We'll be continuing our Christ
is series. This will be number 18 in that. And today we'll be looking at
Christ is our strength. Christ is our strength. But we'll
read the context of the verse that we'll look at. Starting
in verse 10 of Philippians chapter 4. And we'll read down to verse
20. But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly,
that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again,
wherein ye were all so 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." Now just to give you an idea
of the setting here, Paul's in prison. when he's writing this
letter. This is one of the prison epistles.
And so for him to say right here that he's content, that's the
setting. He's actually in prison for preaching
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. 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. There's our text, verse 13. Notwithstanding ye have well
done that ye did communicate with my affliction, now ye Philippians
know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed
from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving
and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent
once and again unto my necessity, not because I desire a gift,
but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. But I have all
and abound. I am full, having received of
Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of
sweet, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing
to God. But my God shall supply all your
need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. Now
unto God, and our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. So our
text will be found in verse 13 for this week. I can do all things
through Christ which strengthen me. Now note the humility of
Paul here in giving all the glory to our great God and King. He
doesn't say I can do all things by my own strength. He says I
can do all things through Christ who strengthen me, which strengthen
me. He gives all the glory to our our great God and King. Now,
before we were saved, we used to say, well, I can do all things,
thinking we can do things in our own strength. And we attempted
to do those things in our own strength. And if he had said,
I can do all things, this would have been a statement of self-righteousness. But look at how he now is a man
born again to the Holy Spirit of God. And how even in this
little verse here, he gives all the glory to God. All the glory
to the Lord Jesus Christ. I can do all things through Christ,
which strengthened me. Through Christ, which strengthened
me. Paul knew that he was a sinner. We know in his writings, he proclaims
that he's the chief of sinners. That he proclaims that he's the
least of all saints. And he's a man who's been humbled
by God, hasn't he? And every believer has been humbled
by God. He humbles us. He humbles us. He's been a man who who's been
humbled by the grace of God, he remember remember he was once
once a proud Pharisee. Very proud Pharisee who probably
thought he could do whatever he pleased. And did things in
his own strength before the Lord saved him. But he's been humbled by the
grace of God. He thought at one time he could do all things by
his own strength, but here, and that was when he was Saul. Now
here's Paul. A man humbled by God. Humbled
by God. A self-denying man. A lowly man. Now remember, this is the man
who wrote books in the, a lot of the books in the New Testament.
And he says, I can do all things through Christ with strength
in me. This is a lowly statement for him. He's putting man himself
down and exalting Christ. Just like John the Baptist said,
he must increase and I must decrease. So he's a humble, meek, lowly,
self-denying man. And here in our verse we see
Paul stating his lowliness in the fact that Christ is the one
who gives him strength. Christ is the one who gives him
strength, and he gives all the glory to the Lord. In the small
statement, I can do all things through Christ. Through Christ. In his adding, through Christ
gives him the glory. Gives him the glory. And only
God is said to be able to do all things. Only God is said
to be able to do all things. And this is who Paul gives the
glory to. And remember who he's given the glory to. God incarnate
in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has given Him all
the glory and all the honor and all the praise. And He, who He speaks of, who
gives Him strength, is our Redeemer, our Mediator, our King. The Lord Jesus Christ. Turn,
if you would, to Job chapter 42. Job chapter 42. And I'll read what Paul wrote
over in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 while you're turning there.
Paul penned these words. He said, By the grace of God,
I am what I am. And his grace was bestowed upon
me. was not in vain, but I labored
more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God
which was with me." And that ties right in with our verse
which says, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens
me. Look at Job 42 verses 1 to 6. Then Job answered the Lord
and said, I know that Thou canst do everything. Everything. And that no thought can be withholden
from Thee. Who is He that hideth counsel
without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Here I beseech thee, and I will
speak. I will demand of thee, and declare
thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear." Heard of him by the hearing of
the ear. But now mine eyes see it thee. That's what happens
when a person's born again. We hear of him, the Holy Spirit
regenerates us, and now we see him. And we don't stop looking
to Christ. We continue to look to Him. And
then look at verse 6. After hearing of Him and seeing
Him by faith, wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and
ashes. He has revealed to Him what He
is and who God is. You see the difference of the
God of religion and the God of Scripture? The God of Scripture
is holy, sovereign. And the God of religion can't
do anything unless you let him. My. But by the grace of God,
first Corinthians 1510, I'll read it again, but by the grace
of God, I am what I am. His grace, which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly Then
they all, yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with
me." It's all the work of God. Any gifts we have, any abilities
we have, comes from Him. Comes from Him. So the truth
of our verse is that the Lord Jesus Christ alone is our strength.
