The Fullness of Christian Joy

It is older than the universe. Joy. When the Bible speaks of joy, it is dealing with something that is older than the very world in which we live. It is something that has eternally existed in the heart of God. Joy. The Bible tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is joy. The Holy Spirit, the eternal Spirit of God, is the one who actually must produce this joy in man.

The Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon once said, “I dare say you have learned by this time, my beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, how exceedingly necessary it is that this joy of ours should be abundant. When full of joy, we are more than a match for the adversary of souls. When our joy is gone, fear slackens our sinews, and like Peter, we may be vanquished by a little maid.” And he goes on then to say, “Thus the Christian, by his holy joy, outbraves temptation and is strong to endure a martyrdom of woe. Why, you can do anything when the joy of the Lord is within you.” You can do anything.

It is more than a match for the adversary of souls. See, this can’t be talking about carnal joy. It has to be speaking of a joy that coincides with God. And that’s what you have in Acts 13:52. You have joy and the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost produces joy, brings joy. He can’t live within the heart without manifesting joy.

We, in our own carnal endeavors, must suppress the very fruit of the Spirit, quench His work within our lives. But if only we would give Him His way, as it were, we would invite and cultivate and revel in the fruit that He produces, then joy, this joy, would be our experience and portion.

So tonight I want us to consider the fullness of Christian joy—the fullness of Christian joy. And just, I’m running through a number of headings here. They could be expanded upon at great length. I promise I’m not going to do that. But note with me, first of all, the root of this joy.

It is, in the first place, our union with Christ. It ties back to the context of this passage, that focus upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and language such as we have in Philippians 3, verse 3: “we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.” We rejoice in Christ Jesus.

Now that statement could be extrapolated in terms of the arms of its meaning beyond union with Christ, but it certainly includes union with Christ. Rejoice in Christ Jesus. In contrast to rejoicing in the effort of the flesh and all the machinery of human righteousness, we abandon that, and we rejoice in Christ Jesus. The root of this joy is union with Christ.

It is also our justification in Christ, being justified because of Christ. Yes, was it not, as I have said recently, was it not the encouragement of the Lord Jesus to His disciples, rejoice not that the devils are made subject to you, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven. You’re justified. Your name is written in heaven. It’s not going to be deleted. It’s not going to be erased. Your name is written in heaven. You are justified.

And this, of course, is part of the joy. It must then be that there is joy because we have this standing in union with Christ, justified in Christ, and adopted through Christ, we might say, in the third place as well. This foundation—we’re laying this gospel foundation. When John writes in 1 John, in chapter 1, he says that I’m writing that your joy may be full.

That’s what I want. That’s good for us as preachers to remember, that John is setting out: this is my intention, here’s my goal, right? That your joy may be full. And I think preachers could take that as an MO in terms of, what are you getting up to accomplish in your preaching? That people’s joy may be full.

But one of the things he then deals with in the third chapter is, “beloved, now are we the sons of God.” In order to encourage joy, in writing so that their joy may be full, it includes doctrines such as adoption. “Now are we the sons of God.” “It doth not appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”

So the root of this joy is union with Christ, justification in Christ, adoption through Christ—these things. Or you cannot have this joy unless this foundation is true in your life. The fullness of Christian joy requires that these things be true of us. So if you’re not, if this is not true of you, this is where you begin. You need to be justified.

And you’re justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. You believe, you rest, you place your entire trust upon the finished work of Christ. That is the way of salvation. And you can have it tonight.

In the second place, the giver of this joy. Who is the giver? Well, it is through the Holy Spirit. This joy goes hand in hand with the Holy Ghost, as you see in Acts 13:52 and many other places. The Holy Spirit is giving. He, as I said—joy is as old as God. There’s no God without joy. And so when the Holy Ghost comes, when the Holy Spirit comes, naturally joy is a part of that.

