Joy Has Come
Advent 2021: The Light Has Come • Sermon • Submitted
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Sermon Text: John 16:16-24
Sermon Text: John 16:16-24
20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
This year in celebration of the arrival of Jesus to the world, we here at City Light have been dealing with some of the KEY THEMES that the church has for centuries connected with Jesus’ arrival.
We’ve talked about when Jesus arrived on earth, TRUE HOPE arrived.
We talked about when Jesus arrived on EARTH, TRUE PEACE arrived.
And last Sunday, Corey beautifully shared with us how JESUS’ arrival on EARTH, brought TRUE LOVE.
Tonight, on this very special evening, I would like to ponder for a moment how Jesus’ ARRIVAL on EARTH was also the ARRIVAL of TRUE Joy!
In this text Jesus is preparing his disciples for his approaching death and temporary departure and he makes this very interesting declaration…while you see me, you’ll have joy but when you do not see me, you will not have joy...
Why does he say this?
The ARRIVAL of JESUS is the ARRIVAL of JOY
The ARRIVAL of JESUS is the ARRIVAL of JOY
Everyone that came in contact with Jesus came in contact with joy!
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
The angel appeared to these men whose possessions were small and insignificant, whose reputation was insignificant, whose living conditions were meager and said “I bring you a message that is filled with GREAT JOY!”
And what was that message?
Your bank account is about to increase significantly? No
You’re about to gain more prominence and power than you ever dreamed? No
Your living conditions are about to improve at a shockingly high measure? No
What was the message?
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
A Savior Has Been Born - The only one who can save us from the Devil, Death, and an eternal hell has come down to Earth. The one who is Christ the Lord has arrived.
The one who they prophesied would be called “God with us!” is now with us!
What was the source of their joy! God is here
What is the source of our joy! God has come!
We see it again in Matthew 2
The Arrival of Jesus is the Arrival of Joy
A group of wise men from the east saw a star appear leading them to the birthplace of this same savior, and they journeyed and made their way into Bethlehem.
After they made a pit stop at the palace of a tyrannical king, by the name of Herod, whose evil intentions they were unaware of, Scripture tells us that they again spotted the star that was leading them to the Savior.
Picking up in verse 9 of Matthew 2:
9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
Why did they rejoice at the sight of the star? Because the star was leading them to the Savior!
What was the source of their joy! God is here
What is the source of our joy! God has come!
We even see it in the interaction of two expecting mothers: Mary, mother of Jesus the Christ, and Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist
39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
LEAPED FOR JOY!
What was the source of this unborn child’s joy! The arrival of the unborn Christ!
Mary, Elizabeth, and the unborn John all had joy because God was arriving into the world!
What is the source of our joy! God has come into the world!
The Arrival of Jesus is the Arrival of Joy
It then makes sense when Jesus says in John 16:19 that in a little while you will not see me that he follows it up, YOU WILL BE SORROWFUL.
If the Arrival of Jesus is the Arrival of Joy than it only makes sense that his death will bring great sorrow.
John 16:20 (ESV)
20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful...
Truly, Truly means this is for certain.
It’s as if Jesus is saying, “I can guarantee you this, when I die, your lives will be met with DEEP and ABIDING SORROW.”
Sorrow that is so deep and traumatic that it will lead to an outward expression of weeping and mourning...
This is what happens when DEATH shows up on our door step.
Many of you even this evening come to this service feeling that kind of sorrow because of losses you’ve experienced…
Many of us have lost family members, dear friends, and we’ve felt like we lost them too soon. That sentiment has only rose in the last couple of years as we’ve suffered through this pandemic together.
But try to imagine, if when of those beloved family members or friends was the Savior of the world in which you had placed all of your hopes and dreams in...
The sorrow, the weeping and the mourning would be MAGNIFIED.
But not only will they experience DEEP and ABIDING sorrow, but they will experience it while the world rejoices...
John 16:20 (ESV)
20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.
Again, here Jesus saying…I guarantee that you will be exceedingly sorrowful and I guarantee that the world will rejoice!
Why rejoice at the death of a SAVIOR???
Because we don’t believe that Savior to actually be the SAVIOR???
Because we believe we are sufficient to SAVE OURSELVES and are in no need of SAVING!
For too many of us, Jesus gets in the way of me being my own savior. So a life without Christ is a life with JOY even if that JOY is only short-lived.
The death of God means that we can create a god of our own making...
Some of you in this room or some of you watching may consider your life that much better with Jesus not in it…a life free to pursue whatever I desire whenever I desire it…a life free of restraint and rules…
Some of you in this room or watching may be saying…if the Christmas child is truly dead, then that means I can live Christmas day and every day exactly the way that I want to live it and then…then I’ll have true joy...
Fam, that belief is as deceptive as COAL in a Christmas morning stocking.
