Jesus Rejoices in the Father’s Will
Notes
Transcript
Opening Illustration
Opening Illustration
A farmer is out working his fence line near the road when he sees a neighbor from a few farms down walking toward him with a cow.
“Where are you headed with that cow?” the farmer asks.
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“I'm heading into town to sell it,” comes the neighbor's reply.
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“You mean, if it's the Lord's will, you are going to sell it,” corrects the farmer.
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“Well,” says the neighbor, now feeling a little irritated by the rebuke.
“I don't much reckon the Lord has anything to do with it.
I bought her, I raised her, I milk her, and now I'm gonna sell her, and nobody is going to stop me from doing it.”
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“Oh, alright,” says the farmer, and off down the road goes the neighbor with his cow.
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About twenty minutes later here comes the neighbor back the other way, only now his clothes are ripped, his eye is black and he is missing a few teeth.
“What happened to you?” asks the farmer.
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“Well, the neighbor replies, I got a few miles down the road and some guys jumped me, beat me up, and stole my cow.”
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“Oh no,” says the farmer, “what are you going to do now?”
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“Well,” comes the reply.
“I'm going home to bandage up my wounds...
If it's the Lord's will!”
Beloved, God’s will is always done...
In all the big things...
And all the small things...
Nothing is too big or too small to fall under the authority and sovereignty of God’s will.
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So, please turn your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke.
We will conduct our study in Chapter 10 and focus on verses 21 through 24.
Our message this morning is titled, “Jesus Rejoices in the Father’s Will”
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This message today will focus on the goodness of God’s will...
We see that goodness in God’s sovereign choice in election...
And we see that goodness in God’s wisdom and mercy in who He reveals His truth to.
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So, this morning we will cover three main points:
1) God’s Gracious Will
2) God’s Choice in Election
And...
3) God’s Blessing in Revelation
Opening Prayer
Opening Prayer
Before we consider our text, please join me in prayer...
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Heavenly Father...
You are the One who rules over all...
You are sovereign over every molecule and atom...
You are sovereign over the angels and the demons...
You are sovereign over every decision by every person that has ever been made and will be made...
Nothing in all of creation that is seen or unseen escapes your sovereign authority!
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Lord, help us to understand that truth in both our mind and our heart...
Help us to find comfort in that fact for You are truly all together good...
In fact, You are the very definition of good!
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Thank you for Your mercy...
Thank you for Your grace...
For You Lord are even sovereign over our salvation...
You are the author of every page of our book...
And for Your children, we know based on the Word of God, that all that transpires in our life is for good!
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And it is in Jesus’s name we pray all these things...
Amen.
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Let’s turn to our text for today:
Reading of the Text
Reading of the Text
21 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 and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.
22 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.”
23 Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!
24 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.”
So, let’s look at our first point...
1) God’s Gracious Will
1) God’s Gracious Will
Verse 21: 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 and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.
First, I would like to point out that we see the full Trinity in action in this verse and it is so beautiful...
We see Jesus praying to the Father in the Holy Spirit...
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit acting united as One...
As theologian Joel B. Green says:
“In the Lukan narrative, the Holy Spirit is often portrayed as inspiring prayer/praise and speech, and this is the Spirit’s role in this instance.
The form of Jesus’ prayer is well known in Jewish literature:
Introductory formula of thanksgiving + reason.
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The basis for thanksgiving is twofold:
God has concealed ‘these things’ from some and revealed them to others.
Both actions, according to Jesus, concern the same content and both are manifestations of the gracious will of God.”
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Next, notice that Jesus’ rejoicing is primarily due to God the Father’s revealing the presence of God’s kingdom and Satan’s fall to “little children,” that is, to the disciples, who have childlike faith themselves.
In the parallel found in the Gospel of Matthew, the term “little children” refers primarily to believers in general, such as tax collectors and sinners...
However, in Luke it refers to the seventy-two.
Additionally, neither Matthew nor Luke used it to refer to immature Christians, as Paul did in 1 Corinthians 3:1 which says:
1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.
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So Beloved, when you see a term...
Pay attention to the context.
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So again, the term “little children” as used in our passage refers first to the seventy-two and can be expanded to include believers in general...
And Jesus notes, with irony, that the wise and understanding of this world have foolishly rejected the Gospel message and remain unrepentant and stubborn while those who trust the Lord like a child trusts a parent will see God’s truth...
And this amazing fact bring s great joy to our Lord and Savior!
In fact, as the New International Commentary on the New Testament on Luke says:
“Nowhere else in the New Testament is it said that Jesus rejoiced, but that He did so on more occasions cannot be doubted.
The Savior, after His disciples returned with joy to render an account of their mission, rejoiced in spirit, and His joy was so great that He expressed it aloud to His Father.
