May the Lord be with us this
evening as once more we turn together to his word. Tonight
I want to direct your thoughts to the chapter we read. I'm turning
to the epistle to the Philippians in chapter four and verse four. Philippians chapter four and
verse four. Rejoice in the Lord always. And
again, I say, rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. You'll remember those of us who
were together this morning, how we noticed that this epistle
to the Philippians is one of joy. And how this theme of rejoicing
comes up many times throughout the letter. course I'm sure you
will not fail to notice that our text this evening is very
similar to our text this morning. This morning we turn to chapter
3 in verse 1. Finally my brethren rejoice in
the Lord. The Apostle then goes through
particularly that personal experience of the blessing of the gospel
to his own soul as reasons to rejoice. But then he comes to
chapter 4 and says largely the same thing. Rejoice in the Lord
always. And again, I say rejoice. And I hope we will see this evening
that this chapter then gives us further reason to rejoice
in the Lord today. In the Old Testament, in the Minor
Prophets, we have tucked away, we might think, a little red
book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk as a prophet of the
Lord at around about the same time as Jeremiah. And Habakkuk
in the three chapters of this little book asks two questions
of the Lord. The first question he asks is
to paraphrase it largely this, he sees all the sin around him
in Israel, all the unbelief, and he asks why, why does the
Lord allow this sin to continue? And God gives an answer, and
simply put the answer is this, he is preparing the Babylonians
to come, to invade the land, to take away captive, the people
of Israel as a punishment for their sin. Having received that
answer Habakkuk asks his second question and his question is
this well why does God allow an ungodly nation such as Babylon
to take over to correct and to evade godly israel now of course
they were not godly at the time they were simple people but they
were god's people because ancient people descendants of abraham
and isaac and jacob why is it that god would use a heathen
land against his people and the answer is that the lord will
also judge babylon they will be used they will also be judged. And so that really is the first
two chapters of the book of Habakkuk. And the third chapter of the
book is Habakkuk's prayer. And as he comes to the end of
his prayer, verses 17 and 18 of the book of Habakkuk chapter
3, he really considers the horror which is to come. He considers
the fact that there will be invasion that there will be hardship and
there will be little fruit little joy really naturally speaking
and he says this although the fig tree shall not blossom neither
shall fruit be in the vines the labor of the olive shall fail
and the field shall yield no mint the flock shall be cut off
from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls Yet
I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. This is one of the most remarkable
statements of faith. How Habakkuk lifts himself above
all the sadness, all the dearth, all the unfruitfulness, And despite
all of that, I will rejoice in the Lord. He has this resolve
of faith that he will joy in the God of his salvation. Well, why do we talk about Habakkuk
this evening? Well, notice our text. Rejoice
in the Lord always. And again, I say, Rejoice, not
rejoice in the Lord sometimes, but always, in all times, in
all circumstances, in the times of joy, but also in the times
of trial, in the times of dearth, in the times of unfruitfulness,
still enjoy, still rejoice in the Lord. And so we could think,
couldn't we, how chapter three this morning, we thought of those
wonderful blessings of the gospel. We thought of the blessing of
resurrection power. We thought of the blessing of
being in Christ and knowing him. We thought of the blessing of
being a citizen of heaven and to have that resurrected body
in glory. We thought of all these wonderful
blessings of the gospel. And we might say, well, there
is reason to rejoice as we saw this morning. I say, well, when
I first am struck with these things, that is when I'm first
converted, when I first see the joy, when I first see the liberty,
when I first see the beauty of the gospel, then I rejoice. But that is faded. The real first love, the real
liberty of those days seems to have faded away. And now I find
things are not always going so well. Things are not always so
clear. And so do we cease to rejoice?
