[Music] my title is uh the joy of the Lord is your stronghold Nehemiah 8:10 and before we get there for the next little while I want to make some comments about the theme of our conference serious joy gladness and gravity in a grow moing world serious Joy this is a conference about Joy serious Joy a kind of joy that you as a Christian experience simultaneously with weighty reverence we call gravity and simultaneous L with painful groaning for sin for Brokenness for futility in this world so not just sequentially first groaning then Joy but simultaneously we
call it serious joy in fact we Define what we do at Bethlehem College and Seminary as an education in serious joy we call it serious Joy because not only is it something we experience simultaneously with sorrow and pain and weightiness but also because it is Central that is centrally important it's not the negligible Caboose at the end of the train it is the fuel being shoveled into the engine of life it is Central to God's very being it is Central to God's ultimate purpose it is Central to all Christian Living let me take those one
at a time to up the ante on the meaning of the word serious Central to God's very being God has always existed he never came into being he is never becoming he said I am who I am he is absolute reality all other reality comes from him all other reality gets its meaning through him he has always existed as father son and and holy spirit in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory glory
as of the only son so he switch his categories from word to son we beheld his only son only begotten from the father and his glory and his grace and his truth so the word word is the son in the beginning was the son and the sun was with God and the son was God co-eternal with the father begotten eternally not made in the beginning was the son and the father and when the son came into the world and was incarnate Among Us the father did not leave us in doubt as to how he felt
about that and about his son he said this is my loved Son with whom I am well pleased the father is very pleased with the son he takes pleasure in the sun he Delights in the sun Isaiah 42 behold my chosen in whom my soul Delights that Delight of the father in the son did not come into being at the Incarnation God's joy in the sun did not originate ever it never had a beginning as if there were a time when the Son of God was not his father's Delight therefore Joy belongs to the being
of God now I don't have the philosophical horsepower to make fine distinctions between nature and Essence and simple and complex here's all I mean by that remarkable statement I mean if God the father has not always delighted in God the son that is if God has not always been a joyful God then then the Christian God does not exist joy in The Fellowship of the Trinity is part of what it means to be God therefore I say to you this is serious this is serious Joy it's serious not only because it belongs to the very
being of God it is serious because it is part of his ultimate purpose in creating the world last night at the installation of President Ry I referred to Isaiah 55 and I'm going to go there again for just a a few minutes because few texts for me freshly capture what I mean by saying God's ultimate purpose involves his joy and our joy so here's the text first a verse from Isaiah 35 and then uh two verses from Isaiah 55 the ransomed of the Lord Mark that that's us the ransomed of the Lord shall return and
come to Zion with singing Everlasting Joy shall be upon their heads like a crown they shall obtain gladness and joy and sorrow and sighing shall flee away now shifting to Isaiah 55 for you shall go out in joy and be led forth in peace the mountains and the hills before you shall Break Forth into singing and all the trees of the fields shall clap their hands instead of the thorn shall come up the Cyprus instead of the Brier shall come up the Myrtle and it shall be a name for the Lord an everlasting sign that
shall never be cut off so that's where creation is heading this is the ultimate purpose of God in creation a Christ ransomed people with Everlasting Joy crowning their head sorrow and sighing flying away creation transformed tree applauding the work of God Joy is the ultimate purpose of God in creation now since this is so serious we have to stop there and say wo wo wo the glory of God excuse me it's so serious that we need to be careful okay was I careful in saying that the joy of the ransomed is the ultimate purpose of
God in creation the way to be careful about this is to attend to that last verse 13 in Isaiah 55 let me read it again to you so after all that he had just said he says and it shall be or it shall make a name for the Lord or it shall be a name for the Lord and then an everlasting sign and we need to ask what does it refer to and it refers to what he had just said it refers to the Everlasting joy that is crowning the heads of his ransomed people it
refers to the mountain singing and the and the trees applauding the work of God this is the name of the Lord this shall be a name for the Lord this shall be a sign of the kind of God that he's like his name his chosen reputation his glory is I make my ransomed people glad forever in my grace that's my name my glory is their great gladness in me and from that we deduce at Bethlehem College and Seminary the Christian hedonist foundational statement God is most glorified in his Christ ransomed people when his Christ romed
