The Believer's Joy

In Luke chapter 2, I think I'll begin reading, oh,

I'm going to just jump into the middle of it here in verse 7. And this is speaking of Mary when Christ was born and she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over their flock by night.

And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the

Lord shone round about them and they were sore afraid. So we have these shepherds in this news of the

Messiah, this news of the birth of the Savior, came to these shepherds while they were in their fields.

And here's what the angel said unto them in verse 10. Fear not, for behold, I bring you some bad news, which is really going to upset the hearts of people.

Is that what it says? No, it says, and we know the text and we've heard it and we've sung it, we've quoted it.

Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people for this reason.

Here's the reason why there is going to be this good tidings or this gospel.

Here is the reason why there's going to be great joy to all people,

Jews and Gentiles alike. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a

Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And they hear this message, they get up and they go, they go to Bethlehem and they're gonna see this thing which has come to pass.

They come with haste in verse 16 and they found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in the manger. And when they had seen it, they made known of it abroad, the saying which was told them concerning this child.

And all they that heard it wondered at those things which are told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.

Notice what this says next. And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising

God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told unto them.

You will notice that this theme is consistently a theme throughout all of the

New Testament when it comes to the announcement of Christ, when it comes to the gospel, when it comes to a life being changed, when it comes to salvation, that what accompanies is this great joy.

What accompanies is this gladness. I like receiving, and I haven't received one lately, but when

I receive a message from Gladman, I don't know if you have, but at the end of his signing on his name, he has the text there talking about that God has made us glad, and he does.

I was just thinking about this as a totally aside, but somehow in the scriptures, you know, when you come

Adam and Eve and Noah and Moses, you have all these first names, but there's no last names. And then somehow, someplace, somewhere, somebody came up with the idea that we have to have second names or, you know, a surname because I guess maybe because there's a lot of people.

I don't know how that happened. I don't have the study of that, but you know, you have the blacksmith and you have smiths, carpenters and you have carpenters.

And someday, someplace, somewhere, somebody, and I trust maybe it was Glad and the Lord, and they became

Gladmans, you know? And aren't you so, aren't we so fortunate today or glad today that we're not kind of named after the professions today?

You know, blacksmith, carpenter. Can you imagine being named John programmer or John developer or, you know, we...

But one day, someplace, somehow, somebody, this guy was glad and he became a Gladman. And really that's what

Christians ought to be, glad men and women and boys and girls, because that's what

God intended. When he sent the messengers, the angels to tell the shepherds what it was all about, it was going to be good tidings.

It was going to be good news. It was going to be that which was gonna bring joy to many people.

Notice if you're here in Luke, turn to John chapter 15, when Jesus is teaching his disciples and talking to them about what he would bring to them, what he would give them.

Notice what he says. In John chapter 15, if I can get there myself.

John chapter 15, in verse 11, Jesus speaks these words.

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

Jesus's aim in all that he taught was joy for his people.

Now, I wonder if we've told our faces about it though, because you remember a couple of weeks ago when

I was teaching about murmuring and grumbling and complaining.

And we go through life sometimes and we don't have that song that kids used to sing.

Do they still sing it? I have that joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart, down in my heart to stay, but we don't live it.

We don't express it. We don't manifest it. And hopefully after we look at the scriptures this morning and after we consider what is it, we got to think of it this way.

What is it that God intended? What is it that God desires? Now, I know that God desires our hearts and God, our

Lord desires our all. And our Lord desires that we surrender and we take up our cross and follow him.

But sometimes I think we think that by taking up our cross, we've got to be a bunch of people that get up in the morning and we kind of just, instead of having a oatmeal for breakfast, we have some maybe nuts and bolts and screws in there and nails and we got to eat this stuff and that's the way that we're going to live.

And we're just going to be so, we're just going to be so sober and so rigid that we're never going to express the joy that we ought to express.

And that's really not what God has intended for us in salvation. Because even if we see in this here,

Jesus said here that I want my joy to remain in you and I want your joy to be full.

So everything he teaches about is has to do with his aim is the joy of his people.

There was a verse that I had memorized. You can write this down if you're taking notes in Romans 15 verse three, it says, the

God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.

