SPEAKER_00: Father in heaven, thank you for the opportunity that we have today to gather together, to lift your name high, to be reminded of the reason for our existence, but also the fact that you have brought us back to yourself through your son Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I ask that this morning as we open your word together that you would speak clearly through me to your people, that we would hear your voice and not mine, that your spirit would so move in the hearts of your people.
SPEAKER_00: So it's create faith in Jesus Christ that leads to great joy in our salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Um, would we leave here rejoicing in our Savior?
SPEAKER_00: And um, we ask these things in his name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: My paper flew off.
SPEAKER_00: Give me a second.
SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
SPEAKER_00: If I haven't met you yet, my name is Jeremiah.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the college ministry director here.
SPEAKER_00: And um I'm the like uh what do they call it?
SPEAKER_00: I I'm not a fan of baseball, but I learned recently there's a thing called a relief pitcher where it's like, what is a relief pitcher?
SPEAKER_00: You bring him in when the main guy like steps down and his only job is to not lose the lead.
SPEAKER_00: Um so um but uh this this morning, if if if you've uh talked long with me before, you may have heard me use this analogy um that I really love because I think it reflects like um a way that uh a lot of people in our uh day and age think about who God is or what spiritual reality is like.
SPEAKER_00: And basically, um picture you have an elephant and you have like four blind guys.
SPEAKER_00: So you got this this big old elephant, you got four blind guys, and uh one of these guys has uh the trunk, and one of these guys has the tail, and one of these guys has the leg, and one of these guys has the ear, and um, they're all blind, and the guy with the trunk says, an elephant is like a boa constrictor.
SPEAKER_00: And the guy with the tail says, no, an elephant is like a paintbrush, and the guy with the leg says, no, an elephant's like a tree trunk, and the guy with the ear says, no, an elephant's like uh construction paper.
SPEAKER_00: And then they all begin to scream at each other and murder each other.
SPEAKER_00: Um when in reality they just have different pieces of the bigger picture, and uh and this this is actually this that understanding comes from comes from like um a Buddhist reflection on spiritual reality uh that that basically says each religious group or spiritual group or individual has like a different piece or part of God or this thing that we call God or spiritual reality, and uh rather than yelling at each other and killing each other over our definition of God or whatever, uh instead we should coordinate with each other to um in order to construct a more robust picture of who God is.
SPEAKER_00: Has anybody ever heard this before, that analogy?
SPEAKER_00: Or um has anybody, even if you haven't heard that specific analogy, uh probably have encountered a lot of people who who tend to think that way.
SPEAKER_00: They're just like everybody kind of has uh different pieces of this bigger picture, and if we could all just like kind of get along and work at this thing together, we could maybe come to a better conclusion about what God is like or what spiritual reality is like.
SPEAKER_00: Um there's a there's a couple of problems with that analogy.
SPEAKER_00: Um we're we're gonna uh explore one of those problems, I think the the bigger one of those problems uh today through our through our passage.
SPEAKER_00: Um but it's gonna take us a minute to get there and we'll uh we'll talk about what does it mean that God speaks for himself.
SPEAKER_00: Um but before we get there, I want to introduce our passage.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna continue our journey through the Gospel of Luke.
SPEAKER_00: We'll be in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 10, starting in verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: And uh how many of you have ever been on a short-term missions trip?
SPEAKER_00: On a short-term missions trip, maybe internationally.
SPEAKER_00: Um and I I'm wondering, short-term missions trips are super exciting.
SPEAKER_00: I'm wondering, when you came home, what were you most excited to share with the people uh in your life who didn't get to go on the trip with you?
SPEAKER_00: Like you got home from your short-term mission trip and you were like bursting up the seams to say what?
SPEAKER_00: Um maybe it was a certain food that you ate.
SPEAKER_00: Um I've been to Nairobi, Kenya twice on short-term mission trips, and I got to eat goat testicles.
SPEAKER_00: And I had to share that with every I shared it with you this morning because that was super exciting for me.
SPEAKER_00: Um or sometimes it's cross-cultural experiences, or or the people that you met.
