Philippians chapter four. Now the theme of Philippians
is rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ. Rejoice in his finished
work. Rejoice in what he has done.
It's remarkable of the grace and the mercy we see in the Apostle
Paul even in writing Philippians. He was in prison when he wrote
this. As a matter of fact, he wrote four letters while he was
in there. And this just happens to be one of them. Can you imagine
being in a Roman jail, in a Roman jail cell with a death sentence
upon your head, writing to your brethren and say, rejoice in
the Lord. Boy, I hope I could do that.
Don't you? I hope knowing I was going to be tried and it was
all a bunch of puffery that was against him. It wasn't even real
accusations. It was just things like they
did the Lord Jesus Christ. It was all for the sake of the
gospel. We know that. We see that he wasn't in despair. It was false accusation on trumped
up charges. And yet we have here in the book
of Philippians rejoice 16 times, 16 times. And we have the Lord Jesus Christ
or his pronoun found 61 times. So I'll do the math real quick.
I actually had to add it up in my head there for a few minutes.
I said, I better write this down. I'm gonna get in front of everybody
and try to do that. It's 76 times out of 104 words, 76 times is
either the word rejoice or the Lord Jesus Christ or his pronoun.
76 times out of 104 words. Now, how can a man rejoice in such desperation. How can
a man have such hope? Well, he tells us 76 times, rejoice
in the Lord. In one way, shape, or form, he's
trying, and it's not trying, I shouldn't say it that way,
because the word of God is all by divine inspiration of the
spirit. The Lord is revealing us. Even now, we should be rejoicing
in the Lord. We should, regardless of circumstance,
regardless of what's going on in our life, regardless of where
our feet is found, we should be looking to Christ and hope
our feet are standing firm upon the rock of ages, looking unto
Jesus. Now, how can he rest in the joy
of Christ at this moment? How can we rest in the joy of
Christ at this moment? It's all the same. Nothing's
changed. It's by grace alone, isn't it? It's by grace alone. He must do it. He must be the
doer of it. He must be the one that brings to our remembrance
and says the word, seek you my face, and says the word, look
unto me. Lord, I want to, don't you? I
want to see you. I want to rejoice in you. Not
just right now, but all the time. It's the object of Paul's rejoicing. That's what gave him hope. It's
the object of our rejoicing. That's what gives us hope. It's
the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? It's his finished work. That's
what gives the Lord's people hope, is we don't look at ourself.
We don't look at our circumstance. Look unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, how do we do that? Through the faith that he's given?
Through the preaching of the gospel? He reveals himself in
prayer, doesn't he? He does. It's definitely not
looking at, it's not Paul looking at Paul, is it? And it's not
Paul looking around himself, and it's not Paul looking at
others. Paul looking unto Christ. I hope we can do that tonight,
and the Lord would cause us to. Let's read our text here in Philippians
chapter four and verse four. We're gonna read to verse nine. Rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say rejoice. Let your moderation be known
unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful
for nothing, but 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. Finally, brethren, whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things
are just, whatsoever things are pure, Whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of a good report, if there be any virtue,
and if there be any praise, think on these things, those things
which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in
me do, and the God of peace shall be with you. Paul encourages
these at Philippi from a prison cell, being barred and being
in chains, perhaps being beaten with wounds. We don't know the
extent of everything that's happening to Paul right now, but regardless,
he is encouraging the people at Philippi rejoice in the Lord
always. Then he reiterates it, doesn't
he? He says, and again, and again, I say rejoice. See, faith just
believes the Lord Jesus Christ and rejoices in him always in
all things. In all things, faith looks to
Christ. Paul teaches us how we can rejoice
in the Lord always in verse four and five. Rejoice in the Lord
always. And again, I say rejoice. Verse
five says, let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord
is at hand. Now I'm going to. sidetracked
briefly because I want to tell you what this verse, verse five,
it's, I guess I'm not sidetracking. I'll tell you what it doesn't
mean first. And perhaps it is a little bit of a sidetrack. Whenever
we were in false religion, most people believed that alcohol
was the devil. That's what they would say. Alcohol is the devil.