When we trust in Jesus Christ, God fills us with joy. Now, if you just step back a moment and you think about it, what happened the moment that God came and visited your soul?

When we were lost and outside of Christ, when we were gasping for spiritual breath, so to speak, when we were sinking deep in sin, when our lives were meaningless, when we were hopeless creatures before a

Holy God and God came and arrested us, he stopped us and God convicted us to the ministry of the

Holy Spirit that we were lost and undone. And oh, woe is me like the prophet when they get a vision of God and we needed a

Savior and God revealed to us, the Holy Spirit revealed to us that Jesus Christ is the only

Savior of sinners and not only that Jesus Christ died, but Christ died for me. When God opened up our eyes to that understanding that we needed a

Savior and Christ is the only Savior and God drew us by cords of loving kindness to his

Son and we were able to, by the gift of God, by the working, the powerful working of God, lay hold upon Christ and believe upon the

Lord Jesus Christ and we were saved. When we received Jesus Christ as Savior, did we take on this approach?

No big deal. Just kind of like another day. No, I mean, when

God did that, it was the most amazing thing that we could ever have thought would ever happen to us because we knew that we were completely undeserving of it.

And when God saved us, did we not exhibit that joy?

And it was like, we didn't care what anybody thought, we didn't care, we didn't even know what to say to people.

I mean, I must have just blasted so many people. I remember at the beginning, I had a handful of tracks and anything that moved or breathed got a track, a gospel track, and I wanted to just talk to them and tell them that this is what

God had done for my soul. Like the Psalmist said, "'Come and hear all you that fear

God "'and I will declare what he has done for my soul.'" And we were full of joy, but time goes on and the pressures of life and responsibility and service and ministry and checkbooks that don't balance and heartbeats that don't stay where they ought to or blood pressure that doesn't stay where it's supposed to, bosses that don't react as where we think that they ought to react, friends who leave us, on and on and on, these circumstances come our way.

There's losses, there's deaths, there's pain, there's sorrow, there's misery. And somehow, someplace, those things become a joy robber in our lives and we allow them to do that.

And it is because we think that our joy or we think that our happiness is based upon external things.

We think it's based upon how much we have or don't, and if we have, we are happy.

If we don't have, then we're not. If we have a position, we'll be joyous and we'll be glad.

Or if we know something, or if we have victories in our lives, now those things can bring us joy, but they're not the basis and the source of our joy.

Joy is a cheerfulness, it is a calm delight, it is a gladness.

These are definitions of what joy is. It is exceeding joy, it is pleasure that is within the heart, it is gladness of soul, it is delight in God, that is what joy is.

And it has absolutely nothing to do with, regardless of the circumstances, nothing to do with circumstances at all.

It has everything to do with what God has purpose to do in the people that he would call his very own, the elect of God.

God would choose a people, a number that no man could number, and God would foreknow them or forelove them.

God would draw them, as Jeremiah said, with cords of loving kindness. God would bring them to himself.

They would be reconciled through the cross of Jesus Christ. They would become the very possession of God. They'd be purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ.

And a person who is in complete and utter darkness, far away from God, like the prodigal son, now is brought into a relationship from being an enemy of God, to being a child of God and a friend of God.

To be in a close and intimate relationship with the Lord. And one of the things that God does, and if you turn with me to Galatians chapter five, there's something that God gives that person.

Galatians chapter five. In Galatians chapter five and in verse 22, we read these words.

But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long -suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance against such there is no law.

And we see there that a gift from God, something that we cannot manufacture, something that God gives us is this joy.

And this joy, I was reading this in MacArthur's study Bible, a happiness based upon God's unchanging promises and eternal spiritual realities.

It is a happiness. Now, is it wrong for the believer to be happy? Is it wrong for the believer to be full of joy?

Is it wrong for a Christian to be exceeding glad? You would think today it is, because sometimes we think, well, if they look at us, they're gonna kind of equate us with those churches where the people are running up and down the aisles and clapping and they're doing what they're doing, not based upon truth.

