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Victory in Jesus
This is the word of the living God, Luke 10, verse 17. Then the 70 returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. He said to them, I saw Satan 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 the 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.
If we had a theme or a title that we want to, if you want to put on your notes for this message, it's simply this. We have victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
In this text, two things that we'll see. One, we're gonna, we read in the first three verses, we see the return of the 70, and the 70 and how they return, they return with joy. So the 70 returning with joy is the first thing that we'll see.
And the second thing that we will look at is simply this, Jesus rejoices in the spirit. The 70 return with joy and Jesus rejoicing in the spirit. So sending them out two by two, Jesus gives power and Jesus gives authority to the 70 to heal the sick, to cast out demons, and to proclaim that the kingdom of God has come near to them.
We see that from the preceding text as we went through the last two weeks. And we see here the 70 return with a fullness, if you would have it, a fullness of excitement and joy. And this excitement and this joy was unparalleled to anything that they had known before.
From the plain reading of the text, just the plain reading of the text, it seems as if in a very real sense, that they were amazed that what Jesus had said to them when he sent them was in fact a reality.
I mean, you hear the words, right? But sometimes it's like they just don't register. And Jesus brought to reality the words that he spoke to them by the authority that he and he alone gave to them. So nevertheless, they wasn't complaining about it.
They wasn't fussing about this joy, right? They were reveling in the joy that they were experiencing. They were absolutely ecstatic. But the words that are used here in the text are again, as you know, the words matter greatly and we're going to examine and look at very quickly several of the words throughout this passage of scripture.
The first of which we notice the gospel writer Luke here said the 70 return with joy. Now I'm not gonna try, April heard me trying to practice pronouncing this word. It just sounds like you have phlegm in your throat when you say it.
So I'm not gonna do that right now. But the word used for joy is kara. The cause or the occasion of joy. It literally means of persons who are one's joy, of persons who possess this joy. They return with a joy.
They return, I think the apostle Paul puts it in another place in one of the epistles, joy inexpressible and full of glory. They returned with joy. And they had this joy because as the text goes on to say, they spoke to Jesus out of their joy.
And they said, Lord, even the demons are subject to us through your name. There was no other cause of joy that they had, but that the fact that the demons were subject to them through the name of Jesus Christ.
And that word subject is the word hupotasso. It means to be subject unto. Again, I caution you greatly. It's very easy when we get to passages to text like this to say, all right, I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna cast out demons out of people.
This is not a prescriptive text for us. This is a descriptive text. If you try to go and cast out demons of somebody, you're likely to end up like the seven sons of Siva who get torn up, beat up, run out of town naked because you try to do something that you have no power and you have no authority to do.
But Jesus gave these 70 authority over the demons to cast them out, to heal the sick and to preach the kingdom of God having come. So let's imagine for just a moment, here we are, the 70 return with joy.
Imagine if you would, these 70 men kind of just coming back together, meeting up. Remember, they went out two by two. So the two by two are likely rejoicing, their chest bumping, giving each other high five.
They probably, they might've lost their voice from the excitement and the rejoicing that was going on. But we see the 70 men meeting up two by two after having gone out and fulfilled this commission that was given to them.
And imagine, imagine if you would, the stories that they were sharing with one another. One man might say to another, oh man, you are not gonna believe what happened with us. And the other fellas may look at them and say, oh, we know exactly what happened with y 'all because it happened with us.
The demons are subject unto us through the name of Jesus Christ. There was great cause for rejoicing within these men. But as Christians, we should be rightly excited about what the Lord has done. We should be excited about what the Lord has done.
The Lord, Jesus Christ himself left heaven, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, was crucified on the cross for our sins in our stead taking upon him the wrath of God on our behalf. He was laid in the grave.
On the third day, the stone was rolled away and Jesus came out of the grave alive, never to die again. There is no greater cause for us to rejoice. One of the songs says, rejoice, rejoice, oh Christian, lift up your voice and sing.
Eternal hallelujahs to Jesus Christ, the King, the hope of all who seek him, the help of all who find. None other is so loving, so good and kind. Hey, we have a reason to rejoice today. Even if you can't sing, you got a reason to sing.
