Sermons

Introduction

I am delighted to be with you this morning, not only because of your immense hospitality to me and my family, thank you, and just worshipping together is always such a privilege, and so I want to thank you and thank the Lord for that, but particularly because of the text that is before us. This is an immaculate text. This is a text where I have found myself often just praying, "Lord, let me not mess this up because it is so precious and so profound and so convicting and so unique." And so will you join me in a word of prayer this morning as we go to the word of God in Luke 10.

[Prayer] Our God and Father, we do come before the throne of grace, asking that our hearts would be soft and sensitive to the word of God, that our eyes would be seeking the Lord Jesus Christ, and that we would be so captured in who He is and what He has accomplished and His joy that it would meld and mold and shape our own hearts and our own affections at this time. May it be that there be great clarity and great conviction from the word of God, that You would take us to the heights of heaven and to the things that You as the triune God loves and adores, and that our hearts would be inclined to the very same affections and loves and joys. May that happen now, not for only our own sake, although we know that that is the best thing for us, but so that Your Son would be satisfied, that You would be so honored. And so, accomplish Your will now. And we ask all this in Your name, we pray. Amen. [End]

We are in Luke chapter 10, verses 21 through 24. Let me read this to us: "At that hour He" – that is the Lord Jesus – "rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, 'I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and You have revealed them to infants; yes, O Father, because in this Your good pleasure is before You. All things have been given to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father and who the Father is except the Son and to whom ever the Son wills to reveal it.' And turning to His disciples, He said to them privately, 'Blessed are the eyes which see what you see, for I say to you that many prophets and kings wish to see what you see, and did not see, and wish to hear what You hear, and did not hear.'"

Christ is often known as a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. That is prophesied in the Old Testament. You read of it in Psalm 22. You read of it in Isaiah 53. And it is absolutely true as we see in its fulfillment in the New Testament. The life of our Lord was filled with hardship, even from the beginnings, even from His birth. And you might say, "Well, wait. Christmastime is a warm and fuzzy time. It's a time of happiness and cheer and glee." And that may be Christmas for you and me; but the very first Christmas, the Christmas that our Lord experienced is a Christmas of suffering.

I don't know about you, but I think it is suffering that our Lord took on flesh and came among us. And I think it is suffering that He was born into shame as He was outcasted from His own family in Bethlehem. I think there is shame in that, and there is difficulty and trial in that He was born into poverty. And you say, "How did we know that?" Because His mother Mary had to offer turtledoves for her purification, the sacrifice of the poor. And I think it is also quite difficult for a young family to flee for their lives in the middle of the night from a maniacal king who wants to kill all the baby boys in a certain region. That's suffering.

The moment Christ came, all He had was suffering. And then when He was a young man, a young boy, His life was still with suffering. He was in the temple, and they didn't understand who He was, and they misunderstood Him, even though He understood who He was. And then as He grew up and launched into His ministry, that was full of suffering. You could say it this way: He had physical suffering, to be sure, going day in, day out, traveling all over the land of Israel. That's a lot of strenuous walking; He got His steps in. But even more than that, it was a ton of sleepless nights. He was so exhausted that He had to sleep on a boat in the middle of preaching and miracles. There was great physical exertion and exhaustion.

And there was also external resistance to the Lord Jesus in the form of religious leaders who opposed Him at every turn, resisted and rebelled and argued with Him, tried to suppress Him and ultimately attempted to kill Him and got away with it. But it wasn't just the physical and the external that opposed the Lord Jesus. He even faced difficulty on the inside because He had a deal with these people called the disciples who just didn't understand Him at all, who asked really strange questions and didn't conceive and didn't perceive of the nature of the gospel and what Jesus was all about. We know, we know that there is no such thing as a foolish question, but the folly of the questions that the disciples asked makes us question that question.

Jesus suffered so much in His life. Birth: never got a break. Young man: never got a break. Ministry, day in, day out, suffering. You say, "Well, did it let up toward the end?" No. After all that, betrayed. After all that, put on trial. The King of justice tried as if He was unjust, that's the greatest injustice. And then after all that, crucified, not only with exquisite physical torture, but bearing the very wrath of God. That's a life from beginning to end of suffering. That's a life from the moment of conception to the last breath lived of suffering. He was a man of suffering, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. And it is worth it to remember that He suffered and endured so much for us. So humbling, so humbling to think about.

