I love the line in that song,
swift to its close, ebbs out life's little day. Earth's joys
grow dim, its glories pass away. Change and decay in all around
I see. O thou who changes not, abide
with me. It's a beautiful hymn. Would
you turn back to Philippians chapter one? I've entitled this message the
believers rejoicing. The believers. Rejoicing. Paul says to the Philippians
that when he came to them to preach the gospel, he did so
Verse 25, and having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and
continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith
that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus
Christ for me by my coming to you again. And he says, I'm coming
that you're rejoicing. may be more abundant, may increase,
may abound, may grow. The word rejoicing is also translated
by the word boast, or boasting, or glory, or glorying, and it's
even translated joy. And some form of this word is
found 50 times in the New Testament. It's the same word Paul used
when he said, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when I was trying to, here's
a new word, I learned this from Moose this weekend. He used this
word so many times, ascertain. When I was trying to ascertain
what it meant, I like that word, I don't know why I heard it so
much, but when I was trying to ascertain what it meant, I found
out that in other Greek literature, the word is never used the way
the Bible uses it. And this lets us know that this
rejoicing or this glorying or this boasting is utterly unique
to the gospel. There's a lot of things that
are utterly unique to the gospel. It's what you rejoice in that
you're proud of. That you exult in. That you boast of. that you're
passionate about. Now, whatever it is that calls
up feelings like these in us, we would like to see an increase
in them, wouldn't we? Now, these words I'm talking
about are feelings. Now, faith is not a feeling.
Faith is not a feeling, but faith has plenty of feelings. I'd hate
to have a faith that I didn't have. A faith that doesn't have
any feelings is a false faith. Faith has a feeling. And when
he's talking about rejoicing in Christ joying in Christ and
glorying in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what are you passionate
about? What are you consumed with? What stirs up your love? Your
confidence, your joy, your pride, and even your boasting. Now, whatever does this, you'd
like to have more of it, wouldn't you? I want my rejoicing, my
glorying, my boasting to abound. Paul speaks of the rejoicing
of the Philippians being more abundant. That means in our experience
of it, we can grow and increase. And I want my rejoicing and my
glorying to increase. I want to be more passionate.
What stirs up your passion? What stirs up your strong, intense
desire? ardor and love and joy. Now this word actually should
characterize our life, shouldn't it? Our rejoicing in Christ Jesus. Now what is the believer's rejoicing?
That's what I want us to look at. What is the believer's rejoicing? Now there's some kinds of boasting
and rejoicing and glorying that are not good. I can't stand it
when those football players score a touchdown and then they start
acting, dancing and gloating. I can't stand seeing that. That's not a good kind of boasting. But there's a lot of kind of
boasting the scripture forbids. For instance, Paul said, God
forbid that I should glory or boast or rejoice in anything
except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We're told that
no flesh should glory or boast in his presence. We read in 1
Corinthians 5, 6, where Paul said to the Corinthians, your
rejoicing is not good. In Ephesians 2, 8, 9, it says,
for by grace have you saved through faith in that God of yourselves.
It's the gift of God. Not at worse, lest any man should
boast. And that would be a bad kind
of boasting. 1 Corinthians 4, 7 says, Who makes thee to differ
from another? And what do you have that you
didn't receive? Now, if you received it, if it was given to you, why
do you glory and boast as if it came from you and as if you
didn't receive it? In Romans 3, 27, Paul says, Where
is boasting? It is excluded. It's altogether
wiped out. Paul even spoke of those who
gloried in appearance or boasted in appearance. and not in heart. Now, there are some things we
are not to boast in. So what I want to do is find
out in the New Testament what I am to boast in, what I am to
glory in, what I am to rejoice in, what I'm to derive joy from. Now, would you turn with me to
1 Corinthians 1? I've got several I'd like for us to look at. Let's begin reading verse 26. For you say your calling brethren.
How that not many wise men after the flesh. Not many mighty. Not many noble are called. I don't see any famous people
in here. Not a one. But God. have chosen the foolish
things of the world to confound the wise, and God has chosen
the weak things of the world to confound the things which
are mighty, and the base things of the world, and the things
which are despised have God chosen, yea, and the things which are
not, which are nothing, to bring to nothing Things that are that
no flesh should glory, should rejoice in His presence. But of Him are you in Christ
Jesus. This is something God did, it's
not something you did. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who
of God is made unto us. God did this and He made Him
this unto us. He's made unto us wisdom. That means God can have fellowship
with me. I'm fit for fellowship with God. Christ is my wisdom. God sees me as a wise man. And he can have fellowship with
me. That's what the gospel does. He's made my wisdom. However
wise Christ is, that's my wisdom before God. He's made unto me
righteousness. I am perfectly righteous before
God. No sin there, because Christ
is my righteousness. He's made unto me sanctification.
