Now I'm going to try to be to
the point, and brief as I possibly can, because I don't want this message
to be lost in a mountain of words. The Apostle Paul feared, lest
the cross of Christ be made of non-effect. lest we lose the
message in our deliveries, in our illustrations, in our antidotes. But my subject is the joy of
believing God, the joy of believing God. I'm tired, you grow weary. We grow weary with the responsibilities
and duties that are upon us, so repetitious. Some of you have
worked the same job for 30, 35, 40 years. That job has lost its
delight, even interest. Life is so plain. Some of you are depressed and
troubled. Some of you's homes are unhappy.
Some of you young people are without work. You don't know
where to turn. Some of you are trying to figure
out what you're going to do with your lives, who you're going
to marry, where you're going to live, what kind of work you're
going to do. You have trouble, misunderstanding,
discord. Life is just full of problems,
full of problems. Do we have any reason to be happy? Do we have any reason to rejoice? Well, in David's psalm of repentance,
he said this, O God, restore unto me the joy, the joy of thy
salvation. Joy. In John 15, our Lord said
to His disciples, and you talk about troubled times. These men were alone. The whole
world was against them. Not only that, but they were
about to lose the presence of their Master. He was going back
to Glover and leave them alone. Jews hated them and Gentiles
didn't understand them. They had a message that the world
rejected and despised. They themselves were in doubt
about what they believed. They were only children. And
yet our Lord said to them in John 15, These words have I spoken
unto you, that my joy, joy might remain in you, my joy, and that
your joy may be full. In Romans 5, 11, Paul said this,
We joy in God. we joy in God through our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. We're happy, happy. And then in 1 John 1 forward,
John wrote, These words are these things rightly unto you, that
your joy may be full. And in Galatians 5, 22, the fruit
of the Spirit The fruit of the Spirit of God
is love and joy. Joy. And we're told by the Apostle
Paul repeatedly, rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. Well, you say, Preacher, I'd
sure like to have something to be joyful about. I don't know
where I'm going to get the money to pay the next bill. We've got
so many problems and so much trouble and burdens in our home
and on my job and in the schools and this nation and all the things
I read in the paper. How in the world can a man really,
without putting up a front and a false front and show, how can
he really have joy, joy, joy? joy, happiness, happiness. I tell you this, there's a joy
in which I'm not interested. There's a joy and a so-called
rejoicing in which I'm not interested. I'm not interested in the joy
of material possessions because it's not lasting. It's not lasting. You remember the fellow, our
Lord told us about the fellow who's, you say, well, right now,
I don't know what you're talking about. I'm happy. My possessions,
materially speaking, are greater than they've ever been. Well,
another fellow said that one time. He said, my fields are
bringing forth in such a magnificent way that I'm going to tear down
my barns tomorrow and build me some new ones. He was really
rejoicing. But he is rejoicing in a temporary
thing. And the Lord whispered to him,
you're a fool. You're a fool. You're a fool. This night your soul is going
to be required of you and then who shall all these things be
that you accumulated and so forth. So I'm surely not interested. A man's life does not consist
in what he possesses, physically and materially. No, it doesn't. It doesn't consist in those.
I'm not, that's not real joy. That's not lasting joy and that's
no reason really to be joyful because you have all you need
physically, all you need materially, all you need in possessions.
That's not it. And then secondly, I'm not interested
in the joy of personal attainment and glory. You say, well, you should be
happy. You have a successful ministry. You have friends all
over the world. You've had books published and
so forth. Some of you out there are what
we call successful men in your field. That's right. Some of
you out there are good at what you do. And everybody knows you
are. You know you are. Like Barney
used to say, I know when I'm preaching. Ain't no use acting
like a hypocrite. Fella knocks a home run, he can
sit and go over the fence just like everybody else, can't he?
He hits it and he goes over the fence. Somebody says, well, you
knocked a home run. He said, no, I didn't. Yes, he did. Boy, I hit that one, didn't I? That's the way. And that's true.
And you're good at what you do. Well, let me tell you something.
That's as fleeting as yesterday's flowers, too. There'll come a time when somebody
will stand in this pulpit right here, and I won't stand here
anymore. Maybe four fellows stand here in the next 15, 20 years.
