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[0:00] Well, good morning for? Good morning for?

[0:12] Yeah. We're in our final day of June, so summer's almost over. Not true.

[0:24] Just marking time. If you have a copy of God's Word, go ahead and turn open to John chapter 16.

[0:35] We will be looking at verses 16 through 24 this morning. And I have entitled this message, The Paradox of Joy, for you note takers that give you something to write at the top.

[0:56] You know, we're actually a good looking church. I just want you to know that. Not every one of you can be up here to see, but I'm telling you for a fact.

[1:08] We're not bad. We're not bad. All right. Let me pray for our study. Ask God's blessing on it, and then we'll just move into the time of the text.

[1:18] Father, we come before you this morning. Lord, thankful to be gathered here and we've got folks in the overflow room. And I know that there are some watching from home and Lord, everybody's in a different place today in terms of scarcity or abundance in their soul.

[1:38] And Lord, if there are those that are weary here this morning, I pray that gathering in your sanctuary, gathering with a collection of your people that you might refresh us.

[1:52] And so Lord, we come expectant. We're thankful that you have given us your words. Father, we're thankful that you've given us your spirit. And Father, we're thankful that you have placed us in a body of believers for encouragement.

[2:08] And I pray Lord that today we would find someone else and we would take it upon ourselves to encourage one another. Lord, it is a unique thing to be able to live life with your people and to be part of this local church.

[2:22] And I pray that we would be filled with gratitude this morning. And Lord, we would have a sense that you have spoken and we would leave here a bit different.

[2:35] So Lord, we give you, we commit this time to you, Jesus. Pray that you would glorify yourself and accomplish something good in each of us. And it's in Jesus' name and all God's people pray. Amen.

[2:45] So as we come to this text, I kept reflecting on this movie scene as I thought about what we would be looking at this morning.

[2:58] And the scene that was running through my mind was a scene from that famous James Cameron film, you know the one, not Titanic, The Abyss.

[3:12] And it's an older film now and I can't vouch for all of the content, please. Do not leave here going, Jay said this is a great family film. I'm not saying that.

[3:22] All right. It's been many years. But this film, it's got all the necessary ingredients for great art. It's deep sea diving.

[3:33] There's a nuclear sub. There's even aliens. I mean, that's right there. That's amazing art. And there's a scene in this film, Ed Harris.

[3:47] I forget even the role that he plays, but he's part of this submarine group. And he has to drink. I'm not even sure it's a real drink, but it was called Oxygenated Floral Carbon Liquid.

[4:03] And he had to drink this in order to breathe at the bottom of the ocean. And why does he need to go to the bottom of the ocean? Well, to destroy the nuclear submarine, of course.

[4:15] And so it's a painful scene because he's asked to do something completely counterintuitive. He has to like ingest this liquid into his lungs so that the pressure doesn't crush his lungs.

[4:30] And he's essentially like functioning like a fish. But it's counterintuitive. It's like asking someone to aspirate liquid. So the moment that he inhales this liquid, his body just violently reacts as though he's done something incredibly harmful to himself when, in fact, he has done something beneficial, allowing him to then accomplish the task that is before him.

[4:54] Now, why do I share that scene? Jesus is speaking, and he's sharing things that seem so very counterintuitive. In fact, he's trying to convince his men that what is about to take place is actually for their benefit.

[5:13] This is the final night of Jesus's life. They are experiencing struggle at this time, this final evening together. His turmoil in their hearts as Jesus is predicting his imminent death, not realizing that what he's predicting is for their joy.

[5:33] It's for their good. It's for their benefit. And in fact, what we're going to find this morning is that joy is found in the most unlikely of places.

[5:44] So let's dive in beginning here in verse 16. Jesus says, a little while and you will see me no longer.

[5:55] And again, a little while and you will see me. So some of his disciples said to one another, what is this that he says to us? A little while and you will not see me.

[6:05] And again, a little while and you will see me. And because I am going to the Father, so they were saying, what does he mean by a little while?

[6:16] We do not know what he is talking about. Now this is a pretty hard pill to swallow for the apostles.

[6:27] Ministry has been going very well. The sick are being healed. The demonized are being delivered. The king is present. Shouldn't the kingdom now be inaugurated?

