Go with me if you would back
to Philippians chapter four. Philippians four, our message
tonight is verse four. Our text and our message is verse
four which says, Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord last year. Rejoice in the Lord this year.
Rejoice in the Lord yesterday. Rejoice in the Lord today. Rejoice
in the Lord there. Rejoice in the Lord here. Rejoice
in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord no matter
what, no matter when, at all times. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord always. And
again I say rejoice. Look at Philippians 3 verse 1. It says, finally, my brethren,
rejoice in the Lord. Finally, this is the last word,
rejoice in the Lord. First Thessalonians 5 says, rejoice
evermore. Evermore, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice. And here's the key. Here's the emphasis of it all.
In the Lord. in the Lord. Now, so you can
really understand where we're going with this. Let me tell
you what our text did not say this. This ought to go ahead
and set forth what the message is, OK? Our text did not say. Rejoice in this world. and all the sin that's in it. Our text did not say rejoice
in your flesh and all the sin that's in it. It didn't say rejoice
in what you see in yourself. It didn't say rejoice in what
you see out there. It didn't say rejoice in what
you see right here. It didn't say rejoice in your
circumstances. Even though we know that everything
was predetermined by God, everything. And all things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. It's kind of like a light bulb
comes on for me every time I hear certain things. And one of them
is everything is ordered by God. And all things work together
for good to them that love God. Aren't we constantly saying, why did this happen? Why, why
am I here? Why, why these circumstances? Whatever the case may be, this
text doesn't say rejoice in the circumstances that are bringing
you suffering. Sorrow. Trouble. Our Lord said in the world you're
going to have tribulation. I hate to say it, but let me
tell you what 2023 is going to bring. Tribulation. Our Lord said in the world, you
shall have tribulation. And then he said, be of good
cheer. But not in the tribulation. In
something else. All of our downfalls, we're going
to have downfalls, we do have downfalls, we have had downfalls. All of our backslidings of sin,
he didn't say rejoice in the sin, rejoice in the downfall,
rejoice in the fact that you slid backward. All of that, everything I just
mentioned right there pretty much describes the continual
life that we live in this flesh. The continual life that we live
in this flesh, the trials, The pain. And we know it, so things can
be going good for a moment and then something comes along and.
The heartache, the suffering. It's the constant state of our
flesh and it grieves us. It just grieves us. We get so
tired of it. We get so tired from it. We stay
so sickened by what we see. around us and what we see in
us. Isn't that the case? So sickened. And we think as we endure all
this and live in all this, we think, how can I rejoice in these
things? Always saying, rejoice, rejoice. Oh, happy day. He taught me how
to just rejoice all day, every day. How can I rejoice in all
of these things? At all times, always. Well, he
wasn't telling us to rejoice in all of these things, he said,
rejoice in the Lord. He said, rejoice in the Lord.
In First Thessalonians five, when he said rejoice evermore
from here on out. In everything, give thanks, rejoice,
rejoice. He wasn't telling us to rejoice
in the sorrow. He wasn't telling us to rejoice
in the sin, the trials, the sufferings. He wasn't telling us to rejoice
in those things. He was telling us to rejoice
through those things. Does that make sense? He was
telling us to rejoice through those things, through all of
those things, as we go through all of those things. Even though
we have to endure the sorrow of all of those things. Here's
our message tonight. In the midst of it all, we can
rejoice in the Lord. We can rejoice in the Lord. We may be going through the greatest
grief we've ever known in this world, but in the midst of that
grief, our comfort and our encouragement
and the goodness of God to us is in the fact that we can rejoice
in the Lord. We are each going to have moments
of time, and we forget about them when times are good. As soon as a trial comes, everything
is just fervent to us again, you know. Once the Lord delivers
us, these things are out of sight, out of mind. But we are going
to have moments. We're going to need to remember
this. No matter what we end up going through, no matter what
condition we're in, there is never a moment in time, nor will
there ever be a moment in time when we cannot rejoice in our
Lord. Never. There will never be a
moment when we cannot say to our soul, soul, Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice
in the Lord. There may be nothing left in
this world and in this life to rejoice in, but there will never
be a moment in time when we cannot say, so rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice
in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. Let me show you a glorious moment
in the scripture. I just, I just thank the Lord
for this. Turn with me over to first Samuel
chapter 30. First Samuel chapter 30. There was a moment in time where
David lived in a city called Ziklag. And it says in 1 Samuel
30 verse 1, it came to pass when David and his men were come to
Ziklag on the third day that the Amalekites had invaded the
south and Ziklag and smitten Ziklag and burned it with fire. And had taken the women captives
that were therein, they slew not any, either great or small,
but carried them away and went on their way. So David and his
men came to the city and behold, it was burned with fire and their
wives and their sons and their daughters were taken captives.
Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their
voice and wept until they had no more power to weep. And David's
two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam, the Jezreelites, and
Abigail, the wife of Nabal, the Carmelite. And David was greatly
distressed for the people, and that's the soldiers that were
with him, his men, The people spake of stoning him because
the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons
and for his daughters. Now watch this. But David encouraged
himself in the Lord, his God. Even though tears flowed out
of him till they just couldn't flow anymore. In that dark moment,
he called on the Lord his God. He looked to, he cried out to
the Lord his God. And just to remind you of how
this story goes and how it ends, he asked the Lord, what should
I do in this moment? He said, what should I do? And
the Lord said, strap your sword on and go get your families back.