As if somebody's going to take your job, too, and do it with
equal fervor and maybe more successful, maybe do it better. The place
thereof shall know it no more. That's right. Somebody's going
to take your place and do it as well as you do it, or better.
So we can't glory. He said, let not the wise man
glory in his wisdom. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches. Let not the strong man glory
in his strength. Don't glory in those things that
are fleeting and temporary. You remember Belshazzar? Or Nebuchadnezzar
who, he said, this is the great Babylon I've built. And the Lord
put him down. He put him down. So I'm not interested
in the joy of material possession, and I'm not interested in the
joy of personal glory. It's too fleeting. It's not worth
that. It's not worth a pile of withered
leaves. All flesh is grass and the glory
of man is as the what? The flower of the field that
withereth and is cast into the oven and burnt up. It's no good. So just forget it. You're not
going to find any joy in personal attainment or accomplishments
or glory. Now forget it. I'll tell you
another joy I'm not interested in. I'm not interested in the
fleeting joy of emotional religion. We'll show you a scripture in
Matthew 13. What are you talking about, Brother May? I'll tell
you what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the so-called
joy of an emotional religion. An emotional religion, whoopee
religion. And that's what most of the television
preachers are, just a bunch of whoopee cheerleaders is what
they are. Everybody put up their hands, everybody put their hands
down, everybody bow their head, everybody open their eyes, everybody
sing, everybody happy, say amen. Somebody give Jesus a big hand,
you know, all that tommyrot, that's all, it's a bunch of tommyrot. It's a bunch of sentimentalism,
emotionalism, freewillism. It's just, it's fleeting. It's
a waste of time and effort. In Matthew chapter 13, verse
20, Our Lord said, He that receiveth
the seed, the Word, in the stony places, the same as he that heareth
the Word, and anon with joy receiveth it, and yet he hath no root,
yet hath he not root in himself, and he doeth for a little while,
and when tribulation or persecution arises because of the Word, thine
by he is offended. Bunch of people get together
in some big shot high class evangelist comes along and preaches some
bible or a little illustration or two and some religion. Everybody
gets worked up and receives the word with joy and goes out yonder
and then tribulation and trouble. Just ordinary living comes along.
Just the cares of ordinary living. And that emotionalism is is put
down, that emotionalism and that sentimentalism and that so-called
fire of religion just goes out and you're left with nothing,
nothing. I'm not interested in that. I'm
not interested in a whoopee time in the church. There's no lasting
joy. And then I'm not interested in
the joy of a false profession. Over here in Isaiah 28, Isaiah
chapter 28. These folks got to talking about
dying, talking about death, talking about judgment, and talking about
hell, and talking about Isaiah 28, talking about God's judgment
coming through. And they said in verse 15, we
have made a covenant with death. We're not afraid to die. With
hell are we at agreement. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, it won't come unto us. We got a refuge. We got a hiding place. Well,
I'm not interested in that. I'm not interested in materialistic
joy or joy that's based on the fleeting fashions of this world.
I'm not interested in the joy of personal accomplishments and
personal glory and hearing the praise of men. Someone takes
one of the books that I've written in there and says, well, you
autographed this for me. That embarrasses me, because
I know what that amounts to. I know what that amounts to.
Charlie, it amounts to nothing. Nothing we've ever done or accomplished
in the flesh is worth a snap of the finger. I'm not interested
in that kind of joy, the joy of emotionalism. I'll tell you
what I'm interested in. And I'll give you several scriptures.
Turn to Psalm 5. Here's where it is. Psalm 5.
Psalm chapter 5, verse 11. Listen, this is what I'm interested
in. In Psalm 5, verse 11. I'm interested for myself and
for you in the joy of his salvation.
