Book of Luke - Ch. 10, Vs. 1-24 (06/07/2020)

Luke 10: The Sending of the Seventy

Okay, we're going to begin today with a new chapter in Luke, Luke 10. And I'm going to start reading, but before that, I'd like to take a moment to pray. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, and thank you for giving us this technology to come together, even though we're miles apart.

Bless us and keep us. Go through the services today. Minimize the distractions, minimize the problems that we constantly have, at least for the couple of hours that we're broadcasting. Bless us and keep us, protect us.

When you sent your 70 out, you brought them back. Even though you sent them as sheep among the wolves, every one of them survived. We know that you can protect us, we know that you will protect us. Keep us close to you, follow us through all the services today, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

The Harvest Is Great and the Laborers Are Few

Okay, chapter 1, chapter 10, verse 1 of Luke, after these things, the Lord appointed other 70 also, and sent them two by two before his face into every city and place, whether he himself would come. In chapter 9, we saw Jesus send 12 disciples out two by two into Galilee, not necessarily to the city that the Lord would soon visit.

They were sent out for at least four reasons. Number one, to preach the kingdom of God. Number two, to heal the sick. Number three, to cast out demons. And number four, to learn to rely on God. Now here in chapter 10, he sends out 70 more disciples, also two by two.

But here he's sending them out into cities he and the 12 other disciples will soon visit. Jesus knew that his time was short, or that the time was short before his crucifixion, and that there were many villages and towns that had not heard his message.

So Jesus turned to this larger group of disciples to be his messengers, to prepare these places ahead of him, these places where he himself was about to go. Charles Spurgeon said this, what a mercy it is when a preacher knows that his master is coming after him, when he can hear the sounds of his master's feet behind him.

What courage it gives him, he knows that though it is very little that he can do, he can be the thin end of the wedge preparing the way for the one who can do everything. And that's the way we need to view ourselves, as being just the thin end of the wedge that is preparing the way for what we can't do, but what the Lord can do.

Therefore he said unto them, the harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few. Pray ye therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers unto his harvest. We're to pray that the Lord would send out laborers.

Now Spurgeon also said this, now the Greek is much more forcible. It is that he would push them forward and thrust them out. It is the same word which is used for the expulsion of a devil from a man possessed.

It takes great power to drive a devil out, and it will take an equally great power from God to drive a minister out to do his work. That was Spurgeon, gives kind of an idea of what he thought about the current pastors of his day.

Go your ways, behold I send you forth as lambs among the wolves. Jesus commanded that they go out with a certain kind of heart, trusting God, not seeking to abuse or to manipulate others. Going as lambs among the wolves doesn't sound very attractive, yet that's exactly how Jesus was sent.

And that's how the power of God worked through Jesus. Verse 4 says, carry neither purse nor script, nor shoes, and salute no man by the way. First Jesus told them to pray, then he told them to go, and then he told them how to go.

Jesus gave the 70 disciples specific instructions that they were to display this particular attitude for their work that they would need in representing him and his message. They were going to need to rely on God to supply and to not linger about.

In the Middle East, greetings were so tedious, full of flattery, and so certain to lead on to wayside gossip that men who were out on the work of God must sometimes run the risk of seeming unsociable.

They don't have time for all of the trivia of, or triviality of, meeting and greeting and spending time with gossip. They need to be about their business. And into whatsoever house you enter first, say, Peace be to this house.

And if the Son of Peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it. And if not, it shall turn to you again. In the Jewish style, a man who had any good or bad quality is called the Son of it. The Son of Peace in the text not only means a peaceable, quiet man, but one also of good report for his uprightness and benevolence, someone known in the community as being a good, moral, outstanding man.

It would harm the message that he was trying to bring if they were housed in a house of a person with a bad reputation. Number seven, verse seven,. And in the same house remain eating and drinking such things as they give.

For the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. To paraphrase, don't go from place to place seeking a better deal. Set up a headquarters and remain there. Remain there so the believers can find you.

And unbelievers will know that you do not fear them. And what do you have to fear? You have the Lord protecting you. Even though you are a sheep among the wolves, the Lord is perfectly capable of protecting you, and he will.

And into whatsoever city you enter and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you. Through hospitality, people will show whether or not they believe in the message of the kingdom. To the believing cities, the message was to be the kingdom of God is near you.