We stay away from that. We don't, we don't taste that. We don't
touch that. This is, this is wrong. They say, you need to
take all the wine. I heard this from a preacher. I can't take
credit for this, but he's a, a pastor in the truth. He said, we're
going to take all the wine. That's what men would say. We're going
to dump it all in the river. And then we're going to take all the alcohol. We're going to dump it all in
the river. And he says, well, I guess that means most people
just start singing the song, I'm going down to the river,
right? Ain't that how that would be? He's not talking about our moderation
and what we consume and what the Lord teaches us, how to live
and how to look unto Christ in all things. We know that to be
true, don't we? He's not talking about alcohol
here. The word moderation means patience. It's the same word
as patience. I love this. It's the same exact
word as patience. So what is the Lord saying? Well,
he also says he's at hand. Be patient. The Lord is at hand.
He's saying, wait on the Lord. That's what he's saying. Wait
on the Lord. Be patient. The Lord is at hand. Daniel prayed for 21 days before
the Lord responded to him. And the first time Daniel got
an answer was from the angel of the Lord who said, I've heard
you from the first time you prayed, but now I've came for your words.
Now I'm come for your words. Wait on the Lord. The Lord is
at hand. That is the lesson for the Lord's
people here. Wait on the Lord. Look to Christ. And while you're waiting, rejoice
in the Lord, regardless of your circumstances. Then he says in verse six, be
careful for nothing. Be careful for nothing. Now he's
not saying, don't worry about, uh, uh, don't, don't care about
anything. That's not what he's talking
about. The word careful means full of care. It's the same word
as anxious. He's saying, be anxious for nothing.
Look to Christ. Don't worry about everything.
Look to Christ. That's what he's saying here.
Wait on the Lord. It's the same thing, isn't it? Verse six, let's
read it. Be careful for nothing, but in
everything, here's what we are to do. By prayer. In everything, by prayer. In
supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. Be careful for nothing, be anxious
for nothing, but with all prayer and supplication, let your requests
be made known unto God. in everything, in everything
by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving. Boy, I hope my
prayer is with thanksgiving as often it is, or more often than
it is with complaining. More often than it is saying,
Lord, I'm frustrated about this, and I, that's what we pray, isn't
it? Well, I hope it's with thanksgiving
more often, but I know myself. I'm more frustrated than I am
thankful. I murmur just like the children of Israel. I complain
just like they did, more than I'm thankful. Lord, give us a
thankful heart. Cause us to come praying with
thanksgiving. Then he says, let your requests
be made known unto God. Why should we let our requests
be made known unto God? Prayer makes us acknowledge that
we can change nothing. That if anything is gonna change,
it's gonna have to be him that does the changing. You can't
change yourself. We can't change our circumstances.
We can't change the world that we live in. But when we pray,
when we cry out to him, looking unto Christ, what does it teach
us? That he's seated. It forces his people to look
to him in reverence and say, Lord, you're the one that's gonna
have to do it. I can't do it. It's a reflection of us being
put in our place and seeing him in his place. Do we see that?
That's how we pray. Prayer makes us beggars. Christ
said, you have not because you ask not. You have not because
you ask your heavenly father. The Lord said, you being evil,
know how to give good gifts unto your children. He said, how much
force your heavenly father given to them which ask him. Now we're
talking about those that ask in the eyes of faith. The Holy
Spirit, that's the good gift, isn't it? Lord, I need your spirit.
I need to see that you're seated. I need to see that it is finished.
Reveal that to my heart. There's where we rejoice, isn't
it? When we see Christ as seated, as successful as the Savior,
the Lord's people, we rejoice, we rejoice. According to His will and according
to His work, prayer changes the heart of the believer because
we are forced to put others before ourself, to put the Lord before
ourself. And over time, over time, the
Lord causes us to see less and less and less of ourself and
more and more and more of him. And I am not talking about progressive
sanctification. I want to just be very clear.