[6:39] And yet the king starts sharing these perplexing and I would say rather depressing words. Jesus says, hey, in a little while and you are not going to see me.

[6:55] He is predicting his death. But then he follows it and he says, hey, in a little while you will see me. And he is here referencing then his resurrection.

[7:06] But as Jesus is sharing these words to his men it says though he is speaking this foreign language. Right? And in fact they say plainly, hey, we don't know what he is talking about.

[7:21] What are you saying Jesus? It sort of feels like the instructions I often will give to my children. In particular some of the youngest of my children.

[7:31] Like can you take your sweatshirts and all the clothing that you are littering our entire property with and just take them and put them in the laundry room or go hang them up. It says though I am speaking the foreign language.

[7:44] Nothing is computing. They are not catching what I am saying. These men had Jesus, they are Messiah.

[7:56] They have been listening to him preach on the kingdom of heaven. And now he is talking about this quickly approaching game of now you see me, now you don't. And they are just like what is Jesus saying?

[8:07] And it is interesting because instead of going to Jesus who do they talk to? It is interesting because it actually says here the disciples said to one another.

[8:20] So Jesus we don't understand you but instead of asking you we are going to talk amongst ourselves. What is Jesus saying? And I think there is maybe even a lesson here for us right?

[8:32] Not to circumvent God from being God by allowing always going to others first. Sometimes prayer is like on the very bottom of the list of turning to the Lord and we often go to everyone else first.

[8:49] And I am just going to give you like the answer. If you come to see any one of the pastors and you come and you want to share hey I think the Lord has told me to do this sort of thing and I am going to go this direction in life.

[9:02] So probably the first question you get from all of us is have you spoken to the Lord about that? Have you prayed about that? So that is just I am letting you know you will get that question.

[9:17] I think as a church one of the significant blessings actually of having Scott as our lead shepherd is not only is he a humble shepherd but he is committed to prayer.

[9:30] And I think that is one of the gifts before that we have a pastor who takes prayer seriously. And I think there is something to this that instead of talking directly to Jesus the men decide hey we are just going to go and sort of commiserate and have a little study and ask what do you think he meant?

[9:47] Well I thought he meant this and I thought he meant that. Well at this hour in the evening it has been a full day heavy experiences. They can't process what Christ is asserting.

[9:59] And yet what I love here is Jesus knows the hearts of his men. And we know that in John 2.25 it says that Jesus knows the hearts of all men but he actually answers their question before they ask.

[10:11] Look at verse 19 and 20. Says Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him so he said to them is this what you are asking yourselves?

[10:22] What I meant by saying a little while and you will not see me and again a little while and you will see me? Truly truly I say to you you will weep and lament but the world will rejoice.

[10:36] You will be sorrowful but your sorrow will turn into joy. I love this.

[10:47] It says here that Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him so he said. And I love that.

[10:58] That Jesus knew and then he spoke into this. And I think this actually this example from Christ it destroys the whole premise behind that mega popular Christian smash hit of a book the prayer of Jebez which actually some of you probably have purchased it because like over 10 million copies of this book were sold over the last 20 years.

[11:26] There's only like four other Christian books that even rank in that echelon so massively popular book but in the book there's some troubling concepts and probably the most troubling in that book is that it conveys this idea that if you don't ask God enough he's going to withhold blessing.

[11:44] You got to keep asking for my borders to be expanded for health to come and we're already going to see next week as we look at the final verse in this chapter Jesus says hey you know in the world you're going to have tribulation so that sort of whole smash is the idea that we're just going to bless we just keep asking bless me bless me bless me.

[12:05] Here Jesus shows kindness even when it's not begged for over and over again. It's a great example of that. Jesus knew what they wanted and then he spoke into it.

[12:18] They didn't have to keep asking him to bless them with an answer. It's wonderful. We're going to talk about prayer a bit more next week and unpack how we do that well.

[12:33] But Jesus here he's predicting with his answer the cross. He's talking about this event that's going to happen and it's going to bring a couple of different responses.

[12:49] He says first for you you're going to weep and lament because I'm going to be crucified tomorrow you're going to weep lament you're going to be sorrowful devastated it's going to be the worst day of your life and we see that it is because actually at the cross the disciples scatter.

[13:10] But then there's a different reaction and Jesus says you know for the world it's not going to weep and lament what's it going to do it's going to rejoice there's going to be a celebration now why why is the world so elated at the crucifixion of Jesus.

