Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Philippians chapter 4. Now, I was planning on doing
multiple verses today. That's what I was planning. Then
I started digging into verse 9. This message is just about
verse 9. There's so much here of Philippians
chapter 4. We're going to start reading
now. We're going to read from verses 8 to 13. We'll continue our study in this
precious book. Every book in the Bible is precious,
isn't it, to us? It's precious. And remember, these words are
inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. So they're penned by Paul,
but they're for us. They're for our edification,
our spiritual edification, our growth in Christ. right, to bring
us comfort, to exhort us, to rebuke us sometimes, right, but
it's all done in love, right, by God. I remember reading one
commentator said that the Bible really is a love letter from
God to his people about Christ. I like that because he's revealing
himself to us, isn't he, through the word. And it's amazing. And I'll tell you what, I am
the most unworthy man on this earth to have grace. And I know
you feel that way too, don't you, Brother Charlie, right?
We all do, don't we, Brother Travis and Chris? We all feel that way.
Each one of us as individuals feels so unworthy, and yet God's
had mercy upon us. That's amazing. That's absolutely
incredible. Absolutely incredible. So the Holy Spirit of God has
preserved the word for our edification and for our learning and for
our comfort. So let's read verses 8 to 13. Finally, brethren. So again, he's writing to Brethren.
The whole letter is written to born-again, blood-washed believers
at Philippi. Finally, Brethren, he's going
to close up this letter with the thoughts here, and he's going
to continue it until the end of the epistle. But look at this.
Finally, Brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things
are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are
pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are a good
report, If there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think
on these things. I love this, too, because what
Paul's doing is he's setting forth having a Christocentric
mind. Right? Because what happens? We do see
events. They get us angry, right? We see things happen. We get
angry, and that's our flesh, of course, and sometimes it's
righteous anger, too. But really, let's look to Christ.
Look what he suffered. Look what he did for you and
I, beloved. It pales in comparison, doesn't
it, to anything that a man can do. He died for our sins. He shed his blood for our sins,
our sins, my sins. Redeem me with his blood. And
then look at what he says here. I love this too. We're going
to get into this later on. Notice that Paul doesn't just
say, do this. Remember, I remember in religion, sister, you might
remember this, Barb, in religion. Do that, do that, and the preacher
ain't doing nothing. He's telling everyone to do it.
Oh, you're such a sinner. He won't admit he's a sinner. Oh, I was in churches like that.
I even taught in churches like that. The same way they do. Look at
this though. Paul's not just to say and do
this. He actually does what he says. He practices what he preaches,
right? And isn't that a complaint to
the world? That Christians don't practice what they preach? They
say they're love and full of love and yet they can spit veminous
in a heartbeat? That's our sin, isn't it? See,
we recognize that. That's our sin. Oh my. Look at what he says, though.
Those things which you have both learned and received and heard
and seen in me. Look at that little detail right
there. And seen in me. He's not just telling them what
to do, Chris, is he? He's saying, look what I've done. And not in a sense of, look what
I've done, in a sense of, this is a pattern for us. Right? I'm not just gonna tell
you about these things. I'm not gonna just tell you to
think of things that are honest, of good report, that are pure
and that are righteous. I'm gonna do it too. As he's
seen me do it, do it too. Don't follow me in my sin. No,
he's not saying that, is he? He's saying these things that
he set before them. These things which ye have both
learned and received and heard and seen in me do. And the God
of peace, look at that, there's a title of our king. There's
a title of our father. The God of peace shall be with
you. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly
that now at the last care Now at the last, your care of me
hath flourished again, wherein you were also careful, but you
lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of
want, for I've learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content."