I'm not talking about us getting better. I'm talking about us
seeing worse and worse and less and less of ourself. It's the
opposite, isn't it? It's regressive. Well, it's sanctification once
and done. I don't think I have to explain. Somebody's been messaging
me about this issue and I'm like, I'm as clear as I can be. I don't
understand the problem here. So I shouldn't rant about that. So let's just move on. The more
we beg through faith, the more he reveals our need of him. Do
we see that? The more we beg through faith,
the more he reveals our need. The more we beg, the more he
reveals our need. We know nothing changes. We see that our need is to see
him. Our need is to see him. Well,
why should we pray if nothing's gonna change? Well, number one,
we're commanded to. Number one, we're commanded to. And what about the verse that
says that he is ravished by one look from his people? Does that
not, is that not sweet to our heart? Lord, cause me to cry
out ever so much more. Cause me to fall more and more
in love with you. So what changed if we pray? Well,
nothing. We're just made to rejoice. Once
we see him, we're made to rejoice. That's what it does. Prayer causes
us to realize that he is seated, that it is finished, and he gets
all the glory, and we just rejoice. That's where we find our peace.
And Paul says that peace that we're just talking about, that
peace passeth all understanding. I don't need to know an answer
Like I thought, I needed to know an answer. I see Christ, and
that's enough. I see Christ, and that's enough. You know, he says right here,
at the end of verse seven, the peace of God, which path is all
understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ
Jesus. Seeing him, that's how he keeps
our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus, seeing him. Seeing him is the only place
that we can rejoice. Seeing him is the only place. That's the only place of the
believers joy. Now you and I have happiness.
We have experiences that makes us happy. We see our children
running through the house. I can't say my grandchildren
yet. Some of you can. Most of you can. So you understand what
I'm saying. You see your babies running along
and it makes you happy. Gives you an excitement feeling.
But joy can only come through and by the Lord. Joy is eternal.
Joy is everlasting. Joy is what the Lord does for
his people. That's the reason that he's the
only one that can give joy. It comes from him. He's where
our rejoicing truly lies. We cannot rejoice in sorrow but
we can rejoice in the Lord that sent that sorrow. Now, many times
I have said to us, wouldn't it be nice if we could look in the
trial that we are in and just rejoice to say, Lord, I know
that you're doing this and rejoice in the trial. Well, we can't
rejoice in the trial, but we can rejoice in the Lord that
sent it. Why? Because he doeth all things well.
We can't rejoice in our circumstances, but we can rejoice in the God
of purpose, can't we? Can't rejoice in everything around
me, but I can rejoice in the God of purpose, that he purposed
all things. Can't rejoice in bereavement,
when a loved one's lost or passes away. Can't rejoice in bereavement,
but we can rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our life,
who is our life. The Lord giveth, and the Lord
taketh away. Is that not what Job said? Lost
his 10 children in one day. Don't worry about all the other
stuff. I guarantee you that was the biggest hurt that Job felt
was from his family, just as it would be you and I. The Lord
gave him the heart to say, the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. I can't rejoice in
everything going on around me, but I can still rejoice in him.
That's what I want. That's what we need, isn't it?
That's what we need. Can't rejoice in the trials and
troubles. We can rejoice knowing he doeth all things well. We rejoice in knowing because
we've been made to know all things work together for good. Can't
rejoice in the trials and troubles of this life and the things that
we endure, but we know that all things work together for good,
so we can rejoice in our Savior because of that reason. Can't rejoice in our bed of pain,
in our bed of fear, We can rejoice in the one who makes our bed,
the one that makes us lie down in green pasture. Can you relate
to what I'm talking about? We can't rejoice in the bed of
pain and fear. When you're hurting, are you
rejoicing that you're hurting? No. No, that would be foolish
talk or silly. But we can rejoice in the one
who makes our bed, the one that makes us lie down in green pasture. We can rejoice in him. We can't rejoice in our loneliness,
our loneliness, but we can rejoice in the one that said, I will
never leave you and I will never forsake you. Can't rejoice in our emptiness.
You ever felt empty before? Can't rejoice in that, but we
can rejoice in his fullness. He said, my cup runneth over.
Can you relate to David in that? I can't rejoice in the emptiness
that I see in myself and I see in this world, but I can rejoice
in the fullness of him. Can't rejoice in the things of
this world, but we can rejoice in the one who is the creator
of all things. The one that is the sustainer
of all things. The one who made the world. I
can't rejoice in this world, the things of the world. but
I can rejoice in the one that created all things for his glory
and honor. I can't rejoice that I'm a sinner. I got no hope that I'm a sinner,
but I have hope that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
See, we rejoice in him, don't we? We don't rejoice in self.
