Introduction:
Why Do I Lose Sight of My Joy in Christ? (John 16:16-24)
- Because of my Ignorance . (John 16:16-18)
Proverbs 13:12 - Hope deferred makes the heart sick...
- Because I'm not looking at the Big Picture . (John 16:19-22)
Hebrews 12:2 - looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
- Because I'm not Praying (John 16:23-24)
Philippians 4:6 - do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
Philippians 4:7 - And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
00:00-00:02
John 16, are you there?
00:02-00:08
If you're still turning there, several years ago, I went to visit someone in the hospital.
00:10-00:26
And upon leaving, I got on the elevator, and there was this young blonde woman, I would guess probably in her mid to late 20s, and she was on the elevator, and her eyes were red and swollen like she had been crying.
00:27-00:33
I step onto the elevator, and the door is shut, and my mind starts racing.
00:34-00:35
I wonder what happened to this woman.
00:36-00:41
I mean, obviously, she's leaving the hospital since she's on the elevator heading to the ground floor as I am because she didn't hit a different floor.
00:41-00:48
Did she come to find out that maybe she has a husband or a boyfriend that was in a motorcycle accident?
00:49-00:50
Maybe it was something else.
00:50-00:56
Or maybe she came to see a father or a grandfather who's having heart problems, and the doctor said things aren't looking good.
00:56-01:00
And my mind is just racing a thousand miles an hour, all these scenarios.
01:00-01:02
I'm like, well, I gotta say something, but what am I gonna say?
01:02-01:05
Because we only have like, how long does it take the elevator to get to the bottom floor?
01:05-01:06
I mean, it's not a very big hospital.
01:06-01:07
I mean, I have a matter of seconds.
01:07-01:08
What am I gonna say to her in a matter of seconds?
01:09-01:11
And I'm gonna look like such a creep 'cause she doesn't know I'm a pastor.
01:11-01:15
I'm just like Joe Random that gets on the elevator and I'm trying to get in her business.
01:15-01:16
And I'm like, I gotta do something.
01:16-01:16
I gotta say something.
01:17-01:17
What am I gonna say?
01:18-01:23
So finally, like, that's how, this is how my mind works just for the inside peak there.
01:24-01:42
And I'm like, I said, "Look, I..." Right when I opened my mouth, she went, "I'm an aunt!" And I said, "Congratulations, I am so happy for you." And then we went on our merry way.
01:45-01:50
And it just goes to show you, you know, sometimes you just don't know what's going on.
01:51-02:08
You're like, "Well, why are you telling us this story today?" Well, this is a story of wanting to comfort someone, and a story of confusion, and it's a story of joy, and it's a story of childbirth, and all of those elements are in our passage today.
02:09-02:25
And if you're just joining us, you know, in this passage in John, Jesus sits down with the disciples and He goes, "Amen, I'm leaving." But you don't need to worry, because you're going to have all of the resources of heaven and God's Holy Spirit coming in and dwelling.
02:25-02:27
It's going to be okay. It's going to be great.
02:27-02:37
In fact, it's going to be better than I go." And Jesus says, "In the meantime, you need to love one another.
02:37-02:39
The way that I've loved you, we've seen over and over and over.
02:39-02:47
Love, love, love. You've got to love one another, church." Why? Jesus said, "Because you're going to get hatred from the world.
02:47-02:49
They hated me, they're going to hate you.
02:49-02:51
So make sure you love one another.
02:53-02:57
Then last week, Jesus, we saw He laid out the strategy.
02:57-02:59
This is God's strategy for reaching the world.
03:00-03:03
It was Jesus' strategy from day one, and it hasn't changed.
03:03-03:04
Here's the strategy.
03:04-03:13
I'm going to put my Spirit in my people, and my people are going to go out, and God's Spirit is going to convict the world through God's authoritative Word.
03:13-03:14
Jesus, that's my strategy.
03:15-03:17
That's what He's been doing, and it's working.
03:18-03:19
It's working.
03:19-03:21
So we're going to stick with it.
03:23-03:41
But we saw, leading to the passage today, that Jesus said to the disciples, "I've got so much more I've got to tell you." He says, "But I can't tell you right now. Why can't you?" Jesus said it was because the disciples were filled with sorrow.
03:42-03:44
And you kind of get that, don't you?
03:44-03:48
Have you ever been talking to someone, trying to share something, and they weren't listening?
