This book of the Epistle of Paul
to the Philippians is said to be a prison epistle. It was written from Rome by the
Apostle Paul to the church at Philippi when he was in prison
awaiting death. Now, I just don't know how I
would fare in prison. Do you? I have a pastor friend down in
Georgia whose son is in prison. His father called me a few weeks
ago and said that his son had been drinking and was driving
an automobile and had a head-on collision with some college students
in which three of the students were killed and they sentenced
the young man to four to six years in prison and that's where
he is now and his dad asked me to write to him send him some
books which I did and the young man's been writing to me and
he said it's it's pretty bad to be in prison. It's pretty
bad. I don't know how I would fare
in prison. But Bishop Latimer wrote to a
friend from his cell in prison. Bishop Latimer was in Aberdeen
prison for preaching the gospel, and he wrote to a friend and
he addressed the letter and the salutation in this fashion. He said to my friend, and called his name, from the
Lord's palace in Aberdeen. I don't know whether I could
do that or not. From the Lord's palace in Aberdeen. John Newton wrote, while blessed
with a sense of his love, a palace, a toy would appear. And prisons would palaces prove
if Jesus would dwell with me there. John Bunyan, the famous
author, preacher, pastor, spent 12 years in prison. And while he was in prison for
12 years, he wrote that outstanding book, Pilgrim's Progress, But
Paul was in prison, in prison, and he wrote the book of Philippians.
And do you know what is the most prominent word in the book of
Philippians? Why don't you open your Bibles
to Philippians? You'll find the most prominent
word in the book of Philippians is the word rejoice. Did you know that? Rejoice. A reason I gave you all of this
about where Paul was when he wrote the book, there are places
it's easier to rejoice than others. But he wrote this from prison
and ten times, ten times in the book of Philippians, he talks
about rejoicing, rejoicing, rejoicing, rejoicing. Look at Philippians
1. Philippians chapter 1, verse 12, Philippians 1, 12,
he says, I would you should understand, brethren, that the things which
happen unto me, my arrest, my imprisonment, have fallen out
rather unto the furtherance of the gospel, so that my bonds,
my chains, in Christ are manifest in all
the palace, all around the courtyard and in all other places, and
many of the brethren in the Lord, these other preachers. You know,
everybody didn't like Paul. Did you know that? No, he wasn't
the most popular fellow around those days. Even a lot of preachers
didn't like him. Even a lot of grace preachers
didn't like him. That's right. They didn't like
Paul. And he said, verse 14, many of the brethren in the Lord,
waxing confident by my bonds, in fact, I'm in jail, are much
more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ
even of envy and strife. They envied Paul's gifts. They
envied Paul's open doors. They had a little jealousy. You
know, it's hard to get all the envy and jealousy out of us. And these fellows were envious
and jealous and didn't care for Paul. But he said they preached
Christ, and some even of good will. The one preached Christ
of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to
my bonds. Well, if Paul had done it our
way, he wouldn't have been in jail. That's it. If he had just softened
up a little bit and taken some of the edge off, he wouldn't
have been in jail. But the other of love, knowing that I'm set
for the defense of the gospel, what then? Notwithstanding every
way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and
I therein do rejoice. I rejoice. And I will rejoice. If they preach Christ, I'm going
to rejoice. You say, these fellows that didn't like Paul, they were
preaching the gospel too? Oh yeah, yeah, or he wouldn't
have rejoiced in it. If they weren't preaching Christ,
he wouldn't have rejoiced in it. They preached Christ. They
didn't agree with him, but they preached Christ. And he said,
I rejoice. I rejoice. All right, turn if
you will now to Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2, verse
17. Now, Paul had been the means
God used to bring these Philippians to knowledge of Christ. He had been the preacher that
came to them with the gospel, and God had brought them to knowledge
of Christ. And verse 16, he said, holding
forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ,
that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain, yea,
and if I be offered upon the sacrifice, if I be poured out
as a sacrifice, my blood shed, and service upon the sacrifice
of service of your faith, I joy and will rejoice with you all.
And I rejoice with you all." Paul knew that he was about to
be martyred for the gospel. He knew that he was going to
be soon killed, and so he writes to them here, and he says Do
not be sorry for when you hear of my death and the pouring out
of my blood, but rather do what? Rejoice with me." Rejoice with
me. Verse 17, read it again. If I be offered poured out upon
the sacrifice and service of your faith in order to preach
the gospel, whatever it cost to preach the gospel, I endure
all things for the elect's sake. He said, I joy and I rejoice
with you all. For the same cause also do you
joy and rejoice with me, the gospel. That's our grand obsession. That's our great end and objective
in all things, is to know the gospel, to love the gospel, to
preach the gospel, to witness the gospel, to get the gospel
of Christ wherever we can. And that's what we rejoice in.