We don't rejoice in circumstance. We look to him who has ordered
and provided all things for his people. we're being honest, we can't
rejoice that we're going to die unless we have the hope of eternal
life in him. And perhaps there's somebody
out there that says they can. I don't think that's true. They've
never entered into what death is. It's either going to be eternal
life or eternal death. It's either going to be eternal
heaven or it's going to be eternal hell. It's either going to be
eternal love or eternal wrath. And it's all that Christ is the
only one that makes the difference in all of that. I can't rejoice
in death, Lord, unless I'm found in you. Unless I have hope of
being conformed to your image upon death. Unless you conquered
death, hell, and the grave for me. Can't rejoice in death, but
we can rejoice in the one who conquered death, can't we? We
can rejoice in the one that conquered death. I can't rejoice, and you know
you're the same, we can't rejoice in the choice we make, the prayer
we pray, that we decided to let him do anything, but we can rejoice in his sovereign
choice in ordaining his people to eternal life, can't we? We
can rejoice in that. Can we rejoice in our righteousness?
No, not unless Christ is our righteousness. Can't rejoice
in this filthy rag that we would call righteousness, but we can
rejoice in Jehovah's sick in you, the Lord, our righteousness,
can't we? Can't rejoice in our flesh. In
me, that is to say in my flesh, well, it's no good thing. We
can't rejoice in this flesh, can we? that we can rejoice in
His flesh, which is bread, the bread of life. Did He not say
that? This is my body broken for you. This is what we rejoice
in, the Lord Jesus Christ. We can't rejoice in our blood,
can we? Our blood is polluted with the blood of Adam. Oh, we
can rejoice in the blood of the precious Lamb of God who took
away the sin of His people. We can rejoice in that, can't
we? By His own blood He purged our sin. We can't rejoice in
the keeping of the law as our righteousness before God, but
we can rejoice in knowing Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth. We can't rejoice in what we offer
to him, but we can rejoice that he was offered up for our sin. His soul was made an offering
for sin for his people. That's what we rejoice in, isn't
it? He was well satisfied with his darling son. We can't rejoice
in our heart, can we? But we can rejoice in his heart,
which he imputes to every one of his people. See, our rejoicing
has nothing to do with us, just as our salvation had nothing
to do with us. We rejoice in Christ alone. Whether we're in the prison house,
in chains and in fetters because we're declaring the name of Christ,
whether we're walking down the street, whether we're driving
a car, whether we're on, you name it. No, it doesn't matter
where we're at or what we're doing. Our rejoicing as the Lord's people
is where? And only where? In the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's in his finished work. Can't rejoice in my love for
him, can you? Can you rejoice in your love for him? My love's
so cold, but oh, I can rejoice in his everlasting love, can't
you? I can rejoice in his everlasting love. I cannot rejoice in the wretched
man that I am, but I can rejoice in the perfect man that he is. Perfect man that he is. We can also rejoice in the fact
of being made like him, as I've already said. Being made, having
a body fashioned like to him that the Father's pleased with.
We can rejoice in that, can't we? I'll go on to say I cannot rejoice
in anything I think, anything I do, anything that I am, but
we can rejoice in what he has purposed, in who he is, in what
he accomplished on the cross of Calvary. Can you say amen
to that? If you can, it's by faith alone.
If you can say amen to everything I just said about what we rejoice
in and what we don't rejoice in, it's by God's grace. Because
there is plenty of people in this world that rejoice in what
they do, in what they think, in what they are, in the things
around them, in life, in death, in everything, never knowing
the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our only hope and only rejoicing
is in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Paul said, if you rejoice in
this, he said, again, I say rejoice, just keep rejoicing. Lord must
give faith. Thank God he gives faith to everyone
that he loves, everyone that Christ died for, and this faith
looks to him, doesn't it? Is that our prayer? Lord, give
me your faith that looks to you. Cause me to rejoice evermore
at all times. I would love to live a life of
rejoicing, wouldn't you? I would. Rejoicing all the time. Now, the new man does. That's
the problem, isn't it? We have two natures. And the
old man and the new man are at warfare one with another. As
soon as you have a little bit of joy, as a matter of fact,
if you have joy as a believer, go ahead and turn it on the news
and you'll lose that really quick. If you have joy as a believer,
get on the interstate and do 55 miles an hour and see how
long you have. I'm just saying, we'll lose our
joy. Our new man will get revved up and he'll be ready to do something. Paul said, no, rejoice in the
Lord. These things are just distractions.
