In his sermon 'Joy in the Lord,' James Lundquist explores the concept of joy as presented in the Bible, particularly in Philippians, often referred to as the Epistle of Joy. Lundquist emphasizes that true joy is a gift from God, produced within believers by the Holy Spirit, and is not dependent on circumstances. Through scripture, he differentiates joy from happiness, explaining that while happiness is fleeting and circumstantial, joy is deep-rooted and eternal. The sermon highlights the importance of abiding in Christ, as joy is for those who trust in Jesus and whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Lundquist also addresses the challenge of finding joy in trials, asserting that trials are not in vain but work to sanctify believers and build patience, ultimately glorifying God. He encourages Christians to trust in God's sovereignty and goodness, even amidst suffering, and to rejoice with others, sharing in their joys and sorrows. The sermon concludes by urging listeners to focus on the eternal glory and promises of God, maintaining joy through faith and trust in His Word.

Our God, thank you that you would save a people and gift us with joy. And that Holy Spirit, you would produce joy in a people. That we would see that there is true joy to be had. So help us this morning to rejoice in what you do and how you care for your people. You care for people when things go well, when things are in the midst of a trial and a test.

Thank you God that you are everlasting and everlasting and care for us. Help us now. Help me to preach truth. Please God Help the hearers to only hear your truth. May we be more joyful from this.

We thank you. Amen. So this is not meant to be a specific Christmas message. It just happened to be, by God's sovereignty, when this happened. When we first started Philippians, looking at Philippians, also called an Epistle of Joy, started looking at it, just telling Jace, hey someday I'd like to just, let's talk about joy.

It's been a Sunday on joy. And this happened to be the Sunday where it worked out. So the Philippians is known as an epistle of joy. We've seen joy throughout Philippians already. When you look through Scripture, you're going to find over 400 passages with either joy or derivations of joy.

Joy, joyfulness, rejoicing, rejoice. Over 400 times, thankfully we're not going to go to all 400, we're going to go to about 1% of that. But it's all there. And everywhere you look at rejoicing, everywhere you look at people being joyful, it all stems from one thing. It all stems from God.

All of it. All of it stems from God. There's only true rejoicing from God. You see on your handout, we've got several points. The ones that will be the longest, be the bulk of it is talking about our source of joy.

Taylor just mentioned that, our source of joy, Jesus Christ. And joy in trial. Joy in trial. But I want to start with joy being defined. Joy defined.

When we start with any term in scripture, we have to come to look at, we have this problem at times, because the world will define it one way and use it one way. And God says, no, this is how you define joy. And there's a lot of good helps on defining joy. And I read several people's definitions. John MacArthur, John Piper, the Expository Bible commentary, they all have some good definitions.

Here's what we see when we look at joy. This is what we want to look at in defining joy, and also want to spend some time on differentiating that from happiness a little bit. But joy, Joy is given by God. First of all, joy is given by God. To believers.

To Christians. If you want joy, it is given by God. And then produced within you by the Holy Spirit. Joy is given by God and produced by the Holy Spirit. Joy is in the Lord.

Joy is in the Lord. It's in His beauty. It's in His Word. It's in His actions. It's in His truth.

Our joy is in the Lord in that He, Jesus Christ, is our hope. He's our hope for all eternity. And joy is not in any of our circumstances, not determined by our circumstances. We can have joy in things, but it's not determined by our circumstances. So the key here is, joy is given by God to Christians, produced by the Holy Spirit, and our joy is in the Lord in all of his attributes, and our hope in him for all eternity." That's what we need to look at.

Now happiness, how is joy differentiated from happiness? Happiness is really a part of joy. It can be a part of joy. We can call ourselves happy Christians. It's fine to call ourselves happy.

We kind of squirm from that word. Moses uses it in the Song of Moses. Look at the end of chapter 32, Deuteronomy. But he talks about you, Israel, are the most happy people. And I looked at that.

All translations, they all translate it happy. I look at the Hebrew word. It's happy. You are the most happy people in the world because God has saved you. So happiness, you can be happy.

You can be a happy Christian. Happiness is a part of joy. Found a helpfulness on this from J.R. Miller. Wrote this in 1911.

He says this about joy and happiness. Joy is deeper than happiness. Happiness is the fruit of prosperous conditions. It is the outcome of fortuitous happenings, of favorable circumstances. Joy is independent of circumstances.

