In Scott Brown's sermon titled 'Recipe for Fighting Sorrow,' he explores Nehemiah 8:9-12, where Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites guide the people of Israel to move from sorrow to joy by understanding the significance of God's word. Brown emphasizes that the joy of the Lord is the true strength, not material or worldly securities. The leaders give five commands: not to mourn or weep, to go home and celebrate with food and drink, to share with those in need, to be still, and not to grieve. These commands are meant to redirect the people from an excessive focus on their sins to a celebration of God's grace and mercy. The sermon highlights the importance of understanding God's word to transform sorrow into joy, aligning with the gospel's message of grace and forgiveness. Brown shares his personal struggle with sorrow and how this passage offers practical guidance for embracing joy through understanding and faith.

May we all turn to Nehemiah, chapter 8, verse 9 through 12. And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people, This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn nor weep, for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our Lord.

Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." So the Levites quieted all the people saying, be still, for the day is holy. Do not be grieved. And all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions and rejoice greatly, because they understood the words that were declared to them." Let's pray. Oh Lord, we thank you for the incredible grace that has brought us into your kingdom, Lord. A grace that has brought us to celebrate your word this day.

Oh Lord, I do pray that you fill our cup. Lord, that as a deer would pant for water, that we are here Lord to receive your word. Open our hearts and minds, Lord. Lord, we need your knowledge. We know your knowledge strengthens our faith and our hope.

Oh Lord, it also most certainly strengthens our love. And so Lord, we lift up Pastor Brown to you this day, Lord, fill him with your Spirit, in life and him, Lord, to bring forth the word this day, for the glory of our risen Savior, amen. Finding ourselves here in Nehemiah 8, 9 through 12, takes us again into one of the many, many manifestations of the grace and the mercy of God to carry us out of our sorrows, to take us from a place that we are to a place that is so much better. It's the kindness of God toward us that He reveals himself to his people in such a way that he takes them out of their own thoughts. He takes them out of their own ways.

He takes them to a better place. And this marvelous passage is another great manifestation of that. And I can't help to think that our church needs this so much. As we ponder the words, this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." It's here for us because we need it.

We need it today. Our church needs it. And so we should consider that, you know, As we come to this passage of Scripture, or really any passage of Scripture, it's reasonable for us to think that God is continuing to love us by calling us out of ourselves and out of our own dispositions, to call us to things that are greater than we are, and to compose us in a particular way. And he desires more for us. He wants to shift the reality that we're experiencing right now.

And I think it's also reasonable to assume that God has brought this text to us because he desires a more joyful church. The Word of God always meets us where we are in order to take us where we need to be. And today, you know, the Lord in his sovereign grace has brought us to Nehemiah 8, 9, 12 to speak to us about one of God's desires for His people, and that is to create a joyful heart which creates a joyful family and a joyful church as well. In many ways, these words here are a recipe for fighting sorrow that you might be experiencing today. Fears, disappointments of your own life, and maybe in the lives of others.

I found myself here preaching on something that I've personally struggled with over the last year and a half, maybe even a little bit longer than that. I know we're aware of the trials and disappointments we've experienced as a church, and some of these were very personal to me. I've had times when I was downcast. I don't believe I was depressed, but I have been very much subdued at different times, and I've thought that my countenance has been downcast. I've been very grateful to be married to a girl who I think when she gets up in the morning she must know deep within her heart the joy of the Lord is her strength and I I pray that God would would give many to us in this church, but I've I've experienced the pain of some of the events that have taken place.

And I've also been confronted by the Lord in areas of sin that I wasn't even aware of before. And I think part of this has happened because of some of the mercies of God through some of you and some of my friends. And also, it hasn't really helped that much to be preparing to do a conference on repentance at the end of October. Because, you know, immersing myself in what God says about repentance has brought me to even, you know, greater understanding of my own sin and how deeply I need to be repentant for so many things in my life. And so this passage is very practical for me personally and so I've struggled with this.

