Last week, we looked at the abundance of joy and grace. And it mimicked John 1.16 that grace upon grace comes to us through the fullness of Christ. The abundance of joy and grace that comes through Christ Jesus. And we looked at John 2. And in John 2, you find the first sign, the beginning of signs, the first of seven signs that John gives in his Gospel to show who Christ is and what He came to do And that first sign was at a wedding that Jesus attended. And a wedding makes you think of joy. I hope all of you who are married that you look back with your wedding with joy. If not, we can talk afterwards. But that implies joy. And then they ran out of wine. And wine is a symbol of joy as well. But they ran out of wine. It means now the joy had run out. And that means something symbolically. And the servants then were told by Jesus to take the six 20 to 30 gallon water pots which were used for purification rituals for the Jews. And this represents the not joy of what had become of the dry religion of the old covenant. He said, fill them with water, which means they were empty. Again, this is not joy, but fill them with water. And he turned the water into wine, which represents the new wine of the new covenant and the joy that only Christ would bring and the wine In the water pots, it was filled to the brim. It was as full as it could be. There's a quantity of overflowing joy and blessing. And the wine then was found out to be the best wine. It's not just quantity, it's the quality or the nature of the divine joy and blessing that comes through Christ is what was seen there. And last week, I mentioned that when RBCKC was started over 16 years ago, that we started with James Boyce's teaching out of John 17, where he goes through the six marks of the church. Seemed like a good place to start. And he used John 17, where Christ is praying these things for the church. The high priestly prayer of Christ for His people before going to the cross to secure them and to give them to the Father. And if you're wondering, the six marks of the church were joy, holiness, and truth, mission, we are the sent ones, and then unity and love. Joy, holiness, truth, mission, unity, and love. And if we could see those things increase in our church family, it would be a blessing to all. But the first mark of those six marks of the church was surprisingly, I think, joy. If you'd ask somebody on the street or even in the pew, What would be the first mark of the church? I don't know if joy would come up in their list at first. And then last week, when we talked about this joy that Christ brings, I very briefly at the end of the sermon, I mentioned four things that are necessary to know this joy in the Christian life. And these four things were largely taken from James Boyce's teaching of this. And the same thing that was said over 16 years ago. First of all, you must know Christ, the savior of joy, to know joy in him. The first thing is you must know Christ to know his joy. That makes sense. And if you're outside of Christ today, you must come to the one who is the word, who is with God, who was God and is God. And he took on flesh. We saw in John chapter one, he might be like us to walk in our place under perfect righteousness, to die in a place and a perfect forgiveness of sins. It says in Hebrews chapter 12 that for the joy set before him on the cross, he came. To redeem his people from their sin. You cannot stand before holy God in your sin and you cannot do anything about your sin and you cannot stand before holy God without perfect righteousness and you have no righteousness left yourself. So you must come in repentance of your sin and bow before the cross of Christ. And believe in him and trust in him and know him. That is what eternal life is to know and to receive him. The true God and the true salvation that comes only through him. And when you do that, you exchange your sin for his righteousness. You exchange your death for his life. And then you can know the joy that's manifested only through the savior of joy, the Lord Jesus Christ, that must happen first. The other three things that were mentioned, though, were really the three things that James Boyce said. If we want to then know joy as a Christian, what do we do? How do we work towards that? Well, number one, we seek to have a mind settled on Christ and the great truths and the goodness of Christ. We seek to have a mind settled on Christ and the great truths and the goodness of him. And you might summarize that, and it's in your bullet, and there's three main points of the sermon today. We need to have a mind settled on God in Christ. You need to have a mind settled on God in Christ. Secondly, we need to seek fellowship with him and with his people. We need to seek fellowship with him and his people. And in your bulletin, you'll see the second point is we need to have fellowship with God through Christ. Have a mind settled on God in Christ, but have fellowship with God through Christ. And that includes his people. And then thirdly, We need to seek holiness in Christ, a walk in obedience together with and for Christ. And so your third point in your bulletin is we need to seek to have a holy life for God by Christ. Simplicity of joy is have your mind settled on him and his promises and his truth, having fellowship with him and his people, and then to walk with him unto holiness and righteousness and simple obedience. And with the importance of joy in the Christian life individually and in the church both, it seems good then to take those three points and to flesh them out today as a separate sermon. That's what we intend to do is to walk through those three points on how to know this joy through the joyous one. That we might be helped in not just talking about joy, but my desire is as a pastor and as a brother is that we would experience God in Christ and we experience the joy that we can only have in Christ. The joy that even Jesus prays for us in John chapter 17, which probably means he's praying this for us now as he intercedes on our behalf as the eternal forever high priest. And so today we'll do this and may it be a benefit to us as we walk through these three ways to know joy. May it be a benefit to us and to our witness to better seek and experience the joy of Christ in our individual lives and in the life of our church. First of all, I'd like us to look at John chapter 17. 