 The title of our sermon this morning is Christ my joy Christ my joy We've come to John chapter 15 verses 9 through 17 and Considering all that we have before us. This is such a meaty text I'm gonna ask for somebody to take the battery out of that clock next week There's just so much to cover somebody thinks to be said so we're gonna take Probably this week and next week getting through this text. We want to take some time and just rejoice in the Lord For this truth and we have much much much to rejoice over Christ my joy John chapter 15 verses 9 through 17 now Want to set this up for you set the stage set the table so to speak and I want you to think with me Consider with me what life must have been like in the Garden of Eden prior to the fall Think about that with me for a moment God Who is himself perfect? Saw everything that he had made in Genesis 1 and he said that it was very good Adam and Eve were flawless Right no warts There was no death. There was no sickness. There was no disease no trouble. No danger There was no arguing. There was no bitterness No anger no short tempers no selfishness no enemies There was no pain. There was no discomfort. No anxiety. No fear. No hardship. No difficulty no Toiling by the sweat of your face to eat bread, right? The world itself Adam and Eve very good in God's sight the world very good in God's own perfect eyes No thorns no thistles no weeds to pull There was no drought. There was no Zika virus. There was no poverty no flooding rain No disasters of any sort never too hot never too cold dogs never bit Cats didn't exist Most importantly and most necessary to the joy of Adam and Eve in the garden There was this perfect and unbroken fellowship with their Creator God Adam and Eve enjoyed Uncorrupted unpolluted unfettered intimacy with God a prior to the curse in Genesis 3 God is described as walking in the garden in the cool of the day. What an awesome thought, right? What an awesome thought Now think about this with me for a moment. Adam has a body Adam has a body its needs desires appetites senses all Satisfied by God Fully by God Adam has a mind his thoughts Employed in the tasks given to him by God his thoughts filled and exercised every day with the knowledge and worship of God Adam has a will his will in perfect alignment with the will of God Adam has emotions his emotions Perfectly informed by God emotions that reflect a perfect trust in God emotions that delight in God Adam had a conscience a strong and informed conscience perfectly clear an affirming of God's law before the fall untainted by guilt his actions were in perfect alignment with God's Standards and so his informed and strong conscience was continuously clear Adam has a soul and His soul perfectly satisfied and never dying in relationship to his God Adam's body Adam senses his mind his will his emotions his conscience and his soul all Finding their ultimate fulfillment their ultimate satisfaction their ultimate end their ultimate delight in God his Creator with whom he has Perfect fellowship that we could describe or define joy That would be it, right? everything that you are satisfied in God everything that you are in Perfect alignment with his will his purposes God delighting in you you delighting in God. That's joy and the desire for that joy as Contrasted or is set apart from the joy often that we speak about the fleeting happiness of this world The desire for that joy that kind of joy is Woven in the very fabric planted deep within the heart of man whether he recognizes it or not whether he acknowledges it or not Having just a foretaste of that kind of fellowship with the Lord led David to conclude in your presence is fullness of Joy not your right hand or pleasures forevermore so then What happens in Genesis chapter 3? Genesis chapter 3 Against all of that against all of that having body mind will emotions conscience soul all satisfied supremely and completely in God Against all that Adam Sins and now we all are born in sin and we sin in Adam because of the fall of man sin entered the world and death through sin hate anger malice murder lies Conflict covetousness greed Envy selfishness with all of that sin came danger disease sickness pain hunger thirst adversity difficulty trouble despair Whoa agony and want wickedness Abounds in this world abounds in this world Job said now that man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward The world that was in the eyes of God very good was now cursed by God and Subjected to futility God told Adam Prior to casting him out of the garden in Genesis chapter 3 God said cursed is the ground for your sake Adam in Toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you And he said in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread The whole world whole world now the whole created order Subjected to futility cursed by God and now all of it lying under the sway of the wicked one man by God's design Naturally desires joy naturally desires joy, but now Born in sin and an enemy of God by his wicked works He seeks that joy in a host of ways that are all bound to be ultimately Unsatisfying can't have joy apart from God. You can't have joy apart from Christ In an attempt to find true joy man seeks to satisfy his body with fleshly and temporary pleasures Man in an attempt to find joy occupies his