A Source of Joy That Can Not Be Overcome — Carter Conlon

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Joy Rooted in Psalm 5

Psalm 5, the Psalm of David, verses 11 and 12. And then we're going to begin to speak about the New Testament. But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice. Let them ever shout for joy. Look at the word ever.

In other words, the joy that the Christian is to have is not to be circumstance dependent. Because thou defendest them, let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. For thou, Lord, will bless the righteous, and with favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield.

Now, David is saying, and this is David speaking from his own personal experience. God, you will surround the righteous. And your favor that will become so evident upon the righteous, they will know it.

It's not so much that the favor is for the sense of those who are outside, although that's a byproduct of it. But those who are truly righteous will know that your favor is upon them. And there will be in them this inner shout of joy that can never be taken away by any circumstance.

The Shaking of Worldly Security

Now, we're living in an era and a time when superficial joy is going to dissipate. We're seeing events beginning to unfold. And whether or not this is the actual event of things that are written in the Scripture beginning to unfold, beginning in the Middle East and spreading throughout the world, or it's only a precursor to it, there is a day coming.

The Bible says clearly that all that can be shaken is going to be shaken. You're going to see people who have professed to know Christ running and as terrified as the society around them. When men's hearts begin to fear and fail for the things that are coming upon the earth, there is a suddenness that the Bible clearly says is going to come into the whole world, a sudden unraveling of things.

When everyone is saying peace and safety, and perhaps this is the precursor to what Paul speaks about, that finally there appears to come a peace into the Middle East. But then he says the end result of that will be a sudden destruction, a sudden and quick unraveling, where the ambassadors of peace, Isaiah said, are going to weep bitterly.

Oh, folks, our joy, thank God, is not dependent on what goes on around us in this world. I thank God that there's an abiding joy much deeper than anything that this world has to offer us. Now, the book of Philippians in the New Testament is written by the apostle Paul when he's in jail, nearing not quite at the end, but nearing the end of his life and ministry.

He's a prisoner of Rome, he's a prisoner of the emperor Nero, who was one of the most debauched and wicked rulers perhaps that era in history had ever known. He's seemingly captivated by an evil house.

This particular season in Rome is known for its incredible debauchery, the immorality, the lack of virtue and value on anything righteous or holy or good. An absolute crumbling was beginning in the inside of an empire that once boasted of being able to control the entire known world.

And Paul, who is the embodiment as it is of the testimony of Jesus Christ in that generation, is seemingly captivated by this empire. He is apparently, to the natural eye, a prisoner of Rome. All the circumstances of his life in the natural seem to be against him.

Paul's Conversion and Changed Life

He was put there because of unjust accusation from people who had once been his colleagues in religion. Paul, in Acts 26 .5, stood before King Agrippa and he told King Agrippa, he said, After the most straightest sect of our religion, I lived a Pharisee.

In Acts chapter 22, verses 3 and 4, Paul stands in his own defense and tells those who are now accusing him, He said, I was very zealous, and I'm paraphrasing him, but he said, I was very zealous for my former religious life.

I even hunted down and I tormented those who disagreed with my views. And, of course, that's always the manifestation of wrongly focused religion. There's an intolerance, there's an anger, there's a murderous spirit, as it is, that gets a hold of people who claim to know God but don't really know him in truth.

Now, Paul seems to be the one who is hunted. He's hunted by a people he once knew, and now they hate the simplicity of his newfound life in Christ. And, folks, there are many of you who understand this in some measure.

You pursued your old way of life with a vehemence. Anybody came into your workplace that even had a hint of religion and you mercilessly ridiculed them. I know because I used to do that before I became a Christian, and many of you did it too.

If you didn't do it to their face, you certainly did it behind the scenes. And then all of a sudden, the faith that you persecuted, now all of a sudden you're now a partaker of it. And you come in and for the first time in your life you are starting at least to love people.

You want to be honest. You're starting to become a man or woman of truth and integrity. Your whole life has changed. People have no reason to fear you. You're not a backbiter anymore. You're a builder and not a destroyer.