03:49-03:58
like at all, whether they're distracted on their phone watching TV, or like in this case, you can just tell they're tuned out.
03:58-04:00
There's sorrow or something going on.
04:00-04:05
And have you ever like, like you keep talking long after people are done listening.
04:05-04:06
Has that ever happened to you?
04:07-04:09
That happens to me every week.
04:10-04:11
(audience laughing)
04:12-04:16
So maybe I should, maybe I should adopt the Jesus approach here to be like, you know what?
04:16-04:46
There's stuff I got to tell you, ready for it. So I'll tell you later. But in this particular case, Jesus said, "You're so overwhelmed with sorrow." He says literally, "You're filled with sorrow." That word fulfilled means it crowds everything else out. You are so consumed with sorrow, you're not hearing a word that I'm saying. So instead of telling them the more, Jesus, we're going to see in this passage, again as we've seen many many times, He comforts them.
04:46-04:51
And I've told you before, the ironic thing is, they should be comforting Him.
04:52-04:53
Which one of them was going to the cross?
04:54-04:55
Oh yes, Jesus.
04:55-04:58
Which one of them was going to suffer the most horrible death known to man?
04:58-04:59
Jesus.
04:59-05:01
Which one of them was about to bear the wrath of God?
05:02-05:02
Yes, Jesus.
05:03-05:05
They should have been coming around Him and comforting Him.
05:06-05:07
And He's comforting them.
05:07-05:09
And do you see how backwards that is?
05:09-05:13
It would be like if you went to the hospital to see a friend of yours who's dying of cancer.
05:14-05:28
and you go and you're at their bedside, and they look up at you and they say, "Hey, I don't have much time left, I'm dying." And you just lean down and say to them, "Can we get the spotlight off of you for a while?
05:28-05:34
"Because what am I gonna do when I'm sad that you're gone?" I mean, do you see how crazy that is?
05:35-05:36
That's what we have here.
05:36-05:38
Jesus comforting the disciples.
05:41-05:42
But here's the thing.
05:43-05:48
We know from God's Word that it's one of God's favorite things to comfort His people.
05:48-05:50
God loves to comfort His people.
05:50-05:51
Well, how do you know that?
05:51-05:55
Well, God the Son, Jesus, He's called the merciful and sympathetic High Priest, right?
05:56-06:01
And God the Father is called the 2 Corinthians 1, the God of all comfort, right?
06:01-06:06
And Jesus literally called the Holy Spirit the Comforter, right?
06:06-06:09
So God loves to comfort His people.
06:11-06:21
And He's able to comfort unlike anyone else, because He's always with us, He knows the future, and He sovereignly controls all things.
06:23-06:31
And He promises - we see in this passage today, verse 22, He says, "No one will take your joy from you." That's a promise.
06:31-06:32
He says, "You're going to have joy.
06:34-06:39
My people are going to have joy." And He says, "Nobody's going to be able to take that from you." So here's the question on the table today.
06:40-06:43
Why are so many Christians so joyless?
06:43-06:44
Why is that?
06:44-07:09
I mean, if we step back and objectively look at the scenario here, what we see is we are a people - if God's Word is true, and I believe that it is - but we are a people that we have God's Spirit, we have God's promises, we have a description of everything that's happening around us right now, and we have an outline for the future of what's going to happen, including the glorious restoration of all things.
07:09-07:14
And you put all of these things together, and it's a recipe for perfect joy.
07:15-07:26
But somehow, church, look, myself included, but somehow we have this tendency to get swept up with the world.
07:27-07:35
And we go right along with the world and the things that are causing them anxiety, and panic, and joylessness, right?
07:35-07:45
And we've talked about these things before, you know, things like the pandemic and, you know, vaccinations and vaccination passports, and politics and the economy.
07:46-07:54
And shouldn't, for us as Christians, shouldn't our attitudes and thoughts towards those things be completely different than the world's?
07:55-07:56
Shouldn't we stand out?
07:58-08:05
Shouldn't the world be looking at us, saying, "I wish that I had the kind of peace and joy that that guy has.
08:05-08:08
I wish that I was as content and calm as she is.
08:09-08:10
Shouldn't the world be looking at us like that?
08:12-08:14
Well, we're going to go through trials.
08:15-08:18
But knowing Jesus puts a joy in us that cannot be removed.
08:19-08:23
So here's the thing, you can't lose the joy, but you can lose sight of it.
