Two of the major driving themes in your ministry, Pastor John, are of course God's sovereignty and the centrality of joy in God. And in the last podcast that was broadcast on Friday, episode 207, we talked about the joy of Calvinism and God's joy as the foundation of our own joy.

You have a second half explanation here of how Christian hedonism and Calvinism connect. Explain that for us now. Tony, last time when you posed this question to me about sovereignty of God and joy, I said that God's joy in the fellowship of the Trinity is the foundation of His sovereignty and the overflow of His sovereignty as God creates the world to share in the joy that He has in Him.

So now the question becomes more specifically, in this world there is so much sorrow. We are disappointed again and again. We're discouraged, we suffer, we fail, we're assaulted, we get sick, we die. Day after day, it seems to me, I mean, I feel that the world is attacking our joy in God, our family's joy in God, our church's joy in God, our nation's joy.

We're constantly being assailed by things that threaten our joy. And the question is, how does God's sovereignty work to help us fight for joy in God? Because joy in God is the reason we're made, and it's what glorifies God. And the answer comes in Romans 8.28 and 8.32 and Genesis 50 verse 20.

When I read, "Rejoice always," in 1 Thessalonians 5.16, I say to God, "Oh God, do you mean always? Really?" And I think His answer is, "Yes, but not a superficial smiley face. Praise God anyhow, but rather with a 2 Corinthians 6.10 kind of answer, sorrowful yet always rejoicing." That there is a joy in God that is constant, even in the midst of sorrow, in loss.

And the reason that can be is because God in Christ has committed Himself to work everything together for our good, Romans 8.28. And Romans 8.32 shows that Christ, in His dying for us and rising, is the ground of Romans 8.28. "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, will He not with Him give us all things that He's..." Won't He work everything together for our good?

So because Christ came and identified with us, bore our suffering, bore our sin, rose from the dead, triumphant, took away our guilt, purchased for us all the promises of God, therefore God is no longer angry at us, but His sovereignty serves entirely His mercy toward us, and thus He is working all of our calamities and all of our good times together for our good.

So that written over all the experiences of our life is Genesis 50, verse 20. "They meant it for evil, the devil meant it for evil, my enemies meant it for evil, but God meant it for good." And I underline that word "meant it." God meant it for good. So this meaning of God, this intention of God, this purpose of God in all of our hardships is the unshakable foundation for my joy.

So if somebody were to ask me, "How does God's sovereignty right now, in the midst of your loss of your mom or your loss of your granddaughter or this crisis in your church or this cancer that you had to walk through a few years ago, in that very moment, how does the sovereignty of God help?" I would say, "God means this." Not just uses.

Lots of people say God's playing catch-up ball all the time. Like he finds things he didn't know were going to happen, he says, "Oh, well I can make something of that." No, no, no, no. That's not what the Bible says. God meant it for good. So this cancer is coming from him.

This loss is coming from him. This pain is coming from him. And he means it, he intends it, he purposes it for my good. And I know it's for my good because Christ bought it and he says that everything's going to work together for my good. And I was thinking about this, Tony, I just thought my mind situation here, now I'm 67, and this is what came to my mind.

The older I get, the more thankful I become for God's sovereign keeping power. Jude 1:24, a lot of people don't see this when they read it. It says, "Now to him who is able." Now that word "able," dunitas, means powerful. You could say sovereignly powerful, sovereignly able. God is sovereignly committed and able to keep John Piper from stumbling and to present him blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy.

So if you ask me then, "How does the sovereignty of God relate to my joy?" That verse says, "God's sovereign power and pledge to keep me from making shipwreck of my faith is intended to lead me now and in the end to great joy." And my love for my enemy or people I just have a hard time with flows out of this joy.

Loving people and worshiping God. Romans 12, "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, don't return evil for evil, don't avenge yourselves." Why? Because you can hand it over to God. Why? Because vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. In other words, God's sovereignty has such a control over this world that if I think my enemy is getting the upper hand and that's intending to make me angry or bitter or vengeful, I must remember, "No, no, no, no.

God is sovereign. Nobody gets away with anything. All accounts will be settled either on the cross if they repent or in hell if they don't." And so you can love them. You can love your enemy. You can feed him. If your enemy's hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him something to drink.

You'll heat burning coals on his head. Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. So the sovereignty of God maintains my joy, not just for me, Tony, but for my enemy and for the world and for my ministry in the world to keep on going when it looks like the world is just spinning out of control in sin and corruption.

It's not. God is sovereign. All accounts will be settled and that enables me then just to keep on loving. Yes. Thank you, Pastor John. And speaking of sovereignty and Calvinism, Pastor John has a new book coming out on November 11th, which is titled "Five Points Towards a Deeper Experience of God's Grace." Be watching for that.

And thank you for listening to this podcast. Email your questions to us at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org. You can visit us online at desiringgod.org to find thousands of books, articles, sermons, and other resources from John Piper, all free of charge. I'm your host, Tony Ranke. Thanks for listening. Page 1 of 8 Page 2 of 9 Page 3 of 10 Page 4 of 10 Page 5 of 10 Page 6 of 10