Well may the Lord help us to
continue our meditation in the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians
and this evening we'll turn to chapter 4 and we'll read verses
7 and 8. So Philippians chapter 4 and
reading verses 7 and 8. And the peace of God which passeth
all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. 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. The last time we gathered for
prayer, of course, we spoke about the previous three verses. And you may remember that the
sixth verse speaks, be careful for nothing, but in everything
by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known unto God. And this, of course, is a great
favour and a great blessing to be able to do this. And there
is a wonderful favour insofar that there is, we might say,
a relief. We may be burdened with various
things, and really not sure how to deal with them. But as we
may be able to come and commit our way unto the Lord, to pray
unto him, and to supplicate for his help, for his grace, for
his mercy toward us, and give him thanks for all his mercies,
then you see, it may be then that God graciously comes and
blesses us with his peace. And we're told in the peace of
God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus. Our minds may have been very
volatile, they may have been tossed about. We may have had
no peace and no calmness. But what a blessing it is when
the Lord comes and graciously blesses us with his spirit of
prayer so that we're able to come and to pour out our heart
to our God. It's a wonderful thing because
God understands us. Men and women often don't understand
us. They don't really know what the
Lord is doing in our heart. But God knows. And therefore
it is a wonderful privilege and relief to pray unto our God. And maybe they know something
of this wonderful blessing of thanksgiving. And Paul says,
and the peace of God, which passes all understanding. And that really
is a tremendous statement if you think about it. To think
that this peace is so wonderful and so glorious, it passes things
that we can naturally understand. You would think, wouldn't you,
well of course I can understand peace, I know all about that,
but this really is a special peace. It is a God-given peace. And not only does it bless us
when we're able to pour out our heart before God, It's also a
blessing to us when we can look beyond our life to the blessings
that the Lord has in store for his church. And I read that second
chapter because the Apostle tells us wonderful words about glory. It doesn't give details, but
what it does say is this. I hath not seen nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart of man." That means you
and I can't really contemplate or understand or envisage the
wonderful blessings which are to come. Neither have entered
into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them
that love Him. It's not as though, by the grace
of God, we are going to a place which is unknown to God. It's a place that God has graciously
prepared for his people. And therefore, again, as we live
on this earth and find ourselves passing through times of difficulty,
trial, opposition, temptations, sometimes to be blessed with
that view that there is before us a glorious scene, a glorious
scene of peace, a glorious scene of happiness, no sorrow, no crying. and all will be joy and peace. Now when the Lord gives us, and
it's I believe seldom when this happens, but sometimes we do
have a little glimpse of that which God has gone to repair.
And I believe then it is that we enjoy that which Paul speaks
of here when he says, the peace of God, which passeth all understanding. you and I can sit and ponder,
and we can think about what heaven will be like, and, well, we have
some glimpses of it in the book of Revelation, where the Apostle
John on the Isle of Patmos was privileged to have a little insight
into some of the glory there, but it's only, as it were, just
a little glimpse, and it's a little glimpse that we get, but what
a mercy it is when the Lord then gives us a right understanding. He goes on to say, let your request,
sorry, he goes on to say, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. Our minds are very apt, so apt
to wander, aren't they? so apt to wander away from the
things of God, away from the prospects which are before the
church of God. The things of time so easily
absorb our minds and our thoughts. But here we have a gracious word. Shall keep your hearts and minds
through Jesus Christ. And there, of course, is the
secret, isn't it? Through Jesus Christ. I found looking to Him,
viewing Him by faith, believing in that great and glorious work
of salvation which He has accomplished on our behalf. It's very humbling,
isn't it, to think the Lord God Almighty came down to this sinful
world to die that sinatonic death in order to redeem our souls
so that one day, by His grace, we should be with Him forever.
Well, so says the Apostle Paul, shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus. And this peace really is a very
wonderful thing. And yet, you see, Isaiah tells
us the alternative in Isaiah's prophecy and chapter 57 and verse
21. We're told there is no peace
saith my God to the wicked. So we should note that because
it does indicate to us that the Church of God, from time to time,
will know something of this peace beyond understanding, which the
wicked, those who are not saved, those who are not converted,
will know nothing about. There is no peace Man tries to
find peace in time. We all struggle, I suppose, to
find peace in time, but you know, it is elusive, because there's
always something to upset that peace in one way or another.
