Tonight's message is called Joy
Fulfilled in Christ. Joy Fulfilled in Christ. Open
your Bibles to John chapter 17, and we will be reading verses
six to 14 tonight. And the verse which we'll look
at tonight will be verse 13. And I want us to read this portion
from 6 to 14 to see how the verse is in the context of the scriptures. Now our Lord Jesus Christ is
here praying for his disciples. He's soon to go to the cross.
He's soon to shed his blood to save his people from their sins. All the elect of all the ages,
he's soon to go to the cross. We know that he was so weighed
down that he sweat great drops of blood. And the scripture says
he's a man of souls acquainted with grief. And he would soon go to Calvary's
cross and ransom his people by the shedding of his blood and
by the giving of his life. And then he will be buried. And
in three days here rise again, showing us that God is satisfied
with the sacrifice of Christ. Remember God, the Father said,
this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And he proved
to us that he was pleased with Christ by raising him again,
as the scripture says, for our justification, for our justification,
that we might be able to stand in the presence of God, beloved.
It's absolutely amazing. And then He ascended into heaven,
up into glory, where right now He is seated at the right hand
of the Father, interceding for you and I as believers, interceding
for His people who are still upon this earth. See, when we're in glory, He
don't need to intercede for us anymore, does He? because we're
in his presence. But he's interceding for all
the elect upon this earth and those who will be born still.
And he is the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. And here he is,
the one who's never sinned in his life, not in thought, not
in word, and not in deed. And here he is praying for us.
In this portion, he's praying for the disciples, but we can
also include all the elect of all the ages in certain points,
in certain parts of this. But we know that later on, when
we get to the latter part of this chapter, he's praying for
us. for all the elect, for all who
will believe on the word, words that the apostles will say. He's the God-man. He's the only
mediator between a holy and righteous God and the sinners such as we. He's the only mediator. So as
we read this, keep that in mind too. As he's praying this prayer. I was thinking about that today.
As he's praying his prayer, he's in his meditatorial office and
he's praying for us. He's praying for his people.
Look at this, starting in verse six. I have manifest thy name
unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were. If you're a child of God, you
were the father's before you were the son's. Mine. And thou gavest them me, we were
given to the son as a love gift. The bride of Christ. And they have kept thy word.
Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given
me are of thee. For I have given unto them the
words which thou gavest me, and they have received them. And
that is only by the grace of God. And they have known surely that I
come out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst
send me. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. and all
mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world. And I come to thee, Holy Father,
keep thou thine own name, those whom thou has given me, that
they may be one as we are. while I was in the world, while
I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those
thou gavest me, I have kept, and none of them is lost but
the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled.
And here's our verse for the night. And now I come to thee,
and these things I speak in the world, that they might have joy
fulfilled in themselves. My joy, my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word, and
the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. My, oh, my. Now, in about six
weeks from this time, our Savior would leave the apostles. He
would leave the apostles, and He would ascend to the Father,
and the disciples would be without His bodily presence. The Lord Jesus Christ had spoken
these things, all that he imparted to them in chapters 13 to 16. It's important if you want to
go back and read chapter 13 to 16, because they tie into this
prayer so much, it's absolutely incredible. And that's one large
discourse that he did with the apostles from chapter 13 to chapter
16. And here he puts forth in this
prayer that the joy of his people might not be diminished by his
going to the Father, but that they might rejoice in
his redemptive work. That's where we find our joy,
isn't it? When we think about what Christ
has done for us, does that not fill our hearts with joy, beloved?
When we think of his redemptive work, that he shed his blood
for us, When we think of His exaltation, that He's right now
seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us, does
that not give us joy? Oh my, it's wonderful. When we
think of His intercession for us, when we think of His return,
He's coming back, beloved. No man knows the hour today,
but He is coming back. He is coming. Now when we think
about that, we get excited, don't we? We get excited, beloved. And then when we set our minds
upon Him, we have the troubles of this world closing in on us. And that's what they do, don't
they? They close in on us, the troubles of this world. But when
we set our minds on Him, those troubles start to back
away. Just looking to Christ is just
trusting Him each day, resting in Him each day. As we looked
at in Sunday school on Sunday, He's our all in all. We look
to Him as that. He's everything to us. You take
away Christ from a believer, and we don't have anything, do
we? We have no hope. We have no redemption. We have
no justification before God. We have no wisdom, because Christ
is all those things. We have no sanctification, because
we're sanctified in Him. He's everything to us, beloved.
