From Sorrow to Joy
Text: John 16:16-24
What is Joy?
My Uncle used to ask people if they wanted to see a picture of his pride and joy, and of course, people being kind, would say, “Yeah, of course.” And he’d pull out a picture of Pride furniture wax and Joy dishwashing soap.
But seriously, what is Joy? Is it something that is fleeting – there for a moment and gone the next? Not to be political, but the Democrat Party said that they were the “Party of Joy”, but it all seemed to go away the day after the election. Is that what joy does? Or is it something that endures even when things don’t go your way, and times are hard.
Biblically speaking, did you know that there’s a difference between “joy” and “happiness”?
Well, this morning, it is my hope and prayer to give you a real reason to be filled with joy, and it’s apt because next Sunday we’ll be doing our Thanksgiving day message, and people who have joy are also people who are thankful.
We’re in John 16 … and this will be our last sermon from John for the year… we’ve got our Thanksgiving Day sermon next Sunday, and then we’ll be doing Advent Sermons… unless the Lord leads me to preach from John for Advent… But most likely – this will be it for 2024, and we’ll pick it back up in 2025…
Let’s read our text (Read John 16:16-24).
So, Jesus uses the word “Joy” four times in this passage…
In verse 20 He says, “Your sorrow will be turned to joy.” In verse 21 He says, “there’s joy because a child has been born.” In verse 22 He says, “No one will take your joy from you.” And in verse 24 He says, “Ask and you will receive that your joy may be complete.”
And in every instance that Jesus uses that word it’s the Greek word “chara”
It’s from the same root word as “charis” – GRACE…
It’s where our English friends get the word “Cheerio” and we get the word "rejoice"!
Here in our text, I think it’s pretty clear that Jesus doesn’t want the disciples to be sorrowful, but instead wants them to have joy.
He starts out in verse 16 saying, “Guys, in a little while you won’t see Me, but then, a little while after that, you’ll see Me again.” And if you remember just prior to that, Jesus told them that He was going to go away, but that He wasn’t going to send them into battle unequipped. He was going to send the Holy Spirit – who would not only be with them, but indwelling them and empowering them, and the Holy Spirit’s mission is to bring glory to Jesus, and make much of Jesus, by convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
And so… I’ll just say it… if you want to know if you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, the evidence isn’t speaking in tongues or doing miracles… the evidence is – Are you being used by the Spirit to bring conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgment?
So, what Jesus was talking about in verse 16, was His death. He was saying that He was going to go away – He was going to go to the cross, be laid in the grave, and they wouldn’t see Him for a little while… but He wasn’t going stay in the grave. After a little while, they would see Him again.
The disciples are confused… they are asking themselves “What does Jesus mean? What does He mean when He says He’s going away and we won’t see Him – and then after a little while, we will see Him?”
They’re confused about the whole thing. And this is the same thing we’ve been seeing all throughout John’s Gospel. People had all kinds of expectations about what the Messiah was going to do, and how He was going to do it?
Most people thought about it in terms of immediate, physical deliverance from Rome.
But that’s not Jesus’ agenda! That’s not what He’s come to do.
He came to die for man’s sin… and because He’s going to die on the cross, the disciples won’t see Him for a little while… but after three days – they will see Him again.
That’s why Jesus says, in verse 20, “You will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice.. (chairo). You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy – (Chara)”
When Jesus dies on the cross, all of these disciples hopes and dreams are dashed on the rocks. They are confused… scared… without hope or direction. And they’re going to weep and lament… not only because of that, but Jesus is their friend, He’s their teacher. He’s traveled with them for three and ½ years. They’ve been constant companions.
Now on the other hand, the world rejoices – the world “Cheerio’s”! The world is like, “Finally, that guy who was always talking about sin and repentance from sin, and living righteously, and seeking God first – finally He’s gone. I can focus on me again… I can focus on my immediate wants and needs. Forget all this talk about preparing for eternity – I can focus on what I want right now!”
