Bible In A Year - Philippians

All right, well, we're going to begin again this morning. Good to have you again.

Be able to study in Sunday school time another book of the Bible. Before we do, let's go to the

Lord in prayer. Our Father, we're thankful once again that we have a new week before us, a new beginning of that week.

It's the Lord's Day, and we're grateful for the means of grace that you give us, and particularly the gathering together of the saints on the first day of the week and how precious and special it is, how privileged we are to be able to gather with those who have called upon the name of the

Lord, those whom you have saved, Lord, and with a desire to learn, with a hunger for your word,

Lord, with just a focus upon Christ and our desire to glorify Him, and if we would be able to learn this morning something that you would teach us from the book of Philippians, we would be grateful.

We ask that you remember us in this time and the whole day as we spend it together this morning and this coming evening worshiping.

We pray that we may bring you honor and glory. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, as I prayed, we're going to look at the book of Philippians this morning, so if you'd like to turn there, and I've got a sheet.

If you don't have a sheet, there's one over on the chair to your left. This is a book written by the

Apostle Paul to one of the churches which he, by God's grace, had established in Macedonia or an area which we would know in the world being the first church in a

European city. And the theme of this book, as you'll see at the top of the page, is

Christ, Jesus Christ, the source of joy, and Christ, the source of our strength.

And I put a couple of verses up there that are a couple of my favorites. In chapter 121, for to me,

Paul said, to live is Christ. To Paul, to live was not his ministry. It was not his friends.

It was not his academic pursuits. It was Christ. It was a person.

It was the God -man. It was his God and Savior, the Lord Jesus. And he said, to die is gain.

After all this life, of course, Paul, we know Paul had said that to be absent from the body is to be present with the

Lord. And he knew that he would be with Christ forever. And that was, I think, the theme, one of the themes of Paul's life, this great, great verse.

And then I put another one in there, rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice from chapter 4 and verse 4.

And we're going to spend more time in that because the theme of this book deals a lot, and Paul does deal a lot with the subject of joy.

And it's kind of particular or kind of unique because if you think about it, this is one of Paul's prison epistles, which means

Paul wrote this epistle, this letter, while he was in prison.

And that makes it even more special to me. I mean, it's easy to write a good letter, and it's easy to smile, and it's easy to rejoice, and it's easy to be glad when things are going well, when we have a job, when there is money in the checking account or the bank, when there is food in the house and things are well, the bills are caught up and everybody's in good health.

But when things are difficult, when days are trying, that is when we exhibit the grace of God, and this grace, particularly the grace of having joy in our lives.

This is a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians chapter 5, which we had looked at when we went through the book of Galatians.

This is something that the Spirit of God works in the child of God, but it is also something, as God is working on us, it is something that we ought to exhibit in our lives, and I'll touch on that more lately.

When it came to joy, the apostle Paul did not find joy in the jail.

He took it in with him. He took it in because it was part and fiber of his life.

It was his continual companion and friend. This epistle is a spiritual love letter to the church at Philippi.

You will notice if you read this book that Paul, it's personal to them because he uses the word

I often, and when he's writing to them, he expresses his love. He expresses his affection for them.

He cares for them because he knew that they cared for him because that is kind of like what is behind this letter.

He's going to send this letter to them to thank them for the gift that they gave to support his ministry in the gospel, and he just expresses his warm affection, his gratitude.

And again, it's written under hard circumstances while he's in prison, but it strikes the keynotes in this book of victory and joy.

The book is written about 61 AD to, of course, the

Philippians or the place known as Philippi. The city was first founded in Europe.

This was a city in Europe that was named after Philip of Macedonia who was the father of Alexander the

Great. Now, the church at Philippi was founded by the Apostle Paul in Europe, and it goes back to his second missionary journey.

We'll see that in Acts 16. I hope to take a look there in a little while where we see that the converts at the beginning, you remember, was

Lydia, the seller of purple, whose heart the Lord opened. It's interesting.

It says in Acts 16 that the Lord opened Lydia's heart so she could receive the word. The next thing you see is that she's getting baptized.

It doesn't say anything about her believing. It doesn't say anything about her repenting. It doesn't say anything about her trusting in Christ.