Think of that. He was nothing to us before the
Lord saved us. And now he's everything. He's
everything. I need him all the time. And the more we grow in Christ,
beloved, the more we realize how much we need him. I am reminded
on a constant basis that I need Christ. I am so easily distracted. My mind just wanders off sometimes. Does yours? I hear something going on in
the world and I get a little anxious. But I've learned. I tell you
what, I've learned, even within the last three, four years, just
to keep looking to Him. Just to keep looking to Him.
Keep my eyes on Him. Just keep my eyes on Him. That's
all happening according to His will. I'm just going to keep
my eyes on Him. I'm aware of it, but I'm not going to let
it close in on me. Oh my. And before these words we are
reading tonight is the shadow of Gethsemane. It's starting
to fall across Christ's spirit. When he uttered these beautiful,
comforting words, he said, let not your heart be troubled. You
believe in God, believe also in me. Don't let your heart be alarmed.
Don't let it be troubled. And the reason he said that to
us is because we can so easily be troubled. He says, don't be troubled. You
believe in God, believe also in me. And then when he concludes
that discourse, that's in chapter 14, but when he concludes the
whole discourse in John 16, 33, he says these things, listen
to this. He says, these things have I spoken unto you, that
ye might have peace. See, we're in turmoil a lot. But He says, I spoke in these
things that you might have peace. That's the peace that passes
all understanding, that keeps your hearts and minds on Christ
Jesus, beloved. And then He says on this, He
says, in the world you shall have tribulation. It's going
to happen. You're gonna have tribulation
in your life, I'm gonna have tribulation in my life. But be of good cheer."
He says, I've overcome the world. Oh, praise God. If He's overcome
the world, then in Him, I'm in Him. I've overcome the world
in Him, not in anything me. I can't overcome the world, can
you? I can't. I get buried by it. But He overcame
it, beloved. And we're in Him. And then next we see this high
priestly prayer set before us. After he says that in John 16,
33, then comes the high priestly prayer. After he says, these
things have I spoken unto you, that ye might have peace in the
world. You shall have tribulation, but
be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. then
the next verses of scripture are, these words spake Jesus
and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has
come. Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. As
thou has given him power over all flesh, that he should give
eternal life to as many as thou has given him. So as soon as
he warns the disciples that they're gonna have tribulation in this
world, he starts his high priestly prayer. Why? that they might have peace. Could
not he have uttered this prayer in silence? He could have, right? But after he spoke those words
to him, he uttered these words, this prayer, this is the only
prayer we have recorded of Christ in the scriptures. And he uttered
this prayer audibly so that his disciples would hear it, that
they would be comforted, And then he also had it recorded
that you and I might be comforted right now tonight by these wonderful
words. This is an excellent chapter
for us to go to when there's turmoil in our lives, when we
feel like we're being tossed to and fro by the things alive. This is a wonderful chapter to
go to. There's so much comfort in here. For me especially as I read through
John 17, the fact that gets me is Christ prayed for me 2,000 years ago. And as we've done
this study, right? He was sent for me. And I was the father's and then
I was given to him. My oh my, this is where I need
to go. It's wonderful, isn't it? Now, note here, too, the view
of our Savior, the view of His character we have here. In the
first five verses, He prays for Himself, right? The majority
of this prayer, He's praying for the disciples, and He's praying
for you and I. How unselfish is that? When we
go to the Lord, who do we pray for first? Let's be honest. Yeah, we pray for ourselves,
don't we? We pray for ourselves. And then
we pray for others. Note how Christ prays. He prayed
for himself for just five verses, right? Just five verses. In all the rest of the verses, there's 26 verses in this in
this high priestly prayer, so in 21 verses he's praying for
you and I. In all the elect of all the ages.
Isn't that wonderful? Do you see the unselfishness
of his character? Do you see how much he loves
his bride? How much he loves his people? Who he purchased
with his own precious blood. He hasn't even ransomed us yet.
