What Is Jesus Thankful For? - [Luke 10:21-24]

Christ’s Thanksgiving for Sovereign Grace in Salvation

Now, some five or so years ago now, there was a comedian who he put together a hip-hop music video, a tribute to Chick-fil-A. And he made this video with the help of his local restaurant. And the refrain in this video over and over keeps saying, my pleasure to serve you, my pleasure to serve you, my pleasure to serve you.

Now, knowing the crowd here, maybe some of you have seen it. If you haven't, don't start looking it up now on YouTube, all right? Just save it for after the service. But among the many virtues of eating at Chick-fil-A listed, there's this one line in the song that goes like this.

I'm not going to rap it for you. But he says, you don't have to bow your head. You don't have to pray for your food. We had a Bible study in the back. We already prayed for you. Pre-blessed. But whenever we are not eating at Chick-fil-A, we usually pause to pray for our meals, right?

Do you? And this is wonderful. It's a fabulous thing to do, to pause to pray before we eat. It's wonderful to pray for your meals because I'm going to tell you tonight that you are in good company. Do you know that of the six or so times that the New Testament records Jesus giving thanks to the Father, most of them are a mealtime prayer.

He gives thanks, for example, at the Passover dinner. He gives thanks just before breaking the bread and splitting up the loaves and the fishes to feed the 5 ,000. But one of the exceptions to this is in our text tonight, which is Luke 10, chapter 21.

So please turn there with me to Luke chapter 10. Now here, Jesus gives thanks for something other than a meal. And to give us a full picture of what's going on, I'm going to start by reading at the verse 1, and then I'm going to skip a little bit, and eventually we'll get to our passage.

So starting Luke 10, verse 1. After this, the Lord said to them, heal the sick in these towns and say to them, the kingdom of God has come near to you. But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you.

Nevertheless, know this, that the kingdom of God has come near. And now down to verse 17. The 72 returned with joy saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you. But nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, but that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

And finally, now our text tonight, verse 21 and following. 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 the understanding and revealed them to little children.

Yes, father, for such was your gracious will. All things had 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.

And 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 desire to see what you see and did not see it and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.

The True Reason for the Disciples’ Joy

All right, so there's no time for an outline tonight, so let's just get right to it here in Luke 10. Jesus has come to this stage of his earthly ministry where he is training a large group of disciples, 72 of them, how to preach and how to evangelize.

And it's preparation for the future when he knows that he's not going to be with them anymore and it's going to be up to them to carry on, to continue to proclaim the word. And Luke, he doesn't record their full report when they returned, but he does, as we read, mentioned their astonishment at their ability to cast out demons.

Yet also, as we read, Jesus very quickly squashed that exuberance about that. Why? Why did he squash that? Well, because if what they were excited about is exorcism, they've got the wrong miracle. Verse 20, it said, nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

Because you see, the greatest miracle is their salvation and not just theirs, but the salvation of all those who have come to believe through their preaching. Because a miracle, what is a miracle? It is, by definition, God intervening in the normal course of historical events and natural laws and making something happen that would otherwise be impossible.

And that is exactly true of our salvation. See here, see the connection here to our text, that Jesus tells the disciples to rejoice over their salvation. And then in verse 21, right away he's saying, we see him rejoicing over the same.

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 the understanding and revealed them to little children.

Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. They should rejoice because Jesus is rejoicing. And this here is what Jesus is thankful for, that God has hidden these things from the wise and the understanding and revealed them to little children.

The Father’s Sovereign Grace in Salvation

But what are these things here in verse 21 and what are the all things that we saw in verse 22? Well, the answer is that in that little phrase that's sandwiched in between at the very end of verse 21, that little phrase, your gracious will, your gracious will, his gracious will in salvation.

Yes, what Jesus is thankful for is for the Father's sovereign grace. See, in this public prayer, Christ is revealing that he alone truly knows the Father. And in verse 22, he tells us that he alone can reveal the Father to us when he says anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

We don't come to Jesus when we are saved. We don't find Jesus when we are saved. Sovereign grace is this. We don't choose Christ. The Son chooses us. And it was God's gracious will that while the gospel would be hidden from many, he would choose to reveal it to some.

