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Luke 10:17-20 YOU’VE GOT A LICENSE TO PRAISE THE LORD Intro: Look
at the text. The Disciples had been out
preaching and ministering in the name of the Lord. They had seen powerful things take
place. Why, even demonic spirits were
helpless against the power of God in their lives and were cast out by
them. They are overjoyed by this and
come to Jesus rejoicing in their great spiritual power. Jesus, however, shows them the true reason
for rejoicing. He tells them that
salvation is the best and greatest catalyst for joy in the life if the
believer. You
know, I’m glad He said that! I have
never cast out a demon, and I probably never will. Most, if not all of you are in the same
boat. We haven’t, and aren’t like to
experience anything like that, and if it took something of that magnitude to
give a reason to rejoice, then I suppose we would never be able to rejoice in
the Name of the Lord. However, Jesus put
rejoicing within the reach of every child of God! The
only item necessary for there to be rejoicing in your life is just the fact
that you name is written in Heaven. If
we could ever get a hold of that truth, we would tear this building down
tonight! I am here this evening to tell you that if you are saved, then you
have a reason to rejoice. You have cause
to shout. You have everything that is
needed to praise the name of the Lord as long, as loud and as often as you
wish. I
want every born again person in this room to know that you can rejoice, that
there is nothing stopping you. You can,
you should, you must learn to praise the Lord Jesus and I want to tell you why. Allow me to give you three reasons why You’ve
Got A License To Praise The Lord.
I. ETERNAL SALVATION IS YOUR LICENSE FOR PRAISE (Ill. Salvation is more than a “get
out of Hell free card.”
Salvation brings with it many wonderful gifts that the believers tend to
forget about as they fight the battles of life.
I would just like to refresh your memory about what is yours through
your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
If your name is written in Heaven, then you are saved and all the
benefits of salvation belong to you!
Notice with me some of those benefits.) A.
There Is A Relationship
- At the very instant of conversion, a new relationship is formed. The new born child of God instantly becomes a
child of God - 1 John 3:1-2. God in Heaven becomes our Father and we enter
into a special relationship with Him. I
want to touch on 2 aspects of that relationship this evening. 1.
There Is An Adoption - Gal. 4:4-6; 2 Cor. 6:17-18 When we are
saved, we are adopted into the family of God.
He takes us as His children with all the rights and privileges thereof. 2.
There Is An Access - As
children, we have unlimited and unhindered access to the Father in Heaven, Heb. 4:14-16. Therefore, we can take our burdens to Him and
find help. We can take our problems to
Him and find solutions. We can take our
hurts to Him and find healing. Because
we are the children of God, we can and should go to the Father and allow Him to
minister to our needs. B.
There Is A Renewal -
When a person comes to Jesus for salvation, some things are made new. Sometimes are done away with and that is
reason for rejoicing! 1.
We Are Cleansed By Him - Col. 2:13; Eph. 4:32 - Everything that
was dirty, filthy and evil about us has been forever taken away! That alone, is a reason to praise His Name! 2. We Are
Changed By Him - Not only does He take away the past, but He changes the
future as well! 2 Cor. 5:17 tells us in no uncertain terms that when a person
becomes a child of God, they are changed!
They are no longer what they used to be, but not they have been redeemed
and they are free to live for the Lord.
( C.
There Is A Reward - As
hard as it may be to imagine, the Lord is going to reward His children, both
now and when they get home. According to
( D.
There Is A Rescue - Daniel 12:1 tells of a time when those
whose names are written in the book of life will be taken out of this
world. We believers know that event by
the name of the rapture, 1 Cor.
15:51-52; 1 Thes. 4:16-17. Simply because our names are written down in
Heaven, we will get to go and be with Jesus when He returns to receive His
Bride. We will be taken alive to be with
Him in Heaven and we will miss the Great Tribulation that is to come upon the
earth. We will leave in an instant and
spend eternity with our glorious Lord in His heavenly Home! E.
There Is A Reality – John 5:24 – When we came to Jesus for
salvation, we “passed from death unto life,” and we “shall not come into condemnation.” We have been delivered from all the vile
effects of sin! We have been delivered
from the horrible price that was attached to sin, ( II. ETERNAL
SECURITY IS YOUR LECENSE FOR PRAISE A.
Ill. Not only are we saved and can shout about that, but we are saved
forever! Notice the words “are
written”. This verb is in the
Perfect Passive Indicative. May not mean
much to you, but this surely will. The
literal sense of this verb is this, “your name is written and shall be written.” It means that “it stands written”. The Perfect Tense refers to an
action completed in the past that has ongoing results into the future. The Passive Voice reminds us that the subject
is being acted upon by another. The
Indicative Mood is merely a statement of fact.
If you put all of this together, you realize that at some point in the
past, God put your name in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and that action carries on
into the future. Simply stated, Jesus
said this, “your names stand written in heaven.” B.
The Lord Jesus gave a promise along these lines in Rev. 3:5. He promises there
that our names will not be blotted out of the book of life! I am grateful to the Lord that when you get
in, you are in forever! There is no way
for any child of God to lose his salvation, John 10:28; John 6:37-40; John 17:12! After all, we are not kept by what we do, but
by the power of God, 1 Pet. 1:5. If I can lose my salvation, then God isn’t
great enough to keep me saved! C.
If it ever dawned on us that we have been saved by grace and are kept by
that same grace, we would come unglued!
I have no doubt that many Christians harbor a secret fear in the back of
their minds that someday, some way, they just might lose their salvation and go
to Hell. Nothing could be father from
the truth! If you are saved, you are
saved forever and that is a reason to rejoice! III. ETERNAL
SATISFACTION IS YOUR LICENSE FOR PRAISE A.
Ill. If being saved and being eternally secure isn’t enough to bring us
to the point of praise, then perhaps the thought of Heaven will do it for
us. Why?
Because having your name written in the Book of Life spells the
difference between Heaven and Hell, Rev.
20:15; Rev. 21:27. If your name is
in the book, then you are going to Heaven! B.
The word “written” means to “enroll as a citizen.” When you received Christ as your Savior, and
your name was written in Heaven, you were enrolled as a citizen of that country
- Phil. 3:20; Eph. 2:19. As a result, Heaven, all that it is and all
that it contains, belongs to the redeemed! C.
Just think of what that means! It
means that Heaven is ours and that one day, we will enjoy all the glories of
that Heavenly city! Let me remind you of
some of them. 1. No
tears - Rev. 21:4 2. No
death - Rev. 21:4 3. No sorrow - Rev. 21:4 4. No pain - Rev. 21:4 5. No sin - Rev.
21:8 6. No sinners - Rev. 21:8 7. No 9. No night - Rev. 21:25 10. No curse - Rev. 22:3
1. God with His people - Rev. 21:3
2. The Lamb with His people - Rev. 21:22-23; 22:4
3. Jasper walls - Rev. 21:11-12
4. Pearly Gates - Rev. 21:21
5. Golden Streets - Rev. 21:21
6. The redeemed - Rev. 21:24
7. The glory of God - Rev. 21:23
8. Home - John 14:1-3 Conc: As we bring these thoughts to a close this evening, I hope you can see
that we who are saved have many reasons for rejoicing. The question that comes to mind now is this,
“Have
we been giving the Lord the praise He deserves and is worthy of, or have we
been guilty of holding back?”
Let’s decide that, if we are saved, we will act like we are saved and we
will rejoice simply because we can! Isn’t
the Lord good to give us so many reasons for praising His name? Let’s not take them for granted, but let’s
give Him glory and honor this evening. ( |
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