Everything is beginning to change. Now, I know it's not overnight, it's gradual, but you are changing because the life of Christ is in you. And all of a sudden, those that you think should rejoice with you turn against you.

And it seems like circumstances can completely come against you. But yet there's a difference. There's a joy. You see, Paul had an inward sense of divine purpose. And he had an inexplicable, at least to those who are outside of it, an inexplicable joy that was an everyday part of his life.

Paul is in prison. You have to understand this. Prison is not a very pretty place in any generation, especially in the generation of Paul. He is chained as it is daily to Roman guards who are probably not too impressed on the duty that they're being given.

Imagine if you were a soldier and you've got this thing, you're all macho and you're going to go out and you're going to fight wars and conquer kingdoms and territories. And you wind up chained to a man like Paul, who's in prison.

And Paul has got this exuding joy that's just coming from his life. You're supposed to be free. And yet the man who's chained to you seems to be more free than you are. I can imagine the perplexity a lot of these soldiers must have felt.

Paul, in the midst of it all, is writing to the Philippians. Now, you've got to picture yourself as a soldier that's chained to him. And you're watching his pen begin to write these words. A man who's in a circumstance that completely would overwhelm most ordinary people.

Do you think for a second it might arouse a little curiosity in your heart to say, what has this man got that I don't have? I have the shield, I have the sword, I have the power, I have the supposed kingdom that's dominating this world behind me.

But this man has an inner strength that seems to be far superior than anything that I possess. And you're there chained to him and you're watching him take a pen in his hand. He's beginning to write these words.

And he writes to the Philippians in chapter 1, verses 3 to 6. He says, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Always in every prayer of mine for you all making requests with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.

Being confident of this very thing that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. I can see Paul dropping his pen and saying to the soldier chained to him, let's pray for a moment.

You imagine yourself in a situation like that. Oh God, I just so thank you for these Philippian Christians. I thank you Lord that your hand is upon them. I thank you God that my labor among them has not been in vain.

I thank you that when the Holy Spirit came into them, you began a work. And you're going to perform this work until Jesus. You come and take them home to be with you forever. Oh God, thank you for this sense of divine purpose.

Seeking God According to His Word

Amazing to be put in this position that Paul was in. Now David, who wrote Psalm 5 where we began, had known in some measure a journey that was very similar to that of the Apostle Paul. We studied last week in 1 Chronicles chapter 15 about how he attempted to bring the Ark of God, which represented the presence and the provision of God, into the very center where the Lord longed to be among his people.

But they did not seek God after the divine order, David said. And the Lord stretched out his hand and killed a young man who touched the Ark called Uzzah and put an end to the whole parade. And folks, the end result of not seeking God the way he has revealed himself is a spiritual death.

And there are many, I'm afraid, in our generation that are going to experience this if they're not experiencing it already. The parade is about to end. All the flag-waving and all of the foolish religion is about to just run its course.

And many, many people are going to be left high and dry and very confused. And David was confused after this parade. He said, God, we did this with all of our might, but doing something with all of your might does not make it right.

It has to be done God's way. It has to be done according to the Word of God. The purpose of seeking God has to be divinely influenced and divinely led. It has to be something that comes from the mind and the heart and the written and revealed Word of Almighty God.

In other words, 2, the prophet of the Old Testament said, Christians can't walk together unless they be agreed. And many, many people have professed to be on this parade of walking with God in our generation where God says, No, we're not in agreement with one another.

The reason why you are serving me is not the reason why I have decreed that there should be a church on the earth. Therefore, soon your joy and your parade are about to be over. I speak this prophetically into this generation.

There is a coming and end to the charismatic parade that's gone on for many, many years in parts of the world. Events throughout the world are going to literally be virtually identical to the hand of God just reaching out and stopping the whole parade.

David Returns to Scripture and Divine Order

But thank God it doesn't stop there. David was a man of God. And even in all of these things that are going on today, there are people whose hearts are truly after God. They may not be seeking him after the due order, as the scripture says, but their hearts are after God.