16 years ago, we actually walked through it. We haven't really looked at John chapter 17, so maybe it's good We've read through verses 1-13, so keep that in mind to save time. We won't read through that again. But I want us to look at John 17, those first 13 verses, so we can get to that first mark, which is joy. And I would encourage you to read through John 17, verses 1-26. It's a wonderful thing. It's maybe one of the most wonder-filled sections of Scripture. It's up at the top of the list. We're listening in on the Son of God. as he prayerfully communes with and petitions to the father. You almost feel guilty, you're eavesdropping to hear the son talk to the father. But then he's doing this and asking for our well-being as his people. You are being prayed for in the scripture if you are a Christian in this passage. And in verses one through five what you see is he first begins by praying for himself and it's not selfish for him to do so but he prays for himself when we read verses one through five and he prays that he would be glorified that sounds selfish no it's not it's so that the father would be glorified if Christ is glorified the father is glorified that's what he begins with when he prays and he says in verse one says before he starts speaking it says Jesus spoke these words I think that's pointing back to chapters 13 through 16. It's because of what he just said. He just spent four chapters, although he didn't know he was speaking four chapters. Somebody else made him into four chapters to prepare the disciples for what they weren't expecting, which was to go to when Jesus would go to the cross and the whole world would be turned upside down. And he says when he first begins speaking in verse one, Father, the hour has come. If you're familiar with the Gospels, he keeps saying, The hour has not come. It's not my time yet. Even John chapter 2, he says, woman, to his mother, my hour has not come. It's not time for this. But now he says the hour has come. It's a glorious thing, means the cross, the apex of his coming is now. And when he says my hour has come, he's not just speaking about the cross, he's speaking about everything that is wrapped up in it, his cross and the crown that would come afterwards. And we recently taught on the ascension of Christ. Christ and God are glorified in the climax of Christ's work of redemption to save his people. It's a glorious thing. There's nothing like the cross and what follows on the cross of Calvary. We see the love of God, the mercy of God, the grace of God, the wisdom of God, the power of God, the justice of God, the holiness of God, the wrath of God. And his sovereignty and so much more displayed And Christian, you should rejoice in all of the display of the nature and the goodness of God and the power of God on the cross. His hour has come. And Jesus says he's given authority over all flesh, it means he's given authority over all people, all types of people to bring salvation to those that the father has chosen. Should remind you of the Great Commission, all authority has been given to me. He has authority over all people to give eternal life By sovereign grace to all the Father has given him. Maybe you should print it off first, but if you circle in this prayer all the times it says, given to me, given to me, given to the Son, it's an amazing thing. And a great part of that is the Father has given to the Son those whom the Father would save through Christ. He says he's He should give eternal life to as many as you have given me is what Jesus is saying in this eternal life. He defines it in verse three. This is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. That might seem like a really simple gospel presentation, but it is there. Eternal life is to know, to believe or to trust personally the only true God and the only true salvation that comes through the son who he sent to save his people. If you peek down to verse 8, it means then that by the Spirit, these are the people who received the words of Christ and believed in the Son that was sent by the Father. This is eternal life and there's no other way. So he did say at the beginning that the first and foundational way of how to know joy is it's necessary to know the Son. who brings life and joy, it's necessary to repent and believe in Him. And in verse four, he says, I've glorified you on the earth. I've finished the work which you've given me to do. He has finished everything so far that he is given by the will of God to do. And he's then even looking at what's going to happen here in the coming days as being a done deal. So he can say, I've done it all. It's going to be accomplished. And now what you've sent me to do, I have done it and I will do it so that those you've given to me, I am going to redeem and I'm going to