SPEAKER_00: I I loved the the people in Nairobi.
SPEAKER_00: Um, or maybe it was the ministry you got to do, maybe you built a house or something like that, or got to share the word of God with people.
SPEAKER_00: Um and and we come back from these trips and we're very excited about something.
SPEAKER_00: Um and so last week we saw that Jesus sent uh 70 or 72 of his disciples out on a short-term missions trip where they traveled around to different towns and he gave them this commission to preach the kingdom and to heal people in all these different towns.
SPEAKER_00: They're supposed to announce that the kingdom of God has come near and then confirm that message through these miraculous healings.
SPEAKER_00: And in this week, um we're going to see them return from the short-term missions trip.
SPEAKER_00: And the first verse, verse 17, uh tells us what they're pumped to report about this short-term missions trip.
SPEAKER_00: So they they, in verse 17, on the screen, we see the 72 returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.
SPEAKER_00: So that so they apparently had a very successful uh short-term missions trip.
SPEAKER_00: And the thing that they're most excited to report is that the same authority that they've been watching Jesus exercise over demons, they've begun to exercise in his name because he gave that same authority to them.
SPEAKER_00: And they're very excited about this.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and Jesus hears this report, verse 18, and he responds with some awesome words.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Behold, that's not what he says.
SPEAKER_00: What did he say?
SPEAKER_00: I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: So the first point on your outline this morning is Satan is done for, but there is something better.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus' words, I saw Satan, fall like lightning from heaven, are debated as far as like when did exactly did that happen?
SPEAKER_00: Is this like a vision Jesus had, or is this like he actually saw a body falling from heaven, or is this some sort of like apocalyptic imagery?
SPEAKER_00: But regardless of these interpretive differences, what remains the same is that Jesus is saying that the power and reign of darkness is coming to an end.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, that Satan has taken a lethal blow, and his power and authority, his kingdom are done for.
SPEAKER_00: Satan is done for.
SPEAKER_00: And in light of this reality of Satan's certain defeat, he tells his disciples that he has given them authority to trample on, to tread on, to walk all over the enemy, which he refers to as snakes and scorpions.
SPEAKER_00: That's a that's a metaphor.
SPEAKER_00: So it doesn't mean you go out today and you start stomping on animals.
SPEAKER_00: Um but it's he sums it up as all the power of the enemy.
SPEAKER_00: I've given you authority to walk all over, all the power of the enemy.
SPEAKER_00: So the kingdom of God is here, the domain of darkness is now being trampled on, and that means for us, for Christians, that it's harvest time, which is what he said to his disciples in the previous chapter.
SPEAKER_00: The harvest is plentiful, the laborers are few.
SPEAKER_00: Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into the harvest.
SPEAKER_00: So this is time for us to labor with great optimism and faith about who is ruling and reigning over the world.
SPEAKER_00: That God's kingdom takes enemy territory as God's church preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ and ministers in his name.
SPEAKER_00: Um as God's church preaches the gospel and ministers in his name, spiritual darkness is pushed back.
SPEAKER_00: Uh people who have been spiritually blinded by Satan regain their sight.
SPEAKER_00: People who have been enslaved to various forms of spiritual oppression are set free.
SPEAKER_00: So as Christians, we are not on a fool's errand.
SPEAKER_00: We're on the winning team, and this gives us an optimistic view of Christian ministry because Jesus says that we have authority over all the power of the enemy.
SPEAKER_00: However, the victory over the enemy that Jesus promises may not look like a regular military victory.
SPEAKER_00: Normally, when one kingdom dominates another kingdom, it involves everybody on the losing side shedding blood and dying, and everybody on the winning side crushing them.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus ends by saying, Nothing shall hurt you.
SPEAKER_00: So initially we might think he's saying something similar.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I get to trample on snakes and scorpions, all the power of the enemy, and I'm gonna be unharmed.
SPEAKER_00: But if we want to understand more accurately what he means when he says, nothing shall hurt you, we should look very briefly at Luke chapter 21, verses 16 through 19, where Jesus says to his disciples, this is later in the Gospel of Luke, he says explicitly, you will be delivered up, even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death.
SPEAKER_00: You will be hated by all for my name's sake, but not a hair of your head will perish.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that's that's very interesting.
SPEAKER_00: And here in our passage, he says, Nothing shall hurt you, but in the last chapter he said, Uh, whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
SPEAKER_00: So how how in the world am I supposed to so utterly trust my security in Christ that not even a hair of my head will perish, while also believing that I'm gonna be murdered?
SPEAKER_00: Or some people, Jesus says, Some of you will be murdered, and then he says, but not a hair of your head will perish.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna get murdered, but not a hair of your head will perish.
SPEAKER_00: How are both of those things true at the same time?
SPEAKER_00: Um the simple answer is it's because Jesus is referring to a kind of life that cannot be taken from you.
SPEAKER_00: Um your life and your life are two different things.
SPEAKER_00: You can save one and lose the other, or save the other one and lose the other.
SPEAKER_00: So when Jesus says whoever would save his life for my sake will find it, but whoever loses his life for my sake, I got that backwards, whoever loses his life for my sake will find it, whoever saves his life will lose it.
SPEAKER_00: So he's saying you have a life and you also have a life, and they're not the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Colossians 3 will say, Your life is hidden with Christ in God, and that's untouchable, even if, as you continue your Christian journey, you experience very real harm in this life, but it can't touch that life.
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So that is why Jesus can say, nothing shall hurt you, even though a lot of the people he's talking to will be persecuted heavily for their Christian faith.
SPEAKER_00: So bottom line is Jesus gives us a very optimistic and tr and a very optimistic picture of defeating Satan through Christian ministry in his name, and yet the way the army of God's kingdom triumphs looks very different from the way any other one from the way any other army triumphs.
SPEAKER_00: Um church history, do you get there's a guy named Tertullian in 197 A.D.
SPEAKER_00: And he wrote, maybe you guys have heard this quote, the blood of the martyrs is the seat of the church.
SPEAKER_00: So not the power, not the wealth, not the influence, but the blood of the martyrs is the seat of the church, meaning it's the suffering of Christians that grows God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: It's very counterintuitive.
SPEAKER_00: This leads us, that observation leads us to the all-important verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus ends his awesome words by saying, Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: So authority over demonic spirits is great, but if your greatest joy is conquering spiritual powers of darkness, then where will your joy be when the battle is over?
SPEAKER_00: If you need a battle to fight in order to be happy, then when the battle's won, your happiness is gone too.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus' words here are a great reminder that the church's battle against spiritual darkness is not an eternal battle.
SPEAKER_00: Contrary to many religions and spiritualities that teach that good and evil are necessary, equal and opposite forces in the world that are destined to duke it out for forever, the Bible teaches that God and his kingdom will finally end the kingdom of darkness for good.
SPEAKER_00: Spiritual darkness and dark spiritual powers will be brought to a complete and final end.
SPEAKER_00: And then what happens?
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus is pointing our attention to.
SPEAKER_00: Then what?
SPEAKER_00: What happens when all of the spiritual enemies of God are finally crushed under his feet?
SPEAKER_00: When we ask that question, we're talking about the end of human history as we know it.
SPEAKER_00: We're talking about the end of the world as we know it.
SPEAKER_00: Um, we're talking about the end of this battle between good and evil, between God and the devil.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and if we want to learn about this, how this battle ends and what follows, we can look very briefly at Revelation 20.
SPEAKER_00: Uh Revelation 20, verse 10, tells us the end of the devil's story.
SPEAKER_00: It says, And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that's the end of his story.
SPEAKER_00: He's done for.
SPEAKER_00: He's been vanquished, he's in the lake of fire forever and ever.
SPEAKER_00: But now what?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the next verse, verse 11 in Revelation 20, continues.
SPEAKER_00: Then I saw a great white throne, and him who is seated on it.
SPEAKER_00: From his presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.
SPEAKER_00: And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.
SPEAKER_00: Then another book was opened, which is the book of life.
SPEAKER_00: And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.
SPEAKER_00: Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.
SPEAKER_00: And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
SPEAKER_00: So this is what happens when the battle is over.
