LUKE 10:21-24 WHEN JESUS JUMPS FOR JOY2012 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 10:21-24 When Jesus Jumps For Joy

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2012. Well, this morning as we look at Luke chapter 10 verses 21 through 24, I titled the message this morning, When Jesus Jumps for Joy.

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When Jesus jumps for joy. And so I picked this picture to help us capture what's happening here in Luke chapter 10. Can you picture Jesus jumping for joy? Can you imagine that? Can you picture him going, whoo-hoo!

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he'd probably do it much cooler than I do but can you picture him coming to a point where there's so much joy that he's just overwhelmed that he actually jumps for joy well the reason why I picked that as the theme today is because in verse 21 it says in that hour Jesus rejoiced in the spirit and that word rejoice literally you know what it means

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To jump for joy. It means to be overwhelmed with joy, to show your joy by leaping and skipping. It's this excessive, ecstatic joy and delight that is expressed in this word rejoice. And so Jesus here is jumping for joy. He's overwhelmed with joy. He's leaping. He's jumping. He's skipping because of the joy from what has been happening.

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He jumps for joy. What is it that makes you jump for joy? Can you understand this joy that Jesus is experiencing? I was thinking about it as I was considering this idea of jumping for joy. I was rewinding in my life back to November 5th, 2003. It was at that time as a Wednesday evening when I proposed to Kim. But that evening also was the opening of the Matrix.

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And we all planned to go see the opening night. You know, we were going to go see the movie together after church. And so before church, I'm all excited. I'm just like jumping and skipping. And Kim's looking at me and she tells me, you are so excited about this movie. But she didn't know I was about to propose. I wasn't excited about the movie. I was excited about what was going to happen first.

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There's those occasions in our life where we're just overwhelmed. You can't contain it. You're just bouncing around, jumping and skipping, maybe giggling a little bit because you're just overjoyed. It reminded me also of Acts chapter 3. You remember there Peter and John are on the way to the temple and there's this man who is lame. He was lame from birth. So he's never been able to walk. He's never been able to stand up.

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But there's Peter and John encounter this man. They do a miracle in the name of Jesus. And he stands up. And it tells us in Acts chapter 3 verse 8 that he walked with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God. You can imagine perhaps that joy that he would experience from never being able to stand to now he's healed in the name of Jesus. And so he's walking, he's bouncing, he's jumping around.

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and praising God for this great work. Well, this is the idea. That kind of emotion, that kind of joy is what is expressed here. Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit. And so what is it that causes Jesus to jump for joy? Well, there's three things I'll highlight for you this morning out of our text that cause Jesus to jump for joy. And the first one we find in verse 21.

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Jesus jumps for joy when the kingdom is revealed. Look with me at verse 21. It says,

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Here we see that Jesus is rejoicing and he bursts out in thanksgiving. He says, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things. Now I'm summing up the these things that Jesus says with the word kingdom. When the kingdom is revealed, Jesus rejoices and jumps for joy.

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The word kingdom or the kingdom of God, as we use that phrase, is actually a very broad term. The kingdom of God begins with the person of Jesus Christ because he is the king.

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And the kingdom of God was being announced to the people there by the disciples that Jesus had sent out. We saw that last week, remember? The 70 are sent out and the message that they're sent with is the kingdom of God has come near you. The message, the announcement of the kingdom is the message that these 70 disciples had and that they delivered in all of the cities where Jesus was about to go.

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They were announcing and introducing the kingdom of God, which is fulfilled in the person of Jesus, because he is the king. But the kingdom of God extends beyond just that into eternity, because he's not just king for a few moments. He's not just king for a thousand years, but he is king of kings and lord of lords for all of eternity. And so when we talk about the kingdom of God,

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It is the person of Jesus. It is that coming of Jesus. But it is also that eternity with Jesus that is promised to his followers. The disciples, you might remember, they came back rejoicing.

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Because not only did they experience the power of the kingdom of God in Jesus' name, healing, but they also experienced the power of Jesus' name in casting out demons. And they were beginning to learn that Jesus is king, that even demons are subject to his name. And so the kingdom of God was coming with power as they were announcing it with the miracles that were taking place.