There's not perfection in it. Anything that you and I can look
at, to do in this world, to enjoy as we think, there's always something,
a little something, which nags us perhaps, and there's no perfection. And so says the Lord through
Isaiah, there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. But by comparison, again Isaiah
speaks in chapter 26 and verse three, this is what he says.
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace. whose mind is stayed on
thee, because he trusteth in thee. Well, there's two wonderful
blessings here. To be able to trust in the Lord
with all our heart. That means to have all our confidence,
not in ourselves, but to be found looking unto Jesus. What a favour
that will be. And to keep our minds the word
here is stayed it really means to be kept upon single-minded
upon the great blessings and the things of God and you know
this is so hard isn't it because by nature the devil doesn't want
this and he would do everything to try and not permit us to keep
our minds upon the things of God but we can be Very thankful
for all those little times, little periods in our life when we are
blessed with this situation and we can rejoice therefore in what
God has done. Well then, and the peace of God
which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds
through Jesus Christ. And then he comes, he's coming
towards the end of his letter to the Philippians, and he comes
and he says, Finally, brethren, listen now to what I'm going
to say. I've said many things, but now, brethren, finally. And he gives us a list. 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. You see, that's a list, isn't
it? It doesn't actually itemise them for us. It's something that
you and I can exercise our minds by pondering these things. the things that are indeed, as
he says, true, or honest, just, pure, lovely, good report, virtuous. That's a list, isn't it? A great
list. It's good sometimes, if therefore,
as the apostle says, finally brethren, all these things he
lists down before us. if there be any virtue, and if
there be any praise, think on these things. We could say it
also means to meditate on these things. It's a great depth here,
isn't there, if you think about it. The truth of God, well that
in itself is something which will take us all our life to
really ponder and consider. But it's good to think upon God's
truth. The Lord Jesus, in the 17th of
John, He says this as He prayed to His Father, Thy word is truth. Thy word is truth. The word of God is true. And on so many times in the 119th
Psalm, that very long, chapter in the Bible, again and again,
it speaks about thy word. And as you follow those things
through, to think that all those words of God are true. See, we live in a world today,
we live in a world where we're fed so many lies by the media. Politicians, we can't believe
everything they say, but we can believe the word of God. And
that is, surely, a strength, and a support, and a confidence
for us to go forward believing we have this great and wonderful
truth to be able to meditate upon. And so therefore, whatsoever
things are true, and really, the similar statement is very
similar, whatsoever things are honest. All the Word of God is
honest, isn't it? Yes, there's nothing dishonest
about the great truths that the Lord sets before us. They are
honest and they are true. Again, we need it, don't we,
in this world in which we live, to be able to find this as a
glorious foundation to rest upon the Word of God. Whatsoever things are honest
and whatsoever things are just, Well, so many things are unjust,
but God is just. Everything he does and says is
just. Again, whatever the Lord speaks
to us is just. We may not always like it. We
may not always want it, but we can believe that all that he
says and all he does is just and for it's our eternal good,
and it's pure. What does that mean? There's
no sin there at all. It's pure. We live in a sad world,
don't we? Sin's everywhere. And the worst
of it is sin is within us, as individuals. But God is pure. There's no sin, never has been,
never will be, in His righteous and glorious being. It's good, isn't it? To be able
to ponder that. Pure. And then what sort of things
are lovely? Well, the things of God are lovely. Because it shows us the mercy
of God. It shows us His love. It shows
us His grace. All these things are lovely things
to think upon and to meditate upon. Yes, what a great God we
have. Whatsoever things are lovely.
And then whatsoever things are of good report. Well, there's
plenty of bad reports about the day, aren't there? But a good
report is the work of God. It's good to be able to report
on God's work, what the Lord has done in our own souls, and
to report what He's done in other people's souls. It's a good report. It's a report on what God's done. We read, He said, Come and hear
all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what He's done for my
soul. It's a good report. And what
does it do? Well, it brings honour and glory
to God. So there's great truths, aren't
there, here to think upon. If there be any virtue, all these
things are virtuous. Yes, they're beneficial. There's
nothing wrong, nothing evil. They're all virtues. And therefore,
may we truly thank God for them. And then he concludes by saying,
and if there be any praise, well, there is. There is praise in
these things. And I hope tonight we can praise
God for such glorious truths, which are recorded in his word
for our encouragement. And then he says, think, on these
things, but don't go away tonight, forget about them. We come here
tonight to worship, we come here tonight to profit, so take them
away, meditate upon them, and may they prove to be a blessing,
an eternal blessing for our never-dying souls.