The Messiah is coming and he could bring in the kingdom. They were to trust that God would provide for them through the generosity of others. They would receive, thankfully, what was offered to them without begging house to house.

And heal the sick that are therein and say unto them, the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. The healing is important, but the primary purpose of the healing is not for the healing itself. It's for healing to validate the message.

And what message is that? The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. Verse 10. But into whatsoever city you enter and they receive you not, go your way out into the city of the same and say, even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you.

Notwithstanding, be sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. Even cities that rejected the message were to be told that the kingdom was near. But I say unto you that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that city, the city that rejected the 70.

Woe be unto thee, Chorazin. Woe unto thee, Bethsaida. For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which have been done in you, they had a great while ago repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

But it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. Jesus singled out two cities, Chorazin and Bethsaida. Both were located on the north side of the Sea of Galilee, where his early ministry miracles were performed.

The city of Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon were notoriously sinful. Jesus said that the cities that rejected his message were in more trouble before God than these, Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon, because they saw a greater work of God than any of those sinful cities did, and yet they still rejected him.

Now he's going to signal out another city. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be cast down to hell. He that heareth you, heareth me. He that despiseth you, despiseth me. And he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me.

Because Jesus sent his 70 disciples with the anticipation that some would reject them, he encouraged them with the thought that they were his representatives and should not take their rejection or acceptance too personally.

They didn't accept or reject because of what the 70 disciples did. They were accepting or rejecting Jesus. If others rejected the messenger, they rejected Jesus. If they rejected Jesus, they also rejected his father, him who sent me.

The Return of the Seventy and the Fall of Satan

Verse 17, so the 70 have completed their mission, and they've come again before Jesus, and they say, and the 70 returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.

They didn't expect that. They knew that they were lambs sent out as among the sheep, but they didn't expect even the devils to be subject to them. That was a surprise for them, not for Jesus and not for us.

All 70 returned. I mentioned that earlier. Not one of them, Spurgeon said, not one of the lambs had been eaten by the wolves. The Lord can't protect us if it's in his, if he wants to. If he doesn't want to protect us and he wants to let us suffer, there is a reason for that as well.

And he said unto them, this is Jesus talking to the 70, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Now, up until this, I've been marching along pretty fast, and we've covered 18 verses. We're going to hesitate here and look at the fall, at Satan's fall from heaven.

Actually, the Bible mentions four falls of Satan. The first fall that it mentions, and this is not necessarily in the order that you find them listed in the Bible, was from the glorified to profane. We see that in Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14.

So if you would take a moment and go to Ezekiel chapter 28, and we'll pick it up at verse 14. Ezekiel 28, verse 14. I'll begin. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so. I'm going to read that again.

I have set thee so. He is the anointed cherub that covereth. He is the cherub that is in charge of all the other angels. He's the main man, the main angel, and he's the main angel because God set him up to be so.

Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so. Thou wast on the holy mountain of God. Thou wast walked up and down in the midst of the storms of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created.

I highlighted that. Thou wast created. How about that in your Bible? The devil was not like Jesus. Jesus was not a brother of Satan. Satan was a created entity, a created angel. Jesus existed from before there was anything.

Before there were any angels, before there were anything, Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit existed. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise, they have filled the midst of thee with violence.

I'm going to deal with that a little bit more later, but for right now, just consider this. What is the merchandise that he's talking about? These are the people and the angels that Satan is going to deceive and lead astray.

By the multitude of the merchandise, they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned. Therefore, I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God. I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the five stones of fire.

Well, that's Ezekiel's account of the fall of Satan from the glorified angel of light until Lucifer. This is Isaiah's account, Isaiah verse 14. You can remember these two accounts because they're both multiples of seven, Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28.

How they are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, the son of the morning. How are they cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations? For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.

Now, the stars of God are the other angels. He is going to ascend above all of the other angels. I will sit on the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.

I will be like the most high. He wants to be God himself. He wants to be like the most high. In fact, I don't think he really wants to be like the most high. I think he wants to be the most high. Yet thou shall be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit.

And they that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee and consider thee, saying, is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms, that made the world as a wilderness and destroyed the cities thereof, that opened not the house of his prisoners?

So they went from being... Satan fell from being glorified as an angel of light to being profane. The second fall it talks about is a two-piece fall, from having access to heaven to restriction to the earth.

