Philippians 4 verse 4. I hope you have your Bible open, even though I'm sure most of you probably know this verse. But that is a good thing to know this verse. Philippians chapter 4 verse 4. I want to read this one verse. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say rejoice. Father, yet again we We come to you, the God of joy, the blessed God, the happy God, the God who is forever full of delight and pleasure. We thank you that you are the one who gives joy to your people. Teach us tonight, Lord, as we come to your word be our heavenly teacher, be our divine instructor. Holy spirit guide us in your truth. May the words of our mouths in the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your side. Oh Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen. It was born on July the 10th, 1509 in France. in a city just northeast of Paris, and he went to the University of Paris, and he studied law, and he had planned to be a lawyer, but he had an entire life change. He had a vocation change. For the Lord saved him. And the Lord called this man into the ministry of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. The man's name is John Calvin. John Calvin's life was a wonderful life as we might reflect on it and see all the blessings, but his life was very, very tough. Calvin was banished from his hometown because of his biblical beliefs. Did you hear that? He was banished from his hometown because of his biblical convictions and he went into exile. Furthermore, he married a woman named Idalette. She miscarried once and then at their second child, they lost that daughter at birth. Then she was pregnant a third time and delivered a son, but he died at two weeks of age. Shortly after that, Calvin then buried his own wife after she died. I mean, it seemed as though the storm of sadness just like rested upon John Calvin's head. He was a frail man who was met with many, many sufferings and hardships in his life on every side. He received death threats upon death threats. He dealt with much sin amongst the professing Christians where he ministered. On one such occasion, I was reading, there was a man by the name of Philibert. who was excommunicated from Calvin's church earlier because of his sexual sin. Well, one Sunday he comes bursting through the doors with his friends and he invades John Calvin's worship service with swords drawn, ready to kill and ready to fight. And they come storming to the front and they demand that Calvin serves them the Lord's supper. Well, imagine that worship service. So Calvin jumps down from the pulpit to the communion table down front and he wraps his arms around the table. And Calvin says, these hands, you may crush these arms. You may lop off my life. You may take my blood is yours. but you will never force me to give what is holy to the profaned like you." And they left. They just walked out and left. A man who had a ministry that was filled with hardships like this, filled with suffering, filled with trials, filled with persecution. He then died on May 27th, 1564 at the age of 54. in the arms of his good friend and reformer Theodore Beza. The question that we might ask ourselves is what kept Calvin going? How could he rejoice in times like this? How could he keep persevering in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in such hard circumstances? You have a couple of quotes at the top of your outline. Listen to what Calvin said. He said, joy is a quiet gladness of heart. As one contemplates the goodness of God's saving grace in Christ Jesus. I can be joyful in my heart because I know that my God is good. And then he went on to say, no, the more that we are consumed by the cross, he said, the more that we are utterly consumed by the cross, the fuller will be our spiritual joy. He was a man of joy. And he was a man who suffered much joy. How do you live a life of joy when you face sufferings? How do you live a life of joy when you're facing hardship? How do you live a life of joy? As we saw last week in verses two and three, when you've got conflict in your church and when they're suffering for the gospel, we've got to understand joy. It's a major theme of the Bible and a major theme of the book of Philippians. I think if we are to define joy. A couple of simple ways that helps me remember what this word is. Joy is a spirit-given confidence in the Christian soul that God is sovereign, that God is in control, and that God is good. It is a spirit-given confidence in the Christian soul that totally rests in who God is. God is sovereign, God is in control, and God is good. Or maybe to summarize it, joy is an unshakable conviction that God is in control. One writer who is very skilled at the Greek language was commenting on the Greek word for joy that is used in Philippians. And he said this joy encompasses both happiness and sadness because joy sees here's the key beyond any particular event. Joy sees beyond the event to the sovereign Lord who stands above the events. And he has sovereign control over it all. It's like, it's like true joy sees beyond the clouds and you see to the bright blue skies, which are above the clouds. It's Psalm 97 verse one. One of my favorite phrases in all the Bible, the Lord reigns, the Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice. Well, how do we, how do we rejoice? How do we have joy? Because the Lord reigns, he's the king, he's the sovereign one. But you and I know that we live in times where we sometimes might not feel very joyful. We might sometimes be in seasons where we might even wonder, is there any joy in my life? What what's going on? What's wrong with me? And I wonder if maybe we can be aware of some what we could call joy killers. It's just what robs us of joy? What is it in our lives that can rob us of joy? Just a couple