focus on there is beginning verse number 16, there's this series of short statements,
these tiny little verses that God gives, beginning verse 16, rejoice evermore, pray
without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus
concerning you.
Quench not the spirit, despise not prophesying, prove all things, hold fast that which
is good, abstain from all appearance of evil.
And obviously there's a wealth of truth just in these short little statements, these
short little verses, but the one I want to focus on is the very first one there in verse
16 where the Bible says rejoice evermore.
Now that is a commandment, these are all commandments, I mean here God's commanding
us to pray, he's commanding us to be thankful, he's commanding us not to despise preaching,
not to quench the spirit, all these different things that he's commanding us,
and one of the things he commands us to do is to rejoice.
Now this subject is mentioned a lot in the Bible, I looked up the word rejoice in
the Bible, it's used 258 times.
Now that means that it's something that's pretty important if God's repeating it 258
times.
Just to give you a small sampling of going through the book of Psalms, because if I
were to just go through all the times in the book of Psalms that God commands us
to rejoice or talks about the fact that we should be rejoicing, that would take
the whole sermon in and of itself, but just to give you a small sampling it says
in Psalm 32, 11, be glad in the Lord.
And by the way, that's a command, that's an imperative.
He's saying, be glad in the Lord and rejoice ye righteous and shout for joy all ye that
are upright in heart.
Psalm 70 verse 4 says, let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee and
let such as love thy salvation say continually, let God be magnified.
Psalm 90 verse 14 says, oh satisfy us early with thy mercy that we may rejoice and
be glad all our days.
Psalm 98 verse 4, make a joyful noise unto the Lord all the earth, make a loud noise
and rejoice and sing praise.
Psalm 118 verse 24 says, this is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice
and be glad in it.
All throughout the book of Psalms, all throughout the New Testament, God's commanding us to
rejoice and one of the things that keeps coming up over and over again in the book
of Psalms is that we're to rejoice on a daily basis, every single day.
This is the day which the Lord hath made, we'll rejoice and be glad in it, to be glad
all of our days, that God's praise will continually be in our mouth, that we're always
rejoicing all the time, every day, no matter what.
Now look, there are going to be a lot of times when things go badly for us.
I mean not every day is going to be a good day.
If you have a good day today, tomorrow's probably going to be a bad day.
And if you have a bad day today, tomorrow's probably going to be a good day.
That's the way life is.
Not every day is a great day.
There are going to be good days, there are going to be bad days, but the Bible commands
us to rejoice every single day.
Now what does it mean to rejoice?
Rejoice simply comes from the word for joy.
And if you would turn to 1 Peter chapter 1, rejoice is basically just expressing joy
or feeling joy.
And joy is something that should be a part of our lives as Christians.
We should be happy is one of the words that would come to mind.
Although happiness is not exactly what rejoice means, that's probably just something that
would help us to understand it today the way we think in 2013, we'd probably think
of rejoicing as being in a good mood or being cheerful or being glad or having
joy in our lives.
Now you say, well why is this important?
I'm going to get to some of the reasons why this is important.
But I want you to know that rejoicing in the Lord does not mean that you're living
a life that is free from sorrow.
Sorrow is going to be a part of our lives.
Sadness is going to come into our life.
And in fact, when we think of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible says that Jesus was a man
of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we know that of course Jesus wept.
But at the same time, the Bible also talks about the fact that Jesus was continually
filled with the Holy Spirit, and the Bible says that the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against
such there is no law.
And so someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit according to the Bible is going to
be a joyful person.
One of the evidences of the fact that you are filled with the Holy Spirit is that
you have joy in your life.
And so I know that Jesus therefore was a joyful person as well.
You say, well how can this be?
How can he be a man of sorrows and also be rejoicing and having joy in his life?
Well look at 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 5.
The Bible reads in 1 Peter 1.5, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation
ready to be revealed in the last time.
By the way, that's a great verse that shows that God keeps us saved.
We're kept saved by the power of God, not by living a good life, right?
Not by our own good works or good deeds, but we're kept by the power of God.
It says in verse 6, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season if need be, ye are
in heaviness through manifold temptations.
So in verse 6 right there it shows that when you're going through temptations or
times of trials and tribulation, you might be in heaviness.
Heaviness is sadness, it's sorrow.
You might be sad about something.
You might be sorrowing about some hard time that you're going through.
