Sermon #68 Luke
Series
Title: Joy Checked and Joy Encouraged
Text: Luke 10:17-20
Subject: Election - A Cause For Joy
Date: Sunday Evening –
Tape # W-74a
Introduction:
The
Lord our God would ever have us rejoice in him and in his goodness. Indeed,
true believers are described as a people who “rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” We
are commanded to “Rejoice in the Lord
always.” This joy, true, spiritual joy, “joy
in believing,” is joy that is in the Lord and arises from the knowledge of
his grace. We rejoice in…
·
His Person
·
His Provision
·
His
We
ought always to rejoice; but that admonition is tempered with “in the Lord.” Our text tonight
exemplifies this (Luke
The
Lord Jesus had sent seventy of his disciples out preaching the gos0pel. Here
they have returned with exuberant joy. Read the text with me.
(Luke
10:17-20) “And the seventy returned
again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy
name. (18) And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from
heaven. (19) Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and
scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means
hurt you. (20) Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are
subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in
heaven.”
I
want us to learn four things from these verses. May God the Holy Spirit
inscribe these four important lessons upon our hearts. They will serve us well
as we seek to serve our Master in this world.
I. First, We
are all too easily puffed up.
We
must not blame these disciples too severely for their excitement and joy. Who
would not be elated by such experiences? Yet, the report these men made, and
the Master’s response to it seems to suggest that their joy on this occasion
needed to be tempered with more grace than they displayed. There was apparently
much false fire mingled with their joy. There was too much of self in it.
(Luke 10:17-18) “And the seventy returned again with joy,
saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. (18) And
he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.”
Young
soldiers, with their first taste of victory, are often lifted up with far too
much self-confidence and self-congratulation. The Lord Jesus seems to have read
this evil in their hearts. Therefore, he seems to say to them, “Calm down a
little. What you have seen and experienced is not your doing, but mine. – “I beheld Satan as lightening fall from
heaven…”
·
Long before you were born. (Rev. 12:3-4;
Isa. 14:12-17).
·
As soon as you began your work.
·
He foresaw and promised Satan’s fall
through the preaching of the gospel (Matt.
·
He had come specifically to topple
Satan’s throne in the hearts of men. (Ezek. 28)
·
He had come to bind the old serpent.
Yet, as I said, we must not be too severe with these men. Every faithful gospel preacher wants success. We all want to see the Word of God run swiftly and run well. We long to see Satan fall, sinners converted, and Christ triumphant over the hearts of men. Such desires are right and good.
Yet,
when the Lord condescends to grant us a little usefulness in this great work,
we tend to forget that we are only instruments by which he works. We can do
nothing! Our hearts are easily depressed when we see no success, and just as
easily elated when we taste success. There are few who can, like Samson, kill a
lion without telling others of their great feat (Judges 14:6).
A. Paul’s warning to Timothy is
well-founded and should be constantly heeded (1
Tim. 3:6). Ryle, “It takes a steady
hand to carry a full cup.”
(1 Tim 3:6) “Not a novice, lest being lifted up with
pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.”
(1 Cor 3:5-7) “Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos,
but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? (6) I
have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. (7) So then
neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that
giveth the increase.”
B. It is the gospel we preach, not the
ability we possess to preach it, that is the power of God unto salvation.
Illustration: Owen about
Bunyan’s Preaching
II. Second,
Satan is an enemy under the complete dominion and control of our great
Savior.
He
who saw Satan fall is the one who fell him!
(Mat
(John 12:28-32) “Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a
voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will
glorify it again. (29) The people therefore, that stood by, and
heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.
(30) Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for
your sakes. (31) Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince
of this world be cast out. (32) And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men unto me.”
(Rev 20:1-3) “And I saw an angel come down from heaven,
having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. (2) And
he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan,
and bound him a thousand years, (3) And cast him into the bottomless
pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the
nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he
must be loosed a little season.”
Satan
does not and cannot move or wiggle without our Master’s permission. Yes, he
walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour; but he is a chained
lion, without power. He is God’s devil, not God’s rival!
Illustration: Job – Pilgrim
While it is exciting and joyous to see Satan’s power broken, we ought rather to expect it than be surprised by it.
(Ezek 28:11-19) “Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me,
saying, (12) Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus,
and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of
wisdom, and perfect in beauty. (13) Thou hast been in Eden the garden of
God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the
diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and
the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was
prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. (14) Thou art the
anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon
the holy
III. Third, I pray that our God will graciously
teach us that nothing can ever hurt
us.
(Luke
10:19) “Behold, I give unto you power to
tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and
nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
Without
question, God’s servants during this apostolic era were given special powers,
gifts which no man has possessed since that day. So the words of this verse are
to be taken literally, in so far as those men were concerned (Mark
(Mark
(Acts 28:3-5) “And when Paul had gathered a bundle of
sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat,
and fastened on his hand. (4) And when the barbarians saw the venomous
beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a
murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to
live. (5) And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm.”[1]
Yet,
this 19th verse is our Savior’s promise to us as well. Understand
the serpents and scorpions as figurative representations of the power of the enemy.