give them back to you. So then in verse five, he again says, glorify me together with yourself. But this should remind you of John chapter one, the word was with God, the word was God. in glory and so he says now father for glorify me together with yourself what with the glory which I had with you before the world was it's a testimony to his deity. No one shares the glory with God unless he is God and shows the Godhead sharing glory and eternity past his father and son and with the spirit. So that's the opening of it. In verses 6 through 26 he essentially prays for his people. I know in verses 6 through 9 It might be more specifically for the disciples, but I think it should be applied to the church as well. And certainly, verses 20 through 26, he's specifically praying for all believers. But we have in verses 6 through 26, it's a prayer for his people. Through his disciples, it's a prayer for his church. And so you're being prayed for in these verses. And here we have the privilege of hearing how our head prays for us. If I could summarize verses 6 through 12, You could say that the work on earth now is soon to be finished by the Son, and he longs to return to the Father. That's where his joy is. That's where his glory is, if you will. But now he returns to the Father as a God-man Savior. But he must leave his people behind, quote. He never leaves us, but physically, in his humanity, he leaves his people behind to come to the Father. And so he prays that the father would keep all those whom he gave Christ. And that whom Christ kept as well, Christ said, none of them are lost and we can be resting secure that none of them will be lost. And what we see in verses six through 12, as we see the covenant of redemption being played out in which the father chose from the beginning of the world, those from the world that he would save. And the son took on flesh and manifested himself to his people to redeem them that were given to him from the father from the world. And those who would be redeemed, they received his words and they believed in the son sent from the father. That is what the center must do. And then the son delivers them to the father securely and eternally as he returns to the father himself. This is the covenant of redemption. And so. As Christ is about to return to the father, he asks that they be kept and none of them be lost, that the Scripture be fulfilled. And so believer, and brother, and sister, know the security we have in Christ. We're sealed by the Spirit. We're kept by Christ in God according to the Scriptures. And we are secure indeed in our Savior, in our redemption. Look at verse 13 then. That's how we get to verse 13. These are the things He's prayed so far But now in verse 13, he gets to more specific requests for his people. And in verse 13, he says, but now I come to you. He's repeating what's already been said. Now my time has come and I come to you. And these things I speak in the world. That they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. Maybe not what you expect, but he says, The first thing is that he prays for is that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. This is a wonderful verse. If you're a believer, this is prayed for you. The Savior is praying that his joy would be fulfilled in you. It's themselves, it's plural, in us. Not just joy, but my joy, Jesus says. And not just that you can have joy, but that it would be fulfilled, it would be completed, it would be to the brim if you want to think of John chapter 2. And so Christians and churches should be characterized by a real abiding joy. If there's not joy in our midst, something's wrong. We're not talking about a manufactured joy or a worldly joy, a giddy joy just because everything's happy. There's nothing wrong to be happy, but we're talking about a divine joy that's supplied by the Spirit of God. The second gift or fruit of the Spirit is joy in Galatians chapter 5. A joy that can be seen in laughter, yes, but a joy that can be seen in sorrow. Christians are odd ducks because they can be joyful whether they're smiling or whether they're weeping because of an abiding joy of Christ that is in them. It's a contentedness. that even in the worst of times, the world just cannot explain. The early church was known for its joy. We see it in history. If you read the history books, we see the reaction to the persecution. We see it in the scripture as well. In Acts chapter 5, when Peter and his friends were arrested and beaten and they were warned, don't speak of this Christ anymore. Their reaction was, they rejoiced. They rejoiced, because they considered it an honor to be counted worthy to suffer for Christ. And then they kept speaking of Christ anyway, because their joy in Christ wouldn't allow them to shut up. May it be with us. In Acts chapter 16, at the founding of the Reformed Baptist Church of Philippi, it was founded by, through trial and affliction, He had Lydia, who was the first convert there, but then he had the demon-possessed slave girl. Then he had the jailer. And why was there a jailer? Because Paul and Silas were arrested and put in prison. They were beaten. They were shackled to the walls. And at midnight, they were saying, oh, it was me. No, they were singing hymns and praying. As a result, the jailer says, what is the deal? What must I do to be saved? And out of great trial and affliction, the church in Philippi is founded. And I wish we had time today. I'll probably have to wait till next week. But the whole letter to the Philippian church, if there's any manual and encouragement for joy in the