If you have a Bible, turn to the 10th chapter of the Gospel of Luke.
We were looking last time at our names being written in heaven, and I don't about you,
but that's something that's an imperative for me that I want to know that my name is written in heaven,
not because I deserve to be there, but because the Lord promises those who overcome
their names would be written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
And so as wonderful as the miracles are that we've looked at through the gospel of Luke,
the greatest miracle is still the salvation of a lost soul.
So if you're lost today, can I just encourage you?
There's hope for you.
There's salvation for you if you'll cry out to the Lord,
much like that Philippian jailer that I kind of glanced over this week.
there in Acts chapter 16 where he comes trembling before the disciples of the Lord and says,
what must I too to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. So simple. So simple. And yet
so many people won't do it. They won't do that simple thing of surrender. But we're going to see
today that God is involved in this and there is an election process.
In fact, I titled this message, Elected Revelation.
And it's interesting, though, back to the name written in heaven,
the Greek word translated written means to inscribe formally and solemnly.
It was used for signing of a will, a marriage document, or a peace treaty,
and also for the enrolling of a citizen.
The perfect tense in the Greek.
means it stands written. Do you know that your name's written in the Lamb's Book of Life?
Because when you do, it's just like, I can live, I can breathe, I can know that I'm on my way to
heaven. You know, that's what it says there, and I did a funeral this a couple weeks ago,
and one of the verses was 1st John chapter 5, verse 13. These things are written that you may know,
that you may know that you have eternal life.
You don't have to guess or hope.
Hope you're good enough.
These things are written that you may know that you have eternal life.
And so that's just a glorious thing.
And that's what Jesus told us to rejoice in.
Not that the demons would be subject to us,
not that we could actually do great exploits,
you know, like trampling on serpents and what have you.
but rejoicing in the fact that our names are written in heaven.
And so we're going to read the next four verses.
Read with me, starting in verse 21 of the 10th chapter of the Gospel of Luke.
And it says, and 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 prudent and revealed them to babes.
even so father for so for so it seemed good in your sight all things have been delivered to me by my father and no one knows the son except the father and who the father is except the son and he and the one to whom the son will wills to reveal him and he turned to his disciples and said privately
Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see.
For I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see
and to have not seen it and to hear what you hear and have not heard it.
Let's pray.
Lord, thank you for your word.
And Jesus, thank you that you've come to reveal to us the Godhead, Lord, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
And Lord, you came and took our place as a payment for something for a debt that we could not pay.
And you paid it in full.
And so, Lord, we just thank you for that this morning, Lord.
And I pray that we could focus on that.
And, Lord, that it would be the thing that inspires us, Lord, because of what you did.
We can do what you call us to do.
And so would you empower us to do so and give us your wisdom as we look at these verses in Jesus' name?
Amen. And so here we see it says, in that hour Jesus rejoiced in the spirit. This is the only time we really see Jesus rejoicing. Although on the night of the last supper, they sing a hymn together. Could you imagine singing a hymn with Jesus? What would that be like? What would his voice be like? What kind of worship would be there? Would it be heartfelt? But it says here that he rejoiced in the spirit.
pretty intense.
God the Son, rejoicing through God the Holy Spirit
because of the will of God the Father.
So here we see the Godhead.
And within the Godhead is worship.
Interesting.
Worship is pretty sweet.
And I'm shocked at people that don't get into that.
right that don't worship
whether it's a maybe you don't play an instrument or maybe you know you don't like the sound
of your voice but you could you know put in a a worship song and listen and and worship and
adore the Lord in song or you can worship in prayer and thanksgiving and it it seems like
those things are incorporated here as as we see uh Jesus excited Psalm 40 verse
8 says, I delight to do thy will. Oh, my God. Some believe this is a messianic song, speaking of
Jesus here in jubilation, worshiping, and with Thanksgiving. And it says, it says, I thank you,
Father, or excuse, I thank you, Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth. Jesus acknowledges
who His father is, the Lord of Heaven and Earth.
