There's only one letter I would change that whole
song. That last line lifts us s-o-n-ward. Wouldn't be better,
wouldn't it? Lifts us sunward. Thank you. John chapter 15. John 15. I promised you, oh, it's been
at least two weeks ago, that we would talk about joy. We looked at peace, the believers'
peace, from John 14. Now, John 15, our Lord speaks
of joy, the believers' joy. I hope you have your Bibles ready,
because we're going to use them tonight. Are you ready? We're
going to study the Word, see what it has to say, and it has
much to say about joy. Two-fold joy is spoken here.
John 15, verse 11. The Lord says, "...these things
have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and
that your joy might be full." Two-fold joy. The joy of Christ. He says, and the joy of the believer. He says, your joy is to be, as
Paul said to one church, for the furtherance of your joy. These things, look at it again,
verse 11, these things have I spoken unto you that your joy might
be full. These things have I spoken unto
you that my joy might remain in you. Now listen. He says,
these things have I spoken. God's Word, Christ's Word, is
our source of joy. That's where our joy is going
to come from. If we want to get any joy, it's going to come from
his Word. His Word. That's our source of
joy. And, he says, here is his joy. His joy comes from his Word being
fulfilled in us. These things have I spoken unto
you, that my joy," I used to read this wrongly, but he's talking
about his own personal joy. Joy in us. And his word fulfilled in us
is his joy in us. Look at verse 3. Here's some things that he said
to them, to us. These things have I spoken, verse
3. Now you are clean. through the word which I have
spoken unto you." What word? He said, I will cleanse them
from all their iniquity. He said that a long time ago,
didn't he? I will cleanse them. I will cleanse
them from all, I will give them a new heart, and so on and so
forth. And Jeremiah, Ezekiel, you are
clean according to his word, because he said he would do so.
Verse 9, he says, The Father hath loved me, so have I loved
you. I love you. He said, You're clean. I love you. And this is a marvelous fact. Look over Isaiah
65. Isaiah chapter 65. A marvelous fact is that God
Almighty joys in His people, that Christ rejoices in His people. He actually enjoys us. That's unbelievable, really,
for lack of a better word. I can't put it in terms that
have expressed my dismay. God actually joys in me. Look at it. That's what it says,
Isaiah 65, verse 18. He says, "'Be ye glad and rejoice
forever in that which I create. Behold, I create Jerusalem a
rejoicing, and her people a joy, and I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and joy in my people.'" Look back at chapter 62. He says this
several times. Isaiah 62, verse 5. It says, "'As a young man marrieth
a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee. As the bridegroom rejoiceth
over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.'" God
Almighty rejoices and joys in Charles Ross. Nobody in here is more amazed
than Charles Ross. Right? Look over at Zephaniah. Can you find it? Can I find it? Zephaniah. I found it. Zephaniah chapter
3. This is good. You got it? If you haven't, look in the index.
Nobody's going to think less of you. Zephaniah chapter 3,
verses 14 and following. Look at this. Sing, O daughter
of Zion. Shout, O Israel. And in the course of this message,
anyone, male or female, who feels led to shout, do so. The word Permits it. Yea, commands it. Read on. O Israel, be glad and rejoice
with all the heart. O daughter of Jerusalem, the
Lord hath taken away thy judgments. He's nailed them to the cross.
He hath cast out thine enemy. He's crushed his head. The King
of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee. Thou shalt
not see evil any more. In that day it shall be said
to Jerusalem, Fear thou not, because I am, let not thine hands
be slack. The Lord thy God in the midst
of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice
over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He
will joy over thee with singing." You remember, Terry, when they
went out after they ate at the Lord's table together, the supper
together? It says that before they went
out, they sang a hymn together. It might have been Psalm 98.
It might have been Psalm 100. I know who was singing the loudest. You reckon? Who was singing the
loudest, John? Our Lord was singing. Who was
singing the loudest? He was! He was. That's what it says there. He
will joy over thee with singing. His voice was heard above the
rest. Think of it. Our God enjoys us. His people
are a great joy to Him. Look over at Hebrews 2. Hebrews
chapter 2. There's a scripture that says
it pleased the Lord to make you His people. It just pleased Him
to make you His people. Why? It just pleased Him. Why? Why did He choose us? The Scripture
says, before the foundation of the world, because it's seen
good in his sight. Why did he choose John Davis,
of all people? John Davis. Why? He pleased him. It sure pleases John. Now, you
know, as a father loves and pities and enjoys his children, the Lord enjoys his children.
