Giving Reason to Rejoice

So we'll be reading from Philemon from verse one to the end of the letter, and then we'll pray. So Philemon, verse one. Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother, to Philemon, our beloved friend and fellow labor, to the beloved Aphia, Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse four, I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgement of every good thing which is in us, which is in you, in Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother.

Verse 8. Therefore, though I might be very bold in Christ to command you what is fitting, yet for love's sake I rather appeal to you. being such a one as Paul the Aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten while in my chains, who once was unprofitable to you, but now is profitable to you and to me. I am sending him back.

You, therefore, receive him, that he is my own heart, whom I wish to keep with me, that on your behalf he might minister to me in my chains for the gospel. But without your consent, I wanted to do nothing, that your good deed might not be by compulsion, as it were, but voluntary. For perhaps he departed for a while for this purpose, that you might receive him forever. No longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me. But how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me. But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account. I, Paul, am writing with my own hand. I will repay, not to mention to you that you owe me even your own self besides. Verse 20, yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord.

Refresh my heart in the Lord. Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you knowing that you will do even more than I say. But meanwhile, also prepare a guest room for me, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be granted to you. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke, my fellow labors, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

Let's pray. Father, we come before you, Lord, in great need. We all need you to hear from you, from your word. I need you, Lord. My brothers and sisters need you.

Friends who are here need you. There is nothing we can do on our own strength. We cannot speak the truth if you do not lead us to do so. We cannot hear the truth, Lord, if you do not open our eyes. We cannot receive the truth if you do not open our hearts.

So please, Lord, be merciful to us. We do not deserve it. I do not deserve it. No one here deserves it, Lord. But please have mercy upon us and help us to know more of you, more of the Lord Jesus Christ, our dear Savior.

Speak to our hearts, I pray. In Jesus name, amen. Amen. So brothers, sisters, friends, we are going through this letter. I think it's the fourth time now, the fourth sermon.

And today I want to speak to you about verse four to seven. OK, and the idea is the idea of rejoicing in the Lord as well as our brother Richard was preaching, brother. Joshua was preaching last week about how we rejoice in the Lord, the joy in the presence of the Lord. And he brought this idea that the joy will come a day in which we rejoice in the Lord fully, when the Lord Jesus Christ comes. For us, believers in Christ, that will be a blessing.

For those who are not in Christ, it will be a time of terror. in which they would just ask the mountains to fall upon them because of the wrath of the Lamb of God. But for us as Christians, it's a time of great joy. It's a time of rejoicing because we'll see the Lord Jesus Christ and we'll be like Him. Not just that we'll see the Lord Jesus Christ and be like Him, we'll live with Him forever.

As He does not leave us nor forsake us, it's coming a time in which we'll be with the Lord. He'll be our God, and we'll be His people. In a sense, we are His people right now, and He is our God right now. So it's about it, what I want to speak with you, because Brother Joshua, towards the end of his sermon, he touched a little bit on how we can have joy while here. while you're here on earth, while you're experiencing tribulation and sorrow and everything, how we can have joy in that.

And I want to speak a little bit about that as well, as we consider verses four to seven. But before we do that, I just want us to refresh our minds with things that were spoken before, prior to that. We saw in verse one that Paul is the one addressing Philemon, and as we mentioned, he's in prison at that moment in time when he writes this letter, probably in Rome. And he says he calls himself a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother. Remember, this is a personal letter.

Paul is writing specifically to Philemon. He's the one who needs to perform the task of forgiveness and receiving Onesimus back. But even though it's a personal letter, even though Paul is addressing someone specifically, yet he addresses the whole church in his house as well. He sees the need of doing that. So he says to Philemon, our beloved friend, to whom Paul is addressing this letter to, and fellow labor.

Then he goes in verse two, to the beloved Athia, Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house. So we see that Paul, even though the letter is specifically to Philemon, and he's the one to perform the task, Paul is addressing the whole church in the house of Philemon. And we saw many reasons why this could have been. We saw the importance that we have, that the local church has in our lives, how we need our brothers and sisters in Christ as we try to fulfill the task that the Lord has given us. We know that we can help one another through prayer.

We know that we can help one another as we reason with one another what the Apostle Paul did here, as we act in love and as we are Christ-like to one another. So we saw those things. We also saw last time that we came through this letter, we saw in verse three, the idea of grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, which is common to the apostle Paul in his letter to write these things. But there was a meaning, we saw that we stand in this pathway of grace, that faith by the grace of God has put us in this pathway and we can be assured that goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives, that the Lord will grant us the strength that we need to do the things that he tells us to do. So we saw that we stand in this pathway of grace, and we saw the idea of peace as well.

