Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayer for attention to Paul's epistle to the Philippians, chapter four and part of verse eight. We'll read the whole verse, but the word upon my spirit is the last four words. Think on these things.

The whole verse reads, 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. Philippians chapter four and verse eight.

We read in our first reading in the gospel according to Luke, and we read in chapter two of Mary. Mary had heard the tidings from the shepherds as they related what they had seen and heard from the angels. And we read in verse 18 of chapter 2 in Luke, and all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But then we read concerning Mary, but Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. In other words, she thought over these things. Carefully considered them, thought over them, pondered them. What did they mean? What was bound up with it? What was coming? What was the Lord doing?

We didn't read it, but later on in that chapter when it refers to when our Lord was 12 years of age and he was found there in the temple, we read again, Mary, after she had heard her son say, how is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my father's business? And they understood not the sayings which he spake unto them. And then we read, but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

So the things that are not understood, things that cannot be put together and really realize what is being said, and yet they're kept, they're not forgotten, and they're thought over, they're pondered, and how vital that we do have right, good, solid things to think and ponder over. This is what the apostle is setting forth with the Philippians. think on these things.

What is so vital is that we have the new birth. We are born again. And one great mark of that change, of that new birth, is that we are willing to be taught. We are willing to consider what we think about and to make those thoughts right thoughts, that we are willing to be directed into right ways. I think that really is a beautiful summary of the new birth. Whatever might be said that describes the new birth or accompanies it, There's one thing, thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, given a hearing ear, willing to hear, willing to be taught, willing to think right things, and then from those thoughts, as from thoughts flow actions, right actions, we have that in verse 9 following our text, Those things which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do, and the peace of God shall be with you.

The verses leading up to our text prepare for it. Verses six and seven. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, Let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. If we are to come to a subject like this and just think, well, we can just launch in and list a whole lot of things that we are to think about or things we're not to think about, And we leave off prayer, we leave off supplication, we leave off thanksgiving, we leave off requests. And we end up with a tumult of mind instead of peace of mind. Instead of the peace of God, we've got the stirring up of the world. There is a preparation, a preparing, you might say, of our minds. that is set before us in the lead up to the text. And may we remember this every time we come into the house of God. We can't just come into the house of God and suddenly there's a turning of the switch and we turn from the world to the things of God with no preparation. The scriptures speak, even in the Old Testament worship, of being sanctified, set apart, A time of preparation, not just rushing in, but a time when we look forward, think of, and pray, and make our requests to God, and bring ourselves, as it were, by God's grace and through answers to prayer, into a right spirit, to be in the spirit on the Lord's Day.

Mindful of that, that we are, of each time that we gather in the Lord's name, what kind of preparation have we had? And our minds, which are the means by which we hear the word, we think on it, meditate on it, ponder it, as Mary did, is the means of the blessing of God coming to the soul. It means that the Lord conveys his word as a word of instruction and teaching and reveals his beloved son. The word that we have before us, we can both look at it in a way of a sieve, that those things that come into our mind It goes through each part of the text as a sieve. And what doesn't come out the other side doesn't get thought on. Also, it sets before us those things that we truly are to think upon, meditate, seriously consider, give time, time with, and aim to put into practice as in verse 9.

Well, I want to note then this morning, firstly, the fallen state of man, evidenced by his thoughts. And then secondly, the keeping of our hearts and minds, predominantly that leading up to our text, verses 6 and 7. And then thirdly, the sieve, eight sieves to put our thoughts through. And then lastly, eight things to think upon.

Firstly, I want to consider the fallen state of man and how that is evidenced in his thoughts. Actions, they proceed from thoughts, and wherever sin gains an entry into our hearts, it will always be in thought first. And if we don't learn to recognize this and to deal with the first thought of sin, and when we think of the Word of God, it says the thought of foolishness is sin. is not a thing of no consequence that we think upon things that are foolish or as what is set forth right back there in Genesis.

