Joy to the World: Real Joy Through God’s Salvation

“Joy to the World” is more than a Christmas soundtrack. It points to the deep, lasting joy that comes when our broken relationship with God is restored through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This message traces why our world is so empty of real joy—and how Christ brings forgiveness, freedom, and a secure future to anyone who trusts Him.

Joy to the World and the joy of Christ’s coming

Luke’s account of the life of the Lord Jesus begins and ends with joy.

At His birth, God sent a message from heaven to trembling shepherds outside Bethlehem:

“Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:10–11

At the end of Luke’s Gospel, after the Lord Jesus had died, risen, and appeared to His disciples, we read that He led them out as far as Bethany, lifted up His hands and blessed them, and was taken up into heaven. They worshiped Him and “returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God.”Luke 24:50–53

Only God is to be worshiped, yet these Jewish disciples—who had been taught that truth from childhood—worshiped the Lord Jesus without hesitation. They understood who He really is: God the Son, the divine Saviour.

The Christmas carol “Joy to the World” fits that theme of joy. It is one of the most beloved carols we sing, written by Isaac Watts (words) and Lowell Mason (music). Handel’s Messiah may even have influenced it. Interestingly, Watts did not write it as a Christmas carol or specifically about Christ’s first coming. He based it on the latter half of Psalm 98, which looks ahead to the Lord coming to reign and to “judge the world with righteousness.”Psalm 98:4, 9

“Joy to the World” is really about Christ’s second coming and kingdom, but we rightly connect it to His first coming as well, because true joy only begins when the Savior enters a life.

We live in a world that has plenty of fun and moments of happiness, but very little real joy. Happiness depends on happenings—favourable circumstances. Joy is deeper. It can withstand burdens and bereavements that sweep happiness away. One reason many people love the Christmas season is that, even faintly, it reminds us of hope, generosity, and relationships—things that matter more than possessions.

And the greatest relationship of all—the one for which we were created—is a relationship with God Himself.

God does not need us. He has no lack, no emptiness, no deficiency. But He made us in such a way that we cannot know true peace, true joy, or even true life until we know Him through the Lord Jesus Christ.

What sin has done to us

Sin has destroyed our relationship with God. It has severed the link for which we were made and left a yawning emptiness inside.

Because of sin, we search endlessly for satisfaction, often in shallow relationships and constant noise. It could almost be said that we know everyone slightly and no one deeply. Social media and constant connection have given us more contacts, but not more peace. We build flimsy, fleeting ties with “faceless friends,” while the deepest need of the heart remains untouched.

The Bible records how this disaster began. In Genesis 3, Adam chose to rebel against God. In doing so, he dragged the whole human race into ruin. We now live, as Scripture describes it, “without Christ… having no hope and without God in the world.”Ephesians 2:12

There is a whole part of our being—the most important part—that senses something is wrong, something is missing. Blaise Pascal described it as a “God-shaped vacuum” in the human heart. God does not need us, but we are lost without Him.

We try to fill that God-shaped emptiness with everything imaginable:

• Some try sin and pleasure.

• Some try religion and self-effort.

• Some try success, money, and achievement.

But until a person is reconciled to God, joy and peace remain elusive, no matter what substitute they chase.

Religion cannot give new birth

The Gospel of John gives us two powerful case studies side by side.

In John 3, we meet Nicodemus—a moral, religious, respected man, a teacher of Israel. He had religion, reputation, and Bible knowledge, but he did not have peace or eternal life. His question to the Lord Jesus was “How?” How could the new birth that Christ described possibly happen?

The Lord told him:

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus had assumed that his first birth—as a Jew—and his devotion to religion guaranteed him a place in God’s kingdom. Christ showed him that it is not the first, natural birth that matters, but the second birth—a spiritual birth from above.

Sin is like lethal venom at work in every heart. Religion cannot remove it. Church attendance cannot cure it. Nicodemus needed something he did not yet have—new life from God, received by believing in the Saviour.

Later, during a great religious feast, the Lord Jesus cried out:

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink.”(John 7:37)

He knew that religious ritual could not satisfy the deep thirst of the human soul. Whatever your religious devotion or personal discipline may be, it cannot meet the longings of your heart apart from knowing God through Christ.

The experience of John Wesley illustrates this. He went as a missionary to Georgia with the declared purpose of converting the Indigenous people, yet he himself was not saved.

He had something that could not stand up to real life and real death. Nicodemus, Wesley, and countless others have discovered that religion without Christ leaves a person still needing to be born again.

If such a devoted, knowledgeable man as Nicodemus needed the new birth, then so do you and I. The question is not, “Are you religious?” but, “Have you been born again? Do you have everlasting life right now?”

Sin cannot satisfy the heart

In John 4, we meet a very different person: a Samaritan woman with a painful past and unsatisfied longings. If Nicodemus shows us the powerlessness of religion to give peace, she shows us the inability of sin to give satisfaction.

