Strong Encouragement for New Believers, Part 2 | A Strong Foundation for the New Believer

Luke 7:18-35

Go back to Luke 7, verse 28. You’ll see this second word of encouragement to new believers. After teaching the crowds about John the Baptist in Luke 7:24-28, Jesus has here informed their consciences about the significance of John the Baptist. He has elevated their sense of accountability that they have been listening to none other than a genuine prophet of God.

And the Lord turns to comfort his people again in verse 28. And he tells them a remarkable thing. He says, “I tell you after everything I’ve said about John’s greatness, that among those born of women, none is greater than John. And yet, the one who is least in the kingdom of God, greater than he.” What a powerful word of encouragement, especially as you come to understand this biblical concept of the kingdom of God. Jesus said that he was sent for the purpose of preaching the kingdom of God, Luke 4:43.

In the first beatitude, Luke 6:20, “Blessed are you who are poor for yours is the kingdom of God.” That is the King of the kingdom speaking. He’s giving encouragement to the subjects of his kingdom. “Blessed are you who are poor in spirit for yours is the kingdom of God.” Kingdom refers to a place ruled by a king. You’re like, Duh. Yes, that’s right. It’s that simple. A kingdom is a sphere of dominion. A kingdom is ruled by an apostle monarch called a king and this sphere, this place of dominion that we’re talking about here is God’s kingdom. He’s the one in charge. He’s the King. He’s absolutely sovereign in the exercise of his authority and his dominion. That’s the kingdom of God.

 We read about kings and kingdoms throughout the Bible, all the way from Genesis. The most prominent theme running through Genesis to Revelation, among all the kings in the kingdoms in the world, is that there is one kingdom, a coming kingdom of God that is going to supplant all human kingdoms. God’s Messiah is going to be King of kings and Lord of lords. It may have been quite a big thing to belong to the kingdom of Assyria, as Assyria’s marching through the ancient world and impaling its enemies on poles and putting them up for display, that it would make everybody fear. To carry the carrying card of the Assyrian kingdom means your something big.

It may have been some big thing to belong to the kingdom of Babylon or Persia or Greece, or to be a citizen of Rome. Delight. All those kingdoms have passed away. They’re relics of human history. They’re just interesting for us to study now, but no fear. Our own citizenship in this wonderful country of ours with so much privilege and opportunity is one day going to become a dim fact of history as well.

But we, beloved, belong to God’s kingdom. We have a different citizenship card. Not a Green Card, mind you, full-fledged citizenship. This is an eternal kingdom we belong to ruled by the eternal Son of God. It’s a kingdom that’s been revealed throughout Scripture as early as Exodus, but in Daniel 7:14, we find a very clear word of revelation about this kingdom. There was a one like a Son of Man, that is the Son of Man, Jesus the Christ, the Messiah and he approached the one who was seated on the throne, the Ancient of Days. This is majestic vision that’s given to Daniel.

And he sees, as “To him, to the one like the Son of Man, is given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and languages, should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” In that last section there, it’s parallel after parallel emphasizing permanency. That kingdom is going to last; nothing will diminish its glory. Nothing can stand against it. And in Daniel 7:18, we read, get this, this is you and me, “The saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever.”

That’s us, beloved. We belong to God’s kingdom. We’re ruled by Christ. So by the grace of God, we’ve embraced Jesus Christ as God’s Messiah. We’ve been allowed to become citizens of his kingdom and that is what Paul also rejoiced in, though he had a Roman citizenship by natural birth, quite a remarkable privilege in his day, he didn’t rejoice in that. He rejoiced in another kingdom. He told the Philippians, many of them citizens of Rome, he said, “But our citizenship is in heaven, from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him, even to subject all things to himself.”

There will come a day, Isaiah 65, Revelation 19, 20, 21, 22, 1 Thessalonians, you can go through all of Scripture and see this. There will come a day when the kingdom of God will overtake the earth, when it will irradicate all rule, all authority and drive all disobedient from the earth. All rebellion will be crushed. All rebel forces will be subdued. All of them overwhelmed by the power of the sovereign king. But for now, the kingdom of God has been inaugurated by the King Messiah, Jesus and it exists in force, in reality, wherever God is obeyed.

That kingdom has been inaugurated by Christ and, as Jesus says in Luke 17:21, “The kingdom of God is in the midst of you,” or another way to translate it is, “The kingdom of God is in you.” In other words, the place where God rules and reigns right now until Christ comes again, a second time to subdue all, where God is ruling and reigning now in the realm in which he is honored as God, the sphere in which he is praised and thanked with the worship that is due is majesty is here. It’s in here. It’s in the hearts of his people. It’s in the corporate praises of his churches.

