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JOY IN HEAVEN
Luke 15:3-10
Sunday Morning Sermon
August 23, 1998
Fair Avenue Baptist Church
This story about the lost sheep is a familiar one. I believe there is even a song about this passage called “The Ninety And Nine.”
The story about the woman who lost a piece of silver is a less familiar story.
But both stories have a theme about one being lost and then found.
Notice a theme that keeps coming up in these verses:
V. 5, “And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, REJOICING.”
V. 6, “And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them. REJOICE with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.”
V. 7, “I say unto you, that likewise JOY shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.”
V. 9, “And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and neighbours together, saying, REJOICE with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.”
V. 10, “Likewise, I say unto you, there is JOY in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
REJOICE with me,
JOY in heaven.
Turn back a few pages in your Bible with me to Luke 10:20, “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather REJOICE, because your names are written in heaven.”
Two thoughts this morning:
1. We need to rejoice in our salvation
2. We need to do what makes the Lord rejoice
1. WE NEED TO REJOICE IN OUR SALVATION
Rev. 20:15, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
A. Is your name written down in the book of life?
This sermon will seem a little strange to you if you have never been born again and trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour.
If your name is not written down in the book of life, or if you are not sure your name is written down in the book of life, I urge you this morning to take care of this very important matter.
The most important decision you will ever make will be to trust Christ, get saved, and get your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
And we want you to get saved this morning. Someone prayed Monday for people to get saved today. Someone prayed Tuesday, and Wednesday, and Thursday, and Friday, and Saturday for someone to get saved today.
Are you on your way to heaven?
Are you 100% sure that if you died this morning that you would go to heaven?
You need to get it taken care of this morning.
B. Are you rejoicing in your salvation?
Luke 10:20, “Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”
Hey, the Lord is excited when people get saved and He told His disciples to REJOICE that their names are written in heaven.
Baptists have really fallen on hard times. We have something to rejoice about and we sit around like we have some kind of terminal disease we don’t want to talk about.
We teach that you can go to heaven,
We teach that you can know for sure you are going to heaven,
We teach that once you are saved, you are always saved,
We teach that once our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, it is forever and ever,
And yet, far too often we do not rejoice in our salvation.
Jesus said, “REJOICE”
REJOICE
WHY?
Because your name is written down in heaven.
Somebody say “AMEN.”
2. WE NEED TO DO WHAT MAKES THE LORD REJOICE
Don’t miss this.
V. 7, “I say unto you, that likewise JOY shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.”
V. 10, “Likewise, I say unto you, there is JOY in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
JOY in heaven,
JOY in the presence of the angels of God,
JOY ...
JOY in heaven ...
JOY in the presence of the angels of God ...
WHY?
Because someone repented and got saved!
But here is where we sometimes get off track. Here is where we often miss the boat.
When someone gets saved, God gets excited,
and there is joy in heaven, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God.
Watch it,
Listen carefully,
There is not one verse of Scripture in the Bible that says that God gets excited, that there is joy in heaven, that there is joy in the presence of the angels of God WHEN SOMEONE SINGS or WHEN SOMEONE SINGS A SPECIAL.
Wait a minute,
I didn’t say we shouldn’t get excited when someone sings,
When someone sings about the Lord,
or about salvation,
or going to heaven.
NO, NO, NO,
We should get excited when we hear a song that speaks to our heart.
But I think we put more emphasis on singing a special that we do on seeing someone get saved.
For instance, sometimes we put a lot of emphasis on teaching. And teaching is an awesome responsibility.
Teaching boys and girls about God and the things of God is an awesome responsibility.
But there are no Scriptures that say that God gets excited when someone teaches,
There are no Scriptures that say that there is joy in heaven when someone teaches,
Wait a minute, don’t misundertand me,
Teaching is important,
Teaching boys and girls about God is VERY important,
And teachers are very important in the work of the Lord,
But again, sometimes we get more excited about teachers and teaching that we do about seeing people saved.
The heartbeat of God is seeing people saved.
Luke 19:10, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
It didn’t say, “The Son of man is come to see teachers teach or people sing.”
And yet we put more emphasis on singing and teaching than we do about keeping people out of hell.
We think singing is important,
and it is,
We think teaching is important,
and it is,
But the most important thing to God is seeing people saved!
When someone sings, God may smile,
When someone teaches, God may be pleased,
But when someone gets saved,
There is REJOICING in heaven,
There is JOY in heaven,
And God is excited.
Sometimes we get to thinking that, “Well, okay, I’m going to church and that is enough. Surely that pleases the Lord.”
And you’re right.
God is pleased when we come to church.
But God doesn’t get excited when we come to church,
There is no REJOICING in heaven when we come to church,
There is no JOY in heaven when we come to church,
YES, and YES, God is pleased when we obey Him and come to church,
But there is no joy or rejoicing when we come and sit in a church service.
Sometimes we get so preoccupied with service,
and there is nothing wrong with service,
service to God is good,
but we get our order of service wrong,
It should be:
1. seeing souls saved,
2. etc., etc.
We want to do the etc. and not worry about seeing people saved.
There is no rejoicing in heaven when someone sings a special,
even though it is good and right,
There is no rejoicing in heaven because you are a teacher,
even though it is good and right,
There is no rejoicing in heaven when someone sits in church,
even though it is good and right,
There is no rejoicing in heaven because you are a deacon or trustee,
But we get more excited about those things than we do about seeing people saved.
Why is it that the one thing that makes the Father and angels rejoice is the thing we work the least at?
Why don’t we do what brings joy and rejoicing to the Father?
When someone sings, God may smile a little,
When someone teaches, God is pleased,
When someone drives a bus, the Lord smiles and maybe even raises His hand,
When someone greets people at the door,
When someone takes up the offering,
When someone gives an offering,
When someone lends a helping hand,
When someone goes the extra mile,
When someone is a friend,
God probably grins from ear to ear,
When someone reads their Bible,
When someone takes time to pray,
God is pleased,
God is honored,
But when someone bows their head and asks Jesus to save them,
There is REJOICING,
There is JOY,
God is excited,
God is full of rejoicing and joy,
The angels rejoice right along with Him,
Heaven is one happy place.
V. 7, “I say unto you, that likewise JOY shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.”
V. 10, “Likewise, I say unto you, there is JOY in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
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