God-given mind with Empty entertainments temporary pursuits temporary pleasures He's emotionally unstable at best His emotions are tossed to and fro by his circumstances wrought with sorrow one moment nagging emptiness and then temporary joy or temporary happiness the next unstable at best This pursuit of joy on the part of man is even built into our own declaration of independence, isn't it? We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life liberty and pursuit of happiness now of this kind of feudal pursuit of the world's joy We have a very preeminent example in the Bible. That's the example of King Solomon turn with me to Ecclesiastes chapter 2 Ecclesiastes chapter 2 Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes This is foolishness this pursuit of joy this pursuit of happiness apart from Christ Apart from that restored perfect fellowship with God is a vain pursuit We see the Bible's preeminent example of this foolishness and King Solomon Recorded in Ecclesiastes look at Ecclesiastes chapter 2 beginning in verse 1 Here's what Solomon said He said I said in my heart come now and I will test you with mirth Therefore enjoy pleasure, but surely this also Solomon concluded was vanity. I Said of laughter in verse 2 madness and of mirth. What does it accomplish? I searched in my heart how to gratify my flesh with wine While guiding my heart with wisdom and how to lay hold on folly till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do Under heaven all the days of their lives. I made my works great verse 4 I built myself houses planted myself vineyards. I Made myself gardens and orchards. I planted all kinds of fruit trees in them I made myself water pools from which to water the growing trees of the Grove I acquired male female servants had servants born in my house Yes, I had greater possessions of herds and flocks than all who were in Jerusalem before me I also gathered for myself silver and gold and a special treasure treasures of kings and of the provinces I Acquired male female singers the delights of the sons of men and musical instruments of all kinds So I became great and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem also my wisdom remained with me Whatever my eyes desired. I did not keep from them I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure for my heart Rejoiced in all my labor and this was my reward from all my labor Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled and indeed all was vanity and Grasping for the wind there was no profit under the sun empty Vein right why is there no profit profit to seeking temporary joy in this life? Why is there no profit are you are you a body only? No, you have a soul you have a material part and an immaterial part You're not merely a body Opposed to what atheists or evolutionary evolutionaires might say you're not only a physical body Then let me ask you. Can you find true joy then in merely satisfying your physical needs No, Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 6 verse 7 all The labor of man is for his mouth and yet the soul is not satisfied Listen to Solomon from chapter 8 verse 15. He said I commended enjoyment Because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat drink and be married For this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life, which God gives him under the sun So he commended enjoyment. He commended entertainment Listen to Solomon in chapter 11 verse 9 Rejoice, oh young man in your youth Let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth Walk in the ways of your own heart and in the sight of your own eyes But know this that for all these God will bring you into judgment For us to find true joy for us to have true joy our highest needs Must be met the greatest needs and desires and wants of our soul must be satisfied And there's only one to whom you can go for that true and lasting joy There are those who have present happiness in this life, right? You know people to do health, right? They've got a nice home People around them they care about a job they like money in the bank To seek joy they give themselves to a cause they give themselves to work they give themselves to family Give themselves to making money give themselves to that boat right in that next possession But think about it can they Can they really look with joy at death? That was what was what Solomon was experimenting with here or exploring in Ecclesiastes Can they look with joy at all their sin? Can they look with joy to meeting God in judgment? No You live for joy in this life. You can't look past the end of your own nose Your conscience is defiled. You're guilty before God your soul is unsatisfied And you know that you'll be held account held to account for the life that you live Their soul is unsatisfied their guilty their conscience is defiled JC Ryle says Their boasted happiness is a poor unreal thing It is but a whited sepulchre Fair and beautiful on the outside, but bones and corruption within it is a mere thing of a day like Jonah's gourd It is not real happiness If Solomon came to that conclusion Solomon's final assessment. Here's what he said in chapter 12 verse 13 He said let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter fear God and Keep his commandments for this is man's all why Because God will bring every work into