He is my holiness before God. He's made unto me redemption. He's made unto me my complete
deliverance. Now talk about something to rejoice
in. Look who you are in Christ Jesus. And you're not glorying in this
because God made you this way. You didn't do it. He did it.
Now look what he says. That according as it's written,
he that gloryeth, he that rejoiceeth. You're going to glory in something.
Let him glory in the Lord. Paul said in Philippians 3, 3,
we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit, rejoice,
there's the word, rejoice, exult, glory in Christ Jesus. Now, how can I not glory in this?
In Christ, he is my wisdom. He is my righteousness. He is
my sanctification. And he is my redemption. And
I rejoice in this. And if I glory in Christ, turn
to Galatians chapter six. Beginning in verse 12, he says,
many as many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh. And
wouldn't that be a pretty accurate description of man's religion?
A fair show in the flesh, and nothing more than that. Acting.
They constrain you to be circumcised, only lest they should suffer
persecution for the cross of Christ. For while they're constraining
you to be circumcised, and they're telling you you need to keep
the law, they who circumcise, they don't keep the law. But
they desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in your flesh.
Look at the good influence I've had on this person. Look what
a good person he's become. Paul says, but God forbid that
I should glory. Save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Now. Paul. Look how God used you, don't
you? Do you glory in that? You've written 13 books in the
Bible. You're by your own admission the wise master builder. God
has used you more than anybody else to expound the gospel. Do
you glory in that? Paul said, God forbid. God forbid
that I should glory in anything but the cross. Save the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, by the cross, you know he
doesn't mean the wood. He means what Christ accomplished
on that cross. And here's something real simple
that tells us the power and the glory of the cross. There are
three crosses, remember? Three crosses. On one of those
crosses, we find a man dying in his sins. When he took his
last breath, he woke up in hell. In that middle cross, you have
a man dying for sin. The first fella died in his sins. As he lived, so he died. Our
Lord Jesus Christ died for sin. The sins of God's elect became
his. And God poured his wrath out
upon him. He died for sin. He was made
sin and he died for sin. And because of that, On that
third cross, you have a man dying to sin. And when he took his last breath,
he woke up in the very presence of God, perfectly conformed to
the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that's what I glory in. That's who I glory in. I glory
in what Christ accomplished when He said, It is finished. My salvation
became historical, and it did so before I was even born. I
have glory in that. I rejoice in it. Talk about something
that I truly celebrate, that salvation is in Him, utterly
in Him. That makes me glad. If I had
to look for myself or to myself, I couldn't be happy, but oh,
how I rejoice that all God requires of me, I have in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul said, God forbid that I
should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now
turn to Romans chapter five. Verse one. Therefore, being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. by whom also we have access,
by faith, into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice." There's
the word, glory, boast, exult in hope of the glory of God because
of this grace wherein we stand. We glory, rejoice, and exult
in this grace wherein we stand. Now, salvation by grace is the
complete, listen real carefully, salvation by grace is the complete
and utter negation of salvation by works in any way. That's what grace means. Now,
what do I mean by that? I got something that made me rejoice
to think about this. When I was flying home Monday
night, there was a... I generally don't tell anybody
I'm a preacher, but this guy asked me point blank. I couldn't
lie, so I told him. So we started some kind of religious
conversation. You know, he started telling
me things he did. As a matter of fact, he's going
to St. Joseph Hospital. He's a helicopter salesman. Maybe
you ran across him this week. I don't know. He said he was
going to St. Joseph to do with their helicopter stuff. Moscow.
At any rate, he said, well, you know, I just quit going to church.
I just don't see a point in it. I don't get anything out of it.