But according to this, we are able to greatly rejoice and go through sorrow at the same
time.
Keep reading, it says in verse 7 that the trial of your faith being much more precious
than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise
and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen ye love,
in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
Again in verse 9 it's being emphasized that salvation is by faith and that faith is
what gets us saved.
But the Bible here is talking about the fact that life is going to throw things
at you that are negative.
You're going to go through temptations, tribulations, trials, and those things are going to bring
sorrow into your life.
Even Jesus had sorrow in his life.
He hungered, he thirsted, he was sad, he was sorrowful, he went through all the
things that we go through, but yet he rejoiced in the Lord.
Go to Habakkuk chapter 3, at the very end of the Old Testament you've got all these
short little books known as the Minor Prophets and Habakkuk is one of them.
Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, hopefully you can find it there, Habakkuk chapter
3, just shortly before the book of Matthew at the end of the Old Testament there.
Look at Habakkuk chapter 3 verse 17, the Bible reads, although the fig tree shall
not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail,
and the fields shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there
shall be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in
the God of my salvation.
Now this is verse 17, it's talking about everything's going bad, I mean everything's
going bad.
You know, the farming's going bad, the herds of cattle are going bad, I mean just
nothing is working out, there's no food, there's no wealth, everything is failing,
and he said, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
You see, for the Christian there's always something to rejoice about, always.
So I'm not saying, you know, you ought to be a joyful and happy person because you're
living your best life now and everything's going perfectly and your job's going perfectly
and God's just prospering and everything that you touch is turning to gold.
I'm not saying that everything's going to be perfect in life.
I'm not saying that there aren't going to be things that make you sad.
I'm not saying that you're not going to weep in your life, just as Jesus Christ
himself wept and all the prophets in the Bible wept.
They all went through sadness, they all went through sorrow.
Nothing wrong with sorrowing when there's something to sorrow about, but let me say
this, that the Christian does not sorrow as those who have no hope.
See the sorrow of the world worketh death.
You know, this world, when things go bad for them, when they have no herd in the stall,
when they don't have a fig tree that's blossoming, you know what, there's sorrowing
and there's no silver lining because that's all they have.
I mean, all they have is this world.
And so when their wealth fails, when their relationships fail, when food fails, you know,
they are going to be depressed and sad and have no joy because they don't have anything
to be joyful about.
But those of us that are saved can stay like Habakkuk.
You know what, I don't care if everything goes wrong, I don't care if I lose everything
like Job, I can still rejoice in the Lord and joy in the God of my salvation.
See we always have hope.
And the Bible talked about in 1 Peter chapter 1 that the thing that we would rejoice about,
even when we're going through trials and tribulations, is that he said that we rejoice
in our salvation, ready to be revealed at the last time.
We rejoice in the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls.
Look, no matter how bad things go, we always have hope that it's going to be better someday.
Weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning.
We know that one day we have an inheritance in heaven, incorruptible in the heavens,
we have heaven to look forward to, we're going to see the Lord Jesus Christ someday.
Look we're saved.
All our sins are forgiven and forgotten and that should bring joy to our lives and cause
us to be joyful and rejoicing.
You see there are some people who just have a bad attitude.
They go through life with a bad attitude and look there's a difference between legitimate
sorrow, being sad about something, and people are just always sad.
And they're just always down, it's like they can't see the good in anything and
they're really negative and just everything is just so terrible and they're depressed
and they're never happy with what they have, they're just always down in the mouth
about something.
What I've noticed about sorrow because there are several reasons why we should not let
ourselves stop rejoicing.
You know, why do we need to rejoice?
Why does God command us so many times to rejoice?
Why is it so important?
Why does it matter?
I mean as long as we're doing the right things, right, as long as we go to church
and read our Bibles and pray and go so long, why does it matter if we rejoice?
Why does it matter if we have joy in our lives?
Let me show you some of the adverse effects of not having joy in your life.
Go to Luke chapter 22, Luke chapter 22.
You say well I don't have anything to be joyful about, well are you saved?
There's something to be joyful about right there.
Why don't you, look you don't deserve to be saved.
It's not that you're just some wonderful person that deserves to live forever in heaven
in a perfect place.
Look God gave that to you as a free gift, be happy about it, get excited about it,
be joyful about it.
Oh but you don't understand what's going on in my life, but you know what, I'd rather
live the worst possible life on this earth of just torment and sorrow and then spend
eternity in heaven, than to live the best possible life and then go to hell.
