Salvation Joy & Sovereign Grace

Sheep don’t choose their shepherds; children don’t choose their parents. [pause] And such are the appropriate metaphors the Bible uses to explain God’s gracious choosing of us to be his children, his sheep—by faith alone in the work of Christ alone. This favor from God bestowed on us, based on his good pleasure to make us his own, and not based on any merit of our own being or work, is a biblical doctrine called sovereign grace.

I bring this up at the outset because our text today intertwines joy in salvation with God’s sovereign grace. The first half (of our verses) is essentially Jesus telling his followers that it’s ok to be joyful about God working through you, but there is yet greater cause for joy—something more foundational. And then, even as he tells them that the source of that joy is belonging to God, he goes on to thank the Father for his sovereign grace that makes such a right relationship possible. Jesus closes by telling his closest disciples that they, and we, are blessed beyond measure to live in a moment in history that God has revealed himself through Jesus. Based on all he has already said, it should be further understood that only by his sovereign grace are we able to “see” and “hear” with the eyes of saving faith.

Now, let’s take a moment to think also about joy, since Luke 10:17-20 especially emphasizes…

The Believer’s Foundation for Joy

What is joy and how can we have it?

The Lexham Bible Dictionary defines... “JOY (שִׂמְחָה, simchah; χαρά, chara). Closely related to gladness and happiness, although joy is more a state of being than an emotion; a result of choice. One of the fruits of the spirit (Gal 5:22–23). Having joy is part of the experience of being a Christian.”

So it is “the sense or state of gladness or elation that people experience through their relationship with God and through good things in their lives.” -Kenneth D. Litwak, “Joy,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).

What happens to joy, though, if our present circumstances are difficult? - Is there a foundation more sure for joy than having good things in our lives? Yes, there is. - Does joy (true happiness, and rest, and contentment) run deeper than mere feelings? It can and it must.

“For the biblical writers, joy is rooted in God and what he has done for people in general and his people in particular.” -Litwak, Ibid. - Joy’s foundation must be God himself, otherwise our happiness and contentment will ebb and flow like the ocean’s tide, based on our reaction to our circumstances.

We learn in our text today that even when things are going well, even when God allows us to be used by him to accomplish something in his name, there is a deeper, more meaningful, more lasting source of joy than our rejoicing at success.

What could be greater cause for joy even than doing great things for God? Let’s look closely at the verses we just read together, where we see that... The believer’s joy is grounded in the acceptance and security of right relationship to God through Jesus Christ.

The messengers return and report, rejoicing in mission success. (v. 17)

When the 70 return, we get this reaction: the mission was even more successful than they anticipated, and finds them rejoicing in mission success. - Their experience surpassed their expectations. To them this is rightly cause for joy.

More specifically, in their report to Jesus, they rejoiced that even the powers of evil were subject to them when they cast out demons in Jesus’ name. - Luke doesn’t record casting out demons as a part of his instruction to the 70, while it is in the earlier instruction to the 12.

As we turn to how Jesus responds to their jubilation…

Jesus affirms their joy but redirects the focus of that joy. (vv. 18-20)

Admittedly, these verses have some interesting bits that require explanation. What do we make of Satan falling like lightning, these disciples having authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and names that are written in heaven?

The details are best understood in the context of what Jesus is saying: I believe Jesus affirms their joy before correcting the focus of that joy.

Jesus is saying that the demons being subject to them in his name is even bigger than they realize. Team Satan is taking a big hit as Christ’s people have success in God’s power. - It is probable that Jesus describes that he “was watching Satan fall” (imperfect tense: progressive action in the past) means that he sees a bigger picture of the results of his spiritual kingdom being inaugurated on earth. - “The coming of Christ and more specifically the cross of Christ was Satan’s defeat, and the mission of the seventy was but a preview of what was to come. Did the seventy see the spirits as subject to them? Jesus saw Satan as being defeated, and his power and authority as being overthrown.” (Bob Deffinbaugh)

Why like lightning? His defeat was always assured because God is God, thus Satan was doomed from the moment of rebellion. But now, in Christ, his defeat is coming fast and furious, in a brilliant display of God’s power.

