While desiring the Lord's help
and blessing this morning, I want to direct your thoughts to the
chapter we read in Paul's epistle to the Philippians in chapter
three, and reading the opening of verse one. Philippians chapter three and
verse one. Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord. Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord. Well, this morning we come to
the last Sunday of the year. And in coming to the end of a
year again, as we would every year, we reflect, we look back. And as we look back over 2020, We do so in a way that perhaps
we haven't before. There is a real sense of reflection
and of thoughtfulness as we look over all the events of the last
12 months and where we are today in comparison to where we were
this time last year. And as we look back over the
year, we must do so with much thankfulness. The Lord has been
good. the Lord has helped, the Lord
has blessed in many ways and we can as individuals and as
churches record the Lord's goodness over the year and trace out his
faithfulness and his grace. And so there have been many blessings
of the year but it also cannot be denied that the year has been
very hard. It's been a trying year, it's been A year where
many things have been strained. A year of worry, of concern. And of course, we've had to endure
lockdowns and isolations. We've had to cope with hard church
decisions, whether to open or to close. We've had, some have
had at least real concerns about employment and income. And of
course, many have had health concerns. about their own and
the health of their loved ones and sadly many have been bereaved
and at the Christmas time particularly feel that sense of loss and of
sadness as they look over the year 2020 and so yes much to
be thankful for but also many hard things have been endured
and many worrying times have been passed through and so it's
been a strange and eventful year So there may be a sense that
we come to the end of 2020 with that sense of a tiredness or
a sense of just relief to have come to the end of the year.
And that hope that next year might be better, might be easier. And so we may well not come to
the end of the year with this sense of rejoicing. The text says rejoice. the Lord. But we may have come to the end
of the year this Sunday morning we say well we find it very hard
to rejoice. Looking over all the events of
2020 what is there to rejoice in? How can we rejoice in death
and bereavement? How can we rejoice in sickness
and times in hospital? How can we rejoice that church
buildings have been closed can we rejoice that there has been
division in many places separation and hardship how can we rejoice
in 2020 and yet paul tells us rejoice rejoice but the real
key to this text is not that paul is telling us to have some
man-made sense of happiness well we should just have this this
sense of always being happy no the key is in the lord rejoice
in the lord that is the key to this text because those words
in the lord give us the reason to rejoice they give us a a constant
reason to rejoice so that it is not just when things are good
not just when things are going well, not just when things are
easy and we feel naturally happy. No, this gives us a constant
reason for rejoicing, even when things are hard and sad and the
burdens are heavy. Rejoice in the Lord. There's our reason for joy this
morning, if we can find another. Now rejoicing is one of the central
themes of this epistle to the Philippians. In fact, in this
short epistle, only four chapters in this epistle, the word rejoice
is mentioned nine times. Nine times in four chapters. Just to pick out a few examples
of this. apostle in the first chapter
and verse 18 what then are withstanding every
way whether in pretense or in truth christ is preached and
i therein do rejoice yea and will rejoice so the apostle here
is speaking of how he is rejoicing in the fact that the lord jesus
christ is being preached even sometimes with wrong motives
He's describing those who are preaching to add affliction to
his bonds, but his joy is that Christ is being preached. And
so he rejoices. The second chapter, he rejoices
from verse 16. We read that he's holding forth
the word of life that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I
have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. 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 ye joy and
rejoice with me it's rejoicing here that god is working he is
rejoicing with the church of philippi that god is working
he rejoices in the day of christ we come to the end of the epistle