Have you enjoyed your children, Jeanette? Hey, Eddie, you're still enjoying
your children. You can't put it into words,
can you? I cannot put into words what that child means to me,
has meant to me, does mean to me. Do you know that I go in
at night time when you're asleep and just look at you? You know what I'm talking about?
Do you still do that, Rebecca? Why, he's grown. And what a joy. What a joy these
children have been to us. Do you know God Almighty enjoys
and rejoices in His children? Nancy, while you're sleeping,
God Almighty looks on you with the affection that you do your
own children. There's Nancy. You think? You believe that? Oh yeah. Oh
yes. That's where you got it. That's
where you got the love for your children. God is love. If you have any, you got it from
Him. Right? And He has a lot more
of it than you do. God is love. Look at verse...
Why? Why does God... Well, look... How? How could
it? Sinner like... Sinners like we
are, huh? Rebellious children that we are.
Look at verse 9. and following. We see Jesus,
who was made a little lower than the angels, and if there ever
was a son that God looked upon with love and favor, awake or asleep, it was this
one. He couldn't contain himself,
A couple of times. Could not contain himself. God
quit talking years ago. But when his son walked the planet,
he couldn't contain himself. He said, look, look, look, look.
That's my boy. That's my son. You can't contain yourself, Ed.
And he couldn't contain himself. That's my son. Hear him? And even the Father delights
to hear him. You delight in your son's voice? Dad? There's Steve. Dad? There's old Samuel coming
to death. God delights in his son. Where
we see him, who was made a little lower than the angels for the
suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the
grace of God should taste death for every man. Don't hang up
on that word there. The word man is not in the original
text. If you have a Greek Italerian
Bible, it's not there. It just says every. It's not
there. The word man, anthropos, is not
there. The word is son. Every son, because
the next verse says it. It became him for whom are all
things, by whom are all things, bringing many sons unto glory. You see? Sons unto glory. To make the captain of their
salvation perfect through suffering for both he that sanctify and
they who are sanctified. That's it. are all of one, for
which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." How could
God look on me with love and favor? Because Christ came. Because Christ came and did what
he did for me. And God's not ashamed to call
me. And through Christ, through his blood, his righteousness,
because Christ came and lived and died and rose again, because
Christ was made our righteousness, and made us righteous, because
Christ bore God's wrath and judgment, because Christ put away our sin. For this cause he's not ashamed
to call us brethren. And another scripture, you remember,
says God is not ashamed to call us his sons, his children. Not ashamed to be called our
God. Oh, he should have. Dan, he should
have been ashamed of those Israelites, shouldn't he? Huh? Long time,
long time before the end. He should have said, all
right, that's enough. I've had it with you people.
Shouldn't I? Are you ungrateful, Chuck? I've
had it with you. I'm going to disown you. He didn't.
He didn't. He didn't. And for this cause, he's not
ashamed to call us brethren. Verse 13 says he's going to present
us to the Father and say, Behold I and the children which God
has given me. Here's your babies. Father, here's
your babies. I brought them home, your children.
Hebrews 12 too, look at this. Turn over quickly. You're not
tired of turning yet, I hope. You have about twenty more to
turn to. But it took me a lot longer to
find it. Hebrews 12, 2. Look at this. You know this well.
It says, "...looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith, who for the joy that was set before him." What joy? Will
it please the Lord to make us his people? The joyous thought
that ran through his mind, his heart, in saving the likes of
us. It just pleased him. He endured the cross. It must
have been real joy, mustn't it? For the joy of making you his
people. It says he endured the cross,
despised the shame. That means he didn't think anything
of it. To be hung naked before a scoffing, mocking world, hung
naked for all to see, be jeered at, scoffed at. He said he thought
nothing of it. It's all right. I'll do it. Why? I'm going to make old Joe
Parks my child. It's the only way he's going
to be my child. And you'll go through that for him? Sure will. What wouldn't you do for your
children? Huh? What wouldn't you do for
your children? Even so, what wouldn't he do?
