Well, this really is a place
I consider home. I've had four children be a part
of Crossroads over the years. They've all attended and graduated
from the Master's College, and so they've all been under the
influence of Crossroads, and what a joy that is as a father
to know that your children are being well taught in the Word
of God. So this is a very special room
for me. I've taught in here during Shepherd's
Conference, I did George Whitefield in here a few years ago and it
was packed out just like it is and people were standing all
around the outer edges and I just have such great memories being
in here. And preaching at Resolved and
being with many of you, those have been life-impacting moments
for me. And I go back even before Resolved
to the college winter retreat in Oxnard and I don't even know
where these other places are, it's just traffic wherever it
is. And so, my heart is in this fellowship and in this room and
with so many of you. Now, Austin Duncan has become
such a dear and precious friend to me. He's just Barnabas on
steroids. He is son of encouragement. And
it's just always encouraging me, so I just love being here
so that I can have more encouragement. And Christopher G. has become
a good friend of mine and let me come down to UCLA on Friday
night and that was really cool. I even got to eat in the cafeteria
at UCLA, so I'm in...I've enrolled now at UCLA. I played football in college,
they red-shirted me my sophomore year, so I actually have one
year of eligibility left. So I think I'm going out for
the team at UCLA and I'll see you at the Rose Bowl, okay? So,
I asked Austin what would be appropriate for me to speak on
in this time. There's any number of selections
to draw from. And Austin encouraged me. He said, why don't you preach
on personal holiness and encourage us and challenge us and teach
us in living a pure and godly life? Those of us who are truly
in Christ, those of us who are saved, that really is our heart's
desire. We want to live in a manner that
is pleasing to the Lord and what pleases God is personal purity
and personal godliness in our lives and He is displeased with
fleshly carnality in our lives. And so I think it would be appropriate
for us to spend a few moments together just thinking about
how we need to be insulated from the world. We live in a world
that's just unraveling like a cheap sweater. I mean, it's just all
around us. And you are living in the city
of sin. I mean, Los Angeles is not Mobile,
Alabama where I live. It's not a small little town
in Montana and there are only bears that live there, okay?
You are where Hollywood is, where all of the... In fact, many times it starts
here in Los Angeles and it spreads to the rest of the country. And
this is where you find yourself and you've got to be on guard
and you cannot let your guard down. So for the text that I
have for us today, and I want to encourage you in this, Philippians
chapter 4 and verses 8 and 9. So if you have your Bibles, which
I'm sure you probably do, turn with me to Philippians 4 verses
8 and 9. And this is going about it maybe
in a different angle as we consider the pursuit of holiness. And
as you're turning to it, just to remind you what the word holiness
means, it means to be set apart. It means to be separate. It means
to be set apart from the pollutions and the corruptions of the world
and to be set apart unto the purity of God Himself. And so, we are in the world but
we are not of the world. It's been said we're to have
our boat in the water but we don't want water in the boat.
We live out on the world, in the world, we live on campus
and we're surrounded by all kinds of influences and it is critically
important that we maintain a pure and holy life. So I want to begin
by reading the text, Philippians 4. Verses 8 and 9, finally, brethren,
whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute,
if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise,
dwell. Dwell on these things, the things
you have heard...excuse me, the things you have learned and received
and heard and seen in Me, practice these things and the God of peace
will be with you. John Stott was a great expositor
and theologian who recently went to be with the Lord. It was a
British pastor and author, died at the age of 90. And John Stott
has written, the battle of the Christian life is the battle
for the Christian mind. That's where it begins. If you
control your mind, you can control your life. And if you lose the
battle for your mind, you will lose the battle for your life. We are made with different components
within us and we all have a mind with which we think and we have
affections which are our desires, our loves, our passions, and
we have a will by which we make choices and carry out the direction
of our lives. And the way God has made you
is everything begins with the mind. Nothing begins with the
will. Nothing begins with the affections. Everything begins with the mind. And the mind then affects your
desires, your ambitions, your emotions, your passions. And the will is very simply the
handmaiden of your affections. Every decision you will ever
make in your life is the decision that you wanted to make. Even if someone walks up to you
and puts a gun to your head and says, give me your money or I'll
take your life, you might say, well I would give my money against
my will and the answer is, no you didn't. You gave your money
because you loved your life more than your money. Every single
decision you will ever make in your life is the decision that
you want to make. The will, again, is simply the
handmaiden. of the affections, of the desires. And Jonathan Edwards wrote a
book called The Freedom of the Will after he was his Northampton
pastorate and R.C. Sproul says it is the most profound
book ever written on American soil. And Jonathan Edwards' entire
argument is that every decision is driven by the affections. But what is controlling the affections?