It's just a mirage. We're just going through the
motions. It's already finished. It's already finished. Look to
Christ. Rest in Him. If we lived a rejoicing life, we'd
live a selfless life for His glory, a peaceful life, a restful
life, a life full of rest. Rest in Him. You know, that's
heaven, isn't it? Eternal rest. Eternal peace. That's what I'm
describing. That's the life that we have to look forward to one
of these days. We are going to be eternal day. And we'll rest
in him rejoicing for ever and ever and ever world. It'll never
end. It'll never end. If indeed we are. We have been
made to know the truth. If we are born again, if we have
been brought to this light and the Lord has given us faith to
see him, we do have these two natures that that war and the
Lord as I was studying this reminded me of David, who is a great example
of this. David would have times of rejoicing
Whitney. He would have times of great
sorrow. He would have times of great triumph. He would be on
top of the mountain and down in the valley. That's a good
way to put it. A lot of times I've heard it put that way. I
think that's a good example, on top of the mountain and down
in the valley. One occasion, David says, rejoice
in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance
of his holiness. Give thanks at the remembrance
of his holiness. Rejoice in him. Do you think he was down fleeing
for his life when he wrote that? No, he was on top of the mountain.
Another place he said, from the end of the earth will I cry unto
thee when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to that rock which is
higher than I. He was asking the Lord to lead
him, wasn't he? Begging the Lord not just for
physical aid, but lead me to the rock, the Lord Jesus Christ. That was the need, wasn't it?
And some circumstances came upon him. And I'll remind you how
often Saul tried to kill him. Even as a young lad, he threw
a javelin at him. All David was doing was playing
the harp. Saul hated David because of jealousy. When David came
back from slaying the giant and coming from battle, they would
say, boy, David, Saul's killed his thousands, but David killed
his 10,000. And Saul was like, I'm going to kill that boy. He
was jealous, wasn't he? He was jealous. So he sought
after David hard and tried to kill him on multiple occasions,
but the Lord was with David. The Lord kept David. David was
running for his life, much like our brother Paul here is in prison
for his life. And it's gonna be taken from
him shortly hereafter. We see David begging again. What
was his... When did he beg the most? Let
me put it that way. Was it his circumstance, really,
was Saul that he begged the most? Deliver me, Lord, from the hand
of the enemy. What was his prayer the most? Lord, have mercy on
me, the sinner. When he saw his sin, that's what
he needed to be delivered from the most. And he says in Psalm
51, verse eight, make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones
which thou hast broken may rejoice. Well, that's the life of the
believer, isn't it? And it's a good point to make
that us fleeing from the one that would kill us, that's our
flesh looking to the law for righteousness. That's the one
that would kill us. And yet, we see our sin and we flee to
Christ, don't we? That's what the Lord's done through
repentance and faith. That's what the Lord gave to David over
and over again. One minute we see the Lord and
rejoicing. I'd go so far to say one second we're seeing the Lord
and rejoicing and another second we're not. We're having to cry
out, Lord, save me. Lord, save me again. I've taken
my eyes off of you again. Is that your experience? That's
my experience. Every day, that's my experience. Now, First Samuel gives us a
good example of this, and I thought about having us turn there, but
I've chose not to for the sake of time. I'll tell you the the
allegory, the story that was given, the account of David.