08:24-08:32
So in your outline today, if you're writing things down, which I always encourage, "Why do I lose sight of my joy in Christ?" That's the question.
08:33-08:34
Why do I lose sight of my joy in Christ?
08:35-08:38
And knowing this is going to help us get it back into focus.
08:39-08:40
All right? Are you with me?
08:42-08:44
Are you with me? I can start over.
08:45-08:48
I heard somebody say, "We're good." Okay. All right.
08:49-08:52
I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
08:53-08:54
All right. Why do I lose sight of my joy in Christ?
08:55-08:57
Number one, because of my ignorance.
08:58-08:59
Because of my ignorance.
09:01-09:02
Look at verses 16-18.
09:03-09:15
Jesus says, "A little while and you will see me no longer, 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?
09:15-09:25
A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me, because I am going to the Father?" So they were saying, "What does He mean by a little while?
09:25-09:37
We do not know what He is talking about." Okay, so let's admittedly here, admittedly, it's a confusing statement.
09:38-09:41
And Jesus rolls this out. He goes, "Okay, listen, guys, I gotta tell you something.
09:42-09:43
In a little while, you're not gonna see me.
09:43-09:45
And again, a little while, you are gonna see me.
09:46-10:03
We good?" And the disciples were like, "Um, okay." And then they apparently have this like side conversation like, "Did you get that?" "No, I didn't get that." "Did you get that?" "No, I was..." We don't know what he's talking about And did you see in particular what phrase were they hung up on?
10:04-10:13
Well phrase where they hung up on did you see it a little while right there hung up on a little while I think I can wait wait wait wait wait. Okay, Jesus. I can we believe he's the Messiah. We're sold on that right?
10:13-10:29
He's the Messiah, but if he came Didn't he didn't he want to establish his kingdom right and that's why the Messiah is here to establish the kingdom If that's why he's here And why is he leaving?
10:29-10:33
And if he's not here to establish the kingdom, then why is he coming back?
10:34-10:41
So if he's leaving, and if he's coming back, then why?
10:45-10:49
But you know, church, when we're suffering with something, they ask the question that we all ask.
10:51-10:53
And it's how long? How long?
10:53-10:56
Do you notice that's the thing that they got caught up on?
10:57-10:58
That's the thing that we get caught up on.
10:59-10:59
How long?
11:00-11:00
How long?
11:02-11:08
We're going through this trial, whatever it is, whether it's a health thing or a physical thing or a relationship thing, okay, this is really hard.
11:09-11:11
I don't like this at all.
11:11-11:20
I hate this and I know I've got to get through this, but how much longer is it going to be part of my life?
11:20-11:23
How much longer am I going to have to go through this?
11:23-11:24
How long?
11:25-11:31
Because like the disciples, so often what we need is the light at the end of the tunnel, right?
11:31-11:32
Doesn't that make the difference?
11:33-11:36
If you know like, hey, at this point it's gonna be over.
11:36-11:37
At this point it's gonna be behind me.
11:38-11:39
At this point I'm gonna be done with this trial.
11:40-11:41
Doesn't that make the difference?
11:41-11:42
Like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
11:42-11:43
That's the finish line.
11:43-11:45
Then I can see, okay, I can make it to there.
11:45-11:49
The problem is when we don't see the finish line, like how much longer am I gonna have to deal with this?
11:50-11:51
Because I don't know if I can deal with this forever.
11:54-12:05
Proverbs 13.12 says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick." And that's the ultimate agony, is when we have lack of hope.
12:07-12:08
When we don't see the finish line.
12:09-12:14
So in this passage here, the disciples, they can't see the finish line.
12:14-12:16
They can't see the light at the end of the tunnel.
12:16-12:30
So Jesus shows them by saying, "Again in a little while, everything's going to change." And sometimes we just don't get it because we can't see it.
12:30-12:36
And if we're honest, church, we're more like the disciples than we care to admit.
12:37-12:42
Because sometimes we're full of sorrow because we don't understand something that Jesus said.
12:43-12:45
And the problem's not on His end.
12:46-12:49
The problem isn't with what He said, the problem is our lack of understanding.
12:49-12:51
And we're just like the disciples.
12:52-12:53
"I don't get it. I don't understand.
12:53-12:59
What does He mean? I don't know." And that's really their whole story in this chunk of John that we're in.