The Apostle Paul was seeking reconciliation, therefore unity, in between Philemon and Onesimus, and the church in his house as well. So probably other people knew about the situation. Maybe other people heard about the situation as well. but yet the Apostle Paul was seeking unity, was seeking that peace would accomplish that, which the Scriptures will tell us that unity that's made in the bond of peace. So we saw those things in the last few sermons that we addressed this letter to Philemon, but today I want to speak to you about the rejoicing in the Lord, but specifically, the joy that we give to our brother and sister.

So rejoicing in the Lord, and the question is, do I give joy to my brother and my sister? Do I give them reason and motive to rejoice in the Lord? So when they think of me in their prayer time or in their time with the Lord, do they think of me with a heart of thankfulness, with a heart of rejoicing? Because there's a way in which we can rejoice here in the Lord as well, and that's through the fellowship of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We see that the apostle Paul in verse seven, he'll tell us this, for we have great joy and consolation in your love, Philemon, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother.

So the question is, do I give joy to a brother and sister? Do I give reason to my brother and my sister to rejoice in the Lord? And I'll raise my hand and tell you that I don't do that. And I don't do that many, many times. As I said before, seeking a selfish life, many times I forsake the things that I should do for a brother or sister.

And I forsake them to rejoice. And I'm holding them from rejoicing in the Lord by the work of God in my life. So that's the question, as we live in the context of the local church, and as we live with one another, are we giving enough reason to our brothers and sisters to rejoice in the Lord? When you, brother and sister, when you think of me. When I think of you, what comes to your mind?

What comes to my mind? What comes to my heart when I think of some of you? What comes to your heart when you think of me? And may the Lord help us to realize that we are here to glorify our Lord Jesus Christ in everything that we do. And as we glorify Him in the context of the local church, we give reason to one another to rejoice in the Lord.

Paul is addressing Philemon. And this man was someone, as the Apostle Paul says in verse seven, that he had great joy and consolation in Philemon's love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by him. Not just that, with the content of the letter, the Apostle Paul was seeking the reconciliation between Philemon and Onesimus. Onesimus, who was a runaway slave, but now has come to the Lord as the Apostle Paul that says that he begot him while in his chains. So he's addressing Philemon on behalf of Onesimus.

So this Onesimus is the one who ran away but now belongs to Christ, was saved by the grace of God through the ministry of the Apostle Paul. And yet Paul is now seeking reconciliation. He's seeking the benefit of a brother who was running away but now came to the Lord. and is now set to go back to his master and to do things well. So Paul is seeking that, but more than that, Paul is seeking to rejoice in the accomplishment of this task.

Let's go to verse 20, and he'll tell us this. Yes, brother, and the idea is because you have given great joy, you have refreshed the hearts of the saints, and I've heard many things about you. He says, yes, brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in the Lord. I heard many things, and this brings joy to my heart.

Let me be the one now partaking of this joy. Let me be the one now being refreshed in my heart as I send this brother to you so that you may receive him, not anymore as a slave, but as a beloved brother, more than a slave, a beloved brother in the Lord Jesus Christ. So we see that there is a way in which we can give reason to our brother and sister to rejoice in the Lord. As we address this, the idea of rejoicing in the Lord, let's start in verse four. The idea of for his thanking God.

Remember that the will of God for us is that to rejoice always. And we see the idea of joy here, what the Apostle Paul is saying. Rejoice always, to pray without ceasing. In the New King James Version, it says, I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayer. In the ESV, it's a little bit different.

I think it says, I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers. So we have this idea of prayer, or praying without ceasing as well. We have this idea of rejoicing, praying without ceasing, and thankfulness, which Paul starts with that. He says, I thank my God. Paul, by addressing this bother, he says, I thank my God.

My heart, when I think of you, Philemon, is a heart of thankfulness. It's a heart of joy, of gratitude for the things that the Lord is doing in your life. So rejoice, and I thank God. And the idea of thankfulness, Paul was recognizing that the work done in your life, Philemon, I know that comes from him. So that's why I thank my God because he's the one who is doing that in your life.

So brothers and sisters I said, when we think about giving reason to a brother and sister in Christ, it's just allowing the Lord Jesus Christ by his grace as we come to his word and have fellowship with him to work in us what we cannot. What we need and the power to do those things come through the spirit of God abiding in us. Remember that the scripture tell us in Hosea chapter 14 verse eight that our fruits The fruits that we have, if they're good, they're found in Him, from the Lord. That's what Hosea will tell us. The Lord Jesus Christ says that, let your good deeds abound in such a way that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

And thank the one who is in heaven by the work that he's doing in your life. This thankfulness of the apostle Paul was a realization that, brother, I know that it is God's work. And I thank him, first and foremost, for the things that I'm hearing about you, for the things that come to me, for the love that you have shown towards the saints, for your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and how you have refreshed the brothers and sisters in Christ. I heard that, and I thank the one who is doing the work in your life. So we have this idea of recognizing the one who started the work in us, which is God himself.