And so David went back into the book. And that's where many of God's people are going to have to go in our generation. I see it in my mind. I see it in my heart. Many people are going to say, whatever parade we've been on, it seems to have come to a dead end.

Our joy is gone. And instead of giving up, they're going to go back, as David did, into the word of God and say, God, show me what we did wrong. Show me why there seemed to be so little of your, the expression of your approval and your life in this parade that we were all involved in.

And David went back and he began to read and he saw, he said, oh God, we were not doing it according to the due order. You have written a reason why we were to, why you wanted to come and dwell in the very center of your people.

And we didn't honor that. We threw in our own oxcarts, as it is, in our own ways of doing things. And we became guardians, more or less, of tradition rather than truth. And Lord, you put your hand to it and you stopped it.

And all the superficial joy melted away. And can you see the very abruptness, as it is, of the stopping of this parade? God simply just touched this young man, Uzziah, took his life away, and the whole thing stops.

All the music stops, the parade stops, the zeal stops, the whole, all the prophesying is probably going on stops. And the whole thing comes to an end. The Bible says that David was displeased. He considered this a breach that God had made upon all of this human effort.

But in reality, God had done this because he loves his people. And he's always wanted to dwell in the midst of a people that are set apart for himself. Now, David began to seek God, and he sought Him according to the Word of God.

He found out where the mistakes were, and then they took the ark one more time and headed into Jerusalem. And the end result, you read it in the Scriptures, was divine order. There was a sense of the divine, a sense of walking with God, a sense of God's incredible pleasure.

God's Purpose in Paul's Suffering

And Paul speaks about this in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 12. He said, but I would that you should understand, brethren, that the things which happen to me have fallen out rather to the furtherance of the gospel.

Now, Paul is saying everything is now following a divine plan. Paul said there was a season, now he's not saying this specifically, but in Paul's life, there was a season where he sought God in the wrong way.

And it all came to an abrupt end on a road where the Lord met him and knocked him off of his parade as it was and met him face to face. I believe that's about to happen with many of God's people in our generation.

And Paul said, now I understand that my life is following a divine plan. And everything that's happening to me has fallen out rather to the furtherance of the gospel. You see, folks, this is the key. And it's one of the keys.

Everything that is happening in my life is happening according to the will of God. When you are a genuine Christian, when you have trusted Christ for your salvation, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and is carrying you, no matter what happens, whether you have to go through the fire, go through the flood, no matter what difficulty comes your way, there is this inner confidence because the Word of God says all things work together for good to those who love God and are the called according to His purpose.

All things, folks, all things, not some things, all things. Whether I understand them, whether I don't understand them, whether I like it, whether I don't like it. All things, wherever I am, wherever God places me.

And you see, Paul knew this, just like the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos. I shared with you weeks earlier. Thank God that the last book of the Bible is not John's recollections about the dankness and despair and despondency of his prison situation.

Thank God he looked beyond it and saw the revelation of Jesus Christ. The very same thing for the Apostle Paul. He said, no, I have a divine sense that I am in the will of God. And I know nothing can happen to me that God hasn't allowed.

And if He's allowed it, He's allowed it for a reason. And Paul would say, the only cry of my heart is that whether in death or whether in life, that Jesus Christ be glorified. Oh God, be glorified through my life.

How could Paul have known that chained to a Roman soldier, stuck in a prison, seemingly a prisoner of one of the most debauched kingdoms in the world, that he is penning the words of eternal Scripture?

How could he have known? Except in his heart, he had this divine trust in the leading of God. And Paul goes on to say that my bonds, verse 13, in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places.

Now, that's very significant. We're going to come back to that later on. He's saying, Paul says, yeah, I'm in this room as it is, wherever that was. And I'm chained to a soldier. But there's something about my presence here that is making Christ known through me far beyond this little place that I'm living in.

Now, if you can catch this today, you might feel like your life is insignificant. But you don't know how many people that you are beginning to influence in your own home, in your own family, in your own community, in your own workplace, when you're seemingly going through very difficult times, but you are holding steadfast to your confidence in God.