[13:32] Well Jesus said it back in John chapter three because essentially light has come but men love what they love they love darkness and the light exposes that Jesus even said then back in chapter seven he says in verse seven the world hates me because I testify about it that his works are evil.

[13:53] So the world's going to rejoice at the crucifixion of Jesus because God has showed up and yet man doesn't want accountability and we're going to silence Jesus we're going to get rid of him.

[14:07] Church nothing has changed really in two thousand years. Every kind as a whole doesn't want accountability they're not looking for a higher authority to place their life under.

[14:19] I think I just watched the worst clip from a and I'm going to use the quotes pastor let's not call him a pastor but a pastor doing exegesis on Luke 13 34 where Jesus is lamenting over the sin of Jerusalem longing to gather Israel under to gather together like a like a mother hen gathers her brood under her wings and this pastor was exegeting this passage and he proclaimed this that oh Jesus is like a mother hen therefore drag is holy.

[15:02] I mean I didn't I got no words like the worst exegesis ever.

[15:15] I mean scripture elsewhere is clear right Paul in 1 Corinthians 11 says very clearly that you know it's a disgrace for a man to make himself look like a woman talking about the way they men do their hair and 1 Corinthians 6 Paul denounces men behaving in effeminate manner such were some of you and any lists in there that is a sin.

[15:40] So scripture is clear on the subject Jesus is not saying by by using this figure of speech that that he's a female bird right.

[15:52] He's not he's not saying that the gender is a social construct. He's just using a figure of speech to convey his heart of compassion for a wayward rebellious people.

[16:05] And so we have to be careful when we come to God's word anyone can twist scripture to align with their fleshly desires and that pastor was doing just that Jesus using a figure of speech I could I could take it out of context.

[16:22] Jesus comparing himself to a mother hen. Oh we're supposed to identify with our spirit animal like animism or Buddhism right or oh he's a mother hen I'm supposed to buy a onesie an animal onesie and go to a dance and get you know high on ecstasy and Jesus is promoting like you can do a lot with scripture when you take it out of context.

[16:46] The point is man kind as a whole they don't want accountability and so when Jesus says the world it rejoices it did and it still does today.

[16:59] So the world loves that Jesus is about to be crucified because they want to silence him they want to cancel him or term these days keep the guilt far away that Jesus keeps bringing but for the apostles the crucifixion is not a joy filled occasion and yet here is where we have our paradox.

[17:26] Jesus says you will be sorrowful but your sorrow will turn into joy. There's going to be a metamorphosis.

[17:38] The place of sorrow is going to be the place of joy. In fact Jesus is saying that sorrow will be undone and most implausibly that joy will emanate from the very same place.

[17:50] This is so counterintuitive right that your worst day is actually your best day and so within this passage what Jesus does is he gives his men these realities of joy for every believer and I'm going to highlight three of these realities from our text here this morning and I'll tell you what we need joy in these difficult days church amen.

[18:21] We need joy. I don't want to watch any more news stories right. I don't want to hear about the evil that mankind is perpetrating against his fellow man.

[18:31] It's like we need joy and this is a section declaring the paradox of this beautiful gift.

[18:41] We need joy especially when it feels as though Satan is winning everywhere. First let's begin with a definition of joy. Joy is unlike happiness.

[18:56] The English word happiness actually comes from an old English word hap which means chance. It means fortune. So your internal feeling is affected because something good has occurred right.

[19:11] Your favorite TV show is on tonight so you're happy. You just made the sale so you're happy. You just graduated. You're happy. The person that you wanted to take interest in you did and you're happy right.

[19:24] It's based upon circumstance. Joy is unlike that. Joy in the Greek Cara can be translated gladness of soul not dependent on external fortune.

[19:41] It's the fruit of being in right relationship with the living God. It's a byproduct of continually delighting in that relationship.

[19:51] Just theologian said it this way joy is the flag that flies on the castle of the heart when the king is in residence. Isn't that good?

[20:03] Joy is the flag that flies on the castle of the heart when the king is in residence. And you can see it in the countenance of new believers. Can you not?

[20:13] We just had some baptisms a few weeks back and you talk to those guys and the gal that we're batting they're just there you see it it emanates. The king is in residence.