judgment including every secret thing whether good or evil What God has done in Christ through the gospel is to redeem fallen sinners and In redeeming falling fallen sinners what God does is to begin that work if you will of Restoring them to the place of the garden so to speak where they find their ultimate Souls satisfaction and all their joy in him alone That is God redeeming us to himself in Christ now certainly in the next life Where all our troubles are going to come to an end all our troubles cease But even in this life while we face trouble we can have a foretaste of that joy We can be joyful in him in this life We can say with a prophet Habakkuk in chapter 3 verse 17 Though the fig tree may not blossom nor fruit be on the vines Though the labor of the olive may fail in the fields yield no food Though the flock may be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls yet I will rejoice in the Lord and I will joy in the God of my salvation. Amen Christ is our joy if you're in Christ then that joy Transcends your circumstances. He is our joy. He is our hope. He's our portion our inheritance forever As we come to John chapter 15 then In verses 9 through 17 As we study verse by verse through the gospel of John The Lord's concern now in this section of text is that we find our soul Satisfaction we find our souls delight we find full joy in him alone. Now. This is foundational to being a Christian This is foundational to being a Christian. This is what a Christian is this joy in him He says in verse 11 these things I have spoken to you that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full Now think about it with me in verses 1 through 8 He tells us to abide in the vine to bear fruit. He warns us that will be fruitless apart from him He assures us that he hears and he answers our prayers He points us to the glory of God in all our efforts in verses 9 through 17 now He reminds us to abide in his love by keeping his commandments to love one another as he has loved us He reminds us that we are more than just servants. In fact, he calls us friends And that we've been chosen and appointed by him to bear fruit and in all of this He says I have spoken these things to you so that my joy may remain in you and that your joy May be full Christ is my joy amen Christ is your joy I want you to see now Several ways in which this is supremely true for the christian Right several ways in which this is supremely true for the christian and we see this outline for us in john chapter 15 Verses 9 through 17 first thing i want you to see on your notes His love is my joy His love my joy Lord begins in verse 9 with a staggering reality and i i am just Amazed at thinking about this even to this day right is just a staggering Astonishing truth and sometimes it's so difficult for christians to believe this And we wouldn't believe it if it weren't written on the pages of scripture right look at verse 9 As the father loved me I also have loved you Abide in my love now that little word as At the beginning of verse 9 is a glorious little word all right Glorious little word in the same way that the father loved me Just as the father loved me I've also loved you abide in my love. Let me ask you does the father love the son Yes, he does With an infinite immeasurable love and the love relationship between the father and the son here becomes the basis for Or the best analogy for the best description of the love relationship between jesus christ and his disciples I want you to see this The word loved there in verse 9 We see it there in the past tense But that's translating for you greek guys That's translating an heiress in the greek and what that means is this It's not really communicating as much past tense as it is a completed thought The love that the father has for the son is an established reality He loves the son start to finish right it's like back in john chapter 13 He loved his own who were in the world and he loved them Ace tell us into the end right he loved them to the end The love that the father has for the son is a completed established Unquestionable Inviolable reality And that's the way the lord loves his own That's the way that he loves you and I Having loved his own who are in the world. He loved them to the end Start to finish now get this John writing the gospel here john chapter 15 Would later write in first john chapter 4 verse 17. He wrote this listen Love has been perfected That there is a completed reality love and he's speaking of the love that god has for us the love that christ has for us That love which christ has for his own has been Perfected has been completed. It's been a completed thought an established reality start to finish He loved his own who were in the world. He loved him to the end completed Among us in this So that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. How can we have such boldness? Right. How can we have such confidence before god in the day of judgment because john says as he is So are we in this world? I'll let that sink in for a moment. I mean that is a staggering reality As the lord jesus christ is To god in the eyes of god the father as the lord jesus christ is so are we In this world speaking of the love of god for his own I'm just blown away by that statement right it gives me joy To think about that love for