Fullness of Joy and Rivers of Pleasure - Part 2
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11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: In thy presence is fulness of joy; At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
Here is some Scriptures, and what the Bible has to say about joy:
1 The king shall joy in thy strength, O Lord; And in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
Psalms (Vol. I) Psalm 21
The future is used to give the idea of continuance, “The king rejoices, and will go on rejoicing.
11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: And shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.
Psalms (Vol. I) Psalm 32
David’s psalms almost always end with a note of joy, or at any rate in a tone that is cheerful and encouraging. The present psalm, though reckoned among the penitential ones, both begins and ends with joyful utterances.
1 Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:
Psalms (Vol. II) Psalm 66
an invitation to the whole world to join in the joy of Israel
12 For ye shall go out with joy, And be led forth with peace: The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Isaiah (Vol. II) Chapter 55
A strong contrast is frequently drawn between the exodus from Babylon and that from Egypt. On the former occasion all was hurry, alarm, disquiet, danger. The later exodus will be accompanied with “peace” and “joy” (see ch. 51:9–16, etc.). (For the fulfilment, see Ezra 1, 2, and 7, 8) The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing. All nature shall rejoice at your deliverance, especially the noblest and the grandest parts of nature—“the mountains and the hills.” Isaiah’s admiration of mountains continually reveals itself throughout the work
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.
Hebrews Chapter 12
It may be said, indeed, that the highest virtue consists in doing what is right simply because it is right—in fulfilling God’s will, whatever may come of it to ourselves; but the hope of a final happy issue comes properly, and indeed inevitably, in as an inspiring and sustaining motive. Aspiration after happiness is a God-given instinct of humanity, necessary for keeping up the life of virtue.
4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.
Philippians Chapter 4
Paul returns to the key-note of the Epistle, Christian joy. He writes again the same things (see ch. 3:1); he will say it again, he never wearies of repeating that holy joy is a chief Christian duty
17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Romans Chapter 14
The concluding clause here has reference to “let not your good,” etc., preceding. It is the practical fruits of faith that commend it to men, as well as being the test of its genuineness before God.
24 This is the day which the Lord hath made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Psalms (Vol. III) Psalm 118
The thanksgiving day is one which has been fore-ordained of God, and brought into existence by him for a special purpose. We will therefore carry out God’s purpose, and rejoice and be glad in it.
22 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.
St. John (Vol. II) Chapter 16
your hearts are troubled, you weep and lament to-night, your desolation for “a little while” will be utter collapse and dismay—but I shall see you again. He does not repeat, “Ye shall behold me” (θεωρεῖτέ με, cf. ch. 14:19), but “I shall see you (ὄψομαι ὑμᾶς).” The same word, however, is used repeatedly in the record of the resurrection, and in ver. 19 he had said ὄψεσθέ με. The point of the vision is his own consciousness of their human need filling all the forty days with its glory. The occasional manifestations of his Person during that interval helped them in a wonderful way to recognize the fact that he was ever watching them, and was at their side under all the circumstances of human life.
18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Habakkuk Chapter 3
Unshaken in confidence, the prophet, representing the faithful Israelite, expresses his unbounded joy at the prospect of salvation which opens to him beyond the present affliction.
4 Delight thyself also in the Lord; And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Psalms (Vol. I) Psalm 37
Draw from communion with God all that inward intensity of joy which it is capable of giving. And he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. God will then grant thee all thy desires, and make thee perfectly happy.
13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
St. John (Vol. II) Chapter 17
So that the condition, the shielding protection of my love is removed, thou, O my Father, must be their Sun and Shield. And these things I am uttering in the world; uttering, i.e. in their hearing before my last step is taken, and perhaps in the very midst of the machinations which are going on against me. That they might have the joy that is mine fulfilled, fully unfolded and completed, in themselves. By overhearing the high-priestly prayer, they would be assured of the Divine guardianship, and would receive the transfer of even his, joy as well as of his peace. They would find the higher joy also of the return of their Lord to the bosom of the Father. Christ has taught his disciples to desire such joy and peace as be found on the night of the Passion.
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 words, “in whom” (εἰς ὅν, literally, “on whom now not looking, but believing”), are to be taken with the participles “seeing” and “believing,” not with “ye rejoice.” St Peter insists on the necessity and blessedness of faith as earnestly as St. Paul does, though with him the antithesis is rather between faith and sight than between faith and works. As a fact, St. Peter’s readers had never seen the Lord; now, though not seeing him with the outward eye, they realized his presence by faith, and in that presence they rejoiced. The verb is that used in ver. 6—they rejoiced greatly, they exulted, and that though they saw him not. Human love needs the seen presence of the beloved one to complete the fulness of its joy (2 John 12); but their joy was even amid afflictions unspeakable—like all our deepest and holiest feelings, not to be expressed in words; and it was glorified by the unseen presence of Christ.
