Book of Philippians, chapter
4, beginning there at the fourth
verse, where he says to these Philippians who he has described
as his dearly beloved. In the first verse he says, he
calls them, my brethren, my brethren. It's only as we are in Christ
Jesus are we brethren. The Bible refers even to our
Lord Jesus as being our older brother. We are in this family. likened unto this human family. We are brothers and sisters in
Christ Jesus. Not out of Christ, but in Christ. We must be in Christ to be brothers
and sisters. He is bone of our bone and flesh
of our flesh, and we are made one with Him. He is our brother. And Paul reminds these Philippians
here, my brethren, my brethren. And he doesn't use words that do not reflect his feelings. He's not just saying something
in order to sad, but there is depth and meaning behind it.
My brethren, my brethren, my brethren, Pat's my brother, Bob's
my brother, Mitch's my brother, Carl, all these fellas, sisters,
my brothers and my sisters, dearly beloved, what a fond, wonderful
adjective to use, to describe. Beloved, beloved, dearly, dearly
beloved, and longed for, longed for. Isn't that, isn't that those
three expressions there say, my brethren, dearly beloved,
longed for, longed for, longed to see you, longed to fellowship
with you, along to talk to you, along to talk about the fruit
that God has produced in you, along to see of your growth,
your maturity, your understanding, your great love for the Lord
Jesus Christ. You're longed for, longed to
see. It's like a son or daughter that
has went off into the world, away from you, out from under
your jurisdiction. No longer do you hear their opening
of the door and their footsteps and their singing and whistling. They're gone. And you have a
great longing in the heart to be with them once more. And they
have a great longing to be with you. Long, dearly beloved, long
for. But he doesn't quit. He said,
My joy! My joy! You're my joy! Isn't
that something? Isn't that something for a father
and a mother to have a son or daughter or grandchildren? Some that is near of kin whom
they can really say, You're my joy. You're my joy. You're what it is and takes to
keep me content and happy. You're my joy. I long for you,
dearly beloved. You're my crown. You're my crown. You're what keeps me going. So
stand fast in the Lord. Stand fast. Be faithful in the
Lord, my dearly beloved. Then down
in verse 4, he says, Rejoice in the Lord always. And again,
I say rejoice. Well, there is a certain human
rejoicing that we have with things that happen. transpired and takes
place among families and events and occasions and so forth, but
nothing that we experience here in this life can in any sense
of the word compare with this joy that we have in Him, this joy that comes. that arises from a knowledge of who Christ is,
what Christ accomplished on our behalf. This joy that arises
from no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus. This joy that arises from forgiveness
of sins. This joy that arises from our
acceptance with God on the ground and the basis of the person and
the work, the shedding of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This joy. That's what he's talking about,
isn't it? Rejoice! You can rejoice always,
under all circumstances, in Him, because this joy that He gives,
it cannot be taken away. And it'll come in and come out
at various times in our life's experience here. All of us have difficulties and
trials and troubles, and we are depressed and things of that
nature, but always over and above them, at some given time, God
makes this joy to be known and to be felt in a man's heart,
the joy that arises from knowing the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord,
Governor, God of the universe, God of concern,
God of love, all those things. Rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say rejoice. Now listen, over here he said,
verse 10, But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly. I rejoiced in the
Lord. All favors, all blessings, every
good and perfect thing comes from above. Everything that's
worthwhile, every blessing that's worthwhile comes from God Almighty. It comes from Him through the
Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul said, I rejoice in the
Lord greatly. What caused you to rejoice so,
Paul? Well, that now at the last, your
care of me, your care of me, it hath first again, it's come
up again, wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of
wanting this joy, for I've learned, I've learned to rejoice. It's
possible for a man to rejoice always in the Lord Jesus Christ. When the storm comes and the
clouds hover over, clouds of trouble, clouds of distress,
disappointments and sorrows, yet underneath them all, when
our mind is fixed on Him, We know that He sits at the helm
of the universe and He manages and controls all the events in
our life. And we can rejoice and we can
say, come hell or high water, live or die, I know whom I have believe and
am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed
unto Him against that day. For I have learned in whatsoever
situation, circumstance, I am to be content, and therefore
I can rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord. Let your
moderation be known unto all men. Moderate. Be moderate. temperate, moderate,
your moderation. Let it be known, that is, let
it be a reflection of your life and your character. The Lord
is at hand. The Lord's on the throne. Be
careful for nothing, anxious, but in everything by prayer,
by prayer to seek the face of God. Prayer is not necessarily
just asking God to do this for me and do that for me. Prayer
is praise. Prayer is thanking God for all
things and everything, regardless of how we view them, good or
bad. Thank God He's there, the governor
of the universe, managing, controlling our affairs, and He sends what
we need. Be careful for nothing. Seek
God in prayer and thank Him. Thank Him. And supplication with
thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known
unto God. Cast your cares upon Him, for
He careth for you. And here's what I want to talk
about. I said all that to say this. And the peace of God. Rejoice
in the Lord always now. Let your moderation be known
to all men. The Lord is at hand. He is still
on the throne. Be careful for nothing. In everything
but prayer and supplication and thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known unto God. And this is the consequence of
all that, that the peace of God, the peace of God, which passes
all understanding, that is a mystery. It's a mystery that a man who
is a believer can be the most miserable person in the world
and at the same time be the most happiest person in the world. That's a mystery, and how can
that be? That's the way it is. We can be miserable and low and
full of grief and full of sorrow, but at the same time we can be content and we can
praise God. Peace of God. Have peace. Peace
with God and the peace of God. Peace. Passes all understanding. Unbelievers, they don't know
what I'm reading about. They don't know what I'm talking
about. There's a bunch of words to that. But to you who have
been taught of God and by God, you know what I'm talking about.
This peace of God, that passes all understanding, shall keep
your hearts and minds, not apart from Christ Jesus, but through
Christ Jesus. Everything you see is based and
centered upon the peace work of the cross. You know, folks
say, well, I wonder if he made peace with God. I hear of someone
being sick, you know. and maybe he's well thought of
in the community. He may be an uncle, an aunt,
a distant cousin. I wonder if they've made peace
with God. That's the way the world talks.
But a man can't make peace with God. Christ makes peace with
God. We cannot, we cannot Bypass God
or bypass the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and come to God and think
we're going to obtain peace. Christ has made peace. He's our peace. He, the person,
the Lord Jesus, He's our peace. Peace of God. Keep your hearts
and minds through. Well, let me talk about this
a little bit, about the peace of God. Let's start by asking
this question, what is God to me? That's the first question that
arises up to an inquiring soul, to a soul that's interested,
to a soul that knows nothing of the peace of God that passes
all understanding, if he ever becomes interested. And if he
ever becomes interested in the peace of God that passes all
understanding, it won't be that it just happened, but it'll be
the result of the work of the Spirit of God creating this uneasiness
in a soul. That's what I'm talking about.
I'm saying that what is God to me? This is the first question. that rises up to an inquiring
soul, to an anxious soul. And the second is likened to
the first, what am I to God? What is God to me and what am
I to God? Now on these two questions hangs
all religion, as well as all joy and life to the immortal
spirit. If God is for me and I am for
God, all is well. If God is for me and I am for
God, all is well. If God is not for me and I'm
not for God, all is ill. All is terrible. There cannot
be a worse condition than that. If God is not for me and I'm
not for God, all is terrible. If he takes my side and I take
his side, then there's nothing to fear. Let me read this verse
of Scripture here in the book of Romans, chapter 8. Listen
to this. Well, he talks about, you know,
his predestination for the nation. He talks about his eternal purpose
that he had in Christ before the world was. And he talks about
his people that he chose unto himself before time ever was. And in his time he visited them
and called them unto himself through his gospel, which is
the Lord Jesus. And he said that we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God. Oh,
what is God to me? And what am I to God? We know
that all things work together for good, not to ever a man,
woman, boy, or girl who is a member of Adam's race, but he qualifies
it unto them that love God. Do I love God? What am I to him
and what is he to me? Do I love him? Do I love him?