In Genesis chapter six and verse five, we read, and God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth. And that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Imagination of the thoughts. Things that are thought up. Things that are not real. Fictitious things. But it begins in the thoughts. And so the Lord brought the flood upon the earth. He destroyed the old world. He saved Noah alive. He brought him to the other side of the flood.

Did that change man's thoughts? Did it make them right? Is there a remedy to that at all? We read then at the end of chapter 8, We read that after Noah came out of the ark that he built an altar unto the Lord, took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl and offered burnt offerings on the altar. We're theotype of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This is what the offerings they pointed to. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour The Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake. Then he says this, for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.

Still it is so. Still it is recognised. And when you think of all of the idols of Canaan, the idols that the children of Israel went after, they're all the imagination, the figment of men's minds to dream these up and to go after those things.

David, when he was encouraging Solomon, In 1 Chronicles, chapter 28, in verse 9, we read this. And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father. It's a wonderful thing, isn't it? Know, do we know the God of our fathers? Do we know the true and living God? This is what David said before Solomon. Know thou the God of thy Father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind. For the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts. If thou seek him, he will be found of thee, but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever. Take heed now, for the Lord hath chosen thee to build an house for the sanctuary. Be strong and do it.

And so David reminds Solomon of this same fact. that God does understand and know what our thoughts and what our imaginations are.

The psalmist in Psalm 119, he says, I hate vain thoughts, but thy Lord do I love.

Our Lord, when he is teaching in Matthew, Matthew chapter 15, He speaks of what is in the heart by nature. And in verse 19 he says, for out of the heart, these are things that defile a man. Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, deaths, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man. But to eat with unwashed hands defileth not. Amen.

And so he sets forth these same things, evil thoughts proceeding out of the heart. This is our fallen nature. And we might say that those that are born again and those that are not, They have the same fallen nature. The new birth does not change the old nature. It gives a new nature. It gives there a desire in that new nature to think what is right, to do what is right, and it will rise up against the desires and thoughts of the old nature.

Many of God's people are troubled because they have these evil thoughts and they think that is a mark of them not being one of God's children. But it is a mark of being part of the fallen sons of Adam. And it's a mark of being one of God's children that we are mindful of thoughts that are inconsistent with holiness and with the Lord, those thoughts that belong to a fallen, corrupt nature, and to be willing that those thoughts be changed, that they be stamped upon, that they be resisted.

Now there is a danger that we can think, well, well, because we are born again, because we are God's children, then his grace is sufficient. He will forgive us our thoughts. He will pardon our iniquities. This is part of my sin. And therefore I will rest in his grace and in his mercy.

But the word of God is very clear and in the portion, where our text is, our very text, think on these things, it sets before us that a child of God is not to sin that grace might abound, but to actually fight against sin and to seek that the thoughts be gathered up. We read in one place that we are to gird up the loins of our minds. And the picture is of a person in Bible times where they wore flowing robes, that if they were going to run, or perhaps even in more recent times with a lady that was wearing a long skirt, if she was going to run, she would hitch up that skirt, she would lift it up so it didn't catch under her feet and in Bible times they'd have a sash and they'd put those flowing robes to be tucked under the sash so that they didn't just flow everywhere unrestrained. And this is the picture. We're not just to let our thoughts go unrestrained every way that Satan tempts them to go, every way that our fallen, lustful nature will direct us to go, every way that the world will point us in. We need to recognize we do have an evil heart and that the work of faith is to be a constant fight and battle reining in and not allowing these thoughts to have any leeway, any time allocated to them, any possibility of growth, anything that shall fuel them and make them to be more stronger and stronger.

And so we are to be mindful of what we are by nature, By grace, the Lord gives that willingness to fight and not to just go with the flow of our old nature. And it gives us the authority to fight. It gives us the assurance that God will help us. And as we walk according to the word and the passage where our text is, and walk according to the directions, we have that authority to believe that God will help and will strengthen us and will bless us.

The world may have many secular remedies and ideas for all sorts of things and to help us in our thoughts, but if it leaves out God, if it leaves out His methods and His way, it will never lead to the Lord, it will never lead to blessing, and though He may be successful, In directing our thoughts away from evil, they will not be directed to the Lord and that which is positively good.

