Tonight I have two passages of scripture that I will read. First Psalm 98 and then Luke 2 verses 10 and 11. Psalm 98. Oh sing to the Lord a new song for he has done marvelous things. His right hand and his holy arm have gained him the victory. The Lord has made known his salvation, his righteousness he has revealed in the sight of the nations. He has remembered his mercy and his faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Break forth in song, rejoice and sing praises. Sing to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of a psalm, with trumpets and the sound of a horn, shall joyfully before the Lord, the King, let the sea roar and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell in it. Let the rivers clap their hands. Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord, for he is coming to judge the earth. With righteousness, he shall judge the world. and the peoples with equity. And then look to verses 10 and 11. Then the angel said to them, do not be afraid for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. At Christmas time, one of my favorite songs is Joy to the World. And it's, this psalm is based on Psalm 98. Isaac Watts wrote it, and he developed it based on that psalm, and also from Luke 2, and also from Mary's Magnificent. And it takes seriously the psalm's sweet commands expressed in the fourth verse, shout joyfully to the Lord all the earth, break forth in psalm, rejoice and sing praises. Joy to the world is just that. Also it connects with the psalm with Luke 2's angel announcement, I bring you good tidings of great joy. And again, the emphasis is on joy, which will be to all peoples. And then also the Psalm in Psalm 98, verse six says, with trumpets and the sound of a horn, shout joyfully before the Lord, the King. And verse eight, let the rivers clap their hands. Let the hills be joyful together before the Lord. And you might ask, what is so great about the joy that Jesus brings. And point number one, what's great about this joy is that it's not just a Christmas joy, but it is an everyday, all the time joy. All the world can be joyful at Christmas time, and they are joyful in different ways. And sometimes it's not directly connected to Christ, but we as Christians have a joy that should be an all year, all the time joy. In Philippians 4.4, Paul writes, rejoice in the Lord always, And again, I will say rejoice. And so joy is not just for Christmastime, but it is an all the time thing. Paul wrote that to the Philippians from prison, and he had been a prisoner in Philippi. And so they knew he had joy because when he was in that prison in Philippi, he and his partner at midnight were singing hymns while they were in chains. And we all know the story, the earthquake took that place. Irma Bombeck once said, there is nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child. Now, I will say she was almost correct, but horribly wrong. Better to say there's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning or any morning and not be a child of God. Being a child of God gives you joy in all situations. We're not waiting for Santa who does not exist to come, but for Christ who came on Christmas day and is with us now and will come again. We rejoice in the Lord because we have reason, good reason to rejoice. One, Luke 2 11, he is our savior. For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. He's the savior that we need. Most people don't realize they need a savior, but all of us are going to die. And it says in scripture, after we die is the judgment. And we will go to one or two places. We will either go to heaven or to hell and everybody who does not know Jesus, who is not saved by Jesus, will be going to hell. Even if they seem like on the outward good people, if they are not trusting in Jesus, if they're not saved by Jesus, he is the only way of salvation. So they would be going to hell. He's our savior from hell, but he is also our savior from sin. In Matthew 121, in that announcement to Joseph, it is by the angel, it is written, and she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Meaning, we will see victory over sin, we will see a change in our lives if we're true Christians. It doesn't mean we're totally sinless, but we should be getting less and less sinful as we go along. We shouldn't be rejoicing in sin, we rejoice in Christ. And we rejoice in Christ at least partially because he is saving us from sin. The Holy Spirit helps him to do this as well. We need a savior because the wages of sin is death. And so we know and we see death is all around us. And so we see that there's a need for a savior because there's a death and a death and a death and a death. And that death without a savior, as I said before, leads to judgment, even hellfire. As Hebrews 9.27 says, as it is appointed for men to die once, But after this, the judgment, and Matthew 25, 41, then he will say to those on the left hand, depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. there will be a judgment one day. And those on the right, the sheep, they will be fine, because they are the ones God has saved. Those on the left, maybe they think they're okay, but they're the goats and they will depart from Christ. They will be cursed and they have that everlasting fire. So we need Jesus as a savior and we rejoice when we have him as such because hell is a terrible place and we have, by Christ, escaped it. But Jesus is not only our savior, he is also the Christ, he is the prophet, the priest, the king, The celebration he brings not only saves us from sin and its penalties and from death and hell, but as Christ, he restores us in the image of God. And I've said this many times, especially I think this last year in knowledge and righteousness and holiness. As it says in Colossians 3.10 and also Ephesians 4.24, he renews us in knowledge. He helps us to put on a new man, which is Christ, in true righteousness and holiness. And so as Christ, he restores us in that image of God that we were meant to be all the time. As our Lord also, and so far I've mentioned Savior and Christ, but He's also our Lord, and all of these are mentioned in Luke 2. As Lord, He rules our lives in a way that glorifies God, and we are under His sweet and righteous governance. 