Boy, that's some questioning. Well, he says that all things
work together for good. Whatever takes place, he said, will work together for good to
them that love God. Who are those that love God? Well, he said, to them who are
the called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that
He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom
He did predestinate, predetermined, foreordained, He knew them in
eternity past. He knew them before they had
been. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. And whom he called, them he also
justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified." All this is in past tense. Well, listen,
I read all that to read this. What shall we then, after hearing
what Paul has said here, we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God. Those he foretold,
predestined, those he called, justified, also glorified. What
shall we then say to these things if God before us If God is for
us, what am I to God? If God is for me and I'm for
God, all is well. But if I'm against God and God's
against me, it's the worst condition that a member of Adam's race
can be in. population of our world, up in
the billions. I don't know how many billions
of people, six, seven, eight billion, maybe more, I don't
know, give or take. But nevertheless, of that great
number, there are some that are for God and there are some that
are against God. And that's the question here
this morning. What is God to me? And what am
I to God? If God be for us, if He's for
me, who can be against us? If He's
for me, who can be against me? Now, that would cause a man,
he is assured with some sense of certainty that he's for God
and God's for him, then he can rejoice, can't he? He can rejoice
in whatever transpires. When mother and father dies,
he's sad, but yet he rejoices. The physician tells him, call in your friends, call in
your children. Your time is short. He can be sad, but at the same
time he can be glad because God is for him. And who can be against
him? Nothing! can separate Him from
the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. If God be for us, who
can be against us? If He takes my side and I take
His, then there is nothing for me to fear in this world, in
this life, in that world, and in that life to come. nothing
that would cause the believer to fear. Now, if I do not know
whether God is for me or not, then I can have no rest. Now,
remember, I'm talking about one who has an interest, one who
is inquiring, am I with God is God with me. What is my state
and condition here? Am I in or out? Now, if I don't know whether
God is for me or not, I can have no rest in such a matter as this. I can't find any rest. I can't
find any peace for my conscience. because something has awakened
my conscience and stirred up this uneasiness and unrest and
brought me to the realization. What am I to God? And what is
God to me? And I cannot have any rest until
I find out. I've got to know. of uncertainty, and my soul seeks
certainty. Everything that pertains to eternity
is certainty, and everything that pertains to time in the
framework of man is uncertainty. I've got to have something certain,
not uncertain. I must know that God is for me. Or I must, if I don't find that
out, I've got to remain in the sadness of unrest and sorrow
until I find out. Well, he says here, I read to
you in this verse, he said, the peace of God, If I ever find out what this
is, and ever find out who God is, and ever find out how I can
approach God, I'll find something out about this peace. Because
he said, he looked down upon this crowd, a great crowd, and
he said, Come unto me, all ye that Labor, labor, this inquiring
soul, that's laboring. It's got the heavy burden. He
needs rest. And our Lord knew that they were
uneasy and they were in a state of uncertainty as to rest. And
He said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. And I will give you rest, rest
for your soul. Peace, peace, rest comes from
peace of conscience, peace of soul, rest. I must remain, if
I can't find out. that I'm for God or against God,
or God is not for me and against me, I must remain in this awful
condition of sadness and unrest. But I want to tell you here this
morning a little bit about this word peace. Peace is a sparkling
jewel. It's a jewel. You remember when
he talks in Malachi when he says about When I come and make up
my jewels, and the jewels there he's talking about is his people,
his children, those I foreknew, those I chose in myself in Christ
before time. When I come, let not your hearts
be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me. If it were
not so, I would have told you, I go. to prepare a place for
you. And when I come again to make
up my jewels, to get those, some in Russia and China and some
from this tongue and some from this tongue, when I come and
I bring them out, I make them up, my jewels. My jewels, they're
precious. They're like a precious stone, gold, precious. The Bible says
that The faith of the Lord Jesus Christ is precious faith. Precious,
because there's not much of it. Precious. Not much of it is what
makes it precious. Make gold precious. Three hundred
and some dollars an ounce. When I was a boy, it was sixteen
dollars an ounce. Just one of the first things
I can remember. They used to talk about gold.
If you had gold, I'd say, well, how much is gold? Gold, sixteen
dollars an ounce. Ain't very much. $300 some dollars, $400 some dollars
an ounce. The scarcity of it makes it precious. The scarcity of true faith makes
it precious. All men have not faith. All men have not. Peace is a
jewel. No man that has been acquainted
with the calamities of war or the grief and the distresses
of a guilty conscience. No man that knows anything about
this, he knows something about peace. If he knows about the
calamities of war and the end of it, when peace reigns, and
all the grief and distress of a guilty conscience, When there's healing to the conscience,
when there's balm in Gilead, when the blood of the cross is
applied to his conscience and to his soul, then it's a valuable
jewel. It's a precious jewel. Peace among men is very desirable,
isn't it? Peace among men. It's healing
to the human heart. When two men who have disagreed
one way or the other, misunderstandings, jealousy, or what have you, and
when they are finally, through the workings of God, brought
together and reconciled, their problem solved, and peace prevails. That's sweet
peace. Father and son, I know, just
talked to a fellow on the telephone this morning, got a call way
off, and we talked a little bit, and I inquired about his brother
in the flesh. I said, how's your brother? I
said, a friend of mine is going to see him. this week or the
weeks to come." And I said, how's he doing? Well, he said, we don't
talk. We don't talk. I said, you and
your brother don't talk. Oh, he said, we talk about casual
things, things of time we talk about, but things of eternity
we don't talk about. That's a disagreement. Now, if they could be reconciled
on the basis of what causes them to be disagreeable for the right
solution, then sweet peace would come. And it would be a viable
Jew, wouldn't it? If two brothers, if two men could
be reconciled, sweet peace would flood their souls. Well, their problems would be
solved. The peace of God had prevailed.