And I said, well, I said, what is it that you hear? I said,
tell me if this is what you hear. Do you hear that? God loves you. Christ died for you. God wants
to save you. He wants to forgive you. He wants
to do all these things for you. And if you believe, if you repent,
if you stop sinning, if you get your life straightened out, you'll
receive the forgiveness of sins. Is that what you hear? He said,
that's exactly what I've heard all my life. I said, well, there
ain't no truth to it. I said, listen to me. His name
was Marty. I said, Marty, salvation does not end with the forgiveness
of sins. Salvation begins with the full,
free, complete forgiveness of sins. And there ain't nothing
you did to get it. He didn't forgive you because
you asked for it. He didn't give it to you because
you straighten up your life. And his eyes got big. He said,
I never heard anything like that before. He said, if I could hear
that, maybe I'd want to be in church all the time. I said,
well, you find a place where I can't remember where he's from,
upstate New York. But at any rate, that's what salvation by
grace means. God saved you with no help from you. Can you rejoice in that? Can
you rejoice that salvation begins? It's not a formula that you get
through and then you get forgiveness at the end of it. No, salvation
begins with the full, free, complete forgiveness of sins. Now that's
salvation by grace. And oh, how we rejoice in this
standing. I love this. Thank God for this. In Hebrews chapter three, verse
six, this is similar to what we just read, but would you turn
with me there? Hebrews chapter three. Verse six, but Christ. As a son
over his own house, whose house are we? If we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing, now that is the Glorying, that's not just
talking about feeling happy, that's certainly involved, but
you glory in the hope. You find confidence in the hope. You rejoice, you exult in the
hope, Firminian. Now, what's the hope? Let me
tell you what my hope is. My hope is that when I stand
before God on judgment, He's going to look me over through
and through with the searchlight of his holiness and find no sin. And he's going to say to me,
well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the
joy of thy Lord. Now, that's my hope. And that's
the hope every believer has. If you don't have a hope like
that, you think, well, I'm afraid I won't hear that. If you're in Christ, you
will. If you're in Him, that's exactly
what you'll hear. That's our hope, that He is all
our salvation. And I have a hope that everything
that's happening to me between now and then is working together
for my good and for His glory. Now that is a hope, a hope from
the Scriptures, and I rejoice, I glory in that hope, the hope
of the gospel, the hope of being justified by what he did. And turn back to Romans chapter
5. Do you have a reason to rejoice?
Do you have a reason to glory and exult? Look in verse 10. For if. When we were enemies. We were reconciled to God. By the death of his son. Now, when was I reconciled? When
I was an enemy, not when I turned things around when I was an enemy. And how was I reconciled? By
the death of His Son. Now, if when we were enemies
we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more,
being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only so, but we also
joy in God. That's the word. Same word, rejoice. The same word, glory, the same
boast. We also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
we now received this atonement. And that's the same word, reconciliation. He reconciled me by his death. And you know what we do? We receive
it. We don't merit in receiving it,
but we receive it. We believe it. And we rest in
his reconciliation. And oh, how we rejoice. Now turn
to 2 Corinthians, chapter 12. Verse 7. Now, Paul had been talking about
these revelations that he'd been given. He says in verse 1 of
chapter 12, it's not expedient for me, doubtless to glory, I
will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. And he talks about
himself, he says, I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago,
whether in the body, I can't tell whether out of the body,
I can't tell. God knows such in one caught up to the third
heaven that Paul speaks with such humility here. He wants
to speak of being him. He said, I knew somebody like this. And
I knew such a man. Whether in the body or out of
the body, I can't tell. God knows. How that he was caught up into
paradise and he heard unspeakable words, which is not lawful for
a man to utter. This is how Paul learned the
gospel. Christ taught him directly. He didn't have somebody like
me or you, a preacher, preaching to him when he was. Now, first
Ananias was sent to him and he heard the gospel. But then Paul
was brought into the third heaven. What that means, he says, I don't
know. And God taught him, the Lord Jesus Christ taught him.
Now, he says in verse five, of such a one will I glory. Yet
of myself. I will not glory, that's the
word, I will not rejoice, I will not boast, but in my infirmities. my weaknesses. Now, what causes
weakness? See. Let's go on reading. For though
I would desire the glory, I shall not be a fool. You know, it would
be easy to, you know, if I got caught up into the third heavens,
somehow you'd find out about it. You would. And somehow I
would be making a difference between myself and everybody
else. I know me. That's what I do. And Paul knew he was the
same way. He could easily do the same thing.
