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That being said, I was talking about Christmas today. Surprise, surprise. This is almost a little bit like overly predictable that we're going to talk about Christmas for the next four weeks. But I think it's a beautiful time for us to remember and to reflect and to recenter our hearts on Christ. And so that's what I want to help us do. And that being said, I remember the anticipation as a kid growing up in my home of Christmas. For some reason in my house, Santa came on Christmas Eve. And so every Christmas Eve we would have a church service at our little local congregation that my dad was a part of and helped lead. And we would go do the Christmas Eve service. And the whole time they're doing Christmas Eve service, I'm just thinking about I can't wait to get home. I can't wait to get home. I can't wait to get home. Because I can't wait to see what Santa has brought, right? So that was my growing up years. And so I had this great anticipation. Anybody else had the anticipation of just Santa and that whole process? Yeah. I'm not going to go into any details on all that, but just FYI, because there's some conversations that probably should have. But anyway, but that being said, that was my grownup. So I remember the anticipation. And I was thinking about how the first Christmas there was anticipation before Christ even comes on the scene. There was anticipation because there had been 500 plus years of silence from God. Know that between the time the Isaiah, the book of Isaiah was written and the time Christ shows up is roughly 500 years or so. And there had been hundreds of prophecies that had been written in the what we call the Old Testament now, but it was the text that the Jewish people had. And they had heard these prophecies about this Messiah coming. And there was anticipation about the Messiah coming. They had no idea all of the specifics of it, even though many of the prophecies spoke to those specifics. But there was an anticipation of this arrival. And so this series we're going to talk about the arrival, the first arrival of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, as we anticipate the second arrival, which we sang about and which Alex already talked a little bit about. And I want to repeat a verse that Alex read to us, a section, just the last verse there, John 1, verse 14. And this is what it says It says, The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed his glory. The glory is the one and only, and uh the Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. Now, when I read that, um, I can't even begin to tell you how significant that reality is, that verse is, okay? Uh, for those that uh like to geek out in theology, may not be many of you in this room, but we have this word called the hypostatic union, this reality that God was fully man and fully God in the person of Jesus. And so Jesus was completely God and completely man simultaneously, somehow, in the mystery of all that thing. You won't figure it all out. I won't figure it all out. We can't fully wrap our brains around that. When he came in this babe form in a manger over 2,000 years ago, and he shows up on the scene in the midst of the messiness of this creation, that he was there at the creation of the world. He's spoken into existence with the Father and the Spirit, and yet sees now firsthand what has happened to this human race, and not just sees it, but feels it, like Alex mentioned earlier. And so this is a beautiful reality that Jesus did come, that he did arrive, that he did come onto the scene of humanity in the midst of the darkness, in the midst of the uh the depravity of human race, the rebellion, he comes on the scene. And we want to celebrate that, we want to remember that, and we're gonna talk about that. But here's the thing we celebrate Christmas not simply because he came. We celebrate Christmas not just simply because he came, but because of what he accomplished when he came. We celebrate Christmas and we celebrate his arrival because we know what he did. We can look back as people who live now 2,000 years later, and we have the scripture that records the story. We can look back and we can reflect on the reality of what Christ came to do. Because we all know, if you're a Christian, maybe you're not, maybe you're exploring faith, maybe you're just checking things out, but if you're a Christ's follower and you've read the book, then you may know, probably know, that Jesus didn't stay a baby, right? We celebrate Christmas where he was this little baby and it's nice, and he was in swaddling clothes, whatever that means, and and we were like we think about him being in a manger, and we think about these animals being around him, and we think about how this is just this beautiful silent night, which I don't think Mary probably thought it was a very silent night. And I think just the reality of this story, but then we kind of just many people will leave him in the manger, right? But the truth of the matter is that he grew up. He grew up, he he got older, and we know that scripture says he grew in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man, and we don't get a lot of his story. We get this little glimpse in at age 12, but then we see he grows into a man, he has an official ministry, and he lives a perfect, sinless life. And what do they do? Well, he gets killed. He has an innocent, he's completely innocent, and yet he suffers this horrific death on the cross, and in doing so pays the penalty for our sin. But thankfully he didn't stay dead. We have Easter on the calendar too, right? We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ when he came out of the grave. And we praise God that he did that. Now, I guess I said, this may be one of those Captain Obvious