The Joy of Salvation

Well, it's another beautiful day, a beautiful Sabbath day to open up God's Word for our help and our edification. If you'd like a title to the sermon today, it is The Joy of Salvation.

The Joy of Salvation. What we're going to attempt to do today is to have an in-depth look at joy. And perhaps the perfect place to turn in beginning this study is to Galatians 5, verses 22 through 25. If you'd like to open your Bibles and turn there with me now, Galatians 5, we'll read in just a moment, verses 22 through 25. Very familiar passage of Scripture. Of course, this is the passage of Scripture where we're given the fruit of the Spirit.

Now, the last time I was with you, we took on the topic of love, and we looked at three lessons on love and how it applies to our love to God and to one another. And I thought that perhaps it might be natural to continue in that regard by officially starting a series on the fruit of the Spirit. And of course, that's what's found here in Galatians 5. So let's read how the Apostle Paul gives it to us here, and we'll see that the second part of the fruit is that of joy. Galatians 5, beginning in verse 22, Paul writes, But the fruit of the Spirit, he says, is love, then joy, followed by peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and, lastly, self-control. Against such, there is no law, meaning this fruit corresponds perfectly with God's law. Verse 24, And those who are Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

If you live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit, namely, the fruit of the Spirit. So let's stop here, there. So here it is. Of course, it's quite a list here. And Paul evokes a very beautiful picture, and it's this picture of a beautiful fruit tree here. You can imagine this fruit in your mind's eye. You can imagine the beauty of it.

You can perhaps imagine the sweet aroma of this fruit, and of course, the sweetness of taste. I think it's a wonderful way to describe what it looks like to live in the Spirit.

There is a sweetness to the life of a man or woman who lives in the Spirit. What does it look like for God's Spirit to reside in a man or woman? Well, here it is.

It'll be displayed in the life, which is beautiful, which is sweet, which is fragrant.

And so Paul is painting a picture here and instructing the Galatian church.

With regards to the evidence that is to be displayed in the life of a believer.

Now, this is not a new picture. In fact, you find this imagery evoked all throughout the Bible. I just want to give you a few examples. If you put your marker here, we find that fruit, this imagery is given to us in the Old Testament. One such example is Psalm 1.3. If you'd like to turn to the Psalms, Psalm 1.3, chapter 1 and verse 3. Keep your marker there in Galatians 5. We'll see here, even in the Old Testament, long before Paul penned about the fruit of the Spirit to the Galatian church, here it is in the Old Testament. The psalmist here explaining what it is to be godly. Look at what he writes. Just one verse. Psalm 1, verse 3. The psalmist says that the godly, he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper.

So that's an example in the Old Testament. How about Jesus? Did Jesus speak of this fruit that now Paul references? Well, yes, he did. Turn over to John 15, verse 5. If you'll turn there, John 15, verse 5, we see Jesus picks up on this same phraseology, and quite effectively here.

So Paul is continuing this imagery, but we see it also introduced by Jesus here, where in John 15, verse 5, Jesus himself says, John 15, verse 5, I am the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in me, and I in him bears much fruit. And let's stop there and go down to verse 8. Jesus continues here and says, by this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples. Let's stop there. Matthew also recorded this verbiage from Jesus as well, but Matthew actually gives it to us in the positive, but also in the negative, where there's a little bit of harsh admonishment from Jesus if we don't bear much fruit. Look at Matthew 7, verses 16 through 19. And let's see how Matthew records Jesus's words here. Matthew 7, verses 16 through 19. Let's just go to this one more example just to support that this is a very familiar image and picture that Paul is evoking in Galatians 5. Here it is, Jesus again, but Matthew recording his words. Matthew 7, beginning in verse 16. Jesus says, you will know them by their fruits.

Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes? Well, no. Do men gather figs from thistles? No. Even so, every good tree bears good fruit. So that's the positive. But a bad tree bears bad fruit.

