Scripture lesson tonight, Scripture reading, is from 1 Thessalonians 1, as well as chapter 5, verses 16-18. That will be our passage, our text, 1 Thessalonians 5, verses 16-18. To begin with, though, I want to read chapter 1, verses 1-10. Paul wrote this letter to the Thessalonicans after he had journeyed to Thessalonica. He had preached there, as Acts 17 says, on three Sabbath days, reasoning from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. And a mob ran him out of town because of his preaching of the gospel. And so he wrote this letter to them as a pastor and with great passion in his heart for his people to remember their salvation and to remember the joy that they have in Christ. And so notice that chapter 1, verse 1, Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians, in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers, loved by God, that He has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we've proved to be among you for your sake, and you became imitators of us and of the Lord. For you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead. Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. Our passage tonight will be in chapter 5, verses 16-18. Just three short verses at the end of Paul's letter. He exhorts them, as he typically does, having explained to them what it meant to be redeemed in Christ. And he says this in verse 16, Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Thanks be to God. Well, brothers and sisters in Christ and my dear friends, there certainly is nothing like holding your newborn child in your own arms. For those of you with kids, am I right? No doubt you know that wonderful joy. Besides emotions like happiness and pride, relief, most of all, holding your own son or daughter, your own newborn child, brings the emotion and the feeling, but the overwhelming and inexpressible experience of joy. As we sing throughout the Psalms, as we just sang, but we sing, for example, in Psalm 113, he the barren woman takes and a joyful mother makes. This picture of us holding our newborn child with such inexpressible joy is a picture to us of God's joy in us. That when we were caused to be born again into God's heavenly family, He grabbed hold of us and He held us close in His very own hands. And all throughout the Scriptures, we read that it is God Himself who is joyful in us of all people. The prophet Zephaniah says, for example, of the Lord, that the Lord will rejoice over you with gladness. The prophet Isaiah says elsewhere, as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. Do you realize, loved ones, that God is joyful in you, His children? That He sings, the prophets say, He sings over us with such joy because of what He's done for us to bring us into His family. If the angels themselves rejoice over the conversion of but one sinner, how much more so does God rejoice in us? But it's not just that God is joyful in us. We read in the Scriptures that that joy God has for us causes us to be joyful in Him and to grow more and more in that wonderful experience. of joy. But what is joy? It's a nice name for a girl. But what is joy? Let me first tell you what it's not. Describe for you what it's not. Very simply, joy is not happiness. Joy is not happiness. For example, the churches from which I came out to join this very church are churches that said that joy was happiness. That joy was an experience or an emotion. That it was always having a smile on your face. Always being outward. Always being happy. But do you think, brothers and sisters, if joy is happiness, do you think the prophets and the apostles were laughing happily ever after as they went to be sawn in two between the posts of the temple? Or to be stoned to death? They were, but yet they were joyful. How? How could the prophets be joyful, being cut in two, being stoned to death? Because joy is not happiness. It's not a smile. It can be a smile. It can lead to the emotion of happiness. But joy is not an emotion. It's a deep-rooted quality in our very souls. Happiness comes and goes, but joy lasts. Well, what is it then? Listen to how one Scottish preacher once described it in the 17th century. He said that joy is to be taken up with the sense and sweetness which floweth from the consideration of the excellency of Christ Himself. Joy is to have a deeply rooted sense that Jesus Christ is sweet to our often bitter souls. Our souls that taste bitter because of our sins. Our souls that taste bitter because of our sorrows. Our souls that taste bitter because of our struggles. But Jesus is sweet. Jesus is the remedy for our souls. He's that lasting person who is always there despite our struggles. And so the Scriptures describe that sweetness, that wonderful picture of joy in the Holy Spirit that is Jesus Christ, describing it in all kinds of imagery. Jesus is like a rock for us to stand upon when times are turbulent, when the waves crash against us. He's like a fortress into which we can hide ourselves from all the assaults of our enemies. He's like a river that quenches our thirst out in the desert. He's like a shepherd. He leads us by still waters and feeds us with green pastures. This is why our forefathers, when they wanted to describe the deep-rooted joy of the Christian and the relationship that exists between God and us, looked to the Song of Songs, for example, chapter 6, verse 