You turn with me to John 14. I have often thought. That I
would have loved to be in one of the 12 disciples. They were with the Lord. Every
day for three years. They hung out with him. They
heard what he had to say. He was their teacher. Now, it's
hard to imagine that, but there they were with the Lord every
day. Eating dinner with Him. What
kind of life that must have been. Being with the Son of God. And
they knew who He was. They knew He was the Christ.
They knew He was the God-Man. And they were with Him every
day. Three years. Now how do you think
they must have felt when he said, I'm leaving you? You think how
dependent they were upon him. And now he tells these men, I'm
going away and you're not going to see me anymore. Verse 27. He says, Peace, I leave with
you. We considered that a couple of weeks ago. My peace, I give
unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Now, let not
your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Now, you can
bet that their heart was troubled and they were afraid. What are we going to do? How
dependent they were upon their master. What are we going to
do? We're in trouble. What's going to happen to us?
And look what our Lord says in verse 28. You have heard how
I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice. When you hear me say, I go away,
if you loved me, you would rejoice. You would be glad. you would
be happy. You see, I'm going to the best
place. And you know, if you love the
Lord Jesus Christ, if he's in the best place, that's where
you want him to be. If you love me, you would rejoice
because I said, I go unto the Father. Remember, his right hand are
pleasures evermore. Now, if you love somebody, you
want them to be in the very best place they can be, don't you?
And you find satisfaction, you find rejoicing, you find happiness
in that. Now, he said, my father is greater
than I. Now, people get stuck on that.
How can that be? Well, All three persons of the
Godhead are equal. God, the father, God, the son
and God, the Holy Spirit. And God, the son subordinates
himself. To God, the father. And God,
the Holy Spirit subordinates himself. To God, the son. That's mysterious. But it's true,
and you know, all we're going to know of the father. It's the
sun. And all we know of the sun is
by the Spirit. You can't know him apart from
God, the Holy Spirit. Now, he says, I go to my father.
Remember, he's going to bring all things under his feet. He's
going to at the end, he's going to deliver up the kingdom to
the father. Then the scripture says, then shall God be all in
all. Now, he says, my father is greater
than I. And now I told you before it
came to pass that when it is come to pass, you might believe.
Well, this is exactly what he said. Now, that's not what faith
is. Well, what he said came to pass.
We believe what he says. Now, hereafter, he says in verse
30, I'll not talk much with you for the prince of this world
cometh and hath nothing in me. Now, this is what the Lord Jesus
calls Satan. the prince of this world, the
God of this world. Satan is a very powerful being. And let me assure you, you're
no match for him. You don't want to have anything
to do with him. I don't want to have anything to do with him.
He is a very powerful being, the God of this world, the prince
of this world, the ruler of this world. That's what Christ calls
him. But notice what our Lord says. He says, Hereafter I'll
not talk much with you, for the prince of this world cometh and
hath nothing in me. You see, he's a very powerful
being, but he's no match for omnipotence. And that's who the
Lord is. He's the omnipotent one. He's found nothing in me, nothing
he could work with. You know, the devil could find
so much in me that he could work with. He could find so much in
you that he could work with. There's such an affinity there,
but nothing in Christ. You see, if he threw his match
in me or you, what would happen? It'd be like throwing the match
into a Gas can full of gas, wouldn't it? I mean, there'd be an explosion.
But when he throws his match on the Lord, you know what it's
like? It's like throwing a match into the ocean. There was nothing
there the devil could work with. The match would be immediately
drowned. He says, Hereafter I'll not talk
much with you, for the prince of this world cometh and hath
nothing in me, but that the world may know that I love the Father. And as the Father gave me commandment,
even so I do arise and let us go hence." Now, look back at
verse 28. You've heard how I said unto
you, I go away and come again unto you. And remember, sorrow
had filled their heart. But he says, if you love me,
you would rejoice. A little bit of inspired logic
here. The if then. If you love me. then you would rejoice. Now rejoicing is a very large
theme in this book. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say rejoice. Rejoicing is a very large theme
in this book. The word is used nearly 300 times.