The Lord Jesus here promises us that
satanic power will never harm God’s elect.
(2
Tim 3:1-14) “This know also, that in the
last days perilous times shall come. (2) For men shall be lovers of
their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to
parents, unthankful, unholy, (3) Without natural affection,
trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are
good, (4) Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than
lovers of God; (5) Having a form of godliness, but denying the power
thereof: from such turn away. (6) For of this sort are they which creep
into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers
lusts, (7) Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the
truth. (8) Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also
resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. (9) But
they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest unto all men,
as theirs also was. (10) But thou hast fully known my doctrine,
manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, (11) Persecutions,
afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what
persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
(12) Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution. (13) But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse,
deceiving, and being deceived. (14) But continue thou in the things
which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast
learned them;”
Neither
the poison of sin, nor the sting of the scorpion, nor the bite of the serpent
shall hurt God’s elect. Neither the poison of false doctrine, nor the sting of
persecution, nor the serpent of hell shall harm one of God’s own.
(Rom
Indeed,
“Nothing shall by any means hurt you!”
(Psa 91:9-13) “Because thou hast made the LORD, which is
my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; (10) There
shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.
(11) For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy
ways. (12) They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash
thy foot against a stone. (13) Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder:
the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.”
(Prov 12:21) “There shall no evil happen to the just: but
the wicked shall be filled with mischief.”
(Isa 3:10) “Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be
well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.”
(Isa 11:8-9) “And the sucking child shall play on the hole
of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.
(9) They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth
shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”
(Hosea 2:18) “And in that day will I make a covenant for
them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the
creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the
battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.”
(Rom 8:35-39) “Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril, or sword? (36) As it is written, For thy sake we
are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
(37) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that
loved us. (38) For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
(39) Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
·
No enemy can hurt us.
·
Satan shall not hurt us.
·
Sickness shall not hurt us.
·
Trials shall not hurt us.
·
Wicked men shall not hurt us.
·
All our sorrows and woes shall never hurt
us.
·
Death shall not hurt us.
·
Sin shall not hurt us.
IV. Fourth, in
all things and above all things, we ought always to rejoice in God’s electing
love.
― Here is a cause for true
joy!
(Luke 10:20) “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that
the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are
written in heaven.”
A. There is a book called the Lamb’s
Book of Life.
(Rev 13:8) “And all that dwell upon the earth shall
worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world.”
(Rev 17:8) “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not;
and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they
that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book
of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was,
and is not, and yet is.”
B. In that blessed book all the names
of God’s elect were written before the world began.
·
Eternally
·
Immutably
·
Forever
C. God’s election is our security.
Yes, we are secured by the blood of Christ, by the seal of the Spirit, and by the gift of grace. But all these things are the result of and flow from God’s electing love.
(Jer 31:3) “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying,
Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with
lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”
D. Election ought to give us constant
joy before our God.
1.
David Dancing Before The Ark.
(2 Sam 6:12-16) “And it was told king David, saying, The LORD
hath blessed the house of Obededom, and all that pertaineth unto him,
because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the
house of Obededom into the city of David with gladness. (13) And it was so,
that when they that bare the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he
sacrificed oxen and fatlings. (14) And David danced before the LORD with
all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. (15) So
David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting,
and with the sound of the trumpet. (16) And as the ark of the LORD came
into the city of David, Michal Saul's daughter looked through a window, and saw
king David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her
heart.”
(2 Sam 6:20-21) “Then David returned to bless his household.
And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious
was the king of Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the
handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth
himself! (21) And David said unto Michal, It was before the LORD,
which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler
over the people of the LORD, over Israel: therefore will I play before the
LORD.”
2.
David Dying.
(2 Sam 23:1-5) “Now these be the last words of David.
David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the
anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, (2) The
spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. (3) The
God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must
be just, ruling in the fear of God. (4) And he shall be as
the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning
without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by
clear shining after rain. (5) Although my house be not so with
God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things,
and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire,
although he make it not to grow.”
E. There is only one way anyone on
earth can ever know whether his name is written in this book.
The
only way a sinner can know whether his name is written there is by faith in
Christ. I know that my name is there because I believe on the Son of God, and
God has declared, “He that believeth on
the Son of God hath everlasting life.”
Illustration: The Retired
Soldier.
(Rev 20:15) “And whosoever was not found written in the
book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
[1] The Lord’s disciples
were not crazed snake handlers! He did not promise them (or us) security
against idiocy! ― He promised them (and us) protection as they went about
serving his interests, preaching the gospel.