And I pray that today that Two things would happen. First of all, that I would be like the apostles today in your life, and I would like also to be like the apostles in my life. In 2 Corinthians 1.24, Paul says, we are fellow workers for your joy. We are fellow workers for your joy. I want to work for your joy.

I want to work for my joy. I want you to fight for your joy. I want to fight for my own as well. Joy in the Lord. Joy in the Lord's strength.

The second thing is that we would all grow personally. I want to grow personally. Paul is a good example of that. In 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 4 he says, I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation. He was joyful in the tribulation.

He says, for indeed when we came to Macedonia our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, Inside were fears. Is that a picture of your life? Well, Paul says that I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation. Tribulation is not the end of the story because God has strength, he has joy in the midst of sorrows and trials for us as a church.

But I just can't help but think that God wants us to be a more joyful church. Amen? How about that? Do you think it's possible that this church does not have the joy of the Lord like it ought to? Like, do you think maybe there are people here, let's just say hypothetically, there's some people here who have been downcast, you know, who as Spurgeon said, their faces are so long they could eat oatmeal out of a deep vase You know Well, I felt like that a few times This this year Augustine said this if I were to ask you why you have believed in Christ, why you have become Christians, every man will answer truly for the sake of happiness.

That's why. Why did you turn to Jesus Christ? Because of the happiness that He had for you. Because the joy of the Lord that He brought to you. Because you knew He was superior to everything else.

You knew that the devil was so stinkin' lousy to you, and you wanted Him. You wanted something better. And you turned to Him for joy. That's why I turned to Him. And so Nehemiah is speaking to this condition that we all Experience, but I just can't help but think God wants a more joyful church around here That's what I can't help but think and I think it probably begins with me Nehemiah here is in in chapter 8.

He's Documenting two days in the lives of the people verses 1 through 12 day one We examined the first half of that day last week and so in our text this morning we're seeing what happened on the second half of the first day. The first part of the day from six o'clock in the morning until noon, they read the law of God, all of them out in this open square. It was astonishing. There they were, Ezra and Nehemiah, the Levites. They're on this large wooden platform, And there are teachers going through the crowd, teaching them the law from 6 AM to noon.

And so now the first half of the day has been completed. Now when we hit verse 9, we're in the second half of the day. You might even think of that like our day here. We're going to spend the first part of the day examining the Word of God, and then we're going to spend the second half of the day feasting and rejoicing and eating together. And so the heart of the first part of the day, of course, was capsized in the phrase bring the book.

So they brought the book And the Word of God was preached. There's nothing better than you can do than bring the book. You know, it's so important. You know, bring the book when you're up, when you're down, when you're downcast, when you're all turned around, when you're oppressed. You know, when you're depressed, bring the book.

That's what you need more than anything else. And so they did that, and as a result of bringing the book, they started weeping because they saw the difference between the holiness of God and the joy of the Lord and their own experience. They saw their sin and so they're weeping and they're struggling as a result of that. So now we find what the leaders do after they brought the book and they comfort the people. And then next week, when we resume in Nehemiah in verse 13, we move to the second day.

So we're still in the first day up to verse 12 in Nehemiah chapter 8. So you have an outline in front of you and you can kind of see where I'm going with this today. First of all the leaders respond to the sorrows of the people and that's in verses 9 through 11 and there are Several commands. I'm going to list five commands that are delivered to these people who've been lost in their sorrows and Then the reasons why the commands were given. And then finally, the second major division in this passage is the people understand and they change.

They understand the teaching and they get all turned around. How about that? It's really a wonderful passage. So the first thing that we see here is that the leaders respond to the sorrows of the people. Here it's a picture of leaders leading and they take action.

Verse 9, and Nehemiah who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people so The Word of God has been preached they see the reactions the leaders see the reactions of the people, and they realize their ministry is not done. They need to minister to these people and help them get through this moment that they're experiencing of sorrow over their sin from seeing the greatnesses of their sins and their weaknesses and So what's happening here? If you just sort of take a step back the leaders are making observations and they're giving direction They see an unhealthy element in the in the response to the people in the reading of the word now it was right for them to compare their lives with That what they were reading in the law it was right for them to make observations. It was right for them to be pierced to the heart it was right for them to grieve for their sins, but the people took it way too far and to unhealthy proportions. And so The leaders here, Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Levites, they want to take a people from point A to point B.