What is feeding the affections? What is flowing into the reservoir
of your affections? And the answer to that is what
is in your mind. If there is a domino effect,
the mind is the first domino to be pushed. And the mind then
is directly affecting the heart, the emotions, the affections,
the desires and then it is the affections that affect and drive
the will. So control your mind and you
will control your entire life. Let me give you some verses,
still by way of introduction for this, Proverbs 23 verse 7
says, for as a man thinks within himself, so he is. That's who you are, it's what
you are in your mind. As a man thinks within himself,
so he is. Think about the computer, there
used to be an expression a few years ago. Garbage in, garbage
out. The computer is only as good
as the data that is put into it. And it is what goes into
that computer that governs the effectiveness of the computer. And so it is with the computer
of our mind. And so therefore, the mind is
the initial front line battlefield upon which the Christian life
is contested. And you cannot afford to retreat
from that front line of your mind. If you...if you give up
on your mind, if you retreat from your mind, then you are...you
are defeated in your Christian life. God commands us to think
rightly if our lives are to be lived rightly. And our Christian
lives will rise no higher than our thought life, than our mind. High thoughts of God lead to
high and holy living. Gutter thoughts lead to gutter
living. That's why Paul says in Romans
12 and verse 2, Do not be conformed to this world. He's not talking
about the fashion that you would wear or the car you would drive
necessarily. He's actually talking about do
not let your mind be conformed to the thinking patterns of this
world. He says, do not be conformed
to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Your mind is like the rudder
of the ship. Your mind is what is directing
the entire direction of your life. Change your mind and you will
change your life. Ephesians 4 verse 23, Paul writes,
be renewed in the spirit of your mind. That is to say, we must
be ever and always renewed. being renewed in our minds. There must be continually truth
being put into our minds to be daily renewing our minds. Jesus said in Matthew 22, 37,
you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with
all of your soul, and with all of your mind. And there it's
in the climactic position, everything building up to your mind. First Peter 1.13 says, prepare
your minds for action. Not prepare your feelings for
action. Prepare your mind for action. Colossians 3 verse 2 says, set
your mind on things above and not on things of the earth. And so it is this emphasis upon
the mind. and our inner thought life that
Paul underscores in these verses in Philippians. Let me say this,
one more bit before we dig into this text. You will become like
what you set your mind on. Here's a fundamental principle
of life. Like produces like. Apple trees do not produce oranges. Apple trees produce apples. Like produces like. And so it is in the Christian
life. And if you set your mind on trivial things, you will live
a very trivial life. If you set your mind on filthy
things, you will live a filthy life. If you set your mind on
heavenly, holy, godly things, you will live a heavenly, holy,
godly life. That is what is controlling your
life. So these verses that we are looking
at today in verses 8 and 9 really provide a grid. a checklist, a template to help
us in areas where the Bible does not specifically address that. Legalism would be for me to stand
here today and say, you cannot watch this television program,
you cannot go to this concert, you cannot go to this website
and name that out. That would be legalism. What the Bible does is give you
the principles, gives you the framework. And if your conscience
is clean and clear before God, it will direct you in making
the right decisions. Now many are painfully obvious. You know certain places and certain
stimuli in front of your eyes. If you're breathing and you're
a Christian, you know that that's wrong. But there are some other
areas that we call gray areas that sometimes kids in college
like to dabble with, like to put their toe right up next to
the edge of the water, like to put their toe into the water
and sometimes then the ankle and then the knee and then the
waist. What our text does today is it
gives you, and I want this to be very personal to you, this
gives you a checklist on what you should be allowing before
your eyes, what you should be allowing into your head, what
you should be allowing into your ears, control...understand this, if
this text will control your mind, your Christian life will be headed
in the right direction. Now as we look at these two verses,
verses 8 and 9, I want to ask four questions. I want to raise
four questions and answer these four questions. And this is the
outline for the passage. This will be so easy to follow
with me. Here are the four questions.
