The Promise of Joy

Transcript

And it is my joy to worship with you all this morning. It’s my joy to open up the word of God together and to worship God in this way, to sit under his word, to be formed and shaped by it, and most specifically, not just formed and shaped in the abstract, but into something, into Jesus for his word to make us more like Jesus. If you’re just joining us for the first time, perhaps if you’re just visiting, welcome. We are currently studying the Gospel of John together in a series titled Word Life, and we get to study and look more closely at Jesus every Sunday. We get to hear from Jesus every Sunday, and we get to see what that means for the believer to live in light of that reality, to live shaped by those very words. And so I wanna invite you this morning

to open your Bible to John chapter 16, and we’re gonna be in verse 16 this morning. The sermon this morning is titled The Promise of Joy. The Promise of Joy. Josh, brother, I really appreciated your pastoral prayer this morning. I just appreciate your pastoral ministry in general. Super encouraged by you. Yeah, let’s thank Josh. What a sweet, sweet brother. What a gift to this church. But I appreciated the heart behind your pastoral prayer this morning. The world is in a strange place. If you’re watching the news, you’ll know that. If you’re not, lucky you.

What a strange, strange time. Wars, rumors of wars, upheaval in cities, political instability, uncertainty about the economy. Will I have money to retire with? Will anything be what I expect it to be tomorrow is essentially the refrain of most Americans today. And if you’re watching the news, it’s just kind of chaos all the time. It’s not a good place to be mentally or emotionally. But spiritually, oh man, what a time to be alive. You know why? Because our Lord promises us that no matter what happens, even if the whole world is on fire this next minute, you know what you’re promised? To burn while being joyful. That’s a wild reality. It’s a strange, strange way to move through life. Whatever happens, however bad it gets, if every floor should fall out from under me for the rest of my life, I’m gonna fall through that floor joyful.

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The Promise of Joy

That’s what we’re gonna look at today. Would you stand with me for the reading of God’s word? John chapter 16, beginning from verse 16, we read, 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? A little while and you will not see me. And again, a little while and you will see me because I’m going to the Father. So they were saying, what does he mean by a little while? We do not know what he’s talking about. Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him. So he said to them, is this what you’re asking yourselves? What I mean 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. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman 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. 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. 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 to you. Until now, you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. This is the word of the Lord. Amen. Thanks be to God.

Please be seated, friends. Would you pray with me? Father, would you illumine Jesus for us this morning? Would this reality of this promised joy be ever before us as we look to him, our Savior, in whose name we pray. Amen. Nobody wants to go through pain and difficulty. Nobody longs after trials and suffering. Nobody wants sorrow. In fact, we try to avoid these things whenever possible. We do what we can to change the circumstance, to move to a different place if need be, to move through life, change relationships, do whatever we have to do to avoid that. And yet, they sure are abundant in this life, are they not? The thing is, even though none of us want to experience trials, we can more or less endure them if we know the end is in sight. If you know that the thing that I’m going through

is about to end, or just a little while longer, or just in order for it to come to an end, this or this has to happen, we can kind of push through. We know that, all right, it’s about to be over. It’s the not knowing that gets you. It’s the uncertainty. It’s living in an ambiguous, generic, broad reality of when and how and if this will be over. Over the course of his earthly ministry, Jesus showed in a number of ways just how much he cares for the different people that he encountered, in a variety of ways, by serving them, by loving them, especially those who were suffering in one way or another, especially those who were needy, who were cast aside, who were disenfranchised in one way or another. He especially cared for those people, but this care, this careful attention of Jesus is specially and uniquely extended to his disciples.

It applied in a unique way to his group, his people. And that’s what we see here. On his last night, before going to the cross, in his final hours, our Lord spends his time with his disciples, comforting them, encouraging them, equipping them, preparing them for what’s to come. He doesn’t want them to be caught off guard. He doesn’t want them to lose their hope. He doesn’t want for them to be in free fall, as it were. The last several weeks of our study in the Gospel of John, we’ve been in the upper room with Jesus and his disciples. We’ve looked closely at what’s known as the upper room discourse. Here, Jesus has been teaching them what he sees as most important for them to know before he leaves them. He’s taught them about salvation, about the way that salvation is attained, what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus.

