SPEAKER_00: As Christians, we have many reasons to rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: We rejoice when prayers are answered.
SPEAKER_00: We rejoice when relationships are restored.
SPEAKER_00: When someone comes to faith, there's definitely rejoicing.
SPEAKER_00: And when we see God work in powerful ways, we want to rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: These are good and God-given reasons to rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Well, in our passage this morning in Luke chapter 10, the 72 disciples return from their ministry work, from their missionary work, filled with excitement.
SPEAKER_00: They have witnessed, they have just witnessed the power of God over the forces of darkness.
SPEAKER_00: And they come back with joy and can't wait to tell Jesus about everything that they had saw.
SPEAKER_00: But while Jesus does not rebuke their joy, he does redirect it.
SPEAKER_00: He teaches them that there is a greater joy than being used by God.
SPEAKER_00: The greatest joy of all is not just being able to see the kingdom, but it is belonging to the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: It is knowing that they belong to God and that their names are written in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: This passage reminds us that while we should rejoice in the work of Christ, we should find our greatest joy in the salvation of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So I titled this sermon, A Lesser and Greater Joy, as we see two reasons for rejoicing in our passage.
SPEAKER_00: However, as we will know, one reason is greater than the other.
SPEAKER_00: I only have two points for you this morning as we look at these lesser and greater joys.
SPEAKER_00: First, we will look at the joy of seeing the kingdom, and then we will look at the greater joy of being in the kingdom, the joy of seeing the kingdom, and the joy of being in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: So let's look at that first point.
SPEAKER_00: The joy of seeing the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Let me read again in verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.
SPEAKER_00: And he said to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, I've given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.
SPEAKER_00: So again, we've been looking at this, right?
SPEAKER_00: The seventy-two were given a mission to go out into the surrounding town and villages and proclaim the gospel of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: So after their short-term missionary trip of spreading the gospel of the kingdom, Luke tells us that they returned to Jesus with joy.
SPEAKER_00: Because though some rejected them, others received them, others welcomed them into their homes.
SPEAKER_00: And they were firsthand witnesses to the power of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: They said, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name.
SPEAKER_00: Now they had seen Jesus exercise his power over the demons, but now they themselves were exercising power in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus begins giving them insight into what's happening.
SPEAKER_00: As he says, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's the question: When did this happen?
SPEAKER_00: When is Jesus seeing this?
SPEAKER_00: Or when did Jesus see this?
SPEAKER_00: Now many are going to point to the time when Satan and his demons were cast out of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, Jesus being God has always existed.
SPEAKER_00: So he would have been there to witness Satan and his angels falling from heaven before mankind was created.
SPEAKER_00: But it is best to read the statement that Jesus makes in its current context.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says this, when does he say this?
SPEAKER_00: He says this after, right after the 72 tell him that they have witnessed the power of God over the power of the demonic.
SPEAKER_00: So it seems more likely that Jesus is explaining to the 72 what is going on.
SPEAKER_00: He is showing them what the kingdom of God has come to do.
SPEAKER_00: It has come to overthrow the kingdom of darkness.
SPEAKER_00: Satan, who is sitting on high, wielding his power, oppressing the world, deceiving the nations, will be brought low through the work of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He will fall from on high from the heavens like lightning.
SPEAKER_00: This we read in Colossians 2.13.
SPEAKER_00: And you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands.
SPEAKER_00: This he set aside, knelling it to the cross, and listen to this, he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him.
SPEAKER_00: So you see, the cross was a shift in redemptive history.
SPEAKER_00: At the cross, Satan and his powers were diminished.
SPEAKER_00: As Paul says here in Colossians, he was disarmed.
SPEAKER_00: His power over the nations has been decisively broken because the gospel now goes about freely throughout the nations, which simply means the nations now have access to Jesus, which means that Jesus is stronger than Satan.
SPEAKER_00: Satan is a strong man, but Jesus is the stronger man.
SPEAKER_00: Those who were once bound by him, those who were once oppressed by these his demonic or demonic minions, those who were possessed by him can now be set free by the power of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus was showing them.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus came to do.
SPEAKER_00: You might remember back in Luke chapter 4, Jesus saying this, Luke chapter 4, verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him.
SPEAKER_00: He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written.
SPEAKER_00: He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.