Verse 18, a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

And then here's the admonishment, a little bit of harsh admonishment. Verse 19, Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruit you will know them. Let's stop there. So this is a very significant picture that Paul is now bringing his readers to here, this picture of the fruit, the fruit of the Spirit, and the fact that a true believer, a true follower of Jesus Christ, will be recognized by his or her fruit.

Fruit, their attributes, fruit, their character, you see, the essence of them, will be on display in how they walk and how they live in the Spirit. So what kind of fruit is the fruit of the Spirit? Well, that's what we began with. That's what Paul gave us. So if you kept your marker there, let's turn back to Galatians 5 and verse 22. Here they are. These are the nine qualities, evidences that will be displayed whenever the Spirit of God lives in one of his children.

And the Spirit, but the fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5 verse 22, and there they are. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering kindness, and so on. So this is the fruit in which you are to walk in and to live in. And just so within a few scriptures, we're able to see the absolute significance of this teaching that Paul is bringing his readers to.

Now, if you'll bear with me a little bit longer, before we move on to and into joy, I just want to, because we're starting kind of a new series, and I want to just set the foundation for us as we consider the totality of the fruit of the Spirit. And I just want to give you two foundational truths to stand upon when it comes to understanding the fruit of the Spirit as its whole.

We'll go through this quickly. Number one, truth regarding the fruit of the Spirit in its totality. Number one, the fruit is produced as a result of God's Spirit. Okay? Pretty logical, right? That's the number one truth upon which we stand upon when we're looking to understand the fruit of the Spirit. This fruit is produced as a result of the indwelling Spirit of God.

So those who are called, drawn by the Father, brought by faith through Jesus Christ, those entering into that covenant relationship with the Father and Jesus Christ, they will make their home in us through the Holy Spirit, and the results of that Spirit will be this fruit. That's the evidence that they're living in us through their Spirit.

Okay? This is the evidence. It'll be tangible. It's real fruit. Others around a called son or daughter of God will be able to see this fruit. They'll be able to taste it, if you will. They'll be able to receive the beautiful fragrance in the life of a child of God. It's not plastic fruit. Okay? Have you ever seen that plastic fruit? I think it used to be more popular back in the day.

I remember of a certain generation, like maybe my grandparents' generation, they would have plastic fruit in a bowl. I'm sure some of you can attest to that. Maybe some of you have some plastic fruit in your homes right now. I don't know. Generally, my experience with plastic fruit, it was always dusty, and somehow it was always sticky. I don't know where the stickiness came from, but it looks like real fruit.

So much so, as a kid, I found my jaw bouncing back from the grapes that I put in my mouth for some reason. I don't know. I did a lot of things that I don't understand as a kid. They looked real, but with a quick experiment, you realize they're not real, of course. It's fake fruit. You know, what Paul is speaking about is real fruit. The fake fruit could be symbolic of an individual who is interested in spiritual matters.

They find God's truth, even his doctrine, interesting, intellectually stimulating. Sometimes they can carry on a great conversation, kind of an apologetics way, but it turns out to be that's all it is.

And often, fake spiritual fruit can create something of an outward, habitual change.

You attend on the right day. You sing the right songs. But essentially, it's fake spiritual fruit because there's no inward reality to what is being displayed on the outward of the man or the woman. No inward change of the heart. It's very possible to have fake spiritual fruit of the spirit.

Seemingly, it seems like that's of the spirit, but essentially it's not. It's plastic fruit, a kind of plastic fruit in your life. And you'll find areas where you maybe have plastic fruit when you try to endeavor to display true love, true joy, true kindness, true gentleness. But even in your own self-examination, you feel like there's a little bit of hypocrisy.