1 Timothy 6, 14 and 15 says, that if you keep this commandment without spot, blame us until our Lord Jesus Christ appearing, which he will manifest in his own time, he who is the blessed and only potentate, potentate is the same word which we get the word Pope from, and scripture tells us Christ is the only Pope. The only potentate. So it's interesting that verse eliminates that whole idea of many, many, many popes. The king of kings and Lord of lords. He is our king. He is our Lord. He is even our pope. Notice in 615, it says, he is the only potentate. He's the only one also who can gain us true salvation and joy. As it says in Acts, 412, nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven, given among men, which we must be saved. And so we rejoice in those things that Christ has done for us. He saved us from our sins as Christ. He restores us into the image of God as our Lord. He leads and guides us into righteousness all these things he has done for us. Secondly, though, the joy we have in Jesus is not just an always joy, but it is in an every situation joy. 1 Peter 1, 6-9 says, in this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, You have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love, though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your soul. Here's Peter, who had been an apostle of Christ, who had followed Christ closely and benefited from his teaching. And yet Peter, what did he do? He denied his Lord three times. and when he saw that Jesus was heading towards crucifixion. And yet Peter also had the benefit of seeing Jesus risen from the dead. And so Peter is writing here to people who are rejoicing in Christ, even though they had never seen Christ risen from the dead. They never had the benefits that Peter had. And look at this, in verse six, it says that they had various trials that they were grieved with. And so they weren't blessed with just perfect circumstances, and yet they had joy. In verse seven, though, tested by fire, meaning they were going, fire is not a simple trial, I've heard that, you know, I've been burned on my hand, sometimes with a stove, and I've stupidly grabbed something that was extremely hot, but I've never been burned all over my body like some people have. And the people who have, I think, almost universally, if they survive it, they say, that is the worst kind of pain. and yet here tested by fire means maybe not that they were literally burning, maybe some of them were, but tested by fire meant they went through the fiercest kind of trials and yet in the midst of those they had joy. And he calls that a certain kind of joy, a joy beyond words, meaning he says inexpressible, meaning it's so great, this joy, that there's no expression possible that can show it. Sometimes I look at my grandchildren and they're very easy to make joyful. They get a gift that they like and they're playing and you see that joy on their faces, but this is a joy. a mature adult joy that only Christ can give that's inexpressible And because it shines even in pain, it is full of glory. I've seen this a few times with different people. I've mentioned David Coker, the young man who was dying of cancer, and, hey, Arnie, I'm going to heaven, and he's joyful. And the same thing with Rynthea, you knew Rynthea. I would go to see her in the hospital, and she was in pain, and she was close to dying, but she always had a joke. She always was in the mood to say something fun to you, and she always was lighthearted, and she was always rejoicing in the Lord, even when she was going through pain and close to death. And why is that? Because both of those people, one younger and one older, knew the Lord. They loved the Lord, and they had joy in the Lord, even though they were in difficult situations. This joy we find in persecuted churches. This joy is one that when you look through the history of the church, you see people who are being beaten, people who are being killed, their families are being killed, but they're still rejoicing in the Lord because they found something wonderful. We see this joy recorded in scripture. As I mentioned before, Paul and Silas in prison, Acts 16. Verse 23, it says, and when they had laid many stripes on them, meaning they were beating them with whips that had stones hooked in them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. And the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loose. loosed. I imagine it's easy to be rejoicing after you are released from your chains, after that, but the fact is they were rejoicing while they were in their chains and the earthquake comes after. This is something we see all through scripture. God's people are joyful. This is why I believe, and I believe it's part of our calling. Because when you look in scripture, you see the four living creatures. And these creatures have eyes all around them and within and they have six wings and they fly and they never get tired. And they're always saying, holy, holy, holy. I imagine they're in rapturous joy because they're always in the presence of God. And yet that situation, Does that give God as much glory as a Christian who's suffering and still praises Him? A Christian who is not near the throne of God where he can behold God, but is far from God and sometimes can't see Him? I believe the more and greater joy, their glory comes when we praise Him when we're in trials than when the four living creatures praise God right at the throne. It's easy to praise at the throne of God. It's easy to say holy, holy when you're in heaven and when you never get tired and you never have pain. It's a whole different thing when we praise God, when we're going through difficulties and trials. And I've seen people do that. This joy shines and is glorious, whom having not seen you love, Though now you do not see him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory. I like the saying that John Blanchard says, true joy glows in the dark. And if you think that it's true, in dark and difficult times that true joy shines and everybody sees and notices it. Because why? Because it's unusual. It's unusual to see somebody with cancer praising God and rejoicing and being truly joyful because Christ has put that in him or her, and that is a glorious thing. It glows in the dark. Number three, one of the keys to this great joy is keeping Jesus's commands. Jesus himself says this in John 15, 10, and 11. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I've spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. If you want that joy that Christ gives that is good in all circumstances, keep God's commandments. I think one of the things that hurts us, that takes away our joy, is when we might be going through a trial. And we know the reason we're going through that trial is because we sinned against God. We deserve that. And when we know that we've sinned, we know that we failed. And that's where their sorrow comes in. But if we're going through a trial and we know that we are right, we know that we have done right, then we can still rejoice in that. It's best to trust and obey. John Sammis wrote this. He said, when we walk with the Lord, In the light of his word, what a glory he sheds on our way. While we do his goodwill, he abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey. You know this, don't you? This quote, it's a song. Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey. I won't read the whole thing, because I know you all know it. But trust and obey is how we have that joy in Christ. However, Even when we break his commands, the joy can be restored and is only restored by his forgiveness and grace. when we confess and repent. And so even when we fail, we're not totally out of it. Why? Because Christ has died for our sins. He died so that we can have joy that is full. It says in 1 John 1, 9, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. also Revelation 1-5, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to him who loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood. This is why we rejoice in the Lord always. This is why we rejoice in Christ, because our righteousness is according to scripture, according to Isaiah, as filthy rags. We will never be so perfect that we can always be joyful because we are that, that we have all that in us. We are always gonna be dependent on God and on his grace. And even when we do do righteous things, why is that? It's because God helped us to do it. And so we rejoice in Christ in all circumstance, not only when we're walking with God faithfully, but we rejoice because we have a savior. We rejoice because we have forgiveness. We rejoice because he forgives us and cleanses us from sin. Psalm 32. David talks about this. After he had committed sin with Bathsheba, after he had murdered Uriah, about a year later, he confesses this and he writes Psalm 32 about that. And Psalm 32 starts with a general statement. about the blessedness of being forgiven. It says, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed, which that word blessed means truly and eternally happy, is the man to whom the Lord does not impute in equity and whose spirit there is no deceit. The Psalm continues in verse three with David's description of his sad state. Before asking for forgiveness, he says, when I was silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was turned into the drought of summer, Salah. When we have sinned against God, if we're truly his people, we cannot be happy in that. If we are truly Christ and we know we have sinned and we don't confess it, we don't go to him, we will be like David. He says, my bones grew old. They were getting older and older because I didn't confess my sins. David speaks then though about his finally confessing. He says in verse 5, I acknowledged my sin to you and my inequity I have not hidden. I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the inequity of my sin. Then in the psalm he warns against procrastination. In regard to confessing and repenting, he says, for this cause, everyone who is godly shall pray to you in a time when you may be found, surely in a flood of great waters, they shall not come near him. You are my hiding place. You shall preserve me from trouble. You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. You know that song too. Here he says, but the first part is the important here. He says, surely in a flood of great waters, they shall not come near you. What's he talking about there? Well, his son Solomon writes about that in Proverbs. Proverbs chapter one, starting with verse 20, Solomon talks about those who ignore God's wisdom, who are ignoring God's word. And it's like they have their fingers in their ears because God would speak to them and turn them around and get them to repent, but they don't listen. And when the calamity comes upon them, it's too late. They cannot turn around. David was blessed of God because he was allowed to turn around. And now he's saying in a time, don't wait forever because when those great waters come, you might not be able to repent. You'll be so caught up in your sin. You'll be so caught up in the things that are destroying you that you will be lost. And basically in Proverbs 1, it says those people prayed to God. But he laughed at their prayers and he destroyed them. He judged them. And so he says, don't be like that. And then the warning continues. He says, so don't be unteachable. Don't be stubborn. Don't be rebellious. like a bucking bronco or a stubborn mule, holding on to not confessing or repenting your sins. He says, verse eight, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you shall go. I will guide you with my eye. Do not be like the horse or like the mule, which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bitten bridle, else they will never come near you. Many sorrows shall be to the wicked. When we are in the wrong and we are stubbornly holding onto that, it does us no good at all. And that's basically what he's saying. He's saying that that is not the way you want to be. And we're coming towards New Year. If there's sins that we're stubbornly holding onto, let's let them go. Finally, trust in God and find mercy and rejoice. Verses 10 and 11, he says, the second part of 10. But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart. Here David speaks as somebody who had sinned greatly but had been forgiven and his sin was washed away. And now even in spite of the fact that he committed great sins, he's transferred from that judgment situation into the realm of God's grace. And he even talks about being righteous. And he says, rejoice and shout for joy. When we're forgiven by Christ, even for great sin, and we know that's the case, and we've repented and turned around, we can rejoice, not in ourselves, because we didn't deserve it, but we can rejoice in the Lord, because He's abundant in His mercy. Here, the verses talk about being surrounded by mercy. That's a wonderful thought. Have you ever thought of those verses? Mercy is all around you. You've committed some great sin, or maybe it's just a small sin, but whatever sin it is, it's going to keep you from God. But when we confess it, we are surrounded by mercy. We can't get away from that mercy. It's so good to us. That's a reason to rejoice. When Jesus came at Christmastime, he came as the Lamb of God who would die for our sins. He came to bring mercy to us. And so this Christmastime, let us rejoice in the Lord that he came to bless us. He didn't come to destroy us. He came to save us. Well, let's pray. Father, we thank you for the goodness of you, your goodness. and for the goodness and grace that is displayed in your son, in his coming to our world, in his becoming a human being, for no other reason but to save us and to glorify you. And Father, we thank you that he came, that you sent him, and he died for our sins, that we might have life, even eternal life, that we would have forgiveness of sins, and that we might rejoice in you not just today or at Christmas time, but all year round. And not only in good situations, but even in difficult ones, we can still rejoice in your son, our Lord Jesus. And we thank you for that. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.