It is just inferred there when God opens someone's heart, when salvation visits, they do repent, they do believe, and they are baptized.

They begin that initial step of obedience, walking from the faith that God gives and the salvation that he brings to them, they begin to walk in obedience.

And the same true happens to someone else in that chapter, and we'll take a look there.

But I think that is a great statement when it comes to what salvation is. It is not man opening up his heart to the

Lord. It is not man taking the hand of God. It is not man doing anything. When it comes to salvation, when it comes to a spiritual work, it is always

God coming to man. It is God reaching down and plucking us up, as the psalmist said, out of a horrible pit and out of the miry clay and establishing, putting our feet upon a rock and establishing our going and our ways.

Philippians presents a testimony, just a great testimony of living a life that is focused on Christ.

Chapter 3 is very vital there when you see the testimony of the Apostle Paul where he pretty much discards rubbishes, throws out his past life and everything that he thought was important, and he counts it all rubbish, all of his achievements, all of his standing, humanly speaking, so that the most important thing for him to focus on, he says, is that he could win

Christ or that he could gain Christ and be found in Christ and to know Christ and to go on with Christ and to pursue

Christ. It is there in that chapter, and in this book, of course, he has this idea of being joyous no matter what the circumstances, no matter what comes our way.

Now, there are times when we are not going to feel like rejoicing. There are times when difficult losses, trials, burdens, suffering comes our way, but in the midst of all of that, even when we lose a friend, even when we lose a baby, even though we struggle with family members that are outside of Christ and it's very, very difficult and our hearts are broken, when we don't feel well physically, underneath it all, by the grace of God, we still are a people who rejoice.

I'm going to show you an exact example of that as we go on. But this book is about Christlikeness, it's godliness, it's this closeness to Christ, and I love in chapter 3, if you want to just take a quick look there, something to help you when it comes to the

Christian walk and Christian living. In chapter 3 and verse 13, the

Apostle Paul says, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, or he's basically saying there,

I have not arrived. I am still being worked on by God, and I am still maturing,

I am still learning, I am still going on in the faith. I haven't apprehended, but this one thing

I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth into those things which are before.

And he says, one of the things there that I think that happens, that hinders, that takes the wind out of the sail of many believers today is the baggage that we hold on to.

It's the past failures and the past sins and the past disappointments.

We hold on to those things, and we look at those things, and we remember those things, and they drag us down and they weigh us down.

And I'm not saying that we just totally disregard them or avoid them or don't even deal with them.

If we've sinned, we confess our sins, we repent. Repentance is once, and daily too, someone once told me.

It is every day where we're going to the Lord for forgiveness, to ask him to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

But if we look in the back and if we look in the past and all we concentrate on the past is how we have failed the

Lord or how our sins are so great, we are going to see nothing but disappointment and nothing but what will hinder us to go forward.

And what the Apostle Paul says is, you know, deal with those things, yes, but forget those things which are behind.

Learn from those things and go on from those things and press forward. And he has this athletic speech that he uses here, running this race and reaching forward or pressing toward the mark for the prize or for the gold of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Reaching forth with all that we have, pursuing Christlikeness is what we ought to have as a focus in our lives, but not to let the past drag us down.

And I hope that's a little bit of help that's not going to be a focus this morning, but one of my favorite verses, how the

Lord is merciful and he will forgive us when we fail. And the

Lord will and does give opportunities for those who have failed. I've told you this before,

I'll tell it again, maybe somebody who hasn't heard this, but one of my favorite verses in the book of Jonah, you remember

Jonah, the word of the Lord comes to him and he has to go preach to Nineveh and he refuses to go.

And he's going to get on the ship, go down to Tarsus, sleep at the bottom of the boat, the whole story tossed over and all of that, but he disobeys

God. And after he is spit out on the shore, he's alive and God has been merciful to spare him.

One of my favorite verses in that book is, the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.

God is a God of second and third and fourth opportunities.

His children he will not abandon and we will fail. God will remain faithful, we will be unfaithful and we will have things that we want to forget and we ought to forget.

And yet the Lord picks us up. The psalmist said, the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. He delights in his way, though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down for the

Lord upholds him with his hands. God is there always for us to help us, even when we have things that we're ashamed of.

