WEBVTT

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 Well, good morning. Let me invite you to take your copy of God's Word and join me in the book of Philippians.

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 Ladies, yesterday at dinnertime, I was scheduled to do nothing this morning.

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 And by the time I went to bed, I picked up leading our Lord's Supper.

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 And then at 7.30 this morning, Cody Klickner called me and said that he had been up all night with food poisoning and thought he could push through.

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 And I said, brother, well, there's two questions.

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 The second doesn't matter if you can't answer the first in the affirmative.

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 And that question was, are you done?

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 He called me back at 8 and said, I don't think so.

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 And I said, well, then stay home by all means.

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 So I threw something together last minute.

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 And I happened to find in notes an outline, which I think was from a Bible study, not from a sermon, because it didn't really have a whole lot to it.

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 Some points, some historical quotes, some references.

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 And so at 8 a.m., among some other things I was taking care of, I frantically expanded on these notes.

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 So we're going to do it.

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 We're going to think about the advent of joy.

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 I didn't want to step off theme and do something altogether different.

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 And I'm telling you all of that just to say, please be nice to me and that this may be short.

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 So we'll see.

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 What I want to help you do today is to look at the thematic joy in Paul's letter to the Philippians.

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 I'll show you in just a moment how many times this idea comes up in this particular letter.

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 But I'd like to start with a quotation from John Newton, who was an 18th century Anglican minister.

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 You probably know him from his most famous song, Amazing Grace.

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 And he once wrote this.

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 Suppose a man was going to New York to take possession of a large estate,

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 and his carriage should break down one mile before he got to the city,

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 which obligated him to walk the rest of the way to the inheritance.

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 What a fool we should think him if we saw him wringing his hands and blubbering out all the remaining mile.

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 My carriage is broken.

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 My carriage is broken.

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 The man going to take possession of such an inheritance wouldn't care at all about the carriage

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 because of what he was set toward taking possession of.

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 The joy is crucially thematic in Paul's letter to the Philippians, as I've said,

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 as he's working throughout the letter to encourage them to continue in and contend for their faith.

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 We see it twice in chapter 1 and verse 18, and then in chapter 1 verse 25,

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 chapter 2 verse 2, chapter 2 verse 28, and then verse 29,

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 chapter 3 verse 1, chapter 4 verse 1,

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 twice in chapter 4 verse 4,

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 and then finally in chapter 4 and verse 10.

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 So it's this thread that runs throughout the letter.

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 And while the verse doesn't contain the word joy,

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 listen to what Paul says in Philippians chapter 1 and verse 21.

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 Remember, he's writing this letter from a Roman jail.

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 He's imprisoned.

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 He's awaiting a trial before Caesar.

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 And here he says,

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 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

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 He doesn't know what the state, what the outcome of his current condition is going to be.

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 And he says, right, if I'm to remain here, it's going to be to your service.

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 And he would be in the process, experiencing the ministry and the power of Christ in his life.

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 And if he were to die, what does he get from that?

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 More Christ.

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 That's the gain.

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 More of Jesus.

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 Right?

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 Unfettered glory in the presence of his Savior.

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 C.S. Lewis in his work, The Weight of Glory, wrote this of mankind.

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 We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us.

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 Like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.

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 We are far too easily pleased.

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 Right?

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 Infinite joy is ours in Christ.

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 Now, joy in Christ fuels Christ-likeness in three ways, and I want to show you that throughout the book of Philippians.

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 And I may add, in at least three ways joy does this.

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 It fuels, it undergirds, it gives energy to our pursuit of Christ in this life.

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 So firstly, joy in Christ fuels Christ-likeness by empowering the Christian to resist sin.

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 Paul says in chapter 1 and verse 25,

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 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain.

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 He's talking about that state.

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 He's unsure what will happen to him.

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 He's convinced that he will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith.

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 We have this surpassing value, this thing that is greater than anything this world has to offer us.

