Blaise Pascal was a French mathematical genius who died in 1662.
After running from God until he was 31 years old, on November 23,
1654 at 10:30 pm, Pascal met God and was profoundly and unshakably
converted to Jesus Christ. He wrote it down on a piece of parchment
and sewed into his coat where it was found after his death eight
years later. It said,

Year of grace 1654, Monday 23 November, feast of St. Clement . .
. from about half past ten at night to about half an hour after
midnight, FIRE. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, not of
philosophers and scholars. Certitude, heartfelt joy, peace. God of
Jesus Christ. God of Jesus Christ. "My God and your God." . . .
Joy, Joy, Joy, tears of joy. . . Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. May I
never be separated from him.

In 1968 Pascal and C. S. Lewis and Jonathan Edwards and Dan
Fuller and the Bible teamed up to change my life forever with those
words, "Joy, Joy, Joy, tears of joy." This little booklet,
Quest for Joy, that you have in your worship folder was
born in those days. It wasn’t written for 15 years or so. But
it was born then.

Look inside the front cover. Here is Pascal’s blast
against my fear of happiness.

All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever
different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause
of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire
in both, attended with different views. This is the motive of every
action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.

I suspected this was true. But I always feared that it was sin.
That wanting to be happy was a moral defect. That self-denial meant
renouncing joy, not renouncing lesser joys for greater joys. But
then God conspired by these writers to force me to reread the
Bible. To give it a chance to have its true say. And what I found
there concerning joy changed me forever. I have been trying to
understand it and live it and teach it every since. It’s not
new. It’s been there for thousands of years.

What the Bible Says About Joy

Let me give you a taste from what the Bible says about joy.

Jesus’ aim in all he taught was the joy of his
people.

John 15:11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be
in you, and that your joy may be full.

Joy is what God fills us with when we trust in Christ.

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
in believing.

The kingdom of God is joy.

Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating
and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy
Spirit.

Joy is the fruit of God’s Spirit within us.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace.

Joy is the aim of everything the apostles did and wrote.

2 Corinthians 1:24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we
work with you for your joy.

Becoming a Christian is finding a joy that makes you willing to
forsake everything.

Matthew 13:44 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in
a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes
and sells all that he has and buys that field."

Joy is nourished and sustained by the word of God in the
Bible

Psalm 19:8 the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the
heart.

Joy will overtake all sorrow for those who trust Christ.

Psalm 126:5 Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of
joy!

Psalm 30:5b Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with
the morning.

God himself is our joy.

Psalm 43:4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my
exceeding joy.

Psalm 16:11 You make known to me the path of life; in your
presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures
forevermore.

Joy in God outstrips all earthly joy.

Psalm 4:7 You have put more joy in my heart than they have when
their grain and wine abound.

If your joy is in God, no one can take your joy from you.

John 16:22 You have sorrow now, but I will see you again and
your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from
you.

God calls all nations and peoples to join in the joy he offers
to all who believe. No racism. No ethnocentrism.

Psalm 67:4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy.

Psalm 66:1 Shout for joy to God, all the earth.

The whole Christian message from beginning to end is good news
of great joy.

Luke 2:10 And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I
bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the
people."

Isaiah 51:11 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come
to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall
flee away.

When we meet Christ at his second coming we will enter into his
indestructible joy.

Matthew 25:23 His master said to him, "Well done, good and
faithful servant. . . . Enter into the joy of your master."

Perhaps most shocking to me in 1968 was the simple and obvious
observation that this joy in God is commanded. You
see it on the second page of the booklet:

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you
the desires of your heart.

Psalm 33:1 Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise
befits the upright.

Psalm 32:11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and
shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

It’s commanded because what is at stake is not just our
joy but the glory of God, the honor and reputation of God.
If we do not rejoice in God – if God is
not our treasure and our delight and our satisfaction, then he his
dishonored. His glory is belittled. His reputation is tarnished.
Therefore God commands our joy both for our good and for his
glory.

That discovery helped me understand the central message of
Christianity, the gospel – the good news – of Jesus
Christ. And that’s what this little booklet, Quest for
Joy, is meant to do: to give a summary of the Christian Gospel
and how it saves sinners and gives everlasting joy.

It’s dangerous to try to put the ocean in a raindrop
– to try to put God’s righteousness and love in
booklet. But I think it is not only dangerous, it is loving, and it
is necessary. God did it once. He put his infinite self in a single
human being, Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:9). This was far more
amazing than putting the an ocean in a raindrop. And it was love.
Because he was human as well as God, he could die for our own sins.
But many did not recognize God in him. And I risk many not seeing
the gospel in this little booklet. And my risk is great because I
am not God and I am not infallible. But I do love you and want you
to see what God has done to save you.

So would you walk with me through this booklet? If you are not a
believer in Jesus, simply try to be open to what God might show
about himself and yourself, and ask him to confirm to you what is
true and protect you from what is not. If you are a believer,
refresh what you have built your life on, and prepare to share the
best news in the world by this little booklet if God leads you to
use it. And may the risen Christ on this Easter Sunday be
honored!

Consider the first two biblical truths together.

Biblical truth #1: God created us for his glory.

"Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the
ear . . . whom I created for my glory" (Isaiah 43:6-7)

Biblical truth #2: Every human should live for God’s
glory.

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for
the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).

These are almost the same, aren’t they? What’s the
difference? Why does it matter to have two pages instead of
collapsing them into one? This difference is that Truth #1 speaks
of God’s design, and Truth #2 speaks of our duty. Keeping
them separate and putting them in this order says something very
crucial about reality. If we don’t hear it, we will probably
not see the gospel as the precious news that it is. The gruesome
death of Christ will probably seem like a gross overreaction. The
crucial point is that God is the origin of all things and the
measure of all things and the goal of all things. And the universe
is all about God.

My seven-year-old Talitha and I went on our Saturday date
yesterday to the Arby’s down on Lake
Street for lunch. As we
turned off of Hiawatha there was a blue van in front of us, and I
said to Talitha: "I don’t like that bumper sticker." She
couldn’t see it from where she was so I read it to her:
"It’s all about Me." Capital "M." That is why the gospel of
Jesus is so hard for many to understand. It is rooted in a very
different vision of reality. It is not all about us. It is all
about God.

God designed us to live for his glory. This is all over the
Bible. And it is therefore our life-calling and our duty to live
for his glory. Test yourself: Does the love of God to you mean that
he makes you the center, or does it mean that he gives you
everlasting joy – at great cost to himself – of making
him the center? That is what you were made for. That would be your
joy and that would be his glory.

Then consider the next two Biblical Truths together.

Biblical Truth #3: All of us have failed to glorify God as we
should

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans
3:23).

Biblical Truth #4: All of us are subject to God’s just
condemnation

"The wages of sin is death..." (Romans 6:23).

These, too, could be combined into one page, couldn’t
they, just like the first two? We could say, "Because we are all
sinners, we deserve God’s condemnation – we deserve
punishment." But something crucial would be lost if we said it that
way. What would be lost is the emphasis in Truth #3 that sin is not
mainly the way we have treated people, but the way we have treated
God.

The bumper sticker would be wrong even if it meant, "My sin is
all about ME." God is the center of his own design in creation. God
is the center of our duty as creatures. And God is the center of
what it means to be sinners: it means, as Romans 3:23 says, to fall
short of the glory of God, that is, to prefer and enjoy some other
greatness to God’s greatness. Sin is first and foremost about
how we treat God, not other people.

We will never make sense out of the horror of hell or the bloody
cross of Christ if we do not feel the weight of sin as an insult to
God. Sin is not just man abusing man. It is mainly man abusing God.
Man rejecting God. Man ignoring God. Man preferring other things to
God. And therefore man belittling God. This is the ultimate outrage
in the universe. We must feel this if the terrible punishment of
Truth #4 is not going to seem unjust.

We have all treated God with contempt, and his wrath is coming
on us. That is our biggest problem. Bigger than the economy. Bigger
than international relations with Iraq or North Korea. Bigger than
the difficulties of marriage or the painful cancer. This is what
the Christian Gospel is meant to remedy first and mainly. How can
we be saved from God’s just judgment? There are many other
wonderful effects of the gospel! But this is crucial, and others
are based on it.

Now the gospel. Let’s consider the last two Biblical
Truths together.

Biblical Truth #5: God sent his only son Jesus to provide
eternal life and joy.

"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance:
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners..." (1 Timothy
1:15).

Biblical Truth #6: The benefits purchased by the death of
Christ belong to those who repent and trust him.

"Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped
out" (Acts 3:19).

"Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved" (Acts
16:31).

And again we could combine these two pages. We could say: What
is the remedy for sin and guilt and condemnation? Answer: "Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved." But that would be
profoundly incomplete answer! If you are drowning, the remedy is
not just your cry for help; it is lifeguards and rescue lines and
(if necessary) artificial respiration. The cry for help just gets
you connected with the saving work. If you are having a heart
attack, your call to 911 is not your main remedy. It’s
ambulances and paramedics and CPR and nurses and surgeons and
medicines. The 911 call is just the connection to the saving
work.

That’s the way it is with repenting of your sin and
believing on Jesus (Truth #6). That’s your connection with
the saving work of God in Christ. Christ did something to save us
2000 years ago. He came, he lived a perfect life as the Son of God.
And he died as a substitute in the place of all who will trust him.
1 Peter 3:18, "Christ suffered once for sin, the righteous for the
unrighteous, that he might bring us to God." Our faith is not the
basis for our salvation. It connects us to the basis of our
salvation. Christ is the basis of our salvation.

His death and condemnation in the place of our condemnation; his
perfect righteousness in the place of our sin and imperfection. And
his resurrection to validate and secure our salvation and our joy
forever and ever. The Bible says, "And if Christ has not been
raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. . . .
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits
of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:17, 20). Because
he died for us and rose again, all who trust him have everlasting
life and ever-increasing joy.

Trust him with you life. Trust him with your marriage or your
singleness. Trust him with your business and your financial
situation. Trust him with your health. And, underneath all these,
trust him with your sin and your guilt and your fear. He has
already acted to save. It is finished. He has died, and he has
risen. And his salvation can be yours by faith in him. And when it
is, then will come to pass the fulfillment of why you were made:
God’s glory reflected in your joy forever.