We'll be right there where Brother
David just read in Philippians chapter 4. We're going to talk
about exhortations of grace. Exhortations of grace. Now an
exhortation is an encouragement in faith, in service, and in
obedience. It's an encouragement to the
people of God. I loved in Brother David's prayer
there, he said, we're thankful for a new heart. You know, Ezekiel
spoke of that in prophesying of the new covenant. He said,
in salvation, in the new birth, God takes away the stony heart. The stony heart is a hard heart.
It's the heart, and of course you know the heart is the mind,
the affections, the will, the conscience. And you can tell
within yourself the stony heart is that heart that doesn't receive
instruction, doesn't receive the encouragement. It's not encouragement,
but it's something that won't bend. And what God does in the
new heart, he gives us a pliable heart, a fleshly heart it's called,
not flesh in the sense of sin, but one that is submissive. And
I thought about that because that's what these exhortations
of grace do. This is an encouragement to me
as I studied it and I hope it'll be an encouragement to you. But
they're encouragements of grace too. They're not exhortations
of law in the sense of threatening. Threatening people with the punishment
of the law. They're not mercenary encouragements. telling you and me that if we
do what's commanded here, we'll receive a greater reward than
others who don't. That's a mercenary. But they're
simply encouragements of the grace of God given to his people,
sinners saved by grace, struggling sinners, that's what we are.
That's our lives. We struggle the warfare of the
spirit and the flesh. And so it's simply an encouragement
to the people of God to seek and strive to obey God, not just
in what we do, but in how we feel and our attitude. And so Paul, he begins here,
he starts out by encouraging them as children and brethren
of God. He says, therefore, my brethren,
dearly beloved and longed for, long to see you, my joy, my crown."
Look at it. Paul looked upon these brethren
as reasons for his joy. He wouldn't like that preacher
who told his mother, he said he didn't want to go to church
because he said those people didn't like him and he didn't
like them. Paul said, you're my joy. And I understand that
because I look upon our small crowd here And I know we have
others. And I can remember when I came
down here in 1985, Debbie and I came and I had no idea. I didn't imagine that there would
be people sitting out here like you who believe the gospel. I thought, well, it looks like
I'm not gonna be here long. But God, it brings me joy. And it's not because I did anything,
it's because God worked through me and through you to bring us
together in the household of faith. We're brethren. You're
my brother in Christ. You're my sister in Christ. And
yeah, we'll have problems, we'll have differences and all of that.
We'll have to work them out. We know that's by the grace of
God. But that's an unbreakable fellowship, isn't it? And he
says, you're my crown. The crown there is the wreath
of victory. It's not like a king's crown. And when the Lord under
our preaching brings his people to know and believe in and love
Christ and love one another in the truth, it's a great victory,
not brought about by my talents or anything like that or my power,
but by God's. And that's a joy. When I see
things like that, I always remind myself of what Paul wrote in
2 Corinthians 2 about our victory. We preach the gospel. Whenever
any of you men get up and preach the gospel, or I preach the gospel,
we're victorious because Christ is preached, whether somebody
believes it or not. So we understand that. But boy,
isn't it a greater joy to see people come to a saving knowledge
of Christ. We talked about it this morning,
about being blessed of God. You hear that gospel of the glorious
person and the finished work of Christ, that righteousness,
that preachers of righteousness, believers in righteousness, and
that's a joy. That's a victory, isn't it? That
thrills my soul. And as I grow older, I'm finding
there's not a whole lot else that does thrill my soul. But
it's such a victory because of the glory of God. And so he says,
listen to this, he says, stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. Stand firm in Christ. Don't let
anything move you off of this. Move you away from Christ, the
glory of his person. The power of his finished work.
The power of his word in our lives, our daily lives. And when
it comes to our relationships with one another, His grace and
truth, this is like saying, like in the book of Hebrews chapter
13, having our hearts established with grace. Paul wrote in Galatians
5.1, he says, stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has
made us free and don't be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
That yoke of bondage, which is legal encouragement, you could
say, it's not really an encouragement, legal threats. But stand firm
in the liberty. We're free in Christ. We're free
from the law. You know what that means? That
means the law cannot condemn me because Christ was condemned
in my place for me. He satisfied the law and justice
of God. He drank damnation. He was made
a curse for me. My sins were charged to him.