And there's a deep inner trust within you that he has everything under control. You have no idea how many people's lives are being affected by that. And he says, verse 14, and many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

Paul says, they see me, they know my life, they see what I'm going through, and they see God sustaining me. And it's giving them courage to take a stand. Verse 15, he says, some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife, and some also of goodwill.

The one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely supposing to add affliction to my bonds. The other of love, knowing that I'm set for the defense of the gospel. What then? Notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, and I will rejoice.

Paul says, one thing about me, nobody can ignore Christ, whether they're trying to preach to add affliction to my bonds or whether they're doing it out of sincerity. God is in me. I'm trusting Jesus Christ to keep me.

And Christ in me cannot be ignored. There's a man of God in the midst of all of this debauchery going on in Rome. There's a man of God, seemingly changed and insignificant. But if you can see it, it's as if the life of God is radiating throughout him.

It's touching people for all kinds of various reasons and pulses all throughout the palace. There's this noise going abroad, that there's this man of God, seemingly unshaken with this incredible confidence in his God.

Blessing Through Divine Order

David, when David began to seek the Lord, according to divine order, the Bible says it multiplied blessing, not only came to him, but went all throughout Israel. In 1 Chronicles 16, verses 2 and 3, it says, After they brought the ark into Jerusalem, David gave all of the people sufficient provision to go home and to begin to rejoice.

Paul says the same thing in Philippians chapter 4, verse 1, he says, Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, and long for my joy and crown. So stand fast in the Lord, dearly beloved. Verse 4, he says, Rejoice in the Lord always.

And again, I say rejoice. Verse 6, Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.

You see, there is a provision made to the life of a man or woman of God, who seeks him after the due order and in turn is blessed and the blessing starts to flow through your life. Do you remember that was the promise that God made to Abraham and all the descendants of Abraham by faith?

I'll make you more than you are. I'll take you where you could never go. I'll give you what you could never possess. I'll flow through you and through your life. There will be multitudes throughout the world will begin to know the blessing of the divine life of Almighty God in Christ Jesus.

The Evidence of God's Anointing

And lastly, David appoints singers. Once the ark is set in its proper place in the very center where God longs to be, he appoints singers and porters and there's order. All you see is order coming in.

And folks, one of the evidences of the true anointing of God is order. It's an ordered mind. It starts with you and me. It will expand to the sanctuary and the things that we do, but it starts in the individual.

You'll have an ordered mind, an ordered heart, an ordered life. You begin to know what to do. Psalm 112 says the man that fears God, he gives him discretion even in his daily affairs. He knows what to do.

He knows how to do it. He doesn't know how this is happening other than it's just divine. It's God's voice within him telling him how he should govern his life. And there's this outbreak of joy begins to happen.

And all around the ark of God, the singers are appointed. David writes his first psalm for this situation. He hands it over to the singers and it's an incredible psalm. You'll find it if you have time in 1 Chronicles chapter 16.

But one of the elements that David includes in the psalm is he said that God gave you the land when you were just a few. He gave it to you and he rebuked kings and he said to kings, touch not my anointed and do my prophets no harm.

He said, I sent you in to possess an inheritance and I gave it to you not because you were strong, not because you had great numbers, but I gave it to you because you trusted in me. I gave it to you because you began to seek me after the due order that is written in the scriptures.

And I gave it to you. You become aware that it was my power and my strength. I thank God that I stand here today as you do in this sanctuary. And I can say from an honest heart, I am a Christian, not by might, not by power, but by the spirit of almighty God.

And I stand. Paul said in Philippians chapter four in verse 10,. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at the last year care of me has flourished again. Wherein you were also careful, but you lacked opportunity.

Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned that whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased. I know how to abound everywhere and in all things. I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can love my enemies. I can speak the truth. I can do whatever God asks me to do. I can be what God has called me to be.

I can do it, not through human strength, but through Christ who lives in me and is willing to make me much more than I could ever be in any of my own strength. Paul says, I can do all things. And his life was a testimony to that.

