Okay, let's go back to Philippians
chapter four. Philippians chapter four. I pray the Lord will bless this,
I really do. I personally needed this. And so many times the Lord sends
it in and it does not come out the same. And I pray the Lord
will help us. The text is gonna begin in verse
four. Philippians four, verse four
says, rejoice in the Lord always. Rejoice in the Lord always. That is hard to do sometimes.
It really is. We want to believe that we can
and we will, but that is hard to do sometimes. It really is. Rejoice in the Lord always. You mean in the good times, right? It is so easy to rejoice in the
good times. It's so easy. Rejoice in the
Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. No matter what comes your way, if the Lord tarries, we're gonna
be here a little while. We're gonna be here a while.
And no matter what comes your way, And the things that come,
they seem to keep getting harder and harder and harder and harder.
And they're not getting easier. And no matter what comes your
way, turn your eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't care
what it is. I don't care what it is. Turn your eyes upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. The song says, look full in his
wonderful face. and the things of earth will
grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. It says,
oh soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you
see. There's light for a look at the Savior and life more abundant
and free. Turn your eyes upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. I kept telling myself that this
week. Turn your eyes upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look full in his wonderful face. And the things of earth, strangely
enough, they're just gonna grow dim in the light of his glory
and grace. Turn with me over to John chapter
14. John chapter 14, and look at verse 27. It says, peace I leave with you, my peace. Now, enter into that. The Lord says, my peace. He is the Prince of peace. He
told that raging water, peace, be still. My peace, I thought
about him walking this earth. He was always at perfect peace. No matter what came along, he
was at perfect peace. They're about to drown and he's
asleep. My 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? It's because thy God reigneth. Thy God reigneth. Our text says
in Philippians 4, verse 4, rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. When it
seems like there's nothing else to rejoice in, rejoice in the
Lord. We always have something we can
rejoice in. Rejoice in the Lord God, the
Lord Jehovah. Here's why. I want you to go
with me to Isaiah 41. Isaiah 41 verse 10 says, Fear thou 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. Verse 13 says, for I, the Lord
thy God, will hold thy right hand. I love the thought of that. That is beautiful, you're right. I, the Lord thy God, will hold
thy right hand. I'll sit right there beside you
and I'll hold your hand. saying unto thee, I can see him
whispering unto me, fear not, I will help thee. 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 rejoice in the
Lord. When there is nothing else to
rejoice in, rejoice in the Lord. And again, I say, rejoice. Now let's go back to our text
in Philippians 4. Verse five says, let your moderation
be known unto all men. Let your moderation, let your
mildness, Let your gentleness, let your patience be known unto
all men. Hold your place right there and
look at Titus chapter three. Titus chapter three, verse two
says, to speak evil of no man. To be no brawlers, but gentle,
showing all meekness unto all men. Let your moderation be known
unto all men. Why? It's because our text says
in Philippians 4 verse 5, the Lord is at hand. That's why. The Lord is at hand. The Lord
is here. We begged him to come here and
meet with us. Lord, would you come into this
place and meet with us? Well, the Lord is here. The Lord
is at hand. He said, fear not, I am with
thee. He said, I'll never leave you.
and I'll never forsake you, never. The Lord is here. He knows he
still reigns. The Lord is at hand. Verse six
says, be careful for nothing. Be careful for nothing. What
that means is don't be full of care. That's hard to do, isn't
it? Don't be full of anxiousness. Don't be full of worry for anything. Anything. Oh, but you don't understand
this thing. You don't understand this thing. You're right, I don't. But our
God does. Our God understands. So don't
be full of care for anything. The Lord knows, the Lord is at
hand. Verse six says, be careful for
nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with
thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. In everything, everything. And we know that all things work
together for good. All things. In everything by
prayer, that means worship. That's what it means. If the Lord will allow me to,
I want to worship right now. I don't really, I care about
this word, but I really don't care about my notes. And I don't care how it comes
out, and I don't care if I fall or if I stand, but I do want
to worship. This poor, pitiful excuse of
a preacher, and I hope I can walk out of here saying, I worshiped
God. I worshiped God. Poor attempt. but I worshiped
God. Prayer, it means worship. Supplication
means to beg, to beg. To request by begging, that's
what it means, supplication. In everything, by worshiping
and begging with thanksgiving. In our concordance, this is what
it said about thanksgiving. Grateful language to God. Thanksgiving. I thought, man,
that is wonderful. Grateful language to God. In everything by worshiping and
begging with grateful language to God, let your request be made
known unto God. What is our request? We have
a lot of requests. I have a lot of requests, but
ultimately what is our greatest request? Lord, thy will be done. We make our requests known and
we say, Lord, if it be thy will. Nevertheless, thy will be done. Please, Lord, give me a heart
to say not my will, but thine be done. Lord, I rejoice in your
will. I know you're in control. I worship
you. And I beg for your presence.
I beg for your spirit. I beg for your touch. And I say
all this with grateful language. Grateful, grateful language. If you do that, verse seven says,
and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." The peace of God. The peace of God. That's what
I need. That's what you need. the peace
of God which passeth all understanding." You know, it's hard to understand
how you can have great peace in a great trial, isn't it? It
is hard to understand. It's especially hard for others
to understand. It's hard for me to understand.
