Very good. Thank you, Jeff. I think it's an interesting and somewhat risky industry strategy to take a swipe at me for being old and then put me in front of a microphone. So thank you for that. As I was preparing for this, I was thinking about words and how you know how some words just kind of tend to naturally go together. They just fit. Peanut butter and jelly. Macaroni and cheese, right? And other words seem to not fit so well, such as jumbo and shrimp, right? Government and intelligence. And some of those word sets that I thought don't fit always so naturally in our minds were discipline and joy. And what about happy and Christian, okay? So what words do go with discipline? If naturally joy doesn't fit with discipline in our fallen state, they don't necessarily naturally fit together. What word, I was thinking through some words that do tend to naturally fit with the word discipline. Because when we're talking about sanctification, we're talking about effort and growth, right? So it applies effort on our part in order to grow in Christ-likeness. So we're talking discipline. So what words do tend to go with discipline? I thought of commitment. Boot camp, sacrifice, self-denial, anguish, difficulty, and agony. I'm sure there are a lot more that we could come up with, but, excuse me Jeff, I'm gonna lift the pulpit up here just a little bit. So, let me share a verse with you that Jesus said, and I want you to meditate on this word and think these come from the very lips of Jesus himself. These things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. I'm gonna read that one more time and I think about that coming from the lips of Jesus himself. He's speaking to his disciples. These things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full. If Jesus wants me to be happy and he's showing me the means to that happiness, I want to know what that is. I want to know what these things are that Jesus has spoken so that I might have fullness of joy just as He promised His disciples many years ago. So I hope that you also want to know how it is that Jesus would have us find joy in Him and that that joy would be full. The goal of my sermon tonight is to persuade you to aggressively pursue sanctification for the glory of God and so that you might experience the fullness of joy in Jesus. Effort, yes. Joy, absolutely. Okay? Turn with me to John chapter 15, if you would. And while you're turning there, I want to share with you that this passage, probably as much as any, has been used by God to encourage my heart in the 16 plus years that I've been a Christian. My mind and my heart tend to gravitate back towards this passage that speaks to Jesus wanting me to be joyful and showing me the means to fullness of joy in Him. So I was delighted when Jeff gave me this opportunity to speak on this topic. It's a sermon that's been percolating for many, many years, and I'm excited to share it with you, and I hope that this passage becomes as precious to you as it has been to me for so many years. Let me describe a little bit of the context of this passage first. John chapters 13 to 17, Jesus is with his disciples the night before he's going to the cross to be crucified. So chapter 17 includes his, is really his, what we call his high priestly prayer. And Jesus is preparing the disciples on how to live life without him physically present. So for three years they have been with Jesus physically, but he knows that he's about to leave. He's warned them about this, but now the time is very, very close. He knows he's got one more day until he's going to be physically, he's going to be removed from them, right? He's telling them how to live with an invisible Savior. What's very important to this, Paul, in these 11 verses, we're going to go over John 15 verses 1-11, in these verses the Holy Spirit is prominent in this passage. He's not specifically referenced, but if you look at the whole of the teaching of chapters 13-17, the Holy Spirit is all through this. Some of Jesus' most robust teaching on the person of the Spirit is throughout this passage. And so don't miss the fact that the Holy Spirit is assumed, is incorporated, is saturated throughout this whole passage as it comes to joy. So let's go ahead and read this passage together. Join and follow along with me as I read John chapter 15 verses 1 through 11. Jesus says, I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up. And they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. My father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. Just as the father has loved me, I have also loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full. Let me read verse 11 again. These things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full. Again, there's a sense of urgency in Jesus' teaching here, right? He's preparing to be crucified, to depart physically from his disciples. Let's talk a little bit about some of the parties that are involved in this passage, that are referenced in this passage. First of all, there's Jesus. Jesus describes himself as the vine, the true vine, The vine, in a horticultural kind of setting, the vine is the giver of life, right? The