Psalm chapter 21 and verse 13,
the Scripture says, Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength,
so will we sing and praise thy power. The title of the message
tonight is Joy in Power. Joy in Power. What is the joy of our hearts? This is a searching question
that every one of us should daily, constantly be asking, because
I'll tell you what, my joy goes up and it goes down. It's a constant
thing that my contentment is there for a moment and then it's
gone. I feel all right and then I'm anxious. I'm strong and then
I'm weak. And you see, this joy always
fluctuates. It's always going to fluctuate
based on what we're joying in. What are we rejoicing in? What
truly makes us happy? What makes us happy? What makes
us so excited that we just cannot? What makes us so excited? What
is it that causes us to get up in the mornings and move and
get out of bed. I'm sure that if you're working,
it's not your job. You don't get up in the morning
and people don't say, woo, I just can't wait to get to that office
and work. No, nobody enjoys that, but we
get up for that. But really, does it make us happy?
What do men celebrate the most? And what's the one thing that
would cause you to be the most content? If there was one thing
that you could pick, what is it that makes us the most joyful? The Scripture says, so we will
sing and praise thy power. Friends, the only joy, the only
true and lasting joy is this. It is in the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth. There's joy in omnipotent power. There's joy in that. Again, if
I were to give you a million dollars, if I say tomorrow, I'm
going to give you a million dollars, J.D., I want to give it to you.
I'll tell you what, you'd be pretty excited until you found
out I had no power to give it to you. You'd be pretty disappointed. Your joy would go up and it would
go down because I had no power to give it to you. I don't have
it. I don't have it. But see, we may rejoice in God,
our Savior, because our God who has willed and purposed our salvation
has all the power to accomplish it, to finish it. I'm so thankful
I don't have to finish this work. I didn't begin this work. I'm
not going to be able to keep this work, and I'm sure as not
going to finish this work." You see, it's God that began this
work. It's God that accomplished this
work. It's God that worketh in us both the will and do of His
good pleasure, and He promised. He promised that He will accomplish
what He started in every one of us who believe. He is the
author and finisher of our faith. You believe? Well, you're going
to continue to believe. If you truly believe, you'll
continue in it because of his power. Oh, what great power our
God has. Now, this world we live in, especially
this country, we have this in our own documents. of this nation, they promise
us life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The problem is
they have no power to give us any one of those things. They have no power. No power. They cannot give us life. They
cannot give us liberty. And they cannot give us happiness. Cannot do it. In this world,
you will not find any of these. Oh, you may find variations of
them and degrees of these things, but you'll never find fullness
and contentment. Why? Because God's power is the
only power to give life. To give life. It is God that forms us, that
formed us in our mother's womb. We had no power. I know that Annie, they had been
trying to have a baby for a long time. See, you have no power
over that. You had no authority. You can't give life. You're only
the vessel that gave life to your baby. God knit, I like that
word in scripture, he knit together. In the secret places, in our
mother's womb, he knit us together. He gave us life. We came forth
breathing and crying from our mother's womb because God brought
us forth. The doctor just called us. It
wasn't the doctor. I remember when Cheryl was giving
birth to our son, our doctor, he was kind of lackadaisical
about it. I was kind of all, I was in a big nervous wreck,
and he was just kind of, he was late. I was like, where is he?
Well, he wasn't actually going to deliver the baby anyway, he
was just going to catch it. God does that. God brings life. And I'll tell you what, we breathe
today because God brought us life, not because his country
gave it to us, not because anybody else could give it. We didn't
give it to us. He did. We can glory in his power because
he gives life. He gives all life. Deuteronomy
32, verse 39 says, I am God and there is none else. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. Our God has
power over all life. But most importantly to us is
not this physical life, is it? It is spiritual life. And friends,
only God can give spiritual life. Do you have spiritual life? Well,
you see, that's a gift of our God. We should be thankful for
his power to give us spiritual life. It is a gift of his grace. When God breathed in the nostrils
of Adam, he didn't say he was a living body, did he? He said he breathed into him
the breath of life and he became a living soul. You see, Adam
wasn't born like we were. He was born in a different way.