Who is addressed? What is required? How is this done? What is the result? Those are
simple steps that we will take to walk through this passage
and those four questions really are the order in which these
verses are written. So question number one, first
main heading of thought for us today. Number one, who is addressed? Look at the first two words of
verse 8. Finally, brethren. And brethren here refers to all
the true believers in the church at Philippi. And now as it finds
itself in the written Word of God, this is addressed to every
church in every generation on every continent in every century.
This is addressed to all believers around the world, and not just
believers in Southern California. But believers anywhere and everywhere,
whatever the time period between the two comings of Christ, this
is directed to all Christians, all believers in every place. If you're a Christian here today,
if you have been born again by the Spirit of God, if you have
denied yourself, taken up a cross and become a true follower of
Jesus Christ, this verse has your name written on it. This
is direct mail for you. If you know Christ, this is for
you. So finally, brethren, second,
what is required? And this is going to take a little
bit more time under this second question because this is a big
question. What is required? What does God
require of me? That is the question that is
on the table. And at the end of verse 8, Paul
prioritizes the mind in the pursuit of holiness because Paul understands
if we will bring our mind under a certain control, that will
affect the direction and the trajectory of our entire Christian
life. So he says at the end of verse
8, dwell on these things. You see that there, dwell on
these things. In the margin of the New American
Standard Bible, it says, ponder these things. It means to think
on these things. And not just to have a glancing
thought, it speaks of really an ongoing focus. Set your mind
on these things. It would be important for you
to know this is a command. This is an imperative command. This is not an option for all
of us here today. This is not a suggestion that
Paul is making to us for those of us who want to get to the
next level of our Christian growth here today. No, if you are a
Christian and if you are believing, a believing Christian, this is
is a command to you. Obey this and your life will
be pleasing to God. Disobey this and your life will
be displeasing to God. Now this verb dwell comes from
a Greek word, I'm going to say the word, I don't normally say
them, I'm going to say this one because you're going to hear
the English word, logizomai, logarithms. It's a mathematical term and carries the idea of studying
and calculating and adding up and coming to a bottom line. And when you are in math, you
have to think. I remember when I was in college
and I determined I wanted to go to law school and I had to
get my GPA up. I went and took all the math
classes that I could because I could think through math problems
and that elevated my GPA so I could get in law school. That's the
very word that is used here for dwell, logizomai . It's a word
that speaks of great concentration. The word means to evaluate, it
means to consider, it means to calculate, it means to take into
account, it means to reckon, it's an accounting term, to add
it up, think carefully as you do the math. That's...that's
the word here and as it comes into this verse, it's referring
to our mental focus. Now this verb that is a command,
it's also in the present tense. Which is to say, every moment
of every day, we are to be dwelling on these things. Now this points
to continuous action, continuous activity. It is to be our constant
ongoing lifestyle. In other words, it's not just
Sunday morning we set our minds on things above, it's Monday
morning, Monday night, Friday night, Saturday night, no matter
where you are, no matter what you're doing, this is to be the
path and the lifestyle that we are on. We are never off duty
from this command. It is ever and always binding
upon us. as we live the Christian life. Now Paul in this verse, verse
8, gives us eight godly virtues that should govern our thought
life. These are the parameters of a
wholesome thought life that brings honor to God. These are eight
defining marks that help us discipline our minds
to think about these...to think about whatever it is that's going
on around us. So I want us to look at each
of these...of these eight. The first six begin with whatever
and the last two begin with the word if. Nody begins, whatever is true. This is what you're to be focusing
upon and concentrating on as we live in this sinful and adulterous
generation. We are to be dwelling upon what
is true. That is the opposite of what
is false. That is the opposite of what
is a lie. It is the opposite of what is
dishonest or unreliable. This word true means authentic,
genuine, honest, reliable, faithful. And it's front-loaded at the
very beginning of this verse because if we go astray with
our mind at the very outset and we're setting our mind on the
fantasy of what is false, our ship has left the dock, our mind
has begun to drift and it is taking our entire life with it. Instead, we must dwell upon,
set our mind upon what is true. Ephesians 4 verse 25 says, we
are to lay aside falsehood and speak truth. Our mind must dwell
on what is true. Well, where will you find what
is true? In the inspired, the inerrant
and the infallible Word of the living God. Whatever the Bible
says something is, that's the way it really is. Whatever the
Bible says sin is, that's what sin is. Whatever the Bible says
about heaven, or hell, or salvation, or marriage, or courtship, or
anything, that's the way it is. And so we must dwell upon what
is true as it is found in Scripture as well as that which is in the
world that is brought into alignment and is not in contradiction against
the Scripture. Obviously there's a lot of thoughts
