And when before the throne I stand in Him complete, Jesus died my soul to save, my lips shall still repeat. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, He washes it white as snow. Amen. What a joy that brings to the heart to know sin had left a crimson stain, but through the blood of Jesus Christ, He washed it white as snow. Praise the Lord. All right. John chapter 17. These words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee. As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they may know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou hast given me, and they have received them. and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name. Those thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray for these alone, but to them also which shall believe on me through their word. that they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou hast givest me I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which Thou hast given me. For Thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee, but I have known Thee, and these have known that Thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it, and that the love wherewith Thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. All right, now turn with me, at least for a minute, back to John chapter 17. I mentioned that this is the Lord making intercession to God the Father for those, a particular people, and he makes reference to that fact several times in this prayer. That these are the ones that you gave me. I'm not going to be here with them in this physical form. And then he prays. that God would provide all that we need, knowing that he would. The Lord lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come, verse 1, glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over all flesh. You deal every day with his flesh like I do? Sure you do. Do you have problems coping with things that you must think about, things that you must plan to do to accomplish what you have to accomplish every day? Sure you do. Do you get down about it? Does it depress you? Sure you do. It does me. I know it does you to some extent, but I want you to notice and to find, if you haven't recently, true joy this morning. In this fact, verse 2, God the Son speaking to God the Father. He says, as thou hast given him power, me, himself, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. Power over what? Over all flesh. See, that's that part of me that I'm fighting to, isn't it? But you see, God has given Jesus Christ power over that side of me that I'm fighting in this battle every day. Oh, and He displayed that power, didn't He? Absolutely. He gave His perfect life on the cross of Calvary for us. The Bible says, "...for the joy that was set before Him." That joy is that joy that we have a glimpse of now, a small taste of now, that we will have with Him in glory. With Him after this battle is over. When we see Him, we're going to know Him because we're going to be like Him. We're going to have that joy of the unity that we have with Him. This is a little taste of that. When we come together and we look into His Word and we seek Him, which by the way, that's obedience to Him because that's what He's told us to do, instructed us to do. to come together and to seek him in his word. When we do that, we experience this union, the joy of this union that we're going to experience after this physical life. And you see, all his promises are true. So we know he's here with us because we are meeting together in the name of Jesus Christ, the one who's been given all power in heaven and on earth. over all flesh, God has given him power. In verse 13, we're in John chapter 17 and verse 13, And now come I to thee. Again, Jesus talking to God, His Father. And now come I to thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. You see, His Word His power, His Word does away with the feelings that we have because of the things we go through in this life, these negative feelings, these worries, these concerns. It does away with those and replaces those feelings with a joy that can't be touched by anything that's fleshly. It's a tremendous joy. And now I come out to thee, verse 13, and these things I speak in the world. His word is what He spoke in the world. We have a record of what He said. We're reading it today. In this particular Bible, the words are in red. These things I speak in the world. Why? That they might have joy fulfilled in themselves. fulfilled. Come to a reality. Come to a fulfillment in us, in our minds, in our hearts. Yes, in the way we feel. I want us to see that true joy is an eternal gift. It's an eternal gift. It's not something you can conjure up. It's not something that some situation or circumstance can bring about for you. It's different than happiness. True joy is an eternal gift from God. Turn with me back to John 15 now. John chapter 15. I know that all of us will be familiar with this passage, the 15th chapter of the book of John. the Lord Jesus Christ, these are his words. And remember, he spoke these words. Why? That his joy might be fulfilled in us, remember? Just read it. We're familiar with the fact that he was teaching about the vine and the farmer, the husbandman, and the branches, and he was identifying again, it's actually previous to chapter 17, but he's identifying another time who those are that he is speaking to and making intercession to God for that are on the earth, his chosen. And he identifies them. He says in verse 7, if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. As the Father hath loved me, verse 9, as the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. What joy the Father and the Son must have together. What a union, a glorious union. Well, as the Father loved the Son, so He loves us. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you, so continue ye in my love. 