God made him up from the dust and the clay and formed him and
fashioned him, breathed in his nose, and in came a soul into
that body of clay. He became a living soul. You
see, he wasn't born a dead spiritual man. He was born alive. But the difference between us
and our father is we were born dead. We were born dead. And by the grace of God, he has
made us spiritually alive. And another great difference
between us and our Father is this. Our Father's spiritual
life was contingent on his obedience. God said, In the day thou eatest
thereof, thou shalt surely die. And he did. But you know what
God says about our spiritual life? He says, I give unto you
eternal life. Is that not wonderful? And that
life is not contingent. It's not based on anything we
can do. It's not based on anything we
have done. And it's not going to be based
on anything we shall do. It's based solely in the power
of God to give it. To give it. Only God can give life. The Scripture
says this. Turn to the Lord's Prayer in
John 17. Turn with me. Let's read this
together. John chapter 17. Our Lord's high priestly prayer
for us who are believers. This is his prayer. As our Lord Jesus lifted up his
eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the hour has come, the hour of
his death. He said, Glorify thy son, that thy son may also glorify
thee, as thou hast given him power. Power. How much power? Over all flesh, over all things. That, and this is the reason
he has the power, that he may give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him, and this is eternal life, that they might
know thee the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom thou hast
sent." This is what he was risen from the dead for, to give glory
to God and life to you. You see, our doubts and fears
are going to fluctuate based on how much power we can see
in Christ. At times, my faith is so weak.
It's so small. But praise God, I have it. I'm
so thankful for it because that's evidence of life is to believe
on Christ now. To believe on Christ. If you
believe on Christ, it is the power of Christ to give you life. And I like this, it's the Father's
good pleasure. You see, I don't see any reason
why God would give me life, and I sure don't see why God would
sustain my eternal life. But I'll tell you this, I do
when I look at Christ. I do when I see the beauty of
Christ, the power. power that he has, he sustains
us. John says this in chapter one, he says, But as many as
received him, to them gave he the power, the right to become
the sons of God, which were born, how not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. God gives us life. There is no
spiritual life, and if there's no spiritual life, I tell you,
there's no joy. You can't have joy without spiritual life. You
can't have it. But all who are born of the Spirit
of God, we can rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Why? I have the most precious gift
God could give. He's given his Son so that I
might have life. And that I might have it, not
only life, barely, not only like I'm on a spiritual life support,
to give it more abundantly. Oh, that God would give us grace
to truly hang on to that, to look and find joy in this power
to give life. Second of all, liberty. This
world can't give us liberty. Liberty comes from the power
of God through Jesus Christ. Very limited liberty. Very limited. I'm talking about it in a physical
sense. We boast of our freedom here. We boast as the freest nation
in the world. That's probably true. That's
probably true. But I'll tell you this, no man's
really at liberty. Why? Law. Now, I know this, when I go down
the road, I want to go faster. I do. I want to go faster. But
I know this, I'm not at liberty to go faster. And if I do, I've
violated the law and my liberty will be stopped if there's a
policeman down the road. He'll stop what my so-called
liberty, what I thought was freedom. And I'll tell you this, we're
at liberty so long as somebody doesn't violate our liberty. Isn't that right? When someone
breaks the law, the liberty of someone else is broken. When you violate the liberty
of someone else, you become the oppressor and they become bound. They become bound. The violator,
the one who has broken the law, the one violated becomes bound
to the demands of the oppressor, becomes powerless to free himself. I'll give you an illustration
of this. If a man pointed a gun at you to rob you, what has he
done? He's taken away much of your
liberty. He's taken away much of your,
give me your money or your life. Now, what is your will? Well, my will is not to be there.
I wouldn't want to be there. Well, I don't have that option. I've only got two. I'm limited.
I'm bound. I'm bound. And the same is true, friends,
of spiritual deadness. I'll tell you what, a dead man
is bound. Isn't he? A dead man is not at
liberty to do anything. Now, you can give him all the
promises and all the constitutions you want to. A dead man is not
going to be at liberty to do anything. He's dead. He's dead. Well, that's how much man has
by nature. That's how much liberty we have by nature. Absolutely
no liberty at all. We're dead. We're dead. Man by nature is dead. Man by nature is not at liberty,
but bound by the chains of their sin and under the condemnation
of God's law. The will of man is not free.