The fundamental nature of humanity doesn’t change. It doesn’t change with culture, or technology, or education, or geography… man’s greatest need is still salvation! We need salvation from the just and deserved wrath of God that we are due for our sin and rebellion against Him.
But man doesn’t like to think about that. We have this great propensity to fool ourselves into thinking that we deserve the best of everything… we deserve more… that we deserve… in essence… to be God
That’s how Satan got Adam and Eve… and it’s still how he operates today.
So the world rejoices when Jesus dies… but look at the last part of verse 20 – “Your sorrow will turn into joy!”
Turn with me a few chapters over to John 20:19-20 (READ)
Now the ESV and the NKJV both say, “they were glad”… the NIV says they were “overjoyed”… but in the original Greek it says that the disciples had joy and cheered… Now it was their time to “Cheerio!”
It was just like Jesus said, they wept, they lamented – but then they were filled with JOY!
Now Jesus goes on and gives some examples that we as human beings can relate to… He says when a woman is delivering a baby – it’s not fun in the moment, but once the baby is born, there’s joy! So there’s going to be a momentary period of sadness, but then joy – rejoicing – cheer – and gladness.
And in verse 22 He says, “No one will take your joy from you.”
So there’s the answer to one of those questions I asked at the first of our sermon…
Joy – real Joy – the Joy of knowing the resurrected Lord – it’s not fleeting. It’s not a temporary thing. It’s not something we lose due to circumstance or situation. It’s real, and it’s lasting, and it can’t be taken away from us. WHY? BECAUSE JESUS IS ALIVE!
Alive! Alive! Alive for evermore! My Jesus is alive – Alive for evermore!
And because He’s alive – that means He won! He defeated death, hell and the grave! He conquered sin! He paid the penalty I owed! He satisfied the justice and wrath of God on my behalf! He truly is God! He truly is the Word made flesh! He Truly is the Alpha and Omega – the beginning and end! He truly is King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
Because He’s alive that means we can be forgiven! It means we can stand justified before God! It means we can have eternal life! It means that all the hardships we face in life… all the sorrow and sadness, and trials and tribulations all the suffering – it’s all just temporary!
It’s momentary, light affliction as Paul says in 2 Corinthians.
Because He’s alive it means we have the victory! The war is won! And the day is coming when all things will be made new!
It means that Jesus has snatched victory from the jaws of defeat!
How can we not have joy!
So yes, for a moment… a period of about 3 days, there was sorrow and lament, but then came joy!
Now let me go on here so that we can finish our text…
Verse 23, “In that day you will ask nothing of Me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in My Name, He will give it to you.”
What’s Jesus saying here? He’s saying, because He will conquer death, and fulfill all of God’s righteous requirements, and secure our salvation – He will ascend to the Father, and the Holy Spirit will dwell within us – and we can go to the Father in prayer, ask in Jesus’ Name, and God will give us the answer to our prayer in accordance with His will!
In other words – part of that joy we have as Christians, is that because of Jesus, we can go to the Father and ask. Ask Him for help, ask Him for guidance, ask Him for blessings, ask Him for wisdom, for courage, for His will to be done in our lives, and our wills to be conformed to His.
If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us, and gives us the petitions we have asked for (that’s 1 John 5:14 BTW).
So church… when we pray in Jesus’ Name, we are petitioning God – as our Father, through our relationship to Him by being united to Jesus. In Romans 6 Paul lays that out – we are in Christ and Christ is in us… So we go boldly before the throne and we say, “Father please do this, for Christ’s sake… not for me, but for the sake of Jesus – Your Son, the One who fulfilled all righteousness, and all the Law, and who made atonement for sin.”
Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection and ascension makes all of this possible!
Church – that’s the icing on the cake right!?!
And that’s why we have joy… Joy that can never be taken away.
It brings to mind Psalm 16:11, “You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is FULLNESS of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore!”
CLOSING
Prayer