That delusion may feel real to you right now, but it will be short-lived…because one day, could be today, tomorrow or twenty years from now, WE WILL ALL stand face to face with our maker.
We will ALL one day face the creator of all things and when we stand before him, our resume of imperfection won’t be sufficient to gain entry into His Kingdom.
25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
The one who seeks to save his own life will lose his eternal life…This is as certain as the sorrow the disciples felt at Jesus’ death...
For those who sought to save themselves, Jesus’ momentary death brought a momentary joy...
However, for those who sought a Savior in Jesus, Jesus’ momentary death on a cross brought a momentary sorrow...
Which is why Jesus turns the tide of sorrow in verse 20 with 7 words
The RESURRECTION OF JESUS IS THE RESURRECTION OF JOY
The RESURRECTION OF JESUS IS THE RESURRECTION OF JOY
John 16:20 (ESV)
20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.
Again, TRULY, TRULY! Just as certain as the sorrow will come at his death and departure, the joy will come at his return!
To highlight this point, Jesus points to the often used metaphor of CHILD BIRTH...
It will come as no surprise to anyone that I’ve never actually had a child but I’ve watched a couple and I can tell you from my observation that there appears to be few things in the world more painful…few things in the world more excruciating and even less things in the world that turn so abruptly from excruciating pain to indescribable joy!
The pain is excruciating and then something greater than the pain OVERWHELMS HER. The joy of the arrival of this baby into the world.
And Jesus follows the metaphor with VERSE 22
John 16:22 (ESV)
22 So also you have sorrow now <as I prepare to leave you>, but I will see you again <when I rise from the grave>, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
Jesus is saying something profound here to the disciples…
I GUARANTEE YOU that AT my DEATH you are going to experience UNDENIABLE pain
BUT I also guarantee THAT AT my RESURRECTION, you are going to experience a HEART LEVEL JOY that will OVERWHELM ANY OTHER SUFFERING THAT YOU EVER EXPERIENCE. And that joy will never be able to be taken away from you!
Why? Because I will be with you and in you and my good news that is filled with great joy will be fully realized!
This joy will always be with you because I WILL BE WITH YOU!
We see this all throughout the New Testament...
In Matthew 28, when the women first received word from the angel that Jesus has resurrected from the grave…Verse 8 says “they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.”
In Luke 24, when the other disciples came in contact with the risen Savior, Luke declares that marveled in disbelief with JOY!
The last words we hear in the Gospel of Luke are as follows:
Luke 24:51–53 (ESV)
51 While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple blessing God.
This joy continues with the arrival of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church in the book of Acts...
When the word went forth and people got saved…the Bible says they rejoiced!
Acts 13:46–48 (ESV)
46 And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “ ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ” 48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
But even when they faced persecution and rejection they still had joy…because they had Christ...
50 But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. 51 But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
Acts 5 said that even after being beaten for preaching Christ, they left the presence of the council, “REJOICING that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Jesus”
In 2 Corinthians Paul said that even in the midst of sorrow due to suffering, due to pain, due to grief, due to loss, they still found room and cause to REJOICE because they still had Jesus
He describes it as SORROWFUL, YET REJOICING!
How is this possible? Because the joy that we experience in Christ EXCEEDS the SORROW that comes from our life and the circumstances in life. The joy of this world can’t exist in sorrow, because everything else we attach our joy too has the ability to be lost.
When we attach our joy to Jesus, it will always be present because Jesus will always be present. We can’t lose a joy wrapped in Jesus because we CAN’T LOSE JESUS!
The Christian who has their eyes fixed on Jesus can say:
Even if I have no money, I have Christ.
Even if I’m without health, I’m not without Him.
Even if I have no hold on prestige, He still has a hold on me.
This is where true joy abides...
Paul later declares in Romans 14 “that the Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
Paul also tells us in Galatians 5 that one of the outworkings of having experienced a true relationship with Jesus Christ and being indwelled with His Holy Spirit is JOY!
The fruit of the Spirit is JOY!
In other words, to be a part of the family of God is to be indwelled with a deep, abiding, and sustained joy. Why? Because we’ve been indwelled by Him!
This is what happens when we meet the resurrected SAVIOR. We are endowed with indescribable, inexpressible, inextinguishable joy.
So in closing, how do you walk in this joy?
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
We walk in this joy by rightly appraising the value of our treasure...
The enemies of your soul (the flesh, the world, and the devil) will work endlessly to rob you of the joy that Jesus can offer you by obstructing your view of Jesus...
The world will try to take your eyes of off the glad tidings...
Even right now…as we reflect on Christmas...
So how do you get joy?
by Thinking on Jesus’ love for us…
By thinking on Jesus’ mercy towards us...
By Thinking on Jesus’ grace towards us...
By thinking on Jesus’ sacrifice for us.
By thinking on Jesus’ joy
2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.