SPEAKER_00: So this is what Jesus was doing during his earthly ministry.
SPEAKER_00: He was demonstrating the power of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: He was showing everyone what it looks like to live in his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: What does the kingdom of God look like?
SPEAKER_00: Look like it looks like freedom.
SPEAKER_00: It looks like being able to have liberty, liberty from bondage, liberty from sin, liberty from death.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus came into the world and has overthrown the power of the devil, who was the devil who was sitting on high, making low all those who he has oppressed, has been overthrown.
SPEAKER_00: This is what the disciples are witnessing as they're going about throughout their mission.
SPEAKER_00: They're witnessing Satan's downfall.
SPEAKER_00: A victory that they are beginning to see as they are praying over the people who had the demons, but a victory that will reach its climax at Jesus' death and resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: Colossians, you remember, remember, tells us that at the cross, Satan was disarmed.
SPEAKER_00: And we know that at the resurrection, Satan's most lethal weapon, which is death, will be defeated.
SPEAKER_00: Was defeated on our end.
SPEAKER_00: 1 Corinthians 15, 55 tells us, O death, where is your victory?
SPEAKER_00: O death, where is your sting?
SPEAKER_00: The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus, back to our passage, seems to be telling the 72 what happens.
SPEAKER_00: Has he sees Satan fall like lightning?
SPEAKER_00: He's telling the 72 what is happening and what will reach its climax at his death and resurrection.
SPEAKER_00: Satan will completely fall, his power will be broken, his dominion is conquered, his tyranny has ended, his kingdom is crushed, he who was once high and mighty has been brought low by the power of the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And what the 72 are witnessing as they're going about their mission is an in-breaking of that.
SPEAKER_00: As they are exercising their power over the demonic, they are witnessing what it looks like when Satan's power fails.
SPEAKER_00: Last week I mentioned how there seems to be more healings in the gospels than we see in our day.
SPEAKER_00: Likewise, if you notice, there seems to be more demonic activity in the gospels than we see in our day.
SPEAKER_00: And again, this was to demonstrate the reality of what happens when Christ's kingdom overthrows Satan's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: The demons are subject to the name of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: This is to show that Jesus' power, the power of Christ, is greater than the power of Satan.
SPEAKER_00: And at his death and resurrection, this news will be announced to the world.
SPEAKER_00: It will be announced to the cosmos.
SPEAKER_00: At the moment, only the 72 are getting these small glimpses of what it looks like for Satan's power to be subjected to the power of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: But soon, at the cross and his resurrection, the world, the cosmos, the whole course of human history will know the potency of the power of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: At his death and resurrection, it will not only be Jesus who sees Satan fall from heaven like lightning, but it will be all of us.
SPEAKER_00: The world will know who has the true power.
SPEAKER_00: The world will know where the true power lies, not in the hands of Satan, who is the God of this world, but in the hands of Christ who is the God of Him.
SPEAKER_00: And what he says next is further evidence of that.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Behold, I've given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.
SPEAKER_00: Now, there have been some who have used this verse to say that Christians should exercise their faith in picking up and playing with snakes.
SPEAKER_00: If you haven't heard of this practice, I'm sure you can find it somewhere online.
SPEAKER_00: Some churches will actually bring snakes into the service to play with them, saying they're practicing this verse out.
SPEAKER_00: We are not one of those churches.
SPEAKER_00: We're very welcoming here, but please keep your snakes at home.
SPEAKER_00: Again, it's best to interpret what's going on here in light of the moment.
SPEAKER_00: What did Jesus just say?
SPEAKER_00: He just said that Satan has fell from heaven like lightning.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is just talking, has just been talking about Satan and his power being disarmed.
SPEAKER_00: You may remember or you may know that in Scripture, what is Satan called?
SPEAKER_00: It's called the serpent.
SPEAKER_00: Going back to Genesis chapter 3, we read this, right?
SPEAKER_00: He is called, Satan is called the serpent.
SPEAKER_00: Here the scorpions could be a reference to his demons.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, though we do have instances where God rescues his people from the dangers of the wild, think of Paul in the book of Acts where he shakes the snake off his hand.
SPEAKER_00: This more than likely refers to spiritual dangers, not physical ones.
SPEAKER_00: We always want to allow context to drive the text.