statements. I mean, you guys have seen those Captain Obvious commercials lately. They're really funny, but the Captain Obvious statement here that, you know, Jesus' coming would be of no significance if he had not lived the perfect life and gone to the cross and come out of the grave, right? So we can't just talk about Christmas without seeing the bigger picture of who Jesus is and what he has done for us. I mean, all this really, if you think about it, this story of the scripture and the story of this person, Jesus, it's really ludicrous to the human mind unless you have supernaturally been reminded by the Spirit that this is a real story and that what Christ did really does have an effect on our eternity, on our reality today. But I want to take a look at a deeper level at what this actually means. So if you guys have your Bibles, open up to Romans chapter 5, okay? Romans chapter 5. The scriptures are on the screen, but I always encourage you to have a copy of the text for yourself. There's actually some verse, some uh Bibles under uh the chairs around you. If you don't own a Bible, feel free to take one of those as a gift from us. But uh I want to look at Romans chapter 5, and we're just gonna read the first 11 verses. It's gonna take me a minute to get through it, so just kind of hang with me. And to help us stay engaged with the text, I want you to look at how you see the words joy, hope, peace, and love intermingled in this text, okay? So kind of pay attention. Notice what, as we read through, how these four words, joy, peace, hope, love, are intermingled throughout this section of text. Here's what it says. Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have also obtained access through Him by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. Sounds a little bit like James 1, for those of you that are familiar. This hope will not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still helpless at the appointed moment, Christ died for the ungodly. Amen. For rarely will someone die for a just person, though for a good person, perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves his own love for us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, since we have been now declared righteous by his blood, we will be saved through him from wrath. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have now received the reconciliation through him. How about this? Did you notice that at the beginning, verse 1 and verse 11, because I didn't tell you to look for this, that we see this very important word that says through. Through who? Through Jesus Christ. Let me read it verse 1 again to you briefly. Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And then verse 11. And not that only that, but we have also rejoiced in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have now received this reconciliation through Him. You want to know why we celebrate the birth of Christ? Because it's through Christ we have life. It's through Christ we have redemption. Through Christ we have forgiveness. Through Christ we have hope and joy and peace and love. And over the next four weeks, we're going to talk about joy and hope and peace and love because I'm convinced that as a human being, all of us are on a quest for those four things. Not only that, but that we will not be able to live or sustain life without those things. And God in his grace has allowed every person on this planet to experience those at some level. But for Christians, we have the opportunity to experience them at an infinitely greater level. And I'll explain exactly why here as we go through today. Just know this. In Christ, we have the potential for real joy, peace, hope, and love. Because he came. To say it differently, I think it's in your notes there. When Jesus showed up, real joy, peace, hope, and love became a legitimate possibility. Notice I didn't say it, you automatically get it. Right? Because there's a lot of people on this planet who aren't experiencing these things. And maybe somebody in this room today is not experiencing these things. But remember, through Christ, we have a legitimate possibility of experience and walking in these things. But here's the problem. If you're like me, and I'm assuming that most of you, because you have breath in your lungs and a heart beating in your chest, you're a human being like I am. You pursue these things in something incapable of giving it to you. Someone or something that's incapable of actually delivering that. And I know that in my own life, every day it's a battle not to try to pursue these things in something that's incapable, insufficient of providing it. Are you with me? Let me explain what I mean. In our lives, there are things every day that we do in hopes of getting love, joy, peace, and hope. Some of those things are we try to perform really well in our job. Or we try to be a really good parent. Or we try to make a lot of money or to attain a certain position. All those things are not bad things in and of themselves, but when they become ultimate things and we try to look to them for love, joy, peace, and hope, guess what? They fall short, don't they? You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that. In this room, you guys understand that every day, and you experience every day what it's like to pursue things that leave you empty, that leave you wanting, that leave you feeling like, wait, that didn't deliver what I thought it was going to deliver. Because that is the human condition, and that's the situation that we find ourselves in. This is 100% true for the first piece that we're going to talk about today, which is joy. Joy and happiness are things that we are pursuing in our lives. We want them, we need them, we we go after it hard, and yet we find ourselves many times struggling to find joy. Struggling. I mean, Christmas season is supposed to be the season of joy. What's the first song we sang today? Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let earth receive our king, right? Now, the world, people who don't know Christ, people who are outside of the church, the family of God, however you want to say that, they don't understand what that means and how joy is linked to Jesus coming. But for those of us in the room, we understand, or those of us who at least are seeking Christ or have a personal relationship with Christ, we understand there's a direct connection between our joy and what Christ has done in his coming. But we continue to pursue many times joy and other things. Now, I was thinking about this issue of joy, and some of y'all may remember this, but last spring there was a very funny uh moment, and this is the way our culture works with social media. But do you guys remember the Chewbacca lady? The Chewbacca mom. I was gonna show you guys the uh the video, but I just thought I would lose y'all for the rest of the service. So go home today and just Google it and watch the Chewbacca mom if you haven't seen this. This lady is from the Dallas area, and uh, and she went to Kohl's to buy her kids a birthday present, ended up buying herself a present, and um it was a Chewbacca mask. And and so here she she's put on and she videos Facebook Live because that's what we have now with the technology. Facebook Live's this video of her trying on the Chewbacca mask, and and I don't remember which one of my friends like pinged me on it. It's like, hey, have you seen this funny video? And I'm like, what? And I'm like, oh, it can't be that funny, and then click over there, and it's like at first I'm kind of like, what is she doing? And then she sticks it on, and I'm like, just kind of like, you know, like what? And then and I don't know why, but like the more she laughed, like all of a sudden I found myself laughing. And I'm like, this is hilarious. And then like I'm like losing my tears in my eyes from laughing so hard at this Chewbacca mom lady. And I was just thinking about joy this week and how happiness and joy is infectious. It's contagious, it's something that that like we are wired for. I could have made it the inability to experience joy and happiness. We it could have just been flat lines, but he's given us this ability to have this emotion called happiness. And in fact, there's research that shows that happy people live longer. People that are and that are joyful, that people that are excited, people that that laugh. In fact, the Bible even says that that a cheerful heart is good medicine. A joyful heart is good medicine, then, and a broken spirit dries up the bones. Like that's that's how God made us. And so I was laughing at this Chewbacca lady. Now, what's interesting is this lady actually leads worship at her church. She's a strong believer, and she said they interviewed her, of course, later on, and she she went to like the Facebook place and she went to the Star Wars place. She got all this free stuff out of the deal, and and I said, that's pretty awesome. But uh she said, listen, my joy is not rooted ultimately in a Chewbacca mask. She said, it's in Christ, like my joy is in Christ. I thought it was so cool that she got to use that to say, my joy is in Christ. Now, we can enjoy a Chewbacca mask. You don't have to be a believer to enjoy a Chewbacca mask or even understand the funny, the humor part of laughing. But deeper joy, deeper happiness is rooted in something that's much more important, much more significant, right? But some of us in this room, let's be honest, and many people that are not in this room today, that are walking around this planet, they've decided that joy and happiness is just a big cruel joke and they're the butt of it. Like everywhere they look, they're grasping for it and just cannot seem to get it. You know what I'm talking about? They just seem like, you know what? I'm happy one moment, the next moment I feel depressed, discouraged, and I want to die. You may know this, you may not know this, but statistically, this season is one of the highest uh rates of suicide of any season in our year, in the month of December, going into Christmas and end of the year. Many people are in despair right now. Many people reflecting over how life has not been what it's supposed to be. Maybe that's because culturally we paint this picture of what Christmas is supposed to be, right? You're supposed to get puppies and Lexuses, and so everything's supposed to be like really great and beautiful, and your life is just all awesome, and you get in your car with your family and you go to grandma's house and you have a beautiful meal and nobody fights. They clearly have not taken that video of my vehicle, right? Because my vehicle would look like kids touching each other, grabbing each other, pulling each other, putting them in headlocks across their car seats, you know. Like, that's let's talk about real life, right? Let's talk about not what's been portrayed as this image of what we should all be experiencing. Let's talk about what human beings actually experience and how that disconnect creates a dissatisfaction and a lack of joy, a lack of peace. Like we struggle with that. Are you with me? Because sometimes we get this idea that life's gonna be all this, like, you know, puppies and rainbows and unicorns and all that fun stuff, which I don't really think unicorns are that fun. But all that said, we have this idea that's all gonna be great. And it's not all great. We'll talk more about that in a minute. So, what do people do? Well, they give up. Some people literally try to detach themselves. For you geeks in the room, you may know some history, going back to Epicureus. You guys