Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for embracing the commission
of the Father. Both of you had to cooperate in
this, in the Holy Spirit as well, and we're very
grateful for the incredible lengths. I mean,
really, the whole universe is built just as a
stage for this story of redemption and restoration.
play out, but the incredible, incredible lengths
you've gone to to reconcile sinners to yourself,
of which we are definitely part of the number.
And I thank you that it's not a one and done,
and we're on our own to struggle through this
life and hopefully make it stumble across the
threshold of heaven. into an inheritance that
we have. But your power, as Erica reminded us
this morning about your power, power in the truth,
and part of the truth that we find in your Word
is that you are protecting us. The same power
that is protecting our inheritance and reserving
it in heaven is also protecting us as well. And
you keep us in your hand. And we stray often.
We stumble often. But scripture says the righteous
man stumbles seven times and he gets up. And
so I thank you for each person that's drawn here
today. All of us are drawn as Christ is lifted
up. And I pray that you would be lifted up here
in our hearts and before our eyes that we would
behold your beauty, Father, in the face of the
Lord Jesus. And thank you for His high priestly
prayer here. which points to his ministry now
as our intercessor, who is able to identify with
us and is a faithful high priest. And we thank
you for that, Lord Jesus, that you are willing
to continue to suffer through your saints. It's
an amazing thought to think that we, as part
of your body, you feel the pain, the persecutions,
what happens to these believers in Nigeria, you
are there. Even as you told Paul, why are you
persecuting me? And so we know that you're not
unaware of these things and unaware of the pain
in our own lives as well. And the injustice,
the darkness, the disappointment and despair
that we feel in this world, we thank you that
it's not the final chapter. That you are working
it out together for good. Help us to understand
these things. Apply them. Believe them and obey
them today, in Jesus' name, Amen. Last time we
started talking about the topic of joy, and I
want to ask you again, my intent last time, we
ended up talking about a lot of other things,
and that's not necessarily bad, as long as we
don't stray too far from Scripture. Anytime you're
reading a part of Scripture and studying it,
It has connections to other parts of Scripture,
right? And that's appropriate for us to delve
into these topics. And we're going to do that
today, Lord willing. We've got a number of Scriptures
in both Old and New Testament that deal with
this topic of joy and rejoicing. And I kind of
primed the pump a little bit last time, but I
want to ask you again if you've given any more
thought to that or considered... What joy is
and how does it compare to something say happiness,
right? It's always an acronym. Your mom told
me years ago. Joy is Jesus others in yourself.
You put Jesus first others before you in yourself,
right? I didn't know if you said that we weren't
here last week, but I remember her saying that
stuff with me. It's hard. It's hard to do that.
That's right. It's even sometimes hard. I may
be shunned, but it's hard sometimes for Jesus
first. You know, we say that's what we want to
do, but our simple desires and our nature is
to look out for number one. If we sit here and
say we don't do that, then we're not truthful
with ourselves. Yes, that's very true. Very true.
I think the joy is. Being like the flag that
flies over the life of the person in which Jesus
is Lord We can remember seeing that in our brother
who's more service we just participate in that
he was a person Do it not just giddy, but he
really had the joy in his heart. Yes, it is That's
right, and I was reflecting about that fact I
I had some thoughts, you know, I had no idea
what the service was going to be like, you know,
and it was long enough. They didn't need to have
an open mic. But sometimes you do at these things.
You have an open mic and somebody can come up
and, you know, friends, you know, can reflect
on the life of the person that's passed. If that
had happened, you know, I had several words,
but I was, you know, I wrestled with how do you
summarize somebody like Hunt and I think that...
You heard that word a lot of people use it yesterday
in his service is joy, right? He was very a very
joyful person, you know and big smile, you know
and So which is good because I've been reflecting
on that and and in our text Jesus So if you get
your notes in front of you there, we've been
through points number one and two on our outline.
Okay Remember that we are in the middle section
of this high priestly prayer. This is the longest
prayer that Jesus prayed, recorded for us in
Scripture. Not the longest that he prayed, but
it's the longest that we have of his prayers
recorded. I don't know how to say that in a way
that makes sense. You know what I'm trying to
say? We have other prayers of his, little snippets,
but this is by far and away the longest recorded
prayer of Jesus, okay? And it's got, it's structure
is very simple. It's got three parts to it, hence
the notes, right? The first part that we looked
at is verses one through five, Jesus prays for
himself. The section we're in now is Jesus prays
for his disciples and that's these verses six
through 19. And then starting with verse 20 and
going to the end of the prayer, Jesus prays for
all believers. which would include his disciples,
but it's touching every time I read verse 20.
It's, I can't help but be moved sometimes emotionally
by reading that, that he prays for you. And the
prayer, if you're a believer in Jesus, you do
so through the testimony of the scriptures, right?
And so touching to see him pray for us as well,
right? So we're in that middle section. He's
been praying for his disciples and We've looked
at the first two points there. Jesus expresses
his desire to be glorified. I'm sorry, I'm looking
at the wrong outline. Jesus characterizes the
disciples as those who show they are God's by
obeying his truth, right? Six through eight.