Somebody say, you don't sing that good. Well, I wasn't singing to you anyhow. I'm praising the Lord. For the Lord has done something that you will never be able to do. He died for my sin and he rose again.
There are some, and I would suggest this, let me say this too, I would suggest that there were, that these 70 were justified in their rejoicing. There are many in this world, in the world in which we live, that men, women, boys and girls, there's much that folks get excited about.
And I will say this, temporal blessings do benefit us. For in fact, temporal blessings should be celebrated. There are eternal blessings and there are temporal blessings. We should celebrate the temporal blessings, but we must always keep in the forefront of our minds and our hearts that they do not compare with the eternal benefits of being born again.
They do not compare with the eternal benefits of being born again. There are some in the arena of theological truth who seem to think that dignified men and women would not get at least every now and then happy in the Lord.
There are some people who seem just like they refuse the joy of the Lord, but the joy of the Lord is our strength. When we live in a world that is hell bent on chaos and destruction, and it seems like there's no hope anywhere, friends, as believers in Jesus Christ, we have a great hope.
We have a hope that is as an anchor of the soul that is steadfast and that is sure, that gives us joy in the midst of our trials. And our joy is the Lord himself. We can look back at our friend, Mr. Spurgeon, and we can hear what he said about the Christian and the Christian rejoicing in the Lord from a sermon that he preached specifically, I think it's on 1st or 2nd Thessalonians, and he preached on two words in this sermon, rejoice evermore.
I wish I could be like Spurgeon sometimes and just preach on two words. I'm not there yet, but this is what he said concerning rejoicing evermore. He said, concerning the duties of Christian ministers and church members, one toward another, we are exhorted, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men, and all these things, Spurgeon said, are done in turn according as occasion requires, but rejoice evermore.
You have plenty to do, Spurgeon said, but this thing you have always to do, you shall never be able to fold your hands for want of some holy task or other, but be not worried, be not fretted by what you have to do.
On the contrary, take up the sacred duties with alacrity, welcoming each one of them and entering upon each one of them with delight. He goes on to say, as you turn about, you find all men gathering to hinder you, to grieve you, to slander you, or to make use of you for their base purposes, but be not grieved.
Put up with your poor fellow creatures, since the Lord puts up with you, but do not leave off rejoicing. As you are patient towards all men, let your patience have a flavor of joy in it. However great the provocations that you endure, still rejoice evermore, as it is written, with all thy sacrifices, thou shalt offer salt.
So let it be thy settled purpose with every other duty to offer rejoicing. Rejoice, rejoice today. Now, let's consider the words that Jesus speaks to them in response to their statement. So the 70 return with joy.
Lord, even the demons are subject unto us in your name. And verse 18, and he, Jesus said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you power, I give you authority. Some translations use the word power there.
By the way, if you've got a translation that uses the word power there for authority, it doesn't change the meaning, but you do need to know that the word power that's used translated in some versions there, you're also gonna see the word power used again later in this verse.
And those are actually two separate words. So we're gonna go with the translation of authority. Behold, I give you authority, Jesus said, 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. Alexander McLaren, a contemporary of Charles Spurgeon in his day, made this statement concerning this particular statement that Jesus makes, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Jesus answered, McLaren says, is meant to quiet down their excitement by teaching them that he had known what they were doing whilst they were doing it. So he was aware of what was taking place. And I love how McLaren puts this.
He's very, very eloquent. He said, when did he behold Satan fall from heaven? McLaren says, the context seems to require that it should be at the time when the 70 were casting out demons. The contest between the personal source of evil and Jesus was fought out by the principles, not by their subordinates, meaning this, that the devils weren't defeated, that he didn't see Satan fall like lightning from heaven because of the power that those 70 had amongst themselves, but because of the power and the authority that Jesus himself possessed already, that he granted unto them.
And so it was not fought by the principles, or it was fought already by the principles, meaning Jesus, and not by their subordinates, not by the 70, and it is already victoriously decided in Christ's sight.