And I've preached this to us before. So hopefully it'll be
fresh on our memory. David is fleeing Saul. He had
just went up to Saul who was in the cave. You remember, and
he cuts the fabric from his garment and he leaves and he sees Saul
wakes up and sees David afar off. And he shows him, I could
have killed you is what David says. And, uh, And we see that
Saul departed from David not to seek after him anymore at
that particular time. But David said, I'm not going
to be able to go back to where Saul is and hope that he has
mercy upon me. First chance he's going to get,
he's going to kill me. So he took 600 men and he goes to Gath. Now I would remind us that Gath
is the place where Goliath was from. Everybody knew who David
was in Gath. I guarantee you that. Wouldn't
you think so? I mean, you'd have to know so. He was not a very
popular guy. People these days in time will
fight you over football. Can you imagine their champion
actually getting his head chopped off in war? And because of that,
Israel won the war for that particular time. They hated David. But by
God's providence, and by God's mercy, and by God's predeterminate
counsel, David found himself in Gath. And he goes up to the
king named Achish. And he says, if I found grace
in your eyes, give me and my men a place. 600 men is what
David took with him. Give me and my men a place that
we may dwell, because we can't dwell in Israel. And the king
didn't just give them the farmlands, the country lands that David
asked for, the king gave him Ziglag, the city. He said, it's
yours, you can have it. Can you imagine that? David getting
zig lag with his men. And now he's able to bring his
wives, it says, and all that they had and his men's wives,
everything that they possessed. Now they have a city to themselves. What grace, what mercy is there
in that? What kind of a mountaintop do you think David's on at this
particular point? The highest, right? He's rejoicing. Lord, you've delivered us from
Saul and you've given us this place where we can worship you
freely. And we have we have the king here is not trying to kill
us. Our enemy is not trying to kill us here. We have great we
found grace by your grace in his sight. Just like all times of being
up on top of the mountain, it's not for long because either I've
heard this so many times I've told you this either we're in
a in a trial or we're coming out of a trial, or we're going
into a trial, and there's really no in-between. It's just over
and over and over, and some are harder, it seems like, than others.
Some are easier, it seems like, than others. By God's grace,
he keeps us through all of them, doesn't he? He gets all the glory
in it. Well, that was the same here for David. He was on the
mountain one minute, and in the next chapter, the Assyrians come
to war with Israel, and the Philistines get their army prepared as well.
And Achish calls for David. So David and the 600 men leave
Ziglag. They leave their wives, they
leave their children behind, they leave everything that they
have and they go to King Achish. And the King Achish says unto
David these words, I make thee keeper of mine head forever.
I make thee keeper of my head. You're my right hand man. Your
job is to protect my head. That's why he found grace in
his sight. The Lord had gave him favor of
David. He said, you're the one that's on the battlefield that
does the best. I want you right here and you are to keep my head. Once the Philistines army gathered
together, the other princes and all the other captains got together
and they saw David, they said, what are these Hebrews doing
here? Who are these men that are here? And Achish began to
describe it to him. He said, they can't go to battle with
us, for they may turn on us as our enemy. First chance they
get, David's liable to put a sword in our back. And Achish was forced
to send David and his men back home to Ziglag. Now, upon the arrival of Ziglag,
upon David's arrival with his men, there is no doubt they saw
smoke from a distance. they would have had to because
Zilag was in ruins. It had been destroyed. And every
one of their wives and all of their possessions and everything
that they had, their children, their sons, their daughters,
didn't matter. There was nothing left in Zilag but an empty, desolate,
destroyed city of ruins. Can you imagine the discouragement
from going up on top of the mountain down to the valley that David
felt? These men and him, scripture
says they cried until they couldn't cry anymore. They cried till
there was no more cry in them left to cry. They mourned until
they couldn't mourn anymore. And so what happened? Well, just
as Most accounts would go in this day and time. And then back
then too, everybody turned on David. They wanted to kill him.
They said, stone him. It's his fault. It's his fault. David was all alone. He was by
himself. He had no one to call upon. He
couldn't call upon his brother. He couldn't call upon his sister.
He couldn't call upon father or mother, son or daughter. He
was all alone. And what does he do? The scripture
says, David strengthened. David encouraged himself. David
encouraged himself in the Lord. How did he do that? Well, he
called for Abathar, the priest, and he says, bring me an ephod.
Bring me an ephod. Now, what is an ephod? It is
the priest's garment used for worship. He said, I can't rejoice
in anything else around me, not in this city and everything that's
been taken from me, not in my circumstances, not even in my
health, but I can rejoice in the Lord. Bring me an ephod.
I'm going to worship the Lord. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
He worshiped God. He worshiped God. He said, Lord,
After he was, during his worship, it was his prayer unto the Lord.
He said, Lord, should I pursue after these Assyrians that's
taken everything? Would you have me go after them?
