In your Bibles this morning, Luke chapter number 10, Luke chapter number 10, we're reading verse number 17. And when you come here in Luke 10, a group of 70 disciples have just gone on a trip. And Jesus, if you remember, sent them and said, he said, don't take extra money. Don't take extra bedding. Don't take extra clothes. Don't take extra shoes. Don't plan on staying in the ends. He says, you go and you serve me and, and I'm going to meet your needs and I'm going to help you and bless you. It was an adventure that these folks had never been part of, and they go and they come back. And when they come back, we meet them, and they're giving testimony to Jesus, and rightfully so. Their hearts are full of joy because God had met their needs, and God had proven Himself faithful, and God had done some amazing, miraculous, wonderful things as they followed Him. And I'll let you know something. If you'll follow the Lord with your life, you'll find Him always faithful. If you will take a step of faith toward the Lord and trust Him, He's going to be good. You can be sure of it. We meet up with these disciples, and rightfully so, they're rejoicing. And their hearts are full of joy, and they're going to give testimony that even as they were out serving the Lord, that the power of Satan was put at bay through Jesus' name, through them and their ministry. And Jesus is going to have a moment to teach these disciples some things and some priorities that you may find a bit unusual, but very helpful. And I want to preach a message this morning. It's titled this, Rejoice! Your Names Are Written in Heaven. Rejoice! Your Names Are Written in Heaven. And this text is quite special. I'm excited to share it with you. Look what the Bible says in Luke chapter 10, beginning verse 17. And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you, notwithstanding. In this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." Now this is an interesting text. If you just take verse number 20 and you preach verse number 20 all by itself, you think, hmm, that's interesting, and you'd park there at the end of the verse and you'd preach on salvation, and you should, it's awesome to preach that our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, our names are written in heaven. I'm thankful that because I put my trust in Jesus, I repented of my sins and trusted in Christ as my Savior, that I know that my name is written in heaven. And I'm thankful for that. It's wonderful. And it'd be a great sermon to preach just on the last part of this verse. But when you put this in context, there's a lesson that the Lord wants us to know and learn. And God is going to take this moment when this group of disciples have come in from their missions trip and after a time of seeing God do through them miraculous, wonderful things in his name, the Lord Jesus is going to take a moment to teach them a lesson about something. The lesson is this. What God has done for you is more important than what you do for God. Now I want you to know that we do a lot of preaching and okay preaching. Encouraging Christians to do and serve and do and serve and do and serve. But I want you to know something. The works that you do for God are not as important as the work that God has done and does for you. God knows that in our hearts and in our nature is this desire to do and to prove our self-worthy by our works, but I want you to understand that that is not how a man or a woman or a boy or a girl It pleases God. That's not how we spend eternity in heaven. It's not how we get forgiveness and peace with God. It's not our works. It's not the things we do that give us standing with God. But it is our faith and trust. in Jesus Christ and Christ alone that gives us standing with God and the promise of eternal life. We come to this text because here's something pretty awesome. These disciples, and I want you to know, Jesus is not just going to bust their bubble and say all that stuff you did is no count. You've got to trust in me. That's not the spirit of this. But Jesus' spirit is going to help these disciples understand in the days that are ahead Don't catch yourself only rejoicing when you are doing, doing, doing, winning, winning, winning. Serving, serving, serving. He says don't rejoice primarily in the great works that you do for me. He says what you've got to constantly rejoice in. You've got to rejoice, and you should rejoice that your name is written in heaven. Long after I'm unable to preach a sermon, my name will be written in heaven. Long after I'm able to change a tire for a widow, my name will be written in heaven. Long after I no longer have the ability to do the things that I want to do, My name will be written in heaven and I want you to understand it's not how good I am or what I do for God that makes the most difference. It is what God has done for me. And Jesus wants to help these disciples to have joy in their heart and peace in their lives for all of their lives and for all of eternity because they're going to put the emphasis where God puts the emphasis. God's