“Joy”

Thank you, Terry, and I pray that each of us understands a bit of what he sang this morning because it is there that the answer to what we seek is found. Paul wrote in Galatians Chapter 6 verse 14, "God forbid that I should boast in anything except the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ by whom I am crucified to the world and the world to me." 

You can find John 15 in your Bible please.  If you want to use a pew Bible you can find that on Page 901.  I have worked a lot in John 15 this week and I have not gotten to the point where I feel like I understand the two verses I most want to understand.  We will spend a bit of time there, but then we're going to move throughout the scripture to talk about this word, this thing called "joy."  I don't know what your experience with joy and gladness and happiness is.  For as many people as are in this room we would have that many different experiences and possibly that many different definitions.  It's elusive, is what I find; it's hard to pen down.  It's like trying to define the word, glory, so our minds can wrap around it.

But it is like this:  I may not be able to define glory, but I can point to it when I see it.  I might not be able to define joy, but I know when I have it, and so do you, and sometimes we know when other people have it.  What are recorded in John 15 are the words of Jesus.  From John 13 on we have a lengthy discourse of our Lord where he is talking specifically to his 11 disciples because Judas has already betrayed him and gone out.  These words are spoken just hours before our Lord's crucifixion and his awful treatment that the choir sung about just a bit ago.

I want to begin at Verse 1, really only concentrating on a couple of verses.  We will read through Verse 11, but I want you to, as best we can with that brief introduction to this passage of scripture, put your mind into what's going on.  The disciples are troubled; Jesus started John 14 with those words we so well know, "Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God, believe also in me."  Here is the one getting ready to be crucified for the sins of the world telling his disciples to not be troubled but to be comforted.  And then in Verse 1 of Chapter 15, he gives this teaching.

John 15:1-27

    I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. [2] Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit he takes away: and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, that it may bear forth more fruit. [3] Already you are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you. [4] Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abides in the vine; neither can you, unless you abide in me. [5] I am the vine, you are the branches: Whoever abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit: for apart from me you can do nothing.

Now this metaphor is very clear.  He is teaching a singular point in that as God's children our life comes from the vine, our life depends on the vine and we cannot bear the fruit of true life unless we are attached to the vine and the vine is the Lord Jesus Christ.

[6] If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and  withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

Without Christ, a spiritual life is not possible.

[7] If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

So this abiding obviously has a direct effect on our prayer life.

[8] By this my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so prove to be my disciples.

Now, that's a key statement for all of us as we learn the basics of this Christian life together, that the proof of our being a follower of Christ is the fruit that we bear.  So, we may not be able to see all the way to the root, but we can see the fruit we bear and the fruit others bear and that makes us ask the question of ourselves, "What kind of fruit am I bearing at this present time?"

And we get to the verses that I want us to think about:

[9] As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you:

And you should just stop there for a minute and try to let that sink in just a little bit.  This is one of those places where the more you know about God and his gospel the heavier weight this passage of scripture, this phrase holds; the greater delight it brings to your heart.  This is the Son of God who is truth incarnate, who is God Himself, always been in fellowship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, our triune God, has always known the Father's love, the Father's love for the Son is perfect and flawless and full, never doubting, never wavering, never changing, loving him because he is perfect in every aspect and Jesus said, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you."  I can't take that in.  I know what I'm like.  I am not like the Lord Jesus Christ.  I'm full of flaws.  I don't merit his love.  But, because Christ became man and died in our place, he is saying to us the same love the Father has for me, I have for you.  How do we recognize that?

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: abide in my love.

Stay there, remain there, reside there, plug into me like a branch into the vine so you'll know that, let's make this practical Lord.  How do I do that?  I'm not a vine, I'm a person.

[10] If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love;

You see he's taken the legalism out of this obedience thing.  He turned it around for us in John 14:15 when he said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."  So I think the truth is, love precedes our obedience, so our obedience is not something we cower before him and say, "Oh, I hope you love me."  No, we obey him because we have learned he is good and so, we keep his commandments, we will abide in his love.

Here is the statement:

Just as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. [11] These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might be in you, and that your joy might be full.

