Joy
In You
John 17:13 “And now come I to thee; and
these things I speak in the world, that they might
have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
14
I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated
them, because they are not of the world, even as I
am not of the world.
15 I pray
not that thou shouldest take them out of the world,
but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
16 They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world.
17
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
18 As thou hast sent me into the
world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
19 And for their sakes I sanctify
myself, that they also might be sanctified through
the truth.”
1. Fulfillment
2. Possession
3.
Protection
4. Sanctification
Let me begin this study in the book of John with this statement.
Are you ready for this?
Now, pay attention to this.
In this baleful world there is nothing but sorrows, troubles, trials, sickness and death.
You may say: “but I have had plenty of joy, too.”
Well, my friend, you may have experienced joy before, but do you have that joy, now? If you are truthful with me, you will confess that whatever joys you may have experienced, they always seem not to last.
Yes, the joys we may experience in this old sin-cursed world are always fleeting, are they not? We always lose these joys that we have here in this life. Isn’t that true? Why is this, the case? We ultimately lose what joys we do experience here in this life because of the presence of sin in this old world.
What is the solution? Well, we need a different JOY!
1. Fulfillment
Verse thirteen: “And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.”
What is this joy? Where does it come from? [Hebrews 12:2] “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Look at it! Jesus Christ endured the cross and despised the shame because of the joy set before Him.
David said this by the Spirit: “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” [Psalm 16:11]
Do you see whose “joy” this is in this verse thirteen? We cannot afford to miss this, my friend. God intends for this joy to be fulfilled inside of us.
There is something else here, too!
It is not our joy [the Christian’s joy] that we have in our heart. It is the “joy” of the Son of God that is in our heart. I am talking about the “joy” of the believer in Jesus Christ in this age. [1 Peter 1:8] “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”
The source of the true Christian’s “joy” is the indwelling presence of the “joy” of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the source of the “joy” that comes into the heart of the believer by the “living water” of eternal life. [John 7:38] “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”
2. Possession
Verse fourteen: “I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”
Jesus Christ said that HE has given to us “THY” word: God’s word.
Fasten on this truth! We have God’s “word” in a BOOK here today!
This BOOK is the Authorized Version of the Bible of 1611 [or any of its editions]. If you have a copy of a King James Bible, you have the “word” of God … in the English language.
This BOOK has the things that God has revealed to us.
In Deuteronomy chapter twenty-nine, we learn that the things that God has chosen to reveal to us belong to us. “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.” [Deuteronomy 29:29]
Now, these things belong to us for a reason. Here is the reason: so that we might … do them. [James 1:22] “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
In fact, the doing of them, or the keeping of them, is the evidence of our indwelling in HIM. The proof text for this truth is in First John chapter three: “And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.” [1 John 3:24]
3. Protection
Verse fifteen: “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”
What is this “evil” that HE prayed to keep us from?
The Bible gives us the answer by the illumination of the HOLY GHOST!
The EVIL that HE promises to keep us from is associated with a DAY.
There is “the day of evil” located in Jeremiah, chapter seventeen.
Look at it in verses sixteen through eighteen: “As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before thee. Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil.”
[Jeremiah could see it near for Israel, yet Jeremiah could see it a far off in the future.]
“Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.” [Jeremiah 17:16-18]
The “day of evil” has a two-fold meaning.
The first meaning of “the day of evil” is the truth that each day that we live on this old sin-cursed earth is an evil day to withstand.
Jesus Christ taught this to his disciples in Matthew, chapter six: “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” [Matthew 6:34]
This teaches us that each new day that we wake up into to live, that we need to put our faith and our trust into the very goodness of our God, that HE will be present with us, and help us through the trials of that day. Amen! “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” [Ephesians 6:13]
The second meaning of “the day of evil” is in reference is “the day of wrath” that is to try the EARTH during Jacobs Trial, [the seven year TRIBILATION coming up soon]. The LORD prayed that the FATHER would keep the believers in the Church Age them “from the evil”, that is, “from the wrath to come.”
The “day of evil” is coming soon: “That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.
And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.
Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.” [Zephaniah 1:15-18]
This “day of evil”, we [the believers of the Church Age] will be kept from according to the book of First Thessalonians: “And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” [1 Thessalonians 1:10]
The wrath of God is coming to the Earth!
[Revelation 6:17] “For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”
4. Sanctification
Verse seventeen: “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
The word of God has a cleansing power!
When we apply the shed BLOOD of the Lamb of God through faith by the grace of God to the lintels and to the doorposts of our heart, we are made clean in that very instant from our sin; “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” [Romans 10:17] Amen!
“Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” [John 15:3]
Now, friend, let me ask me with you a question. How powerful is that cleaning? “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” [Isaiah 1:18]
Now, let me ask you another question?
How far away has our sins been removed from us? “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” [Psalm 103:12]
The believer in this Age of Grace has been sanctified by the Spirit of God. “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:” [1 Corinthians 1:30].
Now, what is the natural result of sanctification?
You can see this for yourself in First Peter, chapter one, verse two: “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.” [1 Peter 1:2]
Sanctification takes us, and leads us, to the logical end of FAITH, which is obedience to Jesus Christ.
If you are saved, and are in Christ Jesus [hidden in the cleft of the ROCK, then I give thanks for you to God for your salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth!
“But we are bound to give thanks alway to
God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of
the truth:” [2 Thessalonians 2:13].