And so we might say, in the first place, the Spirit awakens affections. In order for us to really enter into this joy, the Spirit must awaken something that otherwise does not exist. I’ve mentioned Galatians 5 already: “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy.” He produces this. He comes into the life to produce. He awakens something that is not there by nature.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that there is only happiness in and among Christians. Obviously, there are people out in the world and they’re happy, right? They have a certain form of joy or happiness, however you wish to term it.

But this specific joy, this joy, is something the Holy Spirit produces. And of course, at times it can look similar. We’re all made in the image of God, and so our expression of joy can look similar. Some who do not know regenerating grace and don’t know the love of God within their souls, they can exhibit something that looks like joy, just as they can exhibit things that look like love. But the Spirit awakens something, a different affection, a different sense of joy, a different quality of joy.

This giver of joy, the Holy Spirit, not only awakens affections, but He reveals Christ. He reveals Christ. In John 16:14, our Lord Jesus said about the Holy Spirit, that “He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine and shall show it unto you.” And so His purpose then in giving us joy, in part, is not disconnected from His purpose in revealing Christ.

Now this builds upon some of the things we said this morning. It’s the gospel. The gospel’s foundational. There isn’t this work of the Holy Spirit that is separate from the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The work of the Holy Spirit is always leading into, directing towards, making much of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so His work in showing us Christ plays into the fact that part of what He brings into your life is joy, and He produces that joy by showing us Christ.

If you’re discouraged and you’re struggling, and you may have enough sense within you to say, I just need another sight of Christ. I need a sight of Christ that will make the difference. I know that. I know that from past experience. Who’s going to give you that sight of Christ? Who’s going to illuminate the pages of Scripture in such a way that you see Christ, you see some truth about your Lord? He’s the one who illuminates, shows, whether it be through the herald Word when it’s preached like this, or in your own experience of reading the Word, or some other context.

The Spirit awakens affections. He reveals Christ. He also communicates God’s love. In Romans 5, verse 5, the apostle writes, “And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” And so this work of the Spirit, part of what He is doing—the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. It is communicated. There’s this sense of the love of God that fills the believer’s heart that would be impossible without the Spirit of God.

And He comes in. Why? Why does He show us the love of God? Why does He lean in? How is it that this is part of His work? The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by or through the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. And I put it to you, the same thing, just as He directs us to Christ to help us with our joy and other things, of course, but part of His work is not just to reveal Christ, but to reveal the love of God.

Have you ever had a time in your life where you doubted the love of God? You questioned it? The promises are still there. They are in black and white as they have ever been. And you can read and reread and go over and meditate and consider the truth concerning God’s love for you. And for some reason, it just doesn’t sink in. And so there’s no joy in such times, is there? Man, what a place to live, to get to a place of questioning the love of God. There cannot be joy there. There’s no possible way. No possible way. I have the joy of the Holy Ghost, but I doubt the love of God. No! It cannot be.

So part of His work then, part of the Spirit’s work, is to shed abroad, communicate, fill with confidence, distribute the sense of the love of God in our hearts. And when that happens, oh, it may not bring all the fullness of joy, but I’ll tell you, it goes a long way—to know that you’re loved by God.

And the Holy Spirit, God the Holy Spirit, confirms that love in your soul. He bears witness to that love so that it’s no longer just the truth of His love generally, but it is the truth of His love specifically towards me. That’s the Holy Ghost. It was the Holy Ghost that enabled the Apostle Paul to be able to say that He loved me and gave Himself for me.

So the Spirit not only awakens affections and reveals Christ and communicates the love of God, He also strengthens the inner man. I mentioned this this morning. It causes our inner man to be strengthened, as we said in Ephesians 3:16. This is the prayer: that God would grant us according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man. So He is, in that strengthening, bringing all the fruit of the Spirit.

So, the root of this joy, the giver of this joy, in the third place, the nourishment of this joy. Yes, the Holy Spirit is essential in bringing joy into the heart and into the life, but it doesn’t work without means.