Some weeks ago I have been praying about what we're going to study in worship, I generally prefer going through a passage in detail or through a book, but there are times we need to stop  and take an overview of certain themes in the scripture and joy was one of those that came to the top, and I thought about folks who might say, "I am a Christian and I am not happy, why?  Why am I not happy?"  We're going to talk about that very thing this morning.  Before we do that, maybe it would be good for you to know where we're going in the weeks ahead. 

v     Now August 26 is one of those sermons how to win friends and influence people, it's title is "Sin."  [Laughter]  Defining it, defeating it.  I would let you know that you will find it one of the most freeing messages you will ever hear.  When you understand the truth of what the Bible says sin is, how we define it properly and then how Christ defeated it on the cross, it will free you up when you learn that.

v     September 2^nd, it's a bit archaic for our world, it's kind of cavemanish, I guess if you have Geico Insurance you can believe in Satan…. Cavemanish?  You with me? Okay?  You do see that commercial?  Intelligent people don't believe in the Devil anymore, but since Jesus was omniscient and knew everything and he believed in the Devil, I think I should.  So, who is he? What does he do?  What's he like?  We're going to look at that.

v     September 9^th We have a guest speaker named Don Mathis, who is going to encourage us in the church life about evangelism; it's something we set up some time ago; it really doesn’t fit in the series as a whole, but Don is also going to with us in our LIFE training on Sunday night to help us understand Sunday School evangelism.

v     September 16^th Something that we deal with regularly as Christians that I find Christians deal with regularly and I help them with is doubts and assurance; How do I know I'm a Christian and how do I get rid of these doubts?

v     September 23^rd Guilt and Forgiveness.

v     September 30th  Depression and the Christian.

Those are the things I think it would be helpful to look it.  Now that's my plan, but as James said, "As the Lord wills…" we will follow that.  He holds the steering wheel and it he turns it, we're going to His way, not mine.

So, let's talk about joy this morning and the first thing we need to look at are the thieves and roadblocks to joy.

I had a friend say to me once after a sermon, "Man, I want what you have."  I wish I would have been thinking, but I don't think well after a sermon and anybody who says that to the preacher after the sermon, my reply would now be, "You want what you think I have."  Do you understand that?  This is Sunday morning, folks.  I shaved, took a shower and put on a suit this morning.  I don’t look like this every day; I don’t talk like this every day.  I do feel like I do every day on Sundays because sometimes when I'm standing in the pulpit, I am going contrary to what I might feel like in my soul, because that, we will find, is the secret to Christian joy; as long as your actions are based on truth, not your feelings.  Sometimes in the pulpit I'm elated to the heavens; but sometimes it's like George Herbert, the old English poet.  My buddy, Jim Orrick, was telling me about a poem of his called, "Temper," and the poet was asking God, he said, "God, sometimes Father, it is as if there were four heavens and in my joy I can see above the fourth heaven, but then there are other times, Lord, it's as if I drop all the way to hell, and why is it for a mere mortal do you put me on the rack and stretch me so far? Only you can span that."

So there are thieves and roadblocks to our joy.  There are a couple of things we need to keep in mind.  There are different temperaments among human beings.  Some of you, my friend, are of that sanguine temperament and you typically are a party waiting to happen.  You are just typically happy!  My father is that way and he absolutely makes me sick!  [Laughter] He's happy all the time.  I'll never forget the time we had to stay with them in between houses once and I was up in the morning dragging around the kitchen looking for a cup of coffee.  He comes in because he has already been up, had his walk, read the paper, had his coffee, he's got his suit on ready to go to work and he's looking at me and he says, "You don't talk enough in the morning."  I looked at him and said, "You talk too much in the morning."  There's something wrong with people like that! [Laughter]   You know what they say about sanguines?  That they are so people oriented, they always want to look you in the face while talking, even when driving a car [Laughter].  Hey, [looking over his shoulder] you know what we did yesterday? [Laughter]   Ride with Warren Taylor, it will increase your prayer life! [Laughter]  [By the way, Warren is out of town and thank you, Joe for helping us, and Ann, and by the way, the choir special and Terry's solo fit so well with what we are doing.]

There are choleric personalities.  They are the people who like to drive tanks and blow up everything in front of them.  You, give me a problem….. Oh, somebody's laughing because they are kin to one or know one in their family or they are one!

Give them a problem and it's gonna be solved!  I mean, they would walk in this room, if there was a problem to be solved, and assume that we all wanted them to take over because they are supposed to be in charge.  That's just the way it is! Oops, now we have families laughing.  I would name names, because I can see who that one is. 

But then there is the phlegmatic temperament, and they are the people that keep peace in the world, thank God for phlegmatics!  They just, they like to keep the peace; they are calm, quick-witted.