Yahweh or Adonai, the supreme one. And Jesus came and humbled himself. And though he's a part of that,
I don't totally get it, but in his humanity, he's showing us how to worship. Paul tells us that
Christ is our example. Example of how to pray. Example of how to live our life. Example of how to love
and forgive and keep short accounts. Jesus is a pretty awesome example.
example, isn't he? And he's worshipping here, and he's thanking, he's giddy about the ways of the
father. Do you get excited about the ways of God? When you look back on your life, you can see him, right?
If you're breathing today, you can look back and you can see the things God's done in your life.
And the things he's brought you through and the things he's convicted you of, the things he's forgiven you of.
That's a big one for me.
Just like, wow.
Thank you, Lord.
You forgave me for that.
Because on the day of judgment, I would not have fared well.
And so, amen.
The peanut gallery just said none of us would.
But isn't God's ways so much higher than our ways?
We just don't get it sometime.
Lord, what are you doing?
Lord, what do you think you're doing?
And he knows exactly what he's doing, right?
He takes home who he wants to take home.
And he doesn't ask our permission.
Isaiah reminds us of this, and he says, right,
this creator that Jesus said,
I thank you, Lord of heaven and earth.
Isaiah says, in Isaiah 55, verse 9, he says, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
See, God has the bird's eye view, right?
We just got this little minuscule, you know, just we can see just four or five feet in front of us and nothing else.
And God sees through time and through eternity.
And he knows the end.
He knows your end.
And that's funny because we don't even know our end, but God does.
And it should cause us to seek him.
So first of all, we see Jesus here in verse 21, excited about the gospel,
how the gospel, the ways of God, are His.
hidden from the wise and prudent.
They're hidden.
Somebody said, well, that's not fair.
Well, if they were wise and prudent, you would think they would figure it out, don't you?
Don't you get kind of shocked at people that don't get it?
Right?
And even smart people that don't get it.
But God, he keeps it, he keeps his cards kind of close to his chest on some things,
doesn't he? His ways being higher than ours and us not being able to figure it out.
I like the word for wise here. It's a Greek word, SOFAS, or SOFUS. And it means, it means skilled in
letters, cultivated, learned. Somebody's smart. I don't have that problem of being smart.
right i don't know what my IQ is but i know it's not way up there
those of you have been around me much you would say amen
right i don't spell very good
but god is has hidden these things from these people who think they got to figure out
because you've noticed people that are just naturally really smart there's a bit of a
there's a bit of an error about them
And they're pretty quick to laugh at somebody that does something stupid, like me.
I remember we were playing Monopoly, and all the people around the table had college educations.
No, we weren't playing Monopoly.
We were playing a trivial pursuit.
And all the people around the table had college educations.
And so it was my turn to ask.
the question. Who invented monopoly? And they all just burst out laughing, which I think phonetically
I got it right, monopoly. Boy, did I get laughed out. I felt, you know, felt about that big.
I had to take special reading classes, right? Evelyn Woodhead's sped redden course.
but so I've never been accused of being wise but I think that sometimes being born with a
high IQ might might be a bit of a curse no no offense to you who are much smarter than myself
but Jesus said that they're they're hidden from those who are.
who are wise and prudent is the other word. It means intelligent or sunatos. Sunatos
sounds smart, right? It means mentally put together. People who are mentally put together or
or the word is sagacious. I had to look it up. I didn't know what sagacious meant.
having or showing king mental discernment and good judgment, someone who's shrewed.
You know people like that, right?
Having great intellect, high IQ.
But the scripture tells us in 1st Corinthians chapter 8 verse 1, we know that all have knowledge, but knowledge puffs up.
puffs up. And when you break that down, it means to puffs up means to inflate by blowing,
swelled up like an egotistical person spewing out arrogant thoughts. You know people like that?
Especially when they come to talk, when they start talking about God. Well, God's such a myth.
And you, you poor pitiful people to believe the Bible. Really?
that's what it does love puffs up or excuse me knowledge puffs up but love edifies so there's a difference
usually people who are who think themselves to be extremely wise well the scripture says they
becomes fools but their love tank is usually pretty low right their love tank is pretty low they
don't love very well people who think they know it all and got it all together you don't see many
atheists helping people, right? You don't hear of atheists starting universities or hospitals.
