Before I give out my text, I
just want to give a little introduction to it. I believe your pastor,
he felt very much what a difficult, perhaps, occasion we have today,
so mixed. But especially this afternoon
service, I am thankful the Lord gave me the text two weeks before
the baptising service that was here. And I felt it very remarkable
before even the baptisings, let alone those who have been taken
to have my text. And then what was even more remarkable
was that in your testimony, Lydia, the very text had been preached
from someone else and had been made a blessing to you. So the
text this afternoon is that text, and I hope that I'm not gonna
mar anything that you found precious before, but I feel that the Lord
took it really out of my hand and gave me the word. So you'll
find that in Philippians chapter four, And verse 4. Rejoice in the Lord always and
again I say rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always and
again I say rejoice. I want to come immediately to
three points for this afternoon. The first one is this, that to
rejoice should be the default position for a Christian. The second point is, Why? Why to rejoice is to be a position
that a Christian returns to. And then thirdly, times of rejoicing
that are set before us in the scriptures that maybe naturally
we wouldn't think would be a time or a place to rejoice. and yet the Lord states them
as that they are a time of rejoicing. So firstly, to rejoice should
be the default position of a Christian. Sometimes when we're reading
these passages like this or maybe in Thessalonians where we have
always rejoice or rejoice always, we would think, well, a Christian
is to go through life with never a sorrow, never a down, never
any trouble, always it will be upon this plane of rejoicing
over everything. But that is not what the scriptures
set forth. It sets forth the default position. Now, if we think of, say, a tree
that is growing up, nice straight tree, that's its default position. Along comes the wind and the
tree, it bends down like that. That's not its default position.
You take the wind away and up the tree is back again. We need
to remember that. I had a lesson in a similar way,
similar truth in the Word of God concerning strength. Now there's many words in the
scripture about receiving strength. Even the youth shall faint and
be weary, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength. Yes, renew their strength. So
when you get in Psalm 84, they shall go from strength to strength,
everyone appearing before God. I used to think, well, that was
getting stronger and stronger all the time. and yet a sermon
preached by Mr Ansbottom years ago completely changed how I
viewed that text. Some of you may have heard me
say before how that happened. I'd been preaching up at Nottingham
And morning and afternoon there, and I was driving home from there. So it was a long journey right
back to Cranbrook. And I'd had some two hours on
the road and I got to Luton just about 6.30. And I thought, I've
got no more strength. I'm going to go in. They're just
about to start the service, forgetting that it was a six o'clock service.
I thought it was 6.30. So I turned in and went into
that chapel just as Mr. Rathbottom gave out his text.
And his text was that. They should go from strength
to strength. And his first comment was, some
might think that this is getting stronger and stronger. But really,
in Scripture, it's set forth they're given strength, and they
use that strength up to have no strength left, and herein
use the strength again. Why had I turned into that chapel?
I got no more strength to drive the other hundred miles home.
You know I had strength to listen to that service. We went back
for fellowship afterwards, and still I had strength to get home.
And I've never forgotten that. And we read Psalm 107, didn't we? All the time through that,
O that men would praise the Lord. But what is happening through
that Psalm? The people of God are going down
into the depths with no help, no strength, nothing. Then they're
crying unto the Lord and he's bringing them up out of those
depths again and then back down into again. And this is patterned
right through. And I know that men would praise
the Lord. It is to be the position that
is returned to by the people of God. It is a position that
in the Feast of Israel, they will be exalted to praise the
Lord, and for His goodness, for the harvest, and all of those
feasts, they point to Calvary, they point to Pentecost, they
point to the pouring out of the Spirit, and the Church of God
is to rejoice. And our text, it says, rejoice
in the Lord always. We can rejoice in wrong things,
We can have a wrong spirit and be rejoicing in things that the
scripture condemns in ourselves and in our pride and in our own
works, but this is a rejoicing in the Lord. And so the default
position, the position that we come back to each time, and the
scripture is very evident that there is a departing from that
position. If we were to look at 1 Peter
chapter one and then verse six, we have, or if we go before that,
we get to the blessing that the people of God have, that they
are called and that they are blessed in the Lord to an inheritance
incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you. who are kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time, wherein ye greatly rejoice. Much joy, much gladness, much
praise in that. And then we have this, though
now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations. that the trial of your faith
be much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it
be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and
glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. So you see the default
position and the reason for it, but then you see a season, if
need be, where there is heaviness, where there is not the rejoicing.