I mean think about that.
But look if you would at Luke chapter 22, here's one of the adverse effects of letting
sorrow overtake you, or as the Bible calls it, being swallowed up of overmuch sorrow.
The Bible warns of too much sorrow.
The person who can't understand that yes there are things to be sorrowful about, but
we're still going to rejoice in the Lord.
We're still going to rejoice evermore.
Look if you would at Luke 22, 45, the Bible says when he rose up from prayer, this is
when Jesus is praying, he was come to his disciples, watch this, he found them
sleeping for sorrow.
Now why were they sleeping according to the Bible?
Because they were set.
Were they supposed to be sleeping?
No, he told them, stay awake, watch and pray.
Watch means stay awake.
He said, I want you to watch with me for one hour.
I want you to stay awake and pray for one hour.
But the Bible tells us here that they fell asleep.
Jesus rebukes them in verse 46 and said unto them, why sleep ye?
Rise and pray lest ye enter into temptation.
So the Bible says they were sleeping for sorrow.
Now look, the Bible is teaching us this here in Luke 22, 45, but I've also noticed
this in my own life and in the life of others.
When you're rejoicing, you get more done and you're more energetic and you have the
strength to get things done in your life.
Whereas when you get sorrowful and sad and depressed, you get sluggish and lazy.
I mean think about it, if you see somebody who's moving at the job very slowly, you
know often that's the same person who's always really down and depressed and you
know what, I know that when I'm in a good mood, when I'm rejoicing, when I'm glad and
cheerful and I'm in a good mood, I get way more work done.
I mean I'm just moving fast, I'm getting things done, I'm motivated, I'm excited,
you know I'm singing, this is my story, this is my, you know I'm going around,
you know just getting my work done whether I'm at my job, whether I'm at my house,
whether I'm at church, I mean I just get, I just get more done when I'm rejoicing,
when I'm in a good mood.
Why?
Because when you get sorrowful and sad, it just saps the energy out of you and it can
lead to slothfulness in your life.
You know here are some guys that were supposed to be staying awake and doing something for
God, but sadness and sorrow had paralyzed them to where they just slumped over and went
to sleep and that's what it'll do to you too.
If you find yourself just dwelling on the negative, maybe you're being very selfish
and feeling sorry for yourself and so you start getting down and depressed and being
swallowed up of overmuch sorrow, you'll find yourself being lazy.
You'll find yourself sleeping too much, sitting around not doing anything.
But when you are rejoicing, you know, you get up and you get something done.
So if we're going to do something great for God, we need to rejoice in the Lord.
If we're going to be out and soul winning and making a difference, then we need to
have joy in our lives.
Joy is something that fuels us.
The Bible says in Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 10, he said unto them, go your way, eat
the fat and drink the sweet and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared.
For this day is holy unto our Lord.
Listen to this, neither be ye sorry for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
And when you have all joy taken out of your life, when you're not rejoicing at
all in your life, your strength will be gone.
You won't be motivated.
You're going to be weak.
You're not going to be able to accomplish a lot for God.
That's one of the reasons why it's so important to rejoice.
The Bible commands us in Philippians 4, 4, rejoice in the Lord always and again I say
rejoice.
Now look, why does he say it again?
He could have just said rejoice in the Lord always, period.
He said rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice.
Look if it didn't matter whether or not you rejoice, he wouldn't have said it again.
He said it again.
Look, look, it's important, okay, because you know what, a lot of times we read our
Bible and we just see things like, eh, rejoice, and you just blow past it because you just
think that it's just like a religious jargon.
Eh, blessing, joy, praise God.
You know, you read the Bible in Psalms and it's just saying the word praise a lot and
the word rejoice a lot.
So sometimes you just glaze over and just don't really think about it.
Look, God's commanding us to praise him every day.
Do you praise the Lord every day?
Every single day do you tell the Lord how great he is?
Because that's what praise means.
Do you praise the Lord for his mighty acts every day?
Look, David, the man after God's own heart, said seven times a day will I praise thee
because of thy righteous judgments.
Seven times a day he praised God.
We're supposed to rejoice, not necessarily rejoice because our job is going great.
I mean that'll make us rejoice.
Maybe not necessarily rejoice because our health is perfect.
No, rejoice in the Lord, joy in the God of your salvation.
Rejoice in God's word.