SPEAKER_00: And in the context of what Jesus is saying here, and what the disciples are rejoicing over, it's best to understand Jesus saying this: Don't fear the enemy, neither fear his minions.
SPEAKER_00: Don't fear the snake, don't fear the scorpions, do the work that I've sent you to do, you have nothing to fear.
SPEAKER_00: William Hendrickson comments here on this text and says, If elsewhere Satan is called dragon and serpent, why would it be strange that here the domain of the prince of evil is called that of snakes and scorpions?
SPEAKER_00: Is it not Satan's intention to poison the minds of men and to impart the sting of death to all who oppose him?
SPEAKER_00: In other words, like snakes and scorpions, Satan and his demons will rise up with the power to sting.
SPEAKER_00: And they do have the power to sting.
SPEAKER_00: Many of us have been stung by Satan's power before in the past.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us have been freed of that.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us have been hurt in the past by Satan's sting, by Satan's bites.
SPEAKER_00: But we know that his power ultimately has been crushed by the power of God.
SPEAKER_00: We know that there's a greater power.
SPEAKER_00: This right here is simply a message of confidence to the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing will harm you as you go about your mission.
SPEAKER_00: It's 1 John 4, 4.
SPEAKER_00: Little children, you are from God and overcome and have overcome them.
SPEAKER_00: For he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Like the 72, us Christians can have this confidence that though we face many oppositions in the world, especially when we're seeking to advance the kingdom of God, that that as the forces are against us, the ones that are for us, the forces that are for us, will be greater.
SPEAKER_00: We have nothing to fear.
SPEAKER_00: We will see the temptations and we will see the Satan and his and his demons rise up to try to sting us, but don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_00: Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Now, we might note that Jesus does say, do not rejoice in this.
SPEAKER_00: However, in context and in the structure of the original language, he wasn't saying, don't rejoice at all in this power.
SPEAKER_00: He was saying, don't make your primary source of joy this witnessing of this power.
SPEAKER_00: Because the disciples' greater reason for rejoicing was not their authority over demons, but that they belonged to God and had eternal inheritance in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: However, the destruction of Satan's kingdom is a cause for rejoicing.
SPEAKER_00: Knowing that Jesus defeated our greatest enemy and has crippled his power and has minimized his potency is a reason to rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: So what does this look like in our day?
SPEAKER_00: What does it look like practically?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it looks like rejoicing when we see God work in someone's life.
SPEAKER_00: It means rejoicing over a marriage being reconciled.
SPEAKER_00: It means rejoicing in seeing someone recover from an addiction.
SPEAKER_00: It means rejoicing in a family member who has come to faith or someone in deep despair, beaten down, battling oppression, finding peace through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We should rejoice when we see those things because what we're doing is we're witnessing the power of God at work.
SPEAKER_00: And we're also witnessing Satan's power being diminished, Satan's power being defeated.
SPEAKER_00: Because that's what we see.
SPEAKER_00: When we see someone who is bound to drugs or alcohol, or when we see a marriage that is on the verge of being broken, or when we see these things, what we're witnessing is we're witnessing the power of Satan at work because that's who he is.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to kill and steal and destroy.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to destroy people's lives, he wants to destroy people's marriages.
SPEAKER_00: And when we see that on somebody, we're witnessing Satan's power at work.
SPEAKER_00: But when we see that person, that marriage, be delivered, be restored, be reconciled, then what we're witnessing is the power of God crushing the power of Satan.
SPEAKER_00: We're seeing that the power of God is much stronger than Satan's power.
SPEAKER_00: This is why you want to be a part of a church.
SPEAKER_00: You want to be deeply involved in the work of ministry.
SPEAKER_00: You know, we're often thinking that ministry work is only for those pastors or leaders or evangelists, and it's not really for us.
SPEAKER_00: But in 2 Corinthians 5, we are told that we have been given this ministry of reconciliation.
SPEAKER_00: We are employing people to be reconciled to God through Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And as we see people move from the bondage of Satan to the freedom of Christ, then we find joy and satisfaction in that.
SPEAKER_00: Phil Riken says that one of the differences between happiness and joy is that one is found within ourselves and the other is found outside of ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, we often find happiness in what happens or doesn't happen to us.
SPEAKER_00: Happiness is very circumstantial, it shifts based on our circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: But biblical joy is based on what God has done and what God is doing in us and in others.
SPEAKER_00: Landing a good job will make you happy.