And yea, what didn't he do? What didn't he do? What didn't he do? The Scripture
says he spared not his own son, made him a bloody sacrifice for
the likes of us, and how shall he not with that, with him, also
freely give us? That was the supreme cost to
God, wasn't it, his Son? The supreme show of love. Everything else is very minor. All things. All things. And in this sense, this is the
sense, I believe, where Christ said, and back to the text there
in John 15, I believe this is the sense in which Christ said
His joy is in us. His joy. He joys and rejoices
in us, and think The Scripture says there's joy in heaven, joy
among the angels, over one sinner that repents. That's just one
repenting. You think of the joy and the
rejoicing when his children finally come home. Scripture says, "'Precious in
the sight of the Lord is the death of his saint.'" Why? They've
come home to stay. You know, the loss of a loved
one, one you love dearly, leaves you with inexpressible sorrow. Unspeakable sorrow. You can't
put into words the loss of someone you think, I'm not going to see
this person for a long time. That's the reason the Scripture
says it's going to be unspeakable joy. At the reunion. Never to depart
again. Never. Never. And that's why
he's going to say, Enter thou into the joy of the Lord. His
joy. Children, come in, my child. There you are, my child, my joy. My joy. Come on in. And here
in the text, I believe, in some measure, and now understand
me. Are you still with me? I hope
so, or you're going to take this wrong. Look at it again. It says, in some measure, his joy in us
as a parent is conditioned on our obedience and faithfulness. Read verses 7 through 11. I think
this is what he's saying here. If you abide in me and my words
abide in you, you shall ask what you will. and it shall be done
unto you. Herein is my Father glorified,
that ye bear much fruit. So shall ye be, or that it really
be, my disciple. As the Father hath loved me,
so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye
shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments,
and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto
you, that my joy might remain in you." Do you see what he's
saying there, Nancy? As a father or a mother grieves
over a wayward child, a disobedient child, there's no way, Deborah,
there's no way you can joy and rejoice if one of your children
is being wayward. And this will be, can you? You
can't say, I have joy in you. Can you? No. Now, you'll never
disown them. And we're not talking about salvation
here. I never said that. He didn't mean to make that.
He said, I'll kick you out of the family. No. Never. He said,
never. I'll never leave thee, nor forsake
thee. There's no way he can joy and
rejoice over his children who are wandering. Right? Grieve. That's the sense in which
he is grieved, as Scripture says. Grieved. He joys and rejoices over his children, the fact that
they are his children. He loves them. He can joy. It
rejoices his heart that they are his children. That we are
his children. But if we are Worthless, no good,
disobedient children. Disrespectful. Disregard his
word. Carried about with other things. He's not joy and rejoicing in
that. You understand what I'm saying?
Sure you do. Sure you do. And I said, obedience
and faithfulness. Look at verse 5. The last part
of verse 5, he says, without me you can do nothing. Now, that's true. We talk about
obedience and faithfulness. Without Him, we can't do anything. But look
at verse 7 again. He says, Abide in me, and my
words abide in you. Abide in me. Abide in me. Do you remember that message?
And abiding in Him? Draw nigh unto God, and He'll
draw nigh unto you. We know that while we do draw
nigh, it's because He drew nigh on us. While we do love Him,
it's because He first loved us. But that's His responsibility.
And He tells us, draw nigh unto God, and He'll draw nigh unto
you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners.
purify your minds. I didn't say that. I'm not making
that up. Draw nigh unto God and he'll
draw nigh unto you. My daughter is obedient. The sky's the limit. Huh? That's what he said. Look at
verse 7 again. You shall ask what you will and
it'll be done unto you. Is that not true with you and
your children? Is that not true? And let me just digress a little
bit here. It goes along with that, but
the Scriptures that, where Christ says, if you ask anything in
my name, I'll do it. Scriptures like that. Whatsoever
you ask in my name, I'll do it. Ask, he said, I'll do it. I must
confess that those verses have given me problems. Especially
in light of some recent things. When you ask and ask and ask
and he doesn't give it to you. What's he mean by that? When
he said, if you ask anything in my name, I'll do it. Has that
ever given you a problem? John, has that ever given you
a problem? Huh? It has me. And I thought about this. I could tell my daughter I could
say this from the heart. I could say to her, and mean
it, honey, you just ask Daddy, and he'll do anything for you. Just ask, I'll do anything for
you. And nine out of ten things she asked for, I'll do it. What
really has the Lord withheld from us? Hasn't he granted you
not only everything you need, but just about everything you've
asked for? Hasn't he? Now, the Scripture says we know
not what things we should ask for. And it says sometimes we
ask amiss. So as a wise parent there, he
says, ask anything. And we say, well, I'd like to
have this. I can't do that for you. That's
not good for you. You see that? That's what he
said. Anything but that. Does that
make sense? I'll do anything. I'll do anything
for you. I'll lay down my life." And he
did. And so we asked him this. He said, no, I'm just not going
to do that for you. Sometimes he does give us what
might be temporarily bad for us. Right? Sometimes He does give
us what we want. It's not just the best thing
at that moment for us, but He does teach us a lesson. Right? Then there are times when He
says, No, my will has been set on this thing, and my purpose
will be carried out. And I know you're asking in my
name, I'm just not going to do that.