branch is attached to the vine. If the branch becomes detached from the vine, the branch no longer has life because the branch receives life from the vine. So Jesus is the life to the believer. Jesus provides life to the branches. Attachment to the vine is necessary for life and fruit. We see that here in verse 4, where he says, Abide in me and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. So Jesus describes himself as the true vine. Then there's also reference to God the Father, who is addressed in this passage as the vine dresser. We see that up in verse 1. The vine dresser, God the Father, his role in this is he prunes the branches. Now, his desire is that we bear fruit to his glory. But there's the Father's role in our horticultural example of the vine is that he prunes the branches. And as we're going to talk about a little later on, the pruning process is painful but necessary for the branch in order to bear fruit. But our Heavenly Father lovingly does that. Now, on to the branches. There are two different kinds of branches that are referenced in this passage. There's the false branch. The first is the false branch. This is someone who would profess to be attached to the vine, profess to be attached to Jesus. They probably even believe that they are born again, that they are really a Christian. We see that reference back in Matthew chapter 7, where these are the people that stand before the Lord. Lord, we're ready to come in. And Jesus says to him, depart from me, you workers, depart from me, I never knew you. So there are people who will expect to get into heaven when they die, when they're judged, but they will not get into heaven, they'll be sent to hell. These are the false branches. There's no evidence of spiritual life or spiritual fruit, because they're not attached to the vine. They're destroyed in the fire, ultimately, and they're burned. And this was sobering for me as I was preparing the sermon. It was sobering for me to think this was me for the first 33 years of my life. I believed myself to be a Christian. I just wasn't. No spiritual fruit, no attachment to the vine, and praise God in 1998 that he saved me. So there are the false branches. Then there are the true branches. The true branches are those that abide in the vine, in Jesus. These are the ones that are pruned by the Father, the vine dresser. And again, the pruning process for the branch, if you think about it, the pruning shears, it's painful, but necessary in order to bear fruit. So in the life of a true branch, there is evidence of spiritual life. There's evidence of spiritual fruit. Next up, again, while not specifically referenced in this passage, the Holy Spirit is here. He's prominently talked about throughout chapters 13 through 17, and not explicitly referenced, but he's obviously referenced in the surrounding context and implicit in this message. Turn with me to Galatians chapter 5. A couple of books to the right, just past 2 Corinthians. Galatians chapter 5. Verses 22 and 23. Verses 22 and 23 of Galatians 5. But the fruit of the Spirit, capital S, Holy Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. So we see these are the kinds of fruit that the Holy Spirit produces in the life of one who is attached to the vine of Jesus. Another point I want to make as we kind of go through this passage is that sanctification is a cooperative effort. Turn, if you're still in Galatians, turn a little bit further to the right to the book of Philippians, two books over. Philippians chapter 2, as we talk about pruning and fruit bearing, there's an important principle to establish Philippians chapter 2 verses 12 and 13. So then my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do you see the two horses pulling that wagon? Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. You do this. You work out your fear and salvation for trembling. And why are we able to do that? Verse 13, For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. So, this is a beautiful truth when you meditate on it. God works in us. Here's the indwelling Holy Spirit. And we are to work knowing that God is working in us by the Holy Spirit. So this is a collaborative effort. This is a cooperative effort. The believer is to pursue God, pursue sanctification by the means of grace that God gives us. And we know this promise from verse 13 that God is working by the indwelling Holy Spirit. So that makes our efforts fruitful. So while regeneration or conversion is a work of God alone, monergistic, God alone works in our salvation. Sanctification, or growth in Christ-likeness and transformation, is a cooperative effort where both God, by the Holy Spirit, and man, in applying the spiritual disciplines to life, are both working toward the same goal. And if we want to know what God's goal for our lives is, a very worthwhile thing to get nailed down, turn to Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8, this should be terribly encouraging that God has not left, God has not left it a mystery whatsoever what his goal for our lives are. It's a powerful, powerful truth to wrap our minds and our hearts around. For those whom, Romans chapter 8 verse 