There's a heavy heart, a sad heart. But that's for a season. And when that season is over,
then it's returning back to the rejoicing again. Some people
would think, well, to be a Christian, you must have a very long face. And if you've got a cup of water,
it's always half empty. It's never half full. And it's
always looking at everything that is doom and gloom and the
black side of things. And the way the message that
they give to unbelievers and to the church, it's a miserable
thing to be a Christian. there's such a weight upon them
all the time as if the clouds about to burst upon them and
there's such miserable people. I mean some people have a natural
disposition of that but what I'm specifically speaking of
those who may think that well actually this is godly, this
is how I'm showing to everyone I'm godly by being miserable
and downhearted and low and never praising the Lord, or if someone
else does, you'll always find something to pull them down and
to remind them, well, you shouldn't really be praising. The scriptures
are not like that. The default position is that
of rejoicing, but God does bring his dear children to times when
They can't rejoice, they're not rejoicing. The Lord said to his
disciples in John 16, and he says that, you now therefore
have sorrow. The world shall rejoice, but
ye have sorrow. But your sorrow shall be turned
into joy. I will see you again. Your heart
shall rejoice in your joy. No man taketh from you. And he
recognizes that. We're not to go through the world
of stoics and things. that we can be in sorrow, in
bereavement, in troubles, in trials, and it never makes a
difference. You think of Nehemiah. Nehemiah
had, he tells us in Nehemiah 2, the never before been sad
in the presence of the king. What a testimony that was. And
so the king noticed the time when he was. There was a reason,
because he'd heard the message of what had happened at Jerusalem.
The walls were fallen down, all of the rubbish, and it affected
him, and the king noticed it. If Nehemiah had always been sad
and filled with gloom and miserable, he wouldn't have noticed any
difference, but he did. And it shows us that Default
position what God's people usually are but under bad tidings sorrows
It does make a difference. They're not stuff. It's often
thing regarding the chastening of the Lord What would we be
as parents if we chastened a child? and the child said that didn't
hurt I don't matter you can put me in your room and I just play
games there and and they just made out that the chastening
wasn't touching them at all. It wouldn't be a good sign, would
it? And if the Lord withdraws himself from us, if he corrects
us, chastens us, deal with us, and we just say, don't feel that,
just keep going, we're just gonna rejoice still. The Lord will
say, well, I touched this in your life, I touched this, I
touched your health, I did all of these things, And you never
bow before it. You never acknowledge my hand. We are to acknowledge those things
that we're going through. And the reason for the rejoicing,
as we see later, is in the Lord. And that balances those things
that we are going through. You think of the psalmist in
Psalm 42 and 43. saying to himself, why art thou
cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God.
But he was down. He was low. But he knew that
wasn't going to be a continuing situation. He was going to be
lifted up. He would praise the Lord again,
maybe A ray of hope to some of you who feel maybe today so low,
so disheartened, so sad, and you think, shall this always
be like this? Shall I always be in this low place? Hope thou
in God, for I shall yet praise him. There shall be a returning
to it again. But this, dear, default position,
a position that the Lord has ordained his dear people who
have this Inheritance that is incorruptible and undefiled and
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for them, they rejoicing
in that, greatly rejoicing and glad in that, that is to be their
position that they return to through their lives again and
again. And there is a reason for it,
there's a reason why. they return back to it. But before
we pass on from this first point, may we just remind ourselves
that this is the character of the people of God. This is those
who know the Lord's redemption, his salvation, that they are
to be a people that rejoice in the Lord. And what he has done,
this is not reserved for heaven, this is here below. Here below,
we know that in heaven there's rejoicing over one sinner that
repenteth, and I hope it's so with us as a church. When we
find those that are brought to repentance, we rejoice. But remember,
the scriptures do say, rejoice with them that do rejoice, but
mourn with them that mourn. And there is a walking together
in those things while still recognizing we are a people that by the Lord's
grace and mercy do rejoice. I want to then look secondly
at why to rejoice is what a Christian will return to. And the first thing is this,
that the rejoicing is in the Lord. Our text, rejoice in the
Lord all way. And again I say, rejoice. The rejoicing is in the Lord. Who is the Lord? I am the Lord, I change not,
wherefore ye sons of Jacob, are not consumed. Jesus Christ, the
same yesterday, and today, and forever. He changes not, we change. And that is why the rejoicing
is always, because the Lord hasn't changed. And as the Lord gives
us faith to view that, to hold onto that, That will keep us and that will
be what we rejoice in. And how much of the scripture
reassurance to the people of God is that though they change,
he does not change. And they are to rejoice in that.