He alone is our strength, beloved. The strength of true believers.
And He's... If it wasn't for Him, we'd fall
a thousand times a day. But he keeps us and upholds us.
And he's not only made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification
and redemption. He's not only our light and our
shield, but beloved, he's our strength. He's our strength.
Turn, if you would, to Colossians chapter three, Colossians chapter
three. We do not only live in him and
by him and through him, but he himself is our life, our life. Look at Colossians chapter 3
verses 1 to 4. If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Set your affection, so we're
to set our eyes upon Christ, and now we're to set our hearts.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life
is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is what? Our
life. He's our life. He's our strength, He's our life,
He's everything. When Christ who is our life shall
appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory. So we are
not only strong in Him, and by Him, and through Him, but He
Himself is our strength. We are weak, powerless without
Him. Without Him, He's our strength.
Now strength is twofold. There's natural strength, some
are very strong in body, right? Some are very strong in body.
And some people take great pride in their strength, in their ability. They're able to lift things or
do things that some others cannot do. Now Samson was the strongest
that we know of who ever lived. But his strength came from the
Lord. His strength came from the Lord. And scripture declares
that he killed a lion and slew a a thousand Philistines with
the jawbone of an ass, and he carried the city gates post all
on his back, and he pulled down the house with two hands, and
certainly the Lord was with him. The Lord was with him in a very
peculiar way, strengthening him. Or he could have not done any
of those things. Samson is a picture of Christ
with his strength, because Christ is our Samson. He's our champion. One commentator brings this.
Samson's strengths which he received from God did not literally lie
in his hair. It lay in his separation and
sanctification and complete dedication to his God and Savior. Samson's strength, like our Savior's
strength as a man, was his consecration to God. And what a lesson there
is for us, we who are the children of God. Here's your strength,
it's in this world. Consecration to God our Savior.
Consecration to Him. And let we who believe on Christ
be, as one commentator said, true Nazarites to God. Now this
physical, natural strength, some have it and some don't. And those
who have it, are often proud of it, are often proud of it. We who are spiritually strong
in Christ, we don't boast in the things that we've received.
We don't boast in our strength in Christ. We boast in the one
who gives us that strength. Christ in Christ alone. So the second strength is a twofold
strength. Of the twofold strength is spiritual
strength. Turn, if you would, to Ephesians chapter 3. Ephesians
chapter 3, which is strength mind and soul called strengthen
the inner man by scripture turn if you would do Ephesians chapter
3 verse 16 But we'll look at the context verse 14 to 21 Ephesians 3 verse 14 to 21 For
this cause I bow my knees unto the father of our Lord Jesus
Christ of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to
be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.
This is the strength Paul's talking about. That Christ may dwell
in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded
in love, and the believer is rooted and grounded in the love
of Christ, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ
which passes knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the
fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to
do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according
to the power that worketh in us, and note that, according
to the power that worketh in us, Remember, the fruit of the
spirit is the fruit of the spirit. It's not the fruit of the flesh.
It's him who works that in us. So it's God working in us. And
again, he gets all that's why Paul's giving him all the glory,
even with the strength that he receives strength from the for
the inner man. Now, think of this. Who's our
worst enemy? Amen, brother, our flesh. Our
flesh. And so when we hear the gospel
preached, when we read the scripture, the inner man is strengthened,
strengthened. And that's what he's saying.
And in 16, that he would grant you, according to the riches
of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his spirit, strengthened
by the Holy Spirit of God in the inner man. So let's go back
to verse 20 now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly
above all that we ask or think according to the power that work
within us. unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus
throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. So just before this
portion, Paul was talking about how it is the working of God
by His grace that had made him a minister. And that it's the grace of God
whereby He proclaims the unsearchable riches of Christ, and that the
church might know the manifold wisdom of God, which is found
in Christ alone. and that their hope would be
in Christ alone. According to the riches of His
glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner
man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye,
being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend
with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height,
and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that
ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Strengthened,
strengthened in the inner man by the Holy Spirit of God. Now this spiritual strength only
comes from God. Only comes from God. God granting
it to the believer and it's only in Christ. Because Christ is
our salvation and he's also our sustainer. Remember that too. He saved us and he sustains us.
