The Happy Man 04 Prescription for Joy — James K. Boswell

That's right, Philippians 8 says, he opens his Bible to psalm number 84, the 84th psalm. We're just looking at these favorite psalms, meditating a little on these wonderful topics. Tonight I want to talk to you about God's prescription for real, true, lasting joy.

Psalm 84 and God's Prescription for Joy

Psalm 84, and verse number 1, How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! Mine soul, long as it even changes for the courts of the Lord, My heart and my flesh cries out for the living God. Here a shadow has found a house, and a swallow a nest for herself, there to nearly her young.

Even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, they will be still praising thee. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee, in whose heart are the ways of them.

Through passing through the valley of Dacca, making the well, the rain also fills the pool. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appears before God. O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer, give ear, O God of Jacob.

Good, O God, our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointing. For a day in thy court is better than a thousand. The French Church makes a change and says, a thousand elsewhere. For a day in thy court is better than a thousand elsewhere.

I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tent of virginity. For the Lord God is a sun and shield, the Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will even fall from them that walk uprightly.

O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee. Now, there you have God's prescription for real, true, lasting joy. There are five ingredients in this particular prescription. Firstly, you have the recognition of God in the life.

In verse one, the recognition of God. In verse number two, you have the desire for God, the desire for God. In verse number six, walking with God, walking with God. In verse number eight, talking to God, talking to God.

And in verse number twelve, trusting in God, trusting in God. Now, there you have God's divinely inspired prescription for true, real, lasting joy, the recognition of God in the life, the desire for God moment by moment, and then walking with God, talking with God, and, of course, trusting in God.

Recognizing God as a Living Reality

Now, we're going to take the first ingredient tonight and have a look at it, the recognition of God in the life. I trust all in this very fine, intelligent congregation have really come to recognize the Lord living in their hearts.

I trust you're able to say, Christ liveth in me. I trust you're able to say, Christ in me, the earth of glory. Do you know that joy tonight, dear one? Remember what the psalmist said in Psalm number fourteen, verse one, The soul that's dead in his heart, there is no God.

The reviser makes a change and says, The soul that's dead in his heart, there is no God for me. He believes there is a supreme being, a mass and mind behind this wonderful universe, but he's not willing to recognize that God as his God in his life, day by day.

But only a fool would talk like that. But in this congregation tonight, I am quite convinced in my own heart, each and every one of us will look up and say, Lord, I know this, our living reality, and we're recognizing this God in our life.

I want to give you a fine little key that you can remember. A little cluster of sweet keys. First of all, verse number one, we recognize him as the God of power. The God of power. Notice it says here, the Lord of hosts, the Lord of chaos, the God of power.

We want to recognize him as such in our life now. Verse number three, we recognize him as the God of provision. He provides for the sparrow. He provides for the swallow. He's the God of provision. The same verse, we recognize the God of preeminence.

The God of preeminence. He is my Lord and my King. Isn't that lovely? My Lord and my King. Verse number eight, he's the God of purpose. The God of purpose. Remember it says, O God of Jacob. It does not say, O God of Israel.

Oh no. It says, O God of Jacob. And here we have God's great purpose. And we're recognizing him as the God of purpose as tonight. Then verse number 11, he's the God of protection. He's our sun and hill.

He gives grace and glory. Grace is glory in the bush. Glory is grace in full bloom. Isn't that lovely? And so now we have this recognition of God as the God of power. Remember in John chapter one, verse number 12, we'll read, "'Tis many have received him, to them did he pass, to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.".

Paul says in Romans chapter one, verse number 16, "'I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power, the dynamic, the dynamos of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it.'". He says in 1 Corinthians chapter one, verse number 24, "'God is made unto us Christ to be the wisdom of God and the power of God.'".

So this power is not something apart from Jesus Christ. This power is Jesus Christ. Let us read that through just for one moment. Remember again the Holy Scripture, "'Tis many have received him, to them did he pass.

