Luke chapter 10, a passage that we have looked at in the past, the foundation for Christian joy. Specifically, Jesus' words in Luke 10 at verse 20, where he says, Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. We have looked at this in the past, but I think it is fitting for the first day of a new year to consider the foundation for our joy as Christians. For certainly there are times when our joy is not what it ought to be, when we are not as thrilled in the Gospel as we should be.
So hopefully as we consider this passage of Scripture, our hearts will be warmed and we'll consider those things which are most fitting to promote joy in the life of God's people. I'll just pick up reading in Luke 10 at verse 1. After these things, the Lord appointed seventy others also and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Then He said to them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few.
Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go your way. Behold, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Carry neither money bag, knapsack, nor sandals, and greet no one along the road.
But whatever house you enter, first say, Peace to this house. And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it. If not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking such things as they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages.
Do not go from house to house. Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. And heal the sick there and say to them, the kingdom of God has come near to you. But whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, the very dust of your city which clings to us, we wipe off against you.
Nevertheless, know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you. But I say to you, that it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!
For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades. He who hears you, hears Me.
He who rejects you, rejects Me. And he who rejects Me, rejects him who sent Me. Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name. And He said to them, I saw safe and fall like lightning from heaven.
Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the spirit and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight.
All things have been delivered to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, "'Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, and have not seen it, and have not seen it, and to hear what you hear, and have not heard it. Amen. Let us pray.
Our God and our Father, we thank you for the Holy Scripture and we pray for the Spirit now to guide us and to lead us into all truth. We pray that you would help us to consider the basis, the foundation for our joy. Help us in this coming year truly to manifest joy. Do forgive us, God, that we give in to melancholy or we give in to those things which would strip us of our joy and help us to be refreshed and to be reminded.
And Father, even to be zealous for Your glory in the manifestation of Christian joy. And we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Introduction: Context of Luke 10
When we see the context here, the disciples are sent out. Jesus sends them out two by two to go and to preach the Gospel. He says, the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. And then He says, pray that the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers in His harvest.
And then He dispatches. He not only calls them to pray, but He calls them to act. And He sends them out, clothes them with authority so that they may preach the gospel of the kingdom and that they may indeed engage in the work of gospel ministry. And then they return, according to verse 17, and they are filled with joy.
And they specify the reason for their joy. Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name. Christ reminds them that He has given them authority, reminds them or tells them that Satan he saw fall like lightning through the preaching of the Gospel. We see the strong man plundered.
We see Satan being bound up. And Jesus reminds them of this. But then He tells them in verse 20, as we've seen, Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Now, he is not saying that they should not rejoice at all in the fact that they have seen demons subjected to their ministry or anything like that, but he is speaking in an idiom.
He says, do not rejoice primarily in this, but rather rejoice primarily in the fact that your names are written in heaven. There are various references to a book of life that is contained in heaven where the names of God's elect are inscribed. He calls them to reflect upon that. And it seems to me that in this statement there is a basis for joy.
And the first thing we need to notice is that the basis for joy is not wrapped up in our performance. It is not wrapped up in what we do for the Kingdom of God. Now there are times again when if the Lord has been pleased to use us, we may find a joy in that. But Jesus is saying, do not rejoice primarily in what you do for the kingdom, but rather rejoice primarily in the King who has written you into the book of life.
So there is a distinction made. There is a distinction between the basis for our joy, between performance and our salvation. We are not to rejoice in how we serve. We are to rejoice in the fact that God has saved us by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Performance Is a False Basis for Joy
I want to look at four reasons why we ought not to rejoice primarily in what we do for the kingdom and then look at five reasons why we ought to rejoice in the salvation that God has freely given to us.
Pride in Usefulness
The first reason we are not to rejoice primarily in our performance is because our performance may tend to pride in usefulness. It is an unfortunate reality that we are a very proud people, even as Christians. Now, maybe this is all new to you. Hopefully it is not, but we are very proud And there is a tendency in us to be proud.