And this realization of the apostle Paul is the realization of someone who understands that there's nothing good in you, there's nothing good in me. For someone to come and glorify the Lord for the good deeds of other person is the realization, yes, that person cannot do that on their own. Remember that Isaiah, when he saw the holiness of God, he saw that I am a man of unclean lips. He saw his unworthiness before the Lord. And he says, I am someone who is living in the midst of people of unclean lips.

So he had this whole idea, this context in which he sees his sin, but he sees that he lives among people who are sinners as well. That the only one who works righteousness is the Lord himself. That we are indeed wretched people. Genesis will tell us that the intentions of the hearts of men are only evil continually. There is nothing good that I can produce in and of myself.

So therefore, everything that is good should be pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the work of God in my life and in your life. So we see that the Apostle Paul is thanking, and he's thanking his God, not just God. We have this idea that when he says, I thank my God, it's in the context as well of what he says in verse three. When he says that, grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a sense in which God is the God of each and everyone because there's only one true God, and he's revealed himself in his word.

There's one true God, but yet this one true God, he's the God of everyone, but there isn't a sense in which we have God as our God in an intimate relationship. As I mentioned before, we are now his people, and he's our God. And there's a reality to come in which we'll be with the Lord forever, and we'll be called his people as well, and he will be our God. So He's our God because He's the one who redeemed us. He created us.

And He's our God in His fullness. He's our God in His grace. He's our God in His mercy. He's our God in His righteousness. He's our God.

He's the one who is for us. And if He is for us, who can be against us? So brother and sister, He's not just the God that you heard about. He's the God that you know now. You who came to Christ is a God who is close to you, who is not far away, who came to you in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember, the one who was in the form of God and did not take it robbery to be equal with God, but he humbled himself and he came and he lived as a man. And He was obedient to the point of death and death on the cross. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we saw His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, the God-man. So now He's our God.

He has given Himself to us. The Song of Solomon will say, I am His and He is mine. My beloved is mine. I belong to my beloved. So now you belong to God in a special sense.

Those who are here who do not know Christ yet, You know him by just, he's still your God. But you have not experienced him as the God of your salvation, the God in his fullness, which dwells in Christ Jesus. If you have Christ, you have God as your God in an intimate way. And this is the one whom Paul is approaching. I thank my God.

I thank my God and the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And he goes on, how he thanks his God, he says, making mention of you always in my prayers. The way that he thanks God is by addressing God directly. And we have full access to God now. We have this idea that we can come before God at each and every time.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that we don't need to book a meeting with God. We can address God right here, right now. You can address God as you're driving home. You can address God as you're working. We can address God in our daily lives.

As you're washing the dishes, whatever you are doing, you can address God. If you belong to Christ, you have full access through the Lord Jesus Christ who has made the way. So Paul now is thanking God by addressing God specifically through prayer. And he addresses making mention of you always in my prayer. We saw a few weeks ago the importance that the Apostle Paul gave to prayer.

As I said, this is the will of God for us. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks for this is the will of God for us. We saw the idea of prayer.

We saw that God answered prayers and we'll see a little bit about the Apostle Paul's prayer as well. I'll touch on what we saw in the first time that we addressed this letter. Verse six, so we see that, but we see that Paul is addressing his God, that intimate relationship, and he's addressing God through prayer. He says, making mention of you always in my prayer, and that's the question. When my brother thinks of me, and I'll ask again, because Paul says, when I think of you, Philemon, every time that you come into my mind, my heart goes out to God in thankfulness.

In thankfulness for what God is making you. because the love of Christ is shown in your life to those around you. We'll address that a little bit later on. So when we think of one another, we should aim to point to God, to the one who does all things. We have this idea in the scriptures when we think about the elders in the church and everything that we should not allow them to come to a point in which they think of us with heaviness in the heart.

But it should live in such a way that they think of us with gratitude and thankfulness. And how many times I failed a beloved elder. How many times I failed my beloved elder. How many times I've done that as a brother in Christ. Not long ago I've done that.

But yet we always should be remembered. as pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. And husband and wife, my brother in Christ, husband, and I need to learn that, how much I fail in my marriage. Am I living in such a way that I'm pointing my wife to the Lord Jesus Christ? And when she thinks of me, being a Christian or not, she sees Christ in my life.

There's a lot that needs to be done in my heart. And how many times I fail, my God. To the point that I don't know what goes in my wife's mind when she thinks of me. So how many times we fear our God and we actually seek to do those things that point to the Lord Jesus Christ so that those that are around us rejoice in Him and in Him alone. He says, making mention of you always in my prayers.

In verse four. And then he goes on. Why he does that. He says in verse five, hearing. So it's been reported to me of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints.

