Let us turn then to God's Word
as we continue to consider these words at the beginning of Philippians
chapter 4. It's what we might call the Hortatory
part of the Epistle. These various exhortations that
the Apostle is giving to individuals and also of course to those in
the Church at Philippi and we're turning tonight to chapter 4
and verse 5. Let your moderation be known
unto all men, the Lord is at hand. In Philippians 4, 5. Let your moderation be known
unto all men, the Lord is at hand. As I say, we have these
various exhortations and last time we were considering the
language that we have in verse 4 and there we have the exhortation
to rejoice twice the word is used, rejoice in the Lord always
and again I say rejoice and of course the verb rejoice is very
much in the imperative mood it's a word of command and it's a
repetition of what he has said previously in chapter 3 finally
My brethren, rejoice in the Lord, for there is the causing of the
believer's joy. He rejoices in the Lord his God. And as he rejoices in the Lord
his God, so, as we were saying last time, Paul speaks of having
good joy in his prayers. In chapter 1 and verse 4, he
says, Always in every prayer of mine for you all, making requests
with joy. There was much that made him
joyful with regards to the situation in Philippi and the fruit of
his labors there in that city. And so with joy he is praying
for them. He speaks also in that opening
chapter, remember, of joy with regards to the preaching of the
Word of God, although some might be not motivated well in what
they're doing. Verse 18, he says, What then,
notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ
is preached, and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. He rejoices in the proclamation
then of the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. And he even speaks of joy in
the prospect of death. We said last time there in chapter
2 at verses 17 and 18. Yea, and if I be offered, or
as the margin says, poured forth upon the sacrifice and service
of your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. For the same cause
also do ye joy and rejoice with me. It was one of the prison
epistles and it may well have been that having gone to Rome
it appealed to Pharaoh it might be that there he would suffer
a martyr's death but he is ready to die he's ready to die and
of course we're familiar with that language that we find again
in the opening chapter verse 23 I am in a strait betwixt two
having the desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far
better Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful
to you. So whilst he has joy at the prospect
of dying and going to be forever with the Lord, yet he wants that
that is best for the Philippians. Oh, what a man is this thing!
As he writes and gives these words of exhortation, he's one
who would heed his own exhortations. He does the things that he would
be commanding the Philippians also to do. They are to rejoice. And what does he say? They are
to rejoice all the way. All the way. Rejoice in the Lord
all the way. And again I say rejoice. There is much cause for rejoicing
then. Although the life of the Christian
is full of trials, and troubles, in the world ye shall have tribulation,
says the Lord Jesus. The Apostle echoes that. We must,
through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. And
yet, what cause there is for continual rejoicing, because
Christ is ever the same, Jesus Christ the same, yesterday and
today and forever. And it's to the Lord Jesus that
we look. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ
that we trust, and in Him we find every cause for rejoicing. And I think last time I did refer
to that remarkable portion at the end of Habakkuk's book, that
short book of Habakkuk, the final verses, although the fig tree
shall not blossom, neither shall the fruit be in the vines, the
labor of the olive shall fail, And the field shall yield no
meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there
shall be no herd in the stalls. Everything gone. Yes, says the
prophet, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of
my salvation. The Lord God is my strength,
and He will make my feet like hind feet, and He will make me
to walk upon mine high places. to the chief singer on my stringed
instrument. It's an anthem of praise there
at the end of that book and rejoicing and rejoicing in all that the
Lord God himself is. Now these are some of those things
that we sought to speak on, was it two weeks ago now? And turning
then now to the following verse, verse 5, let your moderation
be known unto all men. The Lord is at and this exhortation
to moderation and I want to deal simply with two headings really
to try to define what we mean by moderation here and then secondly
to see the motivation that Paul gives in order that they might
be encouraged to heed the command that he's giving them. Well what
is this moderation? What is this moderation? We can
think of the words of the Lord Himself in the Gospel, and He's speaking in light there
of His own coming, and that's the case here, is it not? That
your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Well, in the Gospel, Luke 21.34,
Christ says, Take heed, take heed to yourselves, he says,
lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with the cares
of this life, and so that they come upon you unawares." Oh,
we're not to be those then who indulge our earthly appetites. That's what the Lord is saying
in that portion in the Gospel. Certainly we're not to be so
taken up with the things of this world that in view of Christ's
coming we're to hold this world very lightly in our hands and
we're to turn away from the things of the world let your moderation
be known unto all men the Lord is at hand says the Apostle now
the word that we have here this word moderation it's not an easy
word it's a difficult word to translate in his commentary on
this particular epistle William Hendrickson suggests several English words
that could be used in the translation of what we have in the original
he speaks of the word having the idea of a certain forbearance
but even also the idea of being big-hearted Magnanimity, he speaks
of, and generosity. All of these things. It's that
that is seemly. He speaks of kindness and gentleness. All of these ideas, it seems,
are found in the particular word that's rendered in our Authorized
Version, moderation, gentleness, and meekness. We know that that spirit is not
found naturally in our hearts. We have to look to the Lord.