Well, the apostle says we should rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Well, you may have reason to
rejoice in the gospel. You may say, but what about our
daily life? That is, what about our walk
with the Lord? course there are these grand
and glorious truths which I hope have lifted our hearts so far
today and it does us good to dwell on them and to meditate
on them to think on them but you may say but I step into tomorrow
or I step into the next week or I step into the new year and
I have many concerns I have many worries and so yes the truths
are glorious and give me cause for joy but How can I take the
next step? How can I walk daily with the
Lord? How can I walk daily through
my calling and the situation I'm currently in? How can I do
that with this sense of joy? Because it may seem hard and
bleak, disappointing. And yet the apostle says, rejoice
in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. Well, this evening with God's
help, I want us to pick out three points from chapter four to cause
us to rejoice in the Lord for our daily life. And the first reason to rejoice
is because we have the blessing of prayer. we have the blessing
of prayer. He says in verses 6 and 7 of
chapter 4, be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known
unto God and the peace of God which passes all understanding
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Be careful for nothing. Well that's perhaps easy to read
and easy to say but very very hard to do. And some of us are
very prone to worry aren't we, very prone to a great burden
of care. At times all of us struggle with
this when something comes into our life and it worries us and
it takes over our thoughts, perhaps even robs us of our sleep. And
we may hear words like this be careful for nothing and we find
well I find I cannot do that. It is almost an impossible admonition,
particularly at the moment with so many concerns all around us
in our lives and families and churches. How can we be careful
for nothing? Well the answer to this weight
of care is peace. the peace of God the Apostle
speaks of. Now what is this? Is it just
an ability as it were to just cast off our worries that we
somehow can just shut them out and find strength to be positive
thinkers? No that's not what the Apostle
is speaking of. He's not just telling us to become
more positive in our thinking. He's saying that we need the
peace of God. The peace of God is a quiet trust,
a quiet trust. It's a mind of resting on the
Lord, of quiet believing in him and to believe that the Lord
is able and the Lord is there to have peace in the Lord. This is the answer to to this
worry, to this care, that we might rest in him, the trust
in the Lord with all our heart and to lean not to our own understanding. And so if we need the peace of
God to help us in our times of care and of worry, well what
is the secret then? Is it just a command to stop
worrying? Is it just a command to pull ourselves together and
become more positive? No, the apostle directs us to
how we might know the peace of God and this is my point, the
blessing of prayer. In everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. We've got four key words here,
there's prayer, there's supplication, Thanksgiving and there are requests and everything by prayer. Well to pray is to petition someone
isn't it? It's to come with a petition,
to come to one who can help. You don't go to someone in your
time of need who you know cannot help you, do you? Do not go to
someone who is going to turn you away and say, well, I cannot
help you. No, you go to someone who you
know could help, could answer your need. Well, we pray to one
who we know can help, the one who is able, because we're coming
in prayer to a King, more than that we're coming to the king
of kings we're coming to the one who has all things in his
hands and all circumstances and his command and control even
the very hearts of men are in his hands coming to the king
and so he says bring your prayers unto him ask for his help ask
for that peace and faith in the Lord that surpasses or passes
all understanding. Secondly he speaks of supplication.
Supplication has an inference within it of coming and to keep
coming. It's a sense of earnestness.
How often our prayers can be quick and forgotten. How often we can say what we
know we should say and then we get on into the day or on with
our life and and it's forgotten. We don't really know what we've
prayed for. There's no earnestness and there's no keep coming with
this earnestness. No it's just a repetition or
just a formality or just a passing of the time. Bring our supplication. You know the Lord sometimes brings
us to those times when our prayers have become cold and they have
become stale. He brings us into those desperate
needs where we keep coming. We keep coming. We have to keep
coming. We don't know what else to do.
We don't know where else to go. No one else can help. We cannot
help ourselves. We must come to the King. must
come in prayer and in supplication and though we feel that we're
saying the same words and we're bringing the same need and we're
presenting the same impossibility day after day after day we must
come with our supplication for to who else can we go. Keep coming you have the blessing
of prayer, prayer and supplication and come with thanksgiving with
Thanksgiving. You might say, but I'm so full
of care, I'm so full of worry, I'm so full of questions, I feel
I cannot give thanks. Can you not give thanks? Is there
not a blessing in the past? Is there not a blessing of a
previous answered prayer? Is there not a blessing that
you can take hold of and remember to encourage you to give thanks
for? Or if you feel you can't even
do that, it's a not this blessing, there's an encouragement to pray.
There's an invitation to pray. Come unto me all ye that labour
and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Can we not be
thankful for his invitation to pray? Cast thy burden on the
Lord and he shall sustain thee. Can you not be thankful for an
invitation to pray? Come with your care. Come with
your worry, come at prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
and let your requests be known unto God and requests you hear.
This really speaks of specific prayers, not just general. And we have things that we do
pray for in general, don't we? That we bring to the Lord, our
families, our friends, our churches, work of evangelism, the work
of mission, these are these things that we bring to the Lord perhaps
in a general sense, but he's also saying bring your specific
requests, that is bring your specific need. Do you have a
specific need this evening? A need that you can't hardly
describe to anyone else, perhaps a need that you dent nor describe
to somebody else, perhaps because they would be surprised perhaps
because they would be shocked, perhaps they wouldn't understand. Bring it to the Lord, bring your
request, whatever it might be, be careful for nothing, don't
hold it, roll your burden or cast your burden onto the Lord,
tell him about it, you have the blessing of prayer. Oh you know
It's a wonderful thing that God hears and answers prayer and
prayer is such a simple thing, isn't it? It's such a simple
thing and yet it's such a hard thing at times. The devil will
do all he can to keep us from prayer and your own unbelief
and your own heart will do all it can to keep you from prayer.