So we see that Paul mentioned Epaphras here in this letter to Philemon. He'll do the same in the letter to Colossians as well. And Paul say that Epaphras is one of them who hint to that. So probably Epaphras, because in the letter to the Colossians, Paul will say that Epaphras is giving a lot of things, telling us a lot of things about you to the Colossians. And we can just imply that what Epaphras told about the Colossians, Epaphras as well told to Paul about his brother in Christ, Philemon.

Maybe it was even Onesimus himself. Maybe we don't know, but if Onesimus was saved, or if Philemon was saved before Onesimus left his house, maybe Onesimus was the one telling Pope, Pope, I've seen my master. I've seen how he deals with things. I can assure you that I've seen his love, and I treated him in this way, but I can assure that I've seen how he deals with each and every one in his house. Maybe that was the case.

Most probably it was Epaphras who was the one reporting to Paul the things that were happening and how was the heart of Philemon and how the saints were being refreshed by him. We have this idea of hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints. And that love is to be said about the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints. And faith itself is faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's think about those two things.

And before we do that, Let's just think, how can we give reason to a brother and a sister to rejoice in the Lord? We're different people. We have different gifts that the Lord has given us. We have different skills that the Lord has given us. The task of Paul was, I wanna be refreshed by you forgiving this brother.

There are things that we need to do as a church. We are called to forgive one another. We are called to bear with one another. And when we do that, we are called to rejoice when those things happen to a brother or a sister in Christ. But there are other ways as well in which we can give our brother and sister reason to rejoice in the Lord and to think of us with thankfulness.

And I would just want to point you to Acts chapter nine. And this is a situation that happened to the apostle Peter. Acts chapter nine, verse 36. When we have Sister Dorcas being mentioned there, Acts 9, verse 36. It says, Acts 9, 36.

At Joppa, there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did. And then it goes on, verse 37. But it happened in those days that she became sick and died. When they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.

And since Lyra was near Joppa and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them. Verse 39, then Peter arose and went with them. When he had come, they brought him to the upper room. Look what it says, and all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. So we see that we can bring rejoicing to our brother and sister in many ways.

The Lord has given us many, many gifts that we are to use on behalf of one another, towards one another. The Lord has given us to serve the church. We don't serve the church only when we preach or only when we pray. We serve the church as we do things that the Lord has granted us to do, as we share with our brothers and sisters in Christ those things that the Lord has granted us. the gift that you have from God, whatever it is.

We see that the sisters were coming to Peter and showing the garments, the tunic, the torcas was doing to them, a work of love out of her hands. So I have this idea, but what the apostle Paul wants here is even deeper, and that we should seek as Christians, and we see the idea of faith and love. Remember that the Apostle Paul, when he's writing to Philemon, he says, Philemon, I want you to do that, not by compulsion, not because you need to. It's out of love. Therefore, though I might be very bold to commend you, Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, you know my credentials.

Though I might be very bold to do that, as a brother in Christ, as an Apostle as well, yet for love's sake, I've heard of your love. And he comes to this brother in humbleness. And he says, receive him. Forgive Onesimus. He's seeking what is deep in the heart.

Forgiveness, reconciliation. And he brings this idea of love and faith. Remember when the apostle Paul is preaching, or is writing to the Corinthians, he says in chapter 13 of his first letter about the gifts. And he points out to love. And he says towards the end of chapter 13 that there are three things that remain.

Love remains, faith remains, hope remains. The greatest of those is love. So we have this idea of love and faith in verse five. And as I said, because Philemon is someone who was probably from Colossae, I think we can have a greater picture of this when we go to the letter of Colossians, and we'll go there soon. Because Paul mentioned those three things to the letter of the Colossians.

Their faith toward the Lord Jesus, their love towards all the saints, because of the hope that is laid up in heaven for them. So we see that as we approach that. But remember, the whole thing starts with faith. Our Christian pilgrimage starts as the Lord grants us faith. You are saved by grace through faith.

That's the beginning of our walk with the Lord. Faith is granted to us and we see the beauty of Christ and we start to walk with Him. And now we live by faith and not by sight. We start in this pilgrimage as the Lord granted us faith and helped us to see the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. But this faith is not a faith that is dead, it's an active faith.

And as we progress in our Christian life, there are letters that we go up as Christians, and there's a circle in which we need to go at all times, and we see that, that it starts with faith, and your faith at virtue, and then to virtue at this, and then to this at this, and to, at the end, brotherly kindness or brotherly love as well. So we see that this is the pathway of the Christian life. Faith that leads to love as we walk in the pathway of faith because of the love of God for us and the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's see this whole idea. Let's go to 1 Peter, 2 Peter chapter one.

2 Peter chapter one. As I said, it starts with the faith that the Lord has granted us. We can say that it starts with love, because God so loved the world. His love for his people was what God loved to send the Lord Jesus Christ, because God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. So the love of God was demonstrated in the Lord Jesus Christ, because God is love, and he gave the sacrificial love, and he gave, it starts with love.