Christian life, it's there. Maybe that's why we've gone through it twice in our 16 years. I'd like to do it again, but we won't. But in the book of Philippians, Paul rejoices in awful circumstances. He's writing it from jail. He's imprisoned because of Christ, but he rejoices and he calls his readers to rejoice as well. The early church left us a legacy of joy, but what about us? Are we known as a joyful people? In your family, are you known as a joyful person? Is our church known as a joyful church? The question is, well, shouldn't we be? Joy is a divine privilege and a necessary distinguishing mark of the church. And so Christ has and he is praying for us to be filled with his joy. So the question might be, well, what do we do? How do we secure such joy? And we have an outline for you in your bulletin. A mind settled on God in Christ, a fellowship with God through Christ, which includes with his people, and a holy life lived for God by Christ. And we'll first look then at a mind settled on the great truths of God in Christ. A mind settled on God in Christ. So for point number one, look in verse 13 of John 17. Jesus begins by saying, but now I come to you and these things I speak in the world. Stop right there. That would be 13a if you will. But now I come to you and these things I speak in the world. When he says these things I speak in the world, this is the background of having my joy fulfilled in them. It's the teaching and the doctrine that he's given to his disciples. Remember in John chapter 17, verse one, he says, after he spoke these words, then he begins praying. And these words are looking back to verse chapters 13 through 16, where Jesus is preparing his disciples for the cross. And he says, now I come to you. Now, you might think he's coming to pray. Well, that is true, but that's not what he's saying. He says, but now I'm coming to you, O Father, through the cross. And that's why he's praying. And that puts the spotlight on the greatest truths that we can settle our minds on to know a settled joy. Now I'm coming to you through the cross, through my death, my burial, my resurrection, my ascension. All of that that wraps up what we have in salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. And these are truths that we should focus on and rest our minds upon daily as we preach the gospel to ourself and settle our mind on who Christ is and what he has done for us and how this joy that we should have is secured by him and it will never fade or be taken away. We can come to know joy on the basis of what we know and trust and rest our minds upon. We can come to know joy in the Christian life on the basis of what we know and trust in and rest our minds upon. And that comes through God's word for our ultimate source with the Spirit of God as our illuminator. We have a settled mind on who God is and what he has done and what he has promised in Christ. through his word, as the spirit would lead us. And through that, we can know joy. Joy is associated with God's word in the scripture. It's associated with a maturing knowledge of the word of God, because in the word of God, we seek and find who God is. In Philippians 1.9 and Colossians 1.9, Paul prays in both of those places that his people would be filled with knowledge. And that knowledge then comes through the Word of God and it's for the increase of our joy. It's reading the Scriptures prayerfully, but not just as a textbook or an encyclopedia, but as to commune with God, to experience Him and to know the joy that comes through His truth. Psalm 119, verse 162, near the end of that wonderful psalm on the Word of God, there we read, I rejoice at Your Word. I rejoice at Your Word as one who finds great treasure. Do we think that? And it's not merely, oh look, the Bible's wonderful. No, it's the Bible's wonderful because the treasure in it is who God is and who Christ is. And we know him through the word of God, and we know joy then through the word of God. And these truths must be settled in the Christian's mind so he can rest his mind on them, and then he can walk in them. We can't have fellowship with God and with his people, and we can't have a life of Righteousness, if we don't understand who God is and what He says in His Word, and if we don't rest our mind on Him, then we can walk in them. And then our joy increases all the more. We must have these truths settled on in our mind that we can return to them when trial and affliction comes, and it will come. When trial and affliction comes, you might have temporary relief from alcohol or drugs or sporting events or whatever it might be. But true abiding joy comes from God through his word and we return just like David did in Psalm 34. And we can be confident in the truth of the word of God that the truth of the word of God might abide in us and his joy then would abide in us even in times of trouble. You know the simplicity of the Christian life is wonderful. There's a peace. and a joy of knowing and resting in God and His ways and walking in obedience. And then we leave the rest up to Him. There's the simplicity of the Christian life. Know God, know what He asks of you, and just obey and walk in Him with all the helps that He gives us. Then when things don't go well, I'm walking in the will of the Lord and joy flows from that. We begin our worship service with Psalm 34, I think in Psalm 34, you have a perfect example of this. It's on the front of your bullet and you could turn there, but just briefly, just looking to Psalm 34, there's a purpose for singing that. I think we'll sing it the rest of the month. But we