But remember, he's the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. We were already Christ from eternity. But he had to purchase our eternal
souls, didn't he? In time and space. That's why
he came here. Because that which was purposed
and planned in eternity must come to pass in time. Must come to pass in time. And think of this, too. Think
of this. This just struck me today. Note his unselfish love
for his people. Sorrow's approaching him. He's
being weighed down by sorrow. He's already starting to feel
the weight of that which he's going to accomplish. but it fails to make him unmindful
of his people. What happens to us when we get
into a situation where we're in sorrow or we're in grief or
temptation or sin? We're not thinking about anybody
else, are we? We're usually thinking of ourselves. Here he has, he's facing the
cross, beloved. And his love for us is so deep
and so vast and so unmeasurable that he is never unmindful of
his people. He speaks more about us in this
high priestly prayer than he does for himself. He prays more
about us than he does to the father about what's coming. My. That is everlasting love,
beloved, manifested. Manifested right before us in
this text, in this whole high priestly prayer. And this sorrow
does not cause him to take his mind off his people. No, it makes
him magnify his care and love for his people, beloved. And look what he's concerned
about. He's concerned about our joy. Look what it says here. And now
I come to thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they
might have my joy. Look at that. My joy, his joy,
fulfilled in themselves. Now again, when grief and sorrow
come our way, we're consumed with the situation. But the character of our Lord
is the very reverse of us. The nearer he gets to sorrow
and grief, the more he seems to be concerned for his people. The more he seems to be concerned
for us, beloved. Especially his disciples here,
right? That's who he's speaking about. And now I come to thee
and these things I speak in a world that they might have my joy fulfilled
in themselves. And now we who believe, he's
praying for us too, that we might have his joy too, beloved, fulfilled
in us. It's amazing. He seems to be more concerned
about comforting his people. And think of this. He knows that
the apostles are going to be very sorrowful when he dies. He knows. He knows they're going
to be bought real low. Because see, they thought that
he was going to establish a kingdom on the earth. But his kingdom
is spiritual blood. Remember they were saying who
can be beside you? They were all looking to see
who could be the first, right? And he said, my kingdom's not
of this earth. Didn't he tell Pilate that, I think it was?
He said, my kingdom's not of this earth. It's not. It's the spiritual kingdom, beloved. My, oh my. And here he comes, nearer to
the sacrifice of himself for his people in his desire is that
the disciples might have joy. And not just any joy, His joy. His joy. Which comes from who?
God, the Holy Spirit. See, it's Him who works, right?
Remember, one of the fruits of the Spirit is joy. Joy, love,
peace. Joy. Look at this verse again. And
now I come to thee And these things I speak in the world,
that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. Not only would
our wonderful, merciful Savior have his people safe in eternity,
but he desires them to be safe while he leaves this earth. And we're going to see later
on, later on down here in verse, look at verse 20 of John 17.
He's praying the same for us, look at this. Neither pray I
for these alone, not being disciples, but for them also which shall
believe on my name through their word. Look it, that they all
may be one as thou father art in me and I in thee, that they
also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast
sent me. That's him praying for you and
I right there below. Are we not the people who believed
on their word? By the grace of God, he prayed
for me. He prayed for you if you're a
believer, right there in that text, beloved. Do you see how
this whole chapter can bring us such comfort, such joy? It's
absolutely wonderful. So his desire is for us to be
safe while we're upon this earth And we see here and marvel at
this truth, he desires that we would be filled with his joy.
He desires that we would be happy in him and that we would enter
into his joy. Again, he could have uttered
this prayer in silence, as I said earlier, he could have uttered
this prayer in silence and we'd be none the wiser to what he
said, right? We wouldn't have known about
this wonderful prayer. But he chose to utter it while he was
still upon this earth. And then he chose to have it
recorded by the Holy Spirit of God. Think of that. Who's the
true author of these words? It's the Holy Spirit of God,
right? So not only did he choose to have it uttered audibly, but
he also chose to have it recorded. Bought to the mind of John by
the Holy Spirit of God. I'll tell you what, if we're
talking, if we're talking, think of this too. If we're talking
and I don't write down what you said, think about how these are
written too, okay? Somebody sit down there writing
them. If I'm talking with you and we talk about something,
chances are by Sunday I'm gonna forget what we talked about.
