We turn again to God's words
and turning to that portion of scripture that we read in Philippians
chapter 4 and I'll read verses 8 and 9. Philippians 4 verses
8 and 9. 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, those things
which ye have both learned and received and heard and seen in
me do, and the God of peace shall be with you. The last Lord's
Day evening we were looking at the 8th verse and I sought on
that occasion to say something with regards to the art of meditation
and the importance of meditating the word that we have there at
the end think on these things we remarked on the the significance
of that word the strength of that particular verb it means
to ponder to cogitate with the mind, to muse upon. It is meditation really that
the Apostle is commending to these Philippians as he comes
to the end of the epistle and gives these various practical
exhortations. How important it is that we think
right, we should desire to think the thoughts of God after him. It is right to not only read
the Word of God, but to meditate in the Word, to ponder the Word,
to muse over the great truths that God has revealed to us,
declared to us here in Holy Scripture. And there we have to look to
God's Word in relation to ourselves. It's more than just a mental
exercise. We have to look to our soul's
needs. It's good, is it not, sometimes
to engage in conversation with the soul. That psalm that we
sang from Psalm 42 together with Psalm 43. The psalmist there,
as it were, enters into a soliloquy with his own soul. Why art thou
cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me,
he asks. And then he would rouse himself,
hoping God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance,
and so forth. How important it is. Gatsby says,
pause my soul and ask the question, art thou ready to meet God? Am
I made a real Christian, washed in the Redeemer's blood? We live
in a time when people are much taken off with those things that
they call their amusements. And we remarked last time on
the root of that particular word, amuse, amusement. It's the word
muse with the negative in front of it. If to muse is to ponder
and to think, to amuse is to give over those things, not to
think, not to ponder. That's what amusement is, to
divert ourselves from serious matters and to fill our lives
with things that are only trivial, frivolities. Well, we need then
to cultivate that that Paul is exhorting to here in this 8th
verse. The art of meditation. And we need to be those who would
look to ourselves, examine ourselves. To the Corinthians Paul reminds
them. Examine yourselves, he says, whether ye be in the faith.
Prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves?
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobate. Well, I want us tonight, having
looked last time at verse 8, to move on to see how the Apostle
continues now in the next verse, in verse 9. Here is our text
in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 9. He says, think on these
things at the end of verse 8, then he goes on those things.
Those things which ye have both learned, and received, and heard,
and seen in me do, and the God of peace shall be with you. Not only to think, and to meditate,
there is also something to be done. But though, in speaking
of that that is to be done, Paul reminds them of what they had
seen, what they had witnessed in himself. He refers to his
own experience. That's what we have here in verse
9, Paul's experience. Really what he said before us
as the subject matter in this 9th verse is the importance of
experimental religion. the importance of experimental
religion those things which he had both learned and received
and heard and seen in me do and the God of peace shall be with
you now first of all we see as he refers here to what they had
learned and received and heard and seen in him, he is speaking
of his ministry amongst them. He's really speaking of the contents
of his preaching. And what was the content of his
preaching? Well, he has told them really
in the previous part of the epistle. Remember how in the second chapter
of this epistle we have the most profound doctrinal portion, one
of the most profound of all those portions in the epistles of Paul.
In chapter 2 he speaks so clearly of the doctrine of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then in chapter 3, and we
read chapter 3, we have Paul speaking more particularly of
himself and speaking of his own experiences. And then when we
come to this fourth chapter, we have what we might say is
the more practical part of the epistle. As is his wont, at the
end of the epistles, he gives exhortation, he gives direction,
he sets before them the precepts of the gospel, the way in which
they are to live their lives. And so, in those three chapters,
2, 3, and 4, we have doctrine, the doctrine of Christ, We have
experience, the experience of Paul, and then we have the practical
part. This is what he is referring
to, those things which he has both learned and received and
heard and seen in me do, he says. Well, let us examine that threefold
division of the content of his ministry, the content of his
preaching. First of all, Paul was very much a doctrinal preacher. He preached doctrine. He tells the Corinthians quite
plainly what his work was. Christ, he says, sent me not
to baptize, not that he despises the ordinances of the gospel,
the commandments of the Lord Jesus Christ, but he makes it
quite clear there, in the opening chapter of that first letter
to the Corinthians, Christ sent me not to baptize, he says, but
to preach the Gospel. That was his great business,
to preach. He goes on to say, when he writes
in the second epistle to those same Corinthians, we preach not
ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. And how Paul was so determined
to execute that ministry and to preach those truths that center
in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Going
to the Corinthians he says, I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." And there we have it really.
Jesus Christ and Him crucified, the person. Jesus Christ. Lord of any name, you see, tells
us who this person is. But not only will He speak of
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, But he says, Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. There is the great work that
the Lord Jesus came into this world to accomplish. Now, as I said back in chapter
2, he speaks so clearly concerning the doctrine of Christ. There at verse 5, let this mind
be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. And then he speaks of
the person, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. What is he saying here? Well,
equality with God is not something that he has to seek after or
seize. He is God, being in the form
of God. He is not robbing God of any
of His glory. He is equal to the Father, the
Eternal Son of the Eternal Father, the very God of very God, begotten,
not made of one substance with the Father. But, says the apostle,
He made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of
a servant that was made in the likeness of men. or how He who
is the eternal Son of God, equal to the Father, equal to the Holy
Spirit, yet He takes upon Him the form of a servant. And He
does that, of course, in terms of the eternal covenant. And
God says, Behold My servant whom I uphold, Mine elect, in whom
My soul delighteth. And in that covenant He is chosen,
appointed. to be the Savior of the sinful
sons of men. And He serves the will of the
Father. Oh, He appears in the fullness
of the time made in the likeness of man. And as a man He comes
not to do His own will but the will of Him who has sent Him
and to finish His work. What is Paul doing here in this
second chapter? He is He's preaching Christ. He's telling them of the person.
