Open your Bibles if you would
to Philippians chapter 4. Today we'll be looking at one
verse and three of eight things that are in this verse mentioned. And the Lord gives us three things
to think about or three things today out of eight that we are
to ponder through the week. These eight things in this verse
all point to Christ and all point to his gospel. All of them. And these are things that we
should think upon and ponder and meditate. You
know, meditation has been taken in. And when we hear meditate,
let's meditate. It's been taken in. People think,
oh, Christians can't do that. Meditation is just taking the
word and running it through your mind. The things that we've heard. That's all that is. And so what
the Holy Spirit's telling us here is to think upon these things,
to consider them, to contemplate these truths rather than things
in the world. And what it does is we see these
truths, these things mentioned in this verse, which will be
verse eight, are things which point to Christ and things which
point to the gospel. Keep our minds fixed on our great
God. Let's read verses 8 to 13. We're going to start a new section
here. Paul's going to sum up the exhortation
that he's been given, that he's given, with verses 8 and 9. But today we're going to be looking
at the first three things mentioned in verse 8. But we'll read from
verses 8 to 13 to see the context of this verse. 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
and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things which ye have both
learned and received, So we've learned how much sinners we are,
haven't we? And we've received the gospel
of God's grace by faith, which is a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. And heard the exhortations, the
gospel, the truth about who Christ is and what we are. And seen
in me, Paul has done these things and he's lived. He's lived in
the things that he says to do. And the God of peace shall be
with you. But I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at the
last your care of me has 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 know both how to be abased
and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things
I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry. So to be satisfied
and still hunger for Christ. Isn't that amazing? Both to abound and to suffer
need. I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me. Do
you see how that last verse? Now, now, Word of faith, people
take that and they just twist it. But Paul's given us circumstances
in our lives that all of us will go through. There'll be times
of plenty and then there'll be times of need, right? There'll be times of happiness,
there'll be times of sorrow. There'll be times of what we
would call good times and then what we would call bad times.
But notice what Paul talks about, and we're gonna get into this
when we get into this. And this is an amazing thing
when God does this for us. He's content. He's content. May God teach us
contentment. Just to be content with where
he has us, whatever status we're in, whatever state we're in,
just to be content. Because that's where the Lord
has us. Right? We don't have to stress. We don't
have to worry. He can take care of us. So for
today's study, we'll be in verse 8. Let's read it once again.
We're going to be reading this quite a bit through this study. 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 a good report, if there be any virtue,
and if there be any praise, think on these things. Now in this
world that we live in, There's lots of things to distract us,
isn't there? There are lots of things that
carry our thoughts away. Right? It could be family who
don't know the Lord. It could be just the state of
the world. It could be financial obligations
or financial situations. There's all kinds of things in
this world that can consume our minds. And very quickly make the day
go like that, right? Very quickly. Some things which we think about
is edifying. Some things which we think about
are not edifying. Some things we consume is very
edifying. Some things we consume is not
edifying at all. My. And not, let us think of how quickly we can be
distracted. not just from the things of the
Lord, which is quite easy for us, but anything. How we can be on task doing something
and we could get distracted like that. And what does that do? Well, that starts to consume
our thoughts, doesn't it? So we have here before us, put
here in our text by the Holy Spirit of God, through Paul's pen, that which
we should consider and meditate upon. This is good for us. And I'm talking practical Christianity,
aren't I? When we say we can get distracted
so easy. Yeah, just ask my wife and my
son. I'll get on my computer, do some
study, and I'll be getting in there, and then all of a sudden
I think, well, I want to have a little music on, so I go to YouTube,
and oh, what's that video? Well, I'll put down pause so
I can click on that video. Well, 30 minutes later, oh man,
I better get back to, well, I came here for music. Click, there
goes my music. But how easy it is to get distracted. I'm being
honest. Very easy. And even good things
to be distracted about. You know, a couple podcasts I
listen to. They talk about the Lord and it's wonderful. But
I sat down there to study. You see? How easily we're distracted.