Therefore, as the sequel of his victory, he enlarges his gifts to his servants. Jesus was already victorious over Satan, right? There has, just so that there might be, if there be any questions, there is this lingering thought that looms in churches all around us, that there's always been a constant power struggle between God and Satan.
Friends, God has never been subordinate to Satan. Satan has never had the upper hand on our God. Our God is omniscient, all-powerful, omnipotent. He is above all, and that includes Satan himself. Along the same lines, J .C. Ryle, in his commentary, just so that we see continuity concerning this statement that Jesus made, the whole tenor, J .C. Ryle said, that the whole tenor of the passage leads us to this conclusion.
The remarkable words our Lord says about Satan falling like lightning from heaven was most probably meant to caution them. He read the hearts of the young and the inexperienced soldiers before him. He saw how much they were lifted up by their first victory, and he wisely checked them in their undue exaltation.
As if to say, Jesus, in plain language, Jesus said to them, I know exactly what was going on. I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. And then, you'll notice here, in the text, these words, again, very, very important, when Jesus said, behold, I give you authority.
That word authority, the Greek word is exousia, it means this, the word authority means this, it's the ability or strength with which one is endued. It is very important for us, as Christians, to keep a level head and to understand what the scripture says, that outside of God, there is no power, right?
So this was endued to them, it's the ability or strength with which one is endued, which he either possesses or exercises. Another definition, which is probably the best of the three definitions that I'm gonna give you right here, this second definition, it is the power of authority and of right, authority being influence and right being privilege, but it is God-given.
It is nothing that we have within ourselves, it is nothing that these 70 had within themselves, it was a God-given, heaven-sent authority. The last definition for authority is the power of rule or government.
It is the power of him whose will and commands must be submitted to by others and obeyed. The powers that be are of God, it is of him, and it is to the will of God and the command of God to which the demons were subject through the name of Jesus Christ.
That word authority, he said, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. My friends, we have this foreshadowed for us throughout the Old Testament. Again, this is not a prescriptive text for Christians of all ages, this is a descriptive text of the power and the authority that Christ put on display to demonstrate that he and he alone is the son of the living God.
But we have given to us in Genesis, right? We have in the Genesis account when Adam and Eve sinned and Adam and Eve fell. And we look at it very quickly here just so that I don't misquote it. Verse, chapter three, verse 16 of Genesis.
I'm sorry, wrong. Verse 15, chapter three, verse 15. The Lord said, and I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.
Who was the Lord speaking to? He was speaking concerning the serpent. And what did Christ tell the 70? I give you power over the scorpions and the serpents. What does the serpent do? The serpent has a sting.
We always think of bees when we think of being stung, but the sting being referred to here is likely that of scorpions. But let's read what the apostle Paul said to the Corinthian church concerning a sting.
In first Corinthians chapter 15, verse 50, reading from the text there. First Corinthians 15, or chapter 15, verse 50. The apostle Paul said this. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality so that when this corruptible has put on incorruption and when this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that death is swallowed up in victory.
And then the quote is made from the Psalms. Oh death, where is your sting? Oh hell, where is your victory? For the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the law, but thanks be unto God, which gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
When Jesus said, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you. If we understand the context of what the word of God is already taught throughout the years, then my friend, we can certainly rejoice in the words of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as they rejoiced.
Yet, let's look at this too. So he also said, and over all the power, this is that word power. Again, some translations use the word power for authority and in like manner, they use the word power in this part of the text.
But in this part of the text, the word power is dunamis. It is the dunamis, the dynamite power of God. I'm sorry, dunamis is referred to in Corinthians by Paul as the dynamite power of God. But here, nevertheless, it's still, it's the same word that's used, but it's in reference to Satan, but God has power over Satan.
This is what we read here in the text, that word dunamis, it means inherent power. It means the power that resides in a thing by virtue of its nature or which a person or thing exerts and puts forth. So, Christ gave them power and authority over the demons and the devil himself.
In the next word that we'll look at very quickly as we move along here, he said this. He said, over all the power of the enemy. Who is the enemy? Who is the enemy of the church? Who is the enemy of the saints of God?