And there are means that have been appointed by God, and you might say in one sense, though they have a number of purposes, that they in part are key to Christian joy, the fullness of Christian joy.

In the first place, we consider the means of Scripture. He or she is not interested in their own joy who neglects this book. You’re not interested in your own joy if you neglect this book. You’re compounding misery in your own soul. Are you finding struggles in life and problems in your circumstances, and your vision is just filled with things that are negative? And yet you’re neglecting this? We have no interest in our own joy if we neglect this book.

In Jeremiah 15, verse 16, the prophet says, “thy words were found and I did eat them.” “Thy words were found and I did eat them.” “Thy word was unto me, the joy and rejoicing of mine heart.” I found the Word. I devoured the Word. And that Word was the joy and rejoicing of my heart.

You’re not interested in your own joy if you neglect this book. Scripture is a means. Read it, beloved. Read the Word. And then when you’re done reading it, read it again. And then look forward to the next occasion when you can read it. And then when you’re driving to work, listen to it being read to you. And when you’re mowing the yard, the grass, listen to the Word.

I always think about, you go to these Muslim nations and you can’t get your hair cut without having the Quran being read in your ear. Everywhere you go. I don’t know if they have a radio station or what they have, but the Quran is always being read everywhere you go.

I think the President who’s really interested in making America great again would give encouragement on every establishment—the Word of God is being read. You can’t go to—I know he can’t enforce this, but he might encourage it. You couldn’t go to any store, or any mall, or any place. You’d be standing, filling your car with gas, and instead of those stupid advertisements, the Word of God would be coming out. Far more chance to make the country great if there was more of the Word.

The nourishment of this joy: Scriptures, prayer. John 16:24: “Hitherto,” Jesus says, “have ye asked nothing in my name. Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” Oh, prayer, prayer, coming and seeking the Lord, wrestling with the Lord, bringing matters before the Lord, reminding the Lord, as it were, and saying, Lord, remember, answer, come. And He says, “Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” It is a joy. It’s a peculiar joy, answered prayer, isn’t it?

The only thing is, I don’t think we always see the answers to prayer that we do receive. We prayed for strength, and then we forget that God actually granted us strength. And we ask for something, or the other, or whatever, and we bring these matters, and sometimes they’re very, in our view, they’re very small, they seem small, but things could go very differently, very quickly. God answers these things, and we should return then with a sense of joy. I asked and I received.

Worship, all worship. Psalm 95, verses 1 and 2: “Oh, come, let us sing unto the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms.” If we all did this, right, we came in—come, let’s sing unto the Lord, make a joyful noise—and that’s the energy of that, right?

If we all come into God’s house and say, this is what we’re here to do, and if there’s some sad sack in the church sitting beside me or in front of me this Lord’s Day, they’re going to feel a palpable sense of joy within my heart and life. They’re not gonna escape the house of God without sensing the joy in my worship.

That’d be good, wouldn’t it? It’d be good for us all. We’re not all there every Lord’s Day, are we? So it’s good to come in and 95% of us at least be there, and then raise up the affections and the encouragement then of the other 5 percent. Or maybe the percentages are flipped the other way. The 5 percent have to raise up the 95 percent. I hope that’s not the case.

The nourishment of this joy is Scripture, prayer, worship, thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. We sang in Psalm 100. And in that psalm there is expressed, “enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless his name.” And I think gratitude, thankfulness, offering thanksgiving is a stimulus to our own joy. It forces you to—I said this recently—but it forces you to look back and see what God has already done.

And then, of course, there’s fellowship. Fellowship is the nourishment of our joy, the fellowship of believers. In Philippians 1, the Apostle Paul makes mention of this. I had another verse down here, and then I was like, I think there’s—I started thinking over it again just before the service, and I’m thinking of Philippians 1. Paul writes about his praying for the church at Philippi. Verse 4: “always in every prayer of mine for you all, making request with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.”

