If Christianity offers the best way to happiness, how come there are so many unhappy Christians? If God offers to satisfy us with happiness in the gospel, how come so many Christians are unhappy? If God can't satisfy our desire for happiness, then maybe we should try something else. Maybe these promises are false. Maybe this is all a scam. But if these promises are true, then obviously we don't want the existence of unhappy Christians to put us off seeking the wisdom in this book and the happiness that this book promises. So we have to try to defend God's offer of happiness, God's promise to satisfy our deepest longings for joy in the face of what seem to be some fairly substantial challenges to that promise and to that truth. This evening we want to look at some of the challenges to Christian happiness, and then we want to look at some of the defenses that the Bible offers us so that we can defend this whole idea of God offering and promising happiness through the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is important because one of the great arguments of the book of Proverbs is that Christianity is worth it. We've been looking over several weeks at how Proverbs argues for this. We noted how Proverbs argues for the moral and spiritual benefits of a true biblical religion. Then we looked at some of the material benefits that are promised to those who are Christians. And then over the last few weeks, we've been looking at the emotional benefits of Christianity. Especially we focused on the emotion or the feeling of joy, because that's really one of the greatest emotions in the world, and the one that everyone really wants to have. And then next week, God willing, we'll look at the social benefits of Christianity. And the hope is that the accumulation of these arguments, one on top of the other on top of the other, will eventually prove so persuasive, so powerful, that we will seek this promised good in this book and through Christ. So, we've been looking at how God addresses our desire for happiness and how God satisfies it by redirecting our desire for happiness into His wisdom, His Word, His ways, His works, His worship. And this evening we want to look at how God satisfies that desire for happiness despite the challenges that are raised against it. So, I want to begin by considering the serious challenges to Christian happiness. And it's not only the opponents of Christianity that seem to challenge the idea that The Christian way is the happiest way to live. It's not just enemies of Christianity that do that. Even the Bible, as we'll see, seems to contradict that whole idea. and even Christian history in the Bible and throughout the years also seems to contradict this claim that, especially here in verse 17, speaking of wisdom's ways, her ways are pleasant ways or pleasurable or joy-filled ways, and all her paths are peace. So let's look at some of the serious challenges to this idea. And the first one is actually given to us by Solomon himself, who wrote the book, or much of the book, of Proverbs. Because he also wrote a couple of other books, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon. And in the book of Ecclesiastes, especially you might look at Ecclesiastes 9 verses 1, 2, and 3, Solomon is really struggling with this reality that when he looks at the wicked and he looks at the righteous, he doesn't see much difference in their experience of joy in this world. He doesn't seem to see the fulfillment of verse 17 in their lives. So Solomon himself challenges this whole message that's in the Old and New Testament of the happiness of Christianity. It's not only Solomon. We can also find a number of the Psalmists The songwriters in the Old Testament who really wrestled, in fact, not just with the righteous and the wicked seem to be the same, but in fact that the wicked seem to have it better than the righteous. The unbelievers seem to have happier lives and even happier deaths than the believer. And you can see that the psalmist wrestling with this, for example, in Psalm 37. And Psalm 73, the Psalmist there are looking out on the world, and they're just baffled, and they're befuddled, and they're confused. They can't figure this out. How come the wicked often seem to have better lives, happier lives and deaths than the believer? I'm sure we've wondered it ourselves, haven't we? And then thirdly, there's Job. one of the godliest men that ever lived, one who's picked out in Job chapter 1 as a perfect man, one who loved righteousness and hated evil. And yet, as we all know, though he was more godly than most, he suffered more than most, as chapter after chapter after chapter of Job teaches us. How would Job read verse 17 here? You'd just be like, I don't see this. It doesn't look right to me. And then you have a number of places in the Bible where it promises the believer persecution and pain for being a believer. You have the apostles' words to Timothy, those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. You have Jesus' words to his disciples, if they hated me, they will hate you. In this world, he said, you will have tribulation. Again, this seems to be a very serious challenge. Fifthly, you've got the Christian way portrayed as a narrow and difficult way. Even Jesus Himself says, narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life, and therefore there are very few who are on it. You also have the Christian ethic of self-denial and self-sacrifice, that the Christian has to give up much good, and endure much pain as part of being a follower of Christ. As He Himself said, if any man will follow Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. Self-denial, self-sacrifice, how does that fit in with verse 17? Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. And then you have the Bible's histories of godly people. You can read, for example, in Hebrews 11 about so many Old Testament saints. And while it's speaking about their faith, it's also speaking about what they suffered. You think, for example, of the words in Hebrews chapter 11 as the apostle sums up everything he said. He says, What more shall I say of these saints who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, gained what was promised, who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of flames, and escaped the edge of the sword, whose weakness was turned to strength, and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign enemies? I mean, that all sounds quite good so far. They're winning. But he goes on. to say others were tortured and refused to be released so they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted, and mistreated. They wandered in deserts and mountains and in caves and holes of the ground, pleasant ways. Paths of peace? It doesn't read like that, does it? And it's not just biblical history, is it? The whole of church history has many examples of this as well. Christians have to obey difficult commands, also, like, love your enemies. do good to those who persecute you. That's not easy. That is not pleasant. That is not enjoyable for most of us, if we're honest. Christians have to say no to many seemingly pleasant things in this world. In Isaiah 58 verse 13, God says, if you will turn away from your pleasure on My holy day and call the Sabbath a delight, And then, of course, as we saw a few weeks ago, the Christian is disciplined by God, sometimes painfully so. You see how serious these challenges are? And they're all from the Bible itself. This is regardless of what other people might say. Solomon, the psalmists, Job, persecution. a narrow way, self-denial, examples in Hebrews 11, obeying difficult commands, saying no to many pleasures, and discipline. That doesn't sound like Proverbs 3, 17, does it? What do we do with this? The first thing we do with it is acknowledge the truth of it, recognize it, accept it. It's in the Bible. And if we do, it will prepare us for these times and these experiences. It will It will help to stabilize us when we do, or those we love, go through these times. If we deny it and downplay it and don't think about it, what happens when these things come upon us? We'll be just swept away. Our faith will fail and we'll fall and falter. So it's really important that we face these challenges, that we acknowledge these truths as Christians. Now, what if you're not a Christian and you're listening to this? Well, I want to give you two truths that you have to hold on to. One is, Christianity is still the best way to live. It's still your best hope of happiness in this world. But the second truth is, that doesn't mean you'll never be unhappy. It doesn't mean that you'll never have unhappy times in your life. And I know there are ministers out there, televangelists, there are books, and they'll promise you that you become a Christian, you follow God, and especially if you give them money as well, that everything will just go really well for you and you'll have health, wealth, and prosperity all your days. They're telling you lies. It's not the truth of the Bible. Don't believe them. Don't be sucked in by them. Hold on to these two truths. Christianity is the happiest way to live, but that doesn't mean you'll never be unhappy. So, the safest way to Christian happiness is to acknowledge Christian unhappiness. That might seem really contradictory, but it's the truth. The safest way to Christian unhappiness is to admit the existence and the reality of Christian unhappiness. But we want to go further than that, and we can go further than that. We can hear and receive these challenges to this wonderful truth of the happiness of the Christian life, but now we have to go on the defense. Now we have to try and and defend this truth from these other realities that seem to undermine it and even reduce it to nothing. We want to be able to keep Proverbs 3.17 in our Bibles. How do we do that? How do we teach that God satisfies our desire for happiness without contradicting other verses that seem to teach the opposite? That's the challenge, isn't it? Let's see if we can meet that challenge, again, using the Word of God. Well, the first defense is this, that enemies of the truth will misrepresent the truth. There are, of course, people in this world, maybe they say they've tried Christianity and it didn't work. What's their great aim in life? It's to persuade you that it doesn't work for you either. And so they spend their time misrepresenting Christianity, portraying it in false terms, telling lies about it, highlighting the unhappiest elements of it, maybe the unhappiest Christians they'll point you to. They want to try and attack this faith. But you've got to ask yourself, when somebody comes to you and says, this Christianity, it can't make you happy. Look at him, look at her, look at them, even what the Bible says. You don't see how it's so contradictory. You've got to ask yourself this question, what's their motive? What's their motive? Are they out for your good, or are they out to harm you? Do they want good for your soul, or do they want to destroy your soul? Are they your enemy or are they a true friend? That's the first thing we've got to ask when people come on the attack on any doctrine of Christianity. What's the character of the person? What's their motive? What's their aim? Are they well-motivated? Are they out for our good or are they out to destroy us and sweep us away with them as well? Enemies misrepresent. the faith. Here's our second defense, though. Christians misrepresent the faith. It's not just enemies. There are some Christians who are experts in being miserable. They seem to enjoy being really sad. And they really frown on anyone who has any kind of Christian joy. Well, they're They're just superficial. They're