3, I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. that no matter what else anyone says outside, no matter what I feel inside, Jesus Christ is mine. And He is sweet to my soul. And so Paul writes to these Christians who very easily could have given up on their faith. Paul himself, as I mentioned, was run out of town by an angry mob, Acts 17 tells us. He ran to the next city down south, Berea, and they chased him down there. And when he left, the mob also caused great tribulation upon these very Christians. Chapter 1 of 2 Thessalonians describes it as great tribulation by which they have troubled the church. But despite the troubles, the Apostle Paul says that they receive the Word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit. Again, because joy is not happiness. Joy is not the absence of struggle. Joy is the going through struggles, clinging to Christ. And so he wants to exhort them again. He ends his letter on this wonderful note of exhortation. He's already told them that they have joy in the Holy Spirit. And now he says again, to rejoice, to pray, to be thankful in every circumstance of life for this is God's will for your life. And so He exhorts us as well, as He did them, about the joy of being a Christian. He wants us to remember the joy of being a Christian. For many of us here, we've never known a day outside of Christ, and we praise God for that. For some of us, we were converted later. But the joy of knowing Christ, Knowing Him in hard, difficult trials is what Paul wants to leave them with. He wanted to visit them, he says elsewhere in this book. He longed to see them as a pastor wants to see his people, but he couldn't. And so he wrote them a letter saying to them to continue to be joyful. Remember what it is to be the joy, to have the joy of being a believer in Christ and never forget it. So notice here with me, I want you to see that deep-rooted sense that Jesus Christ is sweet to our souls in a bitter life in three ways. First of all, Paul can say what he says here because the joy of being a Christian is a new relationship with God. To remember that we have a new relationship with God. Secondly, a new satisfaction in God. Finally, a new passion for God. And as we sang, I pray that God and the Holy Spirit would revive our hearts to know that joy once again. So you see there, firstly, that Paul describes for us and for them, the joy of being a Christian is found in a new relationship with God. Rejoice always, he says. Rejoice always. But that's not just a generic rejoicing. It's not just a generic happiness that he wants them to express. He says elsewhere the same phraseology, Philippians 4, for rejoice in the Lord. When he says here, rejoice always, he's assuming that that joy is expressed in Jesus Christ. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say it, rejoice. And so we are as believers in Christ to rejoice, that is to express our joy, that we taste Christ's sweetness to our souls because of this new status we have with God. And you see that in chapter 1, which I read for you. Go back to chapter 1, verse 9. If you have your Bible open in front of you, chapter 1, verse 9. Notice the change of relationship that exists with us as believers in Christ. He describes their life before Christ and their life in Christ here. He says that once they had a relationship with idols, false gods. The chief idol, of course, always being self and our selfishness. But now he says we have a relationship with God. They turned from idols to the living God. We once had a relationship with dead idols, but now it's a relationship with the living God. False idols. The true God. And that previous relationship that we had when we were turned all the way around facing idols, serving them, was to serve them slavishly. We all know this by experience. The idol of self needs us. Our selfishness longs and craves for us to feed it. The false God of ourselves, our own idol, our selfishness needs us. It depends upon us. We feed it. We go to sleep. We wake up. It needs us again. But Paul says to them that they had been turned to God. Literally, 180 degree change. A conversion. They were changed. They were transformed. They were turned around. They were turned from idols to this wonderful, true and living God. And notice he says, to serve Him and to wait for His Son. Not to serve Him slavishly as we serve ourselves and our sins. But to serve Him willingly, freely, joyfully. Not because God needs us, but because we need Him. Not because God depends on us, but because we are utterly dependent upon Him for every breath, for every heartbeat. For every moment. This was once expressed in a beautiful prayer. We've been turned from serving idols to serve willingly and freely and joyfully the One living and true God. This was once expressed in a beautiful prayer in the Book of Common Prayer that speaks of God describing Him as the One whose service is perfect freedom. God's service is perfect freedom. The Christian life, for those of you young people, you are going to hear that the Christian life squashes girls. It squashes women. The Christian life shackles us from our true self and our true potential. The Christian life has rules and regulations and it wants us to not have any happiness, any joy in this life. The Christian life is not about losing freedom. It's about finding freedom in Christ. Outside of Christ, you have no freedom. You are an utter slave to