If you look back through history, who does all that? The church does, right? People who have people
of faith, people who know that they're called to do good and to leave the world in a better place
and what they found it. That's what you see. And so those who are wise in their own eyes,
their reason falls to the ground pretty fast.
So the first reason, he rejoices in that the things are hidden from wise people.
The second reason, Jesus was rejoicing because it was revealed to babes.
You babe?
Wah, wah, wah, wah.
He'll reveal it to somebody who's just simple, that you have a good understanding of what you are.
babes.
As you look back through the scriptures, we find many men in the Bible that felt inadequate or unwilling
to be used by God, including Moses.
You remember Moses?
He's like, God, you got the wrong guy.
I can't even talk.
And the Lord asking, Moses, who made your mouth?
Who made you anyway?
Can't you be an instrument?
in the hand of the Almighty?
I mean, come on, think with me.
No, I just can't.
What about the donkey?
If God can speak through a donkey,
you and I are in pretty good company.
E'all.
And she spoke truth, this donkey.
She tells Balaam,
have not been a good donkey?
Then why are you hitting me?
Moses thought he was inadequate.
Who am I?
Gideon, a fearful man.
Who am I?
He says.
Jonah ran from God.
Because his heart was wicked.
No.
God, I'm not going to do that.
Because if I do what you tell me to do,
these people, I know how good you are.
And these people, if I go tell them,
the judgment's coming in 40 days,
they're going to repent and they're going to turn away from their sin and you're going to you're going to forgive them
are you a minister like that like so bitter you just like hate the people you're ministering to
jonas is the only one we see in the bible like that or david right and an adulterer and a murderer
felt like he's god can i do anything good Elijah was depressed and wanted to
to die, ran from a woman.
But God used all these people.
All these people were aware of inadequacies.
And I think if we're honest with each other, or mainly with the Lord, we realize we come to
him the same way.
Who am I?
God, who am I that you would use me?
Years ago, I remember seeing Billy Graham on the Larry King's
show. Now, I use a love, listen to Billy talk. And so Larry King asked him, he goes, so you got
questions for God? He goes, boy, do I have questions for God? And Larry King says, so what's the
first question you're going to ask God when you see him face to face? He says, I don't know,
but I'm thinking I would ask him, why me? Billy spoke face-to-face the gospel to more than any one
being has ever done. And why me? He said, I'm just a country boy from the Carolina's that I didn't know if I
was coming or going when the Lord got a hold of my heart. And this really proves, folks, there's
hope for all of us. All of us can be a witness. And First Corinthians, Paul talks about it. He says,
says in verse 26 of 1 Corinthians 1. It says, for you see your calling, brethren, has God called you?
I got reminded of my calling doing this friend's funeral. I was, I called a person down there.
So this was in 1985. And I said, you know, when I was living down there, that's when Lord got
hold of me. That's when Jesus called me. And I didn't even know what that looked like. And I would
go out at night and there was this road and it was,
and I may have shared this with you, I apologize,
but I was going down this road.
It was a dead end road and I could go at night
and there would be no cars on this road.
And I would just start talking to the Lord.
And I just had this sense,
God, you've got a calling on my life.
But I don't know what that looks like.
And that was 40 years ago.
And I still don't know what that looks like.
But I still know that he has a calling on my life.
And so, you know, and I've been told by other people that I have a gift.
Have you been told by others?
You have a gift, a spiritual gift?
Because many of you do.
And many of it, I see your gift in you.
I don't necessarily see my gifts, but I see God's gifts in you.
There's gifts of helps and gifts of a word of knowledge and gifts of teaching and gifts of administration.
I see it in so many.
But it's a gift.
God doesn't call you
because you have that gift.
God calls you and gives you that gift.
Right?
Let's the whole idea of God doesn't, you know,
call the qualified.
He qualifies the called.
So it's just like, just be the donkey.
Say, yes, Lord.
For you see your calling, brethren,
that not many wise according to the flesh,
not many mighty,
not many noble are called.