And you'll know why later. Does that make sense? Well, but
he says to us, all right, obedient children, obedient children,
he says, he will joy in us. He will joy in us. Ask what you
will, and it will be done unto you. Ask what you will. And do we need We need obedience,
don't we? I want to be an obedient child.
Don't you? I do. I want to be strong in
faith, not unbelieving. Don't you? He says, ask and you'll
receive. Those are things he delights
to give. And he says, we have not because
we ask not. Ask and you shall receive. In other words, our
Lord says, little children, listen to me. 7 again, Abide in me, my words
abide in you, ask what you will, it will be done. Little children,
if you listen to me, do as I say, I will rejoice in you, and good
things will come to you. Sounds just like a parent, doesn't
it? If you just listen to your daddy and do what I say, it's
going to be, everything's going to be just right. All right, here's the next joy,
okay? It's our joy. So that's His joy
in us. He joys and rejoices in His people
and what He's done for us, in us, through us, to us. And His
joy is in us according to His grace that He gives us to be
obedient children. And it says, these things that
I've spoken unto you that your joy might be full. Your joy. Gather yourselves here, okay?
The believer is a joyful person. The believer, I didn't say should
be, the believer is a joyful person. Is. If there's no joy, if there's no joy, It's someone
who confesses to be a believer. There's a real cause to question
that person's profession. The Scriptures are too clear
about that. Turn over to the Psalms. We're going to look at
several Psalms. Psalm 5. All right? Now listen to me. You say, but
Christ was a man of sorrow. That's Christ. That's Him. Why? Because He was
being made sin for us. Isaiah 53 says that He bore our
griefs and our sorrows, didn't He? He bore our griefs. We sang the song, He took our
sins and our sorrows. He made them His very own. Christ was a man of sorrows,
but we should not be. We should not be, because He
bore our sins and our sorrows. That'll make us joyful. We don't
have to go around mourning over our sins, though we do. Blessed
are they that mourn, they shall what? Blessed are they that mourn,
they shall what? Be what? Comforted! So they don't stay mourning all
the time. It ought to make us joyful, joy
in the Lord. And though we have seasons of
sorrow and grief and sadness and we're downcast, yet they're
only seasonal. They should be only seasonal.
They shouldn't be constant. You know, winter doesn't last
nearly as long as spring, summer, and fall, does it? Huh? That's just one season. Joy in
the Lord should be constant. It ought to rule with our person
and it ought to shape our counsel. That joy ought to shape our countenance. It has some. I was with this
lady in here now, just looked at her. Well, a couple of others,
and just looked at her. She's got a constant smile on
her face. Makes me smile when I look at
her. You know, David knew great trouble,
didn't he? David? David knew there was not a trial
among the men that David didn't go through, was it? He knew great trouble and sorrow,
but yet, for the most part, David was a joyful man. Joyful. Look at Psalm 5, verse 11. Let
all those who put their trust in thee rejoice. Let them ever
shout for joy. Look over at Psalm 30. David
is the writer of most of these. Psalm 30, look over here. And
you know, intermingled with some of these psalms are psalms of,
oh, how long, how long. Oh, have you cast me away forever?
Is your mercy clean gone? I cried unto thee out of the
depth, but there's more joy than there is anger. Psalm 30, look
at verse 5. His anger endureth but a moment,
and his favor is life. Weeping may endure for a night, Let joy come in the morning. We all weep, and we'd be mighty
calloused if we didn't. Over sorrow and sadness and sin,
we'd be mighty calloused and unfeeling, insensitive if we
did not weep. But where is the joy of the Lord
if it doesn't come in the morning? Huh? Some joy! Some joy! Weeping
may endure for a night. It doesn't say endure forever.