It dwells in the heart as a never failing fountain. Happiness lasts when the sun shines, but grows sad when clouds gather. Joy sings on in all weathers and all experiences. We can be happy. We can be happy.

That is fine. Be happy. But joy is much deeper than that. It can only come from God and produced by the Holy Spirit within you. So let's move on to Joy Commanded.

Joy Commanded. As we've seen already in Philippians in a couple of places, We've seen joy commanded in chapter 3 a couple of times. In verse 1, rejoice in the Lord. In chapter 3, verse 3, rejoice in Christ Jesus. In chapter 4, verse 4, rejoice in the Lord always.

Again, I will say rejoice. And then in 1 Thessalonians going back there in 5, 16 through 18 talks about rejoice always and continues this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. He tells us to rejoice with a clarifier, not just a command, but a command with the clarification, a command with the solution to the command. Rejoice in the Lord, rejoice in Christ Jesus. Now, as I already gave in our definition, we only have joy as a gift from God, produced by the Holy Spirit.

So by that definition, Joy isn't something we can give ourselves, is it? Joy is, if it's a gift from God, given only by God to Christians, it's not something we can make ourselves be or do. We can't do that. And so we have, sometimes we can have problems with that. God tells us to do something, but yet we know we can't do it.

And we see that elsewhere in scripture. We see, be holy as I am holy. Be perfect as I am perfect. We see in Acts 17 where God commands all people everywhere to repent. And we know you can't do that on your own.

It goes back to, think of the famous prayer by Augustine, Father, command what you will and grant what you command. God, you are God. You can say and do anything and command anything you want, because you are righteous. You are good. You are perfect.

But I recognize I can't do this of my own. I need your help. And that's the great thing of the Christian life. God commands all these things to be saved. And then what He said, OK, you can't save yourself.

Command you to be perfect. You're not perfect. You need to save, but you can't save yourself. Here's Christ. Here's Christ.

And that was His eternal plan, not because, oh, Adam, and you've sinned. Now everybody's going to sin. What are we going to do now? No. That was his eternal plan.

And he helps us. And he cares for us. So we're not commanded to just rejoice without any clarification. That would leave us with no hope. That's what the world does.

That's what the world does. Without in the Lord there's no solution, there's no hope. Then we just have happiness or joy based on circumstances. We're just said, rejoice. If that's all it was with just rejoice, Then we're really just relying on the circumstances of our life as maybe our purpose for rejoicing.

And we know that's fleeting. That is fleeting. There's no eternal joy. We'll just have this roller coaster of life searching for happiness. Back in 1988, there's still several people here that can know 1988.

A famous song was, Don't Worry, Be Happy. Don't Worry, Be Happy. That was the advice of the world that was a number one song don't worry be happy if if you lose everything don't worry about be happy you lose the lyrics look them up they are sad and there's a number one song if you lose your job don't worry just be happy if you if you don't have any food don't worry about it be happy if you don't have a bed to lay in don't worry be happy two commands the world that's their solution don't worry and be happy they give you two commands that's what the world gives you and here's what we got as a result people using antidepressants depressants have increased over 400 percent suicides increased over 25 percent in that time That's what happens when you give a command world without a solution. There is no hope. When joy is based in the secondary things of life, that moth and rust destroy.

When it's based even in our own life, that is just a vapor, that time, And it just destroys. Young people, you may not completely, you'll get older and you've seen that you're sick. We've seen that people have died. Moth and rust destroy. Time destroys this vapor of life.

If that's where your hope is, there is none. So let's go back to what God says about rejoice. He says rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in Christ Jesus. Rejoice always in Christ Jesus.

Since this is a command, Since this is a command, therefore it's a sin when we're not joyful. It's a sin when we're not joyful, when we lack joy. It's a sin. Philippians 2, 14, do all things without complaining and disputing. We were there not too long ago.

Do all things without complaining and disputing. I can change that up a little bit. Then Do all things with contentment. Do all things with peace. Do all things with joy.

With rejoicing. Even in the circumstances where especially the world would say, It's fine to complain. It's fine to argue. It's fine to have your soul downcast. Look how bad you have it.

But that's not what God says. God says to rejoice in the Lord always. Not sometimes rejoicing, but always in the Lord. So let's move on to the bulk of what I want to talk about this morning. It's our source of joy, joy in the Lord, and joy in trials.

So, joy in the Lord. Our source of joy. Rejoice in the Lord. True joy is only in the Lord, given by God, produced by the Holy Spirit. Remember that.