But when we think of our lives as Christians, it starts as the Lord grants us faith to see his love for us. So we go there in, in verse five of 2 Peter chapter one. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence at your faith, virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness broadly kindness, and to broadly kindness love. So you see that this process starts with faith. And that faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We don't have this, we have this Pope playing a little bit with the letters because he says, I thank my God making mention of you always in my prayer, hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints. But we have to understand that this love is towards the saints, and we can apply that to the Lord Jesus Christ as well, but also the faith is what is related to the Lord Jesus Christ. We see that, I think, in the letter to the Colossians, where Paul say, I've heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and your love towards all the saints. So this faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our pathway as Christians starts as the Lord grants us faith.

and in the Lord Jesus Christ. We have this idea, and many times I use that, and I do still, this idea of faith for whatever reason it is. You believe in this, so you have faith in this, or you have faith in that. But the scripture is clear that faith is only possible in the truth. It's the assurance of things that we hope for.

It's the assurance of things that we hope for. And we hope for these things because God is the one who proclaimed those things. And our faith is rooted in truth. That's why Paul tell us, your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, not just because of that, because he's the author and finisher of our faith that the author of Hebrews will tell us. Look into Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith.

Faith and true faith has the substance of it, the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything else that is not the Lord Jesus Christ is not faith according to the scriptures. I don't know what we say, I don't know what we say, it's a belief or whatever it is. But when it's faith, it's faith only if it's in the Lord Jesus Christ and if it's rooted in Christ. If he's the author, he's the finish of it, there's no one else who can grant you that but God and God himself.

So we have that this faith is what brought us to Christ. This faith is what opened our eyes to see the beauty of Christ. And that was the work of God. As I said, it's by grace through faith. And this is not of ourselves.

This whole process, it's the grace of God that grants us that faith. We saw that repentance as well, which is a work of God. Everything in the Christian life is a work of God. And we are to be thankful to him for everything that he has done for us in Christ Jesus. Let's go back to Philemon.

Shufai Limon, chapter one. Or chapter one is one, so just one chapter, Shufai Limon. So we see this idea of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints. And as I said, this faith is active. It produces something.

Remember that James will tell us that, show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. And we know that faith works through love. We have this now perception that now love in a sense is the fruit of the faith that God has given us. And that faith now is what is working through the actions of love. And we see that in Philemon himself.

I've heard the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by him. We don't know what it was. We don't know the things that Philemon was doing. But we know that the things that he was doing was bringing refreshment to the hearts of the saints. We saw in Acts chapter 9 about Dorcas that she was a sister full of good deeds, charitable deeds.

And one of the things that was mentioned was the garments and the clothes. That was one of the things that was mentioned about her. But she was full of good deeds. There are many, many ways that she was probably serving the church and demonstrating her love towards the saints. The widows were crying.

to Peter and showing him what she has done as a sister in Christ, who loved them and who has shown her love for them, and said, this is a faith that works through love. It's a faith that has hands, it's a faith that has feet, it's a faith that has eyes to see, it's a faith that has a nose to smell, it's a faith that has ears to ear. So that's the faith that Scripture tells us. We can say many things. We can proclaim with our mouth that we believe in Christ.

but with our actions we can deny. So if our actions show otherwise, our faith is vain. So that's why James will tell us the good deeds that we do as Christians is to point to Christ. That's why the good deed is not to know that I am in Christ. I am in Christ with the assurance that I have no other but the Lord Jesus Christ.

There is a sense in which we look to see if we are indeed in the faith, but at the same time we look to the one who can keep us in the faith. He's the one who is able to keep us from stumbling. But the good deeds is to show my brother and my sister that yes, I belong to Christ. You know them by their deeds. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ will tell us.

That many will come that day and say, Lord, Lord, have we not done this? Have we not done that in your name? We prophesied, Lord, we expelled demons, we did a lot of things in your name. Yet the Lord Jesus Christ will say, depart from me, I never knew you, you workers of iniquity. Even though with your mouth you said many things, even though with your mouth you proclaimed the name of Christ, even though you did that, proclaim in my name.

even though you did those things, the words that were in your heart were not from me. I never knew you. We see that idea in the Old Testament when God will speak about his people at that time, he say, their lips, yeah, they're close to me, but their heart is far away. There's something that is not matching up. Yeah, they praise me, they say those things, but their heart is far away from me.

And what is important is what is in here, not what comes out of my mouth. Is that what comes out of my mouth indeed what is in my heart? Is that what I say if I say that I belong to Christ? Is that indeed what comes in my heart? Is my heart indeed Christ's in such a way that he's shaping it to be in accordance to his heart as our Savior?