You may express to someone you love them, but in your heart of hearts, you may either reside bitterness or anger toward them. You may be outwardly happy and say, I'm so happy for you for your successes, but inwardly you might not be feeling it fully. And you may be asking, why aren't I having those successes? So whenever you have that kind of experience, it's okay, but it's an opportunity to realize, and maybe God is showing you, that those are areas that you may have plastic spiritual fruit in these areas. So this is an opportunity to take these nine areas—love, joy, peace, kindness, and so on—and see where you fall, where you have true spiritual fruit and where maybe you don't. Examination. So Paul, this is an invitation to examine yourself, to make sure that you have the inward reality of this fruit here, and to identify those parts of the spiritual fruit where your jaw is bouncing back, you know, from the reality. It's not a true grape. It's a plastic or rubber grape there. And this is serious, you know, so much so that Jesus himself says, he or she who does not bear good fruit is cut down, thrown into the fire. You will know them. You will know those who are mine, Jesus says, by their fruits, not by their professions. All of us know and even are guilty of professing, but the reality is not there.

So this is an invitation, a self-examination, to take a look at those areas where we want to bring the true reality in these areas to our life, where there's a heart authenticity in these nine areas. Okay, now just as a side note, we know that we are not saved by fruit, right? We're saved by faith, but I want you to know it is not a fruitless faith.

We must have a fruitful faith, you see, because that will be the evidence of our faith.

What's the most telling sign that you know a tree is alive? Well, one way is, one primary way, is by its fruit. You see, you see it. You can smell it. You can handle it. You see, no fruit may be an indication of death. And I think that's what Jesus is getting at there with that phrase there. Okay, so that's the first foundational truth to stand upon with regards to the totality of the fruit of the Spirit. Second fundamental truth, and last fundamental truth before we move into joy, is to establish that, number two, the fruit is singular. I wonder if you ever noticed that or thought of that. Number two, fundamental truth, the fruit of the Spirit is singular. Galatians 5 verse 22. Paul writes, but the fruit of the Spirit is, not the fruits of the Spirit are, you see. So this is important. It's different than spiritual gifts. When Paul wrote about spiritual gifts, he educated us to the fact that not everyone has the same spiritual gifts, right? Some have this, some have that.

You bring those spiritual gifts together, and then through individuals, and then that forms a total body. This is different than spiritual gifts, where not all gifts are shared by all alike, but in relation to the fruit, it's different. These nine graces of Christian character together form one indivisible fruit. Important to realize, because as we look at these nine areas, you might say to yourself that you're naturally authentic in some of these than others. Just naturally. You might say, I'm just naturally by dent of my identity and how I'm made, I'm just naturally a kind person, right? Or the way I'm built, I'm just naturally gentle.

And you might be tempted to say, well, I'm the gentle one, and someone else can provide the long suffering, you know, and they can compensate for me. No. When the Spirit of God comes to an individual, it is to create the fullness of all these nine characteristics in one fruit, in the individual, you see. So, God does not produce love without patience, or God does not produce joy without goodness. And you can mix it up however you like. That's not how it works. The work of the Spirit of God is to create the full fruit reality in each of his children, you see. And by doing so, then we'll be like Christ in the fullness.

So that's the second fundamental truth there to stand upon as we enter into this list. Next up in the list, of course, is joy. Joy. So how do you begin? What's the best place to begin when we begin to consider joy in the life of the child of God? There might be several ways to begin, but I think one of the most logical ways is to consider one of the most important things to establish right from the beginning when you think about joy is to establish the distinction between happiness and joy. Very, very, very important to establish this right off the beginning when you begin to think about joy. The difference between happiness and joy. Happiness. Hap.

Hap comes from the Latin word. That's how we get the word happiness. It means chance.

So one way to describe happiness is good circumstances just happen to be coming into our lives, and that makes us happy.

You may be in a season of good health. So I happen to be in good health this season, so therefore I'm happy. Okay? Or you might be happy because you just happen to be in good financial circumstances. So I'm in a season where my finances are secure. I'm happy. Therefore, you see. So happiness is largely a kind of spontaneous response to pleasurable circumstances. Okay? By contrast, joy is not determined merely by outward pleasures. Okay?