know who Epicurius is? He was a Greek philosopher. He had a whole system built around being a materialist. And his idea was look, if you can just not think about that there's anything other than the here and now, well, then you can be happy. He had like these four philosophies of happiness. One was like, don't believe in a God, don't have any kind of faith in any kind of God or God's because they'll let you down, disappoint you. Don't worry about death. Try that as a human being. Don't worry about death without any hope that there's anything else. Like, that's not the way our brains work. We know there's something going on. We know there's something not right. Even this great philosopher who was lauded with all these accolades, as he's still looked at as one of the best thinkers, was trying to just basically say, suck it up and deal with it. Just ignore it and it'll go away. But for many of you in this room, you know, you've tried to ignore it and it doesn't go away. The aching in your heart doesn't go away. Joy doesn't just come because you just think your way into it. You feel your way into it, do you? It doesn't come, that's not how it works. You think again that it's just a dead end, it's just a cul-de-sac. You find yourself there hurting. And in fact, people who try to detach themselves from this world, detach themselves from being hurt, like I just don't want to let anything bother me. I'm just gonna be completely disconnected, which by the way, that's the whole thought of Buddhism. That's what Buddhism is all about. Is to detach myself from human emotions, human feelings until I'm not affected or impacted by them anymore. Here's the problem to not have those emotions is not human. You're dehumanizing yourself. You're basically saying, I'm not gonna be a human being. Because God created you in his image with the capacity to have emotions and to feel. And it's not a bad thing, it's just that again, we have to see there's a bigger hope. It feels kind of bleak when you think of it this way, until you understand that God didn't leave us this way. To understand there actually is a capacity to enjoy things in this life and to see the bigger picture. Some of you guys are really hurting today. Some of you, the last thing on your mind is, I really feel happy or I really feel joyful. But my hope is that today, in some way, some shape, some form, God will stimulate you to experience joy in a way you haven't experienced in a long time. And that this Christmas season might be the most joyful season you've had, even if things don't go your way this Christmas season, even if you don't get the Lexus that you're all were wanting, right? Joy for a Christ follower is a unique thing. Joy for a Christ follower is very unique, just like the gospel message is unique. Some of you have heard me say this before, and I'll make sure I'm very clear. Christianity is not just another religion. It's not just one of many paths to God, it's not just another way up the mountain, like Alex prayed earlier, talked about earlier. We know that ultimately Christianity is the complete opposite of religion in many ways. Because what it is is it's not us earning our way or attaining a certain status or trying to ascribe to a certain level of behavior and morality or goodness, however you want to define that. It's a recognition that we could not be good enough of ourselves, but that Christ was good and sufficient in himself. And that he's come to us to make a way. Well, joy is very unique and it's very curious for a Christian because, number one, our joy is not circumstantial. Now, let me make sure I understand, I've already touched on this a little bit, but our joy is not circumstantial. Notice that I've been using the words joy and happiness kind of in tandem. There was a time in my life where I really thought that happiness and joy were completely different things. But what's interesting, if you study the Bible, you actually get into a word study throughout the entire text, you will find that those words are used interchangeably: joy, happiness, bless. There's actually six different words used throughout the Bible that speak to the idea of joy. Here's the deal: it's not that happiness and joy are two completely different things. It's that we understand and we're trying to reconcile in our brain what do we find our happiness, our joy in. And as a Christian, we find it in something very different than those who are not Christ's followers. Are you with me? So it's not that, I mean, for example, the Bible says, happy is the man whose trust is in the Lord. He uses the word happy. It's a good thing, right? So we don't have to be afraid of using the word happy because the reality is that we will find happiness. The question is, is where do we find it? He says, Happy is the man whose trust is in the Lord. Happy is the man whose trust, whose trust is in the Lord. So it's not circumstantial. Do you notice what he says in verse 3 in this chapter 5 we just read in Romans? He says, not only that, but we rejoice in our afflictions. Now I I like to say this fairly often, but guys, you need to read your Bible, okay? It says some stuff that sounds really weird. I mean, it does. It sounds the Bible says some things, if you actually read it, you're like, what? Are you crazy? Like the Bible says some things that sound ridiculous. Like, rejoice in your afflictions. Who rejoices in their afflictions? Now, this is a lot like Thanksgiving. I don't know how you guys were here last week. Um, we talked about thankfulness. Anybody actually this week practice being more thankful? Write some things down every day. Yeah, a few hands, good job. I didn't write them down every day, but every day I tried to wake up and say, God, before I get into my lists or before I try to jump straight to work, I