And what becomes striking then about Luke 10:21, look at the text: "At that hour, this man of sorrows, this man of suffering, this man acquainted with grief, He rejoiced." This is the only time; this is the only time recorded in all the Gospels. This is the only time, the only moment recorded in the life of Christ that our Lord Jesus rejoiced.

So, here's the question: What would make a man of sorrows acquainted with grief joyful? What would be so happy? What would be so delightful? What would be such good pleasure that it would turn a life weighed down by suffering and affliction by the design of Almighty God into joy? That's the question, that's the question. And it's an even bigger question when we consider the context of Luke 10:21.

You see, Luke's gospel, it intends to be a gospel of fulfillment. In Luke 1:1, Luke says that he records down "that which has been accomplished among us." The word "accomplished" there really has the notion of bringing to fullness of fulfillment, and throughout the opening chapters of Luke, over and over you can hear the word "fulfilled" used. Luke 1:23, "When the time of the priestly service was fulfilled." Luke 1:57, "When the time for birth and conception was fulfilled." And in Luke 2, it also mentions the time when "the circumcision was fulfilled." All of these things, over and over, fulfilled, fulfilled, fulfilled, fulfilled.

Luke's gospel is about the fullness and a specific kind of fullness: the fullness of history. It is for this very reason in Luke 3 that the genealogy of our Lord Jesus traces all the way back to Adam because Adam set history by his fall. But there will be a final Adam that resets all of history and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. And here is Luke's thesis. His thesis is this: "The Lord Jesus is the one who sets and transforms and fulfills all history for this entire world. He came to this world, it was one way, and He left this world, and it was different."

That is the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what Jesus does, according to Luke, as Luke inherently records it, is he articulates, "Yes, Jesus had a ministry among Israel. He demonstrated His authority over people, over demons, over people's health." And all of that points to His authority to deal with the real issue which is sin, as it is shown in Luke 5.

But Luke reminds us that Jesus' ministry did not just stay within Israel. Even in His earthly advent here, it goes to the times and the places of the Gentiles. He crosses over the Sea of Galilee to the region where there were those who were not Jewish, and He ministered among them. Why? Because Jesus' ministry cannot be contained just to the nation of Israel. It is not just about affecting one country, one people, one tribe or tongue. No, our Lord's ministry changes the world. It goes to Jew and Gentile, and it deals with every matter socially and ultimately spiritually; that is what seals all things.

And so, with that then, as we go from Luke 1-8, we see Luke's purpose, and it is clear. This is the Jesus of all history, the fulfillment of all history, not just to Jew but also to Gentile, and He is the one who climaxes it all.

And so, what do you do now? Well, Luke says, "Let's take a walk with Jesus." You say, "What do you mean by that?" Well, in Luke 9:51, Luke says this, that – and you can even hear it – "At the time of His assumption was about to be fulfilled He set His face to Jerusalem." Jesus is about to go to Jerusalem. And in Luke 19, it says this: "And Jesus drew near to Jerusalem." So, in Luke 9, He's heading to Jerusalem, and in Luke 19, He's near to Jerusalem. Luke 9-19 is a walk to Jerusalem with Jesus.

And you say, "That'd be amazing to take a walk with Jesus." I agree with you; join the club. And Luke says, "You can do that. Read Luke 9-19. This is a walk with our Savior as He journeys to Jerusalem, and it is a walk with our Savior as our Lord helps us to understand discipleship, because indeed, Jesus is the one who sets history, not only in the affairs of men globally, Jew and Gentile, socially and spiritually, absolutely, Jesus is the one who sets history in your life and in mine. That's what we call discipleship. He sets the agenda for our very existence. That's what's going on. And He's giving His people instruction to that very end.

And since we're in chapter 10 and it's the beginning of the walk, Jesus sets a foundation. You see, He sent His disciples out and He showed them the impact of the gospel, and they got caught up in the impact. They got caught up about casting out demons and healing. And Jesus says, verse 20 of chapter 10, look at it with me: "You don't rejoice that the spirits obey you, you rejoice that your names have been written in heaven."

That's the most important thing. Less than one of discipleship, it's all about the gospel. Don't ever lose sight of that. And just to make sure you understand how precious that is, just to make sure you understand how valuable that is, just to make sure we have that central and foundational, the only time Jesus rejoices, what does He rejoice over? The gospel. Just to help you know, this is how important the gospel is. It makes a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief, joyful. That's the beauty of the gospel.