I love that verse. That's where we should be. No
matter what state we're in, content with where the Lord has us. No
matter what. Hard to do, isn't it? But I'll tell you what, we'll
have peace if we can do that. And just pray the grace of God
that he'll give us that contentment. Because the state that we're in, the
things that we're going through, good and bad, are sent by God
for us, for His glory, and for our good, even when we don't
see it. My. 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. Look
at that. Now the Apostle Paul has placed
before us some things which we should think upon during our
walk through this world of sin and sorrow, because that's what
this is. This is a world of sin and sorrow. And the Holy Spirit
of God has penned for our comfort Look at this in verse 8. Finally,
brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things
are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there
be any virtue in them, if there be any praise, think on these
things. Now let's read verse 9. Because all those things he mentioned
in verse 8, find their center in Christ. He's being very Christ-centric,
as I said. He's bringing everything. You notice with Paul's epistles,
even in correction, he just lifts Christ up before them. That's the most important thing.
And he doesn't say, because I, Paul, said it, that's it. He
says, this is truth. We bow our knee to the scripture
because it's from God, right? And look at verse nine, those
things which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen
in me do, and the God of peace shall be with you. Now note this,
the Holy Spirit, he's our teacher, isn't he? He's the revealer of
all things concerning God To us He's the one who reveals the
scriptures to us. He's the one who teaches us He
reveals the truth within the scriptures. No man can can read
the scriptures and come to the truth on their own He has to
reveal it to us And when he does we're never the same are we brother
brian we're just rejoicing this And he reveals the truth within
the scriptures to who? To sinners. To sinners. How? Through the preaching of
his word and the reading of his word. Now, somebody say, well,
what do you mean the reading of his word? When I read John,
he's preaching to me, man. You ever think of that? Faith
cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. How should
they hear without a preacher? Well, the Lord sent them apostles and
they're preaching the gospel, aren't they, Brother Brian? I
know a friend of mine, he's in glory now. He was saved out of
Mormonism by reading the scriptures. And he'd be the first one to
tell you, God illuminated them scriptures for me. And he taught
me the things of Christ. Yeah. And then you heard a grace
preacher on the radio and his wife, or his wife heard a grace
preacher on the radio and said, there's someone that believes
like you say you believe now. She hadn't, she hadn't believed
yet. And he's, she's like, he sounds just like you. So she
starts listening to him, and then the fella says, oh yeah,
there's a church in Central Point, Oregon. Wayne Boyd's the preacher
out there. He came, and he was with us for
five wonderful years before the Lord took him home. Isn't that
amazing? Just incredible. Just incredible. And God's born again blood-washed
people. We've received faith from the
Holy Spirit of God. We've received repentance from
God. Faith is not something we can muster up. People in religion
think faith comes before regeneration. That's impossible. A dead man
can't believe. A dead woman can't believe. But
this is the amazing thing, that God, in his love, planned and
purposed salvation for a chosen people, who we have no clue who
they are, do we, Brother Travis? So when we get up and preach
the gospel, we preach to everyone. Turn to Christ. He's the only
hope for sinners. There's no hope outside of Christ.
None at all. He's the one we need to look
to, isn't he? He's the one we look to. And so we've received faith from
the Holy Spirit of God. And now, you know what a result
of that is? Now we believe what God said. We didn't believe God before,
did we, Brother Charlie? When he said, you must be born
again, I was like, I remember making fun of born again Christians
at my mom and dad's table. I remember you told me too. I
remember making fun of them. My brother worked with a guy.
You know what happened? That fellow gave me my first Bible
after I went and worked for my brother. And that fellow became
a dear friend of mine, a dear brother in Christ. Isn't that amazing? I used to
sit and mock him, I never even knew him. My, isn't God amazing? Isn't he incredible? And we believe what God says
in the scriptures, and we also, you know what else we also believe?
We believe what God says about man in the scriptures, that we're
a bunch of sinners. That we're born dead and trespassers
and sins. We did not think we were sinners
before. How do we know that? Did anybody
ask you if you were a sinner before the Lord saved you? I
remember someone asking me. Well, I'm a good person. No,
you're not, Wayne. And I still get that now. I'm
just looking at myself from before, right? And then when people find out
you're a preacher, they pull the God card out, we call it,
and they're like, well, I'm a good person. No, I'm sorry to tell
you, you're not. You're not. But that's what happens. And then they tell you, oh, I
go to church and I do all this. No, you don't. And this one, this one. If I
had a nickel for every time someone told me, I'd seriously be a millionaire.