SPEAKER_00: What happens is all of humanity is held to account before God.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine standing before the one seated on the throne, from whose presence earth and sky flee away.
SPEAKER_00: And a book is opened that contains the record of what you have done with the life that He gave you.
SPEAKER_00: This is the picture that we get.
SPEAKER_00: And this is not just a metaphor, this is referring to something that will actually happen.
SPEAKER_00: We will all stand before God and give an account for what we have done with the life that He has given us.
SPEAKER_00: What we have done in the light and what we've done in the dark.
SPEAKER_00: What we've said in the light and what we've said in the dark, and what we've thought in the light, and what we've thought in the dark.
SPEAKER_00: All will be laid bare before the glory of the unapproachable light of God Himself.
SPEAKER_00: And when that happens, there is not a person in this room or a person in this world who will not be found to have fallen terribly short of the glory of God.
SPEAKER_00: Because you and I have coveted what didn't belong to us, and some of us have stolen because of it.
SPEAKER_00: You and I have mistreated women and men made in God's image.
SPEAKER_00: You and I have lied and deceived our way into getting what we want from people.
SPEAKER_00: You and I have dishonored and disrespected our mothers and our fathers.
SPEAKER_00: You and I have worshipped our reputations rather than God.
SPEAKER_00: You and I have hated our brothers and sisters in our hearts and gossiped and slandered about them because of jealousy.
SPEAKER_00: You and I have looked at women and men with lustful intent and wallowed in sexual immorality.
SPEAKER_00: And you and I have failed to love our neighbor as ourself and to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
SPEAKER_00: So you and I are guilty, and a just God does not pardon guilty people.
SPEAKER_00: You and I deserve the penalty of eternal conscious punishment.
SPEAKER_00: But while God knows the account of our sinful lives, there is another account in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: There's an account called the book of life.
SPEAKER_00: Other places in Revelation will call it the book of life of the Lamb.
SPEAKER_00: The book of life in the Bible is a record of people who have been ransomed by the blood of the Lamb and who belong to God.
SPEAKER_00: The book of life is a record of the people who have been ransomed by the blood of the Lamb and who belong to God.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible teaches that if your name is written in this book, that when you face final judgment and give an account for your life and are found to have fallen short and deserve the sentence of death, if your name is written in the book of life, you will be saved from the judgment of God and freely received by God's grace into his eternal kingdom in his presence.
SPEAKER_00: And your name is either in that book or it's not.
SPEAKER_00: So imagine God concludes reading the record of your life out loud and pronouncing the verdict, guilty, and pronouncing the sentence, hell.
SPEAKER_00: And then imagine God turns to the other book, the book of life, and he begins to look through it for your name.
SPEAKER_00: And he's reading page by page, and then he comes across your name.
SPEAKER_00: Sammy White, Joe Douglas, Colin Downs, Nick Reinbold, Jeremiah McCarthy.
SPEAKER_00: Like what would you feel in that moment when your name is found written in the book of life, which you know means that you are spared God's judgment and graciously welcomed into eternal life, not because you deserved it, but because you've been ransomed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, do not rejoice that the spirits are subject to you.
SPEAKER_00: Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And you know what's even more wonderful to think about is that Jesus' desire for you to rejoice that your name is written in heaven stems from his own joy in you being brought into the kingdom of God through him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus absolutely loves that your name is written in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: So the question I think would make sense to ask then how do I know if my name is written in heaven?
SPEAKER_00: Which is to Ask the question How do I know that I will be saved from the judgment of God and welcomed into eternal life on the basis of the blood of Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: The answer to that question is what we'll turn to next, and to answer it up front and then to dive into it.
SPEAKER_00: To answer it up front, God has revealed his kingdom and himself to you through his son.
SPEAKER_00: If God has revealed his kingdom and himself to you through his son, then you can know that your name is written in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Meaning if you know God through receiving Jesus as the King of the kingdom and as the only Son of God, then you're in.
SPEAKER_00: Your name is written in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Let's dive in.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: In that same hour, Jesus 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 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 anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus praises his father for hiding these things from the wise in understanding and revealing them to little children.