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world
to put to shame the wise.
How are you feeling right now?
And God has chosen the weak things of the world
to put to shame the things which are mighty.
And the base things of the world
and the things which are despised God has chosen.
And the things which are not.
to bring to nothing the things that are.
So it's not, listen,
so what you know is not as important as who you know.
What you know is not as important as who you know.
But when who you know becomes all you know,
then that's all you need to know.
let me try that again
but when who you know
becomes all you know
then that's all you need to know
right
and
and when Paul was concerned about the people in Colossian
layout as he wrote a letter to him and he said
for I want you to know
what a great conflict I have for you
those in Laotasia, and for as many as have been seen, as many have has seen my face in the
flesh, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love and attaining to all
riches of the full assurance of understanding to the knowledge of the mystery of God,
both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
This should really comfort your heart.
Because you want lots of wisdom and knowledge, then know Jesus.
because when you know Jesus, you know everything.
You know all you need to know when you know Jesus.
Because in Him, right?
In Him, all the riches of wisdom and knowledge are found in Christ Jesus.
So I wasn't really smart when I became a Christian.
I'm a whole lot smarter now than I was then.
I'm still not very smart, but I do know Jesus.
And according to one kindergarten that told his mom and dad that Pastor Scottie knows everything.
And this is confirmed, right?
This is confirmed back in verse here in verse 22, all things it says here, right?
It says, all things, verse 22, have been delivered to me by my father.
Jesus has it all, right?
We talked Wednesday night about airship.
Airship.
We're joint heirs with Christ Jesus, and Jesus gets it all.
But we get it all, too.
Because when we find ourselves in the sun, we get it all.
Because he goes on here, and he says,
he says, for all things have been delivered to me by my father. And no one knows the son except the
father. And who the father is except the son. And the one to whom the son wills to reveal him.
God has to reveal these things to us. Folks, we're too thick. Where the word of God is spiritually
discerned. And if you look back at your life, the Lord reveals things.
to you. He revealed to me my wicked heart. I'm just, I was overwhelmed at the things that I had been
doing and the things that I'd been saying. And I was so convicted and I'm thinking, how can anybody
that thinks they're a good person, which I thought of myself, do what I'm doing. And it was just
the Lord's way of, hello, anybody home?
it was his way of getting my attention.
Does the Lord have your attention?
Because over the years, reading through the scriptures,
this is a common daily theme
that I'm reminded as I read God's word of who he is,
and I'm reminded as I read God's word of who I am.
And those things always needs to be a constant in your life.
Because if not, you're like that,
that you're tossed to and fro, like, right, I believe it was Peter said, right?
You're tossed to and fro, or maybe it was James, with every wind of doctrine, you don't know what you believe.
There's no solid foundation in your life.
You're just wishy-washy.
But Jesus comes to give us a firm foundation.
Because no one knows the full essence of the sun.
of God but the father and no one knows the full essence of the father but the son so the
father and the son and the spirit are working together in perfect unison to save us
because the Lord just somehow knows to knows which buttons to push to bring us to
himself. John 644, right? No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him,
and I will raise him up at the last day. No one. So when you think about that, when I think about
that, all I can say is thank you, right? Because no, I couldn't come to him. I couldn't come to
Jesus unless the father was drawing me. And nor can you.
and some of them may say well I don't want to
well if you don't want to there you go
but if you want to there you go
but if you want to
but what if I want to and I can't
then pray
ask him
ask him to let you come to him
sometimes it's just a prayer away
so you can't have one without the other
you can't have the son without the father
and you can't have the father without the son or the spirit
wild stuff
now the Pharisees were trying to say
well we love God
right and god is our father and jesus kind of checked him on this in john 8 42 he says jesus said to them
if god were your father if god were your father you would love me for i proceeded forth and came from god
nor have i come of myself but he sent me i have people tell me all the time this statement
In fact, I heard one of the candidates in the mayor's race say this.
Well, I'm a spiritual person.
I'm a spiritual person.
What's that mean?
So because you're a spiritual person, does that mean you're good?