It is the devil himself. But Christ said, I have given you power over the enemy so that nothing shall hurt you. The world, the flesh, a lot can be done to our flesh. We can get sick, we can be tortured, we can be hurt, but my friend, the world cannot take your soul.
For if you are saved, you are the Lord's. You have been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ and Christ will keep his own. So, the enemy is the devil. Notice what Christ said moving on. Nevertheless, verse 20, do not rejoice in this.
That's not a reason to rejoice. He said, I'm about to give you the reason that you should be rejoicing as a Christian. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice.
That word rejoice, again, is such an important word. Rejoice because, and then he says this, your names are written in heaven. Why was this a big deal to the people that he was speaking to at this time?
That word name, that word name, it means to be persons reckoned up by name. It means to have attention drawn to, if you would have it. That word written is the Greek word gathro. It means to express in written characters, to commit to writing.
We take for granted writing today, but we think, well, I can write anything on paper and it's not a big deal, but you have your name put in the newspaper and then it becomes a big deal, right? It kind of becomes public record and people want your autograph or people wanna cuss at you or people wanna do this or they wanna do that, right?
It was a big deal for Jesus to say this, to let them know that their names were written, not just engraved in a rock from the earth, but that their names were written in heaven. The place where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, the place where a thief cannot break in and steal, that their names were forever written in the book of life.
It was their reason for rejoicing. Heaven, that word heaven there itself, it's the seat of the order of things eternal and consummately perfect where God dwells and other heavenly beings dwell. You want a cause to rejoice, Christian.
Our cause to rejoice is not that the demons were subject unto them through the name of Jesus. Their cause to rejoice was not that the demons were subject unto them through the name of Jesus. Their cause to rejoice, our cause to rejoice is that our name, if you are saved, is in the book of life.
The old song says, my name is in the book of life. Oh, bless the name of Jesus. I rise above all doubt and strife and read my title clear. I know, I know my name is there. I know, I know my name is there.
Praise God. Concerning the next two verses, the last two verses here, verse 21 and 22, a lot is said in these verses. I'm gonna try to be as succinct as possible. It's basically, in summary form, for those of you that are taking notes, let me make this simple to you.
Concerning the next two verses, what we're gonna see is the unity of the Trinity. Quite simply, bottom line, we see the unity of the Trinity. We see the harmony of the three persons of the Godhead set before us here in the text of Scripture.
Note what Jesus said. In that, or the Scripture says right here, in that hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit and he prayed to the Father. You get a, as a natural illustration, you get a team of any sort, basketball, football, baseball, soccer, whatever the case may be, if there's disharmony and there's disunity in that team, right, they'll begin to be infighting and bickering.
And what happens there when infighting and bickering takes place within the team? They begin to play like the Tennessee Vols. Oh, I'll be cussed for that. What happens is they begin to lose their focus, they begin to lose that harmony, they begin to lose sight of the goal.
My friend, you can be certain of this one thing today, that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit have never lost sight of the goal of redemption of God's people. They have been in perfect unity from eternity past and will be to eternity future.
How can we understand this? How can we grasp this? Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit, in the pneuma, that is capitalized there. And he said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. This is one of those forgotten prayers that Jesus prays in the scriptures.
He 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 it seemed good in your sight. All things, it's what Jesus says here in verse 22, 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. How can we get our minds around the idea, the doctrine of the Trinity?
One of the best ways we can get our minds around this is simply to go to the Athanasian Creed. The Athanasian Creed states it quite succinctly, and this is what we're gonna close with this morning. The Athanasian Creed states this, whoever desires to be saved should above all hold to the Catholic faith.
It's not the Roman Catholic faith, it's speaking universal faith of Christ. Anyone who does not keep it whole and unbroken will doubtless perish eternally. And I'll make this statement concerning the doctrine of the Trinity.
It has been said throughout history, you can spend your entire life trying to figure it out, or you can spend your entire life denying the doctrine of the Trinity and spend an eternity in hell. This is the Catholic faith, that we worship God in Trinity, and the Trinity in unity, neither blending their persons nor dividing their essence.
