So as with all these books and
these epistles, they are written to the Church of God. written to believers. If you
have a look at chapter 1, verse 1, Paul opens by addressing his
epistle to all the saints in Jesus Christ. All the saints
in Jesus Christ. These are not open letters to
the world, as some would suggest. So why is this significant? because
the blessings and the promises and the love of God, the love
of God is reserved for his beloved church. Christ is the husband
and the church is his bride. Ephesians says husbands love
your wives as Christ loved the church and also loved the church
and gave himself for it. I love that hymn we sang. The
church is one foundation. From heaven he came and sought
her to be his holy bride. With his own blood he bought
her and for her life he died. So the love of the husband is
reserved for his bride alone and the love of the bride is
reserved for her husband. In chapter 1, verse 5 of our
book, Paul thanks God for their fellowship in the gospel. So when these scriptures speak
of peace, and they speak of confidence, and they speak of joy and rejoicing,
it's evident that these wonderful blessings are enjoyed only by
believers, only by believers. It is my hope that as we read
the word of God, that you will find yourself believing God. And if you find yourself believing
God, then this letter's written for you. I have only one verse of scripture
as my theme today, and that verse is found in chapter four, verse
four. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say rejoice. Rejoice. That word rejoice is
used ten times in the book of Philippians. I take it that the
Holy Spirit of God would have us know something of the enjoyment
and the comfort of what it is to rejoice in the Lord. Psalm
33 verse 1 says, Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous, for praise
is comely for the upright. Why do we rejoice? Because it
is comely for the upright. It is comely for the believer.
And it is comely for believers collectively as well. Philippians
3 verse 1, Paul says, My brethren, rejoice in the Lord. My brethren,
My brethren, when we hear the Gospel preached together, then
we can rejoice together, can't we? We rejoice in the Lord. The Gospel we proclaim is a message
of good news. It is a message of glad tidings,
and believers of all people in this world have reason to rejoice
more than any other. Reason to be happy. Reason to
have a happy disposition, if you like. We are optimistic about
our future. Why? Because God holds the future
in his hands, and he holds us in his hands, doesn't he? He's
promised to do us good. He's promised to do that. But
we are weak, aren't we? Scripture says still, rejoice
in the Lord always, and if we are honest, If we are honest,
in good times, that is a much easier proposition, isn't it? It's much easier to rejoice in
good times. But what about hard times? What
about when things just seem to get harder and harder and harder? When it's hard to be cheerful?
When it's hard to be happy? When it's hard to be optimistic? Still, the Lord exhorts us to
rejoice in the Lord always. That doesn't mean to go around
pretending to be happy. That's what false religion does.
The Lord is not fooled by pretense. The Lord Jesus you might remember
in speaking to the scribes and the Pharisees said of them, this
people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me
with their lips, that their heart is far from me. So man looks
at the outward, doesn't he? God looks at the heart. May the
Lord cause us, cause us to be honest before him, honest about
ourselves, to own our sin, to own our unrighteousness. The
weakness of this flesh is undeniable, isn't it? Our pride is often
at hand. We don't easily admit when we're
wrong. Just ask Beth. May the Lord cause
us to own our infirmities, to own our weaknesses, The water
contrast is our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ had no
infirmities and no faults whatsoever. No sin, no error, never frustrated
by anything, faultless in everything he ever did. He trusted his Father
perfectly all the days of his life, and yet we see the Lord
Jesus Christ take on humility Look with me at the instruction
we have in chapter 2, verse 5. It says, Let this mind be in you
which was also in Christ Jesus. So let this be our disposition.
It was the Lord's disposition. Who being in the form of God,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. The Lord Jesus
Christ is God. Hebrews says that he is the brightness
of his glory and the express image of his person. Verse 7,
but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of
a servant and was made in the likeness of men. and being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. The invincible God of
this universe took on the weakness of flesh in order to suffer. You remember when Paul pleaded
with the Lord to take away that thorn in his flesh. And what
did the Lord say to Paul? He said unto me, My grace is
sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. The exact polar opposite of what
this world would have you think. Strength made perfect in weakness. The strength of God was fully
displayed at the cross. Some people say that was a weak
time, that the God of this universe would die. It is the power of
God. Paul said, I am not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ because it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth. Or goes on in 2 Corinthians,
verse 12, 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Most
gladly, he says, most gladly therefore will I rather glory
in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities. He took comfort in them. in reproaches,
in necessities, he says, in persecutions, in distresses. Why? For Christ's
sake. For when I am weak, then I am
strong. We can't stand in our own strength.
