The Joy of Jesus
A Sermon by Carroll Hubbard, 1933Luke 10:21 "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."
Two diverse pictures of Jesus are given us in the Bible. Both of these should be indelibly printed upon our hearts. In one of them the Savior is a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief; Who hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Who presented an appearance of melancholy and sadness like which no man has ever had. The other picture is one of rejoicing and gladness in the execution of the Father's will, in the salvation of the lost, and in the exaltation the Son Himself will receive in the everlasting kingdom of the Father. The text that heads this article presents one occasion of joy in the life of our Lord.
The seventy had just returned from their missionary tour with joy because of the work that had been accomplished. Jesus discouraged their rejoicing in the success of their labors, and rather commanded, "Rejoice because your names are written in heaven." Then He Himself rejoiced in spirit, not so much in the power of His preachers, and not even in His own victory over Satan, but as is evident from the text, in the Father's purpose of bringing a simple and common people into the kingdom, while the glorious truths of the gospel were hidden to the wise and prudent. 'Happy is the man, who, like the Savior, in a study of the gracious purposes of God, can lift his eyes toward heaven and submissively say. "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." Why did the Savior rejoice?
1. Jesus rejoiced first of all that the great things of the kingdom of God had been revealed to these poor, humble Preachers while men of the world could not see them. These preachers were not educated, but they did receive God's Word by faith and had revelations of truth that can never be found in the school-room. While there were many things that they did not know, they knew the Lord, they had been in fellowship with Him, and they could deliver to men the message of life. cf. 1 Corinthians 1:26-29.
2. Jesus rejoiced that those to whom the saving truths of the gospel are effectually revealed are a simple and common folk, The common people heard Jesus gladly. It was that way then; it is that way now, and it pleases Jesus that it is. The wise and the rich and the cultured reject the simple story of Jesus as a rule, while the poor and simple enter in to find joy unspeakable and full of glory. While men of the world and of learning gather around the little lightning bugs of science to get a ray of light, the common people walk in the marvelous sunshine of God's Grace through Jesus Christ. While intellectual celebrities sip scattering drops of polluted water from the drippings of science and culture, the common people, the babes who have had divine revelation, satisfy soul thirst at the bubbling fountains of everlasting life. While the wise and prudent nibble the stale crumbs of learning and culture, the babes feed on the Bread sent down from heaven with the promise that they shall never hunger anymore.
I do not want to spend my life trying to bring Christ to the great and the rich and the mighty to the neglect of the poor and simple, for that would bring no joy to Jesus.
I do not want to proclaim a gospel of culture or of social reform or of the speculations of the learned few, for that would bar the door to the poor and unlearned, and would henceforth bring no joy to Jesus.
I do not want connection with any church that feels itself commissioned to the wise and prudent only and has no message for the babes, for such a church brings no joy to Jesus.
I do not want to be one of a ministry that is so trained and educated and standardized that it feels itself above ministering to the needs of lost men in common places of life, for such a ministry gives no joy to Jesus. I had rather subscribe to that glorious gospel message "that saves the prisoner in the dungeon; that delivers the sailor on the plank in mid-ocean; and that promises eternal life to a dying thief who has but a few gasping moments ere he is gone." "For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." 1 Corinthians 2:2.
========== [From Roy O. Beaman, editor, The West Kentucky Bible School Voice paper, Murray, KY, January 1933, pp. 1, 4. The document is from Boyce Digital Library, Archives and Special Collections, SBTS, Louisville, KY. Scanned and formatted by Jim Duvall.]
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