Rejoice in soul winning.
Rejoice in prayer.
Rejoice in all the things that God has given to us.
He saved us.
He's called us with the holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his
own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
Look, there's a lot to be happy about that has nothing to do with the circumstances
of life.
And we need to realize that on our worst day, and look, I have to do this as a pastor.
Because look, as a leader, and listen to me out there, you that lead.
And by the way, if you're a father, you're leading.
You know, if you're the manager at work, you're a leader.
You know, you run one of these soul winning times, you're a leader, okay?
Anybody who's a leader needs to listen to this.
You know what?
As a pastor, I have to be rejoicing all the time.
Because think about it.
You come to church Sunday morning and Sunday night and Wednesday night, do you want to
come to church when I'm just, hey, how you doing Pastor Anderson?
Awful, terrible.
You know, and I just get, oh, I guess we're going to sing a song, you know.
Whatever.
Brother Dave, come lead us, you know.
I mean, what if I just get up and just preach sermons where I'm just totally uninspired.
Up here just slothful, just leaning on the pulpit, just not really excited, not
really motivated.
You know, because frankly I'm just having a bad day, alright?
But look, when you're a pastor, you're not really supposed to have a bad day.
You know, you're just, every Sunday, every Sunday morning, every Sunday night and every
Wednesday night, you know, you're supposed to be on.
Now nobody's going to be perfect at that, but that's the goal, that's the job.
You know what?
Because other people are coming to church, they've got their own problems, they've
got their own sorrow, you know, they need me to be there to encourage them and
to try to help them and to try to pick them up and motivate them.
You know, they don't need me to drag them down.
You know, you come to church and you are in a great mood until you talk to Pastor
Anderson.
You know, everything was going great, I was really happy and I get around Pastor Anderson
and it's just like so down and depressing to be around him.
But see, as a pastor, that's not what's expected of me.
What's expected of me is to be rejoicing every service, to be rejoicing at every soul
winning time.
You know, to be rejoicing and to be one to help lift others up.
That's part of my job.
But you know what, let me tell you something, it's not always easy to do that.
Just as you go through trials and temptations in your life, just as you go through times
where you get sad and sorrowful, obviously I am no different.
I am a human being.
My life has ups and downs.
You know, sometimes I've gotten just really bad news and then it's like, okay, I'm
preaching two hours later.
I'm coming to church two hours later.
You know what, I have to find a way to rejoice in the trials and that's what God
is commanding all of us to do as Christians, to say, you know what, okay, so I just got
bad news about, you know, a loved one that's ill or I just heard about, you know, my finances
are collapsing or maybe, you know, something's wrong with the children or something's wrong
with my job or I lost my job or whatever.
You know, and I just get some bad news.
I have to decide, you know what though, I'm going to rejoice in the Lord.
I'm still, you know what, I'm still thankful that I'm saved and, you know, I've
got to sing hymns.
And you know what, I'll start singing the hymns sometimes just to get in a better mood,
just to lift my spirits, just to get filled with the Spirit speaking in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs.
And, you know, you start singing, to God be the glory, great things He had done,
so loved He the world that He gave us His Son, who yielded His life and atonement
for sin and opened the life gate that all may go in.
Praise the Lord!
You know, and you sing those songs and it puts things in perspective and you say, you
know what, even if there is no hurt in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.
I can still joy in the God of my salvation.
And you know what, you can get in a better mood.
How many times have you been in a bad mood and then you came to church and started
just singing the congregational singing and your spirits were lifted?
I mean, I know that's happened to me many times.
You know, you come to church, you're in a bad mood, and you sing the songs, your
spirits are lifted.
You know what, that's something that you need to be doing on a daily basis because
the Bible said to rejoice at all times.
It said all our days, in Psalm 90, it said in Psalm 118, this is the day which the Lord
has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Whatever happens today, we're going to rejoice, we're going to be glad in it.
So the first negative effect of not rejoicing is that, you know what, it causes us to
become slothful.
It causes us to not have energy and strength to serve God because we begin to, you know,
sleep as it were and just become sluggardly in our lives.
But not only that, go if you would to 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and while you're turning
to 2 Corinthians chapter 2, I'll read for you from Proverbs.
But not only that, but you know, rejoicing is actually good for your health.
It's actually bad for you to have a negative bad attitude all the time.
