Leading The Way

Dr. Michael Youssef: Blessed New Year! I pray that this New Year be the year of blessing and the year of fruitfulness for the Lord in your life and in your family's life. May He continue to bless you in a new way this New Year.

Thank you for responding to the appeal last month. Thank you for helping us to make it to the finish line. Because of what you have done, God is now opening new doors for us. I pray that God will use us both, you and me together in unity, to serve Him throughout this coming year.

Guest (Male): Dr. Michael Youssef with words about joy.

Dr. Michael Youssef: Joy is deeply connected to mature knowledge of the Word of God. That is why Psalm 19:8 says, "The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart." And the Lord Jesus Himself said in John chapter 15, "If you obey my commands, that my joy may be in you and that you joy be complete."

Guest (Male): Joy is more than a smile or a laugh. Joy is being deeply connected to God. You see, the more you're entrenched in the world, the more joy dissipates. But as fellowship and friendship with God grows, joy flourishes.

It's a simple formula to help you not lose joy when you're facing life's destructive distractions. Please remember that Leading The Way is listener supported. Content is made possible through your prayers and generosity.

You can learn ways to partner with Dr. Youssef when you call us at 866-626-4356 and online we're at LTW.org. Right now though, join Dr. Michael Youssef in the joy-filled book of Philippians.

Dr. Michael Youssef: When we all face difficult times, challenging times, just like these economic times we are facing now, individuals, families, and institutions begin to take stock on what are their assets and what are their liabilities. We all begin to reorder our priorities.

Tough times are not always bad because they help us all to begin to focus on what is productive in our lives and what is not, what is important in life and what is not. By all, I mean all except the government, of course.

But taking time to evaluate one's priority is of vital importance. Taking time to examine what are the real assets in life and what are the real liabilities is very important. In chapter three of the Epistle to the Philippians, that's exactly what the Apostle Paul does with his spiritual life.

The Apostle Paul, though he's in prison, was facing things that were worse than prison. His biggest challenge were those people who are the enemies of the cross and they're out to destroy him in order to destroy the gospel message that he's preaching. They're the ones who are running around saying, "Yes, you can be saved by Jesus plus circumcision."

Whenever the word "plus" comes in, it is a false gospel. You're only saved through Jesus Christ. He was facing these tough times dealing with these people. He was facing hard times refuting those who were seeking to destroy the message of the cross and the message of grace and the message of faith.

So he took time to assess his spiritual assets and his liabilities. He took time to reiterate what is really important and what is not. He took time to identify what is of value and what is sheer useless baggage in life. We all have those. Useless baggage that constantly need to be purged.

He took time to focus on what truly brings him joy and what only can bring him pride and boasting. In that way, he leaves us a great role model to emulate. I think every believer needs to do that, but especially when you lose your joy, when you begin to lose your joy, when you're lacking joy.

You need to follow the example of the Apostle Paul. You need to do a major audit, a spiritual audit of your life. Find out where are your priorities have been focused. That is important. You're going to discover that the reason for your lack of joy is the things that you thought were your assets are really your liabilities.

You will discover that what you think of as the object of your confidence and the object of your security and the object of your satisfaction are actually causing you a loss of joy and causing you to devalue the joy of the Lord. You will discover that the very things that you're proud of are really nothing but unnecessary baggage in life.

Baggage that is keeping you from being continuously living in a state of the joy of the Lord. The Apostle Paul is doing everything within his power in order to get his Philippian friends to begin to value the joy of the Lord. As I told you before, that word "joy" is mentioned so many times in this epistle.

He's doing everything that he can so that he may warn them not to fall in the traps that are constantly being set before us in order to cause us not only the loss of joy but the devaluing of that joy. That's why this passage is very important. Listen carefully.

You do not have to be a seminary graduate to know that our flesh, that's going to be buried and turn into ashes when our spirit that is redeemed, our soul is going to soar into heaven and enter into a glorified body by which we'll be able to praise the Lord all the time in heaven.

That flesh is constantly working hard in getting us to devalue the joy of the Lord. You don't have to know theology to understand that the world is constantly conspiring together, from the media to the marketplace to the workplace, to everywhere you go, conspiring to get us to devalue the joy of the Lord.

Then Satan behind the scene, stirring up both the world and the flesh to get us to devalue that joy. Did you know that for every Christian value there is a counterfeit value in the world? Did you know that? For every Christian value, for example, we have joy, the joy of the Lord. They have happiness.

We have love in the Christian life. They have illicit sex. Christians have trust in the promises of God regardless of the circumstances. They have material securities. While Christians have peace that does not make sense in the midst of difficult times, they would have self-gratification.