That's what they're doing. That's what leaders do, right? That's why God gives leaders to people. And so, but in this case, they were to be brought from sorrow to joy. And that's why I think a passage like this can be so helpful to us.

You know, to what degree of joy do we need to be brought to? You know, are we a church that needs a joy adjustment? And I think it's reasonable to think that that is true. And now, Are they rebuking the people? Not necessarily.

They're redirecting the thoughts and the meditations of the hearts of the people on this particular day. Here's the reality. You want to hear it? They're mismanaging their hearts on a holy day. They're mismanaging their emotions and their responses.

They're sort of doing their own thing, rather than engaging in the management of God on that holy day. You know, even a day like today, you know, God is managing our lives. He's managing our day. He's told us what to do on this day, to sing and to pray and to study the Word of God. And not to think our own thoughts or do our own thing, but just to fill our minds up with the goodness of everything that he is.

You know, cutting out the things that aren't so good and filling this day with things that are absolutely, undeniably, irrefutably good. That's what God's called us to do on a day like today. And you know so here the leaders are leading because the people's hearts are going in a in a wrong direction and you know leaders have to ask what do these people need for us from us as leaders what do they need and I the Lord helped these men to understand what they should do and God God was redirecting the people now why why were they being redirected they're probably there's probably more reason more than one reason but here's one reason This day is holy to the Lord your God. This day is holy to the Lord your God. This was a day that was set apart for God-ordained purposes.

It was God's day. God designed this day. Remember where we are? It's the Feast of Trumpets. It's the first day of the seventh month.

God called for it and he prescribed that the first day of the seventh month should be different compared to all the days of the previous month. And it was a day that was set aside for different purposes. Now, because it was the first day of the seventh month, it was called a Sabbath day, and it was a day where there would be no work now to Get the design for this day you go back to Leviticus chapter 23 verse 24 and and Moses says speak to the children of Israel or the Lord says speak to the children of Israel or the Lord says speak to the children of Israel saying in the seventh month on the first day of the month you shall have a Sabbath rest a memorial of blowing of trumpets a holy convocation You shall do no customary work on it, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord." Now, this was the Feast of Trevance. This wasn't the Sabbath day. This is not the commemoration of the day that God rested.

It is not the Sabbath day that was called for in the Ten Commandments. This is a different kind of Sabbath. This is a Sabbath of the ceremonial law of the feasts of Israel, the feast of trumpets specifically, and they gathered to celebrate the voice of God, the trumpet, the trumpet voice of God. Trumpets, you know, trumpets were sounded when the law was given. Trumpets are sounded to really picture God speaking to His people.

God speaks to His people. Isn't that amazing? God is not silent. He comes to you. He walks with you.

He talks with you. He tells you that you're His own. He loves you. And He trumpets His voice. And so The people were celebrating that feast.

You know, God is so kind. He tells you what to do with yourself. You don't know what to do with your life. God tells you what to do with your life. And He explains how you should think about this life.

He tells you how to deal with your emotions. He shows you how to handle the people in your life. He shows you how to do your work in this life. He shows you how to go to church in this life. And he shows you really the basic fundamental structure of everything in life.

God is so kind. So they were celebrating this kindness of God in the Feast of Trumpets because God's voice is like a trumpet throughout the land. He tells his people what to do. You know, Jesus said, you know, I call you friends because I tell you what I'm doing. And that's what God is like.

He tells you what He's doing and He tells you what to do. So they're celebrating that and they and and and and while they're celebrating, well they're supposed to be celebrating this day of joy, they're having a day of sorrow and their joy has fled them, which is a real problem, right? We know why it's a real problem. I mean, what is the chief end of man? Really, I mean, what is the chief end of man?

