Sharing the happiness of God, part 21, Definition; John 15:11.

Title: Sharing the happiness of God, part 21, Definition; John 15:11.

 

d. Happiness is not a material possession or circumstance but a state of the soul. You carry your happiness or your misery with you wherever you go.

 

Based on circumstances you can be a changing person, in other words you have no idea who you are. What is your foundation? Are you built upon a rock, or are you built upon sand.

 

Matt 16:18

And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it.

 

 “Peter” – Pe,troj[Petros] = a detached stone or boulder that is moveable. “rock” – pe,tra[petra] = a mass of rock that has a sure foundation, which is a reference to Christ.

 

Petra is a reference to Christ upon who is the sure foundation of the Church and each believer within her.

 

1 Cor 10:1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

 

1 Cor 10:2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea [identified with Moses by walking across the Red Sea];

 

1 Cor 10:3 and all ate the same spiritual food [manna];

 

1 Cor 10:4 and all drank the same spiritual drink [water from the rock], for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.

 

Without a foundation you are scared.

 

The Rock is not only your firm foundation, but also your unlimited source of food and water = Bible doctrine.

 

1 Cor 10:5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.

 

The Exodus generation was among the most miserable group of people in human history, as they were being set free from slavery by God.

 

These miserable people took their misery with them and they would have taken it into the Promised Land and thus destroying their national freedom, therefore God did not allow them to enter and instead allowed their children to enter.

 

The Exodus generation had a pseudo-happiness that was based on overt circumstances, which is not God’s happiness.

 

Ex 14:26 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen."

 

Ex 14:27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.

 

Ex 14:28 And the waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh's entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained.

 

Ex 14:29 But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

 

Ex 14:30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.

 

Ex 14:31 And when Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses.

 

Ex 15:1 Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and said,

"I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted;

The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea.

 

Ex 15:2 "The Lord is my strength and song,

And He has become my salvation;

This is my God, and I will praise Him;

My father's God, and I will extol Him.

 

Ex 15:22 Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.

 

Ex 15:23 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah.

 

Ex 15:24 So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?"

 

Ex 15:25 Then he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There He made for them a statute and regulation, and there He tested them.

 

Ex 15:26 And He said, "If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer."

 

Ex 15:27 Then they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters.

 

Why not stay in Elim? God’s will is for us to constantly press on to spiritual maturity as the exodus was to press on to the Promised Land.

 

We must keep moving. We must not rest on past victories. In the future there will be more adversities to overcome through God’s power. The believer never stands still. Either he is moving forward or backward in the spiritual life.

 

Ex 16:1 Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt.

 

Ex 16:2 And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

 

Ex 16:3 And the sons of Israel said to them, "Would that we had died by the Lord's hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."

 

Thirsty, hungry, waa, waa, waa, what happened to the great song about God is my strength? It’s one thing to sing a song, but it’s quite another to really know Who the song is about.

 

1 Cor 10:6 Now these things happened as examples for us, that we should not crave evil things, as they also craved.

 

1 Cor 10:7 And do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, " The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play."

 

This is the Golden Calf incident.

 

1 Cor 10:8 Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day [Canaanite idol worship].

 

1 Cor 10:9 Nor let us try the Lord [act in such a way so as to try the patience of God], as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents [rejecting God’s mannaprovision].

 

1 Cor 10:10 Nor grumble, as some of them did [rejecting God’s providence], and were destroyed by the destroyer [died in the desert].

 

The exodus rejected God’s authority [Golden Calf], they rejected God’s word [no Canaanite women], they rejected God’s logistical grace wanting more [God’s manna], and they died the is unto death.

 

Rejection of any one of these grace gifts of God will result in the rejection of all of them and severe divine discipline. Grumbling and complaining are the opposite of happiness.

 

1 Cor 10:11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

 

1 Cor 10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

 

 “thinks” – to form an opinion based on emotion rather than thought. “stands” – imperfect tense = the false opinion of a firm foundation has been going on for a while.

 

The participle “thinks” means to form an opinion, either good or bad, but in our context, this is the bad opinion based on emotion since the primary impetus for the exodus generation was lust and sin and human good and evil. They tested God, meaning that they tried His patience. After their first evil opinions they were not destroyed because God is patient. They viewed this as a free pass to inordinate lusts.

 

Eccl 8:11

Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil.

 

 “take heed” – ble,pw[blepo] = to see or to discern. Rather than emoting about your foundation, think in terms of real discernment and then determine its security.

 

From doctrine we can discern that we do stand, but there is only one foundation that we can stand upon.

 

1 Cor 3:11

For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

 

Real discernment will conclude that it is the Lord that is able to make me stand.

 

Rom 14:4

Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

 

Discerning a firm foundation based on Christ allows the believer to handle any adversity in life and avoiding murmuring and complaining as the exodus did.

 

1 Cor 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.

 

Endurance will become a wonderful support to the intense happiness of God in your life, Heb 12:2.

 

Heb 12:2

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 

Heb 12:2 [corrected translation]

be concentrating on Jesus, the Prince Ruler, even the completer of all doctrine, who instead of His present happiness endured the cross, having disregarded the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 

Rom 9:33

just as it is written, "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense [who pursue by works], And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed."

 

 

Luke 6:46  "And why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?

 

Luke 6:47 "Everyone who comes to Me, and hears My words, and acts upon them, I will show you whom he is like:

 

Luke 6:48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation upon the rock; and when a flood rose, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

 

Luke 6:49 "But the one who has heard, and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house upon the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great."

 

So if my foundation is the Rock, then what is my source of happiness?

 

Ex 17:6

Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.