Open your Bibles if you would to the book of Philippians chapter four. The name of the message is abased and abounding. Abased and abounding. Philippians chapter four. We'll continue our study in this letter written by Paul to the born again blood washed people of God who are at a city called Philippi. It's part of the Roman Empire. And he's writing to the saints there, their concern for his welfare. He's in Rome under house arrest for preaching the gospel. And he's writing these dear saints back and he's telling them just to stand fast in Christ and the righteousness of Christ and how we're saved by the blood and righteousness of Christ. And they're just like us, remember that. These are people just like us, struggling with the same things that we're struggling with now. Same things. What we were talking about, Charlie, they're struggling with the same things, is what we struggle with every day. They're former idol worshippers. They come out of pagan religions. And now they've been born again and they just love the Lord Jesus Christ and love his gospel, trusted their eternal souls to him. He's their savior and redeemer and they're saved just like us through the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the last two weeks we've been looking at contentment in our daily lives and also how we find contentment by keeping our eyes upon the fact keeping our eyes upon Christ and the fact that He is the all-sufficient Savior. He's the Savior that we need. He's the only Savior that sinners need. Right? And all of us is a bunch of sinners, aren't we? We need Christ, and He saved us. We are His people. We're born again by His Holy Spirit. We're looking to Him each day, trusting Him each day in our lives. And in this portion, Paul has been talking about contentment, but the whole portion has to do with the daily provision of God for His people. And God's provision for His people, no matter what situation we're going through, Now, many false teachers have taken the verse where it says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthened me, and they've taken that and they've turned it into a money scheme. That's not what it's about. It's about being content in the Lord at all times, whether we're abased or whether we're abound. Now, one thing to start this off, Paul Came from a very wealthy family. How do we know that? He was taught by one of the best teachers of his time, Gamalia. That would have cost a lot of money. And Vicki and I were talking about this, and Vicki brought something up that I never even thought of. He was probably a very wealthy man, partly because now that he's older, he had been tutoring others. They had been coming to him now for teaching. because he sat under Gamaliel. Now they'd be coming to him. People who wanted to become Pharisees, people who wanted to know the law more would come to him. And he'd teach them probably for a sum of money. He may tutor them. So he never knew want. Very wealthy man. Come from an affluent family. Because only a wealthy family could afford to send their son to sit under that famous teacher. And we're gonna see something here in the text, in the Greek, later on, that Paul has to learn some things. And he's gonna learn some things in the school of God's grace, in the school of Christ, some things that we've learned too, right? So people like to say, well, you preachers, all you do is preach Christ. Yes, that's all we do is preach Christ. You don't talk about daily practical living. Yeah, we do. You're just not listening. I was telling someone last night, they said, well, all you do is talk, you know, you're just focused on Christ with everything. I said, yeah, because He's my life. You take Him away, I have nothing. I have nothing. He's my hope. I said, if I didn't have a hope in Christ right now, I would be so filled with despair with what's going on in the world, but I know who's running it. So I don't have to despair. Because of the hope that is within us, beloved, of Christ in us, the hope of glory. Isn't that wonderful? We didn't have that before. Now we do, through the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we can be content by keeping our eyes upon the all-sufficient Savior of sinners, the only Savior of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ, who made a perfect atonement for our sins, a perfect payment for our sins. He ransomed us, purchased us with his blood. And Paul knew he had all spiritual blessings in Christ, and he had all things in Christ, and found contentment and peace in whatever condition now that he's in. Now, before the Lord saved him, if he was abased, he'd probably be miserable. Because he's used to an affluent life. Oh, my. But he knows now that whatever condition providence puts him in, the providence of God puts him in, he's to be content by looking to Christ. See, that's the key, isn't it? If we don't look to Christ, we won't be content, will we? But if we look to Christ, we'll be like, oh my. OK. The