Not all the time, not all the time. Or give me a month away,
I'm gonna forget what we talked about. Until you remind me, then
I'll be like, oh yeah, I remember that, right? Same for all of
us, right? These men are writing down things
that occurred two, three years ago. Could we sit down and just start
penning word for word what happened? No, that's why the true author
of these words is God, the Holy Spirit, beloved, right? Isn't that amazing? Oh my, oh
my, it's absolutely wonderful. and marvel at the deep interest
that our Lord Jesus Christ has for his people. Marvel at the
great affection of our high priest for his people. He spoke audibly
so that the apostles could hear him. So they could hear him. And then he caused it to be written
down so that we, who are the born again blood washed children
of God, 2,000 plus years ago. Now we get comfort from these
words too. Think of how comforting this
prayer would have been for the apostles when they looked back
after the death of Christ and thought about these words. Think
of how comforting that would have been. He's given me eternal
life by his power. He prayed for me in the garden.
Hey Peter, John go to Peter, Peter, Our king prayed for us,
remember? Remember, he prayed for us. Oh, yes, brother. Oh, thank you. That helps me so much. It strengthens
me to know that my king prayed for us. Think of how that would
be. And think of what's soon to come. The apostles are soon to be scattered
like sheep without a shepherd. They all go their different ways,
don't they? And think of the guilt that they
would have felt over that Right But let's remember something
When our lord jesus christ came to peter after he had risen from
the grave Okay, so it's finished right peter's sins are paid for
right And he starts talking to Peter about it. Remember, Peter
denied him three times. Does he say three times, does
he say, Peter, you denied me three times. No, he doesn't,
never brings up his sin. All he says is, Peter, do you
love me? He never brings up his sin, beloved, because it's bought
and paid for at Calvary's cross by the shedding of his precious,
precious blood. Oh, my. And he just says, Peter,
do you love me? Oh, Lord, you know. You know, Lord. Oh, my. So think of how these words would
have comforted them. After they had scattered like
sheep without a shepherd, how these words would have comforted
them when they started talking to each other about them. Oh,
it would have brought them such comfort. Now let's look at what's recorded
here. And now I come to thee. These
things speak I in the world. Now he didn't speak these words
for his sake or the Father's sake, did he? He spoke these for the comfort
of his disciples. And you know what? He spoke these
for our comfort too, beloved. And they will be comforting to
all the saints of all the ages. However long the Lord tarries
to come back, if it's in our lifetime or if it's years later,
we don't know, right? We don't know. But these words
will be comforting to God's sheep. They will be forever, yeah. Forever
they will be. My. And think of this. What's recorded here is for our
peace. It's for our comfort. It's for
our edification, beloved. That's why it's recorded. We see here, Christ's heart opened
up to us, don't we? And the love that he has for
his people is overwhelming. And now, I was thinking about
this, though. How much love do you have for
your bride? For a man, he loves his wife
as no other woman. And for a woman, she loves her
husband as no other woman, or no other man, right? No other
man. Christ loves his bride like no
other. Like no other, beloved. And it's an everlasting love,
too. It's not a love just of a lifetime,
which is absolutely incredible when you think about it. But
it's a love that surpasses generations and centuries. It even surpasses time itself
and flows from eternity down into time and back to eternity. Oh, it's amazing. I'll tell you
what. I'll tell you. So he's not saying,
now I come to thee and these things I speak in the world.
He's not saying these for his sake or the Father's sake. He's
saying these for the, for the comfort of the disciples who
will hear it. The apostles who will hear, hear
his word. Now they're going to be full
of anxiety when he's taken away. They're going to be full of anxiety. They're just like us. They're
just all like, we're all the same. They're gonna scatter like
sheep without a shepherd, but He prays for them right here.
He prays for them. And we'll see that in next week's
Bible study. Look at verses 14 and 15. And our verse is both a declaration
and a supplication as the Lord Jesus Christ is advocating for
His people, mediating for them, those the Father had given Him.