And that's even if I'm in my study year. It happens no matter
where I am. It happened to you? Yeah. It
does, doesn't it? We're all the same. We're just
flesh. So here the Holy Spirit of God gives us some things.
that we're to meditate upon, that we're to dwell upon through
the week. And this will bring about, I
believe, the more that we read scripture and we meditate on
things of the Lord, that a fruit of the Holy Spirit for us is
humbleness. It'll humble us. It'll make us content, like Paul
says. And Paul's not just writing these things saying, you gotta
do this. I remember when I was in religion, it used to be the
preacher would be up there, you need to do this. No, we need
to do this. See, that's the difference between
religion and grace. We need to do these things. And
it's just good for us. It's not something, you must
do this. It's not rigid. These are things
the Holy Spirit gives us to keep our minds on Christ, right? It's wonderful. It's wonderful. Look at the words here. Finally,
brethren. Now here's a sum. Here's a sum. Verses 8 and 9 are a sum of the
exhortation which Paul's given us above. And note the word finally. Okay. He's coming to the end
of his exhortation. And note who it's to. It's not to the world, is it? Finally, brethren. Well, if we're
born again, that's to us. That's to us. These exhortations
from the Holy Ghost are given to the church and only to the
church. The letters written by Paul are
to the church. To exhort the unregenerated to
think on these things that are true and honest or just or pure
would be like bidding the Ethiopian to change his skin or the leopard
his spots. It can't happen. Unsaved people,
they can read these verses, but they won't understand them. And
to bind them to these things, They don't even want it. But
we, who are the people of God, we read this, and it's an exhortation
to us, isn't it, Brother Brian? It encourages us to think on
these things. Isn't that amazing? We were once
where we didn't care about these words. Now they're like gold
to us. Isn't that amazing? Isn't God
so good? My, oh my. So, beloved God, here
are some things we should meditate upon, some things that we should
dwell upon through the week, some things that we should think
upon. Let's read verse 8 again. 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 a good report, if there be any virtue,
if there be any praise, think on these things. Now the Holy Spirit has given
us this verse, right? He's the true author of
these words, not Paul. And God knows we're but flesh. God
knows how weak we are, so he sets us in front of us. Isn't
that amazing? Now, we had no appetite for this
before we were saved. No appetite for the truth, did
we? We didn't even know what it meant
to be justified. We didn't know Christ was the
son of God, God incarnated in the flesh. We'd heard that. Oh,
he's the son of God. Oh, okay. I didn't know who he
was. Did you? Didn't have a clue. So we see here the first thing
that the Holy Spirit of God sets before we believers, right? Because
finally brethren. So believers, true born again,
blood washed saints, finally brethren. Here's the first one. First thing the Holy Spirit of
God sets before us to think upon is whatsoever things are true. Who is truth incarnate? The Lord Jesus Christ. He never
lied. Everything he spoke was true.
As a matter of fact, he called himself the way, the truth, and
the life. He's the Word of God. He's God
in the flesh. Now that is the primary one who
we should be thinking upon, right? So what he's saying to us is,
you get distracted in this world, you get worked up, look to Christ. Keep your eyes on Christ. And
Brian, we've tested that, haven't we? We get all worked up about
stuff going on, and I just start looking to Christ? You know what,
I actually stopped watching the news, not because I'm better
than anyone else. Nope, not at all. And I still
know what's going on, because it pops up on my screen still,
but I don't have to have those guys get me worked up. It's all fear-based. My God's
in control. He put Trump in president. He
put Biden in president. He put Trump in. He put Obama.