in chapter 4 verse 10 he here rejoices in the lord greatly
at the last your care for me has flourished again wherein
ye were also careful but ye lacked opportunity. Here Paul is rejoicing
in the fact that the Philippian church has given him a gift and
sent to him to supply his need and so he rejoices and so you
can you see this theme runs throughout the epistle this theme of joy
and the apostle gives us many reasons to rejoice throughout
these chapters but The fact that one of the themes of Philippians
is joy or rejoicing is made all the more remarkable when we consider
the context of the epistle and consider this epistle in its
context because this epistle was written in prison. Paul the apostle is in Rome. He is probably at the stage he
is when we come to the end of the book of acts at the end of
the book of acts apostle paul is in rome and he's under a period
of house arrest effectively where he has a certain level of liberty
and freedom of seeing people and of people coming to him but
he is under a sense of arrest and so there would be guards
there in the home and so paul's life is very different from what
it has been his ministry has changed. The Apostle has spent
years traveling, he's been to many places around the Mediterranean,
he's seen many places, he's preached to many people, he has seen the
founding of churches, he has encouraged the Lord's people
and seen great blessing and so he's had this real favour of
going about as apostle in preaching and in seeing God's work. But
his ministry has changed, he is no longer traveling, he's
no longer visiting different churches, he is no longer openly
preaching, he has no longer got crowds around him or people around
him in the marketplace or he's no longer meeting in rooms for
people to gather to hear him speaking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. In fact now he is confined He is, we might say, in today's
language, in isolation. He's in this house. And now instead
of him giving, he is receiving. The Church of Philippi sent him
a gift by the hand of Hephaestus. And he is receiving rather than
giving. And now instead of preaching
to many people in different cities and towns, he's having what might
more seem a one-to-one ministry. speaking to people as they come
to his home on a on a more one-to-one basis but what is he doing what's
he doing in his house he's writing letters he's writing these epistles
to the churches he can't be with them but they're still on his
heart he still loves them and and and he is writing to them
and so he writes this letter to the philippians but you see
in all of the difficulty of his circumstances in prison, restricted,
facing his appeal to Caesar and we know ultimately of course
he'll be further imprisoned and we know he will die a martyr's
death in Rome. But Paul doesn't give up, he
doesn't think his work is done and it's time to sit back. He
doesn't blame God, doesn't accuse God that everything has gone
wrong or that this is not the right way. He doesn't see it
all as a disaster and that really he should be out on the roads
and he should be preaching in all the streets and cities. No
he's not cast down with despair to think well was it really worth
it or was it really my calling or was it really right. No he's
rejoicing. he's rejoicing in the prison.
The question is then, well, how is it? How is it possible in
the face of such adversity and difficulty to be rejoicing? And
again, coming back to as I said at the beginning, how is it possible
that as we look back on 2020 and as we look forward into the
unknown of 2021, how is it possible that we can rejoice? Is there
any reason to rejoice. While the apostle gives us reasons,
today I want to consider some of those reasons to rejoice. And in this chapter that we read
in Philippians chapter 3, he gives this reason to rejoice.
That is because of the gospel of God's grace. To rejoice in
the gospel of God's grace. There's a reason to rejoice,
isn't it? Whatever circumstances may be taking place in the world,
whatever events may be taking place in our life, wherever we
might find ourselves, there is reason to rejoice in the gospel
of God's grace. The apostle tells us, who are
those who are rejoicing then? who are those who can can hear
this word and and can do this thing finally brethren rejoice
in the lord who is he speaking of well verse three tells us
we are the concision we are the circumcision which worship god
in the spirit and rejoice in christ jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh are those who are rejoicing?