And if the Lord should be pleased to use us in any measure for good to others, we can get big heads. We can get swollen egos. We can get full of ourselves. Pride in usefulness is a genuine reality.
Turn over to Luke 18 for a moment. In Luke 18, Jesus taught a parable of two men. And if we are not careful, and if we are fastidious in our religious performance, we can end up sounding like this Pharisee who says, The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, Luke 18, 11, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, and adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week.
I give tithes of all that I possess. Now, we may not vocalize that sentiment. We may not tell others that that's the expression of our heart, but we may manifest such an attitude. Pride in our performance is wretched.
Pride in our accomplishments is offensive. The Apostle Peter tells us we are to be clothed with humility. We are to be like our Lord Jesus Christ. And if God should grant you a measure of usefulness in His Kingdom, and you put all of your joy based on that usefulness, pride may be the result.
No Sure Indicator of Grace
A second reason why we need to guard against this performance-based joy is that it is not a true indicator of grace in the heart. God used Balaam's ass. That does not mean that Balaam's ass is going to sit in heaven with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God used Balaam.
God uses men to accomplish His purposes without ever saving them. So the fact that men can perform for the kingdom does not mean that they are in the kingdom. Perhaps your mind is already tracking with the end of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus specifies two trees and two ways and two types of builders. And then he highlights the type of man that he never knew.
In Matthew 7, verse 21, it says, Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.
Their performance was no sure indicator of the grace of God in their hearts. Notice that Jesus does not deny what they had done for the kingdom. Jesus does not say to them, no, you've never prophesied in my name. No, you've never cast out demons in my name.
And no, you've never done many wonders in my name. He doesn't say that. He acknowledges their performance. He acknowledges what they have done And he says, I never knew you.
You need to be very careful. Your status with God is not dependent upon your performance. What a wretched way to live if it were the case. We could never work enough.
We could never do enough. We could never accomplish enough. You know, sometimes I monitor, you know, the debates that are going on between Christians and non-Christians. And one of the things that's very offensive to the non-Christian is that God saves sinners.
It's very offensive. It just grates against the flesh. You mean this guy who lived this life is going to go to heaven? Yes.
Well, that's not fair. No, it's grace. Sometimes the worst go to heaven and the best go to hell. That's offensive to the flesh.
We need to be very careful that we don't think that way. We can look at other Christians and their performance and we can get so discouraged and think, man, look at what they're doing. And then look at me. You're not saved based on your performance.
You're not saved based on how many demons you cast out. You're not saved based on how many wonders you've done in Jesus' name. You see, you've got to get this. Luke 10-20 is crucial for your joy.
Performance-Based Joy Does Not Abide
A third reason why we ought not to make the basis for our joy, our performance, is that it does not abide. It does not abide. It comes and it goes. If we are banking on our performance, when we get too old and can no longer perform, we're going to be depressed.
If we get maimed in some sort of a collision and we're no longer able to do what we once did, is our joy gone now? That there's no more? See, we need to be very careful. This is not an abiding joy.
These disciples, when they returned with joy, having done miraculous things for the Lord, would probably in a few years go and preach and not do miraculous things for the Lord. They would not see a lot of people converted. They would not see a lot of people coming into the Kingdom in mass. Does that mean they can't be joyful?
Of course not. We need to be careful. This does not abide. Work accomplished may not be lasting, and our usefulness may go right out the door.
That doesn't mean we're to be unhappy. You see what Jesus is doing. You're not rejoiced primarily in what you're doing, but rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Nothing can strip that joy.
That's how you can obey the injunction of Paul the Apostle in Philippians 4. Rejoice in the Lord. Again, I will say, rejoice. Well, how?
If it's performance-based, insofar as we're doing what we're supposed to, we'll be happy. But when we slack off, we're to be depressed? No. And then
Joy That Fails in the Valleys
a fourth reason why we ought not to put our joy or bank on our joy with reference to our performance is that this does not sustain us in the valleys. It just doesn't. When you are spiritually tried and you are spiritually depressed and you are in the valleys, looking at what you used to do well is not going to promote joy. I guarantee it.