emphasis is not how good you are at serving him, but how good he is at saving you. He says, rejoice, your names are written in heaven. Now, let's look at this text and begin to understand some of these. Now, Jesus is going to take this moment, and the disciples are excited, and rightfully so. They're excited because they've come in, and everything God said that would happen, happened. God was faithful. And they come in and they're rejoicing and they're giving God glory. But Jesus is going to take this moment when they're excited. to bring them back to earth and teach them something that will help them. How many of you know somebody that they feel like their spiritual gift in life is to keep you put in your place? How many of you have ever met somebody like that? I mean, you know this person, you go to them and you've had a victory and you rejoice in your victory and they're the person that when you go to them and you rejoice in your victory and you're excited about things going on and they say something like, don't get used to it, it don't normally happen like that. How many of you know that encourager? Some people God has just given them that spiritual gift to keep you humble. Jesus in this moment is going to take this opportunity when the disciples are up, up, up about the things they've done to bring them down to a place where they're going to be able to see victory for the days that are ahead. I don't know about you, but I'm thankful for the person that told me, Cody, there's no hope. You will never be an NBA basketball player. They may have hurt my feelings and said that it's just not normal for a basketball player in the NBA to be 5'10 and over 200 pounds. It's just not normal. They may have hurt my feelings, but I'm glad they gave me The good counsel. Because you know what? God had something better for my life than playing NBA basketball. God had a better purpose. And the Lord is going to help these disciples. to know that it's not casting out demons that is the most important thing in the Christian life. And it's not preaching awesome sermons that is the most important thing in the Christian life. And it is not doing everything right all the time that is most important in the Christian life. The most important thing that we can hold on to and remember and rejoice in It's when I was a sinner, Jesus in love forgave my sins and gave me everlasting eternal life. God's protecting us. He's protecting us from being sucked into the religious notion that says I've got to work and produce to please God. We get to work and produce and that pleases God. But the most important thing we can ever remember is that our names are written in heaven. Now this is something that I want you to pay close attention to and see as we study this passage of scripture together. God is going to help us to understand that it is good to serve Him. Don't get me wrong. But our rejoicing is not in our works, our rejoicing is in Jesus. Let's consider a few things. Number one, Jesus gives joy and blessing. Folks, I'm so thankful that I can tell you that Jesus does give joy and blessing. Now, it's fun to see, because in verse 17, it's no secret, and we're not taking away from the joy of the moment. The Bible says in verse 17, the 70 returned again with joy, saying, Even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. If you remember, this group of 70 disciples, they pulled out and they left and they went and did what Jesus had said. Jesus had said, don't take extra money, don't take extra bedding, don't plan on staying in the inns. When you go to a town, folks are going to take care of you, they're going to help you. The labor is worthy of his hire, and you trust me, and you go, and you're going to find out that I'm going to be with you, and I'm going to help you. And so they just obeyed the Lord. And these 70, they just took a step of faith toward the Lord, and God blessed them for it. And after their missions trip, journey, their time of trusting God and serving God came to a full circle and they're back in the presence of Jesus, they want to come to Jesus and they want to let Jesus know, hey, we are so full of joy because you were right and you were faithful. We're full of joy. I want you to know that if you'll step toward the Lord in your Christian life, If you'll say no to sin, and you'll say yes to God, and you'll step toward the Lord, and you'll take the next step, whatever the next step is. I love to think about this, but you know what God wants you to do? He wants you to do in your Christian life whatever is next. So what's next? What's next for me is different than what's next for you, but what's next? Let's just start at the beginning. Let's start here. If you're here today and there's never been a time where you repented of your sins and personally prayed and trusted Jesus by faith as your Savior, I want you to know the next step for you is to ask Jesus to forgive your sins and be your Savior and begin a relationship with Jesus. That's the next step. And you're here, and you say, I feel the tugging of the Lord in my heart, and I know that I'm a sinner, and I know that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, but I'm having trouble taking that step. Let me just tell you something. If you'll take that next step, you're going to find out God's faithful. And when you obey God, you know what happens? It brings us joy. It brings us joy. You're saved. You know that you put your trust in Jesus. There's a time when the Lord changed your life, and you know that you're saved. Perhaps you're one of these secret service Christians. You got saved, but you ain't told nobody. Well, I'm going to tell you something, and you can get mad at me if you want to. Shame on you. You know what the Bible says? The Bible says, the redeemed of the Lord say so. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Don't be ashamed that you know Jesus. As a matter of fact, it's a shame to talk to folks and often I get to be the person that's put in that very uncomfortable situation when a family has a loved one that They're just not sure if they're saved or not. Most of the time it's a him and I go into a hospital room or a living room and talk to him, sometimes her. Sir, do you believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins? Yes. Has there ever been a time when you got saved and put your trust in Jesus? Yes. Tell me about it. Uncomfortable, but they'll tell me and there's relief in my heart. I'll tell their family and there's relief in their hearts. And my next emotion is, why in the world did you not let your family know that you had a personal relationship with Jesus? Why didn't you let your family know that you're trusting in Jesus? Why in the world would you be so stubborn and full of pride that you would not admit that you know Christ by faith as your Savior? If you'll take the next step, do you know what's going to be the byproduct of obeying God? Joy. Joy for you and probably other people around you. You're saved, you've never been baptized. You need to follow the Lord in baptism. It's something that he asked of. It's the first step of obedience. You need to be baptized. You're saved, baptized. You've been attending this church for a long time, but you've never joined it. Well, join the church. That's the next thing. That's something that you can do. You're faithful to Sunday morning church. Praise the Lord, that's wonderful. God tugging at your heart about maybe doing a little bit more, getting a little more involved, then do it. I want you to understand, you may have fear about taking the next step, and no doubt these 70 disciples, they had fear about the step that God asked them to take, but when they took it and they followed God, the end result was they came back and they said, wow, everything God promised was true, and more, and God was faithful and good, and he gave us joy. Now, I want you to understand that blessing and joy comes from Jesus. Jesus gives it to us. And this is a fun story. I love this emphasis. I love what happens in verse 17. The 70 returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. They came back and said, Lord, not only was this a blast, it was wonderful doing what you called us to do. But as we went, we had the ability in your name to cast out devils. Now how does that apply to right now? There may be opportunities to cast out devils. I'm looking for them, I can guarantee you that. How does that apply to today? I'll tell you. You step out and trust the Lord and obey Him, you're going to find out that that person you never thought could ever be saved puts their trust in Jesus. That situation that you thought there was never any hope for, God does it. peace and the storm, grace for the troubled. I'm just telling you, God will do amazing things. And these disciples, they come back and they say, we've obeyed the Lord, we've followed the Lord, and the end result is we have joy and we are amazed at what God can do. God's still doing that. Don't forget it, God is still doing that. And if you'll just say, I'm gonna do whatever it is that's next in my Christian life, you're gonna find out Jesus gives joy and blessing. Jesus gives joy and blessing. I'm so thankful for this truth. Ruth and I, we were both 26. God moved in our hearts. I was the youth pastor at Temple Baptist in Powell. God moved in our hearts to pastor and the Lord started putting together some pieces. We heard about this church called Boiling Springs Baptist Church in Fletcher, North Carolina. I'm going to tell you how little I knew about Boiling Springs Baptist Church in Fletcher, North Carolina. I had no idea what part of North Carolina it was even in. And I remember getting on a computer and looking it up and spotting where it was. Oh, wow, that's neat. That's just south of Asheville. That's kind of cool. And then I looked and saw how far it was from Knoxville, where we lived at the time. And I was like, that's not terribly far. And so the Lord started working our hearts. We'd never heard of Bowling Springs Baptist Church. We'd never heard of Fletcher, North Carolina. God was moving in our hearts. I said, as Saturday morning