yourself and to false idols. In Christ, you are liberated. Serve Him. And to serve Him with joy. And to express that joy. And to be actually happy in the Lord. And that God who calls us to rejoice always, to rejoice in Him, is the God, as I mentioned, who takes joy in us. He takes joy in taking us to Himself he knows our sins he knows us that we are like dust and he takes us to himself just recall the story of the prodigal son the prodigal son returns he squandered everything there's dad dad sees the prodigal son runs out rushes headlong but there's older brother cannot believe that dad would actually go out to that son who wasted it all and would actually show him any love and concern. Do you recall what the dad, the father said to the older brother? It was fitting to celebrate and be glad. For this your brother was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found. That's a parable of God's joy in us. And because He is joyful with us and in us in Jesus Christ, we should be joyful. We must be joyful. We should grow in joyfulness, rejoicing always, as Paul says. One writer described the Christian like this. Who should be cheerful if not the people of God? They are no sooner born of the Spirit, but they are heirs of a crown. Who should be more joyful than us? We are born again to a lively hope and we are given an everlasting inheritance. We were dead, but yet we become alive. We were lost, but now we are found. But why don't I always feel that way? Why do I feel like I've lost my joy? Why do I lack the ability at times to be joyful in the Lord? I want to obey. I want to rejoice in the Lord always. I want to do what Paul says, but I don't feel it. What about me? Well, there are a lot of reasons why you don't feel joy, why you feel like you've lost it at times. Some can be emotional, some can be physical, some can be internal, some can be external. But there's one root cause that oftentimes accompanies a person's loss of joy. It's a spiritual one. One of our forefathers wrote a massive explanation of the armor of God in Ephesians 6. And here's what he said about the root cause of why we often don't feel joyful in the Lord. The reason why so many poor souls have so little heat of joy in their hearts is that they have so little light of Gospel knowledge in their minds. When the joy in your heart, brothers and sisters, is running low, fill your mind with the precious promises that Jesus Christ is sweet to your soul. When you feel like you've lost your joy, find your Bible. And you'll find, once again, that joy of a new relationship with God that enables us to rejoice always. Again, I say rejoice, as Paul says. And that new relationship leads us to a satisfaction, a new kind of satisfaction in God. Children, I mentioned at the beginning that happiness and joy are not the same thing. Let me give you an illustration of what I mean by that, how you can understand that. Can you tell me the difference between the sun and a light bulb? Sun and a light bulb. Well, they're similar, of course, because they both give light, they both allow us to see. We praise God for that tonight. But what's the difference between the sun outside and the light bulbs right there? The difference is that the sun is always on. Light bulbs are either on or off. Our joy in God is like the sun because it's always on. It might be covered by a cloud that keeps us from seeing the joy, but it's always on. Again, Paul tells us in chapter 1, which we just read, that they receive the Word of God with the joy of the Holy Spirit. Joy is a quality of the Christian. It's always there, although it might be covered with dark clouds. Our happiness is like a light bulb. It can be on at times. It can be off at others. And as believers in Jesus Christ, we've been brought from slavery to sin to become servants of Christ, we should become more and more satisfied with the joy that is always there. The joy that is always on in our hearts. That new relationship with God. The new status with God. No longer are we enemies, but now we are friends. And we can sing as we heard tonight that Jesus Christ even is our friend. We know that our former way of life could never satisfy the desires of our sins. We served them. We had to serve them. We fed them. We woke up to serve them again, as I said. But now we know that Jesus Christ has satisfied the demands of God. God demands our perfection. Love God perfectly. Love neighbor as self. That's it. That's all you must do. Christ has satisfied that. And now we rest satisfied in Him. And as those who are resting in Christ, we are satisfied with Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. This is why Paul can say to Christians that they have a new satisfaction in God to rejoice always. Because we have a satisfaction that comes from God Himself, we can pray without ceasing. Because we are satisfied with Christ, we can give thanks in every circumstance, even the lowest depths of life. And this is an amazing truth and promise for us tonight. The reality of the Christian life, which all of us know or will know by experience, is that it is full of suffering. It's full of sorrow. And we as Christians are not immune to suffering. and sorrow. Just because we believe in Jesus Christ doesn't mean that we get our free paths. I know that that's what the TV preachers want you to believe. That's what so many people want us to believe. That just because