Because he would soon depart from this world in their condition
in the world. Look what it is in John 17 verses
14 and 15. I have given them thy word, and
the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them
from evil. He already knows what's going to happen. And he's still praying to the
Father for them, right? Even though He knows what's going
to happen, He still, He prays for them. He prays for us. He
prays that the Father would keep us from evil. Now, see how our wonderful, merciful
Savior is approaching and praying to the Father on the behalf of
the apostles? Making provision for them when
He's gone to be with the Father? We clearly see Him here as mediator. for those whom the Father gave
him. First the disciples and then starting in verse 20, for
all the elect of all the ages. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.
So the first five verses he's praying for himself. Then from
verse 6 to 19, he's praying for the disciples. But there's also
parts of that that can be applied to we who are God's people. And
then finally, verses 20 to the end, he's praying for all the
elect of all the ages. And that's where we could say,
he's praying for me right there. My, oh my. He's approaching God the Father
on their behalf. On their behalf, on our behalf. You know, He's soon going to
be restored to the glory that He once had with the Father.
Remember, He came down from heaven. He's going to soon be restored
back to that glory, beloved. He was God while He was on this
earth, though, wasn't He? He's Immanuel, God with us. And
we see by His miracles, and by what He's done, He's God incarnated
in the flesh. Scriptures declare that. He's
the seed of the woman. born of a virgin, conceived by
the Holy Spirit of God, with no sin. But you know what else we can
see here? We can see God's distinguishing
grace here before us. Remember in the portion I read,
he said, I don't pray for the world, I pray for those that
you gave me. We see God's distinguishing grace here right before us, beloved,
for his people. And this wonderful prayer brings
that forth. So stand amazed. Stand amazed
at the fact that the only one who made us to differ is God.
He's the only one. And Christ is not only conserved
about our preservation, but also our unity. Also our unity, which
comes in and through God the Holy Spirit, right? And how do we know that? Well,
because he says that we might be one in him and have his joy
fulfilled in us by the power of God, the Holy Spirit. Look
at verse 13. And now I come to thee and these
things I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled
in themselves in unity by his joy. Now, our Lord, he already knew
that the apostles would scatter like sheep without a shepherd.
He already knew that was going to happen. He already knew it. And here he prays for them. He
prays for the father. And he seeks to turn their sorrow
into joy. And does not know what he does
for every one of his people. He turns our sorrow. Oh, when
we first hear the gospel, right? We're so convicted of our sin.
And now each time we hear the gospel, we're still convicted,
but praise be to God, we're now saved sinners because we're born
again by the Holy Spirit of God. But I'll tell you, I'll still
listen to your sermon and get something right between the eyes.
Has it happened to you? Oh yeah, I get it all the time. Gets me
right between the eyes. But then my sorrow over my sin
is turned to joy because I'm forgiven of all my trespasses
and sins by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
why I love that song we sing, hallelujah. My, what a Savior. Revive us again, O Lord, through
the preaching of Your Word. Set our hearts afire, O Lord.
Oh, my. And they can look back, they
can look back, those disciples who heard this, they can look
back and be filled with joy over the fact that Christ prayed for
them. Just like as we're studying this verse, or this whole chapter
2,000 years later, we're filled with joy when we start looking
at these great truths that are presented in this very chapter.
It's absolutely wonderful. And we could, marvel, just as
they probably did, going through, do you think going through persecution
they could have said, hey, brother Dave, Christ prayed for us. Let's
go, right? John, Christ prayed for us. Oh, I know, I wrote it down.
Let's go, right? They could feel like they could
face anything. No wonder these men went forth. preaching and
proclaiming the gospel. No wonder believers went forth,
both men and women, and were persecuted for their faith, but
they kept going forth. Go forward. Don't look back. Just keep looking forward, beloved.
All right? Keep going forward. They said
that weeks ago, and it's so true. Let's just keep going forward. As Paul said, forget the things
of the past, right? I'm gonna press on. I'm gonna
press on. Oh, that's wonderful. Lord, give
me the grace and strength to do that. Now let's consider the latter
part of this verse. Let's read the verse again. And
now come I to thee and these things I speak in the world that
they might have my joy, not any joy, my joy fulfilled in them. What joy one may ask. Oh, look
at here, note in our text, our Lord Jesus Christ proclaims his
joy. You know, that's how we get through
things, is because of the joy of the Lord is our strength. He's our strength, isn't he?
He's the one who gets us through things that would probably destroy
us. if we didn't have the Lord. Now
note in our text, our Lord Jesus Christ proclaims his joy. That's the joy he had right then.