But all of this that I'm talking about is between man and man. But the peace of God exceeds
this. There is no comparison between
the peace between man and man and the peace of God that passes
all understanding. Why? Because God's ways are above
our ways, and his thoughts above our thoughts. So peace with him
is far greater than peace that a man has with another man. Far greater, isn't it? What is
it? Let me tell you what it is, and
I'll quit. What is this peace? First off, It is the sweet tranquility
of the soul which arises from a well-grounded persuasion of
being accepted by God. I know some will say, Just because
you're a human being, you're accepted by God. Well, there
was a time when that was true. There was a time, and it was
only a short time, when all in the mind and purpose of God were
linked to Adam, the first man. being the federal
head and representative of future generations, of all flesh. He represented every single solitary
soul that is born, will be born. He represented them. And in that Adam, before he fell,
then we all, in him, were in the same relationship with God
that Adam was. And God came in the cool of the
day and walked with Adam and talked with Adam and they had
friendship and fellowship and they were in reconciliation. No problems, no problems. Then,
see, then, oh listen, I say the sweetness, the sweetness, the
enjoyment, the tranquility of the soul, which arises from a
well-grounded persuasion of being accepted with God and accepted
by God. You see, when we were accepted
by God in Adam, friendship, but what happened? Sin is a great enemy. Sin is our enemy. that little
morsel of evil, of jealousy, or whatever it is that crops
up in your soul and your heart, that's sin. Anything short of
perfection is sin, anything. Word, thought, or deed, that's
sin. Sin is our enemy, and sin has
separated us from God. Sin has separated us from God. We must be conscious of our acceptance
with Him. By nature, we're not friends
of God. By nature, we hate God. Listen, I said it's that sweet
tranquility of the soul, which comes from a well-grounded... That's what I mean when I say
well-grounded, based upon the Word of God. Well-grounded. What does it say about Abraham?
It said Abraham believed God. That's what it said. Abraham
believed God. If you have a well-rounded persuasion
of being accepted with God and by God, then there'll be peace
of conscience and peace of soul. Being accepted, the Bible says,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God. being accepted through the righteousness
of the Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have peace with God. Need I tell you this morning
that in our native state we are all at war with God, a war that
should never have been started. And the sooner that we surrender
unto God, the better off it will be. war with God and God with us,
sin has separated us. Sin has separated great friends,
Adam. God and Adam were great friends,
but sin entered in and separated us. Because the sin of sin, the
veil of separation, exists between God and man. because God is God,
the righteous God, the righteous governor. His being God of a
righteous character requires him to be an enemy of man who
is a sinner. He says in unblemished words,
He hates all workers of iniquity. No reconciliation until atonement
has been made. Enoch, the Bible says. What was
Enoch's testimony? Enoch's history is very brief,
very short. He said he walked with God and
was not, for God took him. And that's what it says about
Enoch. It also says that Enoch's testimony
was that he pleased God. If he pleased God, he was accepted
by God with God. That was his testimony. He pleased God. He didn't please
very many men in this world. Very few people in Enoch's time
were pleased with Enoch because he was a thundering preacher. He said, For all of sin did come
shoulder to shoulder with the Lord. That's what he said and
what he preached. And I'll tell you, it has mad
at him. It appears to me from what is
said in his brief history, that he pleased few people. He was
the object of ill will and thoughts of those that hurt him. But he
had this testimony. He pleased God. I'm not saying
that what people thought of Enoch and said about Enoch and all
that didn't bother Enoch to an extent. It did. I'm sure it caused
unrest, grief, and all that. But in the mixture of it all,
he had this testimony that he pleased God. Oh, if a man pleases
God. Oh, listen. The sweetness of
that enjoyment that comes from a well-grounded persuasion that
God, the true and living God, He really is My Father. Huh? He really is my Father. My Father. Me. Huh? Not pleasing to anybody
else here, but pleasing to God. Huh? God, my Father, sits at the helm
of the universe and has the management of all of my concerns. How's
this come about? Come unto me, all ye that labor
and heavy laden, I'll give you rest, rest for your soul. What
is it? It's peace of mind, peace of
soul, peace of conscience. It's peace of conscience. It's peace with the law of God.