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The kingdom of God, it's found in the person of Jesus. It's including the idea of eternity. It goes along with healing and forgiveness and salvation. It's a broad term. And that's what Jesus is talking about when he says these things. He's summing up all the things that we studied last week in verses 1 through 20. All the amazing things that were happened as the kingdom of God was announced.

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Well, Jesus is rejoicing over these things and he thanks God. He says, you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. And so we see here that the kingdom of God is both hidden and revealed. And Jesus is thanking the Father for this. He's thankful that it's hidden and that it's revealed. Now, what does that mean? Well,

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He says, you've hidden these things. And the way that the kingdom of God is hidden is that it requires faith. The kingdom of God is hidden because it requires faith. It's a lot like the parables. We've seen a couple. We talked about them here as we've studied through Luke. We'll see many more in the coming weeks. The parables were an opportunity. As we talked about it before, it was an open door, an invitation.

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And as Jesus told a parable, if there was a person who was interested in knowing God, if there was a person who wanted to know Jesus, who wanted to believe in Jesus, that parable was the doorway. They could enter in and they could find out more. They could understand what the parable meant. They could grasp the truth that Jesus was proclaiming.

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But if someone was not really interested in knowing God or the kingdom of God, then they could hear the parable and just continue walking by the doorway and not entering in to know God more. In the same way, the kingdom of God is accessible only by faith. And it's hidden because it requires faith in order to know it. And so Jesus says, you've hidden these things from the wise and prudent.

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Now he's not talking about the biblically wise and prudent person, but the wise and prudent person of the world, or those that the world considers to be wise and prudent. Because the wise and prudent of this world do not accept things by faith. They don't accept faith as valid. The mentality is, show me and I will believe. And as we've often said, God says, it's the other way around.

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Believe and I will show you. If you will not believe, you will not see the things of the kingdom of God. It's hidden by faith. You have to believe in order to be able to see. And so the kingdom of God is hidden. The things of God are hidden because they require faith. But they're also revealed. He says, you've hidden these things from the wise and the prudent and you've revealed them

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to babes. This word revealed, it means to uncover. You could imagine if I had a cloth over the pulpit here, you could see the shape, you could see the outline, you could see maybe some of the structure, but you couldn't see the detail. But if I was to remove the cloth, then you would be able to see underneath and be able to see all of the detail.

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Not just an outline, not just a little bit of a shape, but you'd be able to see what it really is underneath. That's the idea of this word reveal. And so Jesus says, you've hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, but revealed these things to babes. Nobody knows the things of God naturally, is what Jesus is saying. Nobody can, of their own resources...

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think, calculate, research, and understand the things of God. It's just not possible. As the scripture says, His ways are higher than our ways, as high as the heavens are above the earth. He's an infinite God. We cannot know Him. We cannot know His ways. We cannot know the kingdom of God naturally, of our own understanding. It has to be revealed. The cover has to be removed and

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We cannot know it on our own. And so it has been revealed. But Jesus says it's been revealed to babies, to infants. The word babes, it literally means a child who's not yet able to speak plainly. The kingdom of God is revealed to those who are not yet able to speak plainly. Interesting. Again, considering the wise and the prudent of this world. The disciples, they were simple, ordinary people.

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The wise and the prudent of the world considered the disciples as infants, babes. They weren't trained to speak. They weren't trained to read or research. They were simple, ordinary people. And yet, that's who the kingdom of God is revealed to. Jesus will say later on in Luke chapter 18 verse 17, Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.

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Jesus says childlike faith is required to enter into the kingdom of God. It's a requirement. You can't know it. You can't understand it intellectually. You can't rely upon your own resources. You have to receive it by faith like a child. That is the only way that you will enter into the kingdom of God. And these disciples, these plain ordinary people,

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have encountered the kingdom of God. They've received it. Not only that, but they've participated in furthering the kingdom of God by sharing it as they've gone from city to city announcing the kingdom of God is at hand. And so as Jesus is rejoicing, he's saying, this is awesome. This is so great. Thank you, Father. You've hidden it from those who are wise in their own wisdom and you've revealed it to those who receive it by faith.

