Let us turn again to God's Word
and reading once more the last two verses in that portion that
we were reading in Philippians. Philippians chapter 4 and reading
again verses 6 and 7. Be careful for nothing but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving 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. In particular those words that
we have in verse 7 and the peace of God which passeth all understanding
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. There are three things that we
can observe with regards to this exhortation prayer that we find
in the sixth verse. First of all, we have here a
word of caution, because Paul says to the Philippians, be careful
for nothing. Be careful for nothing. Now, he is not forbidding that
they should have any forethoughts at all. He's not saying that
they're not to anticipate and make preparation for the various
situations of life. We know from what he says in
other of the epistles that that's not the case. If a man doesn't
make provision for those of his own house, he's worse than an
infidel. And to the Corinthians he speaks
of the need to be providing for honest things not only in the
sight of God but also in the sight of men. There is to be then a care, a
preparation were to give some thought to various matters that
might arise. There's to be what we might call
a care of diligence. But there's not to be distrust. That's what he's really cautioning
them against in the opening words when he says be careful for nothing. Don't be distrusting. Don't be
disbelieving. Of course when it comes to prayer
there is certainly a need of faith because without faith it
is impossible to please God. And he that comes to God must
believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of all that diligently
seek him. There's not to be distrust then. Though there is to be that diligence
to make careful provision There's a caution, but then also in this
sixth verse, this exhortation to pray, there's certainly a
call. The language is strong. It's
the imperative mood that is being used. It's a word of command
that we have here. It's a word of exhortation. He says, but in everything, by
prayer, and supplication with thanksgivings. Let your requests
be made known unto God. They are not to be those who
are passive. They are to be those who are
prayerful. They are to give themselves to
the seeking of God and the calling upon the name of God. And how
comprehensive is this word of exhortation in every situation
of life, in all that might come upon them, the different vicissitudes
of this life, they are to be praying people and all sorts
of prayer, every type of prayer is mentioned in the exhortation.
In everything, he says, in everything, by prayer and supplication, with
thanksgivings, Let your requests be made known unto God. How comprehensive then is this
call to prayer. They're not to be distrustful,
they're to have that diligent care, but how they need to give
themselves to prayer. And then we have the consequence. And the consequence is really
what I want us to consider. These words that we find in the
7th verse, God's answer. when they are obedient to this
Gospel precept. He says, "...and the peace of
God, which passeth understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus." Oh, if they will but heed these words,
the caution, the call, they will know something of this blessed
consequence. They won't pray to God in vain. God will answer them. God is
that one of course who is able to do exceeding abundantly above
all that we ask or think as Paul says at the end of Ephesians
chapter 3. And so considering really in
particular the word that we have here in verse 7, the promise
the promise of peace is the subject matter that I want us to take
off for a little while tonight, the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. First of all, to consider something
of the source of this peace that the apostle is speaking of. What is the source of true peace? And we find it in the gracious
purpose of God. We have here in the opening part
of the verse the genitive and it indicates possession, the
peace of God. In other words, the peace that
belongs to God. Again at the end of verse 9 we
read of him as the God of peace. All this peace belongs to God. And it is God's great purpose,
God's sovereign purpose, that lies behind the promise in which
the words of our text are really couched. This is the language
of promise. The peace of God, which passes all understanding,
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. So all
those promises of God in the Lord Jesus Christ, they are gay,
and in Him they are our men. We have in Scripture the promise
in terms of shalls and wills. There is such a definite ring
to what God says. God is able to give the promise
because God is the one who is sovereign. And that sovereignty
of God, that great purpose of God's sovereignty is revealed
to us, of course, in terms of the Covenant, the Covenant of
Grace. Again, think of the language
of the Apostle when we come to that lovely benediction that
we find in Hebrews 13 at verse 20. Now, the God of Peace. Again,
you see, it's the language that we have here in verse 9, the
God of Peace. Now the God of peace, which brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make you perfect in every good work, working in you that which
is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom
be glory forever. Amen, says the Apostle. Oh, it's that sovereignty of
God then revealed to us in terms of the covenant, and that covenant
of which the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the mediator. He comes. And He comes as that
One who is the messenger of the covenant. We see Him there in
the Old Testament. We see Him in type. When we read
in Zechariah of the High Priest, Joshua the High Priest in Zechariah chapter 6 and there at verse 11. Then take silver and gold and
make crowns and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of
Josedek the high priest and speak unto him saying thus speaketh
the Lord of hosts saying behold the man whose name is the branch
and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the
temple of the Lord, even he shall build the temple of the Lord,
and he shall bear the glory, and he shall sit and rule upon
his throne, and he shall be a priest upon his throne, and the council
of peace shall be between them both." Why this Joshua? who was
the high priest there in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah when
they were engaged in the rebuilding of the temple, the rebuilding
of Jerusalem. This Joshua is a type. There is one greater than that
man present here. It is the Lord Jesus, whereas
Joshua is there in the rebuilding of the temple after the 70 years
of captivity. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is
the antitype, comes to build his church. All he says, does
he not? When Peter makes that great confession
of his faith in Matthew chapter 16, those events at Caesarea
Philippi, When Peter confesses, I want the Christ, the Son of
the living God, and now does the Lord respond to that upon
this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. Here is the source of all peace.