people are most satisfied in him if you remove satisfaction in God from the hearts of God's people we cannot magnify his worth the way we ought to essential to God's name essental ential to the final manifestation of God's glory is the crown of everlasting Joy resting on the heads of the redeemed followed by the Clapping trees and the singing mountains if you remove the crown of Joy from the heads of God's people God's purpose to glorify himself in the new creation aborts it will only Shine the way it ought to the way it's destined to
when its greatness and beauty and worth are reflected in the god centered gladness of the redeemed it is Brothers serious Joy third it's not only serious because it's Central to the being of God and Central to the purpose of God it is Central to all god- glorifying Christian Living Central one of the most comprehensive statements in the Bible regarding Christian Living is 1 Corinthians 10:31 whether you eat or drink or whatever you do do all to the glory of God now if it's true that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied
in him then eating and drinking and everything else that we do should flow from a heart that has found its ultimate satisfaction in God that's serious this is why the commands and the promises of scripture concerning joy in God are so relentless a few to illustrate rejoice in the lord always and again I say rejoice Philippians 4 delight yourself in the Lord Psalm 37 be glad in the Lord and rejoice Psalm 32 satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love Psalm 90 in your presence is fullness of joy at your right hand are Pleasures
forever more Psalm 16 whoever comes to me shall never hunger whoever believes in me shall never thirst John 6 a Christian is a person who by Sovereign Grace has found this treasure hidden in a field and then with life controlling Joy has sold everything and bought the field or to use the words of Jesus whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple Jesus has become the Supreme Treasure of our life the end of our Quest
the end of our quest for the greatest and longest satisfaction of our souls that Quest is over it's over and we're home and that affects everything we do it humbles us it breaks us it satisfies us it frees us it it overflows it's a Restless Joy Restless it grows by drawing others into its sway so that our joy in God is increased by their shared joy in God and we're Restless for more of that to happen that that restlessness is called love listen to one of my favorite verses to describe the horizontal dimension of Christian
heathenism Paul says concerning the macedonians in 2 Corinthians 8:2 in a severe test of Affliction their Abundance of Joy and their extreme poverty so now get the picture severe affliction poverty not removed and in the middle explosive Joy this is not Prosperity Gospel it's exactly the opposite still poor still persecuted bursting with joy and what H what happens you can see why this is one of my favorite verses in a severe test of Affliction their Abundance of Joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity for the poor Saints in Jerusalem that's the
goal of my life is to is to help people experience that I know if we're not a loving people people will not glorify our father who's in heaven and if that verse is right my passion to make you happy in God is the most important thing in the world for me love is the Restless overflow of joy in God that meets the needs of others this is what we mean by serious Joy Central to the being of God Central to the purpose of God Central to Christian Living one more clarification I am going to get
to Nehemiah but I just MIT half my sermon is Introduction cuz I just love talking about this I'm going to put this at the front of every message anyway at least at this conference one more clarification Joy what's that you got a definition Piper you're a definition guy yes I do here's my definition of the the kind of Joy serious Joy I'm talking about not talking about the way everybody else uses it just let me Define my term and take it on my terms and we can argue about whether it's a good way to define
it but it's mine Joy is a good feeling in the soul produced by the Holy Spirit as he makes us see and Savor the glory of Christ in the word and in the world that's my definite definition so it's rooted in Christ and all that God is for us in him it's a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit you cannot produce this this is a gift its organ so to speak is the soul not the body not the brain or the reason though the body and the reason are affected by it and it is a
feeling it's a good feeling now I admit that trying to find adequate words for heart realities is very difficult and I invite your help if you don't like come on in if you don't like the word feeling for example too superficial no no no no no don't use that word if you don't like the word feeling try sense emotion affection sentiment taste passion liking mood you like those better maybe and if you don't like the word good like good feeling well try Pleasant congenial delightful agreeable con com comforting satisfying amiable 18th century sweet happy likable
glad positive all language in the end is inadequate to carry the fullness of experienced heart reality that's why poetry exists that's why music exists that's why hugging exists that's why kisses exist that's why tears exist that's why tones of voice exist that's why sacrificial Behavior exists language is so utterly inadequate to capture it all and we all long to communicate what our hearts are experiencing I want to know what Noel feels about me I want her to know what I feel about her and words what are they so I admit the problem if you don't