Thank the Lord for his mercy and thank the Lord for his grace and we can forget those things and run the race, looking unto

Jesus as the writer of Hebrews said, the author and finisher of our faith and press forward in their pursuit of godliness and the pursuit of Christ likeness as we seek after the

Lord. Let me see, what else do I want to pick out on this page?

I think I'll read that a little bit later. Let me get into what

I wanted to deal with as far as, I mean, I hope you can read the sheet. If you do that, you'll get a really good overview of what this book is all about and the different nuggets and jewels that I've hopefully put there and gleaned from all of the different sources that I have on the paper where I've gotten these from.

Well, let me deal with, go back to the subject of joy. The apostle

Paul uses the word joy four times in this book and he uses the word rejoice nine times.

And let's take a look at some of those. In chapter 1, Paul says in verse 3,

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Isn't that a testimony that every, it's not the mention of joy, but isn't that a testimony that every

Christian ought to have? When somebody else thinks about you, all they can do is thank God for your life. Thank God for your influence upon them.

Maybe thank God for the testimony that you had before them. And two, does not this tell us that our lives are like an epistle?

They're like a letter read among men. People are watching us inside the church and outside the church.

And are we making a difference in the lives of people? Are we touching the lives of others?

Are we sacrificing ourselves? Are we truly loving them? And do we make a difference in a life so much so that when someone thinks about us, when we're not around them, they say,

I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. That was the testimony that the church of Philippi had for the apostle

Paul because he remembers their affection for him. And the way that they loved him and the ministry that he had, and they supported him and him being around them.

And he was just thankful to the Lord for them. But then he says in verse 4, Always in every prayer of mine for you all, making requests with joy.

And Paul seasoned or Paul peppered his prayer with joy.

And in his praying, he was rejoicing. And I think he's rejoicing as he thinks about them.

Like he said, he's thankful for them and he's remembering them. But you will notice that in chapters 1 and 2, almost every mention of joy deals with the apostle

Paul's life himself and how joy exhibited itself in his life. It's a personal testimony as we see these.

Notice the second example that I'd like to show you in this chapter.

When Paul was in prison, there are those that are preaching the gospel and maybe to the point where they're trying to bring affliction upon Paul and make it more difficult for him while he's in prison.

And notice in verse 16, he says, The one preached Christ of contention or strife, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds, but the other are out of love, preaching

Christ out of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. And then in verse 18, he says,

What then, notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, I therein do rejoice, and yea,

I will rejoice. And Paul says, I'm in prison, and other people are preaching the gospel in such a way, maybe saying stuff about the apostle

Paul, trying to cause problems and contention and strife, maybe forwarding their group's cause.

Maybe they have no true regard for religion, and it could be upsetting to the apostle Paul. The apostle

Paul basically looks at the gospel being preached. I'm glad for that, and I truly rejoice in that because it really doesn't depend upon the motive or the methodology or the means or the articulation or the eloquence of those that are preaching, whatever their desire is.

What's the power of God in the salvation? It is the gospel. And if the gospel is preached, I mean, there are false churches, and there are apostate churches in the

United States where the Bible is being read, and someone hears that scripture, and God uses the gospel to save people.

Now, they'll come out from that church, but it is not man's techniques.

It is not our gimmicks. It's not our methodology. It's the power of God. The gospel is.

It saves. It's the cross of Christ. And Paul says the gospel is being preached.

And even if it's to my hurt, even if it's going to do me harm, even if it's going to bring sorrow or affliction to me here in prison,

I'm glad. And you know what? Not only am I glad, I purpose to rejoice. You see how it's how,

I mean, we can say that, and I think the problem in the United States is, and the culture and the day in which we live, is that we want things to be well externally.

We want circumstances to be good so that we can be happy. And God has not called us to be happy.

He's called us to be holy. We know that. And yet in our culture, it's like give me,

I want to receive, I want to have that. And if I don't have it, I'm not happy. And we're going to see that has nothing to do with circumstances.

If it had to do with our circumstances, Paul is in the most miserable circumstances, being confined, lost his freedom, and here he is in prison.

But we see him over and over again saying, I rejoice. If it had to do with circumstances, he wouldn't be a happy camper, and he wouldn't be rejoicing, but he is.