So he says, for though I would desire to glory, I shall not
be a fool, for I'll say the truth. But now, forbearalist, any man
should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that
he heareth of me. And lest I should be exalted
above measure through the abundance of the revelations there was
given to me. Who gave it to him? God did. A thorn in the flesh. Now, I know this much about a
thorn in the flesh. It ain't going to kill you. And it's extremely
painful. It's extremely painful. Now, you can speculate all you
want as to what it is. There's no way anybody's going
to know. But there he had it. He said it was the messenger
of Satan to buffet me, to beat me black and blue. lest I should
be exalted above measure." As soon as Paul might start thinking
about himself, there that thorn would be stuck in. Now, for this
thing, I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me,
and He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect
in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory, that's the word, rejoice in my infirmities, that's
the same word translated weakness, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Now, grace never works with strength. It only works with weakness,
and how I rejoice in this. You know, it's only when I am
nothing that Christ is all. Now, if I'm something, Christ
isn't all to me. But when I'm nothing, Christ
is everything. James said in James chapter 1,
let the brother of low degree rejoice. In what? In that he is exalted. That's
what God says. When we were yet without strength
in due time, Christ died for thee who? Ungodly. Who did he die for? Two descriptions,
without strength and ungodly. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in infirmities, in weakness, that the power of
Christ may rest upon me. Now, I don't glory in sin. I
don't revel in sin. But I tell you this, I revel
in this. I know that I'm nothing but sin.
I'm not glorying in sin itself, but I'm glorying in this Christ
came to save sinners. I'm one of them. Now, I can fit
myself into that group. If Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, then he came to save me. Because that's
who and what I am, and I glory in that. I don't glory in the
commission of sin, but I glory in this. I'm nothing but sin,
and that's what Christ came to say. Therefore, I can reasonably
conclude from the scriptures that Jesus Christ died for me. Turn back to Romans chapter 5. Verse two, by whom also we have
access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice
in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, not only do
we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God because of that
grace we stand in, we glory in tribulations, trouble, trial,
failure. Sickness. Persecution. Weakness. All the trouble that's
brought on by confessing Christ and every other kind of trouble
too. All the trouble even that we bring on ourselves. Isn't
that what most of our trouble is? Trouble we bring on ourselves. Trouble that's all our fault. But you know, even though I know
it's all my fault, I'm so glad that the Lord's in control of
it. And that he let it happen. For my good and his glory, I
would never use that as an excuse. Well, don't need to worry about
what I did. The Lord let me know. No, no, no. But I tell you this.
I'm glad that whatever he sent my way, he sent it. I don't. rejoice in the trial. I don't
rejoice in the trouble, but I do rejoice in him who sent the trial.
And I do rejoice in why he sent the trial. That tribulation works
patience. On down through that passage
of scripture, I thank God for the end and the purpose of that
trial. And so we glory in tribulations. Now, do I ask the Lord to send
me trials? No, I don't. No, I don't. As a matter of fact,
we're taught to pray, Lord, lead us not into temptation, lead
us not into trial, deliver us from evil. I pray that. I don't
I don't want to be tried. I'd rather help me deliver me
from that. But when he sends a trial my
way, praise God. James said, count it all. What
joy. When you fall into various temptations. Turn to Second Thessalonians,
chapter one. Verse three. We are bound to
thank God always for you, brethren, as its meat. Verse three, because your faith
groweth exceedingly. And the charity of every one
of you all toward each other abounded so that we ourselves
glory, rejoice in you. In the churches of God, for your
patience and faith and all your persecutions and tribulations
that you do. Now, let me ask you a question. Can you glory
in somebody else's growth? When you see somebody grow in
grace and the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
when you see someone grow in faith and see someone grow in
love, you rejoice in that. Now, do you see yourself grow?
Probably not. As a matter of fact, if you think,
well, I'm really growing, that's a pretty good indication that
you're shrinking. But true growth, spiritual, if you love something,
you rejoice in seeing the spiritual maturity, the growth, the increase
in faith, the increase in love of other people. Paul said, we
rejoice in you, we glory in you before the churches of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now if you would read 2 Corinthians chapter 8
and 9, this word is used four times with reference to generosity. Giving. He says, I boasted in
you about your giving. I boasted, I rejoiced in your
giving. Now here's something to be passionate
about. Giving. God loves a cheerful
giver, one who enjoys giving. It's something they get pleasure
from, and here's the reason. Here's the reason we rejoice
in giving, because of who we're giving to. Now, the Lord doesn't
need anything you give. He says, if I was hungry, I wouldn't
tell you about it. The candle upon a thousand hills are mine. He doesn't need a red cent from
you. He's got a lot of money. You
know, our Father, It's very rich, isn't it? Very wealthy. But what a privilege it is that
He allows us to give back a part of that which He so freely and
bountifully bestows upon us. You see, giving is a love issue. What does love do? Love gives. Giving is a faith issue. You
know, when a believer fails to give, It's because he thinks
he's putting me at risk. I might need that money for something
else. What if my car breaks down? Or what if I can't pay my bills
and that's putting me at risk? And you know, that kind of thinking
is really messed up, isn't it? I mean, we're always at risk.