Hold on to that tight. Nehemiah 12. Those that were here when we went through Nehemiah. Remember when Ezra brought out the law and they were reading and they were repenting. There was rejoicing.

And they rejoiced for God had made them rejoice with great joy. Rejoice in what God made them rejoice. So I want you to turn first to Luke chapter 10. We'll get to John 15 next. But Luke 10 is where I want to go first.

This is key. It's so key in our joy in the Lord for our source of joy. This is where it starts. So in chapter 10 what has happened is Jesus has sent out the disciples, sent them out without money, without a second tunic, go out, no place to stay, no real plan, go out and tell people, cast out demons, heal the sick, do these things in the name of God, present the gospel, do these things. And so now they've come back and they're happy.

And they even say they're joyful. In Luke 10, I'm going to read 17 through 20. Look at this. Then the 70 returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name." And Jesus said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Nevertheless, nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Rejoice church! Rejoice brethren. Rejoice Christians. Your name is written in heaven.

That is your source of joy. That is your foundation of joy. Joy is for those that have repented and believe the Gospel. Your name is written in heaven sealed by the blood and the work of Jesus Christ for all time. Rejoice in that.

Rejoice. This is for those. Your name is written in heaven and you're to rejoice over that if you have repented and believed the gospel. If you have believed that God is holy and you're a sinner, you're a wretched sinner, I don't care, you name your sin, you name your smallest sin and you only bring that, you are a wretched sinner and cannot stand before a holy God. If you try to do that, as many will, as most will, they will suffer the wrath of God for all of eternity.

That's what they get. That's what you will get. But, by the mercy of God, Christ came. Christmas, Christ came. It's a babe, humbled himself.

Lived that perfect life we were commanded to live and could not. Lived that perfect life, died the death we deserved. He became sin for us, taking on the wrath of God that we deserve, died that death, then conquered death by raising from the dead, and now sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. Now, that alone doesn't save you. That's all it took to save.

Now is it? What's left to do is Jesus will then save you and give you eyes to see your state and that you need Christ, you need to believe in Christ, and that His death, His life, His death, His resurrection was enough. And believe in Him alone for salvation. There is no other name given among men, whereby ye must be saved. Jesus is the only way, the only truth, the only life.

You must repent, turn from sin, say, God, your ways are right. I see you are good and I believe that you are the Savior. And that only happens when God gives you the eyes to see. You can't even do that yourself. That's who joy is for.

Those whose names are written in heaven because you have trusted in Christ alone to save you. You have repented and believed the gospel. So these 70, they return with joy because of the success of their journey, because of the circumstances is what they had and they called it joy. Be thankful though, there's no rebuke here for the things that happened that they were bad. Be thankful though here.

Be thankful. Rejoice with those that are rejoicing that they're not possessed by demons anymore. Rejoice with those who are rejoicing. We'll get to that part later. That there are people who were sick and are now healed.

Maybe people that were on their deathbed are now healed. Jesus does not rebuke them for that, that these things were done. They were, and we should be very thankful that these things were done. No, Jesus' correction is in their source of joy. In their source of joy.

Joy is in myself and the success of my work. The success of how I am as a parent, how I am as a husband, how I am as an elder, how I am as a citizen, how I am in anything. If that's determining my success, how well I did like the disciples were terming their success. I am being set up with so much heartache. I'm going to fail myself today, several times today.

I'm just being set up for heartache and lack of joy. Our joy, you're going to hear it a lot, our joy only comes from God, produced by the Holy Spirit through salvation in Jesus. Rejoice, brethren, your names are written in heaven. The Lamb's Book of Life, sealed for all time by the work of Jesus Christ. John 10 and Romans 8, rejoice!

Nobody can snatch us from His hand. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Colossians 3. Rejoice! Our life, your life is hidden with Christ in God.

It is covered. It is enveloped by Christ. When Christ, when God sees you, brother, sister, been saved by God. When God sees you, He delights in you because He delights in Christ. He sees Christ.

He sees the righteousness of Christ. That is to be delighted, and that is where our source of joy is, is that our names are written in heaven because of the work of Christ. I didn't have to do anything. Remember the joy when you were saved. For some, it was great.

We've heard the stories of each other and keep telling them. These are wonderful to be reminded of. Remember the joy for some. It was just phenomenal. Walking on air experience for some, it wasn't exactly that, but especially if you were younger, but it grows.