What if it was otherwise? What if it was otherwise? What
if God could change? What if he did? What if he could
change his words? You know, when we come to a gospel
day and we preach the gospel, we have 4,000 years of the history
of the church of God, of the promises of God. And that which
he promised in the Garden of Eden, he brought to pass. And
all the promises of God are yay and amen in Christ Jesus. And
we can look back, and some of you here, you can look back,
the Lord hasn't changed for you. Since the Lord began with you,
since he blessed you, since he helped you, he hasn't changed,
he is still the same. And that is a great course of
rejoicing and joy for the people of God. What he is, what he has
been, is what he will be for eternity, the same. God, I will see you again, not
someone else, but myself. And the one that was on earth
before he was crucified, the same as the one after. Behold,
my hands and my feet, it is I myself. They were terrified and affrighted.
They thought they'd seen the spirit, but he assured them that
it was this same Jesus. And that was the message. of
the angels when our Lord was taken up into heaven. This same
Jesus whom thou hast seen ascend into heaven shall come in like
manner. Yes, in the clouds with power
and great glory, but all the time it is the same Jesus. Sometimes we might have someone
here below and we know them as a friend and then years go by,
we meet them again. They've changed, they're different. Maybe the change is not for good
at all. You think, is that the same person
I knew years ago? I always remember when I was
at school, when I was a young child actually, in first school
I was over in Australia. And I moved, I suppose when I
was in year two, to another school. And so most of my primary school,
I was in another school, but I had a best friend in that first
school. And I always remembered him,
Ian Thow, his name was. I still remember it. When I got
to secondary school, the secondary school got input from lots of
other primary schools. I immediately thought, ah, I
wonder if my friend will be there. And he was. but he didn't want
to marry me, didn't remember me, never was friends with him
again. And I'm so disappointed. And I've had that happen a couple
of times, but the Lord will never be like that for his people. He'll always be the same. And
we think the rejoicing in the Lord is because what he does
for his people, does never change. He says of them that they are
chosen in him from the foundation of the world, that I have loved
thee with an everlasting love and therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. And everyone that is drawn to
Christ, everyone that is called and everyone that is quickened
knows that that did not happen just as something decided at
the time of calling, it was decided before that. Sometimes in life we can have
those things, and I felt it with this service. The Lord impressed
upon me this word, and I sat in the back of the chapel there
and I heard your testimony. I thought, well, I've got to
bring that word. And then all the things that
were happening. I think the Lord knew that. He knew I was to take
this service. He knew that I'd need a tax.
He gave me that tax. And these things, when you look
back on this, you know, a solemn case happened over in New Zealand
40 years ago when I was over there. And one of the families
that lived in the south of the North Island, they had their
daughter married to a chap in the north of that island. He was the elder of the church
there, and he suddenly felt impressed upon him. He would buy this house
near their house, near the church at Carterton in New Zealand.
And people said, well, why have you bought that? You don't need
a house. There's all sorts of thoughts
about who was to go in it, what it was for. Well, after he bought
the house, three weeks later, his daughter's husband was killed
in a drowning accident. and his daughter with the family
came back to that house. I remember how it so profoundly
affected me. The Lord knew three weeks before,
or much more before that, because it took the process of buying
the house, that that was the time appointed. That that widow
and her family needed to move back to her parents. Now we know
that everything is appointed from eternity. We know our birth
is, Our death is, the manner of it, everything. But sometimes
when it happens in a small compass like that and we see things actually
happening, then it becomes more real to us, more that the Lord
knew before. And it seems to be, you think,
well, for these last four weeks or six weeks and all that we've
been doing and all the plans we've been doing, the Lord has
known exactly what this is heading for and what's gonna happen.