I don't want to belabor that. Point number two,
Jesus requests that the Father protect the disciples
in the world system. And this is... Remember
that... This is the final chapter of five chapters
that are collectively known as the Upper Room
Discourse, right? The first four chapters, Jesus
is giving them information, is giving them truth,
is a better word to say. And Erica's opening
was good because it reminded us that there is...
power in God's truth, right? The Word of God
is living and active. It's sharper than any two
-edged sword. It's able to judge the thoughts
and intents of the heart. I like to say the Bible
is the only book that reads you as you're reading
it. And so it does have power, and God's truth
given to us changes us if we let it. And if the
Holy Spirit also is taking it and illuminating
it, there's people, I say that because the Bible
by itself doesn't save you, right? We've already
seen that in chapter five, verse 39 and 40, where
he tells the religious leaders, you search the
scriptures diligently because in them you think
you have eternal life, but these are they which
speak to me and will come to me, right? So simply
reading the Bible, and they had made a whole
life. lifetime of studying the scriptures and
they had this whole thing where they had, you
know, all their accomplishments and their rabbi,
rabbinic commentaries and so on. Which, by the
way, modern Judaism is very different. It's really
allowed for the most part, okay? There's exceptions,
but for the most part modern Judaism has allowed
their I'm trying to remember the names of these
documents, but basically the collection of their
traditions and rabbinic commentary to eclipse
the scriptures in their own faith. Well, I forget
where I was going with all that. Oh, the truth,
yes. So Jesus has given them four chapters of
truth about the Father, About the Holy Spirit
right and about Himself and what's happening
and the whole point of this and you hear this
in that second point there in verses 9 through
12 Reflected in his prayer. What's what's on
his heart as he's? Talking to them through these
five chapters is that they might be protected
He is hours away from the cross and he has been
with them for three years and he's been able
as the shepherd to to guide and protect them.
And when there's some false teaching that comes
in and their minds are kind of distracted and
they start like sheep going down the wrong path,
He's able to speak the truth of God and bring
them back to proper thinking, to correct thinking.
But He's not able to do that. So He's committing
them to the Father. And we looked at how many
times those words keep and kept and then give
and given are used, right? And it's this idea
of trading some valuable things around, right?
And they have also kept, they've taken the treasure
of God's Word and God's truth and they have kept
it by obeying it, right? And protecting it. And
we are called to do the same. In line yesterday
with one of the brothers, he's struggling, one
of the guys at the Bible study, is struggling
because the church she's involved with is increasingly
sliding more and more left and liberal. As they
abandon the moorings of Scripture and they have
a low view of Scripture, they are going more
and more left and he's struggling with that.
His wife has already started going to a different
church. And I was like, I think your wife has
the right idea. You know, I'm trying to tell
them gently, but you know, you need to take a
stand for the truth. You can't, what fellowship
does light have with darkness? It doesn't. And
it hurts because you know people, right? These
are people you know, you care about, and you're
talking about essentially breaking fellowship
with them and going somewhere else. And it sounds
easy for us, but if you're really in the middle
of it, it's tough. having influence in unsaved
churches and God work and bring these unsaved
people to Christ? I think so. I've been reflecting
a little bit on it. That's kind of what he was
saying. He said the Lord still has me there for
some reason. I didn't want to disagree with him
because I don't know. The Laodicean Church was
an unsaved church. Kind of the way it's described,
it sounds a lot like many of the modern mainline
churches that are like that. They're wealthy
and rich and think they have need of nothing.
But Jesus says it's interesting because in the
other churches he's there in the midst of them,
but in Laodicea he's outside the church and he's
knocking to be let in. And I was thinking about
that and he says if anyone hears my voice, which
means that there are, remember in John 10 he
said my sheep hear my voice, right? So there
are some in that church that are still his, and
he's calling, you know, let me in. So, yes, I
think there's a place for that, perhaps, but
I know he's, in his case, he's not getting fed.
I come to the Bible study, I'm like, the Bible
study isn't church. You know if you get serious
is correct, you know, if you've got a couple
bad apples in a barrel eventually the other ones
are gonna rot as well and it's kind of a good
analogy because If you're still stuck in this
church, that's not feeding and not doing not
you may be Turned into that you know I'm saying
you may follow that because everybody else is
following it well Even if you're strong, you
know, you may think okay, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe
I'm even though I'm trying to search scripture
out So we need to pray for this man, because
I'm sure that it's a struggle, especially that
his wife has left the church, and without him,
it wasn't a unity thing. That's right. To me,
that's not good. It needs to be a choice for
both, but I just think about that apple thing.
I don't know why I brought that up, but if you've
got a couple bad apples in a barrel, or in a
bag, or whatever, the rest of it is going to
rot as well. Seems like if it gets permeated,
then you... Like 11, about a year ago. Yeah,
like a little bit of 11 ago. But Paul said too,
bad company corrupts good morals. So yeah, you
can pray with me about that and talking to him.
Back on this, I'm sorry to talk about this, but
back on this thing about the disciples, what
I'm reminded of with is, you know, they blamed
on him, you know. We live on the side of the
cross, so all we have is the Holy Spirit and
the Word. But they had him physically. They could
see him walk. So they leaned on him. They didn't
understand until after the resurrection that
the power of the Holy Spirit. That's why I love
14 is when he says, I'm going to leave you as
orphans. And he had that in mind when the upper
room discourse was in the back of his mind, I
think. Because he knew what he was going to have
to tell them. That's why I think he prepared
him when he said that to them. He said, this
is why I'm not going to leave this orphanage,
because it's coming. They were like, nah, you
know, nah. They just didn't get it. I mean, they
didn't. That's right. And so it was not ever
the reason for it. They also didn't know how
spiritually vulnerable they were, I think. Well,
they were trying to decide who was going to be
the best. Right. You know? Right. But anyway,
I just know that we're very, very fortunate to
live this side of the cross. That's right. Amen.