out there in the world that are not arising from the Word of
God, but if we are setting on our minds upon that which is
contrary to the truth of Scripture that is in reality the lies of
the devil, that will have an enormous effect upon our pursuit
of holiness. I think of Psalm 1 verse 1 and
following, how blessed is the man. who does not walk in the
counsel," that deals with the mind, who does not walk in the
counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit
in the seat of scoffers, but His law is in the...His delight
is in the law of the Lord and in His law He meditates day and
night. Do you want...do you want to
be blessed? then do not walk in the counsel
of the wicked. Be a tree that is rooted and
grounded in the Word of God." The second word, note, whatever
is honorable. This word honorable means whatever
is noble, whatever is lofty. Whatever is rightly elevated,
whatever is dignified, whatever is revered, whatever is majestic,
whatever is august. And Paul is saying, get your
mind off of low base things and set them upon lofty high things. In other words, get your mind
out of the gutter, get your mind off of polluted things and set
your mind on honorable things. Think about those things that
are ethically pure, those things that are principled, those things
that are decent and moral and good and upstanding and upright. And again, this drives us back
to the Word of God, does it not, to be the anchor point for our
lives. All that we find in the Word
of God is honorable and elevated. We've opened the Bible and we
find the honoring of God and Jesus Christ, Christian marriage,
the family, sexual purity, motherhood, fatherhood, hard work, honesty. But in the world, we find the
very opposite, the dishonoring of God, the desecration of Christ,
the disgracing of purity, the decline of family values. He says, no, we must set our
mind on those things that are honorable. Third, whatever is
right. This word means whatever conforms
to God, to God's character, to God's Word. It describes whatever
is in harmony with God's being. In other words, set your mind
on whatever is righteous. and just and equitable and proper
and fair and trustworthy. Those things that are law-abiding
according to the moral law of God written in His Word. And
then number four, whatever is pure. We understand what that
word pure means. It means that without any mixture
of impurities. That which is pure. chase, that
which is wholesome, that which is blameless, that which is virtuous,
that which is unstained, that which is unblemished, that which
is clean, whether it be thoughts, words, deeds, fill your minds
with whatever is pure and holy. This refers to what is uncontaminated. by the pollution of this evil
world system, that which is unmixed with filth, that which is unadulterated
with moral corruption. Instead, set your mind on that
which is flawless and without moral blemish. Number five, whatever
is lovely. And as Paul is laying out these
words, he's really...it's like a frame around a picture. It
provides the parameters and everything inside the parameters set your
mind on these things. And everything that doesn't square
with these words, do not set your mind on those things because
it will have a direct effect upon your spiritual condition. and the way you live your life.
So number five, whatever is lovely. The idea really speaks of beauty. It speaks of the beauty of holiness. It speaks of ethical beauty.
This means set your mind on what is pleasing to God, that which
is winsome, that which is sweet and gracious. and generous. We as believers must be setting
our mind on those things that God would have us set our minds
upon. Number six, whatever is of good
repute. Literally that means what is
well spoken of, highly regarded, highly regarded by God. Highly
regarded by those who know God, the idea is well respected. And
again, it carries the idea of moral attractiveness. It refers to that which is respectable
before God, that which is credible, that which is well thought of
or well spoken of. by God or by one who would know
the Word. It's the very opposite of Ephesians
5 verse 4 which warns against this. It says, let there be no
filthiness, no silly talk, no coarse jesting be among you which
is unfitting. Verse number 7 adds one more
plank to the frame. If there is any excellence, the
word excellence here refers to moral excellence, mental excellence,
spiritual excellence. Synonyms would be virtuous, righteous,
good, exemplary, ethical. This is what our mind is to be
focused upon. And then finally, He says, if
anything worthy of praise. That is to say, if we were to
stand before God before His throne of grace and this was to be introduced,
it would be worthy of praise before God. William Hendrickson,
the great Bible commentator, comments at this point and he
says, nothing that is really worthwhile for believers to ponder
and take into consideration is omitted from this summarizing
phrase. Anything at all that is a matter
of moral and spiritual excellence so that it is the proper object
of praise is the right. focus for the Christian mind
to gaze. Nothing that is of a contrary
nature, referring to this list, is the right food for a Christian's
thought. In the positive, this would say
our thoughts should be upon the Lord Jesus Christ who is the
embodiment of each of these eight virtues. And our thoughts should
be upon the Word of God which contains principles and instruction
and examples of those who lived long before and we should be
careful what we put before our eyes are what we allow to enter
our ears. Proverbs says, can a man take
a fire into his bosom and be not burned? And the idea is if
you play with fire, you will be burned. So that is what is
required. Do you see what God requires
of us in our practical Christian life? We have been saved by grace
by no good works of our own, but being saved by grace does
not mean that we are free just to live however we want to live.