So we see your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints. And everything starts because of the proclamation of the gospel of Christ. As I said, our pilgrimage, our walk with Christ starts as the Lord grants us faith. And we see Christ. And faith brings about love.

Because faith works through love. As the Lord Jesus Christ is making us more like Him. But this started, brothers and sisters, and you remember, as you heard the word of the gospel of Christ. So let's go to Colossians, and we'll have this idea of hope as well. So Colossians.

And then we'll go to Ephesians to have a clear picture. So it's similar, what Paul is saying to the Colossians is similar to what he's saying to Philemon as well, and he'll add something, and he'll add the reason of his love and faith. What has brought up this love and faith in his life? He says in verse three of Colossians, chapter one, verse three. We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pray always for you. Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints, he says, because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. So the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ was that place in which everything started to make sense. When God came to you through the preaching of his word and opened your eyes, maybe you heard from someone, maybe years later, but he opened your eyes to see the hope that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. First and foremost, this hope of our salvation, of our future salvation.

Yes, we are saved now. It's a reality. And there's a reality, a future reality, that we'll be saved when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again. And this is proclaimed in the gospel of Christ. Because we'll not partake of the wrath of God, we'll not suffer the wrath of God, because the Lord Jesus Christ paid the price for us.

So the gospel of Christ, let's go to Ephesians, so we have a clear picture of that. As I said, it's your Christian walk, it started as the Lord granted you faith, and through his word. So Ephesians. In verse 11, let's start from verse 11. In him also we have obtained an inheritance.

which is that future hope that we'll see later on, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. Verse 12, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory. And he says, in him, in Christ, you also trusted. Faith was given to you to see the Lord Jesus Christ. In him you put your trust, faith, after you heard the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation.

And then he says, in whom also having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, the promise of the future who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of his glory. So you see this idea that it starts with the proclamation of hope. that in Christ Jesus we have peace with God, right here and right now. And that there is a reality in which a day is coming that will have this, when the wrath of God will be poured out upon everyone who denies the name of Christ, who does not obey the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The wrath of God will come upon them.

But for us, will be a time of rejoicing because of the hope that we have. Remember Christ in us, the hope of glory. The spirit of God is the guarantee. The spirit of God who lives in us, And therefore Christ and the Father lives in us, and the Lord Jesus Christ tells us, I will come, my Father and I will abide in you, we'll live in you. And he does that through his Holy Spirit.

And we have the guarantee of the Holy Spirit, the promise of God, that yet on that day, we'll not suffer his wrath, because Christ has paid the price. And we can have hope, we can have assurance, and these are faith in the future glory of God that will be revealed to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's go in 1 Thessalonians. Chapter five, and we have this idea of hope as well. First Thessalonians chapter five.

When he's saying about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, in chapter four he's saying about those who remain, or those who die in the Lord, He says this in chapter five, and let's read from verse eight, actually from verse six. Therefore let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. Well, let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. And as I said, there's an element of hope there.

And he says what that hope is. He says, for God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. And then he says, therefore, comfort each other and edify one another just as you also are doing. We have this idea of the comfort in the hope that is ahead for us. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ was proclaimed.

But we have in Colossians that Paul say, the hope that is set for you, that is laid out for you in heaven. And brothers, there's no greater thing than God himself. And as I mentioned, it will come a day in which will be such a reality that God will be our God and we will be his people. That we are heirs and co-heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. That in Christ it was granted to us all the blessings in the heavenly places.

There will come a day in which our inheritance, which is God himself, he says, I'm your great exceeding reward. In which you will see him. and we'll have him not to be out of our sight anymore. We'll see the Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, we who have not seen him, but yet we love him because of the faith that was granted to us, because of the grace of God, will come a day in which you'll see your Lord, your inheritance, Christ himself living with us.

There's a song that it says, and I think I shared with some of the brothers and sisters, it says, I just wanted to be there. I just wanted to be there and sit at my Jesus feet. I wanna be there. I just don't care about the crown or the color of the gown. As long as Jesus is in town, I wanna be there.

I wanna be there. He's my inheritance. He's my treasure. There's where my heart is. There's coming a day in which I'll have him.

as he has me now, and as he's making me more like him, but will come a day in which I'll have him, and I'll see him, my beloved. You will see him, brother and sister. And it's in this hope that we live. The Apostle Peter bring this idea that we'll see the Lord calls us to be holy and knowing that that day will come, let's pursue holiness by the grace of God and let's do those things. Brother and sister, the wrath of God is not upon us anymore.

If you belong to Christ, if you came by grace through faith to the Lord Jesus Christ, wrath is not upon you anymore. As I said, grace is the pathway in which you stand and you can come with boldness to the throne of God, to the throne of grace. And you can rejoice as you think about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as you rejoice, all you want is to be more like Him day after day. The hope that is set for us in heaven.