early, I said, hey Ruth, let's drive down there. And our boys were just babies. We put them in car seats and hopped in the car. We drove from Knoxville to Fletcher. I was really praying that nobody was at church when we were there because I didn't want anybody to see because I wanted to snoop. And I did. And so we pulled in there. There's nobody in the parking lot. And I'll never forget it. stepped up to the front door, glass doors of the church and I peeped in and Ruth was right beside me and we was looking to see what was going on in there and see what it all looked like and I was looking to make sure nobody was seeing me and then I slipped around to the chapel and I looked in the door at the chapel to see what was going on there and I remember we drove down the parking lot and went to the fellowship hall and Peeped in the fellowship hall, I couldn't see very good, but I was just so curious. And I drove around the neighborhoods, and I was fascinated to see what was going on. And then part of me was fascinated, and another part of me was scared to death. In the days that were just ahead, God started putting all the pieces together, and they called us for a meeting. We went down there and met some people. And I got to go into the buildings that I'd been snooping in before. Started meeting some folks. The next thing you know, they've called us to be their pastor. The folks at Bowling Springs, they were looking for a seasoned pastor with a grown family that had been in the ministry for a long time. And so they ended up with me, 26, had never pastored before, and I had two little kids in diapers. And we went. And I'll just tell you, there was an element of that move that was very scary. We took a pay cut and went to a place that cost more to live and we were in a town that we'd never been in before and we knew zero people in Fletcher, North Carolina. I mean zero. We loaded up and went and just started doing the best we knew how, messing up a lot along the way. You know what the end result was? Joy. God blessed. God bless. It's sweet. I text one of my deacons from Bowling Springs this morning. He's getting ready to retire. It's sweet. It's good. It's joyful. It's awesome. And I just want you to know that whatever it is that's next in your Christian life, if you'll follow the Lord, He'll bless you. It's true. And these 70 disciples, they came in and they said, Jesus, it was awesome what we just did. And we did more than we could ever imagine. And you were faithful. It was wonderful. But that's not the end of the story. That's all good. I promise you. It's all good and wonderful. And it's what you should do. But that's not the end of the story. Do you know what we're tempted to do? We're tempted to look back at some religious experience that we had at one point in our life where God did prove himself faithful, and we did do something that mattered, and God changed our lives. But we're tempted to stay there. and to stay there and try to, we spend the rest of our life trying to reproduce that moment, trying to reproduce that feeling, trying to reproduce that scene and scenario. But you know what God wants us to do? God wants us to do whatever's next. And then when we've done whatever's next, God wants us to say, Lord, what else do you want me to do for you and your glory? He wants us to keep moving. How in the world do you keep moving instead of becoming stuck in some religious tradition? How do you do that? So Jesus moves in his instruction to his disciples from hearing their blessing and rejoicing with them. Number one, Jesus gives joy and blessing. Number two, he reminds them that Jesus is the source of all blessing. What does he do? Does he say, all right boys, let's worship this experience? No, he says, whoa, no, I want you to worship me. Look at the next verse, verse 18. Verse 18 is kind of a head-scratcher, but I think you'll find it very simple. He said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning falling from heaven. Now, that's kind of fascinating because they just said, Jesus, We've had such a wonderful time. Jesus, in your name we cast out demons. And he knew that they were kind of getting focused on that. They were going to begin a ministry to demon exorcisms and stuff. He's like, whoa, don't get sidetracked. Jesus says, I want you to know something about me. He says, I want you to know something about me. Let me tell you about me. He said, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. What in the world does that mean? I'll tell you what it means. Jesus just acknowledges that He's eternal God. Satan was in the Garden of Eden. Satan was an angel of light. Satan, in the book of Ezekiel, chapter 28, was cast out of heaven. Let me read a couple verses of Scripture to you. Maybe you should write these down so you can look at them later for yourself. But Ezekiel, chapter 28, verses 14, 15, and 16. The Bible says, Thou art the anointed cherub. that covereth, and I have set thee, so thou wast upon the holy mountain of God. Thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created. The