we trust in Jesus Christ, we're always happy. No more suffering. No more sickness. No more poverty. No more sadness. No more loneliness. No more dissatisfaction. No more having your heart crushed by your own family. We're not immune to that, but yet we can not only survive it and cope with it, we can be satisfied in Christ through it all. Jesus said this, Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. Paul preached a sermon once in which he told Christians that through many tribulations, they had to go to enter the kingdom of God. despite all these hardships of these particular believers here in 1 Thessalonians, receiving the Word in much affliction, that's an understatement of all times, despite their being persecuted, despite all their hardships, they were satisfied in Christ. They could express joy. They could pray to a God who hears. They can express thankfulness in the Lord. How do you respond to sorrow and strife and suffering in your life? It's not easy. Oftentimes we even fail to do that, to respond rightly as Christians. Which makes us feel even more sorrowful, doesn't it? But how do you respond? How should we respond rightly to sorrow, strife, suffering, persecution, pain, toil, anguish? The list goes on. Can you say with the psalmist, for example, weeping may endure for a night, and that night seems forever, but joy comes in the morning. Can you say with Jesus Christ, but your sorrow will be turned to joy. That's a promise, loved ones. Can you say with James, count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds. Notice, count it not happiness, but count it all joy. How can I say that? you have not been in my shoes. We can say it because we're new in Christ. We have a new relationship to Him. We now serve Him, a true and living God. We wait for a Son from Heaven. He satisfies the deepest longings of our souls. He transforms the mind, how we view suffering. He transforms our heart, how we experience suffering. And when you are satisfied in Christ, Your soul rests despite turmoil. I preached this morning from the story where the disciples followed Jesus Christ in a boat out under the sea. And the sea begins to be topsy-turvy and it begins to seem as if they're going to die. And they cry out, Save us, Lord! We're perishing! Where's Jesus? He's asleep in the boat. Total calm. Total confidence. Total control. We can be satisfied in Jesus Christ through trials and sufferings and turmoil, not because we are so good at it, but because Jesus Christ is total control. It's as if it's nothing to Him. He was there asleep. When we are satisfied in Jesus Christ, we come to know that every single thing that God allows to come into our life is just another reason for us to rejoice and another opportunity to grow. to be even more satisfied in Him. So we have a new relationship with God as Paul expresses it to these believers here as he exhorts them, as he reminds them of the joy of being a Christian. We have a new satisfaction in God. We no longer serve idols slavishly. We serve the true God. We love Him. We know Him. We belong to Him. And that should cause in us, brothers and sisters, a real, true, new passion for God. A new passion for God. I don't know about you, but every time I read the Heidelberg Catechism, I'm like a kid in a candy shop. Now, some of you are thinking, this guy is crazy. The Heidelberg Catechism, kid in a candy shop, not two images that you likely put together. There's a phrase that has caught my attention recently. that relates to our satisfaction, our relationship, our passion that we have for God. The Catechism describes the Christian life as a constant dying and a constant rising. We die with Christ in our sins. We put Him to death. We rise with Christ in the newness of life. And the Catechism, question and answer number 90, describes that new life that we rise up with as a heartfelt joy in God through Christ. How can the heartfelt joy that we have in God through Jesus Christ not fill us with even more passion for Him? Do we realize what He's done for us? That He's taken us utter rebels. He's made us friends. He's taken us total enemies and He's reconciled us. He's taken us. We are nothing but a bag of worms. We are nothing but dust. We are nothing but death. A body of death clings to us and He's redeemed us. Heartfelt joy in God through Christ. It's like what Paul says in Romans 7 at the end. Who shall deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. And Paul says here to these believers that as they have a new passion for the living, the true God, that that passion is expressed in three ways. It's expressed in joy. It's expressed in prayer. It's expressed in thankfulness. And he says, this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. The will of God. What does God want for me? He wants me to rejoice. What does God long that I would do? He wants me to pray. What does God desire that my life is characterized by? To be thankful in every single circumstance. A new passion that we have for the Lord Jesus Christ. For all that He's done for us. His life, His death, His resurrection, the Holy Spirit. Everything He's done for us. A new passion to rejoice always. Did you hear that? Always. Despite the trials that come from our own sinful hearts. Despite the trials that come from the world outside of us, there are always reasons to rejoice. Rejoice always. The psalmist says it like