So yes, he’s praying with joy. That joy is tied into the fellowship he experienced with these believers. Every time he thinks about them and he prays for the church there, there’s joy because he had fellowship with them.

So this is at least some of the things that nourish the joy: Scripture, prayer, worship, thanksgiving, fellowship, all of these things. You neglect any of them, you’re not interested in your own joy. You neglect Scripture, you neglect prayer, worship, thanksgiving, fellowship—you’re starving yourself.

In the fourth place, consider the enemies of this joy. The enemies of this joy. There are many things I could have written, but I have three here before me. There’s unbelief, unconfessed sin, and worldliness. The enemies of joy: unbelief, unbelief.

How can you have joy if you’re coming to God’s Word and you don’t believe what He says? It’s for the person beside me; it’s not for me. Now these promises are not believed. Unbelief is an enemy of joy. You have to see unbelief as the archenemy of your entire existence. Unbelief. The disposition of heart that leans into unbelief. Oh, how our Lord had to rebuke His disciples for this. It’s slow of heart to believe. It’s not the way to live.

So the enemy of joy is unbelief. Romans 15:13: “now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.” You can’t have the filling of all joy and peace without the believing. There has to be the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace—it’s not just period. It’s in believing, that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.

Unconfessed sin. Living with it. Living with unconfessed sin. Confession, confession. It’s not just, by the way, naming it. It’s not just being aware of it. It’s not just having a thought that passes through the mind of this thing, and I know it’s bad. That’s not confession. That’s acknowledgment. But it’s not confession.

Oh, we can see it. We’re before the Lord, we’re in prayer, and that thing, that sin, there it is in the mind, and we acknowledge it’s wrong. But confession, confession is when you get to the place that you agree with God concerning that thing. You agree with God.

So take unbelief, you take unbelief, and unbelief is there, and you know unbelief, and you say, well, what can I do about it? Well again, acknowledgment is not confession. You have to confess it. And where does unbelief lead people without the grace of God? What does God do with the unbelieving? But the fearful and unbelieving are cast into the lake of fire. It’s wicked.

And so when it comes into the mind, it can’t just be that. It can’t stop there. It has to be looked at, considered, and viewed in the way God views it. Look at this awful thing. God sends people to hell for this. Lord, I acknowledge and I confess it as the most wicked sin in Your presence. Give me grace to overcome it. Let it not be named in my life.

See, if you don’t do that, then you sort of let it live on. You give it power. You say, I know it’s bad. I know it’s wrong. I know Christians shouldn’t do it. And there’s an implied but. And you’re just letting it exist there. And I’ll tell you right now, that thing is just sucking the oxygen of joy out of your heart and life. It is causing all the good graces and wonderful things of the Spirit to evaporate in your very presence. And you can’t have what the early church had. You can’t know what it is to be filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost when you handle sin that way.

It must be confessed. God, this is what You say about it, so this is what I say about it. It’s worthy of hell. Deliver me.

Unbelief, unconfessed sin, and worldliness. Worldliness. Oh, this is the problem, isn’t it? Especially, it’s always one of the chief problems. It’s always a problem. But I do think I’m not overstating the case to suggest that worldliness tends to have more of an influence and be more of a problem in a day of affluence and ease.

And you can have it. Go ahead. Go ahead. Seek the world, cultivate things of the world, give place to the philosophies of the world, and the way the world goes on, you know, its speech and its music and all the other aspects of its own little microculture that it tries to produce—the world. And you can have it. And many Christians try to walk, this walk of one foot in the world, one foot in the church, one foot in all the language of that world, and one foot in the Scriptures.

You can’t have two masters. You can live in the illusion of two masters. You can make yourself believe that you’re straddling this fence and succeeding, and you have everything that both sides have to offer, right? I can have 100% of the Christian life with all these justified elements of the world. And you can’t. You just can’t. You cannot. It’s not going to be done.