And you know, people who are down in the dumps and despondent all the time, you
know, they have poor health as a result and a lot of health problems, you know, the word
that people would use today to describe this, although it's not a biblical word, is
stress.
You know, in pretty much any illness, whether it's cancer or whether it's diabetes or
whether it's heart disease, always it'll be listed in whatever medical documentation
you're looking at that it is exacerbated by stress.
You know, if you're stressed out, all of your health problems become worse.
And often if you talk to a doctor or go to some kind of a health care provider, they'll
often tell you, you know, one of the things that you need to do to get better is you
need to relax.
You need to calm down.
I've even had the doctor tell me, and I've only gone to the doctor rarely in my life
because I like to stay away from doctors as much as I can.
But anyway, when I have rarely gone to the doctor, I haven't had a doctor give
me a questionnaire.
You know when you go to the doctor, and here's the thing, for people like me that
rarely go to the doctor, it's like, well, who's your doctor?
You know, I saw him like eight years ago, I don't know, you know.
So it's like, well, who's your doctor?
I don't know.
Don't you have a doctor?
I don't know.
So then it's like, okay, you got to go to a doctor that you've never been to.
And then it's like, here, fill out this book.
Fill out these 100 pages of documentation while you wait.
You know, and it asks you like everything under the sun.
And one of the things it asks you is like, you know, do you have some kind of a prayer
or meditation or, you know, and it's like it lists these things like prayer, transcendental
meditation, you know, something just to relieve stress in your life.
You know, do you have a way to get, who's ever seen a question like that before a couple
of people?
You know, do you pray or meditate or what?
Because they just know that if you're one who's always high strung all the time and
you never stop and relax and calm down, that it's bad for your health.
And you know, the Bible mentions that.
It says in Proverbs 15, 13, a merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow
of the heart the spirit is broken.
Then in verse 30 it says, the light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and a good
report maketh the bones fat.
So the Bible talks about your bones being healthier from good news or a rejoicing heart.
He says in Proverbs 17, 22, a merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken
spirit dryeth the bones.
You know, if you're able to on a daily basis put aside all your troubles, put aside
all your cares, and just rejoice in the Lord, even if it's just for a little while,
you know what, that is good for your health, even the world will tell you that that's
good for your health.
They don't even believe in God.
They just tell you, just pray to God because it's good for you.
Or meditate with Buddha or whatever, just do something to chill out is what they're
telling you.
But God's telling you, be careful for nothing.
Careful means worried, anxious, nervous, stressed out.
That's what carefulness means in the Bible.
He said, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests
be made known unto God.
And the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus.
So let's say everything is going bad, everything is falling apart, everything is spinning out
of control.
You're getting all kinds of bad news, and I've been there my friend.
I've been in a situation where it seems like all is lost, we're all doomed.
But you have to be able to just stop and just pray to the Lord and ask Him to
fix the situation.
And say, Lord I love you, I'm sorry that I've made this mistake and that mistake,
but God I want to serve you, I want to do what's right, please help me, I don't know what
to do, my situation is out of control here, I need your help, please bless me, please
do something about this.
And you know what the Bible says, if you let your requests be made known unto God,
the peace of God which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ
Jesus.
He commands us, be careful for nothing.
You know what that means?
That means if we continue to worry about it after we've prayed about it, it's sin.
Because he's not saying, be careful for nothing if you want, because it will make you happier.
No, no, no, He commands us, be careful for nothing.
He commands us, take no thought for the morrow, trust in the Lord.
If He clothes the grass of the field, if He feeds the foul of the air, you know,
let Him feed you, let Him clothe you, trust in the Lord, okay?
And what the Bible is teaching us is that it is sin if we then continue to worry and
stress and fret about things.
Therefore, for the Christian, we have a way to rejoice even when things are bad, even
when things, we don't just get stressed out, bite our nails and be up all night tossing
and turning.
You know, as a Christian, if you're right with God, if you're filled with the Spirit,
when bad things happen, the way you respond to that is you take it to the Lord in
prayer and you get on your knees and you say, God, you know, I can't handle this,
or God, you know, the situation is out of control.
God, my finances are doomed.
You know, God, my job is doomed.
Whatever the problem is, whatever is falling through, whatever, maybe it's a relationship
problem or a financial problem or a job problem, whatever it is, health problems.
God, I'm in pain, you know, and you call out to God and tell Him what the problem
is.
And the Bible commands you, commands you to not just pray to God and then get up
off your knees and just be like, oh man, what's going to happen?
