Fullness of Joy

Fullness of Joy

“Fullness of Joy”
(Psalm 16)
Advent Series (3/5)

Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD

Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson

Amen! We thank God for sweet fellowship this morning. Please be seated. If you’re visiting we are in a special series of messages on Advent this Christmas season. Advent means “arrival” or “coming” and it’s the season we anticipate the arrival of the Christ of Christmas. We imagine how it would be to live before Christ was born in Bethlehem, arriving as our Savior and Lord.

We’ve looked this past couple weeks at key themes represented by the four candles forming the outside of the Advent wreath. First it was Hope, then last week Love. Next week is Peace. And today is Joy. Let’s look at this video sermon introduction on Joy.

[VIDEO: Skit Guys; Joy]

Let me invite you to read about Joy in Psalm 16. So if you have a Bible, or you can use the church Bible there, open to Psalm 16.

In Psalm 16 David writes about finding joy in the Lord. Not a manufactured joy. Not a joy like the dish soap bottle under the sink. Not an artificial joy found in another kind of bottle, the one kept in the closet or the bottle in the back of the cupboard. But joy in the Lord. Listen for it as we read Psalm 16.

Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

1Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust.
2 O my soul, you have said to the Lord,
“You are my Lord,
My goodness is nothing apart from You.”
3 As for the saints who are on the earth,
“They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.”
4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god;
Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer,
Nor take up their names on my lips.
5 O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You maintain my lot.
6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Yes, I have a good inheritance.
7 I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel;
My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.
8 I have set the Lord always before me;
Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will rest in hope.
10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
11 You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Pray: “Father, by the way of the Holy Spirit, help us to know true joy, especially as manifested in Your Son and our Lord, Jesus Christ, amen.”

So many of us want to live in joy. We want real joy. We want to live in the victory of joy—an experience far greater than happiness, which is a temporary emotion, happiness comes and goes—but joy, real deep seeded joy, we yearn for it. We yearn for joy because we were made for joy.

One of the ironies for Christians during Advent and throughout the Christmas season, is that we try to find joy in the sparkle and the tinsel of the tradition itself. We seek happy feelings in the things that come with Christmas. We hear the song: “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” and we smile as we hear about candy canes and silver lanes and holly on the front door. And we feel sort of sentimental and smile. And there’s nothing wrong with that. My inner kid, the little boy within me, loves that stuff! It’s tradition. And yet, this is not where joy is found.

Christians are often quick to remind the world of the Christ of Christmas. Keep Christ in Christmas, we say. And of course, He is the whole point. Yet, we can still wrongly locate joy even in more biblical traditions. Gazing at a Nativity scene for example, may cause us to feel happy and sentimental, but not necessarily joyful. Attending Christmas performances, or partaking in Christmas get togethers, dinners, and fellowships, all of these things are fun and good.

But here’s the caution: Too often we wrongly locate joy in our traditions rather than through our traditions. Take care not to seek joy in Christmas traditions, but rather locate joy through your Christmas traditions. The traditions themselves take us to Jesus, point to Jesus, glorify Jesus. Joy is found in God alone. And through Advent, God arrives, comes in the flesh, in Jesus Christ. Colossians 2:9, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,” and David says here at the end of Psalm 16: “in [His] presence is fullness of joy.”

So don’t locate joy in your traditions, but through your traditions as they carry you to the things of God. See how David here in Psalm 16 locates joy in the things of God. And if you’re a believer in the One True and Living God, you can joy with David. Here’s the first thing David finds joy in: God’s protection.

1) Joy in God’s Protection (1-2)

1Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust. 

God is our refuge. We run to Him and trust Him. Think of God as your refuge, your safe place, your shelter from so much evil and so much hurt, fear, depression, and disappointment. David continues in verse 2:

2 O my soul, you have said to the Lord,
“You are my Lord,
My goodness is nothing apart from You.”

And again, the stress is upon our running to the Lord for safe refuge, finding our soul’s sufficiency in Him. When David says, “My goodness is nothing apart from You” he doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have good things or that he cannot enjoy good things. He knows that every good and perfect gift comes from the Lord. The point is: You are more important to me than anything and everything else and that’s why I run to you as my protector, my refuge, in this world of woe and worry.

