Well we'll continue our meditation
in the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians this evening and
we'll consider the first three verses in this third chapter. So verses 1 to 3 in this third
chapter of the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians and they read,
Finally my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same
things to you, to me, indeed is not grievous, But for you
it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the concision, for we are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. And so the Apostle addresses
the Philippians in these wonderful words where he says, finally
my brethren rejoice in the Lord." And of course in the previous
chapter, the end of the previous chapter, he'd been speaking about
his own condition, his own situation. As we know, he was in prison
in Rome, so it wasn't a time of great freedom, but nonetheless
he was able to write many letters on that situation. And then he
also tells them about Epaphroditus, who was so sad that he hadn't
been able to come and visit the Philippians because he'd been
ill, but had been now recovered and hoped soon to be able to
visit them. But having said all that, you
see, the Apostle then comes down and says these beautiful words.
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. What he really quite
clearly means here is that there were things which were against
him, against Epaphroditus, against the Church of God, but he was
able to say, nonetheless, finally, my brethren, and what was he
saying now? Rejoice in the Lord. Even though things appear to
be going the opposite direction, although things appear to be
difficult, Yet there was this wonderful truth and a wonderful
thing to ponder and consider, to rejoice in the Lord, the Lord
Jesus Christ, to rejoice in what He had done. And surely such
a rejoicing should not be limited to the direction to the Philippians
all those years ago, but surely to every member of the Church
of God, and surely it should be appropriate for us to rejoice. Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord, because we should consider what Jesus has done. And if we consider what He's
done, how much reason there is to rejoice in the Lord, not to
rejoice in ourselves, not to rejoice in what we've done, but
to rejoice in what Jesus has done. And when we think of what
he's done, remember who he was, the second person in the Trinity,
Almighty God, none less than that, the one who created the
heavens and the earth, the one who is in control of all things. the one who so willingly came
into this world for that one great and wonderful purpose,
to bring salvation unto all those who believe in his name. And so surely there is cause
to rejoice in that, isn't there? To think that the great God condescended
to do this, to save his people, from their sins. And what a blessing
for us tonight. And what a reason to rejoice
indeed, if we have the understanding that Jesus came into this world
to deliver us, to save us from all our sins, to take away all
our sins. And in order to do that, he had
to pay the price needful for that freedom. And that price
was his life. And that life that he gave was
evidenced by the blood he shed. The life is in the blood as we
read in Leviticus. And so here we have then this
great reason to rejoice in the Lord. And not only of course
the death of the Saviour, but also the resurrection of the
Saviour. and how very relevant that is
for us to rejoice in tonight because if Christ be not risen
then is our faith of no value it's dead but tonight we can
rejoice if we have received that God-given faith to believe that
Christ did rise from the dead a conqueror a glorious conqueror,
and how thankful we should be tonight for, therefore, the risen
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, risen to surely rejoice in. You see, Satan could not stop
Christ's rise from the dead. He may have thought he'd gained
the victory when Christ died, He didn't realise the power of
the resurrection. Rejoice in the Lord. And then
of course to think that he then of course not only rose from
the dead, but also he ascended into heaven after 40 days of
being seen by many people after his resurrection. He led his
disciples out to Bethany And there he was taken up into heaven. What a wonderful, wonderful fulfillment
of the promises of God. And what a wonderful testimony
we have recorded in the Word of God for our encouragement.