The scriptures, there's not a balance there. The pendulum is swung the other way. And all there is, is this happiness and joy.

And they go to this service just to kind of get pumped up, but there's no foundation when they leave the building.

There's nothing there because their joy and their happiness is in the music.

It's in the beat. It's in the ability to be able to get up and sway and clap and all that.

And I'm not gonna get, that is not the class this morning, but when they leave and there's no more of that, and they face the reality of life and living and losses and deaths and crosses and pain and sorrow, they don't have a foundation.

But the person who has been saved by God, the person who is a child of God, regenerated by the spirit of God, has been given joy, among other gifts here that it talks about, but we've been given joy.

We've been given happiness that is based upon the promises of God. We go to the scriptures, and when the

Bible says that there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, there's no more condemnation, or in whom we have the forgiveness of sins,

Christ Jesus, it's in Christ, in whom we have redemption and even the forgiveness of sins.

Or how about a verse that talks about that by the law of Moses, we cannot be justified, but it's through the cross of Jesus Christ that we're justified, that we're declared righteous before God, or we have been adopted by God.

We're in his family. When we read the scriptures, how about this one? When Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you in John chapter 14, and if I go to prepare a place for you,

I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also. That's a promise that Christ makes to his people.

John chapter 17, I pray not for them alone, but I pray for them who will believe on me through their word, through the apostle's word.

Speaking about us, the promises for us that Christ has prayed for us, that we might be one, even as Christ and the

Father are one, that we have these promises, and we have the eternal spiritual realities.

Do we not have an eternal redemption? Yes. Do we not have eternal or everlasting life?

Now, how long does that last? Everlasting life. Somebody give me a guess. How long does everlasting life?

Forever. Forever, right? We can't comprehend that. But if we would meditate upon that, if you would just think about that, is one of my favorite verses.

I'll read it for you. It's in John chapter five.

Verily, verily, Jesus said, or truly, truly, I say unto you, he that hears my word and believes on him that sent me has everlasting life, shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.

Now, that talks about the spiritual reality, and that is a reality presently experienced by the people of God.

We have been given everlasting life. It's not like we're hoping for it or waiting for it. It's not like many religions teach, but we possess it right now, everlasting life.

We'll not come into condemnation. Why? Because our sins have been taken out of the way, nailed to the cross of Christ, and it's not going to come upon us.

He was judged in our place so that we could be set free, and that God would pass over us because he had poured out his wrath upon his son.

And the Bible here says that we've been passed from death unto life. God has taken us out of the past life of spiritual darkness and deadness to God, having no relationship, aliens of the

Commonwealth of Israel, foreigners of God, not even understanding God. I mean, we thought we did. I don't know if any of you ever did this, but before you were saved, did you ever try to talk about God to people?

I can remember doing that once or twice, and I didn't have a clue what I was talking about until God came and showed me the truth like he did for you, and then we are now able to at least be able to go back to the scriptures and articulate and talk to people what it is that God had done for us, and what

God had done for us, and what God is doing for us, and what God will do. He has delivered us.

He is delivering us, and he will yet deliver us. Our salvation will be complete one day. And these are the promises.

These are the eternal realities and sureties. Just think about this. Who is the portion of God's people?

Who is the portion of God's people? It's God himself. Turn with me, if you would, to Psalm 43.

Psalm 43. What is it? I mean, bottom line, if you forget everything I said this morning, remember this.

Psalm 43. Judge me,

O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation, or deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

For thou art the God of my strength. Why dost thou cast me off? Why go I mourning?

Because of the oppression of the enemy. O send out thy light and thy truth. Let them lead me.

Let them bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles. And notice verse four. Then will

I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy.

I will go into the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy. Now you might have a whole list of things that might bring you joy.

That might bring you a smile upon your heart. But there, brethren, there isn't anything, and there ought not to be anything that ought to be the source of our joy other than God himself.

God himself is our joy. The Lord himself.

God my exceeding joy. Take away everything else you have. I mean, if you have position, the position can leave.

Can you still have joy? Yes, because you have that abiding sense and knowledge and awareness that everything

God has promised you is true. He will not take it away. He will not undo what he said.