12:59-13:07
They're filled with sorrow because Jesus said that they won't see Him, and then they will see Him, and they couldn't conceptualize what He was saying.
13:08-13:11
And I was reading this, and I'm like, "Oh, you know, I so relate to that.
13:12-13:21
Sometimes Jesus says something, and I don't understand what He means, and I don't understand what He's saying.
13:21-13:31
And if only I was thinking - walk with me on this - I was thinking, if only there was something that I could hold on to until I understand.
13:32-13:54
If only there was something that I had that I could embrace and hold on to and sort of cling to - in those moments that I don't understand, in those moments that I want to trust God, but nothing makes sense, that I can't put the pieces together, if only I had something to hold on to.
13:54-13:58
And then I realized, that's faith, right?
13:59-14:00
Isn't that what faith is?
14:00-14:10
Faith is that thing that we hold on to, when we say, "I don't understand, and I'm sorrowful, and I'm upset, and I don't see the light at the end of the tunnel." but God, You promised.
14:11-14:12
You promised good things.
14:12-14:13
You promised to be with me.
14:13-14:14
You promised to take care of me.
14:15-14:16
You promised to provide for me.
14:16-14:18
So I'm holding on.
14:20-14:20
That's faith.
14:23-14:31
And the ironic thing about this is the disciples had the exact information that they were looking for, because it was the very words that they were hung up on.
14:31-14:32
A little while.
14:33-14:35
A little while. This doesn't make sense.
14:35-14:35
When will it make sense?
14:36-14:38
How are we going to know what Jesus is talking about?
14:38-14:43
I get an idea, why don't you wait a little while and see what He means.
14:44-14:50
And sometimes, church, all that stands between you and God's promise is a little bit of time.
14:52-14:59
And instead of being sorrowful when we don't understand, Jesus calls us to walk in joy while we wait on Him.
14:59-15:02
So sometimes, church, we lose sight of our joy because of our ignorance.
15:03-15:10
And I would encourage you in those times that you don't get it, you don't understand, It's faith is what we cling to, right?
15:11-15:13
We walk by faith, not by sight.
15:13-15:16
Number two, why do I lose sight of my joy in Christ?
15:16-15:18
Because I'm not looking at the big picture.
15:18-15:19
Look at verse 19.
15:20-15:40
"Jesus knew that they wanted to ask Him, so He said to them, 'Is this what you're asking yourselves, 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.
15:40-15:44
You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.
15:45-15:45
I'll stop there.
15:45-15:46
OK, so here's a question.
15:46-15:48
OK, what is Jesus talking about?
15:49-15:52
And I did a lot of reading this past week from a lot of people, really smart.
15:53-15:55
What was Jesus talking about this little while?
15:55-15:57
You're not going to see me again a little while and you are going to see me.
15:57-16:00
And there were some that were like, well, obviously he's talking about the resurrection.
16:00-16:08
that he's going to die, sorrow, resurrection, appear to them after the resurrection, and that's what he's talking about.
16:09-16:18
And some people say, "No, no, no, no, he's talking about his second coming." Like, you know, okay, there's going away, that's obviously the death and ascension.
16:19-16:20
They would tie that into that.
16:20-16:25
And it's when he returns, Revelation 19, that is the seeing again thing.
16:25-16:27
And I don't think either of those are right.
16:28-16:29
I'm going to explain.
16:29-16:30
Here's what he's talking about.
16:30-16:34
The most straightforward understanding of this passage is this.
16:35-16:38
Jesus is talking about the coming of the Holy Spirit.
16:38-16:41
Hang on, I'm going to explain this.
16:41-16:43
He's talking about the coming of the Holy Spirit.
16:44-17:04
In essence, what Jesus is saying is, "I will die and I will return and indwell you as God's Holy Spirit, and then you will see me, then you will experience my presence like never before." "Well, where did you come up with that?" Well, there's a couple of things going on here.
17:04-17:12
First of all, back in verse 17, they tied Jesus' statement with, "A little while you'll not see Me, and again a little while you will see Me." Do you see in verse 17?
17:12-17:18
They added another statement to this cluster of confusing sentences.
17:18-17:28
They're like, "What does He mean by 'because I am going to the Father'?" So they were connecting this with His exaltation at the right hand of God, yes.
17:29-17:30
We talked about that last week.
17:30-17:33
We talked about that back in chapter 14, verses 17 and 18.
