Joy in place of sorrow

What, then, is our joy? It is, first, that Christ is not dead. He is alive, He is risen from the dead! Next, He reigns as well as lives, and He reigns for us—He is ruling all things on our behalf, and as He sees us with His royal eyes, He also pleads for us before the eternal throne of God! And He is coming again! We know not when, but we know that He is coming quickly, and that He is already on the road. He shall descend in like manner as they saw Him go up into heaven.

 All this is the joy of the Christian which no man takes from him! No man shall ever take from me the joy that Christ rose from the dead! I know that He did—there is no historical fact that is so certainly attested as this, that Christ died, was buried, and on the third day rose again from the dead! And therein I do rejoice, yes, and will rejoice! If He rose not from the dead, then my preaching is vain, and your faith is also vain—but as He surely rose from the dead, then every trouble has gone! I do not think that those poor disciples had any joy while Christ was in the grave. They could not rejoice then. Their big sorrow swallowed up all joy. And I do not think that if you and I were what we ought to be, we should have any sorrow, now that Christ is out of the grave—the joy because He has risen ought to swallow up every sorrow that we have—it should be a joy that no man can take from us! ...

I preach to you, beloved, a joy that no man takes from you! If you begin to live by your own feelings, you will sometimes be up, and sometimes down, and be always unsettled. Now live on this truth of God—first, that Jesus died. Then if you believe on Him, you died in Him. Next, that He was buried, and that your sins were buried with Him. Then, that He rose again, and you rose in Him—and now that He lives and reigns forever and ever, your cause is safe in His hands, and apart from your cause altogether, your spirit may rejoice that the cause of right, the cause of truth, the cause of God is secure beyond all hazard because He who went away from us for a little while, though we have not seen Him, yet sees us, and our hearts do, and will rejoice in Him! Blessed be His holy name!

Joy in Place of Sorrow, Sermon 2525 - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Photo credit: Des Colhoun / Dog Rose in  the early morning dew by Spynie Loch.