We're blessed, actually, because we have not
only the Holy Spirit, we can't walk with Him
physically, but we can walk with Him physically,
but we have the Word of God that we can read,
and the Holy Spirit works there. If you allow
the Holy Spirit to work in your life. That's
right. That's right. And that's the key is not
just the Bible, but the Holy Spirit as well.
He takes the Holy Spirit. Do you think the Holy
Spirit speaks to us? Yes, through His Word. I
know, but like, tell you, because I was listening
to a broadcast of, I think it was Focus on the
Family, and they were talking about how, you
know, a lot of people have to hit rock bottom
before they'll come to Christ, and this lady
was talking about an example of this man who
was, there was, I guess, a homeless person, and
he hadn't prayed before he gave him money. And
then so he gave him some money and then it's
like the Holy Spirit told him it's like I almost
had him if you happen to give him this money.
Do you think God does that? Do you think he tells
us this kind of stuff? You know like it almost
made it feel like it was this man's fault because
he made the wrong choice to give this man money
and now this homeless person is not going to
get saved. What does Scripture say about that?
All who the Father has given me what? will come
to me. So if the Holy Spirit tells you something
that you know from Scripture isn't true, the
Holy Spirit is not the Holy Spirit. You've got
to be really careful about these little inklings,
and I hear that all the time, right? People,
oh, you know, that's a really strong impression.
I mean, something like that happened to me recently
where with Hunt, when he was still alive and
I heard that he was at Elizabeth House, that
Friday and and I was thinking about what am I
do that Saturday and you know my kind of the
usual you know how it is you got an open day
and you're thinking about what you can do and
all that and I just I just just kept coming back
to my mind again and again I got to go over there
going to see him and we had tried to get get
in touch with Monica hadn't worked out you know
get over to visit him when he was in the hospital
so anyway I was just like I'm not gonna say anything
I'm just gonna show up I'm just gonna show up
and and and one thing led to another. I wasn't
allowed back there because it's, you know, unless
the family comes and gets you, you know, and
anyway. So Monica did come out and got to see
him and spend a little time and then she was
like, hey, let's see if the Bible study man can
come the next day. And the next, you know, we
just set that up. Well, I'm convinced that that
was The Lord, you know, I think He was involved
in that. There's no doubt about it. And a lot
of men have thanked me for that and so on. I'm
like, well, okay, but the Lord, you know, I was
just trying to be obedient to what I think the
Lord wanted me to do in that situation. But that's
different than, you know, putting my faith and
trust in some kind of voice that I think is telling
me something over here, right, that doesn't align
with Scripture. The Holy Spirit uses this primarily
to speak to us. And it's just like the Lord Himself,
right? He didn't come speaking His own words,
but He tells them, what you hear me say is the
words I give you are from where? The Father,
right? The Father. The very beginning of this
Gospel. He is the Word of God, right? He is the
means by which God is communicating what He wants
us to know. Colossians, I'm starting to study
Colossians. Colossians chapter 2. He is the express
image of God. Everything that God wants us to
know is being given to us through the Son, and
the Holy Spirit is in cooperation with that as
well. But through, in fact, verse 20, right?
I pray for those, not just the disciples, but
for those who will believe on me through their
testimony, right? So Jesus has given... gave
the truth to these men that came from the Father.
The point I'm trying to get to is the Holy Spirit
isn't out on His own over here telling us stuff,
right? That doesn't align with God's Word. And
I hear the Holy Spirit get blamed for a lot of
things that are not Biblical. The same thing
is true with near -death experiences, right?
It's very popular right now. Someone so died
and they came back and they tell us all this
stuff. And some of those stories get way off
base. I'm like... Don't know what you saw but
ain't it ain't the heaven that let's talk about
here, you know, right? To do good We don't we
don't have to have a Holy Spirit to tell us to
do that right because we have a scripture we
know what to do so for instance working in good
news club I didn't have the Holy Spirit tell
me you need to work on the good news stuff. I
seemed to need, and I done it. Now you could
argue, was that from the Holy Spirit? Well, I
think you seemed to need. And it aligns with
scripture, so you do it. And you have a desire.
Yeah, and so you do it. So everything that you
do does not have to necessarily be told of you
by the... by the Holy Spirit. It has to align
with Scripture. That's the only criteria. I'll
tell you how, you know, Jesus says in John...
He gives us a lot of really good insight into
how the Spirit works in John 3, when He says
that the Spirit is like wind. In fact, it's a
play on words, right? Because the word Spirit
itself is... is the Greek word pneumo. We get
pneumonia from that, right? It has to do with
wind and breath really is what it is, okay? So
there's a little bit of a play on words and what
he's saying there is that the spirit is like
the wind. You didn't see where it came from,
you don't see where it's going, but you do see
its effects. So are also those who are born of
the spirit, right? In other words, as Paul says
in Galatians, the fruit or the effect. of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness.
So the point is, number one, we don't control
the Holy Spirit. He's not obligated to do what
we want, right? Who's He listening to? Listen
to the Father and the Son, right? And remember,
even Jesus told them, He said, He was very clear
about the order of authority. He said, I don't
order the Holy Spirit. I'm going to ask the Father
to send the Holy Spirit. So the Spirit is listening
to the Father. We don't control Him. Secondly,
we don't see Him directly when He's working.