I'm with you. And he did. It says, David recovered
all. He went and recovered all. Be
in a picture of Christ, our deliverer. But in that dark, fearful moment,
even though the whole world had turned against David, he still
had the ability to rejoice with tears flowing and to encourage
himself in the Lord, his God. That is just precious to me.
That is precious to me. In Psalm 42, David was so distressed,
you don't have to turn there, but he was so distressed he couldn't
even eat. He said, my tears have been my
meat day and night. He said, my soul is poured out
in me. But then he said, wait a minute.
He asked himself a question. He said, why art thou cast down? Oh, my soul. And why art thou
disquieted in me? Hope thou in God. For I shall
yet praise him for the help of his countenance. He said, I know
he's going to help me. He said, hang in there, David.
He's going to help you. We may need this word of comfort
today. I was thinking about this as
I was studying this, I never know I tried to be an Esther
tonight. I worked as much as I could Monday
and as much as I could Tuesday so we could be an Esther tonight.
It wasn't our message. And the Lord led me to this and
he just spoke to my heart and I felt so burdened to bring this
message. And I was thinking as I was writing
this out, somebody, I'm in a happy place and I think we're all in
a happy place. But I thought somebody may be
going through something I don't know about. And I'll tell you
this. Either somebody is going through
something right now and we're going to need and that person
is going to need this word of comfort right now or any of us
or all of us are about to be going through something in just
a moment and we're going to need this word of comfort. May God
recall this to our minds. Sincerely, may God recall this
to our minds. When that moment comes where
it seems like there's nothing left to rejoice in. Remember this. We can rejoice
in our Lord. Always. Always. And when that rejoicing is over. We can rejoice in him again.
As soon as our rejoicing ends, we can just start it all over
again. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice. Start it all over again. Now
why? Why can we rejoice in our Lord? What is it about our Lord that
causes us to rejoice? What specifically do we rejoice
in? Let me just show you a few scriptures,
all right? Turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter
2. 1 Samuel 2 verse 1 says, And Hannah prayed and said, My
heart rejoiceth in the Lord. Mine horn, that means my strength,
is exalted in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over mine
enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. I rejoice in thy
salvation. Just think about salvation. If you get in that place, that
dark place, if you get in a place like David was in, you just think
about salvation. You think about what it took.
Think about what our Lord had to endure. Think about the fact that he
knew what he was going to have to endure. And he willingly walked
straight into it for our sake. Think about the love that was
in him that compelled him to desire to do this for us. When sorrow gets a hold of us,
think about the sorrow that took hold of him. Honestly, when sorrow
gets a hold of you, when something comes, when you get that phone
call, when something happens and all of a sudden your sorrow
just plummets, you think about the sorrow that took hold of
him. He said sorrow even unto death. Think about the shame that They stripped him, they mutilated
him, they hung him up for everybody to see. Think about the humiliation of
him standing before his father. Taking the blame for all of our
sinful thoughts, all of our sinful actions, all of our sinful motives.
When that guilt gets to you. And that shame gets to you and
that humiliation gets to you. You think about what he stood
there enduring for you. Think about the father's displeasure
as he looked on his own son for our sake. So that he could then turn at
us and say, I'm well placed. Think about the bloodshed Christ
endured. Just think about the bloodshed.
Think about the grave. Think about the unimaginable
thought of him enduring the experience of being forsaken by God. Think about that. So we won't have to be. No sorrow
on this earth can overshadow the joy of salvation. that we have in Christ. We can
rejoice in His salvation. That's what we can rejoice in.
When we're struggling to find something, go to His salvation. Turn with me over to 1 Chronicles
16. We just spent last weekend here.
1 Chronicles 16. Verse 31, it says, let the heavens
be glad and let the earth rejoice and let men say among the nations,
the Lord reigneth. Again, I just said this, but
we find ourselves in situations and circumstances and we wonder,
why am I in this position? Why am I in this position? Why
did things happen to happen this way? Why? Why? Think about this. Why am I in this circumstance?
It's because my God put me here. Why am I in this position? It's
because my God put me here. He ordered all of these things
to be the way that they are, and he did it for my good and
for his glory. And if he wants things to be
different for me, he'll move me in his good time. And until
that moment comes, his grace will be sufficient. No matter what, at all times,
we can rejoice in his sovereignty. We can rejoice in his absolute
sovereignty. We can rejoice in his salvation. We can rejoice in his sovereignty.
Turn with me to 2 Chronicles 6. 2 Chronicles 6 verse 41 says, Now therefore, Arise, O Lord God, into thy resting
place, thou in the ark of thy strength. Let thy priests, O
Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in
goodness." Let them rejoice in goodness. Everything here is
so evil. And it's so wicked. Everything
there is so good. He is so good. Everything concerning
him is so good. Like I was told over and over
again, but it's good, right? I'd complain about something
and a wise old man would say, but it's good, right? I keep
on complaining. He'd say, yeah, but it's good,
right? Maybe that'll sink in one day.
