John
15:11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy
may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” NKJV
At the end of Chapter 14 of John’s gospel we find
our Lord encouraging and embolden the disciples with the words, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you” as He
is preparing His own heart and mind for the cross and the receiving of all the
worlds vile sin into His pure, holy, and sinless heart. He would be shortly in
such agony in prayer that He would sweat blood from His brow, yet much of His
focus in these last hours was to prepare the men that He chose (as His own) for
what was to come. The peace He spoke of to them at that time was not only for
them, but for all of us of every generation that would come to know Him by the
same way through being one of His chosen.
As our Lord begins to speak in Chapter 15, He
describes the relationship He has with the Father and compares that
relationship with the one we must have with Him. Our Lord Jesus is to be to
each one of us continuously our spiritual life source as a grape branch is to a
grape vine. The branch is impotent, worthless, and good for nothing at all
minus connection to the grape vine. The disconnected branch is cutoff
completely from the vine to make room for the other branches that are bearing
grapes. The grape vine only sends that which will bear grapes on the grape
branch. Likewise our Lord Jesus Christ does not impart His Divine Nature into
the heart/inner man that still desires to live in and rejoice in its sin. As
the Apostle Paul wrote, 2 Timothy 2:19 “Nevertheless
the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who
are His,’ and, ‘Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.’”
NKJV
Just like the grape branch that becomes disconnected
from the grape vine in some manner is cut away, so will every soul that appears
to be connected to Christ Jesus (the True Vine) but yet never bears or manifest
this character in their life (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all
goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord
(Ephesians 5:9-10 & Galatians
5:22-23), but instead lives a life marked out and dominated by the works of
the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21) these
will suffer the same end as the unfruitful grape branch and be cut off hearing
these words from our Lord, “I never knew you; depart
from Me, you who practice lawlessness/sin!” (Matthew 7:23). We likewise are incapable of living our pilgrimage on
this earth that will show forth a life transformed by grace walking in
righteousness and holiness if were wonder away from vital union with the only
author of grace and truth Jesus Christ our Lord. Just as the Psalmist proclaims
that righteousness and peace have kissed one another (Psalm 85:10) so does the Prophet Nehemiah tell us a most glorious
fact and truth that the “Joy of the Lord is your Strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). Our Lord Jesus has told
these disciples and His disciples in every generation what this abiding in Him
and His love for us will do for us and that is filling us with His Joy.
When you read through the gospels with a modern day
mentality, it can appear hard to find obvious times when our Lord outwardly
rejoiced during His 33 years on the earth. But when we examine every passage
and specifically the words spoken by Him directly we find that He was always
joyous because His joy came from pleasing the Father no matter what the Jews or
Gentiles thought of Him, for example listen to Him speak these words, “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My
judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the
Father who sent Me.” (John 5:30)
Do you not hear and feel the joy spilling out of His heart through these words?
It was hearing the Father and carrying out His will that gave our Lord joy.
Likewise it will be continuous joy for all of us who know and love Him, despite
our daily warfare with the evil principalities and powers, when we hear His
words from Scripture and do them. For example here is a clear illumination of
the will of God for all (not some) of His redeemed blood bought children spoken
through the Apostle Paul to the believers in Thessalonica and directly to you
and me, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should
abstain from sexual immorality” (1
Thessalonians 4:3).
When we follow the will of God for our lives as our
Lord Jesus gives it to us in His word our joy will be full to the brim and
overflowing to and for the Glory of God. Just as we said of the peace our Lord
Jesus gives us does not remove the normal problems or stresses of life, nor
does it eliminate persecution and hatred from the world and make everyone love
you and desire to do you only good. Likewise the joy we receive from our Lord
Jesus Christ and manifest in our lives comes in some of the most difficult and
ugly circumstances imaginable. The Apostle Paul wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord
always and again I say rejoice” (Philippians
4:4) while being in a Philippian dungeon as the enemy tried to stop him
from doing the will of God and Nehemiah wrote, “The Joy of the Lord is your
strength” (Nehemiah 8:10) while the
enemy was working to stop him from rebuilding the wall around the city of
Jerusalem which was the will of God. Conclusion is that the joy of the Lord
Jesus Christ working in us is full when we are obedient to the will of God
revealed to us in the Word of God like our brother Nehemiah, our brother Paul,
and our brother the Lord Jesus Christ.
Psalms
5:11-12 But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever
shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name Be
joyful in You. For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; With favor You will
surround him as with a shield. NKJV
Psalms
105:43 He brought out His people with joy, His chosen ones with gladness. NKJV
Psalms
132:9 Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness, And let Your saints shout
for joy. NKJV
Psalms
132:16 I will also clothe her priests with salvation, And her saints shall
shout aloud for joy. NKJV
Proverbs
12:20 Deceit is in the heart of those who devise evil, But counselors of peace
have joy. NKJV
Proverbs
15:23 A man has joy by the answer of his mouth, And a word spoken in due
season, how good it is! NKJV
Proverbs
21:15 It is a joy for the just to do justice, But destruction will
come to the workers of iniquity. NKJV
“The same joy which I feel in loving the Father, and
keeping his commandments.” John Wesley
“The Lord
gives his people perpetual joy when they walk in obedience to Him.” D. L. Moody
“If you have no joy, there’s a leak in your
Christianity somewhere.” Billy Sunday
“Holy joy will be oil to the wheels of our
obedience.” Matthew Henry
If
you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this
from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear
Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I
believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from
the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn
from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control
of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...Sincerely in Christ,
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