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Paul the Apostle shares this same thought in 1 Corinthians chapter 1. In verse 27 it says, But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. He goes on, he gives a couple other examples. And then in verse 29 of 1 Corinthians 1, he says, That no flesh should glory in his presence.

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The reason why God has chosen to reveal the kingdom of God to those who receive it by faith is so that no flesh, that nobody, that no person should glory or boast in his presence. You see, if we could obtain the kingdom of God, if we could understand the things of God of our own resources, well then we would have reason to boast. We would have reason to glory.

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We'd say, look how smart I am. I figured out the things of God. We'd say, look how brilliant I am. I understand the kingdom of God. Look what I achieved. Look what I accomplished. Look how great my intellect is. Look how awesome my education is. Because I was able to accomplish and achieve and understand the things of the kingdom of God. Paul says, no, God chose the foolish, the weak, the base.

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Jesus says, God chose the infants. Those who will receive it by faith. Those who will believe God. Now, here's the point. Here's the end result of this. Nobody can know the things of God on their own. On our own resources, it's just not possible. We can't figure out the ways of God, the things of God, the kingdom of God. But what that means is, anyone can receive it.

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Because nobody can know it on their own, that means that anybody can receive it. Can you imagine if to understand and to be part of the kingdom of God, you had to, you know, pass through seminary or go to Bible college. You had to reach some level of education or understanding. If that were the case, well, it would eliminate most people, including myself, from participating in the kingdom of God.

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You see, the point is, nobody can on their own have these things or know these things of the kingdom of God. Which means that everybody's in the same position. It has to be revealed to us. And that means that anyone, if it's a matter of revelation and not intellect, then anyone who will believe can receive the things of the kingdom of God.

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And so Jesus, he breaks out in praise. He thanks God. God, thank you because you've hidden it from the wise and prudent so that you've made it accessible to anyone who will believe. You've made it accessible to anyone who will put their faith and trust in me. And so he's praising God, jumping for joy because the kingdom is revealed. When have you jumped for joy?

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Yesterday I posted that question on Facebook just to see if I could get a couple of responses. So I have a couple of examples I'll be sharing throughout the message this morning to help us think about this joy and excitement that Jesus was experiencing.

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So Leslie responded and she said that she jumped for joy when she was accepted into nursing school. And I can understand that. You have this objective, you have this goal, this desire, you want to participate in this, you know, you apply for it, you're hoping to get it, and then finally, boom, it all comes through and woo! I'm accepted. Accomplishing those goals, making those things happen. Oh, it's amazing. Daniel Rodriguez, you guys remember him? He was attending here for a long time and moved out into Nevada. And he said,

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He responded, he said, he jumped for joy on May 8th. Not because it was my birthday, but he jumped for joy because on May 8th he learned that he was finally cancer free. Can you imagine that? I mean, after this battle, the horrendous things that are involved with, and then now finally, cancer free. How exciting. Jump for joy. That emotion that he was experiencing, that joy that overwhelmed him.

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is the joy that Jesus experiences when the kingdom of God is revealed. The disciples have participated in the work of the kingdom of God and it causes Jesus to jump for joy, to rejoice. He's overwhelmed with joy so he's jumping and skipping. He's leaping. He's praising God.

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Because of this great joy that he has over what God has done through these disciples in revealing the kingdom of God. Now that brings me to ask this question, which you and I need to consider throughout the time together this morning. Does your life make Jesus jump for joy? He jumped for joy as the disciples returned and the kingdom of God is revealed in them and through them. Does your life make Jesus jump for joy?

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Are you following the pattern of the disciples? You know, that's one of the reasons why we are engaging in the monthly outreaches this year. Of course, we're responding to what God has put upon our hearts and so we're walking in the path that He's given to us. But one of the reasons why we want to do that is because, well, it causes Jesus great joy. As we reach out, as we announce the kingdom of God, the gospel message, as we preach,

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Go out and set an example of what the kingdom of God is. And shine the light of Christ and share the love of Christ. It causes Jesus great joy. He jumps for joy as the kingdom is revealed. If you were part of this last outreach, you know, there at the senior center. I know most of us, if not all of us, we walked away and we're just, we're joyful, right? I mean, it was just exciting to see the response, to see what God was doing.