SPEAKER_00: Losing a good job will make you sad.
SPEAKER_00: However, a Christian may still have joy when they lose the job because he or she knows that God loves him, that Christ has saved him, and that his future and finances are secure in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We can lose that which makes us happy, but we can never lose that which brings us joy because we can never lose Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Christ, who is the source of our joy.
SPEAKER_00: This is why biblical authors can speak about rejoicing through suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Have you ever read that and thought, that is, that's weird?
SPEAKER_00: How can I rejoice through suffering?
SPEAKER_00: Why are you calling me to rejoice through suffering?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we got to understand, suffering cannot bring us happiness.
SPEAKER_00: I've never met someone happy during suffering or happy to have suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Suffering cannot bring us happiness, but it can bring us joy because we know that through our suffering, God is doing something.
SPEAKER_00: That he's working something, he's accomplishing something.
SPEAKER_00: I might not know it, I might not understand it, I might not see it, but I have joy because I know that as a child of Jesus Christ, I would not be put in this situation for nothing.
SPEAKER_00: That God is always working for his good, for my good, and for his glory.
SPEAKER_00: We can always rejoice at the work that God is doing in our lives, in our church, in our world.
SPEAKER_00: And in fact, we should rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: We should rejoice when we see the kingdom of God push back the kingdom of darkness.
SPEAKER_00: But as he says, there's an even greater reason to rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: And that's our second point.
SPEAKER_00: The joy of being in the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 20.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Again, the way Jesus is speaking here, it is not necessarily a prohibition against rejoicing over the power that they are witnessing, but in comparison, we should have a greater joy in knowing that our names are written in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, rejoice in the fact that the demons are subject to your name.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, rejoice in knowing that I have come to crush Satan's kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, rejoice and know that he has fallen from on high.
SPEAKER_00: But here's an even greater reason for you to rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Your name is written in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: What does it mean for our names to be written in heaven?
SPEAKER_00: Well, you may remember when Jesus was born, Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem to be registered in the census.
SPEAKER_00: Rome, like many countries and the or cities in the ancient Near East, kept records of its citizens.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, we do this today, right?
SPEAKER_00: We we keep records.
SPEAKER_00: The USA keeps records of those who are or who are not American citizens.
SPEAKER_00: Those who are American citizens enjoy the benefits of being a citizen.
SPEAKER_00: But those who are not, don't enjoy them.
SPEAKER_00: This is why people want to become Americans, because there are privileges that come with that.
SPEAKER_00: And just as earthly cities keep records of their own, or earthly countries keep records of their own, heaven keeps a record of its own.
SPEAKER_00: Heaven keeps a list of its citizens.
SPEAKER_00: Philippians 4, 3.
SPEAKER_00: We read this.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to this, whose names are in the book of life.
SPEAKER_00: So here, Paul is mentioning his companions, his laborers in the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Who are these?
SPEAKER_00: These are his fellow Christians.
SPEAKER_00: These are his brothers and sisters in the church.
SPEAKER_00: These are his other Christians besides him.
SPEAKER_00: And notice what he says.
SPEAKER_00: He says, their names, their names are written in the book of life.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, Christians' names are written in the book of life.
SPEAKER_00: Their names are recorded in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: God keeps a record of his own.
SPEAKER_00: He knows all who are his.
SPEAKER_00: And he has every name of his written in his book.
SPEAKER_00: It's called the book of life because those who are in it have a claim to eternal life.
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't know it by now, this is the list you want to be on.
SPEAKER_00: As kids, we want to be on the A-list, the A honorable list.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think I ever was, but I wanted to be.
SPEAKER_00: As we grow older, we want to be part of all kinds of lists.
SPEAKER_00: The cool lists, the end lists, and so forth.
SPEAKER_00: People are chasing lists all the time.
SPEAKER_00: This is the only list that truly matters.
SPEAKER_00: This is the only list you should be concerned about.
SPEAKER_00: Is your name written in the book of life?
SPEAKER_00: When the role is called up yonder, will you be there?
SPEAKER_00: But being on the list is not only important when we die, it's important for today because if you are on that list, you are a citizen of the Kingdom of God, not just tomorrow, but today, which means that you can enjoy the benefits of the kingdom now.
SPEAKER_00: It means that today you belong somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: And that somewhere is not just anywhere.
