Alright brethren, let's turn
to Philippians chapter 4. The subject I want to speak on tonight
is God's cure for anxiety. God's cure for anxiety. Now this
is God's word to believers. This is to believers. First chapter
and in the first verse, Paul wrote to all the saints in Christ
Jesus which are at Philippi with the bishops and deacons. This
is to believers. And this is a very needful word. It's very needful. There's things we need to be
reminded of as believers. This world is full of sinners
who are murmuring. and complaining at God's providence,
sorrowing over carnal things. But God says to the believer
in verse 4, Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. That's the first of four commands
He gives us right here. Rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say rejoice. And this world is full of impatient,
harsh, self-righteous judges. But God says to the believer,
to his child, verse 5, let your moderation be known unto all
men. The Lord is at hand. And this
world is full of sinners, worrying, full of anxiety, troubled over
what will come of tomorrow. But God says to His child, verse
6, be careful for nothing. Most go through the day without
a thought of God, looking to the strength of their own hand.
But God says to His child, verse 6, But in everything, by prayer
and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
unto God." And these four words, these four words that he gives
us is God's cure for anxiety. This is what God says He promises
to do in verse 7. And the peace of God. which passeth
all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. Now the first word to you and
I who believe concerns magnifying God. It concerns praising God
rather than complaining and murmuring against God. He says there in
verse 4, Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Now, He doesn't say, Rejoice. And He does not say, Rejoice
always. He says, Rejoice in the Lord
always. Rejoice in the Lord always. Believers have got every reason
to rejoice in the Lord all the time. And no reason not to. We got every reason to be rejoicing
in the Lord always and not any reason not to. It was in the
Lord that God my Father chose me and blessed me. It was in the Lord that God the
Holy Spirit quickened me and called me. It was in the Lord
that I have righteousness and strength. I have every reason
to rejoice in the Lord, always. Notice the verse just before
this. When Paul was speaking to these women who helped him,
he said, whose names are in the book of life. Do you remember
when our Lord Jesus sent out His disciples and they went out
and they had this power over all the wicked spirits, you know,
and they came back excited because they had power over those spirits? The Lord said this, He said,
notwithstanding this, rejoice not that the spirits are subject
unto you, but rather rejoice because your names are written
in heaven. You see there, he mentioned that
book. And immediately when he mentioned
that book, God put it on his heart to write, rejoice in the
Lord always. Rejoice in the Lord always. Somebody
might say, but I'm persecuted because of the Word of God. I'm
persecuted because of the Gospel. That will happen. That will happen. By loved ones, by people that
we hold dear, that will happen. Should I rejoice when I'm persecuted?
Our Lord said, Rejoice and be exceedingly glad. He said, For
great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you. God declares in this verse that
believers should be the happiest folks on earth all the time. That's the way we ought to be.
We have every reason to be in the Lord. In our flesh dwells
nothing good. But in the Lord, we're as righteous
as God is righteous. In the Lord we are as holy as
God is holy. In the Lord we have all spiritual
blessings and none shall be able to separate us from the love
of God which is in Christ Jesus, in the Lord. Especially when
our circumstances are troubling to us and nothing is going our
way and we have much sorrow Especially then we should rejoice in the
Lord always and again I say rejoice. Look back at chapter 3 and verse
3. For we are the circumcision which
worship God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. That's why David said this, he
said, I'll bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord. And then he said this, the humble
shall hear thereof. The humble shall hear this and
be glad. There's some humble ones here
tonight, been humbled by His grace. And we hear this and we're
glad to hear that all our rejoicing and praise goes to the Lord.
And so David said, Oh magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt
His name together. Now let's let the world murmur. Let's let the world complain.
But instead of us doing that, God says we're to magnify the
Lord. We're to magnify Him. We're to
praise Him. Get up every morning and think
about what God's given you in the Lord. And go through the
day thinking about what God's given you in the Lord. That's
what He said. And rejoice in the Lord no matter
what comes our way. Rejoice in the Lord. Now here's
the second word. This is God's cure for anxiety. The second word to us concerns
our attitude and our conduct before men. He says in verse
5, let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at
hand. Now this is the only place in
scripture where the word moderation is used. The only place. And it does not have anything
to do with temperance in food and drink. That's not what it
means. It means your attitude and your
conduct. He's saying here, be mild and
gentle and patient before men. It means let all men in the church
and in the world see you and recognize you as gentle and kind
and patient as opposed to cranky and impatient and harsh and demanding. That's what it means. Ephesians
4.32 says, Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. Romans 12.18. Look there with
me just a moment. Romans 12.18. This is what he is saying right
here, Romans 12, 18. If it be possible, as much as
lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved,
avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it
is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.
Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If your enemy hunger,
feed him. If he thirst, give him drink.
For in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. That's
to say, It will be like giving him warmth on a cold night when
he has no way to be warmed. It's a good thing to heap coals
on his head to warm him. Now look at the next verse. Be
not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Now that's what
our Lord Jesus did for us. Go to 1 Peter chapter 2. That's exactly what He did for
us. He overcome evil with good. The devil... is evil. And He led us into sin and death
by beguiling Eve and then Adam with his eyes wide open sinned.
And His seed, the devil's seed, are children of evil. And they
reviled our Lord Jesus in the most violent way on the cross. Look here. Look how He overcome
evil with good. 1 Peter 2.23. who when he was reviled, reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously,
who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree. that we, being dead to sins,
should live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. Go to 1 Peter 5. Now here's what
he's saying to us in our text. 1 Peter 5, 6. Humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God. I tell you what, let's
read verse, let's read 1 Peter 5, Let's read 2 Peter. 1 Peter 5. 1 Peter 5. I keep looking in the wrong chapter. You can't find the verse of chapter
5 looking in chapter 4. Alright, 1 Peter 5 and look at
verse 5 and look at the very end there. He says, All of you
be subject one to another and be clothed with humility, for
God resisteth the proud. You know, we probably never really
think about it, but a lot of our worry and trouble and anxiety
is God resisting the proud. Our personal worry and care and
all is God resisting the proud. I'm talking about when I'm all
down and out and troubled and perplexed and full of anxiety,
God resisting me. He says, humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due
time, casting all your care upon Him. What's that word care talking
about? All that anxiety, all that worry,
cast it all on Him. For He careth for you. And we're
to do it remembering this. Go back now to Philippians 4.
See, this is connected right here. We're to do this remembering
this. The Lord is at hand. The Lord's
at hand. Whatever comes our way comes
by the hand of our Sovereign Lord. And our Sovereign Lord
is at hand when it comes to pass. He's there. He's ever-present,
continually. God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. At times, most times, it seems
like We don't understand what God's doing. We have no idea
what He's doing providentially. You look at those hurricanes
and you think about what the people there and brethren we
know that are going to be affected by that and they don't really
know what God's doing by that. But God's doing it. It's most
certainly God doing it. And our enemies a lot of times
seem to be in control. William Cowper wrote this, God
moves in a mysterious way. His wonders to perform. He plants
his footsteps in the sea and he rides upon the storm. Deep
and unfathomable minds of never failing skill, he treasures up
his bright designs and works his sovereign will. You fearful
saints, fresh courage take. The clouds you so much dread
are big with mercy and shall soon break in blessings on your
head. Judge not the Lord by feeble
sense, but trust Him for His grace. Behind a frowning providence,
He hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower. Blind unbelief is sure to err
and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter and
He will make it plain. So He tells us when we are before
men, let your moderation be known. Let men see you as being patient,
waiting on the Lord, being not judgmental, not harsh, not unkind. The Lord is at hand. So He is
saying, Act like you really believe He is. Look here, now here's
the third thing. The third words concerning our
worry and our anxiousness. Our worry and our anxiousness. Verse 6, be careful for nothing. That means be anxious for nothing.
Do not be troubled, do not be anxious, do not be worried over
anything. Brother Todd and I were talking
about this, and it's what really got me thinking about this passage.
Ever so often, he was telling me a story about a book he was
reading, and this happens, and you may have had this happen
to you, but ever so often a new doctor will come along, and he'll
have a new book with some new problems in it, and some new
causes that caused those problems. Brother Todd was talking about
this book he was reading and he said he started reading this
book and he said, just for a little minute there, he said, I felt
so good, I thought, that's what's wrong with me. And they give you a name for
it and it makes you feel so much better. You know, worldly doctors
giving you this name for this. And they tell you the cause of
it too and that way you can blame it on somebody else. It's always
your environment, your mama, your daddy, your social status
or something that had to do with it. It's what the cause of it.
Our Lord told us what the cause of it is. Go to Matthew 6. Our Lord told us there's three
things to blame for our anxious care. Three things. We've been
hitting all around it with these things we've been looking at
here. Matthew 6. The first cause, the first cause
is covetousness. The first cause is covetousness.
At the heart of being anxious and worried is self-interest. That's at the heart of it. Coveting
a worldly, something worldly. The second cause is idolatry.