[20:26] Well we've got some realities of joy and the first one we've got three and the first one is this first reality of joy from our text. Our joy was birthed in the sorrow in the soil of sorrow.

[20:39] That's the first reality the first truth. Our joy was birthed in the soil of sorrow. And this is really the ultimate paradox of joy. And some of you guys are like, Jay what's a paradox?

[20:52] Well this is what Webster says. What's a paradox? A paradox is a statement that is seemingly contradictory or opposed to common sense and yet it is true.

[21:05] So joy is found in the most unlikely of places at the foot of an executioner's instrument of death the cross.

[21:18] And how was joy present here? This evening of anguish for Christ's followers and what we have to do is move beyond the event and look at the meaning of the event and the meaning of the event is that God was willing to be tortured in our place to satisfy his righteousness.

[21:39] To heal us from our sinfulness so that we could actually stand in his very presence. We could now be called friends, sons, daughters.

[21:51] And it's scandalous this exchange. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 521, for our sake he made him to be sin.

[22:02] Who knew no sin so that we might become the righteousness of God? That's the joy. It's like the physician doing the heart transplant and in the course of the surgery he actually takes out his own heart and gives it to us.

[22:22] Who would do such a thing? But that's what God did with the crucifixion. He gave his very life to bring new life to us.

[22:35] And there was sorrow in that for the physician and joy for us. It's insane that we could be loved like that in this life.

[22:45] That's how God loves us. God did that for us. And you know what? The enemy hates that. Satan hates that. And he wants the whisper. No, he did.

[22:56] God doesn't really love you. He knows what you did. No, he knows what you did which is why he went to the cross church. Amen? Amen? That's why he went.

[23:12] Well to hammer this paradox home, the joy comes from the least likely place. Jesus then uses this very common to life illustration so that we get this.

[23:25] These two things can emanate from the same place. Look at verse 21. Jesus says when a woman gives birth, is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come. But when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish for joy that a human being has been born into the world.

[23:48] I don't even want to touch this. What I'm going to.

[23:58] I mean based on what women endure in childbirth, like there should be zero joy associated with that experience. There should be none.

[24:09] Like I went to the birthing class. I got coached up. None of it worked. The coach is like, hey, if your wife is in labor, just ask her if you can give her soft touch on the shoulder, the leg, the arm.

[24:25] My wife didn't want soft touch. You know, I'm like, you want some soft? She's like, you did this to me. There's a ton of pain associated with childbirth.

[24:37] I have been an observer, a very unhelpful coach multiple times. I've heard women, they talk about this stuff.

[24:47] I don't know. Maybe this is what they do when they all go to the bathroom. I don't know, but it's like I was in labor for a week. Well I was in labor for a month. I mean it's like it just, it's all I'm going to say.

[25:01] And I've heard the men that claim kidney stones compare. I'm not even going there. I don't know. But here's the irony, right? Here's the irony. Going to the hospital, all the pain associated, it should equal little joy.

[25:15] And yet it's huge joy. And so Jesus is using this very common life illustration saying, that's what the cross is. Which is why Friday, the worst day in history, we now call good.

[25:29] Why? Because life is born. Life has now entered the world. When a woman gets birth, life has entered the world. And it's like you can't even talk.

[25:42] The nurse says, what's your, the first child we had. Like what's her name? There's no vowels. Nothing. Nothing came out.

[25:55] Callie. I can do it. There you go. Jesus is telling his men that what is about to occur is like going through childbirth in a sense.

[26:09] He's saying tomorrow it will be the worst day of your life. And it will bring about yet everlasting joy to all who call upon my name.

[26:20] And when you see me resurrected on Sunday, you'll know that joy has come for real. That forgiveness is possible. That new life is possible. And it's remarkable, friends, that the worst and most evil event in history has caused our joy.

[26:38] And if the worst event has capacity to do that, perhaps God can even redeem some of those other lesser evil, those trials in our lives for our joy as well.

[26:51] I think there's something very hopeful in this first reality. All right, continue on. Look at verse 22. Jesus says, so also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice and no one will take your joy from you.

[27:12] Second reality of joy. First, it's birth in the shadow of the cross, but it's also a joy, Jesus says, that cannot be taken away. He says no one will take your joy from you.

