Open your Bibles, if you would,
to the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter 4 will continue
our study. We're coming into another section,
a newer section in chapter 4, where Paul's going to talk about
God's provision for him in the ministry, and also, more importantly,
spiritually. Spiritually, because we have
all spiritual blessings in and through Christ, don't we? Again, all the scriptures we've
learned and are still learning are Christ-centric. They're about
Christ. And we are also taught and exhorted
about how to live in this world. And I am convinced more and more
as I study scripture, more and more that we are just to keep
our eyes on the king. Because there's so much stuff
going on in this world. There's so many distractions
in this world. And our true rest is in Christ. It's found in Christ. And so when he's, the Holy Spirit,
through the pen of Paul, has already exhorted us to look at
things, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are
of a good rapport. And remember, we looked at all
those things, those eight things listed, and they all point to
Christ. They all find their center in Christ. Now, Paul's gonna
transition a little bit and start to speak about how God provides
for him and for all believers. And it's not what we want. It's
what we need. Because all of us want more. But Paul's going to talk about
something here that I think that we as believers learn as we journey
through this world. You know, you've heard Vicki
and I talk about we're very content where we're at. We're content
here to be with you guys. We're content in where the Lord
has us in this time. And if we can learn contentment,
it'll help us a lot as believers. But it takes time. It takes time. And it's a battle against the
flesh, too. Because the flesh always wants more. and the Spirit,
we're like, well, I'm content. I'm content. I'm thankful for
where I am and what I have. Now, Paul's gonna bring forth
in this next portion from verses 10 to 20, he's gonna bring forth God's
provision for us. Now, a lot of false teachers
have taken this portion and used it to proclaim, name it and claim
it, which is a prosperity gospel we've all heard of, called Word
of Faith Movement. It's a false gospel. I am already
the richest man in the world, and if you're a believer, and
a male or female, you're already the richest person in the world,
too, in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? We have
all spiritual blessings in Christ. Money can't even come close,
right? Money doesn't matter when it
comes to spiritual things, does it? Now we need money to live
in this world, but God provides that to us, doesn't he? Provides
to us what we need. And it's all his provision. It's
all his provision. And then here we are, we take
what he gives us and we use it for the furtherance of the gospel
too, don't we? Isn't that wonderful? To live and to be able to provide
and then to promote the gospel. Isn't that amazing that God puts
that on our hearts? It's amazing. Now we're looking at how all
our needs, not our wants, but all our needs are taken care
of by our great God. Again, with a Christ-centric
look at the scripture. I'm gonna keep mentioning that
because this is how we are to view the scripture, with a Christ-centric
view. So let's read verses 10 to 13
today, just a small portion. But keep in context that from
10 to 20, he's gonna be talking about God's provision. So today
we'll just look at a couple verses here. Philippians chapter four,
verses 10 to 13. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly,
That now the last your care of me hath flourished again, wherein
you were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. Not that
I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever
state I am therewith to be content." Notice it's something he's learned. Right? It doesn't come naturally
to us to be content. This is something we as believers
learn. Before the Lord saved me, I wasn't
content. I always wanted more. Always. Look at this. 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 strengthen me. Now, look at that last verse. That's the key. Without Christ,
we can't do anything. With Him. It says, I can do all
things through Christ who has strengthened me. Now, people
take this verse and they rip it out of context and they make
it about themselves. But what this tells us is God
gives us strength God gives us grace to make it
through each day that we face in this world. That's what it
is. I can do all things through him.
See, it's turning the eye through him. What Paul's saying, I can't
do anything without him. He's the one. And notice, through
Christ, he strengthened me. He strengthens us. We have a tendency to try to
do things in our own strength. Right? I know Barb and Jim are
laughing. Because we do, don't we? We do. All of us. We totally do. And
we are so susceptible to this. But let us, again, keep a Christ-centric
view in saying, I can't do anything without Christ. And look at the
grace and strength he gives me to make it through each day.