In Psalm 5, verse 11. Let all those that put their
trust in thee Rejoice. Let those who put their trust
in you, let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them. Let them also that love thy name
be joyful indeed. If my joy lasts, if my joy continues,
if my happiness it continues, it's going to have to be in something
or someone that lasts, that continues. You see what I'm saying? The foundation of my joy or my
happiness, my delight, has got to be a lasting foundation. And that's the reason he says
here, let those that put their trust in thee, let them rejoice. Let them that love thy name be
joyful in thee." Turn over to Psalm 1611. This is something,
if I can get this across, and the Spirit of God makes it real,
it's something nobody can take away from you. And when your oldest son catches
the plane, goes off to the service, your joy doesn't go with him. And when you're sitting in your
room and someone calls on the phone and says your sister or
brother has just been killed in a car accident, your joy doesn't
go with them. Or when the boss calls you in
and says, we're cutting down and jobs are getting scarce here
and we've got no offers and we're going to have to let you go,
your joy doesn't go with them. Or when you go to the doctor
and he says, you got a real problem now, and
it's just something you're going to have to live with, and finally
it'll take your life. Well, the light doesn't go out,
and your joy doesn't go with it. You see what I'm talking
about? And when you're disappointed, And you're disappointed in so
many ways. I've got to have a joy. I've
got to have a rejoicing. And this is what happens. People
that get religion and they go to church and make professions
and they get married and have family and all this sort of thing. And things go their way. Then
when things, when tribulation and distress and persecution
and trouble rears up its head, they're gone. They fall apart. They can't cope. And this is
why, because they found their joy in the wrong things. They built their hope on the
wrong foundation. In this world ye shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world, Christ
said, and you'll overcome it in me. Now she's going, Mike. Jonathan, I'm telling you, Jim,
I'm telling you, your health's going, and your jobs are going,
your material things are going, and all these things are going.
Don't you put your hope in them and find your happiness in them,
because it'll go with it. When those things go, you're
gone. You can't find any place to stand. You can't find any
place for happiness. You get depressed. You women,
you brought your children into the world, and the house is a
happy place, and you're in the kitchen, and the door open, children
coming in from school, and they bring their buddies in, mama
fixes milk and cookies, and always something going on. That old
house is going to get quiet one of these days. It's going to get awful quiet.
You're going to wish you could hear a baby cry. You're going
to wish you could change a diaper. You're going to wish you had
a meal to fix for somebody. You're going to wish somebody
would track their dirty feet across the den. It's too clean
now, isn't it? You're going to wish somebody
would come and knock that thing off the coffee table and let
it crack up. Nobody comes to visit your coffee table anymore.
It's dark and lonely. Some of you know why I'm And
then they go to pieces. You know why? Their happiness
is gone with their children. Their happiness is gone with
these other things. They put their joy in these things. I'm not interested in that. I'm not interested in that. I've
got to have this. Psalm 1611. Listen. Thou wilt show me the path of
life, In thy presence is fullness of joy. That's where it is. Nowhere
else. And some of you young people
sitting here listening to me, you think I sound like a fellow
hauling in a barrel. But it'll come true all too soon. All too soon. Listen to the next
line. At thy right hand there are pleasures
forevermore. Who's at his right hand? I'm telling you, that's where
it is. It's at His right hand. That's where the pleasure is.
Talk about joy in Christ. Pleasure in Christ. Lasting,
I mean. That's the kind of joy I'm interested
in. How about Psalm 27? Turn over there a moment. Psalm
27, verse 6. Psalm 27, verse 6. And now, shall my head be lifted
up above mine enemy? round about me, therefore will
I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy, shouting, I will sing,
I will sing praises unto the Lord." One more Psalm 42. Psalm 42. This is where joy is. Lasting, permanent, eternal,
that cannot be shaken. that cannot be taken away. And
I exhort myself and I exhort you. And I plead with myself
and I plead with you. And I encourage myself and I
encourage you. Find your happiness and joy and
pleasures in the Lord. Let your feet be established
on Him. Let your mind and heart dwell
on Him. Set your affection on things
above, not on the things of this earth. For everything on this earth
on which you build and depend and in which you trust is going
to hurt you someday. It's going to hurt you and hurt
you severely. It can't last. It's like a child
sitting, I go down to the beach and I walk along the beach and
I see these children and young people building, building those
elaborate sandcastles and they work, they get water and sand. Bobbye worked for hours on those
things. They'll have them this high and
all these little moats around them and all that thing. And
I think in the morning that'll be gone because the tide's coming
in. And I can see where the tide
was this morning before we got up. It was clear up here to those
weeds. And they're working, and they're
working, and they're laboring, and they're getting all these
things, got everybody helping them, and they get it all finished,
and everybody brags on it, turn around and take pictures of it,
you know, then go to their room, next morning come, and it's as
level as that floor right there. We're doing the same thing. We're
building all these fleshly relationships, and all these fleshly ties, and
all this giving and going, and grasping, all of these things
of this world, and tomorrow morning they're going to be gone. I need
to set my affections where nothing changes. Change and decay and
all around I see, O thou that changest not, abide with me.
