Latest / HBCWestminster / 11.1.20 Luke 10:17-20 Pastor Danny Gardner

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11.1.20 Luke 10:17-20 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  And if you would stand in honor of God's word, I'll read, we'll pray and begin. Beginning in verse 17, it says,
• 0:29
  In heaven, would you pray with me? Creator God, who made heaven and earth and who made every creature within them and who made me. May we find our comfort, our power, and our joy in you alone. And if we desire anything outside of you, Lord, change our hearts to long for your presence. It is remarkable, Lord God, that mankind can brag about their power, about their ingenuity and creativity apart from you.
• 0:57
  But the truth is, Lord, we have no goodness in us and no grace of ourselves. If you held back your kindness and patience even for a moment, we would be shown for what we truly are, rebels and devils. God, that is us. And so forgive us in those moments. Father, make us like your son. Give us your spirit this morning as we open your word. We pray that you would conform us to its truths. Be glorified in its preaching. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
• 1:28
  Amen. Thank you, church. You can be seated. Well, our world, and by extension, we in the church are often most attracted to those most gifted. In our text this morning, the Lord by no means diminishes the gifts that he had bestowed upon his disciples, but rather puts them in their proper place. He very purposefully fixes our eyes on greater things, more permanent things, heavenly things, future things.
• 1:54
  Many of you know and if not you're about to find out but I was in the last couple of weeks in North Carolina Raleigh, North Carolina attending a seminary there outside of Raleigh and
• 2:05
  what a great time in God's Word and class and just stretching and being trained and really in depth of pastoral ministry I'm so so thankful for that opportunity and the support of even this church for allowing me to go but kind of a funny thing happened to me while I was there one of the days that I was there I'd into class early just a few minutes and so was waiting outside of the seminary for Hallie to come and pick me up Hallie my younger boys were there as well
• 2:29
  I had about 30 or so minutes that I was just waiting for her. And so I was just standing there on the sidewalk outside of the seminary waiting and was approached by a woman from the church and from the seminary. He's actually the director, the head of their security. And it's a very large church. Many thousands attend. It's a large seminary, a big campus, sprawling many acres. And so although I had met her before, she didn't remember meeting me. She meets a lot of people. And so she didn't know who I was.
• 2:54
  and so she just saw this guy standing out there that she didn't know uh undoubtedly had seen me on some security camera or something just standing outside and so came around just doing a security check which is good she should do we do that here at our church on a smaller scale of course but um she just came around and she said um you know can i help you with something and she hadn't recalled that she had met me before and i said no i'm good and she said well what are you doing
• 3:19
  And I kind of peeked around the corner of the building I was leaning against. I saw that in tow, she had brought behind her a really big dude, a guy, in fact, whose t-shirt did not fit because of the ginormous biceps that he was sporting. And so a big, you know, stocky guy behind her. And so she obviously anticipated maybe some resistance. And I thought that was kind of funny. And I just said, are you doing security checks? And she said, yep. She said, who are you? What are you doing here?
• 3:46
  And she wasn't impolite, but was stern. And I just said, well, I'm one of the seminary students. I actually met you a few days ago. And she said, oh, yeah, I remember I gave you and your other classmates a tour of the campus. And I said, yeah, that's right. She said, now, you're military, right? And I said, no. And she said, but you served in the military. You're ex-military. And I said, no. I said, I never served. And she said, yes, you did.
• 4:14
  Okay. Now Church, you know I've never served in the military. I've always admired those men and women who have and very much support our military but never served. I said, okay. She said, I noticed. And she said, I get paid to observe. I get paid to notice these things. She said, when I was giving your classmates a tour, she said, they all came into each room. You were the only one who looked left. Every time you came in the door, you looked left.
• 4:37
  And now I'm sure that I'm about to get maybe half a dozen or so very well-intentioned emails, and I welcome those, from people who have served in our military and our church who are going to send me emails explaining why you always look left when you come in the door. I don't know if bad guys are always to your left, whatever it is. But she said, you always look left. I noticed that about you. You're obviously ex-military. And I said, no, I really have never done that. I don't know. I'm assuming maybe the snacks were to the left. Right? I mean, I don't know. I just, I don't know. I looked left. I thought it was kind of funny.