SPEAKER_00: These things which Jesus says that his father, the Lord of heaven and earth, reveals to little children and hides from the wise in understanding, these things refer to the presence of the kingdom of God in the person and ministry of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I can show you my work on that one, but I've been told I overexplained in my sermon.
SPEAKER_00: So if you want to know how I got there, come talk to me afterward.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So these things, what are these things that the Father has revealed to little children and hidden from the wise?
SPEAKER_00: These things are the presence of the kingdom of God, the presence of God's rule and reign in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That's what God has revealed.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, God's rule and reign has broken into human history, and this kingdom is coming through his son Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So the kingdom of God has arrived through Jesus, but not everyone in the book of Luke, and not everyone today in our world recognizes its here.
SPEAKER_00: Not everybody recognizes its presence and its power.
SPEAKER_00: So to say that the Father has revealed the presence of the kingdom of God to little children is to say that he has given them spiritual perceptivity.
SPEAKER_00: He has given them what Jesus will call eyes to see and ears to hear.
SPEAKER_00: Eyes to see and ears to hear, His Son Jesus Christ, as the one in whom the kingdom of God has come near.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus sent the 72 out to preach, that the kingdom of God has come near.
SPEAKER_00: And God revealed that to little children and hid it from the wise and understanding.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, God the Father reveals the kingdom of God to little children by revealing to them his son, Jesus Christ, who is the one who brings the kingdom into human history.
SPEAKER_00: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00: He reveals the kingdom by revealing his son who brings the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: It's not the kingdom over here and then Jesus over here.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom comes in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So to behold Jesus is to be received into the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus says the arrival of God's rule and reign in the person of Jesus Christ is concealed from the wise and understanding and revealed to little children.
SPEAKER_00: I think the wise here refers to people who rely on their own understanding.
SPEAKER_00: The wise refers to people who rely on their own understanding to make sense of God and God's ways in this world.
SPEAKER_00: People whose own intuitions, own feelings, own reasonings are their final authority in deciding who God is and what he's like and what he does in the world.
SPEAKER_00: The wise in this passage are those who don't look to God's self-disclosure or God's self-revelation.
SPEAKER_00: They decide for themselves what God is like.
SPEAKER_00: They decide for themselves the way that God works in the world.
SPEAKER_00: And they don't need his input to inform them on who he is.
SPEAKER_00: Little children, on the other hand, are those who receive what God says about himself with simple faith, rather than thinking that they are wiser than God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is going to further unpack the self-revelation or the self-disclosure or what God says about himself in the words that follow.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 22 is going to take us to the heart of God's self-disclosure.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 22.
SPEAKER_00: No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
SPEAKER_00: So track with me for just a second, and then I'll land on the plane very quickly, I promise.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus just said, the Father reveals the kingdom to little children.
SPEAKER_00: Then here he says, the Son reveals the Father to those whom he chooses.
SPEAKER_00: In John 14, 7, Jesus will say, I am the way and the truth and the life.
SPEAKER_00: No one comes to the Father except through me.
SPEAKER_00: If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.
SPEAKER_00: From now on, you do know him and have seen him.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
SPEAKER_00: So the Son reveals the Father by pointing to himself.
SPEAKER_00: So we have the revelation of the kingdom of God by the Father, and we have the revelation of the Father by the Son.
SPEAKER_00: Are we tracking so far?
SPEAKER_00: And the relationship between these will take us to the very heart of God's self-disclosure.
SPEAKER_00: The kingdom of God was brought into human history through the person and work of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, the Father reveals the kingdom by revealing his son.
SPEAKER_00: The fullness of God, the Father, dwells in Jesus, so that whoever sees Jesus sees the Father.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, the Father is revealed through his Son.
SPEAKER_00: Which means the revelation of God's kingdom and the revelation of God coincide in the person of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That was landing the plane.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus Christ, the fullness of the kingdom and the fullness of God Himself broke into human history.
SPEAKER_00: God's kingdom and God Himself came into human history simultaneously when the Son of God assumed a human nature and was born in a manger as Jesus of Nazareth.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, in receiving Jesus Christ in humble, childlike faith, you simultaneously receive God's kingdom and God Himself.
