Luke chapter number 10 this morning in your Bibles, Luke chapter number 10, and I want to share with you this message. We're going to begin here reading God's Word in Luke chapter 10, verse number 20. I want to remind you of the context because it's so important. We're going to take an unusual portion of Scripture, but they all fit together, and it's the right thing to do. I feel led of God to share with you this morning. We begin chapter number 10, we meet up with 70 disciples, and 70 disciples are sent out to serve the Lord, and we've been preaching through Luke, so you've been here on Sunday morning, you've heard some messages about this. These 70 disciples, they're sent out to serve the Lord, and this is a group of people who have genuinely put their trust in Jesus. By every indication, they are Jewish disciples. They are folks who had spent their lives under the law and the teaching of the law and the synagogue. And so now they've met Jesus. And they've met Jesus who is the completion and fulfillment of the law and is the Messiah. And these 70 disciples have done something that is very important. They've put their trust in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. They have realized that it is not by the deeds of the law or the works of their hands or religious exercise that they could have peace with God and eternal life. They've realized that Jesus is, in fact, the completion of the Old Testament law and the hope for their eternity. The first verse we're going to read in a moment is going to remind us that Jesus said, sure, while you've been on your missions trip disciple journey, you've done some miraculous things with your hands, but that's not the thing to rejoice in. The thing to rejoice in is rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Jesus is rejoicing and thrilled that these folks have put their trust in Jesus. In our story and reading today, we're going to watch Jesus rejoice in the fact that God has revealed himself. to these 70 disciples. But in contrast, we're going to see a man stand up and tempt Jesus. The Bible calls him a lawyer. You've got to watch out for them lawyers, right? The thing about lawyers is they have to be good at taking jokes. This man's a lawyer. Now, he's not just a lawyer practicing law in a courthouse, but a lawyer at this time was somebody who had devoted his life to studying the law, the Old Testament law, the Mosaic law. And he would have declared himself most likely some type of professional or some type of expert on religious matters. And he stands up and He's going to tempt Jesus. Now, there's a marked difference between him and those 70 disciples. The 70 disciples, they've said, Lord Jesus, whatever you want, whatever you're teaching, we're listening, we're learning. But here we meet up with a man who said, I think I'll just teach Jesus a thing or two myself. He tempts the Lord. He questions the Lord. The Lord ends this passage of scripture, this section of scripture with one of the most famous stories in the book of Luke, the story of the Good Samaritan. I look forward to spending some time on the Good Samaritan, Lord willing, next week. But I want to preach and share with you something just before that. We'll read God's Word together. I've given you a little synopsis, and I wonder if you'll pay attention as we read and ask God to show you the truth in this text. Luke 10, beginning in verse 20, Jesus speaking to the 70 disciples. He says, Notwithstanding in this, rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you. But rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. In that hour, Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight, all things are delivered to me of my Father. And no man knoweth who the Son is but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him. And he turned him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things that you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them. And behold, I want you to note in verse 25, And behold, a certain lawyer stood up, There's a strong connection here between the previous scene and the scene we're getting ready to read. These are not separate accounts. They're tied together. The Bible says in verse 25, "...and behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? How readest thou? And he answered and said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right, this do, and thou shalt live. But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor? We'll end our reading there. The next few verses is the story of the Good Samaritan. I encourage you to read it. And we're going to spend some time there because it's important. And it connects us with this passive scripture. But I want you to see in verse 29, I want you to ask the Lord to use His word to speak to your heart. This statement, the Bible says in verse 29, but he willing to justify himself. He willing to justify himself. So the story goes like this. In verse 29, this lawyer speaks up and he says, so tell me something, Jesus. And he's tempting Jesus. You can imagine the spirit that he has. So tell me something. What must a man do to inherit eternal life? Now I'll just have you know, he didn't ask Jesus because he wanted an answer. He asked Jesus because he wanted to try to catch Jesus and be able to shame Jesus and be able to declare his law degree more powerful than Jesus' understanding of things. By the way, if you ever get to the place where you think you know more than Jesus, you're wrong. So he's tempting Jesus, what can a man do to inherit eternal life? Jesus says, well, you're