John chapter 15, we're gonna continue in our study of the fruit of the Spirit. And before we jump into verse number 10, can I say one more thing? I like to watch your heads bob up and down. the study of of the scripture for me is is both part and science uh... because the word science means knowledge it's uh... it's mentioned in the bible of course and we have the word conscience and it's the idea of gaining knowledge we studied scripture we have to think of it not just from an emotional standpoint but from a factual standpoint what did god say what did god not say and that is a part Just like cooking is both art and science, especially if you're trying to teach somebody how to do it. How much should I put in there? Well, I don't know, just enough. it's really hard, that kind of recipe is hard. I just put a little bit in there. What is a little bit, right? And so there is a part of studying the scripture that is kind of an art and has a feel to it, but there is a science as well. And tonight we're going to try our best to have a little bit of both, but probably lean a little more towards the science because So many times we think we know things and then we realize, oh, there's more to know. And I want to encourage you to have a curious mind when it comes to the Bible. To not a curious mind like, I wonder what else beside the Bible I can learn. A lot of people read books about a book that they don't read. They want to study what, well, somebody says they have a podcast about it or they have, you know, a series on it and it makes it really, really understandable. Well, then there's a time and place for that. But if you're not in the Word of God, then you're really getting the cart before the horse and you're not going to be able to make any progress. So you have to start in the Word of God. And there's more here than we could ever find and ever learn. but if you'll maintain that curious mindset about it. And curious in my mind means questions. Why is my number one question. Why does he say that? Why does he say that? And that's not the only question, but that's one of the big questions. Because if you can ask why and be comfortable and trust God long enough, eventually the Lord will give you some answers or he will give you answers in other places and you'll realize, oh, this is an infinite book. Now let's look at John chapter 10, 15, sorry, verse 10. John 15, 10, if ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. We looked at the first aspect of the fruit of the spirit, which is love, and it's not an emotion or an action. It is God himself. God is love. Love is a person. It's manifested. that person is manifested through us as we yield to the Spirit. But did you see how the Lord said, I am in my Father's love, I'm abiding in His commandments, I'm keeping my Father's commandments and abiding in His love, and that's what I want you to do. And then He says, in verse 11, these things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. So we see that love is what provides the context, the soil in which all of this can grow, the love of God, and joy is the natural outflow of love. All of these things, as we'll see in a little bit, they come together, and so this is not a buffet, you know, this is not whatever it might be, the Ponderosa or hometown or old country buffet where you take what you want and leave what you don't. It all is designed to grow together because it's the manifestation, the expression of Christ himself. What's Jesus Christ like? Love, joy, peace, long-suffering. And the Holy Spirit will produce that fruit in you. Now, there is a distinction between joy and happiness. We understand that happiness is a biblical word. Sometimes you'll hear people say, I don't believe in happiness. Happiness is a short-term thing. And the way that we use it in our Western culture is not exactly what is same as used in the scripture, but it is definitely there. Joy is, as we said, the fruit of the Spirit. It is produced by the Spirit Himself. It is not in our own efforts. It is something that happens organically as we are connected. Look at verse 5 of John 15. John 15, 5, I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye can do nothing. He makes it pretty clear that you're not going to be able to do this. I can do this through you." And in other words, you have to be with Jesus, spend time with Him, you have to love Him and commune with Him and yield to Him, and that is how the fruit is produced. So the joy is, joy is the fruit of the Spirit. Happiness in Scripture is closer to a by-product of obedience. And the reason why I mention that is several verses, you can take them, look at them in your time, but Psalm 128, it says in verse one, blessed is everyone that feareth the Lord, that walketh in his ways, for thou shalt eat the labor of thine hands, happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. You follow God, and you'll have happiness. Proverbs 29, 18, he that keepeth the law, happy is he. Jesus said in John 13, if you know these things, happy are you if you do them. And so there's a distinction here. It's not a major, they're not even related at all, joy and happiness. There is a connection, but we'll see as we go, we'll kind of cycle back a little bit just to nail some things down. But the purpose of it is if you don't see any distinction, there's a couple of ditches when you're studying your Bible. If you just make all the words that are similar mean exactly the same thing, then you start to really, you can't understand it's like it's almost like a child that has two crayons and they have to color a picture with two crayons now there's some things you could color with two colors but yet you know you gotta have sixty-four am i right uh... it at the very least sixty-four seeking to ignore most of them can only choose one or two but that's the same thing happens when you study your bible if you try to make everything the same joy and delight and happiness and affection you make it all the same thing the scripture just gets kinda like dumbed down if you will On the other hand, you have to be careful making a really broad distinction