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Just as the disciples back in verse, I think it was 18 of Luke chapter 10, when they returned with joy from their mission that God sent them on. But you know the word for joy that's used there for the disciples is a lesser word than the rejoicing that Jesus is experiencing here. So we walked away from that outreach and we're joyful, we're excited. Wow, this is so amazing, so neat to be part of the work of God. But Jesus rejoices even more than you do.

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As you participate in the work of the kingdom of God. As you walk in the path that he set before you. In reaching out. In shining his light. In sharing with people around you the kingdom of God. He rejoices even more than you do. As you see the amazing things that God does. Does Jesus jump for joy over your life? Because you're reaching out. Because you're sharing the message. Because you're participating in these opportunities to engage with the people around you.

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You know, the Bible is very clear too that God has given to each believer spiritual gifts to be able to serve supernaturally within the kingdom of God, within the body of Christ. And as you participate in the kingdom of God in exercising those gifts, in serving the Lord, it causes Jesus to jump for joy. He's overwhelmed. He's so excited that

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about those who will serve him, who will take those steps of faith and believe in him and announce the kingdom of God and participate in the work of the kingdom of God. Does your life cause Jesus to jump for joy? I like what Pastor Chuck says about this. He says, they're just simple people, talking about those 70 disciples, plain, ordinary people who have experienced the power and the dynamics of the power of God in their lives.

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It means that every one of you are qualified for the ministry to serve the Lord, to experience the power and the dynamic of the Spirit in your life, and to go in the name of Jesus and heal the sick and bring life and a message of life to the people around you. It means that we're all qualified. The kingdom of God is revealed, which means nobody can get to it on their own, which means we're all in the same place. We all are in the position of having God reveal to us the kingdom,

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We all are in the position of having to receive it by faith. We're all in the position of participating in the kingdom of God by faith. There's none of us who can work in the kingdom of God or receive the kingdom of God of our own resources. And so when the kingdom of God is revealed, when we believe in the things of God, when we take those steps of faith, Jesus jumps for joy. Well, the second thing we find is in verse 22.

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And here we find that Jesus jumps for joy when the Father is revealed. Verse 22 says, Now as Jesus goes on, he's rejoicing, he's praising God, and he's explaining, all things have been delivered to me by my Father.

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Jesus says, all things are mine. Everything belongs to me. Now, when did this happen? When did the Father deliver all things to Jesus? Well, I would suggest to you it happened in Colossians 1.16, where it says there that Jesus is the creator and that all things were created through him and for him. Jesus is not only God,

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The Creator. All things were not just created through Him, but all things were created for Him. The Father delivered all things to Jesus at creation. It's all His. It's always been His. It's always belonged to Him. Created through Him and for Him. And so truly He is able to say, I have all authority and all power. He really is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, just as He proclaimed to be.

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Well, he says, all things have been delivered to me. But notice he goes on to say, no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son. So now the question is, who can know God? Who can know God? He says, no one knows the Son except the Father. And no one knows the Father except the Son. Kind of makes it sound like it's impossible to know God. You can't know the Son.

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Only the Father knows the Son. You can't know the Father because only the Son knows the Father. How can you know God then? Who can know the Son? Remember when Jesus took his disciples to Caesarea Philippi? We have it recorded there in Matthew chapter 16. And he asked his disciples, who do men say that I am? And they give these different answers. Some people say this, some people say that. And then Jesus says, well, who do you say that I am? Remember Peter's response?

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He said, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. He knew who the Son is. He knew who Jesus is. And Jesus responds to Peter and he said, blessed are you, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. How did Peter know who Jesus is? Because the Father had revealed to Peter who Jesus is.

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It's by revelation, not by his own understanding. He didn't come to this conclusion on his own. He didn't figure it out. The Father revealed it to Peter. Flesh and blood did not reveal it to you, Peter, but the Heavenly Father did. So who can know the Son? Is it impossible? No, because the Father reveals to us the Son. You and I, we can know the Son. We can know Jesus.