The access to heaven part we find confirmation in Job 1, in 1 Kings 22, and in Zechariah 3. So we're going to look at the having access to heaven first, and then we'll talk about the restriction to the earth.

The fall from having access to heaven to being restricted to the earth. And as we go, consider this. Does, at this moment in time, Satan have access to heaven? Just keep that in mind as we go. We're going to go to Job 1, and we'll pick it up at verse 6, and go through verse 12, so that we can get a flavor for what's getting ready to happen to Job.

Job 1, verse 6. And there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. Now, the sons of God here are just direct, what would I say? Creatures, items, things created directly by God.

Like Adam is a son of God. Cain, Abel, Seth were sons of Adam. Adam was not the son of any man. He was only the son of God. He was a direct creation by God. Now, the sons of God will include Adam, and they will include all of the angels, including Satan.

They will not include Jesus. Jesus, in this sense, a son of God, but a special son of God. Not just something directly created from God, but someone directly emanating from God, God himself. So, Jesus is a son of God in a different sense than any other son of God.

Any other son of God is simply someone that was directly created by God. Okay, the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. Satan was a... And Brother Dave Huber, I appreciate that.

Yes, it was. He was begotten. That's the word I wanted to get, and I couldn't think about it. Jesus was the only begotten son of God. He was the only one that came genetically from God. All others are creations of God.

It's like if I decide to build a doghouse, the doghouse that I build is a creation of my hands, but in no way contains any of my genetic information. I am separate and different from the doghouse. Jesus is separate and different from all the other sons of God.

He is the begotten son. I really appreciate that. I hope that is more clear now than it was when I stumbled through it. Now, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.

He was one of the created angels. And the Lord said unto Satan, Which comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth and walking up and down in it. So he's now in front of the Lord in heaven, talking to the Lord.

And the Lord asked him, Where did you come from? And he said, From the earth, walking to and fro, up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, and that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God and escheweth evil?

So the Lord pins the target on Job. And Satan answered the Lord and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? Hast not thou made a hedge about him and about his house and about everything that he hath on every side?

Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. He's saying, The Lord has every reason, Job has every reason to fear you, God. You have protected him. You have made him all he has.

You have blessed everything that he's done. But if you put forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath, he will curse thee unto thy face. Now I'm going to ask you a question. Did God do what Satan said to do?

Did he put forth his hand now and touch all that he hath and Job cursed him? No. The Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power, only upon himself. Put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.

So what happened is the Lord gave ground rules that Satan was allowed to follow. Satan could do anything he wanted to to any of the possessions of Job, but he couldn't do anything to Job himself. Now that set of instructions is going to be changed a little bit later.

And we could spend a whole month looking at Job, but we're not going to. We're going to go now to another instance of Satan. I think it's Satan. It may just be a demonic spirit in heaven, an evil angel, one of the ones that were deceived by Satan.

In 1 Kings chapter 22, there are two kings. There's King Josephus, I forgot, but the king that is being dealt with here is Ahab, the king of Israel. Jehoshaphat is the king. And what is happening here is the Lord wants to deal with Ahab.

And what's going to happen? Ahab is going to be killed by an arrow that's just shot into the air. But in any case, 1 Kings chapter 22, verse 21, and there came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord and said, I will persuade him.

Persuade who? Persuade Ahab. I will persuade him. And the Lord said unto him, wherewith? And he said, I will go forth and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all of his prophets. So what's going to happen is this spirit is going to be a lying spirit and in the mouth of all of his prophets.

He's going to make the prophets say things that are not true. Now, he could not be a good angel and be a lying spirit. So this has to be either Satan or at least an evil angel. And Jesus, the Lord said, thou shalt persuade him and prevail also.

Go forth and do so. So the Lord gave him permission to be a lying spirit to put in the mouth of Ahab's prophets to tell him the things that he wanted to hear. And he wanted to hear that he would win the battle.

And he persuaded King Jehoshaphat to put on his royal garb and go out in his chariot. And Ahab went in another set of clothing disguised in his chariot. And the forces chased and found Jehoshaphat, discovered that was not who they were looking for, and turned and went back and one of them fired an arrow into the air and it struck Ahab and he was dead.

Zechariah chapter 3. I'll just read this. And he showed me Joshua, the high priest, sitting before the angel of the Lord. That's Jesus. The angel of the Lord is Jesus. And Satan's standing on his right hand to resist him.