It is that purpose of God that we see being executed by the
Lord Jesus when the Father sends him in the fullness of the time
when he comes to undertake all those covenantal engagements
that he had entered into from eternity, when he comes to do
the will of the one who had sent him. And he builds his church. He is assured, is he not, in
the purpose of God, that his work, that great work of redemption
is not going to be in vain. He shall save the travail of
his soul. and shall be satisfied. Why,
as many as the Father had given to Him in the covenant, these
were the ones that He came to redeem." Oh, this is that great
truth of particular redemption. It's God's purpose, here is the
source of that real peace. And we see it, I say, in terms
of the covenant, the eternal covenant. The Covenant of Peace
shall be between them both, as we read there in Zechariah 6.13.
That Covenant of Peace between the Father and the Son. The Covenant of Redemption that
Christ came to fulfill and to accomplish. It's spoken of by
the prophets, Isaiah 55 and verse 3, an everlasting covenant. Even
the sure mercies of David. Remember David when he comes
to the end of his life. We have there in 2 Samuel 23
the record of his dying. What was his comfort? at the
end of his days, or so much had taken place, what a life David
had lived. The man after God's own heart,
and yet all what sins David had committed. And that was a result
of his sins. The sword never departed from
his house. How God took vengeance on his
sinful inventions. And so he comes to die and he
says, although my house be not so with God. Although my house
be not so with God, yet hath he made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. This is all my salvation
and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. All his
comfort is there in the covenant. All this peace, the source of
it, it's in God. It's in the covenant, it's the
peace of God we read in the text, which passeth all understanding. Why we can never fathom that
great covenant of peace between them both, that eternal covenant
of redemption. those sure mercies of David,
how this peace overcomes all the misery of sin. That was David's
comfort, I say, at the end of his days, the source of the peace,
and we find it in the purpose of God, the great covenantal
purpose. But then turning in the second
place to see the way whereby the peace comes, the stream of
this peace, And it is that that is procured by the Lord Jesus
Christ. The text is so clear. It is through
Christ Jesus, it says. Literally, it is in Christ Jesus. The peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
or in Christ Jesus. That is the person of Christ,
that is also the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have to
take account of these two things. The person. The person. We saw out there in Zechariah
6, he is referred to as the branch. And as you know, the Lord Jesus
has many names. Or such a multitude of names
are given to Christ in the Scriptures. because there can be no fathoming
the great wonder of who this person is and the work that this
person has undertaken and accomplished he has many names, he is the
branch but then also in the prophets in Micah 5 and verse 5 we are
told this man shall be the peace when the Assyrian comes into
the land who is this man? that is spoken of as the peace
why this is the man Christ Jesus he is the peace as God and man
he is the one who stands between heaven and earth as we said he
is the mediator of the covenant that's peace of God that we have
in the eternal purpose of God how is it brought to us, it comes
by him who is the mediator. Remember how Job expresses something of
his desire in the midst of all his trials.
Oh, and what trials, what troubles that man knew. Why we can so
easily read those opening two chapters I don't know that we
can really comprehend all that befell that man. He lost everything.