Joy Amid Opposition

He was in a prison. He was chained to guards. And I know I'm laboring that point. But folks, he's not just writing down some cute little theology. A lot of people are writing these words today and they're preaching these words, but they never had to go through anything.

And it's a great doubt that they ever can because they never sought him after the due order. They're not living Christian lives for the purpose of God. Not everyone in David's day, not everyone in Paul's day, not everyone in our day rejoices with those who have found an abiding life in Jesus Christ.

David comes home from this incredible rejoicing before the ark to only find his own wife despising him in her heart. And it's such a type. Jesus himself said, A man's foes shall be they of his own household.

They've both gone through hard times together. It's not been easy for David. He's been pursued by an insane king. He's had to hide in caves. His wife, Michal, has been taken from him, given to another man, and she's gone through some difficult things.

But in spite of what they've both gone through, the Lord has brought them back together again. And they've both become co-inheritors of this incredible life that God wants to give to them. But you see one man who just learns to rejoice.

He's just dancing before the presence of God. God, you've been faithful to me. God, you've been good to me. He's not focusing on the struggles. He's not saying, Why Saul? Why these disgruntled men that you brought?

Why did I have to go into the land of the Philistines for a season? He's just left it behind. And like the apostle Paul saying, God, I trust you. I believe that all things have worked together for good.

And they have worked together for good. But he comes home to find his partner, his wife, is not of the same spirit. And she despises this joy that is in his heart. Probably because of the circumstances that she has also had to walk through in her life.

I think of the prodigal son who comes home after a long season of famine, only to find his older brother, who represents religiousness and achieving righteousness through human effort and works, despises the simple joy this young man has of just receiving from a father who loves him.

He finds himself at the receiving end of this despising. In every generation, at every communion table, there is a Judas, folks, who is not there. Mary in John chapter 12 comes in, takes this incredible gift, the perfume, and pours it on the feet of Jesus and wipes his feet with her hair.

This is an incredible moment. Here is a lady who is, by type and example, is saying, I am completely abandoned to you, Jesus. I don't understand everything. But I do know you're the resurrection and the life.

My brother has been brought back to life through your spoken word. And I'm willing to abandon all to you. But there's always a Judas at a table like this, who is not there to be abandoned to God. He is only there to use Christ to fulfill his own agenda.

And if Christ can't fulfill his agenda, he will ultimately betray him for money. Folks, don't tell me for five seconds we haven't got hundreds of Judas's in the church of Jesus Christ today, are not there to be abandoned to his purposes.

They're not there to serve him. They're not there to take the most precious things they have and pour it upon his feet. No, they're at the table for what they can get. And when they can't get it, they will betray him for money.

You can be sure of it. It's a spirit that is very much alive in our generation. And lastly, the Pharisees themselves betrayed Paul because they had become guardians of tradition instead of truth. And it's abandoned the human condition.

They started out wanting to preserve truth. They wanted to be a trust as it is for truth. But they ended up creating traditions. Christ himself said, you've taken traditions and you've made the truth of God of no effect through your traditions.

But they were so holding to their traditions that they were willing to crucify God almighty himself when he came into their midst. And of course, it was only first nature for them to betray Paul when he had found the simplicity of a relationship in Christ.

So, folks, if you're going to live for God, you've got to go through these this this gauntlet as it is. Let me call it a spiritual hazing, for lack of a better word. You're going to have to go through it.

I've been through all of this. I know what this is about. I know what it is to have to go through this religious place of beating as it is for those who are not willing to seek Christ after the due order.

But Paul possessed an inward and a contagious and an unconquerable joy. There was something in this man that could not be conquered. And, folks, this is the heritage of the church of Jesus Christ. This is the only joy that's going to take you through perhaps what you're already experiencing today and what you may experience in the days to come.

All other joy is going to fail. But there is a joy that's going to take you through. Now you say to me, well, what? Explain it clearly to me, please, so I might understand what this joy is. Now, don't turn there, but let me explain to you.

Trusting God Like a Child

In Luke chapter 10, verse 21, Jesus had sent the disciples out and they came back with a report. And they said, even the devils are subject to us. And the Bible says in that hour, Jesus rejoiced in spirit.

