The Joy Of Certainty
I.
The level of your faith is
connected to the level of your joy-Rom 15:13
A. If
you’re in faith, then you have a joy about you
1.
Psalm 5:11-But let all those who put their trust in you rejoice
2.
Psalm 13:5-I have trusted in your mercy; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation
a. NLV-I
have trusted in your loving-kindness. My heart will be full of joy because you
will save me.
3.
Psalm 33:21-For our heart shall rejoice in him because we have trust in His holy name
a. NLV-For
our heart is full of joy in Him, because we trust in His holy name
4.
Proverbs 16:20-Whoso trust in the Lord happy
is he
a. HCSB-The
one who trusts in the Lord will be happy
b. NLT-Those
who trust in the Lord will be joyful
5.
Philippians
1:25-I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance
and joy of faith
a. CEB-The Joy of your faith
b. MSG-As your growth and
joy in this life of trusting God continues
6.
Romans
15:13-Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing
7.
Romans
10:17, Jeremiah 15:16-They both originate with the Word of God
B. Joy
is an out flowing expression of your faith in God
1.
Those who have no faith have no joy
a. If you’re not very
confident that you’re going to win this thing, you won’t have joy
b. The more certain that you are you’re going to
win, the more joyful you become
2.
Faith in God and in His Word is the origin of
joy; it’s the place from which joy flows
a. EX:
It’s believing Philippians 4:19 that will cause joy to flow
b. Without
faith joy has nothing to flow out of; no place from which to come
3.
Romans 15:13-The joy is in the believing and flows from the believing
a. You’re
joy expresses your faith; it tells us that you’re in faith, certain, confident
b. Joy
says you’re certain
C. Sorrow
is an outflowing expression of your unbelief
1.
Luke 8:50-52-They’re sorrowful and Jairus isn’t
because he believes and they don’t
2.
John 11-They’re sorrowful because they don’t
believe Jesus can fix this
a. Maybe
you’re sorrowful for the same reason because you don’t believe
3.
Sorrow makes it apparent that you are not
believing God
a. Sorrow
says you’re not sure about the Word
4.
You’re sad, sorrowful and heavy; Okay what has
God said that you don’t believe?
D. Sorrow
so often is a faith issue; sorrow flows out of unbelief and if you don’t plug
that hole sorrow will continue to flow
1.
Numbers 11:20-They wept because they don’t
believe God will do what He said
2.
Numbers 14:1-God said I’ve given you the land
and I’m going to drive the people out; but they don’t believe that; they
believe they’re going to die
3.
1 Samuel 1:7-She wept because she didn’t
believe God would give her a child
4.
Joel 2:21-If you believed God was going to do
something great you’d be in joy
E. Sorrow
is an enemy of faith
1.
When you yield to sorrow you yield to unbelief
a. 1
John 5:4, Deuteronomy 28:47-If faith is the victory, sorrow is the defeat
b. If
you really have been in faith about it, then you’ve had joy about it
2.
When you sense sorrow, that’s a red light on
the dashboard saying your faith level is low and when your faith level is low
you need to go to the filling station of the Word
II.
There’s
a connection between your certainty and your joy and uncertainty and sorrow
A. Psalm
5:11-There is joy in certainty and safety
1.
Let them EVER shout for joy-that’s when things
look good or when they look bad
2.
When you seek God for refuge, it must be
because you trust him to defend you
3.
Safety, security and certainty is the breeding
grounds for joy
a. When
you feel safe, secure and are certain about your deliverance it breeds joy
b. They
always shout for joy because they’re certain God has them covered
4.
When you trust God (your defense) and are
certain you’re safe you’ll have joy
a. You
can hear it all throughout spiritual threads Psalm 91-He didn’t write this sad
5.
Confidence, certainty, and joy go together
a. John
16:33-I have told you these things, so that in Me you
may have [perfect] peace and
confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer
[take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the
world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]
b. When
you engage God’s way it guarantees your victory and that’s why the Kingdom of
righteousness, peace and JOY-Romans 14:17
B. Those
who aren’t certain about their safety, security, their victory will sorrow
1.
When you feel insecure, unsafe, and unsure
about how the situation is going to turn out you’ll be sad, heavy, and
sorrowful
2.
“Not sure” breeds sorrow; Uncertainty &
insecurity is the breeding ground of sorrow
3.
If the enemy can infect your life with
uncertainty he can inject you with sorrow
a. One
of his most famous statements is you just never know
4.
Deuteronomy 28:65-66-Sorrow is the result of
having no assurance of your welfare
a. Ex:
If you’re not sure you’re going to win what’s there to rejoice about
5.
Hannah was sad and heavy because she was unsure
she’d ever have a baby, but the moment she was certain it was going to happen
she was no more sad-1Sam1:18
a. She’s
sad because she wants a baby and she’s not sure it’s going to happen
b. The
fact that she was no more sad tells me that she was certain about this word
III.
Certainty
regarding the Word of God will be your source of joy in times of adversity; The
more certain you get, the more joy will manifest
A. Joy
doesn’t come from what you see or how you feel it comes from what you know or
the Word of God that you are certain about
1.
If we want to rid your life of sorrow, we have
to rid it of uncertainty
2.
Hebrews 10:34-36-Joy is going to flow out of
your knower
a. 34-36-They
took joyfully the spoiling of their goods because the know something
b. You’re
cheerful courage has a great reward
3.
My joy is not based on what I’ve seen, heard,
or believe from the Word, but on what I KNOW from the Word
a. When
attacks come and trial comes ask yourself, WHAT DO I KNOW?;
Not what do I feel or what do I see, but WHAT DO I KNOW?
b. People
who don’t KNOW nothing won’t have any joy
4.
Fully persuaded faith will manifest in
overflowing joy
a. When
you know that you know the joy will overflow
5.
Hab3:17-He doesn’t
have be sorrowful about verse 17, because he knows verse 19
B. Certainty
regarding God’s Word is a major key in experiencing His overflowing Joy
1.
Genesis 15:1-18-Abraham asked God how can I be
certain that I’m going to get what you promised and in response God cut a blood
covenant with Abraham
a. A
blood covenant is like a contract in that it guarantees that I’ll keep my word
b. Instead
of putting it “in writing” God put it in blood
c. This
was the most serious agreement that couldn’t be entered into in Abraham’s day
and he knew the seriousness of it
2.
Hebrews 6:12-19
a. 17-God
wants us to be certain about his word so he confirmed it with a covenant
1)
God came
between the promise and the man He made the promise to and made a blood
covenant agreement, swearing by Himself (If I’m lying, I’m dying), that what He
said is true and it will come to pass
b. 18-God
promised it and then made covenant regarding the promise swearing by Himself
and left himself no way out because he can’t die, he can’t lie
c. 18-That
certainty encourages us to lay hold of a joyful confident expectation and be
joyfully confident that what God said will come to pass in my life
1)
This certainty about His word breeds joy in my
life
3.
Romans 4:19-21-He was fully persuaded in faith
and that’s why he still had his joy and that’s why he was strong to fight and
win
a. He
wasn’t weak in faith so I know he has joy because it’s his strength
b. He
was strong in faith being joyful and he’s joyful because he’s certain
C. Rom10:17, Jer15:16-Certainty about the Word comes from time spent
in the Word