You know, sometimes in our lives, there can be things that lose their shine. We spend so much time trying to buy our children presents, you know, research and many clicks on Amazon. And then they get the present at Christmas or a birthday, and then they just say, "That's a…," and they don't even finish amazing. They're already on to the next thing. We did all that hard work for one syllable. That's it.

We are like our children; we often lose attention on the most beautiful things. And sometimes for us, the gospel, which means good news, becomes old news because we're so familiar with it. Here's the exhortation: the gospel may be old news to you because you're familiar. I'm not denying that. It can be the good old story, but it never stops being good news. It may be old news, but it never stops being good news because our Lord reminds us that's the highest joy. There is no higher joy than that. And my goal, really, our Lord's goal in instilling this on a walk with Him and learning the foundations of discipleship is to remind us there is no greater joy than the gospel; and today we need to recover that joy.

Compassion

And so, there are four reasons, four aspects behind why our Lord reminds us that the gospel is the greatest privilege, it is the greatest treasure, it is the greatest joy, and that's what we're going to be learning from in Luke, verses 21 through 24 of chapter 10. And with that in mind, let's talk about the first reason that the gospel is the greatest privilege and joy, and that is this: "It is the compassion of God. It is the compassion of God."

Notice the opening words of verse 21. Notice that it says, "At that very hour Jesus rejoiced," – that's the Son – " but He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit," – that's the Holy Spirit. And then who does He talk to? He says, "I praise you, O Father." So, what do you have? You have the Son, you have the Holy Spirit, and you have the Father, all in one text, all in agreement, all united in their joy. Jesus is rejoicing and He's rejoicing in the Holy Spirit, and He's expressing that joy to the Father who receives it as joy. All of them are joy. And what you have now is the revelation that the gospel and joy is not just belonging to one person of the triune Godhead, or to two of the triune Godhead. Rather, this is the entire heart of the triune Godhead – their singular will, their singular mind, fixated that the gospel is the greatest joy. That is what is being profited right here in this text. If God cares so much about the gospel, if God's entirety of His being is in joy about the gospel, then maybe we should care and enjoy it as much as He does.

Let me put it this way. Let me put it this way. As parents and friends, we can sometimes give weird gifts to people – we need to admit that – and that's because we have limited means, and we have limited understanding. I remember when I was first married, my wife had expressed to me that she really appreciated fettuccine alfredo. Now, I have no idea about cooking, even to this day. I'm very culinarily incompetent. But back then, I was even more culinary incompetent. I had exceeded all culinary incompetencies. And I thought fettuccine alfredo was one word. I just thought that's just a thing.

And so, I was at a grocery store, and I said, "I'm going to buy my wife some dinner." Now, that doesn't even make sense. Like, why would you buy fettuccine alfredo as a dish from a grocery store? But it doesn't make sense. I was the perfection of culinary incompetence.

And so, I go there, and I see a box of warmed up fettuccine, and I buy it with such great enthusiasm thinking that I'm going to bless my wife that I'm newly married to. And I come back and I give it to her, and she says, "So you got me plain pasta?" I didn't know that it doesn't come with alfredo. I thought if you buy the fettuccine alfredo is included because it's all one word. I had no idea! I've learned some things hopefully since then.

We can give a weird presence. We can give presence that we just didn't think all the way through or we didn't have the ability to really execute the way we desired. But our God is not so. The omniscient God who knows everything, who knows what is the most beautiful, what is the most exquisite, what is the most perfect, what is the most practical, what is the most effective gift you could ever dream of, and the God who is not only omniscient, but also omnipotent, able to perform it, He says this: "I can think of nothing better than the gospel. I can think of nothing better than the gospel, than your name being written in heaven."

If our God, who is omnipotent and omniscient, almighty and wise, says the gospel is the best thing ever, guess what? It is the best thing ever. And we just need to renew our mind and realize that the gospel is that precious because it is the masterpiece of everything that God has conceived of and delivered to us. And that is especially the case in the manner and considering the manner in which He has given that gospel to us.

Notice what the text says. Jesus articulates to the Father, "I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth." You know, you can address someone a lot of different ways. At The Master's University, in seminary sometimes students ask, "How should we call you, Dr. Chou?" and I say, "Yeah, Dr. Chou is fine." They say, "Can we call you Prof Chou?" I said, "No problem." Can we say, "Mr. President?" I said, "That's a little weird, let's not do that." And then they say, "But can we call you Abner?" I said, "I love that." I said, "You can even say, 'Hey you,' and as long as I know you're talking to me, I'm a happy camper."