He’s taught them about the Holy Spirit, this promised helper, which is even better to have than the very presence of Jesus next to them. He’s taught them about persecution, trials, sorrows, and so on. But beyond teaching his disciples, he’s also been pointing them carefully over the course of this discourse of what’s next to come, what will happen to him and what will happen to them.

And at the heart of that, it’s the inevitability of trials, of suffering, of sorrow, of the need for a helper. Jesus has been saying so in this chapter. He’s been saying that these things are inevitable. He’s been pointing to this over the course of his ministry. And we see this really all throughout the scriptures. But for the Christian, not only are trials an inevitability, not only is suffering something to be expected, but so is joy. And that’s what Jesus wants to assure his disciples of. That’s what he wants to assure us of. You see, we can get so fixated on the reality of, oh man, trials are just around the corner. I’m gonna, I have to expect suffering. I have to expect this difficulty and this challenge. Well, Jesus wants you to know, yes, but you should also expect the joy that is uniquely a gift

From Sorrow to Joy

and a characteristic of the Christian. And so where we find ourselves this morning as we study John’s Gospel is in Jesus’ last teaching, his final discourse before he prays his high priestly prayer, after which he will be betrayed, after which he will be arrested and eventually murdered. And we’re right in the middle of that teaching where our Lord reiterates the promise of upcoming suffering and struggle, but also the promise of God’s faithfulness in the midst of that struggle, as well as his very power, the promise of joy out of sorrow, the promise of our sorrow being made into joy. And we’ll look at this lesson from our Lord in two parts. First, in verses 16 through 22, we’ll see from sorrow to joy, followed by from timidity to boldness in our last two verses. And so from sorrow to joy. Throughout this chapter, what Jesus is communicating to his disciples

is that he wants to comfort them and he wants to prepare them and equip them for the trials that they’re about to face. You can almost feel Jesus’ tenderness in how he’s speaking to them. You can almost feel the slowness and the carefulness, the explanations, the answering of questions, the not growing frustrated at the misunderstandings and the misconstruing of the facts. And it’s so, I don’t know, I try to put myself into this room as I read this account, and I just, I almost hear him saying these things in kind of a low, tender voice. See, I don’t wanna like put Jesus into this box where he’s just this very soft-spoken and kind of tender guy. He is that, but he’s also an incredible, he’s the manliest of men. This is the strongest man that has ever walked the face of this earth. He’s coming back in power,

he’s coming back wielding justice. And this is the reality of kind of the tension that we have with our Lord, but here as he’s spending time with his disciples, as the mood is kind of a low rumble, as it’s leading up to this very heavy, weighty thing, he’s taking his time and he’s speaking tenderly and he’s answering patiently. He’s equipping them and preparing them. And then what Jesus says to his disciples here in verse 16, really, it’s kind of confusing, so much so that they actually need some clarification. You won’t see me in a little while, but in a little while you will see me. What’s this all about? I can picture as he says this, the disciples sort of shooting glances to one another across the table. We won’t see him, but we will see him. What is he talking about?

What is this all about? What Jesus is doing is he’s pointing to his death here. He’s pointing them to the reality that what’s about to happen and where he’s about to go is to his very death. He’s telling them about where he’s headed next. They can’t join him for this. They can’t follow him here. They’ve been with him all the while or over the course of his ministry. They’ve been by his side. They’ve heard everything he said. They’ve had meals with him. They’ve watched him perform miracles. He’s even filled them with the power necessary to perform miracles on his behalf. And here he’s saying, but not here. You can’t go there with me. You can’t follow me in what I’m about to do. I’m going to die. But then you will see me. You will be with me again. I’ll be back. They understandably have some confusion here

as he’s saying these things. So Jesus in his kindness and his patience explains further. Are you struggling with what I’m saying? Are you having a hard time wrapping your mind around this? Just as an aside, again, notice how human these interactions are. I love reading the gospel accounts of Jesus interacting with his disciples. Well, Jesus interacting with anybody really, but I love the humanity of it. I love the simplicity of these interactions, how real they are. Notice the accessibility of our Lord. Notice how relational he is. This is a real relationship. You can sense the atmosphere in this room. There’s enough of a closeness and enough of an intimacy and a vulnerability to ask clarifying questions. You can be in rooms with certain people who are of such high esteem, such high status, that you almost feel awkward kind of saying anything. It’s like, oh, I don’t know if I should speak here.