Well it's not those who just have a worldly man-focused sense
of joy. a sense of joy which just makes
you feel good for a little while and lifts you up in your emotions
and yet quickly fades away and changes with the change of time
and changes with the change of circumstance and how we might
feel that one day you're joyful and one day you're cast down
because things have changed. That's the world's joy, this
is a constant joy. Who are they that rejoice in
the Lord? Well firstly he describes them
Coming to the end of this verse three is those who have no confidence
in the flesh. They have no confidence in the
flesh. Now Paul tells us that once he
did, once he had confidence, though I might have confidence
in the flesh, and the other man thinketh he hath whereof he might
trust in the flesh, I more. circumcised the eighth day the
stock of israel the tribe of benjamin hebrew of the hebrews
is touching the law pharisee concerning zeal persecuting the
church touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless
this was saul of tarsus speaking really this is how he was before
his conversion and what was he well he's a pharisee pharisee now the pharisees we
read of in the gospels don't we jesus so often challenged
the pharisees and they were seen as the most religious people
of their day they were looked up to as the most holy the most
righteous most upright people of the day and the pharisees
actually the the sect of the pharisees had come out from what
we might consider to be a a good motive know when the people of
Israel came back from exile from Babylon they returned to Jerusalem
and through the work of Zerubbabel and Ezra and Nehemiah there was
that work in rebuilding and one of the works was not just the
rebuilding of the temple and the rebuilding of the walls but
was the rebuilding of the religious society and Ezra was particularly
involved in that wasn't he in the ministry in the expounding
of the word expounding of the law to the people and and out
of that ministry out of that desire for keeping the law and
doing what was right came the a network of meeting places and
they became known as synagogues and in those meeting places there
were those who would then expound the law to the people to know
how to follow the lord rightly well out of all of that comes
this sect called the pharisees And what they did in order to
ensure that the law was kept was that they added more and
more law. They, if you like, took the letter
of the law and spoke of how it could be practically worked out.
And so they said, well, the law says this, and so this is what
you must do as a result of the law, or what you must not do
as a result of that law. And so what they ended up doing
was adding regulation upon regulation on top of the law. They made
their own laws. so what happened in effect was
they added such a weight and such a responsibility on the
shoulders of the people that it was impossible to bear and
they added such a law that was man-made law not god's law and
that's what jesus challenges isn't it that's how he seeks
to bring the people back to the word of god not just the word
of the pharisees and of the scribes in a sense therefore they were
seen as the most religious people the most upright people they
wanted to live the most holy lives and this is paul this is
who he was and so you could say well he if anything paul might
have confidence in the flesh because he did so much good so
much law keeping but not just his position as a pharisee look
at his family He is of the stock of Israel. He's of the tribe
of Benjamin. He's a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He's the purest of breeding. There's no Gentile blood in him.
There's no outside influence upon him. He's the most qualified
to be in God's, amongst God's people. And not only that, but
he was active. didn't just say he was one of
God's people, he acted it out. He was so active that when he
saw this new group whom he believed to be heretical, those who followed
this Jesus of Nazareth, he persecuted them actively, concerning zeal,
persecuting church. He was so concerned for purity,
so concerned for law-keeping, that he would stamp out anything
that seemed to be heresy. And all of this really was done
out of a desire for righteousness, out of a desire to do things
right, to be holy, to be acceptable before God. But the apostle now comes to
the point where he says, but what would gain for me? I counted
loss for Christ. He comes to the point that he
says, when he writes to the Romans, that I know that in me, that
is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. In fact, he describes
it here. I do count them as dung. As dung. that I may win Christ. That's what he sees now, his
works and his zeal and his supposed righteousness. It's just rubbish
because in fact all his self-made religion, all his self-confidence
drives him away from real religion, drives him away from Christ rather
than to him. And so Paul is amongst those
who now have no confidence in the flesh. And he knows that
the believers in Philippi are the same, they have no confidence
in the flesh. And so the question for us this
morning, do we have any confidence in the flesh? Are we resting
in the flesh? Or have we reached a point of
emptiness point of everything has fallen away we've lost it
all perhaps we've tried so hard and yet we find that nothing
really satisfies perhaps like Paul we we've sought to rest
on our heritage he rested on being of the stock of Israel
as a tribe of Benjamin a Hebrew of the Hebrews he's resting in
his heritage if we found ourselves saying well I will be saved I
will get to heaven because of my heritage, because of my background,
because of my family. But you see we have examples
don't we in the Bible of people who are godly parents and yet
were not godly people, who were taught in the right ways and
yet did not believe. You could think of Esau Brought
up in the same family as Jacob, but Jacob have I loved and Esau
have I hated. Esau couldn't rest on just being
a child of his parents, of Isaac and Rebecca.
