SPEAKER_00: You know, most of us spend a lot of time thinking about our own joy.
SPEAKER_00: We want joy in our homes, we want joy in our workplaces, joy in our relationships, joy in our walk with God.
SPEAKER_00: Even as Christians, you know, we often ask questions like, How can I have more joy?
SPEAKER_00: But have you ever stopped to ask a different question?
SPEAKER_00: What brings Jesus joy?
SPEAKER_00: We know that Jesus was a man of sorrows and that he was acquainted with grief.
SPEAKER_00: We know that he wept and he endured the agony of the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Yet the Bible also tells us that Jesus rejoiced.
SPEAKER_00: He experienced a deep, overflowing, perfect joy that no sinful human has ever known.
SPEAKER_00: In our passage this morning, we are given a rare glimpse into the heart of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples return back from their short-term mission trip, as we've been looking at the past couple of weeks, and they are rejoicing over what God is doing.
SPEAKER_00: They are rejoicing over what God has done through them, and suddenly the focus of Luke's narrative begins to shift.
SPEAKER_00: For a moment, we see not merely the joy of God's people or of the 72 disciples, but for a moment we see the joy of the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: We are invited to see what makes Jesus glad, what causes him to rejoice, and what delights his heart.
SPEAKER_00: I titled this sermon, The Inexpressible Joy of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Last week we looked at the joy of the 72 disciples, but this morning we will look at the joy of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This morning, as we look at our passage, we will discover three reasons for Christ's joy.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, his joy in the work of the Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, his joy in election.
SPEAKER_00: And number three is his joy in the fulfillment of God's saving promises.
SPEAKER_00: His joy in the work of the Trinity, his joy in the work of election or in election, and his joy in the fulfillment of God's saving promises.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at that first one.
SPEAKER_00: His joy in the work of the Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise in understanding and revealed them to little children.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, Father, for such was at your gracious will.
SPEAKER_00: All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son, and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
SPEAKER_00: So Luke tells us that at the same hour, meaning the same hour in which the seventy-two disciples returned rejoicing, Jesus also rejoiced.
SPEAKER_00: He rejoiced in, as it says there, the Holy Spirit, and he thanked the Father for revealing the kingdom of God to them.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, this is what the seventy-two came back rejoicing over.
SPEAKER_00: They were rejoicing that they were able to witness the power of the kingdom, how the demons were subject to them through the name of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So what exactly is Jesus rejoicing over here?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he's rejoicing in the work of the Godhead.
SPEAKER_00: He's rejoicing in what we call the work of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, because as he is witnessing the kingdom of God being displayed with the power of Jesus or the power of the Spirit among the people, he knows whose work this is.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just his work, nor is it the work of the Spirit or the Father alone.
SPEAKER_00: But this is a Trinitarian work.
SPEAKER_00: The people are exercising the authority over the demons in the name of Jesus Christ, in the name of the Son.
SPEAKER_00: The power comes through the power supplied by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And as we will see, these 72 were chosen to be witnesses of all of this by the sovereign will of the Father.
SPEAKER_00: As a short refresher, the Christian church believes in one God and three persons.
SPEAKER_00: Not three gods, but one God who is in three, one God in three distinct co-equal and co-eternal persons.
SPEAKER_00: Speaking of the Trinity, Wilhelmus Brakel says this.
SPEAKER_00: He says, it must be understood that God is incomprehensible in his essence and existence.
SPEAKER_00: Believers must not, nor desire to, proceed with their minds beyond his defined limitations.
SPEAKER_00: That is, beyond that which the Lord has been pleased to shed light upon, pleased to shed light upon.
SPEAKER_00: The fact that there are three persons and one divine being is so clearly revealed in the Word of God, it cannot be contradicted.
SPEAKER_00: It is evident in both the Old and New Testaments.
SPEAKER_00: So you see, we believe in the Trinity, not because we can clearly understand it and articulate it, but because we clearly see it being taught in the Scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: A creature that cannot totally comprehend its creator makes perfect sense.
SPEAKER_00: We believe in the doctrine of the Trinity because in the Bible the Father is called God, the Son is called God, and the Holy Spirit is called God.
SPEAKER_00: Yet scripture also teaches that our God is one God.
SPEAKER_00: That's not a puzzle to be solved, but it is a truth to be embraced.