But you know the Holy Spirit has worked by His
effects. And I think that's very important. You
see the effect. And what's the effect? Well,
fruit is the scriptural way of talking about
effect. a changed heart, right? The joy that
we're talking about is one of those ingredients,
one of those effects of the Holy Spirit's work.
And same with what you're saying, Larry. We know
that, and back to your point, sweetheart, is
that you don't know going forward in life Should
I do this? Should I do that? You know, and so
that Saturday, you know, I had other plans, but
it just kept coming to mind again and again.
We didn't know Hunt was going to pass away that
Tuesday. No idea. I mean, we thought, I mean,
the hope was that he was going to be at Elizabeth's
house for a little while and then go back home
and you know, maybe have some more months of
recovery or whatever. But it was just a strong
desire, and I'm like, okay, all right, and I
really think this is maybe what the Word is telling
me to do today, and I need to do it and make
priority and do it. And in hindsight now, I look
back and I say, okay, yeah, I can see where God
used that, right? I think it's the same with
you, Larry. But some rebuke like that that, well,
he's not going to get saved now because you gave
him that money, and I was trying to work in it.
I wouldn't say that. You just lose a blessing
in your own personal life. If you feel led, and
I guess that's a loose term there, if you think
you need to witness to somebody and you don't
do it, that's not going to determine the outcome
of God's election. Right. That just steals your
blessing and yours because you didn't do it.
That's right. We have a good example here in
John, right? Remember at the beginning of John
when the disciples were called and were given
the calling for five disciples, including John
himself and Andrew, Peter's brother, right? They
were disciples of John the Baptist. And when
Jesus came, remember He came to be baptized and
then He was... Other gospels tell us that he
was driven immediately after that into the wilderness
for 40 days, tempted. The other gospels don't
tell us what John tells us, is that after that
temptation, Jesus came back to where John the
Baptist was. And John the Apostle and Andrew
were still there as disciples of John the Baptist.
And Jesus comes back and then John the Baptist
says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world. And apparently it was two days
there that Jesus was hanging out. And John kept
pointing his disciples to Jesus, and then John,
the apostle, future apostle, and Andrew said,
hmm, let's go follow him. And so they start following
him, right? And remember that whole story, it's
in John. And Jesus turns around and says, where
are you going? Well, I don't know. We want to
see where you are. You're going to stay, right?
And this is kind of a funny scene in a way. He's
like, come and see. Years later, John 15. Jesus
tells him, you did not choose me, but I chose
you to go bear fruit. Oh, wait a minute. We're
the ones who decided it, John the Baptist. Remember
when you were there, John the Baptist doing his
thing, and we started following you? What's that?
The Holy Spirit's already working, right? So,
going forward, we don't know. You pray about
things. You do know God's moral will, right?
So if something is morally wrong in Scripture,
that's sin, right? Divide like that. But for
all these other things, what do you want to do?
Do that, you know, and trust it to the Lord.
If it's a really big decision, you know, something,
pray about it. Get wisdom, you know, and try
to make the best choice you can. And then watch
God in hindsight use it in ways you never thought.
So I'm sure all of us have had an experience
of what we thought we were, we were following
the story. It didn't bear fruit and we stopped.
And I guess that's normal, you would think. I'll
give you a good example of where I struggled
with that earlier, some decades ago. We had a
missionary family in this church that came for
a while and they were kind of part of us sending
them and we were supporting them. We personally
were giving to them for several years and they
went to where they were going to serve a couple
years struggle didn't work out and they came
back and back to the states and we're not doing
that anymore Oh great, you know, I thought the
Lord was gonna and and finally it dawned on me
You know, why was I giving in the first place?
Was it because I wanted to see some result that
I thought I wanted in other words You can't look
at giving, whether it's financial or giving of
your time or your resources or your speech, you're
talking to somebody, whatever. You can't look
at any investment you put into the kingdom of
God with the same eyes that you look at the stock
market. When you put some money in the stock
market, you want to be careful about, does this
investment have a future where I'm going to get
an ROI? kind of thing. And we take that thinking
and we apply it to our investments in the Kingdom
of God and you can't do that because you don't
know what God is going to do with it. And God
is not looking at the gift, He's looking at what?
Your heart. He's looking at your faith as you
give it. So even if those missionaries come back
or you don't get the result you thought you were
going to get out of it, is it... That's really
where you have search your heart was I just doing
this for me for my glory? Because I was excited
about some outcome as I do because I want to
see God's kingdom his name advanced and see him
pleased and However, he whatever he wants to
do with it is not up to me. You know I'm saying
it's a different way of thinking for believers
You tell them, you know, God's knocking on your
heart, you know, come see me. We're going to
pray and receive Christ and we do. And then they
grow up and it all fizzles out. So that's kind
of the same thing, isn't it? In a way, yes. Yes,
it is. You know, you really, I really believe
that because I was really pouring all of this,
you know, my whole heart, soul, mind into my
kids, that they would come to Christ. by a certain
age, I really believed that. And it didn't happen,
and so that's kind of a hard pill to swallow.
Especially when you see other people's kids that
are in Christ, and their parents did the same
thing. It's like, well, does God love them more
than He loves me? Because their kids got saved.