We just can't do it. We have no strength in us. And
here is the beauty of and the comfort of being without strength. For when we were yet without
strength, the scripture says, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly. This is an issue for vain religion,
vain works religion. Vain works religion looks to
its own strength. And here in Philippians, in the
previous chapter in 3, we see that Paul goes to great length
to remind us of his former life as a Pharisee. You can see there
from verse 4, he states the case of why he might have righteousness
before the Lord. He says in verse 4, Though I
might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh
that he hath whereof, he might trust in the flesh, I more circumcised
the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,
and Hebrew of Hebrews, as touching the law of Pharisee, concerning
zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which
is in the law, blameless." What a résumé. What a résumé. But that man Saul had no reason
to rejoice in the Lord. He thought he had a shoe in,
into heaven. He thought it was a sure thing.
But he was rejoicing in himself. He was happy with his own righteousness. He was glorying in himself. He dotted every I and crossed
every T. And he thought salvation was
his own. And that's what Bain religion does. Works religion. Bain religion looks to its own
imaginary righteousness. And that's what it is. It's imaginary.
We don't have any righteousness of our own. We must have the
righteousness of another. vain religion. It is often subtle,
like a tiny piece of yeast that invades the whole batch. Beware
the yeast of the scribes and the Pharisees, the Lord said.
It's a tiny piece of the will of man mixed in with grace. And
what does it become? It becomes all works. We thank the Lord that salvation
is by grace alone. And after that meeting that Paul
had on the Damascus Road with the Lord. He declares what all his self-righteousness
amounts to, doesn't he? He says in Philippians 3 verse
7, that I may win Christ. Rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say rejoice. The fact of the matter is, the
truth is, that we're rejoicing in a person, aren't we? We're
rejoicing in a person. He is the object of our rejoicing. And if the Lord never changes,
then our reason to rejoice never changes. When I was standing
at the ocean just the other day, the ocean was quite large and
booting upon those rocks, but those rocks never moved an inch. No wonder the Lord spoke that
parable of the wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain
descended, the floods came, the winds blew and beat him on that
house and it fell not. Why? Because it was founded on
the rock. Our hope is in the rock. Our
confidence is in the rock. We rejoice in the rock. And if
all the floods and all the rains and all the winds blow against
us to move us, If our confidence is in the rock, if we are standing
on the rock, then we shall not be moved. Do we have happy circumstances
in our life? And I pray we all do, then rejoice
in the Lord. Do we have gloomy circumstances
in our life? I pray you don't. Rejoice in
the Lord. Why? Because we're not looking
at our circumstances. We're not looking at our feelings.
We're not looking at our achievements. We're not looking at our failures.
We're not looking at our flesh for anything. We have no confidence
in the flesh. We rejoice in the Lord for he
has done all things well. He must redeem His people. Every
single one of them must be saved. His reputation depends on it.
And He holds us, doesn't He? He holds us in the palm of His
hand. And no man can snatch us away. When we speak of the work of
the Lord, our Saviour, we always speak of it in terms of a completed
work. The completed work. It's not
something that the Lord is yet to accomplish. He has redeemed
his people, every single one. No one is left behind. And we of all people have genuine
reason to rejoice in that knowledge. The Lord said, peace I leave
with you. The Lord is the Prince of Peace. He told that raging sea, peace,
be still. And the Lord Jesus, as he walked
this earth, was at perfect peace at all times. You remember the
disciples were about to drown, weren't they? What was he doing? He was asleep in the boat. The
Lord said, Peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth,
give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. Why? Because thy God reigneth. That is our gospel. Thy God reigneth. I pray the Lord would teach us
to cast our cares on him. 1 Peter 5 says, cast all your care
upon him, for he careth for you. He cares for his people, doesn't
he? In a measure, and he cares for
them in a measure we all would find difficult to comprehend. Would you turn with me to Zior
41, thanks, 41. Brethren, these are reasons for
our rejoicing. Isaiah 41 verse 10. Fear not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy
God. I will strengthen thee, yea,
I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand
of my righteousness. Not your righteousness, my righteousness,
he says. And in verse 13 we see, we read,
for I the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand. saying unto thee,
fear not, I will help thee. This is the Lord speaking. This
is the Lord speaking to his beloved people. And he speaks to the
Son. But in speaking to his people,
he says in verse 14, fear not, thou worm, Jacob, and ye men
of Israel, I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel. So what is it? What is it to
rejoice in the Lord? To rejoice in the Lord, quite
simply, is to have all your confidence placed in Him, not yourself. To rejoice in the Lord is to
trust Him in everything and not yourself. We rejoice, don't we,
in the greatness of His person, as our all-sufficient substitute. We rejoice in the power of His
blood, which cleanses us from sin continually, and we rejoice
in His righteousness, which never fails, a righteousness which
is made yours by God's free grace. And we rejoice, don't we, in
His infinite love, for His love never fails. Do you ever find
yourself doubting the love of God? Look to the cross, look
to the cross. The scripture says, greater love
hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Angus has been so wonderfully
walking us through the scriptures week by week, month by month
and year by year, expounding the scriptures, speaking to us
and revealing Christ to us from this book. And I trust you as
you go away each week after hearing that you are going away rejoicing. Brethren, what we have here is
a treasure beyond all measure. The Lord told that parable of
himself, didn't he, in Matthew 13, again, the kingdom is like
unto a treasure hidden afield. The man, when he found the treasure,
he hid it, and for the joy he goeth and selleth all that he
had and buyeth that field. Likewise, that man who found
the pearl of great price, he went and sold all he had and
bought it. And to the believer, the Lord
is the most valuable possession in this world. We count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord. He humbled himself, didn't he?