Lord put me in this situation. I don't understand it. But it's for His glory and for my good. I woke up this morning. You ever hit this? We're going to hear. You get up. Oh, my back is sore. Oh, my hip is sore. My sciatic nerve this morning. This is how me. My back this morning, my sciatic nerve. Right? I'm like, oh, man. And in my mind came, well, this is a day that the Lord hath made. We will be glad and rejoice in it. Right? That just popped into my head. And I sat at the side of the bed and said, Vicki, there's people a lot worse off than me, isn't there? She goes, yep. I'm like, OK, let's go. It's true, though, right? And I have to be content in whatever situation God has me. I don't understand why all this stuff is happening. Right? I don't understand all, I look at the world and go, man, that's quite a mess, but it's not really a mess to God. Right? Yeah. So Paul's learned whatever condition the province of God puts him in, whether it be adversity, whether it be prosperity, whether he has much, or whether he has little, He's learned this in the school of Christ, in the school of grace, to be content in whatever situation God has put him in. Now let's read our text. Look at this, verses 10 to 14. Verse 12 is what we're really going to be keying on today with looking at verse 13 a little bit if we get there. Let's look at this. Paul writes to the Philippian saints talking about the provision of God, daily provision. But I rejoice in the Lord greatly now that at the last your care of me hath flourished again, wherein you were also careful, but she lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Notwithstanding you have done well that you did communicate with me my affliction. Look at verse 12 here. This will be our text for today and 13. Look at these verses. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things I am instructed. Oh, he's been taught something, hasn't he? Both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things, here's the key, through Christ which strengthens me. So how does Paul, see people take that one verse, they rip it out and they say, oh yeah, look, you can do everything. You wanna be a millionaire? Oh yeah, you can do that. That's not what that's talking about. The context is, see this is why context is so important, beloved. The context is knowing how to live whether we're abased with contentment or whether we're in a place of, we have more. and to be content no matter where God has us, whether we're abased or whether we're abounding. To be content. That's not easy for us, is it? It's not easy for us. It isn't. And we wholly admit that, don't we? We wholly admit that. You think, well, I need more. Well, God's given you what you need. Let us be content, right? Oh my. It's incredible how we are. But this is the flesh we battle with too. And Paul's talking about this. So this instruction is here by the Holy Spirit of God for us to learn. To learn. So, Let's look at verse 10. He says, But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at your last care of me hath flourished again, wherein you were also careful, but you lacked opportunity. And then we see in view, Paul, in view of the slanders who claimed that he was making the gospel a livelihood, because people always accuse God's preachers of making it a livelihood. I'll tell you, there's not one preacher of God who couldn't make more money in the world than we're making now. And we're not in it for the money. It's not about the money. It never has been. It's the message. I've told you guys, I'm not afraid of work. If it comes to where I have to do some work, then I'll do it. Right? But it's not about, it's never about the money. You turn on them TV guys, that's all it's about. For me, it's preaching Christ. That's the most important thing. I get to proclaim Christ every Sunday to you guys, and you love it, and I love it. Isn't that wonderful? So Paul was in the same situation. People were accusing him, oh, you're doing this to make money. No. No, he's come to learn, and this is true, I know this is true in my life as a preacher, and in my life as a believer, even before I was preaching, to be content, no matter where God has me. Whether I'm abased. I've been there before. Have you? Yeah. I've been abased. Yeah. Or whether I'm abounding. I've been abounding too sometimes. Usually I'm right in the middle. Right? And praise God. No matter what situation you're in. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. I remember Vicki and I, once we had a nickel left in our bank account. A nickel. A nickel. She was going to get paid, what, the next day, I think it was, huh? And we were thinking, how are we going to get any groceries? And I had just came back from a preaching thing back east, and I opened my Bible up, and there's a $100 bill in my Bible. We were praising God. I don't know who put it in there to this day. I don't know how it got in there. But somebody out back east stuck that in my Bible when it was sitting down somewhere and never said a word. And I had taken that Bible and put it on the shelf. And then that day, to preach, I pulled that Bible down and thought, I'll take this Bible with me. And we're driving home after service, and I'm flipping through, and there it is. And we went and bought groceries. The Lord provided. But we were abased at that time. The Lord took care of us. Took care of us. He always does, doesn't he? He always does. My, and so Paul, he's in this situation where sometimes he's destitute, sometimes he's abounding, and sometimes he's right in the middle. That sounds like us, right? Every day, all the time, but God takes care of us. And he wasn't in preaching for money. No true gospel preacher's in preaching for money. None of us. Spurgeon said, you'll never be wealthy if you're a Baptist preacher. Because you know why? It's not a job, is it, Brother Brian? It's a calling. It's a calling. My. Oh my. And he's not bending any efforts at making money in gospel preaching or attempting to meet the requirements of a certain standard of life. He's not doing that. Paul just wants to preach the gospel. And he wants to mentor young men. And he's been doing that, hasn't he, with Timothy? And you know what Norm said, too? And I love this. Norm said, those we mentor, we always pray that they will do better than we ever have. That's true. That's true. That they will exceed us. It's not hard to exceed us when we don't feel like we're nothing, when we feel like we're nothing. Because that's how every gospel preacher feels. We feel like we're nothing. But isn't that the truth? You want them to do better. You want them to go even more and preach the gospel even more. Isn't that wonderful? Look at verse 12 again here. He knows how to suffer hunger and to enjoy abundance. He says, I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. See the words to be abased there? They're a translation of a Greek word that means humble. Humble. Did you know that the Lord Jesus Christ abased himself when he became a man? Think of this, he's the word of God. Angels are falling down before him, worshiping him. Worshiping him, brother John. All of heaven, shouting his glory. And he becomes a man. Do you know the same Greek word is used for Christ's incarnation? If you turn over to Philippians chapter 2, look at this. The same Greek word for abased in verse 12 is called humbled in Philippians 2 verse 8. Look at this. And being found in a fashion as a man, he humbled, abased himself. Same Greek word. Isn't that amazing? Beloved, our king abased himself for us to save a sister from our sins. He went low, became low, lower than the angels. Became a man, the perfect man now, the perfect, the sinless man. Isn't that amazing? The same Greek word, Paul's saying, I've been abased. But what a word it is for our King. The Almighty was abased and became a man. God the Word became a man. Why? To save us from our sins. You know why? Because we would never come to Him. He had come to us. We'd never come to Him for life, would we, Charlie? But He made us willing to run to Him. Praise His name. What a Savior is Jesus Christ our Lord. He abased Himself to save us from our sins, brother Brian. What a Savior, what a Redeemer is Jesus Christ our Lord. And then go over to Philippians 3, chapter 3 and verse 21. The same Greek word is translated vile. Beloved, we're abased. Look at this, Philippians 3.21, speaking of when we receive our glorified bodies, we shall change our abased body. Same Greek word, vile, abased. You know, I was listening to a couple guys this morning, and they said, if we knew the sinfulness of sin, it would destroy us. if we just knew how wicked we really are and how wicked sin really is. But God doesn't let us know that. He lets us know it. It's so wicked that God the Son had to abase himself and become a man to save us from our sins through his blood and righteousness. Oh my. My. What a Savior. What a Redeemer is Jesus Christ, our Lord. Isn't He wonderful? He did this for us, sister. He did it because He loved us with an everlasting love. My, it's amazing. We shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body. See, it takes His power to do that, beloved, according to the work and whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself. So, according to His power, in his might. That's our King. Our King, our Savior, Charlie, is the Almighty. The Almighty. He's able to subdue our vile, abased bodies, change them, just like that. My, what power our King has, beloved. My. We think, why do I worry then? Why do I have unbelief? Why? Because we're in this flesh, and we're just a bunch of sinners. But this reminding of who our Savior is, that He is the Almighty One, that He is the Word of God, that He abased Himself to save us from our sins. What hope that can give us. Right? What contentment that can give us. You see why Paul could be content no matter what situation? He's saved by the Almighty