So Joshua is standing before Jesus and before Satan. Jesus to defend him and Satan to resist him. So those are instances where we know that Satan at least has access to heaven. Now there'll come a time when Satan and his angels will no longer have any access to heaven.

That has not come yet. That won't happen until we get to Revelation chapter 12 and we'll begin at verse 9. So we're heading thumb back to Revelation chapter 12 and we'll pick up at verse 3. Revelation chapter 12 verse 3.

We've already had one wonder here in this chapter. A woman about to give birth, representing Israel. And now he says, and there appeared another wonder in heaven. In addition to the woman travailing with child, with the sun and the moon and the 12 stars.

There appeared another wonder in heaven. And behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his head. And his tail grew a third part on the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth.

And the dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered by her child as soon as it was born. I went through that quickly. Let's think about that a minute. The temple that his tail drew down a third part of the stars of heaven.

All the angels in heaven, one third of them were misled, were deceived and followed after Satan. And at this point in time, Satan no longer without any access to heaven. And the angels that were with him will also have no longer any access to heaven.

So I'm going to read that passage again. And there appeared another wonder in heaven. And behold, a great red dragon, the devil, having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth.

And the dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron.

And her child was caught up to heaven, caught up to God and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared for her of God, that they should feed her there a thousand, two hundred and three score days.

For those of you into arithmetic, that's three and a half years. If you count a year is 360 days like the Jews did. And there was a war in heaven. Michael and his angel fought against the dragon. And the dragon fought and his angels and prevail not.

Neither was their place found anymore in heaven. So at this point, there is no place for Satan nor his angels in heaven. They are confined to the earth. And that great dragon was cast out. That old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.

He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him. Now, that's the second of the three castings out. First, Satan was cast out from the glorified being to profane. Then he's cast out from having access to heaven, to having be confined to the earth.

And then from the earth to bondage in a bottomless pit for a thousand years. Now, this will happen at the end of the tribulation period. At the end of the tribulation period, Satan will be bound and changed.

We'll read that in just a second. And he will be cast into a bottomless pit and held there for a thousand years. For the entire millennial kingdom. And what's interesting about the whole millennial kingdom is that an almost perfect environment with a perfect ruler and with the absence of a tempter, Satan, or any of his demonic minions.

In spite of that, at the end of the thousand years, when given a chance, many, and I think most of the people that were born in the millennial kingdom revolt. So here we go. Revelation chapter 20, verse one.

And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he lay hold upon that dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years and cast him in the bottomless pit and shut him up and did set a silk on him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled.

And after that, he must be loosed for a little season. I always wondered why it was he had to be loosed. And finally, I was able to conclude that he must be released to show that it's not the environment that creates man's evil.

Man's heart is incredibly evil and has to be replaced. Even in a perfect environment with a perfect ruler, with the absence of a tempter, many found a way to sin. And then the fourth casting down. After the release from the pit, Satan leads a rebellion and we go into the battle of Gog and Magog, which was not really a battle.

It was ended by the Lord. And he was and Satan was cast into a lake of fire. So we'll pick that up. Revelation chapter 20, verse 7. Revelation 20, verse 7. And when the thousand years were expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and he shall go out and deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth.

Gog and Magog gathered them together to battle. The number of whom is as of the sands of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth and encompassed the camp of the saints round about and the beloved city.

And here it comes. And a fire came down from heaven, came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. Devoured who? The men that were deceived. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire, the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are.

They've already been assigned at this point in time to the lake of fire. The devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever. We're back to Luke now and we're now on Luke chapter 10, verse 18.

And he says to them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Now, just for a couple of minutes, here Jesus is talking about Satan's first fall, the fall from glorified to profane. Just to fall like lightning from heaven doesn't necessarily mean that Satan actually fell from heaven, but that his fall was as dramatic and sudden as a bolt of lightning from heaven.

In fact, we saw in Job and in 1 Kings 22 and in Zechariah that Satan still, even today, has access to heaven. Yet the spirit, yet the success of his disciples against the demonic spirits was a confirmation that Satan had fallen from his place of authority and power.

He is no longer the cherub that covereth. He is no longer the angel that has authority over all the other angels. He had fallen from that place of authority and power. And though he was still powerful, he is in an inferior place to where he was.

So what's talking about is the sudden fall of Satan from glorified to profane, fall like lightning, like a bolt of lightning, as sudden and unexpected as a bolt of lightning. He is no longer the anointed cherub that covereth.