Having gone through the narrow gate, it leads down only the
narrow path. You can't go through the narrow
gate and then go down the broad path. It's a broad gate, broad
path, narrow gate, narrow path. And this is incumbent upon us
as believers in Jesus Christ. to set our mind on these things.
Now how is this done? Let's get to the practical of
this. How can we be more specific in winning the battle for our
minds? How can we be...have greater
clarity in the application and dwelling on what is right? Well verse 9 will give us the
answer to this. And I want to first just read
verse 9. The things you have learned and received and heard
and seen in me, practice these things." Commentator Peter T. O'Brien writes, it is inappropriate
to drive a wedge between verses 8 and 9. There is a direct connection
between the things at the end of verse 8 and the things at
the beginning of verse 9. And O'Brien adds, verse 9 is
closely conjoined with the preceding verse, or verse 8. So as we look
at verse 9, it is inseparably connected to what we just looked
at in verse 8. And what Paul is saying to the
Philippians is... Look at my life and you will
see how to put this into practice. Paul calls for the Philippians
to imitate him in all of these matters of what he is setting
his mind upon. They should pattern their lives
after what Paul said and after how Paul lived and Paul would
become the example for them regarding setting their mind. Now you'll
note there are four verbs at the beginning of verse 9, learned,
received, heard and seen. It's a fourfold division there
and Paul is saying to them, in each of these four areas, you
should take my example to heart and you should emulate me." We
all need a role model. We all need a mentor. We all
need someone in the flesh, an incarnation of the Christian
life being lived out before us. That's what discipleship is.
It is one life on another life. And that is what Paul is saying
here. Now let's look at each one of these. The things you
have learned, that is what Paul taught them when he was with
them. when he preached to them." Paul
went to the city of Philippi in Acts chapter 16. And Paul
was thrown into prison and he was singing praises to God and
the Philippian jailer was converted and out of that a church was
birthed in Lydia's house and Paul was the founding pastor,
if you will, though for a short time, and he preached to the
Word of God, he preached the Apostles' teaching to them and
Paul is saying to them, For you to put this into practice, you
need to...you need to remember those truths that I taught you
and to practice them." Then the next verb, received. That is
what they had read from Paul. That is the divine truth that
was transmitted to them by way of this epistle. and by other
means of getting the message to the Philippians. It was really
what they had set before their eyes that had been written by
Paul and come to them. And then what is heard, that
is what they heard about Paul. The
reference is probably to Paul when he was in prison there in
Philippi, how it became known how he responded in that crisis. As he and Silas are imprisoned
and are in chains, they have been beaten up, they have been
persecuted, they have suffered greatly for the gospel of Jesus
Christ. And when we read in the book
of Acts, in Acts chapter 16, it says it was midnight and they
were singing praises to God. They were probably singing, every
day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before. And that began
to circulate. And people began to talk about
the triumphant spirit that was in Paul and Silas, and even in
their time of adversity, they nevertheless had a strong faith,
they were not whining, they were not complaining, they were triumphant
and victorious, even in prison. That's probably the reference
here on those things which you have heard, what they had heard
about how Paul responded to his difficulties and to his trials. And then finally, the verb seen.
the things which you have learned and received and heard and seen."