It's bound to what? Man's will is bound to what?
His nature. How is his nature doing? He's
dead. He's bound and he can't break
free. Jesus illustrated this easy for
us in Matthew chapter 12, verse 33. It's a very simple analogy,
isn't it? A tree. If the tree is corrupt,
the fruit will be corrupt. If the tree is good, the fruit
will be good. Is that not easy to understand?
You see, a corrupt tree is bound to bring forth corrupt fruit.
And a good tree is bound to bring forth good fruit. And you know
what? It really doesn't matter what
kind of fruit does. That pretty much applies to all trees, doesn't
it? All kinds of fruit. If it's an apple tree and it's
bad, it's going to bring bad apples. If it's a pear tree, it's going
to bring bad pears. So it doesn't matter what kind
of fruit. It just matters about the tree, doesn't it? I'll tell
you, some men are dead in their sins and they produce a certain
kind of religious fruit, self-righteous fruit. They're
brought up in the church. They may be Calvinist. They may
know the scripture. They may go to a college that
teaches the Bible. It doesn't matter what kind of
fruit. If their trees corrupt, the fruit
will be corrupt. If their heart's dead, the fruit
will be dead. Same is true of a man born in
any type of sinful environment you can think of. He's just as
dead as the person in the college, as the person in the church pew.
It doesn't matter what kind of fruit it is. See, something miraculous
needs to take place. The tree needs to be made good. You see, I don't think anybody
can do that. If the tree's bad, You have to
root up the tree and plant another one. I don't know how to make
that tree, that dead tree alive again to produce good fruit. You see, it takes power, power,
power we don't have. It takes resurrection power to
set a man at liberty from his sin. If any man is to be free from
death, it must not be by reformation, but resurrection. Resurrection. You must be born again. That's liberty. You see, a live
man can do infinitely more things than a dead man. Isn't that right? He's infinitely more at liberty
than a dead man. How much more spiritually are
we alive? How much more are we at liberty?
Because Christ hath made is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. What's your nature? Your nature
is righteousness. And friend, where there is no
law, there is perfect liberty. You see, I'm not bound by the
law anymore. I'm not bound by its chains and
its demands. Why? Because I've satisfied them
in my Savior. He's satisfied them for me, and
I'm in liberty. I can rejoice and joy all my
life, no matter what happens to this body, because I'm at
liberty. I'm righteous as God himself,
because God said so, not me. God made it so, not me. It was
his power that set me free. Liberty comes by Christ and him crucified. Jesus Christ
is a manifestation and power of God's liberty and freedom
from the law. No man can rejoice if he is bound.
The only way to rejoice is in the power of God to resurrect
the soul and set us free. What does the scripture say?
If the Son shall make you free. How free are you? You are free
indeed. Free! Free! How many chains do we put on
ourselves daily? How many change? That's why the Scripture tells
us to labor to enter into his rest. To put off the old man. Why? Because he's still there. Put
him off. Put him off. Put him off. Put him off. Put on Christ. Put on Christ. What does that
believe on Christ, trust Christ? He sets you free. Is there any
other kind of freedom you need? Is there anything freer? No.
His freedom is all there is. Scripture says, there is therefore
now no condemnation. If God doesn't condemn you, who
can? Who can? Who can continue? Who can say anything against
you? It's God that justified you. It's not me. It's God. It's not you. It's God. It's
not your neighbor. It's God that justified you.
You. You may rejoice. You may have
you may enjoy that. It's yours. Christ purchased
it. It's freedom. Christ is the end
of the law, and he has set us free. Rejoice, believer. Not in your strength. Oh, no. There's no joy there. Don't look
there. Don't look. You ever tell somebody,
don't look at something? What do you do? Start looking.
Don't look inside, you won't find it. Look to Christ, you'll
find it. You'll find it. You'll find joy
and contentment and peace because he set us at liberty. Last one is the pursuit of happiness. I like the way they word that
because that's pretty good. The only one, you know, they
didn't word those other ones that way. But it is true. This
nation may give you the pursuit of happiness. You know, just
like I might give my dog permission to chase his own tail. That's
what men are doing. They're running around in circles,
chasing their own tail. It's just the pursuit of happiness.