[27:25] Right? And the qualifier here obviously is for those who have trusted in Jesus in this life to be their ultimate payment for sin.

[27:36] Joy can't be taken away. And we have testimony of this in the pages of God's Word. Paul the apostle experienced joy his entire life, and yet he endured more as a follower of Christ than most will in this life.

[27:53] And you can read 2 Corinthians 11. There's a whole list of difficulties that just continue to plague his life because of his alignment with Jesus.

[28:04] And yet he writes in his letter of joy, the book of Philippians. He says, you know what, for me to live is still Christ.

[28:16] The joy is still present. I find my delight in Jesus above all. Do you know history records all 12 apostles?

[28:27] They experienced joy, a joy that was secure. It couldn't be taken away even at the prospect of death.

[28:37] It can't be taken away. The 4th century historian Eusebius, he records just before they crucified Peter.

[28:50] The Romans forced him to watch his wife be crucified. And what does Peter say to her? He says, hey my dear, remember the Lord. Remember the Lord. Remember who you are.

[29:01] Remember where your joy emanates from. Remember the Lord. And even in that, his affection for Jesus never faltered. It never faltered.

[29:13] As we abide in Jesus, no one can steal our joy. But did you hear that? As we abide in Jesus. Our problem is we don't often abide.

[29:29] We have this resource and we often neglect it. Last weekend, because Scott and myself, we both don't have friends, we became friends to go to the air show together because you're like, do you have friends?

[29:44] No. Do you have friends Jay? No. Let's be friends. So we went to the air show and it was wonderful. It's like, oh that's what it's like to have a friend. This is great. So two lonely pastors just spent their time.

[30:00] And we were going to stick around for the A-10 because we really wanted to see the warthog and that gun. But we didn't because we saw the F-35 first and that was enough. And we saw that plane and it put the after-barron and it was glorious and we felt the concussive nature and we're just like, we shouldn't be pastors.

[30:16] We should be like fighter pilots. I mean, we're unskilled and we missed our calling. But could you imagine if we went to war and we were like, you know, let's just leave those F-35s and 22s.

[30:31] Let's just leave. We've got some great prop-driven sesnas that we could really take the enemy on with. It would be like, what? You're wasting this incredible resource.

[30:44] And that's how we are when it comes to our joy. We have the book of joy. Joy is the fruit that grows out of branches that deeply connect to the vine.

[30:56] And yet we forsake that. And we're wondering, why am I struggling so deeply? Church, there is an inextricable connection between what we meditate on, what we think, and then how we feel.

[31:12] Okay? In fact, Jonathan Edwards in his work on religious affections, he says this, the mind, not the body, the mind is the proper seat of the affections.

[31:29] So passions and affections are very different animals. Passions, passionate. Well, they can circumvent the mind. The body can simply just take over. But affections, deep feelings of the soul where joy resides, are fueled only through the mind.

[31:46] You got it? So if you want to feel deeply, you want to feel God's joy, you have to do what first? Think deeply. Meditate on that which is true, on God's promises, on the Gospel.

[32:03] And so we're right back where we started a few weeks ago. Yeah, we need to be in God's word. Daily, we need to soak in it. We need to let God remind us of the fact that we've been forgiven of much.

[32:16] Our problem is we want this effortless joy found in maybe one sermon a week while we spend the rest of the week just kind of scrolling the week away, right? Thinking joy is going to be squeezed out of all those means.

[32:29] And it just, it can't produce. And we forsake this wonderful resource of connecting deeply with the Lord. And as we do that joy, it just, it flourishes.

[32:44] Four years after or four years before Martin Luther died, he wrote the text of Psalm 11992 out in his Bible, which says, if your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

[33:03] I'm not forsaking the resource you gave me, Lord. It's my delight. And because of it, I can face today and I can face tomorrow.

[33:19] The wonderful gift of the Lord. So the question is, what is it going to take in our life to drive us to ingest God's word?

[33:31] What does it require to get us there that we would soak in these joy-inducing promises given within?

[33:44] As I reflect back a decade, and I recall the season of heavy fatigue that I was going through physically in my life, waking up in the mornings and not being able to really move for three hours, just sit.

[34:01] And I spent that time communing with the Lord in God's word. And what was remarkable is that during that time, my joy was off the charts, and yet my body had, was in a place of diminishment.