Think of someone like Absalom, brought up in David's household,
the man after God's own heart, but did all his children follow
after the ways of God? No, they didn't. And so we have
sadly many examples in scripture that if they were resting on
their simply on their family background then they should be
saved but they weren't and so you cannot rest on just who you
are and your heritage well then you say well perhaps you've been
resting like Paul on your knowledge the pharisees knew the law far
better than anyone else They could explain the law better
than you and I can. They knew its intricacies. They
could probably quote it from beginning to end. They knew Exodus
and Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and they understood it in their
minds. They understood the law. They
have much knowledge, and yet the Pharisees, Jesus says, are
a den of vipers and whitewashed tombs, and he condemns them as
hypocrites. They weren't saved because of
their knowledge. so if you're resting on the fact that you
know the bible very well and that you can understand and explain
certain doctrines very clearly that won't in itself save you. Perhaps you're resting on your
works. The apostle did. He was so zealous he persecuted
this new sect known as those who follow Jesus of Nazareth.
He persecuted the church. Perhaps you say well I've done
so much and I'm so active and I'm so zealous I'm so committed. But really deep down you're resting
in that, you're thinking that God accepts you for your works. Remember Jesus said there will
be those on the last day who say Lord, Lord we prophesied
in thy name and we cast out devils in thy name and he will say depart
from me I never knew you. Your works do not save Perhaps you say, well, what about
my zeal? I've given up much. Paul was very zealous. The Saul
of Tarsus was very zealous. And you say, well, I'm very zealous
in the things I've done much. You know, Judas Iscariot gave
up much to follow Jesus. Judas Iscariot became identified
with a group of disciples who followed a despised and rejected
man. Judas Iscariot joined in that ministry, but was he saved?
No. So just being identified with
the people, just following along even though it may be costly
in a sense that in itself does not save. We need to come to
this point that we say I have no confidence in the flesh. Have you found that as much as
you rely on something other than the Lord Jesus Christ that you're
always coming up short, you're always missing the mark? Well Paul knew that. he knew
that all that he had all that he did all that his zeal and
all of his righteousness they were lost to him they were rubbish
they were done to him and yet he is one who rejoices he says
to them rejoice in the lord And so who are these? Why do they
have reason to rejoice then? There's no confidence in the
flesh. What are they rejoicing in? We are the circumcision which
worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus. Rejoice in the Lord, he says. I rejoice in Christ Jesus. Here is our place of true rejoicing. Here is our place of true joy.
Here is our reason to rejoice at the end of 2020. The Christian
rejoices in Christ Jesus, in the truth of the gospel of God's
grace. They don't rejoice in themselves.
They look outside of themselves and they rejoice in another.
in Christ Jesus. Well what reasons does the apostle
give us then that the believer might rejoice in Christ? What reasons does he give in
this wonderful this really beautiful chapter Philippians chapter 3? Well let us pick out some of
the reasons that he gives to rejoice in the Lord. He says
to us in verse 9 be found in him The whole sentence says from
verse 8, A doubtless I count all things but loss for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I've suffered
the loss of all things and to count them but done that I may
win Christ and be found in him. The Christian is in Christ. The Apostle, when he wrote to
the Ephesians, says, doesn't he, that we were in him or chosen
in him before the foundation of the world. According as he
has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. Those
who rejoice in the Lord, you see, were chosen in Christ before
the world was spoken into being. Before time began, before we
were even conceived and born into this world. they were chosen
in him and therefore they are so closely and so fully joined
and identified with the Lord Jesus Christ that all the blessings
that are in him flow to them. They enjoy all those benefits,
all those blessings of being united to Christ, be found in
him, not just by him, in him. Makes us think, doesn't it, of
Noah and the ark. You know how God called Noah
and told him to make that ark? As he said that he would destroy
the world by water and all would die and all flesh would die in
the waters. Noah would build that ark. But
Noah didn't just stand on the ark. Didn't just stand by the
ark. Didn't just admire his handiwork.
