and let us turn to the chapter
we were reading here in Philippians chapter 4 and I want to direct
you to what we can only describe as a big text tonight the words
that we find here at verse 19 Philippians 4 19 but my God shall
supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ
Jesus I'm sure if you remember nothing else of what's said this
evening you might go away and remember and meditate and think
upon this remarkable testimony of the Apostle concerning the
Philippians. But my God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. For the glory then of God's riches
and they are of course riches that are found in God himself
we see them in the mystery of the doctrine of God the doctrine
of the Trinity the first and the greatest of all mysteries
in Colossians chapter 2 and there in verses 2 and 3 Paul speaks
of all riches of the full assurance
of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God and of
the Father and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge. all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge hidden then in that mystery of God and of the Father
and of Christ hidden in that blessed truth of who God is the
glories of his own person and we can only know God through
him who is the eternal son of God who is the image of the unseen
God, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the mediator of the New Testament. There is one God and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. And it is as Christ
himself declares in his prayer, it is eternal life to know thee
the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. And so here
in the text we notice that all this glory is to be known only
by and through the Lord Jesus. My God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. And really the theme I want to
address tonight is that of the fact that all needs are supplied
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our every need is supplied in
the Lord Jesus Christ, the one by whom we come to understand
something of the glory of those riches of the triune God. And The supply is a threefold
supply. First of all, there is a supply
of every temporal and every physical need. This is what the Apostle
is assuring these Philippians of. All their temporal and all
their physical needs are going to be supplied. Because the Lord
Jesus is that one who in his mediatorial kingdom has been
placed over all things. All things are under his authority. Remember the language that we
have there at the end of Ephesians chapter 1, at verse 20, and the
following verses. that he wrought in Christ, when
he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right
hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and
power and might and dominion, and every name that is named,
not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and
hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the
head over all things, to the church which is his body, the
fullness of him that filleth all in all. The headship of the
Lord Jesus Christ for his people, the church, is that he is over
all things. Again, Paul to the Hebrews says,
Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. for in that he
put all in subjection under him he left nothing that is not put
under him. And the Lord Jesus himself assures
us that as he is glorified and exalted at the Father's right
hand so we can have that assurance that our prayers will be heard
when we come in his name in John 16.23, Verily, I say
unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he
will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing
in my name. Ask, and ye shall receive, that
your joy may be full. Or when his work is completed,
when he has finished that that the Father had given him to do
in the eternal covenant, The risen, the exalted Savior is
that one who will grant to them all things that they ask. The
Father in his name. There is such a fullness in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And how remarkable here are the
words of the Apostle as he speaks of this God who will supply every
need because he uses the language of appropriation he doesn't say
simply God shall supply all your need he says my God he is speaking
of one who has that knowledge of God as his own personal God
and Saviour the language of appropriation how wondrous it is when we can
come and address him as our God and our Father as the Lord himself
instructs us when we come in and through the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ when we look to God by the mediation of him who
is the only Saviour of sinners In the hymn, John Ryland says,
while Christ is rich, can I be poor? What can I want beside? And again, when all created streams
are dried, thy fullness is the same. May I with this be satisfied,
and glory in thy name. If we do but know this God, and
can address him as poor as our God, my God, What matters is,
we will have every supply in that knowledge that he is the
one who in Christ Jesus will never at all fail us in any sense. Think of the language that we
find there at the end of the book of the prophet Habakkuk.