She had looked for fulfillment in relationships. Her history was stained with guilt. Guilt is like an alarm system, telling us that all is not right. We live in a world that has learned to “pull the batteries out” of that alarm—explaining away or drowning out guilt—but it does not remove reality.

The Lord Jesus met this woman at a well. Sitting beside the water she came to draw, He spoke of “living water” that could quench the deepest thirst of her heart:

“Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst.” John 4:13–14

Her response was, “Sir, give me this water.” She had tried so many things; now, for the first time, she was faced with Someone who knew her completely, exposed her sin, and yet offered real, lasting satisfaction.

Derek Bok, former president of Harvard University, was once asked what the biggest problem facing students was. His one-word answer was “Emptiness.” In a world that pushes God out of the picture, emptiness is everywhere—behind success, beneath entertainment, underneath even good things.

The Lord Jesus offers more than religion, more than temporary relief. He offers life:

“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10

He came “to seek and to save that which was lost.”Luke 19:10

The emptiness you feel—no matter how you try to silence it—is rooted in a broken relationship with God. Christ came to restore what sin has destroyed.

What Christ has done for us

Since sin severed the relationship, Christ had to deal with sin in order to reconcile us to God. That is what He did at Calvary.

As Substitute

At the cross, the Lord Jesus took the sinner’s place. God dealt with Him as though He were dealing with us. In a limited, physical sense, He died instead of Barabbas, the guilty man who was released. But in a far greater sense, He died instead of us.

The picture of the Passover night in Egypt helps us understand this. A lamb died; its blood was put on the doorposts. Inside that home, the firstborn son lived because the lamb had died in his place.

Dinesh D’Souza, quoting Mexican author Carlos Fuentes, notes that when Christian missionaries first preached the Gospel to the Aztecs, they were stunned. In a world used to seeing men sacrificed to the gods, they had never heard of a God who sacrificed Himself for men.

Yet that is the heart of the Gospel:

“Christ died for the ungodly.”Romans 5:6

“Christ died for our sins.”1 Corinthians 15:3

It was “a guilty sinner’s cross,” yet He was crucified there. The sinless Son of God took the sinner’s place.

As Redeemer

As Redeemer, the Lord Jesus paid the price to deliver us from slavery to sin. He not only frees us, He secures that freedom forever. Scripture states simply:

“Christ has made us free.” Galatians 5:1

Those who trust Him are no longer under sin’s chains.

Think of Israel at the Red Sea. When God brought the waters crashing back over the Egyptian army, the people realized: their enemies could no longer bring them back into slavery.Exodus 14

So at Calvary, when the Redeemer shed His blood, He accomplished a mighty victory. He can bring to you tonight the freedom and joy that come from knowing your sins are forgiven and that you will never be brought into bondage again.

As Saviour

As Saviour, He secures eternal safety for everyone who believes. Atonement in Israel—seen especially on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)—gave them a limited, earthly picture of what Christ would do perfectly. His once-for-all sacrifice secures a place in God’s presence for all eternity.

The Lord Jesus entered our world by way of a manger and left it by way of a cross. At His birth, He lay in a feeding trough in Bethlehem. At His death, He hung on a criminal’s cross outside Jerusalem. He did this so that you could be forgiven, reconciled to God, and saved forever.

He Himself said:

“If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” John 8:36

The joy of God’s salvation

When a person trusts the Lord Jesus, the result is joy—real joy, not just a passing emotion. Luke, who wrote so much about joy, gives us multiple snapshots of this.

Mary could say:

“My spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.” Luke 1:47

If Mary needed a Saviour, then so do you and I.

The Lord Jesus told a parable about a shepherd who finds his one lost sheep—illustrating Himself as the Savior seeking lost sinners. He brings the sheep home and says, “Rejoice with me.”Luke 15:5–6

Joy is a distinctly Christian word because salvation brings joy wherever it goes.

• In Samaria, when the Gospel reached that city, “there was great joy in that city.”Acts 8:8

• An Ethiopian official heard the Gospel explained from Scripture, believed in Christ, and “went on his way rejoicing.”Acts 8:35–39

• The jailer at Philippi heard the message, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household,” believed along with his family, and “rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.”Acts 16:31, 34

Luke finishes his Gospel by telling us that the disciples, after seeing the risen, ascended Christ, “returned to Jerusalem with great joy.”Luke 24:52

Ira Sankey records that Prince Albert, the beloved husband of Queen Victoria, turned again and again in his final illness to the hymn “Rock of Ages.” He said, “If in this hour I only had my worldly honors and dignities to depend on, I should be poor indeed.”

When you come to die, your achievements, wealth, and position will not be enough. The only dependable foundation is Christ and His work on the cross.

The angels announced “good tidings of great joy” at His birth. Luke 2:10 That joy becomes personal when you turn from sin and trust Him as Savior. Then it is not only “Joy to the World,” but joy to your own heart—joy of forgiveness, joy of freedom, joy of a secure future with God.

The same Saviour who lay in the manger and hung on the cross now lives, saves, and brings real joy to all who believe.