and how humbling that is before the Lord. But the Lord doesn't
change. And when he then calls his people,
he has ordained their trials, their tribulations, their path,
parents, native place and time, all appointed were by him. And
those things the Lord will not change in. They are redeemed. The Lord suffered for them at
Calvary, shed his precious blood there. Particular redemption. I love that precious truth. It's so different than a general
redemption. To know that the Lord loved that
people. He knew that people when he suffered
for them. Their sins were laid upon him
and he bore their sins. Very, very personal. You read
in Numbers how personal that particular redemption of the
firstborn in Israel were with the Levites. One for one it was. I lay down my life, he says,
for the sheep. Other sheep I have which are
not of this fold, them also I must bring. Absolute certainty that
he should do this and how it should happen. with Cornelius
in his house, 10 years after Pentecost, and the angel sent,
and Peter being prepared. You see a time like that. Peter
has been prepared with a vision of the sheet let down from heaven. He doesn't know. about what's
happened in Cornelius's house, about the angel, about the messengers,
except when he has this vision, and the Lord says, that which
God hath cleansed, call not thou common and unclean. And then
he says, three men seek thee, go, doubting nothing I have sent
them. The Lord working at both ends
there. And we rejoice in that, that
which the Lord does. Nothing can be added to it, nothing
can be taken from it, and the Lord does it that men might fear
before him. And when we see this, and we
see it in redemption, that those for whom Christ died, they will
in their lifetime be called, and they will be kept, and they
will be preserved, and they will come to heaven at last. He shall
not have a vacant throne. He shall bring them there. And
these are the causes of redemption completely outside of us. We
are the subject of these blessings, but it is all in Christ and his
purposes. His purposes that ripen fast,
unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower. And so when we have our text
here, rejoice in the Lord always, where we always remember, it's
not just rejoice always. It's rejoice in the Lord. It
is in Him. And what He is to us, what he
has done for us and what he is doing for us and will do for
us. Always think of the Lord's Supper,
what a sacred ordinance that is the Lord has given for his
dear people. Now when we sit around the table
as a church, there's something that every one of us has from
the Lord at the same time, the same way. And that is that our
sins have been atoned for on Calvary at the same time. None could say, well, mine were
atoned for in this way and yours in another way, or one at this
time, one at another. It brings all at exactly that
time. when the Lord suffered at Calvary.
Remember that when you sit around the Lord's table as a church,
if there's anything that unites and binds you together, it is
to be redeemed in that same way. The children of Israel, they
all partook of the Passover. They all went through the Red
Sea. They were all redeemed in that same way, in that time. We think of what is different,
is the calling. Some of you younger, some older
called, some called in a gentle way, some more in a severe way,
some like Lydia, some like the Philippine Jailer. Our calling,
how we are brought to faith, very different experience. But
how and when we were redeemed, all the same. And that's a sacred
thing. It brings the church very much
as one together. It's a humbling thing together.
One cannot say, well, I had a much deeper experience than you. One
fears and say, I feel my experience has been very shallow. I haven't
been able to say much or give much evidence perhaps of it. But I believe it is a real call
of God. But when you come and there's
the cup and the broken body, then it's all in the Lord and
you're all one together, routined in the same way. And how the
Lord has chosen to lead his people, greater depths or not, he is
sovereign in that and what he has done for his people. But
that rejoicing is in the Lord. that we have been called. Why
me? Why was I made to hear his voice
and enter while his room, while millions make a wretched choice
and rather starve than come? And it is a wonder, it's a wonder
rejoicing to Christ back in our lives. I think of David, he says,
my cup runneth over. And you think of the cup of salvation.
Sometimes I almost imagine it with my life. And what I put
into this. The Lord's keeping in unregeneracy. And what the Lord has blessed
me with. And I think of the blessings
I've had. And you know, and I think those of you here would prove
this. And you think of Psalm 107. Where were they blessed?
It was when they'd been in the depths and when the Lord had
heard their cries. And I look back to the times
of blessing I've had. And you take away the trials,
the sorrows, the depths. There wouldn't have been no blessing.
There's been those trials first. And the Lord's turned the sorrow
into joy. Where sin is felt, the sin bearer
is seen. And where we are helpless and
we are nothing, then the Lord appears to help his dear people.
And those two sides, very often they come together in some of
the choicest, most sweetest blessings for the child of God. Why we
are to rejoice, why we are to return to rejoicing, because
of the Lord and because of what he has done. Another reason is
this, the Lord will never leave us in a low place. We read that in 1 Peter, heaviness
if need be, for a Caesar. And we have this through scripture,
the people of God in a low place, the Lord bring them up again.
When they went down into Egypt, their sorrows there. When in
Babylon, in there. When the Lord was crucified.
