However…
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
What was the most exciting thing that happened in your life this week?
Did you have any “victories” this week?
Sometimes our testimonies are so outdated one might wonder if God is still real to us! If God is real to us today, then we ought to have lots of reasons to celebrate every week.
Jesus is sending His disciples on ahead to where He Himself planned to go.
Luke 10:1-11, 16
1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.
2 He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.
4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
5 "When you enter a house, first say, ’Peace to this house.’
6 If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you.
7 Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.
8 "When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you.
9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ’The kingdom of God is near you.’
10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say,
11 ’Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.’
16 "He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."
(NIV)
One thing is sure:
Whether or not men responded,
the reign of God would be present!
The Results:
Luke 10:17
17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."
(NIV)
Don’t you just love it when your team wins! Even in church,
we celebrate those victories when God “breaks through”!
The seventy were astonished at the miraculous power they were enabled to exercise. They were joyous at their accomplishments. People love that kind of sensationalism!
Even Jesus recognized the victory!
Luke 10:18
18 He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
(NIV)
What is Jesus talking about here? Some pre-historic event? Some ancient scene? I don’t think so. The context here is the seventy reporting back to Jesus that “even the demons submit to us in Your Name!” (vs. 17) So Jesus relies, “Yes, I was watching as the Enemy was falling like lightning flashes and as gone. That happened because I gave you that authority! (vs. 19)
Luke 10:19
19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.
(NIV)
It is not about what we can do!
It is always about what God is doing!
Victory over Satan means that the reign of God is
breaking through.
Satan’s power is broken! He has fallen!
…However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."
(Luke 10:20 NIV)
Here is the proper emphasis, the proper ground for rejoicing. Power and its manifestation is more glamorous, but eternal life is more essential. In reality, Satan fell the day Jesus wrote your name in Heaven! The day you got saved, Satan fell out of the throne of your life and Jesus moved in!
Citizenship in Heaven is more important than the ability to produce dread in hell or on earth.
The angels think so!
Luke 15:7
7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
(NIV)
Manifestations of God’s power are minor flashes of lightning when compared to what Jesus did for you…
…when He saved your soul,
…cleansed you with His own blood,
…justified you,
making you just as if you had never sinned,
…recreated you as a new creature in Christ Jesus,
and wrote your name in blood in the Book of Life!
SATAN’S GOAL IS TO SEND YOU INTO HELL WITH HIM. HE REALIZES HE IS ETERNALLY DOOMED TO HELL, BUT AS AN ACT AGAINST GOD HE WANTS YOU TO GO ALSO. BUT WHEN YOU WERE BORN AGAIN, AT THAT VERY MOMENT IN TIME, YOUR NAME WAS WRITTEN IN HEAVEN, RECORDED IN THE LAMB’S BOOK OF LIFE. THINK ABOUT HOW ANGRY THAT MADE THE DEVIL.
ONE DAY ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF GOD, WE WILL ALL STAND BEFORE THE JUDGMENT SEAT OF JESUS CHRIST. THERE WE WILL GIVE ACCOUNT OF THE THINGS WE HAVE DONE IN OUR BODY, BOTH THE GOOD AND THE EVIL. I CAN IMAGINE SATAN WILL BE SOMEWHERE AROUND TO CAST ACCUSATIONS AGAINST US. WHEN OUR NAME IS READ HE WILL DECLARE SOMETHING LIKE THIS: "THEY CANNOT GO TO HEAVEN BECAUSE ON ------- DATE, I PERSUADED THEM TO LIE, AND TO STEAL. ON ANOTHER DATE ------ I CONVINCED THEM TO CURSE OR TO COMMIT ADULTERY. THEY ARE GUILTY OF SIN AND WORTHY TO GO TO HELL FOR ETERNITY. THEIR SIN HAS TO BE PUNISHED!"
YOU REMEMBER THOSE TIMES SATAN IS REFERRING TO AND HE IS RIGHT. YOU DID DO THOSE THINGS. YOU ARE GUILTY OF EACH ONE OF THOSE ACUSATIONS SATAN BROUGHT AGAINST YOU. BUT YOU ALSO REMEMBER THAT THERE WAS A TIME WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT MOVED UPON YOUR HEART. JESUS TENDERLY DREW YOU TO HIM AND YOU ASKED HIM TO FORGIVE YOU OF EACH AND EVERY SIN AND TO WASH YOUR HEART AND TO CLEANSE YOU FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. THE BOOK OF LIFE IS OPENED AND THERE IS YOUR NAME, RECORDED IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS, THAT VERY SAME BLOOD THAT WAS SHED UPON CALVARY.
SATAN SAYS, "LOOK ON THIS DATE AND SEE IF I AM NOT RIGHT. SEE IF HE DID NOT COMMITT THOSE THINGS JUST AS I SAID." YET, KNOWING THAT SATAN IS FOR ONCE TRUTHFUL, YOU STAND THERE WITHOUT ANY FEAR OR CONDEMNATION. PERFECT LOVE CASTS AWAY FEAR. YOU HAVE CONFIDENCE IN WHAT JESUS DID FOR YOU. YOU KNOW YOUR NAME IS WRITTEN IN HEAVEN.
JESUS LOOKS ON THE VERY DAY SATAN SPOKE OF. THIS IS SOMETHING WONDERFUL, SOMETHING TO REJOICE IN. SATAN KNEW YOU DID THOSE THINGS, HE REJOICED IN YOUR FAILURE. AND YOU KNEW YOU DID THOSE THINGS. BUT WHEN THE BOOK IS OPENED, ON THOSE DAYS ABOUT WHICH SATAN ACCUSED YOU, NOTHING -- ABSOLUTELY NOTHING --- APPEARS. THERE IS A BLOOD STAIN ON THAT DAY’S PAGE. AS A MATTER OF FACT, IF WE WERE ALLOWED TO SEE THE PAGES OF THE BOOK OF OUR LIFE, FROM THE DAY WE WERE SAVED UNTIL THE DAY WE DIED, EACH AND EVERY PAGE WOULD BE STAINED WITH JESUS’ BLOOD. EACH DAY WE TRUSTED IN HIS FORGIVING POWER.
TO SATAN THE WORDS ARE DECLARED, "NOTHING IS AGAINST HIM."
… Rejoice that your names are written in heaven."
(Luke 10:20 NIV)
Are you depending on God to do something to prove Himself powerful to you? Isn’t the cross enough? Are you living today rejoicing that your name is written in heaven or are you looking for something else? What does He have to do that He hasn’t already done?
