Great Joy

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Christmas, December 25th. Today we are reminded that the great joy that was announced to the shepherds so long ago is available to you on Christmas Day and every day. We're going to read the second chapter of Luke, if you want to turn there. The second chapter of Luke is about the shepherds. And let's begin reading in verse eight. And it came about when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds began saying to one another, Let us go straight to Bethlehem, who is Christ the Lord, and this will be a sign for you.

You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. And it came about when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds began saying to one another, Let us go straight to Bethlehem then and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. And they came in haste and found their way to Mary and Joseph and the baby as he lay in the manger. And when they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this child. And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen just as had been told them. So what happened this night was this. When the angels said, I'm bringing you good news of great joy, which shall be to all people.

What was that good news? God was coming to earth. And in that brief split second in the moment of time when deity and humanity met in the womb of the Virgin Mary and the incarnation took place in that split second, that's when God and humanity met. And so the Jesus Christ in the womb of the Virgin Mary was God always God from the moment of conception by the Holy Spirit. That was God in her womb.

She simply housed the very person of Jesus Christ within her body. And so the moment that happened, God began to live among men. He came into this world in order to change humanity, to bring light where there is darkness, strength where there is weakness, health where there is sickness and hope where there is hopelessness. He came in order to bring joy and hope and gladness to the hearts of people everywhere. And so the angel says, I'm bringing you good news of a great joy.

This is what he was referring to. And when he said here the good news of a great joy, the good news is the gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the life changing message that Jesus Christ is not only the son of God, but he is God. And Jesus Christ came to die on the cross. Take all of our sin, pay our sin debt in full. And when we receive him by faith as our personal savior, into our life comes this person of Jesus Christ.

And as a result, there will be joy. Now, where does it come from? Well, it comes from the presence of Christ living on the inside of us.

But it is the work of the Holy Spirit who is living that life of Christ. And as you remember, he said in Galatians chapter five, but the fruit of the Spirit is what? Love, peace, what? Joy. Of all the fruits, he says the love, joy, peace, the fruit of the Spirit. So where does this joy come from? Is it something that you and I conjure up? Is it something that we sort of have a mind over matter that no matter what we are facing, we are able to somehow say I'm going to be joyous anyway?

No. When he speaks of fruit, he's speaking of the vine, the branch. And so as the branch rests in the vine and the grapes are born by the branch, what is it that produces the grapes?

It is the sap in the vine that runs in the branch into the stem and produces the grapes. It is the fruit of the Spirit. Joy isn't something that you and I figure out.

It isn't something that we manipulate and arrange. Joy is the overflow of the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us whose responsibility it is to live the life of Christ within us. How could Jesus be talking about joy, joy, joy, knowing that he was going to be separated from his disciples in a few moments, knowing that he was going to be crucified the next day, buried in the tomb, all the things that would just shatter their dreams and their hopes of being the part of a kingdom. But he said, I want your joy to be full. I want you to understand what joy is. Joy, joy, joy, in spite of your circumstances.

Why? He said, you won't even be ready to preach and to share this gospel until the Holy Spirit has come upon you. He'll be in you, with you, and upon you. And he will enable you to become the persons I want you to be. He will enable you to do the work that I've called you to do. And so his emphasis to them was joy. And it is the Spirit of God living on the inside of you and me that makes it possible for us to experience that joy. But it's something else that is significant to me in this passage of what happens here, because there's a phrase here that grabbed my attention. Made me realize that also joy is a powerful influence in your life and my life.

Look at this. Scripture says in verse 15, It came about when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds began saying to one another, Let us go straight to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened to which the Lord has made known to us. And they came in haste and found him. And then they went away to tell other people. The joy of the Lord Jesus Christ has a tremendous influence in our life. For example, when they became joyous, when the joy of God filled their heart, what did they say?

Let's go straight and see him. Secondly, let's hurry up and do it. They made haste. And thirdly, they had to tell someone else. I think one of the primary reasons that some people probably keep the gospel that they have in their heart to themselves is they don't have enough joy overflowing that they have to tell. You see, the joy within us motivates us for things that are good. But it also, listen, joy of the Lord sustains us to face trials and difficulty and hardship in life.

That's what it's all about. And you see, we think, well, what does joy have to do with these things? Well, listen to two or three Scriptures, if you might. Let's go to Hebrews chapter twelve. In the twelfth chapter of Hebrews you'll recall, Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

Now watch this. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy, listen to this, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Who for the joy set before Him, listen, it was the joy that Jesus had overflowing within Him because He was committed to doing the will of the Father and His focus was upon the Father, the Father's will, the Father's plan, the Father's purpose and the redemption of mankind, not upon pain, not upon suffering, His focus was upon the Father. He said the joy that was set before Him.

What does that say? It says that my circumstances does not necessarily have to steal my joy. And you see, happiness, that's one thing, but joy is an inner flow of the Spirit of God. It is because the gospel of Jesus Christ has taken root within our heart.

Something is transformed within us. We have tapped into that eternal source of joy which is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit who is living inside of us. And so when you begin to examine the Scriptures, here's what you find. You find this whole idea of joy and pain and suffering somehow getting mixed up together. Look, if you will, in 2 Corinthians and the seventh chapter.

Notice what he says in verse four of the seventh chapter. He says, Great is my confidence in you. Great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction. For even when we came into Macedonia, our flesh had no rest.

We were afflicted on every side, conflicts without fears within. But God who comforts the depressed comforted us by the coming of Titus. He says, I am overflowing with joy in all of our affliction. How in the world can you overflow with gladness, cheerfulness, a sense of divine calm contentment in the midst of conflict and affliction and trial and tribulation?