Except his life, possessions, family, health, all was gone.
All was gone. And then his friends come and
they're miserable comforters. Oh, he's a man very much alone.
How the Lord is dealing with him. He cries out, he wants to
be an umpire. want to be a mediator. There
in Job 9.33, neither is there any day's man betwixt us that
may lay his hand upon us both. Oh, he wants one to come and
to stand between him and God, to stand between heaven and earth.
Wants one, as it were, to bridge that great gulf. The day's man,
an umpire, as it says in the margin. Well, here is the man. this man shall be the peace,
the mediator. There is one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. Or think of him.
And Paul has spoken much of him in this epistle, in the first
part of the epistle, the doctrinal part of the epistle. that great
Christological passage that we have in the second chapter where
he speaks of the person of Christ, verse 6, "...who, being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant,
and was made in the likeness of man." Why he is in the form
of God? He is God! Equality with God is not to rob
God. This is His by right. He is God.
He is the Eternal Son of the Eternal Father. He is God of
God. Light of light. Very God of very
God in the language of the Creed. And yet, how He makes Himself
of no reputation and takes upon Him the form of a servant and
his mate in the likeness of man. Why, here is that one who is
the day's man who can put his hand upon us both. Why, he is
God and he is man. And what do the angels sing at
the incarnation when they come to announce the
birth of this child? to those shepherds keeping watch
over their flocks in the fields about Bethlehem, the song of
the angels, glory to God in the highest on earth peace. On earth peace. Goodwill towards
men. It is by this person, this child
that is born, This one who has been conceived of the Holy Ghost
in the womb of a virgin. This child that Mary has brought
forth is to be called the Son of God. For this is the one who brings peace to this sinful world,
this wicked, fallen world. In his person you see, he is
so fitted, so suited. Or without controversy Paul says,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. The importance of this doctrine.
Or do we really see the significance of it? Do we grasp it? The person
of Christ. We need to be clear with regards
to this great mystery. The great mystery of the Gospel.
that our God, as Hart says in the hymn, is a martyred man.
He's God, He's man. And He is the one, the stream
by which the peace comes. But besides the person, there's
also the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And doesn't Paul go on
to speak of that in the second chapter here, having spoken In
verses 6 and 7 of the person as God-man, he goes on to say,
verse 8, being found in fashion as a man, he became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. That was the extent
of his obedience. He was made of a woman, he was
made under the law, he is subject to the law, and he obeys the
law. He honours the Lord, he magnifies
the Lord. How? Why? He delights to do the
will of the Father, he is ever obedient to the will of the Father.
I must be about my Father's business, he says. Whilst it is day, the
night cometh when no man can work. All this is his constant
business. Obeying the Father, fulfilling
all righteousness. honouring the law of God, obedient. Not only obeying the law with
regards to all its precepts, but obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. What is he doing there upon the
cross? Why it's the same law, but now
he's dealing with that law in terms of all its dreadful penalties. What does the law say? The soul
that sinneth it shall die If a man keeps the whole law and
he is guilty in one point, he breaks it in one point, he's
guilty of it all. He's a transgressor. And here
is Christ, that sinless one, now suffering in the room and
in the stead of the sinners. All made sin for the sinner. that the sinner might be made
the righteousness of God in him. What is it that he accomplishes
by dying then? He satisfies the law. By bearing
that punishment that was due to the transgressors of the law,
he makes peace. Look at what Paul goes on to say in the
following book, in the epistle to the Colossians. And there
in verse 20 of chapter 1, having made peace, having made peace
through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things
unto himself by him I say whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works yet now have he reconciled in the body
of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in His sight. Oh, He has made peace. What is
His peace? It's reconciliation. Those who were in that state
where they were alienated from God, enemies of God. The ones
that He came to redeem. What has He done? He's reconciled
the sinners. He's made peace. He has borne
that wrath of God, God who is angry with the wicked every day.