For a night, the sun will rise. That's what the Scripture said.
Blessed are they that know the joyful sound. And someone who
has no joy or comfort, I wonder, have they heard it? Back in Israel,
back at the time of Jubilee. Remember that? The day of Jubilee
when the trumpet was sounded and all the people that were
in debt, their debts were paid. All the slaves were set free.
What if some old slave was still sitting down in his house moaning
and groaning? I'm in debt. I'm in debt. Oh,
I'm in debt and I'm a slave. What if somebody said, You hear what? Oh, the joyful
sound. Oh, the trumpet sounded. It's
jubilee. You're free. Joy. Look over Psalm 35. You can browse through these
Psalms with me very easily. Psalm 35, verse 9. Would you look at it with me?
Psalm 35 and 9. Look at it. My soul shall be
joyful in the Lord. It shall rejoice in his salvation. But, David, you're being tracked
down like a dog, like an animal. My soul shall be joyful in the
Lord. Look at Psalm 51. And, as I said,
we go through these times. Psalm 51. And right now, and
at these times, when you don't feel joy, you ought to say this
with Psalm 51, verse 8. Make me to hear joy and gladness. Look at Psalm, look at verse
12 there. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation. Restore that joy. I've had it
before. I'd like to have it again. In
Psalm 95, look over here. These are great. Psalm 95, verse
1 and 2. Oh, come now. Come on now, Vicki. Let us sing unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise. Some of you aren't too good a
singer. Most of you are. Some of you aren't. But it doesn't
matter. A noise is music to the Lord. And I know a man. I won't call
his name. You know him, too. A sweet man. A gentle, kind, Christlike man
always has a smile on his face. He lost his wife. Lots of things
have happened to him. He still is a pleasant, joyful
man. And he sings. He's up in the
church in Ashland. He sits generally right behind
where we sit when we're sitting out there. Most of the time standing
up there. But he sits right behind us and
he can't sing a lick. He's hard of hearing, wears two
hearing aids, one hearing aid, one ear is totally dead. He can't
hear himself, and just as well. But we can. Everybody around
him can hear him. He's not on key, and he's not
within a mile of it. But he's singing. He's making
a joyful noise. And you know what? I enjoy it.
I really do. God does. Count on it. God enjoys that more than that
pretty little woman sitting up with that microphone and all
that smile on her face. That's a stench in his mouth.
That's noise to his ears. It is. Her voice may be the sound
of a canary, but to God it's a crow. And that man that can't sing
a lick is making a joyful noise from the heart in music to his
ears. Maybe he's the only one singing, to God's mind. Verse 2, Let us come before his
presence with thanksgiving, make a joyful noise unto him with
song. Look at verse 11 and 12, Psalm 96. Verse 1 and 2, sing unto the
Lord a new song, sing unto the Lord all the earth, sing unto
the Lord, bless his name, show forth his salvation from day
to day. Verse 11, let the heavens rejoice, the earth be glad, let
the sea roar in the fullness thereof, let the field be joyful in all that is therein. Then
shall all the trees of the wood rejoice. Remember that song we
sang a while ago? Have you ever walked through
the woods and heard the trees singing? Have you? They are. Maybe your ear's not
tuned, but their leaves are. Listen to this, Psalm 55, Isaiah
55 says, You shall go out with joy, be led forth with peace,
and the mountains and the hills shall break forth unto you with
singing. Have you ever walked through
the woods and be filled with joy in your Lord, and it seemed
like the mountains were singing to you." Have you? Listen, "...the hills shall break
forth unto you, and swinging the trees of the field shall
clap their hands." You ever heard the wind blow through the leaves? They're clapping. That's what
that said. Have you heard that? That would
be a good time for you to join in, wouldn't it? Good time. Look at Psalm 97. Psalm 97, verse
1. Let the Lord reigneth. Boy, there's
a good reason to rejoice. Let the earth rejoice. Let the
multitude of Isles be glad thereof. Verse 12. Look at it. Rejoice
in the Lord, ye righteous. Give thanks at the remembrance
of his holiness. Psalm 98. We read that, didn't
we? Make a joyful noise. Let the
sea roar. Floods clap their hands. Those waves that are crashing
on the ocean that go to the beach, the waves are clapping their
hands. Everything else rejoices in God. Look at Psalm 100. Make a joyful
noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before his presence with singing. Psalm 105, right over
there, just a couple more. Psalm 105, read this, verses
1 through 3, "...give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his
name, make known his deeds among the people, sing unto him, sing
songs unto him, taunt ye of all his wondrous work, glory ye in
his holy name, let the heart of them rejoice that seek the
Lord." I may have saved the best for
last. Turn to Psalm 149. Psalm 149. Look at this. This is good. Psalm 149, verses 1 through 5,
praise ye the Lord. Sing unto the Lord a new song,
and his praise in the congregation of saints. Let Israel rejoice
in him that made him. Let the children of Zion be joyful
in their king. Let them praise his name in the
dance. Let them sing praises unto him
of the timbrel and harp. For the Lord taketh pleasure
in his people. He will beautify the meek with
salvation." Let the saints be joyful in glory. I'm not in glory. Here you are.