me the love that christ has for me the love that god has the love that god has for you If you're in christ Is that because you're so lovable? No I will attest to that and so will your brothers and sisters Oh, it's because of christ because of what christ is done He loves us that way in him now as as genuine christians Then in reality of that truth As genuine christians then look forward look ahead To facing christ in judgment they can face that with just with boldness Why Because as he is so are we in this world god Loves his own as he loves his own son And you think about that god has clothed them In his son's righteousness God has clothed them With his son's perfect righteousness. That's a a completed act. He doesn't look at my filthy rags anymore He doesn't look at my filth. He sees me in christ clothed in his perfect righteousness He looks on the perfect obedience of his own son and he loves me as he is so am I in this world Isiah pointed forward to this in chapter 61 verse 10 He said I will greatly rejoice In the lord my soul shall be joyful in my god. Why? Because he has clothed me with the garments of salvation He has covered me with the robes of righteousness as a bride groom decks himself with ornaments and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels that love because it's in christ right and because it's Clothes that you will are pointed toward the righteousness of his own son that love is unconditional That love is gracious that love is immutable that love is sovereign that love is unwavering. It's unfailing. It's permanent That love is perfect. It is in god's sight. It is very Very good And that perfect love casts out fear Because fear john says involves torment That has practical application in our lives Doesn't it how you live how you think about the lord how you think about your christian life How you think about your circumstances that has impact in the way that we live it should There's a story of um nicolas ridley and I Love reading some of those stories about those faithful brothers and sisters those martyrs and nicolas ridley in october of 1555 Went to the stake in oxford england to die for the faith On the night before his execution. He's in prison And his brother comes into him and his brother Knowing that nicolas ridley was going to die the next day offers to stay with him through the night wanted to encourage him Wanted to be with him in his last hours Ridley refused And told his brother to go home that he planned to go to bed early that night Not that I think about this for a minute He told his brother that he intended to sleep as quietly as he ever did in his life He wanted to be rested and ready for the next day Now if you think about it that shouldn't sound That unusual or that heroic To to christians we understand that don't we if you have faith in christ He's Having confidence of god's love toward him. He wasn't fearful. He was bold That's boldness is something you'd expect to find from someone who has his fullness of joy his soul's satisfaction in christ alone Now if you're a christian If you're a christian the lord by his spirit is going to produce joy in you Kind of joy that joy is a transcendent joy. It's not based on your circumstances like nicolas ridley that joy in christ transcends your circumstances And that's a joy that we learn as the lord matures our faith It's a joy that we grow up into but it nevertheless is a joy in the lord that you can't find anywhere else And the lord will even ordain adversity so that we learn that joy through our trials through our difficulty You face difficulty you faced adversity as a christian Count it true. God is teaching you To learn that joy Teaching you to to rejoice in him alone. There's a beautiful him by john newton, and I love this him Listen to the words of this him I asked the lord That I might grow in faith and love and every grace Might more of his salvation know and seek more earnestly his face I hoped That in some favored hour and once he'd answer my request And by his loves constraining power subdue my sins and give me rest instead of this He made me feel the hidden evils of my heart And he let the angry powers of hell assault my soul in every part Yay more With his own hand he seemed intent to aggravate my woe Crossed all the fair designs that I'd schemed blasted my gourds and laid me low Lord Why is this I trembling cried? Will thou pursue thy worm to death? Tis in this way the lord replied That I answer prayer for grace and faith These inward trials I employ From self and pride to set thee free And break thy schemes of earthly joy That thou mayst seek thy all in me We need to ground our joy In his love for his own Ground Root your joy in his love Expressed for you as He is So are you in this world? It's a staggering thought but in that thought in that thought we can have joy in him It's a joy that we can't find you cannot find in anything else And those vain pursuits and joy in your salvation joy in christ your lord His love my joy A poor man Abiding in the love of christ will have joy in christ despite his poverty A sick man Abiding in the love of christ will have joy in christ despite his sickness You and I we aliens in this wicked world Abiding in the love of christ for his own will have joy in christ despite this wicked world in which we live But then