That is what they observed directly in the life of Paul as he lived
before them. As he lived his Christian life
before the watching eyes of these new believers, Paul is calling
them to model their life after Paul. Now this verse goes on, he says,
the things which you have learned and received and heard and seen
in me. When he says in me, he's referring
to the Christlikeness in me. It's a reference to Paul's life
and ministry. But he then says, practice these
things. Put into practice the Christlikeness
that you see in my life. This too is in the present tense
which means you are to always be practicing these things. And
it's also in the imperative mood, meaning I command you to practice
these things. You must live in a manner that
is consistent with my life, my example and my teaching. In other words, Paul modeled
the message and became a visible example to the Philippians on
how they should pursue godliness and how they should pursue holiness. Someone might argue and say,
isn't this a bit egotistical on Paul's part to say, hey, you
need to be like me? I'm the poster child of godliness.
And there is some truth that taken by itself, we're not to
model ourselves after a man but Christ. But I want to give you
a key verse that I think brings this into focus and it is 1 Corinthians
11 and verse 1, Paul writes to the Corinthians and Paul says,
be imitators of me just as I also am of Christ. Paul is saying,
follow me to the extent that I follow Christ. Model your life
after me to the extent that I am modeling my life after Christ. Every one of us needs spiritual
leaders in our lives, just as Paul is setting himself before
the Philippian believers. Every one of you needs shepherds.
Every one of us need spiritual leaders, elders in the church,
godly pastors, assistants around them who model the message of
the New Testament and whose lives are exemplary as they are lived
before you. That is what Paul is saying to
the Philippians. In fact, in the previous chapter
in Philippians 3 and verse 17, Paul has already said the very
same to the believers in Philippi. This is not a new admonition.
He says, Philippians 3, 17, brethren, join in following my example
and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. This is certainly a challenge,
is it not, to Austin Duncan, Christopher Gee, John Martin, others, to be able
to say to this vast group of people, you need to live your Christian
life like my Christian life. That's exactly what Paul is saying.
Every one of you needs to be connected to this ministry. It's
not enough just to download messages. You need the example being lived
out in front of you of how they pursue holiness, about how they
dwell on those things that are right and true and honorable
and lovely. This is what Paul is saying to
the church. In Luke 6 verse 40, Jesus said,
everyone after he has been fully trained will be like his teacher. You will begin to mimic the one
who is closest to you in the spiritual life. Have you ever
noticed how different parts of the country have different accents?
In the south where I live, two-syllable words become ten-syllable words. And it's just subconscious. No
one starts out trying to talk that way. It just happens that
way. And so it is in the Christian
life. It's as much caught as it is taught. by observation
of the Christian lives of others who are your shepherds and who
watch over you. And when you are disconnected
and on the periphery, you don't have the example and the model
of how to make choices in your life and how to put it into practice. And so Paul is calling upon the
Philippians here in verse 9. And what a humble yet bold statement
this is. The things you have learned and
received and heard and seen in Me, practice those things." That's
why in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 it says, the elder must be
beyond reproach and gives the spiritual qualifications for
one to serve as an elder or serve as a pastor in the church because
there's a trickle-down effect from the top down to the bottom.
And how the spiritual life is lived at the top is the kind
of influence and impact that will come upon those who are
following. But let me say, you are in a
great church and you are in a great college and career ministry. You have not only the Word of
God being taught to you here, you have men and you have some
women who are working with the women who model the message. and who are living, breathing
examples of the Lord Jesus Christ. You need to guard your mind when
you're in your dorm, when you're out on Friday night. This may
sound a bit old school. It's so old it's called the New
Testament. If it's new, it's not true. The Bible calls us back to old
paths, Jeremiah 6, 16. And this is what God sets before
each and every one of us. Every time you open that computer,
every time you go surfing, every time you're looking around, every
time you get up with a group and you head to a movie, every
time you go to a concert, every time you turn on television.