That's the joy that he had in his heart. That's the joy he had for 33
years tabernacling. Although he was a man of sorrow,
he had joy in his fellowship with the Father, didn't he? He had joy with the Father in
perfect fellowship with Him. Absolutely sinless. So part of
this joy is the joy of fellowship with the Father. And it was this which He had
when speaking by the spirit of prophecy. Listen to this. This
is from Psalm 16 verses 5 to 9. Listen to this prophecy. The
Lord is the portion of mine inheritance. and of my cup. Thou maintainest
my lot. My, if the Lord maintains our
lot, what do we have to fear? The lions are fallen unto me
in pleasant places. Oh, I'll tell you what, every
believer can say that, can't we? Yea, I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the Lord who hath
given me counsel. My reigns also instruct me in
the night season. Now here's, Here's one way to have joy. He
says, I've set the Lord before me. I've set the Lord, and he doesn't
just say before me, he says always before me. And this is Christ. This is speaking to Christ. He
always set the Lord before him. Now we have trouble with that
because of our sin. But this is what our master said. I have
set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand.
I shall not be moved, therefore my heart is glad and my glory
rejoices. Why? Have you ever been down and then
you start thinking that the Lord is for you? And the Lord's with you? I'll
tell you, it won't take long when you start thinking like
that, and you start thanking the Lord for what He's done for
you, that you're going to be up here, beloved. That even in the midst of sorrow,
you'll be filled with joy. Why? Well, because He's got me
in His hand, and we won't be moved because He's got me in
His hand. Therefore, my heart is glad.
Praise be to God. We can be in a sorrowful situation,
but praise be to God. He's got us in his grip. And
he said, I'm never going to leave you. I'm never going to let you
go. You're mine. I made you. And I bought you. You're twice
mine. I redeemed you with my blood. That's how I bought you. Therefore
my heart is, the believer says, therefore my heart is glad and
my glory rejoices. Oh my. And think of Christ, though
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, yet the joy of the
Lord was his strength, Nehemiah 8.10. The joy of the Lord was
his strength. And that's our strength too,
isn't it? It was to this he referred when
he said to the disciples, I have meat to eat, which is a satisfying
portion that you know not of. And I'm going to the cross. You don't know, you don't understand.
You understand what I'm going to do there. I'm going to save
your soul. Not just yours, but of a multitude
of brothers and sisters who you will meet one day in glory. So marvel at these words here
in our text, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
This was what the heart of the saver craved for, that we might
have his joy. And not that we might have just
a little portion, right? You got it, brother. that it
might be fulfilled in us, which means full, overflowing. Overflowing, beloved. My, a full
provision, so full that it's just leaking over the sides. So in this prayer, Christ makes
it known, now think of this too, in this prayer, Christ makes
it known that we have been bought into the same position before
the father as he held. He's the son of God, right? What
are we? Sons. Sons of God. Sons of God. My oh my. We're brought into the same position
that he held. That's why now we cry as sons,
what? Abba Father. There you go. And as a result of his finished
work on Calvary's cross, of redeeming our souls and of obtaining eternal
redemption for us in the room and place of his people. Now,
every barrier that was before us in coming to God is gone. Now we can come into God's presence,
right through the veil into the holiest of holies, right? Because
it was ripped from the top all the way to the bottom. That signifies
that Jew and Gentile, there's no barrier now. We can go right
into the holiest of holies, beloved. Isn't that amazing? Let us therefore
come boldly into the throne of grace, right? That we may obtain
grace to help, grace and strength to help in time of need. And you know, because that veil
has been rent, there's a new and living way now to the Father. And you know, it's been opened
up to you and I as believers. And again, we have, therefore,
we have access into the holiest of holies. Turn, if you would,
to Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10. You know, we now
have access into the holiest of all. And you know, we're invited
to draw near in full assurance of faith, to draw near to God
now in Christ. Isn't that amazing? And now we
desire to do that. We didn't desire to do that before
the Lord saved us, did we? Now we love it. What a privilege,
what an honor. What an honor to be in the presence
of our Lord. Look at this Hebrews chapter
10 verses nine to 22. Look at, this is beautiful. Having
therefore brethren, so that's us, boldness to enter into the
Holy by what? By the blood of Jesus. There's
the key, the blood of Jesus. Look at this, by a new and living
way, our King lives beloved. He lives, he's risen from the
grave, he lives. Which he hath consecrated for
us through the veil, that is to say his flesh. And having
the high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with
a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Look at that. Yeah, we're made pure now. We're
sinners, but yet we're made pure in God's sight. by the precious,
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the righteousness
of Christ that we're clothed in. And having been born again
by the Holy Spirit of God, now we've been guided in faith and
repentance before God. My. You know, Christ's Father is
our Father, truly now. His relation to God, that of
His Son, is now ours. Scripture declares in Galatians,
that we are going to get to in our study, Because ye are sons,
God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts,
crying out of a father. You see, because we were sons
chosen by the Father in Christ before the foundation of the
world, God sends His Spirit into our hearts. Remember how on Sunday
we saw that He would give us a new spirit, a new heart, He
says, I'll put my spirit within them. There it is. Now we cry, I have a father. Oh, what a miracle of grace.