We’re a kingdom of citizens. We follow a heavenly constitution. We bow before a heavenly king. And our king is the only king whose dominion will last forever and forever and ever. He’s the only king who is worthy of all worship because from God above, he has received, according to Revelation 5:12, “All power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” God sent his chosen King, unlike any other king I’ve ever read about, God sent his chosen king to die before he reigned, to sacrifice before he rules, to humble himself before he is exalted.

God sent his Messiah to earth to die for his subjects and now he sends his spirit to regenerate, covert and adopt. In love, in affection, God converts rebels into citizens. He turns enemies into friends. He makes strangers his adopted sons and daughters. New believer, old believer, but new believer, think about that. Your king died for you, “Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” When Jesus says to us, Luke 12:32, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” “Blessed are you who are chosen by God, for yours is the kingdom.”

By God’s grace, we’ve embraced his Messiah. By God’s grace, we now belong to his kingdom and because of that, there’s a third word of encouragement. It wouldn’t make sense without the submission and obedience to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith. But now that we’ve embraced Christ and we belong to God’s kingdom, there is a third word of encouragement that now makes sense.

Number three, we walk in God’s wisdom. We walk in God’s wisdom. For those who belong to the kingdom of God, Luke 8:10, they are privileged, blessed by God because Jesus says, “To you has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God.” So once you bow in worship in repentance and faith and bow and worship before Christ, and you are now a subject of that kingdom, now all the treasures of the kingdom come rolling out to you. You know the secrets of the kingdom of God. This is not gnostic higher knowledge kept from some in this room and open to others.

This is the word mysterion. This is talking about the hidden things of God that were hidden by God by his sovereign designed, but now in Christ, all revealed to those who know him. All revealed to those who worship Christ. Everything open in Christ as the fullness of wisdom and knowledge and it’s all open to us. But the noncitizens, for those who are aliens and strangers, for those who are Green Card carriers who come into our midst, but then leave, they’re outside the kingdom. And they remain ignorant. And they wander in darkness. We want to go rescue them and bring them into the kingdom.

But those who receive the knowledge of the kingdom, they’ve been enlightened by God’s grace. It’s through the illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit that they understand the truth of God, they understand the mind of God. God teaches them to walk in knowledge and this is the very essence of wisdom. This is the final word of encouragement, Luke 7:35. We remember in that section, Luke 7:29-35, that Jesus winnowed the crowds, he separated wheat from chaff, he drew a dividing line down the middle of humanity, and he separated those who humbled themselves in obedience from those who elevated themselves in their arrogance and rebellion.

And to the humble, to the submissive and obedient, to those who justified God by their obedience and in their obedience, the Lord comforts them in verse 35 saying this, “Yet wisdom,” in contrast to the rejection, “Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.” There are the children in the marketplace, frivolous, sitting doing nothing, criticizing at every turn and then there are the wisdom of, or the children of wisdom, as subjects of God’s chosen Messiah, as citizens of God’s eternal kingdom, there has been, in Christ, in his apostles, a veritable avalanche of truth poured out in the New Testament.

By God’s grace, we have access, can understand, and apprehend this truth. God has given us, as I said, the Holy Spirit as in indwelling, resident truth teacher. And he illuminates God’s Word to us. He opens our eyes to it. He opens our ears. He softens our heart to it. And then he empowers us to walk in obedience to that wisdom. It’s incredible truth. We’re the only people on earth that have this and can walk in it. It can shape our lives.

Turn ahead to the tenth chapter of Luke and notice what Jesus said in the presence of his disciples. He breaks out, Jesus does, in verse 21, in this Spirit-inspired praise. And this is what Jesus says. He says, “In that same hour he,” Jesus, “rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and he said, ‘I thank you, father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my father and no one knows who the son is except the father or who the father is except the son and anyone to whom the son chooses to reveal him.’”

Do you know you are what you are because Jesus had your name in mind, and he chose to reveal himself to you? He chose to reveal the father to you by name. It’s no wonder Jesus rejoices in the Holy Spirit that the father’s been pleased to show us everything. Look at verse 23, “Turning to the disciples, Jesus said privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see? For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.’”

So beloved, don’t ever take this for granted? God has been well-pleased to reveal hidden things to you, things that many prophets and kings desire to see. They don’t see it. They didn’t see it, but you do. You’ve been chosen by God for such an incredible privilege. You may think of yourself, Ah, I’m not that smart. I only went so far with my education. I struggle to make sense of many high and lofty things. Oh, beloved, saint, believer, your eyes have been made to see while the educated remain blind. Your ears have been opened to true wisdom where the wise of this world remain deaf and they go to their graves knowing nothing. You’ve received from God a heart to perceive, to understand, to receive the things of God. It is not natural in your fallen condition. It is the miraculous grace of God in your life.