So you have a choice to make. And part of that choice is recognizing the elements of the world that have their talons into your life, and you say, I’m done. I’m done with those things. In the interests of the glory of God and my own joy, I am done. It’s an enemy. You have to see it as an enemy.

Is this vile world a friend of grace to help me on to God? Love not the world, John says, 1 John 2:15. Neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. That’s my point, isn’t it? It’s like you’re trying to have both. He’s talking to people, and they’re trying to do the same things we’re still trying to do today. The love of the Father, the love of the world. John says, if the love of the world is in your heart, the love of the Father is not. You can live in the illusion that it is, but it’s not.

It’s just not there. Oh, that we would learn it. It’s an enemy of our joy. It’s an enemy of your joy. You have to come to the conviction about this, that God’s Word is true and not my felt experience. That God’s Word is right, and God has it right and not me.

Finally, the evidence of this joy. The evidence of this joy. What’s the evidence? Well, if the joy of the Holy Ghost is really in your life, and you can see it with these disciples, there’s no doubt that those around them were aware that they were disciples of Christ, and this joy was in them.

In the first place, one of the evidences is it gives a shine to the life. It gives a shine to the life.

I just don’t think a miserable Christian’s very attractive. Maybe that’s just me, but I really don’t think it’s very attractive. Children are great, you know, because they don’t want to be around misery, right? They have an intolerance toward misery. You get older and you start overlooking it. Well, it’s just the way he is. But children won’t tolerate it. And I think we can learn from the children.

The joy of the Holy Ghost is in your life. If you truly are living in the fullness of Christian joy, it will be there. I’m not saying that that makes you find the funny side in the death of a loved one, or something like that, or find humor where it shouldn’t be. I’m not talking about that. It’s this enjoyment. It’s God in the soul. God who enjoys fellowship with Himself. Joy, the joy of God.

Try to think of the—what’s the joy of God? The joy of God does not fluctuate. It doesn’t change. It doesn’t ebb and flow. It’s not influenced by circumstances. It’s a constant.

The joy of the Holy Ghost is a constant, and it may be married to times and seasons of great sorrow and weeping. But even in that sorrow, you will perceive, if you’re around such who have that joy of the Lord, who have that fullness of joy by the Holy Ghost, even when they sorrow, you will perceive something of this joy.

It gives a shine to the life. It gives a song in affliction. It gives a song in affliction.

Later in Acts, Acts 16, when Paul and Silas are imprisoned, we are told in Acts 16:25, “at midnight,” at midnight, “Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them.” I love that. You just see certain people coming. It’s not very Christian to wake them up. They’re sleeping. It’s midnight, Paul, be a bit more considerate.

But these two men were so caught up in a sense of the presence of God, despite their backs being torn to shreds, bleeding out, the fear of infection or whatever may have gone through their minds, they, instead of dwelling on that and the agony of their physical frame, they are saying, brother, let’s sing.

Or maybe one of them just started to sing and the other one joined in. Song in affliction. Yes, songs. You need songs. You should identify the songs that most resonate, first, in accordance with Scripture, and second, with your own soul. That’s a mysterious thing, isn’t it? In which some songs tend to be more meaningful to some rather than others. You need to know those things that lift you out of the doldrums.

Maybe even when you’re going through life and you have certain things that trigger feelings and emotions and sorrow about the past, and you can’t even pass this thing or think about this thing without it bringing a sinking feeling and a sorrow into your heart—I want you, oh listen to me, I’ve given this counsel to others. I want you even as such to identify a song for that moment. Identify a song for that moment.

You say, every time I hear this, or hear their name, or go through this place, or see that, or there’s this thing that reminds me, and it does, has all this influence and effect, whether it’s sorrow, or grief, or fear, or whatever it is, I want you to find a song. And in that moment, when that next time that comes, you counter it with that song. You sing your soul out of it.