I have his righteousness imputed to me. So stand firm in that
liberty. I'm free from sin in this sense. Not in the sense that I'm no
longer a sinner, I'm a sinner, saved by grace. Not in the sense
that sin still does not corrupt me, it does. It contaminates
everything I think, say, and do. You too. We're the wretched man, that's
what a Christian is. Oh, wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God through
Jesus Christ my Lord. But we're free from sin in the
sense that we're no longer deceived by Satan and the world and by
the flesh of how God saves sinners. I know how God saves sinners.
I know that I'm a sinner. I know that I have no hope of
salvation. I have no hope of eternal life
and glory except through the blood of the crucified one. That's
it. Nothing added. It's not me and
Jesus, it's just Jesus alone. And so we stand firm. Stand firm
in the warfare of the flesh and the spirit, seeking to obey and
be like Christ. Paul wrote that in Galatians
5 when he said, walk in the spirit and don't give in to the flesh.
That's something we're to do. That's not just good advice.
It's in a newspaper column, Dear Abby. This is the word of God. And the question I have to ask,
has He given me a heart to do this? Has He given you a heart
to do this? Stand firm against all opposition. You remember over in Philippians
chapter one, where the apostle wrote in verse 27, he said, let
your conversation, your walk, be as it becometh the gospel
of Christ, that whether I come and see you, or else be absent,
I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit
with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel.
And that's where we are. Gospel. Well, look at verse two. He says, I beseech you, Odias,
and I beseech Syntyche that they be of the same mind in the Lord,
and I treat thee also, true yoke fellow," that's like the oxen
and the yoke going the same direction, help those women which labored
with me in the gospel, with Clement also, a man named Clement, there's
two women, Eodius and Syntyche, and Clement, and with other my
fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life. Now there
is an unbroken fellowship in the body of Christ, but it's
a fellowship of God's power and grace that involves sinful human
beings. Isn't that right? And there'll
always be differences of opinion over non-essential matters, and
this was a non-essential matter, these two ladies, two dear women
in the church, sisters in Christ who knew the gospel. There'll
always be differences of opinion over non-essential matters, but
we must strive not to let these interrupt our harmony within
our fellowship and in worship and in service. And Paul mentions
these women here who were true believers. And how do you know
they were true believers? He says, whose names are written
in the book of life. Well, what is that book of life?
That's the Lamb's book, mentioned over in Revelation. The Lamb's
book of life, that's the book of God's elect. justified, justified
in Christ by the grace of God, forgiven of all their sins, righteous
in Him, redeemed, called out. And whatever difference that
existed between these two women, it was not over the gospel. It
was not over the doctrine of Christ. And you want me to tell
you what that means? That means it ain't worth it. It's just not worth it. He urges them to put aside their
differences. He urges other believers to help
in this matter. And we have to remember that
our God is the God of peace. Christ is the Prince of peace,
the Holy Spirit whose fruit is peace. And we're the sons of
peace, the scripture says. So we must cultivate peace and
unity among ourselves by humility. Here's the keys, humility, forgiveness,
long suffering, Forbearance, graces of the spirit. That word
forbearance is an interesting word. That means to accept wrongs
that have been done to me. We have a hard time with that
because of the flesh. But nonetheless, here's the encouragement
of grace. He didn't tell these women or
these men, he said straighten up or you're going to hell. He
didn't tell them to do right or you're not going to get as
much reward. He didn't say that. These are encouragements of grace.
Exhortations of grace. And here's the key. Look at verse
4. He says, Rejoice in the Lord
always, and again I say rejoice. Whenever we consider what the
Lord has done for us by His grace in Christ and what He's freely
given us, we can rejoice together. Forget our petty differences.