Seriously, for this one. Oh, I'll see you at church next
week. I would be a millionaire if I charged a nickel for it. Someone
said that to me. But that's how it is, right?
We're just a bunch of sinners. We're just a bunch of sinners.
We need our Savior. We need Christ. We need the peace
of God, don't we? Amidst this world, we need the
peace of God. We need to know that the God
of peace is with us all the time. as I was penning this message
together and typing it together, it brought me such comfort to
know that the God of peace is with me. And we know what Christ
said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. My, oh my, that's
wonderful. Keep my eyes on my King, man.
Look at this here, it says, It says, see the word received in
verse nine, those things which ye have both learned and received.
The Greek word, I like this, was used regularly of receiving
truth from a teacher. Who is our teacher? The Holy
Spirit. Now we gladly receive truth when
it's put in front of us, don't we? We love it. We want to hear
it. Marvel at that, because there
was a time when we didn't want to hear it. Right, sister? Yeah,
now we love it. It's like, oh my gosh. This is
wonderful. My. See the word do? See the word
do in the text? These things which ye have both
learned and received and heard, so they've received them by the
grace of God. They've heard them by the grace
of God, right? Their ears have been opened up to the truths
of the scripture. And seen in me, do. Now, sometimes people see the
word do, they go, oh, you're gonna put something on me here. Beloved, Do you know what the
word do means? To practice as a habit. Unity. Love. Bear one another's burdens. Love in the gospel. Love in Christ. That's not a
burden for us, is it? And so Paul set, and remember
he set apart, he set those eight things before them that are all
Christ-centric, right? And now he says, those things
you've seen, seen, or you received and heard and seen, right, in
me too. Keep looking to Christ, no matter
what happens. Keep looking. That's the hardest
thing for us to do, beloved. It really is. It really, really
is. And so do here refers to practice
as a habit. Listen to the Greek translation
of this verse. I love this. The things also
which you have learned and received and heard and saw in me, those
things habitually practice and the God of peace shall be with
you. Now, when do we lose our peace? When we start looking
at things in the world, right brother? When we start looking
at things going on and go, oh my gosh, look at the skies falling. But if we keep our eyes upon
Christ, even when all that stuff's happening, we will have peace,
beloved. And we will be content. Do you know peace breeds contentment? yeah oh my it's amazing now throughout
this epistle paul now so what's he telling them what what's he
telling the things you've heard the things you've you've received
here are some of the things that paul exhorted the people of god
and philip by Number one, to have unity of the spirit and
purpose. To be united together. I feel we have that here. We're
united in purpose. We're here to gather together
as the Lord's people. He's bought us from all different
places. He's given us a love for the gospel. He's given us
a love for Christ. He's given us a love for one
another. And he's cultivating that in us, isn't he? And we
have unity and purpose, don't we, brother? We're here for the
furtherance of the gospel. And we get the joy and the honor
and the blessing of gathering together. It really is. There's a lot of places where
there's grace believers and they have no church. No church. They're scattered all over. My. A lot of places where people
who desire, they're not even grace folks, but they desire
to go to a church and there's nowhere to go. mind. You know why? Because they don't want to sit
and listen to a lie. They want to hear the truth about
the perfect Redeemer who actually accomplished salvation by the
giving of his life because of his great love for us, for his
people. Isn't that amazing? Never forget
how expansive the love of God is. You can't plumb it. You can't
measure it. You'll never find the length
And you'll never find the depth of God's love for his people. And it stretches from eternity
to eternity, doesn't it? It's amazing. And God never changes,
therefore his love for his people never changes. So Paul's saying,
the unity that you now have, and seen in me, do this. Protect
that unity. And then, to love one another. Do you know, that's how the world,
the world sees professing Christians who are full of hate, and there's
non-professing Christians who are full of hate, right? But
the one thing that should distinguish us is our love for one another. And not just for one another,
but for lost souls. Right? We desire the gospel to
go out, don't we? So the Lord will use it, if it
be his will, to save people, to build up his saints, no matter
where they are around the world. That's our hope. And, you know,
we live in midst of a sin-cursed world. It's so wretched, this
world. It's so sinful, this world. And
the depravity of man is on display, beloved. It's on display. And we say, oh my. So do here in the Greek refers
to a practice of a habit. Now this epistle, all through
this epistle, again, he's been exhorting the people to have
a spirit of unity and purpose, to love one another, and to have
a real concern and care for one another. to be of a humble mind and disposition,
to avoid false teachers, to rest in Christ. My dear brother Joe
Terrell said that's the hardest thing for us to do is just rest
in Christ. Just rest in our Savior. Rest
in His finished work. It's done. It's done. So let we who are the people
God marvel at God's wondrous works. That he saves sinners
such as we. That he saves sinners such as
we. He did this for his people. He
came into this world to save sinners. Right? Of whom I'm chief, Paul said.
