In this passage we see three kinds of joy: joy in success, joy in salvation, and joy in
sovereignty. Learn to take your joy deeper, into the very person and attributes of God Himself,
especially His sovereignty in salvation.
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3 Kinds Of Spiritual Joy
Luke 10:17-24
What you rejoice in, will show what you value the most. So, let’s give ourselves a little test here. What has brought you the most joy this last week? Was it going out to eat with your husband or wife? Was it buying something new, like a phone, or tablet, or some clothes? Was it connecting with an old friend? What you rejoice in, will show what you value the most. Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with any of those things. In fact, we ought to rejoice in any good thing that God brings into our life, and praise Him for it. However, in our text this morning, we are going to see three kinds of joy, which are much deeper than the kinds of joy we have just listed, because each of them are spiritual joys.
Before we look at these three different kinds of joy, let’s remember the context of this passage. Jesus has just sent seventy others out on a mission. They have been healing the sick, preaching the kingdom and casting out demons. Jesus warned them ahead of time that many would reject them and their message. He told them that they really aren’t rejecting you, but Me, and the Father who sent Me. Furthermore, they are going to be held more responsible for this rejection on Judgment Day, than even the wicked cities of Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon that God brought judgment upon in the Old Testament, because they possessed more light than they did.
Jesus has been emphasizing to His disciples, the rigors, and hardships, and sacrifices necessary to be His disciple. So, we might have expected the seventy to be down and depressed. After all, they would experience much rejection, and they must give up everything in order to be Jesus’ disciples. However, what we find is the exact opposite. Verse 17 says they returned with joy.
I want you to notice that “joy” or “rejoicing” are mentioned three times in this passage (vs. 17, 20, 21).
10:17 “The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.”
10:20 “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”
10:21 “at that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight.”
Here we have three kinds of joy. The good joy, the greater joy, and the greatest joy. Or to put it differently, we have joy in Success, joy in Salvation, and joy in Sovereignty. Let’s look at each of them this morning.
- The Good Joy – Joy In Success: 10:17-19
The first kind of joy we read of is joy in success in ministry. When the seventy returned to the Lord, they were thrilled. They said, “Lord, it was great. You wouldn’t believe it! Even the demons obeyed us when we commanded them in Your name!”
So, how did the Lord respond? In verse 18 He says, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.” Now, this is a strange and difficult verse to understand. What did the Lord mean by this? There are several different interpretations that commentators have put forth. I’ll paraphrase the verse in the way that seems the best interpretation to me. “When you guys were out there casting out demons, I was watching the whole thing. As demons were cast out of people in seventy different villages, I was seeing a foretaste of all that is to come as a result of my death and resurrection and ascension and pouring out of the Holy Spirit. After I have died for sin and risen from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father, I am going to pour out my Holy Spirit on Pentecost, and the gospel is not just going to save a few Jews. It’s going to be preached from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, to the remotest parts of the earth. Eventually the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. People are going to be delivered from Satan’s clutches from every tribe, and tongue, and people and nation. The gospel is going to triumph over Satan wherever it goes in the world. I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. His kingdom is over. His doom is sure. Watch My kingdom come. For thousands of years, Satan has held the entire world under his evil dominion, except for the one nation of Israel. But now, I am going to break people free all over the world.” Now, that’s a very long paraphrase of one little sentence, but I think that Jesus must have been thinking something like that.
Jesus goes on to say in verse 19, “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.” Now, I do not believe Jesus was speaking of literal serpents and scorpions here, although He did promise in Mark 16, “they shall pick up serpents and it will not hurt them.” I believe the Lord is using “serpents” and “scorpions” in a figurative sense for the destructive power of demons, because he adds these words, “and over all the power of the enemy.” The devil is called “the serpent of old” in Rev. 12:9. Of course Satan appeared to Eve in the garden in a serpent. Scorpions, like serpents, are creatures which can inflict a great deal of pain and even cause death. Likewise Satan and his demons possess a great deal of power by which they deceive, and destroy wherever they can. However, Jesus said that He had given the seventy, authority to tread on them, and that nothing would injure them. So, how were they to exercise this authority? In His name! The seventy said, “The demons are subject to us in Your name.” I do believe that Jesus has given this very authority to the church, and that we possess authority over Satan today. We have authority to cast demons out of people who are possessed. Demon possession is not as prevalent in the United States today as it was in Palestine in the first century, but it is much more prevalent in other third world countries, where the gospel has not penetrated as much as it has here. Jesus told them, “nothing will injure you.” I do believe that Satan can not inflict any real, lasting hurt to a child of God. Demons can’t possess a true Christian, for the Holy Spirit already possesses him. Satan can’t injure us, because he can only do what God permits him to do. He can’t even wiggle without our Lord’s permission. Yes, he walks prowls about as a roaring lion, seeking to devour, but he is on a chain. He is God’s devil, not God’s rival! Now, God may allow the Devil to attack us in order to refine us and sanctify us, like He did with Paul when the Lord allowed a messenger of Satan to torment Paul, to keep him from exalting himself. The Lord allowed Satan to attack Job. The Lord allowed Satan to sift Peter like wheat. However, when Satan had done his best, and Paul, or Job, or Peter had been refined and purged, he was restrained and taken out of the way. So, yes Satan can attack believers, but he can’t injure them, because the Lord even causes these vicious attacks to work together for their good.