We rejoice in the Lord only as we see ourselves as justified
by his grace, sanctified by his grace, fit for heaven by his
grace, certain to be glorified based solely upon the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and have absolutely no confidence
in ourselves. No confidence in the flesh. And
that's what promotes unity and love among brethren. That's what
promotes forgiveness and forbearance. And when religious sinners promote
confidence in the flesh, they begin to rejoice in their own
self-efforts, don't they? That's what we were before God
saved us. And that causes jealousy and strife and envy and division,
not the unity that comes from rejoicing in the Lord. But when
we are justified in Christ, saved by the grace of God, when we
keep in mind that we're all equally saved, equally justified, equally
redeemed, equally sanctified, equally fit for heaven, equally
certain for heaven's glory, that it's all the grace of God. None of it's because we've earned
it or deserved it. It's all based upon Christ's
righteousness imputed without our deeds. It'll cause us to
humble ourselves and promote love and unity. Rejoice in the
Lord always. There are times that we, well,
there are no time, we can't rejoice in ourselves. We can't rejoice
in each other in the sense of gaining our confidence, but we
do joy in the grace of God that brought us together. And he says
in verse five, let your moderation be known unto all men, the Lord
is at hand. Now that moderation, when we
think of moderation, we think about temperance, being moderate
in things. eating, drinking, other things
that we should exercise restraint and temperance. And we, as believers,
we're certainly to be known as people of moderation, not excess. Not given to excesses that indulge
the flesh and deny the power of God. We're to be temperate
and sober in the use of all things that are indifferent. But now
this word moderation is a different word. It goes back to what I
mentioned before. It's really the same word as
forbearance. And it has to do with this, having
a forbearing, humble, unselfish, gentle, considerate, forgiving
spirit. Think about that. The exhortation
here is for believers to let all men, both in the church and
out, see and recognize such a spirit in us. Now, that doesn't mean
we're going out here to be on display. Forbearance means that
we're to put up with insults and offenses, bearing them patiently,
forgivingly, as we have been forgiven, which is unconditionally. And when he says, let it be known,
as I said, it simply means that we're to live our lives in this
way of forbearance, not trying to show off, not trying to get
people to recognize us in that sense, but simply living this
way and treating all people that way. Remember what Matthew 5.16
says. We'll be getting to that later
on in our studies in Matthew. Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father
which is in heaven. Remember what that light is.
That light is the gospel. That light is Christ. That light
is the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel. It's not our works.
That light shines on the people of God and reveals them to be
sinners saved by grace. It also exposes those who do
not believe the gospel as being cursed, unbelievers. So understand that. And that's
why this thing of Christian citizenship, citizenship in heaven, is such
a high calling, as I mentioned last week. And then he says the
Lord is at hand. That means the Lord's near. Now
what does that mean? Well, it could mean that Christ
is always near his people. He's always with us. He said,
where two or three are gathered in my name, there I'll be also.
He's always with you as an individual. We should strive for a humble
spirit, knowing that we're in his presence. We're in each other's
presence here. But the issue, the real issue
that we ought to think about is we're in the presence of Almighty
God through Christ. You know, when you teach, children
about things about like receiving gifts and Christmas and all that.
They sing the song about Santa Claus. He sees you when you're
sleeping. He knows when you're awake. Well, he doesn't, but
Christ does. He knows your thoughts. He knows my attitude. And I can't
get away from it and don't want to. But now this could also mean
that Christ is always at hand to help us in time of need. Help
me, Lord. Lord, help me to have this kind
of attitude and spirit within me to forgive as he forgave.
To be humble. To love my brethren and my neighbors
as myself. And we need a lot of help when
it comes to this exhortation. Look at verse six. He says, be
careful for nothing. Now that word careful means anxious.
Anxiety. Anxious care. Be careful for
nothing, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
unto God. Anxious care is what causes us
to murmur or fret, be filled with anxiety. Anxious care causes
us to doubt God's care for us. It causes us to question our
brethren, which in turn causes division. In other words, there's
nothing good about it. It takes our mind away from God's
faithfulness and power to save us and preserve us and bring
us to glory based upon Christ's righteousness imputed and gets
our minds on ourselves. Withdraw within ourselves. I
like this statement, I can't remember who said it, but he
said, undue care is an intrusion into an arena that belongs to
God alone. My friends, God's in control.
He's in control of your life. And He's in control of my life.
And so what does He say is the cure for anxious care? Prayer,
He says. Prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving. Let your request be made known
unto God. What an awesome privilege it is that we have right and
title to go to the throne of grace because we have such a
great high priest The Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh,
who has passed through into the heavens on our behalf, having
taken care of all the problems that separated us from God. By
his blood, putting away our sins, his righteousness, giving us
a right and title to appear before God at the throne of grace. And
as anxious care drives our minds away from God in Christ, prayer
drives us to God in Christ. And that's the cure. You know,
one of the main means of promoting inner peace, our heart peace,
comes from knowing that God is our father. That he hears our
prayers and he blesses us as he sees fit, all based upon the
merits of our high priest, Jesus Christ. And so we pray unto the
Father through the Son, by the Spirit. I've often told people,
here are the keys to prayer. We pray with the assurance of
having God as our Heavenly Father. When Christ taught His disciples
to pray, He started our Father. How do I know God is my Father?