Joy in God’s protection. When you run to Him as your refuge, you can sit comfortably in the shelter of His love and care for you. He will protect you not just from physical enemies, but spiritual enemies—enemies like doubt, disappointment, depression, and worry. Joy in God’s protection. Then, you can’t miss this one. Secondly, David joys in God’s people.

2) Joy in God’s People (3)

3 As for the saints who are on the earth,
“They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.”

We were made to worship with other people, with God’s people. People help us joy in the Lord. Too often when people ask about church, they want to know only about the programs. Churches have programs, but we are first about people. “Here’s the church, here’s the steeple, open the doors and joy—not in the programs, but int he people!”

Now I want to come back to verse 4 later. It’s a warning verse and we’ll come back to it. As we move on, we see that David joys not only in God’s protection, and God’s people, but thirdly, David joys in God’s provision, God’s providing for His children.

3) Joy in God’s Provision (5-7)

5 O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You maintain my lot.

In essence, David says, “You are my everything and you see that I continue to have all that I need in You.” You are my portion, my cup. Picture a Christmas banquet spread out across the dining room table. And there’s like one big time portion in the middle of it that’s just for you. David says, “You are that for me, Lord!” Like Mary who, in contrast with her sister Martha, chose to sit at the feet of Jesus rather than be consumed by the business of serving. It was her way of saying, “Lord, you are the portion of my inheritance, my cup, I drink from You!” God’s provision, the providing of His very self! David continues in verse 6:

6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Yes, I have a good inheritance.

The lines are “boundary lines,” like property lines, like the boundary lines of property given to David. But they also convey greater property lines of spiritual blessings, “pleasant places” of spiritual enjoyment of the Lord, a “good inheritance.” David continues in verse 7:

7 I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel;
My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.

God provides His counsel, the counsel of His Word. He is “Wonderful Counselor.” He instructs us through His Word, the Word we enjoy today in the Bible. It’s so popular to talk about counseling. You know, “Y’all need counseling!” Who doesn’t?! Counseling blesses us most when it comes clearly from God’s Word—and does not contradict God’s Word. And David says this counsel blesses him “in the night seasons,” that is, when he awakes in the middle of the night.

You wake in the middle of the night—worried about something—joy in the provision of God’s counsel that comes through His Word. Think about Scriptural counsel such as Philippians 4:6-7: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

Joy in God’s provision. Number four:

4) Joy in God’s Presence (8-11)

8 I have set the Lord always before me;
Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.

I like the NIV here: “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”

David is saying, “Man! I am in God’s presence. I keep my eyes on the Lord. He’s right here. So I will not be shaken.” Then, verse 9, joy follows:

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory [or my whole being, including my tongue] rejoices;

Again, what is it that fires up David so much?! Why is his heart glad and why does he wish to sing and rejoice? Because he is enthralled with the presence of God. God is “always before him.” He keeps his eyes on the Lord. The Lord is at his right hand, right there. He is present. David joys in God’s presence. He adds in the last part of verse 9:

My flesh [or body] also will rest in hope.

He’s talking about when he dies. Even when he dies, the Lord is with him and will not abandon him. “My body rests in hope,” or, “My body rests securely in safety.” He explains in verse 10:

10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.

Verse 10 is applicable in two ways—first to believers such as David. David is saying that God is always with him, so much so that even at death, his body is buried but his soul remains with the Lord. He says, “You will not leave my soul in Sheol.” Sheol is a Hebrew word that means “the place of the dead.” It’s a general term referring to death. And what David is saying is similar to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:8, “Absent from the body, present with the Lord.” If we die as believers, God does not leave our soul in Sheol. Our soul is always with Him! Praise God.