• 5:06
  I find it nearly impossible not to be distracted and even filled with anxiety over earthly, worldly concerns. Honestly, that's how I feel right now. Although my heart's desire truly is to dwell perpetually in the presence of our Lord, I find my flesh pulling me away. Church, my eyes open most mornings long before the sun has risen.
• 5:27
  my immediate reaction most days is to grab my phone that's that's the first thing i want to do that's the first thing my flesh wants to do check it for texts for emails then turn to the news and see what wild and crazy events i missed overnight i literally have to discipline myself not to look at my phone first thing and instead to be in the word and in prayer and i have always admired those men and women who have served in our armed forces and through who through constant training now habitually do what their training has taught them to do
• 5:57
  Right? And I'm assuming that's what military training has taught them to do. When you come into a room, in order to clear the room, in order to ensure your safety, you come in and you check your corners, right? That's what she means. She comes in, she looks left. And you can imagine here, the Lord Jesus, the Savior, reminding his apostles, don't get caught up and distracted in worldly things. Don't forget. You can almost hear him saying, look up.
• 6:25
  Every time you come into a room, look up. Every time you have ministry, look up. Every time you have success, look up. Every time you fail, look up. Our text is a reminder from our Lord that despite what else is happening around us, we should always be looking up, our eyes fixed on a future reality. And it is in a startling confrontation with that reality this morning that our text declares this glorious truth, that the gifts of God
• 6:52
  are actually inferior to the grace of God for salvation. And you'll recall from last week that Christ had sent out the 72. You'll recall from former weeks that this was not the first time Christ had sent his followers to perform miracles and to preach his coming. But this time was unique in that upon the disciples' return, we hear what types of gifts that Christ had bestowed upon them.
• 7:18
  John MacArthur sums these up succinctly by listing them as divine power, divine protection, and divine preservation. I liked his list, and so I'm going to use that list. You'll notice first the gift of divine power. Divine power. And look at verse 17. The 72 returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. The 72 had the power to exercise.
• 7:46
  demons and i don't know if you've ever had the joy of witnessing demon possession but it's not as much fun as you may think i'm sure that many demons act in subtle ways i think probably that most of us have even had encounters with people who are demon possessed and not even known it we weren't even aware but some other demons are actually exactly like you'd imagine angry blasphemous seething foaming about 10 years or so ago i and a friend were officiating a funeral together
• 8:16
  And a demon-possessed man stood up in the middle of the service and began screaming blasphemies at us, cursing us. The funeral director, who was standing in the back of the chapel, looked directly at me like this. And I'm telling you, church, in less than five seconds and with absolutely no words uttered, exchanged, we had this conversation. He looks at me. What do we do? I look back at him. Why are you looking at me?
• 8:45
  He looks back at me. Aren't you a pastor? I look back at him. Yes. What do we do? Call the cops. But aren't you a pastor? Yes. Then what do we do? Call the cops. Aren't you supposed to have like some spiritual gift of discerning of spirits? Yeah, I sure do. And I can tell that this one is bad. Call the cops. During the earthly ministry of Christ, demonic activity reached a zenith. We've said that many times before.
• 9:10
  Today, currently, Christ's church is advancing across the globe, all the way around the world. Every nation, tribe, language, and tongue is being won for Christ, rescuing perishing souls from the bondage of the evil one. Again, I like how one pastor defines evangelism in those terms. He says,
• 9:34
  is to deliver souls from the clutches of Satan through the power of Christ. That is the task of evangelism. We are rescuing souls from the clutches of the devil. It is a rescue operation against the forces of hell, invading the domain of darkness and freeing lost souls held captive under the deceiving influence of Satan and his demonic host. Listen to how the apostle Paul describes it in Colossians 1 and verse 13. God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son.
• 10:04
  Again, the Apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 4, in their case, unbelievers, the God of this world, that is the devil, has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.
• 10:18
  And today's work of the church being global, consider this, the fact that we are all over, we believers are all over the world, all doing the same thing, winning souls for Christ and stripping them out of the kingdom of darkness has also therefore spread the work of Satan and his minions all over the world. We have spread them out. What we imagine currently...
