I want to begin this morning as I have the opportunity to talk about joy and the proverbs by asking you a couple of questions that I want you to ponder for a few moments. Who is the most joyful person that you know? Who's the most joyful person that you know? I want you to think about that for a moment and then I want you to think about this. What would you say describes them? How would you describe them? What qualities make them joyful people? More importantly, what would you say describes them when they are in the throes of trials? I have my friend in mind. I thought about this for a long time and he happens to be in this church. I've known him for many years and he is a dear friend and he has experienced the common trials of everyday life, a sick child, a difficult relationship with his own brother, a major job crisis just to name a few and all the others that we normally have in life. And I often ask him in conversation how he is doing and his answer to me is consistently the same. It is one word hopeful, hopeful. He's the most joyful person that I know. As we are looking this morning at what the proverbs teach about joy, it is interesting to find in the proverbs and the writers of the wisdom literature, including the proverbs, that they make a crucial connection between joy and hope. Solomon observes joy at work in real lives, either in his own experience or in others. Joy is displayed when people are hopeful. And so he writes in proverbs 1028 and all of these passages are in your notes, by the way. He writes in proverbs 1028, the hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish. Think about that, the hope of the righteous brings joy. Here's the connection that Solomon makes. A joyful person is a hopeful person. One who possesses hope is one who will display joy. The reason for this is ultimately the focus of every Christian's hope is the living hope Jesus Christ. As Peter says in his letter, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. And then two verses later, Peter says this, In this you rejoice, you are joyful, you display joy. Though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials. In what do you rejoice or display hope? Peter says in God's act of mercy toward you, causing you to be born again to this living hope through Jesus Christ through his resurrection. Or as Paul would say in Titus, chapter 2, verse 13, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. So if we put the two together in the end, in the grand scheme of things, in our everyday experience of the mixture of trials and ease, it is hope in Jesus Christ that brings us true joy. So it may sound quite simple today to ask you another question for you to internally ponder. How is your hope in Jesus Christ today? Are you waiting, as Paul said, for the blessed hope of his return, the living hope himself, Jesus Christ? I'll tell you how you can answer that question. Just think back this week in a particularly frustrating difficulty that you've gone through. During this internal struggle, did you find yourself losing joy? It was seeping out. Or did you find yourself anchored to the hope of Jesus Christ? Or was it the farthest thing from your mind? If you're like me, it wasn't this past week at least on my mind or in my heart. And as I will explain in a moment, God used my dear wife to gently remind me of this. Now I want to tell you that this sermon has been especially challenging for me personally, primarily because of three reasons. Number one is I was thinking about joy. I believe it has been so distorted and you would agree with me. So distorted and confused in our culture with experiences of shallow happiness. Happiness that is often connected to things or experiences that we have, whether it is a new relationship with a guy or a girl, a clean new car, a future job, job security. There is nothing, by the way, inherently wrong with being happy about the good gifts that God provides and His faithfulness and His goodness to His children. But God intentionally makes those good gifts and the joy that accompanies them, fleeting and temporary. So what we find in our culture is a lot of people that are quite happy without being joyful. But that happiness is only on a surface level. It's temporary and often conditioned upon our circumstances. Yet joy in the Bible has a richer meaning and a deeper foundation. The Bible teaches that we can be joyful without the shallow circumstance oriented happy feelings we get with a new thing. And this kind of soul-filling joy is Holy Spirit produced and simultaneously fought for in our walk with God. And I'll talk more about that later. Secondly, this has been particularly challenging because I personally, frankly, tend to be a pessimist. And I fight God on this all the time and lose. I'm one of those guys that sees the glass half empty rather than half full. For many years, you know what I called myself, a realist. But that's just a pessimist denying the truth to make them feel better about themselves. God in His grace has given me a faith-walking, bleeding optimist in my wife, Connie. And so our dates are filled with interesting conversations about finances, family, and our future. Thirdly, this has been one of those weeks where my level of joy has been, let's just say, challenged and even put to a major test. I will share in a moment about an example of this and why it's so difficult to show you how I responded incorrectly and was robbed of joy, but how we should respond correctly to have joy in the circumstance. I'll share that later on in this sermon, what happened. I want to come back in just a moment to that example. But I want to say to you that Proverbs teaches us about living our lives, our daily routines, our trials and our sorrows, and the wisdom that they give us related to joy. So what I want to do first is make some initial observations as you scan the Bible about joy or the word rejoice, so be brief and short, then I want to take a humble attempt at defining joy. Then I want to take on a few of the Proverbs that mention joy or rejoice, and finally to talk about what robes of joy and how we fight to maintain joy. That's where I'm going this morning. So first, some observations when you scan the scriptures for the word joy, this is what you'll find. First, just looking at the English word, joy is mentioned as a strength for the believer, Nehemiate 10, many of us have memorized this past tense. Go your way, eat the fat and drink the sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready. For this day is holy to the Lord and do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength. You need to plant that deep in your soul. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Secondly, joy in the scriptures is often a response expressed in shouts and with singing. Listen to Psalm 25. May we shout for joy over your salvation. And in the name of our God, set up our banners, may the Lord fulfill all your petitions. Psalm 5.11. But let all who take refuge in you rejoice or display joy, let them ever sing for joy and spread your protection over them that those who love your name may exalt you. We find in the Bible that not only people but even creation, even creation is called the shout to God with joy. Psalm 65.12. The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy. The meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain. They shout and sing together for joy. Fourthly, in the New Testament, joy is not only a response but moves to a command. Joy is a command. An imperative, Andrew Reddit, 1 Thessalonians 5.16, rejoice always, display joy, always, pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all your circumstances for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. Fifthly, God's word is the joy of our hearts. Listen to what the Psalmist says, Psalm 111. Your testimonies are my heritage forever. They are the joy of my heart. Jeremiah 15.16. Your words were found and I ate them and your words became to me a joy in the delight of my heart. I am called by your name, O Lord God of hosts. Joy or rejoice is mentioned 412 times as an English word in our Bible. There are a handful of Hebrew words that express the full meaning of joy and rejoice in the Old Testament since we are in the Proverbs. Simca means glee, exceeding gladness, pleasure, rejoice. Samaya means joy, delight, pleasure. These two words are primarily used in the Old Testament. That is an overview of the Bible, much more to it, but let's attempt at a definition, a humble attempt. What you have in your notes is my final definition, so work with me here. This is the way I got to this. This is what I came up with, humbly, joy comes when there is an inward disposition of the heart and mind that rests happily-contented regardless of circumstances, in all that God is and all that He is doing in my life. Now let's expand on that a bit. Joy becomes a choice as we face life and all that it brings us. Even though we are in the Proverbs, let's be reminded that joy is the second fruit of the Holy Spirit, of a Spirit-filled walking Christian. Galatians 5, 22 and 23, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such things there is no law. So we might define joy considering Galatians as well. Joy comes when the Holy Spirit produces in me a disposition of the soul or a state of the mind that rests happily-contented regardless of circumstances. Why? Because of my belief in the goodness, the faithfulness, the love and what Chris preached about last week, the sovereignty of God over all of my life. So joy comes when I choose to allow the Holy Spirit to produce in me this inward disposition of my heart that rests happily-contented. And all that God is and all that He is doing regardless of my circumstances. I hope you're with me on that and think about that and ponder that. What does it mean for us? It means that the Christian should be the most joyful person on this earth because they believe in the truths of the sovereignty of God, the goodness of God. And they possess hope in God over all the circumstances in one's life. So here's my revised definition in your notes. Joy is a Holy Spirit-produced fruit of walking with God that gives us a disposition or a state of the soul of resting happily-contented regardless of circumstances. And all that God is and all that He is doing in my life. So this leads me to a question. It's an important question for us to ponder. Why is joy or why can joy be so elusive? Why are we often robbed of it so quickly? Well, let's consider that, but before we do that, let's look at joy in the Proverbs. Solomon and the wisdom writers use the word joy and rejoice in an observational manner. In other words, you've got Solomon sitting back and watching life unfold. And he sees, for instance, the countenance on the face of a friend. And he notices how pleasant it is. And so he writes under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in Proverbs 15-13, a glad or joyful heart makes a cheerful or literally a pleasant face. But in contrast, by sorrow of heart, the Spirit is crushed. A good example of this that I thought about immediately came to my mind is that one of our pastors is blessed with one of the most discerning spirits that I know of anybody. He can read a face perfectly. And I have come to our staff meetings and been traveling overseas or had some difficulty in afterwards. He will call me and ask me, how are you? Because he read my countenance. Solomon, I think, was like this. Discerning a friend's countenance and knowing that he came from either a joyful or a sorrowful heart. We sometimes say to one another, you cannot read that person's heart. And that is true to a certain extent. But we can't see war in the face of a friend, a joyful or a sorrowful heart. It is interesting that God has given us the ability to see the condition of the heart by the face. Consider what we pastors have the privilege to do every end of our