Jesus rejoiced greatly in the blessing of God on these seventy. In verse 21 [Luke 10] He 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.... The babes are these seventy, "lambs" sent among "wolves" (vs. 3). How wonderful that God can use the soul winner who does not have all the wisdom of the schools, the prestige of experience and age! - John R. Rice [Luke, pg. 255-256]
Notice verse 22 [Luke 10] that "All things are delivered to me of my Father," Jesus said. And nobody knows the Father "but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him." There is no way to know God except by Christ. Not the Unitarian, not the Buddhist or Hindu, not the Christian Scientist nor any religious liberal can know the Father until he learns to come, in his penitent, believing heart, to Christ, the Son of God, the atoning Saviour who reveals the Father. - John R. Rice [Luke, pg. 257]
The term "forgive" is used in two senses in the Scripture. There is forgiveness in the sense of God's daily approval and fellowship of people already saved. That is the meaning here [Luke 11:2-4]. The term is also used of salvation, in the sense that all our sins were laid on the Lord Jesus--all our sins of past, present, and future--and paid for on the cross; so as Ephesians 1:7 and Colossians 1:14 state: ". . .we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins," we need not daily pray for forgiveness in this sense, that our sins be laid on Jesus, that we thus escape the doom sin deserves. So; "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin" (Rom. 4:7-8). - John R. Rice {Luke, pg. 273]
A wife said to me about her husband, "He is such a good man. All he needs is to join the church." But she was wrong. He was unconverted and though outwardly moral was like the Pharisees whom Jesus likened to "whited sepulchres" while inwardly they were like the decay and stench of dead men's bones (Matt. 23:27). - John R. Rice [Luke, pg. 287]
Once I, as a young Christian, said about a fellow schoolteacher, "I want him to be a Christian, he has such a good heart." But a pastor wisely rebuked me, saying, "No, his heart is what is wrong with him." And so it always is. The unconverted man or woman is not good. One who has not turned to Christ has rejected Him. One who is not for Him is against Him. According to the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:24, one who does not love Him hates Him and one who does not hold to Him despises Him. One who wickedly rejects Christ does evil, intentionally, about the greatest moral issue in this world, that is, about Christ Himself and His Lordship and Saviourhood. - John R. Rice [Luke, pg. 287]
The infinite care of God gives attention even to a sparrow. Five sparrows were sold for two farthings (about one cent in 1971 currency). In a kindred passage, Matthew 10:28-31 reminds us two sparrows were sold for a farthing. Evidently, if one took four, the seller would give him a fifth one! How little the value! Yet "one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father" (Matt. 10:29). And we are reminded: "Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows" (Matt. 10:31). What a wonderfully sweet passage of assurance from Christ in Matthew 6:25-34! We are reminded that the fowls of the air do not sow nor reap, yet God feeds them, and we are better than they! And the very hairs of every Christian's head are numbered. And when a few hairs come out as we comb, the Lord has the heavenly record changed. Oh, with what infinite care He watches over us. - John R. Rice [Luke, pg. 302-303]
All who hear the Gospel and turn down the Saviour are as foolish as the criminal who argues with the policeman or who who does not immediately try to rectify his wrong and make peace before he comes to final judgment. Judgment will come to every poor, unsaved sinner and he had better heed the Word of God and turn to Christ while he can. Those who do not accept the deity of Christ and the authority of the Bible are unbelievers, not because they are cultured and educated, not because they think they know science or history that gives them reason for their unbelief--no; unbelief is a matter of a wicked heart, not a matter of an intellectual mind. It is sin and not science that turns people away from God and the Bible. Anyone who wants to find Jesus Christ may find Him and may know He is all He claims to be. - John R. Rice [Luke, pg. 321-322]
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