• 10:43
  as that demonic horde around the globe doing the work of their master Lucifer would have been during this 30 plus year life and ministry of Christ concentrated on him entirely on his ministry on his followers because after all what else would demons have to do that was more important than that
• 11:06
  And so you can imagine the demonic resistance that we feel as believers of Christ today in the year 2020 around the world would have been in Christ's life magnified, focused entirely on Jesus. And this is why as Jesus, as you read about the life and ministry of Jesus throughout the gospels, he is constantly confronted with, combated by.
• 11:31
  Evil spirits over and over and over almost on a daily basis Christ is being confronted by demon possession Because of how focused and intense it was on his life We read in chapter 10 of Luke that Jesus once again
• 11:48
  delegated that exercising authority to his followers for a time and honestly church had we been one of them we certainly would have thought that that was a remarkable thing if we had the power just to by a word cast out demons in Jesus name that would be remarkable look what Jesus says in verse 18 he said to them I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven
• 12:13
  Now, the obvious interpretation, I think, of this statement would be a kind of a recounting of the prideful fall of Lucifer from heaven prior to creation. However, there is also a possibility that because of the immediate context, right? The immediate context is not Satan's fall. The immediate context is demons being cast out. That's the immediate context. And also because of the imperfect tense of the phrase, I saw.
• 12:42
  so if you look at verse 18 the greek tense that jesus uses i saw is imperfect which means that it is not a one time for all action it is a continual action as if he is saying i at one time saw satan fall from heaven and i continue to see him fall from heaven it could be that what christ was describing here
• 13:10
  was his heavenly perspective of the ministry of the 72. As they were rescuing people from the clutches of darkness, it's as if Christ is saying, I am seeing souls being transferred from one kingdom to the next. Satan's kingdom is continuing to fall.
• 13:31
  Men and women are believing. They're crossing over from death to life. And it's like the Lord is saying his stronghold, Satan's stronghold, is collapsing one soul at a time. That was first the gift of divine power. But notice also that the disciples were given the gift of divine protection. Look at verse 19.
• 14:00
  and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall hurt you. Now the 72 were protected from things that would normally have caused their demise. The snakes and scorpions here could be, as one commentator suggests, metaphorical. Perhaps Christ is describing those same demons in the previous verses as snakes. It could be, as I would hold, that Christ is giving these disciples protection
• 14:29
  from things like actual snakes and scorpions. Christ was saying that whom he sends, nothing and no one can stop. That's what he's saying. I am sending you out with this divine protection. You cannot be stopped. Get bit by a snake, you'll be fine. Get stung by a scorpion, you'll be fine. The things that would normally cause your demise, if I am sending you, you have no reason to be afraid of. If I am sending you, Christ says,
• 14:58
  You cannot be stopped. Like the Apostle Paul, after being shipwrecked on the island of Malta, who after being bitten by a poisonous snake, shook that snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effect. And we can only assume by their joy that some of them maybe had been bitten by snakes and stung by scorpions during that ministry and had proven this promise to be true. They're given the promise of the gift.
• 15:27
  divine protection and listen church you and I have been given that same promise we have no need to fear as long as God has sent us and now I'm not saying that we can handle snakes and be fine I think that would be pretty idiotic wouldn't recommend getting stung by a scorpion that would be idiotic but what I am saying is that the mission of God to which he has sent us
• 15:55
  The mission of God cannot be stopped by things that would normally cause our demise. We have no reason to be afraid. Now, before we look at verse 20, let me just point out a couple of asides back to verse 17. If you notice in verse 17, we're going to notice here the human tendency to assume or to take.
• 16:19
  credit you go back to their statement in verse 17 says even the demons are subject now look at the next two words even the demons are subject he says to us to us they were saying they were taking the credit for what was happening they are subject to us alexander bruce has said the joy of the 72 was in danger of becoming over joy running into even self-importance hence the warning word from christ
• 16:50
  Not only do we notice our own human tendency to take the credit, but also we notice the one to whom the credit should go They even say in their exclamation. I even the demons are subject to us, but then they say in your name in your name The reality is that the demons were not subject to the disciples in any way The disciples may have seemed big and bad unto themselves, but they did not scare the demons at all You may recall
• 17:20
  from Acts chapter 19 that Jewish exorcists tried to cast out demons in the name of Christ, but without the authority of Christ? The demon's response in Acts chapter 19 and verse 15, you can look it up. The demon responded with this, Jesus I know, and Paul I've heard of, but who are you? Can you imagine the demon responding, Jesus I know, Paul I've heard of, who are you?