And it's not something that is, it doesn't, it's something that is on the inside by God's grace, but it has to do, it's influenced by, it's in the sphere of something our joy exists.

And I'll hold you a little bit in suspense, and we'll get to that in a little while when we get to chapter four. What is it that is the foundation of joy?

What is it that is, that the sphere of our joy should exist within?

The Apostle Paul will admonish us there a little bit later. Look in chapter two.

Paul says, if there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the

Spirit, any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye may be like -minded, having the same love, being of one accord and of one mind.

And I believe what Paul is saying is he's rejoicing here, and he does rejoice in true

Christian fellowship. And he's asking them, and he's admonishing them to be a people that are like -minded, that are sharing in things in common, that have the same love, that have, they are in one accord, this unity, in this one -mindedness or this one -spiritedness.

And he says that brings him joy when he sees Christians that live together in fellowship.

That's why the only account in this book where Paul seems to deal with a problem in the church is in chapter four.

And in verse two where he says, I beseech Iodias and beseech Syntyche that ye be of the same mind in the

Lord. Notice it deals with the same thing. There's something going on, maybe something unreconciled between those two believers in the church.

And that's really the only negative part of the whole book. The whole rest of the book is admonition and encouragement and teaching.

And it is thankfulness and affection. I mean, I talked about affection earlier, back in chapter one.

I just need to read this because I just thought of it. Let's see if I can find it.

I was looking at it last night. Something about, yes, in chapter one, verse eight,

God is my record, or for God is my witness, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.

That's how they put it in the King James. He's in this Greek idea of this, you know, the inward part, this bowels of his affection and what's important to him.

He is saying that he longs after them. Do you have anybody long after you? You're away from, or do they say, that person's out of the way.

They weren't on vacation. They're not around, you know. I mean, I'm kind of being nasty, and we ought not to be that way as believers.

But do we ever act that way to where maybe somebody doesn't want to be around us? I believe that Christians ought to be a people who are delightful and winsome.

We don't always act that way, and we don't always think that way. Well, we ought to be nice to be around. It ought to be great to be around another believer because we encourage one another.

We do all the one another's, love one another, and bear one another's burdens and help each other, and we're kind to each other and affectionate and tender.

We don't do that all the time, and Paul says when he thought about them, he just so desired to be with them.

I mean, we had the home group Friday night, just a few of us over at the

Reddy's house, and it was so nice just to be able to bow our heads in prayer, knowing that we're all children of the living

God, saved by God's grace, being able to go to the throne of grace in this fellowship that we have together, so special, and shut away from all the world, and it's just something

I look forward to and just desire to be around other believers who have a passion for Christ and a love and a desire to seek and to serve

Him. Well, let me go on in the study of joy. I mean, I think we looked at how

Paul seasons his prayer with it. He rejoices in the gospel going forward. He rejoices in Christian fellowship.

Notice in chapter 2, in verse 17, he says, Yes, or yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith,

I joy and rejoice with you all, for the same cause also do you joy and rejoice with me.

And Paul says, laboring for the gospel ministry, laboring for other souls to not only be saved, but to be helped after they're saved, to be discipled, to be fed, to be watched over and cared for.

Paul says, I rejoice in the sacrifices for the cause of Christ. And sometimes we think, oh man, we need somebody to, when it's difficult and when there's sweat and when there's tears, and there will be when you minister for others and you give your life for other people, you will be misunderstood.

You will be labeled. You'll have evil return for good.

It will happen at times. Not all the time, but it will. It'll just come in.

Like I said once when I was playing football in Leicester, you'd get side blocked. You'd just get checked right off the line.

I mean, just taken right off your feet by what people say and the actions that they give. Paul says, the more

I love you, as he's ministering to them, the less I am loved. It's just one of those things that happens at times.

And Paul says, when I sacrifice and when I serve you for your faith so that you might be increased in your faith, so that you might go on, so that you might mature in the faith, and though suffering comes my way,

I'm going to self -sacrifice in joy. I'm going to be joyous for that. And I think more than anything, when you come down to it,

I'm going to really get to it in chapter 3 and 4 when the apostle deals with the subject of joy.