I wake up and my heart might be full of trouble. Right? It may be at rest. It may be troubled. But I can
face the day. through Christ, who strengthens
me. Because he strengthens me. Because
he gives me grace. Right? Oh. So our dear brother in Christ,
Paul here, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, pointed
us to keep our minds upon Christ. And he's still doing that. Even
in the speaking of provision here, and being content, look
at this, I can do all things through Christ which strengthen
me. So how are we content? Through Christ. How can we be,
how can we be content whether we are rich or poor, or whether
whatever station of life we're in, young or old, as believers,
I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me. My. Paul is now going to testify
of the Lord's faithfulness. And I think all of us as believers
can look back in our lives and still see it even today where
God is continually taking care of us. Taking us from one place to the
other through the storms of life. And you know, you look at this
and people say, oh, that's all financial stuff. No, this is
life stuff. This is everyday, practical Christianity,
walking and resting in Christ. Living before the world, trusting
in Christ. No matter what happens in this
world, looking to Him. being content where we're at.
Because I'll tell you what, I don't know how it is for you, but it's
not hard for me to start mumbling and start complaining. I'm real
good at that. I can be a professional mumbler. Can you? Oh, this is where the rubber
hits the road. For all of us. But let us be content. Right? Let us be content. I always say, it ain't hard for
us to find things normal about ourselves. It's so true, isn't it? This
is just real, isn't it? This is just us being real. Oh
my. So let us be content though.
Let's be content. Be content where Christ has us.
Now Paul's looking right off the bat. I like this. He's rejoicing
over the gifts and supplies that church had sent him by their
pastor. And for some reason, they had neglected to communicate
with him for a long time. But look at verse 10 here, Philippians
4.10. But I rejoiced in the Lord. I
love that. Right away, I rejoiced in the Lord. He's thanking God
for what they gave him, but more importantly, he's thanking God
for them, for the dear saints. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly
that now at last your care of me have flourished again wherein
You were also careful, but you lacked opportunity. Now, see
the words hath flourished in the translation? It's a translation
of a Greek word in the Old Testament that has this clause here. Hath made
the dry tree to flourish. Made the dry tree to flourish. Isn't that what God did for we
who are his people? We were dead dry trees, weren't
we? And by his fruit, remember, it's the fruit of the Spirit.
From his strength, he's the vine, we're the branches. He made us
to flourish. My! So, what he's saying is here
these saints have given him this gift, this love offering. And
he's rejoicing greatly. Because you know what this is
for? The furtherance of the gospel. That's what it's really for.
God's providing for him to further the gospel. And now Paul was
already a tent maker too, right? But this would ease that a little
bit too, wouldn't it? And give him more opportunity
to be able to proclaim the gospel. And maybe even to help out others
who he meets, other brothers and sisters maybe. Help them
out as well. So the word hath flourished there
means to sprout, to blossom again in the Greek. To sprout, to blossom
again. Paul is bringing forth that,
I'm sure you were thinking of me, but you had no opportunity
to show it. So also in this verse, he's saying, he's saying, well, you had opportunity,
but you lacked opportunity. Look at verse 10. But I rejoiced
in the Lord greatly, that now at last your care of me hath
flourished again, wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked
opportunity. We don't know why. Financially,
it might have been. Or maybe they just couldn't get
anyone who's going over to where Paul is. We don't know. But now
they had the opportunity. Epaphroditus is going over there.
So he took a love offering with him for Paul. And so may this
be a lesson for we who are the born-again, blood-washed saints
of God. May we be faithful in our prayers
for other preachers. May we be faithful in our prayers
for missionaries. May we be faithful in our prayers
to one another. Right? May we show our care and concern
for those who labor faithfully in the gospel. We might not see them for a season.
Right? But let us still keep praying
for them. All right? Pray for Norm, and for Donnie,
and for Jim, and for Gary, and for Jean-Claude, and for Lance
Heller. Just keep lifting all. And you
all know more, too. Just keep lifting them up. Pray
the gospel. Go forth. Pray the gospel. Go forth. So Paul, right at the beginning,
I love how at the beginning of this verse, he gives glory to
God right away. I love this. He tells them, I'm
rejoicing in the Lord. Now, some claimant folks might say,
well, he's rejoicing over that gift. Well, they blessed him,
yeah. But I think he's rejoicing over the Philippians. He's rejoicing in the saints
and their love for him. That's expressed in that very
fact that they're giving him a love offering. It's wonderful. It's not expected. It's just
given. And this is provision for his
life, for this life. And that's what this is. God
is using the Philippian saints to further his gospel, to provide
for Paul what he needs. Right? And he can deal with it.