Why? Because the source of our joy, not our circumstance, but the presence of God within us. And as I am willing to rely upon Him and have a God-focused life, that joy cannot be stolen and cannot be taken simply because the circumstances are not right. Probably the greatest testimony and witness that you and I ever have as a Christian is not standing behind the pulpit or singing in a choir or sharing your testimony with someone about the gospel.

Probably the most powerful witness you and I ever have is when the joy of the Lord Jesus Christ can flow from us in the midst of difficulty and hardship and trial and tribulation. And people wonder, how can you be so joyous when things are so difficult? Because you are tapped in to an eternal source of joy that finds itself not in circumstances, but in the gospel truth that you and I are the sons and daughters of God. Our name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. We are on our way to heaven and nothing is going to stop us and nothing is going to interrupt us and nobody can get us there until God chooses the time. We have a sense of overwhelming joy that is absolutely unexplainable.

There is a power in joy. Now turn off, if you will, to Nehemiah chapter eight. Eighth chapter, verse nine. Remember now that Ezra has just read the law to the people and they're standing up and they're just weeping and I mean they're so grateful. Listen to this, then Nehemiah, verse nine, who was the governor and Ezra the priest and scribe and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people.

Now I want you to watch something here. This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep for all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law.

Then he said to them, go eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, send portions to him who has nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites calmed all the people saying be still for the day is holy. Do not be grieved. And all the people went away to eat, to drink, to send portions and to celebrate a great festival because they understood the words which had been made known to them.

What are they doing? He says it is a holy day. Three times he says it is holy but he says you're to go and have a festive time. He says the joy of the Lord is your strength.

This is not a time to weep. This is a time to rejoice and to praise the Lord and to enjoy one another. Well, I think about Christmas. That's what Christmas is all about. It is a happy time. It is a joyous time. It is a time while it is a holy time because we acknowledge and honor our sacred Jesus Christ himself, our Savior and our Lord and our Master. But it is a time to rejoice and to have fellowship and to eat and relax and to have fun with one another. That's what Christmas is all about. While it is holy, it is a time of great festivity and a time, as he says here, of great joy. And he said, so go your way with your families and your friends and enjoy this time. Then one last thing I would say about this joy, and that's this. And that is it is a permanent gift from God. You say, hold it, hold it, hold it.

How can it be permanent? Well, I have to ask you, first of all, do you believe what Jesus said? And I'm sure you do. So turn to John sixteen, the sixteenth chapter of John. Listen to what Jesus said to these disciples. Remembering now, knowing that they are going to face separation that night, fear, a fight in the garden, crucifixion the next day.

Listen to what he said. Verse twenty-two. Therefore, you too now have sorrow, but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice. And no one takes your joy away from you.

Read that again. No one takes your joy away from you. Now, most of us have probably felt, well, you know, if you get into certain circumstances, you're going to lose your joy.

Notice what he says. I didn't say you couldn't lose it. I said nobody can take it away from you.

You know why? Because there's nothing on the outside of you that determines your joy. There's only one thing that will cause you to lose your joy. And that's you choose to give it up.

Now, what makes us give it up? When we sin against God, we rebel against God, we lose our joy. Because the joy of our Lord and the joy that you and I experience is an overflow of the Holy Spirit within us.

So what happens? When we sin against God, we quench the Spirit. It's like we squeeze them off. And when we quench the Spirit, the flow of the Spirit ceases. It doesn't mean we cease to be saved. It doesn't mean we cease to be a child of God. It doesn't mean we cease any of that. But it means that the flow of the Spirit of God is quenched.

Something happens. Go back to the fifty-first Psalm. The fifty-first Psalm and you hear David crying out to God in this fifty-first Psalm.

Remember that he has sinned against God and he is a broken man. And listen to what he says in this passage. Verse ten of Psalm fifty-one. He says, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from thy presence. Do not take thy Holy Spirit from me.

Look at this. Restore to me the joy of thy salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit. He lost his joy. His sin cost him his joy.

And what was he praying? Restore to me the joy of my salvation. And what does it take to have restored joy?

It simply takes confession, repentance before God, and that joy is instantaneously restored because God wants us to be joyous. It is part of the greatest testimony we have to be joyous sons and daughters of God living and walking in His Spirit. One last verse I want you to look at is next to the last book in the Bible in Jude. There's only one chapter, so Jude, look at this if you will. Jude, verse twenty-four, because he says something very significant here. Jude, verse twenty-four.

He says, Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory blameless with what? Great joy. He says that you and I are going to stand in the presence of God with great joy. Joy, joy, joy.

Why? For all eternity future, you and I are going to experience uninterrupted, uninhibited, absolute, perfect joy because we will have a new body. We'll be in the presence of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We'll have absolutely nothing to hinder us whatsoever. We'll be able to experience eternally perfect, uninhibited, uninterrupted, absolute joy for all eternity. Now, until then, he says it is my gift to you. And so that everyone who receives Jesus Christ as their personal Savior receives the gift of the joy that Jesus said over and over and over again. He says my joy. I want my joy to be full in you, not just the taste of it, but I want it to be overflowing in you. I want you to be full of it, so full of it that no circumstance can dampen the joy of your spirit because it is born of the Spirit and began in you the moment that you believed the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So I would say to you, my friend, this morning, if you've never trusted Jesus as your Savior, you may have moments of happiness, moments of delight, but you don't have real joy because you see joy is the overflow of a relationship with God. It is a powerful influence in your life that will sustain you and strengthen you. And it is an eternal gift that God gives you. You give it up only when you surrendered by sin and disobedience. But it is the eternal gift of God. And you and I are going to walk and live in eternal joy for all eternity as we serve Him together.

Amen. Thank you for listening to Great Joy. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.