It grows when you remember the joy when you were saved, knowing your name was written in heaven, knowing your sins were forgiven, that you had peace with God, that you're now called a child of God, a daughter or a son, that you now have eternal life because every sin has been erased, has been removed, has been cast away, and peace with God has come. Remember that joy? That is joy in the Lord over your name being written in heaven because He has saved you. He has redeemed you. Rejoice in the Lord.

Now turn to John 15. John 15. I'm going to go back and read verses 1 through 5 and 11. 1 through 5 and then verse 11. I, this is Jesus, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away. In every branch that bears fruit He prunes 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. 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 bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing." Verse 11, these things I have spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. I'm not abiding here, abiding in Jesus, remaining in Jesus, staying in Jesus. This is not about losing salvation.

It is not about losing salvation. Jesus has you and nothing and no one can snatch you from him Nothing can separate you from the love of God. This is about increasing fruit by being intimately close to the source of nourishment of joy that is Jesus. That's what this is about. Joy is for those that abide in Jesus.

Those are Christians. We are the branches. We can do nothing outside of Christ. Nobody, Christian or non-Christian, you can't do anything outside of Christ. What's happening is just reminding us, you couldn't do anything without me.

I am God. I sacrifice. I'm doing this. I'm the Messiah. I'm going to care for you.

Stay in me. Your life is hidden in God with me. I've got you. I'm the source of your nourishment. That's Jesus as the vine, the source of all the nourishment for the fruit bearing branches.

And then we have God the Father here as the vine dresser who cares and waters and prunes. You see God the Father and God the Son working together to care for us, to care for us how sweet this is. The pruning and just the pruning. Vines can get out of control fast. We know that.

We see the vines can get out of control fast. We know that. We see that vines can get out of control fast. Different trees can get out of control fast. Things get out of control fast without pruning.

But the pruning, what God is doing, with the vine dresser, God is doing by pruning us. He's directing us. And He's increasing our fruitfulness 30, 60, 100 fold. He's increasing our joy. In His pruning, He's directing us.

He's not just coming in. You see some trees pruned. It might just look like, well, he came in, just boom, boom, boom, and chopped it off without any thought. That's not God. God doesn't just come in and just say I need to prune so they're fruitful he's doing it with intentional purpose when I when I prune my trees I'm ten pruning a branch and I know how about how far I want to prune this back well there's buds all over that well where do I choose to make that cut?

I go, OK, I want to be about this much. That'll be good. But which direction do I want this tree to go? Will it increase its fruit? And will it be healthy if the branch goes that way?

No, it's going to go back into the tree. That's not going to be healthy. It's not going to be enough sun. I want it to go this way. So I look where a bud is going that way, and I prune it so it directs that way.

God cares for us. He carefully is pruning us. Don't think of it as harsh. We'll talk about joy and trial. Don't think about pruning as harsh.

Yes, it can bring about trial, but it doesn't have to be always that way. This will increase fruit. Without pruning, you end up with a lot of weak fruit. Some people have done grapes before. And if you don't prune grape vines, you end up with fruitless, ugly, small fruit that tastes awful.

Increase fruitfulness. Not just increase fruitfulness, but you're increasing the sweetness of that fruit, the goodness of that fruit, the delight of that fruit to have and savor and to be around and look forward to having. So why abide in Jesus? Why be pruned? Says here in verse 11 that his joy would remain in us and our joy is full.

His joy, not just any joy, you get that? Not just any joy, but Jesus' joy is in us. Jesus' joy. Jesus who has the perfect joy. Jesus is the most joyful, he has perfect joy.

His joy, that perfect joy remains in us and he wants that joy to be full in us, not just partial. Here I'll just give you part of my joy. No, He wants that to be full in you. Our joy is up and down. My joy is up and down.

Your joy is up and down. But for a life of more increasing joy, For a life of more consistent increasing in joy, we need to abide more in Christ. That doesn't mean we need more salvation. It means we need to stay close, stay more, remain more in intimacy and communion with Christ. We're starting to see this in Philippians 3.

We started this a couple of weeks ago. We're starting to see this communion with Jesus, knowing Jesus, fellowship with Jesus, to be conformed with Jesus. Jesus is our source of joy. He has saved us, he has redeemed us. Have joy brethren, Your name is written in heaven.

Your name is written in the Lamb's Jesus Book of Life, sealed for all time by His power and His work, never, Never to be a snatch away from him. Never have joy. That is your joy. Let's move on to talk about joy in trial. Joy in trial.