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 And this becomes a heartbeat for Christian conformity.

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 We want to look more like Christ.

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 We want to gain more of him because we've tasted and seen that he is good.

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 We have a joy that's been granted to us and we want to continue to pursue him for the sake of that joy and further joy.

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 In Nehemiah chapter 8, we get the record of the law being reopened to a group of exiles that had been returned to Jerusalem.

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 And in the hearing of this law, they recognize there a tragic breaking of that law.

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 And they begin to weep and to tear their clothes.

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 But this law is opened on a feast day.

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 And so Nehemiah says to them in verse 10 of chapter 8,

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 Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready.

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 For this day is holy to our Lord.

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 And do not be grieved.

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 For the joy of the Lord is your strength.

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 Knowing this God, this good and loving kind God who sent his Son, God himself in human flesh.

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 Live the life that was required of us, that we could not live.

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 Die the death that we deserve.

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 Be raised three days later.

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 This Lord is the strength of our obedience.

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 It empowers us to resist sin.

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 Sin is fleeting.

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 It offers me nothing in comparison to the surpassing value of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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 Matthew Henry, who was a Presbyterian minister in the 17th and early 18th centuries.

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 You may know him for his commentary on the entire Bible.

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 You can find it online easily.

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 Once wrote this,

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 The joy of the Lord will arm us against the assaults of our spiritual enemies

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 and put our mouths out of taste for those pleasures with which the tempter baits his hooks.

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 No longer attractive to us as the joy of the Lord grows in life of a Christian.

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 So, joy in Christ fuels Christ's likeness by empowering the Christian to resist sin.

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 Secondly, joy in Christ fuels Christ's likeness by enabling the Christian to bear up under suffering.

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 I'll show you two texts in Philippians.

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 First, chapter 4, verse 11 through 13.

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 Here Paul says,

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 And then he tells us that secret.

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 Not a verse that has anything to do with winning football games.

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 He says,

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 I can do all things.

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 All of this.

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 Content in every circumstance.

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 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

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 Now, you might go,

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 Oh, wait a second.

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 You in nowhere in those verses said joy.

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 Those three verses do not contain that joy.

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 But the concept is there.

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 And I want to show you that because if you back up a little bit in chapter 4 to verses 4 through 7,

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 Paul writes this.

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 Rejoice in the Lord always.

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 Have joy in the Lord.

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 Rejoice in the Lord always.

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 Again, I will say, rejoice.

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 Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.

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 The Lord is at hand.

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 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,

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 let your requests be made known to God.

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 And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

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 So regardless of the circumstance, whatever it is that we're walking through,

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 Paul says, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice.

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 The Lord is there.

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 He is with you.

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 Let Him know what's going on with you, and He will guard you.

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 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me, who follows from there.

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 Joy in Christ fuels in us the ability to bear up under suffering.

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 Light, momentary affliction compared to the surpassing weight of glory.

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 Jeremiah Burroughs.

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 This is why I think this is a Bible study because I have so many historic quotations in these notes.

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 Jeremiah Burroughs, who is a Puritan pastor, wrote this great little book that I just entirely commend to you,

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 which is a bunch of thoughts about this idea of being content in every circumstance.

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 It's called The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment.

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 And from his estimation, and I would agree with him, it's a rare thing that the Christian is fully content in Christ.

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 And he works out a number of analogies that I've just found particularly helpful for me and my endeavor to fight for joy and contentment in Jesus.

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 And this one I found particularly helpful.

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 He writes,

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 No.

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 No.

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 The reason is because the thing is not suitable to a craving stomach.

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 Yet there is really the same madness in the world.

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 The wind which a man takes in by gaping will as soon satisfy a craving stomach ready to starve

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 as all the comforts in the world can satisfy a soul who knows what true happiness means.

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 It's a joy in Christ that brings about contentment.

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 And if we find ourselves not contentment, then the thing to do is not to look outside to find that contentment,

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 but to that joy in us that Christ has accomplished on our behalf.

