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Well, Christmas is such a nostalgic time. There's the music of Christmas, which we've already begun to sing. There's the warmth of family and friends, the lights and the trees and the presents, and all of the traditions. In fact, if you live in my house, I need a manual to keep track of all of the traditions that I'm s... | |
our nostalgia really reminds us that as those made in the image of God, we long for real, lasting joy. And this should be the season of joy. But for many, sadly, this season is actually a time of emptiness and even sadness, because memories and traditions can't sustain real, lasting joy deep in our souls. In fact, I | |
for joy is in wealth. First Timothy 6:9: "[But] those who want to get rich fall into [temptation and a snare and] many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction," no joy there. [With regard to] possessions, [in] Luke 12:15, Jesus said, "Beware, [and be on your guard] against every form of g... | |
Others look for joy in peace and tranquility: "If I can just have a quiet, uninterrupted life." It's kind of like Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20:19. When he learned that God's judgment would come not in his generation, but the next, he said, "'The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good.' For he thought, 'Is it not so, ... | |
Solomon nailed this one in Ecclesiastes 2:18. He says, "[Thus] I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I [had] labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have... | |
fallen world. If you wait to have joy until you have the perfect life circumstances, you will never experience joy. So, if those are the wrong places to look for joy, what is the ultimate source of joy? Where does joy come from? Joy finds its ultimate source in the Person of God. | |
Sadly, the picture most people have of God is that He is consistently morose and withdrawn, or even for some, God is terribly gloomy. Those are slurs on the character of God. The truth is, our God is characterized by joy. Now, before I explain that to you, let me just make sure you understand something important. Scrip... | |
that God is not driven by human passions and emotions in the same way that we are, because our emotions are responses. They're reactions to our thoughts, to the words and actions of others, or to our circumstances. But God never reacts in that way to anything, because He knows what will happen before it happens. And ev... | |
in spite of that potential misunderstanding, God still often uses the language of human emotion to explain His own disposition about something. Theologians call this anthropopathy. It's attributing human emotions to God to help us understand something that's true about Him. And here's where | |
beside [Him], as a master workman;" or craftsman, "and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him." So, wisdom worked alongside God as He created, and as God worked through His Son in creating, all things. Notice how God the Father is described: In His wisdom, as He creates, verse 30, He found daily | |
daily delight. He was rejoicing in the wisdom of His work. Verse 31, He was "rejoicing in the world, His earth, and having [my] delight in the sons of men" that He created. This is our God. He is marked by, known by, joy. God found joy in the work of creation. Scripture also describes | |
"'I saw Yahweh always in my presence; for He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; [moreover my flesh also will live in hope;] because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You have made known to me the ways of li... | |
I think if we had to describe the times in which we lived, the sort of mood or atmosphere in our own country and around the world, we would choose words today like anger, bitterness, resignation, discouragement, depression, even despair. Everything but joy marks the world in which we live. But for us who have believed ... | |
says to the Son, "'Your throne, O God,'" by the way, there's another evidence for the deity of Christ, "'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom. You'" — again, the Father talking to Christ — "'You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Yo... | |
has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your companions.'" Those words are from Psalm 45:6-7, "above [Your] companions." What does that mean? Well, it could mean you have more gladness than the angels around you. Or it could mean you have more gladness than your brothers and sisters you've redeemed. I think it'... | |
because in Isaiah 61:3, believers are said to be anointed with "the oil of gladness." And in Hebrews 2:12, it says Jesus will sing for joy in the congregation of His redeemed brothers. So, the writer of Hebrews is saying, in verse 9, that Jesus' joy as the Redeemer is greater than your joy as the redeemed. Think about ... | |
how filled with joy you were on the day you came to understand the Gospel, when you understood that you could have a relationship with God, that your sins could be forgiven. Think about how joyful you were, and then remind yourself that God has anointed His son with greater joy, greater joy than that. Jesus' joy perfec... | |
Turn over to Hebrews 12, because here we learn Jesus' joy is not only joy. Hebrews 12:1, the end of the verse says we are to "run with endurance the race that is set before us," our race, the race God set before us, "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith," now watch verse 2, "who for the joy | |