So let us keep in mind that our old nature, its thoughts, they were only evil continually, the imaginations of the heart and mind. So I want to look then secondly at the keeping of our hearts and minds. And this is in verses six and seven. At the end of verse seven we read, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. What is it that shall keep them? Well, you may say in the earlier part of verse 7, the peace of God, that with which passeth all understanding. That is what keeps the hearts and minds of God's people.

Put in Paul's writings of Romans 8, to be spiritually minded is life and peace. To be carnally minded is death. How do we get to be spiritually minded. How are we to know that peace of God? Well, verse six, we have many things that we might be careful over, trouble over, burdened over, things that we spend time thinking upon. Why has this happened? What are we going to do about that? What shall come to pass in the future? All of those things that can be full of care And those cares will direct our thoughts often to things that are not true. They haven't happened, but we think they'll happen. And what is set before us here is, do not be careful for these things. Do not have great care over anything, but in everything. It's a real contrast, isn't it? Be careful for nothing, but in everything. One thing, no care at all, but in everything by prayer and supplication, turning our cares, turning our anxious thoughts.

Our Lord says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. Our Lord is teaching this same thing. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." The prayer is set before us instead of trying to manage it ourselves and in our thoughts. Many sinful thoughts, they begin when we begin without God, and we try to manage them, and we try to think over them. But the apostle sets us to the path of prayer and supplication, asking things, and also mindful, thinking of what prayers we have made, what answers God has given. And it is in this way we let our requests be made known unto God. You might say, God knows them anyway. Yes, he does. But we are told to be making them known unto God.

Prayer is fashioning our thoughts. Prayer is directing our thoughts. This is the leader, this is the keeping of our hearts and minds, which precedes our texts before there is given any direction as to what to think upon or how to put in things through a sieve. How is our heart and mind to be put into a right state. Ready. Ready to think right things. And that comes with these verses before.

Maybe you always remember this. As soon as we get troubled, anxious, careful, alarm bells should ring. Thoughts are going to come from this that are sinful, that are wrong, that lead us away from our God. that we might think also this, this is the very situation here where we need prayer, immediately to pray. You know sometimes our thoughts they come just from our fallen nature, others it is Satan injecting them into our minds, other it is that we see things in the world on the internet or whatever I see through iGate or we hear things and what we see and we hear, that immediately triggers thoughts. Sometimes it might be even a smell. You can smell something and it will bring back to your remembrance something that's been 40, 50 years ago and that will be a trigger. And it should be mindful of those things that are are the triggers that bring these things to just start working in our hearts.

Now Satan puts into our heart, he knows what he's done. He can't read our thoughts, he can't know what is going on inside, he's not like God, all-knowing, but he knows when he has injected thoughts and suggestions, how we react to that. He knows if when he has injected thoughts and via suggestions into a person, if they immediately go to prayer, he knows that they are resisting it, they are grieved because of, and they're seeking help from the Lord outside of themselves. But if he sees them sitting and pondering and thinking and then acting, he knows that he's got them. He knows that that thought is taking root and it is bringing forth fruit. We even can know that. If we say something to someone, we know whether that word has taken fruit by their actions, what they do, whether they're taking any notice of it, thinking of it, or whether they've just rejected it.

And so, how vital. that at the very outset we make things a matter of prayer. We're mindful of God in our thoughts. We're mindful of our need of help. We're mindful of his willingness to help us. It is in that way that our hearts and minds will be kept.

I want to look thirdly at the verse of our text as a sieve. Each of the steps through this text is like a hole in a sieve. If we were to have some soil that had bits of gravel in it, impurities in it, if we were to put it through a sieve, say if we put it through a sieve first that had great big holes in it, as we shook the soil through the big rocks and stones would still remain in the sieve but the smaller ones would go and fall to the ground, they would remain. As we made those holes smaller and smaller, then less and less would actually get through that sieve and come out the other side.