I know all of you could answer that. Well, the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever." So the leaders are engaging the people on this matter and so They've heard the law of God and they had over much sorrow. And I like the way that Matthew Henry explains this. He says, even sorrow for sin must not hinder our joy in God, but rather lead us to it and prepare us for it." In other words, when you have knowledge of your sin, sight of sin, and you have sorrow for your sin, This is appropriate. But God never intends to leave his people in their sins.

He is designed to lead, to cause even their sins, to lead them to joy. How about that? What is the purpose of sin in your life? One reason, one purpose for sin is that you would recognize what it is and it would lead you to joy, lead you to the Lord. Every sin is a straight line of a trail to the joy of the Lord when handled rightly and so The leaders are seeing that the people are falling into Despondency so that's the scene and then there are commands that are delivered.

I'm gonna list five commands I know There are different ways you can break this up, but I'm gonna repeat five commands. And the first is do not mourn and weep. That's the first command. Second, go your way, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet. All your children need to remember that one.

Number three, send portions to the needy. That's the third command. The fourth command is be still. I'll talk about that in a minute. The fifth command is do not be grieved.

So those are the commands that are issued. So you have this situation, the law has been preached, everybody's all broke up about it, a little bit too broke up about it you know, they're like the guy with the long face eating oatmeal out of the bottom of the vase and But it's not a day for that it's a it's a day to relish in the mercies of God and So here are these commands Now if you if you look at these verses you'll see some really critical words. Mourn, weep, sorrow, quieted, still, grieved, and strength. I think that really helps us to understand what what the leaders are trying to communicate, what God is trying to do to to awaken these people to the fact that they've gone overboard in their sorrow for sin. Can you go overboard in your sorrow for sin?

Can you? Is it possible? It's possible. It happened right here. And maybe it's happening right here.

It's possible. So what do you do? What are you supposed to do? It's a holy day and you're discouraged. What do you do?

And You know it's not supposed to be like this. But somehow you're finding it really hard to shake your sorrow. What are you supposed to do when it's a holy day and you're all wrapped up in your sorrows and your fears and your disappointments and stuff like that? What are you supposed to do? You've fallen into a pit, that's what was happening here.

You know, where do you go for strength when you're rebuilding your life? You know, you realize you're not as good as you thought you were, and that's very clear. But what do you do now? How do you go forward when you see the gravity of your sin what do you do and God you can just can't you see the kindness of God in this what a merciful Savior he is by the way they were sorrowful for real sin real rebellion against God it wasn't small potatoes, it was rebellion against Almighty God. And yet God is so kind to come to them.

So the first command is, do not mourn or weep, because all the people wept. And they had discovered the greater levels of their depravity. And when you get to chapter 9, you also get a little insight into what this is, why they are so sorrowful. Some of it had to do with their fathers and their whole background, their whole experience, because in chapter nine is a prayer, and it really identifies a lot of the sins of their fathers. I think this is equivalent to the person who wakes up and says, you know, my fathers and mothers, my relatives, my whole life is messed up.

Like, they messed me up. I'm messed up, and part of it's because I I grew up in it and You're sorrowful about that, but God's greater than that. He's much bigger than that. Nobody gets a perfect background. Nobody does and and so they're there it's it becomes clear to them that their background was more off course than they thought it was.

And so they're sorrowful. And so they're looking at the hopelessness of their situation. And they're realizing that their problems are deeper and more pernicious than they thought. And so they're weeping over their sins and, as we learn in the next chapter, over the sins of their fathers. And it's a good thing that our hearts are pierced.

Hebrews chapter 4 says that the word of God is powerful. It's mightier than a two-edged sword and it pierces the heart. But What we learn from Hebrews 4 is while it cuts, it also heals. That sword of the Spirit has medicine on it, and when it pierces you, when it comes out, you begin to be healed because it cuts and it also comforts at the same time. And we see many examples of the people of God weeping for their sins.