And he got us through it all, didn't he? And nothing's changed
in our lives, has it? Now, down the road, there may
be some persecution for believers. We don't know. There may be. Well, so be it, right? Whatever the Lord wills, we rest
in Him. We look to Him. He's our King. He's our Lord. He's our Master. He's our Redeemer. He's our God,
the one true living God. And another thing that's true,
absolutely true, is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
to think upon that too, aren't we? Yeah. Oh yeah, that's something
I look to. When I get worked up about myself
and my past sins, I just say, oh Lord, thank you for your redeeming
grace. You purchased me with your precious
blood, and all my sins are forgiven. Because my flesh will remind
me how I was, and even the enemy will remind us how we were. Right? This old heart will remind us,
won't it? Oh, I'm covered in the blood. Praise his mighty
name, all my sins are forgiven. Oh my, God forbid, yea, let God
be true, but every man a liar is as written, that thou mayest
be justified in thy sayings and mightest overcome when thou art
judged. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is unquestionably true. As the word of the gospel is
declared, we have the truth declared about what? Sin. Right? When I preach the gospel, I declare
the truth about sin. I declare the truth about we
sinners. Right? We can't save ourselves.
Our sin is going to send us to hell. But for the grace of God,
and it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance.
It's knowing that God saved us. It's amazing. And then the truth,
when the gospel's preached, the truth's declared about salvation,
isn't it? The truth's declared. Because when the gospel's preached,
it's declared that no one can save themselves. But there's
one who saves. The only saviour of sinners,
the Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate in the flesh, who redeemed his
people with his precious blood." Oh, that's magnificent, isn't
it? I love to think upon that, do you? It's wonderful. Makes
my heart soar. It's wonderful. Oh, my. And then the truth is declared
about God, God's Christ, God's anointed one, God's sent one.
Who is that? His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. They also
call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.
That's why he came. Here we are, a bunch of sinners
saved by the grace of God. We who are his people. Isn't
that amazing? Now we've learned who he is,
haven't we? By the declaration of the gospel. This is why it's
so important to keep the gospel as a preacher and as a teacher
in front of the hearers. Because the hope is in him. See,
religion will tell you there's hope in what you do. There's
no hope in what we do. The hope is all in Christ. It's
all wrapped up in Christ. The only hope for a sinner to
be saved is Christ and Christ alone in his redeeming precious
blood. That's it. So I got nothing else
to tell you about but Christ. We can look at other things in
the scriptures, but I'm going to point you to Christ all the
time. Yeah? I'm not going to mess around
with, Brian, 85 things we have to do to be a better Christian,
because you know what? I tried all that. And it doesn't
work. You just fall flat in your face. Why? Because we can't improve
ourselves. We can't save ourselves. And
the only grace we have in us, right, is by the Holy Spirit
of God working that in us. Why do we love each other as
believers? Because we have the love of God spread about in our
hearts. How do we learn about that? Through the preaching of
the gospel. Isn't that wonderful? How do
we learn about God's everlasting love? Through the preaching of
the gospel. How do we learn about how God sent his son to save
his people that he gave to Christ before the foundational world?
How do we learn about how they were saved? Through the preaching
of the gospel. He went to the cross and shed
his blood, the perfect sinless substitute dying in our Roman
place. Listen to this. Our Lord said
this in this truth that sets sinners free. John 8, 32, and
ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Who's the truth? Christ. The truth that we're a bunch
of dirty, rotten sinners, but we're saved by the grace of God
in Christ with no merit within us and nothing in us that would
recommend us to God. Isn't that wonderful? What a saviour. What a saviour. Hmm. And it's the truth of the
gospel, the truth of God's glorious grace to us. Christ Jesus, that
truth, which is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit of God. Christ
himself, who is the way, the truth, and the life. He will
set the sinner free. Brian, he set us free, didn't
he, Brian? Amen. What a Redeemer. We don't need
no more religious works we got to do. We just look unto our
King. Isn't that wonderful? That's wonderful, hey sister.
That's glorious. My. Warms our soul, hey sister
Dee. Warms our soul. I ask you this, how can Christ
and the Word of Truth be separated? It can't. It can't. The gospel's all about Christ.
The word of truth, the scriptures, can't be separated from Christ
because the law and the prophets, they testify of Him. Isn't that
amazing? So to know Christ, trust Him
as your Savior, because He has to reveal Himself to us, is to
be set free from the penalty of sin, to be set free from the
curse of the law, to be set free from the power of darkness, to
be set free from the practice of sin. Even though we're still
sinners, it's not something we seek to do, even though everything
we do is tainted with sin. But now we're convicted of it,
aren't we? Now we hate it. And finally, and finally, Brother
Chris, at the day of our departure, to be separated from sin. Whoo, my! What a day that'll
be to never sin again. We can't imagine, can we, Sister
Barb? We can't, but it's going to be true. They're coming, they're
coming a day when we're never going to have a thought sin again.
