First Baptist Church Litchfield
November 16, 2025

      • Psalm 73:25–26ESV

  • You Are So Good To Me
  • Blessed Assurance

      • John 15:4–5ESV

  • What A Beautiful Name
  • Before The Throne Of God Above

      • Philippians 3:8–9ESV

  • Christ Is Mine Forevermore

  • Cultivate your joy in Jesus

    Last week, we began our journey through John 14–17, learning how to cultivate joy in Jesus now, in the kingdom of God. We discovered that joy is not something we manufacture; it’s something we receive as we abide in Christ. But we also know that joy is something we cultivate throughout our life by cooperating with the Holy Spirit to live and grow relationship with the risen Lord. We call this sanctification.
    We first learned that we cultivate joy in Jesus by abiding in Jesus, that is, we abide by faith in Jesus. We must be connected to the Vine. Jesus has to be Lord for us to receive Jesus’ joy. Abiding in Jesus by faith means we continuously love and trust Him just as He faithfully loves and trusts His Father.
    We further explored abiding in Jesus by remaining in His Word and prayer. Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and My words abide in you.” Like a branch drawing life from the vine, our joy grows as we stay connected to the Word that gives life. The more His truth shapes our hearts, the deeper our joy becomes.
    As you grow in abiding in God’s word, prayer becomes a means of joy as well. Jesus says, “7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you (John 15:7).” Prayer is the expression of dependence, the breath of abiding life.
    When you stop praying, you’re like a branch trying to live without sap — you might look fine for a season, but spiritual dryness will come. The fruit withers when the connection weakens. Prayer keeps the life of Christ flowing into your soul, which cultivates joy.
    Furthermore, your prayers are not trying to convince God he needs to do something. “Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance,” said Adrian Rogers, “it is laying hold of His willingness.”
    Notice Jesus says: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you…” Fruitful prayer doesn’t begin with your wish list; it begins with His Word. The more His Word fills your heart, the more your prayers align with His will.
    The power in prayer is that God’s word reshapes your will so you pray what He desires. As His words abide in you, your desires are sanctified, your motives purified, and your requests glorify Him. So, the more you know Scripture, the more you learn how to pray — not “Lord, bless my plans,” but “Lord, let Your will be done.” God’s will being done in your life is a means of joy.
    Next, we saw that we cultivate joy in Jesus through love-driven obedience. Jesus said, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love… that My joy may be in you, and your joy may be full.” Obedience is not a heavy burden but the joyful expression of love. The same joy Jesus experienced in doing the Father’s will is the joy He now gives to those who walk in faithful obedience.
    Finally, we learned that we cultivate joy in Jesus by cooperating with the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised to send “another Helper,” the Spirit of Truth, who would be with us forever. The Holy Spirit dwells within every believer, guiding, comforting, and sustaining us. He is the divine seal of our salvation — God’s down payment that guarantees we will one day we will see Christ in all His glory. Because the Spirit lives in us, our joy is secure, even when as we endure a Genesis 3 world.
    Paul Washer says, “We are living between two days; the day Jesus hung on a cross for your sins, and the day when every knee will bow to Jesus the risen Lord.” As we live between those two days, Jesus never promises us to be spared from sorrow; but he does promise to sustain us through it. The same Jesus who fills us with His Spirit also prepares us for seasons of pain, persecution, and loss.
    So this morning, we turn to the next way we cultivate joy in Jesus — by persevering through sorrow with the hope of the resurrection.

    Cultivate Joy in Jesus by persevering through sorrow with the hope of the resurrection (John 16:20-22)