of things to mention. Number one, when we're not clinging to God's absolute sovereignty. That is to say, our God controls everything and he brings everything and he works in and through everything Everything, everything. And when we're not clinging to that, well, no wonder our joy is going to fluctuate or, or number two, prayerlessness or number three, not feasting upon and fighting sin, not feasting upon scripture and fighting sin with scripture. Psalms say that God's word is the joy of my heart. But number four is key. Notice this. If we have circumstance orientation, we are going to be robbed of joy. You say, what do you mean? It's when your circumstances dictate your joy. When emotions take over, when emotions rule, the problem with this comes when you see something bad happening in life, then it like births your joy. If I'm a lover of money and I lose all my money, well then I've lost everything in my life. If I have a circumstantial orientation of joy. Or number five, ingratitude is one of the thieves of joy. Forgetfulness, forgetting what Jesus has done for us robs us of joy. I mean, just the simple truth that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures, that there is one God and one mediator between God and men. And if the Bible is true, when it says that by grace, you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God so that no one should boast. When we forget the simple saving gospel, that can rob us of joy. Number seven, fear of the future can rob us of joy. Number eight, when we begin to become self-centered and self-loving, that mindset sort of makes the world revolve around you and me, and it's a fast track. It's the highway to joylessness and to disappointment. But what does the Bible say? What does God have to say in the Bible about the theme of joy? And for us, as we live in this culture of darkness and this culture of sin, battling with our own sinful hearts and our own sinful tendencies, what does the Bible say? Leviticus 23 verse 40, God instituted a feast for the Jewish people called the Feast of Tabernacles. And God said, I want you to rejoice for seven days at this feast. God is a God who wants his people to have joy as they remember him. Deuteronomy 12 verse seven, God says to Israel, rejoice in all of your undertakings. Wow. All of your undertakings. We read it earlier. First Chronicle 1631. We are to rejoice with the heavens and with the earth because the Lord reigns. Psalm 9, 14, rejoice in God's salvation. I love this. Psalm 31, verse 7, rejoice in God's covenant keeping love. Psalm 85, verse 6, we are to pray for revival. We're to pray that God would work in his people and revive us so that we may rejoice. I think of Psalm 97 verse one, we rejoice because God reigns as the King. Psalm 119 verse 162 says we rejoice at God's word. This book gives joy. It's a delight. It's a pleasure to the soul. Ecclesiastes 519, we are to rejoice in our work. Isaiah 6110, we are to rejoice greatly in the Lord, Isaiah says. The new Testament tells us that we can be overflowing with joy. Keep listening in our afflictions. Second Corinthians seven, four, how are we overflowing with joy in our afflictions? It's because Romans 15, 13 says, God fills us with joy and peace in believing God fills us with joy. I love the promise of Jesus in John 15 verse 11. Jesus says, I want you to abide in me and I in you. And he promises that his joy may be in us. And this is great that our joy may be full or made full. Wow. Jude verse 24, God will make you stand on that great day in his presence with great joy. and on and on we could go. The Bible is filled with reasons why, and commands to, and ways we can rejoice. Philippians 4 calls us to do that as well. Now, let's look at Philippians 4. It's clear in all these scriptures that we've looked at that joy is commanded, that joy is important, Philippians is about unity through selflessness. How do you have unity but by being selfless? Well, so what happens when you've got unity, when you've got humility, when you've got selflessness, when you've got a Christ pervading mindset, what happens? But you've got joy. You've got an undying joy. You've got an unfading joy. You've got an undiminishing joy. You've got an unlimited joy. Philippians 4,4 says rejoice in the Lord always. It's actually bracketing with Philippians 3, verse 1. Look back at Philippians 3,1. Finally, my brethren rejoice in the Lord. So it's almost as if Paul in Philippians 3, 1 to 4, 4 is going to bracket all of these important truths with this rejoice in the Lord always. And now verse one of chapter four, Paul told the believers to stand firm in the Lord. And we've been talking about how to stand firm, right? We talked about living in harmony and we talked about remembering that our name is recorded in heaven in verse three. But now there's one main point that I want to bring out tonight and it's simple. It comes right from verse four. It's that we are to live a life. exuding, I mean just bubbling forth, fervent, abiding joy. Christian, that's your calling. That's what God calls you to do. To rejoice, to live a life exuding fervent, abiding joy. Now let's look at verse four and I want to make a few comments, just a few items to take note of. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I will say rejoice. Well, first God tells us that we must rejoice. It's a command. It's an imperative. This is not an option. This is not God making a suggestion. This is an imperative. Rejoice. Second of all, God tells us how we must rejoice. In the Lord. In the Lord. That is to say, the ground of our joy, the basis of our joy, the foundation of our joy, the footing of our joy is God's character and Christ's gospel. That is the sure footing of our joy that gives life to everything else. You see, we rejoice because we have found Christ or he has found us. And we've called upon him, but he first called us. Whatever may come, whatever may go, whatever we lose, whatever we gain, we can say, I can rejoice because I have the Lord. And I know the Lord, and I have confidence in this Lord. Third, God tells us when we're to rejoice. When? And it's that little word, always. Always. First Thessalonians 5.16 also says it. Rejoice always. Rejoice always at all times. More on this in a minute, but that right there proves that it can't be based upon circumstances if we are to rejoice at all times. Number four, God tells us emphatically. I mean, it's like God is trying to underline and put in highlight and put in bold fonts right here because he repeats it. Again, I will say, rejoice. I wonder if when the Philippians were reading this, they thought in their minds of that occasion a number of years ago when the Apostle Paul was with them. And when he was preaching the gospel, and then he was dragged before the authorities with the, with the companion named Silas, and they were beaten in public, they were stripped in public, and then they were falsely accused. They were thrown in jail. They were, they were, they were, they were tied and, and, and to the wall and they were singing and praising and worshiping God at midnight. Which then led to the salvation of the jailer, as you know, in his whole family. I wonder if they reflected on Paul as they were reading this. Paul modeled it. Paul's been there in our times and here he is calling for their joy to rejoice in the Lord. Well, let's talk a little bit more about joy and let's see if we can spell this out in a little bit more detail, maybe some practical thoughts for us as we is I want to give you some helpful truths about joy. We talk about joy. We sing about joy. We could sing joy to the world with our eyes closed and while we're doing other things with the words are so ingrained in us. But joy, how do we have joy? What is this joy? Let me see if I can give some helpful thoughts as we just flesh out verse four more. Number one in your outline, joy is both a spirit worked grace and it is a command for every Christian to obey. That is to say, true biblical joy is something that God works in us, but at the same time, it's something that God requires of us. After all, Galatians 5, it's called the fruit of the spirit, which probably should just be translated the fruit which is produced by the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness. God is the one who gives joy and peace while believing, Romans 15 says. So God is the giver of joy. He's the initial one who gives us, who plants joy in our hearts, and yet it's also a command for every Christian to obey. Luther was reflecting on this and Luther said, when we hear that Jesus Christ was made a curse for us, let us believe it with joy and let us have assurance by faith. Christ changes, changes places with us. He gets our sins and we get his holiness. God is not a God of sadness or of death, but the devil is Christ is a God of joy. And so the scriptures often say that we must rejoice. A Christian should and must be a cheerful person. God isn't in all of the command saying you need to rejoice, but it's impossible for you. He gives us the joy and he calls us to be people full of joy. But that leads us to number two in our outline. Number two, joy is something This might seem a little bit radical, ponder this. Joy is something that only a Christian can truly understand. Only a Christian. I suppose people might know happiness and they might know moments of bliss and delight and satisfaction, but true biblical joy is distinctively Christian. It is the distinctive mark of a true child of God. It's like the brand mark of a Christian. It's the sign of a Christian because it's given by God. And it's a fruit that the spirit of God works in us. And so therefore only Christians can have this joy because only Christians could say, I believe that God is good and that God is in control. Whatever happens in life, a non-Christian doesn't, doesn't say that a believer does. So joy is something that only a true believer. can understand. Third, in your outline, a third truth, joy is not dependent upon outward circumstances. And I just wish that we could spend two hours fleshing this out. This is where I, and maybe you, this is where we can go wrong. Because number three, joy is not dependent on outward circumstances. Joy and happiness, I'm convinced, are different. You see, joy, I think, goes deeper than happiness. Happiness is the fruit of prosperous or good conditions. It is the outcome of a positive event or of good, favorable circumstances. You could be happy if you win a new car. You could be happy if you get a promotion. Those are good and fine. But joy is independent of circumstances. because true joy dwells in the heart. It's like a never failing fountain. J.R. Miller, one writer says, happiness laughs when the sun shines and it grows sad when clouds gather, but true joy sings on in all the weathers and in all the conditions and in all the experiences. Oh, we know people that can be very happy at times. But yet Christians, sure, we can have that elated happiness and that moment of bliss, of course. But joy is deeper because it is independent of circumstances because it dwells in the heart and it's rooted to who God is. Not dependent upon that. That's why Paul can say rejoice always. That's why the Bible can say in second Corinthians chapter seven, that we are overflowing with joy in all of our afflictions. Well, how are you overflowing with joy? Because my joy is not rooted in my circumstances and the changing nature of things around me. Number four, that leads us to this. Number four, joy is always rooted in the Lord. That's why these phrases