29, for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren. So God's goal for my life is that I be made more like Christ, increasingly accelerating. And of course that won't be perfected until glory, but he intends for this life to be, for us to make progress towards the conformity, towards being fully conformed to Christ. And my hope in this sermon is to persuade you that by prayerfully exercising the means of grace, that we will grow to be more like Christ and experience more joy in Christ. I say the word prayerful because again we need God to work in us and He promises to do this in that Philippians 2 passage we referenced. I say exercising because we need to make use of the means that He has given. So this is not just something where we sit back and coast and expect that God is going to grow us. We're supposed to apply effort to practicing the means of grace that God has given us in His Word. and trust that God is working in us by the Spirit to grow us and conform us more fully to the image of Christ. Terribly encouraging truth. And, how good is it not just that we're going to be more like Christ, but that God's going to give me joy in the journey in Him, and He's going to make that joy full. Those are these things that he's talking about in verse 11. These things that he wants to use to give us his joy. Now an important word that is referenced many times through these 11 verses is the word abide. Some translations translate that remain. So let's talk a little bit about what it is to abide or remain in Christ. There's really two aspects that we can understand what it means to abide in Christ. One is in an absolute or one-time sense in which someone who is not a Christian, when God moves by the Holy Spirit to transform their heart, and cause them to be born again, or born from above, that person, when the Holy Spirit indwells, is absolutely, in a one-time sense, is now abiding in Christ in a way they were not the day before. So the Holy Spirit connects us with Christ. The Holy Spirit secures our relationship with Christ. And so there is an absolute or one-time sense in which we abide in Christ, similar to a traditional light switch where you've got an on or an off. Prior to that day in 1988, 1998, when I was born again, the light switch was off. The Holy Spirit turned that light switch on and I was abiding in Christ in an absolute sense from that time going forward. Now, there's also a sense in which this happens at the new birth, at regeneration. Again, this is the work of God, the Holy Spirit. It happens at conversion and can never be undone. That's very, very good news. Now in addition to the one-time sense, the absolute sense in which we abide in Christ when the new birth happens, there's also a qualitative way in which the follower of Christ abides in Christ. This would be more similar to like a dimmer switch. So with the absolute sense there was an on and off, this would be more like a dimmer switch in that it can move all the way from being hardly noticeable if it's turned way down And if it's gradually turned all the way up, the lights come on much more brightly in a gradual sense. And what I hope to convince you from this passage is that the difference between the light being hardly noticeable and the light burning brightly is, to a large extent, the way we abide in Christ, which means practicing the means of grace that He has made available to us. Again, if growth in Christ-likeness is a work of God by the Holy Spirit together with us making effort of the disciplines of grace that He, the means of grace that He's given us, that the way we're going to, that Christ's joy is going to become more fully alive in our lives and that the beauty of Christ is going to burn more brightly in our lives as we practice the means of grace. So again, there's a collaborative effort between God and us in our sanctification. One of the verses which references this is Ephesians 5 verse 18, where we're commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit. John MacArthur says that a valid translation of this verse would be, be controlled by the Spirit. And this is a command which makes sense only if we have some influence over the extent to which we are controlled by the Holy Spirit. So we have an opportunity to offer ourselves up to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. And again, this is the means of grace and we're going to talk a little bit about what those are and how to apply those to our lives in just a minute. Another reference to this is Ephesians 4 verse 30 where it says, do not grieve the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit is a person that can be grieved. So by neglecting the means of grace, I can grieve the Holy Spirit and lose intimacy with Christ. Turn with me to Galatians chapter 6, verses 7 and 8. Powerful truth in these verses. Galatians chapter 6 verses 7 and 8. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. So you see, at all times, each one of us, throughout every day, as a follower of Christ, we are constantly sowing seeds. The question is, am I sowing seeds to the flesh, or am I sowing seeds to the spirit? This is essentially, am I choosing to practice the means of grace? Again, we're going to talk more about those, but we need to admit that we live in a beautiful world. There's no shortage of ways that we can spend our time. But is this activity that I'm considering, is this an activity which sows to the flesh, which results in corruption, in which case I'm going to forfeit joy in God, or is this an activity which sows to the spirit, in which case It's going to be pleasing to the Holy Spirit, and I'm going to enjoy more deeply, and that's an activity that God can use to grow me to be more like Christ. So again, there's a passage that references our contribution to our sanctification. On a real-time basis, every day, we're making a decision on how we're sowing seeds. Either we're feeding the flesh, or we're feeding the Spirit. So it becomes clear that the quality of my ongoing relationship with the person of the indwelling Holy Spirit is determined, at least in part, by the choices I make in the here and now on an ongoing basis. I make decisions with my life which either sow seeds to the flesh or they sow seeds to the Spirit. And these decisions have a significant impact on my real-time experience of the Holy Spirit. As a person, I can either delight and please the Spirit or grieve the Spirit. I was thinking about possible analogies that would make sense in this kind of a context, and I thought of marriage. Paul loves to use marriage analogy in his teachings. All of you know Gwen. I'm very, very pleased to be married to Gwen. Let me paint for you two possible scenarios of what that might look like. In scenario one, I essentially neglect my wife. I rent an apartment and I only go home about every two weeks or so, just long enough to allow Gwen to do my laundry, in which case I then return to my apartment and go about life. Now, in an absolute sense, am I still married to Gwen? Yes, right? But, what about the quality of that relationship? Not so good, right? Now, scenario two would be if I were to practice sacrificial Christ-like love towards one, serve her at every opportunity and show great interest in her, this would be a scenario where I would be practicing an Ephesians 5 kind of love for my wife. Am I still married to Gwen? Yes, under both scenarios, I'm married to Gwen. But what about the quality of the relationship in the Ephesians 5 kind of marriage? The quality of the relationship would be very, very good. So, in an absolute sense, I'm in that relationship, but the more I serve her, the more I invest in her, the quality of that relationship just improves and improves and improves. And it's much the same way in that relationship as it is with the Holy Spirit and with Christ. We have the opportunity to invest in that relationship. Now it's important to understand the emphasis and the order in this passage. The emphasis of our obligation is to, again back to the word abide, we're called to abide in Christ, not first and foremost to bear in fruit. We are called first and foremost to abide in Christ, the fruit bearing comes later. The abiding in Christ leads to the fruit bearing. So we're not to focus primarily on bearing fruit for God, that's his job. Bearing fruit naturally and necessarily flows from abiding in Christ. The Father promises to bear fruit by the Holy Spirit as we abide in Christ. Now what I'd like to do before we move on and talk a little bit more about the means of grace that he talks about in this passage, just do a quick review. So we've got true branches and we've got false branches. And so I think this is, as we're commanded in 2 Corinthians 13, 5, it says, examine yourselves to make sure that you are in the faith. And again, for the first 33 years of my life, I was a dead branch. I thought I was a live branch, but I was a dead branch. And so in hindsight, in looking back at my life before God caused me to be born again, no evidence of fruit, no desire for the things of God. And so I think it's helpful for each one of us to take a look at ourselves and examine our own lives. Is there evidence of fruit in my life? Is there evidence of a desire for the things of God? And if not, I would ask you to please consider repenting of your sins and pleading with God to cause you to be born again. In fact, I've been praying this week that that might happen at this retreat for one or more. So now as we go forward, let's assume that we're talking about a true branch where the Holy Spirit is indwelling. So the decisions I make regarding the sowing to the Spirit, what we'll call practicing the means of grace, will impact the extent to which I will be controlled by the Spirit and the extent to which I abide in Christ. Again, this will impact, this is by way of review, this will impact both the quantity and the quality of the fruit which God will bear through me. This will impact the manner in which I experience God's love for me. It talks about in Romans chapter 5, it talks about how God pours the Holy Spirit into our lives. And this also impacts the extent to which God is glorified through my life in fruit bearing. And it also impacts the level of joy in Christ which I will experience on an ongoing basis as I abide in Christ. So now what