As Martin Luther put it in his hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, “The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him, his rage we can endure, for lo his doom is sure, one little word shall fell him.”
Now, is this first kind of joy, joy in success in ministry, an evil kind of joy? Should it be despised? No. Although the Lord said they should not rejoice that the demons were subject to them but that their names were recorded in heaven we have to understand that Jesus was not telling them that it was wrong to rejoice in their success in ministry. We know that, because Jesus rejoiced in their success too! He joins right in with them, and says, “Yes, I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.” If it was wrong for them to rejoice in their success, Jesus would never have joined them in that rejoicing. The Lord was saying that there was a greater kind of joy that they could experience. So, this is a good joy.
Perhaps you have experienced this kind of joy. This is the joy you experience in what you do for the Lord. You are involved in ministry. Maybe it is witnessing to someone, or praying for someone who is sick, or counseling a couple whose marriage is about to be split apart, or preaching the Word to a congregation. And, as you engage in spiritual ministry you start to see some wonderful results. Someone is born again. Someone else is healed. That couple’s marriage is restored. When God begins to use you in His service, its wonderful! There is great joy in serving the Lord, and seeing success in ministry.
Of course, there are also dangers in rejoicing in successful ministry. The danger is to find your identity and ultimate satisfaction in ministry rather than in Jesus. There is a very real temptation to those in spiritual ministry to love their ministry more than Christ Himself, and to find their joy in ministry more than in Christ. We ought to rejoice when the Lord uses you to bring others to Christ, or help people see truths in God’s Word, or see families restored, or the sick healed. However, that’s not the highest or best type of joy. The seventy must have been overjoyed when they found that they were beating back the powers of darkness and people were getting free from demonic control. They must have felt a sense of satisfaction and importance. However, this is a joy that comes from what we do, what we accomplish. The greater joy comes from what the Lord does, and who the Lord is. Pastors are susceptible to finding all their joy in the success of their church, how fast it is growing, and how many people they have baptized. That is all great, but it is a serious mistake to find all our joy there. If we find all our joy there, what happens if the church starts shrinking, and there are no baptisms, and no one is getting healed? Our joy crumbles. No, we need a source of greater joy than that.
- The Greater Joy – Joy in Salvation: 10:20.
Jesus said in verse 20, “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” The good joy is joy in success, but the greater joy is joy in salvation. Joy in success is joy in what you do for the Lord. Joy in salvation is joy in what the Lord has done for you.
So, what is the source of this greater joy? It is that our names are recorded in heaven. The verb is passive here. In other words, someone else wrote our names in heaven. Now, what is Jesus referring to? He’s referring to the Book of Life. What do we know about this Book of Life?
Revelation 3:5 teaches us that a true Christian who overcomes the world will never have his name erased from the Book of Life.
Revelation 13:8 and 17:8 teach that the believer’s name was written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, and that those that die in their sins never had their names in the Book of Life.
Revelation 20:15 says, “and if anyone’s name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Revelation 21:27 says, “and nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
When Jesus told the seventy that their names were recorded in heaven, He was telling them that they had been saved from their sin. He was telling them that they were eternally secure. He was telling them they would not be thrown into the lake of fire. And He was telling them that they would have the right into Paradise, the New Heaven and the New Earth. Wow! Talk about exalted privileges!
In fact, verse 23 and 24 tell us more about their incredible privileges. The disciples of Christ were blessed because many Old Testament prophets and kings wished to be able to see and hear the things they were seeing and hearing. They heard the message of salvation from the very lips of the Son of God Himself. They had been assured of their salvation by Jesus Christ Himself!
