Discovering True Joy: Beyond Happiness

John chapter 15, John 15.

John 15 · chapter mention

I don't think there's anyone in the room that wouldn't desire

to experience a joyful life.

Not just to experience it, but to live a joyful life.

That word joy is an interesting word.

It's more than happiness.

Happiness is based upon happenstance and what happens to

us.

And joy is a divinely given contentment.

In other words, true joy is given to us by the Lord, and it's

by his grace that he gives that to us.

This divinely given contentment is an inward serenity

that exists in spite of difficult circumstances that may

come into our life.

It's an amazing thing that we can experience joy in spite of the

circumstances that we may experience.

I think about Nehemiah who said, the joy of the Lord is my strength

and the joy that we can have even as we face difficult circumstances.

In John chapter 15, just we're going to read verses 11 through 15,

John 15 · chapter mention

so look there with me.

Verse 11 through 15.

And these things have I spoken unto you.

By the way, these are the words of Jesus.

So we're quoting Jesus.

He says, these things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might

remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

And this is my commandment that you love one another as I have

loved you.

And greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his

life for his friends.

And ye are my friends if ye 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.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we love you.

And we thank you this morning for the opportunity we have to open

the word of God and hear from you.

And I pray, Lord, as we preach this morning, that you would again

enable me to say exactly what you'd have said.

I pray this morning that we would see the opportunity we have

to experience joy in our everyday life.

And God, may we follow in the footsteps of your dear son Jesus.

We thank you in Jesus name, Amen.

One of my favorite books is the Book of Philippians, as our church

family knows.

And if you go to any commentary on the book of Philippians,

you'll find that the theme of the book of Philippians is joy.

And that is true.

I believe that is the theme of the book of Philippians.

It's again joy, but joy that's produced by something.

And if you read throughout the book of Philippians, you find that

Paul is In prison as he's writing the book of Philippians.

And he doesn't complain.

He never talks about himself and the problems that he's experiencing

and all those things.

No, he talks about others.

And he.

He's concerned that others would come to the saving knowledge

of Jesus Christ.

He's concerned that other Christians would look on the needs

of others.

And he gives examples of not only Jesus Christ, but Epaphroditus

and many others who were serving others, doing for others.

And he goes on to say we should press toward the mark, that

our goal should be to know Jesus Christ and to walk in his steps,

to know him and to be conformed to the image of his Son.

In other words, our goal as Christians is to be Christians, which

means imitators of Christ, followers of Jesus Christ.

They were called Christians first at Antioch.

Why?

Because they were followers of Jesus.

They were followers of Jesus and his doctrine, his teachings and

the faith.

And so again, as we think about that, and then it says, well,

how do we experience again, the selflessness?

How do we live a life that is pleasing to Jesus?

How do we live out the Christian life?

How do we follow in Jesus steps?

How do we live for others when we know we are selfish by nature?

It's not natural for us to, you know, to put others as number

one.

It's not natural for us to put others in front of ourselves.

And there are some things to be said about our kids and some other

things, but again, it's just not natural.

We are selfish by nature.

That's what sin is, by the way, sin is being selfish, not treating

others as you would want to be treated.

Jesus said, whatsoever you do unto men, you would have men unto

you.

Do even also to them.

For this is all the law and the prophets.

In other words, it's the golden rule.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

When we don't do that, when we don't live selflessly, then we sin.

Sin is breaking the law.

Sin is trespassing the law.

Sin is crossing over the fence, the barbed wire fence, and

playing in the pasture.

I'm not supposed to be in.

Never done that before with a BB gun.

No joy is found in serving Jesus Christ.

I'm giving you the conclusion before we even start.

Joy is found in serving others and doing for others.

And that's what Philippians teaches us.

And how are we to do that?

Well, he says it in chapter four, I can do all things through

Christ which strengtheneth me.

And see that little phrase there in Philippians 4:13 is not

Philippians 4:13

so you can be a better, you know, a better athlete?

No, no, no.

It's so you can be a better Christian, so that you can live for

Jesus, that you can have that and experience a joyful life.

Because again, the joyful life is produced by walking in the steps

of Jesus.

It's produced by being selfless.

This joy, is that again divinely given?

It's given to us by God.

How in the world?

First Thessalonians, Paul said this in chapter one, verses five

through seven.