And that is why happiness is a temporary thing. Happiness is circumstantial, but joy is permanent and is lasting. Happiness depends on what happens to you, but joy emanates from your trusting in the promises of God. One of the saddest things in my life as I look around and see Christians who have fallen in the world's trap.

They think like the world, they behave like the world, they have devalued the joy of the Lord like the world. And they have exchanged the joy of the Lord for what they think will bring them happiness. No wonder there are just as many depressed and discouraged and anxious people in the church as there are outside of the church.

It might not come as a surprise to you to know that joy is deeply connected to mature knowledge of the Word of God. You cannot separate them try what you may. Joy in your life, joy in my life is deeply connected with mature knowledge of the promises of God in the Word of God.

That is why Psalm 19:8 says the precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. Psalm 119:14 says I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. And the Lord Jesus Himself said in John chapter 15, "If you obey my commands, that my joy may be in you and that you joy be complete."

Obedience and joy must go together. Disobedience will make you a joyless Christian. And that is why it is not surprising also that this generation of Christians who have undermined the importance of biblical doctrine, who have devalued the biblical truth, have lost their joy and behaving just like the people of the world.

If you read the Bible hardly ever, if you read it occasionally, if you read it when you have time, sooner or later your joy will sag. And then soon after that you'll begin to devalue that precious gift that the Lord Jesus want every one of His children to have, the joy of the Lord.

And that's why Paul begins in chapter three. He begins by telling the Philippians to watch out for those people. Who are these people? These are the people who are undermining the truth of the Word of God. They're the ones who are devaluing the authority of the scripture and whenever that happens there is no joy.

In fact, he uses strong language. He calls them dogs. But before you jump up and down, please just relax. Let me explain to you. He is not referring to your cute little Schitzo or whatever it is that you have, your pet at home. That's not the kind of dogs he's talking about.

Dogs back then were so vicious, they were so ferocious, and they would attack an unsuspecting pedestrian. They would be like a hyenas or like the Australians will call it a dingo. They were ferocious dogs and that's what he is saying here. Be very careful, please.

He's literally pleading with everyone. Be careful of those who attack the importance of the Word of God. Be careful of those who undermine the importance of biblical authority. Be careful of those who deny the authority of the scripture as the inspired, God-breathed Word.

Be careful of those who will lure you away from obeying the Word of God using smooth and soothe words and psychobabble. Watch out for those who come to you with fancy ideas and enticing philosophies and thoughts that are appealing to our flesh. Be very careful. Why? Why is that important? Because that will not only make you lose your joy, but you will end up devaluing the joy of the Lord.

Joy and obedience are two sides of the same coin. They cannot be separated. Undermine obedience to the authority of the Word of God and you will become a joyless person. Place confidence in anything or anyone other than the Word of God and you will become a joyless person.

And when you become a joyless person, soon you'll devalue the importance of that great gift, the joy of the Lord. That is why Paul goes on to say verse four, Philippians 3:4. Let me just tell you what he's saying. He is saying, "I've been there, done that, and got the T-shirt to prove it." That's basically the bottom line.

He is saying here, "I used to be a victim to their deception. I used to think like them. I used to talk like them. I used to think that my joy comes from my pride of my efforts of doing things. I thought my pride comes from having brownie points with God by doing little things here and there."

"I used to think that my joy comes from my following certain rituals. I used to think that my joy would come from accomplishing certain levels of service." He said, "I used to think that. I was like them. I used to think that my joy would come from wanting people to point at me and say, 'Ah, look at him. Here he goes a great man. He keeps all of the little laws, all of the rituals. Look at him.'"

No wonder Jesus said, "Be careful, for it is woe to you if you want the world to speak well of you." Whatever the world praises, it's a watered-down message. It's not the message of the gospel. Because Paul is saying here, "When I got to know the Lord Jesus Christ, that I was saved by grace alone, all of that stuff was useless baggage."

"The stuff that I used to think, boy, this is important, no longer the case." His internal audit that he was doing in his life as he looked at that former list of all the assets, all the gains, all the profits, he said they were loss. They became rubbish in comparison with Christ.

Paul never denies the fact that all this useless baggage that he used to think they're good and important things and that he's going to earn his salvation, that he's going to earn his way to God. He never said that that did not bring him social respectability. It did that.

He never said it did not bring him cultural acceptability. He did not say it did not bring him religious popularity. It did all of that. But you've got to choose. Do you want that, or do you want to hear the precious words from the mouth of Jesus, "Well done, good and faithful servant"? You can't have both.

So he places all of his assets in the profit's column, but then he compares them with Christ and he said, "In comparison with Christ, all of my profits, all of my assets are nothing but liabilities." Look at this very impressive list. It's an impressive list. Ritually, he was circumcised on the eighth day.