The Lord said, pursue, for I'll deliver them into thy hand. See, no matter what, is or shall
be, the Lord's people must worship the Lord. Whether it's in the
storm, whether it's in the valley, whether it's in the mountain,
we have a need that can only be met through and by the Lord
Jesus Christ, only by the bread of life, only by the fountain
of living water. We've got to have him. The Lord
tells him pursue, and he pursues. In 1 Samuel 30, verse 18, it
says, David recovered all, everything. everything. Now this isn't just
a story. This is an allegory of what the Lord Jesus Christ
has done for his people. We are the ones that were in
zig lag, carried away captive by the Assyrian army, carried
away by our own sin, our own doing, our own foolishness, our
own choice. We would choose sin over the
Lord anytime. And the captain of the host David, the Lord Jesus
Christ pursued after and recovered all, everything that was taken
and restored it back to its rightful place. And we are now seated
in the heavenlies with the Lord, regardless of our circumstances,
regardless of the trial, regardless of the tribulation, regardless
of where our feet find themselves when we look at them, look to
Christ and rejoice. He hath recovered all for his
people. There was nothing lacking to
them, it says, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters,
neither spoil nor anything that they had taken of them. David
recovered all. And the Lord Jesus Christ For
the sin of his people upon Calvary's cross, he shed his blood and
hath gotten the victory by his own blood, by his death. We have
been restored, not only in fellowship, but in perfect oneness. We don't
just have fellowship with the father. We have perfect unity
and oneness as we heard Sunday. How do we know this to be true?
Because Christ's word upon the face of the earth, John chapter
six, all that the father giveth me shall come to me. And all
that come to me, I'll not lose one of them. Not one of them.
He recovered all, didn't he? He recovered all. So what is
the charge tonight? Rejoice in the Lord. What's the
message tonight? Rejoice in the Lord. But what
about but nothing? Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice
in his finished work alone. He's God and he is seated. He's not trying to do anything.
He's not hoping for anything. He's God and he is seated. Christ our David hath recovered
all. There, that is how we rejoice
in times of trouble. That's the only way we can rejoice
in trials, is looking unto Christ. It's the only way. Whether it's a time of peace
or a time of trouble, look to Christ and rejoice. That's the
only way Paul could be rejoicing in this prison cell. It's the
only way he could have been, looking to Christ. And the Lord
had to be the doer of it, didn't he? I couldn't help but think
that when Paul was here sitting in this prison cell, how many
prison cells had he sat in before this particular prison cell?
Well, we know that there was a time he was with, was it Barnabas? They were singing praises unto
the Lord. They were in shackles and chains. They said, tomorrow
you're gonna die. And what do they do? Well, it's
over. No, no, they were singing praises
and hymns. They were singing hymns unto
the Lord. What do you think they were singing? The Lord is king. We're going to sing that in just
a minute. They were singing hymns unto
the Lord. It's finished. It's finished. It is well with
my soul. That's what they were singing. They were saying, look
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith. I want to read the rest of this
here in Philippians 4 verse 8. Because it points us to him. Finally, brethren, whatsoever
things are true, what things are true about you and I? What
things are true about this world? What things are true about our
circumstance? Is it gonna last forever? Only Christ Jesus is
truth. Whatsoever things are true, look
to Christ. He's truth. Whatsoever things
are honest, you know that he's the only one that's honest. Whatsoever
things are just, he's the only one that satisfied justice. Whatsoever
things are pure, he's the only one that's holy. Whatsoever things
are lovely. Well, he's all together lovely
to his people, isn't he? Whatsoever things are of good
report. There ain't no bad news with
the gospel, is there? No bad news to the Lord's people
with the gospel. It's the best news we've ever
heard. There be any virtue. Boy, the
Lord's virtuous, isn't he? If there be any praise, think
on these things. Those things which ye have both
learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do. And the God
of peace shall be with you. What is Paul saying? Look to
Christ. Believe on him, and the God of peace shall be with you.
Look in verse 19. But my God shall supply all your
need. It's not plural, brethren. That
ain't a plural word, need. It's singular, all your need.
What's that need? That I may be found in Christ
Jesus. That I may win him. How are you
gonna win him? He is gonna have to do all the
winning and give me the faith that believes him. My God shall
supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ
Jesus. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice
in the Lord. When? Evermore. Evermore. Always. In all things. And again,
I say rejoice. Let's pray.