The word means Be cheerful. Be happy. Well off. Joyous. Glad. If you love me, he says,
you'd be cheerful. You'd be happy. You'd be well
off. You would be glad. And I don't
mean putting on a smiley face to appear to be happy when you're
not. I mean in your innermost being. you would be happy. You would rejoice. Now, let's
be honest. Am I happy all the time? No. No. I wish I was, but I'm not. As long as I'm in this body of
sin, I'm going to struggle. And there's going to be many
times that I'm unhappy. I'm unhappy with myself. I'm
unhappy with other sinners who are just like me. And as long
as we're in this body of sin, there's going to be much, much
that's going to make us unhappy. Yet, Paul said, rejoice always. And again, just in case you didn't
hear me, again I say, rejoice. You see, I might not always feel
happy and I might not always feel joy, but I always have reason
to rejoice. David said, this is the day the
Lord hath made. I will be glad and rejoice in
it. You know, if the Lord made this
day, This is a good day. All is well. You see, the gospel is a thing
of rejoicing. You know what the Lord said regarding
Abraham? Now, Abraham was a man of many trials. I mean, all the
stuff the Lord put him through, he had one trial after another.
He had a pretty rough life in many respects. You know what
the Lord said about Abraham? Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it, and he was glad,
and I don't have any doubt that he's talking about Genesis chapter
22, when Abraham lifted up that knife to slay his son. He wasn't
happy about that. God told him to do it, and he
was going to do it. And he felt much pain. Can you imagine what
he must have felt like? Because in his mind, that boy
was already dead. He said, well, I've got to do it. The Lord said
to do it. He lifts up his hand, and the Lord says, stop, Abraham.
Stop. There's a ram. behind you, a
substitute ran. Do you reckon Abraham rejoiced
then? Do you reckon he was happy? He
rejoiced to see my day, that day of the substitute. And he
saw it. He was glad. Do you know who
else was glad? Oh, Isaac was glad. Do you reckon he was happy?
He saw that knife stopped. There were a lot of folks happy
over there, weren't there? Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw
it. And he was glad. Turn with me
to Acts chapter 13 for a moment. Acts chapter 13. Now, this is
Paul's first recorded sermon. And we read beginning in verse
47, this is how he's wrapping it up. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I've set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that
thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. Now,
if you're at the ends of the earth, If you're down on the
bottom, this is good news. If you're a Gentile, this is
good news. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were, what? Glad. That's the same word translated
rejoiced. They rejoiced. And they glorified
the word of the Lord. And I love this. And as many
as were ordained to eternal life believed. Who believed? Those
who were ordained to eternal. life. Now, it is impossible to
believe on Christ and not to rejoice. Let me repeat that. It is impossible. To believe on Christ, to believe
he's your salvation and not to rejoice, Paul spoke in Romans
15, 13 of the joy, the joy and the peace of believing. And I say this to every believer,
you know this is so. When God gives you the grace
to believe, and when is it you really believe the most? I know
when I believe the most, when I'm hearing the gospel. While
I'm hearing the gospel, boy, I believe. I might walk out the
door and I struggle, but while I'm hearing it, I believe. And
I rejoice. I rejoice in the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the Lord Himself and nothing
else is enough to make us rejoice. If everything else is bad, and
yet I have Him, that's enough to make me rejoice. Let me show
you a passage of Scripture in 1 Samuel chapter 30. This is David, the man after God's
own heart. Verse 6. Now this is after David's family
had been kidnapped all the people of Ziklab were kidnapped by the
Amalekites. And verse 5 says David's two
wives were taken captive, Anaheim and Jezreelitus and Abigail,
the wife of Nabal, the Carmelite. And David was greatly distressed. For the people, his buddies,
his friends, they spake of stoning him. He's the one who got us
into this mess. It's his fault this happened.
We've lost everything. We've lost everybody. We're going
to stone him. Because the soul of the people
was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters, but
David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. Nothing else was needed for an
encouragement. David encouraged himself in the
Lord his God. Now, believer, you don't really
need anything else to make you happy. And if you try and find
happiness in anything or anyone else, you will be disappointed. Write that down. All we need
to find happiness is found in the Lord Jesus Christ. I love
that song, content with beholding His face. My all to His pleasure
resigned. No changes of season or place
would make any change in my mind. When blessed with a sense of
His love, a palace, a toy would appear, and prisms would palaces
prove if Jesus would dwell with me there. You see, a believer
can rejoice when circumstances are horrible. Let me show you
this in the scripture. Would you turn with me to the
book of Habakkuk? Habakkuk chapter 3. It's Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk
and Zephaniah. I want you to look at this with
me. Habakkuk chapter 3. Habakkuk chapter 3. Beginning in verse
17, the prophet tells us, although the fig tree shall not
blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines. The labor of
the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat. The
flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd
in the stalls." Nothing. Nothing. Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the
God of my salvation. Now, I might not have anything.