If we die for the gospel, we rejoice. If we suffer for the
gospel, we rejoice. If one is taken from our midst
for the gospel's sake, we rejoice. Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice in
the gospel. All right, look at chapter 2,
verse 25. Now, Epaphroditus was one of
the pastors at Philippi, one of the pastors, and they had
sent him to Rome to see Paul, to take some presents to Paul
from them. They had sent one of their beloved
pastors, Epaphroditus, up to Rome to take some gifts to Paul. And while he was there, he got
sick, real sick, almost died. Verse 25, Philippians 2, Yet
I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother,
and companion in labor, and my fellow soldier, and your messenger. And he that ministered to my
wants, for he longed after you all, he missed you, he was away
from you a long time, and full of heaviness, because you'd heard
that he had been sick. And indeed he was sick, nigh
unto death, nigh unto death, he almost died. But God had mercy
on him, not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have
sorrow upon sorrow. So I sent him back to you, I
sent him therefore the more carefully, that when you see him again,
you may rejoice. When he comes home, you rejoice.
Just rejoice. Rejoice that God had mercy. Rejoice
that God healed him. Rejoice that he's back home.
And look at verse 29. And receive him therefore in
the Lord with all gladness. Happiness. Alright, look at Philippians. Well, I read in the text Philippians
3, 1, finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. And now turn to
Philippians chapter 4. You see, this word is sort of
a golden thread that runs all the way through this book. Rejoice!
Rejoice! Rejoice! And here in chapter
4, verse 4, Paul says, Rejoice! Rejoice in the Lord! In the Lord! That's where we glory and rejoice
in the Lord. We don't rejoice in our works.
We rejoice in His works. We have no works in which to
rejoice. We rejoice in His work. We rejoice
in His work in us and by us. We rejoice not in our faith,
but in His faithfulness. We rejoice not in our holiness. But in His holiness, let me show
you what I mean. Turn to Ezekiel 16. Now, this infant, I want you
to watch this, this infant, and this will keep us from being
having a false piety. There's a humility that is genuine
and there's a false humility. There's a piety, but there's
a false piety. There's a rejoicing in the Lord
and there's a false rejoicing. And Satan's a great imposter.
He's a great imitator and counterfeiter. And you don't want any phony
humility and phony rejoicing and phony piety. Now believe
me, we don't want that. Now this infant in Ezekiel 16
was born to heathen parents, Amorite and Hittite. And when
the child came out of the mother's womb, they just threw it in the
field. They didn't tie its navel. They didn't wash it. They didn't
cleanse it. They just took the little baby
right after it was born, just cast it in the field and went
on. And he said, I passed by you, and I saw you in your ugliness. I saw you in your pollution.
I saw you in your blood, lying there like they threw you in
the field. And I passed by you, and it was the time of love.
You didn't love me, I loved you. You didn't call on me, I bested
you. In my mercy, I loved you. And
I said, live. And he said, I live. Now look
at verse 9 of Ezekiel 16. And I washed you with water.
Sanctified you. I thoroughly washed away your
blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. What oil does to
the skin? Oh, just anointed you. That's
the Holy Spirit. And I clothed you. with broadered
work," oh, some of that handmade stuff, "...and shod thee with
badger skin, and girded thee with fine linen, and covered
you with silk. I decked you with ornaments,
and I put bracelets on your hands, and a chain on your neck, and
I put a jewel on your forehead, and earrings in your ears, and
a beautiful crown on your head." Boy, wasn't she something? And
you were decked with silver and gold, and your raiment was fine
linen and silk, and brought at work, and you did eat fine flour
and honey and oil, and you were exceedingly beautiful. And you
prospered into a kingdom, and your renown went forth among
the heathen. Your beauty, it was perfect.
What? What's the next line? Through
my comeliness which I had put on thee, saith the Lord. Now
she was beautiful. She was beautiful, but it was
his beauty. She couldn't say, no, I'm not pretty. She was pretty,
and she knew she was pretty. But she knew it was his beauty.