in john 15 He takes that reality he takes that reality And he concludes it with a command in verse nine Having made a tremendous statement about his love for us then he commands his disciples to abide In that love in verse nine abide in his love Jude says it this way in verse 21 of jude keep yourselves in the love of god in other words Remain in the place where you can experience the constant joy of knowing that love Stay in the place where he can lavish that love upon you Where you can experience his joy And your joy can be full now. How do you do that? Verse nine, how do you abide in his love? What's pretty straightforward in verse 10 keep my commandments Keep my commandments you obey him. We abide in his love through obedience Second point on your notes. I want you to see his delight is my joy His delight is is my joy We abide in that delighting love of god for his own by keeping his commandments right by obeying him. Look at verse 10 If you keep my commandments You will abide in my love just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love now notice first here That we don't earn His love by our obedience We it says here in verse 10 abide in that love through our obedience Now he explains this again once again Using his own example and we're gonna have to unpack this a little He explains using his own example that you keep my commandments and abide in my love Just as we're in the same way that I kept my father's commandments and abide in his love So let's begin now looking at verse 10 Unpacking what it means for us to abide in his love by obeying his commandments Let's unpack what it looks like in his relationship to the father How he keeps or abides in his father's love by obeying his father's commandments Right consider the lord's relationship To the father Is jesus christ loved by the father? Yes eternally immutably infinitely immeasurably perfectly all that's been established. All right Think about this can anything ever separate God the son from the love of god the father No nothing The love of god the father for him is like a completed thought It's a completed thing is established start to finish settled in the heavens All right, then what does it mean then for him to abide in this love? It means for jesus christ. It means obedience It means for him Obedience turn with me just a few pages to the left turn with me back to john chapter 8 john chapter 8 For jesus christ To abide in the love of the father. He keeps his father's commandments It's pretty clear right from the text verse 10 Look at john chapter 8 And look at verse 28. How does the lord describe this this keeping of the father's commandments? How's this described verse 28? jesus then said to them When you lift up the son of man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing of myself When he's talking about lifting up the son of man. He's talking about the cross His obedience to the point of death even the death of the cross. Okay When you lift up the son of man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing of myself But as my father taught me I speak and you could say of jesus christ and I do these things Verse 29 he who sent me is with me The father has not left me alone. Now why? Because jesus christ is abiding in the father's love And he's abiding in the father's love by the end of verse 29 I always do those things that please him Look at verse 29 again. He who sent me is with me The father's not left me alone. Why? For I always do those things that please him God the father with god the son Delights in him God the father delights in god the son because god the son always does those things which please him He delights in christ because he always does those things which please him So what does it mean? To abide in his love knowing that that love is a settled fact Knowing that that love is immutable unchangeable infinite eternal immeasurable perfect Knowing that love is a settled fact a completed thought. What does it mean to abide then in that love? It means doing those things which please him those things In which he delights now that leads us into verse 11 and to our joy His delight is our joy christ tells us these things right tells us gives us verse 10 So that his joy would be in us and that our joy would be full It leads to our joy I want to give you a couple of statements here again to help so that we don't Get ourselves into error thinking about these things right? Here's the first of those from verse 10 our obedience Is a condition For remaining in his delighting love Can't get around to that. That's what the text says All right, I want to repeat it let that sink in Our obedience is a condition For remaining in his delighting love So if you have difficulty with the difficulty with the conception of obedience in the christian life Then you're gonna go you're gonna have to just rip that verse out of your bible D. A. Carson said this However much god's love for us is us is gracious and undeserved Continued enjoyment of that love turns at least in part on our response to it Settle that in your heart and mind Our obedience is a condition for remaining in his delighting love. Here's the second point I want to make From verse nine His delighting love Is the fountain and motivation of our obedience to him The initiative the fountain of our obedience the motivation