    There are moments when the weight of this broken world seems unbearable. We hear stories that make our hearts ache and our souls groan for heaven. Just this year, The Voice of the Martyrs reported that over 7,000 Nigerian Christians have been slaughtered for their faith in Christ—an average of 32 per day. Thousands more have been abducted, churches burned to the ground, and entire communities displaced. These are not statistics; they are brothers and sisters in Christ. They remind us that following Jesus in this fallen world will bring sorrow.
    And sorrow is not only “out there.” It shows up in our living rooms, too. Last week, Linda texted asking for prayer. Her nephew and his wife, a young couple from Fillmore, woke up to unthinkable tragedy—their two-year-old child had passed away suddenly in the night. It’s the kind of heartbreak that brings you to your knees. The kind that makes you cry out, “Lord, how do I remain joyful in this?”
    That’s exactly the question the disciples were wrestling with when Jesus spoke these words in John 16:20–22.
    “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”
    The words “weep” and “lament” describe loud, uncontrollable cries of grief. Jesus does not downplay sorrow—He dignifies it. He acknowledges that His followers will experience gut-wrenching, heart-breaking anguish. That’s the reality of living in a Genesis 3 world, a world broken by sin and death.
    But notice what Jesus promises: “Your sorrow will turn into joy.” He doesn’t say, “Your sorrow will be replaced by joy,” but rather, “Your sorrow will turn into joy.” That’s a crucial difference. He’s saying that sorrow itself—the very thing that breaks you—will be transformed into the very thing that sanctifies you, transforms you, enables you to experience deeper Christ-abiding joy. The kind of joy that believes through the tears, Jesus is your all in all. In John’s context, Jesus makes it clear, sorrow will not have the last word; resurrection will.
    To help His disciples understand the mystery of sorrow giving birth to joy, Jesus paints the picture of a woman in labor. Her pain is real—piercing, overwhelming, almost unbearable. Yet, in the moment when life breaks through the agony, her anguish is swallowed up in joy. What once brought tears now brings laughter. What once felt like death now sings of life. The very suffering that wracked her body becomes the very means through which joy enters the world.
    That is the pattern of redemption. That is what Jesus is saying: your pain will not be wasted. It will become the instrument through which your soul learns to rejoice. In just a few hours, the disciples will see their beloved Lord, the One they have followed, taught by, and trusted in, taken and crucified like a criminal. Their hearts will collapse beneath the weight of grief as the Messiah they hoped in hangs upon a Roman cross.
    But three days later—oh, the glory of the third day—the tomb will be empty. Death will be undone. Their tears will be turned to triumph. The very cross that broke their hearts will become the fountain of their joy.
    Beloved, the disciples could never know the joy of the resurrection without the sorrow of the cross. In the same way, you and I cannot taste the sweetness of eternal joy until we have drunk from the bitter cup of suffering. God uses sorrow to mine the depths of your heart so that His love may fill every crevice with the abiding joy of Christ. Suffering opens the caverns where divine joy takes root. And when the risen Christ fills those places, the pain that once brought tears becomes the very proof that His joy endures forever.
    This is why Jesus says, “I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.” The resurrection transforms weeping into worship. Their sorrow would not disappear; it would be redeemed. The very cross that crushed them would become the cause of their joy.