17:34-17:40
But here's something that we don't readily see that I wanna try to help explain.
17:41-17:43
Verse 16 again, look at the statement of Jesus.
17:45-17:47
Jesus said, "A little while, you will see me no longer.
17:48-17:58
And again, a little while, and you will see me." Now something ironically that you can't see is In the Greek, there's two different words for see.
17:59-18:02
The first word refers to seeing something physically.
18:03-18:08
And the second word is perceiving something, or we could say seeing it spiritually.
18:11-18:19
And we do that all the time, but the problem with the English language is we just use the word see, and our minds have to do the gymnastics to make sense of it.
18:19-18:19
Here's what I mean.
18:20-18:22
Like if I said to you, "Hey, we're having a prayer meeting.
18:23-18:24
We're having a prayer meeting coming up.
18:25-18:26
And hey, guess what?
18:26-18:27
You're gonna get to see my friend.
18:28-18:33
And when he comes to the prayer meeting, you're going to see he is a powerful prayer.
18:33-18:35
Now, did you see how I use see two different ways there?
18:36-18:38
You're going to see him when he comes, you're going to like see him.
18:39-18:45
And when he comes, you're going to see that he is a power, you're going to perceive what a powerful prayer he is.
18:46-18:50
And that's the sense in which Jesus is using the word see here.
18:51-19:08
It fits the context of this passage, because this whole discourse since chapter 13 is telling the disciples, "I'm leaving, the Holy Spirit's coming, I'm leaving, the Holy Spirit's coming." And when you put the Greek verbiage here, it seems to me that Jesus is talking specifically here about the coming of the Holy Spirit.
19:09-19:16
Like, "I'm leaving, but you're going to know that I'm back when My Spirit indwells you." God's Holy Spirit.
19:18-19:20
Here's something that kind of troubles us.
19:20-19:34
Jesus gives this explanation to the disciples, but did you notice Jesus in his explanation doesn't describe for them what will happen, but he describes how they're going to respond to what's going to happen.
19:34-19:35
Did you catch that?
19:36-19:48
The disciples were like, "Okay, you know, they get this little wow and again and a little wow, we don't understand what he's talking about." I would expect an answer to a question like that to be something like, "All right, well, let me give you a timeline, and let's get up the whiteboard.
19:49-19:50
Okay, here's where we are now.
19:51-19:52
Okay, and then here's the cross.
19:52-19:58
And I expected like some drawing up the football play thing from Jesus.
19:59-20:01
But he didn't do that at all.
20:02-20:08
He's like, I'm gonna tell you how you're gonna, how all this stuff that's coming, I wanna tell you how it's gonna affect you.
20:08-20:10
Because listen, here's all you need to know, disciples.
20:11-20:16
Jesus said, what you need to know is that your sorrow is going to become joy.
20:17-20:17
That's all you need to know.
20:19-20:20
That's all you need to know.
20:20-20:21
Your sorrow is going to become joy.
20:22-20:23
Can you explain that?
20:25-20:26
Well, yeah, he does. Look at v. 21.
20:27-20:29
Jesus gives an illustration.
20:30-20:34
Jesus says, "When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come.
20:35-20:45
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.
20:46-20:56
"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." Stop there.
20:56-20:59
Jesus gives an illustration that we all understand on some level.
21:01-21:06
Whether it's personally, or whether it's secondhand.
21:08-21:11
Even if you haven't had a baby yourself, I imagine you've been born.
21:12-21:13
Probably don't remember that.
21:15-21:17
Jesus' illustration here is a woman having a baby.
21:19-21:20
Now, childbirth.
21:21-21:22
Oh, childbirth.
21:23-21:28
World famous as the worst pain a human being can go through.
21:29-21:30
True or false?
21:32-21:32
False!
21:36-21:39
I want for the record to point out that I'm not saying false.
21:41-21:44
I'm going to go on record to say I've never been through it.
21:44-21:47
I'm just going to take your word for it, ladies.
21:48-21:52
I've heard that it is the worst pain a human can experience.
21:52-21:56
Actually, I've also heard that breaking your tibia is worse.
21:59-21:59
There's your femur?
22:00-22:00
Yeah, your femur.
22:01-22:02
Which one's your tibia?
22:02-22:03
I don't know.
22:03-22:05
But breaking your leg bone, how about that?
22:05-22:07
Breaking one of your leg bone, yeah, maybe it's your femur.
