“Joy Comes in the Morning”
John 16:16-24
A product of the erroneous preaching of our country is a generation of Christians who have the mistaken notion that because they are Christians that Jesus will protect them from any major suffer-ing. Therefore, when tragedy strikes, some feel that God has abandoned them. Others are devastated because they were taught to claim healing by faith, and when the healing failed to come they were told that it was because of their lack of faith. Still others, have been taught that it is unspiritual to grieve and shed tears. So, when they come to church and are asked, “How are you doing?” they feel compelled to say, “Just great thanks!” These kinds of mis-conceptions lead to personal devastation and make these individuals a target for the enemy (1 Peter 5:8-9). It is crucial therefore that Christians learn to work through times of loss biblically, because the sad truth is that we are ALL going to face them.
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 through-out 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 translated joy means “to leap or spin around with pleasure.” The word translated “joy” in the New Testament (chara) refers to gladness, bliss and celebration.
In our text Jesus is seeking to prepare His Disciples for the overwhelming sorrow that they will experience in the coming hours. They would in amazement and horror as He was arrested, mocked, whipped, tried and crucified. Their whole world, everything they believed, everything they had lived for, will come to a horrible and shocking end. Jesus wants to prepare their hearts so that they would not be crushed by what is headed their way.
Note with me three things….
First, The Prediction of Sorrow. (16: 16-20a)
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.
There may be many causes of Sorrow!
One cause of sorrow is Disappointment.
It is hard to really grasp just how devastated 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 crucified 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. In the same way, when you have hoped and prayed and worked for something that you were sure was God’s will, but it didn’t happen, you will experience disappointment and sorrow!
Jesus’ negative prediction of sorrow is followed by a positive promise when Jesus says, “little while, and you will see Me,” (v. 16b) this refers to the fact that after three days He would rise from the grave and would again appear to His Disciples. The two words translated “see” in verse sixteen are not the same word. Jesus tells His Disciples in a little while they will not see (theoreite) Him physically but in a short time they “see” (opesthe) Him with greater insight and clarity than ever before.
? Another Cause of sorrow is Confusion!
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.
? Another cause of sorrow is the seeming Triumph of Evil. (vv. 19-20a)
But Jesus saw and understood their distress 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’?”
This is such an important point that Jesus introduces His explanation with the words, “Most assuredly” or as the KJV translates it “Verily, Verily.” We have seen this formula used time after time in the New Testament when Jesus is beginning a statement his hearers are to recognize as both true and important.
Verse twenty says that the Disciples will sorrow “but the world will rejoice.” The smug and self-righteous religious leaders congratulated themselves on ridding themselves of this teacher who threatened their power. It seemed not to have bothered them at all that they were putting to death an innocent man. In our day, as we witness Muslin extremist who in the name of their religion, condone the killing of innocent men, women and children, we cannot help but feel sorrow over the apparent triumph of evil.
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.
Not Only The Problem of Sorrow but ….
Secondly, The Promise of Joy. (16: 20b-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.”
The Psalmist wrote, “Weeping may remain for a night but joy comes in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5) Martyn Lloyd Jones said, “the greatest need of the hour is to have a revived and joyful Church… unhappy Christians are, to say the least, a poor recommendation of the Christian faith.” Along the same lines William Barclay said, “a gloomy Christian is a contradiction in terms, and nothing in all of religious history has done more harm than (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.
Christianity introduced something new into the religious world – the note of real and deep joy. Few things are as important to the understanding of Christianity and few things are as little noticed as the recognition of joy that runs right through the New Testament.
Jesus illustrates the truth that He is trying to make with a simple illustration from life, that 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.” (v. 21) He says that when a child is born, although 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 teach-ers 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. (16:22-24)
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 guarantees 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 sorrowful 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]
It is the positive blessings of God given to us right in the midst of the storms of life that is peace. When the Lord said, “…I have overcome the world” the word our Lord uses is another one of those perfect tense verbs. It means that His victory is abiding or lasting. No situation we face reverses the conquering power of Christ
