THE JOY FOUND IN CHRIST SHOULD OUTWEIGH THE DEATH FOUND IN SIN

December 1, 2014

THE JOY FOUND IN CHRIST SHOULD OUTWEIGH THE DEATH FOUND IN SIN

Revelation 19:6–10

Trey Collins

Central Truth

Jesus' return is coming. And no matter where we find ourselves, it should be a cause of great daily joy and celebration for all who believe.

"Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready."
(Revelation 19:7)

The Marriage Supper of the Lamb

6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
    the Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and exult
    and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
    and his Bride has made herself ready;
8 it was granted her to clothe herself
    with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

9 And the angel said^{1

19:9
Greek he said} to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” 10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Footnotes

[1] 19:9 Greek he said

(Camera pans the scene. A multitude of angels and saints are rejoicing and worshiping before the returning King. He is on the verge of destroying evil and establishing His new heaven and new earth forever. Trey Collins is in the midst of what the Bible calls a great multitude creating a roar like rushing water and thunder . . .)

"I'm not sure if you can hear me above all the rejoicing, but I must tell you this is a huge party. I'm sure I never experienced anything like this on earth. It's so amazing -- millions of saints openly celebrating our salvation. It's so joyful!"

Let's examine this for a moment. The Bible tells us Jesus Christ has rescued us from our sins and saved us to His glorious future. That He came for us while we were yet sinners and made us blameless in His sight. Without condemnation! (Romans 8:1). I think there are people who will read this who haven't experienced this spiritual joy consistently enough (my hand is raised), because we feel that God is merely tolerating us. We feel that we are busted up and that His cross isn't sufficient. But the beauty of the cross is that God is not surprised by our struggles, He's already died for them! We have no sin past, present, or future that has more power than the cross of Christ!

This means our salvation wasn't just a past event alone, but that Christ is continuing to save us. He didn't forgive our past sins and then leave our current and future sins for us to figure out. This means it doesn't matter where we are today; God can rescue us. God can save us. It means no matter how messy we think we are and no matter what we've done, Christ has already paid the tab in full. It's nonsense to believe our sin eliminates us from the joy of the Christian life.

Revelation gives us a reminder that God has won, and sin has no victory. That's a reason to rejoice!

1. When is the last time you were truly joyful because of the freedom of the cross of Christ?

2. What things or activities help you to feel that joy? How often do you take part in them?

3. What things or activities rob you of that joy? How often do you take part in them?

4. Do you feel more joy because of sports, money, relationships, etc., than because of your Christian walk? What does that truly mean? Does Christ want us to have joy in the world?