SPEAKER_00: It means that you belong to someone, and that someone is not just anyone.
SPEAKER_00: You know, many people are looking for places to belong.
SPEAKER_00: People look for meaning and purpose by belonging.
SPEAKER_00: That I'm somebody if I belong to a certain family, or I'm someone if I belong to a certain group, or even a certain income bracket.
SPEAKER_00: People even look for purpose by belonging to somebody.
SPEAKER_00: I'm someone if I get married.
SPEAKER_00: I'm someone if I have children.
SPEAKER_00: That will make me somebody.
SPEAKER_00: But whether you're married or not, or have children or not, whether you're rich or you're poor, if you're a Christian, you belong.
SPEAKER_00: You belong to the household of God.
SPEAKER_00: You belong to the kingdom, which is the best place to belong.
SPEAKER_00: Your purpose and your meaning are not found in what you hold in your hand.
SPEAKER_00: But they are found in the one who holds you in his hands.
SPEAKER_00: They are found in God, and he is who you belong to.
SPEAKER_00: And when the devil tries to mess with your mind and tell you that you don't belong, that you have nowhere to belong to or no one to belong to, then just remind him of the list.
SPEAKER_00: Send them to the list.
SPEAKER_00: Tell them to take it up with God and ask for your name.
SPEAKER_00: Tell them to ask God to open the book, and there you will find my name.
SPEAKER_00: You know, as I've gotten older, I've become a little more impatient.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't like waiting for a table at a restaurant anymore.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not talking about with the kids, I'm talking about when it's just me and my wife.
SPEAKER_00: With the kids, forget about it.
SPEAKER_00: Try waiting for a table for seven.
SPEAKER_00: It's no fun.
SPEAKER_00: But when me and my wife go out to dinner, I usually try and make a reservation.
SPEAKER_00: And when I was younger, only fancy restaurants did that.
SPEAKER_00: Now, pretty much any decent restaurant will make or allow for reservations.
SPEAKER_00: But every time I go, and maybe you're like this, when I go to the restaurant, I give them my name, and what does the hostess do?
SPEAKER_00: They look down at their list.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the big moment of suspense for me because I'm always worried that I'm not going to be there.
SPEAKER_00: I'm always worried that something got messed up along the way.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe I called the wrong restaurant, maybe I put my reservation in at the wrong place, or maybe they just simply forgot to write my name down on the list.
SPEAKER_00: However, in heaven, we can have the confidence that the host of heaven knows how to keep a list.
SPEAKER_00: He knows how to keep records.
SPEAKER_00: The Christians should have confidence in knowing this, that in heaven, my confidence is not in how well I made the reservation.
SPEAKER_00: But my confidence is in the one who secured my reservation, the one who has secured my place at the table, which is God.
SPEAKER_00: Again, this is the list you want to be on.
SPEAKER_00: How does our name appear on the list?
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 3, verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: Yet you have still have a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
SPEAKER_00: The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life.
SPEAKER_00: I will confess his name before my father and before his angels.
SPEAKER_00: So G here Jesus saying that the one who conquers will be clothed in these white garments.
SPEAKER_00: Those are the ones who whose name will not be blot out of this book of life.
SPEAKER_00: Those are the ones whose names are there, who are who whose names are kept for eternity.
SPEAKER_00: And how do you how does your name get on there?
SPEAKER_00: Well, as the text says, it's to have clean garments.
SPEAKER_00: You get your name on the list by having the right clothes.
SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes you'll go to a restaurant that's very exclusive and you'll see a dress code that you can't just go in anywhere.
SPEAKER_00: You can't wear flip-flops, you have to have shoes on, nice shoes on, or you have to have a jacket on and so forth.
SPEAKER_00: The same thing with heaven.
SPEAKER_00: You have to have the right garments, you have to have clean garments to get in.
SPEAKER_00: How do you get these clean garments?
SPEAKER_00: Well, you need to be cleansed and washed by the blood of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You need to have your sins forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: You need to walk with Christ to be counted worthy.
SPEAKER_00: You need to be, as Revelation says, the one who conquers.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, you need to be the one who overcomes the world.
SPEAKER_00: And how do we do all of this?
SPEAKER_00: How do we have clean garments?
SPEAKER_00: How do we walk with Christ?
SPEAKER_00: How do we overcome the world?