SPEAKER_00: And here in our passage, we get a glimpse of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit mentioned distinctly, yet they are working together.
SPEAKER_00: And this is why Jesus is rejoicing.
SPEAKER_00: He's rejoicing in that work, he's rejoicing in the work of the Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: You know, one interesting thing to note is that Luke chooses here a different word to describe the rejoicing of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Back in verse 17, when he tells that when Jesus tells the 72 disciples to rejoice that their names are written in heaven, Luke uses the word chyro.
SPEAKER_00: That's a Greek word that means rejoice or be glad.
SPEAKER_00: But here in verse 21, he uses the word agalio to describe the way Jesus rejoiced.
SPEAKER_00: That word means to be overjoyed or extremely joyful.
SPEAKER_00: It's a more intense way to describe rejoicing.
SPEAKER_00: It's an exuberant joy.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's used to describe someone expressing joy with an action.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you are maybe watching the NBA Finals or the World Cup, and your favorite team scores or wins, and you get excited, and you just don't yell, you make an action.
SPEAKER_00: Your hands might go up, or you make some type of gesture.
SPEAKER_00: This is what what Luke is describing Jesus doing here.
SPEAKER_00: He's expressing great joy.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus might have had some type of motion as he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and he began to express this thankfulness to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Which should come as no surprise when we consider who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the perfect man.
SPEAKER_00: A perfect man knows how to experience perfect joy.
SPEAKER_00: See, we experience joy with a taint of sin.
SPEAKER_00: You know, when when we have joy over our team winning or something good happened to us, we get a raise, or when we see our children do something, we express joy.
SPEAKER_00: And we think that that is the supreme of all.
SPEAKER_00: We think that that's as high as we can get.
SPEAKER_00: But that is expressing joy or experiencing joy better in our sin.
SPEAKER_00: We experience joy with the with the with the taint of sin, but Jesus, who had no sin, was able to experience supreme and unfiltered joy.
SPEAKER_00: So what can we learn from this expression of Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we can learn that God enjoys being God, that he glories in his own work, that he takes delight in who he is.
SPEAKER_00: He is the fountain of life, he is the well of goodness, he is the spring of all beauty and splendor.
SPEAKER_00: And he enjoys that.
SPEAKER_00: This is nothing more than Romans 11, 36.
SPEAKER_00: For from him and through him and to him are all things, to him be glory forever.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So why is this good news for us?
SPEAKER_00: Well, because remember, what just happened.
SPEAKER_00: Remember what caused Jesus to express himself like this?
SPEAKER_00: It was being told by the 72 that the forces of darkness are being pushed back.
SPEAKER_00: It is, he's rejoicing like this after he witnesses Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Simply put, God delights in the triumph of his righteousness or of his goodness over evil.
SPEAKER_00: He rejoices when Satan's oppression is opposed, when his stronghold is weakened, when his power is diminished, when his plans are spoiled.
SPEAKER_00: You know, there are times in our lives when we go through trials and tribulations and we feel like God is against us, that somehow or another he's working against us, that he wants our failure.
SPEAKER_00: Now we do have to take seriously verses like Hebrews 12, 6, where it says the Lord disciplines the one he loves.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes our trials are disciplines.
SPEAKER_00: It's good to examine our lives and seek to see if there is any sin and we're being disciplined over sin, and if God is using whatever trial that might be to bring us to repentance and to bring us to restored fellowship with him.
SPEAKER_00: But if we are God's children, he is no way against us.
SPEAKER_00: If we being evil know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will God the Father give us all things?
SPEAKER_00: God always treats his children well, even when his treatment includes discipline.
SPEAKER_00: He's never against us.
SPEAKER_00: Don't ever buy into the lie of the enemies, the enemy, that God is somehow working for your downfall.
SPEAKER_00: He can't do that.
SPEAKER_00: Not if you're his child, not if you're in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If your trial makes you question anything, don't let it make you question that God does not love you, or his desire is not for your good.
SPEAKER_00: We might not get the answers for what our trials may be, but we know what they can't be.
SPEAKER_00: They can't be that God is wanting evil to win in our lives because that is not his character.
SPEAKER_00: Creation shows us this, right?
SPEAKER_00: When you look at the way God created the earth, he didn't rest until he said, It is good.
SPEAKER_00: He kept working until all things in creation were good.
SPEAKER_00: God takes pleasure in goodness, and we are part of his creation.