I don’t know if it’s appropriate. I don’t know if it would be awkward or if I’d look foolish. But the friendship that they have, the camaraderie, the intimacy is such that they actually feel comfortable asking Jesus questions and he’s not annoyed by them. And he answers them and he talks to them. Moreover, isn’t it encouraging to know just broadly as we study Jesus, as we gain a deeper understanding of him that he deals patiently with our questions, with our doubts, with our confusion. You see, faith is not the absence of all of these things,

but it’s where we go to get those answers. He doesn’t get annoyed. He doesn’t get angry. He graciously continues to walk us through them. He graciously continues to listen to the frustration and answer and be there and not leave and not mock or belittle us. This is how he is, our kind, patient Jesus, taking his time with his people. He says, you will weep, you will lament, you will be sorrowful. And what will make it more challenging for you, while this is all happening, the world will be rejoicing at that very time. Why would the world be happy while the disciples weep and lament? Why would these two seemingly opposite realities exist at the same time? You see, all the powers of evil and hell are eagerly awaiting the death of Jesus. Everything and everyone who is not one of his own is set against him.

They want his ministry to be done. They want his attempts to save people and fix what we ruined to be brought low, for his goals to not be fulfilled, for his plan to not be fulfilled. And they’re about to rejoice at his murder. They’re about to rejoice at the fact that we did it. We stopped him. We neutralized the threat. We silenced the opposition. We can get back to business as usual.

But they don’t know what God’s gonna do after. The world hates Jesus. They want him gone. They will hate his people. He promised us that this would be the case. And saying this is just by way of encouragement, this shouldn’t surprise us. And not being surprised doesn’t make it less painful. But the world hates Jesus. Maybe in the abstract, they like a version of Jesus they’ve concocted, you know, in their own imaginations of just this nice, friendly guy who is, you know, there for the disenfranchised and the poor and those who’ve been cast aside by society. Yes, he is that. But he’s also God, holy, righteous, who calls all sinners to repent of their sins, to turn from their wicked ways, and to follow him, giving up their lives, taking up his cross and following after him. It’s not a very upbeat message. And so the world is in opposition to that.

The world hates that. And when you, little old you and me come along and we say, hey, we’re following this guy and you should too, but the way that happens is you need to turn from your evil and your sinful ways. They’ll hate you too. You can only say that so many nice ways, but the reality of it is that’s a message that’s difficult to swallow. Do you remember before you were a Christian how that sounded to you? It’s offensive. It’s jarring. And so the world hates Jesus and they’ll hate his people and they’ll rejoice at the thing that brings you sorrow. But the joy of those opposed to God is about to be short-lived, while the sorrow of the disciples will become the greatest imaginable joy, much like what a woman experiences going through the agony of childbirth, or so I’ve been told. Consider the illustration that Jesus chooses here

of a woman giving birth to a child. Some of you sisters have had pretty challenging and painful deliveries. All of you are incredible for just giving birth in general. Amen? Amen. But going through that process for some has been far more challenging and far more scary than for others. And consider the time in which Jesus says this. There’s no modern medicine. There’s no clean hospital room or a temperature-controlled clean living room, whatever your flavor is. There’s no epidural. It would have been very difficult. It would have been very scary. And there’s uncertainty about, will this baby survive? Will mom survive? This is the reality in which women were giving birth at this time. It’s scary enough as it is today, with all of the medicine and all of the scientific and medical advances that we have, but in this time, it was a truly terrifying reality.

And yet, when all is said and done, when you go through the pain, when you process the emotional turmoil, the psychological, spiritual, physical turmoil of going through that and that wonderful little miracle, and you hear that child for the first time, what happens? It’s an explosion of joy. It’s a relief. When that child is born, when you see him or her, when you hear that cry for the first time, the overwhelming joy and relief and celebration completely takes over the pain, completely takes over the fear, and it’s all gone. That’s what Jesus is saying is gonna happen here. When we consider this upcoming sorrow and this suffering the disciples would experience, this is what he’s talking about. It feels like the scariest thing in the world. It feels like the worst thing in the world. Oh God, get me out of this. But when it’s over and you see what God is doing,

the skies open up. And so when we think about the disciples going through what they’re about to go through, we might think that this isn’t that big of a deal. It’s only three days. We have the gift of hindsight, but we know he’ll be back. It’s three days, really like two and a half. What’s the big deal here? But friend, have you ever lost someone close to you?