And we all say, me too. Me too. Now, many people have
learned doctrine. But they have no grace. They have no love. I've seen folks fight and I was
there before the Lord saved me. I have seen people be so vehement
about what their doctrinal stance is. And I was there. And I look at that and I'm just
so full of soul. So full of soul. Does doctrine
save or does Christ save? Christ. Now, we learn doctrine
through the scriptures, of course. But the Savior is the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the one who saves. I love
doctrine just like everyone else. But all my doctrine points to
Christ. It all finds its Christ-centric doctrine. It finds its center
in Christ, in Christ alone. Because he is the one who came
to save his people from their sins. He is God incarnated in
the flesh. And people claim to love Christ,
but then, this is one too, that I remember
being here too. People proclaim to love Christ
and then proclaim their own sovereignty and salvation. saying, I made a decision for
Christ. I used to do that. I went around
telling people, I made a decision for Christ. I'm thankful God saved me despite
myself. I'm thankful God made me willing
in the day of his power. I did run to him, yes. But only
because he made me willing. He's sovereign in salvation.
He's sovereign in all things, providence and salvation. That's
the God of the Bible. And salvation for sinners only
comes through the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation
is nowhere else but in and through Christ and his blood and righteousness.
Nowhere else. You know, you can learn all the
doctrine. I was a five-point Calvinist, and I was lost. I
was an Armenian, five-point Armenian before that, and I was lost.
And then I became a five-point Calvinist, and I was lost. Then
God saved me. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that
wondrous, what God does? So let us remember here how Christ-centric
Paul is in everything. Everything revolves around our
Savior. In his epistles, especially here
in Philippians chapter four, it all revolves around Christ. We have a real concern and care
for one another as brethren, don't we? A real heartfelt concern
and care. We love each other, we pray for
one another, right? We enjoy seeing one another and
fellowshipping one another. I tell folks all the time, this
church is a hospital for sinners. That's what it is. And as I said
on Thursday, I'm a medic. It's the great physician who
heals. Oh, isn't that wonderful? Oh my. Salvation comes to sinners only
through the blood and righteousness of Christ, not by how much doctrine
we know, not by how many books we've read, not because we champion
certain causes. Salvation for sinners is only
in and through the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. And look
how Paul makes a very important point here in verse 9 of Philippians
chapter 4. Those things which ye have learned
and received. Again, they learn to have unity
of the Spirit. They've learned by the grace
of God to love one another. They've learned by the grace
of God to have real concern for one another. They've learned
by the grace of God to care for one another. They've learned
by the grace of God to be of a humble mind and disposition. They've learned to avoid false
teachers by the grace of God. And they've learned to rest in
Christ and his righteousness and to meditate on these holy
things, right, which is just to think about them. And I hope and pray, beloved
God, that we've not just received the truth of salvation in and
through Christ in just a doctrinal way, but that it's real to us. Right? It's real to us. We not just heard them in our
head and thought about them, but they're deep entrenched in
our hearts. And only God can do that, can't
he? Only God can make that so. And this is what Paul's bringing
forth, that what good are the words and actions and attitudes
which are contrary to what Paul's telling them to do. Right? We need to be honest.