See what I'm saying? So let's don't say, oh, it ain't
nothing. It is something. But it's his
something. Does that make sense what I'm
saying? It's his something. Oh, I'm a nobody. Well, by nature
you are. But in Christ, you ain't no nobody.
You're the son of the king. Isn't that right? So let's watch. Watch. Watch a phony, false humility
and piety. She was beautiful. She was flat
beautiful. He made her beautiful. But it
was his comeliness and his beauty. Put the credit where it belongs.
God's blessed us here. You know, a church in this country,
he's blessed like this church. Now, don't say, we're not blessed.
We are blessed, but it's his blessing. It's his blessing. We're not doing anything. We
flat are doing something. If every church in America did
what this church does to get the gospel out, there wouldn't
be anybody in America that wouldn't have heard the gospel of Christ
Jesus. But it's his doings. It's the
Lord's doings! See what I'm saying? It's the
Lord's doings! And it's wonderful in our eyes.
In fact, you put on the bulletin board, Paul, except the Lord
built a house and labored in vain to build it. But we're going
to labor. But if he builds it, we won't
labor in vain. You see what I'm saying? I'd rather not even have any
humility than have a phony one. I'd rather just forget the piety
if it's going to be a phony piety. So Paul says rejoice, turn back
to the text, Philippians 4, rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord,
not in your works, in his. In his, not in your faith. Face the gift of God. Face the
gift of God. But faith is the gift. And I rejoice that I believe,
but he enabled me to believe. I rejoice that I love Christ,
but he loved me first, and I love him because he first loved me. I rejoice in his holiness, but
it's his holiness. There's always cause to rejoice
in the Lord, always, always, whether you're in prison or whether
you're in prosperity. Rejoice in his grace that's always
sufficient. Rejoice in his blood which always
cleanses, cleanses, cleanses. Rejoice in his righteousness
that makes us acceptable, accepted in the beloved, always accepted. Rejoice in his love that never
fails, never fails. He always loathes us. He said,
I've drawn you with an everlasting love. Rejoice in his providence. that makes all things work together
for our good, his providence. Rejoice in his intercession,
which is continual. I prayed for you. He said, I
prayed for you. Rejoice in his return, for he
shall come. And Paul said to the Philippians,
and he'll raise our vile bodies and make them like his own. Rejoice
in Christ. Rejoice in Christ, let every
tongue its noblest tribute bring. When he's the subject of the
song, who can refuse to sing? Survey the beauties of his face,
and on his glories dwell. Think of the wonders of his grace,
and all his triumphs tell. Lord, forgive me when I mourn
and groan. and on my troubles dwell. The
trial, O Lord, is Thine alone, and that I know full well." Help
me to rejoice. Rejoice. Look at that text again
in Philippians 4. He says, Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord, in the Lord
now, but rejoice in the Lord always. Always. Let me help you, if I can. If
you look to yourself, in yourself, you're not going to find any
cause to rejoice, either in your faith, or your work, or your
experience, or your religion, or your guilt, or your talents. If you look within yourself,
truthfully, honestly, if you look within, you're not going
to find anything in which to rejoice. Only a liar can rejoice
in himself, because if we say we have no sin, we're liars,
we deceive ourselves and the truth's not in us. So you're
not going to, you can't look within. And then if you look
to others, if you look to others, you're not going to find very
much in which to rejoice, very little in which to rejoice. You
know why? They're human too. But if we can, if we can look
to Christ, We can always find in Him cause to rejoice, always,
always, always, always, if we can look to Christ. We can find
in Him peace. Thou wilt keep Him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee. We can find in Him genuine
rest. I mean rest. When everything
else is in a turmoil, we can find in Christ, believe me, rest. We can find in him a contentment. Paul said, I know how to abound
and I know how to be abased. But I have learned in whatsoever
state I am therewith to be content. But that contentment is in Christ. It's in Christ. Not in your environment,
not in your surroundings. Not in your companions, not in
yourself. That contentment and rest and
peace is in Him. And that's where you find it.
In order to rejoice, you've got to rejoice in the Lord. Now let
me show you several scriptures. I want you to use your Bibles
now just for a few minutes. Turn to Psalm 65. But if I can
and you can, as a result of this study today, study of the scriptures,
If we can come to that place, as Paul said to the church at
Philippi, where we rejoice in the Lord, always, always rejoice,
rejoice, rejoice, always now, in Him,
what a victory it will be, what an accomplishment, if we can
settle the turmoil of heart and the uprising of spirit and all
the everyday chafing and murmuring and complaining and living differently at home
than we do at church, and we can reach a plane, if we can
reach a genuine regularity of communion with God at all times. Wherever I am and whatever I'm
doing with whomever I may be at that time, I can rejoice in
the Lord. I can rejoice in the Lord. But
let me tell you this, not in yourself nor in others, but in
Him. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice
always. Now look at Psalm 65, verse 4. Blessed, that word is
happy. I hear people saying that word
this way, blessed is the man. Well, I've always said blessed,
and I'm going to keep on saying blessed, I'm too old to change.