I know they probably gave money like we give money. When we give
money to a missionary, we say there's no strings attached.
You use it for whatever you want. You know, there's some places
out there when they send a check to a missionary, they say, well,
you got to use it for this and this and this. No strings attached. If you need food, buy food. If
you need clothes, buy clothes. If you need Bibles, buy Bibles. Whatever they need. Just use
it for the glory of God. And so here the Philippian saints are a cause for rejoicing to
the Lord. In this rejoicing, there's not
carnal rejoicing. No. It was of the spiritual kind. It's the joy in the Holy Ghost. It's free of the spirit. Something
that doesn't come natural to us. If you had have told me when
I was 24 years old, that I'd be rejoicing in the
Lord and that I'd be preaching the gospel. I laughed so hard at you and
walked away just shaking my head. Now here I am. I don't want to
rejoice in anyone but our King. I love being with God's people.
I love the gospel that tells me about Christ who died for
sinners such as me. Saved me and washed me in his
blood. And I'm saved through his blood and righteousness.
And I like you say, hallelujah. But did we ever think we'd be
saying that before we were saved? No, not at all. So we come to church now, as
we talked about sister, we come to church now to hear about Christ,
to rejoice in Christ, to hear about our savior. Tell me, tell
me about my king. Tell me about Jesus who saved
my soul. Oh, I love him. Only by the grace
of God do I love him, but I love him. My. I never did before, but now I
do, right? And he's wondrous. He is glorious. My. And I'm looking at a bunch of
sinners saved by grace just like me. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, God's so good. Oh, my. So Paul's rejoicing in
the Holy Spirit, which is opposed to rejoicing in meats and drinks
and earthly enjoyments, which is what we used to do before
we were saved. This joy is a joy in the Lord.
This joy is something that's only produced by the Holy Spirit
of God in us. And isn't it wonderful that amidst
this world of sorrow and sin, because it's a world of sorrow
and sin, you just open up the newspaper or read something online,
there's so much sorrow in this world. But isn't it amazing that
we can have joy amidst sorrow, even in our own lives? that we can have joy amid sorrow
knowing that the King of King and the Lord of Lords has saved
my soul. Knowing that the one I'm looking
to for salvation is God. That God became a man and shed
his blood to save my soul. My, does that not fill us with
joy? That he did that for us? My. It's wondrous. And remember, too, he's rejoicing
in the Lord, right? He says, but I rejoiced in the
Lord. He's in the Lord, and they're
in the Lord. He's rejoicing that they're all
in the Lord, just like we do, too, don't we? Isn't it wonderful? Don't we marvel that we're saved
by the grace of God in Christ and through Christ? It causes us to rejoice. And he's rejoicing that the Lord
moved upon the believers at Philippi to remember him. He hadn't heard
from them for a while. And the Lord is the one who moved
on their hearts to remember him. and send him with, send Epaphroditus
to him with his help. Which was ultimately from the
Lord. We get our money, right? Who
does it come from though, really? It's the Lord's provision for
us. And we get our bills, and we notice that three quarters
of our money vanish. Right? But we still have enough
to live on, don't we? By the grace of God. We still
have enough to get groceries and... Isn't that amazing? God always
takes care of... Donny Bell told me a long time
ago, God always takes care of his sheep. We were working in Oregon for
a builder who was the only builder in the town that was busy. It
was back when it got real slow. And we were doing four houses
a month, and other people were struggling to do one house a
month. And I called Donnie Bell up, and I said, this is amazing,
Donnie. I said, our builder is building
four houses a month, and the other builders are They're getting
one done a month. He goes, that's because you're
working for that builder. And I said, what do you mean?
He goes, the Lord's providing for you, and all the other guys
are getting the blessing of it. I was like, my gosh. Now, there
was times when there was not a lot of work. But God always provides, doesn't
he? And then the pendulum swings back again. And then there may
be a time of need. And then there may be a time
of plenty. Glory be to God. He always takes care of his sheep.