Bible says that Satan was the anointed cherub. He was perfect in the ways that he was created until iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence. He says, Satan, you're full of violence. And he says, thou hast sinned. And because Satan sinned, here's what the Bible says, therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God, and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub. What happened? Satan was cast out of heaven. What does Jesus say? He says to his 70 disciples, I want you to know something. I think it's pretty exciting that in my name you're able to cast out demons, but let me just tell you how far I go back. I go back to when Satan was originally cast out of heaven. Don't you forget it. Jesus just says, hey look, I'm thankful for what you did, and you did it in my name, and you're giving me praise and glory for it, but I want you to remember who I am. I am eternal God. Jesus says, I'm eternal God. I was there when Satan was cast out of heaven. Well, what does that have to do with anything? He says this in verse 19, he says, Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Now look, some folks have built denominations around this verse. where they want to make an emphasis on that they have power over serpents. I'm going to tell you something. If somebody gets out snakes in church, I'm out of there. And you should too. Run for your life. God is protecting God, but that's not smart, nor scriptural. He says, I give you power to tread on serpents, scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. And nothing shall by any means hurt you. He's not saying, try me out. Go pet scorpions in the name of Jesus. That's not smart. That's not right. Jump off high buildings and just see if God will catch you. That's not smart. That's not right. That's not what he means. That's not what he's emphasizing. He's emphasizing that I give you power. The blessings come from me. I'm eternal God. Jesus is the source of all blessings. What does that have to do with this? I'll tell you what it has to do with this. You see, if we get to the place where we glory in that thing we did, that time we went and began to pastor that church, Well, let me just tell you something. That's long past. It's hard to imagine, but that was like 17 years ago. I've had to serve the Lord a lot since then. I've had to trust the Lord a lot since then. And I'm going to tell you, if you just think I got saved back in the day and that was the end, look, you need to be serving the Lord today or I did this one thing one time 50 years ago. I've had meetings with people and they're mad at me. Because I don't praise them for doing something in the church like 25 years ago that was good, but that was it. Now look, what God wants us to do is God wants us to serve Him today and trust Him. But we're not just trusting in the moment and the past and the works of the past. We're trusting the fact that Jesus is the source of blessing and power now. It's not about me. And it's not about, it's about Him. Jesus gives joy and blessing, it's true. Number two, Jesus is the source of all blessing. Hallelujah. Finally, number three, what Jesus has done for us is more important than what we do for Him. Here's how He concludes this passage. It's so important you pay attention to see it. The Bible says in verse 20, notwithstanding in this rejoice not. In what? Rejoice not. In the ability to cast out demons and the ability to overcome snakes and scorpions. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. What does he say? He says, all that's good. But if you want to have victory in your Christian life, what Jesus has done for you is more important than what you have done for Jesus. This works out in shoe leather a couple ways. what Jesus has done for you is more important than what you have done for Jesus. We get to a place where we can't do what we used to do. How many of you sometimes have a little hurt in your heart because of your age or Your health, you can't do what you used to do for God. How many of you, and help somebody around you, how many of you say, I feel that way, I can't do what I used to do. I just can't, it's just not possible anymore. How many of you have that? And some of you have a little hurt in your heart. Raise your hand, raise it high right there. People are looking, that's good, you're helping somebody. Now I want you to understand something. When I can't do what I used to do, Does that make me less of a child of God? No. Does that make me less important to Jesus? No. Does that make me second-rate in the eyes of Christ? No, because I want you to understand something. What Jesus has done for you is more important than what you do for Jesus. And he says, notwithstanding, Don't rejoice in casting out demons. Rejoice in that your name is written in heaven. The other thing is this. What Jesus has done for us is more important than what we do for him. We can't do what we used to do. We feel guilty. The second thing is this. We think that that one thing that we did 20 years ago is the only thing that we could ever