God doesn't change. His love never changes. Look
at Psalm 42. Psalm 42, 11. Why art thou cast
down, O my soul? I need to ask myself that question.
Why are you blue? Why are you discouraged? Why
are you weary? Why are you troubled? Why are
you depressed? Why? Well, so-and-so said, but
so-and-so's mouth is going to be stopped in a few days. He's
just temporary. Well, but that's going to be
gone too. Why are you discouraged? Listen,
while you're disquieted within me, hope thou in God, that's
where it is, put your affection, set your hope, plant your feet,
turn your eyes, build your future, hope in God. For I shall yet
praise Him who is the health of my countenance and my God. I want to give you from Romans
8. I read that a while ago for a purpose. And when I was preparing
this message, I prepared it for myself as well as for you. When
I was preparing this message, I tried to find some scripture
that would help me to have the hope and the happiness and the
joy and the rejoicing and the reason for it and the cause and
the foundation. In myself, there's no cause for
joy. I have no merit, I have no strength,
I have no righteousness, I have no cause for joy. Not in myself. I'm not talking about lasting
joy. I'm talking about lasting joy. Now, I know temporarily
we, there's nothing more enjoyable than these These blessings God's
given us around here, around here, our fellowship, our children,
all of these things. But now remember, these things
are going to be gone. That's what I'm saying, someday they'll
be gone. And I've got this, in myself I've got no cause for
happiness. But in Him and in His Word, in
His promises, in His grace, I have no cause for anything but happiness. and but joy. See that? And he
says in Romans 8, I'm going to give you four things and be brief
about it, but first in Romans 8, 28. And note this, in verse
28 it says, all things. You see that? All things. In
verse 31 it says, these things. You see that? Those two are these
things. See verse 31, Romans 8, 31, these
things. Now you see down here in verse
In verse 32 it says, All things again. And then in verse 37 it
says, These things. All things. All things. These things. These things. Here's
my cause for rejoicing. Here's my cause. No matter what
is taking place in this world around me or within me, about
me, unto me, I have cause to rejoice, because it says in verse
28, And I know that all things, all things, work together for
good to them who love God, who are called according to His purpose.
Now I'm not going to take time to dwell on the people to whom
this promise is given. It's clearly stated. They love
God, and they're called according to His purpose. But do you realize
this says here, the joyful truth that all things in heaven or
earth, all things in birth, life, and death, all things in my life
and the life of others, all things in sickness or health, all things
in weakness or strength, all things in joy or in sorrow, all
things in success or failure, all things in youth or old age,
All things work together for my eternal good. That ought to make me happy.
That gives me cause to rejoice. All these things are working
together under God's watchful eye, in God's divine plan, in
God's secret will, for my eternal good. That's enough to make me
happy. A friend told me one time that
he visited a rug factory where they made these beautiful ornamental
rugs with all the flowers and designs and kind of shag rugs. And he said he was coming through
the mill there watching these great machines. And all this
thread was coming into this machine. It was black thread and green
thread and red thread and yellow thread. orange thread and blue
thread and all this thread were just going together in a machine.
And he said, I thought when I saw all that thread going into that
machine, what a mess that's going to be. And he said, I walked
around on the other side, and on the other side there was a
road coming through there, and all that thread mixed together
had made the most beautiful flowers on the most beautiful background. I'll tell you, if you stand on
this side of life and you see all the things happening to us, all the little nagging, upsetting
things that happen through life's days, all these little things that
you get the way you expect it to go wrong, you know, you just
expect it to. That's par for the course, we
say. Well, I'll tell you, all the black threads and the red
threads and the yellow threads all go together in a days, in
life's little days. But God said He was going to
make out of every one of them beautiful flowers on the other
side. Just got to wait until it's all
over, if we can have the patience to wait until God finishes with
us. Now, that's what it says. I got a reason to be happy. You know, we walk out of the
pulpit sometime out of that classroom back there thinking, boy, I just
didn't do any good at all. Well, I did. Rarely do. But God's able to work that out
for my good. You see what I'm saying? I wish
I could remember this. Somebody remind me of this when
I get down next time and say, boy, I struck out. Say, well,
that's good. That's what you're supposed to
do. That was God's will for you. All right, Romans 8, 31, look
at this. Well, what shall we say to these things? Well, what
things? What shall we say to what things?