There's a lot of ways to talk to somebody. Jesus chose in this text a specific way to address His Father, and He says, "Father," – more on that in a second; and then He says these words – "Lord of heaven and earth." The word "Lord" reminds us and establishes God's absolute, total sovereignty, total authority and finality. God always has the last say, the final say, and thereby the only true say.

This is the nature of the lordship of God and the lordship of Christ. It isn't just a polite title, it is a title of exclusive, absolute, definitive domination. And what does He have that domination over? What does the text say? "Heaven and earth," not just one part, not just one place of creation, not just one locale: the totality. Everything therein, the earth and heaven and all their fullness belongs to Him.

What does He ordain? He ordains and has the final say over everything. You say, "Birds?" Yes. "Beasts?" Yes. "Super Bowl?" Yes, all of it. It is under His hand, He decrees it. Nothing can rival that, nothing. You can put it this way then: What does that lordship, that mastery mean? He is the ultimate greatest boss. The boss of this entire universe. And everything He says is. Everything He says goes.

Now, you stop and think about this. Why is Jesus mentioning this important and vital truth here? Have you ever heard a boss say, "That's below my pay grade"? You come to a boss with the question, "Hey, what do you think of this?" "That's below my pay grade." "Hey, boss, can you do this for me?" "That's below my pay grade." That's, "You're below my pay grade." I mean, that's all they say, "That's below my pay grade." Whether it's true or whether they're just being lazy, that's what they say.

You know what our God could say to us? "You are below My pay grade." You want to know why? Because we are. He is the Lord of what? Heaven and earth. Anything in heaven and earth is thereby below His pay grade, below His pay grade. You and I are going to hell because we are sinners, and we say, "Lord, help us." We can't even really say that because we're still lost in our sins. But even if for the sake of argument, if we said that, you know what God could easily say and has an absolute right to say: "Below My pay grade. In fact, I think it's great because it still gives Me glory anyways, and I'm right."

He's Lord of heaven and earth. He has that sovereign authority. Everything's below His pay grade. And that's what makes the gift of the gospel so immense, that the God, who by rights should never have to care about you or me, still does, still delights. And in fact, that's exactly what the text says, does it not? "Yes, O Father, this is Your good pleasure before You." God has the greatest joy. He has the greatest joy in saving sinners, even though by all rights, He doesn't have to care.

Do you know why the gospel is so precious? It is precious both in the gift itself and the giving of the gift. Everything about it means that it's so precious. It's precious because He thought of it. It's precious that He thought of us. And it's precious because even though He could have thought about it, and, you know, intentions are everything, but He still did it for us. All of that makes the gospel so precious because we don't deserve it whatsoever.

And our Lord's response expresses how we should respond to this. What does He say? "I praise You, O Father." Here's what Jesus understands. You want to know why the gospel's so amazing and the condescension of God is so astounding: your boss becomes your Father. The boss who doesn't have to care about anything, and you are below His pay grade, now works so hard to give you the gift of Himself so that now He becomes your Father and you are not below His pay grade, you are His everything.

That is the goodness of God. That's His compassion. And for this very reason, Christ says, "I praise You.'" The word, "I praise you," denotes a full confession of what is taking place in a full embrace, a full ownership, a full delight and love and adoration and welcome of what has been confessed, and that is that God not only is the Lord, He made us His sons. And that is what gives Christ joy. That is His greatest delight, to see those sinners become the sons, just like He is the Son. And may it be that what gives Christ joy gives us joy, and what He praises the Father for be our praise as well.

[We are] Contemptible

Well, there's another aspect of why the gospel is such a privilege. It's not just because it is the compassion of God, but it is equally because "we are so contemptible, we are so contemptible." Notice the next part of verse 21. It says this, that "the Father has hidden these things from the wise and intelligent." The idea of hiding something is to completely cut off access. There's no ability, no connection to whatever has been hidden away. And that is the nature of the gospel.

And who has this been hidden from? It says, "the wise and intelligent." The idea of "the wise" are those people who are really good with ideas, really good with philosophy, really good with concepts. They're deep thinkers and insightful individuals. And the idea of "the intelligent" are those who actually are not just smart, but they know how to get things done. They know every step you need to do. They're the people you say, "How do you make a plan for this?" and they can just rattle off, "Step One, Step Two, Step Three, Step Four, Step Five. And you do this, and it's going to be really good." They are that.