And then you have those poor souls that are labeled, "Melancholics" and they are not labeled that by mistake.  Nobody reaches the heights of a melancholic, but nobody else reaches the depths.  I want you to know that Biblical joy has nothing to do with any of those.

So, mark it down, if you just think you are a happy person because you have Biblical joy, no you may be a happy person because God made you happy from birth and thank him for that.  That will come into play in how you deal with it, so, let's talk about the thieves and roadblocks of joy and first I want to put up there just some very practical things before we dive into the text of scripture, physical and psychological  difficulties.  Now, I'm not a psychiatrist or a psychologist, I am following suit with some men who are far wiser than I was.  This is nothing new; I do realize sometimes in the pulpit we preach a pop psychology that is neither good theology nor good psychology, but, from what I'm saying now, I'm taking a lesson from people who preached several centuries ago; men who have become my pastors.  They are called the Puritans, and every time I say that I love to look at the expression on people's faces when I say I read the Puritans, because most people think of Puritans by this definition: "A puritan is someone who is deadly afraid that someone somewhere in the world is having fun."  [Laughter]   They have been horribly caricatured by modern literature, and by the Salem witch trials, and nothing could be further from the truth about these great saints of God.  They were happy, holy people and their pastors were probably some of the best soul physicians that the world has ever known.  In many times in their writings and in their preaching, they would talk about things like this with their people.  So, without going into great detail because we're going to deal with melancholy, real depression September 30^th, Lord willing, but, right now, physical difficulties would be that which is a physical malady; you're ill and it steals your joy, or physical maladies could be outward circumstances. 

You know, here's a little one this week.  I did not plan on being in the Gospel of John this week.   I had no idea I would end up in John 15, but all my study kept focusing me back on Jesus' words:  "These things I have spoken unto you that my joy might be in you and your joy might be full."  Well, just last week I loaned my two best John commentaries out, actually to the young man we are ordaining tonight, because he is preaching through John.  I didn't have these two scholars to consult with, and that's okay, because I've got some other books.  So I remembered I had John Brown's writings on our Lord's discourses in the gospel. He's an older writer who is very pastoral, very wise, and man I'm getting into it and I'm thinking this is good!  This is so good!  Well, it's a set of used books I bought at a bookstore up in Cleveland once, and I turned the page, just about the time I'm really getting into what he's saying, and I turn it and it jumps from page 275 to page 311.  [Laughter]  What is going on?  I can't remember what else happened through the week, but it was just one of those weeks, and those things steal our joy.

There's also a great thief of joy that we misdiagnose often in the Christian life.  The puritans were masters at drawing a fine line, but yet a clear on between spiritual difficulties and psychological difficulties.  Nobody's mind is sound.  Some people's minds are sounder than others.  Becoming a Christian doesn’t make your brain improve, okay?  So, I guess I should use the word, sound brain, instead of sound mind, because God can give you a sound mind, which is different than a sound brain.  And your thinking apparatus works differently. The trouble is your thinking apparatus is the only one you've ever had and you assume that's the proper way to think.  And you assume other people think the way you do. 

Let me see if I can give you the picture: Some of you spend a lot of time worrying about what people think about you.  Let me tell you why.  Whether it ever comes out your lips or not, it is because you spend a lot of time thinking about people, how they look, and how they act and how you would improve them.  And so you have then assumed that other people think that way about you.  And they are always thinking, he shouldn't do that, he shouldn't wear that, he should say it this way, he should pronounce it this way, he should drive that way, he shouldn't do this and he shouldn't do that.  Because in your own soul you are telling yourself that, you think about that with other people and you figure that's the way everybody thinks, so you are walking around always worried that you are being evaluated… Relax!  All of us spend most of our time thinking about ….ourselves!  Nobody in this room has time to think as much about you as they do thinking about themselves.  So, you gotta get off of what other people think about you.

However, some of us have a brain that doesn’t measure life very well; your proportions and your perspectives are out of whack.  Some of you can go back and check a door 15 times just to make sure you locked it. Some of you can say something and wonder, "I wonder if they understood the way I meant that? Maybe I need to go back and apologize to them over this," and when that gets into the spiritual realm and you begin to wonder about your salvation or wonder about your prayers, or wonder about this, that's not a spiritual  problem, that's a psychological problem that steals our joy because we're trying to plant it inside our brain or in our heart or in our feelings and we've got to get outside of that.  I saw a book in Barnes and Noble the other day, I didn't read it, it's a great title, it says "Get Out of Your Mind and Get Into Your Life."  Some of you spend way too much time living up here.  Do you want me to tell you how I know that?  I am one!  And living up here is a miserable place to live.