Contrast this as Jesus does with the ones from whom it is hidden. For all history, the wise and understanding people that Jesus is referring to in verse 21, these wise and understanding, they have been trying to solve the problem of evil.

They have been trying to soothe their own guilty consciences. And to do it, they have heaped up for themselves philosophies and theories and religions. They say, maybe if we offer sacrifices to God that we can make him happy with us.

Or maybe they say, what if there are many gods and all we got to do is just get on the good side of one of them. Or another philosopher comes along and he says, look, if you would just meditate and clear your minds and see through the illusion, then you could become like God.

And then another one comes along and says, maybe there's no God at all. And then probably the most popular one of all the people of the earth, of all history, would just say to themselves that God surely is a good and understanding God.

And so we just need to pray enough and confess enough and stay out of enough trouble, maybe give enough, do enough good deeds. And you know what? Let's just generally be a little bit better than that really terrible guy over there.

Right? And surely if I do that, I'll go to heaven when I die. That's the best that the wise and the understanding can come up with. And the fact that they keep up at this, that they keep trying is evidence enough.

They know they have fallen short. We have all fallen. They are ground into the dust by the burden they feel for their sins. But you know, Matthew 11, which is a parallel passage to this, it quotes, doesn't mention the 72, but it quotes the prayer here, verses 21 and 22, almost word for word.

Right after the prayer, that's also the part where Jesus goes on to say, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. If it weren't for God's sovereign grace, the only thing that we could grasp for are the same vain and fruitless and ultimately empty manmade sins.

Manmade religions. But thank you, father. Jesus says that you have revealed to little children, to the poor in spirit, your great plan of salvation. That before all history passed, before time itself began, God graciously predestined some to be spared from the just punishment of their sins and those he predestined.

He also called by the preaching of his word and those he called. He also justified by faith that if we only believe in the Lord Jesus, you will be saved. And then those he justified by faith, he has sworn in his name that he will one day glorify us in heaven with a resurrected body to eternal life.

See to be thankful for God's sovereign grace and salvation is to recognize that we are totally dependent on him, not just for its execution, but also for its revelation. As Paul recognized in Romans nine, he said, for God says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy.

I have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy. It all depends on God. We are told that the father has justified and will glorify us by the work of his son Jesus who has lived the perfect life on our behalf.

He all, he met perfection where we all fall short and he died on the cross for our sins. And he was raised on the third day from the dead to prepare a place for us to join him in heaven someday. In verse 23 and 24 of our texts tonight, Jesus, he calls these 72 disciples blessed.

He calls them blessed. He says, 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. Well, who are these Kings and prophets?

The Prophets and Kings Who Longed for Christ

Well, David, Solomon, Josiah, Isaiah, Daniel, and Malachi. And that's just to name a few. I'm Abraham is another Abraham. He wandered through a land, but did not possess it. He moved to sacrifice his son, Isaac.

And then God told him to wait for the lamb that he would provide. And there's another Moses, you know, Moses, he probably spent more time in the presence of God than any other old Testament figure. And yet at the end of his life, all he could do was only look at the promised land from afar off.

What did these Kings and prophets want to see that these 72 did see? What did they see? What did they see? Well, actually we read it already in verses nine and 11 and verse nine, their message was accepted and the kingdom of God was near.

And then in verse 11, the message was rejected and nevertheless, the kingdom of God was near. May I offer you all a word of encouragement, brothers and sisters in Christ, because often the Thanksgiving holiday is a time where we get together with unsaved family.

And I know you've heard it preached to you already from this pulpit, but maybe tonight you just need the reminder. If you share the gospel again with them this week, if you share your faith with them and they resist, you didn't mess up or fail.

They are not rejecting you. They are rejecting him. And so don't be discouraged. It takes a miracle to remove their blindness so that they can see. Try again and try again and try again, because who knows if this day will finally be the day of their salvation, because wherever the message is accepted or rejected, wherever salvation is proclaimed, the kingdom of God has come near.

This is what Christ was thankful for. May I humbly suggest that this week in an effort to be more Christ-like that you all be thankful for the same. God has devised a plan of salvation so pure that the greatest wisdom of man could not deduce it.

And yet so simple that a small child can receive it. Let us, as we close in prayer, do that right now. I thank you, Father, for Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the understanding and revealed them to little children.

Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. And all God's people said, Amen.