a lawyer. You tell me, what does the law say? And he said, fine, I'm glad you asked, because here's what I'm hoping in. The law says that if a man will love the Lord his God with all of his heart, his soul, his strength, and his mind, and love his neighbors as himself, then he can have everlasting life. You know what Jesus says to that? You're right. You're right. And this man, the lawyer, he was absolutely convinced that he had kept that law. He believed in his heart that he loved the Lord his God with all his heart, his soul, his mind, his strength. Now he had a little trouble with the whole love your neighbor as yourself thing. He'd come up with a way to justify his sin. He had defined neighbor in a different way. He had defined neighbor as somebody that was right next door, somebody that hadn't done you wrong, somebody that wasn't your enemy. And in his heart, he felt like if neighbor, the word neighbor was defined the right way, He had eternal life, and he was standing pure before God. I'm going to tell you something, he was wrong. And God in His Word said about this man, he was willing to justify himself. Now, look, you may say, well, that's him, but that would never be me. But I've got to tell you something, pent up in all of our hearts is this desire to do religion our way and find our way to God and to heaven and to eternal life and we want in our flesh to justify ourselves. But you know something? You can't. I can't. I can't justify myself. But I'll tell you something. Now for thousands of years people in the name of religion and religious exercise and good deeds and morals and good behavior have attempted in the power of their flesh to justify themselves. I want to warn you, you can't. That's why Jesus came. And this passage of scripture, it reminds us and shows us two very distinct groups of people. I should say one group and one person. I've got two simple points for you. Number one is this, the 70 were right. Point number two, the lawyer was wrong. Let's take a few minutes and I'll share this with you. I think it'll help you. Number one, the 70 were right. What made them right? What made them right? Remember the context of this passage. There were 70 disciples sent out by Jesus. And Jesus says, here's what I want you to do. I don't want you to take extra money, extra clothes, I want you to take extra stuff. And I want you to go out and I want you to tell other people about what you found out to be true about me. And as they went, they were preaching the gospel and telling people about Jesus, that the Messiah has come, and that the completion of the Old Testament is here, and the hope for eternity is found in Jesus. Jesus was blessing them. They'd put their trust in that hope, and they were trusting in Christ and Christ alone. That's why Jesus said, now look, it's wonderful that you've been able to do amazing works with your hands. They were going out in places, and God, by His power, was helping them to cast out demons. But Jesus says, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't rejoice in that primarily. Don't rejoice ultimately in what you can do for God. You should rejoice in what God has done for you. They said, look, it's good that you've done some good things, but that's not the number one thing, he says in verse 20. Rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. What were they to rejoice in? They were to rejoice in the fact that they had repented of their sin, and Jesus had paid the price for their sins, and Jesus was their Savior. I understand at this moment Jesus hadn't gone on the cross, he hadn't been buried, he hadn't risen again, but he was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth, and their only hope was in Christ. And they were trusting in Jesus. Folks, it is so important that we remember that the work of our hands for God is not as important as the work of God in our hearts when we humble ourselves, acknowledge our need for Him, and there's no amount of good deeds or work that you and I can do that can buy forgiveness with God. Only Jesus. Only Jesus. I know that can be offensive because a lot of folks in their theology, their idea about what God is, Their understanding of God is that God sits on a throne somewhere. And if my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds, then I can have peace with God. But that's just not how it works. The Bible declares that we're all sinners. We all need a Savior. You see the 70? Well, right, let me read these verses to you because there's so many exciting things here to share. Verse 21, the Bible says, In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things. from the wise and prudent, and has revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good, and I saw it." So we need to hear Jesus rejoicing. They're rejoicing. The 70 are rejoicing that their names are written in heaven. And now Jesus is rejoicing that they get it. Jesus is rejoicing that they understand. Jesus is rejoicing that they understand it's not the works of the law. It's not trying to keep the Ten Commandments. It's not trying to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength. And your neighbor is yourself that is redeeming and they have acknowledged that they can't do it. And Jesus is their Savior and they're trusting in Jesus and Jesus only. And Jesus is rejoicing. Jesus is rejoicing that they understand that salvation is by grace, through faith, and not of works. Jesus is rejoicing. He's rejoicing that these unnamed disciples, simple people, had understood God's simple plan of salvation. He says, you've