So, those are some of the thieves and roadblocks; some practical ones, much more practical ones in the spiritual realm because that's physiological:

     1.  Sin.

          You cannot be a happy Christian and have sin in your life.  You can pretend it, you can want it or think you want it, but if you have a pet sin you will not arrive at joy.  Welcomed sin in the believer's heart is giving joy the exit door.  We'll talk more about that later when we deal with sin.

2. Satan.

He is a thief.  Jesus came to give us life and life to the full.  The thief comes not but to steal, to kill and to destroy.  We need to understand who he is and not be outwitted by his schemes.  We'll learn about those things, Lord willing, as we go on.

What are some truths about joy that we can learn?

1.    The first one is this: Being a Christian does increase and purify your capacity for joy.  That's very carefully stated.  Here's why I believe that is true.  The very verse that got me launched into this is Galatians 5:22, you don't need to turn there, it's the fruit of the spirit, it says "The fruit of the spirit is love, joy….."  Joy is the second in the list of nine fruits that are fruit of the spirit.  That tells me when I become a Christian, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in me, then I have the spirit, the source of that fruit. He's in me, my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, I have a new capacity for joy and his joy is pure because he is the Holy Spirit, so as a Christian, my capacity for joy is increased and purified.

2.      The root and reason for all true joy is Jesus Christ.  Hold you finger there   in John because we're going to come back to there in a minute  and turn to Matthew 2.  I want to show you the first use of the word, joy, in your New Testament.  The first in literary order; the first in time order is Luke ironically Chapter 2, Verse 10, but let us look at Matthew 2:10 and then we will go to Luke 2.  (It's speaking of the wise men)

Matthew 2:10

    When they saw the star, they rejoiced [that's a very kin word, actually the same word as joy] with exceedingly with great joy.

So, what was it the wise men were hunting? They were hunting the Lord Jesus Christ by means of the star.  So, when they saw the star they were going after what brought them joy.  That begins to tell us this truth, that joy is outside of us.  When you read all of the happenstance of the word, joy, in the New Testament, you find it represents it to us as something that is brought up within us as a result of what is shown to us, given to us, done in us or done through us.  Joy is not something you can command.  As a matter of fact there is not an emotion in your life you can command; they are all secondary, of great importance, but they are all secondary, and I can almost guarantee you the more you concentrate on trying to have an emotion or get rid of an emotion, the more you will not have it or the more you will have it.  Emotions are not to be directly worked on.  They are to be worked on by truth that is outside of us to stabilize those unpredictable things.  So, look at Luke 2, Verse 10: You know this one:

Luke 2:10

    And the angel said unto them, [these are the shepherds the angel is talking to] Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good news of a great joy, that will be to all people.

The root and reason for all true joy is Christ.  When Christ came into the world it was a joy to the world.  We sing that don't we?

3.     Joy is outside of us.

John 15

These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might be in you, and that your joy might be full.

As that is written, just in the English translation, what would that tell you about your joy if Jesus had not spoken those words to us?  You wouldn't have any.  It's outside of us.  You can't dig deep within your soul and find joy.  Well, how do I get there?  What do I do?  Well, if the source is Christ, if his words are that which give it to us and put it in us, because it's in him, not in us, and then our joy can be full, we find out that belief or faith is our step toward joy.  Faith is how we're saved; it's the means through which we are saved.  Grace saves us; that’s the cause of our salvation; faith is the conduit through which it comes to us and we need to reach out for that which would bring us joy.

By the way, did you know all of us seek happiness and joy? It is good to do that.  God made us to need to be joyful because it is his characteristic to bring that to us.  And so we should seek that.  It is not self-centered to seek to be happy or to seek to be joyful if you pursue it in that which will give you everlasting joy.  Blaise Pascal, the French philosopher said this:  "All men seek happiness, this is without exception.  Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end, the end of seeking happiness.  The cause of some going to war and of others avoid it is the same desire in both attended with different views.  The will never takes the least step but to this object, the object of happiness or joy.  This is the motive of every action of man, even of those who hang themselves."