Christ Jesus, our Lord. Let's go back to Philemon. Let's go back to Philemon. Hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints. Then Paul's go on to share his prayer.

And I'll touch in here briefly because we spoke about it a while ago. He says that the sharing of your faith, and we saw that sharing here is that the fellowship of your faith, he says, may become effective. may achieve its goal by the acknowledgement of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. Everything that we need is given to us in Christ. And Paul was saying, I pray that the fellowship of your faith, and as I said, faith is an active faith, and we saw when we addressed first, when I addressed Philemon first, we saw that this fellowship of faith happens when I share the works that faith produces in me.

We went to James chapter two, and we saw how Rahab shared her faith with the spies. So when you do things, or when you are doing the works of love, you are sharing your faith with your brother and sister in Christ. And that's only possible as you acknowledge that every good thing that he have is found in him. And that's why we are to abide in Christ. We are to come to this fountain each and every time, at all times in our lives, because it's from him that we can have the things that he tells us to do.

He spoke about both to you and to do of His good pleasure comes from Him. So as we abide in Christ, in the fountain of all blessings, that's when we can have what we need to share with brothers and sisters in Christ. I can only forgive you, you can only forgive me if we abide in Christ. If we have the reality of the forgiveness of God for us in the Lord Jesus Christ, to the point of putting us to shame. and exposing our hearts.

I can only bear you or you can only bear me. You can only support me. I can only support you in a sense when things go not the way that I want, not the way that I want. I can only do that. You can only do that as we look to the Lord Jesus Christ and say, Lord, you put up with me each and every day.

We can only do that in this fountain. which is given to us in Christ Jesus, who is the fountain of all blessings. That the sharing of your faith may become effective. It's only possible as you acknowledge that every good thing comes from Christ. And as you acknowledge that, you are going to the fountain to have that.

So that as you do your good deeds, your Father in heaven may be glorified. That by your fruits, the fruits that is produced in you by Christ, You're pointing to Him, and Christ is pointing to the Father, as the Spirit of God works in your heart, the work of the triune God to bring glory to Himself. Then we have verse seven. He says, and this whole thing, for we have great joy and consolation in your love. As I said, this love that was shown towards the saint because of the faith that he had in Christ, which was produced by the hope that was proclaimed to him in the gospel of Christ, which the gospel of Christ produced that through the action of the Holy Spirit.

Your love is a cause, it caused me to rejoice in the Lord. And brother and sister, just on a side note, the Lord has given us different gifts. The Lord has given us different abilities. The Lord has given us different context in life. We have different lives that we live.

We have different things that we need to prioritize. Of course, Christ first and foremost for all of us and family, but there are other things that we need to prioritize and we need to be wise with our time. So there are things that we are to share with one another. There are gifts that God has given you, has given me. When I see a brother assisting Christ, sharing their gifts with someone, Does that bring to my heart envy or anger?

The apostle Paul was the one who was not receiving. He said, if it was to me, I would have kept him. I have begotten him in my chains, but that was not the right thing to do. I'm sending him back because for me, the most important thing now is that things will be settled. Receive this brother.

Even though I wanted to keep him with me, receive him. He has done me great, great good. The Lord has saved him, and I've seen the work of God in his life. But the right thing to do is to send him to you, so receive him. So if you are to send him to me, that would be not by compulsion, but out of love.

So we see that the Apostle Paul is looking to something that will happen, and he's rejoicing for those things. His forgiveness towards the body of our sister is what brings joy to my heart. We see that the world thinks about revenge and vengeance and everything, and what excites the flesh is revenge. It's, oh no, they need to pay for what they did. That's what excites the flesh.

That's what brings the flesh up high. But the heart of the Christian is a different heart. We are to rejoice in the things that for the world are nothing, considered as nothing. Forgive someone who did that to you. Forgive and receive him back.

Lord, how many times? Is that seven only? Is that eight, Lord? Nine. I can go up to 10 if you tell me, but Lord Jesus Christ said, no, 70 times have it's, it's an amount that every time that your brother or sister sins against you and comes to you for forgiveness, you are to forgive.

And that forgiveness, it should be with the heart. Forgiveness with the heart. That you not just forgive, but you receive as a brother or sister in Christ again. And you rejoice in the Lord. And as we see that, we rejoice in the Lord as brothers and sisters in Christ.

And that's for everything in our lives. we live in a different realm, brothers and sisters. We are called to live in a different realm. Our heart has been changed by the grace of God, not to where it needs to be yet. That's what the Apostle Paul tell us when he tells the Philippians, not that I have attained to those things, but that I keep pressing on to get to the point in which I get to those things for which the Lord Jesus Christ has gotten me.