It's appropriate to weep for your sin. But what Nehemiah and Ezra and the Levites are confronting is going overboard on it. And you know you can see this explained in Galatians 3 verse 19. You can see the reason for this in Romans 7 verses 7 through 16. And what you find there is that the purpose of the law is to reveal your sin.

It's good for your sin to be revealed. The God has given his word for that purpose. It's a good purpose because He while he does cut he comforts while he hurts he heals at the same time you know in the kingdom of God your hurts turn to healing and that's such a marvelous miraculous thing you know in the world your hurts just turn to you know open sores that never get healed but not so with God He's always reaching out his hand to heal his children. And so godly sorrow is necessary. In 2 Corinthians 7, we read of an example of godly sorrow.

Paul writes to them, he confronts the Corinthian church over their sin, and he says to them, I made you sorry with my letter but I don't regret it and then he says because you were made sorry sorry but your sorrow led you to repentance and when there's repentance there's relief so Paul writes he makes them sorrowful they repent and their repentance leads to their relief now If you don't get to the relief, you haven't properly understood sin or repentance or the mercy of God. Getting to relief is so critical. Matthew Henry says it like this, even sorrow for sin must not grow so excessive as to hinder our joy in God and our cheerfulness in His service. Okay, So the first command that we see here is, do not mourn or weep. And then, have you ever tried to do that, like with one of your children?

Stop crying. Well, it can be difficult, can it? You know, maybe it's difficult for you too. It might be a lot easier for you to say to your five-year-old, stop crying. But what about you?

Can you just stop crying too? Well, you ought to, okay? Just like your five-year-old. So the second command is, go your way. Then he said to them, this is in verse two now, go your way.

And then he says, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared. We'll get to those in a minute. But we're on this command, go your way. He's saying go back to your homes, walk away, stop crying, go back to your homes, and do something different. Go back and celebrate with your family.

Shift gears. You know, you need to go do something different right now and maybe that's gonna be necessary for some of us here today. You need to go, you know, maybe when this service is over, you go your way. You go back to that food line and you rejoice in the mercy of God and And leave you leave your sorrows right here in this room. How about that?

Drop them off and And and see the cut the Lord's kindness The third command is send portions to the needy. Send portions to the needy. In other words, get your mind off yourself. Don't forget those who don't have any resources to celebrate. You might have resources to celebrate, but what about everybody else?

Well everybody else doesn't. So spread the joy around. You've had this pity party about your own sins and how terrible you are and everything like that Don't you see how great the grace of God is spread it around get your mind off yourself. Very interesting terminology here, the word portions. Send portions.

And the Hebrew word that is used here is a word that every homeschool math teacher should love. It's an arithmetic word and it means to count out. It means to count what you have and set it aside, take a portion and give it to someone else. So count it out. What do you have left over for blessing and go spread it or spread the blessing around?

That's what Christians are supposed to do. They take what they have and they put it in play for the blessing of other people. And here you have a picture of the church as really a family and they look out for each other and they're not just thinking of themselves. And everyone is included, no one's left out. So, account, make account, what have you got left over, and send it on to somebody that doesn't have any.

Can you imagine what was happening that afternoon? You know, you'd probably have maybe whole families, you know going over and bringing something to their family or maybe you know a couple of the children are runners and they take Bob by the way, I've seen this happen many times in our church where people do that and it's a blessing. And then the next command is to be still. They commanded them to be still. You know what does it mean to be still?

Verse 11, so the Levites quieted all the people saying, be still for the day is holy. They were quieted. They were quieted. What does it mean? It means to make silent.

It means to make silent. It means to be brought to a peace, a place of quiet peace. Stop crying over the spilled milk. Maybe another way to say it, this might not be exactly the force of the term, but quit your belly aching. Quit your belly aching.

Be quiet. Be quieted about this. Stop talking incessantly about your problems. You know how the tendency we have when we have a problem, we just want to talk incessantly about our problems and they're quieting the people. Silence.