The Lord Jesus humbled himself and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. He was delivered, delivered by
the determinate counsel and full knowledge of God, and by wicked
hands he was crucified and slain. And yet there was never anything
accidental about the death of the Son of God. There was never
anything unforeseen. God never acted and never does
act without purpose. His purpose is always fulfilled
and the Lord said, you might recall, the Lord said to Pilate,
to this end I was born. For this cause I came into the
world. This was the work of the sun.
He went to that cross and gave up his life. for his beloved
church, but God hath raised him up, the scripture says, having
loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should
be holden of it. Death has no power and had no
power over the Lord of glory. He holds the keys, doesn't he,
of death and Hades. This is the mighty one of Israel
who has saved us, he's saved his people. I wonder do we ever
take a moment just to contemplate that truth. He has saved us. Just to dwell on that, just for
a moment. He's saved us from sin. He's
saved us from our sin. He's saved us from ourselves.
Man left to himself is a self-destructing creature. And not only that,
he has saved us from himself. He has saved us from himself. Don't be fooled by the fairy
floss Jesus that is peddled by this world who wants to save
everybody but just can't manage to do it. The Lord Jesus spoke
of the reality of hell more than any other in the scriptures.
But all his precious beloved people are saved people. And that's why we love to read
that verse in 2 Timothy 1 verse 9. We often read it. He hath
saved us and called us with an holy calling, called with the
irresistible calling of God. When God calls his people, they
are called and they willingly respond. They attend to his call
and they attend to the preaching of the gospel. and they will
persevere to the end. Why? Because our God has called
them to a holy calling. He has called them with irresistible
power. He has called them with divine
authority. He has called them with sovereign
authority. Not according to their works,
there is no merit to be found in works, only demerit. Not according
to our works, there is no merit in filthy rags, and that's what
they are. He has saved us and called us
according to his own purpose and grace which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. What a reason for rejoicing. Don't we rejoice that the triune
God agreed upon this great work of redemption before the foundation
of the world, before the world began. It was agreed, it was
settled, it was done. And the Lord Jesus willingly went
to Calvary, He was made sin for us willingly and willingly shed
his blood. The justice of God was all satisfied
on behalf of his chosen people. And the Lord raised this Jesus
and showed him openly before a multitude of witnesses, attesting
to the fact that this Jesus is the Redeemer. So we rejoice in
the Lord, don't we? We rejoice in the Lord. We put
all our confidence In him, we all have cares and worries in
this life. We worry for ourselves, we worry
for our kids, we worry for our families and friends, we worry
about health, we worry about our future. This world is geared. to make us anxious and worried.
But what does the Lord say? Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to
prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that
where I am, there ye may be also." Perhaps I'll just finish with
reading from chapter 4, verse 6 of Philippians. Paul says,
Be careful for nothing. But in everything by prayer and
supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known unto
God. And the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things
are true, Whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are
just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report. What a great description
of the Lord Jesus Christ all those things are. If there be
any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things which ye have both
learned and received and heard and seen in me do, and the God
of peace shall be with you. There is a lovely, comforting
few verses in Revelation 21. No need to turn there, but you
can if you like. I'll just read them to you. Revelation
21.3 says, and I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold,
the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them,
and they shall be his God, and God himself shall be with them
and be their God. This is a time to come when we
may see the Lord face to face. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former
things are passed away. I just love that account of the
disciples fishing out in the sea. The Lord had risen. but not yet
ascended, and he'd been making appearances, and all night long
they'd fished out in the boat, and they'd caught nothing, of
course. And the Lord appeared on the beach. They didn't know
who it was at the time, and he sung out, and he said, have you
caught anything? No, they answered. And so he
told them to cast on the right side of the boat, and there you
will find. And they caught so many fish,
of course, that they were not able to draw the net into the
boat. And John recognized who it was that was standing on the
beach. He said, it's the Lord and Peter. When he heard it was the Lord,
he took off his garment, he was naked, took off his garment,
plunged into the sea, and swam to meet the Lord Jesus Christ.
We're standing on the tiptoes of faith, aren't we? Looking
for the Lord, eager for his appearing. We rejoice in that hope, the
hope of his appearing. But what will it be when we see
him face to face? May the Lord bless these things
to us and cause us to rejoice. Why don't we join together and
sing? hymn number 33 in our books. Come thou fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise. Thank you Norm and Ben. Okay, let's have a break and
enjoy a cup of tea or coffee. Thanks.