WWUTT 2377 The Gracious Will of the Father to Save (Luke 10:21-24)

Jesus’ Prayer of Thanksgiving in Luke 10

Jesus prayed this really powerful prayer in the presence of His disciples, rejoicing in the Father for His will being accomplished, not only to save those whom He means to save, but destroy whom He means to destroy, when we understand the text.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the Gospel according to Luke, we come back to chapter 10, where after Jesus sent out the 70 disciples on mission and they've come back to Him, He now lifts up this praise unto the Father for the accomplishment of His will.

Hidden from the Wise, Revealed to Little Children

Let's read here Luke 10, verses 21 through 24. Hear the word of the Lord. 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. 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.

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.

So once again, this was right after Jesus had sent the 70 out into all the surrounding towns and villages ahead of Him, and they had the power to cast out demons and heal diseases, and they preached the message of the kingdom, and they have come back to Him with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.

And Jesus said to them, Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. And after this exchange with His disciples, it says next in verse 21, In that same hour He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said.

Now, that's a very interesting beginning to this prayer that Jesus prays unto the Father. It says that He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. Well, we just saw the disciples return with joy. So now it is Jesus who expresses that joy and expresses it in the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity.

This prayer that we're seeing right here, a very Trinitarian prayer. The Son is rejoicing in the Father, and it is the Holy Spirit that is guiding the Son even in that joy that He experiences because of the Father's will being accomplished in the midst of His earthly ministry.

And so Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, in the leading of the Spirit. He says unto the Father, 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. So they have been able to see the message of the kingdom advance in those places that they've been told to go to. There were people that listened to it. And coming in the authority of the Son, they were able to subject even demons unto themselves.

Now, even though Jesus told them they were going to have the authority to do this, you still got to admit, it would be pretty surprising to accomplish that, right? To have that power to cast out an evil spirit or a demon.

If you're witnessing that happening and you had never done it before, and suddenly someone who is possessed by an evil spirit is thrown into chaos, is writhing on the floor, and this spirit comes out, and what you see before your eyes is clearly a miracle.

I mean, that's going to shock you, even if you were told you were going to have the authority to do that. So they come back to Jesus, expressing with delight what they had seen and heard. Jesus says to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

So what Jesus was able to see was far greater than what it was the disciples saw. Verse 19, 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.

Nevertheless, and as I quoted in the beginning, do not rejoice that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. So their joy is not supposed to be in what they are able to accomplish?

Because indeed they said, even the demons are subject to us in your name. But consider what it is that Jesus says to them in response. Don't rejoice that the spirits are subject to you. Don't let this be a pride thing.

Don't be puffed up with this. You're going to end up in a place where you're thinking that you had something to do with this. You're going to be boasting in yourself your ability and what you did. Instead, Jesus said, rejoice that your names are written in heaven.

That's a much more humble response. They remember whose care they are in, who had actually given them the authority to be able to do this, whose authority that they themselves are subject to, the Father in heaven.

But Jesus thanks the Father that he's hidden the things that the disciples have seen from the wise, and he's revealed them instead to little children. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. This is by the grace of God that the disciples have witnessed this.

And remember, what are we looking at among the disciples? What kind of occupations do they have? Well, we know Peter and Andrew, James and John were fishermen. We know that Matthew was a tax collector.

We know a few things about a few disciples, but these were largely uneducated men. They were not seasoned, educated theologians from the best of the synagogues. Remember that when you get to Acts, in Acts 2, when the Holy Spirit comes upon them and they are speaking in tongues, foreign languages as they go out into Pentecost, well, into Jerusalem at Pentecost, to preach the gospel for the very first time, to preach Christ and him crucified and risen from the dead.

All the people who heard these disciples speak in all these different languages, human languages, but languages they didn't know, they were not educated men, and the people witnessed that. These are Galileans.

How is it that these men know these languages and speak the way that they do to all of us so that we can hear and understand the message that they are proclaiming? So these disciples were no one great, had no great special ability, did not graduate from the best schools.

They are not among the wise and understanding that Jesus refers to here. Instead, they are those whom Jesus calls little children. Father, you've revealed these things to little children. In other words, they have that childlike faith that one needs in order to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus has already talked to them about that, about having faith like a child or welcoming a child, and whoever welcomes one of these welcomes me. So Jesus refers to them as little children. They would be like infants in faith, yet with enough faith to accomplish the great things that it was the will of the Father for them to accomplish.

It was not because of their great faith or their great knowledge and understanding. It was because it was the Father's will to reveal these things to them. They are also children in the sense that they are the Father's children.