revealed it to the babes. And it's been hidden from the wise. There's wise and prudent folks who just can't understand that Jesus died on the cross and the gift of salvation is free and full and forever. Does that mean wise and prudent people can't get saved? Absolutely not. But if you're wise and prudent, the only way you can have eternal life is the same way the 70 simple got it. when they realized that they weren't good enough. But Jesus was all-sufficient Savior. They didn't understand. They said, God, you've shown us this. Verse number 22, Jesus continues his praising of the Lord, and he says, All things are delivered to me of my Father. Now, these seven disciples, they believed that Jesus was the only way to heaven. They believed that Jesus was their Savior, that he was the Messiah. Well, where in the world did Jesus get an idea like that? He testifies. Jesus says, all things are delivered to me of my Father. Where did Jesus get his doctrine, God the Father? How long did it exist? Forever. Jesus says, look, I'm thrilled, I'm rejoicing because these people have gotten saved. They've put their trust in Jesus. They're not trusting in the works of the law or religious exercise. Hallelujah, I'm trusting and I'm rejoicing. And I got my information from God the Father. He says, let me remind you of something else. He says, no man knoweth who the Son is but the Father. How can I know more about Jesus the Son, God the Son? You see, you can't understand Jesus the Son without God the Father. And you can't understand God the Father without Jesus the Son. You see, they're incomplete apart from each other. Jesus makes this statement. He says, All things are delivered to me by my Father. Verse 22, No man knoweth who the Son is but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him. He just makes it plain. I know the words can become a little bit confusing perhaps, but the idea is rather simple. You see, God the Father completes the picture. of God the Son. And God the Son completes the picture of God the Father. You see, God the Father is righteous, holy. He demands perfection. To enter the presence of God and the kingdom that God the Father has prepared requires perfection. Sinless perfection. How can I have sinless perfection? You've got to keep the law perfectly, every detail. That's what God wants. That's what God wants. That's what God gets. That's what God gets. Good luck. But I can say, Lord Jesus be with you because the Lord Jesus completes the picture. God demands righteousness. Guess what Jesus did? Jesus, he really did. Love the Lord is God with all his heart, soul, mind, strength. He really did love his neighbors and himself. And Jesus completes the picture. You see, if you see God without Jesus, you think, man, he's mean. You see Jesus without God, you think, what's God doing dying on a cross? You see, you can't reveal, you can't see God the Father's purpose and God the Son's purpose if they're separate, but when they're together, you see that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and Jesus paid the price for our sins, and Jesus justifies us, and Jesus washes us clean, and washes us in His blood, and we stand righteous in God the Father's presence, not because we were perfect, because we kept the law. No, we stand righteous in the presence of God because Jesus paid for our sins. I'm his guest. I'm his child. You see the 70? They were right. They were right. What were they right about? I'm not good enough. But I got Jesus. And because I've got Jesus, I've got standing before God. Hallelujah. And Jesus is rejoicing that they got it. The Bible keeps sharing with us some things that are wonderful. Verse 23, He turned Him unto His disciples and said privately, Blessed are the eyes which see the things which you have seen. For I tell you that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." Jesus says you are a blessed people. The 70 were right. He says you're blessed because you've come to the understanding that you need a Savior and Jesus is that Savior. He said, Prophets have prophesied the coming of me. That's what Jesus was saying. Prophets have prophesied the coming of me. Kings have yearned to see the Messiah that was prophesied to come. And they've not seen Him and they've not heard Him, but you have and you've trusted Him. You're saved. Hallelujah. You are justified by faith in Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. You're blessed. Let me tell you something. And you've come to the place where you know that you're a sinner. You've humbled yourself and you've asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior. You're trusting in Christ and Christ alone. You're a blessed people. You're not good in your own flesh because you can't be. But you are made righteous before God through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. His sacrifice covers you and you stand wholly before God. Hallelujah. Let me tell you something, the 70 were right. Number two, the lawyer was wrong. The lawyer was wrong. Let's look at it, verse 25. And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him. Saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Let's break this verse down. The lawyer is wrong. The first thing the lawyer does is he stands up and the Bible says he tempts him. God doesn't want us to guess about his motive. His motive was not to hear from the Lord, not to grow from the Lord. His motive was to defend what he already believed rather than learn at the feet of Jesus. Now this is something that we can all be tempted to do. We're tempted to believe