Those remarkable words. The verse 17 of chapter 3, although
the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the
vines, the labour 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 stores. Yet 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 foot, and he
will make me to walk upon mine high places." Oh, the assurance
that the Prophet has, that whatever fails the Lord God Himself will
never fail. And Paul knew this. This is why
he can speak with such confidence to these Philippians, and say,
My God shall supply all your need according to His riches
in glory by Christ Jesus. because of what he has just said
previously. Look at the language that we
have there at verse 18. He says, I have all and abound. I am full. It's typical Pauline
language. He uses the words all, abound
and full. In no sense is he wanting, because
God is his God. And he is so conscious of this. with regards to all his temporal
needs. He speaks of these matters when
he writes in his various epistles. Remember how when he writes there
in 2 Timothy, the last of all his epistolary writings, he says
there in chapter 4, verse 13, the cloak that I left at Troas
with Carpas, when thou comest, bring with thee. He knows that
the Lord will supply his needs and he reminds Timothy to bring
with him that cloak that he now feels to be in need of. All his necessities will be supplied. It's interesting the word that
we have in verse 16 even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my
necessity. My necessity. And it's the same
word that we have here in verse 19. My God shall supply all your
need, all your necessities, according to His riches in glory by Christ
Jesus. In that sense, God's people will
never want. What are we to pray for? The Lord instructs us in
that pattern prayer, we're to pray and say, give us this day
our daily bread. There is daily bread for the
day. But it's interesting, isn't it? Because whilst that's the
wording there in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6, it's
somewhat different when we have the repetition in Luke 11. because there it is, give us
day by day our daily bread. We can expect provision each
day, and provision for that day, but then there will also be that
continual provision, day by day, and day after day. And of course
it's all said before us so wonderfully in what we read in Exodus 16
concerning that manner that the Lord God provided for the children
of Israel during their wilderness wanderings. They were to receive
it daily. They were not to store it up
for the following day because it wouldn't keep overnight. But
then on the sixth day, of course, they had the double portion because
they're not going to have to gather on the Sabbath day. And there are those who are disobedient
and go out and look for the matter. How displeasing to the Lord God!
He will make provision for His people. And what does the Psalmist
say concerning those events in Exodus 16? Man did eat angels' food. He
sent meat to the full. Oh, they had a fullness from
day to day. He sent them meat to the full.
The language that we have there in Psalm 78 and verse 25. Time and again the Lord makes
provision for them. They come to the end of all those
wilderness wanderings. We have those words in Deuteronomy
8 where they're on the borders now of the promised land. And
God reminds them, thy remnant waxed not old upon thee, neither
did thy foot swell. And again he says later in chapter
33, Thy shoes shall be iron and brass, and as thy gaze, so shall
thy strength burn. There is that temporal and that
physical provision that God has said He will provide for His
people. They will want no good thing.
All their necessities God will supply. David says again in the
psalm, I have been young and now I am old, yet have I not
seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. My God shall supply all your
need, all your necessities, according to his riches in Christ Jesus. But then secondly, secondly here
we see that Paul's chief concern is not so much temporal need
but their spiritual good not so much their temporal need
but really their spiritual good what's good for them back in
verse 17 he says not because I desire a gift but I desire
fruit that may abound to your account He wants to see fruit
that will abound to their accounts. Now, what was this fruit that
would abound to their eternal goods? Well, we have it in verse
18. I have all this is and abound,
I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which
were sent from you an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable,
well-pleasing to God." What they did in ministering to Him so
willingly and so freely was as an odour of a sweet smell, a
sacrifice acceptable and well-pleasing to God. Here was the evidence
that they really were the Lord's people because they had love
one for another, doubtless, but they have such a real love for
the apostles. He had ministered to them of
spiritual things, and they will minister to Him of material things.
But that material provision that they're making for them is evidence
of fruit. "'By their fruit ye shall know
them,' says the Lord." Here is their fruit. There is here that
evidence that there are those who have an interest in the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Their ministry is an odour of
a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. Oh, they
have an interest in that great sacrifice of the Lord Jesus by
one offering. Paul says, He has perfected forever
them that believe, there is such a perfection in His sacrifice. He offered one sacrifice for
sins forever. Here is the love of God, He that
spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not with Him freely give us all things? They have all things,
they are bound, they are ministering to the Apostle, they have every
evidence, they bear every evidence in their lives. that they have
an interest in the Savior and that great salvation. What do
believers do? They feed themselves upon the
Lord and His great salvation. Of course, we know that the Lord
Jesus himself is really the fulfillment of what we have there in Exodus
16, the manna that we referred of just previously. The Lord
himself makes it abundantly clear in the language that we have
in that sixth chapter of the Gospel according to John. Verse 32 then, Jesus said unto
them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that
bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread from
heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from
heaven and giveth life unto the world. Again, verse 48, he says, I am
that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die. And then again, 53 Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood,
ye have no life in you. 54 Lo! so eateth my flesh, and
drinketh my blood, hath eternal life. 55 And I will raise him
up at the last day, for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood
is drink indeed. 56 He that eateth my flesh, and
drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me. and I in Him." And these
are those, you see, who are evidently united to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because as He made a sacrifice
that was a sweet smell, acceptable, well-pleasing
to God, so they also are making such sacrifices in the way in
which they're showing their love for the apostle. Or they are
showing something of the fruit of righteousness there. And Paul himself, as we've said,
can use the language of appropriation. God is my God, he says. But this
God is also their God. And can we say that this is our
God? The language of the Psalmist, there in Psalm 48 and verse 14,
this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even
unto death. He is the one who supplies in
not only every temporal, every physical necessity is the God
who also provides his people with all that is necessary for
their salvation. Every spiritual good thing comes
from him, but it is to be evidenced in the way in which his people
conduct themselves, by their fruits. By their fruits ye shall
know them. And then thirdly here, of course,
The provision that is made in the Lord Jesus Christ finally
is heavenly and eternal. It's His riches in glory. His riches in glory. And these riches are eternal.