Now, why would the Lord tell them that joy in salvation is a much greater joy than joy in success? Because joy in success has to do with what I do for the Lord, while joy in the salvation has to do with what the Lord does for me. I am fickle, and waver in faith, and am up one day and down another. However, the Lord is always constant, and perfect, and sure, and faithful. If I want something to rejoice in that will never falter or waver, then I need to rejoice in what the Lord has done for me. If my joy is in success, I can only rejoice when things are going well. But if my joy is in my salvation, I can always rejoice, day or night, because I am always saved.
Another reason we shouldn’t rejoice too much in being able to cast out demons is because that isn’t even proof that you are saved. Remember what Jesus said in Mt. 7:22-23, “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” Here we have people who have cast out demons in Jesus’ name, who would be cast into Hell on Judgment Day. We have every reason to believe that Judas Iscariot cast out demons. It is much more important that you have grace, than that you have gifts. It is a good thing to be able to rejoice in some measure of success as you serve the Lord. But it is a far greater thing to be able to rejoice always in your salvation from sin.
How often do you find yourself rejoicing in your salvation? You know, if we really were rejoicing consciously in our salvation, our time of praise and worship here on Sundays would be explosive. No one would be bored. No one would be looking at his watch, or mumbling a few words. All of us would be singing with all our heart to the Lord. Well, let’s look at the final mention of joy here.
- The Greatest Joy – Joy In Sovereignty
In verse 21 we find Jesus rejoicing. This is the only time in Scripture when we read of Jesus rejoicing greatly. Jesus has just been talking to the seventy, and He has been instructing and correcting them by turning them from a lower kind of joy to a higher spiritual joy. But all of a sudden, without any notice, He begins talking to God. And this is not just any talking to God. Jesus is rejoicing. But He’s not just rejoicing, He’s rejoicing greatly. Further, He is rejoicing greatly in the Holy Spirit. Jesus is being born along by the mighty Holy Spirit, as wave after wave of joy pours over Him, and it causes Him to praise His Father. If we are caught up in joy in God, we will also break forth in praise to God.
Now, what is Jesus rejoicing about? He’s rejoicing in the sovereignty of God in salvation. I believe, this is the most exalted kind of joy. He is not rejoicing in what He is doing for the Lord, or what the Lord has done for Him. He’s rejoicing in God Himself. Joy in success is a low form of joy. Joy in Salvation is a higher joy. But joy in God Himself is the highest kind of joy. This is the kind of joy Paul was talking about in Romans 5:11 when he said, “And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” In this kind of joy, we find ourselves rejoicing in the nature and attributes of God. The first two kinds of joy have to do with us. We rejoice in success, because we were successful. We rejoice in salvation, because we are saved. But here we rejoice in God because He is glorious! I believe this is the kind of joy we will experience in heaven. Instead of being so self-conscious and self-centered and selfish like we are now, I believe in heaven we will be God-conscious, and God-centered, and we will find our greatest happiness in His presence, and contemplating His majesty.
Now, why do I say that Jesus was rejoicing in God’s sovereignty? Well, notice several things from verse 21 and 22.
Lord of heaven and earth. This was a way to say that He is the only God. He is supreme in every way. He is the Sovereign One over all the universe. There is none who rival Him, none who can compete with Him, none who compare with Him. Psalm 115:3 says, “But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.” He is the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth.
You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent. Now, who were the “wise and intelligent”? These would be the religious leaders, the educated, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes of Jesus’ day. These are the self-righteous, self-important, proud people of Jesus’ day. Jesus is exulting in the fact that in God’s sovereign plan, He decided to hide the things of salvation from the very ones that we would have thought would recognize Jesus as Messiah.
You have revealed them to infants. Now, who are the “infants”? These would be the uneducated, common people of the day. These are the tax-collectors, fisherman, prostitutes, lepers, and poor sinners. They knew they had no righteousness of their own. They were quicker to humble themselves and receive the grace of God in salvation. The person who has no pride of his knowledge or imagined righteousness to depend on, often has fewer difficulties in coming to Christ for salvation.
For this was well-pleasing in Your sight. Why did God hide truth from some, and reveal it to others? Why did God choose some to be saved, while passing over others? The only answer for that question you will get in the Bible is this one – “it was well-pleasing in His sight.” It pleased God to do it that way. Notice the answer is not that the wise and intelligent were more evil and wicked than the infants. All men alike are unrighteous before God. The answer as to why hid truth to some while revealing it to others is found in Himself, not in us.