Blessed, happy, is the man whom thou choosest. Blessed, as happy
as that man. Do you know something? God has
chosen you. Have you repented? Yes, I have.
Have you believed on Christ? Yes, I have. Are you resting
in Christ as your Redeemer, your Lord and your Savior? Yes, I
am. Do you believe He's the Son of God and He loved you and gave
Himself for you? Yes, sir. Do you believe you
have a hope of eternal life? Yes. You are blessed. You ought
to be the happiest guy in here. God chose you. Chose you. He passed by so many, but He
chose you. Happy is the man whom the Lord
chooses, and causes to approach unto him that he may dwell in
God's courts, that we shall be satisfied with the goodness of
his house, even his holy temple. Happy is that man. Think about
it. Think about it. That's rejoicing. The Lord hath
chosen me. Turn to Psalm 32. Psalm 32. Listen to this. Verse 1 and 2. Next time you're down and blue
and troubled and distressed and depressed, why don't you quit
thinking on yourself and your woes and your troubles and start
thinking on this. God chose you. God chose you,
and God lets you come into his presence through his Son, and
you're going to dwell forever in his temple and in his house.
Rejoice! Lift up the heads that hang down
and the feeble knees that sag and rejoice! Psalm 32, blessed, happy, happy,
happy, twice happy, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven. You mean to tell me that every
sin you've ever committed, past, present, and future, every sin,
every transgression against God in word, thought, or deed, every
evil thought that's ever gone through your mind, ever evil
words ever fallen from your lips, every evil look you've ever given,
everything about you contrary to God, short of his glory, is
forgiven and you're not happy? It's all covered by the blood
and you're not happy? You know why you're not happy?
It ain't covered. You're trying to work for it.
And you're struggling in distress because you're trying to do what
you can't do, and that's put away sin. But I tell you, if
you ever run up on the fact and discover it and be made aware
that in Christ all sin is forgiven, you'll be happy. You'll be happy. That's what he said. Happy, happy,
verse 2, is the man unto whom the Lord God will not impute
iniquity, will not charge one's... That's a happy man. That's a happy man in whose spirit
there is no guile. There's a genuineness. Genuineness. Oh, my. That's a happy man. Happy
man. Turn to Psalm 1. Psalm 1. You see, here's where we find
our blessedness. Here's where we find our happiness.
I know we've got a lot of blessings God's given us. We've got this
fellowship and we've got We've got, some of us got fairly good
health, and we've got our homes, and we've got good jobs, and
we've got children that are joys and delight, we've got grandchildren
that you'll get plump silly over, you know, and we've got all these
things, but that's not where it is. That's not where it is. Because all these things will
pass away. The fashion of this world fadeth away. If you try
to find your joy and delight and happiness in things, you're
going to be a most disappointed creature. Now you will. Now you will, believe me. And
you build on that false foundation, when it falls, you're going to
fall with it. But our happiness, our real happiness and joy and
contentment, rejoicing, is only found in Him who does not change,
Christ Jesus. And we rejoice in that He chose
us. chose and enabled us to approach
unto him. And we rejoice that in him our
sins are forgiven, our transgressions are covered. And God will not
charge one sin to us, but rather has charged righteousness to
us in Christ. Now, there's where your happiness
is. Now, believe me, if you try to
find it in anything else, you've got troubles ahead. But that's
where it is. And that's a permanent happiness.
That's a continual happiness. And that way you don't You're
not like the clouds up there. First it's cloudy and then it's
bright. And then it's cloudy and then it's bright. And then
it's cloudy and nobody wants to be around you because they
don't know how they're going to find you. Because you're letting things
influence you too much. See what I'm talking about? They
love you but they don't like you. They don't like to be around
you. You let things. But when you're rejoicing in
Christ, those things don't affect you that much. That's right,
now watch Psalm 1, blessed, happy is the man. Happy is the man,
and we're talking about the ladies too, man's just you, you're not
you. Blessed is the man that walketh not. Now this is, a man's
walk is his tenor of life. A man's walk is his direction.