But the Lord says in everything, by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving, Let your request be made known unto God, and the
peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Rejoice in the Lord always. Here's a reason to rejoice this
evening, the blessedness of prayer. We have that little account,
don't we? That lady who comes to the Lord Jesus Christ with
her request, and did her daughter, who is unwell, who is sick. Have mercy, she said, my daughter
is grievously vexed with the devil. He answered her lots of
words. His disciples came and besought
him, saying, send her away, for she crieth after us. He answered
and said, I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. And she came and she worshipped him, saying, Lord,
Help me. Notice she came with her request,
a specific request. My daughter is vexed with the
devil. She came with this sense of supplication. She kept coming,
kept petitioning the Lord. She knew who he was. Lord, she
says, a God who is able to help her. And the answer said, it's
not me to take the children's bed, to cast it to dogs. And
she said, truth, Lord. Yeah, the dogs. Either the crumbs
which fall from the master's table. You may feel to be like
that tonight, that is unworthy to receive any answer to your
prayer. Unworthy. You don't know what
he's going to do and how he's going to do it. But keep coming. Keep asking. Keep praying. Because in the
end he said, after what seemed to be such disappointments, even
rebuttals telling her to go away, to begin with silence, perhaps
you're experiencing a time of silence, you have been praying
and he's not answered. You've been praying perhaps a
long time and you've had silence and you keep praying but there's
silence and discouragements. And in the end, O woman, greatest
thy faith, be it unto thee, even as thou wilt. Lord, the dogs
eat the crumbs which fall from the master's table, O the blessedness
of prayer, keep coming. Rejoice in the Lord always. Can
you not rejoice this evening that as we go into a new year
and an uncertain future, we can say here's reason to rejoice,
there's a throne of grace, there's a blessedness of prayer. The second reason in this chapter
to see for why we must rejoice and encouragement to rejoice
in the Lord is that there is a promise of God-given strength. A promise of God-given strength,
verse 13, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth
me. God given strength. Part of the reason for this epistle
to be written in the first place is because the apostle has received
a gift from the church of Philippi and he is writing to thank them. He is sending Epaphroditus back
to Philippi with this letter, and he is thanking them for their
generosity and for their kindness. And this is what he is saying
here in the preceding verses, verse 10 to 13. I rejoice in
the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me has
flourished again, wherein you were also careful, but ye lacked
opportunity. Now I speak in respect of want,
for I have learned in what state I am, where is to be content.
I know both how to be a base, I know how to abound, where everywhere
and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry,
both to abound and to suffer need. What the Apostle is saying,
he is thanking them for their gift, he's thanking them for
their generosity, for their kindness, for their remembrance of him,
but he is saying that he has learned to be content. He has learned, whether he is
abounding or whether he is in poverty, whether he is full or
whether he is hungry, to be content in whatever state he might find
himself to be in. He's thankful for the provision,
but he's not saying it in the sense that he was ready to despair. No, he was ready to be content. Now, when we think about contentment,
isn't that such a hard thing, real godly contentment, when
we're denied things that we want and we're disappointed and we
hoped for what we haven't got. Perhaps the very practical things,
we may well have financial concerns at the moment and be very worried
about that, and rightly so, I'm not diminishing that in any way,
but isn't it hard in that state to be content? Isn't it hard
to rest on the Lord? When perhaps we lose much that
we hold dear and we hold to be very precious, to still be content? When we're hungry, when we're
suffering need, are we then content? with the way that the Lord is
working and the way that the Lord God is guiding us? Are we content? No. See, often
we're not, are we? Often we complain, often we seek
another way. Often we put our own hand to
the matter, we interfere. We think we need to sort something
out because the Lord isn't sorting it out for us. We don't rest
on Him. What do we need to rest on Him?
What do we need to be content. Well, really this is the context
that these words are written. He has learned to be content,
but that's not easy. He hasn't found it easy. How
has he done it? I can do all things through Christ,
which strengthens me. This is the secret to godly contentment,
the strength that Christ gives. He gave it to Paul. He gives
it to his people. How do we find this? God-given
strength to be content. Well, I want you to remember
that the Lord God gives needed strength. He doesn't always give wanted
strength. That is, we are not always, in
fact, maybe we could say we're not, we are rarely skipping on
the mountaintops. We are rarely strong and easily
running and full of ability and strength. You know often the
Lord gives us just enough strength, just enough faith to keep looking
up. Can't do a lot else. We can look
up. You can keep praying, keep crying,
like this woman who finally came to just those simple three words,
Lord, help me. Maybe we've only just got enough
strength to do that. And maybe we're really struggling
with contentment and we're very rebellious against the way of
the Lord. Maybe it's just, Lord, help me. Oh, he gives just enough
strength. Not always wanted strength, but
always needed strength. I can do all things through Christ
that strengtheneth me. Where do we find this strength?