what we believe. And then go to the Bible to try to prove from the Bible what we believe. I'm going to tell you something. There have been people who have proved some really cockamamie, crazy, nutsy ideas from the Bible. Now look, I make no apologies. I'm a Baptist. I'm a fundamental Christian. I'm a pre-millennial rapture kind of guy. I believe the Bible is inspired. I'm that guy. I'm going to tell you something. I'm not that guy because that's just what I was told and I've spent my whole life studying the Bible to prove that I'm right. I am what I am because Every day I get in God's Word and I sit at the feet of Jesus and God's Word and I want to know the truth. I'm gonna tell you there's been many times where what I thought was right was wrong. And I've had to admit that what I thought was right was wrong because God's Word proved something different. Now that's not what this man was doing though. You know what the lawyer was doing? He was tempting Jesus. He didn't ask Jesus, what do I need to do to inherit eternal life so that he can inherit eternal life? He asked Jesus that because he thought in his heart he already knew. Look, he wanted to justify himself. What preconceived ideas do you have that you won't let the Bible change your mind about? You may be here today and you think, Preacher, you're crazy, all this washed in the blood, Jesus only Savior, good deeds aren't the key. You may be here and think that. Now look, don't take my word for it. It is the emphasis of the entire New Testament. that Jesus paid the price for our sins because we can't. But we meet with this lawyer who didn't believe that. As a matter of fact, this lawyer believed that he had completed and had done according to the law enough in order to have eternal life, but he was wrong because the law declares us sinners. The lawyer was wrong. He tempted Jesus. He didn't come to hear or learn or obey. He came to prove himself right. he was wrong. The Bible continues, verse number 25. He says, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus answers in verse 26. He said to him, What is written in the law? How readest thou? Jesus makes a… He's very wise, of course. He's God. He says, Will you just tell me what's the law say about that? I can just imagine, and I know this takes a little bit of liberty, but I can just imagine that this guy is this proud as a peacock, his hair stands up on the top back of his head if he had any left, and he's like, oh boy, well I won't forevermore tell him. And he says, all right, here's what the law says. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbors, thyself, He says, it's simple. You love God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength. Love your neighbors as yourself. You inherit eternal life. And the sad news was, he was of a group of people who believed that they were actually accomplishing that in their flesh. Verse number 28, Jesus says something interesting. He said to him, thou hast answered right, this do, and thou shalt live. Now sometimes this kind of sets people back on their heels. Did Jesus just acknowledge that if you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, strength, and your neighbors, yourself, that you can go to heaven? There's a way to heaven without Jesus? Yes, there is. But you've got to be perfect. You've got to keep the law without fail, without ever messing up, never one time. And you can go to heaven. So Jesus was right. If this man truly had loved the Lord his God with all his heart, soul, mind, strength, and his neighbors, himself, then it's a fact. He would have gone to heaven because he's Jesus. Jesus is the only person who's ever been able to do it. Now, maybe you're one of these folks, and I promise you, I'm not talking down to you. And I have compassion for this lawyer. But maybe you're one of these folks like this lawyer who thinks, my religion is the Ten Commandments. My religion is doing good. My religion is trying to do some of the nice things that Jesus did. And those are good motives, but I'm going to tell you, it's not the way to have eternal life. Let's take a test. Jesus said, Mr. Lawyer, sir, if in fact you love the Lord your God, with all your heart, soul, mind, strength, and your neighbors yourself, then you can have eternal life on your own merit. Let's take a second and break that down. The first one is love the Lord your God with all your heart. With all your heart. Now our heart is our mind. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. In a moment, we're going to see mind again, so we'll keep those two together. One is emotive and one is actual thoughts. Let's talk about that in just a minute. Let's say you're trying to be good and religious and work your way to heaven. You've got this idea that maybe if my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds, I'll go to heaven. Jesus says it's possible, but you've got to love me with all of your mind and all of your heart. Now, I want you to think for just a moment about some of the thoughts that you've had already today. Is every thought that you've had all day today, is every thought that you've had today, are they righteous and pure and holy and give God all the glory? I already messed up. The key word's all. All. All your heart and mind. Look, if you've not messed up this morning, if you're anything like me, you messed up yesterday, and the day before, and the day before, and the day before. I may not say everything I'm thinking, but some things I think, they just ain't right. And they need forgiveness. All my heart and mind, soul. That soul