Furthermore, Jesus says that with his authority, they have greater power and protection than they realize. Scorpions and serpents are probably symbolic of earthly forces that oppose them and aim to do them harm. Possibly spiritual forces are intended as well, but certainly in the next statement of their authority also over the power of the enemy, that nothing would hurt them. [This raises questions about our safety as believers. As long as we are doing God’s will, are we safe from all harm?] - “The promise made to these seventy, with regard to this one mission, cannot be applied across the board. We can say, however, that Satan never has the power to hinder or to hurt God’s servants without God’s permission and purpose (cf. Job, esp. chapter 1).” (Deffinbaugh)

So Jesus affirms that mission success is cause for rejoicing, like Paul’s reaction to gospel advance in Phil 1:18. Even so, Jesus refocuses their understanding on an even better basis for their joy.

What is greater cause for joy than doing great things for God? (even authority over demons?) What is the believer’s fundamental cause for joy? Belonging to God… the rest and assurance of being rescued, saved unto God, secure in relationship with God. It is the joy of being right with God, the joy of belonging to him forever.

Our purpose and joy is not found in who is under us (subject to us), but in who is over us (God).

“Joy at the prospect of the termination of Satan’s opposition is nothing when compared to the certainty of an eternal relationship with God. To suggest an analogy, the joy of one who marries should not be so much rooted in the fact that he is no longer single, as in the pleasure of his bride. The joy of the Christian should not be primarily in the destruction of Satan’s hold and power over us, but in the fact that we now belong to God.” (Deffinbaugh)

The believer’s joy is grounded in the acceptance and security of right relationship to God through Jesus Christ, and it even defines, it gives meaning, to our existence.

Jesus tells them to rejoice instead in having their names written in heaven - Names written in God’s heavenly book is a common OT & NT metaphor. - I don’t know if in heaven we will actually see a literal book, but I’m not sure it matters. More importantly, it is a figurative expression which confirms an indelible decision by God to make you one of his own.

Speaking again of sovereign grace, it’s this connection that seems to launch Jesus into what follows: “This imagery, often found in the Bible (Exod. 32:32; Ps. 69:28; Isa. 4:3; Ezek.13:9; Dan. 12:1; Phil. 4:3; Heb. 12:23; Rev. 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27), stresses the divine choice, made in eternity past, not the human decision made in time.” (Deffinbaugh)

So I believe we should understand the emphasis of the next verses to be…

The Lord’s Joy (& Our Joy) in Sovereign Grace

If God’s sovereign grace in salvation through Jesus is cause for great joy for the Lord himself, then surely it is cause for great joy for us as well.

Let’s follow the progression of thought.

Rejoicing, Jesus thanks the Father for His sovereign grace in salvation. (v. 21)

The text tells us that Christ’s abundant joy was through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. (Notice here yet another place in Scripture where the three persons of the Triune Godhead are mentioned together.) In the Spirit, Jesus rejoices in the salvation of men, and specifically in God’s sovereign grace (revealing to some and concealing from others).

The wise and understanding here is meant to mean anyone who is wise in his own eyes, and probably takes particular aim at the religious leaders and the scholars of the law itself, who saw the law as a means to their own ends and as a means to try and justify themselves before other men and before God.

By contrast, it is metaphorical babies, little children, the ones who know nothing and have nothing to offer God, to whom He is pleased to reveal himself. In other words, those who come to Jesus by faith still have nothing to be proud of for their own part. We are meant to see it as all grace. - All we bring to the equation is sin. Jesus does everything else. He pays the penalty of death for sin, takes on himself the righteous wrath of God, and rises again to defeat sin and death and the power of Satan’s stronghold over the hearts of men. It is God alone who regenerates (giving us the spiritual capacity to respond in faith to Jesus), and simultaneously God alone who convicts of sin (so that we desire to repent, turning from self and sin). So it is God alone who is doing all the lifting... and the choosing in redeeming a people for himself. That is called sovereign grace.

God’s sovereign grace means that in perfect goodness in the sum of his attributes, and in his rightful ownership and authority as Creator and Sustainer of all that he has made, he rules and directs by his own good pleasure.

Why God has sovereignly allowed sin to wreak so much havoc in the world and in our hearts, we do not fully comprehend. But what we do know is this: God does what is righteous because he is good. - That goodness and sovereign grace and the glory it brings to God... causes Jesus to rejoice in a prayer of thanksgiving to the Father.

As he switches again from prayer to instructing the group, Jesus further rejoices in, and explains, his own significant role in revealing God and accomplishing His saving purposes (which we just talked about only moments ago).