Because I believe in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I come
to Him as a sinner seeking mercy, having no righteousness of my
own, but on the ground of Christ's righteousness charged to me.
Then I know He's my Father. So coming to God as our Father,
having that assurance, through the Son, because that's what
gives us the assurance, by the power of the Spirit as we're
moved by the Spirit, and a lot of times that comes when we're
in trouble, doesn't it? When we're at the bottom of the
barrel, And praying this, God, thy will be done. Thy will be done. And that makes
prayer a matter of worship. It's a matter of faith. It's
a matter of humility. It's a matter of being dependent
upon God. I'm totally dependent upon God to save me, to keep
me, to bless me, to bring me to glory. Totally dependent. And it's not the power of the
prayer, as people think today. It's not how many people are
praying. You know, that's one of the greatest fallacies of
false religion today. They think the more people you
can get praying, then that means that's going to change God's
mind or persuade Him. That doesn't happen. Now, I want
all of my brethren praying for me. And you want all your brethren
praying for you. But it's not that there's safety
in numbers or there's power in numbers. It's not power in prayer
at all. It's power of the God to whom
we pray. And he says, let your supplications
and requests be known to God. That doesn't mean we're informing
God of something he didn't know. It means present them before
God. Just admit them. Present them before God. Not
men. God is our Father and all things are in His hands. He's
the one who knows all. He knows what's best for us in
every situation. And then it brings us to verse
7, the peace of God. The peace of God which passeth
all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. At peace. That's peace between God and
His people. Do you realize that if you're a sinner saved by grace,
God is at peace with you? And you're at peace with Him.
And it's on the same ground. The blood of the cross. Christ
who is our peace. And peace within our hearts in
the assurance of knowing God's grace operating in our lives.
In the assurance of faith. Is this falling on deaf ears
today? Mine, yours? Or does it move
us in a way that's honoring to God? Peace with brethren in the Lord.
And it's that peace which passes all understanding. The peace
of God which passeth all understanding. Keep your hearts. Not in the
sense that we don't understand how peace is settled. I know
how this peace between God and myself is settled. The Son of
God hath come and given us an understanding of that. I know
it's by Christ, in the merits of his obedience unto death.
I know that. But it's in the sense that it's
beyond our understanding, it's beyond the understanding of the
natural man. The natural man can have somewhat
peace, but it's based on a wrong ground. And in the sense that
even we're overwhelmed with the thought that God always loves,
you know, think about that. Our love fluctuates, doesn't
it? Especially for one another. But
do you realize that God's love never fluctuates at all to us? And aren't there times you realize
more than others that you don't deserve God's love, that I don't
deserve it? I know that's always the case.
I never deserve God's love. I never earn it. But there are
times I really feel that more than others. But God's love does
not fluctuate. God's grace does not fluctuate.
And that's beyond our understanding in the sense that we're overwhelmed
by it. This is the peace that guards over our hearts. That's
what that means when he says, he says it'll keep your heart.
That word keep means to guard. That guards our hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus. Always run to Christ. Always plead his blood and righteousness. Not as an excuse to be disobedient
or to be unloving or unforgiving or unkind or unforbearing. Don't
do that. but always as an encouragement.
That's what this is. These are encouragements of grace,
exhortations of grace. And look at verse eight. He says,
finally, brethren, and he gives us a list here, whatsoever things
are true. We're people of truth. And that's truth in the gospel.
But strive to be people of truth in every aspect of life. Truth. Whatsoever things are honest,
you might see in a concordance that has the word venerable.
