Welcome, friend, to our program of Bible study In Search of the Lord's Way-- the Lord's way to become a Christian and to live the Christian life. Say, have you ever considered the joy of being a Christian? If not, stay with us, because that's our study today. We are calling it, Rejoice and Be Glad!
My friend, it's one of the joys I have every week to welcome you to our Bible study program, In Search of the Lord's Way. I am so blessed. Thank you for joining us today. Oh say! I don't often think of it, but I do need to remind you occasionally-- we're closed captioned for the hearing impaired people, too. We are told there are some one million people who are hearing impaired in America. We hear from some of them that they're enjoying the program and are being blessed by it in some way. Let us hear from you, will you?
We are studying today about the joy of Christian living. I must warn you, though, the mistaken idea that "joy" and "rejoicing" are synonymous with "happy" and "happiness." Maybe you hadn't noticed it but the word "happiness" is not found in the King James Version of the Bible at all. No, it isn't. And the word "happy" appears only nine times in the New Testament and in most instances, even then it would have been better translated "blessed." For example, in John 13:17 Jesus said, "If you know these things, happy are you if you do them." Now the New American Standard Version translates that, "If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them." Yes, there's a blessing awaiting the person who knows the will of God and does it. Another verse that is even clearer, perhaps than that one, is Acts 26 and 2 in which the apostle Paul, in the beginning of his speech before King Agrippa, says, "I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you concerning the things which I am accused by the Jews." Well, Paul felt blessed to be able to defend himself before such a person as Agrippa who was so familiar with the customs of the Jews and perhaps more honest than Governor Felix, who was also present.
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We are reading today from the book of Philippians, chapter 4, beginning at verse 4 and we will read four verses. “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-- meditate on these things.” I read through verse 8. Now let us go to God in prayer. Holy Father, we bow before You now with thanksgiving in our hearts for the joy that we have in living the Christian life. We know that it brings the greatest measure of peace for us and thanksgiving and the gentleness that anyway could possibly bring us. We thank You, Father, for it in Jesus, and in His name we pray. Amen!
Someone called me awhile back and said the Holy Spirit was leading her to divorce her husband and marry this other man. When I asked her what made her think the Holy Spirit was doing all that leading, she said, well, the Lord wants me to be happy. She isn't happy with her present husband, and she would be happy married to the other man. Therefore, the Lord is leading her to divorce her husband and marry the other man. Well, while her logic was good, you don't have to be a rocket-scientist to know that her premise was extremely faulty. In fact, it is simply not true. No, it was not the Holy Spirit that was leading her. And that's too often the case in such boastings as that. The Lord promises "gladness" and "joy" but not "happiness" either.
Happiness depends largely on outward circumstances; joy is a matter of the mind. With the right attitude a person can find joy, but not happiness, in the most difficult of outward circumstances that’s true. The best example of that that I can think of is found in Hebrews chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. After parading before the reader the faithful greats of the Old Testament period in what is known as the eleventh chapter, the Holy Spirit calls attention to something else. "Therefore," He says, "we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
No, we can't say we believe that our Lord was happy about the surrounding circumstances, all the evil, the shame and the agony of crucifixion. No, no he wasn’t happy about all of that. But, oh, the joy He found in dying as He did, because it was the will of the Father for the redemption of the world, and because of his absolute anticipation and expectation of soon sitting at the Father's own right hand in heaven.
Well, even when the world seems to be tumbling in on him, the Christian still rejoices in the Lord and is glad for his salvation. In the eighth chapter of the New Testament book of Acts there is the story of the conversion of the Secretary of the Treasury of the Ethiopian Government. He had been to Jerusalem to worship God, well, obviously according to the custom of the Jews. That would mean that he was one of them, or, that he was a proselyte to their religion, wouldn’t it? He was returning home, riding in his chariot and reading the Old Testament book of Isaiah, when a stranger, a man of God, appeared on the roadside and enquired whether he understood what he was reading. No, as a matter of fact, he said he wasn't understanding what he was reading. So he invited the man of God to join him in the chariot and study with him. And the man's name was Philip; and he began at the same Scripture and preached to him Jesus, reading from Isaiah chapter 53. "And as they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized? And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may. And he answered and said I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch saw him no more, but he went on his way-- rejoicing." What a great story that is! From the teaching of the word of God, the man came to believe in Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God. He was told on the strength of that faith, he could be baptized. And he was baptized. Jesus said, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved" (Mark 16:16), therefore, we have no choice but to believe that he was saved, do we, friend? And he went on his way rejoicing. Oh, I guess so!
Christians not only have cause to rejoice because they are saved by the shed blood of Christ, but when others are saved, too. In Acts 11 chapter 19, verse 26, there's the story of the salvation of some Gentile people in Antioch, who heard the gospel preached, who believed and turned to the Lord. As a matter of fact, the Scripture says there was a great number of them. Well, when the news of that reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas off to Antioch. And when he had come and witnessed the grace of God among these people, he rejoiced and began to encourage them with all resolute heart to remain true and faithful to the Lord; for he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord. Now, you remember that it was here in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians. There was rejoicing and gladness in their hearts. Yes, yes, yes there is something wrong-- badly wrong, when Christians do not rejoice or are not glad when others turn to the Lord.