Why couldn't my kids get saved when they were
10 or whatever? You know? So it doesn't make
sense. You have to in that and really in all
situations get your eyes off of the results And
get your eyes where? Where does the writer of
Hebrews tell us looking unto? Jesus the author
in fact this is this is really good setup because
that's what joy is rooted in That's the essence
of joy right there. That's the real secret of
joy is is that that I am Scripture admonishes
us to rejoice in circumstances. Well, yeah, okay,
rejoice. I'm thinking of Philippians 4, right?
Rejoice in the Lord, right? I will say it again.
Rejoice. Why did Paul have to say that twice?
He's distracted with everything else. We're looking.
for joy and everything else. Alright, so let's
get to our point here, okay? Our text. Point
number three on our outline. Jesus requests that
the Father sanctify the disciples from the world
system. And we started this last time. There's
verses 13 through 19. Let me read that if you
want to follow along. John 17, 13 through 19.
He says here, but now I am coming to you. and
these things I speak in the world that they may
have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given
them your word and the world has hated them because
they are not of the world just as I am not of
the world. I do not ask that you take them out
of the world but that you keep them from the
evil one. They are not of the world just as I
am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth
your word is truth as You sent me into the world
so I have sent them into the world and for their
sake I consecrate myself That they may also be
consecrated in truth What going on there yes,
it's a lot Yes, yes and since you brought that
up remember that in this context of these five
chapters, it's very important that we understand
the word world as Jesus intends for it to be
understood. It is not everybody and everything,
it's not earth, it's not even broader human culture.
It's specifically that system that they were
born and raised into. And so when he's saying
here that the world has hated them, that's past
tense, right? That's not talking about, well,
that's talking about me. Well, in a way it is,
okay? The world will hate you, we know that,
okay? But we know that from other scriptures
as well where Paul says all those who desire
to live godly will suffer persecution, okay?
You can expect that, Christian, even if you're
not in Nigeria and China. You can expect pressure.
You can expect people... Like my friend, it's
one of the things that I think he's struggling
with in this church that he's in. If you leave
that sort of perspective and you go follow after
these sort of backwoods country churches over
here that are extreme and they actually take
the Bible literally, then you're kind of looked
down on intellectually. You're just a little
out there, okay? So there's pressure there, too.
Anyway, the point is, That is all true, but that's
not his point here. His point here, remember,
he's praying for his disciples who were born
and raised in that system, and that system hated
Jesus, and it's going to hate them too, right?
So yes, you see the word world in here a lot,
and that's important. I don't want to focus on
those verse 13 this morning, but I'm coming to
you, of course, speaking to the Father, and these
things I speak in the world. Notice another thing
that's very important. Remember this whole section,
The main theme in here that we there's a lot
of things going on But the main trunk line that
we don't want to miss okay that all the other
limbs are growing off of okay is truth It's truth.
So even in verse 13 This this joy is sandwiched
between truth. It's hard to miss it It's hard
to see it at first, but once you see it, it's
hard to unsee it, right? So these things I speak
in the world what things? the other four chapters.
He just laid out for them the plan of what's
coming, right? He warned them that the world,
he is leaving and the Holy Spirit is coming and
the Father is working and you can now go and
pray in my name and the world is going to hate
you. They're going to kick you out of the synagogues
and they're going to think that when they kill
you they're doing God a service and all of these
kinds of things. He's told them this. which is
nothing less than God's truth. He's given them
to God's truth, right? So that's that. I speak
in the world that they may have my joy, right?
That's the contents of the sandwich here, okay?
Fulfilled in themselves. And then look at verse
14. I have given them your word. So that's the
same thing. He says it twice, right? I've spoken
these things to them and then I've given them
your word, right? He isn't saying, I've spoken
to them about other unrelated things. Oh, by
the way, I've also given them your word too.
The joy is sandwiched in between these statements
affirming the power of God's Word. Reputation.
Okay? And the importance of God's Word. And that's
not an accident. Notice he says, my joy, right?
And last time I pointed out to you that earlier
in chapter 14 verse 27, okay? He calls it, my
peace I give to you. Not as the world gives,
do I give to you, but I give, my peace, right?
And when we studied my peace, he's not saying,
hey, you can get peace in the world and you can
also get it from me. What he's saying is, the
peace that I give you is a different kind of
peace than the same, you get, we call it the
same word and it's confusing, right? But it's
really the different kind of peace than what
you get in the world. And in that context, the
peace that Jesus had, now remember, what's he
facing as he's talking to them? The cross! It's
hours away from bearing the sins of the world,
right? And the wrath of God is about to be poured
out on him and he's talking about, I have peace
and I have joy. What? If anyone had the right
to say, I'm really disturbed, you know, and I'm
really depressed and I'm hopeless in this dark
hour, it would be him. But he's talking about
my peace and my joy. And there's a secret there,
if you'll pay attention, that Jesus' peace and
joy are not dependent on circumstances. They
have nothing to do with what he's about to face.
they have everything to do with the fact that
God is fully sovereign and in control and Have
everything to do with the fact that even though
he's about to face the darkest Time that any
human being has ever faced you and I haven't
faced anything like what he faced and we never
will thank God Okay But as he's about to to to
take on God is about to take on God as Sin and
be the sin bearer for us He's talking about peace
and joy because he knows some truth. The writer
of Hebrews tells us that he scorned the cross,
despising the shame. Why? Because he looked beyond
that to the joy set before him. He knew that
the cross was not the end. He's not going to
go to the grave and stay there and then go to
hell and that's it, right? He's going to go to
hell and back for you and I. but he's going to
be resurrected and he's going to ascend to heaven
and he knows that on the other side of that God
is in control of all of those circumstances and
it's part of yes the darkest part but it's part
of this larger grand plan that will ultimately
result in glory and redemption and restoration
right and revelation of God to all of us and
to to praise and worship of him and of the Father.