want to stop and say thank you. Change changes everything. Doesn't it? Just really changes. You don't operate from just immediately being in the deficit, but really seeing what God has already done. Well, joyfulness and thankfulness have a lot of similarities. In that notice, he says in the text that we can be joyful in our afflictions. We can be joyful in a sense in all circumstances. Notice what he doesn't say. And we say this about thankfulness. You don't thank God for all circumstances. You don't rejoice for all circumstances. You're not happy for all the things you're dealing with. In fact, God's not happy about the fact the world's broken and it's messed up and you're suffering. He's not happy about that. He's not celebrating that. We don't have to celebrate it, but we can rejoice in the midst of it. Because we know there's a bigger picture. We understand there's a bigger reality. So joy for a Christ follower is not circumstantial. Now, I went to a place called happier.com this week, which is always dangerous to go to like different websites, you know, but if you're like just who knows what kind of ideas you're going to discover, please don't get your theology from websites, right? Unless you've vetted that website, you've gotten some feedback from somebody else, and they actually talk about the Bible. Um, don't get your theology. There's a lot of theologies floating around about who God is and who we are. That's completely bogus. And they, it's like, where'd you hear that? Well, on this website. Okay, don't do that. And don't Google stuff like that. You just just to see if you can figure it out, right? Here's the thing happier.com says that there's really five components to happiness. That if we have these five things, we can all be happy. You ready? Here they are. Number one, be in possession of the basics: food, clothing, shelter, safety, good health. Thumb. Okay? Two, get enough sleep. Well, that all the parents in the room are gone. We're out on that one. Have relationships that matter to you. All right, all the single people or people who don't have friends. Sorry. Um, surely everybody in here has friends, right? Okay, just make sure. Uh four, take compassionate care of others and yourself. Five, have work or an interest that engages you. Now, don't get me wrong, this list, if you had all five of those things, I can imagine you being a pretty happy person. I mean, wow, like that's a pretty cool list. Here's the problem. Historically, and even in our current world, like most people don't have access to all these things. And I'm guessing that probably everybody in this room could say, yep, I don't really have number two, or I don't have number four, or I don't have number. I mean, because the reality is these are all based on what? Circumstances. Circumstantial. There are people on this planet who do not have access to the basics. Can they be happy? Absolutely they can. In fact, I would actually argue that some of the people I've met who have less of those things than I do are way happier. Maybe it's because they're not owned by it, right? That's a whole nother sermon. But here's the reality for us: we can be happy because it's not based on circumstances. It's not based on just good health. It's not just based on how much food we have to eat or whether our kids are obeying or not. Now, it will affect our mood. But we can still rejoice even in difficulty, even in trial, even in hardship. That might sound crazy to you, it might sound insane to you. Because as we get further down this track, you're gonna understand, and just as I have continued to grow in my understanding that happiness is so much bigger than what's going on right here, right now. And if I just based it on that, man, I would rarely be happy. There's always something that's off. There's always something that's not right. Do you see how ridiculous this is? We don't have to be happy about everything, but we get to be happy even through everything. We can still be happy. But that's because as a Christian, again, it's unique. It's curious for us. Number two, our happiness, our joy is now, but not yet. Now that may sound really odd to you. It's now, but not yet. But I want you to notice back in Romans chapter 5. He says some very interesting things in Romans chapter 5. But he says this. He says things like, while we were still helpless, so that was in the past. Uh he says that God proves his own love for us that while we were still sinners, much more than this, since we have now been declared righteous. And then so he's talking about past things and he's talking about present things, and then he says something interesting. He says, We will be saved. So he talks about a future thing. I don't know if you realize this, but the gospel that we preach, the salvation that we have, is a past, it's a present and a future reality. Okay? So maybe you've heard us say that before, but I want to reiterate that point this morning. That our hope in Christ is a past, a present, and a future reality. Our trust, our belief is that Christ has come and that he paid the penalty for our sin. That's a past reality, right? That in the current day that we live in, that we have the ability through the Holy Spirit to overcome the power of sin. And that now we look forward to the day when he will remove the presence of sin. And that is going to be a glorious day. You see, here's the truth. I can experience glimmers of joy now, but I know it won't be full until Christ actually comes back and fixes all this mess. Because let's be honest, if you've put your trust in Christ and you've put your hope in Jesus, your life is still not rosy in every area. You still have problems with bills, you still have relationship difficulties, you still get sick, you still get tired, your kids still wear you