I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation. God has made Christ be unto us the power of God.'". So then, still before your heart, may I go now to Ephesians chapter one.

Ephesians chapter one, verse number 19 through verse 22. Now, I want you to come closer with me now. They want to draw near to those awe-inspiring, breathtaking words. They want to hear Paul breathing out and betray God by the exceeding greatness of his power.

Not by the greatness of, but by the exceeding greatness of his power, which he wrought in Christ, where he raised him from the dead and placed him far above all principality and power, might, and dominion.

Name that is name, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, with all things under his feet, giving him that had over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him, who is in us all and in all.

Now, come back with me, will you? And I'll go slow, because these are awe-inspiring words. Can you hear that great warrior saying, God, and we could not of recognizing this God without the exceeding greatness of his power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, so it is a liberating power.

It was a bodily resurrection from out among the dead. It was not a mere spirit or tamson and roe. It was a bodily resurrection. Christ said, handle me and see. A spirit and not flesh and bones which you see me have, handle me, it is I myself.

Handle me. A liberating power. Now, get the picture. And praise him far above all principality and power, might and dominion, names on his name, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.

Now, get the picture. There you have a liberating power. That Christ who went down so low, right down to the very lowest depths, is the one now whom God has raised from the dead, and exalted and exalted him.

And can you see all heaven's high arching, all the angelic host, the cherubim and the seraphim, standing there as a great God of honor, and this mighty conqueror, still bearing the mark of Calvary's passion, and his hands and feet in that fear-ridden sight?

Can you see him now falling right into the pearly gates, riding through that great God of honor?

Can you see him going up, up, up, up, up?

Far above all, far above all, Jesus the crucified is exalted far above all. Kingdoms may rise, kingdoms may fall, Jesus the crucified is exalted far above all. And look, he thinks, this sight is glorious.

See the man of sorrows now, from the fight returned victorious. Every knee to him shall bow, crown him, crowns become the mighty, a victor's brow. But know this, beloved, a father above all, dispassion, sympathetic power, namely his name, a father beyond all description.

Every name that is named, a father beyond all dispensation. Not only in this world, but also that which is to come. O beloved, did you get those three little G's? I want you to get them. God prays to stand far beyond all distinction, description, and dispensation.

A father above all. Not only is it a liberating power, not only is it an elevating power, but hallelujah, it is a subjugating power. For he put all things under his feet, and given him to be head over all things of the church, which is his body, the fullness of him, natural and all, and all.

Now have you got the picture, beloved, in your own heart? We recognize him to another as the God of power, and God prays to the father above all, praying, can you tell me where that is? Can you tell me what that means?

You might bring a great theologian like a John Nelson Darby, a great scholar like a William Lincoln or a William Kelly. You might bring a great evangelist like a D .L. Moody, the prince of preachers like a Harold Haddon's version.

You might bring a great orator like a Talmud, and you can put them all before you say, please, can you tell us what this means? God placed his son father above all. They would bow their hearts in worship, and they would adore, and they would revere, and they would give thanks at that very thought that God placed his son, the one who men rejected, and despised, and said it not, and put upon a Roman cross, and crowned with a crown of thorns.

Oh, hallelujah! God has placed him on that rainbow and circled road. He's given him the highest place that heaven affords. He's put a crown of pure gold upon his chafing brow. He's given him another reed.

He's given him the scepter, the royal scepter, and the authority to wield that scepter. Yes, tonight, beloved, we bow before him. We worship and we adore his power above all. Yes, I bow before him, so that your heart tonight may pause.

You know, in my meditation just now, and in my quotation from Holy Scripture, I missed out one little phrase, and knew I did it perfectly. Now, let me go back. Get it. God, by the exceeding greatness of his power, now, you're listening carefully, to us, words who believe.

That's what I missed out. Now, did you get the picture? Friends, do you recognize tonight as a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ, and having received him as your own Lord and Savior, all the risen power of the risen Christ is at your disposal in mind?