In fact, the word "intelligence" means one thing along with the other thing and you are piecing everything together. In fact, if you stop and think about it, that's actually how AI works: artificial intelligence. When you ask ChatGPT or any kind of artificial intelligence a question, what it does is it does a probability engine of this phrase in response to that; probably goes best with the next phrase, which goes best with the next phrase, which goes best with the next phrase. That's how artificial intelligence in some operates.

And so, what the Bible says is intelligence, putting one thing together with another, is exactly how even the modern-day usage of intelligence works. And on the one hand, God, throughout Scripture, in Isaiah all the way through the Psalms and into 1 Corinthians, says that He makes the wisdom of the wise and the intelligence folly because that's where His glory is, to show that even the best that we have to offer and the best that we are is nothing compared to God.

But on the other hand, for that very reason, the wise and intelligent from a human, worldly, fleshly, external perspective, those are the best and brightest we have to offer. We want to hire people who are the smartest, the deepest thinker, the most insightful, the ones who are creative and have ingenuity. We want to know and hire people who can execute, who know one thing after another thing after another thing and can grind and get it done. We want to hire those people. Those are the most skilled people. Those are the people you want to put resources to and invest in.

And here's what the Lord says God didn't entrust them. God didn't invest in them the gospel. That's His glory. And instead, who did He give the gospel to? Notice the next phrase of verse 21: "He gave them to infants, to babies, to the littlest of children."

Now let me say this before I get myself into trouble. Little kids, babies, they're cute. They're cute, for the record. They're cute. But the emphasis here is we all know little, little babies, they're physically incompetent. They're not the smartest on the block. There's a reason why you don't make a baby a CEO of a company, they're just not there yet.

And in fact, what do we often tell kids all the time? We just say, "Oh, you're just the kid, you can't do that. Oh, you can't be in this conversation." "Why?" "Because you're a kid; and when you grow up, then you can be part of the conversation."

"Oh, you can't do this job." "Why not?" "You can't handle that tool." "Why not?" "Because you're just a kid, and we can't do that, it's too dangerous. When you grow up, you can do this."

"You can't do that activity." "Why? Why not?" "Because you're just a kid, and you have to wait, you have to grow up, you have to get more mature."

"You can't eat this food, this drink." "Why not?" "Because it's unhealthy, and when you grow up, then you can be unhealthy." I don't know, just something like that.

"You can't drive a car. You can't sleep late. You can't do this, you can't do that, " and we just tell them, "No, no, no, no, no," all the time, and rightly so.

You would never, ever entrust that which is so precious, that which is so valuable to a child for fear that they would waste it and they would squander it because they don't appreciate how good or how valuable are the skills required to do something with it. And here's what we have to understand: we are all infants before our God. We are all infants before our God. And all of heaven, they hold up your picture, so to speak, and they say, "You're really going to give the gospel to that person? They're like a baby, they can't handle it. They're too young, they shouldn't handle it. I mean, look at what they say to their own kids, "You can't do this, you can't do that."

You shouldn't have the gospel. Heaven by rational means would reason that the gospel given to us would be a waste. It would be completely irrational to give it to people like you or me. We don't appreciate it the way we should. We don't have the skills to utilize it the way we ought. We don't have the heart to deeply have gratitude the way it should be. And the question is, "Why would God waste the gospel on people like you and me?" And here's what Jesus says: "But He does anyway. He does anyway."

His delight is to give it to the infants. That's why He says, "Yes, O Father, because in this all good pleasure is before You." This is what the Father loves. He loves us so much that it's not just that we don't deserve it, it's that we're perfectly undeserving of it. You should not have the gospel by rights. You shouldn't. Just like you shouldn't give a child a Lamborghini and say, "Drive it." You and I should never have ever touched the gospel, never. But God gave it to us anyways.

You want to know why the gospel is so precious? It's not just precious because it's the best gift that God, the triune God, ever dreamed of. It's because the possession of it is so special to us, because when you look around you know, yeah, it might have been an amazing gift. And we could still say it's amazing even if you never held it in your hands, but that you do means that it's extra amazing because you know you should have never gotten your hands on it. You should have never experienced it. It should have never been revealed to you. The doorway, the revelation should have never been opened.

Choice

It's not just precious because and it's not just a privilege and a joy because it's the compassion of God, it is so amazing because we are so contemptible. Here's a third reason. It's not just that we are contemptible. It's not just that it is the compassion of God. "It is also divine choice. It is also divine choice."