It's self-exaltation. It's thinking, I could do much
better with providence, God, than you're doing. And the third cause is our unbelief.
The Lord's at hand. Look here, Matthew 6, 24. No
man can serve two masters, for either he'll hate the one and
love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the
other. You cannot serve God in mammon.
Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life." What's
he saying? Take no anxious thought for your
life. For whose life? For your life.
For my life. What you shall eat, or what you
shall drink, nor yet for your body, What you shall put on? Now watch this. He asks a question. Is not the life more than meat
in the body than raiment? What have we seen in this question
series we've been going through? Almost every time the Lord asks
a sinner a question, He's convicting us of our sin. Almost every time. And the Lord is saying here,
you're anxious because you're putting all this emphasis on
the world, the body and on earthy things. That's covetousness. All right, then look here. Look
what he says next. Verse 26, Behold the fowls of
the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into
barns. Yet your heavenly Father feedeth
them. Are you not much better than
they? What's he saying? He's saying this is because of
unbelief. Your heavenly Father knows you
need this. Do you not think that He's going
to treat you better than He treats the sparrows? What is that if
I don't think that? That's unbelief. That's all it
is. Look, verse 27, "...which of
you, by taking thought..." Now this is the next cause. "...which
of you, by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature?"
He's saying, you don't have any ability to add one day to your
life by your wisdom. He just convicted us of self-exaltation. He just convicted us of idolatry.
Here you are, you can't even add a single second to your life
and you're anxious and worried and complaining about providence
because you really think you could be doing a better job than
God could. That's what He's saying. And you can't even add a second
to your life. Look here. Verse 28, And why take you thought
for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field,
how they grow. They toil not, neither do they
spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all his
glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so
clothed the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow
is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you,
O ye of little faith?" If I'm a believer of little faith, what
am I? I'm a believer of much unbelief.
That's what I am. And I'm telling you, brethren,
this is the cause of all of our worry and our care. He says,
Therefore take no thought, no anxious thought, saying, What
shall we eat or what shall we drink or wherewithal shall we
be clothed? For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek. You see that? He's saying that's
what worldly men seek. Not believers, worldly folks.
For your heavenly Father knoweth that you have need of all these
things. There's unbelief. But seek ye
first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. This is what
our text is telling us. Four things to do to be seeking
His kingdom and His righteousness all the time, every day. And
he said, and all these other things will be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for tomorrow, for tomorrow take thought
for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof. So go back now to our text, Philippians
4. I know that sin is easy to deal
with when we talk about a doctrine. But when we start seeing it as
these everyday things that we do constantly, and our anxious
worry and all that, just nothing but covetousness, self-promotion,
idolatry, exalting self, thinking we could do better, fretting,
murmuring, complaining because we don't like God's providential
hand and all of its unbelief. Now look here what he says, rather
than being anxious and all of that, here's the cure for that,
verse 6, but in everything, By prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. Now he says here in everything,
and he says by prayer and supplication, that means we ought to pray without
ceasing. That means we ought to be praying
all the time in a constant state of communion with God. It doesn't
mean be down on your knees or be at a table at a restaurant
making a big show. It means from the time we get
up to the time we lay down. Every time that you can think,
every time the thought crosses your mind, commune with God and
try not to stop communing with God. Do you remember when our
Lord was in the Garden of Gethsemane and He went away to pray? This
is a time when He's being tempted like no point up to that point. And He told the disciples to
watch and pray. And He came back and He said,
He came to them and He found them and they were asleep. And
He said to Peter, what, could you not watch with me one hour?
What did he mean by that? Why was he wanting him to do
that so much? He said, watch and pray that
you enter not into temptation. Watch and pray so that you won't
be tempted by the devil. Right after he said, cast all
your care on the Lord, he said, be diligent. Because your adversary
the devil walks, be sober, be diligent. Doing what? Looking
to Christ. Casting all your care on Him.
Calling on Him. being in communion with Him.
Because the devil can't come and tempt you while you're in
communion with Christ. Just like Christ was telling
them, watch and pray. He can't do a thing to me while
my Father is present. And He won't do a thing to you
while the Lord is present. When do we get tempted? When
do we get tossed to and fro and fall into these panic attacks
and get all worried like the sky is falling? When do we do
that? It's when we're not thinking
about God at all. We got our hearts and minds full
of the world. That's when it happens. What
do you think that is? That's the devil tempting you.
That's not just, oh, well, I had bad thoughts. No. That's wrestling
with all that wickedness that's described in Scripture that we
can't see. There's only one way to fight that. Faith. Faith. Whom resists steadfast. How?