He commands you to pray to God and then let it go.
He commands you to pray to God and say, God, let Thy will be done, and then have the faith
to believe that God's going to bring it to pass according to His will.
Whether it's what you like or don't like, you have the faith to believe that God
is going to do what He sees fit.
And then you know what?
You go to bed and you sleep like a baby.
You go to bed, look, and if you're sitting there worrying and tossing and turning, it's
sin.
Now I know it's easier said than done, but that's what the Bible commands us to do.
And then you know what?
You get up from your knees, maybe when you go down on your knees you're sad, you're depressed,
maybe you're even crying, but when you get up off your knees, you should have a
smile on your face and rejoice and say, you know what, God's good.
God's going to take care of me.
God that can save my soul can also save me in these circumstances, physically.
God that provides salvation, that has kept me by the power of God unto salvation
through faith, look, He can fix whatever's going on.
Thank God I have Him watching out for me.
Thank God I don't rely on the bank account or my job to provide for me.
I know that God is going to supply my need, and you know what, that's something to rejoice
about.
A guaranteed paycheck, guaranteed food on the table, because God said, my God shall
provide all your need according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus.
Look, guaranteed home in heaven, where you don't have to worry about it and wonder,
I hope I'm going to heaven, to know for sure that you have eternal life, there's
plenty to rejoice about.
So first of all, don't get all sad and sorrowful because it's going to make you slothful and
sluggardly and you're just going to become lazy.
You're going to sleep for sorrow.
Number two, don't get slothful, I'm sorry, don't quit rejoicing and get over much sorrow
because it'll cause you to have bad health.
You know, it makes you sick.
People get ulcers in their stomach just from worrying.
They get heartburn from worrying.
You know, it's just bad for you.
But not only that, a lack of rejoicing or over much sorrow in your life can cause you
to quit serving God.
Because when you get down and depressed, that's when you want to throw in the towel,
that's when you want to quit.
You know, when you're rejoicing and you're glad and you're joyful in the Lord, why
would you quit?
Everybody likes being joyful, don't they?
So look, if you're rejoicing every day, if you're rejoicing in the Lord, if you
have joy in your heart, you're not going to get out of church.
You're going to be in church, you're going to keep on going, you're going to keep
serving God.
But when people have bad things happen in their life, and I've seen this happen
a ton of times and I'm sure you have too, something bad will happen in somebody's
life and then they get sad about that, which is normal, which is fine.
Jesus was a man of sorrows, it's okay to be sad.
But then they just get swallowed up of sorrow.
They don't know how to rejoice in the Lord.
They don't know how to sorrow like those who have no hope.
And then they end up getting completely out of church and just completely quitting on
God.
I can think of a lot of examples of different things, where I'm thinking of specific people
right now.
Somebody who lost a loved one, was sad about it, and then they just got sad and
depressed and just drifted out of church.
You know, just all kinds of things can cause people to quit church.
But it's usually people, when you see them quitting church, they're not really
happy and joyful and rejoicing in the Lord, they're usually starting to be sorrowful.
Let's see that in the Bible.
Look at 2 Corinthians 2, verse 6.
The Bible says, this is talking about a man who had committed a major sin and been kicked
out of the church, but now he'd repented and he was right with God and they were
bringing him back into the church.
It says in 2 Corinthians 2, 6, sufficient to such a man is this punishment which was
inflicted of many, so that contrary wise, you ought rather to forgive him and comfort
him.
Perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with over much sorrow.
Over much means too much.
Too much sorrow is going to swallow this guy up, wherefore I beseech you that you would
confirm your love toward him.
Now go to chapter 7, verse 8, 2 Corinthians 7, verse 8.
And while you're turning there, think about the apostle Peter.
Peter committed a sin where he denied the Lord.
What did he do after he denied the Lord three times?
He went out and he wept bitterly.
Now look, it made sense for him to feel sorrowful about what he did.
It made sense for him to weep bitterly.
He'd done a major sin, he'd let down the Lord Jesus Christ, he ought to be sorry,
he ought to feel sad about that.
So he went out and he wept bitterly, but you know what the problem was?
He was swallowed up of that sorrow, because then the next thing you see is you see
him quitting on God.
He quits serving God.
He goes out, he weeps bitterly, and he completely quits serving God.