All the time, the after, the tour and the way to Emmaus, they're
not left in that low place. Remember that. Those of you who
may be in a low place now, he doesn't leave his people in that
low place. There will be a nevertheless
afterwards. Remember that in Hebrews regarding
chastening. No chastening for the present,
seemeth to be joyous but grievous, nevertheless afterward, it yieldeth
the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby. And that nevertheless afterward
is in so many aspects of our lives. And there is a reason
then, the reason is, in the Lord Jesus Christ, in God himself,
why those whom the Lord has chosen and redeemed and quickened and
is keeping, that they shall return back to that time of rejoicing
in his time and in his way. Sometimes it might be long, sometimes
it might be short. The Lord is sovereign in that.
And I believe sometimes even if it is a long time, perhaps
a heavy trial, you give those little trials or little glimpses
that uphold and strengthen the soul in the midst of it. Rejoice in the Lord always and
again I say rejoice. I want to look then thirdly at
the times of rejoicing and especially thinking of the again and looking
at those things in the scriptures. Rejoice in the Lord always and
again I say rejoice. Today we think of the harvest
and of rejoicing in that and of giving thanks to God for his
provision in that way. We may rightly rejoice in that,
but when we think of this and again rejoice, we come from one
reason of rejoicing to another reason of rejoicing. And sometimes
it might be quite different in the two different things. You
might say, how different it is? One is a providential thing.
and one is a spiritual thing. And yet it is, and again, rejoice. I think of the word, I think
it's in Peter, that having tasted that the Lord is gracious. And
some of those that the Lord is leading and teaching, before
they even know that they are the Lord's or have the assurance
and comfort of it, they taste that the Lord is gracious. Very
often it will be in providence, in things that the Lord does
for them. They just get a little taste of the goodness of the
Lord. It softens their hearts and they're
glad at it. And they see the Lord's hand
in it. They just don't take it for granted. I wonder how many
of those that had partaken of the loaves and the fishes. They
tasted. The Lord says, I have compassion
on the multitude. They have continued with me these
three days. They've taken nothing. They would
have been very glad of that. Some of them, the Lord reproved
them. They followed just for the loaves
and the fishes. I hope and believe there were
some of them that they followed because they did see the miracles.
because they realized that he was one that was able to give
them far more than earthly bread. And of course the teaching afterwards in John 6,
except you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of
Man, you have no life in you. There was a tasting of the Lord's
graciousness in providence and then as he comes to the deep
and precious truths of his sufferings and his death and that which
he was to do for his people. My flesh is meat indeed, my blood
is drink indeed. And it is a going from one to
the other. And again, I say rejoice. And how many of you here can
perhaps trace your rejoicing from one thing to another thing. And you trace it is all to the
Lord. You don't say, well, because
that was a spiritual blessing, that's the Lord. But because
this is a temporal blessing, that's not the Lord. But the
Lord is good to all. His tender mercies are over all
his works. He is the Savior of all men,
especially of them that believe. I often say this, but it's so
important that we realize this, because you could go into a hospital
ward where there's six people, and one of the Lord's people,
and they all come out of that hospital, and they're all healed,
and the others say, well, you say that you pray to your God
to heal you. and you thank him for it, but
we don't believe, and he's not our God, and we've still been
healed, and we've come out just the same. You've just got to
imagine God. He's just nothing. But the answer
is that their judgment, the Lord was saying to those other five,
you say, I had one of my children in the ward with you. You saw
them, they knew. You knew they asked for healing,
and I gave it them. And they thanked me for it. You
never asked, and I still healed you. And though I healed you,
you never gave thanks. What condemnation that would
be. There's not two forces. There's not one chance. There's
not one that just relies on the skill of the surgeon and another
needs the Lord's help as well. No. Who is he that saith, and
it cometh to pass when the Lord commandeth it not? For when he speaks to those on
Mars Hill, he said, for in him we live and move and have our
being. Everyone. To those that were
worshipping a altar to an unknown God, that true God, that God
in whom we breathe and move, that's who he set before them.