out, right? All these things still happen in your life. Why? Because we have a now but not yet joy, because we live in a now but not yet kingdom. Jesus came on the scene 2,000 years ago and he inaugurated a kingdom. But that kingdom hasn't been made full and complete yet. I believe that that's what the Bible teaches us. So it doesn't mean that I have not had my sins washed away by putting my trust in Christ, but it does mean this. There's still sin around me, and there's still sin working to war against me. I still struggle with temptation, I still struggle with doubt, fear, anxiety, stress. So, like for us to say to Christians, hey, listen, if you'll just, if you just come up become a Christian, you won't ever have any problems, that's foolishness. Because we will. But we know the end of the story. We know that it's now, but we know that it's not fully yet. And when it becomes fully yet, we'll be fully joyful. Guys, we have no earthly idea how joyful it's gonna be on the day that Christ returns. In fact, it even says in Scripture that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind can even begin perceive what God has in store for those who wait for Him. And I would argue to you, you have no idea, I have no idea just how awesome, happy we're gonna be. It's gonna be amazing to be in the presence of the one who created us, who made us, who loves us. And all the issues that we struggle with, all the things that rob us of our joy, that kill our joy, that strip us of experiencing joy will be done away with. It's gonna be awesome. I mean, that's what it says in Revelation. It says, no more sickness, no more sadness, no more mourning, no more tears, right? No more suffering. That's gonna be a beautiful, beautiful day. So it's now, but it's not yet. So we celebrate his first coming at Christmas, but you know what it also does? It also causes us to celebrate and anticipate his second coming, his second arrival. So the question you guys are asking is, well, how do I actually experience joy today? Like, how do I experience it right now? Because I know it's coming, and that's great. I, you know, deferred joy, I can wait, but but I want to be like happy right now, too. And yes, there's happiness and stuff. Like, there's happiness in seeing a beautiful sunset. There's happiness and joy in having a good meal with your family, and there's happiness and joy in giving presents at Christmas, and there's happiness and joy in doing these little things, but how do we secure, how do we tie that to something much bigger? Because the truth is that there's something in your heart that you are all driven by, and there may be multiple something, but at least one. And I I could help you discern what that is by simply saying, what is it that you can't live without? If you really want to discern, dig in, what is it that you can't live without? What is it that you feel like, and for this, it may take you a lot longer. It may seem like a superficial question, but it's not. What is it, the something that you hold on to, that you cling to, that if it was taken away, all your joy, peace, hope, love is just, you know, it's just out the door, it's gone. And it might be something really, really good. In fact, the danger of being a Christian, the danger of being a human being is that we would worship the created rather than the creator. But in that, we have the ability right here, right now, to actually taste and see that the Lord is good and experience joy. Notice what he says in verse 1 and 2. I'm gonna read it to you again. Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We've also obtained access through him by faith into his grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. So, what is the answer to how we actually live here and now with joy? We by faith we believe the gospel. By faith we believe the good news. And what is the gospel? Jesus is the gospel. Jesus is the good news. As has already been said multiple times today, that Jesus shows up on the scene in our mess, in our chaos. Thankfully, and it says in the text, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, right? That Jesus shows up on the scene, it's in the gospel that we find our true joy. Well, how is that? Because maybe even that's not clear enough, maybe that's not helpful enough. Well, first off, what Jesus did, this gospel that he embodied, that he actually incarnated, if you will. He revealed the danger we were in before his arrival in our lives. He revealed the danger that we were in before his arrival in our lives. Did you see how the text describes our condition apart from God? Did you notice how Romans 5 tells us who we were without Christ? It says this. It says we were still, this is verse 6. It says we were still helpless. And then it goes on at the end of that verse to say he died for the ungodly. That was you, that's me. Okay? So helpless, ungodly, he goes on to say, uh, verse 8, God proves his own love for while we were still sinners. And he also says that we were even in verse 10, God's enemies. So four words it describes human beings: helpless, ungodly, sinners, enemies. Let me say this a little bit different. We had a debt we were incapable of paying. We owed God way more than we could because in our rebellion, we bankrupted our righteousness, and we were done. At that moment, we no longer could be in God's presence, and there is no way we could fix that problem. It's no way we could pay off the debt that we owed to Christ for what he has done. Not only that, but we committed a crime with a death sentence attached to it. We committed a crime, and it says that when we rebelled against God, we deserved death. That's what sin deserves. It deserves punishment, ultimately, death is what it deserves. That's where we were. That's the danger you and I were in. We were enslaved