SPEAKER_00: He has created us and he takes pleasure in the goodness of us.
SPEAKER_00: Isaiah 48 9 tells us, For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I might not cut you off.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver, I have tried you in the furnace of affliction, for my own sake, for my own sake I do it.
SPEAKER_00: For how should my name be profane?
SPEAKER_00: My glory I will not give to another.
SPEAKER_00: If God does everything for his own glory, and if he receives glory when his enemy is defeated, then we have reason to rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: You say, how?
SPEAKER_00: Because his enemy is our enemy.
SPEAKER_00: God finds no joy in Satan getting the victory.
SPEAKER_00: He finds no joy in Satan winning, whether over creation or over you.
SPEAKER_00: And that's good news for us because only one of those two beings is sovereign.
SPEAKER_00: Only one of those two is all powerful, and it's not Satan.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever trial you might be in, it is not God enjoying seeing Satan get the best of you.
SPEAKER_00: Because as we see in our passage, God the Father and God of the Son and God of the Holy Spirit rejoices in the opposite of that.
SPEAKER_00: He, God, rejoices when his kingdom pushes back the kingdom of darkness.
SPEAKER_00: God rejoices in his own goodness, and that is good news for you.
SPEAKER_00: No, that is great news for you.
SPEAKER_00: It's great news for all of us.
SPEAKER_00: Number two.
SPEAKER_00: We see his joy in the work of election.
SPEAKER_00: Let's read again.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.
SPEAKER_00: All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son, and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
SPEAKER_00: So after declaring who the Father is, the Lord of heaven and earth, Jesus thanks him for hiding these things from the wise and understanding.
SPEAKER_00: First, what things?
SPEAKER_00: What has been hidden?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the revelation of the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, this is what the 72 come back rejoicing over.
SPEAKER_00: This is what they have been witnessing.
SPEAKER_00: They have been witnessing the kingdom of God being displayed in power as they are exercising power over the demons.
SPEAKER_00: And as Jesus says, this revelation has been hidden from those who are wise, from the wise and understanding, and it has been revealed to children.
SPEAKER_00: The wise in understanding don't necessarily mean the most educated here.
SPEAKER_00: He means those who think they know better than God does.
SPEAKER_00: At this time he was probably referring to the Pharisees and the scribes, who thought they knew the way to God better than Jesus did.
SPEAKER_00: They studied the scriptures for themselves, they knew the scriptures well, and they thought there were wise in them.
SPEAKER_00: But the rejection of Jesus only showed and revealed their foolishness.
SPEAKER_00: The children here are those with simple faith.
SPEAKER_00: It is those who, like children, believe without needing to see.
SPEAKER_00: As Jesus says elsewhere, blessed are those who believe without seeing.
SPEAKER_00: Children don't don't need a lot to believe.
SPEAKER_00: But they believe simple things, they receive things with gladness.
SPEAKER_00: That's how we are to believe and receive the gospel with humble faith, with joy, with gladness.
SPEAKER_00: You'll find today a lot of people who reject Christianity because they believe it's foolish.
SPEAKER_00: They think the Bible is just a collection of fairy tales, and that believing in a person like Jesus who died on a cross and rose again is nonsense.
SPEAKER_00: You know, Paul dealt with that even in his day.
SPEAKER_00: In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: He says, For the word of the cross is folly, in other words, it's foolish to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.
SPEAKER_00: For as it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discerning of the discerning I will thwart.
SPEAKER_00: Where is the one who is wise?
SPEAKER_00: Where is the scribe?
SPEAKER_00: Where is the debater of this age?
SPEAKER_00: Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
SPEAKER_00: For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.
SPEAKER_00: For Jews demand signs, and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling blocks to Jews and folly to Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: The wisdom of God, which is found in Christ, which is Christ, in his life, in his death, in his resurrection, is foolish to the so-called wise of the world.
SPEAKER_00: They think it's foolish, they think it doesn't make sense, they think you are a fool to believe it.
SPEAKER_00: Back to our passage, Jesus gives us a reason why they think it's foolish.
SPEAKER_00: It's because this truth hasn't been revealed to them.
SPEAKER_00: Their eyes are not yet opened to it.
SPEAKER_00: And those who have believed, me and you, those who have believed and received this, have only done so because it has been revealed.