No. Stop talking. Stop jabbering about how bad you are. You know, You know, they were in turmoil and they were conflicted and they needed to be quieted. They needed to stop obsessively talking about their sins and celebrate the day and do what God commanded them to do on the day.

Your life is not your own. God has called you to do certain things in certain times. Now's your time. Quit your belly aching and be quiet. And then the next command, do not sorrow.

Do not sorrow. For the joy of the Lord is your strength. This passage is so helpful for so many reasons. One reason is that it's a helpful recipe for fighting sorrow in your life. And how do you do that?

Well, It has to do with strength. It has to do with where you get your strength. You know, what does it mean that He is your strength? And the word that is used here, it means protection or a stronghold. And it communicates that God is your protection.

God is your stronghold. The joy of the Lord is your stronghold. It is His... I think there are two ways to take this. You know, is it His strength?

Or it is his joy that becomes your strength? And, you know, they've been thinking a lot about strength, haven't they? Remember when this happened? Five days after the wall was done, They'd finished the wall. Can you imagine they might have been so happy?

The wall's done. Now we're protected. Now we're safe. Now we're safe. And Ezra and Nehemiah saying, No, you're not.

Because the Lord is your strength. Those walls aren't your strength. Your family's not your strength, your money's not your strength, your job's not your strength, your friends are not your strength. The joy of the Lord is your strength. You have no strength if it's found in your job or your friends or your circumstances at all.

There's no strength there. All those things are transitory and God is using them for His own glory and He may give them and take or take them away at any moment so if your strength is in your family or if your strength is in your house and it's what makes you feel good and secure it's just it's just like having confidence in those walls And we know God can take walls down in a second. He's done it. But it's the Lord that is your strength. And then he says, for this day is holy to our Lord.

And it's a day of feasting, not fasting. It's not a day for weeping. It's a day for worshiping. So they issue these commands. Stop it.

Stop living the way you're living. And by the way, every once in a while, leaders have to say that to churches. Stop living the way you're living. And by the way, every once in a while, leaders have to say that to churches. Stop living the way you're living.

You know, stop the long faces. You have no reason for it. Okay? This is a holy day. And then the people changed.

This is remarkable. Verse 12. They responded. The people actually listened. And all the people, verse 12, went their way to eat and drink.

So they did that. Okay, we're gonna go, we're gonna go back to our houses. We're gonna break the pity party. We're gonna go do something else. To eat and drink, to send portions and rejoice greatly.

So that's what they did when they went home. They changed like it's possible to change. Is it possible? Sometimes you wonder if it's possible. It is possible with an obedient heart, you know, But if you want to, if you just refuse to quit your belly aching, then it's not going to happen.

But somehow you have to be quieted in your soul. You know David said, I'm like a wean child quieted in my soul. So they had a change of disposition and why? Why? Why did this happen?

The secret, the key is revealed in verse 12. How did it happen? You might be surprised on how it happened. Because, you see that word because at the end of verse 12 go ahead and look at that me with me because they understood the words that were declared to them They changed because they had a change in their mind. Their minds changed.

You know, God always deals with your mind. He deals with the renewing of your mind. This is how God works. He begins in the mind. You have to begin to think differently.

This is why God's given us His word, to help us to think differently about everything. Our trials, our future, our past, everything. He helps us to think rightly about all those things. But they had a transformation of their thinking. They started thinking differently about that day and their sins.

They understood. And It wasn't because they went home and ate of the fat. That would be nice. It wasn't because they drank of the sweet. That would be nice.

And it wasn't just the feel-good of serving other people and sending portions. It wasn't because, oh, service just feels so good. That wasn't it. That wasn't why they changed. They changed because they understood.

And they embraced what they had understood. Okay, I'm gonna spend the rest of the time just talking about how to process this and how to apply it. And the first way of thinking about this is, how is it that we shift from sorrow to joy? And of course, That word understood is critical. The word Sabbath or holy day is another way to understand it as well.

How do you make the shift? And so it's not a mystery how you change. It begins with our understanding. It changes, it comes with a change of mind. And this word that is used for understand is a word that means more than just intellectual acquisition of a principle.