SPEAKER_00: Because the kingdom is revealed in the Son and the Father is revealed in the Son.
SPEAKER_00: Therefore, to receive Jesus is to receive both God and His kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: So if you want to know God and be welcomed into His kingdom, then receive Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Savior, the King, and the Lord, because in receiving Him you receive all of God and all of God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: And to reject Him is to reject all of God and all of God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: So this takes us back to our elephant analogy.
SPEAKER_00: And this also answers the question of how can I know that my name is written in heaven?
SPEAKER_00: So we said with the elephant analogy, we got this elephant, we got four blind guys, they each have a different part.
SPEAKER_00: And these four blind guys are screaming at each other.
SPEAKER_00: An elephant's like a bow constrictor.
SPEAKER_00: No, an elephant's like a paintbrush, an elephant's like a tree trunk, uh, an elephant's like a an elephant's like a, what was the fourth one?
SPEAKER_00: Construction paper.
SPEAKER_00: Um and people say everybody just has a piece of God, and if we could all come together and coordinate, we could construct a more robust picture of who God is.
SPEAKER_00: Here's the biggest problem with that is what if the elephant can speak for himself?
SPEAKER_00: What if the elephant could say, I'm an elephant?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not a bow constrictor, I'm not a paintbrush, I'm not a piece of construction paper, I'm an elephant.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Jesus is saying about himself.
SPEAKER_00: It's not the Buddhists have a peace, the Muslims have a peace, the Christians have a peace, and then and then we all just kind of coordinate and kind of try and piecemeal this thing together in order to construct this mosaic of who God is like.
SPEAKER_00: It's no, God has spoken for himself in the person of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So that if you want to know God, you look at Jesus rather than, again, remember saying we said the wise are those who lean on their own understanding, their own intuition, their own feelings in order to construct their version of who God is, rather than receiving God's revelation of himself in the person of his son.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: So what about this issue of choosing to reveal?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, He alone knows the Father.
SPEAKER_00: No one knows the Father except the Son, along with anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
SPEAKER_00: Very simply put, childlike faith that receives God's self-revelation in the person of Jesus Christ, that kind of childlike faith is a gift from God.
SPEAKER_00: God gives that gift.
SPEAKER_00: It's not that you believe in Jesus because you're a better person than your neighbor, or you believe in Jesus because you're smarter than your neighbor, or you believe in Jesus because fill in the blank.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible teaches that saving faith in Jesus Christ is a gift that God gives.
SPEAKER_00: The Son chooses to reveal the Father to whom he wishes.
SPEAKER_00: Um Thessalonians, and that that gets the question: how do I know that my name is written in heaven?
SPEAKER_00: Um, have you received Jesus as the Son of God, the King of God's kingdom, the savior of the world?
SPEAKER_00: Um, the only way you can receive Jesus is if God has given you the gift of faith.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Thessalonians 1, 4 through 7 says, For we know, brothers, loved by God, that He has chosen you because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.
SPEAKER_00: And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to the believers in Macedonia and in Nicaea.
SPEAKER_00: So here's Paul says, We know that God has chosen you, because when the gospel came to you, you didn't just hear it as human info, you received it as God's word.
SPEAKER_00: It came to you in power and in the Holy Spirit and in full conviction, and it changed your life.
SPEAKER_00: You became an imitator of the Lord, and you became an example to others, and therefore we know that he has chosen you.
SPEAKER_00: So if you have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and it landed home in your soul as a word from God about himself that was true, and it changed your life so that you began to imitate Christ, then Jesus has chosen to reveal himself to you.
SPEAKER_00: Your name is written in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: You're chosen by God.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not because you're so smart, it's not because you're such a great person, it's because the Son desires to reveal himself to you.
SPEAKER_00: So if you have received Jesus Christ as God's Son and God's King and God's Savior, and this has changed your life such that you imitate him and persevere in doing so, then you can know that your name is written in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And this brings us to our final verses.
SPEAKER_00: Then turning to his disciples, he said privately, Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.