They're in heaven. That is where they come into
the full and final possession of them. we know how that in the beginning
man was made in the image and the likeness of God he was made
to know God and not only to know God but also to enjoy God the
language of the Westminster Shorter Catechism man's chief end is
to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. And we read, don't we,
after the fall of our first parents that after that tragic event
the Lord God comes into the garden in the cool of the day. And God
would do that. He would come and commune with
them. And here they are seeking to hide themselves from His presence. Oh, now the fellowship with God
is gone. Sin separates between Us and
our gods. Our iniquities hide His face
from us. And yet man is made for God,
and to know God. And ultimately, that really,
surely, is the bliss of heaven itself. When we come to the final
chapters in the book of the Revelation, there in chapter 21, At verse
3, John says, I heard the great voice out of heaven saying, Behold,
the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them,
and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with
them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former
things are passed away. In those words, behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men. Of course, back in the Old Testament,
the tabernacle, that was where God said He would come and make
His dwelling in the midst of Israel. The Shekinah glory. When the tabernacle was first
read up, and the Holy of Holies, and there was to be housed, of
course, the Ark of the Covenant and the mercies of God's throne.
in the midst of his people. There he would come, he says,
and commune with them. Well, here we have the full and
the final restoration. Behold, the tabernacle of God
is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be
his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God. And then, in chapter 22, concerning
this place. What do we read? Verse 3, There
shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb
shall be in it. And His servants shall serve
Him, and they shall see His face, and His name shall be in their
foreheads. And there shall be no night there, and they need
no candle, neither light of the sun. For the Lord God giveth
them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. Oh my God! shall supply all your need according
to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. John says, Doesn't he, beloved,
now are we the sons of God? And it doth not appear what we
shall be, but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like
him, for we shall see him as he is. For these are the things
then we are to look for ultimately, that heavenly, that eternal provision
of our greatest need, really, to know God. Paul says, I have
not seen, nor heard, neither hath entered into the hearts
of men the things that God hath prepared for them that love him. These Philippians, they loved
God, and their love to God was demonstrated in the way in which
they ministered to the Apostle. And how they ministered to him.
And how Paul acknowledges it here at the end of this epistle. He says, I rejoiced in the Lord
greatly that now at the last your care of me hath flourished
again, wherein you were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity.
Or they wanted opportunity. They would minister. They would
minister to Paul. They would minister to one another.
O God grant then that we might know something of the religion
that Paul is commending, and that we might be looking to this
One who is able to supply all our needs. All our needs, they
come from Him ultimately. He's looking beyond the Philippians.
He's acknowledging His God and their God. My God shall supply
all your need according to His riches in glory. by Christ Jesus. Amen. Before we turn to God in prayer,
let us sing our second praise, the hymn 247 and the tune is
Belgrave, number 100. O Lord, I would delight in Thee,
and on Thy care depend, to Thee in every trouble flee my best,
My only friend, when all created streams are dried, thy fullness
is the same. May I with this be satisfied,
and glory in thy name. The hymn 247, tune 100.