as the waters came and we went in the ark and God shut the door
behind him there was only safety in the ark and the ark was battered
and the ark was pushed around by the water and the waves and
the winds and so forth but there was safety in the ark he was
surrounded with the ark and in a sense that's what we have here
be found in him there is safety in Christ not just to know that
there is a Christ not just to observe from a distance but to
be in him and is to be united with him to be trusting in him
for safety there's a reason to rejoice isn't it they have no
confidence in the flesh but they are in Christ They could not
stand in the storm. If the rain fell on them in the
days of Noah, they'd be swept away. There's no confidence in
the flesh, but they were in the ark. They are in him, you see. Brethren, rejoice in the Lord. But another reason he gives us
to rejoice is not just that we're found in him, if we're a Christian,
but that we are righteous. in him. Verse nine be found in
him not having mine own righteousness which is of the law but that
which is through the faith of christ the righteousness which
is of god by faith. The apostle was proved doesn't
he that there was no righteousness in himself he was humanly speaking
outwardly blameless as far as the world saw him he knew that
in himself he was all unrighteousness, he was a sinner. So there is
no righteousness in us by nature, we are lost, we are simple, we have a simple nature, in that
sense there is no hope for us, there is no ability for us to
be righteous before God. And yet we have in comparison
Christ, for Christ is righteousness, he is perfection. You know the
Lord when he comes in those pivotal times in his life, the beginning
of his earthly ministry at the waters of baptism in the Jordan
River and the really the end of his earthly ministry which
is on the Mount of Transfiguration or very near to the end, both
of those times The voice of the father is heard. This is my beloved
son in whom I am well pleased. Why was he well pleased with
him? Because he was perfect. He was holy. He was spotless. He was entirely obedient to the
law of God. He was the only one who has ever
been righteous. And so the great blessing, as
the apostle says here, I do not have mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, that is in keeping the law in my own
ability, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness,
which is of God by faith, I receive righteousness. It is given to
me. It's described as a robe of righteousness,
isn't it? That covers the Lord's people
when it's received by faith, not by works. This is the most
beautiful text, isn't it, describing this wonderful exchange in the
second epistle to the Corinthians in chapter 5. He hath made him,
that is Christ, to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we
might be made the righteousness of God in him. And so here's a reason to rejoice,
rejoice in the Lord, through his imputed, that is, his given
righteousness. They stand as if they lived his
perfect and sinless life. Oh, rejoice in the Lord. Another reason he gives us that
we rejoice in the Lord for the believer is that they know him. They know him. that I may know
him, that I may know him. Now this is a wonderful thing,
isn't it? To know the Lord, not just to know about him, not just
to know that there is a Christ or there is a Messiah, but to
know him. Now to know him is to experience
him, is to know his blessings, It's to know him as that living
and reigning Lord. It's to know him as the God who
is answering our prayers and the God who is helping us and
the God who is loving us and a God who is with us and his
presence is around us. It's a God who comforts in our
times of sadness and a God who strengthens in our time of weakness. A God who holds us up in our
times of temptation. It's to know him. Do you know
him? Do you know him? Do you turn
to him as you would turn to a friend? Do you turn to him as you would
ask for help? Do you walk with him? Does he
walk with you? Do you find that sense of joy and delight in him
and consideration of him and of his word and of his truth
because you know him? Oh, the apostle knew him. once
he despised him, hated his ways and persecuted his church but
now he knows him. Rejoice in the Lord and flowing
from this knowledge he says that I may know him and the power
of his resurrection. They rejoice in resurrection
power. For the Christian of course there
is that hope of eternal life. That is that knowledge of resurrection. They will rise one day and be
with him in heaven. But they know resurrection power
even in this life too. They are born again of the Spirit
of God. They are given spiritual life.