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From these words it appears that the Saviour rejoiced in the fact that God in His wisdom, omnipotence and love has so arranged matters that insight is given into the redeeming truths of the kingdom not to those who are self-exalted and wise in their own esteem (as so many Pharisees and scribes were at that time),
But to those (like His faithful disciples) who in childlike simplicity and humility feel their utter dependence on the Lord and accept without intellectual arrogance the truths revealed by God through Him.
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The contrast pointed by the Saviour is not that between ‘educated’ and ‘uneducated’ but between those who imagine themselves to be wise and sensible and want to test the Gospel truths by their own intellects and to pronounce judgment according to their self-formed ideas and those who live under the profound impression that by their own insight and their own reasonings they are utterly powerless to understand the truths of God and to accept them.
Often ‘unlearned’ persons are in the highest degree self-opinionated as regards spiritual matters, and on the other hand some of the most learned are humble and childlike and accept the truths of the Gospel unreservedly.
So, Jesus makes the contrast not between educated and uneducated but between people with the wrong and self-sufficient attitude and those with the right and childlike attitude.”
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Just as 2 Corinthians 4:4 says:
4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Beloved, unbelievers are in a state of blindness...
That are running around in the dark...
They have no night vision...
They have no GPS or compass...
Satan and his demons have blinded their eyes...
They have blinded their minds...
And only the light of the Gospel message can save them!
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By God’s grace some will see the light...
They will repent...
They will believe...
But for many, the life saving Gospel message will seem ridiculous...
As 1 Corinthians 1:18-1 Corinthians 2:5:
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
21 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.
22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;
28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,
29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.
2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,
4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
As pastor John MacArthur says:
“Jesus rejoiced that His Father had not devised a plan of salvation that only the wise and intelligent could comprehend.
Salvation is not restricted to the spiritual elite, the worldly wise and the intelligent, such as the well-educated scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day, or those claiming elevated, esoteric, secret knowledge, like the Gnostics and the followers of the mystery religions.
God has hidden spiritual truth so that it is not discoverable by the most elevated human wisdom apart from His self-revelation in Scripture and regenerating work of the Holy Spirit in minds.”
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Amazing grace is truly amazing!
Some of the greatest minds in all of human history have missed the truth of the Gospel message and therefore have missed eternal life...
And some of the most simplest and common of minds have the strongest of faith in God and fellowship with Him for eternity!
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On paper, it should have been the religious elite that would have been the ones to be able to identify the Messiah and follow Him...
It should have been the chosen people that would as a whole worship Jesus...
Yet, it was the social outcasts...
It was the Gentiles...
It was the tax collectors...
It was the prostitutes...
They, with child like faith, repented and believed!
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Yet, this was not due to their own good works...
The one who is a follower of Christ is only a follower of Christ due to God’s gracious and unmerited choice from an eternity past in election of that individual...
And that takes us to our next point.
2) God’s Choice in Election
2) God’s Choice in Election
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 who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
In both Jesus’ incarnate state and his eternal state as Son, the Father and the Son share an exclusive relationship, including a direct and immediate knowledge of each other.
Furthermore, Jesus’ sonship is qualitatively different from ours, not just quantitatively.
This is made clear by Luke’s use of “no one.”
So, Jesus’ status is unique to God the Father.
In fact, the very introduction of the Gospel of John makes this point clear...
Just look with me at John 1:1–2 which says:
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
No one else can make that claim!
Believers are adopted into God’s royal family...
Believers are cover by the blood of Christ...
Believers are co-heirs with Christ...
But not a single human being can claim to have the very same relationship with the Father as Jesus has!
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Even, Jesus’ most hardened of enemies understood that Jesus claimed to be the Son of God and God in the flesh!
As John 5:18 says:
18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
You see Beloved, by calling God His Father, Jesus was claiming to share His essence...
That is why He can say what He says in John 10:30 which says:
30 I and the Father are one.”
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Jesus was in every way the very image of God the Father!
He shared in attributes with the Father that only God could claim...
Like being the Creator of all things...
And having authority over all things...
For the very fullness of God dwelt in Him.
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I love the way Colossians 1:15–20 puts it:
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
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As theologian James R. Edwards says:
“Jesus’ reference to ‘my Father’ further echoes his unshared divine sonship.
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There are fifty-one occurrences (excluding parallels) of ‘Father’ in the mouth of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels,
In twenty-nine of which Jesus speaks of God (as here) as ‘my Father,’
And in twenty-two of which he teaches the disciples about God as ‘your Father.’
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In no instance, however, does Jesus include himself with the disciples in addressing God as ‘our Father.’
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In verse 22 Jesus claims to stand in a unique and unshared relationship with the Father,
As a consequence of which the Father has delivered ‘all things’ to the Son,
And given the Son exclusive authority to reveal knowledge of himself and the Father to whomever he wills.”
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As Jesus says in our passage, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father.”