And so he's willing to go through all of that,
yes, because of his love for us, but also because
he wants to bring glory to the Father. Remember
how the prayer started, right? Glorify yourself.
You know, I've glorified you, now glorify me,
right? He's interested in glory. That's on his
heart as well. And the secret to that is, again,
don't miss this, the truth God so the things
that he has imparted to them that he's been telling
them That truth is the soil in which this joy
grows Not and that's very important because they're
about to face The darkest time that in their
lives up to that point right especially who?
Peter right He's got three days of ruminating
on Jesus' look at him. Can you imagine that?
I mean, that look burns. I think it's Luke that
tells us about that, that Jesus turned and looked
at him at that final denial, right? Can you imagine?
I mean, I can almost see that look myself. It
just burns through the scriptures in our eyes.
Peter whipped bitterly, right? even in the midst
of the tears and the depression and the disappointment
in your own, I swore I was going to stand with
Him and all the others would do better. I'd even
die with Him and here I am denying Him in front
of some servant girl, you know, and my joy, my
peace, not rooted in circumstance. It's truth,
you know, my truth I live with you, which is
peace, joy, you know, but those attributes don't
mystically come, you know, they come to the Holy
Spirit. I always thought whenever he said, my
peace, I live with you, my joy, I live with you,
that he was speaking directly of the Holy Spirit.
Is that off base? Well, the Holy Spirit. You're
not going to get peace and joy without the Holy
Spirit. Yes, but the means. So I'm leaving you
the comforter. And I'm leaving you in peace.
I'm leaving you in joy. And how does that come
without the Holy Spirit? The means by which the
Holy Spirit brings that is by helping us to really
understand and apply and live in the truth. And
they have to work, they work hand in hand. In
other words, and that's an important point, David,
thank you, because to hear a lot of... people
talk today about the Holy Spirit you would almost
it's almost like he's been assigned to this sort
of mystical drug in a way that you sort of moves
in and I just feel so peaceful you know you heard
my story about the time that I went to the doctor
some years ago and had some back pain and and
I thought anyway it turned out to be some muscle
pain back there and getting older and she It's
actually physician assistant. She she gave me
some muscle relaxants, you know there this will
help you feel better to you kind of Okay, so
I'd start taking them. I was so chill man. I
was driving Nothing bothered me, which is saying
a lot for me, right? So I But I was just not
motivated I didn't want to get out cut the grass
do any of that kind of stuff, right and and but
this Holy Spirit Sometimes it's presented like
that. Well, all you need is you don't have joy
and peace in your heart. Well, just just get
the Holy Spirit man Well, the Holy Spirit isn't
first of all isn't a drug right? We know that
he's not a mystical force He's a person and he's
he is not again He's not listening to us and
what we want. It's not a pill that you take to
get the outcome you want He's listening to God
the Father right who has Your sanctification
in mind and and so he's going to use the Holy
Spirit who then uses or the Holy Spirit I should
say in cooperation with father is going to use
the truth of God. Here's how this works Remember
how Paul what Paul said when I was a child I
what? Thought like a child. I spoke like a child
acted like a child, but now that I've become
a man I put away childish things Paul's point
is that as you grow up in your physical life
The things that bothered you or that concerned
you or that were a fear to you or source of frustration
for you as a child change, should change, as
you get older. Why? Because I'm bigger now, right?
Well, somewhat. But really because you have learned
many things that are true now, that were true
then, but you understand it better now. Let me
give you a great example. As children, probably
all of us at one point or another were afraid
when the lights went out at night, right, in
the room. Afraid of the dark. Common fear. Now,
do you struggle with that? I like it. Rick's
always in the dark, isn't he? Yeah. No. You know,
when I go down to the basement now and I'll turn
the lights out, sometimes it's dark. I mean,
it is pitch black down there, right? There's
no light at all. anywhere, not even a little
LED or something. And it just, the other day
it struck me, I was just, cause I knew where
the other door was and I was turning the light
out and walking over there and it didn't bother
me at all. And I was like, you know, as a child,
I'd have been, and my girls were really afraid
of the basement. You know, they tell us now,
we wouldn't want to go to the basement without
daddy, you know. Well, point is, and I told them
when they were little, there's nothing there
in the dark that's not there in the light. Right?
As an adult, you know that, but as a child, you
don't know that. So Paul's point is that as we
grow in truth of God's Word, you learn more and
more about who God is and what He has promised.
And then, here it is, sports fans, how trustworthy
He is and how you can really lean into His sovereignty.