H. D. M. Spence-Jones, ed., 1 Peter, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 6.Let’s take a look at what God’s Word has to say about this topic of JOY:
The three things we’re going to look at here are:
(1) Pick the pathway of life,
(2) Pursue the presence of joy, and
(3) Participate in rivers of pleasure!
I. PICK THE PATHWAY OF LIFE:
“You will show me the path of life…” (Psalm 16:11). What is the pathway of LIFE? Jesus said, “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10). The thing that we need to understand as we’re living life here on Planet Earth is that we have an enemy, the enemy of our souls, who wants to steal, kill and destroy in our lives, but Jesus has come so that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. If you read through the Scriptures and do a study on the topic of joy, every time you see it, it is accompanied with adjectives – great joy, exceeding joy, joy unspeakable and full of glory. It’s fullness of joy that God wants us to have! But in order to experience the joy, we must pick the pathway of life. Now what is the pathway of life?
God said, “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments…I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life.” (Deut. 30:15-19). What does it mean to choose life, and pick the pathway of life? It means to choose the Bible, to live our lives according to the Word of God. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:11). Joy comes from living a life in obedience to the Word of God! If you think about it for a minute: If there is a God, and He created this world that we’re living in, and He gave us a Book – the blueprint for life that tells us how to live, and His desire is that we have abundant life and fullness of joy, if we’re not experiencing what He intended for us, could it be that we’ve strayed just a little bit away from this book? Because He said that when we walk in obedience to His Word, when we follow the guidelines that He has laid out for us, there is fullness of joy!
Someone described the B.I.B.L.E. once in terms of this acronym: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. Do you want to know how to live life to the fullest and experience abundant joy? You have to pick the pathway of life, and that life can be found in the Bible. This book is life.
Now I’ve said that Jesus came to give us life, but it’s also true that we have an enemy who has come to steal, kill and destroy. And one of the things that the devil wants to steal from us is our joy. Where do you think many of the negative circumstances in life come from?
II. PURSUE THE PRESENCE OF JOY:
I want to show you something here that I discovered very early on in my Christian life – the way to pursue the presence of joy. How do we get into the place where joy is? The Bible says that fullness of joy is found in God’s presence. That tells me that if I want to experience joy, I need to get into God’s presence. But the question is – how do I get there? The answer is found in another Scripture: “But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.” (Psalm 22:3). Do you want to know where God’s presence is? It’s in praise and worship. When we praise and worship God, it brings us into God’s presence. Isn’t this what Psalm 100:4 says? “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise.” As we worship God, we walk through the doorway into the presence of God, and in His presence, there is fullness of joy. Now why is this joy so important? Nehemiah 8:10 says, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” Do you want to know why we have so many weak and defeated Christians? Because we don’t have the joy of the Lord that gives us strength to go from day to day! When our circumstances are dark, and they are bad – when we experience loss and pain and suffering in our lives, we need that joy which comes from being in His presence, which comes from praising and worshipping Him! So we need to literally dance for joy! As we worship and praise the Lord, we come into His presence where there is fullness of joy, and the joy of the Lord gives us strength. Isn’t that good?
Now how do we get into the presence? Jesus said: “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing…These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” (John 15:5,11). When we spend time with God on a daily basis – not just weekly when we come to church on Sundays – through reading His Word, spending time in prayer, abiding in Jesus – we experience His presence.
If we want to experience the abundant joy of the Lord, it’s not good enough to just come to church on Sundays and think, “I’ll just press it in worship with all of my heart, and I’ll just soak up and listen to all of the preaching from the pastor, and that two hours will give me everything I need to go through the week.”
Can I show you the problem with that? Picture with me a jug containing the most cool, refreshing water. This jug of water represents the presence of the Lord. Now imagine a Styrofoam cup that represents our lives as Christians. If we want to experience the joy of the Lord, where do we need to be? In the jug of water – in the presence of the Lord!
As long as that cup of water is immersed in that jug – as long as we remain in the presence of the Lord – there is fullness of joy. But our problem is that we don’t stay in the presence of the Lord.