So we have this idea that now our hearts are different, it's from a different realm, and we are called to do things that the world would despise or would not accept at all. That's the call of the Christian, and the idea, do we rejoice when we see a brother? And if I don't rejoice, what is in my heart? If I just wanna see revenge, or if I just wanna see, no, I wanna see a fight taking place, is that what is in my heart? Or do I rejoice when things get at peace?

and things are thrown into the sea of forgetfulness and you don't remember that anymore because you have received that brother or sister who came to you for forgiveness and you forgave as Christ forgave you. Bless the one to whom the Lord will not input righteousness, or input unrighteousness, but he'll grant righteousness to you. Not counting your sins, not coming to you and telling you, you've done this, you've done that, you've done this, all was done with, as He grants you to come before Him in forgiveness, Lord, in asking for forgiveness. Brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus Christ is the one that brought joy to your heart. The Lord Jesus Christ is the one who brought consolation to your soul.

Brothers, just take a moment and think on the day that the Lord saved you. If there was a day, if there was a season, as I was coming today, driving the car, there was a song that I haven't heard in a while, that in the season that the Lord saved me, that song was part of that season. And it's good to think about those things. I didn't thought as I should, but it's good to think about those things and to appreciate them. Oh Lord, you have brought such joy to my heart, such comfort and consolation to my heart, Lord.

You have changed my life. You can see the way that you were and the way that you are now yet by the grace of God. The apostle Paul tell us, I've done many things, more than many of the apostles here. One was born out of time, but he says, not I, but the grace of God working in me. Praise be to God that he has granted us joy, that he has granted us consolation, that we have this hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.

What is spoken of Philemon, what was written to the church, to the Colossians, we should seek that as we rejoice in Christ, the one who brings joy to our heart by what he did for us. And as we abide in him, And then we give reason to our brothers and sisters to rejoice in the Lord. And we rejoice with them, with those who have joy. And we weep with those who weep. And we suffer with those who suffer.

Because we are now one in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ said that they will know that you are my disciples by your love for one another. The scriptures will tell us, the Apostle John in 1 John will tell us, the one who loves is the one who knows God. was born of God. The one who does not love does not know God because God is love.

So brothers and sisters, great salvation has been given to us. It was proclaimed in the gospel of Christ. And we have this hope that when the Lord Jesus Christ comes, he'll tell, come, my blessed servant, faithful servant, to the kingdom that was prepared for you. That the wrath of God will not be upon us if you are in Christ. And as you think about those things, then rejoice in the Lord.

May the Lord work in your life and in my life to give reason to one another to rejoice in the Lord as well. Let's live a life that is worthy of the gospel of Christ. That's not just for you, it's first and foremost for me. More than you, oh, I need to learn that. And may the Lord work in my heart in such a way as we live this life.

And it's only possible as you abide in Christ. That's why the scriptures tell us that let what be in your mind be what is pure, what is righteous, what is of good reputation. Christ may abide in your mind and in your heart. That's why Peter will tell us, grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Look to Him.

And as you look to Him, as the Apostle Paul will tell us in 2 Corinthians, I think chapter four, three or four, he'll say that, and we, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, we are being changed into His image by the Spirit of the Lord as we behold the glory of Christ proclaimed to us. So let's rejoice, brother and sister, and may the Lord help us to give reason to one another to rejoice in the Lord, as our Lord Jesus Christ has given us plenty, that we can rejoice. That's why the Apostle Paul tells us, rejoice always. In everything give thanks. Pray without ceasing, for this the will of God for us in Christ Jesus.

Let's pray. Father, as we finish this time, Lord, and as we prepare for For communion, we just pray, Lord, that you may work in our hearts in such a way that we may see, Lord, the joy that is given to us in Christ Jesus, the consolation and the comfort, Lord, that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in seeing that, Lord, and being overwhelmed by that, that it will be led by your Spirit to do the same to our brothers and sisters in Christ. Love is patient, is kind, does not envy or boast, is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful.

It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends, Lord. So help us to live a life that is a proclamation of the love of Christ for us as we love one another, as we give one another reason to rejoice in you, the one who works in us, both to you and to do of your good pleasure. Thank you, Lord, for speaking to our hearts.

Plant your word deep in us, Lord. Help us to cherish your word in our hearts so that we may not sin against you. Thank you for your word. Thank you, Lord, because it is the truth. It is the truth.

We give glory to your name. Please forgive me for my sins, Lord. There are many. Forgive us for our sins. There are many, Lord.

Forgive me for the times that I caused my brother or sister to think of me in a way that I shouldn't, for not giving them reason to rejoice in you. I just pray, Lord, that you may help us to live as one, as you and Christ, our Lord and Savior, and your Holy Spirit are one. So help us to do so, Lord, for your glory, so that those who are outside may see that we are the disciples of Christ, as we love one another. This work cannot be done by us. We need you.

Thank you, Lord, for your work and for your mercy towards us. In Jesus' name, amen.