The very moment we're born again by the Holy Spirit, all this power became your power and my power. This liberating, elevating, subjugating power came into your very being the moment you were born again.

And yet, so many Christians go around like paupers when they greet spiritual multimillionaires. They go around like spiritual weaklings when they can be spiritual giants. Only God gives us grace to enter into a life through the recognition he's the God of power.

And this God of power now operates in your life and in my life. Romans 1 verse number 16, may I quote it again? Paul said, I am not ashamed. He's standing out and saying with a holy glow, with great humility, I am power of the gospel of Christ.

It's a dynamo of God unto salvation. Not merely a stick of dynamite ignited under the devastating blast. Oh no, he knew that. Thank God he knew that. He knew the devastating blast in the gospel shall be a change of sin forever.

But my friend, in the word is dynamo. And there a dynamo came into your life. A dynamo supercharged. And that's what the Bible says, we are kept by the power of God. Cruel faith unto salvation to everyone that believes it.

It's not a case of believing historical facts concerning Jesus Christ. Not a case of believing statements or doctrines concerning Christ. I must receive Christ into my life. Before I receive Christ, I know no power forever.

I can't live the Christian life. I can believe this book from cover to cover. And I do praise God. But that will never save my soul or your soul. There must be submission to the authority of Jesus Christ.

And I receive him into my heart. And the moment I receive him, I receive power. Power. Lady not very far from here. Very wealthy lady in fact. Woman I led to Christ at 74 years of age. She had been brought up in a certain group of Christians.

And as a child she had been received into that particular church. She had been baptized by immersion. She grew up to be a lady 74 years of age. And that woman one day said, I want to see you come to my home.

And I went to her home. She broke down. She said, Mr. Bartle, I've never been saved. I've never been saved. And I looked at her and said, what do you mean dear one? She said, I've never received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.

And I can see now how there's been no power in my life. I can see now why I gave my husband such a hard life. I can see it all now. I had no desire for the word of God. I had no desire to pray. I had no desire to witness to others.

I had no desire to be given to hospitality. And when my husband invited people home, I used to be very annoyed about this. So I can see it all now. I've never received Christ as my Lord and Savior. She knew all the historical facts.

She knew all the doctrines regarding salvation. But she had left Christ standing at her heart door. She had never received him. And she was trying to live a life she didn't possess. But oh, hallelujah.

That morning we bowed together. And our own drawing room became right through for the Lord Jesus Christ. She opened her heart to the Son of God's love. And my friend, she became the possessor of life, which is life indeed.

She became the possessor of life, which is eternal life. She received power by receiving Christ into her life. Some of the brethren wrote to me sometime afterwards saying, We're all examining in our hearts to see if we are in the faith or not.

There has been such a transformation in our dear sister's life. My friend, now she began to live. Christ began to live his life to her day by day. She received the power that's in Jesus Christ. You can't live a life you don't possess, my friend.

And sometimes we wonder why there's no power. Wonder why there's no desire for the Word of God. No desire for prayer. No desire for witnessing. Is it because we have never received him into our heart?

Oh may God help us to recognize the first ingredient of real true lasting joy is the recognition of God, not in heaven, but by his Spirit, living in my heart. Living in my heart. Life begins when Jesus comes in.

That lady sent for me sometime afterwards. She's known to some folks here. She's now with the Lord, rejoicing in his presence. But God gave her grace to witness for a long time after that. She sent for me to say, Mr. Boswell, she got to know me as Jim.

She said, Jim, I understand you're going to Europe. I said, who told you that? She said, I heard that the other day. And she said, I want to pay all your expenses through Europe. And she gave me a check for $3 ,000.

I can't thank God enough for what he's done in my life through the ministry. Let Christ live in me. And she didn't know I hadn't got a cent toward that trick. And I had booked to go. She didn't know that.