It has to do with the intellectual acquisition of the principle that turns into experience. Like it works in your, it's like real in your life. It's not just like a theological principle. It's something that changes your heart and it changes your experience in life. And it means to know with the mind and respond with the heart.

It's to be intelligent about things and then to lean not on your own understanding, but to embrace God's understanding. And there are many illustrations of this in the Bible, And one is Asaph in Psalm 73. He starts out the Psalm and it's very clear that he's despondent. He's despondent over the prosperity of the wicked and the hard times he's in. And God changes his mind in the temple.

David speaks of the very same thing. He teaches us that even the man after God's own heart needed to cry out for understanding. He said, Give me understanding and I shall keep your law. Indeed, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me walk in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it." It happens when you delight in the commandments of God.

And so, such that you cry out, you think so highly of the commands of God and as a result of that you change. Solomon spoke of it in Proverbs chapter 2 verse 5 and in verse 9 as well. But this is the matter of understanding and God works through our understanding. So if we are, if the joy of the Lord is going to be our strength, then our minds need to change about our sins and our trials and a holy day. And what this day is designed for, we have to change our minds about that so that we might be renewed by the transforming power of the Word of God in our lives.

Now, it's not dependent on your IQ and it's not dependent on your age. It has to do with understanding a message and responding with your life. Now how do you, so how do you change? How do you make the transition? The knowledge of the truth of what God has done for you and what He is doing for you now and what he has promised to do for you in the future.

We must understand that. We must understand the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What he has done, what he's doing now, and what he has promised to do. I don't really know of any other way to be lifted out of my sorrows than to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ the the the converting power of God the love of God and his plans for me and To understand the kind the kind intentions of his will you know what has God said? What has God done?

What has God promised to do for you? What has He done? Well, he has covered all of your liabilities. He's covered everything. He's taken your sins and put them as far as the east is from the west.

When you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, He converts your heart and He changes you and He justifies you by faith. And He spends the rest of your life working with you, but your sins are always there. And He loves you in spite of those sins. I think it was just last night our family read Romans 8 one there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. How about that?

No condemnation. None. Zero. No condemnation at all. Well you say well you know I know but you know I fall short in so many ways.

Stop saying that. Why, why, why? Do you have to say that? There's no condemnation. Of course you fall short of many ways.

And that's why there is no condemnation. You say, well yeah, but you know, I spoke to my wife, I did this, you know, oh, Yesterday you can't believe what I said. It was so terrible. Okay, there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and I you You know me well enough that I know to know that I'm not saying just run by your sins You know, let's sin run so that grace may abound. I'm not saying that at all But we have to recognize how scandalous the gospel of Jesus Christ is.

He has set you free from the law of sin and death. He said, there is therefore now no condemnation. He did that for sinners who keep sinning. It's scandalous. It's not fair.

No one else would do that. And our nature is to keep holding everybody accountable for everything and God, what God does is he says, I've released you. I nailed your sins to the cross. I buried them in the bottom of the sea I separated them as far as the East is from the West from you I forgot them that's what God says about your sins it's scandalous it's almost insane It's almost impossible to believe and you have to remind yourself of it lest you be lost in your sorrows and Now we're being reminded of it through this passage go eat of the fat drink of the sweet don't drown in your sorrows The joy of the Lord is your strength. I Mean do you he chose you before the foundation of the world he rejoices over you with singing He promises to restore everything he promises to bring many sons to glory that's what he's doing right now and So to be downcast to have our faces so long that we could eat oatmeal out of a vase, is it appropriate for this day?

That's what the leaders are saying. It's not appropriate. Yeah, it's scandalous. It sounds like anti-nomianism, but it isn't it's the gospel of Jesus Christ And it's not just brushing your sins aside, that's not what Christians do a true Christian doesn't do that He's promised to sum up everything in Jesus Christ. Everything.