Because joy may be experienced even when things are not going well. All right? Some of us are facing illness, bereavement, uncertainty, financial strain. Even in those circumstances, joy can still emerge. Okay? Where happiness may not. You see. You see. Because happiness depends upon often what happens. You see, joy is not dependent upon the circumstances around us. So you may say at this point, well, joy seems unnatural.

Correct. Joy is unnatural. This part of the fruit of the Spirit is unnatural because it's supernatural. You see. Supernatural. This kind of joy that we're considering is not ultimately produced by us. It's produced by the Spirit being in us. This is the supernatural result of God's Spirit living in us. Now, as a side note, a quick side note, with that, does that mean, then, that only true Christians can experience the distinction between happiness and joy? Good theological question. The question, can only true Christians experience, then, the distinction between happiness and joy? Write your answers. Pass it to the center of the... I think we could all say the answer to that is no. Those that don't have God's Spirit in them, just from our experience, we know that they can experience joy, which is distinct from happiness. I think we could all acknowledge that. And when you really take a consideration, what is the joy that men and women experience in this life who do not have God's Spirit? What is that?

I think a big part of that joy that they experience comes from when men and women walk in the goodness of God. One commentator puts it this way, quote, there is a joy which can be experienced by men and women who live even in an external way according to God's laws and ways, unquote. So there is a joy, those who do not have God's Spirit, a joy that's experienced even by those men and women, as they live out according to God's way. And I think that's supported by the Bible. The Bible makes clear that even living externally in God's ways will produce blessings and joy. Joy can come as behavior in and of itself is in harmony with God's values. Perhaps that's what we're witnessing when we see men and women who do not have God's Spirit experiencing true joy. Another commentator puts it this way.

He calls it, quote, a kind of moral joy. There is an external moral joy which can benefit men and women as they live their lives in harmony with God's way, unquote.

So we're learning about the difference between happiness and joy, right? And we're also learning that there can be a joy, an absolute joy, just by living according to God's way, right? But I want to make a further distinction here, a further distinction between moral external joy and that of the inward true Christian joy.

It's not the same. And here's the climax. Here's the main point of our study today in understanding the fruit of the Spirit, joy. We talked about mere happiness, you know, conditioned by our circumstances. We've talked about mere moral joy, the natural joy that comes from living God's way. But I want you to know that the joy of a true Christian is still unique from both of those things, because at its heart, if you truly want to understand joy as part of the fruit of the Spirit, it's not merely happiness, and it's not even the innate natural benefits which come as a result of living God's way. The essence of joy as we consider it in the fruit of the Spirit is actually the joy of salvation.

This is what we're speaking about today. When you read about the joy as the fruit of the Spirit, it's essentially, primarily, and ultimately the joy of salvation which comes from God to His children. Again, it's not merely happiness from circumstances. It's not merely a sense of well-being and benefits when our behavior lines up with our beliefs. We need to have our behavior line up with our beliefs. We need to have moral joy, if we want to call it that. Absolutely. That's the evidence that our behavior lines up with our beliefs. Moral joy is good. It's necessary.

But the joy of salvation is much deeper, and it's a much more significant joy. It is a pure joy.

It is a salvation joy. It is a joy, again, grounded in the fact that we know all that God the Father has done for us through His Son, Jesus Christ. It is the joy grounded in the fact that we know, and we know that we know we have been set free from the penalty of death, and that life has now been offered to us. This is the fruit of the Spirit. Joy. The joy of a true child of God. It resides in the covenant relationship that we have with God.

And if you've ever been witness to this kind of joy, it'll change you forever.

It'll really change you forever. I've seen it. I've seen it often.

Sitting bedside in a hospital with a child of God, challenged as I approached that door to bring to manufacture hope and joy and try to bring that into that room, that hospital room, only to find that the joy is already there.