Someone you love? Someone you’re attached to? Someone that you care about? Someone that you need? Do you remember how horrible that feeling is? Do you remember the depth of that pain? For the disciples, their whole world was about to fall apart. And a world falling apart for three days is still a world falling apart. And so Jesus in his kindness is preparing them for that. Now, a beautiful thing about our Lord’s promise here is not only that the sorrow and difficulty that he’s promising will eventually end, but that this sorrow will eventually turn into joy. He will redeem the difficulty and the pain. He will make it good. It may not be in their desired timing. They probably wouldn’t have wanted it to happen at all, but maybe like for a minute and then just come back.

The disciples ask how long and he doesn’t answer them. All he tells them is that he will fix it. And dear brother or sister, I don’t know what you’re going through. I don’t know what that sorrow and that pain, that loss, that trial, what you’re experiencing, but the Lord promises that he will turn it into good. He will give you joy. He will satisfy that desire for things to be made right in his own timing.

Notice what Jesus says here, but also what he doesn’t say. It’s not that the sorrow will end and the joy will start, but that the sorrow will turn into joy. He will make the sorrow joy. He will take that thing that’s devastating them, that’s knocking them off their feet, that’s hurting them, and he’ll make it a joyful blessing. Our minds should go immediately when we read this to Romans 8.28, and we know that for those who love God, all things, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. Who but God could do this to turn sorrow into joy,

to turn death into life? He takes our sorrows and he turns them into joys. This is how God works. You see, friends, Jesus sees the pain and the difficulty of the cross, and he’s going there. Don’t forget as we read this, this is a human being. He’s fully human. He feels the fear. He feels the anxiety. He feels the weight of what’s about to happen, and he’s going there. He’s not backing out. He’s not giving up. He will finish what he started. We look to Jesus as we contemplate our own suffering, our own trials. We look 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 as we read in Hebrews 12

. Suffering that will bring about joy.

Jesus knows a bit about that. Joy that’s deeply rooted in and attached to Jesus will never be lost. It will last. It will persevere. There is no trial. There is no circumstance. There is no pain, no difficulty that can take away your joy, Christian. These things shouldn’t be something that we dismiss or ignore, but it shouldn’t be something that overtakes us. Yours is a joy that is given to you by Jesus, and it’s anchored in who he is, not in how well you can ride it out. And so, beloved, Jesus tells you to cling tightly to his promise that with him, everything will be okay. You are safe with him. He will redeem all of your life. Yes, even the most painful and sorrowful parts of it, even the most uncertain things in it. Our present joys rest not only in awaiting the son and for all things to ultimately be made right,

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From Timidity to Boldness

but also in our prayers to the father now. This brings us to how when we go from sorrow to joy, we get to moving from timidity to boldness in our faith and in our prayer. Let’s reread verses 23 and 24. 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. Until now, you’ve asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive that your joy may be full.

When they see him resurrected, when his disciples eventually see him resurrected, when the final scene is shown to them, there will be no more need for questions of him as we see in verse 23, but they can now go directly to the father and pray in the name of the son. He’s pointing them to the reality that his resurrection will make sense of everything to them. It’ll make sense of his ministry. It’ll make sense of his teaching, all of those parables that maybe they didn’t really understand every single one of them or at least all of the nuances of all of them. It’ll make sense of his seemingly untimely death. It’ll make sense of the disciples’ lives and their futures. It’ll make sense of how this kind of ragtag bunch got to be the disciples of Jesus. They’ll understand that the ways of God and the workings of God and the plans of God

and the way that he brings things about is so very different from what any of us would expect that they accept gladly in faith the reality as God presents it to them. And they’ll even understand their own sorrow and suffering, if just a little bit better. They’ll understand God’s plan more fully, their own part in it, and how they were able to accomplish what God is calling them to. The resurrection of Jesus makes sense of everything for the believer. Amen? Amen. And without it, nothing makes sense. Without the resurrection, we are most to be pitied. With the resurrection, we are the richest people in the history of the universe. We have everything. Their joy of seeing what God has done, once they get it, once they see the resurrected Jesus, will overflow into bold prayers. What Jesus says here is quite the statement. It almost sounds outrageous.