The whole reason is that we can joy is because of who Jesus Christ is to us and how it is that we have such a wonderful relationship with Christ, a relationship which is so unexpected and so undeserved because we're great sinners, but yet he's a great

Savior. And Paul says here, this whole idea of sacrificing, look at the rock and the hard place that Paul is caught in between back in chapter 1 when

Paul said in verse 21, For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor, yet what

I shall choose I want not. Now notice what he says in verse 23, For I am in a strait, or I'm squeezed in here between two things, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.

I mean, that's what he'd rather do. I mean, to leave, to die, to go on to glory, to be with Christ.

Nevertheless, look at his heart. He would love and knows that if he is absent from the body, as he said in 2

Corinthians, he'd be present with the Lord. And here he says,

But nevertheless, verse 24, to remain or abide in the flesh is more necessary or more needful for you or for your sakes.

That's what joy is all about. You've probably heard this. Sometimes you think some of these acronyms or whatever are very corny, but they're very good to remember things.

When it comes to joy, it's Jesus, J, others, O. And then Y is,

I mean, the U is you. Jesus, others, and then you. And then, yeah, it is

Y, yourself, yourself. I told Deb when I left the house, I said, man,

I got I'm getting some type of cold. I am so foggy. I'm going to just totally mess up. My tongue's going to get in front of my teeth.

I'm not going to be able to see what I'm saying and all that stuff. But, yeah, Jesus, others, and you.

That's what it's about. But the culture in which we live in is you, you first. That's the way you're happy.

That's the way you find true happiness. But that's only temporal happiness. I got a great car.

I got a great job. I got great friends. I have good health. I'm happy. But what happens when the car gets smashed up, when you get that awful cold or you end up in the hospital, when your friends forsake you, your body gets old because of age, and so on and so on.

You lose those things. But people put their focus in the wrong thing when it comes to, this is what

I want to receive or obtain my joy from. And it's the externals. It's the circumstances.

If things are going well, what Paul says in this book in chapter four, verses 11 to 12, he said,

I've learned. And it's not just something that comes just supernaturally. We get contentment.

But he says, I've learned that whatever state that I'm in, in that state they're in, to be content.

I'm happy and I'm content where God has put me and placed me.

And when it comes to circumstances, they're not going to always be good. But that won't squash joy.

That cannot rob us of joy. And it ought not to rob us of joy. Because our joy is to exist in a certain sphere.

And Gladman's waiting. He's smiling. He says, when is he going to get to that point? Well, we'll get there. What I wanted to do, though, let me see.

I think I'll stop as far as the mentions of joy. You can go in and see all the different mentions there. But let's just take a quick look back in the book of Acts to see where this whole ministry at Philippi came.

Hold your place in Philippians, if you'd like, and look in Acts with me, please. And I'm going to go a little bit further back just so that you can see that this was even before the

Apostle Paul came on the scene, that God intended and God's purpose when

God saves people is not only to bring them into a relationship with himself through his son,

Jesus Christ, to forgive them, to make them his children, to reconcile us,

Jesus, to reconcile us unto God, enemies, now friends with God. One of the things that God does when he saves a soul is he makes us glad.

He makes us a people who rejoice in God, a people who the spirit of God works in.

One of the fruit of the spirit is joy. And as I think of and I'll just describe it, joy, as I've looked at it, is this gladness.

It is a delightful sense of being alive, of being saved, of being changed, of having a new life, of being those who are overcomers through Christ, those who are eternally secure.

It is a gladness of soul. You see, it's inward. When a person is happy, they're happy because the circumstances are good.

And like I said before, everything is going good. But when it comes to gladness, it's an inward thing. It is a pleasure within the heart.

And I believe that the Apostle Paul was a happy man, as we're going to see. And it was a bright spot of his testimony.

And this epistle, as I said, is a joyous epistle showing how

Paul is joyful throughout his life, no matter what the circumstances. And I said back in the book of Acts, notice one of the first mentions where in chapter 2, we have the preaching of Peter at Pentecost.

And he tells them they need to repent and that this relationship and remission of sins only comes through Jesus Christ.

And in verse 40, chapter 2, verse 40, he says, And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying,

Save yourselves from this crooked, perverse, warped, or untoward generation.