I mean, when God saves a soul, can that be undone? I mean, there's a lot of things that, there's a lot of things that we can make and that we can try to put together.

One of the things in my house is the dining room chairs. About every two or three years, I have to go through the process of re -gluing them because they come apart.

And I don't do a very good job, I guess, so the glue isn't as strong as I, maybe I gotta talk to John about getting some super glue, gorilla glue, something.

I've tried that too. That's kind of messy. If you put too much on there, it just oozes out. But we do things and they fall apart.

We make a promise and we don't keep it sometimes. We attempt to do something but we don't have the power to do it, to carry it out.

How many times do we have the old to -do list or we start a project and we just don't finish it? Plenty of times.

But when God purposes to save a soul, he does it and he does it very well.

And he does it absolutely completely. God is able to save from the gutter most to the uttermost.

All those who come to God through Christ, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for us.

God does a wonderful work. He is the author and finisher of our faith. He will complete it.

Paul said in Philippians one, that he was confident in this very thing that he which had begun a good work in you would perform it to the day of Jesus Christ.

God will complete our salvation. And every single thing that you read in the word of God is true.

And every promise that God makes is going to come to pass for his people. And that ought to just undergird us when it comes to this idea of what life is all about.

When you go through life and your health is good, but it can fail you, can it not?

I mean, we have the financial capability to be able to pay the bills, but sometimes it's a stretch and sometimes it's just not there.

But does that mean that we lose the joy? No, because that's something that is inside. It is that internal delight in God that we are to have.

It is that happiness, that calm delight.

It is a gladness that the early church experienced. You remember in Acts chapter two, when

Peter had proclaimed the message, preached the gospel of Pentecost and they were saved.

It said that they fellowshiped together and they got together around the bread and around the apostles' doctrine and prayer.

And as they were fellowshipping together, it says there at the end in Acts 2, 46 and 47, that they were an exuberant people.

They lived a life of praise. And that is what you remember. We talked about this. I reminded you a little bit last week, maybe it was, when we looked at what

God had intended to do when he called his people out of Egypt, he wanted them to be a worshiping people, a people who would come out and worship him and serve him.

And him alone. And God's desire is, is that he's created us so that we would be his, have recreated us so that we would be his.

And the intent is, is that part of it all would be that we would be a people who would be joyfully worshiping

God, joyfully serving God, gladly living before God.

With just an exuberance in our lives, no matter what comes our way, regardless of the circumstances.

Now, does that mean that a Christian cannot cry? Is not supposed to cry. No, we can be sorrowful.

We can mourn over the losses or the hardships, the suffering, the trial that comes our way.

But even when the tears are flowing, underneath is joy that cannot be taken away from us because God is our exceeding joy.

The kingdom of God itself, I mean, you read this in Romans, Paul taught in Romans 14, 17, for the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking.

You remember that whole thing was, well, if you got this food and can I eat it or not eat it?

If my brother eats it, if I cause him to stumble, you remember that whole scenario there.

Of course, we ought not to do anything would cause our brother and sister to stumble, but Paul's right in there.

One of the conclusions he comes to, he says, the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but it's righteousness, peace and joy in the

Holy Spirit. The spear of salvation where God is ruling in the hearts of his people.

Those whom God has saved, one of the manifestations of the fruit of the Spirit is an abiding attitude of praise and thanksgiving.

An abiding attitude of gladness, exuberance, praise and thanksgiving in their heart, no matter what the circumstances are, because we are confident and we receive confidence that our

God is for us and we're confident in the sovereignty of God. No matter what comes our way, we've learned that God makes no mistakes.

Not at all. He makes no mistakes when it comes to our lives. All things are ordered well, and there isn't anything that is outside of God's control.

And if that is true, then no matter what comes towards us, no matter what happens in our lives, we ought to be a people who receive that as the providence of God, as God's will for our lives, and we can rest in it that he being our father who loves us will never make a mistake and will do that which is good for us and it'll be good for us and will bring him glory.

I wanna read you or look at a hymn, and we know this one well too, but the next time maybe when we sing it, it'll mean a little bit more.