between any words that are not the same. Because what you'll find is you'll hear people preach and say things like, you know, we're not looking for happiness. Happiness is the world. The world gives you happiness, but Jesus gives you joy. And then you read the Bible and you see the Lord gives you happiness. And then you're, now you're back to, you have to be careful. For instance, saying that the words distinctly, the words that are different, of course, are not exactly the same, but in some cases, they can refer to the same thing. I'll give you an example. What is the distinction, practically speaking, between the Holy Spirit and the Holy Ghost? those are two separate words we better be careful uh... going too far down the road of saying that if they don't have the same letters and make the same sounds when you when you quote them then they're not the same be careful about that because the holy spirit and the holy ghost are one of the same being and there is some distinction we've talked about that but uh... so when we look at happiness and joy we gotta be careful this is where we have to tread lightly uh... it's just easier to say You know, everything over here and everything over there, but there's gonna be some overlap. However, there is a little distinction as you look at happiness, and we'll get into that a little bit more. It seems like it follows obedience as a byproduct of doing what is right. Here's another distinction. You can have joy, but not necessarily be happy. You know what I mean? That's where the thought is joy is deep and happy is shallow. We'll talk about that in a moment. I've said that about five times now. Now, the Declaration of Independence tells us, we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are, what? life, liberty, pursuit of happiness. And for a secular country, I think that's pretty good. But the person who wrote that was, who was the man that wrote it? Thomas Jefferson, and he was impacted greatly by a Greek philosopher named Epicurus. And Epicurus believed that pleasure is the ultimate goal, it is the ultimate good rather, and pain is the ultimate evil. And it's a little bit more nuanced than that. but the goal of life would then be to maximize pleasure and to minimize pain and that you would have in doing so you achieve tranquility looking for peace the most amount of pleasure the least amount of pain uh... i would just ask everyone including Epicurus and Thomas Jefferson how's that working out for you they're both dead unfortunately no matter how much you try to minimize pain you can't get over the fact that man is mortal uh... epicurus was not and we know the thomas jefferson was at best the deist and then some of argued that he was saved and so forth but i'm not convinced i think he had his own idea idea and understanding of the bible he made his own bible and he had his own understanding of jesus christ and so he cut out the verses that he wanted to be in the bible and put them together and left everything that he didn't like from the new testament specifically from the gospels and it's certainly his right to do whatever he wants but that's not the bible that's basically saying i like you when you bake cookies and when you are nice to me and you say nice things that's you everything else it's not even you anytime when you ever say it uh... you need help anytime you ever say that you don't like what i'm doing that's not even you i don't even look at you i don't even care about you that's just not reality and and and that's what epicurus did really epicurus rejected god he was almost kind of like a uh... an evolutionist way before charles darwin came along and he had this materialist viewpoint and he he said all the world's religions uh... were caught i'm sorry all the world's evils were caused by religion. And that was his mindset. His moral equation was very simple. Good equals pleasure. Pain equals evil. Or good equals pleasure, evil equals pain. The idea is that if it feels good, it is good. If it feels bad, it is bad. And the problem with that, of course, is what? What brings one person pleasure often brings another person pain. All you have to do is look at the mom who spends her paycheck on lottery and can't afford food for her kids, right? Can't afford to get them shoes or whatever it might be. Why? What brings her pleasure brings her children pain. The same could be true in all different areas of society. And it's interesting, Scripture uses that, kind of that understanding that it says in Proverbs 14, 13, even in laughter, the heart is sorrowful. So there is something that is beyond just a pleasure-based approach. A pleasure-based approach to happiness leads to a self-centered existence, which is going to mean pain for other people. God intends for doors to be opened. He wants there to be a relationship. When doors get closed, there's no relationship, and there's going to be pain. And so, pleasure-based happiness is not the goal, it's not what God wants for us, although we are looking for that in our lives. Biblical joy is different. It is above circumstances. Joy transcends circumstances. Happiness depends on them. joy is found in God Himself. It's not found in sensory experiences. Joy has an eternal quality, and happiness is temporal. Here's something interesting about joy. Joy can exist with suffering, but not happiness. Let's take our Bibles to 1 Peter chapter 1 and Psalm 16. I'll give you a definition, the best that I think we can use for looking at all the verses about joy and rejoicing in the Bible, there's over 400 of them, so many things are said about joy and enjoying. True biblical joy is the deep abiding delight and satisfaction found in God's presence that remains constant regardless of circumstances. It's the deep abiding delight and satisfaction found in God's presence that remains constant regardless of circumstances. Look at 1 Peter 1, verse 8. He says, whom, speaking of Christ, whom having not seen ye love, in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. That's a lot of joy. Rejoicing with joy unspeakable. For those of you that are curious, rejoice is the verb and