He said, in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost.

Those two don't go together, do they?

In much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost.

The Bible says Jesus with joy endured the cross.

It's amazing, isn't it, that divinely given joy is and can be

experienced in spite of the circumstances?

Nehemiah 8, that I quoted a while ago.

Nehemiah says, the joy of the Lord is our strength.

You want strength for everyday living?

We find that in Jesus Christ and the joy that he gives us.

Again, what is joy divinely given?

Contentment.

Contentment and peace, Sister Words.

Who doesn't want peace?

The world is looking for contentment.

Maybe you're here today and you're looking for something.

You have a void in your life.

There's an empty spot there.

There is no peace in your life.

I'm so thankful.

I can tell you.

Jesus Christ gives peace.

He gives peace to us.

He is our strength.

He is the oil of our life.

He's the one that takes the weariness, weariness, weariness out

of life.

He's the one who takes the weariness and that everyday grind

and gives us joy.

How do we have that joy?

How are we to experience that joy?

We find that here in the Scriptures, and we preached this

on Friend Day many times, and this year we're kind of concentrating

on verse 11.

Let's read it again.

These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain

in you and that your joy might be full.

What are these things?

He's spoken unto them?

Well, he's reminded them that they are to abide in him.

Abide in the vine.

You are the branches.

He says, we think of that.

We think of, you know, a plant and we think of illustration here

is of, you know, grape vines, when you have the vine and you have

the branches, and those branches must be in the vine if they're

going to have life.

The branch must be in the vine if they're going to sustain life.

Amen.

Everybody wake up.

We got to be in the vine if we're going to survive.

Got to be in the vine if you're going to produce grapes.

Got to be in the vine if you're going to sustain life.

He says, abide in me.

Abide in me and you shall bring forth fruit.

And he goes on to say more fruit and much fruit abiding in the

Lord being grafted into the vine.

When does this happen?

It happens at salvation.

I hope this morning you know you're saved.

Salvation.

Being rescued from the penalty of sin.

Being rescued from the wages of sin.

The wages of sin, the Bible says in Romans is death.

Revelation tells us that that death is not talking necessarily

about the physical death, though we know we are all appointed

time in which that will come.

It's inevitable.

It's inevitable.

It's appointed unto man once to die.

And after this the judgment.

We don't know that day, that appointment day, but we know it is

set by the Lord.

But when Romans there in chapter three and six are talking

about the wages of sin, it's speaking about the death.

It's speaking of is Revelation tells us that that is separation

from God.

The penalty for being selfish by nature, the penalty for being

sinners.

And we still say that at our church because the Bible says it.

And by the way, I'm a sinner.

I'm selfish by nature.

My wife reminds me many times, right.

But all of us are selfish by nature.

And because of that, the Bible says the penalty of that is death.

And Revelation tells us in chapter 20 that death and hell were

cast in the lake of fire.

This is the second death.

There's a first death.

That's the physical death, but there's also a spiritual death.

And I'm thankful there's a heaven, aren't you?

I'm so thankful that Jesus said, I came to give us life.

He said, I came to give you life and give us more abundant.

He said, I am the resurrection and the life.

He gives us eternal life.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son

that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have what

everlasting life.

The Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with

the Lord.

The Bible says the soul and spirit never die.

This life is not the.

This is not the end, folks.

This is not the end.

There is an eternity ahead of us.

And listen, you spend it in one place or the other.

You either spend eternity in heaven or you spend eternity in hell.

And all of that is based upon your decision.

Your Choice to be rescued from the penalty of sin, to be rescued

from the wrath of God placed upon sin.

But I'm so thankful that Jesus Christ came to this world, that whosoever

believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Amen.

He, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died in our place.

He was the substitute.

He died on the cross.

He died the death that Eric Crawford should have died.

I should have been on that cross.

I should have paid for my sins.

The righteous judge, God the Father is a.

He is a God of a just God.

Sin has to be paid for.

God could not just overlook sin like some of these liberal judges

do in America.

God could not just overlook.

No, no, he didn't overlook it.

Instead, his son died for my sin.

He died for my sinful record.

He died for my rap sheet.

Instead of me paying for it, instead of me dying for it, instead

of me going to hell for it.

Jesus Christ went to the cross.