services. We speak the good word or the benediction. And often times we use errands benediction quoted in pulpits around the world. The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face the shine upon you. And be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you his peace. What we are doing in essence is stating that the Lord's face is one that tells us his heart towards us. One of graciousness because he is a God of grace. And one of peace because we are no longer as enemies if we are in Christ. His countenance, his face shows his heart towards his people. And we are blessed when the Lord turns his face towards us and reveals a heart of grace and peace. Likewise Solomon says our countenance displays our heart's condition. He says in his observations and probably in his own life the heart has a certain superiority over our circumstances. And is this not what we need to hear and listen to? The heart can overcome our circumstances. In other words, there is, as Nehemiah said, a power in a joyful heart that is placed in the Lord.
There is a power in a joyful heart. Now as a warning, I'm not talking about positive thinking, giving us power to change our circumstances by thinking positively about them. But a joyful heart changes us in our circumstances. How does it change us? It changes our response. He writes in Proverbs 15-15, all the days of the afflicted are evil. But the cheerful of heart has a continual feast. A cheerful heart has a continual feast. Notice the contrast here. All the day stands over against continual. Evil as opposed to a cheerful heart. The afflicted contrasts with a banquet. And so to clarify, this is not to contrast the afflicted who are innocent and exploited over against a cheerful heart. Rather, what Solomon is saying is that the afflicted who suffer and have the cheerful heart enables them to endure and overcome their circumstances. For example, the New Testament writers say the same thing. Hebrews 10-32-34. But recall the former days, the writer says, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings. Sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison. And you joyfully accepted the plundering of your own property since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession in an abiding one. Joyful in suffering, affliction, and the plundering of your property. Consider what Paul said about his own suffering when he writes to the Corinthians. Second Corinthians 6-3 in following. We put no obstacle in anyone's way so that no fault may be found in our ministry. But a servants of God, we commend ourselves in every way. By great endurance and afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonment, riots, labor, sleepless nights, hunger, and so on. And you go down to verse 10, he says, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing. Is this not one of the realities of the Christians' experience, sorrowful yet always rejoicing? The commentator Kidner says of this passage in Proverbs that this prevailing attitude colors not just the personality but the whole experience. A cheerful or a joyful heart, Proverbs says, overcomes adversity, not in changing the circumstance, but changing our hearts in the affliction. So what is the heart feast upon in an adverse circumstance, in a trial, in a difficulty? It is certainly not possessions which may be absent, but it feasts on joy. The continual feast is its joy. Even adverse conditions cannot deprive us of Holy Spirit given thought for joy. What the Proverbs recognizes that it is hard to produce a joyful heart in the midst of our afflictions and trials. When we're caught up in the frustration, the anger, the disappointment of the trial. But Solomon says to possess and continually feast upon a joyful heart beforehand. That gives powerful endurance when we journey and venture into our trials. This is exactly what Nehemiah is saying. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Solomon also observes this again in chapter 17, verse 22, but what he does here is connect the heart and the spirit. He says in verse 22, a joyful or cheerful heart is good medicine. Literally it heals, but a crushed spirit drives up the bones. This is what commentator Bruce Waltke says. This proverb on its own, it monishes a disciple to live in such a way that he experiences joy that revives and not a crushed spirit that kills. Waltke writes, even the most firm and powerful parish when they become crushed in spirit. What is clear is that the difference between a joyful heart and a crushed spirit depends more on a person's application of the spiritual resources they possess in their circumstances. And Waltke lists these to enable us to avoid a crushed spirit. One, by fearing God, listen to what proverb says, Proverbs 37, be not wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord, turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. He says, by wisdom, we're able to battle against a crushed spirit. Proverbs 15, 24, the path of life leads upward for the prudent, the wise, that they may turn away from she old beneath. He says by hope, we're able to battle through when our spirits are about to be crushed. Proverbs 13, 12, hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life. And finally, by good news, Proverbs 12, 25, anxiety in a man's heart, what does it do? Ways him down, but a good word makes him glad, joyful. I realize when I thought about this, the complexities of a crushed spirit, depression, or many, but in general, thought here, the writer is stating what he observed, a person with a joyful, cheerful heart will promote healing, but a crushed spirit will dry up the bones. Solomon also observed that joy comes when justice wins out in our society. Proverbs 21, 15, when justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evil doers. He has written beforehand two negative proverbs about injustices, one to the poor in verse 13, refusing to hear their cry, and in verse 14 being pacified by