Whatever you ask of God, whatever you ask of God. This isn’t the first time he said this, by the way. He keeps reiterating it. In fact, it’s the third time that he said this just during the Upper Room Discourse. He says it in chapter 14, verses 13 and 14, where he says, whatever you ask in my name, I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. He says it again in chapter 15, verse 16. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. Does he really mean that?

Maybe we can spin that theologically because surely it can’t be whatever. If the way you approach prayer and petition and communication with God happens in the way outlined in Jesus teaching his disciples to pray in the Sermon on the Mount, how did he teach them to pray? What does the prayer start with? We can go King James with it. Hallowed be thy name. It’s beautiful. Hallowed be thy name. Hallowed be your name. Or in modern English, may you be glorified and revered. You are worthy of praise. Your name is worthy of praise. If we pray in that way and then we ask something of the Father, then yes, our prayers and our desires and our lives will be aligned with his. Our purposes will be aligned with his purposes and he will gladly give to those who plead with him and he’ll bring it to pass

because our greatest desire will be for his will to come to pass, for his name to be glorified and revered and honored and exalted. You see, when we hear what Jesus says here, our imaginations start to run a bit wild. Anything? Anything. I know a few things I could ask for. But what Jesus is calling us into is actually a life of prayer. He’s calling us into a life of communication and communing with God, enjoying God, glorifying God, exalting God. He’s calling us into a life where prayer to the Father is done in the name of the Son by the power of the Spirit, which is the helper that he’s sending us. He’s calling us into a life that truly believes that God can do anything. God can accomplish anything. God will bring his purposes to pass whatever the opposition, whatever the circumstance, whatever the trial.

He’s calling us to pray in faith and trust and a deep reliance on the one who can bring dead people back from the dead, on the one who, as we read in Romans 8.32, did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. And so how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Now, clearly we understand that in the context of suffering and trials and loss and death and all of these things, this doesn’t mean that we’re just as rich as can be and as healthy as can be and everything is exactly the way that we would want it for our own lives, but it does mean that in the grand scheme, in the broadest, most important way that touches on every aspect of our lives, we are safe, we are secure, we are loved, and we have an eternal destiny.

And if he did not let his son stay in the grave, he won’t let you stay in the grave. He will bring you back, he will take you with him, and he will have a seat at the table for you, amen? That’s the biggest reality that we’ll spend all of eternity praising him for, that we won’t be able to wrap our hearts around, our heads around, our everything. How do you understand that? How do you put that into words? How will he not give you everything?

And so could it be that when the disciples eventually witnessed the resurrection of Jesus, when they saw him again, when they talked to their friend who they just saw get murdered a couple of days ago, when they see God raise him from the dead, when they were filled with the spirit, this changed the way they prayed? Could it be that at this point, they began to ask themselves, what can’t God do? Could it be that at this point, their thinking shifted from a very limited small scope of okay, there’s this, there’s this, and I can make this happen, to if it’s God doing it, and he uses weak vessels like me, what can’t he do?

This is the attitude and the faith that Jesus is calling us into. What can’t he do? When we live the Christian life in the way that we’re called to live, sacrificially esteeming others above ourselves, loving them, serving them, doing all things to the glory of God like we’re called to do in passages like 1 Corinthians 10.31 and Colossians 3.17, then our affections, our desires are aligned with God, and our prayers are ones that have to do with his will. Wait until you see what’s about to happen, says Jesus. Just wait until you see how your sorrow will be turned into joy. When that happens, it’ll completely change the way you cry out to the Father. It’ll completely change the way you believe in his power to do anything. Consider Ephesians 3.20, him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.