word, I love the word soul. The soul is our emotion and our intellect and our will. How many of you, your will is always all for the glory of God. Everything you've ever wanted to do in your heart was pure for the glory of God. Oops, blew that one too. All my soul, all my strength, all my effort, everything I've ever attempted to do, every motion I've ever made had God's glory in mind. I've never done anything selfishly. I did something selfishly last night. I'll confess it to you. I keep getting this phone call from the Bristol Herald Courier, but they're calling from China or somewhere. And I've got to confess to you, and I had to confess to the Lord. They called me all day yesterday, and I just keep ignoring it because I know it's a sales call. Finally, last night, I'm sitting in my chair, and I'm feeling a little bit of pompous and proud and rotten. Hello. But it's a hell of a cardio. I said, could you please take my phone number off your list? Sorry, you have a subscription. I don't care if I have a subscription. Will you please take my phone? Sorry, you have a subscription. I said, look, I'm not answering your questions until you answer mine. Can you please take, and she got a little hot with me and I got a little fussy with her and I was wrong. And you know what I did? I exercised strength that was against the glory of God. Hmm. If I'd been perfect for the last 42 years, I blew it last night over a telemarketer. Can you believe that? I can't do it. And this lawyer, he was so deceived by his own self-righteousness that he felt somehow that he'd succeeded. He did have a little problem though. The whole love your neighbors yourself thing was something that bothered him. Because he knew that in his heart he had selfishness. And so he poses the question to Jesus. He says, what about my neighbor? He says, so who's my neighbor? They said, God's law says you've got to love your neighbors yourself. And he said, that's fine as long as we define neighbor right. Because I do love my family more than I love myself. They question, they define neighbor to justify themselves because he was willing to justify himself. He says, who's my neighbor? Let me just tell you something. God has commanded us in his law to love our neighbor as ourself. You know what that means? You're to love your neighbor more than you love you. Let's take another test. You want to? Here's the test. It's dark. We're driving home. As you get close to your home, Off in the distance, you see a glow. It's clearly a fire. You drive a little closer, you drive a little closer, you drive a little closer. Finally, you get close enough to know that your neighbor's house is burnt and is on fire. And you say to yourself, oh man, I wish it were mine. Lord, why didn't you burn my house? No, you know what you do. I'm glad it wasn't my house. Houses burn. Who cares? But let's do it like this. You drive up on a crash. Clearly in the distance there's a crash. There's cars. One of them kind of looks like your child's car. You get close. The closer you get, the more you're starting to see and distinguish whether or not it's your child or When you get close enough to see that it wasn't your baby, you say, I really wish it was my child, not those people's child. Just killed in that car wreck. That's not what we do. That's not how we are. You see, we're selfish. When we come up to that scene, we're like, praise the Lord, it wasn't my baby. But it was somebody else's. I don't love the Lord my God with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my strength, with all my mind. I don't. And I definitely don't love my neighbor above myself. And this man, on this day, the lawyer, he was wrong. He thought that he could justify himself. The Bible says he was willing to justify himself. Are you willing to justify yourself? I'm going to tell you, if you've bought into Satan's lie that says, do good, do good, do good, do good, be good, be nice, act like Jesus, and you'll be okay. You've bought into a lie that's not true. You want to justify yourself with the works of your hands. It doesn't work. That's why Jesus died on the cross for your sins. So you could be covered in his blood, forgiven, have eternal life through faith in Jesus, and stand before a holy, righteous God, not in your own merit, not justified by your own good deeds, but justified by the love and forgiveness and the covering of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do I stand before God righteous? Absolutely, yes. Is it because I'm good? No, it's because I've been washed in the blood. Because I'm saved. Because I'm a child of the Most High God. Because a long time ago I realized I don't love God with all my heart. I don't love my neighbors myself. I can't keep the Ten Commandments. I can't adhere to the law. And I must have a Savior. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. Here I am. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The 70, they were right. They were trusting Jesus. The lawyer, he was wrong. He was trusting his flesh. If he left there, nothing changed. He'll spend his life and his eternity, I should say, separated from God. He'll suffer judgment. I pray he got saved. I pray he got saved. The same way the simple 70 did, the same way I did, the same way you did if you're here and you're saved by admitting you're a sinner, trusting Christ and Christ alone for your soul salvation. He was willing to justify himself. How about you? You're trusting in your religion? It'll do you no good. You're trusting in Jesus? He'll save your hell-deserving soul. Oh, what a Savior.