a bribe. But he observes that justice will in fact be done, and when it is done, it brings joy to the righteous and terror to those who are wicked. And most commentators believe this also can mean that the righteous one, God himself, feels joy in doing justice and in striking terror in the hearts of unbelievers. Now while that is entirely true because God is perfectly just, and he always finds joy in acting consistently within his character, I want us to remember what Ezekiel said in 1823, God says, have any pleasure in the death of the wicked? It declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live. This passage certainly means that joy comes to the righteous in the finished product of justice because it guarantees our victory over the wicked. And by contrast, evil doers who use violence and deception against society's weaker members are filled with terror when the finished process of justice throws them into the destruction that they themselves had done. Solomon also observes joy in the wise and good use of words. He probably said this many times to our kids, to ourselves, after we were trying to grab the word that we just stated in that awkward conversation and want to pull it back, but Proverbs 15-23 says, to make an apt answer is a joy to a man, and a word in season how good it is. There's a certain joy in giving an apt reply. The writer says that the parents have joy when their children receive good counsel, verse 20. Wise adults have joy in accepting good counsel, verse 22. And here in verse 23, an effective word set in response to some challenging situation, and given at the right time, brings joy. How it brings joy, the writer says, it's like hitting the nail on the head. It is so well composed that it is beneficial for life and prosperity of both the speaker and his audience. It is a fitting word on just the right occasion, a gift from above. Now I want to use the remaining few minutes we have. To talk about why joy is so elusive, and what robs us of joy, and how do we fight for it? So who are the joy robbers? I'm going to suggest two. Our joy is robbed when we respond incorrectly to our circumstances. Our joy is robbed when we respond incorrectly to our circumstances. I told you earlier that this past week was a great challenge to me not only in writing the sermon for the reasons I stated but because of a personal situation that happened in my family. And I want to share this illustration to focus the attention on my incorrect response to the circumstances and how I watched joy just flea. On last weekend, I received a call that I did not ever think I would receive. And this has a good ending, by the way. And here it is. I got a call that my son was on his way back to Birmingham to be reporting for practice for football and school starts in two weeks and they started their practices last Monday. And so he's on his way. He's gotten all the stuff in his car and he's going down the road and he's in a place in Georgia where he stops to get gasoline. He gets a gasoline and he drives out and to get back on the interstate, he makes a U-turn that he shouldn't have made. And when he made that U-turn, a kind officer wanted to remind him of that U-turn. And the blues went on and they pulled him over. And the kind officer said to him, son, do you know what you did wrong? And he said, I'm very grateful that I can say this. He said, yes sir, I did. I shouldn't have probably turned at U-turn, right? He said, that's correct. He said, I'll tell you what, I'll let you go here on this one. But I need to run your license. I need to run your license. So he runs his license and Mike sits there for about 15 minutes and he comes back or however long it took. He comes back in that kind officer said, you need to get out of your car. And Mike said, okay. And he got out of the car and he handcuffed him. And he walked him to the police car and he said, you're under arrest. And he put him in the police car and he took him down and he booked him, thumb printed him, mug shot him and put him in the jail. And so I received this call that says before I received the call, this is the second call I got after I figured out what happened. I get this call where it says, the call you're about to take for five minutes is going to cost you ten bucks. And I was really watching Joy just go out all over the floor and out of my life. Remember I'm trying to show you my attitude. I'm focused on anger, what in the world is going on, what did my son do if anything she didn't, but other than the U-turn it was wrong. But it was frustrating to me and I was watching Joy leave. And so what ended up happening is that I found out he had a violation of a turn signal, a light was out in the back of his car in Birmingham in April. And he got stopped because they don't have inspections in Alabama. The policeman kindly said to him, son, you need to get this tail light fixed and he said, okay, here's a warning. He said, you got to get this warning signed by a policeman after you get it fixed. So he comes home for spring break or some part before school ended and we fix it together trying to teach him how to do that. He goes back and I said to him when he went back, take this to the policeman or else. And I said, do this son, he said, yes sir. He takes it down there, he gets it signed. And he asks the police officer and says, do I need to do anything else? The police officer said, no, you're fine. No problems. You're good to go. Well he left. Well in between the transition of coming home, working this summer here, he received, which was not forwarded to him. He received a letter in a mail that he was supposed to appear in court on June 19th because he didn't get his tail light fixed. Because he was supposed to take that signed warning to the court, which he didn't do. So he was driving on either Charlie could help me here, revoked or suspended license. And he had not appeared in court so they put him in jail. Now this whole time, not