SPEAKER_00: How do we become more than conquerors?
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's definitely not through your own strength.
SPEAKER_00: It's definitely not through your own efforts.
SPEAKER_00: It is through the faith and trust and belief in the one who has conquered for us.
SPEAKER_00: 1 John 5 4 says, For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the victory that has overcome the world.
SPEAKER_00: Our faith.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say that again.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the victory that has overcome the world.
SPEAKER_00: Notice how it doesn't say our efforts, our abilities, our talents, our gifts, our giving, no, our faith.
SPEAKER_00: What is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
SPEAKER_00: If you want to be sure your name is on the list, if you want to be certain that you are recorded in heaven's book, in the book of life, then you need to place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation.
SPEAKER_00: You need to turn from your sins and you need to turn from turn to him.
SPEAKER_00: And as Revelation says, you need to walk with him.
SPEAKER_00: That is trusting.
SPEAKER_00: That is how we trust in the Lord by by continuing to walk with him.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if I'm crossing a busy street with my daughter, you know, she she has my youngest daughter, my oldest daughters don't want to walk with me, but my my youngest uh daughter, she has to have confidence that if she walks with me and stays with me, that we're gonna get across that big b busy street.
SPEAKER_00: If she doesn't have the confidence, if she doesn't trust me, then she's not gonna walk.
SPEAKER_00: She's not gonna walk alongside with me.
SPEAKER_00: She's gonna stay where she's at.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same thing with Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Our walking with the Lord, our walking and continual walk with him is proof that we trust him.
SPEAKER_00: It's proof that we believe in him, that he will take us to the other side.
SPEAKER_00: You won't overcome by walking on your own.
SPEAKER_00: And so many people think they can do this.
SPEAKER_00: So many people think that they can overcome this world by themselves in isolation, walking with Christ as a solo Christian.
SPEAKER_00: People will say, you know, I don't need to go to church or I don't need to be a part of a church because I already punched my ticket to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: How are you gonna overcome the world on your own?
SPEAKER_00: How are you gonna overcome the world in isolation?
SPEAKER_00: You are no match for the world on your own.
SPEAKER_00: But with Christ and his people, the world is no match for you.
SPEAKER_00: In Christ, you are more than a conqueror.
SPEAKER_00: And as Christ says, rejoice in that.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing in this world worth more than having your name on that book.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing in this world worth more than having your name written in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Keep everything else.
SPEAKER_00: Keep the riches, keep the pleasures, keep the successes, keep the accolades, and give me the assurance and knowing that my name is written in that book.
SPEAKER_00: That is the only thing that should give us a good night's sleep.
SPEAKER_00: Not knowing that I have money in the bank, not knowing that I have this or that, but knowing that my name is secured in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Church, where do you find your greatest joy in life?
SPEAKER_00: I believe we're too easily satisfied in this world.
SPEAKER_00: And if we're satisfied in this world, then we're settling for too little.
SPEAKER_00: We look for joy in things that are temporary.
SPEAKER_00: We look for our joy in things that will be here today, that will be gone tomorrow, and things that have no lasting or eternal significance.
SPEAKER_00: This is what often keeps us discontent because we seek these satisfactions and things that are not meant to satisfy us.
SPEAKER_00: Marriage is a good gift, but that is not meant to satisfy us.
SPEAKER_00: Finances are good gifts.
SPEAKER_00: Entertainment, these things we can enjoy, they're good gifts, but those things are not made to satisfy us.
SPEAKER_00: Again, not that we can't enjoy good gifts from God.
SPEAKER_00: We should appreciate and enjoy every good thing that the Lord brings our way.
SPEAKER_00: When we're blessed with spouses and homes and children's and careers, we thank God for them.
SPEAKER_00: We delight in them, but we also know that those things alone will never satisfy us.
SPEAKER_00: This is why you see people who have the perfect marriage still unsatisfied, who have the riches, still unsatisfied, who have everything in this world that everybody else is chasing, still unsettled and not being able to have a good night's sleep, because those things were not meant to satisfy them.
SPEAKER_00: They will never satisfy us.
SPEAKER_00: As Augustine says, our hearts will be restless until we find rest in Him.
SPEAKER_00: There is no joy that we can receive in this world that can compete with the joy that we find in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Christ is the supreme joy of the Christian.
