Alright brethren, let's turn
in our Bibles to Philippians chapter 4. Philippians 4. I just want to look at one verse,
verse 19. My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now, can you say, God is my God? If He's quickened you and given
you faith, you can say, He is my God. And if that's so, this
applies to you. This is a sure certain promise
of the Lord. My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. His riches in glory are inexhaustible. They're called the unsearchable
riches. And God shall supply all your
need by Christ Jesus. All your need. And that truly
means, when it says, by Christ Jesus, that means Christ is truly
all our need. He's supplying all our need.
He is all our need. Listen to this from 2 Corinthians. God is able to make all grace
abound toward you. that ye always, having all sufficiency
in all things, may abound to every good work. Now that is
supplying all your need. What does a believer really need?
Now, of course the Lord is going to provide our temporal needs.
But we got far greater needs than temporal needs. What do
we really need? Well, spiritually, we need exactly
what we need physically when we come into this world as an
infant. From the day we're born of God
and we are made a spiritual baby in Christ, We need the same things
spiritually that we need when we are born into this world as
babies and the things we need physically. You get what I'm
saying? What do you need as a, what does a baby need? What does
a newborn baby need? There's four things really that
a child needs. Needs to be cleaned first. Secondly,
needs to be clothed. Thirdly, needs to be fed. And
fourthly, it needs to be sheltered. Now those four needs are our
essential needs from the day we're born to the day we die. And with the child of God, spiritually,
we need those same four things spiritually. And that's what
our Lord will provide. That's what He'll provide. For
every child born of the Spirit of God, my God shall supply all
your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now
let's look at these four things. First of all, God shall cleanse
His people and He shall keep us clean. He will cleanse us
and He'll keep us clean. Go with me to Ezekiel chapter
16. Ezekiel 16, and you'll want to mark Ezekiel 16. We're going
to come back here. Now this is our state as we come
into this world. Just like a newborn baby is born
filthy, well spiritually we're born filthy in sin. And here's
the description. Verse 1, Again the word of the
Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, call Jerusalem to know
her abominations. And say, Thus saith the Lord
God unto Jerusalem, Thy birth and thy nativities of the land
of Canaan, thy father Amorite, thy mother Hittite. And as for
thy nativity, in the day when thou was born, thy navel was
not cut, neither was thou washed in water to supple thee, thou
was not salted at all, nor swallowed at all. None I pitied thee to
do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee, but
thou was cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy
person in the day that thou was born. The description here is
what in that day and time would have been an aborted baby, an
abandoned baby just thrown out in a field, not wanting. God
said that's how helpless we are spiritually as we come into this
world. Verse 9, He said, then washed
I thee with water, yea, I thoroughly
washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil."
That's what God did for his people. Spiritual life begins by the
washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.
You're familiar with Titus 3, 5. It says, not by works of righteousness
we've done. What could that infant do in
that field, in that condition? Nothing. Couldn't do a thing
for itself. That was us. That's all God's
elect by our first birth. Not by works of righteousness,
which we've done, but according to His mercy, He saved us by
the washing of regeneration. He said, I passed by you and
I washed you. by the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior. My God shall supply all you need
according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. He did this
through the Lord Jesus that being justified by His grace, having
already been justified by Christ, that's why He sent the Spirit
and washed us, so that we should be made heirs according to the
hope of eternal life. by washing our conscience. We
looked at this last time, I think Thursday. By washing our conscience,
purging our conscience, He made us hear the Gospel. The Spirit
of God made us hear the Gospel. And He made us to know that Christ
has appeared in the end of the world to put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself. That's what He accomplished.
When He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down on the
right hand of the majesty on high. Do you get what that's...