Why he's borne that punishment that a just God must visit on
the sinner. The great doctrine of propitiation
speaks of peace, peace with God. And remember how John takes it
up. He is the propitiation, he says, for our sins. He is the
propitiation for our sins here in his love. Not that we love
God, but that He loved us. He loved us sinners. And He sent
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. He sends His Son
and He pours out His wrath upon the person of His only begotten.
and His well-beloved Son. What a mystery. Oh, what a mystery
we see in the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's all mystery,
is it not? The mystery of God, three persons
in one Godhead. The mystery of the person of
Christ, two natures, gods and man in
one person. The mystery of the birth of Christ,
that God is contracted to a span incomprehensibly made man the
mystery of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember this,
that He is ever one with the Father. He is ever one with the
Father. God is one and God is three. and God is never anything less
than One and Three, that's the Trinity and He can say concerning
the Father that He is daily His Delight rejoicing always before
Him there's no division between the persons in the Godhead God
is One and so the Father speaks from heaven concerning His Son
Even in that state of humiliation here upon the earth, this is
my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. He is ever well
pleased with Him. Twice we have it in the Gospel.
He says it at the baptizing of Christ. It's repeated again on
the Mount of Transfiguration, twice. This is my beloved Son. in whom I am well pleased." Ever
one with the Father, ever pleasing the Father, and yet, and yet
when we come to consider the dying of the Lord Jesus, and that awful cry, oh, He is
forsaken. We referred to Him this morning
at the ordinance, having sought to say something with regards
to the outcast. The outcast of Israel is the
outcast of Israel. Oh, he's that one who is despised,
rejected. He comes unto his own, his own
receive him not. They crucify away with him. They
cry away with him, away with him, crucify him. They reject him. His disciples
all forsook Him and fled. He is that one who is forsaken.
And then there upon the cross, in all the agony of Saul, when
he cries out, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? It's a mystery. We cannot explain
these things. We cannot explain these things.
Oh, where reason fails with all her powers, their faith prevails,
their love adores. Oh, to have that faith that long,
to bow to the mystery of the dying of the Lord Jesus. Never,
ever could He be separated. He's one with the Father, one
with the Spirit, and yet, that's a real cry. That's a real sense
of dereliction that He is feeling upon the cross. And all of this
in order to reconcile the sinner, in order to bring peace to sinners.
You see, it's through, it's in Christ Jesus that the peace of
God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus. Isn't this the blessed legacy
that the Lord has left His Church? Remember what He says to His
disciples as He begins to unfold to them those things that are
going to befall Him at Jerusalem, how He must leave them. If He
does not leave them, the Spirit will not come to them. But when
He does leave them, He will send the Comforter. But there in John
14, 27, He says, Please, I leave with you. My peace I give unto
you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your
heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Oh, this is the
legacy that the dying Saviour has left to his people again. There, after his death, after his resurrection from the
dead, When he has accomplished the work, he's finished the work
that the Father had given him to do. There in John 20, 19,
the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, even
such a day as this, the Christian Sabbath. the same day at evening
being the first day of the week when the doors were shut where
the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews came Jesus
and stood in the midst and said unto them peace be unto you and
when he had so said he showed unto them his hands and his side
how significant is that he says peace and he shows them his hands
He shows them His sight. These are the wounds. This is
where His precious blood was shed in order to procure that
peace. This was the cost of their peace. When He had so said, He showed
them His hands and His sight. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. All which Christ's legacy is
peace. Yes, we see the source of it, it's in the great purpose
of God, it's in the eternal covenant. All but how is it procured? Why? It flows to us through the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who is our peace.
Again, when Paul writes this time in the epistle to the Ephesians. He's speaking of that great mystery
revealed now that God has a purpose of grace to fulfill amongst the
Gentiles. The ancient division between
Jew and Gentile is no more. What does he say? Ephesians 2.14. He is our peace. who hath made
both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition
between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity even
the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in
himself of twine, that is of two, in himself to make of two,
that is Jew and Gentile one new man, so making peace." and that
he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to
you which were afar off you Gentiles, and to them that were nigh to
the Jews." All the ancient distinction is no more. The Lord Jesus Christ,
why this is His name, whereby He shall be called, He is the
Prince of Peace. From whence does this peace come?
It comes through the Lord Jesus Christ. Through Christ Jesus
we read. But then also, thirdly in the
text, we come to the experience of these things. The text speaks
of God's purpose in eternity that is the source of the peace.