But the Lord knew that. And see what happens when the Lord opens a man's heart or a woman's heart? Everything's opened up to the Lord Jesus. Isn't that true? True. It's a wonder of it, my friends, the reality of this new life in Christ Jesus.

And in the closing moments of this great conference, what I understand is a great season of conference here. Let me ask you lovingly and tenderly, are we each one tonight conscious and in the full recognition that Christ, by His Spirit, lives in my heart?

There is a first ingredient of real, true, lasting joy. It's not coming on the external. It's someone living on the inside. And that one is Jesus Christ. The wonder of it all. I must hurry down to verse number three.

God as the Source of Every Provision

We recognize Him now as the God of provision. We were dealing a little bit with this this morning, because we are in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. As we looked at the joy of love life, here it gave. Notice what it says here.

And I love this in verse number three. He is not only the God of power, but hallelujah, He is the God of all provision. See, when He saves us, He provides for us just like the shepherd and the sheep. He provides for us all through the desert journey, right into the Father's house.

Oh, the wonder of this, my friends. A little boy in Scotland one day was receiving SAM number 23 at a Sunday school treat. And as he was supposed to, to be on the platform, he said, The 23rd Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd.

Oh, dear. The 23rd Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd. The 23rd Psalm. The Lord is my shepherd. He said that enough. I mean, what? Isn't that good theology? Isn't it now? The Lord is my shepherd. That's good enough.

Isn't that true? The woman in London got as I have cried for one eye more. Isn't that wonderful? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Now, you come with me for a moment. In Romans, chapter 8, verses 16 through 17, it says, If a child, then an heir.

An heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ. Now, another expression, a joint heir with Christ. Now, you go to Philippians, chapter 4, and what do you read? My God shall supply all your needs, not your greed, but your need.

According to, not out of the abundance of, but according to his riches and glory in Christ Jesus. Then Ephesians 1, verse 3 says, He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.

Now, get the three verses together. We have joint heirs with Christ. Every need supplied in Christ. Blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ. You say, what more do I need than that?

Ah, the Lord is hilarious in his giving. He's lavish in his giving. Oh, he's just so cherishful in his giving. And what does it say on Colossians 2, verses 9 and 10? Oh, may I come closer with you here now?

Listen to them carefully. Paul says, It please the Father that in his Son should all fullness dwell. All the fullness of the Godhead bodily is treasured up in his beloved Son. And do you know what the very next verse says?

He looks into your heart, he looks into my heart, and do you know what he says? And ye are complete in him. Isn't that just marvelous? It please the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. And now he says to you and to me, sinners, saints, bigots, why?

You're complete. You're made full. You're lodged in all the fullness that's treasured up in Christ. And all that Christ is to the Father is yours tonight. Aren't you glad you're a Christian? Aren't you glad you're in Christ?

So, that's another weak amen. We know the joy tonight of that new life in Christ. Don't we dear children of God? I'm sure. Now you come a little closer. Are you there? A joint heir of Christ. Every blessing supplied in Christ.

Everything for time present and for all eternity supplied in Christ. And now he says you're complete.

You're made full in Christ.

Completeness and Satisfaction in Christ

I was talking along this line at a conference in Massachusetts some time ago at a place called Missourians. Mr. Richard Hill, who is now with us all, was one of the other speakers. I'll never forget this in all my life.

A few nights afterward, I was there for ten days, speaking for ten days in San 84. I'm not doing that here, so don't you worry about that. But here it is. And this lady came up to me after one of the meetings.

It was a Tuesday night. And said, Mr. Boswell, my mind's been reeling ever since Sunday afternoon. When you told us that we were joint heirs with Christ, I stopped and said, dear sister, I never told you that at all.

Oh yes you did. I did not. So what do you mean? I said the Holy Spirit said that, I'm only the mouthpiece. And the Holy Spirit said you're a joint heir with Christ. Oh, but did you know something? My mind's been reeling ever since then.