He preserves us. He preserves us. He keeps us.
He's the great physician. The great physician. And we can only stand before
the things that come before us by His strength, by His strength. Now, what need is there that
He should be our strength? Well, think of this. Those who
think they have no need will never come to Christ, will never
come to Christ. We saw that in our study on the
Great Physician, didn't we? And the Lord Himself said, I
didn't come for the whole, I came for the sick. is the great physician,
those who are needy, needy. And remember this, that that
which needs strength is what? Weakness. Are you weak? I am. I need strength every day,
all the time, all the time. So that which needs strength
is weakness and we are weak. The believers cry is yes, I'm
weak, I'm weak. We are weak and can do nothing,
nothing, nothing on our own. We've tried haven't we? We who
come out of religion tried. We fell right in our face. And even men who's not in religion
tries by their own strength to gain merit and favor with God.
and it will lead to their eternal doom if the Lord leaves them
in that state. Turn, if you would, to John 15,
verse 5. I love looking at this verse
because this verse really does tell us we can do nothing without
Christ, who is our strength. And this means what we're looking
at here means separate from him, you can do nothing. You can't
save yourself. Look at this, John 15, five,
we'll just look at that one verse, but the vine and the branches,
but look at this. I am the vine and you are the branches. He
that abideth in me, in Christ, the elect are his body. They're
in Christ. And I in him, the same bringeth
forth much fruit. Now look at the last part of
this verse. This verse destroys workspace religions. For without
me, ye can do Nothing. Now let us remember that as believers,
too, and not try to do things in our own strength. But to trust
and rest in Christ, because without him, we can do nothing, nothing
at all. And that's. That's a very plain
statement for us to understand, isn't it? And now it's hard because
because we still battle this flesh, don't we? We still Sometimes
think we have to do things. Hey, but remember God is God
is Satisfied with the sacrifice of Christ and we are in him and
and let us Let us let this burn into our hearts you can without
me you can do nothing and then let us turn that into praise
for our wonderful Savior For our wonderful Savior. So think
of this Outside of Christ, we can't please God. Right? Because who's God pleased
with? Christ. So this verse is so exclusive. So exclusive. Outside of Christ,
we can't satisfy the law of God. Outside of Christ, the wrath
of God. has a claim on us, but praise
be to God in Christ. We are forgiven. The law has
no claim. Justice has been satisfied. The
wrath of God has been turned away, propitiated, turned away. Oh, it's wonderful. Absolutely
wonderful. So we can see without Christ,
we can do nothing, nothing at all, nothing at all. We can't save ourselves, but
oh in Christ we are saved. And we must be strengthened in
the inner man by Christ, by Christ alone. So he becomes, just like
Paul wrote, our all in all. You see how scripture continuously
ties in with each other? Continuously. If you see a scripture
and you can't find other ones to match with it, there's always
something to match with it. There's always a scripture that
backs up another scripture. Just let the Lord reveal it to
you. It's wonderful. So we are weak
and needy creatures. But the believer cries in our
weakness. He is strong. Remember that no
matter what comes our way, trials, tribulations, because they will
come and they do, don't they? And they're often painful and
they're hard. But remember, Lord, you are my strength. You are
my rest. If He slay me yet, I'll trust
Him, right? Amen. We just trust Him. We just trust
Him. We're weak in our understanding,
so He must give us an understanding of the Scriptures. He must illuminate
the Scriptures, right? Which strengthen the inner man.
When we read the Scriptures, we get strength from reading
the Scriptures. When we hear the Gospel preached
and hear about our Savior, we're strengthened in the inner man.
We're built up in Christ. And remember, we're also being
conformed, right? Stones made ready. We're being
conformed to the image of Christ, to the various things that we're
going through. It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. So
every time we open the Bible to read, every time we go to
hear a sermon, let us say, Lord Jesus Christ, be my strength.