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 Another example from the scripture.

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 The faith of Moses.

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 The author of Hebrews records for us in chapter 11, verse 24 and following,

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 that when Moses,

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 when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.

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 He had everything this world could possibly offer to him as an adopted daughter of Pharaoh.

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 Excuse me, an adopted son of the daughter of Pharaoh.

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 Choosing, verse 25 says,

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 Rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.

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 He considered, and this is just an astounding thing that the author of Hebrews does this for us.

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 Looking back, an inspired view of what's going on in the life of Moses' faith.

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 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt.

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 For he was looking to the reward.

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 He was looking to the eternal greatness.

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 Put off the joy of fleeting pleasures that he would have eternal reward.

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 So joy in Christ fuels Christlikeness by enabling the Christian to bear up under suffering.

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 Thirdly, joy in Christ fuels Christlikeness by encouraging the Christian to live sacrificially in at least two ways.

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 We see in the book of Philippians.

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 Joy in Christ fuels Christlikeness by encouraging the Christian to live sacrificially.

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 Number one, in service.

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 Number one, in service.

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 Giving of ourselves for the sake of others.

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 Paul says in Philippians 3.8,

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 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord.

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 For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.

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 There's that language again, right?

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 That I may gain Christ.

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 I'm willing to give away everything else.

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 Everything else in comparison.

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 When you put this surpassing worth of Christ against anything else, right?

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 It says refuse to be tossed away.

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 None of it matters except that I might gain Christ.

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 Jesus put it this way in very practical terms in Luke chapter 12, verse 33 and 34.

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 He says, sell your possessions and give to the needy.

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 Provide yourselves with money bags that do not grow old with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail.

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 Where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.

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 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

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 And we can think about all of the implications of what Jesus had to say there.

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 But what I'm trying to drive at is the point, right?

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 If we have joy in Christ, then we're looking to that full and final realized joy in Christ.

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 Christ, it's going to encourage in us sacrificial living for the sake of others, right?

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 We're looking to the eternal reward, right?

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 We want that and we want it in full measure.

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 Clay and I, for a lot of years, have used an analogy of a ticker tape parade.

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 And it just feels older and older, the older that we get.

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 Because nobody does adding on adding machines any longer.

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 But that's what ticker tape was.

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 It was a way that people could add and then go back and see if they made any mistakes.

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 It's all being done digitally.

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 Now, the ticker tape parade was a grand parade.

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 You know, the soldiers returned from home.

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 And also back in the day when windows would open in buildings, about that day,

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 accountants would throw their tape out the window to make these long streamers.

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 You've seen this in pictures, I'm sure.

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 If you haven't, oh, please go look them up.

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 We like to picture the glory of heaven being a bit like that, right?

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 Eternal praise of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

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 And all of us who are there will be as happy as we could possibly imagine being.

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 But we like to think this picture of this treasure, right, being stored up for us is more praise for this king, right?

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 Who may parade down the street and we get to throw out our ticker tape.

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 We get to rejoice in the work that he's accomplished.

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 And I just want to be able to throw more and more and more out, right?

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 I want it heaped up on my desk that I can praise this Christ forever.

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 So, this joy, joy in Christ fuels Christlikeness by encouraging the Christian to live sacrificially in service to others.

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 And also in evangelism, meeting those practical needs, but also meeting their greatest need.

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 Paul writes in verse 18 of chapter 1,

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 What then?

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 And he's questioning the motivation behind the proclamation of Christ.

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 But he just says, what then?

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 Only that, in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed.

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 And in that, in that proclamation of Jesus Christ, I rejoice.

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 I find great joy in the gospel being shared.

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 J. Campbell White, who was the leader of the layman's missionary movement in 1906.

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 Paul said this,

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 Most men are not satisfied with the permanent output of their lives.

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 Nothing can wholly satisfy the life of Christ within his followers,

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 except the adoption of Christ's purpose toward the world he came to redeem.