Habakkuk didn't. He said, yet I will rejoice in
the Lord. Oh, the salvation that is in
the Lord. I'm accepted in the Beloved,
in whom we have redemption. through His blood, even the forgiveness
of sins. I rejoice in the God of my salvation. I like the way he says it. He
doesn't say, I rejoice in salvation, although I do. I rejoice in the
God of my salvation, the God who saved me, the God whose hand
is on me, the God whose mercy is toward me, the God who knows
me. He knows my down-sitting and
my uprising. He knows everything about me.
He loves me in the Lord Jesus Christ. I will rejoice, though
I don't have anything else. If the Lord takes my health,
if I lose every dime I've got, and I've got to be a street person,
I will rejoice in the Lord God, the God of my salvation. Now,
is He enough of a reason to make you rejoice? You don't need any
other reason, do you? Really, you find your happiness.
You find your contentment in knowing Him. Now, the Lord says
to His disciples, if you loved Me, you would rejoice. Now, while
the Bible gives the unbeliever no reason to rejoice. Everything's a curse, even the
good stuff, it's a curse. The unbeliever is not given any
reason for rejoicing, yet the believer has so many legitimate
grounds for rejoicing. I'll get to the reason the Lord
gave in our text in a moment, but let me give you these scriptural
grounds for rejoicing. Philippians 3, 1, rejoicing the
Lord. And again, I say rejoice, rejoice
in the Lord. In the Lord, do you have a reason
to rejoice? Simply being found in Him? In
Luke chapter 13, verse 17, we read where all the people rejoice
for all the glorious things done by Him, by His mighty power.
We rejoice in His power. You know, the Lord, my Redeemer,
is all-powerful. He said, all power is given unto
me. He's omnipotent. He's in absolute control of everything.
He's got the power that anything he wills, it's going to come
to pass. I rejoice at that. I will rejoice, said David, in
thy salvation. We rejoice in his salvation.
Don't you rejoice in being justified by his righteousness? I don't
know of anything more comfortable to my soul than knowing that
his righteousness is my righteousness. It's not a certificate. that
says, well, he's legally righteous, even though we know he's bad.
No, I'm righteous all the way through to the Lord Jesus Christ.
I believe that. And I can't help but rejoice.
I rejoice in sanctification. He's my sanctification. I'm holy
before God. I rejoice in my glorification.
I'm already glorified. I rejoice in it. Don't you rejoice
in his grace? We rejoice in his salvation. In Luke 19, verse 6, I like to
read about Zacchaeus, where he made haste and came down and
received Him joyfully. You know, when we receive the
Lord Jesus Christ, you know what that means? That means He gives
Himself to us and we take Him. It's that simple. He gives Himself
to us and we take Him. And when we receive Him, we receive
Him joyfully. You can't receive Him any other
way than joyfully. And then we read in Luke chapter
10 verse 20 where the Lord told the disciples, rejoice that your
names are written in heaven. Now isn't that a glorious thing
to think about? My name is written in God's eternal book of election. Now that's something to rejoice
in. What a high honor. You know,
what if your name is in some kind of Lexington has, if I'm
not mistaken, I've heard Lexington has a Blue Blood book where the
Blue Bloods of Lexington are all the really important people.
Now, I'm not going to make that. And to be honest with you, I
don't want to. But here's where I want my name
to be. I want my name to be inscribed in that great book of election,
God's chosen. And then we read in Acts 15 31
of rejoicing at the consolation of the liberty that we have in
Christ Jesus. That's something to rejoice in.
Romans 12 12 says rejoicing in hope. I have a hope. that when
I stand before God, I'm going to hear Him say to me, well done,
thou good and faithful servant. And it's not going to be fake.