Save yourselves. Notice what they did, verse 41. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized.

And the same day there were added unto them about 3 ,000 souls. And what they do is they continue in the apostles doctrine, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, and in prayer.

And notice one of the descriptions of them in verse 46. And they continually daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they did eat their meat with gladness or exuberance and singleness of heart.

Praising God and having favor with all the people. God doesn't save us.

God does not rescue us from an eternal damnation and separation from God and hell just to make us

Eeyores. Do you know what I mean by that? To make us Eeyores. Oh is me.

Nobody cares about me. Life is so difficult being a

Christian. I got to go to church again. I got to read my Bible again.

That's not, I mean, think about it. When God rescues us, it is a miracle.

It is a wonder of wonders. It is amazing love. How can it be that thou, my

God, shouldst die for me? In chapter 3, we have this guy who is impotent.

He's a lame man. He cannot walk on his feet. And the apostles speak to them, and they say,

We don't have any money to give you, but such as we have, we will give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ, verse 6 of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

And they took him by the right hand, verse 7, and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and his ankle bones received strength.

And he went home, and he just said, Woe is me. Notice the description.

And he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising

God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. There is an amazement, and it ought to be amazing to us.

Chapter 8, if you would, please. Philip is to preach the gospel.

And Philip's going to go to Samaria. Chapter 8, verse 4,

Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. Verse 5, Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached

Christ unto them. And the people, with one accord, gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.

It says in verse 7 what the miracles were. They were unclean spirits. Crying with a loud voice came out of those that were possessed.

And those that were taken with a palsy and were lame, they were healed. There was just this outward demonstration at the beginning of the preaching of the gospel in the book of Acts where wonderful things were being done.

And notice what it says. And there was great sorrow in the city. And there was great doldrum in the city.

And there was great mediocrity in Samaria. No, it says, and there was great joy in that city.

They had been redeemed. They had been delivered. And so it ought to be in the life of the child of God.

Exuberance and praise, even though we don't feel like it. Even when we're supposed to rejoice with those who rejoice, it says, weep with those who weep, but rejoice with those who rejoice.

Even when you're jealous or envious, and we ought not to be that, but I mean another brother or sister in Christ is promoted, blessed.

We didn't get the blessing. They did. Rejoice with those who rejoice. It's something that we ought to be doing constantly and daily as we're going to see when we go back in Philippians Chapter 4.

In the same book, the same chapter, Acts Chapter 8, Philip, God by the

Spirit, directs him to go speak to the Ethiopian eunuch. And you remember as he goes up in his chariot and he shares with him and explains to him as the eunuch is reading about Isaiah, out of the book of Isaiah, he asks

Philip, who is this man speaking about, about himself or somebody else? And at that place, Philip preached unto him

Jesus and explains what it meant in salvation.

Verse 36, they went on their way. They came to a certain water, and the eunuch said, See, here is water. What hinders me to be baptized?

And Philip says, If you have believed with all your heart, verse 37, you may, you may be baptized.

And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still.

They go both down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.

And then it says, And when they were come out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away

Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more. And he, the eunuch, went on his way, what, rejoicing.

God had saved him. God had opened up his understanding of the scriptures that he was reading, and he became a child of the living

God, rejoicing. Cheerful. A happiness of being just so well off.

He's glad. And I always have in this place in my Bible, and it always helps me to remember my good friend.

He was a glad man. Gladman. I'll leave it at that. Chapter 16, where we get about Philippi.

Chapter 16. You remember in this place here that Paul wanted to go to a certain area, and the

Spirit of God forbade him to go into Asia. It says in verse 6,

Acts 16 .6. Forbidden by the Holy Spirit to go into Asia. And then he has this vision in the nighttime.

A man of Macedonia prayed and says, Come over into Macedonia and help us.

You remember the hymn? We've heard the Macedonian call today.

Send the light. Send the light. That's where this comes from. Paul goes. This is

Europe. The gospel is first now going into Europe. And he goes by down, and he meets

Lydia, the seller of purple. Verse 14. She is converted. There's this young girl who is a soothsayer or a fortune teller.

Verse 16. She is converted. Then because of that, people stir up those that are in authority.