have is an example of David. And we said at the beginning of our worship that David, at this point, he'd fled from Saul, even though he knows he's anointed to be the king of Israel and God has made promises to him. He fled to Saul into the Philistines, the enemies, but then he made nice with them. until they were catching on. And then to try to get away from the Philistines, he acts like a madman, even gnawing at and slobbering on himself like an animal with rabies, perhaps. And he flees from them into a cave. He's left in a cave alone, dejected, I would guess ashamed, but fearful. He's lost his bearings, and certainly his mind lost the settledness on the things of God. But I think he begins preaching the gospel to himself. He begins contemplating the goodness of God, the sovereignty of God, the promises of God, who God is and what he knows from God from his own experience as well. He knows this ultimately from the word of God and it forces himself to consider, wait a minute, who is my God? And so he says, I will bless the Lord at all times. Again, we said it. I think it's with a clenched, clenched teeth. I know this is true. It's one thing that singing really helps. Singing is a good thing for joy because it makes you parade the truths of God across your mind and your heart. And it's hard to be dour when you're singing. I will bless the Lord all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast to the Lord. I mean it, is almost what you hear. The humble shall hear of it and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me." And that's what happens. You start bringing in others. Even though he's in a cave by himself, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together. Don't underestimate the fellowship of the saints. In v. 8, O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusts in Him, is what David says. He's brought back to his mind the truth and the goodness of God. He finds rest in Him. Contentment with Him. Even an abiding joy against this example of our preaching the word and the gospel to ourselves so we could remember. But for that to happen, we have to be in the word and understand it as well. It has to be there as a depository for us. For us, though, it's probably not that we don't know the doctrine of God that we need. It's probably not that we don't know the truth that we're supposed to rely on in time of difficult circumstance, or even unhappy circumstance, because we're so easily distracted. The problem is that we are, by nature, unstable. And though we know the truth, we don't really trust it. And we have a hard time trusting in our God. And we do not let our minds settle on the great truths of God, as we should. We know that God is sovereign and that's an essential doctrine to joy. Go back and read Romans chapter 8 again, please. God's in charge of all things, but he's a good God in charge of all things. That's where we should go when we rest in times of difficulty. He works all things out for the good of those who love him. But the question is not, do we know that? The question is, do we really believe it? And do we really rest in it? We know that our Father in heaven is good and he will not give us stones when we ask for bread. But do we really trust him to provide when things aren't going as we'd like to? Or do we trust that what he's provided is okay? We know that Christ has redeemed us with a perfect sacrifice and perfect righteousness. But we struggle to rest in the truth of it. We've been wavering because of that. We know the Spirit has given us new life. He's sealed us. He illumines our mind. He empowers our will. Yet we worry, we're told not to, but yet we still worry, and our mind wanders. As a result, our joy wavers, and our joy wanders, and our joy wanes and decreases. And so we need to actively settle our minds in the truth of God and actively trust those truths and the God of those truths in prayer and fellowship In obedience, if if I could add a 4th how to know joy item to the list, I'd say prayer is necessary for joy. A praying man is a joyful man and a praying woman is a joyful woman. When we pray, we it gets all of the above. It settles our mind on the things of God as we're praying biblically. We have fellowship with God and hopefully we're praying for the brethren. So we're fellowshipping with the brethren as well. Wednesday prayer nights are essential. And when we pray, it helps us then to walk in obedience with our Lord. And we're actually walking in obedience with our Lord if we pray as well. So prayer is an essential. So we need to prayerfully settle our minds on the things of God and through the word of God as we read the word of God prayerfully. And then as we fellowship with the brethren, it keeps us accountable. As we seek to be obedient to the will of God, it makes the circumstances smaller and smaller and increases our joy. In John chapter 16, if you do read chapters 13 through 16 in John's gospel, you'll see there's a lot of talk about joy there. That shouldn't be a surprise. But in John chapter 16, we see another example where Jesus encourages his disciples to settle their mind in prayer for joy. In John chapter 16 and verses 16 through 24, I'm going to summarize it for sake of time. Jesus says, you'll be sorrowful but your sorrow will be turned to joy. He says, I will see you again and your heart will rejoice and your joy that I give you, no one will take it from you because they can't. And then he says, ask and you will receive that your joy may be full. Ask and you will receive and your joy may be full. The simple point is we must study the Word of