SPEAKER_00: He is what the Christian cherishes above all.
SPEAKER_00: This should be an encouragement for you, church, in difficult times.
SPEAKER_00: When the world tries to take away your joy, remind yourself that your name is known in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Remind yourself that God keeps a record.
SPEAKER_00: Remind yourself that he keeps a list of all those who are his, and your name is on that list.
SPEAKER_00: Because God has done a work in your life.
SPEAKER_00: He has made you alive together with his son.
SPEAKER_00: You can rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: You can rejoice because your name is written in heaven, which means you have the rights and you have the privileges of heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Romans 14, 17.
SPEAKER_00: For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Most people of this kingdom, which is the world, will find their greatest joy in matters of eating and drinking.
SPEAKER_00: But the people of that kingdom of heaven should know, again, that those things are good.
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing wrong with eating and drinking.
SPEAKER_00: I like to eat.
SPEAKER_00: Those things are good.
SPEAKER_00: But they're a little too low to satisfy me.
SPEAKER_00: My aim is a little higher.
SPEAKER_00: I'm a Christian, I'm a child of God, and I seek a higher joy.
SPEAKER_00: I seek an even greater joy, which, as Romans says, is one of righteousness and peace.
SPEAKER_00: One where true joy is found in the things of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And I think that one of the problems why we don't get that is because we have yet to experience it.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you've heard the saying, you don't know what a good thing is until you have it or until you taste it.
SPEAKER_00: Right?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes recently I went and tried Korean barbecue.
SPEAKER_00: And uh first time in my life I've tried it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh I didn't pay for it.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody else paid, that's the reason why I went.
SPEAKER_00: And um I didn't know what to think, but everybody raves about it.
SPEAKER_00: And if you you you like it here, you you probably rave about it.
SPEAKER_00: Uh so I didn't know what to think.
SPEAKER_00: I I just know didn't think I wanted to try it, but how would I know if I never tried it?
SPEAKER_00: I wound up trying it and I was correct, I didn't like it.
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, the principle is still true.
SPEAKER_00: You don't know what it's like until you try it.
SPEAKER_00: You don't know how good it is until you try it.
SPEAKER_00: And I would suggest that there are a lot of Christians who don't seek the joy of heaven, the joy, the true joy that is found in the Lord, the true joy of righteousness and peace and joy of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: They don't really even know that yet.
SPEAKER_00: And they're too busy seeking joy and all these other things in the world because they have yet to even taste the goodness that is rightfully theirs in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The joy that is promised to them.
SPEAKER_00: Again, some of us Christians fail to experience these things like we should.
SPEAKER_00: And we're seeking our joy in all the wrong places.
SPEAKER_00: We're seeking our joy in the things of this world.
SPEAKER_00: We're seeking our joy in a kingdom that we don't even belong to.
SPEAKER_00: We're seeking our joy in a world that is not our home.
SPEAKER_00: This world we're just passing through.
SPEAKER_00: We're citizens of a higher kingdom, yet we want to stay and build our homes and be satisfied in a kingdom that we don't even belong to.
SPEAKER_00: We're citizens of a higher kingdom, which means we should seek a greater joy.
SPEAKER_00: We should not be satisfied with the things of this world.
SPEAKER_00: Again, we too often find our joy in the temporal when we should find them in the eternal.
SPEAKER_00: Psalm 16, 11.
SPEAKER_00: You make known to me the path of life.
SPEAKER_00: In your presence, there is fullness of joy.
SPEAKER_00: At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
SPEAKER_00: Can I encourage you to read the Psalms more often?
SPEAKER_00: Because there you will see the hearts of the child of God who longs for the precious fellowship of God.
SPEAKER_00: And you know, much of the psalm was written by King David, who had it all, earthly speaking, earthly wise, earthly speaking.
SPEAKER_00: He was king, he had riches, he had wealth, he had power, he had prestige, he had wives, he he had everything someone in this kingdom would want and desire, someone in this kingdom would chase, but that didn't satisfy him.
SPEAKER_00: He said, it wasn't in those things that he found the fullness of joy.
SPEAKER_00: Look what he said.
SPEAKER_00: In your presence there is fullness of joy.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't in these things where pleasures were found forevermore.
SPEAKER_00: No, Lord, it was at your right hand.