It's that peace that has been procured historically in time
by the coming of Christ and the work of Christ, but he must be
experienced. And when it is experienced, what
do we see? We see the preservation of those who are believers in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Or look at the language, "...shall keep your hearts and
minds," it says. "...the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus well let us just as we conclude look at these
two things the hearts and the minds first of all the heart,
keep your hearts reminds us of the language of
the wise man in the book of the Proverbs keep thy heart with
all diligence for out of it are the issues of life, how our heart
needs to be kept How the Lord Jesus reminds us of what the
heart is by nature. Why it's the source of all evil,
out of the heart. Through all that wickedness.
How the heart needs to be kept. How we need God to do a great
work in our souls. Why we need a new heart. Isn't
that the promise of the covenant? a new heart also I will give
you, and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will take
away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a
heart of flesh, or the heart of Manus. We think of those words
of the Lord Jesus in John 14, let not your heart be troubled,
He says. How often our hearts are much troubled. anxious. Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also
in me. Those are the words with which
the Lord Jesus commences those great discourses in John 14,
15 and 16 and having said that at the beginning, he repeats
those words as we've already seen later in John 14, peace
I leave with you my peace I give unto you, not as the world give
I unto you, let not your heart be troubled neither let it be
afraid let not your heart be troubled, the word that he uses
there in In the first verse and the 27th verse of that chapter
in John 14, the word troubled has the idea of being stirred
and being agitated. We see it really when we see
a tumultuous sea and great waves. And the sea seems to be so agitated
by the winds That's the sort of idea that we have in the word
that is being used there, to be troubled, stirred in our souls,
agitated, ill at ease. Remember the words of the Prophet,
he says in Isaiah 57, the wicked are like the troubled sea when
he cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God,
to the wicked. there's no peace to the wicked,
or what is seen, how it's so agitating how it grips us, how
it troubles us, how it disturbs us and we can't escape it it
seems such an awful monster within us all thou hideous monsters
in what occurs as thou brought in all creation grown through
the pregnant cause of misery, we feel it, do we not? there
we need that the Lord should come He must come to us, He must
give us that peace He only can minister to us salvation and
safety He has to save us, He has to save us from ourselves,
does He not? Shall keep all this peace of God which passeth all
understanding shall keep your hearts kept Kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last
time, the language of Peter. The language of the Holy Spirit
really, not Peter. It's all the Word of God, although
we recognize He's human authors, we see it as God's Word to us.
Oh, there's peace for the troubled heart. That heart that feels
so much the awful burden of his sin. but then also it speaks
of the mind. Keep your hearts, your hearts
and minds through Christ Jesus. Remember where we began by making
remarks on the previous 6th verse, that exhortation to prayer And
he says there at the beginning of the verse, be careful for
nothing. Don't be anxious, that's what
it means. Someone has said the idea there,
be careful for nothing, has this of deliverance from that tearing
of the mind, that dividing asunder of the mind. All we need, we
need to know that mind of the Lord Jesus Christ back in that
second chapter in verse 5 let this mind be in you which was
also in Christ Jesus and then he goes on to speak of the humiliation
of the Lord Jesus Christ or the humbleness of Christ the lowliness
of mind that's the mind that we need the mind of the Lord
Jesus to the Corinthians Paul can say but we have the mind
of Christ or God grant that we might truly have that mind of
the Lord Jesus Christ, then, if we have the mind of Christ,
why, we'll also have that peace of God, which passeth all understanding. Who are we, those who, when we
come to God with our prayers, do expect that God will answer
our prayer? You see, when He gives us such
an exhortation as we find in the sixth verse, in everything
by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request
be made known unto God, you'll get something. You won't pray
in vain. God hears, God answers. Oh, let
us be those then who would be seekers after this God, calling
upon His name. How hard it is so often to pray.
I don't know, maybe you're better than me, I find it so hard. So
very hard just to pray, to cry, to call, to thank God He interprets
even our groanings and our moanings. For this poor man cried, says
the psalmist, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all
his troubles the peace of God which passeth all understanding
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. May the
Lord bless this word to us. Amen.