When we leave the presence of the Lord, what happens? We leak! Our lives are like Styrofoam cups with a hole in the bottom of them. We’re leaky containers!
I wonder if this isn’t why Paul exhorted us to, “Rejoice always, Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thess. 5:16-17). It’s only when we pray without ceasing – when we abide in the living, tangible presence of God – that we can rejoice always.
III. PARTICIPATE IN RIVERS OF PLEASURE!
God wants us to participate in rivers of pleasure. Would you take a minute or two to just meditate on the awesome truths contained in this next Scripture?
“How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, And You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures.” (Ps. 36:7-8)
Do you want to know why people put their trust in the Lord? Because of the preciousness of His lovingkindness. It’s the goodness of God that draws people to repentance. Those who trust in God’s lovingkindess are abundantly satisfied, and this is what every single person on this planet is looking for! They are searching for something in life that will abundantly satisfy them. Why do you think people turn to drugs and alcohol and all kinds of sexual perversion? They are looking for something that will abundantly satisfy – but there is only one thing in this life that will satisfy the deep longings of our hearts – the presence of the living God. Religion will not do it. The reason people aren’t going to church is because religion doesn’t do it. People in our nation statistically are hungry for God and spiritual things, but they don’t like the church, because there’s too much religion and tradition there. They want God, but they want something real. And we need to give it to them!
If we could just allow the presence of God to transform us into people of joy, we would very literally draw people to Christ by the joy that’s in us. They would say, “What do you have, and how do I get it?”
Are you thirsty for God’s new wine? Allow me to share this familiar Bible story with you, the story of the prodigal son. The son who said to his father in essence, “Dad, I wish you were dead – I want my share of the inheritance now.” He went out and wasted it all on wild and riotous living and finally came to the end. He had tried looking for joy and pleasures in sin, but he couldn’t find it. When he finally came to his senses, here’s what happened:
“And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ’Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ’Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry. Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.” (Luke 15:20-25).
You see, the kingdom of God is a party. It’s a par-tay! Can I put it in modern language for you? We hear the word merry and think, “Oh, they were merry.” No – they had a par-tay! The father said, “We’re gonna throw the fatted calf on the BBQ, we’re gonna eat, drink and par-tay!” The kingdom of God is a party! There’s joy! It’s fun being saved! But listen to this. Oh no! What happened when the older son came near the house and heard the music and dancing? “But he was angry and would not go in.” (v.28). He was angry because of the party! And how many Christians in the church today don’t like the party? “There’s too much joy! The music’s too loud! There’s too much dancing and celebrating! We need to have times of seriousness, hallelujah!”
Closing
Closing
Here’s my closing challenge to you. Let’s do a little Greek lesson on a Scripture here: This verb is in the imperative tense. That means it’s a commandment. Do you want to obey the Lord? We are commanded to “Rejoice in the Lord always.” (Phil. 4:4). Rejoice – it’s a choice! “Well, I don’t feel very happy today pastor Aaron!” We’re not talking about happiness here, we’re talking about rejoicing in the Lord. It’s a commandment! And do you think that God would command you to do something you can’t do? “Well, I can’t rejoice today because this happened in my life.” How can we rejoice? In the Lord. In the presence of the Lord where there’s fullness of joy. Jesus said, “Your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.” (John 16:22). Nothing and no one has the power to steal your joy, unless you let them! Unless you stop rejoicing and being in the presence. One last story…
“Now it was told King David, saying, "The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God." So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with gladness. And so it was, when those bearing the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, that he sacrificed oxen and fatted sheep. Then David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. Now as the ark of the Lord came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.” (2 Sam. 6:12-16).
The Bible says that David was a man after God’s own heart. I want to be a man after God’s own heart. I want to be like David. Notice though it seems wherever there was a party in the Bible, that there was someone there who didn’t like the party. But God loves it when His children are set free to experience His joy. Another Scripture to convince you today that God wants you to have joy. Zephaniah 3:17 says, “The Lord your God in your midst…will rejoice over you with gladness…He will rejoice over you with singing.” Can you picture God as being joyful and singing? “Well, that doesn’t seem like the God I know!” Well, maybe you’ll meet Him today. It’s time for the people of God to be set free to dance for the joy.
9 Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.
11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
You see the need for joy and freedom and victory, and those who are going through difficult trials in their lives, and need the joy of the Lord.
God, I pray for a breakthrough of joy, that there would not be one sour face, miserable, depressed, downcast person.
Pour out your joy upon all of us today, in Jesus’ name, amen!