That statement will make you think won't it?  We have in us a capacity that must be satisfied outside of us.  We long for joy, and for many of us as Christians we seek it but it eludes us.  Where do we get this?  Romans 15:13 says, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing."  In believing!  Now, let me tell you what that doesn’t mean.  It does not mean that somehow if I get the book, The Secret, and I watch Oprah, and I begin to think really hard about good things, my thoughts can act like these electromagnets that suck good things right to me.  You're looking at me funny.  Some of you believe more of that than you think.  There is a Greek word for that… I can't say that, my kinds told me I use that too much, sorry.  I was going to say there is a Greek word for that, baloney!  But, I've used that too much and they told me at the table once I can't say that anymore. 

It's crazy!  We teach people to have faith in faith.  Would you explain to me how you do that?  How by thinking really really hard inside yourself you're going to cause something to go *POOF* there it is!  That's the next Disney movie isn't it?  I've always wanted to have that lantern of Aladdin!  POOF!  Now, what are we talking about?  God says, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy in peace and believing."  What does God tell us to believe in?  The gospel of Christ, the person of Christ.  So, in the New Testament, as we cast our faith on the proper object, our faith grows.  It is utter nonsense to think that I can change my life by thinking about being joyful.  You've got to have a reason!  You've got to have a root to that.  Just thinking that you could be joyful is building a castle in the air!

I read a great statement about that not too long ago.  Somebody said that "Neurotics build castles in the air; psychotics live in them; [Laughter] and psychiatrists collect the rent!"  [Laughter]

It is unsound thinking to believe in belief.  All belief has to rest on something.  Right now I believe this platform is going to hold me up.  Right now you believe that seat you're sitting in is going to hold you up.  You believe there is enough oxygen in this room that you can breathe and stay alive.  You believe when you get in your car and turn the key it's going to start.  Now, why do you believe those things? Because they all have objective truth.  I could believe I'm a rooster and can fly around the room, what good would that do me?  First of all if I was going to try to believe something, it wouldn't be that.  You know, I would believe I had a Maserati to leave in, or something. But, it ain't going to happen!  So, belief is our step toward joy.  What am I talking about?  I'm talking about to have something to believe in: "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing."  You joy is a result of where you plant your faith!  So you've got to understand that what you plant your faith on has to have the capacity to fulfill that eternal longing of the insatiable human soul!

Real quick side track, by the way, did you know that this quest for joy is also the cause of addictions and perversions?  Follow me!  I am a created being.  The only thing that can satisfy my heart's need for joy is my Creator through the Gospel of Christ.  Because I rebelled against my creator and now he has to remake me in his image.  All of us, lost and saved, have this drive for joy.  So when I seek to satisfy this need for joy in an illegitimate means, it will never satisfy.  I may get temporary satisfaction out of it: Moses chose not to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.  He esteemed the reproach of Christ greater than the treasurers of Egypt.  He put his hope on Christ, but some of us will put our hope on money, or on alcohol or on drugs or on sex and when those things don't fulfill the way they did the first time you had a beer, then its 2 beers; then its 3 beers; then it’s a 6 pack, and that's not your abdomen, and then it’s a case; and then its whiskey.  Now, I know I'm being facetious, but can you see that?  It's the man who first glances at a scantily clad woman and it brings him some sense of satisfaction and joy and he likes that so he sneaks off and does it again sometime.  And then it's not the same satisfaction so he needs her less scantily clad and then he needs this, and… you just wouldn't believe how far it goes…. Because perversion, no matter  how small it starts, always has to grow because it can't satisfy the insatiable human soul, only Jesus can.  You've got to have a place to rest.

Paul told the Philippians in 1:24, convinced of this, that he wasn't going to die:

"I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith."  The more you progress in the faith, the higher your joy.  We have no faith in faith.  We have faith in Christ.  Why?  Why Christ? 2 Corinthians 1:20 says: "For all of the promises of God find their 'Yes' in him, in Jesus Christ."  Same chapter, Paul said to the Corinthians, "We work with you for your joy."

You, my friend, can be an agent of God to stir up the joy of Christ in the hearts of other people. 