It's hard to understand how you can have great peace in great
sorrow, but you can. The believer can say, I don't
understand it, but I am at peace with it. I don't understand it,
but I'm at peace with it. It is the Lord. Let him do what
seemeth him good. Whatever is happening down here
on this world, rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. The peace of God in us. Why is the peace of God in us? It's because the peace of God
has been given to us. Why has the peace of God been
given to us? It's because the peace of God
made peace for us. That's why. Peace with God. If I have peace with God, I have
all I need. If I have peace with God, I have
all I need. I was sitting right there just
a minute ago, thankful for these hardwood floors. And the reason
is because the hardwood floors carry the sound. And it sounded
like we had a room full of people singing, to me, sitting right
over there. And I was thinking, if we had carpet, it would sound
like we had 13 people singing. I was like, man, I'm glad we
have hardwood floors. And then I started thinking,
it does not matter how many people are here. I'm just glad I'm here. And then I started thinking,
this thing is between me and my God, individually. I'm here
to worship my God. And by God's grace, I wanna rejoice
in the Lord. That's what I wanna do, personally. Peace with God. Christ, the Prince
of Peace, the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall
keep your hearts. Salvation is an issue of the
heart. And he will keep your hearts
and minds. They shall all be taught of God
through Christ Jesus. Verse eight says, finally, brethren,
Whatsoever things are true. What is true? Let God be true and let every
man be a liar. Let God be true. We don't let
God do anything, but we acknowledge God is true. Outside of this
word, I'm a liar. I'm a liar. Verse eight says,
whatsoever things are honest, that means worthy of respect. Who is worthy? Who is worthy? Revelation five
says, all the saints in glory are gonna sing a new song. saying thou art worthy for thou
was slain. That's why. Rejoice in the Lord. And again, I say rejoice. Thou art worthy. Verse eight,
it says, whatsoever things are just. What is just? What is just? What is right? Who is just? Who is right? Turn over to Romans 3. Romans
3, verse 26 says, To declare I say at this time
His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus. That He might be just and my
justifier. Whatsoever things are just, rejoice
in that. Rejoice in that. Back to our
text in Philippians 4, verse 8 says, whatsoever things are
pure. David said, the words of the
Lord are pure. They're pure. Psalm 24 says,
the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ is pure. Who shall ascend? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart. And there's only one that fits
that description, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. pure heart. John said, He showed me a pure
river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of
the throne of God and of the Lamb. Christ is our living water. He is pure. Rejoice in the Lord. Verse 8 in our text says, Whatsoever
things are lovely, Lovely. The altogether lovely
one. Turn with me over to Song of
Solomon, chapter five. Song of Solomon, chapter five. Verse 10 says, my beloved, and that's Christ,
is white and ruddy, the cheapest among 10,000. His head is as the most fine
gold. His locks are bushy and black
as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves
by the rivers of waters, washed with milk and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices,
as sweet flowers. His lips like lilies dropping
sweet-smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set
with the barrel. His belly is as bright ivory
overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble
set upon sockets of fine gold. His countenance is as Lebanon,
excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet, yea,
he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this
is my friend. Oh, daughters of Jerusalem, lovely,
lovely. Whatsoever things are lovely.
Back over in Philippians chapter four, verse eight says, whatsoever things are of good
report. And that means well-spoken of,
good report. Well spoken of. In Hebrews 11,
it says, by faith, the elders obtained a good report. What is this good report? And where did they get it? It
is the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything he did while
he walked this earth. And they were given that life
as a gift from him. God the Father said, this is
my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. He has been given a
good report. And then he gave that good report
to me. Well spoken of. Well spoken of. Verse 8 says,
if there be any virtue, our Lord said, virtue is gone out of me. That woman touched him, touched
his garment, and he said, virtue is gone out of me. And that means
ability. It means power. It means strength. If there be any power, Any ability. Verse 8 says, if there be any
praise, any glorying, any magnifying, any honoring, he that gloryeth,
let him glory in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. If there
be any praise, verse 8 says, think on these things. Think on these things. That's
how we rejoice in the Lord. Think on these things. Verse nine says, those things
which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in
me do. What does he mean by that? The
things you've learned, received, heard and seen do. Rejoice, rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord. Let your moderation be known.
Lord, make me moderate. Let it be known. Don't be full
of care for anything. Don't be full of care for anything. I wish I could get ahold of that.
Think on Christ. Think on Christ, drive down the
road thinking on Christ. Think on Christ, dwell on Christ,
stay on Christ. We just sang a song that says,
stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed. Stay on Jehovah,
hearts are fully blessed. Finding as he promised, perfect
peace and rest. Perfect peace. Verse 9 says,
those things which you have both learned and received and heard
and seen in me do, and the God of peace shall be with you. The God of peace shall be with
you. I want to close by reading John
16, 33. Go over to John 16. John 16 verse 33 says, these
things I have spoken unto you that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation,
but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Every single
thing that happens in this world, we're gonna live this life We're
gonna go through another day. We're gonna go through another
day. We're gonna go through another day. And every single thing that
happens in this world, remember, He's overcome this world. It's
finished. The battle's over. Rejoice in
the Lord. And again, I say, rejoice. Hard
to do. Lord, enable us to. Enable us
to. All right, let's stand together.