One. You know, the person I was talking to last night, I said, I don't have to worry about things because the Lord's going to take care of me no matter what happens. He goes, well, what if persecution comes? I said, the Lord will take care of me in that. He will, no matter what. My trust is not in a mere man, my trust is in the Almighty One. The Almighty One. That's why Paul says, brother, who can bring any charge against us? We're saved by the Almighty One, the Word of God. It's God who justifies. He's saying it's the Almighty who justifies us. Isn't that wonderful? Oh my. Is there anyone greater than him? No. Then who shall condemn us, beloved? Oh, my, doesn't it just fill your heart with joy? What a Savior. And it came at a cost, his brother in righteousness, his life. Free for us, though, isn't it? Message today in Acts is called freeborn. Do you know we're freely born by the Holy Spirit of God? Born again, we're born dead in trespasses and sin, and now we're freeborn. Born by His power, born by His might. According to His will and purpose. My, it's glorious. I'll tell you what, the more I study, the more I look at our King, the more I look at the Almighty, the more in awe I am. that he saves sinners such as we. Hmm. Often the word of God's incarnation, his becoming a man, is often referred to, the old timers used to call it his humiliation, which would tie in with this Greek word. To be humiliated. The old timers, Spurgeon and them used to say, oh, in his humiliation. I love that. That's talking about him becoming a man. And God can't die, so God becomes a man so that he can die in our room and place. Fully God and yet fully man. Isn't that amazing? My. The Greek word also means to make low, to humble, to humiliate. You ever been humiliated by someone? I have. Many times. Not a good feeling, is it? Here's God in the flesh and they're calling him Beelzebub. Saying he does this by the power of Satan. What an awful thing to say. Saying that he's a winebibber and a gluttonous fellow. They don't have a clue who he is, do they? He's the sinless, spotless, perfect Lamb of God. My. And it may be some of them were there as elect, right? Because where were we before that we saved us? I know I was spitting mad at God. Something would happen and I'd say, well, where was God? I was so foolish. But I didn't know. Did it in ignorance. But God forgive me, praise his mighty name. My, I used to worship idols, bow down to statues of Mary. Praise God, he forgave me for all that. Did it in ignorance. My. Now let's read verse 12. Verse 12 here again. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things. I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. See the expression here, how to be abased? This refers to Paul's ability to keep himself low. What did John the Baptist say about our king? He said, He must increase, and I must decrease. Keep ourselves low, beloved. How do we do that? By looking to the King. See, it all centers back to Him. Our daily practical living centers right back to our King. See, that's the one thing that modern Christianity, when they start teaching, you gotta do this, you gotta do that, they do it without Christ. That's a false hope. That's called works. And I'll tell you what, there ain't no peace in the desert, Charlie. No. And those of us who come out of religion, we know there ain't no peace in that at all. But you guys were mentioning the peace that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds. Christ Jesus, that's what we have now. Isn't that wonderful? We're going through the school of grace now. Isn't that amazing? We've been taken out of the school of the world and now we're in the school of grace, God's grace. And who are we learning about? Our King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who's our teacher? The Holy Spirit. And he'll only speak about Christ, won't he? Oh my, it's amazing. And the more we learn about him, the more we're just in awe of him. That He saved us. And personally, that He saved me. Right? Oh my. What a Savior. What a Redeemer. So Paul in his daily life, he now has the ability to be content in whatever situation the Lord has him in. Now God's given him that power. That comes about through God. That doesn't come naturally. That doesn't come naturally. So he's telling the saints, I know how to live on little. If I have little financially, or if I have little in regular life, or if I have much, I can abound. I can be content abounding, and I can be content being abased. Because his eyes are on Christ. His eyes not on the situation. See how I always say, you guys have heard me say, when I get my eyes off of Christ and onto the situation, that's when I have my hardest times. Is it so for you guys? It is, isn't it? Let's keep our eyes on Christ. I'll tell you, it's a hard thing to do. but you'll have peace, you'll have that peace that passes all understanding. And pray that God will give us the strength and the grace and the mercy to do