Being a Christian increases and purifies your capacity for joy.  The root and reason for all true joy is Christ through the incarnation in the gospel.  Joy is outside of us, it can't be found in us.  It cannot be commanded.  Belief is our step towards joy; belief in the Lord Jesus Christ.  That he can take away our sins, that he can fill us and make us the human we were supposed to be.  And, finally, in this list of things, and then there is some application, the presence of sorrow is not the absence of joy.   We so fear sadness in our culture, it's sick.  The chief symbol of Christianity is a cross.  It is not a piece of jewelry.  To hang a cross around someone's neck in the form of jewelry in the day that Jesus was crucified would have putrefied the whole world.  It was a sickening thing.  So I'm not talking about some back-slapping, false happiness that is cheap, but I am talking about the solid sense that this world is out of kilter, but God is going to make it right.  He is with me in it.  He will never leave me nor forsake me.  He is the same yesterday, today and forever, and so I rest in that.  And the Lord Jesus, then, is my model that the presence of sorrow is not the absence of joy. 

In Matthew 26 he said "My soul is very sorrowful even unto death."  That's in the Garden of Gethsemane where he was about to pray "Not my will, but yours be done."   And Hebrews Chapter 12 Verse 2 tells us that "We are to look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and is sat down at the right hand of God."  So when we are sorrowful it doesn’t mean we can't have joy.

So, do you have joy?  I know that many of you would like to have more.  I know that some of you are in dire circumstances right now that have stolen your joy.  Jesus said in John 16, "No man takes your joy from you."  No man, no thing, no happening, no devil can take your joy from you if it is founded upon Christ.  Nothing can!  I'm not trying to tell you he's going to guard you from tough circumstances.  What I am telling you is this one who had joy exuberantly, even in the deep sadness of bearing the sins of the whole world, having his father turn his back on him, went through that with joy because he did that, I know, in the darkest of circumstances, he has the power to supply the joy in my heart to get me through that circumstance.  Am I going to be happy all the time?  Is it going to not hurt all the time?  Does he lessen the pain?  No!  Is the joy there? Yes because he promised it.  He said, "These things I have spoken to you…… on the night of his crucifixion….. that my joy, the one he had right then knowing he was going to die, might be in you and your joy might be full."

So the fight of faith is the fight for joy. It will not come to you automatically.  If you don't fight…the gospels talk about heaven being taken by violence.  That's part of it.  You've got to fight to believe this gospel.  It doesn’t just come to you naturally.  You doubt it, the devil throws roadblocks in your way, your mind gets out of whack, bad things happen.  You have to fight to believe this and the way you fight is you set your mind and affections upon this gospel of this Christ who died to give you life and then he was raised from the dead to say, "I will get you through this." The foundation of joy, we saw it.  We saw it in the gospels.  It begins, is founded upon and rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Luke Chapter 2:10 said, " And the angels said to them Fear not; for behold I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people."  This is the foundation of joy.  "When they, the wise men say the star, the rejoiced exceedingly with great joy."  It is founded upon the person and work of Christ.  That's where joy is found! 

What's the future of joy?  Let me take you to the last use of the word, joy, in the New Testament.  Turn to the Book of Jude.  It's a little, bitty, one-chapter book right before the Revelation. Next to the last book in your Bible.  Death is a very sad time.  Bud Waggoner, a long-term member, went home to be with the Lord this Thursday.  I had the privilege of just a couple of days before looking right into  Bud's eyes.  Have you ever looked into the eyes of a dying human?  One you knew was going to heaven? Talking about these serious things.  By the way, pray for grace that when your time comes, if it is not sudden, that you would be able to talk about anything and everything with your loved ones; don't clam up.  That's the time you can talk about heaven,  you can talk about its realities.  That's not cartoonish, that's not make-believe, that's Christian!  And don’t be afraid to do that. But your day and mine's going to come.  Where will joy be found then?  Sometimes terror might even be found because if we have chosen, in faith, and almost all of us believe in God and many of us have placed our faith in Christ, and that means, one way or another, we're going to have to deal with God and death and after death.  What are you banking on?  What are you hanging onto?  You need to hang onto the foundation of your joy and the future promise of joy.  Joy began with Christ, joy is fulfilled in Christ and it will never die.

Jude 1:24

    Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy."

He is telling us that his work is so sufficient that when we appear into the presence of the glory of God our hearts will not be filled with fear, but with joy.  That is the solid nature of an objective faith based on Christ.  How does he do that?  In the presence of his glory with great joy?  

Jude 1:25

    To the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory,  majesty, dominion and authority, before all time now and ever. Amen.

 Do you have Joy?  It is to be found and sustained in only one place, in one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray together.