joy is the noun most of the time. There's at least one time in scripture where he says, I joy and rejoice with you all. You know, grammarians, but. It's important to understand where the joy comes from. Did you see it? Whom having not seen, ye love. There's the love. In whom, this is Christ, we haven't seen him, though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. So we see here that it is believing in the unseen Christ that gives us joy unspeakable and full of glory. You say, how is that possible? Every single person here has someone, a human being in his or her mind that they think, I would like to be. And it is because of that person, you are moving that direction in your life. It is partly because of that person or multiple people that make up a conglomeration in your mind of the ideal person. You're moving that direction. You follow what I'm saying? Very, very simply, it would be the people that you watch on television. Okay, so you don't watch this program or this TV channel, news channel, but you do watch this channel. Why? Because these people either are the ideal or they present the ideal way to think. You follow what I'm saying? No. Okay, let's break it down. Fox News or CNN? Why? Right? Because one of them, very starkly different, very little crossover, one of them has the ideal, they present the ideal, closer to the ideal in your mind, and one does not. Is that fair enough? Why do you follow the people that you follow on social media? Some people maybe you follow crazy people just for laughs or just because you like to get mad. But most people follow people that they like, that they admire, that they delight in. It's the ideal person. So whom having not seen ye love. If you were to delight in and follow and listen to the ideal human being and divine being, the God-man, you would be filled with joy. Because he is the ultimate in everything. So you believe, you don't see him, but you believe in him. Take your Bible to Psalm 16. Is that too far for everybody? I feel like it's a calf looking at a new gate tonight or something. Psalm 16, look at verse 11. Thou wilt show me the path of life. This is speaking of Christ prophetically. His soul was not left in hell. Thou wilt show me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore. The pleasures that we're looking for are in the presence of God. Joy is the deep abiding delight and satisfaction found in God's presence. So the closer I get to God's presence in my life, the closer I get to true joy. True joy. Why? Here's one thing. Who do you think knows how to make grape juice the best? Anybody? I don't know anybody other than the off-brands, but in my mind, Welch's makes the best. He was the guy that came up with the non-fermented, you know, alcohol or grape juice, and it never really took off until he started, you know, he actually began doing it, creating it, created it for the purpose of Communions. They could have non-alcoholic grape juice at Communion. And then they began to eventually market it to church. His son did, marketed it to churches. And then it took off and now we have Welch's grape juice. And what's interesting about that is he's the guy, right? He's the one that developed it. You think grape juice, you think Welch's. Well, who came up with joy? God did. God is the one that designed it, that developed it. And it's not just a product of God. It is a characteristic of God. It is his nature. He's a joyful being, and so if we're gonna get to know what true joy is, we're gonna have to get close to him. In thy presence, so it's related to having a right relationship with God, but I want you to see, in thy presence is fullness of joy. In whom, though now you see him not yet believing, you rejoice. Notice it's experienced, it's not practiced. You don't practice joy. You receive it in the presence of God. They used to say, the old timers, Puritans used to say, practice the presence of God. And I know what they meant. The idea is remind yourself on a regular basis that God is with you right now. But joy is not something that you have to practice. It is the fruit of the Spirit. And here's the distinction. I should be happier. I know I should have joy. I ought to have joy. And you're mad at yourself for not having joy. That's something that'll really make you joyful. Right? I just hate when I don't have joy. You know, people don't say that. What they say is, they have a negative attitude towards the world. They have a negative attitude towards everything. They're down, they're depressed, they're discouraged. You know why? Lack of joy. Well, I can tell you, you need to get right with God and have joy. Start making it right now. I might as well ask you to make a chocolate fountain come out of your mouth. You can't do it. The Spirit's joy is the fruit of the Spirit. So as we look at this, then maybe you can relax a little bit and stop trying to imitate Christ and let Christ live through you. He said, thou wilt show me the path of life. In thy presence is fullness of joy. That's Jesus Christ who says in the verse before that, thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to seek corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life. You know what that is? A person in the worst possible circumstance in the universe, in hell, that says, it's okay, the Lord's gonna show me the path of life. And I'm gonna come out of this thing, and I'm gonna go into his presence. So you can be in the worst circumstance in your life, which by the way will never be as bad as Jesus was in, and you can have joy in God's presence. So the thing is, don't try to be Jesus. Run to Jesus as quickly as you can. Get in the presence of God. By the way, God is right there with you. But you gotta humble yourself, right? Okay, so as we said before, it is building on love, this biblical definition of joy. It's like a fruit with nine parts to it or sections to it, and they're growing together. They're all coming from the same vine, so to speak. It's not independent. And it, we talked about this a little bit, the inward fruit, we're kind of on the three parts. If you want to look at it, you can look at