I'd like to do is move on to a section of application. So we've talked a little bit about the principles of abiding in Christ, God wants to bear fruit through us. What I'd like to talk about is, what does this look like on the street? What does this look like on Monday through Friday? What does it look like to abide in Christ? So let's look at the three means of grace, or the three disciplines, which are referenced in this passage, which we can choose to exercise in order to increase our abiding in Christ. So again, it's important to remember this, look at this, as we think about sanctification, it can sound hard, it can sound like a lot of work, and there is work involved. It's so very important to remind ourselves ongoing of verse 11, where Jesus promises that joy is the result of abiding in Christ. So, as we approach these, as we talk about these disciplines, I just want to make sure that we remind ourselves that joy comes from the practice of these disciplines, joy in Jesus. So first off, we're going to talk about the Bible. Look at verse 7 with me, if you would. Turn back to John, chapter 15. And, verse 7. which starts out by saying, if you abide in me, and my words abide in you. Sounds an awful lot like scripture. Now let's look at the impact of scripture on the life of a follower of Christ. We all know we need the Bible, but what difference does it make in the life of a follower of Christ? Turn with me real quick back to Psalm 19. Psalm 19. Okay, verses 7 through 11. Keep an eye out for me if you would, for the impact of God's word on the life of a follower. The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true, they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them, your servant is warned. In keeping them, there is great reward." So as we do a quick survey of these scriptures, of this scripture, we can look at, see the benefit of God's word in the life of one of his kids. Our souls are restored in our simplicity were made wise. In verse 8, our hearts rejoice, our spiritual eyes are enlightened. So you see there's much great good that comes to us from being in the Word of God. Now turn with me into the New Testament, 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses 16 and 17. These will be very familiar verses. I'd like to meditate just a little bit on the impact of scripture. Yes, all scripture is inspired by God and profitable. Look at the amazing impact of scripture on the life of one of God's kids. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. So when we see that scripture is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, for training in righteousness, It implies that there's an awful lot of room for growth here, right? And that God means for His Word to be a key piece of how we grow in our Christ-likeness. And then in John, you don't have to turn there, but John 17, 17. Jesus in his high priestly prayer says, sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth. So Jesus there is praying that God would use his word to sanctify his followers. As we do this quick survey of some of the benefits of scripture in the life of a Christ follower, we can do some self-exam here. So when we approach the Bible, we can approach the Bible, think about if you did your Bible study this morning, think about what was your approach this morning as you moved toward your Bible? Was your time in the Word being driven more by guilt or joy? Was it driven by more of a have to or a get to? Was it driven more with an attitude of, I ought to do this, or I want to do this? So for a follower of Christ, to choose to not read and not study the Bible is to choose to forfeit joy in God. If God means to use scripture as a joy-giving mechanism in our walk with Him, then to neglect the Word of God is to choose to forfeit the joy that He would have for us. Conversely, to choose to regularly read and study the Bible is to choose to trust God that as I sow seeds to the Spirit that He will increase my joy in Christ. So I ask you, are you consistent in the Bible? Another question, are you early in the Bible? Do you start the day by hearing from God so that so that you've placed your mind and your heart before his word before engaging in the rest of the other activities of the day. And an even more difficult question, are you hungry for the Bible? Is there evidence that God's given you that hunger for his word that Candidly, in my first couple years of being a Christian, studying the Bible was hard. It was work. And now it's gotten to the point where I just love it. If for some reason, I can't tell you the last time that I didn't have some really good Bible feeding in the morning. But I just can't imagine life without it. And as a means of joy. So we should examine ourselves and really examine our attitude towards the Word. So let me exhort you to read and study and apply the Bible as a means of abiding in Christ and trusting Jesus to keep His promise to give you joy in Him. And also beware of the great danger of knowing God's truth intellectually without actually applying God's truth and forfeiting the joy that goes along with that obedience. Next up, after the Bible, back in John 15, In verse seven, read the next phrase. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. Ask whatever you wish. Sounds an awful lot like prayer, okay? So prayer as a means of grace by which Jesus would have us have fullness of joy in him. Let's turn real quickly to Romans chapter eight. verses 26 to 27. And again, the Holy Spirit is all throughout this passage, so I want to really kind of shine a light on the Holy Spirit's work in our prayer. Romans chapter 8, verses 26 and 27. In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weakness. For we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. How good is it to know that the Holy Spirit aids us in our prayers, and that the Holy Spirit is interceding for us according to the will of God. Great encouragement for prayer there. Turn also to 1 Peter chapter 5, and we're going to take a brief look at verses 5 through 7. 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 5 through 7. likewise be subject to your elders Jeff I think that's targeted at you you younger men likewise be subject to your elders and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another for God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you So, look at the contrast here between being proud and being humble. Casting your anxieties on Him because He cares for you or taking a posture of pride. So, to not pray to God is to choose the posture of self-sufficiency and independence from God. This is essentially the posture of pride. I don't need God, so I'm not going to bother to pray. For a Christian to not pray is an expression of pride. To choose a posture of pride is to invite God's discipline. Look back up at verse 5. God is opposed to the proud. So when we choose to not pray, when we choose to not express our neediness for God, we're essentially inviting Him to discipline us. Conversely, to pray is to choose a posture of humility. To choose to pray is to take the posture of neediness, dependence, and reliance on God. To submit oneself to the will of my sovereign Heavenly Father and admit my brokenness before Him. This is the posture of humility. And as you see back up in verse 5, while God is opposed to the proud, He gives grace to the humble. So it's that humble spirit that God loves to where God loves to deliver His grace. So God gives grace to the humble, He exalts the humble. So let me ask you a couple of diagnostic questions. Are you consistent in prayer? Are you early and often in prayer? And are you hungry for prayer? Is it your delight? And are you using it as a means of experiencing greater joy in Christ. Let me exhort you to be growing and consistent in prayer, to embrace your humility before God and to trust that Jesus will increase your joy in Him as you pray, dependent upon Him. Next up is the discipline of obedience. Look with me at verse 10 back in John chapter 15. John chapter 15 verse 10. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. What we're talking about here is obedience. We see in, and maybe even on the same page of your Bible, look at John chapter 14 verses 21 and 23. Let me read those real quick. John chapter 14, 21 and 23. Jesus says, he who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and will disclose myself to him. Powerful stuff. And then in verse 23, Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him. So you see that our experience of the Holy Spirit is really directly related to our willingness to obey Jesus' commands. What we're talking about here is a living, vital relationship with the triune God via the indwelling Holy Spirit. And again, as we talked about in the marriage analogy, as with any relationship, the intimacy of the relationship can be impacted by many factors. To choose to obey God's commands is to, excuse me, to choose to disobey God's commands is to choose to forfeit the joy of intimacy with God by His Spirit. You guys remember, and you don't have to turn there, but in Psalm 51 where David is repenting of his sin with Bathsheba and all the events surrounding that, in verse 12 he says, Restore to me the joy of your salvation. So here's David on the backside of great and grievous sin. And David has lost his joy because of his sin against God. And he's going back to God in verse 12 of Psalm 51 and he's pleading with God, restore to me the joy of your salvation. So again, you can see where David forfeited the joy of his salvation as he chose to engage in those awful, awful sins. So, To choose to obey God's commands is to choose to enjoy intimacy in communion with the Spirit. And again, I would ask you to examine your own heart and your own attitude towards obeying God's commands. Am I consistent in my obedience to God's commands? And maybe even more importantly, am I eager to obey God's commands? Let me exhort you to commit to obey God in everything. trusting that the Holy Spirit will increase your joy in Christ as you obey his commands and as you abide in Christ. So what we've seen in this passage is that our role is to work to practice the means of grace, to abide in Christ. That's first. God will use that to bear fruit through us. And the way that we abide in Christ is to, first off, read the Bible, hear from