It's going to be because, well done, thou good and faithful
servant. Because if Christ did well, I
did well, He's going to say that to me. That's something to rejoice
in. Oh, I can't see how the Lord's
going to say that to me. Well, I couldn't either if it had something
to do with my personal performance. But Christ Jesus is my righteousness
before God. He really is, and he's going
to say to me, well done, thou good and faithful servant. He's
not going to say you're a rotten servant, but Christ's righteousness
is imputed to you and counted to you, so you're going to be
like, no, not at all. Well done. You know, many times we read
in the scriptures of rejoicing in persecution. They rejoiced
that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. You know, the Lord said, Blessed
are you when all men shall speak evil of you, and they'll cast
out your name as evil for my sake. Rejoice in that day and
be exceeding glad. That's something to rejoice in.
You know, meeting fellow believers is a grander rejoicing and being
glad. Isn't it wonderful to meet with God's people, believe the
same gospel? Now, in our text, the Lord says,
If you love me, you would rejoice. Because I go to my Father. Turn
back to John chapter 14. If you love me, you would rejoice
because I go to my Father. If you love me. Every believer
loves the Lord Jesus Christ. He loves everything about Him. Now there's some people here
who I really believe love me. I believe you love me. I believe
that you really do. And I also know this. I know
this for sure. There's things about me that
if you were around me enough, you wouldn't love a bit. I've
got no question about that. If you knew what was in my heart,
there'd be all kinds of things you don't love. And same way
with you. I'm like you. But the Lord is
altogether lovely. The believer loves everything
about Christ. We love him as he's revealed
in this book. We love his word. I believe his word. Now, he says,
if you love me, you would rejoice. You'd be happy. You'd be well
off. You'd be glad. Because I said, I go to my father. Now, let me give you some reasons
why that causes us to rejoice. First, loving him, we rejoice. Because he goes to the best place. Now, I got to thinking about
this. I got to thinking about him being
right now at the right hand of the Father. And that made me so happy. At
thy right hand, the scripture says, are pleasures evermore. If he's in the best place, I'm
happy. If you love Him, just the fact
that He is in the best place at the right hand of the Father,
that's enough to float your boat. That'll make you happy. We rejoice
that He goes to the Father because that means He completed the work
that the Father gave Him to do. He said, I've glorified thee
on the earth and I have finished the work that thou gavest me
to do." Now, what was the work the father gave him to do? Well,
you know the scripture, Matthew 121, very opening page of the
New Testament, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. He said, I must be about my father's
business, the business of saving my people. from their sins. That's
the father's business, and that's what he came to do. And when
he bowed his mighty head and said, it is finished, the salvation
of every single person that he died for was completed. Now, is that something to rejoice
in? I don't know of any more precious words than those. It
is finished. No pressure. No stress. He did it all. That same word
is translated accomplished. Completed. Made it in. Performed. Paid. Fulfilled. It is. Finished, I am. Say. Look in John 16. Verse 8 And when He has come into the
world, speaking of God the Holy Spirit, He will reprove or convince
the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Of sin, because
they believe not on Me. Of righteousness, because I go
to My Father. Now, that makes me rejoice. He brings His righteousness to
the Father. And I'm there in Him. That makes
me rejoice. We rejoice. in His salvation. There's my righteousness before
God. We rejoice because if He goes to the Father, we do too. Now, I see so little of God. I see
so little of God. But do you know that in reality,
I am in His presence right now. If Jesus Christ is in the presence
of God, rejoicing in Him, I am too. That's what Scripture teaches. He's made us to sit together
in Heaven in Christ Jesus. Now, talking about Christ being
in the best place, I'm in the best place, too. I'm in the best place. Can't
get any better. You can't improve on my situation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I rejoice in that. He said, I go to my Father, and
in going to His Father, He goes to sit at His right hand as King
of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Lord reigneth. The Lord is in
control. Let the earth rejoice. Does it
make you rejoice to know that Jesus Christ is controlling everything?
I mean, you can't take it too far. He controls everything. He's God. This is the day that
the Lord has made. That's why David said, I'll be
rejoiced. I will rejoice and be glad. in it. I rejoice in
His complete control of all things. We rejoice because He goes to
the Father as our great High Priest. I'm glad He's in heaven at the
right hand of the Father without thinking about myself. If that's
possible, I guess it's probably not. But here's what I like thinking
about even more. I'm glad to think of Him in heaven
in His Father's presence. But He's there doing something.