You'll never find it. You'll never find it here. You'll never find it in this
world. The harder you struggle to find it, the more elusive
it becomes. When you think you've got it,
it slips right through your fingers like smoke and disappears. Now, that's my experience. That's
what God's Word says, but I know this, that's my experience as
well. All those things that I waited so long to get, and when I got
them, I just couldn't wait for something
else. There was always that next. big thing. There was always that
next level that I needed to attain in order to get happiness. No,
there is no next level. There's only glory. Glory. My scripture tells me that God
who predestinated us, he also called us. And then he also called,
he also justified. And then he justified, then he
also glorified. Every one of those are in the
past tense. When I'm waiting on just to die,
that's it. That's it. That's all we're waiting
on. Everything's finished. The work's done. Happiness is yours. chores. God help us to see his power
to give us happiness. That he's already given it to
us, it's ours, and yet we run around like children. Give me, give me, give me, give
me, give me. That's not going to make you happy, son. I've already done everything
to make you happy. Here it is. Just receive it. Believe it. Trust me. Trust me. It is simple faith in Christ. I like that Jesus said, let the
little children come unto me, for of such are the kingdom of
heaven. Just like that little baby in the back, helpless, hopeless,
unable to defend herself. That's exactly how we should
be happy. I'll tell you what, there's nothing
that makes her happy just to be in her mother's arms and she's content,
she's full. When she's full, she's happy.
When she's not, she's crying. Friends, there's continual fullness
here in the Word of God for us daily, constantly. God says,
eat, eat, here, come and drink. Break your feel, you'll never
get enough. Come on, it's here for you. Friends, the joy of this world
fades as the leaf, the scripture says. But we who believe in Christ,
our joy never fades. It's new every day. The Word of God is fresh today
as it was in the beginning when he spoke it to Adam. It's just
as fresh to the soul as when the blood of the Lamb was spilled,
as though it was spilled just a moment ago. It's just as fresh,
just as good. Want joy? God says, here it is. It's my Son. You rejoice in Him. You rejoice with great joy because
you have hope of eternal life. David said, therefore, my heart
rejoices and is glad, and my glory rejoices, and my flesh shall rest in hope. What is hope? We always say,
gee, I hope. Gee, I wish. It's not a wish. A hope is a rock. It is anticipating. We should be every morning anticipating
to roll over in the glory. That's what we should be anticipating.
If you want joy, anticipate that. Every day. That's what should bring us joy.
These other things are just tokens. They're just small trinkets.
If I give my son a toy, that really doesn't show my affection,
does it? I did it because I'd make him
happy, but really, that's not the ultimate of my affection,
is it? Thank God for the small things,
but I'll tell you what, thank God for life, for liberty, and
not the pursuit of happiness, obtaining of happiness. And I'm not talking about this
giddy little crackle of laughter. That's not happiness. I'm talking
about deep-seated joy that lasts and lasts and lasts and lasts
for all eternity. I tell you what, I don't see
the joy as I should. I don't. We see through a glass
darkly but thin, face to face. We'll see the reason for all
the joy when we see Christ our Savior. O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness is seen. Though for a season, friends,
we do have troubles. And I'm not saying we should
ever paint our face like a clown, like I put in a bulletin. We're
not to pretend. That's not happiness when you
walk around with a smile all the time, and it's not true solemnity
when you walk around grumpy all the time, either. We don't have
to do that. I understand we have troubles
and pains, but it's in the troubles we can find joy. We can find
peace if we look to Christ and hang on. There is no safer place
than at his feet. There's no safer place. No place
of joy found but there. Rejoice if you are a believer,
because we have a faithful and strong Our text says, I will praise
and sing. I will sing and praise thy power. We have a lot to rejoice in.
We have a lot of comfort that God gives us in his words. And
I pray by God's grace that he would reveal it to us. How much time do we waste on
the things of this life? Wasted. Wasted time. Wasted time trying to find some
little joy over here when we've got all the joy in the world,
all the joy of heaven right here in our hands, in our hearts. It's yours. You want it? Man, I want it. I want to know
it. I want to see it. I pray that God blesses to you.
The stand will be dismissed in prayer.