So what do you mean? Do you not know this little planet in which we find ourselves living? I think of all the nickel, the copper, the iron, the silver, and the gold, and to an order, order, order, and the mines revolve the earth.

Do you suppose all the wonderful timbers there are?

Do you suppose even the great timbers are in British Columbia? I said there are eighty different shades of green there. Eighty different shades of green. I never counted them. I know there are an awful lot of different shades of green in British Columbia.

He said there are eighty of them. And then he went on to say, of the wonderful starry heavens, and all the caravans upon the hills of the lawns of Cain. And he said, you know Jim, he said, you know, this is one of the smallest of millions upon millions upon millions of worlds that came into being and is worth, and is heir to them all.

Is heir to them all. And now you tell me, I'm a joint heir with Christ? Oh, she says, I am lost in wonder, love, and praise. All I can do is adore him. I demand his wise, wonderful name, and yield my whole life entirely to him.

Child of God, are you seeing that tonight? Do you see what you've been brought into as a child of God? You're a joint heir.

I'm going to share the Holy Family,.

All that God, God has given to His Son. The wonder of it all. Let reality grip your heart, and grip my heart tonight. You'll be able to look up and say, Lord, thou art enough. The mind and heart are filled.

All things might err in a day so wholly more than me. That was thy duty occupied. I elsewhere none may see. And oh, thy beloved fellow believer, when this truth dawns in upon you, you won't need to run away back into the world for a little bit of entertainment, or a little bit of amusement.

You'll find your complete satisfaction in Christ. You'll cry, now none but Christ can satisfy. None other name for me. There's love, there's life, there's lasting joy. Where, Lord Jesus, found me? Oh, do you know Him?

Is He a living reality in your life? I'm sure He must be. An illustration, a laugh, it is borrowed. Here's an illustration. A man went away on a Mediterranean cruise, and as the cruise was going down through those beautiful blue waters of the Mediterranean, he took with him some packages of cream crackers, and cheese, or crackers and cream cheese.

And he took them with him, you see. He wasn't going to be hungry on this particular cruise, so it wasn't very long, not two days out sailing. One of the other passengers said to him, How are you getting on on the cruise?

Are you enjoying the sailing? Oh, wonderful sailing, brother. Wonderful, I'm enjoying it so much. But he said, you know, those crackers and cream cheese are getting rather stale. Crackers and cream cheese?

Aren't you taking your, aren't you going down for your meal to the dining room? Oh, no. He said that when I pass by that dining room and that smell comes on, I just feel so terribly hungry, but I can't afford it.

I can't. You can't afford it? What do you mean? Haven't you got your ticket? Oh, yes, I got my ticket, all right. Well, he said, don't you know all your meals are included in your ticket? He said, pardon?

He said, don't you know all your meals are included in your ticket? Now, you know what happened to the crackers and cream cheese, don't you? He just went overboard, and he went down to the next meal, and, my, didn't he have a wonderful time.

Now, listen, friend. We smile at that man's simplicity. You might call it the stupidity of your life. But aren't we inclined to be like that? Now, face it. As Christians, aren't we, aren't we inclined to be taken up with those snippets here when we're feasting upon the poor old slave, the old corny lamb, conceited upon Christ and all His resurrection, power and glory, as we might know Him and the power of His resurrection?

Oh, thank God we know our sins forgiven. Thank God we're not going to hell and not on our way to heaven. Thank God, oh, it's wonderful to be saved. Hallelujah, Jesus is mine. But is that all the range of God?

Or have you entered into your possessions in Christ? Are you possessing, my friend? Certainly, I say this very lovingly and tenderly, the very moment you received the ticket, I referred to Christ. The moment you received Christ, you had everything God had for you.

And all this is at your disposal. Is that real? All this is at your disposal tonight, for He wants you to enter in by faith and appropriate your possessions in Christ Jesus. He doesn't give you everything lock, stock and barrel.