And this verse is like that. We might have a thought, something that we're giving time to and going over, And we put it into a sieve and see what comes out the other side. Now maybe as you put some thoughts into that sieve, now you say, is that thing I'm thinking upon, is that true? So yes, it is true. All right, we'll put that through the second sieve. Is it honest? You say, yes, it is honest. And you say, but is it just? Is it morally right that I should think upon these things? And if it is, then you say, but is it pure? And it may be that though it is past all of those other points, you find out that it's not pure. And so then it stops. It doesn't go through.

But if it goes through that, is it lovely? Is it a good report? Could we take this thought that we've got in secret and we make it known and it be a good report amongst the brethren? Is it a virtue? Is it a high moral standard or not? And is there praise in it?

And so this verse could be like a sieve that you put these things through just because something is true doesn't mean to say it's right that we should think on it because there's many true things that are evil things or not good things or not right things to think of brethren are those things that would fail through this sieve. So this is one way of looking at the verse that is here as a way to sift out our thoughts, whether they really are worthy of our spending time with, or whether they are that which shall begin something small and then get bigger and bigger and more and more sinful and lead then to wrong actions, and doing those things that are wrong.

Having 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. Remember again that this is the inspired, infallible word of God. It is God setting before us those things that we are to think upon. Think on these things that have these attributes.

Well, I want to look lastly at those eight things to think upon. Firstly, is it true? And I want to base this on the scriptures, And especially thinking of this word, is it agreeable to the scripture, or is it just imagination? Is it as the truth as viewed by God, or is it something as viewed by ourselves? We think of Mary pondering these things, She was pondering things that she had actually heard concerning her son of providences that had actually happened and been brought to pass. We all walk through providence, we go through things that the Lord brings into our lives, and those things that are true They're not imagined, we've actually walked them out, we've experienced them. Those are things that we are to think on these things. God does not bring providences for nothing, does not cause things to happen for nothing. Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass when the Lord commandeth it not? Is there not a cause? And so those things that are true because they've actually come to pass, we've been walking them out, that we are to think on these things. How many things we have in our lives, in Providence, things that have happened, that the Lord in effect says to us, think on these things.

The second one is honest. Whatsoever things are honest, not a lie, not a deceit, not twisted to how we want the version to read, but I felt really regarding this monk, And what we said concerning man's heart by nature and the imagination of his heart, we are to be honest with ourselves. And instead of being like the Pharisee that turned his thoughts into words and spoke of how good he was, to be like the publican God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Now, it wasn't just empty words. He had thought on and realised and known of his sinnership. And we need to, if ever we are to be saved, if ever we are to be delivered from our sin, to be honest with ourselves and honest before others, confessing our sins, confessing our need of the Lord's help, and to be saved.

This should be a real mark of the people of God, that we are honest, that we speak every man truth unto his neighbour. But those things that we say as concerning ourselves, that there's an honest confession.

The third one is just. Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ was offered up as a substitutionary offering and sacrifice. Those that believe on Him are justified by all things that they could not be justified by the law. And the justness of Christ's sacrifice is that He took the sins of His people And he suffered in their place. He endured the wrath of God instead of them. He offered himself a sacrifice spotless, acceptable unto God. That sacrifice, it is a just sacrifice. We read through Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, a just balance and a just way are of the Lord. There's not too much paid, there's not enough paid. It's a fair price.

The work of our Lord Jesus Christ is something to really think and meditate upon, that all of his sufferings were necessary, necessary to justly put away our sin, and that he is just. to save his people, to deliver them, to bring them unto heaven, just to have them to be with him on his throne. There's nothing unfair. Everything is morally right and fair in what Christ has done. And we are going to think. on that, if ever there is something to meditate upon, to think upon, it is Christ's sacrifice and suffering for our sin.