And that truth is found reinforced throughout Scripture...
As John 3:35 says:
35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.
Again we see that all things have been given to Jesus...
And we see the reason why...
God the Father loves the Son...
And therefore He gives Him all authority.
Or as Matthew 28:18 says it:
18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
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With that authority, we see that Jesus gives eternal life to those whom the Father has given Him...
That is...
Those whom God chose from before the foundation of the world to be elected into eternal life based on the purpose of God’s good pleasure!
We know this from passages like Ephesians 1:1-5 which says:
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
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This truth is found all throughout Scripture...
And we will cover some key passages related to this doctrine but first I want to start with Jesus’ High Priestley prayer...
Let’s look at what the Word of God records in John 17:1–5:
1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you,
2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
Again we see that Jesus is given all authority by God the Father...
And Jesus will give eternal life to those whom God the Father has given to Him.
This is first referring to the faithful eleven apostles...
And as we will see in John 17:20...
Jesus expands that group to all future believers...
So, this prayer is for God’s elect!
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Let us continue with this important prayer by Jesus and review John 17:6–11 which says:
6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.
8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.
9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them.
11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
Again please take note...
Who did Jesus manifest the Father's Name to?
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He manifested God the Father’s Name to all the people whom the Father gave Him!
Again, that is God’s elect!
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Jesus even says, “I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.”
If one’s doctrine of election means that God choose everybody then it contradicts Scripture...
God did not elect everyone!
The one’s who are true and genuine believers are the one’s who are the elect!
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Next, let’s take a look at John 17:12–22 which says:
12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,
First, notice that Judas is excluded from this prayer...
Jesus made it clear that he was only chosen as a disciple to fulfill Scripture...
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Additionally, we see in verse 20, as we discussed before that this prayer is not only for the faithful eleven but is also for all future believers.
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Next, I want you to pay attention to what Jesus says in our passage...
That “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.”
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This statement by Christ lines up with what it says in John 6:44–45:
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—
No one seeks out Christ unless God the Father draws them first!
And this doe not include everyone...
Everyone is not drawn to Christ...
Only the elect are...
For the verse clearly says that Jesus will raise up all who are drawn to Him on the last day...
And not everyone will be saved on that last day...
Only God’s elect.
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Now, at this point, some of you may think that this whole elect business seems unfair...
God from an eternity past chose some for salvation...
And God’s choice was only based on His purpose as it says in 2 Timothy 1:9–10:
9 who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,
10 and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
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So, many may call that unfair...
In fact, many do say that!
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Yet, the Word of God has an answer to that objection...
Look with me at Romans 9:14-24 which says:
14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!
15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”
20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”
21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—
24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
Beloved, simply put, God will do as He pleases!
And the beauty in that fact is that God is good so his decrees are likewise good.
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All throughout church history heroes of the faith saw this truth and agreed with it.
As the Prince of Preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, once said:
“I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him;
And I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards;
And He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love.”
That special love is the love of the Good Shepherd for His sheep...
He knew us before we even existed...
He loved us before we where formed in the womb...
From an eternity past we have been and will always be his sheep...
As John 10:27-28 says:
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
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Again, some may object to the doctrine of election by quoting John 3:16 which says:
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
And one will try to make the argument the verse says “whosoever” so somehow this conflicts with God’s sovereign choice in election.
This is a poor argument, Beloved.
In the Koine Greek the word “whosoever” has the meaning of “all the believing ones” or “everyone who believes.”
Or as D.L. Moody once said:
“The Elect are the ‘whosoever wills;’ the Non-Elect are the ‘whosoever won'ts.’”
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Furthermore, I would like you to consider the reason Jesus gives for why the Jews did not believe Him...
This is very telling...
So, look with me at what it says in John 10:24–26:
24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me,
26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.
Did you see that?
Why did these Jews not believe in what Jesus said?
Previously, as we discussed, Jesus said my sheep hear my voice, right?
And now, Jesus says that this group did not believe because they are not among His sheep.
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Now this language regarding the sheep continues throughout Scripture...
And we see that the sheep again refers to God’s elect...
So, consider what John the Beloved records in John 10:15 as Jesus says:
15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Who did Jesus lay down His life for?
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Yes, it was the sheep, Beloved!
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Now, those sheep...
They were appointed to eternal life...
And that is the reason that they believe...
As Acts 13:48 says:
48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
So, who believed?
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Yes, those appointed to eternal life were the ones who believed...
They are the “whosoever will believe.”
They are “all the believing ones.”
They are “everyone who believes.”
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Next, Jesus gives a private message to the seventy-two followers...
And that message applicable to us in our day too...
So, let’s take a look at our third and final point.
3) God’s Blessing in Revelation
3) God’s Blessing in Revelation
Verses 23-24: Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! 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.”
When Luke recorded that Jesus spoke to the disciples privately, this may seem somewhat unexpected because no crowds have been mentioned...