David said God's people won't be seen begging. Right? He always takes care. We always
have what we need, not what we want, but always what we need. Right? You know, if I had what
I want, we'd be living in a tropical land, right? Where after church, we could
just go sit in the beach together and hang out and put our feet
in the water. Wouldn't that be nice? But I'm
content. God's got us here in Michigan,
right? I love Michigan. I love it. This is beautiful.
I think it's one of the beautiful states in the union. I really
do. And here we are. We got four seasons. Distinct. Isn't it wonderful? But here
we are, knit together in love. Look at what, look what the Lord's
done. And he's made us content, hasn't
he? Here we are. It's amazing. And, and why Why did the Lord
have them move on their hearts to do this? Well, because it
was all part of his plan and purpose, according to his will.
According to his will, this all happened. And he had not only given them
the ability, because in our natural state, we don't have any ability
to come to him, and then he gives us an ability to come to him,
doesn't he? Makes us will in the day of his power, gives us
faith to believe on Christ. my but he had put in these flipping
hearts to send this love offering to to paul and then he gave them
the ability to be able to do that right isn't that amazing he gave them the ability to do
that and he gave them a willing mind to do that and think of
this he is working in them and in us today. Because we're no
different than the Philippian church. He's working in them to do his
will all according to his purpose. Chris, you were at that church
you were at, you heard the gospel, and the Lord brought you right
over here. to like-minded believers. You can talk to and they're all
thinking, well you're not crazy. Yeah, we know what you believe.
We love the Lord too. We love the gospel. You talk
to some folks out there about what we believe and they think
we're crazy. No, we believe what the Bible
says. Right? Right? I'm not under the law
anymore. You'll say, well, you can't say that. Then you're going
to go live however you want. No. Did I say that? No. No. No. Now we're constrained. We're
constrained for the first time by the Holy Spirit of God. Do
you know we were unrestrained before we were saved? Do you
know that? We were unrestrained before we
were saved. We did whatever we wanted to whenever we wanted
to. Do you ever notice now we get checks?
Oh, I can't do that. I don't want to do it. I don't
want to bring shame on the cause of Christ. My, oh my. And yet we're still sinners to
the core, but we don't desire to run out there and do the things
we used to do. That's grace. That's amazing grace. That's
incredible. And why did they do this? Why
did they send Paul a love offering like this? For the glory of God.
God the Holy Spirit moved on their hearts, knew that Paul
needed provision. It's all according to his will
and purpose. Now think of this too. I was talking to Joshua
yesterday and I said, son, God knows the end from the beginning. He's all worked up about stuff
going on. I said, God's in control. He already, this is not, none
of this stuff is catching him by surprise. None of it. None of the political
stuff, none of it is catching God by surprise. He knows the
end. He already knows how it's all
gonna finish. And he knows everything between
all the way to the beginning. Now what rest we can have in
that, right? That our God's in control, that he's sovereign.
So they give this love offering, the Lord put it on their heart,
gave them the ability to be able to give that love offering, and
they give it They give it because they love Paul, they love Christ,
and they love the gospel. Isn't that wonderful? They're giving it because it
helps Paul's cause. Now, what's Paul's cause? I'm
determined to preach Christ and Him crucified. Again, I'm going to say it again
what I said last week. He's not involved in any culture wars,
is he? None. He preaches Christ. Vicki and
I were talking, and Vicki said, isn't that amazing? He walks
by all those Stoics and all those philosophers, says, when he goes
into Corinth, I'm determined to preach Christ and Him crucified.
Not gonna get caught up in all that stuff. So beloved, don't
get caught up in all the stuff going on. Evil is everywhere. We don't have to see something
happen to somebody to know that. We know even right in here, isn't
it? And it's everywhere. It's everywhere. But where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound. Isn't that wonderful? Where sin abounded in us even. We who are the redeemed Lord.
Grace did much more bound. Christ saved our souls, beloved.
Let us rejoice. Oh my. He shed his blood. The Lord Jesus Christ shed his
blood to save us from our sins. Now look at verse 11 here in
Philippians chapter 4. We're not going to be able to
go a whole lot into this because I went a little longer. And so
we'll pick this up from next week. But I do want us to turn
to 1 Timothy chapter 6. But let's read this verse here
first in Philippians 4.11. Now that I speak in respect of
want, for I've learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. To be content. Paul does not mean to imply that
he was wanting anything. It's not what he's bringing forth
here. No, he's not saying, well, I want this and I want that.