SPEAKER_00: As Jesus says, revealed to them.
SPEAKER_00: As he says, it was the Father's will to do so.
SPEAKER_00: It is the Father who chooses who he will reveal this truth to.
SPEAKER_00: And as he says in verse 22, all things have been handed over to me by my father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or the Father is except the Son, and listen to this, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
SPEAKER_00: So no one knows who the Father is except Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and another group.
SPEAKER_00: Who's the other group?
SPEAKER_00: Those who the Son chooses to reveal him.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you can't know God, either God the Son or God the Father, unless you know him by revelation.
SPEAKER_00: You can read about God, you can hear about God, you can under even understand everything there is to under to know about God and to assent to all of God's plans.
SPEAKER_00: But to truly know him, to know him as he truly is, something must happen to you.
SPEAKER_00: You need to be awakened to this truth.
SPEAKER_00: You must have a revelation.
SPEAKER_00: Your eyes must be open to see God for who he truly is.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus is saying.
SPEAKER_00: Only those to whom it has been revealed know God the Father like the Son does, and know God the Son like the Father does.
SPEAKER_00: This is an intimate relationship between the Godhead.
SPEAKER_00: They've known each other for eternity.
SPEAKER_00: They've loved each other for eternity.
SPEAKER_00: And if you want in on that, if you want in on this sweet fellowship between the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, your heart and your eyes must be open to this truth.
SPEAKER_00: God has allowed others to enter into the sweet fellowship of the Godhead.
SPEAKER_00: He has chosen some to come and partake of this intimate relationship.
SPEAKER_00: Who is allowed?
SPEAKER_00: The text says whoever the Father reveals the kingdom to, and whoever the Son chooses.
SPEAKER_00: Notice what Jesus is rejoicing over.
SPEAKER_00: He isn't complaining that some remain blind.
SPEAKER_00: He is rejoicing that God is opening up blind eyes.
SPEAKER_00: He is pleased that some have been allowed to see this.
SPEAKER_00: This touches on what theologians call the doctrine of election.
SPEAKER_00: The doctrine of election, much like the doctrine of the Trinity, is a divine mystery.
SPEAKER_00: No doubt if you've been around, in and around the church for some time, you've heard of election.
SPEAKER_00: But if you haven't or have but don't quite understand what it means, let me let me throw this helpful definition out.
SPEAKER_00: Election is God's sovereign, I'm sorry, election is God's gracious and sovereign choice made before the foundation of the world to save particular sinners in Christ, not because of anything foreseen in them, but according to his own purpose and grace.
SPEAKER_00: Our passage makes clear that those who see the kingdom of God and those who know God as he truly is, only do so because the Father, God the Father, has revealed this to them, and because God the Son has chosen them.
SPEAKER_00: That is election.
SPEAKER_00: It is God's sovereign plan in choosing who he will reveal his truth to.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 2 says that we are dead in our sins, in our trespasses.
SPEAKER_00: What can a dead man do?
SPEAKER_00: A dead man can't see, a dead man can't know, a dead man can't desire anything.
SPEAKER_00: So what needs to happen to the dead man, if the dead man, of the dead need of the dead was able to see the kingdom of God, and if the dead want to know God, and if the dead even have a desire to enter into this fellowship, what needs to happen to the dead?
SPEAKER_00: Someone with the power of life and death needs to come and make the dead live.
SPEAKER_00: Someone needs to give the dead eyes to see and a mind to understand and a heart to desire.
SPEAKER_00: He needs to be, he or she needs to be, as Jesus says in John 3, born again.
SPEAKER_00: He or she needs to be given new birth.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the thing: I've never met anybody who has given birth to themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone who is born is born of someone.
SPEAKER_00: And in a spiritual sense, those who are born again are born of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: That is the doctrine of election in a nutshell.
SPEAKER_00: It is God by his spirit given new birth to those whom he wills, to those whom.
SPEAKER_00: Whom he elects for salvation.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: I don't have to do anything since God is the one who chooses?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: We still have a responsibility to repent and believe the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: The doctrine of election is clearly taught in the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: But so is human responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: So is the call for all to repent and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Let me show you two scriptures side by side.
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully they're up there.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 1, verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.
SPEAKER_00: In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself, has sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will.
SPEAKER_00: So it is he who chose us.
SPEAKER_00: It is he who loved us.