SPEAKER_00: For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.
SPEAKER_00: Um basically, Jesus is situating his disciples in, we can call it redemptive history.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying there's a lot of people leading up to where you're at right now, and you get to see something that none of them got to see.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the same, that's true for us in this room, this room today.
SPEAKER_00: Um, people often ask, like, how are people in the Old Testament saved?
SPEAKER_00: The answer is by looking forward to the coming of the Messiah, the coming of God's Redeemer, um, in the same way that we were, but you have a greater revelation than the saints of Old Testament history.
SPEAKER_00: You are in a more privileged position than Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, the nation of Israel, Samuel, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and so on.
SPEAKER_00: Because they didn't have the revelation of the kingdom and of the Father in the person of Jesus Christ, and you do.
SPEAKER_00: So blessed are the eyes that see what you see.
SPEAKER_00: For many kings and prophets desired to see and hear what you see and hear, but they didn't.
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it remains true today, as much as in Jesus' day, that the eyes who see God and the kingdom of God in the face of Jesus Christ are blessed.
SPEAKER_00: But no one will ever know God, and no one will ever enter his kingdom unless they receive God's revelation of himself and his kingdom in his Son, and no one will ever receive that revelation if they don't hear about him.
SPEAKER_00: So, Romans 10 says, Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
SPEAKER_00: How are they to call on him in whom they have not believed?
SPEAKER_00: And how are they to believe in him of whom they've never heard?
SPEAKER_00: And how are they to hear unless somebody preaches?
SPEAKER_00: Um, and how are they to preach unless they're sent?
SPEAKER_00: So uh we should tell others that they might also be blessed in receiving God and his kingdom in the person of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Um, to land the plan, Jesus has joy.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has joy.
SPEAKER_00: We saw Jesus rejoicing.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has joy that you are included in the kingdom through him, and he has joy that you have been brought into a relationship with his Father through him.
SPEAKER_00: And he thinks you are very blessed for seeing what you see.
SPEAKER_00: So we should rejoice as much as he did in our inclusion in God's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: We should celebrate that God and his kingdom are revealed through Jesus Christ to his chosen children.
SPEAKER_00: Um I'm gonna share a personal story just to end.
SPEAKER_00: Um when I was 18, uh I I uh was living a not remotely um sanctified life, and one day I off impulse bought a Bible and I opened up to the Gospel of John.
SPEAKER_00: And it was kind of a spiritual Hail Mary of just like, God, if you're out there, like Hail Mary in the football sense, not the Catholic sense.
SPEAKER_00: Um spiritual Hail Mary of just like it, I think there's supposed to be help in here for me.
SPEAKER_00: That's all I know.
SPEAKER_00: And I started reading through the Gospel of John, and uh in my in my childhood home, um, in my room, uh read through the Gospel of John.
SPEAKER_00: I came across John chapter 8, where Jesus says, I am the light of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
SPEAKER_00: And in that moment, God opened the eyes of my heart, and I said, Oh my goodness, I am in the dark right now.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is saying that if I want the light of life, I should follow him because he is the light of the world.
SPEAKER_00: And I began a process of learning who is this Jesus guy, what does it mean to follow him?
SPEAKER_00: What exactly is the light of life?
SPEAKER_00: Like, how do I actually have that?
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I just want you to know today that if you're in this room and and you hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, you hear about God's revelation of himself and his kingdom in his son, and the spirit is stirring in your heart that the best way for you to respond is to humble yourself before God and receive his word with childlike faith and allow it to change you so that when you meet God, you can be joyfully received as one whose name is written in the book of life.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's pray and we'll uh enter into a time of communion.
SPEAKER_00: Heavenly Father, thank you for today.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for your word, thank you for your son.
SPEAKER_00: Um, God, I ask that you would create faith in the hearts of your people by your spirit, that you would help us to rejoice in your son Jesus and in the salvation that we have in him.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I pray for anybody who's here today who has yet to receive Jesus savingly.
SPEAKER_00: Um, I ask that their faith would be awakened so that they can lay hold of the Savior and find the joy of salvation in him.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray these things in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.