A man's walk is his, is the way he goes because that's the way
he understands. That's his walk. That's me, my
walk is me. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly." What's the word counsel? Understanding,
wisdom, and philosophy. That's what the counsel of the
ungodly is, their understanding, their wisdom, and philosophy.
And happy is that man that doesn't think like the world thinks.
That doesn't have the understanding that the world has. You see what
I'm talking about? That doesn't bank on human wisdom. Where is
our understanding? Now watch this verse. The Son
of God hath come and given us an understanding that we may
know him that is true. Our Lord Jesus Christ said to
the disciples, whom do you say I am? And he said, Peter said,
you're the Christ, the Son of the living God. He said flesh
and blood didn't reveal that to you. That's not human understanding.
That's not human wisdom. But my Father revealed that to
you. That's heavenly wisdom, counseling, understanding. And
happy is that man. Oh, the men or women here who
by God's grace have a spiritual, heavenly, God-given understanding
of life and redemption and righteousness and a relationship with God.
You see what I'm saying? Blessed, happy is that man that
does not walk in human counsel, human understanding, human wisdom. All right, read on. And blessed
is that man, happy is that man that does not stand in the way
of sinners. What is that way? It's the way
that seemeth right unto men. God said, your way is not my
way. There's a way that seemeth right
to men, but the end is death. We don't stand in that way. In
what way do we stand? I am the way, the truth, and
the life. That's the way in which we stand. The way of the cross, the way
of life, the way of holiness, the way of truth. And then blessed
is that man that does not sit in the seat of scorners, scornful,
doubters, agnostics, but he can say with Paul, I know whom I
have believed. I know whom I have believed.
I am persuaded he's able to keep that which I've committed. I
know. Oh, you're so happy. A man who has some spiritual
understanding and wisdom, who Christ is, what he did, why he
did it, where he is now. A man who is standing in the
way of life, in the way of Christ, in Christ who is the way. The
man who's seated in confidence, not in confusion. The man who's
seated in the Savior, not as a scorner. The man who's seated
in Christ, not as a doubter. But I know whom I have believed.
I rest in confidence in Him. Oh, what a happy man. And then
turn to Matthew chapter 13. Listen to this. Rejoice! Rejoice! Lift up your voice and
sing. Rejoice! Our faith is not just a faith
to die by, it's a faith to live by and to love by. Matthew 13
verse 15. Listen. This people's hearts
People's heart is waxed gross, their ears are dull of hearing,
their eyes they've closed, lest at any time they see with their
eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart,
should be converted, I should heal them. Blessed are your eyes,
they see, and your ears, they hear. For verily I say unto you,
many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things
which you see. And to hear those things which
you hear and have not heard them. We, I wish we didn't, but we
do. We take for granted, take for
granted this blessed book we hold in our hands. We take for
granted this assembly, this place where we can come and sit And
we know that from this pulpit where the pastor's here, one
of these other men are preaching, nobody's going to deny the Word.
They're going to preach the Word. They're going to exalt Christ,
exalt and magnify Christ. And we're going to sit there
and listen and learn that rock is Christ. That Passover is Christ,
that Ark is Christ, that Mercy Seat is Christ, that Priest is
Christ, that Blood is Christ. In Christ we have life, hope,
that our little children can sit beside us and we don't have
to say, now, the preacher was wrong on this this morning and
wrong on that. Now, honey, we're going, but don't believe everything
we can say. Listen to him, son, he's going
to tell you the truth. And we can raise our children
there, and they can sit and hear the gospel, and hear the songs,
and sing the songs of Zion, and worship's going to be unto the
Lord. And I tell you, we take that for granted. Blessed are your eyes, they see,
and your ears, they hear, and your hearts, they understand.