Look at verse 22. In this verse, it's actually one of the most profound statements. That's what all scholars and academics say about this verse in Luke. It's one of the most profound statements about Jesus in the book of Luke because this shows that Jesus is completely self-aware of Himself and His mission, and He even understands the depths of the Trinity, and it's all packed into this phrase. It's a very, very dense and profound statement, and it begins with this: "All things," Jesus says, "have been given to Me by My Father."

Notice the tense of the verb: "All things have been given, were given to Me" – when? – "eternity past, eternity past." This is Jesus reflecting on eternity past. And what is the activity? Well, it's all things given to Jesus. It's completeness in that regard. And when we say "all" here, we really do mean all, everything – every atom, every facet, every person, every event, everything in history, everything in this world of every single location in the created order. Every single thing is His. He owns it all. He owns it all.

And not only that, He owns it all completely. Notice the language. It says, "It was handed over to Him by His Father, handed over to Him by His Father." Sometimes you might say we give somebody the keys, but we kind of still hold onto them. Sometimes we say, "Oh, you can have the reins," but you still manage them a little bit. Here's what the Father said: "It's all Yours; I hand it over all to You."

Now, think carefully about this. If the Father divests things to the Son, and He divests everything, then all of a sudden, God the Father would no longer be God the Father, yes, because He would've been giving everything up to His Son, yes? This doesn't make any sense, unless the Father and the Son are absolutely one. Only then will this phrase actually cohere.

If the Father gives everything to the Son, then the Father is no longer the Father in that sense, and He would lose everything. But only if They are one in absolute union, not even just agreement, not just even parallel. We are not talking about the Father says, You get 50 percent and I get 50 percent." This is not a split. This only works with its totality and comprehensiveness if the Father and the Son are one. And with this one phrase, Jesus has taken you to eternity past in the relations of the triune Godhead. That's what He's done. And this is what it should alert us to. By the way, this is not only the eternity past, this is not only completeness, this is not only complete giving, this is therefore a unique love from the Father to the Son. And that's why Jesus, even in the phrase, He says, "My Father."

You know, it's very interesting that in the book of Luke, in the book of Luke, Jesus never addresses the Father by saying, "Our Father." He only says in the book of Luke, "My Father." You say, "Why?" Because He has a unique relationship with His Father, a unique love with His Father because they are, in fact, what? One. They are one. And so, Jesus has unveiled to us another side of Him maybe we don't even think about: His eternity past, His complete domination, the complete giving of that to Him, His complete unity with His Father, and therefore a unique and exceptional love that the Father and the Son share because they, in fact, are one. What a privilege it is to know Christ.

You know, we get impressed by people that we think we know. We think they're amazing people. This is the One who owns all things. This is the One who knows owns all things, determines everything. You get impressed with some kind of CEO, some big influential tycoon. This is the One that owns him. This is the one that owns her. That's who we know.

And sometimes we get very familiar with Jesus because we read about Him in the Gospels, and we understand who He is and what He does. There is a dimension to our Lord we cannot plumb the depths of, a dimension that goes into eternity past, a dimension that is triune, a dimension that is transcendent, and our minds cannot get around that. It's a privilege to know the Lord Jesus Christ. You will never be able to wrap your arms around Him, that's what makes it such an honor to know Him.

But at the same time that He is so exalted drives everything else in this verse. You see, because what makes His choice a choice is not just that He has this exalted authority to do so, it is that there is an exclusivity to His choice. Notice the next phrase: "No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son."

Man on his own, no one, no man that is, can know who the Son is except the Father. You and I, we don't have the ability, we don't have the skills, we don't have the smarts. We are biased and we are always bent, and we cannot know the Son, only the Father knows that. And you say, "Well, I think it's pretty obvious who Jesus is. If you read the Gospels, you see Him do all these miracles, you hear His words. I mean, it's pretty clear."

Okay, if it's that clear, why'd they crucify Him? It's so obvious, and it is obvious. Why did they still hang Him on a tree like a criminal if He's so obviously the Messiah? You say, "But He is obviously the Messiah." I agree with you. But man given to his own desires, in his own depravity and lust, will always suppress the truth in unrighteousness. And so even though it is patently clear, by miracle, by act, by word, who Jesus is, people will always pervert it, exactly like Jesus said: "No one can know the Son except the Father, and no one can know the Father except the Son."

People think, "I want a connection with God. I want to know God." You can't do that unless you're the Son. They have a unique relationship, that's why He's so exalted, They're one. And if you have no connection with the Father, you have no blessing, no forgiveness, and no life; your eternity is damned.