22:08-22:09
'Cause there's just one up here.
22:09-22:09
Is this your femur?
22:10-22:10
Okay.
22:11-22:12
All right, I heard that's worse.
22:13-22:14
This isn't in my notes.
22:15-22:16
We're going off track a little bit here.
22:17-22:21
But even if I broke my femur, I still wouldn't say that that's worst pain than childbirth.
22:22-22:23
All right?
22:24-22:26
And I would commend that to you.
22:26-22:27
Where in the world were we?
22:29-22:30
All right.
22:30-22:33
For you naysayers, can we at least acknowledge there's some pain involved?
22:34-22:35
Can we acknowledge that?
22:35-22:36
All right.
22:38-22:39
So here's the question.
22:40-22:40
Here's the question.
22:41-22:45
Why in the world would a woman knowingly go through so much pain?
22:47-22:51
If it's notoriously painful, why would a woman go through so much pain?
22:52-22:53
Why would that happen?
22:53-22:54
Somebody tell me.
22:54-22:55
A baby.
22:57-22:58
That's why a woman would go through that pain.
22:59-23:05
Did you ever notice that when a couple announces they're pregnant, we're always so happy for them?
23:05-23:05
Did you ever notice that?
23:06-23:07
That's like the default response.
23:07-23:10
A couple comes and they're like, "Hey, guess what, Pastor Jeff?
23:10-23:11
We're pregnant.
23:11-23:12
I'm like, yay!
23:13-23:17
And then they go around to the other people that chose, hey, we're pregnant, yay!
23:17-23:19
Do you ever notice our default response is happiness?
23:20-23:24
But if it's as painful as people say it is, why isn't our response sorrow?
23:26-23:27
Huh, why don't we ever do that?
23:27-23:30
Like a couple comes and they're like, hey, guess what, we're having a baby.
23:30-23:33
And we're like, I'm so sorry.
23:34-23:35
Like, why are you sorry?
23:36-23:37
Because I heard it's painful.
23:38-23:39
and it's so awesome.
23:40-23:43
You're going to be in such horrible pain from the childbirth.
23:43-23:45
I'm so sorry. I am so sorry.
23:46-23:47
I am so sorry.
23:47-23:48
Thoughts and prayers. Truly.
23:48-23:49
Thoughts and prayers.
23:49-23:53
And I am so sorry to hear that you're having a baby.
23:53-23:54
I am so sorry.
23:55-23:56
Of course we never do that.
23:57-24:00
And yes, giving birth gives anguish.
24:00-24:01
That's what Jesus pointed out.
24:01-24:08
But as soon as the baby's born, Jesus also points out and she no longer remembers the anguish.
24:09-24:19
Okay, so how in the world does she go from the world's worst pain to forgetting about the world's worst pain in a matter of seconds?
24:19-24:20
How does that happen?
24:22-24:24
She's holding a baby. That's how that happens.
24:26-24:38
And that's the principle that Jesus is giving His disciples to say, "Listen, the same thing that gives you anguish and sorrow, The same thing is ultimately going to give you joy.
24:39-24:58
The pain that you experience when you see your Lord and your God nailed to a cross and crucified and publicly shamed and executed - that is going to turn into your greatest joy when this is all fulfilled and His Spirit is living in you and empowering you.
24:58-25:05
And I love this because notice Jesus says this isn't merely a sequence, Meaning, joy comes after sorrow.
25:05-25:06
He didn't say that.
25:07-25:10
Like you're going to have sorrow, and then you're going to have joy.
25:10-25:12
He doesn't say it's a sequence.
25:12-25:15
Nor does he say it's like some addition.
25:15-25:21
Like you're going to have sorrow, but then the joy comes, and it kind of eclipses the sorrow.
25:22-25:23
He didn't say that either.
25:23-25:25
What he's saying really is a consequence.
25:26-25:31
That the sorrow will be the thing that causes joy.
25:33-25:34
See the difference?
25:35-25:37
For the new mom, what caused the anguish?
25:38-25:38
The baby.
25:39-25:40
Right?
25:40-25:41
And what causes the joy?
25:42-25:43
The baby.
25:44-25:53
So Jesus promises the very thing that caused you anguish, the very thing that caused you sorrow, you will one day be grateful for.
25:54-25:56
In other words, you've got to see the big picture.
25:57-25:58
You've got to see the big picture.