God opened them. God revealed it to you. We ought
to be so happy. I don't think we should ever
allow anything to cause us to be unhappy in that regard. Don't let anything destroy that
blessed privilege that God's given to us. Protect it. Support it. Pray for it. Because
this place is where there are people, I know people over this
country that would, they say, I don't know, they say they'd
give anything to have some place to hear the gospel and some people
with whom to fellowship, give anything. Well, we're blessed,
aren't we? Matthew 11, turn over there a
moment, Matthew 11, 6. Matthew 11, 6, just a couple
of more scriptures. Matthew 11, 6, he says here in
verse 6, Blessed is he, happy, twice blessed, twice happy, is
he whosoever shall not be offended in me. Brethren, I have preached to you and will
continue, and the other men do too, the God of the Bible in
his true attributes. of holiness and sovereignty and
majesty, and you're not offended. You love it. And I preach to
you the Christ of the Bible, the creating Christ, the sovereign
Christ, the electing Christ, the redeeming Christ, the victorious
Christ, the enthroned Christ, the coming Christ, and you're
not offended. You're not offended. I preach
to you God's purpose in redemption, His relationship with His sheep
and the everlasting covenant, The gift of his grace, of free
grace, sovereign grace, and you're not offended, you sure ought
to be happy, because most folks don't like that message. Most
folks don't like it. The world hates me, Christ said.
The natural man receiveth not the things of God. You're not
offended? Blessed is he that's not offended
in me, as I am. Isn't that right? How happy,
happy, happy. And then here's the last one,
Revelation 14, calls to rejoice, calls to rejoice. And I look
out over this congregation, and here stands your pastor. For many, many years, I came
here almost 40 years ago. Lars and I had been married three
months when I came here, almost 40 years ago. went away
for a while, but came back. And these years have passed so
quickly. They've gone by so quickly, and
some of you are aging, and I'm aging. We're getting closer and
closer to the time when we're just going to die now. We're
just going to lie down and die. There's a chapter in the Bible
that talks about this man said, and he died, talks about it,
and he died. And he died, and he died, and
he died, and old Henry, and he died, and old Tom, and he died,
one of these days, and he died. But listen to this verse, Revelation
14, 13. And I heard a voice from heaven
sing unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord. Happy, happy. Happy are the dead who die in
the Lord. From henceforth, yea, saith the
Spirit, they're going to rest from their labors, and their
works do follow them. But happy, blessed are the poor
in spirit, there's the kingdom of heaven, blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are the merciful, they
shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the dead who die
in the Lord. Well, the world takes you to
the home of a wealthy, scrupulously wealthy man. And the world says,
oh, he's blessed. He's blessed. The world takes
you to the home of a famous, famous man, politician, general,
soldier, athlete, sees the people clamoring around trying to see
his home. The buses pull up and the driver
says, that's the home of so-and-so. And the world said, oh, he's
blessed. The world takes you to the home of a healthy person,
healthy and well and strong, and says he's blessed. But I take you to the room, the
quiet and semi-dark room of a sinner who was brought one day by the
grace of God to an awareness of sin. and to an understanding
of the grace of God in Christ, who had revealed to his heart
by the Spirit of God through the Word of God that the Lord
Jesus Christ died for sinners. And he was brought to believe
Christ, and to trust Christ, and to lay hold of Christ, and
to learn of Christ, and to feed upon Christ. And now as the family
stands about his bed, and the doctor says there's nothing more I can
do. And the last breath goes out of his body and the glory
of God is upon his face and his soul goes to be with Christ.
I say he's blessed. He's blessed. You can have all
that other. He's blessed. That's what I want. I want to be those who are blessed,
who die in the Lord. Could I share just one verse
or two verses and let you just take them home with you from
the book of Habakkuk? The book of Habakkuk. And many
of you know where I'm going to turn already, the book of Habakkuk.
There's a verse over here in Habakkuk chapter 3, Habakkuk
the third chapter, and this is, I think, one of those great,
great, great passages. And it's what I've been trying
to talk about this morning. Rejoice! Come in here rejoicing,
go out rejoicing. Leave your home rejoicing and
return rejoicing. Sit down at your table and rejoice,
and when there's nothing on the table, rejoice too. Go to work
rejoicing, come home rejoicing in the Lord. Habakkuk 317, although the fig
tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines,
the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield
no meat. The flocks shall be cut off from
the foal, there shall be no herd in the stalls, That's bad times,
isn't it? Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation
because the Lord God is my strength. He will make my feet like hinds
feet and make me to walk upon mine high places. The Lord is my strength. When
we at last realize that the herd and the stalled is not our strength,
And the fruit on the vine is not our strength. And the blood
that goes through these veins is not our strength. The Lord
is our strength. And He never fails. I can rejoice.
I believe that. You say, Preacher, can you do
it? By His grace. But I tell you this, I sure want
to, don't you? I sure want to. And you know
what? I'm going to put forth an effort. I'm not just going
to say, hey, I agree with that. I agree with that message. You
blessed me. All right, let's do something
about it.