When He washes you inwardly, that's sanctification. And when
He washes you inwardly, He makes you see He's washed you before
the law of God. He's justified you. Christ the
Lord on that cross washed away the filth of the daughters of
Zion and purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof
by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning. And
so God said in Zechariah 13, He said, In that day there should
be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. The Lord Jesus told the apostle
Peter when he was washing the disciples' feet, he told him,
he said, if I've washed you, you're everywhere clean. That
means before God's holy law, you're justified. You're righteous
before God. You're wholly clean and washed. But because we dwell in this
body of death, because we're in a world of sin and corruption,
Our Lord said, but you're going to have to have your feet washed.
You're going to have to have your feet washed. Our Lord sent Paul to the Corinthians,
and they had so many sins in that early church. And every church did. Every one
of the New Testament churches had problems. And Corinth had
a lot of them. And there were some brethren
there. Paul addressed them as brethren. He told them in the
first chapter, he said, you come behind in no gift. Justified,
saved by the Lord, come behind in no gift. He'll confirm you
to the end. And they were guilty of some
sins, some serious sins. He listed them. He listed some
of those sins. They needed their feet washed.
Here's how he washed their feet. Here's how he washed their feet.
He reminded them, and such were some of you. But you are washed,
but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of
the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. Well, he meant that they
didn't sin anymore. They were guilty of sin right
then when he said it. And he just said it, before he
told them that, he told them they needed their feet washed.
There were some sins they were very guilty of, taking each other
to the law, this and that and the other. But the way he washes
the feet, the way the Lord makes us to know where he is, is he
reminds you, but you are washed. You are sanctified, you are justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God. And
when a believer hears that message and the Lord purges your conscience
and He makes you see your sins, You go to the Lord Jesus, crying
what David cried when he made David see his sin. You go there
crying, Purge me Lord, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I'll be
whiter than snow. Haven't you experienced that?
When the Lord has made you see some sin, and He made you to
know. Just what David was made to know. Nathan went to him and told him,
And as soon as David realized he had sinned, Nathan said, but
your sins are forgiven. That's what Paul was telling
the Corinthians, but you are washed, but you are justified. This fall, getting your feet
dirty had changed what Christ has done for you and what he's
worked in you, had changed it a bit. See, that's different.
That's totally different than what men preach, what vain men
preach. Turn with me to 1 John 1. I'm
going to show you something. 1 John 1. The same way Christ came in the
beginning, He comes to us when our feet are dirty, and the Spirit
convinces us we've sinned, and Christ brings us to Him to cry
out for Him to wash us, and He washes our feet. He turns our
hearts, He turns our hands, our feet, our eyes, He washes us,
He makes us want to follow Him. And He does it by reminding us,
I have washed you and justified you, and you are clean. It's
the gospel that does it. It's not law. Law didn't turn
you to Christ in the beginning. Law did one thing. Law is like
a mirror. It just holds up before you and
shows you you're dirty. But it didn't wash you. Christ
washed you. He washed you through the gospel.
He washed you by the Holy Spirit. And when your feet are dirty
and you need to be cleansed, your feet washed, He sends somebody
with the preaching of the gospel to remind you what He's done
for you and He blesses that to your heart and that turns you
to Him and He washes your feet. He brings you out from whatever
it was you were guilty of. It turns you from it so you don't
perish and fall away. And that's just what John's telling
us right here. Look at 1 John 1, 7. If we walk
in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one
with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth
us from all sin. You justify it. Cleansed from
all sin, one time by the Lord Jesus Christ. But now watch this. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess
our sins, this is ongoing as a believer. If we confess our
sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned,
the first part that we say we have no sin, that's if we say
our nature is not sin. This is if we say we have committed
sin. We make him a liar and his word
is not in us. Now watch this. My little children,
these things I write unto you, that you sin not. Now, this is not how legal preachers
would give you this motivation not to sin. Legal preachers would
threaten you with the law and threaten you with condemnation
and threaten God to forsake you if you sin. So you don't sin
then. That's not how the Spirit of
God did it. The Spirit of God said, little children, I'm writing
this to you that you sin not. And here's the motivation not
to sin. Here's the constraint not to sin. But when you do sin,
when you do sin, We have an advocate with the
Father. Jesus Christ the righteous, and He's the propitiation for
our sins, and not for ours only, but His people all over the world.