All of your sins, All the hard things that have happened to you all the slanders all of the sickness All of the inappropriate things you've said and done He's gonna take all of those things and you know what he's gonna do. He's going to glorify His mercy by summing them all up in Jesus Christ. It's scandalous, it's unbelievable that He would do that, and He's done that. You know, you can look at yourself and be disgusted and be disappointed, and you do know that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But do you think that God saved you to scowl at you?

Do you think he's scowling or is he rejoicing over you a singing? What's he doing? You know when you behold the face of the Lord Jesus Christ what kind of face is that? Do you think that when He receives you into heaven that He is going to be disappointed in you? Do you think so?

The last I heard that the punishments that we deserved were laid on his son. And that the wrath that we deserved was like a yoke that he took off of us and he laid it on his son. That's the scandal of the gospel. It's unbelievable. It's so hard to grasp for Christians, and we have to continue to remind ourselves of that.

Not that we might sin more, but that we might just glory in the mercy and the grace of God so that we know that the joy of the Lord is our strength. Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. Paul said to the Corinthians, for he made him who knew no sin to be sinned for us. Do you know how to finish the sentence? That we might become the righteousness of God.

You are the righteousness of God. When you face Him in glory, do you think you are gonna see a scowl? No, no. You will be received as the righteousness of God. That's how it is.

That's the real world. But we get so lost in our own world, and the gospel's not informing us of it. A scowl? Really, a scowl? You remember when we were in 1st John?

Behold, what manner of love the Father has given unto us that we might be called the children of God. Children of God. And maybe it's an inordinate focus on ourselves. Whatever it is, the joy of the Lord is your strength. Don't miss the holy day.

And then the final thing, perhaps it's the final thing, is that really the great characteristic of Christianity is joy. I've had to grapple with this quite a bit over the months. I really have. I, you know, and what we find here is consistent with what we find all over the Bible. These leaders are commanding the people to be joyful.

And it is a Christian obligation to be joyful. I know it sounds pretty cold doesn't it? Technical. It's your obligation to be joyful. Okay.

I think you know what I mean by that. I mean James says count it all Count it all joy when you encounter various trials. It's a Christian obligation. Paul says to the Philippians, rejoice in the Lord. Again I say rejoice.

Again I say rejoice. You know, quite a while ago I was very heavy about something. And I remember in our kitchen, I can remember just exactly where I was standing and I remember exactly where Deborah was and She said so why art thou cast down my husband and then she said you've you've been to Scotland haven't you no I haven't what do you mean I've been to Scotland oh yes you've been living in Scotland. It's all about Scott. It's all about you, right?

Well, as it turns out, that was pretty much the right diagnosis. She said, I think you need to leave Scotland. And so I did. I did. I left Scotland right then.

I got out of there. David said, delight yourself in the Lord. He said, be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones. These, by the way, these are commands, just like Ezra and Nehemiah. They're come, It is a Christian obligation under the command of a sovereign, loving, gracious, joyful God that you would be like Him.

And you would rejoice with singing. You know, in Hebrews 1-9 we learn Jesus was the happiest of all the disciples. Psalm 66, make a joyful shout to God all the earth. Sing the honor of His name. Make His praise glorious.

Say to God, how awesome are your works. Through the greatness of your power, Your enemies shall submit themselves to you. Psalm 66. But let the righteous be glad. Verse 3.

Let them rejoice before God. Yes, let them rejoice exceedingly. Verse 4. Sing to God. Sing praises to His name.

Extol him who rides on the clouds by his name yah and rejoice before him a Father of the fatherless a defender of widows is God in his holy habitation The Bible is full of commands to be joyful. Jesus said to those who are getting just beat up, rejoice and be glad for great is your reward in heaven. Have you left something like some thing of this world, some idol, some bauble of this world, some relationship, destroy your joy, some fear about the economy, how about your economy? How about your future? Oh, wait a minute, your future has been taken care of.

Oh, wait a minute, all these troubles, they're all gonna be summed up in Christ wait a minute I've been justified like it's done like it's he's rejoicing over me with singing what you know, why am I still