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And the reason why we can know Jesus is because of what we call the incarnation. The incarnation, it's describing the reality that Jesus, being God, became man. And in John chapter 1 verse 14 it says, And the Word, that is Jesus, became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten Son,

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Of the Father full of grace and truth. No one can know the Son except the Father. But the Father reveals the Son. And He revealed the Son to us in the incarnation. In sending Jesus to become a man. Not to cease to be God, but to add humanity to His deity. And the Word, Jesus, became flesh and dwelt among us that we could know Him. That He would be revealed to us.

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The glory of the only begotten. He is the son full of grace and truth. And so the father reveals Jesus to us, but then the opposite is true also. Jesus reveals the father to us. In verse 18 of John 1, it goes on to say, no one has seen God at any time. The only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father, he has declared him.

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No one has seen God, but Jesus has declared him. And we know Jesus because he became flesh and dwelt among us. The point is really the same. It's revelation. The Father is revealed through Jesus. And that's how we can know him. And that's when Jesus rejoices. And so he says, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son. And then at the end, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal him.

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It's Jesus who reveals to us the Father. Again, this reveal, it means to pull away the cloth, to pull away the covering. You know, there's a lot of ideas about God in the world. Some of them are good ideas and some of them are bad ideas. But people apart from God

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can look and understand there's a form, there's a shape, there is the existence of God. Like Paul says in Romans chapter 1, by the creation itself we can understand there is a God. We can understand His eternal attributes, Paul says. Those are the forms, the shape, the reality that there is a God. But to know God, well it has to be more than just observing creation.

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or calculating or figuring out with our minds, there has to be the pulling away, the unveiling, the revelation of the Father. And it's the Son who does that. You can know the Heavenly Father. You can know God. This is what's meant in the word reconciliation. It means a restored relationship. That you can have your relationship restored with the Father through the Son.

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Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5.18, he says, All things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. You see, there's the two sides to it. He reveals God to us and we're reconciled. We have that restored relationship, but then he also entrusts us. Now, go help others be restored, be reconciled to God. The thing that we can rest on as we look at this is

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It is not possible to know the Father without Jesus. That's the bottom line here. You cannot know the Father without Jesus. Jesus reveals the Father. You cannot be reconciled to God without Jesus. Apart from Jesus. Any other way. That's why Jesus said in John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes to the Father except through me. It's only through Jesus.

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And it's why we need to have a right understanding of who Jesus is. Because as we looked a few weeks back in Luke, there's fake Jesuses, false Jesuses that are proclaimed, false gospels that are announced. And you can't be reconciled to God and know God and have the Father be revealed to you by a fake Jesus or a false Jesus. Only the real Son can reveal to you the Heavenly Father. And when He does,

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When the Father is revealed to you, it causes Jesus to jump for joy. It causes Him to rejoice, to be overjoyed, to be leaping and skipping because you are walking in a relationship with the Heavenly Father. That relationship has been restored. It's been reconciled. It causes Him to jump for joy. When have you jumped for joy? Carolina says that she jumps for joy whenever her kids return home from the mission trip.

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You can imagine that, right? She loves her children and they're away, they're abroad, they're doing the work of God and then they come back and, oh, it's so great to see and to hear, to embrace once again. Oh, jump for joy. Overwhelming joy. Or Heidi Barrera says, she jumped for joy when Gabriel took his first steps because the doctor said that he would never walk. Can you imagine that? There you are, your child. Doctors say he will never walk.

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But then, a few years down the line, here he is taking steps. Oh, great joy. Overwhelming joy. Leap and jump and skip and praise God. Listen, this is what Jesus experiences when the Father is revealed. The disciples have received Jesus' revelation of the Father. And they've shared it with others and announced the kingdom. And it causes Jesus to jump for joy.

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When you and I get to know our Heavenly Father, Jesus rejoices. He jumps, He leaps, He's overwhelmed. Does your life make Jesus jump for joy? How well do you know God? Do you walk in that reconciled relationship? Drawing near to, getting to know your Heavenly Father. Do you help others to know Him? Again, we're reconciled and we're given the ministry of reconciliation.