They are made a new creature, the Apostle says. They are given
new desires and a new love for the Lord. They have that stony
heart taken out and they're given a heart of flesh. So they're a new creature. Are
you a new creature? Am I a new creature? Yes, we
have new desires. We have real longings. We have
a heartfelt love to the Lord. We're a new creature. You might
say this morning, well, I carry an awful lot of the old man about
with me. There still seems to be a lot of the old creature
still with me. Yes, I'm sure there is. Can you say I'm not
quite the same as I was? Not what I was, not what I would
be, but I'm not what I was. I'm a new creature. That's because
you've known resurrection power. You've known the new birth, the
life giving of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the blessing
of God. Rejoice in the Lord. He says they have fellowship
in his sufferings. And I say, well, what joy is
there in fellowship with sufferings? Surely this isn't a reason to
rejoice. Sufferings? Surely we only have joy in good
times, in happy times, in easy times. Well, of fellowship in his sufferings
in two ways. You can think of it in the sense of his sufferings,
there is joy in the meditation of his sufferings, considering
what he has been through and considering all that he endured
for us. There's also joy in his help through sufferings. Oh to
count it a privilege even to suffer for his sake and to know
his help. When you face opposition, when
you face temptation, you face trials, when you face doubts,
that somehow you're kept alive, somehow that spiritual life,
it doesn't completely fade away, it doesn't completely die, because
you cannot really let go, because he walks with us and draws closer
to us in sufferings. I often think, don't we, of those
three in the in the fires at Babylon, Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego, they're in sufferings, persecution, facing
death and yet in the fire was the most blessed place they'd
ever been because with them was one like the Son of God. They
have fellowship in their sufferings and the fellowship is in this,
he has suffered too, his sufferings. Then Another reason to rejoice. And at the end of this chapter,
for our conversation, verse 20, our conversation is in heaven
from whence we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this
word conversation could equally be translated citizenship, and
perhaps would be clearer if it was. Our citizenship is in heaven. Rejoice in the Lord. Why? the
trials of this world, in the difficulties of COVID-19, in
all the sadnesses of 2020, because the believer is a citizen of
heaven. This is not your home. This is
not your rest. You're in a foreign land. You're
holding a passport, but your passport isn't stamped with this
land. Your passport is from another
land. You're a citizen of a different
country. aliens in this world because you belong to heaven
you're a citizen there it's where your home is and there's a place
for you a mansion prepared for you and it's a certain home it's
a home where you must come to where you will come to when this
world has passed away because your citizenship is in heaven
rejoice in the lord And when you get there, by God's grace,
he shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is
able even to subdue all things unto himself. They shall be with
him and they shall be like him, for they shall see him as he
is. And so held up before us is this
glorious prospect, of that eternal, glorious, holy place, that place
where there is no more sin and there is no more temptation,
when the assaults of Satan have finished, when there is that
glory of praise and of service to be with him, to be like him,
to change our vile body to be fashion like unto his glorious
body. Oh, this is the prospect, the certain home of the Church
of Jesus Christ. Are you struggling with this
word this morning? Are you struggling to rejoice?
Are you struggling to find reasons to rejoice? And if you're a believer
this morning, a Christian, one of the Lord's people, then here's
a reason. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the gospel of God's
grace. Rejoice in what he has done for
here and here alone is real lasting true joy. And this morning if
there's any listening who have found the emptiness of this world,
found that they can have no confidence in the flesh, well here is the
answer of where you are to look and where you are to flee and
what you are to go to, rejoice in Christ Jesus. because in him
is all that the sinner needs, in him is everything, is life
and joy and peace. Gospel says, those things were
gained for me, I counted loss for Christ, yea doubtless I count
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord. Oh may we all have the excellency
of that knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and
be found in him, not with our own righteousness, that we might
know him, the power of his resurrection and fellowship in the sufferings,
that we might be citizens of heaven and our bodies might be
made like unto his glorious body. What a prospect and what reasons
to rejoice. May the Lord have his blessing.
Amen.