possibly do for God. People get stuck. They get stuck. And I'm not picking on anything specific, but this is an example. They feel like if they don't go on bus visitation on Saturday morning, every Saturday morning, without fail, always going on bus visitation on Saturday morning, on Saturday morning, on Saturday morning, on Saturday morning. If they don't do that, they can't be right with God. I want you to know something, that ain't true. I'm all for bus visitation on Saturday morning if that's what God's given you to do. But if you can't and it's not what God wants for your life at that time, I want to tell you something, that's okay. Some folks get really upset that you don't have Sunday night church at seven o'clock anymore, but it's six o'clock. Back when church was at seven o'clock on Sunday night, God was moving. That's not true. He was probably moving, but he'll move at six as much as he will at seven. It's easy to get hung up. If I'm not doing what I did 25 years ago, that one time when God proved Himself and there was a mighty move of God in my heart and I remember that, if I'm not doing that, then I'm not right with God. Hold on. What you do for God, is not as important as what God has done for you. Let me just tell you something. God wants you to be faithful to church. God wants you to be faithful to read His Bible. God wants you to give. God wants you to serve. God wants you to be effective and faithful. But He does not want you to get stuck worshiping a moment in time or a work that you did one time when you should be worshiping Him. And God doesn't want you to be in bondage to think that the only way God could ever love you is if you do this specific thing. What does God want us to know? What we do for God is not as important as what He has done for us. And you know what He says to His disciples? Notwithstanding in this rejoice not that the spirits are saved in you, don't rejoice primarily in the fact that you're able to cast out demons on that missions trip. He says if you want lasting peace, rejoice in this. Rejoice that your name is written in heaven. Do you want lasting peace? Do you want to have an open mind to do what God has for your life at this stage? I'm going to tell you what it is. You rejoice that God has saved your soul. You rejoice that your name is written down in heaven. You rejoice that you have peace with God, that you have standing with God, that He loves you unconditionally, that you're going to heaven when you die. And when you rest in the fact that God is faithful, you know what's going to happen? You're going to rest in the fact that God has saved you, God is faithful, and as a saved person, you're going to find opportunities to serve Him how you are right now. When's the best time to serve God? In your 20s? 30s? 40s? 50s? 60s? I'll give you the answer. The best time to serve God is right now. And the best way to serve God is the way that God has enabled you to serve Him right now. We don't spend our time saying, boy, I wish. If I was like I used to be, I could really serve God. God says, don't rejoice in what you used to be able to do. Rejoice that you're saved and I can do something with you today. Don't rejoice in what happened one time. Rejoice in that you're saved today and think about what might happen today. Don't be beat down because you can't do what you used to. Rejoice that your name is written in heaven. and God can use you the way you are right now. I guess the most important part of that phrase, rejoice that your name is written in heaven, is to make certain that your name is written in heaven. I'm so thankful that as a boy I knew I was a sinner. I asked Jesus to forgive my sins. I trusted in Christ and He changed my life. You know, you can do the same thing. Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins. He was buried, and three days later He arose from the grave. He defeated death, hell, and the grave. He ascended into heaven. He said, I go to prepare a place for you. And He made it possible that if you will repent of your sins and trust in Him, He made it possible that you can have everlasting life and your name can be written in the Lamb's Book of Life. How do you know, preacher, that you're saved? I felt this sense of conviction and sin. I knew I was a sinner. The best I knew how, I prayed and asked Jesus to forgive me. I asked Him to save me. I committed to serve Him the best I knew how. and God's faithful. The Bible says, whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. And if you're here and you don't know for sure your name is written in heaven, you should turn to the Lord. Get the help you need. Oh, it's sweet. And if you are saved, don't get bogged down in the past. Rejoice and praise the Lord for the glories of the past. We don't diminish those. I praise God for a godly heritage. Don't rejoice in the demons that were cast out many years ago. You rejoice that your name is written in heaven. Because what I do for God is not as important as what God's done for me. Jesus said it like this, rejoice, your names are written in heaven.