The Bible says, he who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might

be made the righteousness of God in him.

He had no sins of his own.

He was God in the flesh.

God can't sin.

He lived a sinless life for 33 and a half years.

He didn't go to the cross for his sins.

He didn't go to the cross for crimes he committed.

No, no, no.

He went to the cross for me.

He died for your sins.

He died for my sins.

He was surely the example of love that we find here.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life

for his friends.

What does it say?

This is Jesus words, verse 14.

Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you henceforth

I call you not for the servants.

Knoweth not what his Lord doeth, but I have called you friends.

Jesus Christ died for his friends.

The ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate expression of love.

I hope you know Jesus as your savior.

You say, well, what's the conclusion of the matter?

The conclusion of the matter is in order that you might escape

hell and have a home in heaven.

In order that you might not be condemned by your sins.

The only way to be justified.

Justified means just as if I'd never sinned.

The only way to have my sinful record erased is through faith in

Jesus Christ, believing and trusting in him and him alone.

His life, his death, his resurrection.

Do you believe he lived?

Do you believe he died?

Do you believe he rose again from the dead the third day?

By the way, you believing that a man rose from the dead, that takes

Faith.

And only the Holy Spirit will give you that faith.

The Bible says if we believe that thou shalt be saved.

For with the heart, man believeth in the righteous with the

mouth, confession is made unto salvation.

For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek.

I'm thankful.

God is no respecter of persons.

Doesn't matter.

Your social standing doesn't matter.

Your ethnicity doesn't matter.

Whether you're pretty or ugly.

No, none of that matters.

God is no respecter.

He says there's no difference between the Jew and the Greek.

For the same Lord over all is rich, unto all that call upon him.

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved

from.

Rescued from the penalty of sin, rescued from the wages of sin,

saved.

So thankful for the salvation that we have in Jesus and being put

in the vine, being given life.

Romans 5 says, Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace

with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

And I love this, it says, but we also joy in God.

Notice this.

Now this is Romans 5:11.

Romans 5:11

But we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we

have atonement.

We joy through what?

Through Jesus Christ, because of his atoning death on the cross

of Calvary.

What a savior.

What a God.

The joy the world has to offer is external.

The world offers, you know, joy by way.

Well, if there's a good economy or, you know, if I have job

security or you know, a raise or promotion or hobbies or good health

or a car or houses, maybe good relationships, I can experience joy.

But what happens when all those things go dark?

What happens when all those things go wrong and you find.

You find no joy?

No, no joy is inward contentment that only can be found

in Jesus Christ.

How are we to find that?

How are we to have that inward contentment?

Well, number one, it's by accepting Christ as Savior.

Because true joy can only be found true joy.

Notice how I said that can only be found in Jesus Christ.

Only in Jesus abiding in the vine Christian because he is the

source and sustainer of life.

It's our daily walk with the Lord.

It's having a relationship with Jesus Christ.

It's growing in our knowledge of Jesus Christ that brings about

understanding of who Jesus is and allows us to follow in his steps.

How's us to walk in his steps?

And it empowers us by his grace and by the Holy Spirit of God

to live a selfless life that produces in us joy as we live selflessly,

as our motives are selfless, instead of Selfish.

Sometimes we do things for other people not because we really

want to, but we do things for other people because of what we can

get out of it.

That's not going to produce joy in your life.

No, no.

It's giving without expecting anything in return.

It's love.

It's when you love someone and you love like Jesus loved, that it

produces joy in your life and joy again grows as we understand

and know more about Jesus Christ.

There's lots of examples of this in our everyday life.

I enjoyed and got opportunity to work for a cabinet maker when

I was a teenager.

I started even before I had a license and began to work for this

cabinet maker.

And I enjoyed working for him, but at first I didn't because there

was a lot of yelling going on.

He really didn't yell at me.

He was a very good Christian man, but he would.

You know, you could see the red in his face from time to time

as I made wrong cuts or I did this wrong.

And one time I cut up about, I don't know, $700 worth of ash plywood.

That was all wrong.

He came back into the cabinet shop and he looked at that and he

said, everything you just cut is wrong.

And he didn't say a word.

He just told me to put it over there.

But it took a while.

But once I got to the place where I understood and once I got

to the place where I watched him and how he.