Every time you start to play music, every time you hang out
down at the end of the hall and the jokes and the stories are
being told, wherever you go, whatever you do, you are to be
dwelling upon what is right, what is true, what is honorable,
what is lovely, what is worthy of praise what is marked by moral
excellence, and if you will, it will elevate your Christian
life and you will live in a manner in which you will more fully
experience the abundant life that is in Christ. Now there's
a final question that I want to ask and it's at the end of
verse 9. We have seen who is addressed
and what is required and how do we put this into practice,
but at the end of verse 9, there's one final portion that I want
us to see, what is the result? Because this does sound rather
narrow, doesn't it? It does sound almost maybe too
confining. What's the payoff? What will
this get me? Where will this take me? If I
say no to certain things, if I say yes to the right things,
how will it affect my Christian life? Where will I end up? What will be my internal personal
experience? And at the end of verse 9, Paul
says this, and I'm so glad that he does. He says, and the God
of peace will be with you. Now let me tell you, first of
all, God is with you no matter where you go. So that's not the
meaning of this, the omnipresence of God in that sense. You can
even go to hell and God is with you, He will be there to inflict
your punishment. God is everywhere present. So
that is not the intent of what Paul is saying. When he says,
the God of peace will be with you, he is saying that God will
be with you in a very unique and special way that He as the
God of peace will give you His supernatural peace within your
heart and within your soul. And if you do not set your mind...
on these things, you will forfeit all peace. You will be...you will be ever searching and never
finding what the heart yearns for. And you will be pushing the fences
out just a little bit more and a little bit more. trying to
find what only God can give to those who pursue personal purity. The God of peace means that He
is the God who is the source of all peace. and that God and
God alone can give to you the contentment of heart, the tranquility
of spirit, the contentment of life, joy, gladness, happiness,
all of these other partners with peace, it comes from God and
God alone. Jesus said, My peace I give unto
you. Not peace as the world gives
and the peace that the world gives is not true peace, it is
a false peace, it is a fake peace. Not as the world gives, My peace
I give unto you. Jesus said those words the night
before He was crucified and He knew He would be crucified the
next day. Yet He was a man full of peace in the darkest hour
of His life. And the very peace that was in
His heart is the very same peace that He gives to you and me.
And you and I will never face a trial or face an adversity
that would exceed the hour of His crucifixion and the peace
that He had. was a real, eternal, lasting
peace. We see a man headed to the cross.
We do not see him shrinking back. We do not see him howling like
an animal. We do not see him having an emotional
meltdown or a nervous break, or that kind of thing. We see
a man who is controlled by peace. If you will win the battle for
your mind. and set your mind on these things,
what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and
of good repute, that which is excellent and worthy of praise.
And if you will follow the example of godly spiritual leaders before
you, how they process through the issues of life, and if you
will receive the instruction of the Word of God that has come
down to us from the Apostle Paul, just like it came to the Philippians,
you will know the peace of God that surpasses all comprehension. Look at verse 7. And the peace of God. which surpasses
all comprehension." That means it's unfathomable, it's incomprehensible. It is such a supernatural piece
that it exceeds the human mind's ability to process the quality
of it. The peace of God which surpasses
all comprehension will guard." That word guard means to...it's
a military word and a fortress and an enemy is storming against
it and railing an attack against this castle of a fortress. And the peace of God will guard
and fend off all anxiety and worry and negative emotions. The peace of God will be triumphant. and will guard your hearts and
your minds in Christ Jesus. So I want to conclude this message
where I began. I want to help you. The battle
of the Christian life is first and foremost the battle of the
Christian mind. Godly thoughts will lead to godly
living. Holy thoughts will lead to holy
living. Base thoughts will lead to base
living. So guard your mind. Set it on
the Word of God. Follow the example of those who
minister to you and you will be pointed in the right direction. If you're not a believer in Jesus
Christ, there is no way that you could have this peace. If
you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, you are in the midst
of turmoil and conflict and there is only one way to have peace
with God and the peace of God and it is for you and your mind
to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and to know the truth that Christ
died for sinners upon the cross and that it is the only atonement
by which we may be made right with God and within your own
heart to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He
has been raised from the dead and as an act of your will to
make the decisive choice right now. to believe upon Jesus Christ,
to cross the line, to enter through the narrow gate and to give your
life to Jesus Christ. If you have never truly believed
upon Christ, this very moment I call you to surrender your
life to the One who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords
and He is the Prince of peace and He will bring His peace into
your life. Let us pray. Father in heaven,
thank You for Your instruction to us that You would so lay out
the parameters for us of what we are to set our mind upon.
We are so grateful for the precision of this instruction. I pray that
You would give us grace, give us the enablement of the Holy
Spirit to resist temptation. and to pursue holiness in this
life. May You give these students and
these young men and women, may You give them the grace to pursue
godliness. In Jesus' name, amen.