to our sin and we didn't even know it. We didn't even realize all we could do is sin. That our flesh is all about sin. In our humanness, that what we wanted most is to be in charge, to be in control, to have our way. Even human beings that are in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, I don't care. You're nothing more in a human flesh than that little baby that says, Mine, I want, it's mine, it's all about me. That's the way human beings are wired, right? In our flesh. We are made to worship ourselves in the flesh. We were enslaved to sin. We were living as enemies of our Creator and our King. And then our best attempts, our best days at doing good things. I mean, Scripture says it's like filthy rags. Our righteousness is like filthy rags. Our best attempts, our righteousness resume was ridiculously bad. Because even on our best days, we do it for ourselves. I mean, just being honest here. That's the danger we were in. We were in the danger of not being able to pay off a debt, not being able to escape a death sentence, forever being enslaved, living without hope, joy, peace, and love. Are you with me? That sounds bleak. But God, and it says that in that, not only do we know the danger of our sin, but we know the depth of Christ's love. We know the depth of Christ's love. I I don't want to unpack this in great detail, this issue of love, because we're going to do it on Christmas Eve. And so I invite you and your family to come participate at 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve, and we're going to talk about some of these verses that speak to this idea of Christ's love. But while you and I were in our helpless state, our hopeless state, it says that Christ died for us. The reason we celebrate Christmas is because Christ didn't come and just do life. He came and he died to pay the penalty for our sin, right? Christ died for us. He reveals the depths of his love. Another way to say this is that Jesus emptied himself of his joy so that we could find ours. That he gave up his right to be happy. They're hanging out with his father on the throne. He comes down, he takes on human flesh, he deals with our mess, he empties himself so that we might find true joy, true happiness. Isn't that awesome? You hear that this morning? You and I can be happy. We can live happy and joyful lives. Maybe not completely, maybe not in full, but we can have glimpses of what is to come because of Christ emptying himself. Here's what's interesting. There is no way that you and I can earn or attain joy. You can't manufacture it. You can make it up. You can look plastic. I've been around enough churches through my years to watch people put plenty of fake smiles on. How are you doing? I'm doing great. All the while it's like life's falling apart, wheels are falling off, marriage is struggling, works really bad. We don't have to sit around and play this game. We don't have to. We can be honest, we can be real. And in the midst of it, we can say, but my joy is not in my circumstances. My hope is not in that. My hope is in Christ. My joy is in Christ. I find it in Christ. I can't earn it. I can't attain it. I can't just stumble into it. But here's what I know: that because Christ died for me, it was purchased for me through the blood of Christ. And now the Holy Spirit pours it out into my life. And that's why it's listed in Galatians as a fruit of the Spirit. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit. It's not something you can make, it's not a work of the flesh. It's a fruit of the Spirit. And God offers that to you today. Now, some of you are thinking, I don't really know that I believe this, Nick. That's fine. That's fine. If that's not where you are, that's okay. If you don't believe me, here's my challenge to you this week. Just go to God and say, I don't believe you, God, but if it's real, would you please just show me how I can be joyful? Even though things really suck right now. If that's where you are, then I just pray that you take it to God, be honest, be real, because He's big enough to handle it, by the way. And say, God, would you help me to actually experience true joy? Even though right now it seems like the most ludicrous thing in the world to do. And I can believe I can guarantee you that when you lift your eyes and you see what Christ has purchased you, that your biggest debt has been paid, that your death sentence was repealed, that the hope that you long for is all found in Christ. Your joy will come. Your joy will come. Because that is our beautiful God. He doesn't want us to just wait till the then and there. He wants to give us glimpses in the here and now, even in the midst of hardship. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for the life that you lived, the sacrifice that you made. Thank you, Jesus, that you rescued us from this horrific reality that we deserve. Thank you, Father, for loving us enough to send your one and only Son to die so that whoever would believe in you would have eternal life. Father, I pray that this Christmas season, that this time of celebrating your arrival, your birth, that it would be a time for us to worship you, to grow and expand our worship for you. I pray that you would help the people in this room who feel like they've gotten gypped, that they're the butt of a cruel joke, and that their happiness is this elusive thing they can never ever nail down. I pray that this Christmas season will be one of the most joyful, happy seasons they've ever experienced. Because they see Jesus, the beauty of the gospel. Give us the faith. Even our faith is a gift. So would you give us the faith to believe what we cannot see and what we cannot feel? Would you give us the faith to put our hope in you, to put our trust in you? Thank you, God. Praise in your name. Amen.