I mean, a meteor might come through here and kill me. I might not
make it home. We're always at risk. The Lord
doesn't do anything. He knows everything that's going
on. And what a blessed privilege it is to trust Him to take care
of me. And give in such a way as, well, what if you lose everything?
Well, what if I do? What if I do? We're mistaken
when we say they're generous to a fault. You can't be generous
to a fault. It's impossible. Oh, be passionate. Giving, he
says, proves the sincerity of your love. And then in 2 Corinthians 1.14, As you also have not acknowledged
us in part, that we, as also you have acknowledged us in part,
that we are your rejoicing, even as you also are ours in the day
of the Lord Jesus. We rejoice in each other, don't
we? We rejoice in each other. You know why? Because we love
one another. And we rejoice in one another. That's a true ground
of rejoicing, to rejoice in believers. We rejoice in one another. Galatians
chapter 6. I've got two or three more. Galatians
chapter 6. Brethren, verse 1, if a man be
overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore such a
one in the spirit of meekness. Considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted, knowing in your heart that you would fall worse
than your brother if you were put in the same position. You
can't look down your nose at him. Bear ye one another's burdens,
that means put up with one another, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to
be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let
every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing
in himself alone, and not in another. This means we glory
in ourselves, in this sense, in what God has done in us. That
doesn't mean we're glorying in ourselves. You said in the previous
verse, you're nothing. If you think you're something
when you're nothing, you've deceived yourself. Now, you're nothing. You know that you're nothing
but God has saved you by His grace. There was a time when
you didn't believe Christ. You do now and you rejoice in
what He's done in you. There was a time when you had
no love for Christ. You do now. You rejoice in what He's done
in you. You know it came from Him. You're not comparing yourself
to somebody else. You're not You're not comparing
yourself. No. You know that you're nothing,
but you see what He's done for you, and you rejoice in what
He has done for you. That doesn't mean you're rejoicing
in your works or your free will or your ability, but you're rejoicing
in what He has done for you and in you. Turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 9. I've got two more. 1 Corinthians chapter
9. Beginning in verse 14, even so hath the Lord
ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the
gospel. But I've used none of these things, neither have I
written these things that it should be done so unto me. I'm
not writing you that you should support the ministry in order
to get money from you. I'm not doing it for that. For it would
be better for me to die than that any man should make my glorying
void. Now, he had some glorying going
on in his preaching. For though I preach the gospel,
I have nothing to glory of. I can't say, well, look what
the Lord's done through me. I'm somebody special. I have nothing
to glory of. For necessity is laid upon me,
yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. For if I do this
thing willingly, I have a reward. This thing of preaching the gospel,
I have a reward. But if against my will, a dispensation
of the gospel is committed unto me, what is my reward then? What
is the reward I get? What is it that I rejoice in?
He talked about, you're not going to make my rejoicing void. What is my reward? Well, here
it is, a bigger crown in heaven. No. Barely that when I preach
the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that
I abuse not my power in the gospel. That is my reward." That's a
glorious reward, isn't it? To be enabled by grace simply
to do what's right. That is some kind of reward.
Now, one last scripture. Turn to James 2. Verse 13, for he shall have judgment without
mercy that has showed no mercy. And do you hear what that's saying?
If you show no mercy, God will show you no mercy. Now, there it is. Look what it says next. And mercy rejoiceth,
glorieth, exalts. Mercy rejoices against judgment. Aren't you thankful? Mercy glorieth. God's mercy glorieth
and rejoices over judgment. Now, that beginning text, Paul
said, I'm coming to you that you're rejoicing. You're glorying. You're exulting. You're boasting. May abound, increase, grow. Now, what do I rejoice in? Well,
we glory in the Lord. We glory in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, we glory in the grace wherein we stand, we
glory in our hope, we glory in reconciliation. We glory in weakness,
infirmity, we glory in tribulation, we glory in the growth of others.
We glory in generosity. We glory in each other. We glory
in what God has done in us and for us and by us. We glory in
not abusing our power in the gospel. And mercy glories over
judgment. And oh, that our glorying would
abound and increase in all of these things. May this characterize
my life. Somebody who rejoices, glories,
exults, joys in the Lord Jesus Christ. These things have I written unto
you that your joy may be full. Let's pray together.