Oh, yeah, he did foreknow, he did predestinate. whom he predestinated,
he called, whom he called to justify, to whom he justified,
he what? The Lord God. You're already
there, seated with him in heaven. It's not in body yet. Let them
sing aloud upon their beds. Oh, my. Instead of waking your
spouse up by snoring, try singing sometime. Sing on your bed. Don't, we do
too much crying in the bed. We ought to try a little singing,
you know. The Scripture says, why, it says
this several times, why art thou cast down within me, O my soul? Hope thou in God. There's yet
hope in Him. Huh? We sorrow not, we do sorrow,
but not as those who have no hope. We have great hope, sure
hope, good hope, through grace. The believer has great cause
to be joyful. God reigns. God is for us. You know what
Romans 8 says, verse 31? Can you say theirs? Go ahead.
What's the rest of it? The psalm says, Whom shall
I fear? Of what shall I be afraid? Christ has redeemed us. We have
an advocate. Now, I'm such a sinner. Well,
you have an advocate. You may have seen God's advocate.
We have a mediator, an intercessor, a high priest. We have a family. You say, I'm alone. No, you're
not. If you are, it's your fault. Huh? I said this before. One of the brethren said this
before. He said, if I was a widow, a widow were, he said, I'd have
me a fish fry every Friday night. Well, you wouldn't have to be
alone that way. Huh? You got a family. Got a family
in whom we joy. We have an inheritance waiting
on us. I'm so poor. I ain't got a mansion waiting. A mansion. Christ is coming soon.
If that ain't cause for rejoicing, what is? Christ is just here. He's even at the door. Right
around the door. Right around the corner. Oh, but times are
so bad. Oh, boy, they're going to be
glad, though. Just in a moment, a twinkling
of eye. Just tomorrow. Tomorrow. and
be here before you know it. Before you know it. Why aren't
they all cast down within me, O my soul? It gives no glory
to God Almighty to walk around with a melancholy spirit and
a morose with a sad look on it. No glory. That doesn't give God
any glory, does it? It dishonors Him. Somebody says,
well, you're sad about it. And we have reasons to be sad
at times, yes, but not all the time. People always say, what are you
smiling about? That's what they are. What are
you smiling? What are you so happy about? We've just worked 12 hours. You've got to tell us we've got
to work two more. What are you laughing about?
Because God gave me a job. I'm so happy. I'm so glad. People
out there don't have one. Oh, my. Let me read these to you, if
I've wearied you entirely. Acts 20, listen to this. Acts
20, it says, Paul says this, he says, he says, I go bound in the Spirit
to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there. What if tomorrow you were going
somewhere and you didn't know whether you were going to live
or die? You didn't know if people, where you were going, they were
going to take you and hang you, crucify you, throw you in jail,
kill you. Your life was in danger. How
would you feel? That's where Paul said, I'm going,
and I don't know what's going to befall me there. And this
Holy Ghost, he says, witnesses in every city saying that bonds
and afflictions abide me. It's coming, he said, but none
of those things. I know he said this with a smile
on his face. I know he did. He said, this thing don't move
me. Neither can I my life do unto
myself, so that I might finish my course with joy. He said, nobody's going to spoil
it now. I've come this far, too far to let that some two-bit
worm spoil my joy. I'm going to go out of this place. Listen to this. He said to the
Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 7, listen, I'll read it for you.