However, the reason for this is do to Luke wanting to indicate that the beatitude that follows is for believers only.
As South African minister and Bible commentator Johannes Norval Geldenhuys said:
“They indeed saw Him in the flesh, but we see Him in the New Testament not merely as the Incarnate Son of God but also as the Crucified One, and as the Risen Redeemer and the glorified King of His church.
And because our privilege is so great, a great responsibility likewise rests upon us.
The people of that time who rejected the revelation of God in Christ did not escape the divine judgment.
So much the more will those who reject the completed revelation of God in His Word also bring judgment upon themselves!”
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As 1 Peter 1:10–12 says:
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully,
11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories.
12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
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Next, when Jesus says that many will desire to “see what you see” and “hear what you hear” it is not only the seventy-two who are in view...
Luke’s original readers, and the reader of today, share in this experience of God’s saving rule when they hear the Gospel message.
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Additionally, what the disciples experience is due not to their merits, but to divine grace and election...
They are “those to whom the Son chooses to reveal himself.”
As Matthew 13:10–17 says:
10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
12 For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: “ ‘ “You will indeed hear but never understand, and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
15 For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.’
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
17 For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
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Remember, Jesus said to His followers that, “many prophets and kings desired to see what you see.”
Yet, it was them that would act as eye witnesses...
And we today had the blessing of that revelation recorded for us in the whole council of the Word of God which is the Scriptures.
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Consider what 1 Corinthians 2:6–12 says:
6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away.
7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.
8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—
10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.
11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
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Theologian Robert H. Stein says:
“The disciples had witnessed a unique event.
They lived in the time of fulfillment.
What prophets and kings of past generations had longed and yearned for had come to fruition.
The new age had begun.
The law and the prophets were until John, but now the kingdom had come.
Furthermore, this was revealed to the disciples by the Messiah, God’s Son.
There was also a great upheaval, for the kingdom was not coming to the wise and powerful but to babes who received the kingdom like little children.
What Mary proclaimed in the Magnificat was now being accomplished.
God brought down the proud and exalted the humble.”
Closing Illustration
Closing Illustration
So, as this message comes to a close...
I would like you to consider this:
There was a woman who was going through some very difficult and trying circumstances.
She was experiencing major distress in her marriage, her job was very unfulfilling and was causing her heartache.
She became so distraught over her circumstances that she felt like just giving up.
She felt lonely, dejected and very isolated.
She had tried everything she could to better herself, her marriage, things at work but it seemed everything turned out horrible for her.
Finally she came to the point of exhaustion and felt there was no way out of her terrible circumstances and there would never be any more joy in her life.
.......
One day she was sitting in her kitchen very frustrated and lonely.
She sat there for a long time and just wept.
Then she noticed a small sparrow had somehow gotten into her kitchen, so she opened the door thinking the sparrow would simply fly out the door.
To her surprise the sparrow kept flying into the closed window that was just above the door.
This distraught woman noticed several times that the sparrow would fly directly into the top of the window thinking it was an opening to freedom and each time colliding into glass of the window.
This small sparrow after each time hitting the window would become weaker and weaker.
The woman also noticed the sparrow hitting the window lower and lower each time he flew into the window until he got so weak that he couldn’t even fly, all he could to was walk.
Then she noticed this little sparrow very slowly, simply walked through the door to freedom.
As she observed this little bird walk through the door, the sparrow began to regain his strength and he flew off into the air free again.
.......
It was as though God literally opened her spiritual eyes.
She realized in just about every area of her life she was behaving just like this sparrow.
She was trying in her own way to get out of the confining situations she was in, each time being knocked down in defeat.
.......
In reacting harshly to her family members - knocked down!
Not giving her best at work - knocked down!
Paying back evil for evil done to her - knocked down!
Saying and doing things she knew were wrong - knocked down!
.......
She finally realized that all she had to do was do just like this sparrow - to very humbly walk in the power of God’s grace and mercy and allow Him to work out all her heartaches and difficulties in His perfect will.
For as it says in Romans 8:28:
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Those who are “called according to His purpose” are God’s elect...
They are His sheep...
And they have a wonderful assurance that everything in their lives will ultimately work together for good...
And that is am amazing comfort!
Closing Prayer
Closing Prayer
Let’s pray...
.......
Heavenly Father...
If anyone hearing this message right now does not know You in a saving way...
Open their eyes to see the beauty of Your gracious and perfect will...
And lead them to a saving knowledge of You.
.......
I appeal to Your Name’s sake!
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For those hearing this message who already know You...
May they appreciate Your sovereign will...
And may they find comfort in knowing that You are the ruler of all things seen and unseen.
.......
Again, I appeal to Your Name’s sake!
.......
It is in Jesus’s name we pray all these things...
To God be all the glory.
Amen.