Well, it's through Christ, isn't it? It's through Christ. There's reason to rejoice, isn't
it? And there is this strength to go on, this strength to keep
looking up through Christ. And how do we find this strength
through Christ? Think of how the Lord Jesus spoke
in John chapter 15 of him being the vine. I am the vine, he says. Ye are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me ye
can do nothing. The picture here, as we know,
is the Lord speaking of this vine. and here is seen as the
main stem, the main trunk, and out of it is coming the branches,
which bear fruit, which bear the grapes. But the branch does
not bear grapes if it's not gaining the life and the sap and the
moisture and nutrients from the trunk of the vine. If the branch
is cut off, then it's going to wither and die, and it won't
be fruitful. It needs to be in the vine. And
the picture is clear, isn't it? That if we are to be fruitful,
we are to be in Christ. And we are to derive from him
that strength and that grace and that nourishment to be fruitful. And so the question isn't so
much, are you bearing fruit? The question is, are you in the
vine? Because the inevitable consequence
of being in the vine is that you will bear fruit. But he says,
without me, you can do nothing. And so the apostle says, I can
do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Christ
says, without me, you can do nothing. And so if you are trying
to walk in your own strength and trying to go on in your own
wisdom to somehow to work up your own spiritual healthiness
and your own spiritual life, and you're doing it without Christ,
then you will fail. you're doing it without feeding
and growing in courage in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh you must
spend time with him. You must be like that branch
which is drawing up the life from the branch. Christ must be precious. Oh keep
close to him. You see the Lord does work to
bring us to that point and the Lord teaches us in very hard
lessons sometimes to bring us to that point. He will allow
us at times to go off perhaps for a long time in our own strength.
He will allow us to think we need to do it all ourselves and
we need to find it all within ourselves and he'll allow us
to go so far to realize no, Who are you? You're withered. The
hymn says, doesn't it? Withered and barren would I be,
if severed from the vine. And you find that as much as
you try, the soul is withered, it's dry. There's hardly any
life there. And you're ready to faint and
you're ready to give up. And why is he allowed you to
go so far? Well, to teach you this lesson,
I could do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. And of course, this is a very
wide subject, isn't it? But particularly here, this subject
of contentment. Oh, as we look, seek for that
help to rejoice in the Lord in the days ahead, that we content
with whatever may come into our pathway, how are we to bear it?
Oh, I can do all things through Christ, that strengthens me. Strength to bear the trial. And I was thinking in this point
of Thomas Cramner. You know Thomas Cramner died
in the reign of Queen Mary and so used and so blessed in the
reign of Edward VI before her and was used to God and much
of the reformation of the Church of England and bringing about
the reformed doctrines into the church and so forth but of course
when Mary came onto the throne he was arrested and under such
pressure and really fear as well he recants
that is he says that he was wrong says that the truths that he
believed were wrong he confesses the pope to be the head of the
church and all of those things and outwardly seems to have returned
back to Roman Catholicism. But Mary decides that he needs
to be made an example of and though he has recanted he will
still go to the stake and die. And he's brought into the College
University at Oxford to make his final statement before he
goes to die and they're expecting him to say how he was a follower
of the church and how he now confesses the pope to be the
head and all of those things and instead he gave his confession
in a reformed faith. He declared that Jesus Christ
is the head of the church, all of the doctrines of the reformation
and he was taken out, dragged out to the stake and burned and
you know the account goes how he thrust his hand which had
signs that document of his recantation and he thrusted into the fire
that it might be burned first unworthy hand he said for what
he had done but the point what made me think of this is that
like any man in the face of pain and fear and death he he was
afraid and yet the point came the point came that the lord
brought him through the trial And he could say, I can do all
things, not because he suddenly found some inner strength, not
because he suddenly found something in himself. No, it's through
Christ, which strengtheneth me. Oh, strength to walk through
the trial. And then the third reason I want
to consider to rejoice found in this chapter, rejoice in the
Lord always, remember, in all circumstances, is because we
have prayer, it's because of God-given strength, but thirdly,
because of the promise, the certainty of our provisions being supplied. The certainty of these things
being supplied. Verse 19, my God, shall supply
all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. All your need, all your need. We have a God who is able, a
God who can help, a God who can do all things, not just help
you pray, not just give you strength for the day, but will give you
what you need. Oh we have so many examples of