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Listen, as we walk in that knowledge of God, as we walk with our Heavenly Father and we invite others to be reconciled, it causes Jesus such incredible joy. You know, here we get a little bit of a hint about how much Jesus loves you. Because when the Kingdom of God is revealed, when the Heavenly Father is revealed, when you're walking with Him, when you're responding to Him, He's rejoicing, jumping for joy, leaping because of the great joy over you.

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Well, the third thing we find that causes Jesus to jump for joy is found in verses 23 through 24. Jesus jumps for joy when people see. When people see, when their eyes are opened, Jesus rejoices. Look at verse 23. It says, He looks at his disciples and he said,

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Because of these amazing things that you see. But not only you disciples, not just you 70 who saw these works of God, who got to see these miracles take place, not just you. He said, blessed are the eyes which see the things which you see. He's talking about anybody who sees what the disciples saw. The eyes of anyone who sees those same works. Hopefully he's talking about you. Blessed are your eyes. Do you see things?

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What the disciples saw. Going on in verse 24, it says, Jesus said, look, blessed are your eyes and blessed are the eyes of those who see the things that you see because prophets and kings from the past, from years old, I mean,

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From all eternity. Well, I guess more from the beginning of creation. There wasn't people before that. From the beginning of creation, people have desired to see what you see. People have desired to see, disciples, the things that you're able to see. Who are these people? Well, you can think about Abraham. Abraham desired to see the things that the disciples saw. Moses desired

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He heard the promises of God. He knew God was promising the Savior. He desired to see that fulfilled. He desired to see that take place. David, King David, he looked forward to that coming Messiah, that Savior.

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The coming of the kingdom of God. You know, sometimes you and I, we look back and we think, man, it would have been so awesome to be there. Can you imagine being there when Moses parts the Red Sea? You see, you know, the whole lane open up and you're able to walk across on dry land. Oh, that would have been amazing. Or there with King David, before he's a king, he's just a little boy and he's facing Goliath with his sling. Oh, that would have been so cool to watch him defeat Goliath as a young boy. But you know, those guys...

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Look forward to our day. They wanted to see what you and I see. We miss it sometimes, guys. We forget how exciting it is that the kingdom of God is revealed. That our heavenly Father is revealed. What we get to see is the greatest things of history. The work of God in humanity. In Hebrews chapter 11, there as he's talking about the many men of faith, the great hall of faith.

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He said,

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To that time, Peter says, the prophets of old, same thing. They desired, they inquired, they searched, they wanted to know about these things. But the Lord told them it wasn't for themselves that they were writing these things, but for us who received the fulfillment of the things that they prophesied about. So what is it that we get to see? What is it that's so great where Jesus would say, blessed are those who see what you see?

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Well, the main thing that we get to see, the primary thing Jesus is referring to here is salvation. It's salvation by grace through faith. This is the most amazing thing. Peter says in 1 Peter 1.10, Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you. They prophesied about the grace that would come to you.

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This is what's so amazing about what we get to see. We get to see the grace of God at work. We get to see the salvation of God which comes by grace. It's by grace through faith and that not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast, Paul says. But it's not about our works. We don't earn it. We don't deserve it. But we simply receive by faith.

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The salvation that He offers to us. And He extends to us His salvation by His grace. We get to see the grace of God at work. Blessed are our eyes. We get to see lives changed because of the grace of God. Because of salvation, the work of God. When God was commissioning Paul the Apostle, He sent him out with specific instructions and Paul recounts that in Acts chapter 26.

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In verse 18, the Lord tells him, he's sending him to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me, Jesus said. Paul, I'm sending you out that people's eyes may be opened, that they might see. And what's the result of that? Well, they'll be delivered.