like it join the club it's all we've got is words when it comes to a conference like this well that's not quite true is it you can hug each other if you would like I hope you do how does the bible deal with inadequacy of language the Bible does not despair wouldn't be a book if it despaired God believed in this made it the Bible handles the inadequacy of language about our heart's feeling our good feeling in God our good feeling about more about God our our Joy about God it handles it by multiplying diversities
of words for the same reality for example joy in the Lord Isaiah 29 Delight in the fear of the Lord Isaiah 11 Pleasures in the presence of the Lord psalm 16 gladness in the Lord Psalm 32 exaltation in the Lord Psalm 61 desire for the Lord Isaiah 26 tasting the goodness of the Lord 1 Peter here three two longing for the word of the Lord happiness in keeping the instruction of the Lord contentment in the Lord Philippians 4 treasuring the words of the Lord job 23 being satisfied in the love of the Lord I consulted
one article on Joy in ISB and read that there are 27 different Hebrew words translated Joy or some Joy like word in worship so our focus when we speak of serious Joy is not primarily on a word it's on a reality and serious Joy is just the best we could do so far and if you can do better for your people do do it do it for goodness sake do it find language in your preaching for the sake of your people to taste and see that the Lord is good Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 10 please
open your Bibles or your phones and I want to show you some things I was surprised I I was asked to preach on this text happy to do it never preached on this text before couldn't believe that and I fully had in my mind what I was going to say that's a bad idea for an ex right but I wasn't surprised maybe in the way you think I'm going to say I was surprised so let me show you the context first the people of Israel have returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity Ezra the priest
Nehemiah the governor have completed and rebuilt the temple and the walls Nehemiah 8 begins with the first day of the seventh month according to verse two of chapter 8 which according to Leviticus 23:24 is the Feast of trumpets according to verse one the people asked Ezra to read to them from the book of Moses and verse three says he read from the book facing the square before the Watergate from early morning until midday and then according to verse six the response of the people was the people answered amen amen lifting up their hands and they
bow their heads and Worship the Lord with their faces to the ground verse 8 says the Levites joined in with Ezra and they read from the book from the law of God clearly and they gave the sense so that the people understod the reading but I'm going to argue perhaps not entirely now I'm going to read very carefully and slowly verses 9 10 11 and 12 follow with me and as I read look for this look for the Weeping and ask yourself what are they weeping about what kind of weeping is this second look for
the kind of holy day this is look for the joy of the Lord and how those three things relate to each other verse n and Nehemiah who was the governor and Ezra the priest and the Scribe and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people this day is Holy to the Lord your God do not mourn or weep for all the people wept as they heard the words of the law then he said to them go your way eat the fat drink sweet wine send portions to anyone who has nothing ready for
this day is Holy to the Lord to our Lord and do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength or stronghold we'll come back to that so the Levites calmed all the people saying be quiet this day is Holy don't be grieved and all the people went there way to eat and drink and to send portions like to the poor and to make great rejoicing because they had understood the words that had originally made them cry H that were declared to them so three times Nehemiah and Ezra and the Levites said
verse n this day is Holy to the Lord verse 10 this day is Holy to the Lord verse 11 this day is Holy three times and every single time they make that fact a ground for not crying or grieving verse n this day is Holy do not mourn or weep verse 10 do not be grieved this day is Holy Verse 11 this day is Holy do not be grieved so they had according to verse eight they had understood something when the law was read and they were all weeping it says they understood and they're all
weeping but in verse 12 it says they stopped weeping and went on their way with great rejoicing because they understood what was said to them what kind of weeping was that you might say well this is not a problem there's no tension here because this is this is Happy weeping we cry when we're happy no no no no that doesn't work because two times the Weeping is called grieving is it not this is not the Weeping of Happiness this is the Weeping of grief so holiness had Pro reduced weeping and now the argument is this
is a holy day stop weeping a holy response to the Holiness of the merciful god of Israel is not simply weeping cannot be three times they were told stop this stop this there's more in responding to the holy God than weeping so stop what did the Levites and Ezra suggest that they put in the place of weeping verse 10 go your way eat the fat drink sweet wine send portions to anyone who is who has nothing ready or again verse 12 and all the people went their way to eat and drink and send portions and