When you are spiritually tried and you are in the valleys, looking at how you used to obey God better is not going to promote joy. What promoted joy to David as he walked through the valley of the shadow of death? I will fear no evil. Why?
Because thou art with me. Not because I used to be bigger, stronger, faster and better. He sees God as His portion. He sees God as His strength.
He sees God's rod and God's comfort and God's power as that means to bring Him through the valley of the shadow of death. Beware, brethren, of basing your joy on your performance.
Salvation Is the True Basis for Joy
And here's why we ought to base our joy on our salvation. Jesus says, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.
Enjoyed Equally by All the Saints
Firstly, because it can be enjoyed by all the saints. See, if we're performance-based, we're going to read a biography, say, of C.H. Spurgeon or George Whitefield, and we're going to pretend or we're going to believe that we're nothing. We are no good whatsoever.
We don't do a thing for Jesus. But when we look at what Jesus says to look at, rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven. All the saints have access to this. Every single one from the least to the greatest.
From the Spurgeon and the Paul to the Joe Blow. Every single saint who by God's grace has looked to Jesus and lived can rejoice that their name is written in heaven. That is where, that's our common denominator. That's our leveler.
That's where all Christians are the same. Love what Spurgeon says, in our sanctification we grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. There's various degrees. Some will be very sanctified.
Others need to grow in their sanctification. Justification is different. Everybody is as justified as they'll ever be. Every Christian is justified in the same manner, through the declaration of God, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We're all on equal footing. Not, wow, that guy does so much better. No. Your name is written in heaven.
Springs from Faith in Christ
A second reason why we ought to be joyful concerning our salvation is that it springs from faith in Christ. That's what ought to make the Christian happy is Jesus. Not himself. Have you ever been around Christians that are proud?
Well, hopefully you're all going to say, yeah, all the time. Every time I look in the mirror. Every time I get around other Christians. But there's some who seem not to harness it, perhaps, as others.
It's offensive, man. It's like, I don't want to hear about you. I want to hear about Jesus. Jesus is the champion.
Jesus is our deliverer. Jesus is our victor and our king. We ought to be celebrating Jesus. Not celebrating what I did for Jesus, but celebrating what Jesus did for me.
That's what the Christian life is about. It's not our celebration of what we've accomplished for Christ. It's our celebration of what Christ has accomplished for us. It puts things in the proper perspective.
It puts Christ on the throne and not ourselves.
Grounded in God's Sovereign Election
A third reason is that it centers in on God's sovereign election. When he says, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Who wrote our names in heaven? It wasn't us.
We didn't ascend up into heaven. We didn't take that holy pen and write in that holy ledger. In fact, before God had saving dealings with us, we didn't even care about the book of life. We certainly didn't care if our names were in it.
We'd probably joke about not being in it. It was God who inscribed us. It was God who chose us. It was God who predestinated us.
It was God who undertook on our behalf. So you see, the basis for my joy cannot be what I do. It must be what God has done. The basis for your joy cannot be what you have done, but what our triune God has done.
That's how I think we're supposed to live. Now, I don't live that way, I'll confess it. I'm just as wrapped up in the whole performance thing as probably any other Christian. You know, going into this new year, and especially January, I have noticed historically in my life, January, they ought to get rid of it.
We ought to go from December to February, because January is a big dark hole. in my life. I don't mean to sound negative or depressing, or maybe you're going to go, wow, yeah, January is bad. Thanks, brother. No, I'm not meaning it like that.
But one of the reasons I thought about this text was we're entering into a new year. It's January 4th. Snowing. You know, people say, oh, do you like the snow?
Yeah, it's nice for a week. I'm sorry, man. I don't know if I can live in this all my life, you know? There's a lot of things out there.
Well, what is it that can manifest joy? It is a firm grip on the grace of God. Not on performance. Not on what we do.