SPEAKER_00: It is he who predestined us.
SPEAKER_00: It is he who adopted us according to the purposes of not our will, but his will.
SPEAKER_00: That is pretty clear.
SPEAKER_00: But so is this.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go to the next verse, Romans 10, 13.
SPEAKER_00: For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Both divine election and human responsibility sit side by side in the scriptures.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: It means we believe them both.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, it's true that God elects some for salvation, but it is also true that anyone who hears the gospel and responds to it will be saved.
SPEAKER_00: Again, as I said earlier, this is a divine mystery.
SPEAKER_00: We might not completely comprehend or understand how that all works, but that's okay.
SPEAKER_00: As Deuteronomy 29-29 says, the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us.
SPEAKER_00: Divine election, that belongs to God.
SPEAKER_00: We don't get to decide or even know who the elect will be.
SPEAKER_00: But the things that He has revealed to us in His Word, like repent and believe the gospel, those things belong to us.
SPEAKER_00: Evangelism, sharing the good news, sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ to all indiscriminately, that belongs to us.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever known two friends who you thought had no business being friends?
SPEAKER_00: You look at them and say, how can they be friends?
SPEAKER_00: They're so different from one another.
SPEAKER_00: They seem to have nothing in common.
SPEAKER_00: But what do you usually do in those cases?
SPEAKER_00: You just let them be.
SPEAKER_00: You're not going to sit these friends down and point out every reason why they shouldn't be friends.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same with divine election and human responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: Charles Spurgeon was once asked, how can we reconcile these two doctrines?
SPEAKER_00: And he said, I've never tried to reconcile friends.
SPEAKER_00: Divine sovereignty and human responsibility have never had a falling out with each other, and therefore I do not need to reconcile them.
SPEAKER_00: Here's a question that comes up whenever we talk about this doctrine.
SPEAKER_00: People will often ask, How can I know if I'm elect?
SPEAKER_00: How can I know if God chose me?
SPEAKER_00: The simple answer is, have you believed and trusted in the name of Jesus Christ for salvation?
SPEAKER_00: Have you turned from your sins?
SPEAKER_00: Have you turned to Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins?
SPEAKER_00: Then my friend, you are elect.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you'll hear people say, How do I know if my spouse is the one for me?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the simple answer is, is your spouse the one you said I do to at the altar?
SPEAKER_00: If so, that's the one for you.
SPEAKER_00: Now I know that's not the cleanest analogy because we're sinners and we can mess things up and things get messy, but God knows how to keep all who are his.
SPEAKER_00: As he says, all the Father has given me will come to me.
SPEAKER_00: Back to our passage.
SPEAKER_00: This is what brought Jesus inexpressible joy.
SPEAKER_00: He rejoiced in knowing that there are some who are truly his.
SPEAKER_00: He took joy in knowing that he was able to rescue some from the domain of darkness, and he was able to transfer those whom he loved and who he called as his own from the foundations of the earth from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.
SPEAKER_00: Which means that if you're a Christian, if you're a believer, Jesus didn't choose you reluctantly.
SPEAKER_00: You were not forced upon him.
SPEAKER_00: He gladly and joyfully chose you to be one of his, which means you can have full confidence that he will be for your good.
SPEAKER_00: You can trust that he means you no harm and that he intends to keep you even through your trial and tribulation.
SPEAKER_00: He can he keep he intends to have his hand upon you and never let you go.
SPEAKER_00: Malachi 3.17 says, They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts.
SPEAKER_00: In the day when I make up my treasured possession, I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.
SPEAKER_00: The elect are God's chosen, treasured possession.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're in Christ, you are his elect.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God has not only been revealed to you, but it is now your new home.
SPEAKER_00: It is now where you reside in Christ is yours, and you are his.
SPEAKER_00: And he rejoices in that.
SPEAKER_00: He rejoices in the fact that you are one of his.
SPEAKER_00: They instructed their young ones that one day a Messiah would come and he's going to make things right.
SPEAKER_00: And here is their Messiah manifesting the kingdom in great power.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the Messiah, and he is the fulfillment of all of the covenantal promises that they knew.
SPEAKER_00: Going way back to the garden, right after Adam and Eve fell, Jesus or God made a promise that one day the seed of a woman would crush the head of the serpent.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham was promised that his seed would be great.