Joy means that we have an understanding that no matter what happens to us, it is well with our souls.

Everything is well. We have a relationship with God who we don't deserve that, and yet it is maintained.

God keeps us, not only saves us, but he keeps us, and God blesses us even when we don't deserve to be blessed.

I mean, think about this one. God answers our prayers even we forgot to, we've stopped praying about something.

We have a desire for something we're praying for, we desire, we want it, and then we stop praying and God answers and gives it to us.

Isn't he so good? I mean, and think, listen to these words. When peace like a river attends my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, kind of like over your head, whatever my lot,

God has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trial should come, let this blessed assurance control that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and has shed his own blood for my soul.

You notice it's always gonna go back to Christ. No matter what happens, no matter what comes our way,

Christ, listen to this one, my sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part, but the whole.

Now, if it was like other religions that teach, you know, you come to God and everything will be okay up to that point, but boy, if you fall down, if you trip after that, if you sin, you're in deep trouble afterwards and your salvation is lost.

But God said, but in the word of God in this song, it brings out that not just a part of my sin, but all of my sin has been nailed to the cross and I bear it no more.

And I'll read that again. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin, not in part, but the whole is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more.

I've come to church and I'm gonna go out the door. Is that what it says? Or, oh man, life is really tough.

You know, I got so many problems. Or life is a bore or a grudge and grit my teeth and we gotta do this over again.

I gotta get up and I gotta go through the same routine. No big deal. No, it's nailed to the cross,

I bear it no more. And I can just see this, Mr. Spafford, praise the

Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul. Lord haste the day when the faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll, the trump shall resound and the

Lord shall descend. Even so it is well with my soul because when Jesus Christ comes, no matter what has happened in the life of his people, no matter how many times we have failed him and we do, no matter how much of a mess or what we think we have done or have not done,

God began a work in us and we're God's people purchased by the blood of Christ and we're a different type of people, we're changed.

And we've been a people who have served God. We've been a people who've met the conditions of the word of God.

Of course, when it comes to a person who claims to be a Christian, that they are living for God, faithful, though not perfect, but faithful, day in and day out, striving to know him more, striving to please him, wanting just to live in the fear of God and to imitate him and to walk in his ways.

But no matter what, when he comes, it'll be well with our soul. And you know what, what does it say?

When Jesus comes, he says, "'Well done, thou good and faithful servant. "'Enter into the library of the

Lord.'" Yeah, because we're gonna just get real academic, you know? "'Enter into whatever, put your, no, "'enter into the joy of your

Lord, of the Lord.'" All of it, when it comes to our life and salvation and living, it has to do with this joy.

And you know one thing about, if you didn't know the story about Mr. Spafford, you wouldn't get it at all. And if you haven't read about that or don't know about it, here's a man who, from what

I understand, in the Chicago fire, lost his business. He lost his investments. He lost his money.

His family travels on a boat and he loses four of his daughters. They drowned.

And he is going on a ship and he asks the captain of the ship to tell him where that happened.

And they get to the approximate place of where that ship went down, where his daughters had died. And he writes that, "'It is well with my soul.'"

No matter what is taken away from us, no matter what happens to us, no matter how grievous it is or how hurtful it is or how much sorrow comes our way, we can say it is well with our soul because our soul is in the hand of a great and mighty

God, our Father who loves us and will keep us all the days of our lives. We have a powerful Savior. And joy is the aim of everything that,

I mean, it has so much to do with it. God himself is our joy. The joy of God, consider this verse,

Psalm 4 .7. "'You have put more joy in my heart "'than when they have grain and wine abound.'"

So when the person who is outside of Christ, a person, and we rub shoulders with people day in and day out who are not

Christians, and what brings them joy is when they have, they get the toy.

And that toy could be a new car. It could be a new house. It could be lots of, in this case here, it had to do with the grain and wine.

When they have great provisions, when the storehouses are full, they're happy. But when they don't have, they're sad, but not so.

God has taught us, Mr. Spafford says. It's a lesson to learn. Not only is joy a fruit of the

Spirit, but God teaches us through our lives what is important and what is not.