James 1, chapter 1, verse 2. My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Count it all joy. Trials, joy. Help with the tassels too.

We have trials. We have trials. We have hard trials. A lot of pain and suffering and sorrow that are caused, that come about from death, from financial hardships, children hardships, marriage hardships, work hardships, from churches, politics, sickness, conflicts. We're just tired and worn out.

We have real trials with real pain and real suffering. I do not want to minimize that at all. That is real. God says to count it all joy when you fall into various trials. Consider that this is a matter for increasing joy that God would have you have these trials.

Not because the trial is pleasurable. There is no pleasure. There are real tears, there are real heartaches that can last for an hour, a day, a year, decades, your whole life. There definitely can be. So not that the trial is pleasurable, but rather the reason we are to count it joy, consider it as a matter of joy.

Is that this trial, this pain and this suffering is working patience in us so that there is something good happening to us. We are being sanctified, we are being conformed to Jesus. So consider it a matter of joy that God would do this and be patient as God builds this joy in you through this trial. Be patient and consider that God is sovereign and that trust Him that He knows what He is doing. He is righteous.

He is good. As difficult as trials are to bear, this is what we need to know. They are not in vain. He is doing something in us. He is doing something in us to glorify Him, to exalt Jesus who has saved us, who has sealed our names forever in time.

It is not in vain. As hard as they are, brethren, you can trust that they are not in vain. This is the righteous goodness of God to do this. God's purposes are always right because He is righteous. They are always good because He is good.

Whenever we hear of trials, especially on the news And disasters, the hurricane, you'll hear people always say, what, all things work together for good. They may not know where that comes from. But we hope they're not using it flippantly as just a false sense of security to help themselves out. We hope it's right. Romans 8, 28, All things work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are called to this purpose.

This is not a flippant phrase to you. This is the truth of God's scripture to help us have joy in various trials. The trial is still a trial. The pain is still painful. The suffering and sorrow is still there.

There definitely can be weeping. But we, by remembering Romans 8.28, by remembering James 1.2, are reminding ourselves that this is not in vain, this is good. So we can rejoice and have joy knowing this is God working for our good and His glory. We can. We can.

Now, I fully admit this is much easier to say and to preach than it is to work out. I fully admit that. In myself and in you, We are all in the same boat. So why do we lack joy and trial? We do.

Our joy is cyclical and seems dependent on our circumstances. Why isn't joy increasing? Why isn't it at times? Well, there are several joy killers in life. And they're really based on our sin.

Complaining. Complaining will kill our joy. I deserve better. God doesn't know what he's doing. Complaining will do that.

Disputing, arguing. Over what? Bleeding things. Anxiety. Anxious about what's going to happen.

What's going to happen with the new president? What's going to happen with the new president, what's going to happen with the weather. We complain about the weather. What's going to happen with my child? What's going to happen to my marriage?

What's going to happen to society? What's going to happen with my child? What's going to happen in my marriage? What's going to happen in society? What's going to happen with my job, which leads to fear?

What if I lose my job? What if this happens in the government? What if this happens here? What if that happens? What about this when I'm traveling?

And those just kill our joy, Because all of those are really centered on ourselves. And saying that my joy is dependent on the way I feel and the way I want things to go. And that just kills our joy. When we lack joy in trial, in suffering, in sorrow, we need to consider how much do we really trust in God's sovereignty? How much do we really trust that God's Word is His Word and it is truth?

How much do we trust the eternal, eternal, sweet, gracious, merciful, saving work of Jesus Christ? How much? What is our taste for heaven? Are we longing for heaven? Do we really recognize heaven's coming?

And that's eternity. And this life's a vapor. Do we really have a taste for heaven? Do we really truly long to be with Jesus? Or do we want our life here to be the way we think it ought to be.

Second Corinthians 4, 16 through 18. It talks about how trials are a light affliction for a moment. Why? For the exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Romans 8, 18.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. So our present sufferings are not worthy to be compared to heaven. It's not that they're not worthy. It's not that they're not worthy of all of our attention. This is God giving us these trials.

What it's saying is, remember, your life is a vapor. Heaven is eternity. Remember, God is sovereign in all. He is righteous. He is doing right and good for His glory, for your good.