this, Why are you cast down on my soul? And why so disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, my salvation and my God. The psalmist again says it like this, Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous. Shout for joy, all you upright in heart. because joy is a quality of a status and a relationship with God that cannot be moved or changed or diminished. Paul can say, rejoice always. Because joy is like the sun that is always there. Despite clouds, it's always there. The child of God is ever looking for that sun. Ever looking through the clouds. Ever looking around them. Seeking for it. Rejoice always. One writer, one Puritan said it like this, take a saint, take a Christian, and put him into any condition. High, low, sad, happy, living, dying, you name it. Take a saint and put him into any condition and he knows how to rejoice in the Lord. Be passionate, brothers and sisters. Be passionate by rejoicing always for what Christ has done for you. With passion, pray without ceasing. And again, notice that part, without ceasing. Do you realize the privilege that you have that we can approach a heavenly tabernacle that was not made with hands? The veil which was torn in two by Jesus' death, opening it wide open to everyone who would come and to go into the Holy of Holies and to see there a heavenly sanctuary, to see the Holy of Holies there, to see the Ark of the Covenant, to grab hold of the horns upon that altar and to pray. We can go to the Holy of Holies in heaven to God Himself always without ceasing, He says. When can I go? Whenever you desire. How can I go? Through Jesus Christ. With passion, confidence, with boldness, without any fear. Not like the Israelites at the foot of Mount Sinai, telling Moses, you speak, don't let God speak lest we die. You go with confidence. Through Jesus Christ, who's granted us a new status with God. He loves us. He rejoices over us. He sings over us. And He accepts us. And then He begins to accept our prayers. He accepts our pleas. He accepts our begging. He accepts our feeble, weak words. He accepts us. And knowing that the Holy Spirit intercedes through us and that Christ, the right hand of God, ever liveth to make intercession for us, we should be even more passionate to pray without ceasing. And with passion, He thanks in all circumstances. Once again, in all circumstances. There's no exceptions. There's no caveats, there's no riders on the policy in all circumstances. Every sin that a friend or a foe is going to commit against you, give thanks. Every sorrow that you feel, every tear that you cry, give thanks. Know that your sorrows are, as the psalmist says, God Himself is collecting them all into His own bottle. They're bringing you closer to Jesus. Every temptation, every trial, every tribulation, it's just another chance to think and to speak and to act like Jesus Christ with thankfulness in your heart. Be passionate. Be thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Let me conclude by saying that we as Christians have more joy than the world. And we need to recognize that. No one can take our joy from us. Nothing can wipe it away. The devil himself wants to sip us like wheat, but Jesus upholds us in His hands. No one can take our joy. We have more of it than the world does. The psalmist once said it like this of God, Praying, you have put more joy in my heart than they, that is the world, have when their grain and wine abound. All the world's power and privilege and pleasure and prestige and position, it's all nothing compared to what we have in Jesus Christ. Priceless, matchless treasure, an inheritance unspoiled, unfading, reserved in heaven for you. we have more joy in our hearts than the world in all their abundance because of Christ. We're not the frozen chosen, you see. Maybe some of you are. You shouldn't be. More joy in my heart than the world has when there are grain and wine abound. Jesus Christ has given us a new relationship with God We become children of the Heavenly Father that causes in us a satisfaction that we need nothing else. The pulpit here says, Sir, show us this Jesus. It's all we need to satisfy our souls. And because of that satisfaction, we are desirous and passionate to serve Him, to rejoice, to pray, to give thanks. Oh, what an experience it is to have this joy of being held close by the Father Himself holding us as a little child as we would hold our little ones with such inexpressible joy. And so when your family and your friends and your neighbors and anyone would ask you, what's the secret of your joy? you can say very confidently and passionately to them, let me tell you about the joy of being a Christian. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, we thank You for these moments. We trust that through the feebleness of words, You will speak to us. Despite our struggling hearts, our sorrowful hearts, you will minister to us and raise us up once again. Cause us to know that deep-rooted joy, that sweetness of Christ to our souls, that we are held in the hands of our Heavenly Father as little children, looking into His eyes, needing nothing else, and wanting with passion to serve Him. Grant to us your Holy Spirit to cause us to do just that as we leave this place and serve you as citizens of your kingdom and the world around in every calling, vocation, and opportunity of service. We ask this all in Jesus' name. Amen.