We're never going to have a sin that we do. We're going to be looking at
our Redeemer forever. All because of His mercy and
grace. That's wonderful. Oh my. So let we who are the
people of God think upon the truth, the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Lord, and the glorious gospel of salvation, which is the truth
too, in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's read verse
eight again. 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,
if there be any praise, think on these things. So we see the
second thing the Holy Spirit points out to us, sets before
us as brethren, right, because it's to the church, is to think
upon whatsoever things are honest. Now, honest is a translation
of a word which was used in classical Greek in the sense of venerable. So we think honest is truth,
right? This Greek word means venerable. Listen to this, it
gets even better. Inviting reverence. And then
I like the last part of it. Worthy of reverence. Let us think
upon things that are worthy of reverence. Who's worthy of all
our reverence? Who is worthy? Tell me, beloved.
Amen, sister. Christ. Jesus Christ. He's worthy
of all reverence, isn't he? That's right. He's worthy of
it all. The gospel of God's grace is
worthy of reverence, isn't it? Praise be to the Father for purposing
it, planning it, and executing it. Oh, my. It's wonderful. It just makes our hearts sore,
doesn't it? So that word honest there we
think would be, oh, telling the truth. Well, yeah, but it means,
I love that last one, worthy of reverence. Now, humanity,
when we do things, we like to get the likes. We like to get
the reverence. We like it when someone likes
a post or likes this. Isn't that the big thing now
on social media? You put something up and people like it. Right? You like it when that happens,
don't you? See, what's worthy of our reverence,
what's worthy of our praise, is the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't
that so true? We want to give Him all the glory,
don't we? We want to give Him all the praise. So the gospel
of Christ is indisputably honest, right? And honorable. When God justifies a sinner through
the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, a sinner from the
top of our heads to the bottom of our feet in everything we
do, when God justifies a sinner through the blood atonement of
Christ, That's worthy of reverence, isn't it? That's worthy of praise. My! And you know, God always
justifies the ungodly in His described way. Not in how we
think. But in His described way. That's
how He justifies the sinner. Oh, and actually we're called
the ungodly. And he justifies the ungodly,
his people, in such a way that it fully honors God's law and
it fully honors God's justice. Isn't that wonderful, Vicki?
Isn't that wonderful? It's wonderful, isn't it? Just makes you praise
God for his goodness and his grace and his mercy to us. It's
absolutely incredible. Turn, if you would, to 1 Peter
1. 1 Peter 1. I'm going to read a verse in
Isaiah 42 that ties into this. And think of this. The fact that
God saves sinners is worthy of such great reverence. Worthy
of such great reverence. He saves sinners such as we.
Because there's nothing in us, or there's nothing done by us,
that would make us worthy of that grace and that mercy. As a matter of fact, it's the
opposite. We are totally undeserving, aren't we, brother? Of mercy. And yet, oh, he gives it to us. That's cause for you and I to
have great reverence for our King, isn't it? Great worship.
This is, I love, as I was putting this message here, I was just
getting fired up more and more, because it's wonderful. He's
the only one who's worthy of our prayings. Look at this in
1 Peter. You know, Jesus Christ, the Lord,
He did what Isaiah 42, 21 says. The Lord is well pleased for
His righteousness' sake. He will magnify the law and make
it honourable. The Lord Jesus Christ did that
for we who are His people. He did that for us at Calvary's
Cross. by his perfect sinless offering
of himself as a propitiation for our sins, as a substitute
for our sins. He did that. He honored the law,
he magnified the law, and he made it honorable. He honored
the whole law. Look at this over in 1 Peter
1, verses 18 to 21. For as much as ye know that ye
were not redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold from
your vain conversations received by traditions from your fathers, by the precious blood of Christ,
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, perfect, perfect
lamb, who verily was, what, foreordained before the foundation of the
world, look at that, he's a lamb slain from before the foundation
of the world, but was manifested in these last times for you,
for us, we are a sheep that we'd be saved from all our sins, who
by him, Do you believe in God? Oh, who is the first cause of
us believing in God? Well, it says, who by him? That
means it's by Christ. Isn't that remarkable? My, oh my. I read somewhere somebody
put a post up. I thought this was funny. They
put a post up that they bought a King James Bible at the dollar
store, right? And it still preached God's sovereign
grace. And Calvinism. And of course,
they got a massive amount of replies to that. But it's true,
isn't it? Every Bible you pick up proclaims
God's sovereignty and salvation and providence and all things.