Quits soul winning, and just decides to go back to his old way of life, from before
Jesus called him, where he's fishing, and God told him, Jesus told him, don't, you're
not going to fish anymore.
You're going to be a fisher of men.
But he went back to the old lifestyle because he was just too depressed about having failed.
He got swallowed up of sorrow.
Look at 2 Corinthians 7, verse 8.
For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent.
For I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a
season.
Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that you sorrowed to repentance.
For you were made sorry after a godly manner, that you might receive damage by us in
nothing.
For godly sorrow worketh repentance, to salvation not to be repented of, but the
sorrow of the world worketh death.
Now look, there are two sorrows here, godly sorrow and the sorrow of the world.
Godly sorrow worketh repentance.
Godly sorrow is where I do something wrong, I'm sad about it, and I say, you know what,
I'm going to turn around and do right now.
That's godly sorrow.
Godly sorrow says, you know what, I made a mistake.
I denied the Lord, I'm going to weep bitterly, but you know what, now I'm going to go
preach Christ boldly because I'm going to change, I'm going to repent of that.
That's godly sorrow.
So look, when we commit sin, should we feel sorry for the sins that we commit in our
daily lives?
But should we just be swallowed up of over much sorrow and just get so depressed and
down that we're just going to quit serving God?
No, God's mercies are new every morning, we need to get up every day and start over
with a fresh start, and the Bible says here that godly sorrow worketh repentance,
to salvation not to be repented of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
Look at verse 11, here's what godly sorrow looks like.
For behold this self, same thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sword.
What carefulness it wrought in you, yea what clearing of yourselves, yea what indignation,
yea what fear, yea what vehement desire, yea what zeal, yea what revenge in all
things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
So godly sorrow makes you zealous.
Godly sorrow is when you commit sin, you feel bad about it and say, you know what,
I'm going to do it right now, and then that causes you to be zealous.
Now zealous is the opposite of slothfulness, right?
Zeal is when you're excited.
Zeal means you're fired up, you're excited, you're motivated.
Okay, slothfulness is the opposite, where you're dragging, you're lame, you're moving
really slowly, you're uninspired, you're not excited, okay.
So we need to be careful that when sorrow comes into our life, that it makes us stronger,
that it makes us better, and that it doesn't just suck all the air out of our balloon
and cause us to just be swallowed up of overmuch sorrow.
Look, we need to rejoice in our lives.
The joy of the Lord is our strength.
God commands us to have joy.
And look, I know people who are just down all the time.
And it bothers me.
I like to be around people that are up.
I mean, what about you?
I mean, do you like being around people that are just always down, always sad, always
dragging?
You know what, find something to rejoice about.
Put a smile on your face.
There's plenty to be happy about.
And you know what, there are a lot of things that can make you sorrowful.
Some of the things we saw in the Bible were bad circumstances, trials and tribulations.
Another thing we see in the Bible with the Apostle Peter and this story in 2 Corinthians
2 and 7 is people getting sorry because they committed sins and they feel bad about it.
And so they get sad about that.
These are all legitimate reasons to be sorrowful.
If you had a child that died, you'd be very sorrowful, wouldn't you?
And there's nothing wrong with that.
If you committed a major sin, would you be sorrowful?
You're going to be sorrowful.
If you, you know, if all of your house was robbed and you lost all your possessions,
would you be sorrowful?
Is it going to make you sad?
Of course it's going to.
These are the events of life that can make us sad, whether external bad things happening
to us or whether internal where we bring it upon ourself.
And that's sometimes the worst kind of sorrow.
Like when you deny the Lord Jesus Christ like Peter did.
I mean that's going to make you really sorrowful because you can't even just throw
your hands up and say, well whatever, because it's your fault.
We have a choice when sorrow comes into our life, how we handle that sorrow.
If it's a result of sin, are we going to have a godly sorrow that says, man, I'm so
sorry that I messed that up, and so you know what, I'm going to make up for it
by doing the best I can do.
I'm going to be even better next time.
You know, maybe we're sad because we make a mistake and I'm trying to think of a sin
that people would commit.
I mean there's so many sins out there that people could commit.
You know, Peter denied the Lord.
Maybe for example, what if you just have a primo opportunity to give somebody the gospel?
Maybe you're with a relative and you're alone with that relative and you just have a perfect
opportunity to give the gospel, and you know what, you just, you get cowardly, right?
And you just end up not giving the gospel.
