the heart,
coming to Christ and believing on Christ to the same thing.
He said, he that cometh to me shall never hunger. And he that
believeth on me shall never thirst. You believe on Christ. That means
you rest in what he did to give you rest. That's coming to Christ. He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me and in that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. No reason Christ would ever cast
you out. You come to him as an empty handed sinner. You'll be
received. And you hear that. You don't need to worry about
election. You don't need to worry about whether he died for you.
You come to him as an empty handed sinner, needing him and you will
be received. He's never turned anybody away. Never happened. Never will. Now
look what he says next. He says in verse 29, take my
yoke upon you and learn of me. Now, naturally, when I think
of yoke, I think of something I don't want. Because when you
think of yoke, you think of work. You think of, you know, a yoke
for oxen. It's something that joins, it's literally a coupling. A yoke is always used to bring
two together. Now, I tell you what, I want
to be, I want to be yoked together with him, don't you? I want this
yoke. I want to be yoked together with
him to where I can't get away from him. He says, take my yoke
upon you and learn of me. I love the way he says, he didn't
say learn about me. You're a natural man can learn about the Lord
Jesus Christ, but I don't want to just learn about him. I want
to learn of him where he is my teacher and I learn of him take
my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am now I'm meek and I'm lowly in heart
now that's the Lord Jesus this one who's so incomparably
great who says all things are delivered unto me He says when
he describes himself, I am meek and lowly in heart. You know
what that means? Anybody that comes into his presence,
they're never going to feel threatened. They're never going to feel judged.
He is meek and lowly in heart. Oh, what a glorious, glorious
description of our Redeemer. You come to him. You come to
anybody else, and they're going to see things about you. They
might not say it, but they'll pull back. You come to Him. You'll find He's meek and lowly
in heart, and you'll find rest for your souls. Now, how is it
that we find rest? Well, what we are unquiet about,
our sin, is taken away. You know, this this rest is the
rest of having nothing to worry about. My sin has been taken
away. Hebrews 1 3 says he by himself
purged our sins, put them away. I have no sin. There's nothing
for me to do to attain to that. I have it in Christ Jesus and
I rest. Take my yoke upon you. and learn
of me, for I'm meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find
rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy." That word easy
is gracious. You know, it's easy, it's light.
You know why? Because he bears all the weight.
He bears all the weight of it. Don't you love being yoked to
him? My yoke is easy. And my burden is light. Now the spirit and the bride
say, come. And let him that heareth. Not everybody hears. What a blessing
it is to hear. You know, I don't have any doubt
that there are people even right now that are not hearing this.
You don't hear. Somebody does. Somebody does. I'm thankful for that. Somebody
hears the words of Christ. They hear him say, come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn of me from me. and lowly in heart,
and you'll find rest in your souls, for my yoke is easy, and
my burden is light. The spirit and the bride say
come, let him that heareth say come, and let him that is athirst
come, and whosoever will. Let him take the water of life
freely. Can you rejoice in what Jesus
rejoiced in? Can you? When he said, I thank thee, O
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you hid these things
from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. Now,
if you don't rejoice, it's because you're wise and prudent. I can
understand. Wise and prudent is not going to rejoice in that
because the Lord says he hid these things from the wise and
prudent. But if you're a babe, an infant, one completely dependent,
100% dependent upon Him for everything, you will rejoice that He's revealed
these things, the things of salvation, unto babes. Let's pray together. Lord, how we thank you and how
we rejoice with our blessed son, that you've hid these things
from the wise and prudent, those who are wise in their own eyes. And you've revealed them to those
that you've made to see that they're nothing but sin and need
your grace. You've revealed them unto babes.
Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. And Lord,
We ask in Christ's name that you would break each heart here and cause us to come to your
son, weary, burdened, heavy laden under our own sin that's all
of our fault. Oh Lord, give us grace to come
to you. and find rest. Teach us to cease
from our own works as you did from yours in creation and simply
rest in the perfect work of Christ alone. Lord, deliver us. Oh, deliver us from seeking to
think that we need to bring something other than him. Lord, deliver us from doing and cause us to rest in what
is done. Bless this message for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray. Amen. What is that?