the nine fruit of the spirit or the nine characteristics of Jesus Christ and you can split into three. You've got the inward first, the love, joy, and peace. That's a manifestation of a right relationship with God. And so you might, you might call it, I would say God-word. God-word instead of N-word. And then the outward is the manifestation to others. Long-suffering, gentleness, goodness. And then you have the N-word, which is faith and meekness and temperance. So we'll talk more about that at some point, maybe in the next decade or so. Let's look at what joy is not. We've said this already. I want to recycle through. Joy is not happiness. And the reason is that the word happiness, it comes from hap, which means chance. Remember in scripture, Ruth, her hap was to light upon a certain field. In other words, it was luck. Now we know that the Lord is in charge of all these things, but the scripture uses that term. Her hap. It's a happenstance. It's something that happens. Happiness is something that just happens. It's not something that you really can produce. Again, it's a byproduct. How do I know that? You're married. Many of you are married, right? Can you make your spouse happy if they don't want to be happy? I would suggest that you not try to do that. A man can hurt himself that way, right? A woman can get really hurt. Why? You can't manufacture happiness. It's just all of a sudden, boom, you're happy. Something happens and you're happy. You can't always trace it. But it's dependent on favorable circumstances. Something needs to be favorable. And it comes and goes based on those external factors. But it's unpredictable. Again, it's a byproduct. It's not a fruit. But the Spirit's joy is a deep abiding character trait of Christ himself. Let me ask you a question. Does the Spirit of God ever cease having joy? No. The Spirit of God does not. Why? It is baked into his nature. It is who he is. And if he ever stopped having joy, he would cease to be the spirit of God. So what we're talking about here is an eternal reality, not an external or temporary situation. This is the reason, by the way, that you can stand at a graveside and you can have eternal joy. I don't know that you're happy in that time. you would be kind of foolish and immature to experience happiness at a gravesite of someone that you love. But can you have joy? Of course you can. Because it's not based on favorable circumstances, but it's based on a favorable destiny. It's out beyond today. So that tells you and I why we don't have joy. Why the Holy Spirit's not producing joy? Because we're not looking at things above. We're not connected or focused on eternal realities. We're focused on temporary realities. Let me ask you a question. If you've had at least five flat tires in your life, raise your hand. Has anyone had more than five? Ten? I mean, keep going, right? I don't know anybody that when they have a flat tire goes, yes! Unless they're a teenage boy. Maybe. Because it's making the noise and crazy and everybody's yelling at them. I don't know. But of course you're not happy. If you let that steal your joy, you're an idiot. Because you said you had how many flat tires? What's the likelihood you're going to have a flat tire in the future? Pretty good. Especially if you're like some of us, we never change our tires. Amen. Mechanics love us. Amen. And that's what we do it for. We do it for them. Think about this. How can you possibly be happy when you have, you're not happy, but you would be an idiot to lose your joy over something like that. Why? Because you've had so many in the past and they still sell tires, thank God. Well, I can't afford them. Okay, maybe you are better at this than I thought. But I'm just saying, you can have joy, even on the worst days. You know what's interesting? It depends on what you're looking forward to. Because if you're headed home the last day before your Christmas vacation, and you get a flat tire, you're going to have an easier time not getting mad. Because you're off. Right? Isn't that interesting? You have to have the ability to pick up your eyes from the flat tire and look at the fact that you have a car. And I'm trying to get home where I have a family. I have a place to live and I have a family. And I have a car. If I can get this thing working, I'm going to get back to all of that. Isn't that a blessing? But if you focus on one little tiny thing, you let those circumstances run your life. You will never experience joy and you won't experience any happiness either. Take your Bible to 2 Corinthians chapter 6. The second thing that it is, is not, it's not a human emotion. The fruit of the Spirit is not my emotions sanctified by the Holy Spirit. It is a manifestation, it is an expression of Christ's character. Not human feelings. Have you ever been around someone who, in a crisis or a difficult situation, responded differently than you did? You know what that was? That was an expression of their character. What you did was an expression of your character. In a crisis situation, there's an accident or something, you know, I have mentioned this many times, but I remember one day there was an accident. I was in the backyard having a party with a bunch of folks that I know and love, and my brother-in-law Rick was there, and all of a sudden we heard the screech of tires and the crunch of metal and shattering of glass out in the front. And as soon as he heard that, he ran. He went on a dead run to try to find out what he could do to help. And I took kind of the long way around loping slowly because I was afraid what I was going to find. What's the distinction? It's those, my response and his response were an expression of our character. All right? And he had training, a lot of training in the military that prepared him for those crisis situations. And the difference is this. When we're talking about joy, whose expression of character do you want? Yours? or gods. I don't want, I mean, mine has really messed things up in difficult situations. The way, the best, my best life has not been that great. I mean, I have ideas of what it's supposed to be, but it's