What a miracle of grace. Oh, my. And therefore, the Holy
Spirit tells us this. And first, John three, first,
John one versus three and four. Truly, our fellowship is with
the father and with his son, Jesus Christ. And these things
write we unto you, that your joy may be full. Does that not
tie right in with what we're looking at tonight? That which Christ prayed for
comes to pass, beloved. So take note here of how concerned
our Savior was with his people's perseverance and his people's
joy. the happiness of his people.
His bride, remember, the ones he gave his life for. And when
he departed out of this world, he sent the Holy Spirit to be
our comforter, didn't he? That's who dwells in us now. And remember, too, that in John
15, 11, our Lord had told the disciples that he was just before
Just before this verse in John chapter 1511, he had told his
disciples, he said, I'm the vine and you're the branches. Without
me, you can do nothing, right? And then listen to this verse
in light of our verse tonight. He said this, these things have
I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and your joy might be full, John
1511. Isn't that amazing? And in his
instruction, he bade them in John 16, 24, ask and you shall
receive that your joy may be full. John 16, 24. So this is not just one thing
we see here. This is in multiple passages. It's absolutely amazing. Therefore,
a miserable Christian is a self-contradiction. If you find someone who's a miserable
Christian, they're a contradiction. I'm not talking, because we all
get miserable sometimes. I'm not talking about that. But
I'm talking about someone who's just miserable time after time
after time after time for years. Hard to be around, thorny, causing
trouble. They're a contradiction. A.W. Pink says, a joyless Christian
is one who is out of communion with the Father. That's the whole
thing. That's the whole thing. Get our
minds set back on Christ, right? So what's the remedy? When we
get sorrowful, when we lose our joy, what's the remedy? Well,
to confess our sins, right? Because he's faithful and just
to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
And to put everything which hinders our communion with him away. And to make regular use of the
means which he has graciously provided for the maintenance
of our joy. You know what that is? Listening
to the gospel, reading the scriptures, looking to Christ, resting in
Christ. Thinking about him, dwelling
upon him daily, just think about him. And then also, this is something
that I don't think we do much. Dwell upon His glorious return. He's coming. We don't know. It might not be in our lifetime,
but it might be. We don't know. Just dwell on
that. One day He's gonna come and He's
gonna take His people out of this world. And it'd be all over
too. There'd be no secret rapture, beloved. Our Lord's return is
extremely public. extremely public. He is going
to come with a shout of an archangel. And the dead in Christ shall
rise first, and then when we which are alive at his coming
shall be changed in an instant. And then rolls in the great white
judgment throne, beloved. It's over. And then think of
this. There's going to be a new heaven
and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. Oh, the things that God has prepared
for those that love him, I have not seen nor heard, beloved. We can't even imagine in our
wildest dreams the things that God has waiting for us in heaven.
I think of the most beautiful place I've ever seen on this
earth and it does not even compare to a drop of what God's got planned
for us. Think of what we see when we
close our eyes and instantly we're in the presence of God.
Oh my! My, oh my. It'll be amazing,
beloved. It'll be incredible. Makes you
homesick, doesn't it? Makes you homesick for heaven,
beloved. Oh my.