for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down on the right hand of [the throne of] God." Now why is this important? Because it reminds us that while Jesus experienced joy, He didn't experience only joy. There was the shame of the cross. There was the pain and suffering of Calvary. ... | |
glory of Christ is His infinite, eternal, indestructible gladness in the presence of God. But if it is not glorious to be gloomy, neither is it glorious to be glib. The carefree merriment of a ballroom gala and the irrepressible joy in a Russian gulag are not the same. One is trite, the other triumphant. One is glib, t... | |
f Jesus' life of joy like an upbeat song with only happy notes. Instead, think of Jesus' life of joy like a symphony that's written on the theme of joy. Jesus' life, like a symphony might on joy, Jesus' life had its dark and discordant notes and dark movements. But the theme of His | |
in John 17, the prayer that's prayed just before His arrest, the High Priestly Prayer of John 17. I think the first thing, the first joy that sustained Him was the joy of bringing glory to the Father. That's how He begins [in] John 17:1: "Lifting up His eyes to heaven, [He] said, 'Father, the hour has come; glorify You... | |
enjoys and produces in us. That's why [in] Galatians 5:22, "[But] the fruit of the Spirit is love," — and what is it? — "joy." The reason God demands that we rejoice always, is that is His own character. The Spirit is characterized by joy. Joy is the unchanging | |
should be one of overwhelming joy. We sing it every year: "Joy to the world! The Lord has come, let earth receive her King." You know, it's interesting: We sing those words written in 1719 by Isaac Watts. But ironically, he wrote that song based on Psalm 98, about the Second Coming. But eventually, it was associated | |
unchanging perfection of the nature of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But secondly, it's the unchanging reflection of His purpose. You see, in keeping with God's great eternal purposes, there are certain things that God finds joy in. This isn't an exhaustive list, but it's an important one. First of all, God... | |
finds joy in His own character. Jeremiah 9:24: "'I am Yahweh who exercises [lovingkindness], justice, and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,' [delares] the Lord." [God finds] joy in [His] steadfast love, in [His] justice and in [His] righteousness. Micah 7:18: | |
18: "Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever." Why? "Because He delights in unchanging love." God finds joy in His unchanging, steadfast love for you, Christian. He finds joy in that. Secondly, God finds joy an... | |
Matthew 17:5: "While he was still speaking," a bright light, "a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, 'This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!'" Thirdly, God finds joy in His creation. After He had created all things, in Genesis 1:31, we read, "God saw al... | |
that's used in a couple of passages. In Isaiah 62:5, describing God's ultimate joy in His people as He brings redemption to its close, it says, "[And] as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so your God will rejoice over you." That's such a powerful picture. Zephaniah 3:17: "He," God, "will | |
rather, this is where I find joy, "'that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, [turn back] from your evil ways! Why then will you die?''" God finds joy in the repentance of sinners. Turn to Luke 15. I wish I had time to walk you through this entire passage but look at Luke 15:1. This is the context: | |
connected with Christmas, because it resonates with the same idea, that the Lord has come. The point of that carol, really, and I think the reason that it's become connected to Christmas, is that for us, joy has come. And joy has a name. His name is Jesus of Nazareth, Israel's Messiah, the Promised One, the Servant of ... | |
the eternal Son of the living God. It's in Him that joy comes. As the angel said to the shepherds that day in Luke 2:10, "[But] the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy.'" Because of the incarnation of Jesus Christ that we celebrate | |
of joy today by first considering the ultimate source of joy. Now, before we get into the source itself, let me make sure we understand what we're talking about. Let me give you a basic definition of joy. What is joy? Well, we can define it several different ways. There's of course the English word. Our word in English... | |
word is translated rejoice. You see that all the time in the Psalms. And this word means to be filled with joy, or to outwardly express one's internal joy. The Greek word is a word you probably even recognize in the New Testament. The word is chará, which means joy, gladness, the experience of joy, or the experience of... | |
momentary." But their joys are also different because of where they look for joy. Augustine put it well when he said, "Man wishes to be happy even when he so lives as to make happiness impossible." Here are some of the wrong places that people look for joy. This isn't an exhaustive list, merely representative. Here's a... | |
In the pleasures of this life, even the good and right pleasures of this life. In Ecclesiastes 2:10-11, Solomon considers all of the pleasures that can come in this life, and he concludes this: "Behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun." It's the wrong place to look for joy. D... |
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