And it was in, you might say, our lives, our temporal things,
fast. It's a very sad thing when you
find those that are professed Christians and they're discounting
things to luck and chance. They're overlooking blessings
and helps that the Lord has given them. But it's a blessed thing
if we can go and again I say rejoice and it's going from the
harvest natural to the harvest spiritually to temporal blessings,
to spiritual blessings. You think when our Lord was on
earth, how many he healed, he raised from the dead. The miracles
that he performed, they were all, as it were, temporal things. It was raising people, it was
dealing with their bodies, but then he was dealing with their
souls, and he was going from the one to the other. And if
we know those two sides, and again, I say, rejoice. And so we have our Lord saying
in Matthew, when we have those that revile us and speak evil
against us, he's saying rejoice, for great is your reward in heaven,
for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you. The times
of rejoicing is like when the apostles had been brought before
the council when they had been forbidden even to preach in the
name of the Lord. Yet they went to their own company. They rejoiced that they were
counted worthy to suffer for his name's sake. And unless we
had the word of God, we would not think, well, here is a situation. Instead of feeling we're being
hard done by and feeling the wounds and feeling the spite
of man, to realize that we are partakers with him in his sufferings. Now we have in Peter, think it
not strange, concerning the strange trial that is to try you, as
though some strange thing happened unto you, the fiery trial that
is to try you. that rejoice inasmuch as ye are
partaker of Christ's sufferings, that when he shall appear, then
ye shall appear with him in glory. On their part he is evil spoken
of, but on your part he is glorified. You know, the Lord spoke those
words to me standing in front, when I was probably about 24,
standing in front of a group of apprentices, probably the
oldest one would have been 19, so not much age difference, So
after work, and I used to teach them how to read engineering
drawings. They'd got to the end of their
apprenticeship, and they'd just been used to getting a rough
casting from the foundry, and they could recognize on the drawing
what to do, and they just machined it up. But one day I gave one
of these chaps a drawing, I said, right, here's a drawing. There's
a sheet of steel. There's an oxyacetylene set.
There is the welder. Go for it and build this thing.
And they hadn't got a clue. So I had to teach them. But you
know, they used to bait me. They used to write phone numbers
on a piece of paper and say, that's the phone number of God.
And really, It was really hard to teach them. I used to go home
and thought, Lord, if they do that next time, I'm not going
to spend my spare time and do it anymore. The next time, they'd
be as good as anything. So I'd say, do it another time.
And this particular time, they were carrying on at me, and I
was standing in front of the whiteboard. And the Lord rocked
in that way, because I felt I was their teacher. I was responsible.
I was a cause of all the things that they were saying. is evil spoken of, on your part
is glorified. And it's a precious word. And
we walk through these things, and we realize the Lord knows. And you never forget that, and
you rejoice in what the Lord knows of us. You think of Psalm
139. And our dear psalmist, he had that realization the Lord
knew him from when he was formed in the womb. My dear wife likes
that one. You know, she was born with a
hole in the heart. And that the Lord knows right through our
life. You have it with those who are
premature, whatever it is. And the Lord knows. And wherever
we go in the world, the Lord knows. And we rejoice in that. Some would think it is something
to be frightened of or a terrible thing that the Lord is seeing
us and watching us so much. But when we know him and when
we rejoice in him, then it is a great comfort and a joy to
us that he knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me,
he shall bring me forth as gold. He shall do it. He shall do it. Many times in our lives, we look
at ourselves, we think, however can there be reviving? However
can there be a change? However can things be any different? But the Lord knows how to do
it. He knows how to bring it about. And then you rejoice in
him. You rejoice in what he has done
and what he has accomplished and brought about. I believe
we'll have those times. And again, I say, rejoice. You may have thought this afternoon,
I'm never going to rejoice again. May the Lord speak this to you,
and again, I say rejoice. There will be a time, because
he does not change, and there is everything for the people
of God to look forward to, that new heavens and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness. To be with Christ, which is far
better, to have in heaven a far more enduring and eternal weight
of glory, that which does never fail and never pass away. May we be reminded that we are
to rejoice in the Lord, to not forget what the scriptures say
in this. I felt coming along to be quite
searched with this. How much do I really, it is searching,
isn't it? How much do we really rejoice
in the Lord? Do we, as it were, bounce back
from those dark and dismal times to join the Lord, or do we hug
those times and we hold back and we're not longing to again
be with the Lord? It said of the disciples, then
were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. And when we
have a glimpse of him, and then to rejoice in him. Maybe something
that is, it flows out from this afternoon. Those of you who are
the Lord, those who know the Lord, maybe be renewed in this,
day by day, that this be our character, this be how we go
through our lives, that we are characteristically those that
desire to rejoice in the Lord, in our Saviour, in our Redeemer. May the Lord add his blessing.