God, yes, and rest our minds on the Word of God and the things of God, but we must do it prayerfully that we can rest in the Word and the truths of God and that our minds would be settled upon Him and we might know joy. So that's the first thing, having our mind settled on God and Christ. Second thing, though, would be if you want to know joy in the Christian life, it comes through fellowship with God. through Christ, and that implies his people as well. It's fellowship with God through Christ and with his people. In John chapter 17, 13b, he says, he says, but now I come to you and these things I speak in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. That they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. So the question might be, what does he mean, my joy? What is the joy of Christ? Where does he get his joy as our God, man, Savior? Where did the joy of Christ come from? I think the joy of Christ came from his present joy when he's praying this, that he enjoyed out of fellowship with his father. There's no greater joy in the son's being than his fellowship with his father. I think you can see that if you read the entire prayer in John chapter 17 and that our first point of fellowship with him and his people as we need to seek fellowship with God himself through Christ. Because that's where Christ joy. Christ joy came from. In the context of. John chapter 17 and we didn't read the rest of it because of time sake, but in the context of this prayer, Jesus is rejoicing and reveling in his union with his father and the love that they share together. And the Godhead read the whole prayer. He's saying words that even part of what we read, which mine is yours and yours and mine, and we are one. I want them to be one with us. It's mind boggling, but it's wonderful. And a paraphrase of verses 20 through 23 would be something like this. Oh, Father, we abide in one another and with unity with one another. So I pray that my people would be one as we are one and one in us and one with us wrapped up in this joyous fellowship that we have. Christ speaks of a wonderful unity and love and fellowship in the Godhead that he knows. But he also speaks of something wonderful. He prays for his people to be plunged into that fellowship when they're redeemed and know that same joy in some way. And so at the end of the prayer in verse 26, he says, I declare that the love which with which you love me and may be in me and I in them, I declare that there's a love that that's that you love me with and it may be in them and I in them, that we have this this unity, this joy and this love, even in the Godhead. As we redeemed and plunged into that relationship with them. So it makes sense to think that Christ joy in the present. is the joy he knows in fellowship with his father. And therefore, we should be seeking fellowship with the father as well to know joy. In your bulletins, there's a commentary on Psalm 16. And the entirety of the psalm is there, but Psalm 16 is a wonderful picture of Jesus' joy. I don't know if we think of our Savior as being a joyous Savior, And just as John 17 is an account of the son's fellowship with the father, so is Psalm 16. It's another window in to the joy and the fellowship in the Godhead. And Peter quotes Psalm 16 in his sermon on the day of Pentecost and verifies that this is indeed representative of Christ contemplating the cross and its effects. This is the mind of Christ, yet he's contemplating the cross and its effects, yet It's full of joy, and we just sung it just moments ago. And if we'd walk through Psalm 16, he says, preserve me, O God, for you I put my trust. O my soul, you have said to the Lord, you are my Lord. My goodness is nothing apart from you. Do you see how Christ trusts and rests in the Father's person and His goodness? It's an example for us. And then verse 3, as for the saints who are on the earth, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight. The son delights in his people that he came to save. That's why he could go to the cross with all joy, fulfilling the will of the father, but saving his people whom he delights in. And so we should do that as well, if we want to know joy. Verses five and six, O Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance in my cup. You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance. He trusts in the father. He delights in his people. He's content now. in what the Father provides, even in the difficulties of going to the cross, the greatest affliction that anyone would know. In verses 7 and 8, I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. He settles his mind on the word of God, on the counsel of God. My heart also instructs me in the night seasons, but when things are difficult, you need the Word of God to settle on and not something else. I have set the Lord always before me." And it's not just the Word, it's God Himself that you're settling in. "...because He is at my right hand, and I shall not be moved." The mind that's settled on God, the life will not be moved, and it's settled on God as well. And then v. 8 through the Aleppu, the end, "...therefore my heart is glad As we're contemplating the cross and my glory rejoices, my flesh also will rest in hope for you will not leave my soul and she all he knows the promises that he will be raised from the dead. Nor will you allow that your holy one to see corruption. You will show me the paths of life and your presence is the fullness of joy. That's the joy of Christ. Then he prays then would be supplied to us. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. If only we had that thought, it would help our joy as well. And so even those last verses, you see, he's glad, he hopes, he joys, he rests, because his mind is settled on the things of God. He has fellowship with his father. And then he seeks to have perfect obedience to the cross in the greatest affliction, which is a template for us. Christ's heart was glad because of the reality of his fellowship with his father and a mind set on his truth. And he prays with joy, the same joy that he says, may this joy be fulfilled in my people. So we too must find joy in our fellowship with God through Christ. We are citizens of heaven with the Lord of glory living in us and we in him. What fellowship and joy we have in Christ, who is our peace, who is our rest, who is our strength, who is our life, who is our joy. James Boyce said that the word circumstance combines two things, around and stand. Circumstances, the things that stand around you. And we're worried about those things, but the thing is we have fellowship with Christ who is in us. And if Christ is in you, what does it matter what is around you in your circumstances? So we have fellowship with God through Christ, but then we have fellowship with one another because of Christ if we want to have an increase in joy. Notice Jesus says, I pray that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. It's plural. It's the same thing we see in 1 John, the opening verses of 1 John, which we read last week. But it's there where John says, that which we have seen and heard, we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship was with the father and with his son. And these things we write you that your joy may be full. Even John's getting into the act. I'm praying that your joy might be full. And it's based in your fellowship with one another and your fellowship with the Father and the Son. And John says in 2 John 12, I have more things to write you, but I hope to come to you and speak to you face to face that our joy may be full in our fellowship together in Christ. And in 3 John, he rejoiced greatly when he heard that they would walk in the truth. And he says, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. our fellowship, our walking together. It's not just fellowship with the Father, but it's the necessity in the local church of our fellowship together. And so we must have a mind filled and settled on the Word of God and its promises in the person of God to know full joy. We must have fellowship with God and with one another. We cannot be isolated to know full joy. And these things imply the third part, which is obedience. A holy walk, walking in obedience together and with Him unto holiness, a holy life for God and by Christ to know joy. Next week, we'll look somewhat at Philippians, but Paul in Philippians chapter 2, he says, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind. And then he goes on to encourage them and connects this joy with obedience, blamelessness, humility, and unity. John has already said, I have no greater joy than to hear that you're walking in truth. And Jesus, in his prayer in John chapter 17, the next thing he prays for the church after he prays for their joy, he says, sanctify them by your truth. Set them apart and make them holy. It's necessary to know true joy. The opposite of holiness is sin. And here's the problem, that sin drives us away from God's word. It's hard to have your mind settled on the things of God when we're not walking purposely in obedience to God. The Word of God is like a spotlight in the basement when you go downstairs and you turn on the light, and then the bugs scatter, and the spiders run away, and those little centipedes, those are just nasty. In somebody else's house, I was just visiting the Brainerds last week, and I happened to notice this. But when light is shown in the darkness, things scatter. When we're in sin, we don't want to turn on the light, because we don't want to see was there, which means we don't want to go to the Word of God when we're in sin and we're walking into disobedience. Sin drives us away from God's Word. That's the first way of having joy is by looking and having your mind settled on God's Word. The second thing, though, is sin drives us out of fellowship with God and the brethren. Sin drives us out of fellowship with God and the brethren. Like a child who avoids his parents when he has done something wrong, we avoid God when we're in sin. I don't want to talk to God when I'm harboring sin or I know I'm walking in disobedience. When we don't pursue holiness, our fellowship with a holy God is cut off. It's not severed, because we can't lose it entirely through Christ. Like a spouse who avoids the other one when there's a tiff, when maybe one of them's done something wrong, we avoid our brethren when we're in sin. If I'm not walking in obedience, I don't want to hang out with Andy. He's going to make me feel bad. When you do not pursue holiness, our fellowship with God's holy ones is cut off as well. See how it all mixes up and all fits together. And then the loss of joy is like a snowball rolling down the snow-covered mountain. It just wanes and wanes and goes farther away. If you ever had the opportunity where maybe on a Wednesday night, maybe even on a Sunday, you think, I'm tired. Had a long week. I'm busy. I don't really feel like talking. I think I'll just stay home. Even pastors have those things in other churches. But then you force yourself to go. Maybe like David in the cave. He said, yeah, but I'm going to go. And then you go and joy is produced because of the fellowship of