for our obedience the strength of our obedience the power for our obedience The fuel for our obedience the initiative always comes from god The power always comes from god the motivation always comes from god We don't merely obey out of fear or out of obligation and we don't do that in our own grit Right, we don't do that our own power in our own strength We render obedience out of love for god the father and even that love is a gift from him His delighting love is the fountain head and motivation of our obedience to him thirdly We can deduce then That our obedience is a fruit Or is the evidence of the reality of that love Our obedience a fruit or the evidence of the reality of that love a disciple then is not just a learning follower A disciple then is a learning loving follower Loving the lord jesus christ with our heart soul mind and strength This is how christ Abides in the love of the father and all of this is how we are to abide in his love and all of this Is according to the grace of god The bible says paul says right in philippians. It's god who is at work in us doing what? To will and to do according to His good pleasure according to his delight We serve him. We work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We enter into the christian life We do those things. We do those things which please him. Why? Because it's god who is at work in us to do what? To do that which pleases him to do that through us and in us That is for his good pleasure As i abide in his love He delights in me And he lavishes that love upon upon me in joy and delight in him All of which is a gift from god and we see that in three ways from our text If you're under second point on your notes, they're his delight my joy They're three ways in which we experience that abiding love or that abiding delight First it's when i obey like him when i obey like him Always goes back to his example We experience that delight my joy When i obey like he obeys Verse 10 if you keep my commandments, you'll abide in my love just as i have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love His abiding and delighting love should be my motivation, right now many people tend to be nervous about Teaching that we need to delight god or please god with our obedience. They're nervous about that. I understand, right? They don't want to undermine or they don't want to subvert Justification by faith alone in christ alone, and we don't want we wholeheartedly affirm that glorious doctrine We're not undermining that in any way here But we delight god And his abiding delighting love should be our motivation. We do that through our obedience many because of the neglect Of churches and the neglect of pastors and the neglect of teachers to teach these things many undermine Or misunderstand or ignore the importance of obedience in their life It is critical that we abide in his love by obeying his commandments And that not in our own strength that not of our own doing that in and of itself is a grace of god a gift of god Samuel said this the prophet samuel Has the lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the lord Behold samuel says to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed is better than the fat of rams Consider the testimony of the new testament Colossians chapter 1 verse 10 Walk in a manner worthy of the lord Fully pleasing to him bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of god Kids Colossians chapter 3 verse 20 Obey your parents and everything for This pleases the lord Remember without faith it is impossible to Please him Can't do anything apart from faith and please him roman's chapter 12 Using a different word for pleasing or delighting god roman's chapter 12 verse 1 Using the word acceptable i appeal to you therefore brothers by the mercies of god to present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy And acceptable holy and pleasing to god, which is your spiritual worship your reasonable service Do not be conformed to this world But be transformed by the renewing of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of god What is good and acceptable and perfect We delight in him His delight becomes our joy when we obey like him We're going to get into these more next week, but His delight is our joy when we rejoice like him look at verse 11 John 15 verse 11 when I rejoice like him these things i've spoken to you That my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full You know the christian life We see it characterized this this way so often right the christian life Just a a whole big mess of do's and don'ts right things i gotta do and things i gotta avoid and it's this burdensome joyless set of restraints It's like you're tied down chained up roped in Christian life Is not joyless legalism It's not heartless ritual it's not Some kind of beating you over the head and shoulders with the law You gutting it out in your own strength Bible says that the christian life is filled with joy unspeakable Joy that you can't even talk about you don't know how to describe it John chapter 16 the lord says to his disciples you're gonna have grief now When I see you again, you will rejoice Bible says that sorrow may be for a night But what but joy comes in the morning His delight Is my joy when I obey him His delight Is my joy when I rejoice like