The fourth word is that which is pure. One mark which is so different than our fallen nature. The mark of God is holiness and purity. Purity, it speaks of not being mixed with something else. Many of us, we might have a ring, a gold ring, and you say, well, that is pure. But it is not pure. If it was a pure gold ring, that would not wear long at all. It'd soon wear out. It'd be too soft. It wouldn't be durable enough. So it's alloyed with something. It's joined with something that gives it strength and hardness. It's not pure. If something is pure, then it's not alloyed. It's not joined with anything else. It is all gold. Not some gold and something else. It's not something like brass or copper. that is, or bronze, which is joined, copper joined with zinc, it is something that is just pure. It is one metal, one thing. If we have water that is pure, pure water, all it is is water. But if we add something to it, then it's not pure anymore.

And so we're to think of the attributes of God, the holiness and purity of God. We're to think of the true faith of God that is not like the children of Israel as solemnly set forth in Ezekiel, that they serve the Lord and they serve idols. Their worship was not pure. It was mixed with that which was of this world and other gods. You read of many that did not serve the Lord with all their heart. There was other things that were mixed with it. And so to think on this, of the holiness of God and the need of purity in worship, in all that we do, regulated by the Word of God. Then there is that which is lovely or very beautiful and attractive, the gospel, the blessings of the Lord, how beautiful it is to see a changed character, a changed life, to see the people of God gathering together, joining together, those things that are lovely, living at peace together, walking together in unity. Those things are beautiful to see.

I remember years ago, the thought comes into my mind, driving to Braybourne Chapel, and then walking down to that chapel, and it was a rainy day. And as I looked down that length of road, there was about three or four couples walking with umbrellas, and they were walking down to that chapel. and to worship there. And I thought, what a lovely thing, a beautiful thing. When the people of God there on the Lord's day, they're walking to the house of God, they're going to the house of God.

The things of the gospel, the preaching, the walk of God's people in his ways, that is lovely to behold. And then what of the good report in the sixth place? The scriptures bear a good report of the gospel and the servants of the Lord. We bring a good report of what Christ has done, a good report of what we have seen by faith of the promised land and of the way the Lord has dealt with us in the way.

May we think on this. If we haven't anything good to say, may we not say it at all. But if there is those things that have good report, then we don't just let them lie forgotten. Then we're able to say, come and hear, or near the feet of God, I'll tell what he had done for my soul. I'm going to report these things. I'm going to set forth what I've seen. And these are things I'm going to think upon because they're worthy to be made known.

Someone might say to us, if we've been sitting and obviously in deep thought, a penny for your thoughts. What are you thinking about? Or sometimes we might be very ashamed and say, I can't tell you. It's not a good report. I cannot make a good report of it. Or sometimes there might be a valid reason why we couldn't say. But it's a good thing if we think, well, what if all of our thoughts were public? Are they a good report?

And then any virtue, a high moral standard. The gospel certainly is. We think of what Boaz said of Ruth, that all the people of my country doth know that thou art a virtuous woman. There was a high moral standard. She was looking after her mother-in-law. She was obedient in all that she did, in all how she acted. It was in virtue. And may we think on those things, the gain of the gospel, of the word of God.

There can be no higher standard than the word of God. What a solemn thing if someone is to say to us, you're too religious, you've got too high standards, we can't attain, or really what is said is we don't want to attain. Attain to that, men and women don't attain to that, they don't want to come to your assemblies because of that. What a solemn thing.

And lastly, there was any praise. Really the great end of salvation, God says that this people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise. It is to think on that which is praiseworthy. We can't think when we go to the Psalms, especially the last Psalms, that those songs of praise, they come without any thought, any meditation, No, the thought comes first, and then it bubbles out. It springs forth in praise. It's gone in the heart, too. The heart is making melody. It is speaking of praise.

And the Lord said that they should hold their peace. The very stones should cry out. And so there is given here those things that We are to think upon, think on these things. You've only just touched upon them, but this is the word of God to us. This is his direction to us in our thoughts. To restrain them and to bring them, to think upon right things. To avoid the evil imaginations and corruptions of our own evil heart, we're to think on these things.

And may all what the Lord Jesus Christ has done, from his coming, to his sacrifice, his offering, and then what he's done for us in grace, May these things be the things that we think upon. May the Lord add his blessing. Amen.