[34:18] It's true, church. It's true. As we abide, joy is a fruit that emanates from being deeply connected to the vine.

[34:31] As we do that, it can't be taken away regardless of what external thing is happening in our lives. All right, let's finish up.

[34:42] Verse 23 to the end, 24 says, In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly truly I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, He will give it to you.

[34:53] Until now you have asked nothing in my name, ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. So first, Jesus here says, In that day, in that day, what day?

[35:07] Well, it's a day when people are going to be asking things in Jesus' name. When you ask in Jesus' name, what you're saying is I'm going to ask this thing according to Jesus' will.

[35:18] And when is that? When will people do that? Well, they didn't do it when Jesus was there with them. It's after He ascends and the gift of God's Spirit is given to His people.

[35:30] And as we see God move and dwell us with His Spirit and answer prayers, it says your joy may be full. This word full, liberal amounts of joy, not little tiny, heady, pity joy, massive joy.

[35:46] It will abound. And you'll see it in God's people. In my Uber travels, I will often throw out as I'm fishing for souls, oh, God is good.

[36:03] They'll share something and I just like, God is good. God is good. And sometimes they're just like, what? I don't even know this language.

[36:13] But then I had this gal get in my car and her spirit was just kind of buoyant and I'm like, I think she's a believer. And so I was like, as we're driving and she shares something, I'm like, man, God is good.

[36:26] And then she's back and she's like, all the time. I was like, yeah, I could tell. There was just something in her.

[36:37] And Jesus says, your joy is going to be full. It's going to be abundant. I would say this third reality of joy. Yeah, first it is birth in the soil of sorrow.

[36:49] It's something that can't be taken away. But finally, the joy that Jesus promises is massive joy. It's substantial joy.

[37:00] And what I love about this last truth, it happens in the context of when? When Jesus is gone. It's an insight here, this final reality. It describes the time after Jesus has gone back to the father, back to the father.

[37:15] He's in heaven. So it's describing what? It's actually describing today. It's describing our lives today that we are promised, not just the apostles when Jesus was there.

[37:28] We are promising life of massive joy today. And so the question for us. Because the preacher's up here and I'm exhorting us, but the question is, do we believe it?

[37:45] Do we believe that joy is found in delighting in serving Jesus in this life? And maybe some of you this morning are honest enough, Jay, sometimes.

[37:57] Right? Sometimes I believe that. And you know what? Me too. Me too. I think actually the psalmist was in the same boat as all of us because it says in Psalm 103, verse 2, he says, bless the Lord, O my soul.

[38:15] And then he goes on to say what? Forget not his benefits. Because he too forgets that that's where joy emanates.

[38:27] That God is good. The joy is found in relating to him, enjoying him. We're kind of like when it comes to believing that joy is found in delighting in the Lord.

[38:39] We're sort of like that father. I think it's in Mark 9 where it records the father with the child ravaged by a demon. Jesus is saying I'm willing to heal.

[38:49] Right? And the father's like, I believe, but help my own belief. Right? I believe, but help me. Because I believe, but at the same time, I need your help, Jesus, to overcome unbelief that's also present.

[39:09] Faith is present, but not much. Maybe not all of the time. Like I forget that my joy, my soul gladness is found in enjoying the relationship I have with the living God.

[39:23] Like I forget. When do I forget? Well, I forget when I'm maybe around the wrong crowd. I forget maybe when I'm feeling depressed or feeling alone.

[39:35] When I feast my mind on the fun and the ease of all the people that I follow online, my joy starts to diminish. I don't really believe when I compare my lack of success or accomplishments or blessing to those around me.

[39:52] That doesn't work out for me, like it does them and my joy is shrinking. I'm not really sure if there's massive joy for me in this life when my body is tired or it's sick or as it's diminishing in strength and vigor as I age, which is all of us church, sorry.

[40:16] We don't move as fast as we used to. Some of us need help. It's difficult. But the promise is that we can have massive joy regardless of that stuff.

[40:31] But I would just say in the moments of scarcity is our unbelief getting the better of us here. And so it's turning us into these half-hearted creatures, thrusting us into this constant search for joy in joyless, desperate, and even sinful places.

[40:51] Right? King David forgot. Decided joy would be found on a rooftop not belonging to him. Led to great consequence in his life, joyless consequence.