I know many of you have experienced this. You go into comfort and give joy to someone who's in a state like that, and they end up comforting you.

It's the most remarkable thing. Joy is waiting there for you. When you're visiting the son or daughter of God in their most lowest of circumstances, where despite the earthly hopelessness trying to break in to that son or daughter of God, despite perhaps the little time left on this earth, despite these things, the child of God begins to express all that God has done for them. Comforting them, filling them with peace and joy that ultimately comes by being saved by God. Maybe you've been witness to this joy of salvation. It's wonderful. And if you've ever been witness to this, you know that this that is the true essence of the joy of the fruit of the Spirit on full display. And it's so unnatural, and it's so unexpected. It's an unnatural joy. It's an unexpected joy. Salvational joy comes from knowing that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has forgiven me and is to believe and to know that because he loved me, he died for me.

And while our physical journey might be at the end, salvational joy comes and sets us free from any hopelessness. As very often that child of God begins to express the anticipation of Christ's return and the anticipation of him calling up their name and raising them at his return to experience his joy for all of eternity from that point forward. So, when our conscience accuses us, when we're made aware of our weakness, when we're aware of our failure, when we're experiencing weakness, failure, disease, loss, the Bible says, count it all joy because you know that it's working for your perfecting. Of course, many of you, if not all of you, know where that comes from. And I'd like to turn there, this passage of Scripture in the book of James, James chapter 1, where James speaks of this salvation joy and the knowing of it. James 1 verse 2 through 4. You know, James doesn't label it the joy of salvation or salvation joy, but he certainly does speak of it quite clearly, and he speaks of the time when we will be complete, and we know this, and we will lack nothing, and all these things are working toward that time. So, here in James 1 verses 2 through 4, James is very careful with his language. He wants to get it just right as he speaks about this supernatural Christian joy. Here, the joy of salvation we could say. Look at James 1, beginning in verse 2. He says, My brethren, my beloved, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience, but let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete and lacking nothing. Let's stop there. That you may be. This is where it's moving toward. Count it all joy. He doesn't say, count it or consider it happiness. No, it's not happiness. Count it all joy. Why? Why? Is this merely the external joy that comes from the living the way as we should? It's part of it, but that's not the ultimate. Count it all joy. Why? My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials. How do I do that? Here's the answer. Knowing. Because you know what it was bringing you. It's bringing you to the point of being perfect and complete when you will be lacking nothing. So what's he referring to? This is the time of salvation, true salvation. The time when all these things, all these struggles, all of the hard-earned character will come together when we will be saved, ultimately saved, at Christ's return. And he calls our name up to be sealed, to be perfect, to be perfect and perfected, lacking nothing with him forever.

So whatever comes to steal your joy, whatever it may be, consider it all joy, he says, because these things for the child of God give way to your salvation. This is the joy of salvation.

And so the child of God says, you can take all these earthly things away, take it all away, but you'll never take away my joy of salvation. I know this.

The Greek word there in verse 3, knowing, is ganosko, ganosko. And it's a beautiful word.

It speaks of the knowledge of experiencing relationship. It's the knowing of an experiential relationship, the knowledge that you have this covenant relationship with God. And that knowledge of that saving relationship is the ultimate joy for the son or daughter of God.

It's grounded. This joy is grounded in the fact of our our Savior, Jesus Christ. And He and the Father's perfect work, they're completing in us. This is the fruit of the Spirit, joy. So as we begin to come to a conclusion, let's just remember this simple yet eternal truth, the deepest joy that a human heart can know is not found in our circumstances.

The deepest joy that a human heart can know is not found with no pain or just in pleasant circumstances of this life. Rather, the deepest joy a man or woman can experience is found in our salvation. And this joy is not fragile, and it's not fleeting, and this joy survives sorrow. This joy stands firm in suffering, and it shines even in the shadow of death. Brethren, may this joy live in each of us now and forevermore, for this is the joy of salvation.