SPEAKER_00: Moses was promised that one day a greater prophet than him would come.
SPEAKER_00: Israel was promised that a great king from the line of David would one day sit on the throne forever.
SPEAKER_00: The entirety of everything that these disciples knew, and the entirety of everything they were taught and read about in the Old Testament, was being fulfilled in their day.
SPEAKER_00: Galatians 4, 4 says, But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons, and because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba Father, so you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
SPEAKER_00: This is when the disciples were living.
SPEAKER_00: This is the time they were living in.
SPEAKER_00: In the fullness of time.
SPEAKER_00: Because they had been waiting.
SPEAKER_00: They're people that have been waiting for a Redeemer.
SPEAKER_00: They have been waiting for someone to come and free them from the curse of the law.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is saying, Blessed are you, for your Redeemer has come.
SPEAKER_00: Your Redeemer is now here.
SPEAKER_00: And look, if he has come for them, he has certainly come for us.
SPEAKER_00: We share in this benediction because we share in being able to see the promises of God.
SPEAKER_00: The shadows of the Old Testament are clear to us in the new.
SPEAKER_00: Think of all the Old Testament heroes.
SPEAKER_00: Moses and Abraham and David and Elijah.
SPEAKER_00: They knew about the Messiah, but they only knew in part.
SPEAKER_00: They knew of a Savior.
SPEAKER_00: They knew that a Savior and a Messiah would come, but they didn't know exactly how.
SPEAKER_00: All they saw were shadows of the substance.
SPEAKER_00: They know now because they're with him in glory, but consider this.
SPEAKER_00: You sitting in a chapel here in West Dallas possess a fuller revelation of Christ than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did in their lifetime.
SPEAKER_00: What a blessing to share in.
SPEAKER_00: This is why Jesus can say the least in the kingdom was greater than John the Baptist.
SPEAKER_00: And again, this is what Jesus is rejoicing over.
SPEAKER_00: It brings him great joy to know that the fulfillment of all of God's promises, of all of his saving promises, has come to the people, has come to the disciples in their day, and has come to us in our day.
SPEAKER_00: And that today we can hear about his promises.
SPEAKER_00: We can see his promises, and we can receive his promises.
SPEAKER_00: The question is, do we acknowledge this for the privilege that is it that it is?
SPEAKER_00: Do we even consider it a privilege to know this?
SPEAKER_00: Do we realize how blessed we are to hear and receive the gospel message when so many others throughout human history have never had this kind of access to it?
SPEAKER_00: Read your Bibles, read the Old Testament, and note how many nations were outside of God's covenantal promises.
SPEAKER_00: Notice how difficult it was for someone who was not part of the nation of Israel to come to the knowledge of the one true God.
SPEAKER_00: And then you will see the privilege that you have today.
SPEAKER_00: That you have been given this access, and you have been given this insight, and you have been given eyes to see, and hearts to understand, and hearts to know the goodness and the fulfillment of all of God's promises.
SPEAKER_00: Ephesians 2.12 says, Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in this world, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That should get you excited.
SPEAKER_00: That should get your heart full of joy.
SPEAKER_00: It gets, we've we're we're seeing the passages, that's what makes Christ excited.
SPEAKER_00: That's what makes him joyful.
SPEAKER_00: That you who were once separated, that you who were once alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, you were strangers, you were outsiders, you had no claim to the promises, you had no hope without God in this world.
SPEAKER_00: But because Jesus has come and brought you and chose you and brought you near to him by his own blood, he rejoices.
SPEAKER_00: And when we look at our world, what do we see?
SPEAKER_00: We see divisions, right?
SPEAKER_00: We see divisions everywhere between race, between sexes, between enemies, countries, and so forth.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, people ask, what's the root of that?
SPEAKER_00: Why is there so much division in our world?
SPEAKER_00: Where does this stem from?
SPEAKER_00: Why is it so hard for our society to get along?
SPEAKER_00: And sociologists and experts, so-called experts, will write articles and theses trying to explain to us the reason for our divisions.
SPEAKER_00: And they will spend their entire life researching to give us the wrong answer.
SPEAKER_00: The answer is not merely better schools or better access to health care or income equality.
SPEAKER_00: Now, you could argue that those are good things, but you cannot argue that those things will fix society's problems.
SPEAKER_00: Because even if we had all of that, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: We would still be divided.