26:00-26:08
This is a principle that has showed up so many times in our lives, and it will show up so many times in your life if you have the eyes of faith to see it.
26:09-26:10
You know, you lost your job.
26:11-26:15
You lost your job, the job you loved so much, the job where you felt so much contentment and fulfillment.
26:16-26:24
You lost your job, you ended up in the Pittsburgh area, you ended up at Harvest Bible Chapel, where you meet the greatest people on earth, and you grow in your walk.
26:24-26:36
And the very thing that initially caused you anguish ultimately became your greatest blessing to say, "If I never lost my job, I wouldn't be where God has me today." Do you see that?
26:37-26:39
We talked about this last week.
26:39-26:48
I'm not going to rehash this extensively, but I talked to you about how COVID brought so much anguish with lockdowns and being unable to see all of our people.
26:49-26:51
And it brought a lot of sorrow on the front end.
26:52-26:55
COVID has opened the door to reach more people than ever.
26:55-27:01
So I'm telling you, I'm thankful for what's happening now because this church is reaching people worldwide right now.
27:01-27:02
I'm thankful for that.
27:03-27:06
Do you see how the thing that brought sorrow ultimately brought joy?
27:07-27:17
I think at our old church, we had this family that were members of our church, but they had some family members that lost everything in a house fire, lost everything.
27:18-27:26
And through this, they invited them to church, where they came and most of the family got saved as a result of this.
27:26-27:28
And I remember just tears.
27:28-27:37
One day I was sitting, the church was about to start, and I got this handmade card from one of the kids, one of the little kids, he wrote me this card.
27:39-27:47
And in the card he said, "If it wasn't for our house catching on fire, I never would have met you.
27:48-28:01
So I guess it wasn't all bad." And I was just like, "He gets it." Like, the very thing that brings you sorrow, God will ultimately use to bring you joy.
28:02-28:08
And over and over and over, church, Romans 8.28 is fulfilled right before our eyes.
28:08-28:13
We know that God causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
28:15-28:20
You're going to have joy overcoming you that is far greater than the sorrow has been.
28:21-28:22
And Jesus certainly got it.
28:23-28:27
Jesus got it the way that joy is so often through pain.
28:29-28:43
Hebrews 12, 2 says, "Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and the seed at the right hand of the throne of God." It doesn't say Jesus didn't agonize. He certainly did.
28:43-28:49
But what made Jesus go to the cross? He saw the bigger picture.
28:50-28:53
Nobody's going to sign up for this for fun.
28:53-28:58
But Jesus said, "This is the very means by which people will be saved.
28:58-29:09
This is the very means by which people can have their sins washed away." So church, we can't rejoice in physical circumstances, because they're going to change, right?
29:10-29:14
That's what so many people do. They hang their joy on the physical things.
29:14-29:22
"I find so much joy in my marriage, and in my parenting, and in my job, and in my hobby, and in my health." Those things will all change.
29:23-29:29
You need to find your joy in your spiritual circumstances, because that's never going to change, if you belong to Christ.
29:30-29:33
The world didn't give you joy, the world can't take your joy.
29:33-29:36
It's connected to the hope that you have in Jesus.
29:36-29:40
So the question I have is, "Are you going to trust Jesus with the big picture?
29:43-29:49
Will you trust Jesus with whatever suffering you're going through now?" Can you say, "Jesus, I believe there's a bigger picture here.
29:50-30:01
And even if I can't see it now, I'm going to trust you with it." Because I have to remind myself, this church, all the time, that God took the worst thing that ever happened in the history of the universe.
30:03-30:04
Like, what's that?
30:05-30:06
The crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
30:07-30:09
That's the worst thing that ever happened. Think about it.
30:09-30:17
God Himself, the Creator, became one of us, and we spit on Him, and we mocked Him, and we beat Him half to death, and we publicly executed Him.
30:18-30:20
God showed up and we killed Him.
30:21-30:24
That's the worst scenario I can imagine, like, at all.
30:25-30:27
And that's the very thing that God used to purchase salvation.
30:28-30:52
So church, I have to constantly remind myself, if God can do that, If God can take something so evil and so horrible and so, so bad, and turn it into something glorious and eternal and so, so good, I have no doubt He can do it with the little bit of suffering thing that I'm going through myself.
30:53-30:55
Why do I lose sight of my joy in Christ?