just not that. You know whose expression of character is always right? The Holy Spirit. Okay, so look at, did I tell you 2 Corinthians 6? Watch this. 2 Corinthians 6 10. Here's human trauma. He says, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. You can rejoice in sorrow. How? Through the Holy Spirit. Go over to 1 Thessalonians 4. I'm not saying that you don't have human emotions. I'm saying that those human emotions are not what God builds on. to make you a stronger Christian. He's not taking the best parts of you and making you better. He is giving you His character, His life, His response instead of yours. He said, I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. What does that mean, unless it's not me? It means it's Him. Now, I'm still alive in the flesh, but I have the opportunity to live by the faith of the Son of God, the life that I now live in the flesh. Look at 1 Thessalonians 4.13, but I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not. Now, if he put a period there, that would be very discouraging. But he said that you sorrow not, comma, even as others which have no hope. So it's possible to have both sorrow and rejoicing simultaneously because Christians rejoice in hope. In hope. That doesn't mean that right now everything is awesome. I just know it's not always going to be this way. Literally, it is going to be awesome. Beyond even what anybody could define as awesome. It's going to be amazing. Right now it's not, but I'm okay. Hey, isn't that what it says the woman is travailing in sorrow, but as soon as the baby is born, she forgets all of her sorrow. How does she survive? Are there any women that say, forget it, I don't want this kid, I don't care what you have to do, kill the kid, get it out of me. Some women do. It's a horrible thing, why? Because anybody with brains knows that delivery is no joke. Labor and delivery is some of the worst pain that a human can ever experience. And yet why do women do it and then do it again and then do it again? and then do it again in some cases, right? Because of the joy after the sorrow. So they're able to handle the pain because they know the joy is coming. So it's not a human emotion. It is a recognition of eternal realities. This is actually going to happen. What's amazing to me is how our old nature tells us, you're gonna die, you're gonna die, you're gonna die. And you say, well, yeah, I'm going to die, but I'm going to live forever in heaven. And then you can say, well, I know I'm going to die, but after this is heaven. Well, after this is heaven, hello. Everything is not terrible and horrible. Christians, our flesh is no different than anybody else's flesh. We don't want to die. And we complain about the fact that we're growing older and things are not working and we're debilitated and so forth. And that's natural and normal. But hello, do you realize you're coming to the end of the book? And after the end of the book, guess what? Eternity with Christ. That's something to get excited about. But you have to moderate that in your spirit. And how do you moderate that? Well, you don't work up that reality. You yield to the truth that He told you. I'm going to yield to what you said above what I feel. Spirit's joy is not a human emotion. And then again, it's not a work of the flesh. The Bible says, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. So this is not something that can be manufactured. Now, there is, quickly, let's look at the connection between joy and delight and affection. So, delight is taking pleasure in someone or something. For who or what they are. Okay? It's taking pleasure. He said, delight thyself in Psalm 37, 4. Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart. So, it's interesting when he says that. Go to Proverbs chapter 8 if you would. Proverbs chapter 8 verse 30. He said, delight thyself. What kind of a verb is that? Anyone want to tell me? It's an imperative verb. Which means, hey, do it. You're supposed to do it. What's interesting about delight and affection and joy is that it is possible for you to choose what you delight in, what your affection is placed in, and what you choose to rejoice in. You get to choose it. Anybody used to not like food when they were younger that they now enjoy? What happened? You taught yourself over time to enjoy it. And he said here, delight thyself also in the Lord. You're focusing here, the delight is focusing not on what God gives you, you're focusing on God Himself, who He is. Proverbs 8 verse 30, it says, then I was by Him as one brought up with Him, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him. rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were with the sons of men." Here we have Jesus Christ as wisdom typified. He was rejoicing always before his father. And he said, I was daily his delight. We liked being around each other. That's the way it's always been. I like him and he likes me. That's amazing, as one brought up with him. And it says, and then my delights were with the sons of men. It's just like John chapter 15, where he says, I love my father, I obey his commandments, and now I'm abiding in his love. Now you need to listen to my love, obey my commandments. The delight is something that is, it's able to be chosen. What kind of a parent would you say, what kind of parent would you qualify as someone who says, I really like my daughter, but I don't like my son? Now, let's just face it. There are certain times when that's kind of true. but like shallow true, not really deep, because it's based on what they do. But there's something about love that goes deeper than anything that they ever do or don't do, right? And because of that, you're not going to say, there's something in there that's not, it's not just wishy-washy. It goes deeper. And here, this ability that we have, it goes deeper than just, well, I like it or I don't like it or I don't like it. It's something that you have the ability to choose to do and it can go very deep. Now, another verse is affection, Colossians 3 verse 2. He said, set your affection on things above. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. They used to talk about setting the hair, you know, you have to get that set just perfectly. TV sets and so forth, whatever. But we understand what that is. Joy flows when our affections are set on eternal realities. Let me tell you this. Often, depression is a result of misplaced affections. Misplaced affections. The reason why you get depressed often is because you want something to be a certain way, you like things a certain way, and you can't get them to be that way. It's really hard, it brings pain to do the right thing, and it's easier to do the thing that you want to do instead of the thing that you ought to do. So what happens is a day after day after day of misplaced affections, you lost your joy and now you're depressed. And depression is up. Majorly, I think there's been a 20% increase or so in depression from 2000 to 2025. And that's in adults. In kids, it's just crazy skyrocketed. I don't even know what the number is. And it's foolish, isn't it? Why? Because somewhere along the line, the kids were allowed to be depressed. And their parents didn't know how to deal with it. Now, I'm not a psychologist by any means, and I don't mean to pretend to be one. I know that there's real pain and suffering out there. But what's crazy is, almost everybody here, when you were a child, you don't remember kids being depressed. Why? I mean, there's all kinds of reasons why. Number one was, stop being stupid, somebody would say. You know, get out there and mow the lawn. You're moping, you're whining, you're complaining, go get to work. Go do something, which kind of tells us a lot of times depression is because we're not doing what we ought to be doing. Or we really hate the fact that we have to do this and we're pushing back against it. He said, set your affection. Affection is the deliberate orientation of the heart. The deliberate orientation of the heart. Walk in the Spirit. We're gonna see that next. How joy is produced. It's produced through the whole, the indwelling Holy Spirit. Because we know the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. He bears this fruit in those who have been born by the Spirit. He said, these things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. So the indwelling Holy Spirit is the one that produces it. And then walking in the Spirit. We have the Holy Spirit, but walking in the Spirit, what does that mean? Well, it's the same as being filled with the Spirit. It is not produced by our own effort, it is yielding to the Spirit. So let's just say, and again, I know this is scientific based or academic type thing, but let's just say the Holy Spirit wants me to go this direction, and He says, come on, let's go this direction. And I say, no. No. And all kinds of reasons. Whether it's I'm lazy, or I'm a rebel, or I don't care, or I've got other things I've got to do, and I'm pulling against Him. If I'm not walking with the Spirit, He's not going to open up His joy to me. I'm going to be pulling this direction. I'm saved, but what's going to happen? The Holy Spirit's going to be what? Grieved. He's going to be irritated with me. He's going to feel a sense of loss. That's what grief is. I'm pulling this way because the Holy Spirit says, let's go this way. You know, let's stop doing that. And the works of the flesh are, you know, all kinds of junk. You could just fill it out. And he says, let's not do that anymore. Let's walk this way. And you say, well, I've known a lot of Christians who faked it. OK, so you're going to walk with the Spirit or not? Which one are we going to do? Well, you know, the church has really hurt me. So OK, and maybe it has. Are you going to walk with the Spirit or not? See what I'm saying? You don't get to make the choice of a hybrid walk with the Spirit and the flesh. The reason why we don't have joy is because the Holy Spirit's the one that produces that joy and He only does so when we're walking with Him. It's pretty simple, right? Why don't I have joy? You know why? Because I'm still trying to figure it all out. How can I go this way and still have the joy of the Lord? How can I do my own thing and have the fruit of the Spirit? I'm trying, I'm, I'm really close to figuring it out. Just give me four more decades and I'll, I'll figure out the hybrid approach. Don't you realize that's what backslidden Christians are all doing? They're all trying to hack the Christian life. That's why people have trouble with church attendance. Because, you know, and I'm thankful that church attendance is not the law of the Medes and Persians. We were talking about it the other day. It's not even a commandment in Scripture to, you know, to be in church to worship on Sunday. There's not a clear command. There's certainly examples of them doing that and all that. But why? Because the Holy Spirit, here's a better question. Why wouldn't you want to be with God's people? What else do you want to do? Only guess. The flesh. All right? You've got other things. And if you're saying, well, show me in Scripture where you're supposed to meet Sunday morning, Sunday night. Okay. No, I'm not going to show you in Scripture. But is it this way or would that be this way? The attitude. You understand what I'm saying? And this is not legalistic. Hey, there's all kinds of reasons why we can't make it in church. There's trips, vacations, work sometimes. All this stuff happens. What I'm saying is, what do you want to do? What do you want to do? Do you want to be with the Spirit? Or are you like, I want the results, but you can't show me where I have to... Okay, that attitude stinks. That attitude is what's going to prohibit you, keep you from ever having the fruit of the Spirit in your life. That's why people are... Do you ever get around Christians? They're right and they're mad about it. You ever get around people like that? It's kind of distasteful. I'm glad you want to serve the Lord, but chill with the attitude. Because they're so tense about being right and doing the right thing. I don't know, brother. I don't think that's right. I'm not sure about this. You're right, brother. I'm wrong. If I say I'm wrong, will you