If a man lacks wisdom he is to ask of God who gives to all men
liberally and the brightest not. God gives good things to them
that ask of him. And doesn't James tell us what
that wisdom from above is like. The wisdom from above, he says,
is first pure and then peaceable and gentle and easy to be entreated
and full of mercy and good fruits and without partiality and without
hypocrisy. It's that that is seamless. And
this is the word that we have here, really. I like this idea
of gentleness and forbearance. And of course we have that expression
in the psalm, in Psalm 18, the psalmist says, Thy gentleness
hath made me great. God's gentleness. Gentleness
in God is quite a remarkable attribute. The God that we deal
with is a holy God, and a righteous God, and a just God. But how
gentle, how kindly God is in all his dealings with us. And
this is to be the mark of the believer. Let your moderation
be known unto all men. How are we to deal with the ungodly,
those who are outside of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, look
at the language again of the Apostle when he writes to the
Romans in chapter 12, and there at verse 19 following, he says,
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, that 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 he thirst, give him drink. For in so doing thou
shalt keep coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil,
but overcome evil with good. All our moderation is to mark
then the life of God's people before the worldlings. and they
will behold then that we've been with the Lord Jesus because we
will behave like unto the Lord Jesus and of course it follows
if believers are to be like that in their dealings with the unbeliever
if there's to be a gentleness in all of their manners and much
more so when believers are dealing with their fellow believers and
Paul is a wonderful example of that he has such a care for the
Christian believers he's instrumental he's instrumental in the hand
of God of course in the establishment of so many churches his ministry
is so fruitful as we see in the New Testament
those who are converted through him and how tenderly time and
again he writes to these believers I think especially of the way
in which he addresses the church of the Thessalonians there in
the opening epistle the first epistle he reminds them we were
gentle among you he says even as a nurse cherishes her children
how gentle he was how he cherished them how he
was only desirous of their best good and not only comparing himself
to a kindly nurse but also speaking of himself as a loving father
to them He says, as ye know, we exhorted and comforted and
charged every one of you as a father doth his children. All they were
his children. And so he's so moderate in all
his ways with them. And yet we know also with regards
to the Apostle, though that is true, he has the large heartedness
of a pastor, he has a real pastor's heart And yet, there's always
a firmness with him when it comes to dealing with false teachers. And we see it, we see it very
much in this letter that he's writing to the Philippians. Now
he speaks of those Judaizers, those who wanted these Gentile
believers to become first Jews, to be circumcised. In the third
chapter he says, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware
of the concision. That's how he speaks of the Judaizers,
who did not look alone to Christ for salvation. He doesn't call
them even the circumcision, that was the way in which often the
Jews might be referred to by the Gentiles. They are the circumcision,
the Gentiles are the uncircumcised. Paul uses this word concision
and that refers to evil and wicked cuttings in the flesh contrary
to the Word of God. Beware of dogs, beware of evil
workers, beware of the concision for we are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have
no confidence in the flesh. This man might be moderate in
his manner, loving and kind in his in his pastoral ways, and
it is firm where he sees false teaching. And so, again here,
how he speaks in chapter 3 at verses 18 and
19. Many walk of whom I have told
you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies
of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God
is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly
things? Who is straight and direct and
forceful, so firm in dealing with any who are teaching that
that is contrary to the gospel of Christ? He's a meek man. But he's not
a weak man. We're told, aren't we, concerning
the man Moses, that Moses was very meek, above all the men
which were upon the face of the earth. And yet, how firm Moses
is, many times, in the way in which he has to deal with the
children of Israel. Meekness is not weakness. Moses was a meek man, so too
was the Apostle in the way in which he dealt with people. And
how he encourages these people in all their behavior to moderation,
let your moderation be known unto all men. He says the Lord
is at hand. Oh, he's so concerned that these
believers should act in a becoming fashion. in a kindly manner in
their dealing certainly with one another. Again we have Paul
speaking to the church at Ephesus, there at the end of chapter 4.