this in the scriptures don't we? Israel wandered through the
wilderness for 40 years and every day six days a week the manna
fell. Every day it was there to be
gathered. On the sixth day there was always double to be gathered. On the seventh there was never
any manna there and but the the sixth day held over so they could
eat it the next day. Every day was a miracle and so
that they didn't ever come to the conclusion that it was falling
naturally or it was just an act of nature, it stopped one day
a week on the Sabbath day. It was a daily miracle. My God
shall supply all your need. How can we have food in the wilderness
they had asked? How can we have water in the
wilderness? You've been brought us here to die, to starve, the
wilderness no my God shall supply all your need according to your
riches according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Come through the history of Israel
you come to Elijah and you think of Elijah the brook and the ravens
came and fed him and when the brook dried up he goes and then
he meets the widow and the barrel of meal doesn't fail and the
cruise of oil doesn't fail he is provided for The Lord gives
him what he needs. Coming to the New Testament,
you can think of the feeding of the 5,000 by the Lord Jesus
Christ. You can think of the time when
the taxes need to be paid and he says to Peter, go and catch
a fish and the fish you will take, find a penny in its mouth
and pay those taxes for you and for me. My God shall supply all
your need according to his riches in glory. this reason to rejoice
in the lord to rejoice in him fear not little flock fear not
he says oh lord we are so fearful we say in response so worried
so fearful so concerned there's so much to worry us there's so
many questions that go around our head we don't know what to
do we don't know what the future holds fear not my god shall supply
all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Are not two sparrows sold for
a farthing, and not one of them is forgotten? Even the very hairs
of your head are numbered. Fear not, you have more value
than many sparrows. You shall supply all your need.
What about our greatest need? The greatest need. Ah, the greatest
need we have is the salvation of our souls, isn't it? Forgiveness
of our sins. What about that need? My God
shall supply all your need. Oh, rejoice in the Lord always,
even with this greatest need, because we have a God who hears
prayer. Be careful for nothing and everything, prayer and supplication,
let your requests be known unto God. Bring that need of your
soul, Bring that burden of your sin, bring it to Him. Keep coming
to Him, He gives strength to keep coming. Keep bringing that
need, keep falling down before Him, keep confessing those sins,
and He will supply all your needs. You see, that greatest need for
your soul, is that the burden you've got tonight? Is that the
need that is resting heavily on you tonight? That great burden
of care, great need of the salvation of your soul my God shall supply
all they'll need bring it to him bring it to him he says a
simple heartfelt cry unto him you know you think of the publican
in the Pharisee the parable of the publican and the Pharisee
there he is in the temple he's bowed down he's beating on his
breast he doesn't know what to say just a few words God be merciful
to me a sinner. Not eloquent is it? It's not
probably thought out or prepared, it's just the heartfelt cry of
his soul that day and he went home justified rather than the
other because my God shall supply all your need according to his
riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Rejoice in the Lord always. always because he is saviour
still the saviour what things were gained to me i count lost
for christ says the apostle the excellency of the knowledge of
christ jesus my lord he is the the saviour of sinners rejoice
in the lord for he is still a merciful god rejoice in the lord for his
ear is still open to hear our prayers rejoice in the lord for
he is able to help and strengthen and provide. Rejoice in the Lord
always. And again, I say, rejoice. Well, we close this evening as
we open this morning. 2020 draws to a close, God willing,
and 2021 opens. We do. have reason to rejoice. For we
have the same wise and kind and merciful God as the Apostle had
when he wrote these words to Philippi. And the same God reigns
as the King of Kings today as he was then and we have the same
promises of this God today that he will be with us and he will
help us and he will also provide all our need and he will continue
to build his church and he will continue to maintain his people
and those promises are in him a yay and amen they are unchanging
they're certain so as we enter the end of this
week god willing a new year and the lord help us to rejoice in
him And to be able to say like Habakkuk did, this is a hard thing to say,
believe me. Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither
shall the fruit be in the vines. The labour of the olive shall
fail and the fields shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut
off from the fold. There shall be no herd in the
stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God
of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength.
He will make my feet like hinds feet, and he will make me to
walk upon my high places. Remember the blessing of prayer,
the promise of God-given strength, the certainty of our needs supplied. May we pray, Lord, Help us to
rejoice in thee. May the Lord bless the thoughts
from his word this day to our prophets and to his glory.