This is not worthy of comparing. These trials right now are not worthy of the exceeding riches of glory, the weight of glory that's to come when we get stuck here. It's stuck here and say, my joy, I would have so much joy if this wasn't happening. Instead of, my joy is in the Lord, in Christ, who has sealed my name for all time. My name is written in heaven and for eternity, for eternity I will see and be with the glory of God.

What's our number one example in there? There's all. Jesus. Jesus, Isaiah 53, which is about Jesus, he is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

One thing we get from that for sure is it's not sinful to be sorrowful. If you're sorrowful, if you're grieving, that in and of itself is not sinful. Jesus wept headed to Jerusalem. He wept at Lazarus' tomb. Why?

Because he sees the effects of sin on the world. People die. People will die without salvation as he's going up to Jerusalem. They don't recognize that their salvation has come. He's weeping.

But He knows the joy that's coming. He knows the joy that's coming. Hebrews 12, 2. So we see Jesus, a man of sorrow, is acquainted with grief. But also, in Hebrews 12, Jesus, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame that sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus, the man of sorrows, the man of grief, had joy because of the future that was coming. The eternal weight of glory, the exceeding weight of glory. He connected these. Jesus, who went through trial more than we ever will. Right?

Jesus, anybody going to dispute that? Jesus' trial was worse than anything we could possibly have. We still have hard trials. Jesus became sin. Jesus took on the wrath of God.

Jesus, who deserved full worship, People were rebuking him. His own family was turning his back on him. People were saying he was of the devil. This is God. Jesus says, I have joy in this trial, this sorrow on earth, because I know what's coming.

He knew he was going to be sitting back at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, because he trusts his Father. He knows that the promises are sure, and amen. It's hard. That is hard to keep our eyes on heaven. It is hard to keep our eyes on the promises of God.

But we must. We must. That's how Jesus endured and that's how we must endure as well with joy even. Going through trials with joy is going to tell the world what you believe about trusting in Jesus. How we go through trials and if we go through them with joy, will tell the world whether God's word is true.

And that, going through trial with joy, expect it to frustrate the world. Expect it to frustrate them when you're not complaining, when you're not arguing, when you're not full of anxiety and fear over man fear of man and what they might do to you But when you have joy when you can talk about yes, but hey, this is hard This is tough, and I cry every night over it. But let me tell you about my Christ. Let me tell you where my joy is and where it's found. And I'm going to still weep over this.

This is hard. But I'm going to tell you, world. So often we can be dour, be obstinate, gloomy, solemn, just with a miserable attitude as people in trial, when we should be the most joyful, the most hope. In Hebrews 6, it talks about this hope we have as an anchor of our soul. The hope we have in Christ is an anchor for our soul.

Those without Christ are really the ones without hope. They're the ones that should be dower and the most miserable. We endure by looking to Jesus, who's the guaranteed future of Christians. I want you to turn to Habakkuk 3. Habakkuk 3, we have Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah.

Helps us, It's just three chapters. Sometimes hard to find it in there. Turn to Habakkuk 3. Only three chapters. In the first two chapters, Habakkuk is complaining.

He's complaining to God. And God does answer him. He's complaining about how bad it is and how much, how God should really be judging and telling God really what he should be doing. And God tells him, well, not only is it bad now, but I'm telling you it's going to get far worse when the Babylonians come. Here's Habakkuk complaining and God even answers him.

And then God is so kind to Habakkuk and turns his heart into one of praise and joy. And we see that at the end of Habakkuk 3, verses 17 through 19. It says, Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, Though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food, though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength.

He will make my feet like deer's feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills." Understand what he's saying here. Though the fig tree may not blossom, I'm not getting any food, any fruit from that, no fruit from the vines, the labor of the olive, the economy has collapsed, they're not able to sell olive oil, there's no food in the fields, There's no flocks to give milk, no flocks in cattle to give food. And since I have no cattle, there's not going to be any future cattle. So now what he's saying is that there's a total meltdown, total drought, total famine, the world economic collapse, no hope. I'm going to die of starvation.

I will rejoice in the Lord, the God of my salvation." What are you saying? Joy is linked tightly in the Lord and His salvation, not circumstances. In chapter 2, verse 4, this is God talking. We know this. It says, The just shall live by faith.

We know this mainly from Romans 1 where Paul quotes this. But this is Jesus who says it first, or God who says it first to Abakek. The just shall live by faith. Archie Sproul, I like how he does this in looking at it. But he says the just shall live by faith.

The righteous shall live by trust. The righteous shall live by trust. The righteous shall live by trust. Trust in God. In our trials, in our sorrow, in our suffering.