SPEAKER_00: And the reason we don't get that is because we haven't experienced it yet.
SPEAKER_00: We're not chasing that.
SPEAKER_00: We're chasing the wrong thing.
SPEAKER_00: How do we find joy?
SPEAKER_00: According to the psalmist, it says, by knowing our path of life.
SPEAKER_00: And despite of what this world will tell us, there are not many paths of life.
SPEAKER_00: You'll hear this often from the world.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you know, seek your own way to God, seek your own path to God.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody has a different journey to get to Him.
SPEAKER_00: There are not many paths.
SPEAKER_00: There's one path.
SPEAKER_00: No one comes to the Father except through Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: As the shorter catechism says, the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, why were we created?
SPEAKER_00: We were created not only to glory God, to glorify him, which we were, we want to give him glory.
SPEAKER_00: We give him glory with our lives, with obedience, we give them glory, but that's not it.
SPEAKER_00: We were also created to enjoy him.
SPEAKER_00: We were created to enjoy God.
SPEAKER_00: If you lack the joy of the Lord, or if joy in your life seems absent, then I want you to ask yourself: Am I living to glorify God?
SPEAKER_00: Is the pattern of my life seeking Him, seeking to glorify Him?
SPEAKER_00: And is the pattern of my life seeking to find my greatest joy and the greatest pleasures of life in Him above everything else?
SPEAKER_00: Again, the question is not, and this is key, the question is not, am I happy?
SPEAKER_00: It's do I have joy?
SPEAKER_00: Because happiness and joy are not the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: Happiness will be taken away from us by the sin and the fallness and the deceitfulness of this world.
SPEAKER_00: This is why we get sick.
SPEAKER_00: We get sick because of sin.
SPEAKER_00: Sin is in this world.
SPEAKER_00: We're fallen.
SPEAKER_00: And we get sick and we lose things that once made us happy.
SPEAKER_00: I used to like running or I used to like doing this, and now I'm sick, and I can't do that anymore, and I'm not very happy about that.
SPEAKER_00: Sin will suck away your happiness.
SPEAKER_00: But nothing can take away the joy of the believer.
SPEAKER_00: Happiness and joy ask two completely different questions.
SPEAKER_00: Happiness will ask you, what are you doing with your life?
SPEAKER_00: And when you answer it, you might not be too happy.
SPEAKER_00: But joy will ask a different question.
SPEAKER_00: Or joy will answer your question.
SPEAKER_00: Happiness will ask, what are you doing with your life?
SPEAKER_00: Joy will tell you what Jesus has done for your life.
SPEAKER_00: Happiness will point out what you do or do not have.
SPEAKER_00: Joy will point out everything that you have in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: If you're a Christian, find joy in the work of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
SPEAKER_00: Find joy like the 72 in working for his kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Find joy in loving others and in serving others and by having a front row seat to the work that God is doing through Christ by freeing people from the bondages of sin.
SPEAKER_00: And if I can give a plug for this, knowing this, being in ministry, some of you guys have been in ministry.
SPEAKER_00: There is, this is, this is what you want to give your life to.
SPEAKER_00: You want to give your life to ministry.
SPEAKER_00: You want to give your life to serving people and loving people because you know you can lose a lot of things.
SPEAKER_00: But if you're working in the kingdom of God, you you wake up and say, Thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I get to work in your kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Lord, because I get to I get to call a friend today, I get to call somebody today, I get to serve somebody today, I get to love somebody today.
SPEAKER_00: There is true joy in that.
SPEAKER_00: However, find an even greater joy in knowing who you belong to.
SPEAKER_00: You belong to God.
SPEAKER_00: Through Jesus, through the work of Christ, you belong to God.
SPEAKER_00: Before the foundations of the earth, your name was written in the book of life.
SPEAKER_00: Though in this world, your name might be obscure.
SPEAKER_00: And in this world, not many people will know you.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're not the popular one.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you don't have many friends.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe not many people know your name.
SPEAKER_00: Find joy in this.
SPEAKER_00: Your name is known in the heavens.
SPEAKER_00: Your name was written in the book by the hand of God.
SPEAKER_00: He knows you.
SPEAKER_00: He loves you.
SPEAKER_00: And he sent his only begotten son to bring you to him.
SPEAKER_00: Rejoice in the Lord always.
SPEAKER_00: And again I say rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Let us pray.