Jesus reinforces sovereign grace and his unique role in revealing God. (v. 22)

With his face set toward Jerusalem in the mission that he must accomplish there (by his sacrificial death), what could be Jesus’ source of joy? The knowledge that his mission would accomplish the Father’s sovereign will to purchase His people… (The pleasure of the Father is probably the best way to understand what sustained Jesus in his ministry on the cross, cf. Heb. 12:2)

So he explains, reinforcing what “such was your gracious will” means (and what we too have been explaining):

Jesus has been given complete authority from the Father to accomplish his saving purposes in the world.

The Father and Son have unique knowledge of one another, which makes perfect sense from a Trinitarian understanding of God. This is especially true where human beings are concerned. God is so “other,” that we only know of him what he reveals to us. And Jesus here says that it is he in particular whom God has sent to reveal the Father.

Finally, those who would know the Father can only do so if Jesus chooses to reveal him to them. Speaking then of those to whom Jesus has revealed his true identity (and hence the Father as well), this leads to the final part of our passage this morning: Jesus privately speaks to his closest disciples to state again the rich blessing, and our privileged position in salvation history.

Jesus teaches the disciples of the blessing of sovereign grace and our privileged position in salvation history. (vv. 23-24)

In the form of a blessing, Jesus describes the grace of God to the disciples, and to us, since he has graciously enabled us to see and hear the truth about God through Jesus Christ.

And not only that, but we stand in a place in salvation history where many God-fearing men and women (prophets and kings) longed to experience but were not able. - This too, is based solely on God’s sovereignty.

*** Put your life in that perspective!

Conclusion: The Case for Joy

Why do we lose sight of it? Or why and how do you “forfeit joy” as our own Paul Griffis says. (He has written a book, actually, Don’t Forfeit Your Joy, which I would recommend to you, because its content is grounded in biblical text and principle, and Paul has a great deal of experience and compassion for those who hurt.)

If you lack joy, then one of three things must be happening:

You don’t know this joy because you haven’t experienced the saving faith that produces such foundational joy in God. - “John Piper, in an excellent book on the subject of delighting in God, suggests that the presence or absence of joy may be a better test of one’s salvation than a mere profession. He suggests that if one does not really delight in God, in His presence, in His Word, in the worship of Him, that one should really consider the validity of their profession of faith. I agree. Do you find God a delight? Do you desire to pray, to worship, to study His word? If not, your lack of joy may reflect the fact that you have not yet experienced His salvation.” (Deffinbaugh)

Unconfessed sin can rob you of joy in God. …Living in patterns of sin without confessing and restoring fellowship with God. - “In Psalm 51, David prayed that God would restore to him the “joy of his salvation” (Ps. 51:12). Unconfessed sin is the cloud that dims the rays of the sun of His salvation. The solution to this condition is repentance and confession.” (Deffinbaugh)

You’ve let your focus shift onto self and circumstances and away from the foundational joy of belonging to God. - “When the focal point of our desires is not God Himself, God alone, the joy of our salvation diminishes.” (Deffinbaugh)

Belonging to God is joy’s foundation. If God is sovereign in choosing us, then our relationship is secure in Jesus, meaning that our joy is unshakeable.

Many if not most other things in your life are complicated and uncertain, but this is uncomplicated and certain. If God has you, then you are his, and your joy in him can be steadfast and full.

When Spurgeon was riding home one evening after a heavy day’s work and feeling very wearied and depressed, the verse—”My grace is sufficient for thee” came to him. He immediately compared himself to a little fish in the Thames, apprehensive lest, drinking so many pints of water in the river each day, it might drink the Thames dry, and hearing Father Thames say to it, “Drink away, little fish, my stream is sufficient for thee.”

Then he thought of a little mouse in the granaries of Joseph in Egypt, afraid lest it might—by daily consumption of the corn it needed—exhaust the supplies and starve to death; when Joseph came along and, sensing its fear, said, “Cheer up, little mouse, my granaries are sufficient for thee.”

Or again, he thought of himself as a man climbing some high mountain to reach its lofty summit, and dreading lest he might exhaust all the oxygen in the atmosphere, when the Creator Himself said, “Breathe away, O man, and fill thy lungs ever; my atmosphere is sufficient for thee.”

-Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), 519.

To embrace grace is to experience joy. The more you embrace grace, the greater your joy will be. The more you relish right relationship to God, seeking intimacy with him, the greater your joy will be.

Let’s close by rejoicing together at God’s amazing grace.