him But his delight is my joy when I love like him Look at verse 12 This is my commandment That you love one another as I have loved you Greater love is no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends You're my friends if you do whatever I command you We'll get into this more next week Christian life Is not a works righteousness It's not working to earn salvation that salvation is a glorious gift for the grace of god in christ for those whom he has chosen to love You can't earn his delight. You can't earn his love must be done by faith in christ You know reminded I was reading this past week a story an article about Mother Teresa Mother Teresa has been given St. Hood in the catholic church and um thinking about Her life and some statements that mother Teresa had made that this article in time magazine had uh illustrated the mother's mother Teresa's Life her theology was a works righteousness was a works righteousness. You had to work and she Put her joy and her faith so to speak in that work She encouraged hindus She encouraged muslims buddhists. You can look this up for yourself. I'm not making this stuff up She encouraged muslims buddhists to be better hindus better muslims better buddhists She never pointed people to christ Never saw jesus christ as her only savior as her mediator in her book Life in the spirit reflections meditations and prayers. She wrote this we never try to convert those who receive Uh aid from missionaries of charity to christianity But in our work, we bear witness to the love of god's presence And if catholics, protestants buddhist or agnostics become better for this better men simply better We will be satisfied Mike gendron wrote this the widespread perception that mother Teresa sought to relieve the suffering of the poor Was the furthest thing from the truth. She believes suffering would help the poor make satisfaction for their sins This is consistent with roman catholic theology which declares that the center must make satisfaction for or expiate his sins By doing penance Gritting it out in your own effort all that work all that labor which mother Teresa is renowned for Done in an effort to earn God's favor Doing penance or her sin at the end of her life It's a point of this article in the time magazine mother Teresa doubted The existence of god in her letters She wrote lord my god You have thrown me away as unwanted and unloved i call i cling i want and there is no one to answer no No one Where is my faith there is nothing i have no faith to face death To face god To face judgment with that kind of faithless joyless Existence is horrendously terrifying and empty God's love for his own the love that jesus christ has for his own Is a settled reality Start to finish a completed thought as he loved his own who are in the world He loves them all the way to the end and because of who jesus christ is and because of what He did you can have joy in him You can trust him you can put your faith in him and you can have joy And peace and rejoicing in your heart boldness in the day of judgment Because of him because of what he has done because of god's goodness and grace and mercy in the gospel Fill your heart with joy in that We get that from the word of god Right, we get that from god's testimony god's revelation to us You get that by having god's spirit within you testifying with your spirit that you are a child of god Amen, we can rejoice in that And when you face death you can have boldness in the day of judgment because as he is So are we in this world It's a glorious glorious thought let's pray Father in heaven Praise be to you Praise be to your name forever and ever Worthy is the lamb who is slain To receive glory and honor and blessing and power and strength and majesty and dominion We praise you and worship you for this glorious salvation to which we have been delivered We praise you and worship you that it's not by our own works by our own penance by our own gritting it out that we Trust in ourselves for that But we trust in the son of god who died and gave himself for us We trust in him for who he is we trust in his work and what he's done We trust in that substitutionary atonement that substitutionary death that sacrifice that he Completed on our behalf such that we could be made right with our god who created us to glorify him forever We praise you and thank you lord for this blessed return this Return to the the conditions of the garden so to speak Well, we can for all eternity joy In the abiding love of god for us Joy in his presence forevermore have fellowship with our creator. We praise you and thank you lord for this blessed joy Be with us now as we go lord help us to live in light of that joy Help us to abide in that love Abide in that delighting love of god By keeping his commandments knowing that we in our own strength can't do that all that is done through faith In christ help us to have faith lord. We believe help our unbelief Lord teach us lord Instruct us by your spirit strengthen us empower us to live in the reality of that abiding love For your glory god and we know it's for our good We love you lord. We delight in the thought that you delight in us Help us to live in the reality of that delight Thank you lord for this time together. Thank you for this beautiful passage of scripture. Jesus name. Amen