Rejoice in the Lord, to think that he is now in glory. And as we're told, he sits on
the throne, he sits on the throne on the right hand, of the Father,
and what does He do there? He intercedes for us as we pray
to our Father in Heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ intercedes
for us. He takes our prayers and He presents
them on our behalf to His Father. Rejoice in the Lord. Great reason, isn't there? for
us to rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ and then to also then
think that He is there but one day He will return onto this
earth in all His glory at the end of time and every eye shall
see Him. Every eye will think of that
you and I will witness that whatever state we're in whether we've
died on this earth or whether we're still on the earth when
He returns, yet every eye shall see Him. That vast multitude,
the millions of souls that have lived on the earth since the
beginning of creation, from Adam and Eve down to that time when
the Lord returns, every eye shall see Him. To the Church of God,
what a day that will be. What a wonderful day. What a
blessed day. What reason then to look forward
to such an occasion and observe this, rejoice in the Lord. And just to jump on to the end
of the third verse, because there we read, and rejoice in Christ
Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. And interestingly,
in the original, These two words, rejoice, are different. And in
the first place, it really means what it says, rejoice. And in
the second place, it really means to glory in Christ Jesus. Well, I hope tonight, as we gather
for prayer, we can glory in our blessed Lord Jesus Christ and
be very thankful that we have in Him a great and glorious mediator,
that high priest, who stands between us and our Father, in
garments dyed in blood. What a blessed truth it is. We
can understand, can't we, why the Apostle then wrote these
wonderful words to the Philippians, who he loved in the faith and
had a great desire towards them. And so he's able to come and
say, finally, my brethren, Rejoice in the Lord. He goes on, to write
the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for
you it is safe. He says to write the same things. See the apostle was very willing
to write and to preach the same gospel. He realized the value
of it, he realised the importance of it. You may remember, there
was the occasion when the people heard the Apostle preach and
they wanted him to come back on the next Sunday and preach
the same things. They were so gloriously true.
And so it is, to hear the same things, to hear the great truths
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, And you know, we won't get bored
with it, we won't get fed up with it, we won't say, well the
old preachers speak in the same things. You know, we'll rejoice
in it, because it's the truth of God, and it refers to our
eternal soul and our eternal salvation. And what does it do? It's food for our soul, we rejoice
in it, and we bless God. And so the Apostle writes here,
he says, to write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous. No, he was pleased to do it.
And he was glad to do it. And he wanted to do it. And he
goes on to say, but for you it is safe. It was a safe thing
to be found preaching the same grand and glorious truths. And if we really analyze the
Bible from Genesis to Revelation, what does it really tell us?
It tells us this, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. right from
beginning to end in prophecy and in the revealed statements
in the New Testament, glorious truths. And so he then warns
them and he says, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware
of the concision. Really he's speaking here against
those who speak against the truths of God. Those who by their words
and by their actions really declare, we don't want this man to reign
over us. We don't want to hear about him.
And you think of it in the day and age in which we live. We
live in a pretty dark age. We live in an age when every
effort is being made to shut down Christianity. Every effort is being made to
bring about the demise of Christianity and the Word of God. Every effort
is being made, and increasingly so, to stop the truth of God
being read, the truth of God being explained. It's a sad day,
isn't it? But it's true. And we are warned
in the Word of God that these times will come. We shouldn't
be surprised. And therefore we are to beware
of those who rise up against the Church of God and speak evil
things. And it would be a great blessing
if we are able to maintain our belief and maintain our stand
and speak honestly and freely, and not be afraid of what men
may do and say. It may be difficult, it has been
difficult, we only have to look at the media's news and we're
not sure of course how true that is, but nonetheless there are
many people today who lose their lives because they are testifying
of the truth of God's word. Well, beware of dogs, beware
of evil workers, beware of the circumcision. And then he speaks
about himself and the true believers. For we are the circumcision,
those who evidence themselves as being true believers, which
worship God in the Spirit. This is not just an outward performance. It is an outward performance. but it is also in the Spirit. We worship God from our heart. We don't just worship God from
our head. We worship God from our heart,
which worship God in the Spirit. What a blessing, therefore, it
is for us today. What a mercy that we are able
to worship God in the Spirit. Because you see, men and evildoers
cannot stop us doing that, because it's between our soul and our
God. What a blessing that is. And
so here we have this great statement, which worship God, worship God
in the Spirit. And may we be true worshippers,
not false worshippers, but real worshippers, who worship God
in the Spirit, and we come to these words again, and rejoice
in Christ Jesus. Let us never forget, we have
reason to rejoice, we have reason to praise God, we have reason
to thank God for the glorious Gospel and for the freedom that
we still have in our day and age, in the moment, in our country,
of being able to gather to worship the great and true God and rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in our flesh. Well, the Apostle
tells us, I can do all things, not because of his ability in
his flesh. I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth
me. And may that be the place of
our rejoicing. And may that be our confidence,
not in ourselves, but in Christ and to truly desire to honour
and glorify his great and glorious name. So as we go home tonight,
may we think upon these wonderful words, rejoice in the Lord and
rejoice in Christ Jesus. Amen.