making great rejoicing because they had understood the words that were declared to them so now their understanding is not producing weeping it's producing great rejoicing and then the third so that was two that was verse 9 I mean 10 and verse 12 put in the place of grieving going your way and rejoicing now here's the Third Way in verse 10 second half of the verse do not be grieved for the joy of the Lord is your strength or your stronghold so now I wonder if you would make the decision I have made exegetically and say
the term joy of the Lord therefore does not refer to the Lord's Joy but to our joy in the Lord if you just hear in isolation the joy of the Lord is your strength you might think that's God's joy in US or in himself or you might think it's no The Joy he gives not the joy he is I think those three parallel statements make it clear that the author of this book intends for us to understand the joy of the Lord as our joy in the Lord not the other way around verse 9 and
10 I'm just I'm going to list them so you can hear the force of the parallel don't this is verse 9 and 10 don't weep go Rejoice with feasting okay verse uh 12 11 and 12 don't be grieved and they went and they rejoiced with feasting verse 10 don't be grieved the joy the Lord is your strength see the parallels Bo boom boom you can't take that third one I don't think and make it mean something totally different than the first two the joy of the Lord is the rejoicing that replaces The Grieving in all
three of those parallels there's no warrant in this text at all as far as I can see to take joy of the Lord to refer to to God's joy in us and oh would that be a wonderful sermon to preach just the wrong text Zephaniah 3 the Lord will rejoice over you with gladness Isaiah 62 as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride so God Will Rejoice over you Jeremiah 32 I will rejoice in doing good to my people Deuteronomy 30 the Lord will take Delight in prospering you Psalm 147 the Lord takes pleasure in those
who fear Him that's a sermon it's just not this text that's the sermon I thought I might get to preach and I got into it and I thought can't do it even though I could name some commentaries I could name one that took it that way and you know what some little little prth here about commentaries if they don't give you arguments don't pay attention not a single argument in that commentary for that Viewpoint it just asserted it I thought I need an argument can't you take your word for it so I'm not going to
preach that message till next year maybe Joe Joe give me another chance that was no surprise I always thought and I asked Noel last night what she thought I said joy of the Lord is your strength God's joy or our joy and she says I think everybody takes it as our joy I said right me too and I think so does Nehemiah and Ezra and the Levites that wasn't a surprise for me I I expected joy of the Lord be that even though I wished I could preach on God's joy what was a surprise was
the word strength and its meaning in Hebrew virtually all Modern English translations translate this verse the joy of the Lord is your strength I love that I believe that's what it meant for 75 years or whenever I started thinking about these things the problem is as I was I mean before I even read the Hebrew I'm just looking through commentaries to see what they think and none of them even consider the meaning strength none of that I looked at every commentary I looked at just assumed it's stronghold or Refuge or protection or Fortress like what's
with the translations and the commentators total agreement on translating strength total agreement on interpreting stronghold like they're not even reading the same book it seems like so I had to do I mean what would you do are you going to preach on this next Sunday what would you do you got your English versions and you got all the commentaries against the English versions what would you do well here's what you do even if you don't know Hebrew you try to figure out how to do this word study right You' go into some inter linear and
you'd find well what the Hebrew word is behind this and M M I say okay do a little you know logos you click search all the Hebrew and 37 uses come up you read them all yes you do you read them all you don't trust dictionaries dictionaries to do what you do do it so you read every one of the examples and what you find what Piper found is 37 uses of mos and 14 of them are translated in ESV stronghold seven of them in the ESV are translated Refuge seven times in the ESV translated
Fortress and one lonely time is it translated strength here I have no idea why now I was working on this sermon yesterday and therefore I didn't have time to call up those guys I know on the ESV translation committee you call up Wayne gudum or call up Justin or call up lane or say what's with this and I I may have to do that I mean I will do that though they they're committed not to revising this but every 25 years so and that's that's a good policy I think in case you wonder what about
the septu agent Greek the Greek translation what they do and they left out the term the joy of the Lord and use the word strength iscus I don't know I really don't know but I'm not going to let 10 English translations sway me I've seen the light the Hebrew 37 uses and this is the only one translated strength so I asked this are there any contextual constraints that would compel a normal use of the word strength over against 36 uses otherwise and the answer is no which leads to a positive interpretation so this is what