And strengthen me, please, Lord. Strengthen me by the power of
the Holy Spirit of God. Because we'll never understand
the Scriptures. unless he illuminates it. And God will illuminate the
scriptures for his people. He teaches us, doesn't he? We
come in here sometimes and I've prepared a sermon and I'll preach
the sermon. And it may be just what you need
to hear to strengthen you. And the Lord laid that on my
heart to preach. And I'm learning, too. And I'm being strengthened
as well as I'm studying. It's wonderful. But that's how
the Lord works. And it's all for his glory. It's
all for his honor. and offer His praise, and we
become strengthened in the inner man as the Holy Spirit illuminates
the Scriptures. And again, we're weak and we
need strength, don't we? We need it. And it's Christ who
strengthens us. And we see our weakness on full
display when we hear the Gospel preached, when we read the Scriptures,
we see our own weakness on full display. And praise God if you
do see that, because it's Him who's revealing that to you.
And it's wonderful. Isn't it wild? Before we were saved, we thought
we had to be strong and be able to do all these things. After
the Lord saves us, we see our absolute weakness and we cry
out to God continuously all the time. And when I say continuously,
I mean through the day or through the week. That's all. I don't
mean every second, but you know what I mean? It becomes a constant life of
relying upon Him and trusting Him. as our strength, as our
life, as our food, everything, everything. And He is the strength of our
heart. Turn, if you would, to Psalm 73. Psalm 73. Psalm 73,
verses 24 to 28. Thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Now look at that. Thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. The Lord guides
us through this earth. His sheep, protecting us, watching
over us, strengthening us, giving us grace as we need it, right? And then he receives us to glory.
He receives us to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee?
There's the question. There's no one. When we get the
glory, we're going to see Christ. We're going to see our King.
And there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. My
flesh and my heart fail, but God is the strength of my heart. See, there's what Paul wrote,
right? Christ is his strength. Christ is God incarnated in the
flesh. And my portion forever. Who's
our portion forever? Christ, amen. Christ and Christ
alone. My, it's wonderful. For lo, they
that are far from thee shall perish. Thou hast destroyed all
them that go a whoring from thee. But it is good for me to draw
near to God. I have put my trust in the Lord
that I may declare all his works. And we do that, don't we? We
who trust in Christ, we then live a life declaring the great
things that God has done for us. He saved me. He said. And we marvel in the fact that
he saved us, don't we? Oh, my. And we declare his wondrous
works, and sometimes our faith is weak, just as it was with
the disciples. And sometimes we cry to our great
God and King, the Lord Jesus Christ, just as the father of
a child with an unclean spirit. Mark 9 24 says this in straight
way. The father of the child cried
out and said, with tears, Lord, I believe Help thou my unbelief. Is that not our cry sometimes?
It is, isn't it? Help my unbelief, Lord. We continuously
cry out to the Lord to strengthen our faith and to increase it.
And our Lord does, again, through the reading of the word, through
the preaching of the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace
in Christ. And Christ is our strength. He's
our strength. He keeps us from falling. It's
Him who preserves us. He keeps us from falling by His
strength and by His power. And the believer knows this. We've been taught this, haven't
we? And as I said earlier, if our
salvation was dependent upon us, we'd blow it a thousand times
a day. More than that, probably. But
isn't it wonderful to know that we trust in a God who keeps us? We'll be looking at eternal security
this morning. Do you know the believer is eternally
secure in Christ? Eternally. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. Now think of
that in contrast to religion, which tells you you have to keep
doing stuff. And do you know they never find enough to not
stop you? You always got to do something. What do we have to
do? Rest, trust, repose in Christ. We live a life of faith now,
of trusting in our great God and King. Colossians chapter
one, if you would turn there, Colossians chapter one. And I'll
read Isaiah chapter 32 to which says, oh, Lord, be gracious unto
us. We have waited for thee. Be thou their arm every morning,
our salvation also in the time of strength. So when he says
their arm every morning, their strength every morning. And this
is what we cry, Lord, be my strength. Every day, I need you. Every
day, I need you. I need you to be my daily strength,
Lord. And he is. And our strength is provided
by the arm of God. And who's the arm of God? We
know Christ. Christ is the arm of God. He's
the arm of God. And we have new afflictions every
day, don't we? New afflictions come our way.