• 17:48
  What kind of guy is this? You don't have any authority over me. And Acts chapter 19 actually says that the result was that the demon leaped upon them and actually beat the tar out of them, sent them away crying. And in verse 17 of Luke chapter 10, we see that it was only at the name of Christ that the demons bowed. Acts chapter 4 and verse 12, no other name under heaven given to men by which we may be saved but the name of Jesus. Acts chapter 10 and verse 43.
• 18:17
  we find forgiveness in the name of jesus same thing john chapter 20 and verse 31 we are saved by jesus name i like paul balash's song in your name where he actually says in your name the mountains shake and tumble and beloved church it has been noted recently that there are only two types of voters this coming tuesday two types of voters those who vote for donald trump and those who vote
• 18:46
  Against Donald Trump. In fact, they're even bumper stickers floating around here. I've seen him in Westminster that say Literally anyone else 2020 I've seen those bumper stickers around and whether they are for or against him the whole country is talking about Trump and no one else It doesn't matter who is on any other ticket who's on who's running for any other party. It doesn't matter It is either Trump or non Trump. Those are the two
• 19:13
  options and church listen the world can act that way if they want to but not believers in christ trump or not trump should not be the names that are most on our lips consider this for a moment other than your home's inhabitants so in my home let's take out the names danny hallie pearson zach chase and nana right let's take those names out other than your no other than your home's inhabitants whose name
• 19:45
  has been invoked most often in the year 2020. What name do your kids hear spoken most often from your lips? Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Cuomo, Pelosi. How about Anthony Fauci? That one's been said a lot. How about Rush Limbaugh, Ben Shapiro? How about the notorious RBG or Amy Barrett?
• 20:16
  And we sure talk about those people a lot, a lot. And we invoke their names a lot. Listen, church, as if they matter, as if they matter. We give them credit for things as if they matter. Let the name of Jesus grace our lips far more than any other name. Let his name.
• 20:42
  be praised in our homes let his name be invoked let his name be said let him receive the credit and the glory and the honor for every good work that he has done let the name of jesus ring out in our homes in the year 2020. we look finally the final gift so we had divine power and divine protection now let's look at divine preservation divine preservation look at verse 20.
• 21:13
  Nevertheless, Jesus says, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. And Jesus here just quickly, deftly
• 21:27
  redirects the disciples joy from earth to heaven from temporal to eternal and he was not calling his followers not to have joy over the ministry to which he called them he's not saying we're not supposed to have joy in our lives or joy in our ministry very much the opposite in fact the whole book of philippians is about rejoicing in the lord okay you are to rejoice in the lord but he says make sure that your joy is understood correctly in the context of the surpassing joy that awaits us in eternal life
• 21:56
  Again, one pastor has said success in evangelism and power over Satan's kingdom are for this life only. Believers' knowledge that their names are recorded in heaven, never to be blotted out, far surpasses all other earthly joys. We should have joy surpassing in that the fact that our names are written in heaven. And church, don't forget that no matter what happens on Tuesday, November 3rd, no matter what happens,
• 22:26
  are written in heaven if your candidate wins or your candidate loses your name is written in heaven and so you can have unfailing joy in other words grace grace is far greater than gifts can you i love the song grace greater than all our sin i love that song it's one of my favorites can you imagine if it were rewritten gifts gifts
• 22:58
  God's gifts. Gifts that can cast out the demons within. Gifts, gifts, God's gifts. Gifts that are greater than scorpions. I don't know. Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that will pardon and cleanse within. Grace, grace, God's grace. Grace that is greater than all my sin. And beloved church, don't forget.
• 23:27
  Don't forget, in the month of November 2020, don't forget to look up. In the midst of elections and pandemics, look up. In the midst of riots and chaos, look up. Even in the midst of joy and victory, look up. Church, your names are written in heaven, and we await a Savior from there. And God, I pray a blessing over the preaching of your word. Lord, may we not be hearers only and so deceive ourselves.
• 23:59
  but doers. God, may we be filled with joy, not because of our earthly circumstances, not even because of the gifts that you bestow, but because our names are written in heaven. And Lord, we can't wait. We can't wait to join you there. And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.