You remember that after King David had been brought to the realization of the magnitude of his sin with Bathsheba that he prayed for forgiveness. One of those prayers, oh, there were others, I am sure there were others, but this one is recorded for us in the 51st Psalm in which, among other things, David prayed to God: "Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation; uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then will I teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will be converted to You." Oh, it's too bad when supposed Christians become so calloused by their sins that they can no longer thrill at the salvation of other people. Truly, if a person is the Christian he may be professing to be, he still is filled with the joy of salvation in Christ, and he will be teaching transgressors the way of Christ, too. And sinners will be brought to God by his efforts. It just follows as the night the day.
The child of God not only lives a joyful life because of his salvation in Christ, and shares that blessing with other people, but also for the hope that he has in Christ. Christians do not sorrow on the death of another Christian "as those who have no hope" (I Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 13). And, in Romans chapter12, verses 10 to 13 we are taught to "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil; cling to that which is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer..." It is the hope we have in Christ for "the world to come." He believed in "the world to come" and He taught it on different occasions. See for example such passages as Matthew 12:32 and Mark 10:30. And in the apostle Paul's superb dissertation on the resurrection in I Corinthians 15, he said in verse 19, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we of all men most miserable."
Well, the apostle Peter wrote about that hope, also. And he said it's in heaven. Yes, I believe in heaven. Of course I do. The Bible teaches it. He said, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." What a powerful statement of faith and hope. That is one of my favorite Scriptures. And I would like the time to speak to it fully. But, we will do that one of these occasions, but I don’t have the time right now. It's a great message; and we have to move on now.
The Christian can even rejoice in suffering. It is a mistake to assume that by becoming a Christian a person is immunized against suffering. Ah my, such teaching as that only sets people up for disappointment and discouragement. People who have been taught that they won’t ever get sick if they become Christians and they believed it for awhile, and, well, after they had suffered then they have been known to abandon all their faith and hope in Jesus Christ. But, Romans 5:1 to 4 says, "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have access by faith into His grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory (or rejoice) in tribulation, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope."
And then James says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect (or mature) and complete, lacking nothing" (James 1, verses 2 and 4).
Finally, Jesus not only chose the twelve apostles, with whom all Bible students are familiar, of course, who were to become the ambassadors of the kingdom, He also chose seventy others to go before Him. And among other things Jesus told those seventy: "Go your ways; behold, I send you out as lambs among the wolves..." He gave them miraculous powers to heal the sick, to cast out demons, to tread on serpents and scorpions. And, oh, they were impressed with that! And Luke 10:17 says, "And the seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord even the demons are subject to us in Your name." Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! (Can't you just hear that?) And Jesus said to them, "Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10, verses 1 to 20). Oh say, that is the ultimate reason, the supreme reason to rejoice-- that your name is written in heaven! Yes! That's it! Rejoice that your names are written in heaven. My friend, is your name written in heaven? If not, our Lord and Savior will write it there in His "book of life" when you are washed in His blood in baptism (Acts 22:16). Furthermore, John says in Revelation 20 and 12 "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written, according to their works." My friend, if your name is not written there, obey the Lord today, and He will add it there. Come to Jesus now, will you? Father in heaven , we are so thankful for the good way to live You have given us here, and the great hope of living in the afterwhile with You. When it comes time for us to press the dying pillow there will be nothing more important; and should not be more important to us now than the fact that our names are written in Your book of life in heaven. In the lovely name of Jesus, we pray. Amen!
The book of Philippians from which we read at the beginning is the New Testament book of joy. The word "joy" itself appears six times in that short book of only four chapters and fewer than 100 verses. "Rejoice" is there 10 times. The amazing thing about it is it was written by a man in a Roman prison cell. Can you imagine that!
In this fast-paced life we are confronted almost daily with what I call "down-drafts," and these would be events or situations or conditions in the home or the family or on the job or at school-- wherever- -that tend to pull us downward emotionally and spiritually-- and perhaps even physically. But, it is attitude that determines whether we are defeated by them or rise above them. And we can take the "poor me" way to defeat or we can rejoice in the Lord and the power of His strength working in us and live victoriously over all that. Ah, that's what we will do. We'll say with Isaiah, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness..." And that is in Isaiah chapter 61, verse 10. Christian, look what you have to rejoice about: (1) You are doing God's will (2) By the grace of God you are saved in Christ. (3) You can rejoice in salvation of other people that you have led to Christ. (4) You can rejoice in hope that your name is written in the Lamb's book of life. Rejoice! Again I say rejoice!
My friend, we're continually glad that you were with us today. And we sincerely pray that you were blessed in some way. The program is produced in Edmond, Oklahoma Church of Christ and is made possible here by local churches of Christ. We don't ask you to send us money, but we would like to have you worship with a nearby congregation right soon. Don't keep putting it off; do it today if possible, will you?
If you would like a free CD, audio cassette tape or printed copy of this program titled, Rejoice And Be Glad, mail your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083, or by e-mail to searchtv@searchtv.org. Or, you may use our toll free telephone number and call in your request. The number is 1-800-321-8633. You might even want to study this matter even more by way of our correspondence course. It is free, also. All you have to do to enroll in the eight lesson course is to request it at the same address we have just given you or use of the same telephone number. Request the eight lesson course of our correspondence course. We would be happy to enroll you immediately and you would enjoy studying the Bible through in a systematic way, right there in your own home, at your own pace If you want to do one a week okay, one every two weeks okay, whatever you will. But do enroll in it. We hope you will be back next week. God bless you. We love you.
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