At that time of this report, a leaping came into his spirit as it is a visible, tangible thing that Luke heard about. And he said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. You've hidden these things from the wise and prudent.

In other words, those who have to figure everything out don't see this. Those who have to know every reason for everything that goes on can't see this. You've hidden it from the wise and prudent and you've revealed it unto babes.

You've revealed it to those who simply trust. Isn't it amazing? Just say, God, I trust you. It's as simple as that. I don't have to figure it out. I'm not where I am by some fluke of spiritual nature.

I am exactly where I'm supposed to be. I'm in the marriage I'm supposed to be in. I'm at the job I'm supposed to be on. I'm in the family that you put me in. I'm in the body that you gave me. I was raised where I was supposed to be raised.

Born when I was supposed to be born. I don't have to figure it all out. I trust you, God. Hallelujah. Lord, you knew me before the foundation of the world. You knew my name. You knew how I was going to be born.

But you loved me and you allowed me to be born that my life might be a testimony of your glory and your sustaining power and your salvation in my generation. In other words, Jesus said, Father, you're using these simple trusting ones to destroy the influence of evil over men's lives.

Simple trusting ones who don't have to figure it all out. They just trust. They walk through life and their lives are a visible testimony of the reality of Jesus Christ. They walk through the fire. They're singing.

They walk through the flood. They're rejoicing. There's a trust. There's an abiding trust in the heart. It's God. I am in exactly the place where I'm supposed to be. This was the source of Paul's joy.

Witnessing in Dark Places

You see, he knew that captivity could never captivate the life of Christ within him. He knew that God was using him to touch the lives of those who lived in the darkest of places. Folks, sometimes we have to go into the fire because there are people there.

Sometimes we have to go into the cave because there are people there. Sometimes we have to go into the storm because there are people there. It would be nice to get saved and all of us be taken by God and put in a little palace somewhere.

A little celestial palace on earth that nobody could touch. The armies of the evil ones try to get close. They get zapped, you know, like bugs in one of those bug lights. But that's not the way it is.

We are called to go where people are. You see, Paul knew this. Paul said earlier in Philippians, my bonds are being made known through all the palace. In other words, they think they have me captive, but they don't have me captive.

I have the spirit of Christ within me. The living God who created the universe is inside of me. He cannot be captivated. Now, Paul writes at the end of this epistle to the Philippians, a letter to the Philippians, there's a little secret in here.

And when I first saw it, he says in verse 22, chapter four, he says all this. Let's go to verse 21. Salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me greet you. All the saints salute you.

Now, here's where it gets interesting. Chiefly, they that are of Caesar's household. That's an amazing thing. You know, we can just pass that over. And Paul is writing in code almost to the church. Guys, you've got to understand, I'm winning people in Christ all over Caesar's palace as it is.

They're coming to him. They're coming to me because the Bible says that his company that were allowed to come to him were not restrained, even though he was chained to a soldier. And all over Caesar's palace, this place of debauchery and wickedness and captivity and earthly power.

And a lot of the Caesars, of course, believed that they were themselves gods. And all over this place, I see cooks. I see cleaners. I see soldiers. I see people. And perhaps in Caesar's inner council, I see them coming to Christ.

And Paul can't say it deliberately, lest he betray somebody. He throws it out. And, folks, we can miss it. He says, all those salute you chiefly, especially, in other words, those of Caesar's household.

This is the source of Paul's joy. God was using him to touch lives of those who lived in the darkest of places. It's as if you and I are writing. And we wrote a letter to our friends. Perhaps if you wrote a letter to us under different circumstances, and at the end of the letter you said, the once hopelessly addicted, now studying for the ministry, salute you.

The single mothers, who used to see no hope for their children, but now see their children as mighty in the hand of God, send you greetings. Former liars, who are now addicted to telling the truth, wish you well.

Those who were in prison once, say hello. They are now ambassadors for the newfound freedom that they have found in Jesus Christ. Those who once served Islam or Buddhism or Confucianism, send you greetings.