So are you a good spirit or a bad spirit?
And is there such a thing as a good spirit or a bad spirit?
What do you believe about Jesus?
James, he addresses it in James 2 where he says in verse 19,
you believe that there is one God.
You do well.
Even the demons believe and tremble.
Satan says the exact same thing.
I am a spiritual person.
That's what Satan says.
He's a spiritual person.
His demons are spiritual persons.
It means nothing.
The question that you need to ask yourself
is the question that Jesus asked Nicodemus.
Are you born again?
Are you born of the same?
Spirit of God, right?
That's what it means to be born again.
And have you experienced that?
Well, I don't know.
Well, if you don't know, then after service this morning, there's a prayer team.
Come over here, and they will help you walk you through that.
You can be born again, just like that.
So the Father,
and the sun are one. You can't have one with the out of the other. Verse 23 and 24,
we'll wrap it up here. It says, when he turned to his disciples and said privately,
Blessed are the eyes which see the things you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings
have desired to see what you see and have not seen it and to hear what you hear and have not
hurt it. Jesus is telling them how blessed it.
are. You guys are blessed, man. Super blessed because of what you see and what you hear.
Jesus compares the disciples to the patriarchs. Listen, you guys have been entrusted and blessed to see
what you see and to hear what you hear. The Messiah has come. The dead are raised. The blind
sea. The healed, you know, the sicker healed, the lame walk.
and the Son of man has come speaking the word to the people.
The prophets would have loved to see Jesus,
to talk to him, to walk with him.
You and I, we look back.
We have all kinds of evidences.
Talk about a generation that's without excuse.
That'd be us.
No excuses because of what history declares about the Son of God.
Secular history says that he was crucified on a cross,
that he went into a grave and that he rose three days later.
Secular history says that.
Not just the Bible.
And, you know, all of our, the patriarchs in the Old Testament,
they had their moments, right?
Abraham had that encounter where he was making a deal with God.
Do you guys remember?
He's standing by his tent and these guys are walking by and he goes, hey, you guys are going to Sodom.
Lord, it's like the Lord manifest himself somehow to Abraham there.
He said, if there's 50 righteous, will you spare it?
He goes, Abe, if there's 50 righteous, I won't destroy the city.
It gets all the way down, right?
Do it 45, 40, 35.
25? 20. 10. Lord, if there's 10 righteous, will you destroy the city? So, no. If there's 10
righteous, I won't destroy this. There weren't 10 righteous. So we had this encounter and we
see the other patriarchs talking to the Lord. Joshua with the angel of the Lord. Are you
for us or against us? King David, Lord, should I go or sir did I forbear? All these guys
they had encounters with the Lord, but they didn't see his salvation.
That's why Simeon's words in the temple there were so powerful when Jesus was there at eight days old.
He says, I have seen your salvation.
Physically saw the salvation of the Lord.
But you and I, we have seen, we have heard the gospel.
It's been revealed to us, babes, if you're simple enough or exercise a simple faith to receive it.
Because without faith, it's not going to happen.
For those who come to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
You say, well, I don't have faith right now.
Are you willing to ask for it by faith?
people think oh you people of faith
everybody is a person of faith
right
I love Frank Turk
he has a
podcast called cross-examined
and one of his
blurbs is I don't have enough faith
to be an atheist
because you got to have a lot of faith to be an atheist
right
a lot of faith
a whole lot more faith than us
us who claim
claim Jesus.
But the disciples, they heard him speak.
And like I said earlier, they heard him worship.
They heard him sing a hymn.
They watched him.
They touched him.
John would lay his head on Jesus's chest.
I wonder what his heartbeat sounded like.
And John talks about it in 1st John chapter 1.
He says,
that which was from the beginning, which we heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon,
and our hands have handled concerning the word of life.
The life was manifested, and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life,
which was with the Father, and was manifested to us.
That which we have seen and heard, we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us,
and truly our fellowship was with the Father and with the Son, Jesus Christ,
and these things we write to you that your joy may be full.
Is your joyful today?
Has it been revealed to you the greatness of this God that we claim we serve and we believe in?