They take Paul. They take Silas and cast him into prison. Verse 23.

When they laid many stripes on them, beaten for Christ's sake, they cast them into the prison, charging the jailer to hold him safely.

Who, having received such a charge, the jailer thrust them into the inner prison and made their feet fasten the stocks.

And notice, here's where it comes from. Here's the whole idea.

The Apostle Paul has now lost his freedom. He's wanting to minister, wanting to help other people.

He's just preaching the gospel. I mean, he's serving the Lord, thrown into prison because of it.

And when he gets in prison, it's like the murmuring and the complaining begins, right?

How could God do this to me and Silas? We're his servants. I mean, we're the ones that are doing his bidding.

Paul, completely trusting and resting in the Lord's providence in anything, and God is sovereign, and he's submitting to whatever the

Lord does. Verse 25, at midnight, now, in the deepest prison, these places were not nice to be in.

No accommodations. We don't have heat and air conditioners and comfy feather beds and stuff in here.

At midnight, Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them.

What a testimony. We see it actually in live Technicolor here, even though, well, never mind.

It's his living testimony. This is the apostle Paul in prison, and he's praising

God. He is rejoicing. Of course, suddenly there's this earthquake, and the prisoners are loosed from their cells, and the keeper of the prison is going to kill himself because it looks as if if he loses the prisoners, then he's going to die, so he's going to take his own life.

And Paul cries and says, don't hurt yourself. In verse 29, he calls for a light, springs in, came in trembling.

This man comes and falls down before Paul and Silas, and he asks that great question in verse 30, sirs, what must

I do to be saved? And they said in verse 31, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved in thy house.

And when they spake unto him the word of the Lord and all that were in his house, verse 33, he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was baptized, he and all his straight way.

And you're wondering why I'm reading this, but hold on. Here it is, verse 34. And when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.

In the scriptures, when you find people are being saved by God, and they are believing, you will find that a continual friend and companion is rejoicing, is a gladness.

Among other things, yes, but there is this gladness. Romans 15, 13.

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the

Holy, through the working of the Holy Spirit. God gives us joy and gladness, this profound delight within our soul when he saves us.

And we see it in these examples here. And let me get you to the admonition before we lose all time here in Philippians chapter 4.

If we turn back there, we'll just look briefly before we close about the point of, and I got to answer

Gladman's question. Don't let me get off the hook here, Gladman. I'll get to that. Philippians 4. I mean,

Paul says it in chapter 3 and in verse 1. You love that chapter, that first verse, finally, brethren.

And he goes on with two more chapters. And when he's saying the word finally, they can't quite wrap it up.

But he says, finally, brethren, rejoice in the Lord. And that is important, that phrase there.

We see that come out. In chapter 4 and in verse 4, rejoice in the

Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Now I just answered the question.

What is the reason behind our rejoicing? And what is the sphere in which our rejoicing is to exist?

It is Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone. It is the Lord. It is because of who he is and how much he means to us and what he has done for our sake and on our behalf to marvelously save us.

Now, you can't rejoice in the Lord until you are first in the Lord. You must be a Christian. I mean, you can try to work it up, but it isn't going to happen.

You must be saved. You must repent of your sin and turn to the Lord Jesus and believe upon him like the

Philippian jailer did in order to have forgiveness of sins and to come into a right relationship with God.

The only way that you can come into a relationship with God the Father is through Jesus Christ his son. But once you are in Christ, as Paul said in chapter 3, verse 9, being in him, not with my own righteousness, which comes by the law, but that righteousness which comes through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.

Once you have received the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, then we are double commanded to rejoice.

This is not an option. Notice what it says in chapter 4, verse 4.

Paul didn't say, I suggest, I'll give you a little wiggle room here, you know.

He didn't conditionalize it. He didn't say, you know, when things are good, rejoice. But when they're not good, don't worry about it.

No, he says, rejoice in the Lord, and how often ought we to rejoice? Always.

And I think any time anything is said in the scriptures twice, there's this double command, rejoice in the Lord always, and I say again, rejoice.

Be exuberant. Be glad. Have this delight in your soul. We need to take heed.

It's for the glory of the Lord. It's for our obedience so that we can please the Lord and that we're doing what he says.