just modern Christians." Things like that. I'm sure you've heard them. I've certainly heard them. These are professing Christians who choose to be miserable as a form of godliness even, and the idea that this actually is a true godliness. They choose to be doubtful, they choose to be fearful, and they actually portray this as virtuous and as more godly than others with joy and assurance and confidence. Now, what can we say about this? Well, this we can say, don't blame God for the misrepresentations of His people. Don't judge God, don't judge the gospel by the worst examples. of what it means to be a Christian. The devil will try and do that. He'll try and bring in front of you the very worst kinds of Christians, and he'll say, see, you really want to be like them. You really want to be so miserable, so negative, so cynical, so unhappy, so full of fear. And if that is you, if you're one of these Christians, you remember it's a terrible witness. It's a powerful and a persuasive witness, and the devil can use you to deter other people from the faith. So the call of this verse is for you to repent and turn to the joy of the gospel. Enemies misrepresent the faith. Christians misrepresent the faith. They don't do a good example of showing the truth of verse 17. But thirdly, there are sad times in the Christian life, and Proverbs itself even acknowledges that. It's not all plain sailing. Remember we said about the Proverbs, they're not cast-iron guarantees, but general rules to which there are exceptions. And therefore, we've got to acknowledge that the general pattern of a Christian life is happiness, but there will be times of sadness. Verse 17 is generally true and will be true in the long term, but there are seasons in a Christian's life when there are sad and understandably so. You think, for example, of Christians who are under conviction of sin, who the Holy Spirit has moved into their life in a powerful way and has begun to show them their sinfulness and their evil heart. Well, that's a very sad time. It's a painful time, and it should be. You read Psalm 51. You read Psalm 32. Conviction of sin. It's not something to be shortened. is to be experienced as a blessing because God uses it to turn us away from sin, which is actually causing even deeper and long-term unhappiness. And there are times also when God withdraws the experience of His favor. He never withdraws His favor, but He can withdraw the sense of His favor. Remember Hezekiah. Because of his sin, God withdrew himself, or at least Hezekiah's experience of himself for a time to teach him all that was in his heart. Well, of course he's going to be sad then. And when we are sad in these times, then we've got to remember God is convicting us and God is withdrawing from us for our long-term joy. It's a short-term pain for long-term gain. Fourthly, there are suffering times in the Christian life. I'm sure we all know people who have been so physically ill that there's just no way that joy can break through. If you think of cancer or some of the the muscle or nerve-wasting diseases. It's just a terrible, terrible thing. It's literally impossible to have joy and happiness in the midst of that. We think of people, say, with mental illness, where because of various things going on in the brain and the chemistry and the electricity and the connections, that it's actually, again, just emotionally impossible to have a happiness. There are suffering times in the Christian life. We're told to rejoice in the Lord always, yes, but that doesn't mean that every experience of unhappiness is a sin. It means that when we are going through suffering, that we are still to fight for joy in the Lord. But it doesn't mean we'll always be experiencing it. It doesn't mean we're sinning. There are sad times. You think of Jesus, who suffered more than He did. He was always holy, but He wasn't always happy. There are suffering times in the Christian life. There are sinful times, fifthly. Again, if we read this verse properly, it says, her ways are pleasant ways, all her paths are peace. What are these ways? What are these paths? Well, it's the ways and the paths of obedience. God never separates happiness from holiness. And what He's saying is, you stay in these paths, these ways of mine, then you are on the path toward holiness and happiness. You depart from these paths. then you are guaranteeing yourself sadness and sorrow. And so sinful times will be unhappy times. And when we are unhappy and it's been caused by sin, again, this verse calls us to repent and to use all the means to regain our feet on this way, and therefore happiness in our hearts on this way. Sixthly, Christians can make mistakes as well. We can have mistaken views of God, for example. I think especially early in the Christian life, instead of viewing God as a father, we can often view Him as a judge, and severe and harsh, and of course that's going to squeeze joy out of our lives. We can actually impose, again, maybe especially as young Christians, extra burdens on ourselves that the Bible does not lay upon us. We can make the Christian life more strict than the Bible says it is, and we can take self-denial, as it were, to extremes. We can be overdoing and well-doing and end up mentally, physically, and emotionally burned out and exhausted. So, we can make mistakes. that lead to us not experiencing verse 17. Seventhly, God promises present compensation for present sufferings. You think of the Apostle Paul, he said, I'm sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. What's he saying? He's saying on one side of the scale there's suffering. And on the other side of the scale, there's rejoicing. And he's seeing that the one, the joy, it doesn't remove the suffering, but it compensates, it balances it, it makes up for it, and often overbalances it, overcompensates, as it were. And we see