And what is important is in maintaining that relationship with the Lord, that close and intimate fellowship with the

Lord, and having our focus set upon the Lord so that our joy might be full.

Because if it's focused elsewhere, we lose it. Let me just hit you with a couple of other verses here.

Joy is nourished and sustained by the word of God in the Bible. Psalm 19, eight. The precepts of the

Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. Psalm 19, and in verse eight.

How about this one in John 16, 22? Jesus said, you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you.

So what he's saying is our joy is in God and no one can take that joy away from us.

The whole Christian message from beginning to end is misery, right? It is just to make a bunch of miserable people.

No, it's to make a people who have this calm delight, this gladness, this cheerfulness of soul.

Luke 2, 10, what we read. The angel said, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.

When Philip went to Samaria in Acts chapter eight, it says that he preached Christ to them.

And do you know what it said? That there was great something in that city. In Acts 8, eight, it says there was great joy in that city.

Anytime the gospel went someplace, there was great joy. Paul and Silas in Acts chapter 16, remember

I talked about this a little while ago? There they are in prison, suffering for the name of Christ, suffering reproach for Christ, and they're praising

God and they're singing praises unto the Lord in there. Now, let me just ask a couple of questions here.

Maybe you're even thinking about this, of who in the world is favored as much as the people of God are?

Who is more favored? Who is more safer when it comes to their soul?

Who is more blessed? Who is more protected? Who is more sure of their future and of their eternity than God's people?

The answer is no one. No one on the face of the earth is more safe, more blessed, more secure.

Then why is it that we will then pick up the hymn book and we'll sing, it is well with my soul, it is well.

And we're thinking about the flat tire, we're thinking about the heater that broke, we're thinking about the bill that we can't pay.

We're thinking about these things and it's robbing us. And really what we ought to be thinking about is that we have a mighty savior who loves us and cares for us and we are in his hand and no one can pluck us out of his hand.

And he's given us eternal life and eternal life cannot be reversed. God does not give it and take it back.

How about this? Who has more hope than the believer? I mean, go to the funeral of a believer and go to the funeral of one who was not a believer, big difference.

There's mourning, but there's mourning, there's sorrow. But when it comes to the funeral of the believer, there is a mourning with hope.

There is a mourning with a knowledge that that person is safe and secure from all alarm.

How about this one? Would you change your state and condition? If you're a believer here this morning, would you change your state or condition with the richest person in the world who's lost?

No way, no way. Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble there where the psalmist said.

How about, let me just read you this story. There was a man who was going to candidate at the

First Baptist Church in Houston to be the pastor of the church. It was a small church located downtown.

And he said when he walked in, there were few people in a dimly lit sanctuary. The service was depressing.

They were singing songs that were like funeral dirges. Later that day, after he left the service, he was walking downtown in the area and he saw a jewelry store having a great grand opening.

He went in, it was bright and cheerful inside. They were upbeat, happy music, smiles on people's faces.

They were friendly and enthusiastic when they greeted him. They offered him some punch to drink and showed him around the store.

And he remarked, if they had given an invitation, he would have joined the jewelry store and not the church.

Now we smile, don't we? Vance Havner said some churches begin at 11 o 'clock sharp and they finished at 12 o 'clock dull.

And I'm not saying that we're out of control. I'm not saying that we ought not to be sober. I'm not saying that we ought to, everything that we do in the church service ought to be decent and in order, but you know, it's okay to smile.

It's okay to be cheerful. It is okay to give the resounding praise that the psalmist talks about.

When they say praise the Lord, it's this trumpeting forth. And it's okay, even if you can't sing well, it's okay to make a joyful noise unto the

Lord. Doesn't say it has to be perfectly in melody. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord. Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee, the psalmist said.

Spurgeon put it this way, as God's children, we should live up to our calling and privileges. And if so, we will be like the birds in the air and that our lives will be a perpetual song.

Spurgeon described joy as the ecstatic overflowing delight, which is the portion of God's children.

Overflowing delight of God's people, not ho -hum, not no big deal.

In the early church, they were joyously worshiping. The mark of the church is that they were joyful.