And so, here's what we learn. With the word "no one, no one, no one," the gospel is exclusive. You want to know why the gospel is such a privilege, such a joy? Because it's special. And you know what makes something special? It's selective. It's selective. If everybody gets something, guess what? Then it's not special because everybody gets it. A privilege is only a privilege if someone doesn't receive that privilege. And you say, "Whoa, that sounds so unfair, partiality, biased, not politically correct." Okay, I understand the concern. Let me help you.

So, at The Master's University, part of this story does happen and part of this story does not happen. The part that does happen is that sometimes guys propose to girls to get married. I like that part. A ring by spring, it's great. The part that has never happened at The Master's University, let's say a guy proposed to a girl, everyone says, "Aw, so good." And then we realize that the guy put an engagement ring in every girl's mailbox. No one's saying, "Aw, how sweet," and certainly not the first girl that He proposed to. Why? Because an engagement ring to everybody isn't special anymore.

Brothers and sisters, let me be clear, and I do not mean to be crass at all, but if one person loves their spouse and another person the same way, that's not called being unbiased, that's called adultery, because love is always particular. That's what makes love set apart, that it is upon one and not someone else the same way.

Do you want to know why the gospel is so precious? Do you want to know why it is so, so amazing and should give us joy and should humble us? Because it's particular. Because it's particular. Doesn't mean that we deserved it. No, we already covered, we're contemptible, we don't deserve it, we shouldn't have it. But that we get it anyways and other people don't should remind us of how precious this is. It's precious because of its possession, it's precious because it is precious, and it's precious because it's particular. And even more, look at this final phrase of verse 22.

You know, the only people who get the gospel, the only ones who receive it are "those to whom," it says this, "that the Son wills to reveal it." The word "wills" denotes a determination, a decision, a selection and election that has consequential and effective results, infallible results. That's what's going on there.

But notice this. It says that "He wills to reveal it." Often we think of a reveal as if somebody's just pulling back the veil and saying, "Here it is, come and get it. Here it is, come look at it." That is not the way this verb is used.

Think about the passage in Galatians chapter 1 where Paul says that "God revealed His Son in me." That was not just God saying, "Here is Jesus; come and get Him, Paul." No, "He revealed the Son in me." He went into Paul's heart, He transformed his soul, He revealed the gospel and made it click and made him understand it. That invasive proactive revelation is the revelation that we have here. And this is what makes the gospel so profound. It isn't just that it is precious because it is precious, or the possession of it is amazing or that it is particular. It is this: it is personal. It is personal.

When you and I were saved, when you and I were saved, Jesus personally saved us. He went into your heart. He regenerated our heart. He enlightened our mind, and He gave us the faith to come to Him and He drew us to Himself, and He did it personally, because only the one that the Son wills comes to Him. That's what He did.

Let me put it this way. When I first became President at The Master's University and Seminary, a student came up to me and he said, "Dr. Chou?" and I said, "Yes, student." And he said, "Well, I'm graduating this year." "Congratulations." And he said, "Yeah. Is Dr. MacArthur still going to be there to hand out my diploma?" I said, "Yeah." He goes, "That's good." And I kind of joked with him and said, "Because you don't want me to hand you your diploma?" and he goes, "I don't know what to say, Dr. Chou." I said, "You should say, 'Absolutely.' I would want Dr. MacArthur to hand me my diploma."

It doesn't matter if his name is on it. That's true, that's good, that's special. But there's something even more special when he gives it to you, what? Personally. He gives it to you personally.

Now, we are talking about not just the diploma but the greatest gift that the triune God can conceive of and has executed by the blood of His Son. And you know what's so special about it? He gave it to you, what? Personally, to your very soul the day you were saved. That is how special this gift is. That's what gives the Son joy. It isn't just because it is the compassion of God or that we are contemptible, it is because of divine choice.

Climactic

And finally, it's climactic. It's climactic. That's what the gospel and the privilege of the gospel is. It is climactic.

You know, sometimes when we talk about election, we can have this attitude, "I'm part of the frozen chosen. Look at me." And we have to remind people like that, "Hey, calm down, be humble. You know, you're not that special, you're special in spite of yourself and all this kind of stuff, and there's a pastoral place for that." But here's what you can never forget though: even among the elect, Jesus says we have a very unique privilege. We have a very unique privilege.