are so key. Rejoice in the Lord, in the Lord. That's why you can rejoice. If a tragedy happens and our families are murdered, If the community of believers is slaughtered around us, how in the world could you rejoice? It's because even in the midst of such tragedy, we know who our God is. We know what our God has done. We know what our God has promised. We know what he will do. We know our God. Joy is like Psalm 97 verse 1. Joy is super glued to the sovereignty of God. God, whatever happens, I know that you're in control. I know that you're sovereign. I know that you are in control. Yeah, I know the temple was burned and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, but I can rejoice even though I'm sad. I can rejoice because you're sovereign. I'm hauled off to exile like Daniel or Ezekiel or, or, or, or, or one of the Israelites of old. And, and, and I'm sad and I've been taken away from my homeland, but I can rejoice because I know that my God is the king. Or Psalm 31 verse seven, we are to rejoice in the covenant keeping love of our God. And this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us. we can rejoice because God sent his son to be the propitiation, the wrath bearing sacrifice for us. John Calvin said, if the Lord stands with you, You, you have a sufficient ground of joy. You're, you're a friend of the heavenly King. You have an everlasting conqueror. Jesus rules, he reigns, he governs, and he works all things for his glory. So we can rejoice in him. What an amazing thought. Joy is always rooted in the Lord. A couple more, number five, joy is to mark Christians individually and especially corporately. You know, joy, Christian congregation is to mark us. We are to be a joyful people. If you look in your Bible at Philippians 4.4, we just in our English, we read the command, rejoice two times. But in the Greek Bible, it's a plural verb, congregation, all of us, and not just individual people. That's true. We must, but together we are called to be a rejoicing people. Jesus said to his people, rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven. John 17, Jesus prayed for believers to have unity. And that this joy would be made full in us. You know, Paul is writing from jail in Rome. I mean, it's gotta be tough situations facing. facing persecution, facing death, perhaps believing that he might be released, but yet not certainly knowing the future. And yet he's writing to believers in Philippians that we know that they are suffering for the gospel as well. And yet he is writing to them and he says, I want you to be joyful. And I want you to be joy filled people where, where you don't find grounds, uh, for, for disagreement and disunity with other Christians. And we're not bitter and we're not unforgiving and, and we're, we're not complaining against each other, but we're loving one another and full of joy. It is to mark Christians. individually and corporately. Number six, joy is a unique privilege. This is just so great that we have of entering God's joy. I don't know if you ever thought about this before. The happiest being in the world is God. One God, three eternal persons. We know the Father loves and is pleased with the Son. He said that in the Word of God for us. And we know that the Son delights in the Father and rejoices in the Father. In fact, the Gospel of Luke says that Jesus rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit. So there's this intra-Trinitarian joy that is going on in the Godhead. this perfect joy, this blessed God of on diminishing joy. And it's kind of like God is calling us to be caught up in his joy. Spurgeon said, if the Lord is your joy, your joy is never going to dry up. All other things are but for a season, but God is forever and ever. So Spurgeon said, make him your joy, the whole of your joy, and then let this joy absorb your every thought. Be baptized into this joy, plunge into the deeps of this unutterable bliss of joy in God. Remember how Jesus said to the faithful servants in Matthew 25, 21, enter into the joy of your Lord, enter into the joy of your master. You see, joy begins to enter into us here, but one day we will enter into the fullness of joy there. And then number seven, joy is just to permeate all that we do in life, all that we do in life. Whatever the vocation, whatever the profession, whatever the hobby, whatever the task, whatever the duty, whatever the friendship, whatever the relationship, whatever the time of prayer and Bible reading or walk or fellowship, whatever it could be, we are to rejoice in it. We are to rejoice in it. You know, I was reflecting on this and thought to myself, Boy, if I could just summarize all of this in one key concept, what could we say? And the best that I could come up with this is to rejoice in the Lord is to so praise and to so worship God until our heart is sweetened or satisfied or saturated with Christ that we don't focus on the visible pleasures or problems because we are so overly consumed with Christ and praising him. We rejoice in the Lord. And we end where we began with our friend John Calvin, a man of great hardship, a man with trials in his life. But yet one of the ways that God gave him such joy in his ministry was he was a faithful Bible teacher through the books of the Bible. So he came to Philippians chapter four and verse four. and preached on rejoicing in the Lord always. Here's what Calvin said. Having the Lord on our side, no, no, no. Having the Lord standing on our side, we have amply sufficient ground of joy. And then he concluded by saying, you know, what could be better? But having a settled joy in God, which will never ever be taken away from us. May that be true of us. As Philippians 4 verse 4 calls us, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I will say, rejoice.