And to Paul, it was absolutely foreign for someone to say that they were a Christian and not experience or to be a person who was delighting in the

Lord. That's why he said in Philippians chapter four, you remember Philippians three at the end of that, the beginning of that chapter, he said, and finally, brethren, rejoice in the

Lord. And he's not over yet. He's got two more chapters to go. And then in chapter four, he says, rejoice in the

Lord when everything is well, right? No, rejoice in the Lord always. And again,

I say rejoice. So it is a command. It is a fruit of the spirit. And it is something that we ought to be thinking about.

And I believe that one of the reasons why people don't rejoice in the Lord, one, is that they are incapable of doing so because one, they're not saved.

They do not know the Lord because we are to rejoice, what? In the Lord. That's what it's all about, rejoicing in the

Lord. It has everything to do with a person who is in Christ, a person who has been found in him not having their own righteousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness, which is of God by faith in Jesus Christ.

God has saved them. God has given them the gift of repentance and faith. And they're a child of God and they're in the

Lord. And therefore they can rejoice, but maybe you can't rejoice because you don't know him. And all you have to do is call upon the name of the

Lord to be saved, to call out to God and say, I'm a sinner. I need to be saved. Lord, please help me, have mercy upon my soul and save me.

And then God gives you the fruit of the spirit, which is joy. It's characterized by that.

And the mark of a person who has been saved is joy. But maybe you're not because there are things that can rob joy.

Like we talked about, you're focused on what? What do people look at? The externals, the circumstances.

And they're saying, that's what's gonna give me joy and happiness. But no, it ought to be, I think the reason is, is because we don't constantly focus and meditate upon the

Lord himself. God is to be our exceeding joy. And can you imagine a person saying,

I've been saved by God and not have a smile upon their heart at least, which somehow comes out in their life.

It's just so contradictory to what the gospel is. Good news. Now, do we have any, maybe

I know I'm kind of going overloaded, but what about any questions? Anything at all?

All right, think about this. Yes, one. When you find yourself not in the

Lord's will. Yes. I mean, sin can rob us of joy for sure. Circumstances can if we focus on them.

There are things that can and will rob us of joy, but there isn't anything, when it comes to the will of God in our lives, we ought to be thankful for that and rejoice in it.

When we're out of it, when we're not where we're ought to be according to the scripture, the objective will of God, then yes, certainly that is going to be grating upon our soul.

And we're not going to be able to rejoice because we know that we're not delighting the Lord and pleasing him and his smile has turned to a frown.

And we know that and we're convicted and therefore we need to get back, confess our sins,

God's faithful and just to forgive us and get back in the way and the joy for the joy to return to us.

Let me leave you with this last thought. What if the measure of gladness that salvation is supposed to bring to a person who was a sinner and is saved?

What if the measure of the gladness of the powerful gospel was to be measured by the gladness in your life and in my life?

How would the gospel do? How would Christianity fare? If Christianity was to go on trial and say, we're going to look at these people to see what kind of joy and gladness that they have and watch their lives because when

God saves us, it's an initial joy, but it's to be a continual joy in our lives. How would the gospel, which is good news, glad tidings, joy for all men, how would it fare?

And I think it's just something for us to do to examine ourselves and say, are we like that person I began with this morning?

And there's so many different, there's so many things that I did not get to bring out this morning.

But one of the things that I did want to was this, is hopefully we'll be a people who will allow it to reach our face and to reach our lives.

So that even though the waves can be very high and they can be coming up over our heads, we will be a people who will, as the scripture says, let all those who seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee and rejoice in the

Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Let's pray. Father, we pray that you would take what was said this morning and couple it together with the message that we'll be following, that we may be able to have this balance in our lives.

And we may be able to look at our lives and see that even though we are people who are totally incapable of saving ourselves and that we're people who would moan for the salvation of God.

And one day we were at that place where we were in great need. You have brought us to the place where we've been taken out of darkness and into the light.

And we're in the family of God, the treasure of the Lord, the apple of your eye.

Lord, help us to be a people who exhibit it and manifest it in our lives, this exceeding great joy.

And may we become like that name, glad men, glad women, and glad children of the living