He's there interceding for me. My worthless name is presented
for the God of glory and He accepts me in my great high priest. Now, is that something to rejoice
in? These things have I written unto
you that you sin not, now when you do, We have, not we will
have if, but we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous. I rejoice in his intercession. He goes to the Father to intercede
for me. And we rejoice. He says, I go
to the Father. We rejoice because of the ministry
of the Holy Spirit. Turn with me to John chapter
16. Verse 7, Nevertheless, I tell you the
truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not
away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart,
I will send him unto you. I rejoice because of the ministry
of God the Holy Spirit. Now, here's the point. All the
things that we can't do? That's a long list, isn't it? Believe. Repent. Love. Persevere. All the things that we cannot
do, we can do by the Spirit of God. Thank God for the ministry
of the Holy Spirit. I'm believing the Gospel right
now, and I know why. Because of the ministry of the
Holy Spirit. So we rejoice that He goes to
the Father. And we rejoice in Him going because
we know He will return for us. Look in John 14. Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God? Believe also in me. Do you believe
God's all-powerful? I'm all-powerful. Do you believe
God is sovereign? I'm sovereign. Do you believe
God is merciful? I'm merciful. Do you believe
in God? Whatever you believe regarding
Him, you believe me. In my Father's house or many
mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. Isn't
that a precious statement? If it were not so, I would have
told you. You know, he tells us nothing
but truth. He said that I go to prepare
a place for you. He's going to the cross to prepare
a place for us. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that
where I am, there you may be also. Is that a reason to rejoice? I'd like to close by looking
at a passage of scripture in Acts chapter 16. Verse 16. And it came to pass. How many times you find that
statement in Scripture. It came to pass. God ordered
it. It came to pass. Regarding everything, it came
to pass. Whatever it is, it came to pass.
God ordered it. Here it is. It came to pass.
As we went to prayer, a certain damsel, possessed with a spirit
of divination, met us, which brought her masters much gain
by sensei, The same followed Paul and us,
and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the Most
High God, which show unto us the way of salvation. Now, find
me one thing wrong with what she said. Is there any error
in that statement? She told the truth. She told
that which is true. She didn't tell the truth. She
didn't tell the way of salvation. She just kept talking about these
fellows. Verse 18, And this she did many
days. She must have drove Paul crazy. Everywhere he went, she'd say,
These be the servants of the Most High God, who show unto
us the ways of salvation. Grief, Paul. He got irritated.
He got grieved with it. He turned and said to the Spirit,
I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.
He came out the same hour. And when her master saw that
the hope of their gains was gone, They caught Paul and Silas, and
drew them into the marketplace under the rulers, and brought
them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly
trouble our city, and teach customs which are not lawful for us to
receive, neither to observe, being Romans. And the multitude
rose up together against them, and the magistrates ran off their
clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid
many stripes upon them, I imagine they were tied to a pole, They
took the cat of nine tails and just beat him to a pulp. And
then they thrust them. When they had laid many stripes
upon them, they cast them into prison, a dirty, dark prison,
charging the jailer to keep them safely, who, having received
such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison and made their
feet fast in the stalks. And at midnight, Paul and Silas
prayed and sang praises unto God. Wouldn't you like to
hear those songs? And the prisoners heard them,
and suddenly, There was a great earthquake so that the foundations
of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors
were opened and everyone's bands were loose. And the keeper of
the prison, awaking out of his sleep. Now did he hear any of
this singing? I don't know. He might not. He was asleep.
He probably thought, what's wrong with these guys? They must be
crazy. You know, what are they praising for? I mean, here they
are in prison. But he awoke up out of his sleep.
And seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and he
would have killed himself. Supposing that the prisoners
had been fled, he knew he was in trouble. But Paul cried with
a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm, for we're all here.
Then he called for a light and sprang in and came trembling
and fell down before Paul of Silas and brought them out and
said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto
him the word of the Lord. Now, they didn't just say believe
and drop it at that. No, they spake unto him the word
of the Lord. They preached the gospel to him. They heard the
truth. He spake unto them the word of
the Lord to all that were in the house, and he took them the
same hour of the night this jailer, and washed their stripes, and
was baptized, he and his, straightway. And when they brought them into
the house, he set meat before them, and what? Rejoiced, believing in God with
all his house. Now, did that read right? He
said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. That reads exactly right. He rejoiced, believing in God
with all his house. Are you happy? Yes, I am. Let's pray.