Verse 29, Whom he foreknew, God elected some people. And you
know something? I have good cause to believe
He elected me. That's right. I've been called.
I've heard the Word with power. I've come to faith in Christ.
God elected me. And not only elected me, but
he predestinated me to be like Christ. And whom he predestinated
to be like Christ, he called, and whom he called, he justified,
and whom he justified, he's already glorified. Do you know something?
In the mind and purpose and will of God, I'm already seated at
God's right hand. I'm already glorified. Already. That's what he said. What you
going to say about this? Well, let me say, glory to God.
Thank God. It's the Lord. Let Him do what
He will. If God be for me, who can be against me? These glorious
things, who can prevail against us? Who can succeed against us?
The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, God said, I will
not desert to its foe. That's cause to rejoice. That's
unchanging. All right, there's two things
I've given. I'll give you two more. Number one, everything's
working together for my good. I've been predestinated to be
like Christ, and that's unchanging. Now look at verse 33, verse 32. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Well, it's a fact that God gave
his son, right? That's an established fact. If he gave his son and Christ
came to purchase something, then what Christ purchased is going
to be given to those for whom he purchased it. Now let me make
a statement, you listen to it. The great miracle is not that
God gives us all things in Christ. The great miracle is that God
should give Christ in the first place. That's the miracle. And
if Jesus Christ has come and died and purchased our redemption,
Almighty God must give it to us because Christ bought it.
That's no miracle. Here I am standing, I'm the proprietor
of the store, and you owe me a debt. I've got a paper here
that says you owe a debt of $500, and Mike comes in and pays it,
pays it in full. Why, that's no problem for me
to stamp it paid in full and hand you the receipt. That's
no problem at all. The problem is getting him to
pay it. See what I'm saying? And if he pays it, I'm naturally
going to give you the receipt if I've got any righteousness,
any justice in me. And for me to require you to
pay it also is, that's not right. And so he says here, he that
spared not his own son, how shall he not with him freely? I'm not
going to charge you for the receipt. It's yours. It's paid for. How
shall He not with Him freely give us what? All things. What are all things? Justification,
redemption, righteousness, sanctification, all things that Christ purchased.
They're yours. They're yours. There's no problem
to that. You say, well, what if God doesn't save me? Well,
you might as well say, what if God ceases to be God? What if
after trusting Christ I don't enter into heaven? Well, God's
going to have to abdicate the throne if that's so. Now, that's
just all there is to it. That's what old John Jasper said. Somebody said, what if after
all these years of trusting Christ, and they turn you away from heaven's
door? He said, God will lose more than
I'll lose. I'll lose my soul, but God will lose His honor.
He hath engaged to keep the weakest of His sheep. That's exactly
right. That's what he asked there. Why,
he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? All
things. And then last of all, in verse
37, in all these things we're more than conquerors. And what
are these things? Well, back in verse 35, who's
going to separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation. Do you know anything about tribulation? Sure you do. That's trials. Some
of your children have broken your heart. Some of your other
people have broken your heart. Some of us, we've broken our
own hearts. We're disgusted and troubled
and fearful and all these things. Distress, persecution from every
hand, famine, want, nakedness, peril of sword, And for thy sake we're killed
all the day long. But even in these things, we're
more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Through Him
that loved us. That's where it is. That's where
the happiness is. The happiness is not in myself.
The happiness is in this. I am the Lord. I change not.
The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. It's
not my love for Him. It's His love for me. And you'll
never find, let me tell you this, tell myself this and you this,
you'll never find any cause for real joy. Temporary, yeah. Bleeding for the moment, yes.
In a lot of these things. But real joy and real happiness,
you'll never find any cause for real happiness except in one
place, and that's in Christ Jesus the Lord. And that's where it
is. And if we can settle on Him,
if our hearts and minds and our eyes look to Him, if our thoughts
can be taken up with Him, if we can just be dedicated, devoted,
consecrated to Him, this old ship can sail through the deepest,
deepest water on an even keel, and the greatest wind won't shake
Because our souls are anchored in Christ. Isn't that right?
That's where it is. That's where joy is. That's where
happiness is.