You say, "How so? Are you sure?" Yes, Jesus Himself signals that activity, signals that intent. Look at verse 23: "Turning to the disciples, He spoke to them" – what? – "privately." This wasn't for everybody. This wasn't even for everybody of that time period or even among all. There is something special and unique here and it is the highest level of blessing. Why? What does He say? "Blessed are the eyes of those who see what you see. Anyone who's in your shoes and can see what you see, you have the highest blessing" – why? – "because you are blessed among all people."

Look at verse 24: "For I say to you that many," – stop there – "many. Even among the elect, there are many that you are still having an advantage over." What kind of people among the elect? Look at this: prophets. Prophets by position.

You'd think they would get the highest privileges because they have the hardest job – people like Moses, people like Isaiah, people like Jeremiah and Ezekiel. You would think they must have the highest privilege because they sacrificed a lot and they're heroes of the faith. "You have a higher privilege than them – many also." Not only prophets, but kings.

You think, "Well, maybe by prerogative they should get something good. Maybe they're not always the best people at all, but by prerogative they could get it, David and Solomon and the rest." Nope, you have a higher privilege than them. You're more privileged than them. Why? Because you are in a certain point of history.

Notice what it says: "They wish to see what you see." You want to know why you're more privileged? Because you saw Jesus. You know Him based on the words of Scripture. They knew Him face to face, that is the disciples. And you know every activity that you need to know. You've seen where He's walked. You've heard His words. And since Jesus is the hero of all heroes, and since He is the one who is the Savior of this world by position, there is no one more precious, there is no one more precious to know and to see and to savor than Him.

Put it this way. You know what Moses and Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel would say to us? "You're so blessed. Every day you can see Jesus. We died hoping that we would just get a glimpse into one moment of His life, just one event, just one fraction; and you get it all, you see it all. You have it every day at your fingertips."

You are the most blessed because you're at this point of history. And you're not just blessed because you're at this point of history, you're blessed because you have the most precious promises. Notice this: "and to hear what you heard." And they did not hear that.

You know, the prophets, they knew what Jesus was going to do. They knew His death and resurrection, but they didn't know all the consequences, all the trickle-down effect, all the promises that would ensue from that singular act, and they said, "It'd be amazing to hear all the different things that the Lord will bless His people with because of the Savior. And even more, it'd be so amazing to hear these words: 'This is for you right now.'" They never got that. They never got that in the Old Testament.

To help you understand this, let me put it this way. Sometimes we ask a question, "If you could go anywhere in time, where would it be?" And some people say, "Ah, I'd want to go back to the exodus and watch the ten plagues, provided that I was in suspended animation so the plagues didn't really affect me and I could just watch as an outside observer." Okay, that's a really great technical answer.

Some people say, "I'd like to be at the crossing of the Red Sea." Of course, some people would say the battle of David and Goliath; and others, of course, would say the death and resurrection of our Lord, amen. Do you know where the Old Testament saints would want to be? Now, not because we have air-conditioning, not because we have heating and cars, and certainly not because we have a Super Bowl. It is because they wish to see what we can see, and they wished to hear what we hear now.

Conclusion

You have to understand this: even among the elect, we are the most privileged. Even among the elect, we are the most privileged. We are at a climactic point of history. And they longed with all of their heart to see and to experience and to know that the Lord Jesus did come in the flesh, and that He did live for us a righteous life in our place, and He did die for us, and His death atoned for our sin and propitiated God's wrath. And they longed to see and to know His resurrection, and that He triumphed over the grave with such victory and power. And they longed to know that this would result in justification, and they longed to experience that it would result in adoption as sons, and the indwelling of the Spirit, and the powerful sanctification wrought in our lives as lives are transformed, and hearts are comforted, and we are preserved by the powerful working of God unto a glory. And they longed to see the day when Christ would return, and all things made right and new, and we be with Him forever.

That's what it means for our names to be written in the book of life. That's what it means. And we are the most privileged among all privileged to have that. And that's what gave Jesus joy. That's why He rejoiced because thinking on that made the man of sorrows glad, and it should make us glad, too. Shall we pray?

[Prayer] Our God and Father, thank You. Thank You for Your Son. Thank You for His immense sacrifice. Thank You for the preciousness of the gospel. It is so beautiful. It is the majesty of the triune Godhead. It is wondrous in its possession. It is majestic in its particular nature and its personal nature and its climactic and privileged nature. May we never, never lose sight of that. Even if we are familiar with the gospel, may old news never cease to be good news. And may we remember this is the Son's greatest joy, so it must be ours as well because there truly is nothing better than the gospel. May all this happen so that Your Son and His work of the gospel be praised, in Your name we pray. Amen.