    Joy in the Atonement

    How is this possible? How can the cross — a symbol of execution, shame, and suffering — be the fountainhead of our joy? Atonement! Blood wrought, wrath satisfying atonement.
    The cross is not merely a tragic end to a good man’s life; it is the centerpiece of God’s redemptive plan — the very means by which sinners are reconciled to a holy God. On that hill called Golgotha, Jesus accomplished what no human hand or heart could ever achieve. The wrath of God, righteous and just, was fully poured out on the sinless Son of God, so that the guilty might go free (Isaiah 53:5–6; Romans 3:25–26).
    The word atonement literally means “at-one-ment” — to be made one with God again. Jesus’ blood is the perfect sacrifice your sinful soul requires to stand in peace before a holy God. The Lamb of God took your place, bearing your guilt, satisfying divine justice, and removing the barrier of sin that separated you from your Creator (Hebrews 9:22; 1 Peter 3:18). At the cross, Jesus did not simply make forgiveness possible — He accomplished it fully and finally for all who would believe (John 19:30).
    The Apostle Paul explains this wonder with breathtaking clarity:
    “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” — 2 Corinthians 5:21
    At the cross is a sweet and great exchange — our sin placed on Him, His righteousness given to us. The condemned sinner becomes redeemed (Ephesians 1:7), justified (Romans 5:1), even adopted as a beloved son or daughter of God (Galatians 4:4–7). The blood that stained the cross is the very blood that secures your standing in the family of God. And then came the resurrection-secured joy.
    The empty tomb declares that God the Father was fully satisfied with the Son’s sacrifice. The resurrection is heaven’s public announcement that the payment was accepted, the debt cancelled, and the sinner’s salvation guaranteed (Romans 4:25; 1 Peter 1:3–5).
    Therefore, every sinner who comes to the cross — who repents of their sin and trusts wholly in the finished work of Christ — is forgiven, justified, and reconciled forever. That is why the cross gives joy. The agony of Jesus became the anthem of our salvation. The darkest day in human history became the dawn of everlasting hope.
    So, beloved, when you look at the cross, see what Jesus saw. The writer of Hebrews says of Jesus,“… who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2) Do not merely see pain — see what Christ accomplished. Do not only see suffering — see his substitutional atonement. Do not only see death — see the doorway to eternal life and everlasting joy in the presence of God (Psalm 16:11).
    To help your soil endure sorrow, sing hymns of that atonement applied resurrection secured joy:
    “Our Savior displayed on a criminal’s cross, Darkness rejoiced as though heaven had lost. But then Jesus arose with our freedom in hand— That’s when death was arrested and my life began.”
    The resurrection is the turning point for every believer. It’s what gives us strength to persevere through sorrow. When you stand at a graveside, when you hear the diagnosis, when persecution threatens your faith, remember: the empty tomb stands as God’s final word. Death does not win. Death has been arrested by the resurrected Jesus.
    The resurrection of Christ guarantees that your pain is never wasted. Every tear, every heartache, every sleepless night is caught up in the sovereign hand of a God who turns sorrow into joy. And one day, that transformation will be complete. Revelation 21:4 says, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore.” On that day, every believer will say, “It was worth it.”
    I don’t know much about gardening, but I do know that when you plant tulips in the spring, they start off as dried, shriveled bulbs that are buried in the dirt. It looks like you might be burying something dead. But a few weeks later, life pushes through the soil—vibrant, radiant, beautiful, tulips. What seemed buried in sorrow had come to life in joy.
    That’s resurrection hope. Our tears may water the soil of sorrow, but you must persevere. One day Jesus promises, the the soil your tears have watered will blossom into the joy of new creation. Joy comes by cultivating it in between the cross and the resurrection, between death and the new life, between the day he hung on the cross and the day every knee will bow to Him as Lord, and what a day of rejoicing that will be. Our faith will become sight and we will see his glory.

    Cultivate Joy in Jesus is by beholding His glory (John 17:24)

    “24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” John 17:24
    This verse gives us one of the most intimate glimpses into the heart of Jesus. In the final moments before His arrest, as He lifts His eyes toward heaven in the High Priestly Prayer, He reveals the deepest longing of His soul—not only for His disciples standing beside Him, but for every believer who would one day call upon His name.
    Jesus has just prayed for His followers to be kept from the evil one, sanctified in the truth, and unified in love. But now, in verse 24, He lifts His prayer, “Father, I desire that they may be with Me where I am.”
    That’s astonishing. The Son of God, who was with the Father before time began, desires you to be with Him. He wants your eternal fellowship. The joy of heaven, in Jesus’ own heart, is to have His redeemed people near Him—to dwell with Him, to see Him, and to share in His glory.

    What is Jesus’ glory?