And how are we to bear them? I ask you, how are we to bear
them but in the strength of Christ? Think of all the things that
we went through. And again, I do like to look back at how the
Lord's carried us through. Think about things that have
happened in your life, in your walk since the Lord saved you.
Think about this and how it would have probably destroyed you before
you were saved. And you carry it right through. He's your strength. He's your strength. Carrying
you right through all those. And that's why Paul says, I can
do all things through Christ, which strengthens me, which is
our text. So we know from our study in
Colossians that Christ alone is our strength. Paul proclaimed
this in the first chapter of Colossians when bringing forth
the preeminence of Christ as opposed to the teaching of the
false teachers. And we saw that in our study.
Who had come among them teaching works, right? Remember they were
teaching works and secret knowledge that only they could impart?
And Paul, Paul brings forth the preeminence of Christ. That salvation
is in and through Christ alone. Look at look at Colossians chapter
one, verses nine to 14. For this cause, we also since
the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire
that she might be filled with the knowledge of his will in
all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that she might walk worthy of
the Lord and all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and
increasing in the knowledge of God. Strengthened with all might
according to His glorious power. Now there it is right there.
Strengthened by His glorious power. So again, Paul's bringing
forth the preeminence of Christ. Man in religion tries to be their
own strength. And even man before he's saved
tries to be their own strength. I know, I've experienced both. But for the believer, God is
our strength. God is our strength. Strengthened with all might according
to His glorious power unto all patience and longsuffering with
joyfulness. That wasn't us before the Lord
saved us, was it? Going through things and stuff.
But, well, now we endure things that the Lord puts us through,
right? Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet.
Now that word meet there means qualified in the Greek. qualified to be partakers of
the inheritance of the saints in life, were qualified for heaven
by Christ Jesus our Lord. Qualified by him. So again, Paul
is bringing forth the preeminence. And look at this marvelous verse.
Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated
us into the kingdom of his dear Son. We were once under the power
of darkness, dead in trespasses and sins, had no care for God
and the things of God, And we have been translated into the
kingdom of his dear son. In whom we have what? Redemption
through his blood. It's all Christ. Even the forgiveness
of sins. How many sins? All of them. All
of them. It's wonderful. All of them.
But note in verse 11 where our strength comes from. Strengthened
with all might according to his glorious power. So that ties
right in with Philippians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ
which strengthen me. It is His strength that keeps
us, and it is His strength that upholds us. It's His strength
that empowers us, because we know we have no strength to accomplish
these things. So let us ponder the strength
of Christ. This is divine strength, divine
strength. We need his strength to empower
us and to keep us and to strengthen us through this life. We are
weak, but he is strong. And think of this. I want us
to think of this. We are in his everlasting arms.
The arms of strength. Divine arms. We are in the everlasting
arms of Christ. Those arms hold us, those arms
comfort us, and we are strengthened by those arms, by Christ. According
to His glorious power, not according to our power, as we do not have
the power, but all in and through Christ, who is the power and
wisdom of God. And He has made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Let's last look
at our text one more time. I can do all things through Christ
which strengthened me. So let us marvel in the strength
and the power that was on display at Calvary's cross. Let us marvel
in the strength and power that was on display at Calvary's cross.
When Christ purchased us, when Christ redeemed us with his own
precious blood, how he endured the wrath of God, which was deserved
us. And then he cried, what strength?
And remember, he gave up the ghost. He willingly gave up his life.
And then he cried, it is finished. What strength was on display
at the cross? What power was on display at the cross? Oh,
and then think of that. What power and strength is on
display there? And we know that he is the one
who Paul's writing. I can do all things through Christ,
the God man, God incarnate in the flesh, which strengthened
me. And the believer says, praise his praise, his name. Give him
all the glory. Let's go, Lord. Heavenly Father,
we thank thee for this time. And we thank you, Lord, knowing
that we are weak and that we can do nothing on our own, but
seeing today that you are our strength. You are the one who
keeps us, and we thank Thee for that. We pray that You'd be glorified
today and magnified in the preaching of Your Word, that our hearts
would be turned to You. We love Thee because You first
loved us. In Jesus' name, amen.