I could get really Pentecostal.
Jesus is telling me.
Listen, the Old Testament saints wanted to see and hear what you see in here.
And they were willing, listen, they were willing to die for those things that they didn't see in here.
And you and I have seen and heard it.
Are we willing to die?
Yes.
So it's in Hebrews, and it's been called the Hall of Fame or Faith or the Hall of Faith.
there in Hebrews chapter 11.
And these Old Testament saints that were looking forward toward, right,
tells us with Abraham and Sarah, right,
that they were looking forward to a city whose builder and maker was God.
And obviously they were looking forward to the Messiah coming.
And it tells us that they were tortured, not accepting deliverance.
This is Hebrews chapter 11 verse.
35 through 40.
And it says, and they were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better
resurrection.
Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment.
They were stoned.
They were sawn in two.
They were tempted.
We're slain with the sword.
They wandered about in sheepskins and goat skins being destitute, afflicted, tormented,
of whom the world was not worthy.
They wandered in deserts.
and mountains and dens and caves of the earth,
and all these having obtained a good testimony through faith,
did not receive the promise.
But we have.
God having provided something better for us
that they should not be made perfect apart from us.
These guys were trailblazers.
They didn't see it, and they were willing to die for it.
We see it.
and cry if we get a stinking hangnail.
We are such wannies.
The American church is pathetic.
And so when I read this, all of my excuses have just been demolished.
Absolutely demolished.
have you tasted and seen how good the Lord is?
I'm going to close with the reading of part of a Psalm.
If you have a Bible, you can turn there, something you might want to mark.
It's in Psalm 34.
And it's just a Psalm that is full of hope.
and hopefully would just be provocative for us to maybe want to go a little deeper with the Lord.
Because if it hasn't been revealed to your heart how good God is,
I just pray that you would maybe ask him, asking to reveal it to you,
reveal himself to you, because God is so good and full of mercy,
I'm thinking that he might just oblige you.
He might just oblige you.
Psalm 34, verse 7, says,
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them.
Didn't that just put hope in your heart?
The angel of the Lord?
What can be more powerful than that?
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good, verse 8.
Blessed is a man who trusts in him.
Oh, fear the Lord, you his sin.
saints, there is no want to those who fear him. No want. You'll lack nothing. You'll lack nothing.
He will provide everything that you need that pertains to this life and godliness. He has it.
We just have to ask. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. Thank you, Jesus, that you have revealed who you are to us.
Lord, that we're incapable of understanding the greatness of your word, knowing that it's spiritually
discerned, and yet you give us your spirit.
Lord, you tell us that we can have the mind of Christ.
And so, Lord, I just pray for those who are in need of that.
Lord, that they would come to you.
Lord, that they would humble themselves before you.
Lord, that you would just show us that really we are without excuse.
Bless your people.
Lord, empower us in these days in which we live when so many people are questioning.
What's the meaning of life?
What is this all about?
Lord, and not that we would turn to something as generic as saying I'm a spiritual person,
but we would turn to you and say, Lord, Jesus.
I need you in my life.
So Lord, would you bless your people?
That we would worship you in this moment in spirit and in truth.
And the people, Lord, who seem to be in a place right now
where you know that you maybe hear the Lord knocking on the door of your heart.
I just want to encourage you to come to him, surrender to him.
And you can do that just by the raising of your hands.
It's a sign of surrender.
And so if you feel like you need to surrender to Jesus right now,
could I just ask you, just put up a hand.
Just say, Lord, I just need to surrender to you.
All that I am, and all that I hope to become,
I see these hands.
He sees them, and he can do something about it.
I can just confirm that he will if you trust him with all your heart.
Lord, we praise you.
We worship you.
Those who have their hands up, Lord, you know that the very need of their heart and their soul,
every fiber in their being, Lord, you're able to minister to.
I pray that you would do that now by your Holy Spirit.
In Jesus, mighty and holy name.
Amen.
Let's all stand.
The prayer team's going to be down here to the right.
If you need prayer, God,
bless you and the king's coming so we best be ready