In the faith. Communion with Him. Look here.
And He says, and do this with thanksgiving. What if I'm suffering? What if I'm hurting? What if
my heart's been broken or something like that? Oh, the devil wants
you to say, that's a good time now for you to get back into
your murmuring and complaining and letting all men see that
you're just fed up with the way things are. That's a good time
to do all that. No, especially then, because
He said, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you. In everything give thanks, because
whatever that thing is that God's brought into your life, and it's
hurting you, and it's got you broke down, and it's got you
suffering, that very thing is the will of God in Christ concerning
you. He said it. He sent it. And so you can thank God because
we know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are called according to His purpose. He
sent it for a purpose and He's going to work that purpose and
it's going to be for our good. So even when it's the worst thing
in the world, He said in everything, thank God. Thank God. That's hard to do for us. We
just can't even fathom thanking God for something. What is it
that has happened that's out of God's control, that God's
not part of that? All things He's working together
for our good. So he said, thank God for it.
This is the will of God concerning you. Now look what he says next. Let your requests be made known
unto God. Now look down at verse 19. My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. So he says, now, let your requests
be made known unto God in everything, all the time, by prayer and supplication,
with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. Now,
He didn't say God's going to supply all our wants. He said
our needs. And He didn't say out of His
riches. He's not going to His riches
and taking out of them and diminishing His riches so He can supply your
need. He says according to His riches. In other words, when He supplies
all your need, He's not diminishing the least. There's more where
that came from. What does a believer need? He
is going to do this by Christ, by Christ Jesus. Now what does
a believer need? We need the same thing we needed
the day we were born. That's what we need. Same thing
we needed the day we were born. We need to be cleaned. We came
into this world a picture of a sinner in need of grace. We
couldn't even clean ourselves. That's what we need and we still
need that. If we walk in the light as He's
in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood
of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. There's our
need. He supplied it. What else do
we need? What does a baby need? We need
to be clothed. We can't clothe ourselves. We
need somebody else to clothe us. I will greatly rejoice in
the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God. Here's something to rejoice in
the Lord about. For He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness. He's clothed me. Well, what else
do we need? We need to be fed. We need to
be fed. As newborn babes, desire the
sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby. And what
else do we need? We need one more thing. That's
all we need. We need to be sheltered. That's all we need. From the
end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed. What's anxiety? What is worry? What is care? when my heart is
overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For Thou
hast been a shelter for me and a strong tower from the enemy.
I will abide in Thy tabernacle forever. I will trust in the
covert of Thy wings. He's been a shelter. Now this
is all by God giving He has only begotten Son. Not for good folks. Not for folks
that wanted Him to give His Son. But for folks that hated Him
and despised Him and took Him and said, we won't have this
man reign over us. That's me and you for whom He
died. Now, if he did that, given his
son, and provided everything we really truly need, he will
provide every lesser thing that we need. And just next time we get worried,
anxious, just see if the thing we're anxious and worried about
is just think about it and really take inventory and decide, now
is this a need? Or is this a want? And I guarantee
you'll find out it's a want. It's a want. In your roughest, leanest, most
sorrowful day, didn't God provide, didn't He provide, David said, ìIíve been young
and now Iím old, yet Iíve not seen the righteous forsaken and
Iíve never seen his seed begging bread.î I hadnít either. I have not either. So hereís what He says to you.
He says, ìCast all your care on Him in prayer and in supplication,
with thanksgiving, letting your requests be known unto God.î
Now hereís the last thing. If we obey these four words,
and if we do it, you know we're going to do it by His grace.
That's the only way we're going to do this. But if we obey these
words, what does God say He'll do? How will this be the cure
for our anxiety? Right here, verse 7. And the
peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Now either God's telling
us the truth or He's lying. It's one of the two. We'll have not the peace the
world gives. We won't have the peace that the newest doctor
that wrote the latest book gives. But we'll have the peace of God.
We'll have the peace of God. Listen to what our Lord said.
Now listen to these words carefully. Now think about what this verse
is saying, this passage is saying, and think about what Christ said.
He said, Peace I leave with you. My peace, my peace, I give unto
you. Not as the world giveth, give
I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. You believe in God? He said,
Believe also in Me. Faith is the cure for anxiety. Trust in Christ is the cure for
anxiety. That's what He just said. If
that ain't what He just said, that's exactly what He just said.
Listen to this. These things I've spoken unto
you that in Me you might have peace. In the world you shall
have tribulation. but be of good cheer. I have
overcome the world." Now what does that mean for you and me?