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. And praise God, He lived a perfect life. And God the Father accepted it on your behalf. Amazing grace, isn't it? Verse 11. We're in the book of John, chapter 15, in verse 11. The purpose of Jesus' words. What is the purpose of Jesus' words? Verse 11. And here it is again. These things have I spoken unto you. Why? That my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. so this joy that i said earlier is an eternal gift and here jesus says this word the things that i have spoken unto you god's word jesus's word i have spoken unto you for the reason that my joy might remain in you and i want us to see this morning that that joy That true eternal joy is unshakable. It's unmovable. That joy remains in us eternally. The word there, remain, is minyo, and it means exactly what you would think it means. It says to stay in a given place. Jesus said, I have spoken these things unto you. And again, He had spoken a lot. But in chapter 15, He was identifying that we are in Him just like a vine and a branch are together. They're part of the same life. The same thing is true with us and Him. So He's saying that He speaks these things. I have spoken these things unto you that my joy might stay in the given place where I put it. And that's in the heart and the mind, isn't it? You see, it is a confidence. We talked about a resolution, where it's a sure thing that we decide of intent. It's what we intend to do. This, minyo, is to stay in a given place. It is a joy as our salvation is, that we continue to return to as we're living in this life. Yes, we have unhappiness. We have things that try to take away our joy, but they can't, because Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit, has placed His Spirit, this life, with the joy that comes with this life, in us, and it's an eternal placement. It ain't going nowhere. See, we are eternal creatures, born again, spiritually created by Him. These things have I spoken unto you, verse 11, that my joy might remain in you. Now the word joy there, that word kera, it is a cheerfulness, it is calm, not in fear of being lost. You see, that's the confidence that we have in our salvation. God gave it to us. As we rely on Him, we experience the strength that comes from this joy. You see, we return to it over and over. Even in Nehemiah chapter 8 and verse 10, Nehemiah was telling them, go ahead, eat this and eat the fat. Go ahead and do all this now, because the joy of the Lord is your strength. The joy of the Lord is your strength. As we return to it, to this joy that we have in our heart that He's paid the price for our eternal life as we return to it and stand on it and depend on it then there is no fear of it being lost, is there? No. There is none. Why? Because our salvation is in the hands of God. It cannot be lost. When we let go of the dependence on ourselves and we totally trust in Him, then we are strong. And then the terminology in the Bible, when I'm weak, that's when I'm strong. It comes to life, doesn't it? When we totally depend on what He's done for us, He has paid the price for our reunion with God. Now, happiness, I think I said this earlier, and joy are two different things. Happiness is an emotion. Happiness is an emotion that's based on circumstances in our lives. Certain things make us happy. Certain things take our happiness away or make us sad. But joy is a certainty of knowing who God is. I know Him. How? How do I know Him? How do I have the faith in Him that stands through any circumstances and the joy that comes from that faith, that confidence, that knowing Him, knowing that He paid the price for me, knowing that when He died on the cross of Calvary, He had me on His mind? Well, you might say, well, that's not physically possible in a human brain. That was God hanging there, let me tell you. He's always known you. He chose you before the foundation of the world and you can joy in that. Joy is a confirmed certainty that God is in control. We can be in total chaos and at the same time be relaxed because we know that God's in control. All of us can look back in our life, whether it was yesterday or or 50 years ago, and we can see where God steered us into His will, into the path that He had laid out for us. God is in control. This knowledge of the absolute sovereignty of God, and I could go into definitions there, but we know that God is sovereign, sovereign, He's one over all in everything, especially in things that man has no capability to accomplish. Spiritual life. Salvation. God is in control. This joy comes, again, from this confirmed certainty. How is it confirmed? The Bible says that God put His Holy Spirit within us, and His Spirit is witness with our spirit that we are His. Isn't that a joyous thing? I'm telling you, our spiritual eternal life solely depends on what He has already accomplished for us. You see, He's laid the plan out for your life, and He's working that plan, and that is a joyous thing. Oh, I would be sad if I thought I could do something to lose my salvation that God has given me. I certainly wouldn't have an unshakable joy in my heart, would I? No way. But praise God, our lives are in the hand of a powerful and mighty Savior. All power has been given unto Him in heaven and on earth. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. Verse 11. John 15. Now verse 12. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Do you see that reflection of what he said earlier? In verse 9? Remember what he said? He said, as the Father hath loved me, so I love you. Continue you in my love. Now, in verse 12, he says, this is my commandment. It's flowing downhill to us, isn't it? What? This love and the joy that comes with it. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You're my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known. unto you. Why? That your joy may be full and fulfilled. Verse 16, we'll close with this one. You have not chosen me but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain like that joy remains You see how the love and the joy keeps flowing from God the Father, to God the Son, to us, to others? And that your fruit should remain that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, that you love one another. Praise the Lord. May you see this morning the purpose of Jesus' words, and that is that your joy in Him might be full. True joy is an eternal gift from God, undeserved, unsolicited, unmerited favor and amazing grace.