That means honest in dealings with people, honest in dealing
with God. What am I? You see an example of that in
the parable of the Pharisee and the publican? The Pharisee, I
thank God I'm not like other men. There's no honesty there. The publican, God be merciful
to me, the sinner. That's honesty. In the Pharisee, you see that
guile of false religion. In the publican, no guile. That doesn't mean he's not a
sinner, he is. I am too. Whatsoever things are just, those
things that are right, do right, we don't always do right, but
we ought to be convicted over that. Not in a legal way, but
in a gracious way. To say, Lord, I'm sorry. To say
sorry to one another. What sort of things are pure? Those things that expose purity. You know the purity of the heart
is by the blood of Christ. You know that. We still have
sin within us, but we strive for purity. That which is unblemished. Just like we talked about in
Philippians chapter 3 We're striving for the mark of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus. Well, that's the perfection that
we find only in Christ. I want to be like Christ. That's
what we're saying. Whatsoever things are lovely
or loving, all of these things, that which promotes love and
not hatred, not bitterness, not things that are ugly, but things
that are lovely. What so things are of good report,
a good reputation? You know, back over in Hebrews
chapter 11, it talked about the Old Testament believers in the
hall of faith in Hebrews chapter 11. And listen to what it says
about those Old Testament saints. It says in verse one, now faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report, a good reputation,
a good confession, a good witness. Well, back over here in verse
eight, he's saying whatsoever things are of a good, that which
will promote a good reputation and a good witness. Think on
those things. And if there be any virtue, and
if there be any praise, think on these things. Now, let me
tell you something about this. True salvation is so much a matter
of the mind and the understanding. Now, that doesn't exclude the
heart. You know, a lot of people today, they say, well, it's just
an intellectual thing. No, but it does involve the intellect,
the mind. The heart is the mind, the affections,
the will, the conscience, the inner man. The heart is so important,
but don't exclude the mind. In Romans chapter 12 and verse
2, Paul spoke of being transformed by the renewing of our mind.
And how is that done? Through the word of God. Through
what God says and the encouragement of brethren in the word of God.
And so, but now as saved and preserved by God, all of these
things, by his grace, we think on these things. We gather these
things together. Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter
10 and verse 5, you remember, he spoke of the importance of
casting down arguments, imaginations, and every high thing that exalts
itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought
into captivity to the obedience of Christ, being submitted to
His righteousness, submitted to His will. And he says, think
on these things. That means meditate on them.
Let your mind be occupied with them. And that isn't how we feel
now, but it's how we estimate the value of these things. You
know that word think there is often translated in the New Testament
as impute, which means you're taking inventory, means you're
taking an assessment of things, how these things are. And that
word virtue, that is such a good word if you understand what it
means. You know the Greeks, the Greek
philosophers, They always talked about virtue, and what they meant
by that is benevolence, brotherhood, humanity, and human morality. But to a believer, virtue's a
lot more than that. It involves the inner person
realizing first our relationship with God in Christ, and seeking
to do that which is right towards our brethren in Christ. That's
what virtue is. Virtue is moral excellency, as
the Greeks would say, but the idea intends more than just the
force behind moral, it intends more than the force behind moral
excellency. The motive, for example, is what
I'm saying. In other words, virtue in the Bible is that character
and conduct that brings honor and glory to God alone. It's
that which pleases God, that which energizes and motivates
believers in the performance of these moral excellencies.
And what does that say? What is that? That's grace, gratitude,
love. That's the walking in the newness
of the spirit, not in oldness of the latter. What's your motive? Well, it's
to glorify God, isn't it? To exalt Christ. We desire the
salvation of sinners. We desire the edification of
brethren. Before conversion, we're energized
by Satan to establish our own righteousness. And what do we
do? We sought the approval and praise
of men. But now it's different. Now it's virtue. Now we're saved
and preserved by God's grace. We expect final glory based upon
Christ's righteousness imputed alone. Now, as Peter said, let
me read this to you. This is 2 Peter chapter one.
Listen to how he defines, leads up to virtue here. He says, in
verse three of 2 Peter one, according as God's divine power, now listen
to this, hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life
and godliness. In other words, as a believer,
a sinner saved by grace, we already have all things that pertain
unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath
called us to glory and virtue. And so he says, whereby are given
unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might
be partakers of the divine nature that's in fellowship with God
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust, and beside this
giving all diligent add to your faith virtue. and to virtue knowledge,
and he goes on. We'll look at verse nine of Philippians
four. Those things which you have both
learned and received and heard and seen in me do, and the God
of peace shall be with you. You learned them as taught by
God. Even through a preacher, if you
learned them, it's by God. If you heard the gospel from
a preacher, If you heard it and believed it, hear it and believe
it, you're taught of God. And heard through the word of
God. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
And seen in me. Now Paul's not setting himself
up as the supreme example of all these things. Christ is the
supreme example. But he's setting himself up as
an example of a sinner saved by grace, striving to practice
these things. And he says, and the God of peace
shall be with you. This is evidence of God's grace,
God's presence, that he's at peace with us, and that we're
at peace with him. And what better thing could we
think upon and understand? All right, may the Lord bless
us in his word.