Religious pedigree, part of the covenant. Not only that, he was a Benjamite, which is one of the most respectable tribe in Israel. The highest of tradition, Hebrew of the Hebrews. His blood was not mixed up and tainted with Gentiles. The purest of all religious orthodoxy, Pharisee. The highest of all legalism, kept all the outward rituals.

You cannot get a more impressive list of righteousness of somebody who can really make it on his own like this list. Oh, but look at verse seven, because he quickly says that this gold turns into quicksand when he met Jesus. As soon as he met Jesus, when he understood that his salvation is by grace alone and the rest of his life is to obey Jesus, this list turned from asset into liabilities.

And I was trying to think, how can I bring to you living in the 21st century the depth, the intensity by which Paul is really trying to communicate this message? And I thought of several examples. I thought if you a person who spent your life and you have built up the most impressive investment portfolio. I mean, it's fantastic.

And then you discover it's not worth the paper it was written on. It's not far-fetched. All the investors with Madoff realized that. That's what Paul is saying. "Man, I did all of these things. Worthless." Or think, imagine in somebody who poured his heart and his soul in building a magnificent house, only to discover that it's built on quicksand.

Or imagine a spouse who's invested his or her every waking moment in a marriage and family, only to hear these dreaded words years later, "I don't love you anymore." Paul is saying, "I did all of this thinking that this is all going to get me to heaven, thought all of this going to get me..."

And he realized, compared to Christ, they are rubbish, trash. Word is stronger than that. Imagine the shock of so many people who think that if they try harder, be good, they're going to go to heaven. It's like somebody taking Monopoly money and try to buy groceries with it. It won't work.

There's only one way to heaven, and that's through Jesus Christ and His salvation by grace alone through faith alone. And you can receive it today if you've never received His salvation. You can come to Him and you can ask Him to forgive your sins in order to give you the gift of eternal life.

Beloved, this man Paul understood true assets and liabilities. In fact, it was Thomas Edison, the great inventor, when his laboratories in New Jersey were burnt to the ground on a December night in 1914. The next morning he was walking around the still smoldering fire, still rubble everywhere.

Edison was 67 years old at the time. And as he looked around and saw everything is burnt to the ground, he said, "Thank God all our mistakes are now burnt up. We can start again. We can start again." And Paul is saying all of the profits that I thought were gains turned out to be rubbish in comparison to the righteousness that only Jesus Christ can give me.

Look at verse nine, "Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith." And from the moment Paul discovered that his assets were really liabilities, he developed one overriding goal in life.

The highest of all goals, the greatest of all goals is found in verse 10. And here's the Apostle Paul's goal in life. I'll say more about this in the next message. He is saying, "All I want in life now is to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering."

Why? Listen to me, because only Christ's resurrection power can satisfy our empty hearts. Only Christ's resurrection power can defeat all of temptations all the time. Only Christ's resurrection power can turn my trials into triumph. Only Christ's resurrection power can exchange my weakness for His strength.

Only Christ's resurrection power can exchange my failures for His fullness. Only Christ's resurrection power can exchange my impotence for His glory. He said, "Even in suffering, even in suffering, it draws me closer to the Lord."

How? Because my suffering gives me a fresh comprehension of His suffering for me. Beloved, I can tell you I did not do much growing when I'm on the mountain top. All of my growth taken place when I'm in the valley. Only when I'm broken do I grow in Christ and in the fellowship of the suffering with Christ.

It gives you a new and fresh appreciation of His suffering for you and you will grow like topsy. Here's the most important thing as I conclude. Listen carefully. I think most of us know that when we go to heaven we're going to be saying, "Oh gosh, did I think these things were important? Oh my god, here's what I was worried about this."

And when you compare, of course, in the presence of the Lord in glory, and you're going to say, "How could I be that foolish thinking that these things are important?" That's going to happen in heaven. But you don't have to wait to get to heaven to discover that. You can discover it now. You can comprehend it now. You can begin to value the joy of the Lord now.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining Dr. Michael Youssef for Leading The Way. And if today's content sparked questions, maybe chatting with a Leading The Way pastor or a counselor would help. Start your conversation at LTW.org/jesus. That's LTW.org/jesus.

Dr. Michael Youssef: You know, my friends, none of the books are right supposed to be in place of the scripture, the Word of God, but all the books are right is to help you get into the scripture. And this book, The Daily Way, 365 days, January 1st to December 31st, it will encourage you to open the scripture and dig deep into it.

Guest (Male): Take advantage of this month's special offer to get your very own copy of The Daily Way. Give us a call, 866-626-4356. You can also look for the link when you visit LTW.org. It'll only take you a few minutes to complete your order and have this encouraging resource on the way to you. LTW.org.

This program is furnished by Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef, passionately proclaiming uncompromising truth around the world.