only is my blood pressure going up but joy is leaving because I'm responding, focusing on my anger, my frustration, my wondering what's going to happen. Why does my son now have a mug shot and a whole bit? Why did he not take that down there? Why did this? Why that? Joy just goes. It's gone. This is fleeing. And why? But by the way, when he got in the prison, he did tell me in the jail. He did tell me. Sorry, Jim. By the way, he did tell me. He said to me that I told the gospel to some of the prisoners in there, the guys in the jail. And I said, good for you, Mike. I said, you've gotten on the inside. You've got now a jail ministry that you can be involved in. And he said, he prayed for him. I didn't ask if he was intimidated. He said, no, and I said, okay. So anyway, here's the thing though. I tell that story because it'll help you understand why joy was stolen from me. Because I responded. I responded incorrectly to the circumstance. I had a choice to make. Instead of fighting for joy that the Holy Spirit produces in me, I chose instead to let my circumstances overrule overpower when I grew in frustration, anger, and an attitude that I'm going to fix this. Rather than fighting to focus on the joy of God being my hope and my strength, my focus turned to my circumstances, the disappointment and the powerlessness of the situation. So the effect was, in a very short moment of time, my joy was gone. My incorrect response to my frustration dissolved any joy in me. There is what I have found. There is a very brief period of time to fight for joy in the adverse circumstance. There is a time to fight and to ask the Holy Spirit to produce joy in you. But if you give or I give any ground, the momentum changes really quickly and we lose the battle for joy. In the moment we have to fight with all of our might to turn our attention to the hope we have in Jesus Christ, that's when joy will stay through the circumstance. We're feasting on it. Joy overcomes when hope abounds. Joy overcomes when hope abounds. You cannot give any ground or else you will lose the fight. Immediately ask for the Holy Spirit to produce joy in you, regardless of the circumstance, to give you that happy, rested, contented disposition of the soul. There is a second way and a final way, I think, that we're robbed of joy. I've experienced this every Christian has. It is when we believe incorrectly the accusations of our arch enemy. The great enemy of our soul who accuses us, night and day, he accuses God's dear saints. And so we must fight against the fiery arrows with all the armor of God. The shield of faith. Some of the most spirit-crushing times in my life have come when I believe the lies of the enemy. Lies such as Mike, you are a worthless Christian. You're unable to do any good. You're a guilty Christian. You're unusable as a pastor. You're unusable to God. These accusations and a million others that we listen to when they believe they hit the soul like a hammer of shame and guilt to rob the Christian of their joy. We have to fight to recognize them for what they are, their lies from the pit of hell. We have to anchor our hope in Jesus Christ. Listen to what Paul says in Romans 8. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies who is to condemn Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that he was raised who was at the right hand of God the Father, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword, or the accusations of the evil one? As it is written, for your sake we are killed, being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered, no, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, things to come, nor powers, nor heights, nor depth, nor any else, anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. We must believe that, and reject the lies of the enemy, or our joy will be stolen. I am reminded of the song that we often sing here at Christ's covenant, one of my favorites, before the throne of God above. And one stands at says this, the second I believe, when Satan tempts me to despair and tells me of the guilt within, upward, I look and I see him there who made an end of all my sin. Because the sinless Savior died, my sinful soul is counted free, for God the just is satisfied to look on him and pardon me. How do we obtain joy? How do we maintain joy? We fight for it. We ask for it. We fight for it because in our experience in the world, with the world, the flesh and the devil will always, in this life, bring us a mixture of seasons when rejoicing and joy seem easy and seasons when we are brought very low and crushed in spirit. Enjoy as like chasing after an elusive creature. The Proverbs recognize this, and they anchor us to hope in God, Christian. Ask for it. Ask that the Holy Spirit would produce it in your life. We fight for it. In the moment you sense I'm losing the joy. God is faithful to give it to us. God is faithful. Let's pray together. Father, I know that there are people here today who are crushed in spirit. There are things that have gone on in their lives where something has been taken away. They're disappointed. It could be angry. There are things that have robbed them of their joy. And my prayer is this morning that we might find ourselves anchored in the hope found in Jesus Christ, fighting for joy, asking you to fill us with your spirit so that we might display joy in all that we do in our. Finding it in all that God is, in all that He has done for us. Anchor us to the hope of the living hope Jesus Christ. Make us a joyful people, God, that we might display it not only among one another, but also the world around us that so easily is satisfied with a surface circumstances oriented happiness. That's fleeting and temporary. Give us a lasting joy that we display in the easy days in the bad times that we face. We ask you to continue to use us in this hope to display it to the world around us that they might desire this living hope as well. In whose name I pray. Amen.