In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 31,
let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil
speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be ye kind
one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as
God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Be ye therefore followers
of God as dear children, and walk in love as Christ also hath
loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet-smelling savour." He speaks of a motivation, really. What will move these people to
conduct themselves in this right and proper fashion? Well, it
will be when they recognize that they are to be the servants of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so they're to conduct themselves
even as Christ would conduct himself. And they're to bear
with one another. And they're to be moderate in
all their dealings with one another. To the Romans, he says, we then
that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and
not to please ourselves. All moderation in all our dealings. And how, as we sought to point
out, Hendrickson does try to indicate to us and bring out
something of the fullness of the word that's being used. It's so difficult to know what
is the best English word to use in the translation of that particular
word. But he certainly has the idea
of kindliness, gentleness. But I just remarked on motivation,
and we see it there at the end of Ephesians chapter 4, and we
see it here. Because the precept, the exhortation
is joined to a promise. And the promise is that of the
Lord being at hand. The Lord's coming. Let your moderation
be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. There is the promise here. The
promise of He's coming. He's coming again. And we not only think in terms
of His advent, when He comes at the end of this
day of grace, His final coming, and the great
judgment that will follow. But there's a sense in which
the Lord comes now, there's the presence of the Lord now. The Lord is at hand, He's always
at hand. He's everywhere, we know that.
And such a psalm as the 139th very much reminds us of that
great truth of His His omnipresence, He's in all places. He fills
heaven and earth. Do you know the language that
we have in that particular psalm? Psalm 139 at verse 7. David says, Whither shall I go from
thy spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If
I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in
hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the outermost part of the earth, even there shall
thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall uphold me. And as the Lord is in every place,
so the Lord knows all things. As he says in the opening part
of that psalm, O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me, thou
knowest my down-sitting. Am I not rising? They'll understand
it's my thoughts. They're far off. They encompass
me. They encompass my path and my lying down and I'm acquainted
with all my ways. The Lord is present. He's in
all places. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in His sight. All things are naked and open
to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do, says Paul to the
Hebrews. The Lord is at hand, and there's
certainly a measure of warning in that, that we need to remember
that the Lord's eye is always upon us. As I said, it's really
the idea of promise that we have here, because in this present
time, the Lord is at hand to help. He's at hand to help. we have the language again of
the Psalmist time and time again Psalm 145 and verse 18 the Lord
is nigh unto all them that call upon him to all that call upon
him in truth and he will fulfill the desires of them that fear
him he is that one who is surely
a very present help in every time of trouble. That's our comfort. He's not just a help, he's a very present help. He is that one that sees us,
knows us, and is able to minister to us. And as I've said many
times in these verses, we've looked at the previous verses
and we continually have this word in, don't we? In verse 1, stand fast in the
Lord. And then again in verse 2, be of the same mind in the Lord. And then in verse four, rejoice
in the Lord. But the preposition could equally
as well have been rendered with the word by. We can only stand
fast by the Lord. We can only be of the same mind
by the Lord. We can only rejoice. by the Lord. And so also with regards to this
moderation, it's by the Lord. The Lord is at hand. The Lord
is at hand. He's at hand. He's present to
help us. He says without me you can do nothing. So the fact that
he gives the exhortation but then immediately adds this other
sentence, the Lord is at hand, surely that's an encouragement.
There is the presence of God here and now. But then surely
also we can understand this in terms of the second coming. The Lord Jesus Christ is at hand
in that certainly he will be appearing in that time that is
appointed and we as his people are to be looking and watching
for that appearing. Look at the language that we
have at the end of the previous chapter. He says, verse 20, Our
conversation, our manner of living, is in heaven, from whence also
we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall
change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His
glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even
to subdue all things unto Himself. All we're to be looking then
for the Savior is coming again and it's to be a source of great
encouragement to believers. There's that lovely passage in
the second epistle to the Thessalonians at the end of chapter 4. Remember
what Paul says here in the closing verses from verse 15? In 1 Thessalonians 4, for this
we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive
and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent, shall
not go before them which are asleep. For the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ
shall rise first. And we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the
Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. And then he adds this in the
final verse. Wherefore comfort one another
with these words. Wherefore comfort one another.
There's comfort in that blessed prospect of the Lord coming again. moderation, meekness, gentleness,
evident in a patient waiting for the appearing of the Lord,
persevering in all the ways of God as we are looking and longing
for that blessed day. Again, at the end of 2 Thessalonians,
the Apostle says, the Lord direct your hearts into the love of
God and into the patient waiting for Christ. Where there is that
patient waiting for Christ, that enduring, that persevering, so
we are to conduct ourselves in accordance with all the exhortations
that the Apostle is giving us. in this portion of Scripture.
Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at
hand. Lord, that at His coming we might
be found walking in that way of all the holy precepts of the
gospel of the grace of God. May the Lord be pleased to bless
His truth to us. We're going to, as usual, sing
God's praise now in our second hymn. The hymn is number 686. The tune of B is 494. Jesus cast a look on me, give
me sweet simplicity, make me poor and keep me low, seeking
only thee to know. In this posture let me live,
and Hosannas daily give, in this temper let me die, and Hosannas
ever cry. 686 to the tune 494. Oh.