We just don't see it until he reveals it to us. It's there,
though. Look at this. Who by him do believe in God?
It's his work. that raised him up from the dead
and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in who?
Well, it might be in God rather than ourselves. See, if we think
we had something to do with our salvation, then our hope's in
ourselves. Sister, we don't have any hope
in ourselves, do we? Our hope's in Christ, right? 100% in Christ. Mine. You ever found yourself going,
Lord, if I'm not trusting you fully, if I'm not, if I'm not
fully trusting you, oh, Lord, please. I love you. He knows our heart. He knows what this but does,
doesn't he? Oh, my. so that we who are the people
of God can consider and dwell upon this wonderful fact that
God justifies the sinner through the blood atonement of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that is worthy of reverence. Worthy of reverence. Let's read
verse eight again. 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,
if there be any praise, think on these things. So the third
thing we see, set God, the Holy Spirit sets before us to think
upon in this verse is whatsoever things are just. Now the word
just is from the Greek word meaning both just and righteous. Just
and righteous. Here, it means righteous. In
a comprehensive sense, as the believer in Christ is made righteous
before God, being clothed in the righteousness of Christ. So, let us think upon the fact
that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is undeniably just or
righteous. And let us remember who the Lord
is. He's the Lord, our righteousness. And we're clothed in his righteousness,
aren't we? And the gospel is undeniably righteous. The only right answer to the
question of all questions is this. Here's the question of
all questions. How can a man be just? How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? And how can a man be just before
God? Two questions. How can God be
a just God and uphold his justice, and how can a man be justified,
or a woman too, before God? Well, if we look to ourselves,
there's nothing. Not one of us can justify ourselves
before God, which means to make ourselves
fit to be in his presence. Colossians, it says, were made
meat. That word meet is an old English
word that means qualified. We're qualified for heaven through
Christ. Isn't that wonderful? Turn again
if you went to Romans chapter three. Here's the answer to the
question of how can God be just and justify the ungodly, which
is what we are called in our natural state. Look at verses
24, to 26, being justified freely
by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom
God has set forth to be a propitiation, the sacrifice, the offering,
through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. Remember, our righteousness is like filthy rags in the eyes
of the Lord, but Christ's righteousness, oh, it's perfect. He's honored
the law, fulfilled the law. To declare, I say at this time,
his righteousness, that he, God, might be just and a justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. Look at that. Isn't that wonderful?
So the answer to the question of how can God be just and justify
the ungodly is only revealed through the gospel, beloved.
through the gospel, by our great almighty God. And God can show
mercy, but not at the expense of his justice. Listen to this.
Psalm 85, verses 9 to 11. Listen to this. Surely his salvation
is nigh them that fear him, that glory may dwell in their land,
or in our land. Mercy and truth are meant together.
When did that happen? When did mercy and truth meet
together? Calvary's cross. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. When did that happen? Calvary's
cross. In and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness
shall look down from heaven. Oh, where's our King right now?
Where's the Lord our righteousness right now? He's in heaven, isn't
he? Mediating for us. So let we who are the people
of God Consider and dwell upon these three wonderful facts that
we've looked at today. In this fact, may we meditate
upon this, that we are made righteous before God, in and through the
Lord Jesus Christ alone, through his perfect San Antonio work
alone. Amen and amen. Brother Brian, can you close
us in prayer?