Preach this to yourself. Trust in God. Believe God. And believe that this trial is for joy, to build our trust in Him, to care for us for our good for His glory. Believe that.

This is the trust, trust in God. This is the trust of Psalm 23. Do you trust Psalm 23? People quote it all the time. Do you really trust that Jesus will shepherd you, that Jesus will lead you to rest, that he will lead you to green pastures, he will lead you beside still waters, that He will restore your soul, that He will lead you in paths and righteousness, that He will comfort you in death, He will comfort you in the face of evil, and that He will provide goodness and mercy all the days of your life, and that you will dwell with Him forever.

Do you believe that, brethren? Trust Him. This is true. This is right. Consider it a matter of joy when you fall into all kinds of trials.

Various trials. Does this sound simple? It sounds way too simple. We want that list. We want that book.

The 10 activities I need to do to be joyful, 24-7-365. We want that checklist. The checklist. Repent and believe the gospel. And God gifts you with joy.

And the Holy Spirit will produce joy in you. Trust Him that He is right, that your name is written in heaven for all time. Nehemiah 8, 10, finishing this section says the joy of the Lord is your strength. You're in this trial. The joy of the Lord is your strength.

Not the joy of circumstances, not the joy of pleasures, not the joy of possessions, not the joy of earthly pleasures. The joy of the Lord is your strength, is my strength, and this is only joy that God can provide to those that have repented and believe the gospel, that He fills with the Holy Spirit and produces joy within. That strengthens you. The joy of the Lord knowing God, that you have been redeemed and you are His child, this joy makes us strong in everything. Everything, especially the strength we need in trials.

Brethren, you can, you can and should be the most joyful person in any circumstance. Even if you're the one under the most trials of anyone you know, you can still have more joy than the one you think has the least trials. This is what we have. This is what Jesus did. The most joyful under the most horrific trial ever.

The last point is joy with others. Joy with others. From Romans 12, 15, rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Here's another command, two commands. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.

Here's another command, two commands. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. How can these two be true? Because we're also told to rejoice always in the Lord. So if we're rejoicing always, how can we also be weeping with those who weep?

These two commands, as all of scripture helps itself, we know they don't stand on their own. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. But how?

How are we to do both this? Because our joy is not dependent on our circumstances or our success. Are we able to be joyful with others for their circumstances, their successes that God has ordained for them. I'm not saying that they are to have joy in their circumstances. Can we have joy when they rejoice over what God has done for them?

Can we share in their joy the things that He is doing with others for His glory? Can we do that when they get a promotion, when they have financial gain, when there's good health, when children are going great, when marriage is going fantastic, can we? Without any jealousy, without any envy, without any covetousness, can we do that? We need to be able to do that. If our joy is rooted in the Lord, then we can do that.

Our joy isn't even rooted in their circumstances. They're going so great that they're rejoicing in. Can we rejoice in that? This means that we have to share our joys, and we have to be on the lookout for where to rejoice with other people. Now, here's the hard part with that.

Here's the hard part with that. Sometimes The thing they're rejoicing in is what is our biggest trial. It reminds us of our weeping and our sorrow and our trial, the things that we may be rejoicing with them in. When an engagement is announced, can you rejoice with that person that God has given them a husband or a wife, or are you just going to weep because you really want to get married and where's that husband or wife for me? When a pregnancy or a birth is announced, can you rejoice what God has done for them?

Or are you just going to be stuck weeping? Because you have a real trial, because you want to be pregnant. When there's a promotion, there's a promotion, and you're just stuck in a job and nobody's recognizing your efforts and you even think you work harder than that person. Can you be joyful with that person? Vacation, they have the money.

You don't to do that. They have the time. You don't. Baptism, can you rejoice over the baptism of somebody? Are you just thinking about my spouse or my child?

That still rejects Christ. A husband or a wife celebrating. They just love being around one another. They can't keep their hands off one another, but You and your spouse aren't that way, although you want to be. Can you rejoice that God will cause this to happen?

Somebody's healed and you're healed with sickness, maybe sickness you've had your whole life and you have no sight that'll ever end, pains and aches. As true brethren, we should notice these things and be weeping with them. But don't let it hold back your rejoicing, enjoying what God does. What He is doing for good, your rejoicing is also doing good in the other person who is weeping. Not that God will do that to them and solve what their trial is then and there in the same way.