Not on how we do it. I mean, look at the church situation. You know, you've got churches that got people cramming in, thousands and thousands of people. You look at our church.
Wow, we don't have thousands of people. Oh, it's depressing. Yeah, it is depressing. That's why we need to rejoice that our names are written in heaven.
That's why we need to be focused heavenward. Not to say we shouldn't pray or labor or try to call people to repentance and faith, but it needs to center in on God's sovereign election.
Can Be Cultivated Through the Word
A fourth reason we ought to be salvation-based when it comes to joy is that it can be cultivated. It can be cultivated. What do I mean by that? I mean you study your Bible.
You read the Scriptures. You learn about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and the salvation of your soul. What does that do? Hopefully it promotes joy.
Hopefully it produces a smile and an otherwise hardened face when you consider God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Not God so rewarded the world because they had performed so meritoriously. No. God so loved the world.
God gave. God provided. God gave us that Son. God gave us redemption.
God initiated. God sought Adam and Eve. God made a covenant with Abraham. God protected His lineage.
God protected His seed. God protected His remnant. God, in the fullness of the time, sent forth His Son. God provided all things necessary for our salvation.
That can be cultivated. We can get happier the more we know the Bible, the more we study the plan of salvation, the more we understand theology, the more we wrap our heads around what God in Christ is doing in this world. That promotes joy. Again, rightly focused, not because of what we're doing, but because of who God is.
And He has revealed Himself in the Old and the New Testaments. He has given us this revelation of His own Self and His own Word for our well-being.
Abides in All Circumstances
And a fifth reason we ought to be salvation-based with reference to our joy is because it abides in all circumstances. We may be useful, and then we may not be. But ain't nobody taking our salvation away. No one erases names from the book of life.
Isn't that blessed? Remember when I was younger, they had a jacket, members only. The members only jacket. They looked like such goofballs who wore those jackets.
If you used to wear a members only jacket, I'm sorry, but you looked goofy. Members only of what? A group of people out there that have the same type of jacket? Wow!
But members only with reference to heaven. You're part of a blessed society that no man can take away. Moth and rust cannot destroy. No one strips that inheritance from you.
So that when you are in the darkest, most trying, and most difficult time, you can smile. You can have joy. You can rejoice. Because this joy abides in all circumstances.
Nevertheless, do not primarily rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you. It's almost as if the Lord would say, because there's coming a time when they're not going to be. There's coming a time when people are not going to respond favorably to the gospel. There's coming a time where they will persecute you, where they will whip you, where they will beat you, where they will try and destroy you.
So don't rejoice in what you can do, but rather rejoice in what God has done. This explains why the apostles in Acts 5.31 could depart from that Roman prison, having been lashed with a whip, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. This is the explanation as to why Paul and Silas in prison in Acts 16 could be singing hymns of praise to God. If they judged it based on their reception, based on how people saw them, how society viewed them, well, they would be of all men most depressed.
We got whipped here. We tried to serve this community. They spit on us. They scoffed at us.
They rejected us. That's depressing. Let's be sorrowful. That's not what it was.
They knew their names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life, and in that they rejoiced. They could sing hymns of praising to God. Brethren, I am encouraging you this morning to take these things to heart. What is it that makes you happy?
Is it what you do for the Lord? Is it how you perform for the Lord? Is it how much you prayed last week? Could you be that Pharisee whom Jesus spoke of?
I thank you, God, I'm not like other men. It makes me cringe when I hear that kind of talk. I'm not like that guy. Any time that we would say, I'm not like that guy, think about it biblically.
You're worse than that guy. You're as bad as he is at the root, and he isn't saying, well, I'm not like that guy. Brethren, to be joyful is to be found in Christ. Not having a righteousness of our own which is from the law, but that righteousness which is from God through faith in Jesus Christ.
Our Lord sets the example of how we ought to be joyful. Verse 21, In that hour Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit. Isn't that great? One of the few times in Holy Writ where Jesus ever refers to Jesus' joy.