It's good. It's good. You know, even our
suffering, even our sorrow, if it brings our good, especially
his glory, that's all it needs to bring is his glory. And it's
good. It's good. If things go the way he purposed
for them to go, that's good. That's how it's going to go.
And it's good. We can rejoice in that. It's
good. Look at Psalm 14 with me. Psalm 14 verse 7 says, Oh, that the salvation of Israel
were come out of Zion. Oh, that he would come right
now. Oh, that he would just come right
now. When the Lord bringeth back the
captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall
be glad. When that moment of our final
deliverance comes, we're going to rejoice. We're going to rejoice. Our Lord hath delivered us. And
he doth deliver us, but he is still yet going to deliver us. And just think about that moment.
That's coming soon. It's coming so soon. When the skies open up and our
Redeemer, our Deliverer, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior
descends and we see Him as He is in all of His glory and in
all of His beauty and gravity lets go of us and we're caught
up in the air, rise to meet Him in the air. And then we leave
all of this sin and all of this filth and all of this rot behind. And we're finally able to reach
forth. You know, the Apostle Paul said,
forgetting those things that are behind and reaching forth.
I'll tell you when that's really going to happen. That moment
when we rise to meet Him in the air, we're going to forget everything
that's behind. And we're going to reach forth
and lay hold of what's before us. Rest. Peace. Holiness. happiness, Christ,
all that's in Christ. When we get in that place where
we're just wallowing down here in the muck and the mire. Just
start dwelling on the facts that on the fact that our deliverance
is about to draw nigh. It's about to draw nigh. It's
almost over. It's almost over. Monday afternoon,
we went on a hike up Bays Mountain to the fire tower lookout thing. And it was supposed to be four
miles. And we crammed it into five and
a quarter. And I'm not used to hiking five
and a quarter miles. And when you get off that lakeside
trail, you get on the fire tower trail, it starts getting steep,
quick. You're going to the top of Bays
Mountain. I mean, it was steep to me, anyway. But we started
getting toward the top, and we passed some hikers who were coming
down. And I asked one of them, I said, how much farther is it?
He said, oh, it's about a quarter mile, just about a quarter mile.
You know, me walking a half mile an hour. So I go about two-tenths
of a mile, what I think is about two-tenths of a mile, and we
pass some more hikers. And by this point, I'm dragging,
you know, I'm the end huffing and puffing and dragging, and
I ask this other hiker, how about, you know, I've gone two-tenths,
and I said, about how much farther? He said, oh, it's only about
a half mile. I said, a half mile? Two-tenths
ago, somebody said it was a quarter mile. But I got near the top, and I
was ready to stop hiking. And I was dragging. I was tired. But this is what I kept telling
myself. It's almost over. Just keep going. It's almost
over. You're almost there. You're almost
there. Keep going. It's almost over. It's almost over. I cannot imagine
what our brethren have experienced when that moment comes where
they finally reach the top and it's really over. We talk about
it. We dream about it. And then we
go out and wallow in all the misery and sin. And then we come
back in here and we try to think about it. We try to get a hold
of it. It's almost over. It's almost over. Just keep going. When the weight of this world
is dragging you down to the place where you think you are crawling
at a snail's pace, just remember and rejoice in this. It's almost
over. You're almost there. Glory Himself
awaits you at the top. Keep going. Don't turn to these. Psalm 97 verse 12 says we can
rejoice in his holiness. There's so much sin down here.
Aren't you so glad sin will never be allowed to enter the gates
of heaven? Aren't you so thankful for that? We can rejoice in his
holiness. He is our holiness. When we're
so ashamed that there's no no holiness in this flesh, no, you
know, scripture talks about sanctification and all that. He's our holiness. In him, we stand before God Almighty,
perfectly holy and blameless. Can you imagine? That's something
to rejoice in. And that's an understatement. Isaiah 61 verse 10 says we can
rejoice in what he has robed us in. It says he hath clothed
us with the garments of salvation. It says he hath covered us with
the robe of his righteousness. Can we not rejoice in that? Joel
2 verse 21 says we can rejoice in the fact that the Lord will
do great things. And he will. That's all that
he does. Everything that the Lord does
is a great thing. The Lord told that Gadarene,
you go home and tell everybody how great things the Lord has
done for you. We can rejoice in that. He has. Here's the last one. Turn with
me to this one, OK? Go to Zechariah chapter 2. This
is the second to the last book in the Old Testament. You got
Malachi, just before that is Zechariah chapter 2. Zechariah 2 verse 10 says, Sing and rejoice, O daughter
of Zion, for lo, I come and I dwell in the midst of thee, saith the
Lord. There is never a moment in time
When we cannot rejoice over the fact that he is in the midst
of us. He's in the midst of us. He said
he was in the midst of his people. Therefore, he is in the midst
of his people. He said, I'll never leave you.
I will never forsake you. And in that, we can rejoice. We can sincerely rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice when
there's nothing else to rejoice in. Rejoice in the Lord. All right, stand together with
me. And let's turn to hymn number
143.