They are adopted into the family of God through Jesus Christ. And so the Father has revealed these things to those who would otherwise be of little account, of little regard. And this was the gracious will of God.

It's by God's grace that he would reveal anything to anybody. It's by God's grace, brothers and sisters, that you can open up the Bible and read it and understand what it is that's being said and even apply those things to your life and live according to it.

That you can know that you have eternal life by faith in Jesus Christ because that has been revealed to you. And it's been revealed to you in the Spirit. When you read in 1 Corinthians 2, it is the Holy Spirit who reveals to us spiritual things that have been spoken by God.

And here it is the Holy Spirit who is leading Jesus in his prayer of thanksgiving unto God. It's very interesting that Luke chose to include that. And, of course, it would have to be by a spiritual revealing to him that he would understand that and be able to write that down, right?

That it was in the Holy Spirit that Jesus is issuing this prayer of thanks unto God so that we can see this Trinitarian accomplishment. The work of salvation is a Trinitarian work. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all working together to accomplish the same will.

And so it is in the Spirit that Jesus rejoices in the Father. The Trinity rejoicing together. You see that right here in the will of the Father being accomplished. If you'll remember to John, the priestly prayer, the high priestly prayer that Jesus prays in John 17, there Jesus also says, Father, glorify me with the glory that I had with you before the world began.

And so we have in that prayer that Jesus prays a bit of a picture of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and what they were doing before the world was made. They were glorifying in one another. And so that picture is given to us here in Luke's gospel as well.

You have the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who are glorifying in one another over the accomplishment of what the Father wills. And the Father has even chosen to reveal these things to little children. And Jesus is coming back to that in a moment when he says to them, you've been able to see things that a lot of people did not be able to.

They were not able to see. It was not given to them to see. And so rejoice in that in the same way that he told them previously to rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Rejoice that you got to see these things.

Don't rejoice in what you've accomplished or your ability or anything like that, but rejoice that this was shown to you by the Father and the Son even who reveals the Father. That's the next part of this prayer we have in verse 22.

The Father Reveals Himself Through the Son

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, Jesus says. 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.

You know John 6, 44, right? No one can come to me, Jesus said, unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up on the last day. So this is Luke's iteration of that. Luke's showing through this prayer that no one knows the Son except the Father.

So no one comes to Jesus unless the Father draws him to Jesus. Presently in our sermon series that I'm doing in our church on Sunday morning, we're in Romans, Romans chapter 3 in particular. And it's in Romans 3 where we are told no one does good.

No one seeks for God. Together everyone has become worthless. There are none who are righteous, no not one. So if nobody does good and no one seeks for God, then how can anyone choose to make a decision to follow Jesus which would undoubtedly be a good thing?

Somehow they're just able to overcome the fact that they can't do anything good. No one does good. No one even seeks for God. Somehow they've been able to get over that hurdle as well. And they've sought God and they have found him and they've put their faith and trust in him and now they've made a right decision before the Lord.

How is it that anybody comes to faith in Jesus Christ? Because they're drawn to him by the Father. And even the faith that we are given to believe is a gift from God. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9 probably illustrates this the most clearly.

By grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast. By grace you are saved through faith and this is not your own doing.

You don't will yourself to believe. Today I'm just going to believe in Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit who changes your heart where previously you couldn't do anything good. You were not even seeking after God and it is the Holy Spirit who has caused you to be born again.

So with a heart that previously was not seeking for God now you have responded to the call of the gospel and put your faith in Jesus Christ for even the faith that we have in God has been given to us by God.

Now that does not mean though that God makes us believe in the sense that it is God believing for us.

No.

Indeed the Holy Spirit is alive in us in our faith and in our belief so we're not doing it alone. There is something mysterious, some great mysterious relationship that is happening in our spirits when the Holy Spirit comes inside to dwell within us.

But God doesn't make us believe in the sense that he's the one believing for us. He's the one who gives us our faith, reorients our hearts so that instead of having a heart that is rebellious against God we have a heart that desires God and is drawn to him and all of this change has happened by his gracious will and through a work of the Holy Spirit that occurs within us.

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. So the father draws to the son and the son reveals the father. And of course this is Luke capturing the same thing that is said in John 1 18.

No one has ever seen God. The only God who is at the father's side he has made him known. So that statement there in verse 18 the only God is a reference to Jesus. No one has ever seen God but the only God, Jesus, who is at the father's side he is the one who has made him known.

And here Luke writes that out for us in Jesus' prayer in this way. The son reveals the father. No one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him. So when Jesus teaches us to pray our father in heaven hallowed be thy name well he has revealed to us the fact that we can call upon God in heaven as our father.