We need to think about Christ. And those are things we get to
do, too. Do you ever think of that? And it helps us, it builds
us up. Christ himself, the Holy Spirit,
builds us up with the preaching of the gospel. And as we set
our minds upon Christ, oh, how lovely he becomes to us. How
amazing he becomes to us. And then notice verse 9, Philippians
4, 9. These things which, or those
things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen
in me do. So remember that's habitual practice. And the God
of peace shall be with you. Now look at that. Look at how
he closes up verse 9. The God of peace shall be with
you. There's a title of our great
God brought forth right there. He's the God of peace. Isn't
that wonderful? And you know what's amazing with
the God of peace? Is that he has a people of a tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation. Here I am a Canadian preaching
to a bunch of Americans, right? I'm from Canada. Isn't that wild? And here I am.
And he's from Canada, too. The Lord saved her. My. I found out recently that I have
Métis blood in me, which is Crow Indian and French. And when I
heard that, I thought, out of every tribe, kindred, tongue,
and nation, look at that. That's amazing. Our heritage is incredible. And
the Lord saves His people no matter where we're from. Here,
get them all. Look at that in verse 7 too.
And the God of peace. Look up at verse 7. This is interesting. In this chapter, Paul sets forth,
sets forth about the peace of God first in verse 7. And then
he's going to tell us about who's the author of that peace. In
verse 9, I thought this was fantastic, look at this. Verse 7, in the
peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Now look at that, the
peace of God. Who's the giver of the peace
of God? The God of peace. Look at verse 9 now. The latter
part, and the God of peace shall be with you. So what comforts
found in these verses, beloved, for we who are the people of
God. that we have the peace of God
which passes all understanding through our Lord Jesus Christ,
and now Paul, by the power of the Holy Spirit of God, brings
forth the author of our peace, which is Christ. The God of peace
is the author of our peace. The peace of God which passes
all understanding comes from Him. And think of this, we have
peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this isn't
a phrase that Paul is just putting here in the God of peace. If
you turn over to 2 Corinthians 13, we'll see here that this
is a title for the author of peace. The author of peace. And what a promise we have here
before us. He's telling God's born-again, blood-washed saints
that the God of all peace shall be with us. And he's telling
us to keep our hearts and minds upon Christ, and Christ alone. Look at 2 Corinthians 13, 11.
Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort,
be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace
shall be with you. So now we see another title.
He's the God of love and the God of peace. Ain't that amazing? And Paul is exhorting the church,
just as he is to the Philippian saints in verse 9, telling them
to be united in mind, and in purpose, and in affection, and
delivered together in peace amongst each other. As much as possible, with all
men. Not just with those we agree with. With all men. Because such were some of ye.
Now you're washed. Oh my. I'm not gonna get over
that verse. I'm not gonna get over that.
So let us greet one another with mutual love and genuine friendship.
And may we not avoid others who hold grudges against us. No. May we show our love openly to
them. Openly to them. Because we who profess Christ
are just saved sinners, right? even for those who no longer
are with us here, but are still around. Let us show love towards
them. Let's not hold grudges. Just
let it go. Okay? And we've seen in this chapter
that Paul encourages believers to actively contemplate qualities
like truth, honesty, justice, purity, loveliness, and recognize
that those attributes and those perfections, their perfection,
find their center in Christ, not in us. Always in Christ. Always in Christ. And may we meditate upon the
excellency of the Lord Jesus Christ and upon the excellency
of his gospel. May it lead us to a renewed appreciation
for what God's done for us. He saved us. Sinners such as
we saved our souls. We who were rebels by birth,
nature, and choice. He's turned us into praisers.
That's amazing. And may we proclaim to the day
of our death the wondrous things that God has done for us in and
through the Lord Jesus Christ. My, what a Savior. What a Redeemer
is Jesus Christ our Lord. Brother Brian, can you close
us in prayer?