He is your patience. He is your love. He is your purity. He is your power. He is your grace. He is your life. And you must appropriate moment by moment. I am petrified of love. Moment by moment, I have life from above.

Moment by moment, the glory doth shine. Moment by moment, oh Lord, I am Thine. Oh, how I wish I had counted until it stood. But may I draw your attention to a very beautiful thought that I have got to close.

Trusting God’s Care and Protection

Where a star was found in the house, and a swallow nest for herself where she may lay her young, even I an altar. The sparrow's the most worthless of birds. The swallow's the most reckless of birds. The swallow's always on the wing.

Remember, Lord Jesus said one day, What are you not of more value than many sparrows? I know that two sparrows go for a farthing. Five sparrows for two farthings. The Scotsman always buys two farthings worth, because he gets one for nothing.

You see, but it was that odd sparrow that's precious to him. An odd sparrow. He said, Are you not of more value than many sparrows? Oh, you little thing. An illustration. A true illustration. It happened in Hamilton, Ontario, in Canada.

The Dell Cellophane Company were placing a cable down one of the avenues in Hamilton, Ontario. And to do so, they had to uproot a lot of those wonderful maple trees. Some people really objected to it, you know.

But they had to come up. They came to this particular tree, and the foreman of the gang, he looked up, and he saw there a sparrow's nest. It was nesting time, and he saw the sparrow's nest. He said, Wait a minute.

And he fell, and he took the ladder up, went up the steps, and looked in. What did he find? He found five sparrow's eggs. Oh, he said, We can't knock this tree down. We must let the little sparrow hatch out of eggs.

Some of the men were quite indignant and said, Why, we can't risk our time because of a sparrow hatching her eggs up. We've got to get this tree knocked down. The foreman looked and said, If it were your wife, what about it?

That changed the tune. He said, We'll start at the other end of the avenue, and we'll work back to this tree. And that's what they did. When they came to that tree, he put his ladder up. He looked in.

The shells were there. The eggs had hatched out. The birds had flown. Some of the men were so curious now, they said, Bring that nest down. And when they took down the sparrow's nest, what do you think they found in the bottom?

You know, one of those old Sunday school texts you'll give to your primary? Sometimes a little house in it, sometimes a little burrow, sometimes a little flower. This one had a little sparrow. And you know what the text said?

Are you listening carefully? I will trust in the Lord and not be afraid. That's the God I know. That's the God you know, isn't it? Amen? Pray and listen. I will trust in the Lord and not be afraid. That great, omnipotent, all-powerful, all-sufficient God is the one who could change the course of those workmen.

That little sparrow may hatch another egg. I am only a little sparrow, a bird of low degree. My life is of little value, but the dear Lord thinks of me. My food is sometimes plenty. Close-packing makes it sweet.

I've always enough to feed me, and life is more than me. In silence and in that moment let us have a quiet word with the Lord for ourselves. Let me ask you very lovingly and tenderly, do you recognize him to none as the God of power?

Do you recognize him as the God of all provision, the God of all preeminence? Because when he is preeminent in your life and my life, dear child of God, there is power. There is no want, there is ample provision.

Then we know his program for our life, his eternal purpose for our life. We know his wonderful protection. But he must be upon the throne, living Lord Supreme without a rival. Will you with me right now pray and pray sincerely?

Reign over me, Lord Jesus. Reign over all within. Make me a loyal subject to thee in everything. Have thine own way, Lord.

Have thine own way. Hold all my being. Absolute swear. Fill with light. All truth.

Worshiping Christ in Song

Hymn number 312. 312. Now I want you to notice the words of this grand hymn as we sing it tonight. 312. With joy we adore thee. Chanting our praise to thyself on the throne. Blessed in thy presence we worship thee for thee.

Worthy and worthy alone. Number 312.

O hymn of majesty, hymn of worship and adoration.

As he now fills our vision. I know your heart just wants to sing this, doesn't it? Your heart just longs to sing this. Jesus our Lord. All right. Jesus our Lord.