And He really will not let you down. And as you
learn to, as it were, timidly at first but more
and more as you grow as a believer put more and
more weight onto God and and and trust in him
and faith you know what scripture calls that
growing in faith that's what that is faith is
again it's not just belief but belief in truth
and it's my part of the truth and as I take the
faith that is the body of truth that God has
delivered in his word and it becomes part of
my thinking and I assimilate and I let it work
into how I think and how I view the world and
view what's happening in my life more and more
as I grow in that and then as like Larry was
saying a second ago and as you look back and
you see those times of fear and disappointment
and how God worked even in those dark points
in your life and But he turned things around
and now you're in a place that's very different
than where you thought you would be. And you
start to learn to trust more and more. God's
Word is true. He can be trusted. Right? And then
that builds faith and strength for the next trial
that comes. And you're a little stronger for
that. And guess what God is doing? It's how He
works. And we know that He has promised, what?
Romans 8 .28. We know, not we feel, we know that
God works all things together for good. Those
who love Him will call to corn His purpose. That's
hard when you're sitting in the doctor and you're
hearing a cancer diagnosis, right? It's hard
when your children aren't where you want them
to be, okay? It's hard where, it's hard in, you
know... job stress, whatever, you know, all of
these things that we face, and we all face trials
of many kinds, James says, but we know some things,
right? And because we know these things, our
joy is preserved. And it's not happiness, right?
It's not happiness. Jesus is not talking about
happiness here. He's about to face, even before
the cross is the garden, right? He's right after
this prayer right here is when I believe that
He separated the three disciples, Peter, James,
and John, and then he went himself a little distance
from them to call out in prayer and even, as
Luke says, sweat great drops of blood. He was
humanly speaking with the high level of anxiety
about what's about to happen to him. They're
still under that. He is still rejoicing in the
fact that God is in charge of all these things
and he is playing it out, even if I don't understand.
where it's going and how we're going to get there.
I know we'll get there. Because like a child,
I trust my daddy, right? I trust him. He knows
what he's doing. And unlike human daddies that
don't know everything and do fail their promises,
our Heavenly Father will not fail every promise
He has. And as Erica said this morning, that
power that, Paul, we're going to talk about it
next time we're willing when we... get together
again for our study in Ephesians, that power
there, four words for power that are mentioned
in Ephesians 1 .19, God's working, God's ability,
His mighty power, His strength, all of those
words there become the spring head and it's like
a river that flows to the rest of the chapters
in Ephesians that basically tells us there's
no obstacle that you face that's too big for
God. The world of flesh and the devil, as mentioned
in chapter 2, can't stop Him. Death can't stop
Him. Your sin can't stop Him. There's nothing
that can stop God. His purposes in your life
will be accomplished. And thank God for that.
And so that is the basis then of this joy. We
can rejoice, and by the way, joy is the noun
rejoices the verbal form, right? So when you
see that in your English, it's the same root
word in Greek, but it's just a noun and verbal
form. Okay, so let's look at a few two texts
of Scripture. These really speak to this and
sort of hammer the point home for us. Let's turn
first to a very well -known verse here. In fact,
My wife has that on the front of her bag there.
Psalm 37, you want to read that for us? Psalm
37 verse 4. In English, it makes it sound 37
-4, right? 34. 37 -4. Prepositions are a hard
thing in some of these source languages. In English,
our prepositions are very, very specific. I went
through the cloud. I went over the cloud. I went
under the cloud. I went around the cloud. All
of these things add subtle differences. And so
in some of these other two languages, Hebrew
and Greek, they kind of depend on more broader
context to get the preposition right. And so,
in English, it makes it sound like He'll just
give you what you want. Delight yourself in the
Lord and He'll give you what you want. It's better
to translate it, though, I think, given what
Scripture teaches here. And you could translate
it this way. He will give you the desires for
your heart. In other words, kind of confirming
what we talked about a minute ago, that the Lord
works in and through our desires. And I know
that's true in my life when... when I really
got saved, I now had new desires that weren't
there. I wanted other people to know what I was
learning. I was excited about it, and the scripture,
boom, opened up. And now I have a desire to read
the scriptures, you know, and whereas before
it was a chore, you know, I've got to do this,
check the box. And now it's like, man, like Erica
was excited this morning, right? This is what
God's shown me. She's excited about it. That's
good. That's good. That's new desires. I got
to pursue Him, study Him. Study Him. Study the
word, but what's the prerequisite delight yourself
in the Lord, right? That's another that's kind
of a synonym for joy is Delight take take delight
and that's a choice right to to delight yourself
That's part of the trust and and there's an it
is an excitement there even even when you're
facing a difficult circumstance Emotionally you
don't want to do that. But there's a it's another
part of you where you know, okay I know this
is part of what God has, and He's going to bring
glory to Himself in my life, and growth in my
life, and maybe other people. I don't know what
that future is going to be like, but I know it's
a bright future. So there's a delight there.
Again, not in the circumstances. It doesn't say
delight in circumstances, or delight in happenstance,
or delight in your money, delight in health.
It doesn't say any of that. It says delight where?
In the Lord. to go the opposite way, the claimant
group uses that as something to say, well, if
I pray hard enough or long enough or whatever,
then I should get whatever I want. So if it's
taken out of context and used in a way, that's
one of the passages they use. That's right. That's
right. But they never define what delight yourself
and the Lord means, right? And then you have,
as Paul Zurich in our study likes to say, a coin
-operated God. I put my little thing in and I
get what I want out of my little God. Which by
the way, that's a hallmark of an idol. If your
God never disagrees with you, you have an idol.
If your God always follows your little prescription
for stuff and you get the little thing out at
the end, like with the monkeys, they pull the
little lever and the little food pellet falls
out. If your little God gives you the little...