SPEAKER_00: Our divisions don't stem from a lack of resources, they stem from a lack of repenting and turning to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The reason society or our society is so divided is because it's operating in a different kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: It's operating in Satan's kingdom, where people are far off, where they have not been brought near to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what in Satan's kingdom?
SPEAKER_00: It's meant to be that way.
SPEAKER_00: This is why Jesus can rejoice, because he is ushering in something new.
SPEAKER_00: He's bringing in a new kingdom, one that unites people from every tribe and every nation and every tongue, one where people operate in love instead of hate, one where people give instead of take.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not because those in the kingdom of God are better people, but because those in the kingdom of God serve a better king.
SPEAKER_00: The king of this world, the king of this world's kingdom seeks to spread division and hate and sow discord among his people.
SPEAKER_00: But the king of that kingdom, of God's kingdom, seeks to spread unity and to sow his own love into the hearts of his own people.
SPEAKER_00: Satan hates his subjects.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus loves his.
SPEAKER_00: There are many good fathers in this world, but none of them can compare to the goodness of God the Father.
SPEAKER_00: What can a good father do?
SPEAKER_00: What do you know about a good father?
SPEAKER_00: A good father can love well, a good father can provide well and protect well and keep well and instruct well, but God can do that infinitely better than any father we ever know.
SPEAKER_00: God will love you like no one else can, he will provide for you like no one else can, he will protect you like no one can, and he will keep you like no one can.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the thing: he's showing off his glory when he does that.
SPEAKER_00: In our passage, Jesus is rejoicing because his glory is being manifested throughout the whole world and the good work that God is doing in and through these disciples.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, God takes delight in the work that he is accomplishing in and through his own people.
SPEAKER_00: Just as any father would be proud when good things come to their children.
SPEAKER_00: Our heavenly Father takes delight when good things happen to us.
SPEAKER_00: Us earthly fathers hope good things happen to our children.
SPEAKER_00: God the Father can make good things happen for his children.
SPEAKER_00: And he and the Spirit and the Son take great delight and joy in that.
SPEAKER_00: Why does Christ rejoice over his people?
SPEAKER_00: Simply because he loves his people.
SPEAKER_00: Why does the Father rejoice over his people?
SPEAKER_00: Because he loves his people.
SPEAKER_00: And it where does this love stem from?
SPEAKER_00: It stems from the love that has been flowing throughout eternity from the Father or between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We can only get glimpses now.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, to be in glory, to experience that grand love of the of the Trinity.
SPEAKER_00: The love that the Father and the Son have for one another and that the Spirit has for them.
SPEAKER_00: As we close, does Christ rejoice in you this morning?
SPEAKER_00: That's the question I want to leave you with.
SPEAKER_00: Is there a reason for him to rejoice over you?
SPEAKER_00: And your immediate answer to that might be, I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: I've had a bad week.
SPEAKER_00: I've been walking in defeat.
SPEAKER_00: I've fallen in sin here or there.
SPEAKER_00: I think I've let him down all week.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think he can rejoice in me.
SPEAKER_00: Well, none of those things answer the question.
SPEAKER_00: Because remember, Jesus isn't rejoicing over efforts.
SPEAKER_00: He's not rejoicing because the 72 went out and casted demons in their own name.
SPEAKER_00: He's not rejoicing because the disciples were able to get Satan fall to fall like lightning from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus isn't rejoicing over your efforts.
SPEAKER_00: He rejoices over his own.
SPEAKER_00: So the question is: have you been trusting in him?
SPEAKER_00: Have you been looking to him?
SPEAKER_00: Have you been seeking him?
SPEAKER_00: Because he doesn't rejoice in the work that you can pull off by yourself.
SPEAKER_00: He rejoices in the work that he can do by his power through you and for you and in you.
SPEAKER_00: And he does so for all those who stop trusting in themselves and in their own efforts and start trusting in him and looking to him.
SPEAKER_00: He does so for those who stop looking to themselves and incite themselves, but look above and to the grandness and the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: The joy of Christ is not detached from his love, it flows from the love of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit down to those whom he chooses in him.
SPEAKER_00: And if you believe and trust in the name of Jesus Christ this morning, that is you.
SPEAKER_00: Christ's joy in his people gives us, us believers, every reason to trust in his love, to rest in his grace, and to rejoice with him in his work of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Let us pray.