He says, I'm filled with comfort, I'm
exceeding joyful in my tribulation. Every once in a while it actually
says the disciples, after they'd been beaten, beaten, says they
went out of there with great rejoicing, with joy. It's just confirmation of what
the Lord said. He confirmed it to them, and
was nearer to them probably then like as he'd never been before.
Listen to this. He said, we were comforted in your comfort. Gary,
exceedingly, the more joyed we, for the joy of Titus, because
his spirit was refreshed in by you all." These people, Corinthians,
were going through some troubles, and Paul heard that they were
rejoicing, and he was comforted. He was rejoicing. And you remember my pastor preaching
or talking about this grieving the Holy Spirit. Do you remember
what he said about that? He said, we grieve the Holy Spirit when
we come in this place. with a sour disposition, down in the mouth, down in the
countenance. When we come in this place and
we don't edify one another or build up one another or comfort
one another, but bring other people down, that's grieving
the Spirit. My niece used to come, Bob and
Becky's daughter, when she was a little girl, they told me that
sometimes when she was real young, she'd come downstairs, wake up
on the bad side, wrong side of the bed, you know, come down
the bad mountain. They'd say, you go back up to
your room and don't come back until you got a smile on your
face, because you're not going to ruin our day. Well, she'd
come back down smiling. And you know, to this day, he's
always smiling. Always. They wouldn't allow it. That's good. That's good about
it. Our Lord doesn't seem to allow
it either. He doesn't seem to allow it either, grieving the
Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love
and joy. The kingdom of heaven, the
Scripture says, is righteousness, peace, and Let me read you this. Philippians. Listen to this. He said here
in Philippians 1, you know these well. He says, in every prayer
of mine, I always make him request with joy. Joy. Every time I think about
it, I get joy. Verse 25, he says, I know that
I shall abide and continue with you all for your perseverance
and joy. that your rejoicing may be abundant
in Christ." Listen to this. He says, He'd say, but you don't know
the troubles I'm going through. Paul wrote that in a jail cell. About to die. And John, it says
that one time, it says, everybody left me. He said, everyone left
me. But I have joy. I want some of that. I want something
of that. And you know, I want to say to
some people, like I said, it doesn't bring, it dishonors God
to be always downcast. And I want to say to some people,
just the other day I was preparing a message and someone came in
and I said, how are you? And they started. And I thought,
I wish I hadn't asked him. I really did. I thought, I wish
I hadn't. I wish he hadn't even come in here. I'm having such a good time here,
and he's bringing me down. And I want to say this. I want
to say this. Brother, this is what Paul said,
and he wrote this from prison. Let me have joy of thee in the
Lord." Refresh my bowels in the Lord. Don't wring them out. Refresh
them. Huh? I've got enough troubles
of my own without having to bear yours. Right? Do you understand
what I'm saying? We've all got troubles. And our
service, John, is to lift somebody else's Bear ye one another's
burden." It doesn't say, put your burdens on one another.
Does it say that? It says, bear one another's burden. Listen to this. John says, and
here's the—if we have no joy, it's no wonder. if we do not
appeal or use God's Word. That's the reason. That is the
reason. Our Lord said, These things have
I spoken unto you, that your joy might be full, that you might
be full of joy. John said this, listen to this,
1 John 1, verse 4, he said, "'These things have we written unto you,
that your joy may be fulfilled.'" How did John say that? He was
exiled on an island all alone. He must have had God's Word written
in his heart. No joy, no wonder. If we don't
use God's Word, if we don't appeal to it, no wonder. His Word doesn't abide in us.
That's what he said back there. My words abide in you. And no joy is no wonder if we
do not call upon him who gives the joy. Listen to this. He said
in John 16, verse 24, he said, have you asked nothing of my
name? Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full." We have not because we ask not. If we don't have any joy, it's
no wonder if we don't use the word of God. If we don't have
any joy, it's no wonder if we don't pray without ceasing. Come
on. He said, ask that your joy may be full. Prayer is a vital
key there. And in closing, everybody turn
to this. Jude 24, and this is my last closing verse, OK? If you need it, you'll turn.
Verse 24 says good. Now, now, and this is the benediction. Now unto him, Jude 24, unto him
that is able to keep you from falling. That's cause for joy. And to present you thoughtless
before the presence of his Lord, oh my, with exceeding joy. Not going to mean tears up there,
are they? To the only wise God, our Savior,
be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and ever. Amen. All right. May the Lord
use that for your health. You're dismissed.