When he said, I've overcome the world. Paul said in Romans 5.1,
being justified, Christ having justified us by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the peace
He gives us, peace with God. We've been talking about it in
2 Corinthians 5. We've been reconciled to God. Every chosen child of God, God
was in Christ reconciling His people to Himself. He will not
impute our sins to us because He made Him sin for us. That
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And this is the
peace He gives. We have peace with God. And so
as we obey these four words, now here's what he's saying,
as you obey these four words, let's look at them again real
quick. Philippians 4, Rejoice in the Lord always. That means
you're going to have such affection, your heart on the Lord always
and be thinking of what are things I have to praise Him for. And
it also means when tough times come and troubling things appear,
rather than murmuring against Him, magnify Him. Magnify Him. Do like David. I'm going to praise
Him always. Always. And then look at this.
And let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord's at hand. When you're in front of men,
don't join in with them murmuring about everything that's going
on and everything that's going wrong and how they should have
done that and the president should have done the other and this
one should have done that and blah, blah, blah. You know what that
is? That's pouring gasoline on a fire and the fire is your flesh. And look at this, be careful
for nothing, don't be anxious for anything, but instead of
that, in everything. Don't you see how he offset nothing
and everything? Be careful, be anxious for nothing,
about nothing, but in everything. By prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. Cry out
to God. Call on God. Commune with God. And as this happens, and we have
our minds and our hearts set on Christ, our peace, then they are not set on carnal
things. And listen to this. To be carnally
minded is death. But to be spiritually minded
is life and peace. Why is it when we come in here
and we worship the Lord, and we hear His Gospel preached,
and we hear His Scriptures read, and we look into these things,
why is it that we are so full of peace? It's just what He's telling us
in this text. We've got our minds and our affections set on Him
who is our peace. It's real simple, isn't it? It's
real simple, isn't it? And to think of the money people
have made, doctors have made writing books and trying to tell
you what the cure is. And God said, here it is right
here. See, now listen, to be carnally
minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Now
listen to this verse connected with that one. The kingdom of
God is not meat and drink. but righteousness and peace and
joy in the Holy Spirit. This is all about being spiritually
minded. And so he says, you do this and
here is what will happen. The peace of God which passeth
all understanding shall keep your hearts and your minds through
Christ Jesus. I don't know what all that means
about passeth all understanding, but I do think it has something
to do with this. We all try to figure out what's
going on, try to understand all these things, and there's something
that is far surpassing than you've been able to understand what
God's doing and everything that's happening in this world. That's
the peace of God, Christ our Lord. The peace we have with
Christ is far better than that. If you have that, your mind will
be at peace, your heart will be at peace, when you don't understand
and have one clue what's going on in the world, what God's doing.
And you don't need to. He can come across that raging
sea when that hurricane is blowing and you just be so afraid and
Him say, be not afraid. Yes I. Peace be still and your heart
and your mind is at peace. He is saying to us, go home and
read Colossians 3. Everything He said in Colossians
3. Let the peace of God rule your heart. That's what he's
talking about. Let the peace of God rule your
heart. All the things that are opposite of what he just said.
He's letting our flesh rule our heart. He says let the peace
of God rule your heart. I pray God will bless that. Let's
stand together and we'll close in prayer. Brother Eric will
come lead us in the closing hymn. Father, we thank You that You
are the cure and You point us to Christ. Lord, we hear this
and we see it and we rejoice in it and we'll go right out
of here and we'll go right back looking at our flesh, walking
after our flesh. Lord, keep us ever turned to
You. All the things that are pure and honest All those things
that we find in Christ, Lord, keep us thinking on those things. Keep us ever calling on You and
communing with You and speaking with You as a friend throughout
our day. Keep our heart on You. Keep our
mind on You. Make us go through one day, Lord,
just looking to You. Lord, we trust that Your Word
is true, Your promise is true. You'll keep our heart and our
mind. Lord, subdue our flesh, we ask
you, and make your peace rule our heart, our inward man, our
true man. Put down this old, sinful, worrisome,
troubled, sinful, carnal flesh. Lord, we pray this for our brethren
everywhere. We pray it for those that are
troubled and worrying at this very moment. We pray for our
brethren that are in the storms and the real storm, the true
physical storm, as well as those that are in spiritual storms.
Pray that You keep them both. We know You shall. Lord, forgive
us our sins and forgive us our worry and our anxious thought. Make us to believe You. Make
us to trust You. Make us to know You're right
here with us. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. All right, brother.