For Your Joy (1 Peter 1:3-8)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.760 --> 00:00:05.799 Tonight I'm going to take you on another journey of discovery, similar to this 2 00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:10.669 morning, a passage and reflection on a passage of preaching, of a passage. 3 00:00:10.710 --> 00:00:14.349 It's very personal with me, but I am going to begin with the 4 00:00:14.390 --> 00:00:19.070 reading of the word of God, that is in your bulletin first Peter one 5 00:00:19.390 --> 00:00:26.539 versus three to nine. So here, then, God's word. Blessed be 6 00:00:26.660 --> 00:00:31.300 the God and father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. According to his great 7 00:00:31.420 --> 00:00:34.939 mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope, 8 00:00:35.619 --> 00:00:40.729 through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is 9 00:00:40.810 --> 00:00:48.250 imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who, by 10 00:00:48.409 --> 00:00:54.560 God's power, are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed 11 00:00:54.679 --> 00:01:02.280 in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now, for a 12 00:01:02.359 --> 00:01:07.950 little while if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials so that the 13 00:01:08.069 --> 00:01:14.230 tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though it is 14 00:01:14.349 --> 00:01:19.700 tested by fire, may be found a result in praise and glory and honor 15 00:01:19.780 --> 00:01:25.939 at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you 16 00:01:26.140 --> 00:01:30.780 love him and though you do not see him now, you believe in him 17 00:01:30.819 --> 00:01:38.290 and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory obtaining the outcome of 18 00:01:38.409 --> 00:01:47.159 your faith, the salvation of your souls. My wife and I spent about 19 00:01:47.159 --> 00:01:49.879 eleven years in Tucson, from one thousand nine hundred and eighty seven through all 20 00:01:49.879 --> 00:01:53.840 of one thousand nine hundred and ninety seven. I was then the senior pastor 21 00:01:53.879 --> 00:02:00.840 of L Camino Baptist Church. We moved from Tucson to San Jose, California, 22 00:02:01.069 --> 00:02:07.629 at the peak of thecom boom, a very intense pace of life, 23 00:02:07.909 --> 00:02:13.710 a very intense place to live in every way. And when I remember most 24 00:02:13.750 --> 00:02:22.099 of all was traffic, slow commutes and people in a hurry. The other 25 00:02:22.219 --> 00:02:28.860 thing I remember was stepping out of my home at night and realizing that there 26 00:02:29.020 --> 00:02:38.530 was a dull, subtle, constant sound outside. It was the sound of 27 00:02:38.930 --> 00:02:45.960 traffic in San Jose. We live below a freeway. There was a free 28 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:50.439 way wall between us in the freeway, but no matter where I went and 29 00:02:50.759 --> 00:02:55.680 San Jose, when you stepped out in the evening, you heard background noise. 30 00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:00.590 It was the sound of all the cars and all the tires hitting the 31 00:03:00.629 --> 00:03:07.430 pavements all around santas Ay, and that is where we lived. Background noise 32 00:03:07.310 --> 00:03:15.219 always there, just only heard when things are quiet enough to listen. Our 33 00:03:15.340 --> 00:03:20.620 hearts are like that too, aren't they? There is there is background noise 34 00:03:21.699 --> 00:03:28.330 in our hearts, always there, just below the surface. It's not what 35 00:03:28.530 --> 00:03:31.650 we think about, it's what we think about when we're not thinking, and 36 00:03:31.810 --> 00:03:37.650 it shows that friend used to say it's what he thought about when he was 37 00:03:37.770 --> 00:03:42.479 mowing the lawn, but we don't mow lawns Intoucson, so I guess it's 38 00:03:42.520 --> 00:03:50.039 what we think about when we're out pulling weeds or watching cactus grow. It's 39 00:03:50.120 --> 00:03:53.560 the mindless tasks that you engage in. In your mind goes into neutral and 40 00:03:53.719 --> 00:04:00.469 there's background noise, isn't there? What's what kind of background noise have you 41 00:04:00.550 --> 00:04:04.590 experienced? I can give some examples from my own life. There are times 42 00:04:04.710 --> 00:04:13.780 when I'm only doing mindless tasks and my mind goes to anxiety, things I'm 43 00:04:13.819 --> 00:04:17.860 worried about, things that are troubling, things that I'm reviewing in my mind 44 00:04:17.980 --> 00:04:23.500 wondering what's going to happen there. There are times I go to the background 45 00:04:23.540 --> 00:04:29.009 noise of anger. I've had many, many are humans in my mind with 46 00:04:29.170 --> 00:04:33.089 people that I was angry with and I always won them and they were always 47 00:04:33.129 --> 00:04:38.370 dialogs, but I was angry. I've been heard, I've been wounded, 48 00:04:38.490 --> 00:04:43.879 I was offended and that background noise showed up when I was doing a mindless 49 00:04:44.000 --> 00:04:48.720 task. Sometimes there's a background noise that's a song. I'm in a season 50 00:04:48.920 --> 00:04:53.990 where I'm happy, where things are well and I find myself at peace, 51 00:04:55.230 --> 00:05:00.949 but there's always background noise. Now I say all that to introduce this passage, 52 00:05:00.949 --> 00:05:05.910 because this is a passage where Peter is going to comment on the background 53 00:05:05.949 --> 00:05:12.420 noise in the lives of these first century Christians, this scattering of the elect 54 00:05:12.459 --> 00:05:17.019 exiles throughout all of what's Modern Day Turkey, and he comments about what he 55 00:05:17.100 --> 00:05:23.930 hears is the background noise of their life. There are church in the midst 56 00:05:23.930 --> 00:05:30.529 of suffering, but he hears the background noise of joy. They are suffering 57 00:05:30.610 --> 00:05:35.639 in the outside, but Peter can hear the songs of joy in the background 58 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:41.600 of their lives. They are in pain on the outside, but inside Peter 59 00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:46.879 Hears them singing and he says that the joy they're experiencing, this background noise 60 00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:51.310 of their life, is not superficial joy. So a matter of fact, 61 00:05:51.350 --> 00:05:59.310 he describes it as beyond human explanation and heavy weight. He Joy, glorious 62 00:05:59.750 --> 00:06:02.470 joy. So I want us to look at this passage tonight and ask how 63 00:06:02.629 --> 00:06:08.459 can that be? How can that be? So the theme for the night 64 00:06:08.579 --> 00:06:13.459 looking in this passage is that in Christ, you and I may be rooted 65 00:06:13.620 --> 00:06:19.009 in joy, have the background noise of joy in our hearts in every circumstance 66 00:06:19.209 --> 00:06:25.970 for three reasons. Number One, because Christ desires our joy, number two, 67 00:06:26.089 --> 00:06:30.370 because God gives us reason for joy and number three, because Christ is 68 00:06:30.490 --> 00:06:36.319 joyous. So let's take a look at those we may experience the background noise 69 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:41.720 of joy and any circumstances of our life. Number one, because God desires 70 00:06:42.040 --> 00:06:45.560 our joy. So if you have your Bible open to that passage or your 71 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:49.589 phone open to that APP, take notice the passage. It's a passage where 72 00:06:49.629 --> 00:06:55.069 there is real suffering. We don't find it just here in First Peter. 73 00:06:55.189 --> 00:06:58.629 We find it in chapter four and elsewhere. They're in the midst of a 74 00:06:58.750 --> 00:07:02.019 fiery trial. There's real pain, loss and suffering. He says that in 75 00:07:02.139 --> 00:07:06.220 verse six, though. Now for a little while you have been grieved by 76 00:07:06.379 --> 00:07:13.379 various trials and he likens the trials to fire. Now, I don't know 77 00:07:13.379 --> 00:07:15.170 about you, but put my hand on the fire is not something I would 78 00:07:15.170 --> 00:07:20.889 look forward to. Fire is painful. They're in the midst of suffering. 79 00:07:21.209 --> 00:07:28.410 This is a fiery trial and he says to them in Verse Eight, in 80 00:07:28.490 --> 00:07:30.360 the midst of that, though you have not seen him, Jesus, you 81 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:33.600 love him and though you do not see him, you believe in him and 82 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:43.279 rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. That's that's quite an 83 00:07:43.279 --> 00:07:49.110 interesting description. It's joy that cannot be explained. So Peter's doing what he 84 00:07:49.149 --> 00:07:54.550 shouldn't be doing, is trying to explain the unexplainable. But he also says 85 00:07:54.589 --> 00:07:59.459 it is joy that is full of glory, not like joy, not not 86 00:07:59.779 --> 00:08:07.100 trivial joy, not not the joy of the red sox winning the world series, 87 00:08:07.220 --> 00:08:11.220 even when they did so for the first time in almost a hundred years. 88 00:08:11.259 --> 00:08:13.970 See, that's that's joy. And grown men act like idiots for a 89 00:08:15.050 --> 00:08:16.930 period of time on the field and try to fly. That's why they jump 90 00:08:18.050 --> 00:08:20.329 and they can't get up in the air, but they are filled with joy. 91 00:08:20.449 --> 00:08:26.449 But the next day it's gone. It's not joy and expressible. It's 92 00:08:26.490 --> 00:08:30.680 joy explainable. It's not joy that is glorious, it's joy that is light 93 00:08:30.839 --> 00:08:33.519 and trivial and last for a while and goes away. Peter says, this 94 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:39.000 church, these Christians, are experiencing profound joy, so that it is the 95 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:43.669 background noise of their lives in the midst of suffering. It's the ground note 96 00:08:43.710 --> 00:08:50.549 that's always playing. It's a hum of joy that is unquenchable in every circumstance 97 00:08:50.710 --> 00:09:00.860 they face, and that's because God desires our joy. Peter says. I 98 00:09:01.019 --> 00:09:05.940 get near you all and I hear of you all and I hear the songs 99 00:09:05.019 --> 00:09:13.490 of joy behind all your circumstances. Now that shouldn't surprise us. The New 100 00:09:13.570 --> 00:09:18.850 Testament is filled with encouragements to joy. Jesus, in the sermon on the 101 00:09:18.929 --> 00:09:22.769 Mount said when you are persecuted and slandered, rejoice and be very glad. 102 00:09:24.639 --> 00:09:31.159 The book of acts that's lived out as the apostles are are treated with hostility 103 00:09:31.320 --> 00:09:35.120 and and abused by religious leaders, and they rejoice because they are suffering for 104 00:09:35.200 --> 00:09:41.870 the name of Christ. And James says when you face various trials, consider 105 00:09:41.950 --> 00:09:43.750 it all joy. We could go on that. The New Testament is filled 106 00:09:43.830 --> 00:09:50.789 with God's desire for us to know joy. Now, I thought on this 107 00:09:50.990 --> 00:09:58.259 over the last number of years. It's occurred to me that that, being 108 00:09:58.379 --> 00:10:01.980 reformed people, being Presbyterians, there many things we love about our theology, 109 00:10:03.100 --> 00:10:05.259 but the one thing we love about it most maybe that it is profound, 110 00:10:05.379 --> 00:10:09.649 it is weighty, it is about a great God and a great salvation. 111 00:10:11.690 --> 00:10:20.090 But I haven't always heard it to be about joy. I haven't always heard 112 00:10:20.090 --> 00:10:24.679 it to be about joy and as I as I've been reflecting on this in 113 00:10:24.759 --> 00:10:28.639 my own mettations for about a decade, I've come to wonder why that is 114 00:10:28.759 --> 00:10:35.519 true, because joy is spoken of in the Bible seven hundred and fifty times. 115 00:10:35.950 --> 00:10:41.710 It's not a side theme, it's a main theme and and I've gone 116 00:10:41.750 --> 00:10:45.389 back and looked at looked at my old testament of my New Testament, and 117 00:10:45.830 --> 00:10:48.669 just to show you how significant joy is in scripture, I'm just going to 118 00:10:48.710 --> 00:10:52.860 refer to a few passages for you. One of them is, if you 119 00:10:54.299 --> 00:10:56.740 if you come into the book of Deuteronomy and you find God describing to his 120 00:10:56.860 --> 00:11:03.220 people the feasts that they come together for, they're gatherings to worship. Deuteronomy 121 00:11:03.330 --> 00:11:09.970 twelve, you find these words about why Israel gathered in many of its feasts. 122 00:11:11.009 --> 00:11:15.009 They're in the temple. You shall eat before the Lord, your God, 123 00:11:15.169 --> 00:11:20.039 and you shall rejoice, you and your households in all that you undertake. 124 00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:26.240 They were to come and rejoice together. You'll find that throughout many of 125 00:11:26.279 --> 00:11:28.159 the feasts in the Old Testament. Of course, if you turn to the 126 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:33.190 Psalms, what do you find? You find joy everywhere. Make a joyful 127 00:11:33.549 --> 00:11:37.269 noise to the Lord. Serve the Lord with gladness, coming to his presence 128 00:11:37.389 --> 00:11:41.509 with singing. That's what we just saying. Let all or take refuge in 129 00:11:41.629 --> 00:11:48.019 your rejoice. Let those who seek your rejoice rejoice. Shout for joy, 130 00:11:48.179 --> 00:11:52.700 clap your hands, singing their song, sing his praises. God is my 131 00:11:52.980 --> 00:12:01.570 exceeding joy. Joy Run US through the psalms. The Psalms show the accessibility 132 00:12:01.690 --> 00:12:05.129 of joy to God's people in the deepest suffering, because the psalms are filled 133 00:12:05.929 --> 00:12:11.649 with anguish of soul and the psalms are filled with joy. Or perhaps the 134 00:12:11.730 --> 00:12:16.679 passage many of us know, the end of the book of a back ache, 135 00:12:16.799 --> 00:12:20.000 where the Psalm or the the Prophet writes these words. Though the FIG 136 00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:28.240 tree should not blossom nor fruit beyond the vines, the produce of the olive 137 00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:31.309 fail in the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the 138 00:12:31.350 --> 00:12:33.190 fold and there be no herd in the stalls. All of which, being 139 00:12:33.230 --> 00:12:37.110 interpreted in modern language, is all of your stocks have gone to zero, 140 00:12:37.429 --> 00:12:41.070 you've lost your job, you've run out of unemployment and there's no food in 141 00:12:41.110 --> 00:12:46.820 the refrigerator. So that would be the equivalent. Yet yet I will rejoice 142 00:12:46.899 --> 00:12:50.379 in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 143 00:12:50.460 --> 00:13:00.009 Joy is something God desires for us, and you find the same as you 144 00:13:00.129 --> 00:13:03.809 come into the New Testament. It is a it is a testament of joy. 145 00:13:05.929 --> 00:13:07.450 One of the most interesting places to me, and we'll come back to 146 00:13:07.570 --> 00:13:16.200 it later, is where joy is mentioned. Jesus most often spoke of joy 147 00:13:16.360 --> 00:13:20.600 at what time in his life, as he was headed to the cross, 148 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:28.429 and that interesting. John Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, as he 149 00:13:28.629 --> 00:13:33.269 is moving towards the Cross and obedience to the father, to lay down his 150 00:13:33.429 --> 00:13:37.549 life for his sheep, he speaks of joy. That would I be doing, 151 00:13:39.149 --> 00:13:43.220 but that's what he's doing. He speaks of joy and he says things 152 00:13:43.299 --> 00:13:48.059 like this. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be 153 00:13:48.340 --> 00:13:56.769 in you and that your joy may be full. God desires our joy. 154 00:13:58.649 --> 00:14:01.889 How much does he desire our joy? So much that, as the savior 155 00:14:03.129 --> 00:14:07.809 of sinners, move to the Cross to bear our judgment that we deserved upon 156 00:14:07.970 --> 00:14:13.120 his shoulders? He is looking forward to the day when our joy will his 157 00:14:13.320 --> 00:14:18.480 joy, will be our joy and his joy will be full in us. 158 00:14:18.759 --> 00:14:24.870 I would say God desires our joy and therefore, in Christ we may be 159 00:14:24.990 --> 00:14:30.990 rooted and joy in every circumstance, because God desires our joy. Well, 160 00:14:31.070 --> 00:14:35.309 the but that leads to a question. How does this happen? Is this 161 00:14:35.549 --> 00:14:41.779 singing don't worry, be happy? Is this singing that wonderful happy song called 162 00:14:41.820 --> 00:14:46.740 the happy song that was circulating around a number of years ago? Everybody was 163 00:14:46.779 --> 00:14:52.379 dancing to it. Well, no doubt music does make us happy for a 164 00:14:52.500 --> 00:14:58.129 time, but that's not glorious and inexpressible joy, Peter says, this is 165 00:14:58.330 --> 00:15:03.690 g glorious and inexpressible joy. This is unexplainable joy. It's got to be 166 00:15:03.769 --> 00:15:07.480 more than the happy song. Well, that brings us to the second point. 167 00:15:07.519 --> 00:15:11.000 We can be rooted in joy and have the ground knowing of joy in 168 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:18.799 our lives and every circumstance, because God gives us reasons for joy. Now 169 00:15:18.919 --> 00:15:20.549 what do I mean by that? Won't look back at first Peter Again. 170 00:15:22.629 --> 00:15:30.549 Verse Three, four and five are descriptions of God's grace to us. He's 171 00:15:30.669 --> 00:15:33.509 caused us to be born again, to be born into the very life of 172 00:15:33.629 --> 00:15:41.179 the Kingdom of God. He's given us an inheritance that is imperishable, doesn't 173 00:15:41.179 --> 00:15:43.659 rot, it's undefiled, can't be polluted and it doesn't fade, it doesn't 174 00:15:43.700 --> 00:15:48.580 diminish in value. That inheritance is being kept in heaven for you by God 175 00:15:48.740 --> 00:15:54.850 himself, God's power, and you are being guarded through faith for a salvation 176 00:15:54.049 --> 00:15:58.649 ready to be revealed in the last time. That's that's pretty good reason to 177 00:15:58.690 --> 00:16:03.360 be joy that's why he says in verse six in this you rejoice. There 178 00:16:03.399 --> 00:16:08.320 are there are reasons for joy. He gives us those reasons. It is 179 00:16:08.720 --> 00:16:19.110 the revealed truth of God's rich gifts to us in Crais, and that means 180 00:16:19.190 --> 00:16:23.230 that in the worst suffering which they are experience answering here in some very severe 181 00:16:23.309 --> 00:16:30.350 ways, we can know that the worst anybody can do to us is to 182 00:16:30.429 --> 00:16:36.340 bring us more quickly into our eternal inheritance. That's the worst anybody can do, 183 00:16:36.500 --> 00:16:38.139 or, as John Piper used to say, the worst you can do 184 00:16:38.299 --> 00:16:47.139 is kill me and that will take me into glory and and that is indeed 185 00:16:47.250 --> 00:16:51.809 what you find in the New Testament. You find these early Christians taking gladly 186 00:16:51.929 --> 00:16:55.690 the loss of their possessions, knowing that they had a better and lasting inheritance. 187 00:16:57.649 --> 00:17:02.960 The reasons for joy one of that. One of the men I've met 188 00:17:03.000 --> 00:17:07.160 over the years in ministry was the pastor of the Baptist Church in Ourdia, 189 00:17:07.240 --> 00:17:15.119 Romania, during the rule of Nikolai Chau Chesscou. He was hated by Chouches 190 00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:19.029 Cooo. Child ches woo is an atheistic communist. He persecuted the Christians and 191 00:17:19.230 --> 00:17:22.789 this friend, Joseph, told the story of the day that they came to 192 00:17:22.950 --> 00:17:30.619 his house and they had been harassing him and abusing him and threatening him and 193 00:17:30.779 --> 00:17:34.740 he was becoming very, very discouraged and afraid. And this particular day they 194 00:17:34.819 --> 00:17:38.220 came to his house and they had him go through his entire library. They 195 00:17:38.259 --> 00:17:42.339 were going to take his library away from them, his beloved pastor's books, 196 00:17:44.490 --> 00:17:47.849 and as they took his books down one by one, he had to write 197 00:17:47.890 --> 00:17:51.130 in them. This book was owned by and he had to sign his name 198 00:17:52.250 --> 00:17:56.769 because they wanted evidence that he was a dangerous man and people who read those 199 00:17:56.769 --> 00:18:00.240 kinds of books are a dangerous man. And he said he pulled, they 200 00:18:00.319 --> 00:18:03.519 pulled. They pulled one book down and handed it to him and he opened 201 00:18:03.559 --> 00:18:07.920 up the front cover and the name of the book was joy, inexpressible and 202 00:18:08.200 --> 00:18:17.710 full of glory. Is it yours? And he read that and he read 203 00:18:17.829 --> 00:18:26.109 that and he realized it wasn't right then and he realized there was no reason 204 00:18:26.230 --> 00:18:29.259 these men should take away his joy, and so he signed his name in 205 00:18:29.299 --> 00:18:32.980 the book and a little bit later they said we've made a decision. We're 206 00:18:33.059 --> 00:18:36.180 going to take you and execute you. They're taking his library away and they're 207 00:18:36.180 --> 00:18:37.579 going to take him an execute him. And full of joy, he said 208 00:18:38.299 --> 00:18:42.329 that would be a most wonderful thing and they said, Tom What are you 209 00:18:42.410 --> 00:18:47.650 talking about? He said, if you execute me, number one, I 210 00:18:47.809 --> 00:18:51.009 will be finished with my journey and see my Lord all the sooner, and 211 00:18:51.089 --> 00:18:56.519 number two, you will seal my witness with blood and many more people will 212 00:18:56.559 --> 00:19:02.640 come to faith in Jesus Christ because of that and that they had no idea 213 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:07.079 what to do with him. They looked at him and said we're not going 214 00:19:07.119 --> 00:19:12.190 to execute you. They couldn't conquer him because he had reasons for joy they 215 00:19:12.349 --> 00:19:18.309 could not touch. And God gives us reasons for joy in any circumstance, 216 00:19:19.789 --> 00:19:25.660 even in trials. God is at work for our good and therefore we may 217 00:19:25.740 --> 00:19:30.420 consider trials a reason for joy. So this means that God gives us reasons. 218 00:19:30.859 --> 00:19:34.220 We take those reasons and we talk to ourselves with them. We don't, 219 00:19:34.339 --> 00:19:37.769 we don't listen to ourselves, we talk to ourselves. I'm forty two. 220 00:19:38.089 --> 00:19:41.170 The PSALMA says, says to us. So why are you? Why 221 00:19:41.170 --> 00:19:47.849 are you discouraged all my soul? He speaks God's word to his soul and 222 00:19:47.970 --> 00:19:51.569 gives himself reason for joy. And we can do that because God has given 223 00:19:51.609 --> 00:19:59.720 us many reasons for joy. So so in Christ we have the possibility, 224 00:19:59.880 --> 00:20:03.359 the reality of knowing joy in the depths of our being, in any circumstance, 225 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:07.869 because God desires our joy. He's a good, good and generous God 226 00:20:07.950 --> 00:20:11.549 who desires us to be joyous, not dow or and sad. And because 227 00:20:11.630 --> 00:20:17.430 God gives us reasons for joy, and the reasons he gives are profound. 228 00:20:19.390 --> 00:20:25.460 But that doesn't seem to be enough to me. As I thought on this 229 00:20:25.619 --> 00:20:27.660 over many years. That does not seem to be enough. And here's why. 230 00:20:29.819 --> 00:20:33.900 A number of years ago I picked up a book called the consolation of 231 00:20:33.019 --> 00:20:41.730 Philosophy. was written by an early medieval thinker named Boetheus and in short, 232 00:20:41.849 --> 00:20:48.089 to oversimplify, it is a book about talking to ourselves. He's a man 233 00:20:48.130 --> 00:20:52.440 who is in midst of great suffering and filosophy comes and speaks to him and 234 00:20:52.599 --> 00:20:56.839 basically says you need to speak to yourself. We would call it to day 235 00:20:56.960 --> 00:21:00.000 cognitive behavior therapy. You need to be tough minded, you need to think 236 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:06.670 clearly, you need to stop listening to these despairing thoughts. And so boetheist 237 00:21:06.910 --> 00:21:14.470 learned to be consoled by philosophy, by right thinking. Well, that's all 238 00:21:14.589 --> 00:21:18.019 good, I mean it's very helpful. Cognitive therapies been very beneficial, most 239 00:21:18.059 --> 00:21:26.059 effective treatment of depression by statistics out there. But does that simply mean that 240 00:21:26.259 --> 00:21:30.619 Christians only have a better reason for joy, that basically we have the best 241 00:21:30.740 --> 00:21:40.210 cognitive therapy? Is that joy inexpressible and full of glory? So I ask 242 00:21:40.329 --> 00:21:42.890 that question and then and then I noticed. I go back to the passage 243 00:21:42.930 --> 00:21:48.119 and I say her this, this passage is not simply about reasons for joy. 244 00:21:48.200 --> 00:21:55.359 That's for six. In this you rejoice. Verse Eight says the cause 245 00:21:55.440 --> 00:22:00.319 of their joy was Jesus himself. Now you have not seen him, you 246 00:22:00.519 --> 00:22:04.470 love him and though you do not now see him, you believe in him 247 00:22:04.470 --> 00:22:10.950 and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory. This is a 248 00:22:11.069 --> 00:22:17.980 relational joy. This is seeing Jesus with the eye of faith. They are 249 00:22:18.099 --> 00:22:22.500 now filled when with joy, it's not just reasons, it's a person, 250 00:22:25.579 --> 00:22:29.220 and that's led me to the simple statement that, and I'll demonstrate it to 251 00:22:29.259 --> 00:22:33.009 you, in Christ we may be rooted in joy and have the ground note 252 00:22:33.049 --> 00:22:38.730 of joy in our lives and every circumstance, because Christ is joyous. Now 253 00:22:38.769 --> 00:22:44.250 I've checked every systematic theology I own, which is a lot, and I 254 00:22:44.289 --> 00:22:51.759 can't find joyous under the attributes have gone that when I check scripture, I 255 00:22:51.960 --> 00:22:57.319 can. Let me explain that to you. Notice I did not say Christ 256 00:22:57.519 --> 00:23:04.109 makes joy possible, I say Christ is joyous. So let me explain. 257 00:23:04.150 --> 00:23:10.069 Let me go back. turn on your thinking caps with me a little bit 258 00:23:10.109 --> 00:23:14.059 and go back to that quote I gave you from Jesus as he heads to 259 00:23:14.099 --> 00:23:17.099 the cross. And let's take it apart a little bit, and this has 260 00:23:17.140 --> 00:23:22.299 been part of my reflection over many years. Jesus spoke to his disciples and 261 00:23:22.380 --> 00:23:26.650 he says, I say these things to you that my joy may be in 262 00:23:26.809 --> 00:23:30.490 new and he prays. A few chapters later, he says, I pray, 263 00:23:30.569 --> 00:23:36.849 father, that they might have my joy fulfilled in them. Now notice 264 00:23:36.930 --> 00:23:41.960 what it doesn't say. It doesn't say that you may be joyous, that 265 00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:47.240 you may be fully joyous, doesn't say that. It says that my joy 266 00:23:48.680 --> 00:23:52.920 maybe in you, you, that my joy may be fulfilled in you. 267 00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:57.829 This is personal. This is not he wants us to be joyous. This 268 00:23:59.069 --> 00:24:06.309 is that he wants to share his joy with us so that his joy becomes 269 00:24:07.109 --> 00:24:12.700 our joy. Joy doesn't come merely from reasons for joy, it comes from 270 00:24:12.700 --> 00:24:18.660 association with the Joyous One, who is Jesus Christ. So isn't that what 271 00:24:18.859 --> 00:24:22.980 first Peter's hinting at here? You have not seen him, but you love 272 00:24:23.099 --> 00:24:27.890 him. He is your savior and though you don't see him with your physical 273 00:24:29.009 --> 00:24:33.970 ews, you believe in him and therefore you have great joy. You see 274 00:24:33.049 --> 00:24:40.319 him with the eyes of faith and you have joy inexpressible and full of glory. 275 00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:44.720 And I think about that and I think, well, that makes sense, 276 00:24:47.319 --> 00:24:55.150 because the greatest source of joy to me is other people who bring joy 277 00:24:55.230 --> 00:25:00.750 to me. They're people I love to be around because they bring joy with 278 00:25:00.869 --> 00:25:06.630 them, just as they're people I don't want to be around because they're grouchy 279 00:25:07.140 --> 00:25:11.859 and they bring grouchiness with them. Right, we bring that with us and 280 00:25:11.980 --> 00:25:17.900 people bring that with us. Well, Jesus is the ultimately joyous one, 281 00:25:18.140 --> 00:25:22.730 so when I am in fellowship and communion with him, his joy becomes my 282 00:25:22.930 --> 00:25:26.890 joy. Now that that might sound a little odd, except it is found 283 00:25:26.930 --> 00:25:33.730 in scripture. Elsewhere. Did you know that Hebrews says that Jesus was anointed 284 00:25:33.890 --> 00:25:38.799 with the oil of gladness above all his companions? Now, what does that 285 00:25:38.960 --> 00:25:42.200 mean? Way after he's a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We 286 00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:48.039 know that from Isaiah fifty three, but Hebrews one says he was the most 287 00:25:48.119 --> 00:25:53.589 joyous man who ever walked the face of the earth. I first thought about 288 00:25:53.589 --> 00:25:57.829 that, I was a bit taken back because that's not how I picture Jesus. 289 00:25:59.509 --> 00:26:02.589 I don't. I don't picture him as a bounding in joy, but 290 00:26:02.710 --> 00:26:07.220 he did. The oil of gladness above all his fellows. Is what Hebrew 291 00:26:07.299 --> 00:26:11.339 says, and as I've dug around on this, I found things like an 292 00:26:11.380 --> 00:26:17.339 old hymn called Jesus priceless treasure, one of the stanzas of which says this 293 00:26:17.980 --> 00:26:22.890 vanish then this sadness. He's speaking to the person singing, for the Lord 294 00:26:22.970 --> 00:26:32.329 of Gladness Jesus enters in. Jesus is the Lord of Gladness and if you 295 00:26:32.369 --> 00:26:34.839 read the life of Jesus and you think of him as the most joyous, 296 00:26:36.039 --> 00:26:40.599 glad person who ever lived, you begin to understand why people were drawn to 297 00:26:40.759 --> 00:26:48.309 him magnetically. It wasn't grouchy, wasn't surly, he was filled with joy 298 00:26:48.470 --> 00:26:55.750 and gladness and generosity of heart and people were drawn to that. So it's 299 00:26:55.750 --> 00:26:59.109 even more than that, and I'm your have you putting on your thinking caps 300 00:26:59.190 --> 00:27:00.980 tonight as we follow along, and I'm going to give you a summary, 301 00:27:00.980 --> 00:27:07.059 a brief look at at this theme of joy and Christ and Christ being joyous, 302 00:27:07.099 --> 00:27:12.019 because it's even bigger than Christ being joyous. It's that God is joyous. 303 00:27:15.930 --> 00:27:19.490 The Bible describes God as joyous. I don't know if you knew that. 304 00:27:19.970 --> 00:27:25.170 Now here you will find this in systematic theologies. First Timothy One hundred 305 00:27:25.170 --> 00:27:27.970 and eleven, Paul says, according to the Gospel of the glory of the 306 00:27:29.130 --> 00:27:33.000 blessed God. Well, the problem is blessed as a religious term, so 307 00:27:33.119 --> 00:27:37.680 we don't really pay attention to it. What it means is the gospel of 308 00:27:37.759 --> 00:27:44.430 the glory of the happy, joyous, delightful God. God is blessed, 309 00:27:44.630 --> 00:27:52.150 he is happy, delightful in himself, joyous in himself. That's part of 310 00:27:52.230 --> 00:27:56.109 the, nay very nature of God. So yes, systematic theologies do talk 311 00:27:56.150 --> 00:28:00.819 about the joy of God, they just talk about the blessedness of God. 312 00:28:00.980 --> 00:28:04.019 Well, you may say to me, is as I've reflected on this as 313 00:28:04.140 --> 00:28:10.380 well. How can God be joyous? Because he is father, son and 314 00:28:10.460 --> 00:28:17.130 Holy Spirit in a relationship of eternal joy with each other. Do you read 315 00:28:17.450 --> 00:28:22.769 on seventeen, you'll find Jesus describing his relationship with the father from eternity past 316 00:28:22.930 --> 00:28:29.359 is to be one of glory, shared glory, shared love. You loved 317 00:28:29.480 --> 00:28:33.440 me before the foundation of the world. The glory I had with you before 318 00:28:33.640 --> 00:28:41.950 the world began. Father Son and Holy Spirit in an everlasting relationship of shared 319 00:28:42.029 --> 00:28:48.549 glory and shared love means they are at an everlasting relationship of shared delight in 320 00:28:48.710 --> 00:28:57.579 one another as the three persons of the Godhead. Trinitarian theologians have written about 321 00:28:57.619 --> 00:29:03.740 this for centuries, that in the relationship of father, son and Holy Spirit 322 00:29:03.819 --> 00:29:14.250 there is infinitely overflowing glory, love and Joy. One of my favorite theologians, 323 00:29:14.289 --> 00:29:19.849 Fred Sanders, puts it this way. In himself and without any reference 324 00:29:21.009 --> 00:29:25.799 to the created world of the plan of Salvation, God is that being who 325 00:29:25.960 --> 00:29:30.559 exists as the tryern love of father for the son, in the unity of 326 00:29:30.559 --> 00:29:37.519 the Holy Spirit. The boundless life that God lives in himself, at home 327 00:29:38.150 --> 00:29:47.109 within the happy land of the trinity above all worlds, is perfect that. 328 00:29:47.309 --> 00:29:52.259 Just stop and think about that for a minute. Christ is joyous because father, 329 00:29:52.460 --> 00:30:02.579 son and spirit are joyous and their joy is infinite, which means at 330 00:30:02.619 --> 00:30:07.049 the center of all things, in the Creator and Sustainer of all that is, 331 00:30:08.170 --> 00:30:18.609 there is infinite joy, Eternal Delight and glory in that joy. That 332 00:30:18.690 --> 00:30:23.279 amazing, and this is why Paul says I want to tell you about the 333 00:30:25.240 --> 00:30:29.200 gospel of the glory of the blest God. It doesn't say the Gospel of 334 00:30:29.279 --> 00:30:32.799 the glory of the Crouchy God, of the angry God. It's the blessed 335 00:30:32.960 --> 00:30:37.710 God, the Joyous God, and that is why the Gospel is good news, 336 00:30:37.829 --> 00:30:41.109 because when I am reconciled to God, I come into the communion of 337 00:30:41.190 --> 00:30:45.910 father, son and spirit who are infinite in their mutual joy, and I 338 00:30:47.029 --> 00:30:49.539 get a corner of that. I get to be part of that, in 339 00:30:49.660 --> 00:30:55.779 the fellowship of the Godhead. Now, just to add more to this, 340 00:30:56.180 --> 00:31:00.059 as I've reflected on it, did you know God was joyous in creation? 341 00:31:03.859 --> 00:31:07.170 The book of Job, when God is interrogating jobby says, where were you 342 00:31:07.289 --> 00:31:11.569 and I lay the foundations of the earth, job, when the morning stars 343 00:31:11.730 --> 00:31:17.849 sang together and all the sons of God shouted for Joy. There is joy 344 00:31:18.009 --> 00:31:22.640 in the creation because God was filled with joy. We sing joyful, joyful, 345 00:31:22.799 --> 00:31:32.160 we adore thee because God's creation was the overflow of his joy. If 346 00:31:32.240 --> 00:31:34.069 you get a chance to ever read it, Gee Ke at, Gee k 347 00:31:34.269 --> 00:31:38.470 Chesterton as an essay called the ethics of Elf land at, I get that 348 00:31:38.549 --> 00:31:47.779 rightening in entity talks about why did God make millions of daisies? And he 349 00:31:47.980 --> 00:31:51.259 and he says what he wants to talk about. First, as children, 350 00:31:52.180 --> 00:31:55.660 when you're playing with a child and you do something that they like. What 351 00:31:55.779 --> 00:31:59.940 do they say? Do It, you do it again, bounce me on 352 00:31:59.980 --> 00:32:01.130 your knee again, throw me up in the aregain, do it again, 353 00:32:01.289 --> 00:32:05.250 do it again, do it again and you do it again until your arms 354 00:32:05.289 --> 00:32:12.410 full of right and it's not enough. They love repetition. And he says 355 00:32:12.450 --> 00:32:17.799 they love repetition because they're so alive and the joy in the fiftieth time is 356 00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:21.759 as great as the joy in the first time, and it's only as we 357 00:32:21.880 --> 00:32:27.839 get old and we begin to die that we get bored. He said. 358 00:32:27.880 --> 00:32:30.910 Well, God is infinitely alive. And what he made a daisy. He 359 00:32:30.990 --> 00:32:31.950 said, I'm going to do it again and I'm going to do it again 360 00:32:32.069 --> 00:32:40.789 because he took joy in making daisies. He rejoices in his creation. God, 361 00:32:40.950 --> 00:32:45.539 he is not just joyous in himself and in creation, he's joy us 362 00:32:45.619 --> 00:32:49.420 in all of history. Psalm one hundred and fifteen, verse three says all 363 00:32:49.700 --> 00:32:55.460 that the Lord pleases, all that Delights Him, he does. So what 364 00:32:55.660 --> 00:33:00.089 is it that takes away my joy when I don't get what I want? 365 00:33:00.009 --> 00:33:04.210 It's one of the ways you can frustrate me. You block what I want 366 00:33:04.250 --> 00:33:08.089 to do. God is never frustrated. All that he has purposed and is 367 00:33:08.130 --> 00:33:13.640 infinite goodness and holiness. Is exactly what he does, and therefore he is 368 00:33:13.799 --> 00:33:20.279 the blessed, joyous and only sovereign over all things. As we are two 369 00:33:20.319 --> 00:33:28.109 days away from the midterms, God is joyous. Everything is going exactly as 370 00:33:28.190 --> 00:33:35.269 he purposed, and we know that Jesus is now in the place of eternal 371 00:33:35.349 --> 00:33:37.710 joy. Hebrews twelve says for the joy that was set before him. He 372 00:33:37.829 --> 00:33:43.900 endured the cross, despising the shame, and he is now in that place 373 00:33:44.019 --> 00:33:49.259 with joy. And we are told this is a quick summary of so many 374 00:33:49.339 --> 00:33:52.859 passages. In the end of all things, when Christ returns, that we 375 00:33:52.940 --> 00:33:55.210 are brought into his kingdom, this is what he will say to us. 376 00:33:55.369 --> 00:34:02.569 Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master. 377 00:34:04.369 --> 00:34:07.409 Now doesn't say enter into joy, it says enter into the joy of 378 00:34:07.489 --> 00:34:12.800 your master. Your master, who is full of joy, will share his 379 00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:20.400 joy with you. Now I'm running fast, skimming the surface, hitting some 380 00:34:20.480 --> 00:34:24.230 high water marks, but I see all of that is what's behind first Peter 381 00:34:24.510 --> 00:34:30.869 one. If you study this out in scripture, you will find that joy 382 00:34:30.389 --> 00:34:35.389 is in the very center of the life and works of the Saving Plan of 383 00:34:35.510 --> 00:34:38.539 God, because joy is in the very center of Father, son and Holy 384 00:34:38.579 --> 00:34:44.179 Spirit. And therefore, when we are reconciled to God and we come to 385 00:34:44.300 --> 00:34:47.980 know this joy, it's not a rational argument. It is an experience of 386 00:34:49.139 --> 00:34:55.449 relationship and that means it is beyond human expression and full of glory. It 387 00:34:55.650 --> 00:35:02.690 is unquenchable joy. Now, I know, I know. The one objection 388 00:35:02.889 --> 00:35:07.880 people always have when I talk about this is, well, what about sin? 389 00:35:08.480 --> 00:35:12.639 Are you saying God delights and sin? No, God does not delight 390 00:35:12.760 --> 00:35:17.599 in Sin. God Hates Hi, but sin will not thwart fort his good 391 00:35:17.639 --> 00:35:24.630 and joyous purpose. The last word, as God out works works out his 392 00:35:24.750 --> 00:35:30.150 purposes in creation and redemption, will be a word of joy. And, 393 00:35:30.269 --> 00:35:37.579 very briefly, hell will not veto the joys of Heaven. Could develop that 394 00:35:37.659 --> 00:35:40.860 more, but I'm going to leave it right there. There will be everlasting, 395 00:35:42.619 --> 00:35:47.340 untainted joy forever in God and among his people as he shares his joy 396 00:35:47.460 --> 00:35:52.969 with us. That is his purpose, in the fullness of his life and 397 00:35:52.130 --> 00:35:58.210 love. The God who is light and love purposed by redemption to share his 398 00:35:58.449 --> 00:36:01.570 very life and joy with us, and some day we will enter into that 399 00:36:01.929 --> 00:36:07.559 forever. But now we get a taste, we get the fringes of his 400 00:36:07.719 --> 00:36:13.800 joy. Well, how does he impart his joy? It's very simple. 401 00:36:14.639 --> 00:36:19.070 He gave his son for us and he gives his spirit to us. He 402 00:36:19.150 --> 00:36:23.110 gave his son for us we were not the objects of his pleasure, but 403 00:36:23.309 --> 00:36:27.829 objects of his holy hatred for our sin. We were, by choice, 404 00:36:28.230 --> 00:36:34.099 the makers of misery for ourselves, and God, in His mercy for us, 405 00:36:34.579 --> 00:36:38.699 gave his son for us. He made his son a curse for us. 406 00:36:42.179 --> 00:36:45.739 That is almost an unthinkable phrase, were it not the very words of 407 00:36:45.059 --> 00:36:51.610 God. In the depths of the Godhead, father, son and spirit. 408 00:36:52.090 --> 00:36:57.449 The son, the eternal son, who knew the joy of fellowship and communion 409 00:36:57.489 --> 00:37:00.480 with the father and love and glory forever, was made a curse, came 410 00:37:00.639 --> 00:37:06.920 under the full weight of God's judgment for us. Drank to the last drop 411 00:37:07.079 --> 00:37:10.679 the Cup of God's wrath so that God might bring us into the Fountain of 412 00:37:10.719 --> 00:37:15.639 Joy, which is himself, but the removal of all our sins. And 413 00:37:16.469 --> 00:37:20.829 then he gave his spirit to us. The reason we know this at all 414 00:37:21.590 --> 00:37:24.789 is because the Holy Spirit came to us and called us to Christ and united 415 00:37:24.829 --> 00:37:30.300 us to Christ, so that you and I are in Christ and he is 416 00:37:30.380 --> 00:37:35.260 in us. By the spirit and the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit 417 00:37:35.340 --> 00:37:38.739 that we are sons and daughters of God and we have been united at are 418 00:37:38.780 --> 00:37:46.849 in communion with the ever joyous son and the ever joyous spirit. Now I've 419 00:37:47.050 --> 00:37:52.250 just covered a lot in a short period of time, but I see that's 420 00:37:52.289 --> 00:37:55.090 what peters talking about, and it's because of this that I say it is 421 00:37:55.210 --> 00:38:00.519 possible, it is available, it is a reality for Christians to have a 422 00:38:00.639 --> 00:38:05.519 deep ground note of joy in any circumstance, because God desires our joy, 423 00:38:05.760 --> 00:38:07.920 he gives us reasons for our joy and, most of all, because we 424 00:38:08.079 --> 00:38:13.429 have been brought into communion with Christ and by the spirit, in union with 425 00:38:13.550 --> 00:38:20.150 father, son and spirit, who are full of joy. So how does 426 00:38:20.230 --> 00:38:23.710 this work out? How is this actually affect you or me? Let me 427 00:38:23.989 --> 00:38:28.900 be personal again, like I was this morning. So I am by nature 428 00:38:28.940 --> 00:38:35.219 a melancholic person. As a friend of mine said, I am in. 429 00:38:35.780 --> 00:38:37.900 He said, Mark, you're in and you are an incredibly guarded optimist, 430 00:38:39.300 --> 00:38:44.849 by which he meant I always see the worst, post simple outcomes. But 431 00:38:44.929 --> 00:38:49.610 I'm a melancholy I have known clinical depression and been under the care of a 432 00:38:49.769 --> 00:38:54.369 doctor off and on throughout my adult life. My trending line is always to 433 00:38:54.489 --> 00:39:00.719 sadness. By the way, Peters not talking about personalities here's talking about something 434 00:39:00.760 --> 00:39:07.000 much greater. But about ten years ago, in the midst of a great 435 00:39:07.519 --> 00:39:15.710 sadness, a period of great wearing, wrenching trial that went on for multiple 436 00:39:15.710 --> 00:39:22.230 years, sleepless nights, exhaustion, facing insoluble problems, I picked up a 437 00:39:22.269 --> 00:39:27.460 little book on Joy. I've no idea why I picked up that book on 438 00:39:27.500 --> 00:39:32.219 Joy. I always pick up systematic theology. This is a little book of 439 00:39:32.300 --> 00:39:37.769 about joy, Ninety readings about joy, ninety paragraphs about joy. I mean 440 00:39:37.849 --> 00:39:44.130 how how light, how trivial for a reformed theologian to pick up one paragraph 441 00:39:44.250 --> 00:39:46.210 readings for a day, all about joy. And how much is there to 442 00:39:46.250 --> 00:39:52.159 say about joy? Really? And every day for ninety days I read about 443 00:39:52.719 --> 00:40:01.480 God's joy and I came to realize that all that I've said the small this 444 00:40:01.639 --> 00:40:08.989 evening is what is true. And the reason I was not joyous was who 445 00:40:09.110 --> 00:40:15.710 I chose to hang out with in my thought thoughts. What do I mean 446 00:40:15.829 --> 00:40:19.909 by that? I don't mean human companions, I mean in my thoughts, 447 00:40:19.989 --> 00:40:23.900 the meditations of my heart and the thoughts of my life were always in the 448 00:40:23.980 --> 00:40:29.980 company of my problems and my sinfulness and the problems of other people in their 449 00:40:30.059 --> 00:40:34.300 sins, and I was, to use the language of the King James, 450 00:40:34.380 --> 00:40:40.489 abiding in the problems, not abiding in Christ. And when I got really 451 00:40:40.530 --> 00:40:44.329 bad at this, they kind of filled up all the nooks and crannies of 452 00:40:44.409 --> 00:40:49.210 my thoughts. I wake up troubled thoughts. I'd coded bed with troubled thoughts. 453 00:40:51.719 --> 00:40:54.880 I was submitting to them, I was allowing those troubled thoughts to bully 454 00:40:55.039 --> 00:41:01.599 me. I was I was allowing myself to become vastly serious about everything. 455 00:41:04.429 --> 00:41:09.670 And then this passage, first Peter one, came in the midst of those 456 00:41:09.710 --> 00:41:15.070 ninety days of readings and I thought that's what God offers me, to be 457 00:41:15.110 --> 00:41:22.940 filled with Glorious and inexpressible joy. And I realized the issue was simply I 458 00:41:23.219 --> 00:41:29.619 was in the company of the wrong things. I was in the company with 459 00:41:29.699 --> 00:41:31.820 all my troubles and all my problems and all my sins and all the sins 460 00:41:31.860 --> 00:41:35.730 of other people and all the troubles of the world. And just read the 461 00:41:35.889 --> 00:41:42.409 news, folks. That's how they sell newspapers. And God was inviting me 462 00:41:42.489 --> 00:41:46.719 into the company of the joyous one, Jesus, the savior, who calls 463 00:41:46.880 --> 00:41:53.400 me, who calls you his beloved child, who sings over you, according 464 00:41:53.440 --> 00:41:58.639 to Zeph and I ah, who sings over you with joy as you are 465 00:41:58.840 --> 00:42:01.750 today, because he began to work that he's going to complete. We talked 466 00:42:01.750 --> 00:42:09.230 about that this morning. And when you turn your thoughts to Jesus and make 467 00:42:09.269 --> 00:42:14.550 him the company of your meditations, so you don't see him, you love 468 00:42:14.590 --> 00:42:17.579 him and though you do not yet see him, by faith you see him 469 00:42:17.619 --> 00:42:24.179 and you rejoice with joy and expressible and filled with glory. I didn't know 470 00:42:24.300 --> 00:42:31.809 joy because I was preoccupied with my sins and circumstances and I even thought it 471 00:42:31.969 --> 00:42:38.010 was godly to be that way. I even thought it was godly to be 472 00:42:38.170 --> 00:42:45.519 that serious about everything. So God is working in me. And then, 473 00:42:45.599 --> 00:42:51.119 right in the middle of this time, our youngest daughter got married, and 474 00:42:51.320 --> 00:42:57.079 God use that day to teach me more about reasons for joy. And so 475 00:42:57.280 --> 00:42:59.630 that day I was still in the middle of all the trials and all the 476 00:42:59.710 --> 00:43:05.590 problems and all the troubles of my life. Circumstances didn't change that day, 477 00:43:05.670 --> 00:43:10.070 but there was a period of time in that day where I officiated a wedding 478 00:43:10.070 --> 00:43:15.179 and also gave away my youngest daughter to her husband. Now, when you 479 00:43:15.460 --> 00:43:19.179 officiated a wedding, you have a unique perspective of watching the groom as he 480 00:43:19.380 --> 00:43:22.780 looks down the aisle as the bride appears and watches her come up, and 481 00:43:22.860 --> 00:43:27.099 then you get this up close back and forth as they look at each other 482 00:43:27.250 --> 00:43:30.769 and trade vows and smile and little bit of teasing that goes on sometimes. 483 00:43:30.849 --> 00:43:34.409 It's it's a sweet thing. You may not see from where you say, 484 00:43:34.530 --> 00:43:39.489 but I see because they're looking at me and they she appeared and I watched 485 00:43:39.809 --> 00:43:45.719 as she appeared and he watched as she appeared and I watched just great joy 486 00:43:46.119 --> 00:43:52.599 in her and in him and in the whole gathered congregation. And for those 487 00:43:52.880 --> 00:44:01.070 minutes I forgot about all my problems. For those minutes I didn't check the 488 00:44:01.190 --> 00:44:07.190 news to see what the latest bad news was. For those minutes I forgot 489 00:44:07.230 --> 00:44:09.780 about all my difficulties. And you know what I found out? They did 490 00:44:10.059 --> 00:44:17.380 just fine without my paying any attention to them. They did just fine. 491 00:44:20.940 --> 00:44:28.369 But I had joy because I was watching a bride in a bridegroom come together 492 00:44:28.449 --> 00:44:34.329 in a marriage and that failed all my thoughts that day and I thought, 493 00:44:34.369 --> 00:44:39.360 HMM, if that's true, of this groom and this bride. How much 494 00:44:39.360 --> 00:44:45.480 more true that is of Christ, the husband of his people and the church, 495 00:44:45.559 --> 00:44:50.920 has bribe, and the infinite love he has for her, and the 496 00:44:51.119 --> 00:44:55.710 infinite joy he has in giving himself to her and his delight as he watches 497 00:44:55.869 --> 00:45:00.750 his bride, whom he has redeemed and made clean, come to be united 498 00:45:00.829 --> 00:45:07.380 with him some day in future glory. So I determined that day that just 499 00:45:07.860 --> 00:45:13.619 begin to make a habit of my days to begin my day with thoughts of 500 00:45:13.860 --> 00:45:20.219 Christ, not of my problems, to end my day with thoughts of Christ, 501 00:45:21.219 --> 00:45:25.730 not of my problems, and throughout the day, to make Christ the 502 00:45:25.849 --> 00:45:31.170 companion of my heart and my thoughts and not my problems. That do I 503 00:45:31.289 --> 00:45:36.960 do that? Well, I'm still learning, because my heart is like a 504 00:45:37.519 --> 00:45:39.760 like a moth to a flame, when it comes to sin and sadness. 505 00:45:42.039 --> 00:45:45.360 But the Christ is bigger than all that. Christ is bigger than all that. 506 00:45:45.199 --> 00:45:51.469 He offers to me the joy he wants me to have. He offers 507 00:45:51.550 --> 00:45:55.550 to me reasons for joy, and Christ himself, who was joyous, offers 508 00:45:55.630 --> 00:46:00.829 to be my joyous companion through the Holy Spirit in every circumstance of my life. 509 00:46:00.869 --> 00:46:07.980 And he offers that to you? Would you pray with me?