And the Holy Spirit will take those truths, and you will find produced in you a fullness of Christian joy.

It gives a shine to the life, it gives a song in affliction, it gives steadiness in obedience. That’s the context of Nehemiah 8, verse 10. They’re being called to obedience, and they’re being willing to obey, and they’re being told then, “the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Specifically, that you may carry out the obligations, that you may follow through. The joy of the Lord is your strength—steadiness in obedience.

And sometimes you get weary, beloved, don’t you? We say it: serve Him with mirth. Sometimes you don’t feel like it. You have obligations and things you must do. You have to go to work in the morning. You don’t feel like it. I’m gonna serve Him with mirth.

And the children wake up earlier than they ought. And you’re like, oh no. Serve Him with mirth, mom. Serve Him with mirth. I’m not saying you don’t need your sleep. You need your sleep. Elijah needed his sleep. That was one of God’s remedies for the depressed prophet. But serving with mirth—get a sweetness toward Christ.

In 1 Peter 1, verse 8: “Whom having not seen ye love, and whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Yes. Whenever we can’t see Him, yet believing, we rejoice. Believing what? Who He is and what He has done—that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that He died on the cross and rose from the dead and reigns in glory. I can’t believe those things without rejoicing with joy unspeakable.

And it gives a sermon to the world. That’s the final thing. The evidence of this joy: a shine to the life, a song in affliction, steadiness in obedience, sweetness toward Christ, and a sermon to the world. A sermon to the world. That doesn’t mean that you have to be a preacher.

When David wrote in Psalm 40, verse 3, he said, “He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto your God.” He hath put a new song. It’s great when God puts a new song. That’s the work of conversion. That’s the life of God in the soul. “He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto your God.” And then he says, “many shall see it, and shall fear, shall trust in the Lord.” “Many shall see it, and shall fear, and shall trust in the Lord.”

It’s a sermon to the world. The joy—He has put a new song. This fullness of Christian joy will be evidenced in the fact that I have a new song, praise to God, and many are going to see it.

They’re seeing it in Orlando, aren’t they? I didn’t do it yesterday. We’ll see. For those who are not—in the end, one of our ministers is on the streets singing and using that as an evangelistic effort. It ought to be all the time, shouldn’t it? Why not? They don’t want you to preach at them, but you can sing. You can sing the language of redeeming grace, and many shall see it.

And maybe, maybe the fear of God will come into their heart, which will lead to them trusting in the Lord. Not because you put a gun to their head and said, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because they saw you consistently living in the new song, the fullness of Christian joy. And finally they get fed up that their whole worldview and the platform upon which they stand, the philosophy by which they live, does not produce the same thing as they see in you. And they come and they say, what must I do to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.

The fullness of Christian joy. I want to see it in you in a way that convicts me. I want to see it in you in a way that provokes me to want more of it. I want this church to know that this is something that ought to be true, not just the fullness of the Holy Ghost to serve, but the steadiness of joy, the fullness of Christian joy. It ought to be—it ought to be more common.

Let it be common here for the glory of God.

Let’s bow together in prayer.

Take these things to heart, child of God, and the Lord will help you. You don’t fight alone. I know there are many circumstances that militate against our joy. Sometimes it’s things in the present. Sometimes it’s a legacy of experiences of the past. But do not come to a place in which you say, it’s not for me. It is for you.

Lord, we pray for the Holy Spirit once again, not just for His power to live the Christian life, but specifically to produce in us the very joy that was in those disciples. We pray, O Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on each of us. Break us, melt us, mold us. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on every one of us.

We thank Thee for grace given today. Continue to supply the strength we need. We bless Thee for this work, for Thy people in this place. Thou dost love us, Lord. May we love Thee and love one another, and then love the world beyond. More love, grant it may be so. Take us now to our homes. And cultivate in every life more of this joy. And may the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit be the portion of every child of God now and evermore. Amen.