30:56-30:59
Number three, because I'm not praying.
31:00-31:01
Because I'm not praying.
31:01-31:03
Look at verses 23 and 24.
31:03-31:06
Jesus said, "In that day you will ask nothing of Me.
31:06-31:11
Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He will give it to you.
31:12-31:14
Until now, you have to ask nothing in My name.
31:14-31:30
Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." Again, He's obviously talking about the coming of the Holy Spirit, because He says, "In that day you will ask nothing of Me." I'm not going to physically be here to ask.
31:30-31:35
You're going to ask the Father in my name." In other words, Jesus was saying, "You're not going to need to ask me anything.
31:36-31:40
You're going to have the Holy Spirit, and you can go directly to God in my name." God the Father.
31:41-31:45
But did you see here in this passage how joy is directly linked to prayer?
31:45-31:46
Did you see that?
31:48-31:55
Jesus said, "Ask Him and receive, and your joy will be full." Joy is directly linked to prayer.
31:56-32:07
Philippians 4.6, Paul says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication and thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God." So when we pray, what happens?
32:08-32:15
"All of my circumstances change. All of my circumstances are different." No, your circumstances don't change, but you change.
32:15-32:23
Because the very next verse says, "And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus." Do you see that?
32:23-32:27
Maybe things around you won't change, but everything within you will change.
32:28-32:30
That's the power of prayer.
32:31-32:33
And I have to ask us, church, have we been praying?
32:35-32:39
I mean, like, sincerely praying, or have we just been saying our prayers?
32:40-32:45
I mean, when was the last time you got alone with God, as Jesus told us to?
32:45-33:02
You got alone with God, and you got on your face, and you had God's Word open in front of you, and you just cried out to God, based on the promises of His Word and the invitation through His Son.
33:02-33:04
When was the last time you got alone?
33:04-33:09
And nothing else is happening right now, except coming before God and crying out to Him.
33:09-33:11
When was the last time that you've done that?
33:12-33:22
And I imagine for a lot of you, you would say, "I haven't done that in a long time." To pray like that, Jeff, I hear what you're saying, but to actually pray like that?
33:23-33:25
I haven't done that in a long time.
33:26-33:32
And my response is simply this, "Then don't wonder why you don't have the peace of God.
33:33-33:50
Don't wonder why you aren't receiving answers to prayer, and don't wonder why you've lost sight of your joy, if you're not praying like that." Jesus said, "Pray in order that your joy may be full." Because joy is not made full in any other way.
33:51-33:52
It's just not.
33:53-33:54
It comes through prayer.
33:55-33:55
All right.
33:57-33:59
That's the introduction. Here's the sermon.
34:00-34:01
Have you lost sight of your joy?
34:03-34:06
Then I would encourage you to just give God some time to do what He's promised to do.
34:07-34:12
I would encourage you to take a big step back and look at the bigger picture.
34:14-34:18
And while you wait, what should we be doing while we wait?
34:19-34:24
We should be praying expectantly in Jesus' name.
34:25-34:35
And you're going to show the world that no matter what happens, when you know Jesus, you also know His joy.
34:37-34:37
Let's pray.
34:38-34:43
Father in heaven, we confess to you that sometimes, Father, Father, we're no different than the world.
34:44-34:56
That we can let circumstances and the headaches and stresses of life overwhelm us that people can't tell us apart from the world at all.
34:57-34:58
Father, we confess that to You.
34:59-35:07
And we turn once again to this passage in Your Word where Jesus said that no one can take joy from us.
35:09-35:23
I pray, Father, that we would get back to that place where we see it, where we experience it, where we know that You're in control, and we're holding on through the faith that You give us, through the invitation of prayer that You give us.
35:23-35:37
Father, we would learn to wait on the Lord and look at the big picture, knowing that if You can take the cross and turn that into the greatest blessing, You can do that with whatever we're facing in our lives.
35:37-35:45
Father, slow us down, calm us down, bring us to a place of quietness before You and teach us these lessons again.
35:46-35:48
We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read John 16:16-24
What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message?
Tell of a time you personally experienced Jesus turning your sorrow to joy: a circumstance that looked bad at the time but ended up being a blessing.
How exactly is having “full joy” connected to prayer (John 16:23-24)?
How would you respond to someone who says, “Jesus turns suffering in joy?! There is no way I can have joy as a result of this situation I am going through.”?
Breakout
Pray for one another.