this, for example, in 2 Corinthians. Chapter 12, verse 9, where the apostle says, speaking of his thorn in the flesh, that his grace is sufficient for him. So he's got this thorn. God's not taking it away, but He's given him a sufficient amount of grace to balance out this pain and this suffering. And then, eighthly, we've got to remember that the wicked's pleasures are short and shallow. Although it looks like they have great pleasures, they're short, and they're shallow. They're artificial. They're superficial. They don't last, and they don't go deep. So remember that. You're tempted to envy them. The psalmist said that he was looking out in Psalm 73 and he's saying, these wicked people, they have better lives, they have better families, they have better houses, they have better deaths even. Then he says, until I went into God's sanctuary and then I understood their end. In other words, we need to keep their end in view. Look past the present pleasures of the wicked and see the end. The ninth defense is this. A suffering Christian can be an incredible apologetic for Christianity. Yes, a happy Christian is a great witness. But you think of Job and others who, in the midst of tremendous suffering, have yet managed to maintain their faith and hold on to the Lord. That's a glorious thing, and unconverted people, unbelievers see that. They don't just see happy Christians who have every reason to be happy, every help to be happy, but they see suffering Christians who have every reason to say, I want nothing more to do with this God or this gospel or this Bible. Look at where it's brought me, and yet they don't. They hold on sometimes by their fingernails, but they hold on, and they persevere. And everyone knows as they look at them, well, there's no way anyone could do this unless there was something supernatural in their lives. It's a testament to the incredible power of God. And then lastly, the last defense is this, future eternal happiness will more than make up for all the pains and sufferings that may be part of a Christian's life here below. You think, for example, of Romans 8, verse 18, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed. You think, for example, of 2 Corinthians 4, 17, our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. What's the Apostle doing? He's saying these times, some of these times in the Christian life are tough, and they're painful, and they're hard, but the future happiness will more than make up for it. In fact, it's not even worth comparing them. They don't belong in the same frame here. The Christian is not happy all the time. but will be for all time." So, yes, many challenges, but better defenses, are they not? Enemies of misrepresentations, Christian misrepresentations, sad times in the Christian life, suffering times in the Christian life, sinful times in the Christian life. Christians make mistakes. that are compensating pleasures for the sorrows. The wicked's pleasures are short and shallow. A suffering Christian can be a wonderful apologetic, and heaven will more than make up for it. We can defend the happiness of the Christian life. We can joyfully demonstrate and honestly defend the happiness of the Christian life. And if you're not a Christian, you're not yet a believer, I hope this is persuasive to you. There are great moral benefits to Christianity, great material benefits, great emotional benefits. What do you have to compare? How can you defend your life, your choices, your ways? Does this not look much better than the path that you are in? Almost ten years ago now, I ended up in hospital with blood clots in my lungs, pulmonary emboli, both lungs. Just started off with a pain in my leg, and I was sitting at home, and suddenly felt this pain go right across my chest. Tried to pull it down. Tried to persuade my wife I didn't need to go to ER, as men do. She persuaded me to go, and eventually scans and tests were done. The doctor came in and said, I'm afraid you have blood clots in both lungs, all over your lungs. I didn't know very much medicine, but I could tell from my wife's face this was pretty serious. And a lot of people die from this. They don't even get to hospital. And the first few hours after this happens are very critical hours for survival rates. Thankfully, I was in a great hospital and started on blood thinners and things like that. I got up to go to the bathroom, and the doctor said, stop, don't move. I was like, what is wrong? He says, you have a life-threatening condition. Stay still. Well, of course, I was like a statue then on the bed. I wouldn't move. And my wife had to go home. It was the middle of the night to be with the children, and I had a couple of hours waiting for these drugs to take effect. but on my own much of the time strapped to loads of machines. And I remember thinking, well, David, this could be it. This could be the end. You have four children and you have a wife. Well, I was really worried about that. I have to be honest. I was fearful how on earth will Shona and the kids survive. But while this was painful and that thought was painful, By God's grace, I was able to think of the cross of Jesus Christ and Him dying on that cross for my sins. And I have never known anything like it, the peace that just was like a river flowing through my soul. took away all fear of death, the confidence that God gave me that this day, this suffering Savior was enough. He was more than enough to carry me through death, into His presence, through all eternity. Yes, still fears were there. I have to be honest about my family and about pain and what dying would actually feel like, but I could honestly still see. His ways are pleasant ways, and all His paths were peace." And that's what God promises when He promises to satisfy our longings for happiness. Hallelujah. All I have is Christ. Hallelujah. Jesus is my life. Amen.