    Jesus tells us: “the glory that You have given Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” The glory Jesus speaks of here speaks to the divine glory of His eternal Sonship — the majesty He shared with the Father before the first light broke into creation. The disciples caught glimpses of it in His transfiguration, signs, and wonders, and they saw it more fully in His cross and resurrection. But they did not see it in its unveiled brilliance. That vision awaits the day when faith becomes sight.
    I am so thankful to the ministry of Dr. John Piper of Desiring God. He, likely more than any other contemporary theologian, has helped me try to understand God’s glory in Christ.
    Piper often says, “The glory of God is the going public of His holiness.” In other words, glory is the beauty of God’s character and the greatness of His perfections shining out for the joy of His people. When we ask, “What is the glory of Christ?” we are asking, “What does the beauty of God look like when it takes on flesh?”
    Scripture says,
    “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” — John 1:14
    So, the glory of Christ is the fullness of God’s grace and truth revealed in the face of Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:6). Piper writes in God Is the Gospel,
    “The gospel is not primarily good news that we escape hell or gain heaven — the gospel is good news because it brings us to God. The highest, best, and final good of the gospel is seeing and savoring the glory of Christ Himself.” John Piper, God is the Gospel (2005)
    The glory of Christ, then, is not an abstract light or a distant splendor — it is the supreme beauty of His person. It’s the glory of a Lion who conquers as a Lamb (Revelation 5:5–6).
    To see this glory with the eyes of faith is to be changed by it.
    Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “We all, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”
    For Piper, the glory of Christ is both the object and the goal of our salvation. Christ died not only to remove the wrath of God but to give us eyes to see and hearts to savor His beauty forever. This is why heaven will not be boring — because we will spend eternity exploring the inexhaustible riches of His glory.
    Piper sums it up like this:
    “The glory of Christ is the all-satisfying beauty of God in the face of His Son, seen and savored through the gospel for the everlasting joy of His people.” John Piper, Seeing and Savoring Christ (2004)
    So, the glory of Christ is the blazing center of all reality — the brightness of God’s holiness, the depth of His love, and the sweetness of His grace shining in the crucified and risen Jesus — and to see it is to find your soul’s supreme satisfaction in Him forever.
    Even now, by the Spirit, we catch glimpses of Christ’s glory in His Word, His church, and His Spirit’s work within us. Each glimpse transforms us, shaping us to look more like Him. But one day, that partial view will give way to full vision. The veil will be lifted. As John says in 1 John 3:2, “When He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
    That is our joy — the joy of beholding Christ’s glory forever. In this world, our happiness is fragile. It rises and falls with the tide of our circumstances. But the joy that Jesus prays for here is eternal and indestructible because it’s anchored in the unchanging glory of the Son and the everlasting love of the Father.
    Jesus’ prayer in John 17:24 is the promised hope for every believer. Everyone the Father has given to the Son will be brought into His presence to behold His glory. Heaven’s joy is not going to be the absence of pain or the reunion with loved ones — it is the eternal presence of Jesus Christ in unveiled glory.
    A few years ago, we stood outside in broad daylight to see a total solar eclipse. You had to have special dark smoke like glasses to look up without damaging your eyes. Even through that smokey filter, the brilliance of the sun was overwhelming. I could see only a fraction of its beauty, yet it was amazing. That’s what our experience of Jesus’ glory is like in this life. The Holy Spirit gives us glimpses through the “smoked glass” of faith — a filtered view through Scripture, prayer, and worship. But one day, when we stand in His presence, the filter will be gone. We will behold the fullness of His light, unshielded, and it will fill us with joy forevermore.
    Until that day, keep cultivating joy in Jesus by looking to Jesus’s glory through the “smoked glass” faith. See his glory in the scriptures, in answered prayer, and obedience lived. Behold his glory in the Spirit’s work to conform you into the image of the Son. Pay attention to your growth. You are not the same person you were the day you were first saved. See his glory as he sustains you when you suffer. Look for it in the fellowship of the saints and corporate worship. Experience it in your cross groups and when you share the gospel. Enjoy it when you sacrificially tithe your time, talents, and money to the ministry of the church.
    In his book, Don’t Waste Your Life, Piper gets pointed about our love affair with wealth in America.
     2   The world is not impressed when Christians get rich and say thanks to God. They are impressed when God is so satisfying that we give our riches away for Christ’s sake and count it gain. John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life (2003)
    What do you gain? Christ. Heaven. Eternal joy. The psalmist captures this heavenly joy in Psalm 16:11:
    “In Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
    Every longing heart will find its satisfaction there — in the face of Christ.

    You Were Saved For Joy

    Once more, last one-I promise, Piper helps us understand the connection of glory and joy, and why you exist.
     3   God created us to enjoy him because joy is the clearest witness to the worth of what we enjoy. It’s the deepest reverberation in the heart of man of the value of God’s glory. John Piper, The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World (2007)
    Jesus Christ came into a joyless world to redeem joyless hearts. He lived a life of perfect obedience, died in our place to remove the curse of sin, and rose again to make us children of God who share in His joy. You were created for joy. You were saved for joy. Through the gift of His Spirit, we can now experience joy in the kingdom of God — joy that cannot be taken away, joy that flows from abiding in His love, obeying His word, cooperating with His Spirit, persevering through sorrow, and beholding His glory.
    Do not look for joy in your circumstances, but in your connection to Christ. The same Jesus who prayed for your joy in the upper room now reigns from heaven, still interceding for your joy today. So do everything you can, now, to cultivate it.
  • Death Was Arrested
First Baptist Church Litchfield
pastorjason.fbcl@gmail.com
217-324-4232
http://www.firstbaptistlitchfield.org/
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