externals have no power to rob us of our joy, they have a very
formidable power to interfere with the cultivation of that faith,
which is the essential condition of our joy. They cannot force us
away from Christ, but they may tempt us away. The sunshine did for
the traveller in the old fable what the storm could not do; and the
world may cause you to think so much about it that you forget your
Master. Its joys may compel Him to hide His face, and may so fill
your eyes that you do not care to look at His face; and so the sweet
bond may be broken, and the consciousness of a living, loving Jesus
may fade, and become filmy and unsubstantial, and occasional and
interrupted. Do you see to it that what the world cannot do by
violence and directly, it does not do by its harlot kisses and its
false promises, tempting you away from the paths where alone you can
meet your Master.

IV. Lastly, note that this life of joy, which our Lord here speaks
of, is made certain by the promise of a faithful Christ.

'Verily, verily, I say unto you,'--He was accustomed to use that
impressive and solemn formula, when He was about to speak words
beyond the reach of human wisdom to discover, or of prime importance
for men to accept and believe. He tells these men, who had nothing
but His bare word to rely upon, that the astonishing thing which He
is going to promise them will certainly come to pass. He would
encourage them to rest an unfaltering confidence, for the brief
parenthesis of sorrow, upon His faithful promise of joy. He puts His
own character, so to speak, in pawn. His words are precisely
equivalent in meaning to the solemn Old Testament words which are
represented as being the oath of God, 'As I live saith the Lord,'
'You may be as sure of this thing as you are of My divine existence,