God in his written word, frequently, early, and hungrily. Secondly, we're to be in prayer to God, prayer with God. We're to choose the place of humility and neediness before Him, because God gives grace to the humble. And thirdly, we are to obey God's commands, trusting that His commands are a gift, and obedience leads to joy in Jesus. Let me read verse 11 again. These things, Jesus says, these things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full. How precious it is to know that Jesus desires that we have joy in him. As I've said early on in the sermon, early on, I did not even have a category for happy Christian. So how encouraging it is to read this verse and see that Jesus desires that we have joy in him by abiding in him. And he points us to the means by which we can abide in him and have our joy made full. Again, be in the Bible, be in prayer and obey at every opportunity. But we need to be honest with one another and examine ourselves, examine our lives. and admit that we all by nature do not like being told what to do. We resist authority. And so many times we see God's commands as something to avoid because we don't like being told what to do. And our culture only encourages this attitude. We think that we can find the path to happiness on our own. The Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes is all about that and the vanity of finding purpose in life and finding joy in something other than God. And this attitude of rebellion against authority goes back to Adam and Eve and their choice to not believe God. But that's not where Jesus would have us. Again, He points us to joy in Him and fullness of joy in Him. That's what we find in this passage. Jesus shows us His commitment to our joy in Him, and He tells us how we can have eternal joy in Him by abiding in Christ. Further, He shows us the means of abiding in Christ, the Bible, prayer, and obedience. And then He asks us to trust His promise that as we abide in Him, God will bear fruit through us, and we will experience fullness of joy in Him. I was listening to a sermon recently by a pastor from another city who was talking about his frequent counseling conversations with people from his church. And he said that, in reference to these people who were facing different life issues and different sin issues in their life, he said that he's never heard any of his counselees say anything like the following. You know, I'm really struggling mightily with this sin, whatever sin that may be, and I've been having just the greatest time in the Bible and in prayer lately. They just don't go together. Practicing the means of grace, do not go with a life of sin. So, let me commend a couple of resources to you. I've got a handout here that I'd like to give you. There's a book referenced in here by John Piper. He wrote a book called Desiring God. It's actually available out on the web. They've got a PDF of it out there at the desiringgod.org website, where you can read it for free. And he also wrote a book called When I Don't Desire God by John Piper. which talks about how do you... Tim, will you hand these out for me real quick? Thank you. I'll start talking about this as Tim is handing them out. The first page is essentially kind of the five convictions of a Christian hedonist. Okay, he maps these out in the book Desiring God. And I want to read these through with you real quickly because they are life transforming. Essentially, Christian hedonism is a biblical teaching which means that there is more joy available in God than there is in anything else. So the good news is, God did not save us to have us be somber and mopey. God would have us, as we learn in verse 11 of our passage, Jesus would have us experience the fullness of joy, but that's available only in Him. So let me read through these five convictions real quick and then the second page I'll explain and then leave you to spend time with. Christian hedonism is a philosophy of life built on the following five convictions. Number one, the longing to be happy is a universal human experience and it is good, not sinful. Okay. It's not a sin to want to be happy. God made us to want to be happy. Number two, we should never try to deny or resist our desire to be happy as though it were a bad impulse. Instead, we should seek to intensify this longing and nourish it with whatever will provide the deepest and most enduring satisfaction. Whatever you can find that will give you the most, the greatest and most enduring satisfaction, pursue it with great vigor, because that's why God made you to want to be happy. Now, number three is absolutely essential. The deepest and most enduring happiness is found only in God, not from God, but in God. Of all the possible options out there where we could seek happiness, God is the greatest and most enduring source of lasting happiness. he will be happy to compete with anything else, that he wins every time. Number four, the happiness we find in God reaches its consummation when it is shared with others in the manifold ways of love. So as we practice self-giving love to others, God uses that to increase our joy in God. Again, love is another means of