He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We don't read that the Son of God walked around with a big phony smile. We don't read that He skipped through Palestine singing Zippity-Doo-Dah. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
He's at the grave site of Lazarus and what happens? He's exceedingly sorrowful. He is troubled. He is grieved.
He is even angry. Here he's rejoicing.
Christ's Own Joy as Our Example
Notice what causes Jesus to rejoice. In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight. All things have been delivered to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." So, Jesus expresses joy over God's grace.
You see that? I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them to babes." That's the grace of God. He reveals to babes. Sometimes people get hung up on that, oh, He's hidden from the wise and the prudent.
Oh, that's not fair. It's justice. For God to hide something from man whom He owes nothing to is justice. It's not unfair.
Christ rejoices that God has revealed these things unto babes. Christ's joy is expressed over the Father's pleasure. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight. The New American Standard says, it was well-pleasing in your sight.
That's what makes Christ happy. The grace of God. The pleasure of God. and the reality of God's revelation. All things have been delivered to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son, who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son. And the fact that there is fellowship between the persons of the Trinity and sinners. That's what makes Christ happy. See, Jesus didn't say, well done, men.
No, there is a well done, good and faithful servant when we enter into heaven. But what he is highlighting to his disciples in their earthly ministry in this particular scenario is don't rejoice primarily in what you do for God. Rejoice primarily in what God has done for you. That's what's going to bring you lasting joy.
That's what's going to make you happy. That's what's going to keep you in the valley of the shadow of death. That's what's going to keep you from apostasy. That's what's going to keep you from all of the idolatry and all of the sin and all of the wickedness that we are prone to follow.
Because we want to be happy, don't we? That's not necessarily a sin. It's not wrong to want to be happy. It's just how we pursue that happiness.
Jesus is all about our happiness and He is all about telling us how to pursue it biblically. It is to be in God. It is to be in the Father. It is to be in the Son and the Spirit.
It is to be founded squarely upon the gospel of free and sovereign grace. That's what's going to keep you, that's what can be cultivated, that can be enjoyed by all the saints. Do you have joy? Do you?
And if so, what is it based on? If it's based on you, you've got problems. If it's based on God, you're in good company. Because that's where Jesus faced His joy.
And please, please seek to cultivate it. Please seek to develop it. Please seek to grow it. There's nothing noble about not knowing your Bible.
There's nothing noble about not knowing doctrine. There's nothing noble about laziness or indifference. Scriptures are very clear that we need to pursue God. We need to pursue the knowledge of God.
We need to grow in our understanding of who he is. Not just because God will reward us. Even in that, I think we're faulty. I'm going to do McShane's Bible reading calendar so I can read through the Bible in a year.
Fine. if the goal is to grow in your understanding of God. Not so that you can tell people, I do the McCain Bible reading calendar. Boy, am I happy! I'm going to go to Bible study every Wednesday night, all throughout the year.
Great! Is it to grow in the knowledge of God? Or is it because you think there's some secret tally someone is keeping track of, and if you're not there, it reflects poorly on you? That's not a reason to go to Bible.
That's not a reason to go to church. We're not saved by our performance. We're saved by God's grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So, take the Word of Christ seriously. but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. Father, we thank you for the Holy Scriptures, and we thank you for this account in Luke 10. We thank you for our Lord's emphasis, and I pray that we would all learn this lesson well, that we would not look at our performance, but we would look at your performance. We'd look at your Gospel.
We look at Your glory. We look at election and predestination. We look at Your decree. We look at the entirety of Holy Scripture and what it testifies concerning our triune God and the saving of sinners.
May these things promote joy in our lives. May these things promote joy in our families and in this local church. May we indeed manifest the joy that Paul speaks of and may we manifest the joy that Jesus evidenced here in Luke 10. We just pray now, Lord God, that you would help us to think biblically, help us to think rightly concerning these things.
And we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.