[41:07] I mean we live in a culture that believes joy is found in broken cisterns that actually cannot hold joy. I see it every day when I'm spending time with people as I scurry them around our city.

[41:25] Well joy is found in that next vacation, that next job, that next adventure, that next substance induced high. Joy is found on the Internet.

[41:37] One click away from joy. Search, we need to pray often, Lord help our unbelief just like that father of that demonized son.

[41:50] Lord, I know you can heal. I know you can provide the thing that you said that you would. Help our unbelief. And I would say one of the ways he accomplishes this for all of us is by gathering regularly with others who are seeking joy found in him.

[42:04] Amen? It's actually what we're doing this morning. This you didn't know was actually for your joy. To be reminded that joy is found in abiding with Christ and surrender to God.

[42:19] His good plans for your life. As we sing about that which is true, we're waging war on the joy, promising lies of the enemy.

[42:33] Martin Luther, spend a bit of time with him this week. He's known for saying this often. He says, Hey, come let us sing a Psalm together and drive away the devil.

[42:45] And we do that. We're refreshed. We're reminded. Wow, that's what we're about. As we observe faith in one another. Oh, yeah. You got to hear from Jessica this morning that she's going to be going on this vision trip.

[42:59] We got to hear last week about this team going to Romania and it's like, Oh, we're refreshing going. These folks, they're they're striving to find their joy and being used of the Lord.

[43:10] And it's and it's beautiful to be reminded that we are not alone in this church. Amen. So you should leave here despite the external circumstances of today with a greater amount of joy, especially as we have been spending time in God's Word.

[43:30] And I would say, ultimately, joy increases as the gospel is rooted in our hearts church. And I'll end with this passage. And I love what Peter says in 1 Peter chapter one.

[43:43] He says this in verses three and four. He says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

[44:02] Verse four to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading kept in heaven for you.

[44:13] So what's Peter saying here is he's saying, Hey, your past is forgiven. Got to show great mercy on you. You've been born again. Your past has been dealt with. But then he goes on to say, Hey, you have an inheritance.

[44:27] It's imperishable. It's unfading. So not only is your past forgiven, your future secure. So if the passes dealt with the futures promise secure, then today, presently, what can we do?

[44:41] Well, Peter tells us then down in verse eight, first Peter 180 says this, though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not see him, you believe in him and rejoice with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with great glory.

[45:02] So you can experience joy today. Jay, you don't know what's going on. I don't. I don't. And yet joy can coalesce with scarcity, with sorrow.

[45:18] Never forgiven of much. Heaven is our promised home so we can experience joy today. Gladness of soul. It is wellness with my soul.

[45:29] And this reality, it's enough to fuel today, regardless of the difficulty, the disappointment, or even if you're in your most desperate hour.

[45:40] It can be well with your soul, even today, church. Those are not trite words.

[45:53] In 1871 Horatio Spafford's only son died, followed by the great fire in Chicago, which ruined him financially.

[46:04] In 1873, he sent his family head to Europe. He had business to attend to. As their ship was crossing the Atlantic, it collided with another ship at Sankin. As we know the story, his four daughters died on that day.

[46:18] And his wife, Anna, survived, sent him the telegraph back. Hey, saved alone. And then afterwards, as Horatio was traveling to meet his grieving wife, he wrote these words that we sing and we're going to sing as he passed that area where his daughters had died.

[46:34] And he wrote, when peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, over my lot, thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.

[46:50] Joy can even coalesce in these most desperate hours. Father, we come before you this morning and we ask that you would increase our joy, that whatever scarcity we're facing today.

[47:05] Lord, whether we're young and we're strong and we have many days in our mind ahead of us or father, whether we are at the tail end.

[47:15] And we see that transition home as something that is that is very near. Today Lord, you have us here and we want to be your people. We want to be able today to declare that you are good.

[47:28] But Lord, would you just speak the gospel over us this morning? That we have been forgiven of much and that you have indeed gone to prepare a place for us.

[47:43] As Lord of all people on this planet, we are most blessed. Father, might we walk today despite whatever the difficulty is, would we experience that it is well with our soul joy, that gladness of soul, because the King is in residence in our hearts.

[48:04] In your name we pray, Jesus. King Jesus. Amen. Amen.