you do this is what you do you you want to preach a sermon the text won't let you preach the sermon you got to figure out what you can preach and if it's God's word it's a better sermon then you were going to preach is there warrant for translating it as strength instead of stronghold and my answer is no so here's the question what are the people weeping about what are they grieving over it all comes out in chapter nine right this beautiful painful prayer confessing hundreds of years of failure and God's faithfulness here's verse
33 of chapter nine yet you oh Lord have been righteous in all that has come upon us for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly that's their grief that's why they were crying their guilt Their Fear and the answer that Nehemiah 810 gives is there's a refuge there's protection that's that's the flow there's a fortress here there's protection against what Grieves you your sin and God's holy judgment and what is that protection it's the joy you have in the Lord so replace your grieving with that Joy come into the Refuge from sin and
guilt and wrath by leaving behind your grieving and come into joy in me come into the stronghold come into the Refuge for the joy of the Lord is your protection it's your Refuge it's your stronghold joy in God your savior is your Refuge that's what the people at first did not understand in verse eight when they understood and all they did was cry they got it right partially right but not completely because it says in verse 12 the people went on their way to eat and drink and send portions and to make great rejoicing because
because they had understood we understand something now we have a refuge we have a stronghold against all of those fears against all that grief and failure the light was Dawning you can't honor Yahweh as holy if you only grieve in his presence I don't care how much grief there is for sin you can't honor him if you only grieve for your sin grief is good fear is good penitence is good tears are good but not if that's all you feel God's holiness is the Purity and Perfection not only of his justice but also of his
mercy and his grace cowering people do not magnify the glory of Grace the fear of God without joy in God is no refuge from the wrath of God on now the reason I feel warranted in saying it like that is because he already clued Us in in chapter 1 verse 11 that that's true let me read that to you so remember remember Nehemiah was praying because he had to approach the king and he was he was afraid if the king does not like my idea I'll lose my job maybe my life he's pleading with God
before he walks in to the king to say I want to go to Jerusalem and this is what he says how he prays 111 oh Lord let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who Delight to fear your name and Grant him Mercy in the sight of the king in other words the mercy of God is found in the stronghold of reverential delight isn't that what that says I want Mercy give heed to how much we Delight to fear your name and bestow mercy upon us
the joy of the Lord is your stronghold and your Refuge so let's picture it this way as we come toward the end on this side of the Cross now the righteous Judgment of God looms over the world it's John 3:36 there's righteous wrath abiding resting upon the world God has built a refuge he's built a refuge a stronghold of safety namely forgiveness love acceptance perfect personal friendship with him forever Pleasures at his right hand forever more this is a great house in which to live and be safe and happy forever with him all of it
purchased by Christ once for all that's the Refuge God prepared it he built it its objective it's purchased it's secure it's complete it's forever Everlasting The Refuge is of infinite value and God offers it to everybody without distinction freely without payment but he does not offer it to joyless grieving he does not offer it to joyless weeping he does not offer it to joyless fearing he offers it to Glad receiving God gives his blood bought Refuge to those who see Christ as their treasure and find him to be more precious than anything in this way
the the stronghold of Mercy that God built becomes ours so objectively in God's Building through the work of Christ there's this house of safety and subjectively the question is how do we enjoy that and the answer of Nehemiah is enjoy that pastors we have a glorious calling you have a glorious calling this is what you offer your people every week in every meeting in every board meeting in every counseling session Paul said in 2 Corinthians 1:24 we are workers with you for your joy we are workers with you for your joy or in Philippians 1:25
I will remain with you for the joy of your faith that's why I'm staying on the planet the joy of your faith this is a magnificent calling to take the word of God and then so to preach it and so to teach it and so to lead with it and so to live by it that your people come to see all that God is for them as their Supreme treasure their greatest joy a place of perfect Refuge both in life and in death so Brothers give yourself to this the glory of God in the gladness
of your people in God this is a strong Refuge let's pray Father in Heaven I thank you that you have built for us a safe place against the fearful Grievous sins that we've committed and wrath that you justly feel toward us without your son you have built a house and I am so thankful that what you call us to experience in order to be in that house and have its benefits forever is the joy of the Lord would you awaken in us that joy and would you make us Ministers of that joy for our people
I pray in Jesus name amen