But that they get to see that we have a compassionate God, a compassionate Savior that does care and does help us in our trials. And it takes grace from God to experience joy in other people's gains, even when ours is the exact opposite of the trial for us. Back to Luke 10. Instead of joy in what they had done, they could have been rejoicing that people are not demon possessed anymore, that people are healed, that we're sick, that we're headed to death. And there is now a father that's up or a mother that's up or a child that's up a child that is not demon possessed.

There are now people possibly walking and leaping and praising God as we saw an act. That may be happening and they could have come back and said, God, we read Jesus, we rejoice, you sent us out and we rejoice, look what you did. This is fantastic and we have joy, our joy is in our names are written in heaven that you would do these things and continue to care for people. This builds unity in the Lord by doing these. This builds unity in your family.

This builds unity in our church. Thinking about our trials this way, thinking about our rejoicing this way, thinking about our weeping this way, and having an eye to enter into other's joys and our interest in weeping as well. This builds unity that brings joy, because it's all because the Lord has saved us, has gifted us with joy by saving us, writing our names in heaven for all time, and the Holy Spirit filling up and producing that truth. So applications. Applications.

You're listening to this and you have no idea what I'm talking about. There has been no joy, never has been joy, never known joy in this way. You have to consider the state of your soul. Are you saved? I do not lean on, but I was baptized.

Do not lean on that. If there is no joy and never has been joy in the Lord, in good and bad, then you must consider, am I even saved? Because When you are saved, you have the Holy Spirit within you. And the Holy Spirit has the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. And He will exalt Christ.

And He can do no other than do that in the people He has given new hearts to. And if you don't experience any of that, and you haven't experienced any of that, true joy in the Lord. Love in the Lord, because He has loved you first. You must consider, am I even a Christian? Have I repented and believed the gospel?

Two, for Christians that experience just a little joy. We have a little joy. We all have times of that, of little joy. Some more than others. But we have a little joy, and we don't tend to see our joy increasing much.

Maybe it's because of the heaviness of our trials. Maybe it's because our joy is in circumstances, in possessions, in other things. But if a little joy, here's my encouragement, How much are you abiding and trusting and being nourished by Jesus Christ the Divine and God the Vindresser? Pray for pruning. Pray for pruning.

How much are you communing with Jesus, your Savior? So you can see how joyful it is to be in the Lord, and how great and precious and sweet His mercy and grace can save us. Abiding and trusting will Read scripture and believe his word. I'm not telling you just to read scripture, to read it, but to help you abide and trust and commune. Read His Word and trust Him that it is right.

Read it slowly. I don't care if you don't get through the Bible this year. But read it slowly at times. There's times to read the content. There's times to read because I want to know my state.

I want to know God. I want to know Him. I want to know joy. I want to know who my Lord is. I want to savor my Lord more.

Do that in prayer. Pray till you pray, you fellowship. Number three. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice.

Focus your attention on Jesus, the source and foundation of your joy. Psalm 51, return to the joy of your salvation. Think back on that. How sweet it was. It should be sweeter now.

Because you thought you knew how bad you were then you know how wretched you were and how hopeless you were. A return to the joy of your salvation the name is now written in heaven. Fight emotionalism. Won't encourage us all to fight emotionalism. Retreats, conferences, for me, music, fantastic.

I'm thankful for it. But beware of emotionalism, mountaintop experiences, circumstances. They are, they'll wane. They do fade. We all know that.

I'm not against conferences. I'm not against these things. But beware, if you're seeking these out, I need more joy. So I'm going to go to that. I'm going to go listen to X speaker, because they're just so fantastic.

Beware. It's all good things, but beware if you're relying on that for your joy. To get to rejoice in the Lord always is going to take intentionality. It's going to. It's seeing who to rejoice in, who to weep with.

It's going to take intentionality in saying, Lord, your Word is your Word. It is truth. You say these things, God. Your ways are good. They are right.

They are true. Start with the obvious things. Start with your trials, your sufferings, your sorrows. Start with your children. Start with your spouse.

And rejoicing with them. And then trust God to continually build your joy in the Lord that your joy may be full. Let's pray. God, God, Your joy that You give, We only have it because of your grace and your mercy to give it. Through the work of Christ, through filling us with your Holy Spirit, help us to joy in you our God, our Savior.

Help us to see how to have joy in trial, to remember that your ways are true and amen. And God please, please save people here that they would know what true joy is and walk away leaping and praising you God. There is joy in the Lord.