Blessing that you want every time you have an
idol Billy had his hand up go ahead bill jump
in there bro, okay It's the Lord's will it's
gonna be his way Because he's gonna be boy fighting
over it sometimes we see things Oh my gosh, why
didn't that happen? Why didn't that happen? You
know circumstances happen People get sick, people
die. The whole scheme of the whole thing is that
the Lord's glorified. That's why Jesus did this.
He was doing the will of the Father to glorify
Him. That's why He went to the cross because
that's what God wanted Him to do to take away
the sin. That was His way of doing it. Where
we saw it, where we asked Him, Lord, if this
shepherd could just cut past for me. He didn't
have doubts. He was just, I think, getting reassured.
Is this your will? And that is the whole thing,
I think, a lot of times we, and myself, we go,
oh, really? Why, why, why? But if we really back
up and let it happen, not that we sit there and
just be like a puppet, but search the scripture.
Why is this happening? And it's all gonna be
to glorify Him. I might be totally wrong the
way I say it. I'm trying to say it, but to glorify
Him is what? His will is because it's all pointed
to Him. It's all pointed to Him. If your pain
in life brings glory to God, are you okay with
that? Maybe. I mean, that's really kind of the
question in front of us, right? It's hard. But
we have to hold our head up and know that endurance
to the end is where it's at. We must endure,
there's no way. So we have to go through uncomfortable
times, but joy still comes. That's right. Our
joy may not look like your joy because you don't
understand what people really value. And you
know, in church we really should be sensitive
to that too, right? You'll hear me sometimes
I'll pray up here about that, you know, in the
services and say, and ask the Holy Spirit's blessing
and say it, I like to say it this way, that I
don't know where everybody's been this week.
Maybe it's been a hard week. Maybe it's been
just another week. Maybe it's been a great week.
I don't know, right? I don't know. And a lot
of times you go to churches, you know, I've been
to some churches where I feel like it's a pep
rally, right? You come in and it's all jacked
up. Let's get jacked up for two hours and celebrate
Jesus and we'll take our Jesus pill and we'll
feel good until Monday, right? and you come back
into the depressing circumstances that you're
in. Paul says in Romans 12, I can't remember
which verse, 12, 13 or something, but he says,
weep with those who weep, rejoice with those
who rejoice. I think that's a great verse. I
have that in the top of our men's, I maintain
two prayer lists for two different Bible studies,
and that's the verse I have up there. Remind
all of us, that's as body of Christ as we were
to do. I just love that. Weep with those who
eat, rejoice with those who rejoice. Whatever
your week's been like when you come here, we're
gently calling all of us again to get our eyes
off of the circumstances and off of us and what
we're feeling at that moment and look where?
Look to Him. Why? Because that's the soil out
of which our peace and joy grows. But we get
our eyes off Him and to everything else, right?
And then that happens even when things are going
great too, right? I mean, if you think about
it, yes, we call them trials and they're hard
times. When times are going good, that's a trial
too. Because now, isn't that what the Lord said
that would happen to Israel? He says, when you
get into the land and you get blessed and you
move into these cities you didn't build, you
reap the fruit of plants that you didn't plant
and everything else, and then you'll forget God.
You'll forget me. You'll forget that I brought
you here. And so our sin nature is terrible,
right? And that's why we have to gather regularly.
And the whole point of this really is, yes, to
comfort and encourage each other, enjoy the fellowship.
But really, we kind of want to turn our eyes
back to Jesus, right? Looking unto Him, the author
and the fact of our faith. Because He's the one
who's in charge. It's God's plan. He's in control.
He has a purpose in mind. Whether your week has
been wonderful, has just been another week, or
it's been terrible, whatever it is, God's still
in charge. He's still on the throne. You've been
bought with a price. You're not your own. He
has a higher purpose for you. He has an inheritance
in heaven reserved for you. His power is protecting
you now. Even it doesn't look like it. You know
what I'm saying? That's the basic message. Because,
again, our peace, our joy, our hope all grow
from the soil of that trust in God. Faith and
trust in what he says and knowing that's why
we open the word a lot to preach this right because
we want to know what God is saying and it adds
to your faith and as you add to your faith you
trust that and you lean on to it and You find
God didn't fail you and it just it strengthens
you and you grow as a believer All right, and
we're out of time So good discussion is really
good good Father your word has so much to say
when we start looking at this About trusting
you instead of trusting our circumstances which
we do so easily we're always looking at that
and yet We know from our from experience in our
own lives and then also as we watch other people
who get so afraid as they're looking looking
down and looking around and and and full of fear
full of anger full of anxiety because they have
no hope, really, but we have hope. Not in the
way things look now, but hope in you. And thank
you that you have given us your precious word
which told us how we got here, why the human
race is here, why the universe is here, and then
where it's all going. And our little tiny, tiny,
tiny little sand grain life compared to the grand
scheme of things, is not insignificant to you.
You care about us. As Peter says, cast all your
cares on Him because He cares for you. Love that
intimacy, Father, that you want each and every
one of us to have the same kind of peace and
joy that our own Savior here models for us as
He is hours away from sin bearing on the cross.
facing the worst point ever in human history.
And he can talk about peace and joy, and we can
as well, when things are not going the way we
think they ought to go. Remind us of this, especially
in those dark hours, the dark night of the soul,
as the Puritans used to talk about. Father, knowing
that all believers go through it, and we all
need to be tested and reminded that you can be
trusted. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.