And David adds in verse 10, “Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.” With reference to himself, David is saying that God will not allow him—and he refers to himself here as God’s faithful one or holy one—God will not allow his body to see corruption, or to “see decay,” as the NIV has it. His body will be preserved in some measure to be later changed into a glorified body.

Now this leads to the second way verse 10 is applicable. And this is in the sense that Peter cites it in the second chapter of Acts. You’ll remember Peter’s preaching in Jerusalem and with reference to Jesus Christ, Peter says that David was speaking prophetically here, most likely unbeknownst to David himself inasmuch as the fuller sense of this verse conveys the death and resurrection of David’s Messiah—and our Messiah, too, the anointed One, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

When God’s Holy One, capital H, capital O, when God’s Holy One died, the Father did not allow His Holy One to see corruption, but raised Him from the dead that He would have life and we would have life in Him.

God’s presence! David knew when he himself died, that death was not the end on the same basis as we, when we die know that death is not the end. David looked forward by faith to the Christ who would come—Advent—we look back by faith to the Christ who has come. And for those who look to Christ with the eyes of faith, death has not hold on us! We are now with the Lord, and we remain with the Lord always. We have life, eternal life in Him. Verse 11:

11 You will show me the path of life;

Or, “You make known to me the path of life,” eternal life. You guide my steps along the eternal highway of Jesus. It’s much like the way David ended Psalm 23: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

Then the fitting conclusion, the last two lines of verse 11:

In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Where is joy? Joy is wherever God is. “In Your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

I especially like that last line given that the Bible describes Jesus as “at the right hand of the Father.” At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. In Your presence, a presence made known to us that first Christmas 2,000 years ago when the eternal Son of God, at the right hand of the Father, the Son—in whom are pleasures forevermore—this same Son of God took on flesh and dwelt among us, that we may see and behold His glory.

Joy in God’s presence. Locate your joy not in human relationships, but in God. Human relationships are good and necessary, but you joy in the Lord. In His presence is fullness of joy—not in your marriage as good as it may be or as challenging as it may be. You don’t joy in your marriage. You joy in the Lord. In His presence is fullness of joy.

You don’t locate the essence of joy in your marriage, in your children, your grandchildren, your mom, your dad, your boyfriend, your girlfriend. Human relationships will ultimately disappoint in some measure. But not God! In His presence if fullness of joy.

We joy not in human relationships, nor good health, nor money, nor prosperity, nor popularity, nor recreation, nor food, nor drink. In His presence is fullness of joy.

Now this leads to the warning I said I wanted to come back to. Here it is, write this down:

**BEWARE: How to Have No Joy (4)

Verse 4 is a warning to God’s people: Don’t turn to wrong sources of joy, Satan’s substitutes for joy. Verse 4, David writes about those who turn to false gods:

4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god;
Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer,
Nor take up their names on my lips.

David’s talking about those who worship false gods and offer sacrifices to them. To paraphrase, David says: “I will not seek to find joy in anything or anyone else.” If I do, it’s like hastening after another god. It is idolatry. And David is saying, “I’ll take no part in it. I will not participate in the pursuing of other offers of pleasure and joy. If I do, I can expect that my sorrows will be multiplied.”

Boy, that is so true! If we turn to other sources to provide the joy that comes ultimately and only in God, we will multiply our sorrows. There’s pleasure in sin for a season, but in the end we will be merely multiplying our sorrows. Remember: “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”

Verse 4 is a prescription for how not to have joy. When we turn to other sources for joy, we are engaging in idolatry because we were made to locate our joy ultimately in the Lord.

We were created by God to enjoy Him forever. That’s why the old Baptist catechism asks and answers that man’s chief purpose in life is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. We were made for Him, to enjoy Him. It’s like code written into our hardware.

Or think of it the way you think of a native app on your smartphone. It comes with certain apps built into it. God has built into His creation the native ability to worship Him and enjoy Him more than anything or anyone else.

So when we try to find enjoyment in other sources of pleasure, we are misusing our software. And we end up multiplying our sorrows. And this largely what Satan tries to get us to do. He wants us to exchange the glory of God for lies and lesser glories, lesser pleasures that ultimately disappoint.