It's profitable for others. Do you notice that how the joy of others affected the apostle

Paul and the life that they have and the relationship that they have with Christ affected him?

And think about it. I mean, when we're winsome, when we're delightful, when we're rejoicing,

I mean, don't we have a bit more of an impact upon the world? I mean, Paul in jail rejoicing had an impact upon all the others because they heard him and they saw that testimony.

And it's going to take grace, but it is an effort on the part of the believer.

It is something that we are to do. It's not something we're waiting for some bolt of lightning, the joy bolt to hit us so that we'll rejoice.

It's something we constantly keep in our mind, just like working at contentment, just like working at trusting and believing in God and not doubting or distrusting the

Lord in anything that he does, resigning ourselves in submission to the Lord, not rebelling to his good hand toward us.

We are to be a people who rejoice in the Lord always. When it's difficult, when it's trying, when things are falling apart, when friends forsake us, when the billows of life roll over us, our confession is, blessed assurance,

Jesus is mine. Blessed assurance, the Lord is mine. The Lord is, you just think of some of the scriptures in the

Old Testament and throughout all scripture about the Lord being our portion.

I was thinking about just the priests in the Old Testament. They did not have any land. They didn't have any vineyards.

They didn't have any olive groves. They didn't have any buildings that they could call their own because the

Lord said, I am your portion. When it comes to the child of God, priests as we are today, being able to have this relationship and go into the presence of God at the throne of grace through the blood of Christ, the

Lord is our portion and we are to be a people who are particularly careful when it comes to daily reminding ourselves that we are in the

Lord, that He is our Savior, a great Savior who not only saves us, but He helps us and He loves us and He keeps us.

And look what He has done for us. Friday night, Jay read the verse out of Romans 8, talking about how if God gave us

His Son so that we could be reconciled unto God, we could become the children of God, how will

He not also in Christ also freely give us all things? And He does. Chapter 4, verse 19,

Paul says, My God shall supply all your need according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus. Anything we need, even when we give as they had given to the point of their want and their lack and they were needy,

Paul reminded them that God will supply the needs that they have.

In whatever state that we're in, God sees that state and God will take care of us and the

Lord will be on our side. Like the psalmist said, I will not fear what man can do unto me. We are a blessed people,

Christians. And we ought to be a people who don't go around as the world does.

I mean, can't you just tell when somebody is just not having a good day? Where did I hear it?

I think it was in the Anne of Green Gables. When someone's having a Jonah day, you know, it's just really bad.

I mean, you can see it all over their faces. And will we have them? Yes. We'll have those bad days and things will be difficult.

But as it says in the book of Nehemiah, let the joy of the Lord be your strength.

And God gives the victory and God gives us the encouragement as we turn away from the circumstance and we look to Jesus.

And we see as the songwriter said for a song that we used to sing in a church many, many years ago, it says, now none but Christ can satisfy.

Now another name for me is love and life and lasting joy when it comes to Christ.

When it comes to who our Savior is and what he does for us and what he will continue to do for us, it's lasting.

All other things that we could look to are fleeting and temporal. But Christ, the same yesterday and today forever, always on our behalf and on and for us.

If God is for us, who can be against us? And when we rejoice, remember, it's the sphere that joy exists.

And the reason for it is rejoice in the Lord, in Jesus Christ. Let's pray.

Father, thank you that you've reminded us once again through the truth of your word, of the standing, the position, the place that we have in Christ.

And we we are amazed. Lord, it is a wonder that you would visit us, that you would save us, that you would make us your people.

And we're grateful that we can come to a letter like this. The apostle wrote right off of his heart to those whom he loved, who had faithfully served in him and been affectionate toward him.

And they had a great fellowship together. And Paul could write this from prison and just dire circumstances and just encourage us and bring the commandment to us from you that we are to be a people who rejoice in you and always rejoice.

Help us to do this. Forgive us when we've played the sorrowful ones, the

Jonah Day ones, or the ones who've had the sour pusses. Help us, Lord God, to be greatly joyful and reminded of all that we have and are in Christ.

And we rejoice in him. And we thank you so much for this time. Please be with us as we continue to worship in Jesus' name.