A Study of the Book of John

“That You May Believe”

Sermon #44 

“Joy Comes In the Morning”

John 16:16-24 

        The Declaration of Independence of the United States reads in part, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Have you ever really considered what the phrase the “pursuit of happiness” means? Much if not most of the time of modern Americans is still spent in the pursuit of that illusive “happiness.” Yet human history has proven happiness to be something that we cannot secure no matter how hard we pursue it. If we do indeed find something that gives us pleasure and we keep pursuing it we find ultimately that it has no enduring satis-faction. However, if we forget our desire for happiness and find something worth doing, particularly some form of service to others, then happiness is often found as a by product of our service.  

       At least part of the problem is that we tend to equate happiness with joy; but they are two totally different ideas because they each spring from completely different sources. Happiness comes from the world around us. Joy on the other hand originates directly from the hand of God. Happiness is conditioned by and dependent upon what happens to us. Joy on the other hand, which is seen throughout Scripture, is a profound compelling quality of life that transcends the events and even disasters of this life. Joy is a divine dimension of living that is not shacked by circumstances. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word trans-lated joy means “to leap or spin around with pleasure.” The word trans-lated “joy” in the New Testament (chara) refers to gladness, bliss and celebration.

       Christianity introduced something new into the religious world – the note of real and deep joy. Few things are as important to an understanding of Christianity (and few things are as little noticed) as the recognition of the  thread of joy that runs right through the New Testament. According to William Barclay, “a gloomy Christian is a contradiction in terms, and nothing in all of religious history has done more harm that (the church’s) it’s connection with black clothing and long faces.” It is one of the tragedies of the modern world that all too often Christians give no evidence of the joy that should characterize everything they do. 

First, The Problem of Sorrow (vv. 16-19)

        In verse sixteen Jesus says, “A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.”  While we living on this side of cross have little trouble understanding what Jesus meant, his disciples did not have this advantage. But surely, this verse speaks of his death. For that very night, while he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, Judas came with a band of temple soldiers and arrested Jesus. He was hastily tried by Caiaphas and the Jewish Sanhedrin, then he was put in the dungeon prison to await the breaking of day. By 9 a.m. the very next day, He would be put on a cross between two thieves and by 3 p.m. he would be dead and laid to rest in a borrowed tomb.

       It is hard to really grasp just how devast-ated the Disciples were by the series of events which culminated in the crucifixion of Jesus. Their whole world came crashing in! One glimpse in the depth of their sorrow is seen in the Emmaus disciples recorded in Luke 24:13-35. These disciples were on their way home for Jerusalem. The Lord appeared to them on the way and asked them why they were so discouraged. They told Him about Jesus, explaining how He had been tried and cruc-ified by the leaders of the people. Then in Luke 24:21 they uttered what must surely be among the most heartbreaking lines in scripture, “but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel.” (NIV) The NIV does a good job of displaying the past tense of their hope, they said “we had hoped.” They had put all of their hope in Jesus and now He is dead and with Him their hope died also.

When Jesus says “little while, and you will see Me,” found in verse sixteen it refers to the fact that after three days He would rise from the grave.

          In verse seventeen the disciples reveal that they are confused for we read, “Then some of His disciples said among themselves, “What is this that He says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” (18) They said therefore, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is saying.”

          They were puzzled and they began to ask one another what this saying of Jesus meant. They apparently didn’t think it right to ask Jesus for a solution. Instead of asking Jesus to explain His words, the disciples began to discuss it among themselves, almost as though they were embarrassed to admit their ignorance. It quickly became one of those “share your ignorance sessions.” We can almost hear the disciples as they say, “Well Peter what do you think it means? I don’t know John what do you think it means?”

       And on some level I believe they were afraid to ask Jesus because they were afraid that the answer would be that that he would no longer be with them. Some of the biggest questions in our lives are also concerning our relationship to with Jesus. Questions like, “Is He real? Is He here with me now? If He’s here why does He seem so distant? Will He leave me? Am I good enough for Him? If he knows all about me, can He still love me?” These and other questions are so deep and so fearful that we may not even like to recognize that we struggle with them. We have buried them because we too are afraid of the answers.

       But Jesus saw and understood how it was with them and so he asked in verse nineteen, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’?”

Not Only The Problem of Sorrow but ….   

Secondly, The Promise of Joy (vv. 20-21)

“Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.”

          He introduces his explanation with the words, “Most assuredly” or as the KJV trans-lates it “Verily, Verily.” We have seen this formula used time after time in the New Testament when Jesus is beginning a state-ment his hearers are to recognize as both true and important.

       Verse twenty says that the disciples will sorrow “but the world will rejoice.” That is hard for us to accept, that the world actually rejoices over the absence of the Jesus. But think of it in this light. When I was small boy and I misbehaved my Mother sometimes said to me, “When your father gets home I am going to tell him how you have been acting.” Have any of you ever heard those words? Well we “knew” what that would mean! And in the same way the world, doesn’t want Jesus to return because they knew very well what that will mean.  