Remember back in Ezekiel 14 when it said, Thou art the appointed, the anointed cherub that covereth, the angel in charge of all the other angels, and I have set thee so? That's God talking through Ezekiel.

He was the anointed cherub because God made him so. Thou wast on the holy mountain of God. Thou wast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of the fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created till iniquity was found in thee.

By the multitude of thy merchandise, they have filled the midst of thee with violence and thy sin. Therefore, I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God, and I will destroy thee. O covering cherub from the midst of the stones of fire, thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty.

Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of brightness. I will cast thee to the ground. Now, why did he lose his wisdom? Because he was so in love with his own brightness. He was corrupted. His wisdom was corrupted.

His understanding was corrupted by the brightness of his being. He thought he was more than he was. I will cast thee to the ground. I will lay thee before kings that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities.

What's his iniquities? We heard earlier about the multitude of his merchandise. His merchandise is the people and the angels that he deceived. His iniquities are the acts of deception on those that he corrupted.

Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities. By the iniquity of thy traffic, therefore, I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, and it shall devour thee. And I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth and the side of all them that behold thee.

And all that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee. Thou shalt be a terror and shall never be anymore. What kind of a terror? An example of what can happen to you if you get too much in love with yourself.

Now, part of that has already been done. But not all of it has been done, even until today. But you can be assured it will be done. Satan will suffer all of this. Satan's fall was God's immediate judgment upon that rebellious spirit.

Though it's not the complete judgment, the complete judgment still waits. Every time the kingdom of Jesus is presented in truth and power, it is like another judgment upon Satan and all who share his rebellious spirit.

Spurgeon said this. We went back to Ezekiel chapter 14, but we'll be gone from that in just a second. And the next place we will be, will be in 2 Corinthians. So if you want to go ahead and go there, I've got just a couple of words to clean up on, and then I will proceed.

Spurgeon said this. So where in the gospel, where is, I'll try again. So where the gospel is preached with divine power, Satan comes down from his throne in human hearts and in human minds as rapidly as a lightning flash falls from heaven.

And we see his kingdom shaken. Then like Jesus, we rejoice in the spirit. Now in remembering the fall of Satan, Jesus also warns them against pride. After all, if Satan could fall from lightning, like lightning, from his place, of a highly spiritual status and privilege, so could they.

Even when engaged in God's holy work, there's always a danger of self-glorification. Paul warns us of this by relating in, and now we're going to be in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 1. This is Paul's warning us by telling us something about himself.

It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ. Now I'll stop and say he's writing right now of himself. I knew a man in Christ that this is himself.

About 14 years ago, whether in the body I cannot tell or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth. He doesn't know whether he was actually there in the flesh or whether he was there in spirit only.

And then he repeats it. And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth, how he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which is not lawful for a man to utter.

Of such a one I will glory, yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. So he's not going to glory about all the things that he hasn't been able to see, all the revelations, all the unspeakable words, the vision in paradise.

None of that is he going to glory about, only in his infirmities. For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool. For I will say the truth, but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me.

And he says, and lest I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of revelation, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

Rejoicing in Revelation and the Danger of Pride

Now, that's Paul's warning to us. Jesus is going to give a little bit of warning to his 70 followers. We're going to go back to Luke 10 and pick it up in verse 19. Luke 10, verse 19. I'll try to be a little more clear as to where we are, because I do ramble about a bit.

And when I get lost in my notes, I get even worse. And behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of your enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. So they've been given all of this power.

They can step on snakes and scorpions, power over all of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Then he says in verse 20, notwithstanding in this, rejoice not, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice rather, because your names are written in heaven.

And in that hour, Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank thee, O Father, the Lord of heaven and of earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and thou hast revealed them unto babes.

Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered to me of my Father. And no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father, and who the Father is. But the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.

I'm going to read that verse again, and then I'm going to make a comment about it. All things are delivered to me of my Father. And no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father, and who the Father is, but the Son.

And then he adds a phrase, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. So here's what you need to understand. You can't read enough. You can't study enough to know God. You can go to seminary. You can study for 30 years.

You can read the Bible from page to page. You can memorize it all like Jerry Lucas did, and be able to recite word for word, and yet understand nothing about it, and you'll not know who the Father is, nor will you know who the Son is, and you can't know unless the Son reveals it to him.