grace. And number five, to the extent we try to abandon the pursuit of our own pleasure, we fail to honor God and love people. Or to put it positively, the pursuit of pleasure is a necessary part of all worship and virtue. That is, the chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever. That's really good news when you process that. It's very exciting news. Turn to the second page, if you would, really quick. This is that same book, Desiring God, In, I believe, the most recent edition of that, there's an appendix in the back of the book, and you can see this out there on the website. He wrote another book that is 200 pages long, maybe more, that talks about this called, When I Don't Desire God, but he puts this as an appendix in Desiring God, and he titles the appendix, How Then Shall We Fight for Joy? And essentially this is kind of a supplement to what we've talked about as practicing the means of grace of increasing our joy in God. This is essentially some very practical application for how can I better abide in Christ. And I'll just read the headings real quick and leave this with you and you can find this out on the website. It's great stuff. Number one, realize that authentic joy in God is a gift. 2. Realize that joy must be fought for relentlessly, no letting up in our pursuit of joy in God. 3. Resolve to attack all known sin in your life. Sin kills joy. Sin, grieving the Holy Spirit, will rob us of joy in God. 4. Learn the secret of gutsy guilt, how to fight like a justified sinner. Celebrate the gospel, celebrate the truth of justification in Christ. 5. Realize that the battle is primarily a fight to see God for who He is. He gives some explanation there. Meditate on the word of God day and night. That's back to verse seven from John 15. The more hunger we have for the word, the more he increases our joy in Christ. Number seven, pray earnestly and continually for open heart, eyes, and an inclination for God. Again, he unpacks that in more detail. Number eight, learn to preach to yourself rather than listen to yourself. 9. Spend time with God-saturated people who help you see God and fight the fight. Some of those people for me are in this room, and I thank God for them. 10. Be patient in the night of God's seeming absence. 11. Get the rest, exercise, and proper diet that your body was designed by God to have. 12. Make a proper use of God's revelation in nature. We're in a beautiful slice of the world to look out our window in the morning and praise God for the beauty of the creation that He made. Number 13, read great books about God and biographies of great saints. Number 14, do the hard and loving thing for the sake of others, witness in mercy. And number 15, get a global vision for the cause of Christ and pour yourself out for the unreached. This is just a brief summary of an appendix which I commend the resources to you. These are all kind of a supplement to learning how to abide in Christ. And so I offer this up to you for your consideration in how we can further learn how to better abide in Christ and enjoy a fullness of joy in Him and that God might bear fruit through us. Let me close this up in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for this word in particular, which has been so formational in my spiritual development. Father, I pray that as we study the topic of sanctification for the balance of this weekend, Father, I pray that you would remind us of this passage, that you would remind us that the more we pursue your means of grace, the more joy we will have in Christ. And Father, I pray that your Holy Spirit would give us a hunger for your word, Father, that we would just love your word and that we would devour it and that we would apply it and that we would obey it. Father, may we be a people of prayer. Father, that we would embrace the humility that we have in our sin before the one true holy God. Father, I pray that we would trust your promise that in our humility that you would give us your grace. and that by taking a posture of humility in prayer, Father, that you will increase our joy in Christ. And Father, I pray that we would be a people who obey your commands. Not because we have to, but because we want to, because it shines a light on our great Savior and that we trust your promise that as we obey your commands that you will make your abode with us, that we will experience the fullness of joy in Christ. Father, how easy it is to resist authority. Father, how easy it is to have a wrong perspective of our relationship with you. But Father, we see your great love for us expressed in this passage. And we see Christ's great desire that we have joy in Him and that our joy in Him be made full. Father, how good it is that You've shown us this in your word. And Father, I pray that as we hear more sermons and as we have more conversations at this retreat on sanctification and on our church and on what it means to follow Jesus, Father, I pray that you would, by your Holy Spirit, that you would encourage our hearts with joy. Father, help us to be happy knowing that Jesus intends for us to be happy in him. Father, we ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.