You see that? That's the constraint, not sin.
Totally opposite of legal preaching. Legal preaching is going to,
you know, they're dangling a carrot, you're going to get a reward
if you obey, and if you don't, you're getting a lashing. God
says, no, I've justified you. I'm faithful and just to keep
cleansing you. Now don't sin. And here's the
motivation. When you do, you've got an advocate
with the Father. I'll draw you to me. I'll cleanse
you. I'll keep you. You see, God's going... Christ
saves by grace. And He cleanses His people. And
He'll never stop. He'll keep wrecking, you know,
your sins and iniquities. I remember no more. Never going
to condemn you. Secondly, we need to be clothed
in Christ's righteousness. We need to be washed, we need
to be kept cleansed, and we need to be clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. God supplies all our need according
to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Go back to Ezekiel 16.
The Lord said, And I pitied us, verse 6, when
I passed by thee, I saw thee polluted in thine own blood.
And I said unto thee, when thou was in my blood, live. Yea, I
said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, Live, and I have
caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast
increased, and waxen great, and thy breasts are fresh, and thine
hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. Now when I passed
by thee, and looked upon thee, he says, Behold, thy time was
the time of love, and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered
thy nakedness, Yea, I swear unto thee and entered into a covenant
with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine." You
see that? You became mine. I covered you. I covered you for a sinner to
come to God. We have to be made the righteousness
of God. We have to be the righteousness
of God in order for holy God to accept us. And nobody, not
me, you, or any of God's elect can accomplish that by any work
of our hand. We cannot do it. God has supplied
all the need of His elect by giving His only begotten Son,
Christ Jesus, our righteousness. I get weary hearing men preach
sin as a doctrine. No, sin is not a doctrine. Sin
is what you and me are. We are the sin. And I get tired
of hearing men preach righteousness as a doctrine. No, Christ is
righteousness. Righteousness is a person, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Just like you and me are the
sin, He is the righteousness of His people. And all things are of God. who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and given us
the ministry of reconciliation to which God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses to us. Well,
how could he not charge us with the sin that we are guilty of
in Adam? For he hath made him sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Christ bore our sin away, and
Christ Jesus, by His obedience, made His people the righteousness
of God in Him. That's why God imputes righteousness
to the believer. Because Christ made us righteous.
By His obedience, He made us righteous. And in Christ, we
are perfectly righteous. And that's why God robes us,
covers us in the righteousness of Christ. Look at Isaiah 61.
Verse 10. This is our rejoicing, the rejoicing
of the Gospel. This is that constraint of the
love of our Redeemer that keeps us following Him. Isaiah 61,
10. I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God. We're talking about inward soul
joy right here, brethren. We're talking about something
spiritual. Why? Because he hath clothed me with
the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness. As a bride groomed, decketh himself
with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewel.