Man, I enjoyed my job.

I'm thankful I got the job that I could actually.

I actually liked.

Not everybody gets to do that, especially in high school.

Learned a lot, but I learned a lot and experienced that gratification

and that joy and that fun by working through the pain first.

It's kind of like snow skiing.

Anybody ever been skiing in the snow?

Oh, yeah.

It's not fun at first.

I don't care who you are.

Even teenagers, though, they pick it up really quick.

These little kids, too, about 4 years old, all of a sudden they

just.

And they're gone.

Here I am.

I didn't learn as a kid, so I'm an adult and I'm trying to learn

how to ski.

And it is frustrating, but, man, once you get it, it's a lot

of fun.

It's joyful.

It really is.

Think about your marriage and your relationship with your kids.

This is probably a better.

Absolutely.

A better example.

As you get to know your wife, as you get to know your husband and

you are developing that relationship with them.

That marriage, let me just put it this way, should get better.

Not Worse, the Bible says to deal wisely, a husband should deal

wisely with his wife.

And as we do so, we learn about her, we deal wisely with her,

vice versa, as the wife does so with her husband, as again, the

husband loves his wife, as Christ loved the church and gave

himself for it, and as the wife honors the husband and life.

And that relationship, as it grows, becomes more joyful, it becomes

more joyful raising kids.

As you get to know your kids, you spend time with your kids, you

learn their personality, and you learn this one's this way and

this one's this way, and this one's this way.

And so you deal with each one of them a little differently.

Right?

Isn't it amazing how small they can be and how you can see the

different personalities?

And you go, man, this one's so much different than this one.

It's amazing.

And then you develop that relationship with your child.

And as they grow older, it should get better and better.

If it's not, you're not doing something right.

I'm just telling you, you're not doing something right.

If you'll do it the Bible way, if you raise your children up in

the nurture and admonition of the Lord, if you'll train them up,

man, kids were not meant to be endured.

They were meant to be enjoyed.

You do it the Bible way, you'll enjoy your kids.

Your kids become teenagers, you'll enjoy them.

By the way, you're supposed to be enjoying your marriage as well.

Your marriage is not meant to be endured.

It's meant to be enjoyed.

Listen, life with Jesus is awesome.

The relationship with Jesus and living a life that's pleasing

to him and obeying him and in obedience to him, as he was obedient

to His Father, it says there in our text, and as he was obedient

and we're obedient to him, and the joy that it produces in our life,

the peace that it produces in our life, the contentment that we

get to realize in our life, it's beyond words.

Knowing Jesus verses 9 through 15 and his love that we are to continue

in his love, that we are to be Christlike as we know him more.

And Christlikeness as He transforms us, not just transforms

our outward, but transforms our hearts, as I said before, motives

matter.

Why are you?

You can say, well, I am selfless, preacher.

I am.

I do for everybody else and nobody does for me.

Well, then your motives are not right.

Amen.

No, no, no.

I'm going to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

He loved Everyone.

And they rejected him.

Many did.

Most did.

Listen this morning, we need to have a heart of love, a heart

like Jesus.

And this is proven by the actions of the Lord, as he gave his

life for us, as a friend would lay down his life for a friend.

How are we as Christians to experience this joy?

Number one, abide in him.

Are you saved this morning?

Do you know Jesus as your savior, Christian?

Are you living for him?

He said, as I obey the Father, you obey me because you love me.

Jesus says, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments that

we follow in his steps.

Psalm 1.

And I quoted this last week, Psalm 1, verses 1 through 3.

Psalms 1:1–3

The Psalmist says, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel

of the ungodly, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, nor standeth

in way of sinners or sinneth.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord.

And his law doth he meditate day and night.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.

And I won't quote the whole thing, but blessed.

What does blessed mean, by the way?

The New Testament gets that right.

Blessed are the poor in spirit.

That word is not happy.

That's not what the new translations get it wrong.

It's closer or related to joy.

It's inward contentment.

Blessed.

Blessed is the man that does what.

Blessed is the man, woman, child, who saturates themselves,

who lives in the Word of God.

It's amazing.

How about every fourth or fifth sermon comes back to that?

How's your Bible reading?

How's your walk with the Lord?

Stay in the Word.

You want to experience joy?

Get in the Word of God, you say.