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 Fame, pleasure, and riches are but husks and ashes,

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 in contrast with the boundless and abiding joy of working with God for the fulfillment of his eternal plans.

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 The men who are putting everything into Christ's undertaking are getting out of life its sweetest and most priceless rewards.

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 Joy propelling us to join God in his eternal plans in this world begets more joy and eternal reward.

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 So joy empowers and enables and encourages the Christian to be worthy of that name Christian,

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 to be Christ-like.

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 And it is not always easy to have joy.

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 And I don't want to pretend for a moment that it is.

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 But it is a good work in the life of a Christian to fight for joy.

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 To set our minds on the redemptive work of Christ.

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 To think about all of his promises to us accomplished in his life, death, resurrection, and session.

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 Beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ sits right hand at the right hand of the Father.

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 He is there.

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 He is bodily there at the right hand of God.

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 The Scripture tells us, Romans chapter 8, that he is interceding on our behalf.

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 He prays for us.

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 And he rules over all things.

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 Everything is dictated by his purpose in this world.

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 If God is for us, who can be against us?

00:21:32.500 --> 00:21:40.339
 To set our minds on these types of things and to fight for the joy that is ours in Christ.

00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:49.460
 It ought to be so freeing to know that the motivation for Christ-like living is not some duty in abject stoicism.

00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:53.720
 That we just put our heads down and grind away.

00:21:54.299 --> 00:21:59.099
 But that we are to be motivated by joy.

00:21:59.099 --> 00:22:02.740
 Christ Jesus came into the world.

00:22:03.219 --> 00:22:05.619
 The advent of joy.

00:22:06.399 --> 00:22:09.679
 I am so very grateful this time of year that we have the opportunity.

00:22:09.959 --> 00:22:20.039
 I hope that we do set our minds on his second coming and the great, boundless, endless joy that that will bring.

00:22:21.480 --> 00:22:24.240
 In closing, I'm going to read you one more quotation.

00:22:24.240 --> 00:22:31.920
 This is from a man named Blaise Pascal, who was a 17th century French mathematician.

00:22:33.240 --> 00:22:41.579
 And his account of his conversion was found on a piece of parchment that he had sewn into his coat eight years after his death.

00:22:41.620 --> 00:22:46.700
 Eight years after his death, they found this parchment sewn into his coat.

00:22:46.700 --> 00:22:48.600
 And it reads this.

00:22:48.700 --> 00:22:52.080
 Year of grace, 1654.

00:22:52.940 --> 00:22:54.860
 Monday, 23 November.

00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:57.240
 Feast of Saint Clement.

00:22:57.980 --> 00:23:02.259
 From about half past ten at night to about half an hour after midnight.

00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:03.340
 Fire.

00:23:04.420 --> 00:23:05.180
 God of Abraham.

00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:06.660
 God of Isaac.

00:23:07.000 --> 00:23:07.660
 God of Jacob.

00:23:08.299 --> 00:23:10.200
 Not of philosophers and scholars.

00:23:11.220 --> 00:23:12.019
 Certitude.

00:23:12.640 --> 00:23:13.779
 Heartfelt joy.

00:23:14.539 --> 00:23:14.980
 Peace.

00:23:14.980 --> 00:23:17.099
 God of Jesus Christ.

00:23:17.220 --> 00:23:18.720
 God of Jesus Christ.

00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:21.099
 My God and your God.

00:23:21.480 --> 00:23:23.640
 Joy, joy, joy.

00:23:23.860 --> 00:23:25.200
 Tears of joy.

00:23:25.720 --> 00:23:26.579
 Jesus Christ.

00:23:27.220 --> 00:23:28.240
 Jesus Christ.

00:23:28.839 --> 00:23:31.640
 May I never be separated from him.

00:23:32.420 --> 00:23:33.539
 Let's pray together.

00:23:33.539 --> 00:23:33.539