We can know him as our father and that would be our relationship with him is as father because he's been revealed to us in the son in this way. You think of all those false Christian religions out there they claim to follow Jesus like you're talking Mormonism or Jehovah's Witnesses or even the Oneness Pentecostals but they deny the triuneness of God that the one being of God is shared by three co-eternal, co-equal persons father, son, and Holy Spirit.

They reject and deny that because the son has not revealed it to them. That's why they can't see God in that way. The doctrine of the Trinity is a truly incredible doctrine and we're not going to be able to understand it really on this side of heaven that we worship one God but he is three persons.

It's a really difficult concept to wrap our minds around how one God can also be three persons so we're not going to see it and understand it perfectly until we arrive in heaven for as said in 1 John 3 I want to say this is verse 2 that we will see him as he is because we will be made like him so on that day we will see God and understand the relationship of the Trinity what that looks like that we can't wrap our minds around now but the fact that God is triune and that he is father, son, and spirit these things have been revealed to us by his will for such was your gracious will and remember here that Jesus is rejoicing in the Father and what is he rejoicing in the Father for?

Well that he's revealed these things to little children but also that he's hidden these things from the wise and the understanding. Now understand something about this that this prayer is not just in the sense of those whom God has chosen to save Jesus is also rejoicing in God for the Father has hidden these things from the wise and the understanding and it's his will that they would not know and would not be saved and would come to destruction and yet Jesus is rejoicing over that I think that's one of the reasons why Luke includes that he's rejoicing in the Holy Spirit because this is the single will of God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit being accomplished, being carried out so that there are some who will be saved and there are many who will be destroyed.

And yet this is worth rejoicing over because God is being glorified the Father's will is being accomplished and Jesus rejoices in his will being accomplished. Turning to the disciples verses 23 and 24 he said to them 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. What an incredible thing they have been participants in and been witnesses to stuff that was prophesied in the Old Testament and yet those who prophesied it didn't get the chance to see it.

These disciples here have seen it and so once again in a matter of of humbling their spirits to recognize that they were chosen for this by God and it is by the Father's will that they were chosen and accomplished what it was that they accomplished.

He tells them your eyes got to see what others did not get to see. Your ears got to hear what others were hoping to hear and didn't get to in their lifetime. But you know what my brethren we are witnesses to things that even the disciples themselves didn't all get to see.

We are seeing Christianity spread all over the globe to such a magnitude. I mean you're talking a billion people that would probably be classified in the Christian religion even though there's a lot of false believers in there.

But Christianity is spread to that extent far beyond anything that the disciples saw in their lifetime now they certainly saw the message of the gospel the church spread like wildfire in their lifetimes.

They certainly got to see that but nothing on the scale to what we have now. And there are many who claim to follow Christ but don't you know I just mentioned the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses even Roman Catholicism although they will preach the true gospel.

There's so much doctrine in there that is damnable doctrine legalism to the degree of what the Pharisees taught elevating their traditions over the word of God exactly what Jesus had rebuked them for.

So we're able to witness an expansion, a growth happen in Christianity that even the disciples didn't see. And we all get to see the book of Revelation and not all the disciples got to see that. So we see John's revelation or the revelation that was given to him last book of the Bible so that we're able to peer into past, present, and future and see what God is accomplishing in redemptive history.

Remember that Peter said in 2 Peter 1 we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed that you would do well to pay attention to and so we rejoice also that the Father's will is being accomplished. It's difficult, it's hard to watch loved ones not believe and know that if they don't repent that they're going to go to their destruction.

But we can still rejoice in that the Father's will is being accomplished. And whatever happens whether one believes or does not believe it is by the Father's will that these things are being accomplished and so we can rejoice in him for his goodness to us.

Remember once again rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Heavenly Father we thank you for what we've read here today and I pray that it would open our eyes and teach us to think about your your plan of salvation the doctrine of election that we read about in scripture that you would foreordain from before the foundation of the world those whom you would save and those who would not be saved and therefore go to their destruction.

And Lord however we however we are able to see this and comprehend it we rejoice in you. We give you all the glory and all the praise for you are accomplishing your will and praise God. We've been included in that in that purpose that you are that you are doing to save your elect.

We have that opportunity to share the gospel with somebody else so that they would believe and so be saved and let's do so knowing that you are going to complete that work. Thank you for calling us into your presence in Christ Jesus.

It's in his name that we pray.

Amen.

Pastor Gabe keeps a regular blog sharing personal thoughts alerting readers to false teachers and offering commentary on the church and social issues. You can find a link to the blog through our website www .tt .com.

Thank you for listening and join us again tomorrow as we continue our study in God's word when we understand the text.