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They'll be turned from darkness to light. They'll be delivered from the power of Satan to the power of God. They'll be forgiven. They'll be given the promise of eternity, that inheritance that's incorruptible and undefiled and fades not away, that's reserved in heaven. Blessed are those who see the grace of God. Eyes being opened. People being able to see. You know, it's interesting. Whenever

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someone gets saved, I often think about Luke chapter 15 verse 10, which tells us that the angels rejoice over one sinner who repents. And so we always picture that, you know, at the crusade coming up, you know, the people on the field, it's like, wow, there's a party in heaven, the angels rejoicing, so exciting, or people respond to an invitation or come forward at a service, whatever the case is, we hear about someone getting saved and we think about those angels rejoicing

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I don't know why it never dawned on me to remember, to understand Jesus is jumping for joy too. He's so excited when people turn to him. He's so excited when you and I get to see the grace of God at work as people turn to him and their lives are changed and they're set free and delivered. They're new creatures in Christ. Blessed are your eyes. You get to see the grace of God at work. Oh, how amazing.

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And it causes Jesus to jump for joy, not just because their life is changed, but because you get to see it. You get to watch God work. And that thrills Him. You get to see the grace of God at work. And it causes Him to jump for joy. When have you jumped for joy? Can you relate? Anna Escalante said, she and Robert jumped for joy when she found out they were going to have a baby, Jeremiah. Oh, how exciting, right? Jump for joy.

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Vianne shared that she jumped for joy when a friend that she'd been praying for for 30 years turned and gave their life to Jesus. We can relate to that, right? Man, you've been praying, you've been just seeking, asking God for 30 years. Finally, they turn, they receive the forgiveness, the deliverance found in Christ. Oh, great joy! That's how Jesus feels when we see the grace of God at work.

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The disciples have had their eyes opened. They've been delivered. They've been turned from darkness to light. They've been transformed. And they get to see the grace of God continue to work in other people's lives. And it causes Jesus to jump for joy. So, let me ask you the question one last time. Does your life make Jesus jump for joy? Do you see? Are your eyes opened? Have you been delivered from darkness? Or are you still walking in darkness?

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Have you been delivered from the power of Satan? Or do you still walk according to the prince of the power of the air? The power of this world. Have you been delivered? Have you been transformed? Forgiven? Do you have that promised inheritance? And do you get to see other people experiencing the grace of God? Jesus jumps for joy. It's an insight into how much he loves us. He loves you so much. So much so that he gets excited about

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You know, sometimes we get to church and it's kind of like ho-hum, right? So it's like, hopefully I stay awake this time. You know how excited he is that you're here? He's jumping for joy. He's overjoyed that you're here, that you have the opportunity to hear from him, from his word, to walk with him, to grow in him, that you desire to know him and to worship him. It causes him great joy. He's jumping up and down. He's leaping. He's skiing because he loves you so much.

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When the kingdom of God is revealed and you're accomplishing the work, when you're participating in the kingdom of God, you're serving in the kingdom of God, you're announcing the kingdom of God, He's so excited. He's rejoicing. He's overwhelmed. And when the Father is being revealed to you, you're walking with God. You're reconciled. You're getting to know Him. You're spending time with the Lord. You're here in fellowship. He rejoices. He's overwhelmed. And when you see Him,

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God's grace at work in your life. When you see that your life is being transformed, not because you're so good, not because you work so hard, but because God's grace is at work in your life. When you recognize the grace of God, Jesus rejoices. When you see it in your life, when you see it in other people's life, He rejoices. Blessed are your eyes. People throughout the ages have desired, longed to see what you see.

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We have this great privilege revealed to us through Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, as we consider these things, it's amazing to know how much you love us. It's amazing to know how excited you are about us, about your work in us. And Lord, it's not even us. It's not that we have to do so much. But Lord, you do the work on our behalf. How amazing it is that you love us so greatly, that you rejoice over us.

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Thank you for your great goodness. Thank you for your grace. We're unworthy. We're undeserving. But we believe. And so we ask God by faith, reveal yourself. We invite you to rejoice yet more. Accomplish the kingdom of God in us, through us. Help us to go forward and serve you and use the gifts that you've given to us. Help us to announce your kingdom, to invite others to it.

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Help us to know our Heavenly Father and also to help others get to know Him through Jesus. Lord, that You might rejoice even more over us. Rejoice even more in our lives. God, open our eyes. Help us to see the incredible grace that You've demonstrated to us, not only at the cross, but day by day as You work, as You transform us. Help us to see it, Lord. So thank You, God. As You rejoice, we rejoice.

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Because you're so good to us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.