David described the blessedness of the man to whom God imputed
righteousness without works. You and me didn't do one thing
to be made righteous. Blessed are those whose iniquities
are forgiven, whose sins are what? Covered, been clothed,
been covered. Child of God, God provided His
own Son. And the Lord Jesus laid down
His life for us. And He made us the righteousness
of God. He justified us. He was made
a curse for us and by that redeemed us from the curse so we'll never
be condemned by the justice of God. Now, Paul said, knowing
that, How shall He not with Him freely give us all things? If
He did that for His people, whatever other lesser need we have in
this world, He'll provide that. And He'll give us all the spiritual
blessings that He promised, and He'll do it with Christ Jesus
in His righteousness. My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. All
right? Then we need to be fed. We need
to be fed. We had to be washed. We had to
be covered. And we need to be fed. God feeds
us the living bread. The living bread. The child of
God is conceived spiritually by the Word of God. By the Word
of God. Look at 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. We are conceived by the Word
of God. And this is through the preaching
of the Gospel. 1 Peter 1 and verse 23, being born again,
not of corruptible seed. That means this seed by which
we're born again can't be corrupted. And the new man that's going
to be born from this seed cannot be corrupted. It's incorruptible. Peter called the new man born
of God, the hidden man of the heart, which is not corruptible. Not corruptible. Because God
made it. It's born of God. When Paul said, I know that in
me that is in my flesh, it was no good thing. He's talking about
that part of us that's born of Adam. It's nothing but sin. But
there's something God made and God created. He said, I'll give
them a new spirit. And it's incorruptible. Look
at this. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible
by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. And because
this seed lives and abides forever, that means the new man is going
to live and abide forever. Light begets light. Christ said
that. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is
born of the Spirit is Spirit. Light begets light. For all flesh
is as grass, and the glory of man is the flower of grass. The
grass with that the flower there falleth away. Corruptible seed
created corruptible flesh. It was dead seed, and it's going
to result in death, and it's going to result in death. But
this incorruptible seed's life and lives forever, and a new
man's gonna live forever. Verse 25, but the word of the
Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel
is preached unto you. So there you got a newborn spiritual
baby born by the Spirit of God, born again. Now what do you need
now? What does a newborn baby need?
Milk. They need milk right away. Look
here, 1 Peter 2, 2, wherefore? I mean 1 Peter 2 verse 1, Wherefore,
laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and
envies, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the
sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if so be
that you've tasted the Lord's graces. And if so be you've tasted
the Lord's graces, that's what you'll do. That's what you'll
do. You'll lay aside the malice and
envy and evil speaking, and you'll look to Christ, and you'll desire
the sincere milk of the Word. Because that's what He'll make
you do. Just like Christ, He's the husband of His church, and
He's providing all for His bride, and the church, through the gospel,
is feeding all His children the milk. The word of the milk. And it's all from Christ. Christ
is the milk. He's the life. He's the life. He's the milk by which we grow. And as we grow, we're going to
move to bread. Well, guess what? Christ is the
bread. He's the living bread. And as
we grow, we're going to feed on some stronger meat. Guess
what? Christ is the stronger meat. See, we're learning. What is it? You're growing in
what? The knowledge of what? Christ. Never getting beyond
Christ. Never leaving Him. He's life. He's the way, the truth, the
life. You're never getting beyond Him. He's the milk. He's the
bread. He's the meat. You just keep
learning more about Him. And it's all from Him. Christ
shall supply all your milk, all your bread, and all your meat.
He'll keep teaching us, He'll keep correcting us, He'll keep
growing us through the preaching of His person and His works,
and in addition to that, He'll provide temporal bread for us. Job said, he said, I need temporal
bread. He said, I need something more
than that though. Job said, I have not gone back from the commandment
of your lips. You know that's what the gospel
is. The gospel is the gospel of his lips. It's the commandment
of his lips. Job said, I hadn't left it. I
hadn't gone back. I have esteemed the words of
your mouth more than my necessary food. He said, I need the gospel
preached to me from Christ more than I need that food on my table. I've said it many times before,
when men want to absent themselves from preaching of the gospel,
just don't eat any physical bread the whole time that you're away
from the spiritual bread. Don't eat. Don't eat. You say,
well, I can't do that. Can you absent yourself from
the preaching of the gospel? Can you do that? Does that not
make you hungry? We need to be sheltered. We need
to be sheltered. All our days a child needs to
be sheltered and we need to be sheltered. My God shall supply
all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
The other day we looked in Isaiah and he said, now don't be going
making a confederacy with this world and don't be looking to
the what this world's looking to and fearing what this world's
looking to. He said, you behold the Lord high and lifted up.
Sanctify Him. You fear Him and He shall be
for sanctuary. He's a sanctuary. He's our shelter.