For the person of the Father is a distinct person, the person of the Son is another, and that of the Holy Spirit is still another. But the divinity of the Father, of the Son and the Holy Spirit is one, their glory equal, their majesty co-eternal.
What quality the Father has, the Son has, and the Holy Spirit has. The Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, the Holy Spirit is uncreated. The Father is immeasurable, the Son is immeasurable, and guess what, the Holy Spirit is immeasurable.
The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal. Can you guess what the person of the Holy Spirit is? He is eternal. And yet, there are not three eternal beings, there is but one eternal being. So too, there are not three uncreated or immeasurable beings, but there is one uncreated and immeasurable being.
Similarly, similarly, the Father is almighty, the Son is almighty, and the Holy Spirit is almighty. Yet, there are not three almighty beings, there is but one almighty being. Thus, the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God.
Yet, there are not three gods, there is but one God. Thus, the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, the Holy Spirit is Lord. Yet, there are not three Lords, there is but one Lord. Just as Christian truth compels us to confess each person individually as both God and Lord, so Catholic religion forbids us to say that there are three gods or lords.
The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten from anyone. So when we consider the doctrine of the Trinity and we see this set before us in the text, the Son, the Spirit, and the Father together in perfect unity, the Father was neither made nor created nor begotten from anyone, and the Son was neither made nor created.
He was begotten from the Father alone. We know this because the scriptures, Jesus told Nicodemus, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
The Father was neither made nor created, the Son was neither made nor created, he was begotten from the Father alone. The Holy Spirit was neither made nor created nor begotten. He proceeds from the Father and the Son.
What do we have in the words of Jesus himself in John's Gospel? It is expedient for you, Jesus said, that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter, the Paraclete, the Helper, the Holy Spirit will not come.
But if I go away, he will come. And when he comes, he will lead you into all truth and righteousness. This is the word of the living God. Going on in the Athanasian Creed here. Accordingly, there is one Father, not three Fathers.
There is one Son, not three Sons. There is one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits. Nothing in this Trinity is before or after. Nothing is greater or smaller. In their entirety, the three persons are co-eternal and co-equal with each other.
So, in everything, as was said earlier, we must worship their Trinity in their unity and their unity in their Trinity. Anyone, then, who desires to be saved should think thus about the Trinity. But it is necessary for eternal salvation that one also believes in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ faithfully.
Now, this is the true faith. That we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, God's Son, is both God and human equally. He is God from the essence of the Father, begotten before time, and he is human from the essence of his mother, born in time.
Completely God and completely human, with a rational soul and human flesh, equal to the Father as regards divinity, less than the Father as regards humanity. Although he is God and human, yet Christ is not two, but one.
He is one, however, not by his divinity being turned into flesh, but by God's taking humanity to himself, meaning, in plain language, what that's saying is this, that he is one with God, not by laying aside his Godhood, but that God took upon the nature of human flesh.
This is very important. He is one, certainly not by the blending of his essence, and this goes to ancient heresies that had come about, had ancient heresies that had come about concerning hybrid ideas about the divinity of Christ Jesus, so they make this very clear.
Not the blending of his essence, but by the unity of his person. For just as one human is both rational soul and flesh, so too the one Christ is both God and human. He suffered for our salvation, he arose from the dead, he ascended to heaven, he is seated at the Father's right hand, and from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
At his coming, all people will arise bodily and give account of their own deeds. Girls, we read that in Sunday school. You remember that was one of the answers to y 'all's questions. Those who have done good will enter eternal life, and those who have done evil will enter eternal fire.
This creed, which really it's attributed to Athanasius, but it was written much later than Athanasius, but this is the Catholic faith. One cannot be saved without believing it firmly and faithfully. We have here in this text the doctrine of the Trinity set before us.
We have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in absolute unity with one another, and what is it that this unity produces is a rejoicing in Jesus Christ himself. That there is no changing, that there will be no disannulling what has been purposed since before the foundation of the world.
It is amazing when we consider this. If you would stand with us this morning.