Well, I'm a new Christian.

I haven't done well.

Get in the Word of God.

Start reading.

Well, I'm not.

Get in the Word of God.

Start reading.

The Word of God is a miraculous book.

It's sharper than any treasured sword.

It's a dynamite book.

It's powerful.

It'll transform your life.

Stay in the Word.

Number two.

Deny the flesh and walk in the Spirit.

You can look at this later, but Galatians, chapter 5.

Galatians 5 · chapter mention

Most of you who've been a Christian very long know the verses

says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love and joy.

Peace.

Now, when it talks about in Galatians 5:22, the fruit singular

Galatians 5:22

of the Spirit is love.

What it's saying is, the fruit of the Spirit is love.

That produces joy, that produces peace, that produces long

suffering.

In other words, this will be the evidence that you are walking

with Jesus, that you're following the footsteps of Jesus,

will be the fruit of the spirit.

Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,

meekness, faith.

You want to experience joy?

Walk in the spirit.

Walk in the spirit and not the flesh.

Grow in your understanding of Jesus Christ.

How do you do that?

By reading your Bible?

By listening to some good preaching, some good teaching.

Be careful what you're listening to.

By the way, I tell our church that all the time.

Be careful what your podcasting or those things.

There's so many out there now in wolves and sheep's clothing.

Make sure what you're listening to lines up with the scripture.

But man, listening to scripture, listening to good music,

Christian music.

I was reminded again this week how I was preaching this week in

a couple places and I was preaching to a group of preachers.

And I said, you know, I'm so thankful my dad, my dad and mom got

into church when I was 2 years old.

And it didn't take long a few years later that my mom and dad got

saved.

It didn't take long after that that my mom and dad got rid of the

wrong music and instituted good music in our home.

And from the time I was 6 or 7, I don't ever remember hearing

anything other than Christian music in our home or in our cars.

My dad was just relentless about it.

He would just surround us with godly things and things that would

influence us for Jesus and that we would again immerse ourself

in order that we might learn more and more about Jesus.

Grow in the Lord, how?

Reading your Bible, being in church, I always tell people, church

doesn't cure everything, but boy, it sure helps.

By the way, the Bible says that we should not forsake the assembly

of ourselves together as a matter of some is, but so much more

as we see the day approaching, it is a command that we ought to

be a part of a church, that we ought to be in connection with a

church.

And by the way, Jesus said he died for the church, how are we to

grow again?

Reading our Bible, immersing ourselves, saturating ourselves in

godly things, how are we to grow in Jesus?

And as we grow in Jesus Christ, and we develop that heart

of Jesus Christ, that selfless heart, it'll produce joy in our life.

Preacher, that sounds really hard.

No, it takes that long because it's divinely given.

I don't earn it.

I'm going to put myself in a position to experience joy.

I'm going to put myself in a position to be spiritual.

In other words, I'm going to do the things and not do things in

order that I might put myself in a position for the Lord to make

me spiritual.

Because I can't make myself spiritual.

I can memorize the whole Bible and still be a Pharisee and a Sadducee.

I could be a hypocrite.

It's not necessarily.

It's not necessarily what we do, but how we do it.

It's our motives, it's our heart.

And it's only the Lord who could change our heart.

And whether you need to be saved this morning or as a Christian,

you need to rededicate your life to the Lord and just say, I

want to get back to it.

I want to come back to J. I know my life has not been what it

could be.

Jesus said, I came to give life and give it more abundant.

And you're not living that joyful life that God intended for

you to live.

Come back to Jesus.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God.

Set your affections on things above.

Make the Lord the priority in your life.

Follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

It really isn't.

Christianity is not a religion.

It's not a set of rules.

And sometimes, especially us Baptists, we get the knock that,

oh, y' all are just all about the do's and the don'ts.

All the don'ts.

All the don'ts.

You can't do that.

Can't do that.

Can't do that.

No, no.

I'm telling you right now, it's about following the footsteps

of Jesus.

It's about what would Jesus do, how would Jesus do it, what would

Jesus listen to, what would Jesus read?

And as we follow in his steps, we'll experience that joyful heart

because our heart be where it's supposed to be.

Sounds simple, doesn't it?

But oh, so hard to do the Lord's good.

Amen.

Let's all stand.