That's not what he's bringing forth. No. He possessed nothing. Right? But he had all things
in Christ, didn't he? He had all things in Christ.
And we see here, he found contentment and peace in whatever condition
the providence of God put him in. Now there's a lot for us
to learn there, isn't it? Whatever state we're in, we are
to be content. We are to be content. Content
in God's providence. Content in salvation in Christ
and Him alone. Content whether we're in adversity.
Content whether we're in prosperity. Content whether we're in good
health. Content whether we're sick. Content. Listen to this verse in the Greek
literal Bible. I thought this was really good.
It says, not that I speak as to destitution, absolute poverty, for I have
learned to be content in that which I am. So what he's bringing
forth here is that no matter where the situation finds him,
Paul has learned to be content. There's a reason. Remember, every
time we're going through something, there's a reason we're going
through it. May we say to the Lord, Lord, help me to understand
what you're teaching me here. Because I guarantee you, every
time we go through something, we're learning something. We
may not like what we're going through, but it's for God's glory
and for our good. My. And this is why we have to
keep our eyes on Christ. Because we don't understand sometimes
the things we're going through. It just baffles our mind sometimes. But there's a reason. And God's
going to bring good out of it. He's going to bring good out
of it. If you're one of God's people, it'll be for your good
and my good and for God's glory. Look at this in 1 Timothy chapter
First Timothy chapter six. Paul's gonna speak to Timothy
here about contentment. He's a young preacher. Look what
he says here in First Timothy six, six to 610. But godliness with contentment
is great gain. Now godliness there, people have
skewed that. Godliness there is just, it means
true knowledge of God's grace. That's what it means, having
a true knowledge of God's grace. Look at this, for we bought nothing
into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. You
know, even when we're dead, they undress us and put us in a suit
or in a dress, right? But that thing's just gonna rot
away. And we're gonna turn to dust. And having food and remnant,
let us therewith be content. If we have food and clothing,
let us be content. That goes against the world,
doesn't it? The world's like, let's get everything we can.
I was there, I remember that. I'm gonna get as much as my two
brothers. I gotta keep up to them. It was awful. It was horrible. But look at this, but they that
will be rich fall into temptation and the snare and into many foolish
and heartful lusts which drown man in destruction and perdition.
Spurgeon, when a brother in the Lord inherited a huge wealth,
you know what he said? Let us pray for our dear brother
because he is going to be tempted in a way that is far worse than
just our normal sins, because he just inherited a large amount
of money. It can cause us to live riotously. My, it's, just always remember
that whatever we have, it's just a means to an end, right? And when we die, someone else
is going to get whatever we got left over. Right? It's true. We brought nothing into this
world, and it's certain we're not carrying nothing. If some
guy said, I put all my silver and gold in my coffin, well,
I'll tell you what, someone's going to find out and dig up
that coffin, steal all your silver and gold. We have proof of that
with the Egyptians, right? My, oh my, I'll tell you. For the love of money is the
root of all evil, which, well, some coveted after they have
erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many
souls. But I want us to key on that first verse there. Look
what he says. Verse six, but godliness with
contentment is great gain. Contentment, again, we see that
little word, contentment. Contentment He's content with where God's
got him He's content because he's in being held by the by
the hand who holds the world It's not wonderful and so let
us be content where we are No matter what we have or don't
have We have what we need don't we
and think of this I Most important, we have all our spiritual needs
met in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, in his blood and righteousness. What a Savior. What a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ our Lord. Gracious Heavenly Father, we
thank you for how you take care of us. Thank you for making us
content in this world. And oh Lord, We know this world
is just temporary. We're just passing through. Help
us to keep our eyes set upon Thee, Lord Jesus. No matter what
we see going on in the world, no matter what's happening in
our lives or in the lives of those we love, let us pray for
lost souls. Let us pray for our family members
who don't know You. Let us pray for our friends who
don't know You. Let us pray for lost people in
the world who are your sheep. Oh, may you, may you bring the
gospel to them. May you regenerate them and give
them faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to the saving
of their souls as you have saved sinners such as we. We love you
and praise you in Jesus' name, amen.