rubbing shoulders with someone like Andy or anybody else in this congregation and having the Word of God either taught or prayed or discussed and then joy happens. Why was I dragging my feet for such a thing? The kingdom of God is not eating or drinking, it's righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. You don't have joy unless you have peace with a mind settled and righteousness, which is pursuing holiness and obedience. And all of these things come from the Holy Spirit. And so if we want to know joy, we have to know Christ, but we must then have a mind filled and settle on the word of God and the promises and the things of God to know full joy. We must have fellowship with God and with one another. We cannot be isolated to no full joy. We must pursue holiness in obedience to God, the God who saved us and loved us to no full joy as well. If I could add to that, we must also be prayerful and thankful and seek to be a witness for Christ. Those things increase our joy as well. So as we close, the question has to be, well, how are we doing? Do we display a divine joy in our individual lives and in our fellowship? Do we seek to know and rest our minds and our lives on the scripture with joy flowing as a result? Has the joy in the Lord and for one another waned? Do we look forward to our fellowship on the Lord's day and on Wednesdays, joyfully longing for the greeting of one another, even with hugs and smiles? Does the joy of the Spirit well up within us and result in teaching one another, and praising God together, and exhorting one another, and praying for one another, and bearing one another's burdens, and even weeping with one another, as the scripture says it should? If visitors would see us, would they notice a contagious joy? If unbelievers would see us, would they be attracted to the Savior, who is the source of our joy? I'm afraid our problem is probably because we're just too distracted, and we make life too complicated. I've already said that. We add too many things to our life and we seek other things for joy. We're not going to find the divine joy of Christ in your job, in your home, in a sports team, But even in your health, in your kids, even your spouse. These are things you should enjoy, yes, and care for. But divine joy is not found there. Divine joy is only found in Christ. Abiding divine joy is only found in Christ. He is the source of our joy and our life. And so we're called to set our mind on the things of Christ. and to fellowship with him and his people and to walk in obedience to him. If we do those things, life is simple and the other things fade away and joy increases. Christ came to give abundant life and to supply all our needs that we should never thirst. Christ alone can give you true and everlasting joy, both now and for eternity. If you're a Christian, you should reflect that in your life, in your home, and in your church. You should be encouraged you can experience divine joy with Christ, which doesn't compare to anything else. If you're not a Christian, you have no reason for joy outside of Christ. All you have is some temporary happiness and the fleeting pleasures of this life before judgment. We said last week that in John chapter two, after the picture of joy, what does Jesus do? He cleanses the temple and he shows his holiness and his judgment. And then he prophesies of his death and resurrection, which is the only hope for those who are outside of Christ. And so if you're outside of Christ, you can either bow before Jesus now in repentance and faith and know his joy via his death, burial and resurrection. Or you can only know the passing pleasures of this life for a season and then face judgment. We would plead with you that you would choose Christ and the joy everlasting that comes through him. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, you are the God of all joy, as well as the God of all holiness and righteousness and goodness and grace and mercy and power. And the list goes on and on. You sent your son, who's the source of all joy. And the only joy that can actually be known both in this life and the next And the greatest joy is to the brim, it's overflowing, and it's the best. Lord, we do pray that for those who are outside of Christ. You would show their need, that their sinner is separated from you, separated from any type of joy whatsoever, and the best life they have is now, and it only gets worse and infinitely worse. I pray, Lord, that you would work upon their hearts, Lord, that they would see their sin and see the ugliness of it and the results of it, and they'd run to Christ, to his cross and repent of their sin and put their faith in him. and to know a subtle joy that they could never imagine until they would know it through Christ. Lord, for those of us you have so graciously privileged to redeem, may we love you and prayerfully come in gratitude and settle our minds on you and your Son and your promises and your truth and what you'd have us to do. May we seek fellowship, oh, what a privilege we have. Why would we avoid it? May we seek fellowship with you through prayer and in our lives and fellowship with our brethren to strengthen one another and then we might walk in obedience, simple obedience. And Lord, empower us by your spirit to do so. And we ask, Lord, for that joy that Christ has prayed for and Paul's expressed and John has expressed that the joy of Christ might be fulfilled in us individually and collectively as well. for your glory, for our joy, and for the salvation of sinners. It's in Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.