Several of you have benefited from reading CS Lewis’ little book entitled, The Screwtape Letters. It’s a helpful book and we have it in our church library. In the book Lewis illustrates the way Satan works in the lives of Christians. Screwtape is the name of a demon, a senior demon, who is writing to his nephew demon named Wormwood.

And the book is about how to trip-up Christians, tempting them to exchange pleasure in God for other pleasures, or perverting pleasures so as to sin. Satan works to get believers away from desiring God, away from finding pleasure in Him, and working to get them to find pleasure in so many other things that only multiply our sorrows, things like alcohol, drugs, pornography, sexual lust, and so on; things that only multiply our sorrows. Listen to this selection where Screwtape writes about this very thing:

Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the Enemy’s [God’s] ground. I know we have won many a soul through pleasure. All the same, it is His invention, not ours [it is God’s invention). He made the pleasures: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy [God] has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden. Hence we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural, least redolent of its Maker, and least pleasurable. An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula…To get the man’s soul and give him nothing in return— that is what really gladdens [Satan’s] heart.—Lewis, C. S. The Screwtape Letters (pp. 44-45). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

“To get the man’s soul and give him nothing in return.” That’s what happens when we wrongly locate joy in misplaced pleasures. We only multiply our sorrows. Locate your joy in God. In His presence is fullness of joy! As David says elsewhere (Psalm 34:8), “O taste and see that the Lord is good!”

Let me leave you with a few ways to cultivate joy in God. Here are a few suggestions:

Cultivating Joy in God:

*Consume Scripture (DQ)

Also good Christian books. Read the Word and books content the Word and watch your joy mature. Let the Word of God get in you deeply and then you’ll have God’s counsel when you wake in the night. Remember that from verse 7? God’s counsel in the middle of the night. So you can say as David does in Psalm 30:5, “…Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

*Consume Christian Music

Listen to Christian music, sing! Remember Psalm 42? “Why so downcast O my soul?!” Sing to the Lord! And watch your joy in Him grow.

*Talk to Jesus Frequently

Talk to Him throughout the day. Use His name. Say Jesus. There’s power in that name. “Jesus, just coming to you right now in prayer.” He’s always there.

You call a friend and they’re busy, your call goes straight to voicemail. When you call upon God, your call never goes to voicemail. He is always there and always delights in hearing His children call upon Him. He loves that! So talk to Jesus frequently and watch your joy increase.

*Be with God’s People (Joyful Christians are “All-in”)

Remember verse 3. The “saints who are on the earth,” they are “the excellent ones,” and you will delight in them. You were made for relationship—relationship with God and with God’s children. Joyful Christians are those who are “all-in.” They don’t just dabble in church. They’re all-in. You’ll find that to be true. Those who have joy, those who have victory, are those who are deeply connected to God’s people, joying in worship Sunday mornings, evenings, Wednesdays, fellowshipping with God’s people throughout the week. You need good Christian friends to encourage you.

Psalm 100:1-2, Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! 2 Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.

*Invest in Others (Evangelism/Disciple-Making)

You share the gospel and your joy in the Lord grows. Remember Christianity is a personal relationship, but not a private relationship. We’re to share the good news. The angel said to the shepherds in Luke 2:10, “…Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.”

You pour into others, invest in others, disciple others, minister to others, help others find joy in the Lord, and your joy increases.

In His presence is fullness of joy. In God’s presence, that presence made known to us personally in Jesus Christ, the Holy One whom the Father did not abandon to the grave, but raised Him up that we may have life in His name.

Do you have life in His name? Have you surrendered to Him?

We’re going to sing our hymn of invitation and response. God is inviting us—every single one of us in the room—God is inviting us to respond to His Word.

Some of you want to join the church, or be baptized, you come during this time and I’ll meet you up front here. Others of you want to come for prayer or you want to follow Jesus and you have questions. Right after we pray, I’m inviting you to come.

• Let’s pray.

Now stand and as we sing, you respond however the Lord is leading you.

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