The law says, Thou shalt love God with all your heart and all
your mind and all your soul and all your strength. How can I
ever be at peace with the law of God? I've got to have someone to stand
in my stead and place and room and obey that for me. I've got
to have someone that will represent me, that will fulfill the first
requirement of God's holy law. I've got to have him. Where can
he be found? In the person of the Son of God,
in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is all God and all man in one
person. He loved God with all of his
heart. He said, I do always the things that please God. He never
went to the left or the right or made one movement or had one
thought that was contrary to the perfect will of God Almighty. Oh, listen, what is it? It's
peace of conscience, peace with the law of God, peace with the
holiness of God, its reconciliation, its friendship, its fellowship,
its peace that is extracted from the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
grounded upon what the cross reveals and what the cross has
done. What has Christ done? Why He
stood in my place. And my sins, all of them, yesterday's,
today's, and tomorrow, all my sin was laid on Him. And the
wrath of God came and fell where sin is, not on me, but on Him. My substitute, my redeemer, my
Savior, fell on Him. He suffered the just for the
unjust. He suffered for me. Now, I believe
God. He said that He suffered for
sinners, and I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner with the deepest
eye. I'm a sinner. I have no hope
in myself. I have no goodness. I have nothing
to offer God, nothing whatsoever. He offered himself for me. He
said, I'll pay his debt. Whatever he owes, I'll pay. So he provides God with the righteousness
that God requires, and it's freely imputed to me. I believe. I look to him. I trust him. I don't
trust myself. I don't trust the fact that I'm
a preacher or that I come to church I know you and you know
me and someone says a kind thing about us once in a while. Those
are dead works. Trust in Him and Him alone. For in Him alone can peace be
wrought. The peace of His person, the
peace of His work, the shedding of His blood on the tree. as
the substitute for sinners. It's peace whose basis is the
forgiveness of God. It's peace whose basis is no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. No judgment for me. You're looking
at one here this morning. Poor sinner as I am. Nothing
good. to offer God that's not tainted
with pollution and corruption of sin and self. I haven't got
anything in me, about me, pertaining to me that would cause God to
consider me nothing. But you're looking at a sinner
here this morning that when I die, I will not stand in judgment
before God's holy law. Why? No condemnation. No judgment
is what that means. No judgment. He bore my judgment
and condemnation on the tree. You say, well, do you have the
assurance of that based on the Word of God who cannot lie? Abraham
said, I believe God. And that's who I believe. And
that's the assurance of faith is to believe the Bible. Oh,
folks, go to the place where the Bible is looked down upon,
Some woman gets up and spouts off a few words. I had a fellow
come here one time, came for I don't know how long, oh, eight
or nine times. And he said, well, I believe
what you said, like what you said, isn't that? But, he said,
I've been going to another church now, and he said, there's a woman
who's a teacher. He said, she teaches. Now, what's
she say? I said, she don't say nothing.
She don't say nothing. He said, they talk about this
and they don't say nothing. But I said, you like it, don't
you? And he said, well, it seems to suit me. What can sue a man
except thus saith the Lord? That's where the assurance is,
thus saith God. Oh, listen, it's the peace which
comes from our knowledge of the peacemaking work of Jesus Christ
on Calvary. What is it? It's true peace.
It's sure peace, it's present peace, it's righteous peace,
it's divine peace, it's complete peace, it's perfect peace, pervading
the whole being of a man who's committed himself to the hands
of God in Christ Jesus. Am I satisfied with the gospel?
Is my heart content with Christ himself? Has my conscience been
pacified? If I'm not content with who Christ
is and what Christ has done, if I'm not content, why? Why am I not content? What bothers
me about Him and about His work that the result would be that
I wouldn't be content. Listen, is it not at this moment
exactly the thing I need, exactly the thing which contains all
the peace that I need in this world and in the world to come? Peace won't save you, but it's
a portion of. that which doth save you. And that's Christ and Christ
alone. Less than will be his name.