He's our refuge. He's the city of refuge we run
to at all times. He's our only shelter from the
curse of the law, from the wrath of God. He's our only shelter
from every enemy we face. And in this life, we face a lot
of storms. Many forms they come in. But
in every one of them, we just have one shelter from the storm.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Listen, I'm not just I'm not
telling you something that's just in the book and we're going
to read it today and we're going to go on our way. This is life
for a believer. This is the only shelter we have
to protect us from every enemy we face all the time. God is
our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore,
here's the effect of it, we'll not fear. Though the earth be
removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of
the sea, we have a refuge. If you're in Christ, when the
mountains are carried into the sea and the earth is dissolved,
there'll be something that's going to remain. It's everything
Christ has created. When this flesh goes back to
the dust, the new man in Christ is going to live forever. He's
going to raise a new body forever. There's going to be a new heaven
and earth, and everything's going to be of His creation, in His
righteousness and His holiness. The name of the Lord is a strong
tower. The righteous run into it safe.
Well, will He ever forget me? Is there ever going to be a time
where He might not meet my need? He said in Isaiah 49.15, He said,
Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have
compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, they may forget. They may forget. How'd that baby
get out in that field? Yeah, they may forget. He said,
but I'll not forget thee. Behold, I've graven thee upon
the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me. That
means he's our walls. He's called the wall of salvation.
He's our walls, our shelter, protecting us. Thy children shall
make haste, thy destroyers, and they that made thee waste, they'll
go forth of thee. He said, I'll make them go forth
of thee. That's why the psalmist said,
when my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will
take me up. Do you believe that? Do you believe
that? The Lord will prove our faith.
He'll prove our faith. If we love another person more
than we love Him, He'll prove it. He's going to make His child
say, when all other forsake me, my Lord, He'll take me up. I'll stand with Him. Whatever
I need, brethren, we have but one to go to. Just one. If you need, think about it now. You need to be washed. You need
to be renewed. Do you need to be clothed? Do
you need to have your feet washed? Do you need to have your sin
forgiven? Do you need food? Do you need to be fed? Do you
need spiritual nourishment? Do you need refuge? Do you need
somebody to protect you from the storm? Those four things
are your need and everything you need There is one, only one
to go to. There's only one who's going
to meet that need. I'm not oversimplifying it. You
can't oversimplify this. When Christ said, I am the way,
that means without any other way, he's the only way. He's the only need we have. Wherefore? Let us come boldly to the throne
of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help
in time of need. You know what Paul just told
us? Go back to Philippians 4 and look here, verse 6. Philippians
4, 6. Be careful for nothing. But in
everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus." Either that's true, and God's true, or God's
lying. One of the two. That's true,
brethren. This is true. This is how Paul
could say, look there in verse 11, Philippians 4.11, this is
how Paul could say, I've learned, in whatever state I'm in, there
will be content. Paul spoke of joy, joy, joy,
joy, rejoicing in the Lord all through this epistle. More than
any other epistle. Now he's at the end of his life,
he's gone through the shipwrecks, he's gone through the beatings,
he's gone through being forsaken of brethren, he's gone through
all these troubles, and he's in prison now by himself. No he wasn't. The Lord was with
him. And he said, here's what I learned. Whatever state I'm
in, they were to be content. I know both how to be abased
and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things
I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound
and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ
which strengthened me." And then he turns to his brethren and
he said, and God's going to do the same thing for you. That's
what he said in verse 19. But my God, This God who has
taught me this and who I can do all things by, my God shall
supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ
Jesus. Believe Him. Believe Him. And really it comes down to this.
We either believe Him or we don't. We either believe Him or we don't. I pray to the Lord to make us
just go to Him. Trust Him. That's the answer
to every single need we have. Christ. Father, we thank You
for this Word. Thank You for these promises
that You give us. Lord, we try to think we have
more needs than we really have. We just need You. We need You
to be our life. our righteousness and our bread
and our refuge. And Lord, we just look to your
hand to supply. We know you've promised and we
know you will not forsake us. You will not betray our trust.
We thank you, Lord, and we ask you to make us trust you more.
Lord, make us just rest in you and know all is well. We pray
this for your people everywhere. Forgive us, Lord, our unbelief.
In Christ's name we ask it. Amen.