Revealed. Notice that this word appears in both verse 21 and verse 22. In verse 22 we are told that no one knows the Father except the one that the Son chooses to reveal Him to. Here we are brought face to face with the awesome truth that no one will be saved without this “revelation” that comes from God Himself.
John 6:44-45, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught of God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me.” No one will ever come to Jesus unless God draws him. But how does God draw sinners? Well, Jesus tells us in verse 45. He draws sinners by teaching them. They must hear and learn from the Father. In other words, you or I will never become a Christian, unless God Himself reveals truth to you.
Mt. 16:17, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” Simon, you’re blessed! God Himself revealed to you that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
Now, why do we need God to give us a special revelation of Christ and the truth of the gospel to where it deeply changes us on the inside? It’s because we are all spiritually blind, until God gives us this revelation.
1 Cor. 2:14, “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”
2 Cor. 4:4, “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
Eph.4:18-21, “The Gentiles are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus.”
1 Cor. 1:26-31, “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”
Here we have the highest, most exalted form of joy – exulting in the perfections of God Himself. Honestly, when I first discovered the truth of sovereign grace in Scripture, I didn’t like it. At first I couldn’t believe that the God of love I had always believed in would choose some, and pass over others. I mean, that didn’t seem fair! However, I had never considered that God did pass over the fallen angels – not just some of them, but all of them! Was God somehow unjust in that He didn’t provide salvation for Satan and his demons? No, of course not. They all deserve their fate in the lake of fire. I realized that this is exactly the same position that sinners are in before God. God would not be unjust if he cast this whole world into hell. In fact, He would be completely righteous if He did so. But God decided that He would not punish all in Hell, because then He could not display some of His glorious attributes, like mercy and grace. Now, when God decided that He wouldn’t send all to Hell, was He under any obligation to save every member of the human race? No, we had all sinned away every right to His mercy. God was completely free to save as many or as few as He wanted. The wonderful truth is that God has decided to save a great multitude which no man can number. We need to see God’s sovereign grace in this light. “Election never damns any man that ought to be saved; but it saves many men who ought to be damned.” The really amazing thing is not that God doesn’t save everyone. It is that God saves anyone! And if we ask, “Lord why did you reveal yourself to me”, He will never answer, “Because you were a little better, or had a little softer heart, or were more spiritual than the others.” The answer is never to be found in us. The answer is, “Yes Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight.”
Most people, when they first hear of the doctrine of sovereign election, refuse to believe it. They don’t want to believe it, because they believe that this somehow makes God unjust. The truth is that God is just to all those who are damned, but He is sovereignly gracious to all He chose to save.
Jonathan Edwards was a man just like the rest of us. Listen to his own story as he tells of his difficulty with the doctrine of God’s sovereignty in salvation:
“From childhood up, my mind had been full of objections against the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, in choosing whom he would to eternal life, and rejecting whom he pleased; leaving them eternally to perish, and be everlastingly tormented in hell. It used to appear like a horrible doctrine to me. But I remember the time very well, when I seemed to be convinced, and fully satisfied, as to this sovereignty of God, and his justice in thus eternally disposing of men, according to his sovereign pleasure. But never could give an account, how, or by what means, I was, thus convinced, not in the least imagining at the time, nor a long time after, that there was any extraordinary influence of God’s Spirit in it but only that now I saw further, and my reason apprehended the justice and reasonableness of it. However, my mind rested in it; and it put an end to all those cavils and objections. And there has been a wonderful alteration in my mind, in respect to the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, from that day to this; so that I scarce ever have found so much as the rising of an objection against it, in the most absolute sense, in God’s showing mercy to whom he will show mercy, and hardening whom he will. God’s absolute sovereignty and justice, with respect to salvation and damnation, is what my mind seems to rest assured of, as much as of anything that I see with my eyes, at least it is so at times. The doctrine has very often appeared exceeding pleasant, bright, and sweet. Absolute sovereignty is what I love to ascribe to God.”
My friend, have you ever rejoiced in God’s sovereignty? Have you ever got on your face, and realized that your sins should have landed you in Hell? But God broke through and revealed Christ to you. If that has happened to you, you should be rejoicing in Sovereignty!
Yes, rejoice if you have any success in ministry. Yes, by all means, rejoice in your salvation every day of your lives. But learn to rejoice the most in God Himself, especially in the fact that He is free, and He does whatever He pleases, and no one thwart His purposes.
Dan. 4:35, “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, `What have You done?´”
Let’s pray.
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