that. And we know it all comes from him, don't we? Can you and I generate that peace? No. Even after we're saved, if we try and do something on our own, we got turmoil going on and all this stuff. I heard a preacher say the other day, he said, why is it that we always come to Christ last when we should come to Christ first? It's true, isn't it, sister? We all know that. What a lesson for us, eh? Again, these are lessons we're learning in the school of grace, beloved. And Paul's been learning some lessons. He's been learning some lessons. See the word to abound there in verse 12? This is a rendering of a Greek word which means to overflow. To overflow, to have an abundance. Paul knows what it's like to have, now he says, I know what it's like to have little, and I know what it's like to have an abundance. And I'm content in each situation and even in the middle. No matter where God's got me, I'm content with that. You ever get a bill in the mail and you're like, how am I gonna pay this? How am I gonna do this? Seems like a mountain, doesn't it? And the Lord turns it into a mohill. And you just call him up and say, hey, can I make payments on this? Yeah, sure, no problem. Okay, thank you. Right? You ever heard that? I heard that situation. Yeah, we all have. Man. Can the Lord get to us? And he always provides for us to get it taken care of, doesn't he? Oh my. Hmm. So the rendering of that Greek means to overflow. Therefore Paul knew how, again, how to live on little or how to live on more abundance. See the words I am instructed, this I found very interesting. I am instructed here. I found this very interesting. From a technical word in the initiation rites of pagan worship, right, of their mystery religions. which is he literally saying I have initiated or I have learned the secret. Remember when we did our study in Colossians and part of the things with the Gnostics was it was a mystery religion and only they could tell you those certain so-called truths which were lies? Then they would only tell you that after you'd been initiated into their religion. That's what Paul's saying, I've learned this now. This is something I did not know. Since I've been born again, I've learned this. I've learned this. And how true is that for us? We weren't content. I wasn't content before the Lord saved me. I wanted more. I wanted as much as I could get. Now I'm quite content. I explained that. Only the Lord. Only the Lord. My. So the word is used again for initiation into like a hidden religion or a hidden something that they don't tell you until after you're initiated in what they believe, the Gnostic teachers I'm talking about. So again, what Paul's saying, he says, I didn't know this before I was born again. He's learned this in the school of grace, hasn't he? You see? Just like we've learned it. Whether we're abased or whether we abound, we've learned to be content. Right? Content with where the Lord has us. He's God. I like what Brother Neil said to me one time. He goes, I don't know why people get all bent out of shape about God's electing a people, because he's God and he can do whatever he wants. Yeah, that's true. So whatever situation we find us in, let us know that it's according to the providence and the will of God, whether we're being abased or whether we're abounding or whether we're in the middle. Let us trust Christ no matter what situation, no matter what station of life we're found in, let us trust Christ. Let's keep our eyes on the king. Because you know what? This world isn't our home, is it? Just like that old songwriter said, we're just passing through. This isn't our home. No, not at all. Now let's read verse 12 again. I know both how to be a base and I know how to abound everywhere in all things. I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer. See the words to be full? It's a very strong word in the original. It's used to feed in animals, which means to be filled, to fatten like an animal. So I know how to be fattened up like an animal. I know how to be full. How? Look into Christ. It means to be satiated. Here is a Greek, listen to this Greek translation by Weist of verses 12 and 13. Listen to this. I know, in fact, how to keep myself low. I know, in fact, how to have more than enough. In everything and in all things I have learned the secret, both to be satiated and to be hungry. and to have more than enough and to lack. I am strong for all things in the one who constantly infuses strength in me." Listen to that. Constantly infuses strength in me. We need that, don't we? Otherwise, we'll fall. Oh, my. My. So now one may ask, well, Paul's resting in the Almighty, the all-sufficient Lord and Savior, but how's he able to do all these things? How's he able to do all these things in the ministry? Look at verse 13. We'll look at this next week. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. There's the answer. There's the answer. Amen and amen. Brother Charlie, can you close us in prayer?