Now I want you to return over to 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 30. This is going to bring us full circle to where we started in 1 Corinthians 1. Because we are by God’s grace not offended by Christ, Luke 7:23, we’ve become citizens of God’s kingdom, which conveys upon us such massive privileges that even the prophets, of John the Baptist stature, they didn’t receive it, Luke 7:28. By God’s grace, we’ve been granted the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom.

And we’re able to see and understand and rejoice and walk in that wisdom and for that reason, when we hear the preaching of Christ crucified, 1 Corinthians 1:23, we weren’t scandalized like the Jews. We didn’t scorn it as folly like the Gentiles. Rather, we considered the message of the cross, the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified, we counted that message, 1 Corinthians 1:24, “To be Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

 And therefore, look at verses 30-31, because of God, you are in Christ Jesus, “Who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” That is how wisdom is justified by all of her children. As wisdom’s children, that is us, folks, as we boast in the Lord, as we boast in his wisdom, as we boast in his power unto righteousness.

Turn the page now to chapter 2. Look at verse 6. “Yet among the mature, we impart wisdom. It’s not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed from before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”

By God’s grace, we understand more than the wisest men of any age. Plato and Aristotle, Copernicus and Galileo, Einstein, Steven Hawking, none of them understood the wisdom of God. Outside the grace of God, Caesar of Augustus, Marcus Aurelius, Charlemagne, Richard the First, Winston Churchill, and for us, Ronald Reagan. None of them understood the wisdom of God either. Paul and the apostles have imparted to us through what’s been written in the New Testament, a secret hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. That is an incredible privilege.

Keep reading. “But as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined,’” some people think that that’s just referring to heaven. Can I tell you that that’s not just heaven? “What no eye has seen, no ear has heard, nor entered into the heart of man,” yes heavenly things. But that is talking about apostolic doctrine. That’s the whole of the New Testament that’s in those words right there. And no eye saw that coming. No ear heard of its telling. It never entered the heart of man to crucify the Lord of glory, “‘What God has prepared for those who love him, these things God revealed to us,” that is the apostles, “through the Spirit.”

Again, by the Holy Spirit, God revealed to his apostles and prophets in the New Testament what no human being could ever have imagined and this is wisdom that comes from the depths of the infinite all-knowing God, who is endless. Look at verse 10, “For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God, the bathos of God. For who knows a person’s thoughts, except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we’ve received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.”

That is divine revelation. It’s not human intellect. It’s not human intuition. It’s not human discovery. This is wisdom from the very bathos of God. And it’s all ours. It’s all ours to learn from, to read, to rejoice in, and then to put on display as we walk in it. Like Paul told the Philippians, “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise.” Don’t walk as you did in your ignorance. Don’t just sit still and watch TV like all the dying corpses of this world. Walk. Get up and walk as wise. “Make the best use of the time.” Why? “Because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”

By walking in the truths we’ve received from God’s Word, by walking in wisdom, we justify God’s wisdom. We fulfill what God has chosen us to be. That’s back to 1 Peter 2:9, “You’re a chosen race.” You’re different. You’re no longer of Adam’s race. You’re of Christ’s race. “You’re a chosen race, you are a royal priesthood,” bringing people to God. You’re a holy nation, you are a people that’s marked out, set apart, defined by holiness. Why? So you can sit still and keep it to yourself? No. “That you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

Beloved, all of you who have come to Christ recently, join with the rest of us, all of us together have joined a people of immense provide, spanning the ages, covering the globe. God’s amazing, electing, redeeming, reconciling grace has caused us to embrace the Messiah and we boast in him. We now belong to God’s eternal kingdom and we’re citizens of heaven. We’re privileged to walk in God’s eternal wisdom so that we live very differently from the rest of the world. And for us, the things of this world have grown strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. Amen.

Let’s pray. Our Father, we thank you that you have privileged us. You have favored us. You have graced us to make us a part of your people, a people for your own possession, that we may prolamin your excellencies. We thank you that we embrace Jesus Christ as our King and Lord and Messiah. He’s our Savior. We thank you that we belong to your kingdom as full-fledged citizens, and not just citizens in a, in a secular way, but in an intimate way we are members of your family by adoption.

We’re not just subjects of the King; we’re children of the King. We thank you that we have received your wisdom that we may walk in it. And we ask that by the same power you use to save us and redeem us from our sins, we ask that that same power would energize us to walk in obedience to your truth. We do not want our lives to be an affront to you. We do not want our lives to be a lying testimony about your power and grace. So please work within us, encourage us, strengthen us. We pray that you would unite our hearts together in love as we give ourselves to one another for mutual edification and conformity to Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen.