All right, turn with me and your
Bibles to Isaiah chapter 61. Isaiah chapter 61. And our text will be found in verse
10. Isaiah 61 and verse 10. The prophet
says, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be
joyful in my God. For he hath clothed me with the
garments of salvation. He hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness. As a bridegroom, decketh himself
with ornaments. And as a bride, adorneth herself
with her jewels. The title of the message this
morning is Determined Joy. Determined Joy. He says, I will
greatly rejoice in the Lord. And that's the first thing that
I would have us to see is a determination of joy. The prophet here was
determined to rejoice in God. Now, how often Do we as believers
in Jesus Christ, I'm speaking to you who are redeemed, who
are called of God the Holy Spirit to life and faith, how often
are we in obstinate determination to be greatly sorrowful? How
often are we determined to be sad? I don't care what you do,
nothing can cheer us up because I'm sad and that's it. We are
too often prone to sit and count our troubles while wallowing
in the mire of our covetousness of how we think things should
be. How often do we complain and
murmur against God's divine providence concerning our present circumstances? Do we not know and does not the
Word of God teach us who are believers that all things, all
things, All things work together for good to them who love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. Does the scripture
not tell us that? And how quick are we to not believe
it? To not believe it. We are, we
know it, but we most surely at times do not act like it. Job was such a man as this. You
remember when he first encountered his trouble, he said, The Lord
giveth, and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
I don't doubt he meant it. I don't doubt at that moment
he was very sincere. But as the trouble continued,
his sorrow grew. And so did his unbelief. Later on, he even despaired of
his own life. He, you think about Elijah, what
a great man he was, and yet when he came to that cave, he said,
oh God, I'm all by myself, I'm all alone. He said, won't you
just kill me? Won't you just kill me? But remember
what the Lord said to Job at the end when he came to him,
he said, gird up your loins like a man. You answer me. You answer me. Gird up your loins like a man.
Are you such a sinner as I am to be quick to complain and murmur
rather than rejoice? I am more prone to murmur than
rejoice. Are we so foolish as to look
at what God has withheld from us and not rejoice by what God
has given us? We look at something, we say,
man, why did he not give me this? I needed this, I wanted this,
and he didn't give it to me. And we're so quick to complain
rather than to rejoice and see what great things God has given
us. Because I promise you, he's given
you more than he's ever taken. He's given you more than he's
ever taken. Let us learn then from what our brother says. We
should learn from this. We should learn from his determination.
He said, I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. Believer, hasn't
God given us the great benefits of his election, of his sovereign
choice of us? Has He not sent His Son to redeem
us by His own precious blood? Has He not called us from among
the myriads and multitudes of people to believe on Christ? Are these things not greater
than all the gifts of this world? They are. And we should rejoice
in them. Because the prophet here said,
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. Now, let me tell you this,
I'm not talking about positive attitude or positive thinking. I'm not talking about putting
on a pretend joy, a mask, a mask. There is no power in positive
thinking. I like positive people and so
do you. Being positive is not a bad thing, it's a good thing.
But listen to this, it does not change anything. If you're dying with cancer and
you have a positive attitude, does that get rid of the cancer?
No. I don't care how much you're
positive about it. I've heard people say this when
they're dying. They say, well, I'm just going
to believe God to heal me. Now, they have no promise. They
have no promise of healing, but yet they're just going to believe
God for it. Well, that's just positive thinking.
And you know what Jesus said? He said in Matthew chapter 6,
He plainly taught this, which of you by taking thought could
add one cubit to a statue? Which of you by positive thinking
can make yourself grow one inch? And you can be positive about
it all you want to. That doesn't change the circumstance. In other
words, you're just putting on a mask. The problem's not being
dealt with, you're putting on a mask. There is no power in positive
thinking that if you think yourself to be joyful, then you'll be
joyful. Surely men can do this and deceive themselves into rejoicing. But listen, if a man should ever
see himself in his nature as God sees him, no amount of positive
thinking will do away with that. If a man is exposed by God the
Holy Spirit to see his absolute wicked heart, there is no way
out of that hole. Not by positive thinking. Not by being anxious about it.
It's not going to make it any better. So, what then should give us real
joy? What should give us real joy? Not fake joy, not pretend joy. And I'm going to ask you a silly
question. Do you not desire to be joyful? That's a silly question, isn't
it? Everyone desires some amount of joy. We do. We want joy. But what the joy
of the Word of God is, is not what men think joy is. Do you seek joy? Do you desire
to be truly happy from the depths of your heart? Even so happy
that no man could rob you of your joy? That no man could steal
that joy from you? Then let me tell you this. You
must first see then that joy does not and will never come
from the things of this world. If your joy, if you have any
happiness in the things of this world, it does not last. It doesn't last. It comes and as soon as you receive
what you think is joy, it evaporates. It evaporates. The man Solomon was given to
us. God gave this man for our learning. And listen, there was never a
man who was more prosperous. There was never a man who had
as much. There was never a wiser man that
ever lived, save Jesus, who is God in flesh. But none of Adam's
race was ever wiser or more knowledgeable or more prosperous than Solomon.
Whatever you think you want, He had. Whatever you think you want,
know this, that man had it. He had it more abundantly than
you ever could imagine. And what was his conclusion?
What did he conclude? He said, Vanity of vanity, all
is vanity and vexation of spirit. All of it is garbage, is refuse. Listen, all wealth is fleeting. Proverbs 23 verse 5, he said,
Will thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? You're going
to set your eyes and affections on the things of earth, the wealth
of this world? Solomon says, Riches certainly
make themselves wings and fly away. Would you set your joy on health?
On your health? Listen, all health is fading
to the grave. All health is fading to the grave. Ecclesiastes 2 and verse 14,
it says, One event happens to us all, to the wise and to the
foolish, to the kings and to peasants, even death. That happens to us all. That
happens to us all. Now, fight as you may to keep
healthy, and I encourage you to do so. I know I'm trying to
be healthy. I want to be healthy. I tell
you, I'd much rather have a good quality of life than a quantity
of life. You should try to be healthy. But listen, no matter how hard
you try, eventually you will die. That is a certainty of life. Certainty. Will you set your joy in the
relationships of this world? Because all late relationships
will be severed. They will either be severed by
circumstance, by conflict, or by death. I remember when I was
a kid, I was not the popular one, but I always wanted to be. And man, I would do anything
these people, these other kids wanted, because I wanted to be
accepted of them. Do you know how many I keep in
contact with today? None. Zero. Have no contact with them. Circumstance,
providence has separated me from them. And so what was all that
effort? What was all that work I did? It was vanity. It was vanity. It was empty. I love my family. I love my wife. I love my friends and children.
I tell you, I find joy in my family. I find joy in my friends.
And I tell you, I find joy in being with you. Above everything
else, I find the greatest joy in this world is to be with God's
people. But even this, even this, we will be separated. We will
be separated. There I look out among you, the
pews, and I see some of the empty spots where men have sat, and
now then they have gone home to be with God, and I'm separated
from them. Yeah, for a short time then we'll
be together, but now is separation. What I'm telling you is that
there's no lasting joy in the things of the world. Stop trying
to find it. If you want to have true joy,
you've got to stop looking where there's no joy. There's no joy
here that's lasting. Where can a man find abiding
joy? The same prophet said, Wherefore
do you spend money for that which is not bread, and you labor for
that which satisfieth not? Why are you working so hard in
the things of this world? When you're going to be soon
separated from them, it's gonna you'll leave it all You won't
take any of this with you Jesus said this What does it profit a man to
gain the whole world and lose his own soul Or what will you
give in exchange for your soul? What you gonna give? Well, look
at where the prophet found his joy and you'll find where true
joy is found. He said, I will greatly rejoice
in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God. Oh, you unhappy son of Adam,
look now at the one the prophet spoke of who is Jehovah, our
God, even the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I will
greatly rejoice in him, in him. Look at verse 1. He speaks of
Him, this One He's going to rejoice in, the One that He has set His
joy on. He speaks of Him in verse 1 by
prophecy. This is the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ to come. He said, "...the Spirit of the
Lord is upon Me, because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach
good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent Me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound." We know that this is spoken of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We know this is His Word because
when He came, He revealed that to us. Go to Luke chapter 4.
Luke chapter 4. In verse 18, Jesus standing up
in that temple, his first message. This is his first public message
that the Lord gives. And he opens the book to that
very scripture I just read to you, and he says, the Spirit,
he said where it was written, he said, the Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach
deliverance to the captives, recovery of the sight to the
blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the
acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he
said to them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." This day is this scripture fulfilled
in your ears. All of you who are content with
this world, now listen to me, if you're satisfied with this
world, I have no good news for you. Matter of fact, you don't
want to hear it. Why? You're already content. You realize that this gospel
is not, is preached, I preach this gospel and everyone in this
building hears me. If you have, if you're not deaf,
you hear my voice. Matter of fact, I think people
in the street might even hear my voice. But I tell you, this gospel is
not for everyone. It's not. There are qualifications
that must be met. He said, I came to preach the
gospel not to everyone, but to the meek, to the poor, to the
depressed, those who are brought low those who are brought down
to the dust that's who this gospel for those who are brought low
not just because of circumstance not just because they got caught
I don't know how many people are brought low by everybody's
brought low by that when you get caught And the circumstance
ensues, you start asking for, oh, now I need deliverance. I
need somebody to deliver me from this circumstance. Well, everybody
needs that. This message is preached to sinners. Sinners. Now there are many sinners
who are depressed and brought low by the consequence of their
actions. A man caught stealing desires
to be released from the law. A woman who has committed adultery
and found out wants her reputation restored. But these to whom the Lord was
sent, surely they needed much more than physical deliverance. They need much more. These are not depressed because
they got caught. They're depressed because sin
is all they are and all they can do. All poor sinner, do you not know
that sin is not just an action, it's your very nature. It is your very nature to hate
God. You know who knows that the most?
The believer. He's the only one that really
knows that. And the more a believer grows in grace, the more he understands
this to be true of himself. The more I grow in grace, I don't
grow in holiness. I don't grow into this euphoric
light of piety and walk around in holiness and righteousness.
No, I see more and more of my own sin. I see more and more
of my own depravity. I see more of my need for Christ
today than I ever saw before. Everybody that grows in grace
knows this even more that we are born sinners David said in sin Did my mother conceive me We were born not with two strikes
against us. That's modern religion. But you
were born with strikes against you. But you got a chance if
you just swing away, just do well, do your best, and you can
have righteousness. No, we were born struck out. We were out from the beginning. We were no longer able. From birth, we were sinners.
And yet this does not lessen the demand that God who is holy
demands that we be holy. Now you'd say that ain't fair,
you can say whatever you want to. The deal is you've sinned. And
just because you lost the ability to please God does not give,
God did not lose his right to demand you to be holy. Scripture says in Galatians 3
in verse 10, it says that you should continually obey the law. That if you're under the law,
you should, without fail, continually obey it. Yet we know this, we have failed. And this is what depresses us.
This is what makes us low. This is what causes us to weep.
It's because we have failed to obey God. We have failed to honor
God. And because we failed, listen,
by nature we are enslaved to sin. Sin has bound us up in iron
bars, and there is nothing a man can do to escape. In our nation,
we got this can-do attitude. There's always a way, isn't there?
There's always a way. We say, you know, I feel trapped,
but there's got to be a way. And we start working and looking
for a way. In this case, there is no way out by your own work. By your own effort, there's no
way out. You need someone to do for you
what you can't do for yourself. The justice of God stands at
the gate, at the bars of our prison and guards over its prisoners
of sin. and can by no means set the man
free except payment be given. What payment? What payment is
necessary for sin? Death. Death. the soul that sinneth it shall
surely die. The justice of God demands blood. Without the shedding of blood
is no, no remission, no forgiveness, no pardon. Without the shedding
of blood, none can escape And nor can any
man free himself by his work. We can't free ourselves even
because every work we perform to try to free ourselves only
furthers our guilt. Why do you suppose there's so
much ceremony in false religion? Because they're never done. They're
never finished. They're always adding. You can,
I don't know if you've seen some of these creeds and man, they're
just thick books. And you know what they add on
top of that? Church bylaws. And then they change those every
once in a while. Why? Because it's never enough. It's always striving and they
don't realize it. But the more they do, the more
they add to their guilt, the more they add to their depression,
their poverty. Senators see that God demands
what you can't give. His justice demands payment in
full. Therefore, hell and damnation
are eternal, even because your death will not pay for one's
sin. It will never ever pay for sin. Are you such a depressed and
needy sinner? Can you by no means save yourself? Well, good. Then I can preach
to you. I can preach to you because that's
what Christ was sent to do. He said, I was sent. He said, the Spirit of the Lord
is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
to the poor, to the meek, to the lowly. to those who can't
save themselves. Oh, needy sinner, depressed sinner,
enslaved sinner, Jesus has come to bind up your broken heart and to set you free. Set you free. Surely the law
causes us to weep because there's no hope in it, is it? You read
the law, what do you find? You know what I see every time
I read the law? Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty,
guilty. That's all I can see. My guilt. Because that's all the law was
meant to do was to be a reflection of you. To show you your sin. It was never meant to heal you.
It was never meant to save you. But there is hope and salvation
by the grace of God without the works of the law. Like that in Romans chapter 3,
he says this. He says now in verse 19, now
we know that what things soever the law saith that saith to them
that are under the law, here's the purpose of the law, that
every mouth might be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God. Oh, may God even open your heart
to depress you. Because I'll tell you what, you're
never going to find joy unless you're first depressed. Never
going to find joy unless you're brought low first. That the whole
world might become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of
the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For by the law
is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God, listen, without the law. like that without the law is
manifest being witnessed by the law and the prophets even the
righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ that's
a very important word of it's not faith in You see, righteousness was not
made by faith in Jesus Christ. It was made by the faith of Jesus
Christ. It was made by His faith in God. It was made by His obedience
to God. Herein then is everlasting joy
given to all who are set free. Set free. I like this in Nehemiah
chapter 8, when they took the law and they read it, they read
the law, the people were so moved with their guilt that they wept. That they wept. And the prophet
said, don't weep. Don't weep. The joy of the Lord is your strength. You get that? The joy of the
Lord is your strength. Where are you going to find joy?
I can only find joy in this. If God is satisfied with me. The only joy a sinner can have
is to be accepted of God. That's the only peace you're
ever going to find. That's the only way if you're set free from
the guilt of sin. That's the only way you're going
to find joy. And herein is lasting joy given
to all that have been set free by the Lord Jesus Christ. How then does he set us free? Very important word. You should
learn it. You should know it. It sums up
the whole gospel. Substitution. Substitution. Someone taking
my place. The substitution of the Lord
Jesus Christ is the way that He sets the captives free. Jesus came into the world to
be like Adam. Remember Adam, our representative? When he sinned, you and I sinned
in him. And so that sin was passed down. That sentence of death swept
over us all. Because of a representative man. Even so, Jesus Christ is a representative
man. And when he obtained righteousness,
when he satisfied God's justice as a representative, that swept
over all of his race. see what God says about His elect
people. Look at verse 3 of our text in
61. He said, "...to appoint unto
them that mourn in Zion." See, there's the person depressed,
there's a person weeping, and they're in Zion, so these are
the elect of God, "...to give unto them beauty for ashes." the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. God, from all eternity, has appointed
those that He loves, has appointed and gave them to Christ so that
He should give them beauty for ashes. Substitute. He's going
to take what you got and give you what he's got. That's it. It's an exchange. This covenant
is an exchange. He's going to exchange his righteousness
for your filthiness. What an exchange. Isn't that
what happened at the cross? Did He not take our mourning,
our weeping that we deserved? Our righteousness was nothing
but ashes. Our mourning for sin became His
when the Father imputed and transferred the sins, the guilt of His people
upon Him on that tree. He substituted Himself. You who deserve the wrath of
God, He took you out of the way and put Himself there. Put Himself
underneath the justice of God. He willingly bore our sins. Behold the heaviness of His garment. You and I made that garment with
our sin. And He wore it. He bare it in his own body on
the tree. Is there any sorrow like in my
sorrow? Your sorrows, your troubles, what are they compared to his? They're nothing, they're nothing. He bore the weight of our sins
and He Himself bore the justice of God and the eternal fires
of God's just wrath were quenched when His blood flowed from His
hands, His feet, His head, and His side. Therefore, having made peace
by the blood of his cross, Jesus forever, forever, forever justified
us before God. He has prepared the oil of joy,
the Holy Spirit, and the garment of praise, which is the new nature,
and he shall give it to every one of his elect. I tell you, I am such a sinner. I am one who was depressed and
cast down because of my sin, but God, who is rich in mercy,
preached the gospel to me. The gospel of Jesus Christ and
Him crucified, and I will greatly rejoice in Him. For he hath clothed me who was
naked and stripped and guilty before God. I was like that woman
taken in the very act of adultery and cast down at the feet of
Jesus, exposed before God and man as nothing but a wretch,
a sinner. And you know what I found? I
found the same thing she found. I found grace. I found mercy. I had no plea. All I could do
was confess. And He freely forgave me. Freely. He has taken my sins
and suffered their just reward on the cross. And by His grace,
He has robed me in His salvation, and covered me with His righteousness."
Isn't that what the prophet said? Look back at your text, "...for
He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, and hath covered
me with the robe of righteousness." Has He done so for you? Then what do we have to complain
about? What? Seeing we have received the reward
that Jesus deserves and I did not or could not earn, why then
would I complain about anything else? He said he came to preach the
acceptable year of the Lord. Is there any trouble or providence
of God that should cause us to complain, seeing that He has
made us accepted in the Beloved." You are accepted of God. Why would you care about being
accepted by man? Seeing that God the Father has
loved us, the Son has redeemed us, the Spirit has called us,
dwells in us, keeps us, created in us a new heart, a new nature
that loves the things of God, rejoice in the Lord, because He will use every providence
to bring you safely to Himself. Therefore, no matter your lot, Rejoice in the Lord and you'll
find a joy that no man can take from you You'll find a joy that will not
be separated from you Y'all know I have this on my
wall and read it quite often a Prayer that says Lord. Let
me not preach of sovereignty and then complain of my lot in
life. I Let me not talk of divine purpose and spend my days murmuring
about my trials and troubles. It is totally inconsistent with
faith in the sovereign Lord God and then to question His good
providence. I praise God that He has given
me such faith in Christ. Praise God that he has set my
heart on Christ. That he set me free who was depressed,
who was low because of my sins. Now he has covered me in his
righteousness. Covered me from head to toe. And I am accepted of God. What more do you need? Is there joy anywhere else? I
only find joy and contentment to know that I'm in Christ. If I have that, I have strength, and I can rejoice. I pray God give you grace to
rejoice.