I mean we've all been there where you're, maybe it's a primo opportunity to give the
gospel to a co-worker or a friend or a relative and we just, we just wimp out.
You know, you just don't have the boldness.
You're just in the flesh and you just don't do it, right?
Well look, that could get you sad.
That could get you sorrowful and depressed about it and say, man, I really blew it.
I let God down.
God gave me this opportunity.
I let my friend down.
I let God down.
But you know what?
The godly sorrow says, man, I'm so sorry that I did that.
You know what?
I'm going to be twice as bold.
I'm going to go out and do even more so.
I'm going to go to that person's house and give them the gospel.
I'm going to take every opportunity.
It's a repentance that comes.
Not just a, oh man, I'm such a loser, I can't even give the gospel to my uncle, you know?
I guess I'm just not a soul winner.
I guess I'm just not cut out for it.
I guess I'll just go to the Baptist Church down the street that doesn't have soul winning.
You know, that's where I fit in, the loser that I am.
But you know what I'm saying is that we need to be careful that we don't let
sorrow overtake us.
Let's just rejoice.
And you know what?
If you fail to give the gospel, then pick yourself up and do it right next time.
And maybe you can just rejoice in the fact that you've ever given anybody the gospel.
You know, and just rejoice in the fact that you have plenty of opportunities that
you go to a church where there's all kinds of opportunities to go out and go on these
different days and preach the gospel to every creature and get the practice.
You know, there's just too many things to be happy about.
And you know, it seems like we just often focus on the bad things in our life.
Instead of just being happy, I mean probably every single person here today ate three
good meals today, probably going to go to bed in a climate controlled house or a climate
controlled apartment.
And you know what?
You might be sad because your car broke down or you don't have a car, but you know what?
You can just be glad for that bicycle.
You know, you can just be glad that you have a bus to ride.
You can just be glad that you're healthy.
You can just be glad.
There's always something to rejoice about.
And you know what?
God commands us to rejoice every day.
That means today you need to rejoice and say, I'm just having a bad day today.
You know what?
Get on your knees, tell God all the reasons why you're having a bad day.
And just tell Him, God, you know, this is happening, this is happening.
Tell Him all the reasons and then ask Him to fix it.
And say, you know what, God?
Even if you don't fix it, just let your will be done, whatever you want.
And then just find something to rejoice about.
And you know what?
If this is an area that you struggle in, because there are probably some people that are here
tonight that don't really struggle in this area.
You know, there are people here tonight that are pretty happy people, you know, and
they go through life, they're pretty joyful, they rejoice in the Lord pretty well.
But there are other people who are probably just a major struggle in their life where
they're just constantly depressed and constantly down and constantly gloomy.
If you're that person, you need to take some steps.
You're not just going to accidentally start rejoicing.
If God's commanding us to rejoice, that's an action that we need to perform.
It's not just a feeling that's going to come over us.
So you say, well Pastor Anderson, what do I do to rejoice?
Well, one of the main things if you read the book of Psalms when it comes to rejoicing
is singing praises to God.
And that's probably the best advice I could give you is that when you're being swallowed
up of sorrow is to start singing the hymns.
And look, if you don't have a hymnal, they're all over the seats.
Take one home with you.
We don't sell them, they're free, just take a hymnal home.
Every Christian ought to have a hymnal in their house.
So if you don't have one, I want you to take it home.
Write your name in the front of it, take it home to your house, and you know what?
Singing praises to God is one of the best ways that you can rejoice.
And then another thing you can do to rejoice is to sit down and be thankful and think
about all the things that God's done for you.
You know, and think about all the things.
And then the third thing you can do is just get on your knees and pray and just
tell God all your problems and then just get up and know, hey, God's going to fix
it.
God's going to take care of it.
Everything's going to be fine.
There are three things that you can do to fix this problem in your life if it is a
problem in your life.
Sing the hymns, sing praise to God, stop and take an inventory and be thankful for
everything He's done for you, and then you can cast all your care upon Him for
He careth for you.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, please help us all to rejoice in You.
Help us to realize that there's more to life than just our bank account balance or
our health or just how things are going at work.
Help us to see the big picture of eternity in heaven and hell.
There's a lot to be thankful for when we think about our salvation, when we think
about our home in heaven, when we think about our inheritance with Christ.
Please just help us to have joy in our lives so that our joy can help other people
also.
We can rejoice in the Lord and that Your joy would be our strength.