calm down? You know what that is? That's a person who's trying to produce the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, by the works of the flesh. They've got their own way, and they can't just let the Holy Spirit guide them and direct There's fewer people, I would say more are just straight up carnal. We talked about obedience, that would be number three. It's produced through obedience. He said, these things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remain in you. What things? He said, if you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love. So obedience does create the conditions where the fruit of the spirit can flourish. I cannot make things grow, but I can provide an environment in which things can grow. You can't produce the fruit of the Spirit, but obedience can provide the soil that will produce the fruit of the Spirit. And then here's another one, through time with the Lord. Time with the Lord, just on purpose. Take your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 15. Jeremiah 15. Look at verse number 16, Jeremiah 15, 16. He said, thy words were found and I did eat them. And thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. For I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. Where did he get the joy? He got it from digesting the words of God. He ate them up, as the kids would say today. And because of that, the joy and rejoicing naturally came out. So that tells us you're joying and rejoicing in something, even if it's in negativity. Right? Sometimes it's just easier to trust in our fears. Why? They're always there. They're consistent. They're faithful. I never have to worry about, should I be afraid? Yes, I should be afraid. It's always an automatic answer. Check. Always afraid. Or, some people are negative. Why? Because you can always cut something down finer. Chop it up. You know, sometimes people are raised in more legalistic type environments. It's just easier to chop it down. Right? Or, in some cases, it's easier to just pass it off. It's not a big deal. Nothing's a big deal. Nothing's a big deal. Right? So, we're all digesting something. We're all taking in some mindset, some attitude, some action that we just naturally go to, right? If you take in the Word of God, the Word of God becomes part of your makeup for that day. Becomes part of your nature for that day. They say you are what you eat. And literally, I guess from a biological standpoint, your cells are taking in what you eat and eventually you become that. Spiritually speaking, there's a similarity there as well. He said, I took in the words, and I ate them, and I digested them, and now I've got joy coming out of my heart. I didn't have joy earlier because I was watching the news, I didn't have joy because I was looking at Facebook and seeing all the Christians that were doing whatever they want and I'm trying to figure out how, how they can be Christians and how can I be? What am I? Who am I? And I'm just, it grieves me at my heart, right? And so then when I got off of that and I got away from that junk and I just got into the Word, I suddenly, I found the fruit of the Spirit growing. Amen. I'm so thankful that we have that opportunity. How is joy manifested? Lastly tonight. But you know this verse, so we won't turn to it. He said, and be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be what? Filled with the Spirit. What's the next word? Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Joy expresses itself in singing and worship. Singing and worship. You say, I'm not a good singer. Well, the Lord said, make a joyful noise unto God. There's something about verbalizing. So it seems there's a distinction, if you're wondering, between joy and rejoice. What's joy? Joy is more internal, and then rejoicing is external. It's when you externalize the joy that's inside. It's when you tell people that you're joyful. So I'm gonna be a crusty old Baptist preacher for a minute. If you're cheering for, insert whoever your favorite team is, and you're externalizing your joy. Right? Nothing wrong with that. Just don't leave God hanging. Externalize your joy that He gave you. Right? So when people don't sing in church, when they don't even try to sing, it's because they're not filled with the Spirit. Right? And what they say is a fleshly answer. I'm not a good singer. But did you notice here? He said, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. So the reason why you don't verbalize that is because it's not inside. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. So because you're not filled with the Spirit, the Spirit says, wow, Jesus is great, let's sing. By the way, if you don't like all the songs in the hymnal, no problem, write another one. We'll sing it. Bring me another one, I've got no problem with it. There are no inspired songs, other than the Psalms maybe, right? But what happens is we come to church and it's like, it's time to sing. Hey, if you're getting all your singing time done somewhere else, okay. But most of us are not. What we say is, I'm not a singer. Holy Spirit wants to sing, yes? He wants to sing, we ought to want to sing. You don't have to be an excellent singer. You don't have to be a great singer or even a good singer. You just gotta sing. What is singing? I'll tell you what singing is. I learned years ago. Singing is super pronunciation of emotionalized speech, beautifully sustained. In other words, you're talking longer. But it needs to, you try to make it as beautiful as you can. Right? So instead of saying, how great thou art, you say, how great, you just pick one pitch for each word. How great thou art. You're speaking on pitch. That's all it is. And the reason why you don't say that is because you're not filled with the spirit inside. You're not filled with the word of God. And honestly, a lot of times we come to church, we're tired or we got a lot of this stuff going on. We're not thinking. We're just not thinking about God. Let me encourage you. Joy can be measured by how you sing, not quality. I'm talking about involvement. If you're not involved in singing, you don't have any joy. You know what I find interesting? Christians who have joy but can't sing a lick still sing. And you know what? It's a blessing. It's a blessing. Now, the Bible says, I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the understanding also. I think you could tie in a little bit of, hey, learn to sing, and we try to emphasize that to our young people and help them grow. That's wonderful, but it's a spiritual thing first before it's a study of singing as an art. It's a spiritual thing. You know what James said? Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him sing psalms. Right? If you sing in the shower, that's because you feel good. I mean, it's warm, and there's resonance in the shower, and it kind of makes you think, man, I've got a decent voice, right? Yeah, you should keep singing in the shower. And just put some clothes on and keep singing. Step out of the shower, just keep singing. Right? Or is singing only for me when I feel good? I like singing. I like singing. That's why I do it. See, the question is, if joy comes from circumstances. So I love singing when everybody's singing, and I love it too. But we really ought to sing because of who God is, not because of who I feel that He is. Because of who He said that He was. And as I'm reading this thing, oh, how I love Jesus because He first loved me. I know that's true. He wrote it down. So as I'm singing it, it's not just I have to get through this song. We have to do it. It's, that's true right there. It'll transform your congregational singing. Is this true what I'm saying? Here's a test for you. Next time it's time to sing, say to yourself or say it out loud, I don't believe a word of this. Just, that's your flesh, right? Just say it and just see what your spirit says. You don't believe Jesus Christ died and rose again? You don't believe he's coming again? What you're doing is you're challenging your spirit to live, to breathe, to wake up, right? I believe this stuff. And some of you still think I'm talking about singing. I'm not. I'm talking about being filled with the spirit. Being filled with the spirit will result in you verbalizing something. And even, how do you do it? Here, let me tell you, very practically. You're embarrassed about your voice. Here's what you do. Say the words as close to the pitch as you can. If you hear people going up, go up. How great thou art, how great thou art. You know what you're doing? God is looking at your heart and other people can see that you are involved. And the pitch, let it come and go. Now, why? Most time people like that are not trying to take over the song service. They're just singing. If you're trying to take over the song service with that, stop singing. Right? But that's not, that's what you need to do. Some of you are too, you're too proud to do that. You're too proud to sing badly in your own mind. And because of that, you're not really expressing the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is, is to be verbalized. Here's another one, and we won't hit this one hard. It'll sting. Joy and soul winning. Leading a lost soul to Jesus brings you unbelievable joy. Unbelievable joy. I'll even go further than that. Telling someone about Jesus Christ brings a lot of joy. I'll give you something else. Doing your best to try to think about how you could possibly give the gospel to someone will bring you joy. So you don't have to be super soul winner to have this kind of joy. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repented. Paul said, what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing are not even ye. So there is joy in soul winning. There is joy in trials and tribulations. Let's look at one more place. Oh, we got to close. We got to get out of here. Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews 12. Forgive me, you guys are very patient and long suffering. I don't know that you have any joy in your trial here, but Hebrews chapter 12, look at verse two. Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. The joy. You know who the joy was? Us. Is that crazy or what? To endure the cross, thinking of us. You know what made him able to endure it? The thought of you and I. So couldn't the thought of Jesus help us to endure our trials? If Jesus Christ endured because of the joy that was you and I, how much more infinite joy can be found in the person of the Son of God as we're going through our trials, right? One more is Romans 12, 15, rejoice with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep. There's joy in fellowship and in others' blessings. Coming to church, you know, some of you would get a little bit of joy, get out of your funk if you would interact with people and stay for five minutes after church and talk to them. Some of you need to stay a little bit less, right? You have a lot of joy, a little less joy. No, I'm just kidding, it's great. But, you know, You won't be able to have decent friends if you can't resonate with their emotions. And I think a lot of times we are good at weeping with them that weep. And we ought to do that. But we also should rejoice with them that do rejoice. You know what would be good for your soul next time you hear that somebody had a promotion or got something new or they have a new dress or clothes or a new car or something good, going up to them and saying, that is so great that that happened. I love that. You say, well, that's not how we do it. Well, I know it's not how we do it, but it's how we should do it. We should interact with people and just rejoice. I'm so happy. You know what that'll do? That'll bring joy out in your own heart. It'll draw it out. As we walk in the Spirit and we yield to His work within us, joy will naturally grow as fruit. Our focus should never be either on joy or on happiness itself. It should be on the Lord Jesus Christ who is the source of all joy and all happiness. These things that I've spoken to you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. Thank you so much for listening. We went through a lot there and I'm overwhelmed by how much there is about joy in Scripture. So I appreciate your long-suffering tonight.