You see, when we hear anything and we dream of circumstances and maybe nicer things, we dream small. God is in the business of bringing dead people to life. God is in the business of upending rulers and nations and empires and stopping opposition to his son being proclaimed. God is in the business of getting himself a bride from every tribe, tongue, and nation. God is in the business of using poor fishermen and immigrants and whoever else he wants to proclaim the beauty of his son and see people come to saving faith in that son. So do we mean anything? Kinda. Depends on what your anything is. So Jesus says, ask him, he’ll give it to you. When we pray to God in the name of Jesus, what we do is we’re being obedient to what he’s saying here but we also cling to the only hope

that our prayers will be heard. Now, you don’t need to get superstitious with that. You’re like, oh no, I forgot to say in Jesus’ name at the end of my prayer. It’s all right. It’s all right. The Lord knows. But we ask with the understanding that we can only ask because of Jesus. We cannot have a relationship with God apart from Jesus. We cannot have this line of communication open with the Father apart from Jesus. He is our lifeline. We pray to the Father in the name of the Son but the Father who loves us only loves us because we are in the Son.

Thanks to our mediator, our heavenly Father hears us and is pleased to answer our prayers. At the end of verse 24, Jesus speaks of a fullness of joy. You know what’ll give you a lot of joy, Christian? Leaning on God and trusting in him, staying in regular dependent communication with him, giving up this idea that your life is in your hands and you have to make everything work out just so. That will give you joy. That will free you. Giving up that false notion that you can make something of your life, whatever you wanna make of it. God will make something of your life so long as you are in him.

Jesus found his joy in the Father and said on a number of occasions that he was returning to the Father and now he calls his disciples to experience that joy, to get the fullness of that joy. The Christian’s boldness in prayer doesn’t stem out of an inner fortitude or a strength that they’ve developed or they maybe naturally have but rather it stems out of an understanding of who God is, a deep reliance on him, a complete trust in him. Unfortunately for us, this trust and this reliance is usually developed in the midst of trials. When life is easy, we don’t tend to run to God. We don’t tend to yearn for him. When life gets hard, however, is where everything comes into a much sharper focus. John Calvin said it well when he said, “‘It is therefore necessary that we should be subject “‘from first to last to the scourges of God

“‘in order that we may from the heart call on him “‘for our hearts are enfeebled by prosperity “‘so that we can not make the effort to pray.’” Our Lord knows this about us and so he gives us this encouragement here in the upper room. Friends, what our hearts long for ultimately is peace and joy. We try to obtain these things with lifestyles and careers and relationships and things but the thing is the only true and lasting joy and peace is that which only God can offer. We need to be reconciled to God in order to obtain what we were created for—what will truly satisfy that longing in our hearts. This is only available to us in Jesus, that inexplicable peace and joy which can’t be taken away from us even in the midst of sorrow and suffering and loss and trials, even at the threat of death.

True and Lasting Joy

He gives that to his people as a gift. The Christian’s joy is something special. It drives the whole of who we are. It motivates who we are and how we live, why we live that way. Scripture tells us that this joy will be seen by people, this light, this love, this exuberant praise for our God will be seen by others. So much so that we see in 1 Peter 3, we’re gonna have to offer a defense for the hope that’s in us. You’re gonna have to explain to people why when everything is crashing around you, you’re hopeful, you’re joyful. As we read in the Westminster Shorter Catechism, what is the chief end of man? What is our life about? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Our lives aren’t about duty,

but they are lives lived in awe of the God who would rescue us from sure damnation and call us sons and daughters. Those with an eternal hope and inheritance, those who get to know him and be known by him, those who get to enjoy him forever. In closing, I want us to consider one of the most beautiful passages in the whole of Scripture, Romans 8, 31 through 39. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God,

who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, for your sake we’re being killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers nor height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen? Amen. This kind of joy, this kind of assurance, this kind of security, boldness, it’s not something we work towards. We already have it if we are in Christ Jesus. Would you pray with me?

Our great God, we struggle to find words to communicate how in awe we are of you that you would condescend to us. More than just condescending to us, Lord, when we were your enemies, when we hated you, when we wanted nothing to do with you and in grace, in love, you opened our eyes to the beauty of the sun.

What immeasurable joy do we get to have as your people? Father, we praise you, we glorify you, we exalt your name and we give you our lives. You are worthy of it all. Help us to live in such a way where our joy and our love is evidence of who we are in Jesus. Whatever is happening in the world around us, may our identity in him be what defines us.

We need your help, we need your Spirit. Be with us, Lord, and help us to live in such a way that we make him known. It’s in his name that we pray these things and for his glory, amen.