          In verse twenty-one Jesus uses the illustration of childbirth, “A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.”

        Jesus illustrates the truth he is trying to make with a simple illustration from life, He says that when a child is born, the mother suffers during the birth of the child, but when that new-born is placed in her arms, she forgets the pain and rejoices in her baby.

       What Jesus promises is different than what we usually think. Most of us assume that our sorrow is going to be replaced by joy, But the promise of Jesus is that the very thing which caused the sorrow is going to be the cause of joy.

 Dr. R. A. Torrey, one of the great Bible teachers of a past generation and founder of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, has given us a memorable testimony concerning this mysterious work of the Holy Spirit. Dr. and Mrs. Torrey went through a time of great heartache when their twelve-year-old daughter died. The funeral was held on a gloomy, miserable, rainy day -- dismal and melancholy. They stood around this forlorn little grave and watched as the body of their little girl was put away. As they turned away, Mrs. Torrey said, "I'm so glad Elisabeth is with the Lord, and not in that box." But even knowing this their hearts were broken.

Dr. Torrey said that the next day, as he was walking down the street, the misery came to him anew. He felt the loneliness and heart-break that lay ahead. He was so burdened by this that he looked to the Lord for help. And I want to share his words with you. He said,

“And just then this fountain, the Holy Spirit, that I had in my heart, broke forth with such power as I think I had never experienced before, and it was the most joyful moment I had ever known in my life! Oh, how wonderful is the joy of the Holy Ghost! It is an unspeakably glorious thing to have your joy not in things about you, not even in your most dearly loved friends, but to have within you a fountain ever springing up, springing up, springing up, always springing up three hundred and sixty-five days in every year, springing up under all circumstances unto everlasting life!” [Kent Hughes. John: That You May Believe. Wheaton, ILL: Crossway Books, 1999) p. 384]

That is what Jesus is talking about here!

Not Only the Promise of Joy but … 

Third, The Prescription for Joy (vv. 22-24)

       Jesus describes in some detail what this joy will look like. 

• This Joy is Permanent (v. 22)

“Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.”

          The joy that Christ promises here is the joy that comes from what Christ did on our behalf at Calvary. No one can ever take the absolute security we have as believers away. The finished work of the Cross cannot be reversed and the joy from it is permanently ours.   

• This Joy is Powerful (v. 23)

“And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.”

The key of course to the release of this joy is found in the phrase “in my name” that is, the name of Jesus. Does this mean that we are to use the phrase “in the name of Jesus” as some sort of secret password that guar-antees that we will receive what we have asked for? No of course not! To ask in any-one’s name means to ask as though you were that person. This means we are to ask for what Jesus would want, praying in line with

Christ’s objectives.  

• This Joy is Plentiful (v. 24).

“Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

          Every Christian fits into one of three categories in terms of their joy; those who have lost their joy, those who have are living in partial joy and those who are living in full joy.

       We must understand that our joy can be diminished, perhaps even lost for a period of time. David prayed in Psalm 51:12 after unrepented sin had robbed him of his joy, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation.” His own sin had robbed him of joy for a period, but the graciousness of the Lord, that joy was recoverable.

       We can have joy! It is the Lord’s intent that we have joy!! He knew that the cross was looming ahead. In a matter of hours He knew he was to die as payment for the sins of mankind. And yet His driving concern was not about what He was facing, but rather for the joy of his disciples. And full joy is found in unbroken fellowship with the Father. Sin breaks our fellowship and communion. But confession and constant communication with the Father through prayer is the pipeline of a joy filled life! 

Conclusion

       The final words of Chapter sixteen resound with assurance to those with sorrow-ful hearts. In verse thirty-three we read that Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”  When we think of suffering and sorrow of this world it can overwhelm us!

But Jesus says, he has spoken to them, so “that in me your may have peace.” He has spoken of peace before (14:27) and now he concludes with that thought. “Peace” as the Hebrews understood it is not the absence of war as we think of it. Peace is not the absence of anything but rather the presence of God’s rich and full blessing.

          Leon Morris gives a good illustration of what peace is by telling of a painting he saw.

“I have read of an artist who wanted to paint a picture of peace.  He chose, of all things, a storm beating against a rocky coast and depicted the waves, mountains high, crashing against the mighty rocks.  He put a shipwreck in his picture, with a great ship driven up against the rocks and in the process of breaking up.  In the water nearby there is the body of a drowned sailor.  He has made it obvious that there is a wild storm beating against the coast and that this storm means danger and even death to people caught up in it.   But in the foreground he has a mighty rock with a crack in it, and in the crack a dove has built her nest and is sitting on it, secure.  Underneath the artist has written the one word: "Peace." [Leon Morris. Reflections On the Gospel of John. (Peabody, MASS: Hendrickson Pub., 1986) p. 563]