That great mystery of godliness, of God, was manifest in the flesh. And he goes on, of course, to
speak of that work that Christ did as a man, being found in
fashion as a man. He humbled himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. He is obedient
in life, obedient throughout his life, doing all the will
of the Father. and ultimately that obedience
reaches its climax in his death, even the death of the cross.
Or we preach Christ and him crucified. How he speaks then of the person,
the person of the Lord Jesus, and also he speaks of the work
of the Lord Jesus. But he doesn't just speak of
that work in terms of the obedience, of the life that Christ lived. He did lead a life of complete
obedience, honoring and magnifying God's law in every one of its
precepts. Weaving, as it were, that robe
of righteousness, whereby he clothed his people in their justification. and as he is obedient in life
so in death he honours and magnifies that same law but now with regards
to all its terrible penalties he bears the punishment that
was the just deserts of the sinner that he came to save but now
Paul doesn't leave it with his obedience and obedience unto
death even the death of the cross no, he preached the resurrection
as we see in Acts chapter 17 at Athens. He preached unto them
Jesus, it says, and the resurrection. Oh, he preached the truth that
the Lord Jesus Christ has vanquished sin and Satan, has vanquished
death and the grave, that Christ is that One who is risen again
from the dead. or how he preaches the glorious
truth, the doctrine of the Lord Jesus. Remember that opening
section of 1 Corinthians 15, where he reminds these Corinthians
of the Gospel that he preached. Moreover, brethren, I declare
unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have
received and wherein ye stand. by which also ye are saved, if
ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed
in vain." What is this Gospel? I delivered unto you, first of
all, that which I also received after Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and that
He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. All He preaches,
you see, Christ's death, Christ's resurrection from the dead. This
is the content of His preaching. These are the things, you see,
that He will remind them of, those things which you have both
learned and received and heard and seen in me. He was forever
preaching the Lord Jesus Christ. preaching the great truth, not
only of his living and dying, but also his rising again from
the dead. Again, beginning of his epistle
to the Romans, he speaks of the Gospel. Paul, a servant of Jesus
Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of
God, which He had promised to for by His prophets in the Holy
Scriptures. That second verse you'll see
is a parenthesis. Really the thought from verse
1 is taken up in verse 3 separated under the Gospel of God concerning
His Son Jesus Christ our Lord which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of
God with power. according to the Spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. This is a gospel. It concerns
God's Son Jesus Christ who came of the seed of David. God manifest
in the flesh and He was declared to be the eternal Son of God
by the resurrection from the dead. or the doctrine, the doctrine
of the Lord Jesus Christ how the Apostle delights in these
glorious truths and how real they were to him or the person
of Christ, the work of Christ as he goes on those various journeys
recorded in the Acts and he's preaching and sinners are being
converted and churches are being established What does he say
to the Galatians? He'd preach there at Galatia,
and he tells them before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently
set forth, crucified among you. Oh, he had so preached the crucifixion
of the Lord, these things had been evidently said before their
very eyes in his ministry. Again, when he writes to the
church at Ephesus, there in chapter 4, he says, "...Ye have not so
learned Christ? If so, be ye have heard him,
and been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus." Why? The
Lord Jesus was with that man, and through his ministry, sinners
were hearing the voice of the Good Shepherd. "...Ye have not
so learned Christ?" he says to those Ephesians. "...If so, be
ye have heard him, Oh, that's what they heard. The very sum
and substance of Paul's preaching was the Lord Jesus Christ. And here you see, in the text
there is this reference to hearing those things which you have both
learned and received and heard. And heard. Faith cometh by hearing. It pleases God. by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. And we're familiar with
the 10th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans and what the Apostle
says there, verse 13, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent as
it is written? How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings
of good things. That was his ministry. He preached
doctrine. He preached the doctrine of Christ.
And as Luther says, oh, that doctrine is heaven. That doctrine
is heaven. Why, the Lamb is all the glory
in Emmanuel's land. But then I said, with regards
to the preaching of this man, it was such an all-round ministry
that Paul exercised. He preached doctrine, yes, he
preached experience. And how important that is, it's
not enough to fill our heads with doctrine. Oh no, we need
to feel that doctrine, to experience that doctrine. It must come from
our heads to our hearts. It must be made meaningful. We must know what the engrafted
word, the implanted word is, that that saves the soul. And
so he says here, those things which he had both learned and
received and heard and seen in me. Why this man was living the message
that he was preaching. He was preaching those truths
as he felt them in his own soul. Like John Bunyan. Bunyan could
say, I preach what I did feel. What I smartingly did feel. wasn't just theorizing. It was
declaring truths that had become such a blessed reality in the
life of the poor Tinker of Bedford. And it was so, of course, with
these mighty apostles of the New Testament. With Paul, with
John. Remember the opening words of
that first epistle of John. That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard. which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the
Word of Life. These men had had such an experience
of the grace of God. The Lord Jesus Christ was so
real in their souls. What do we know of such gracious
revealings of Christ in our souls? Paul could say to those Galatians,
when he pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me. What is all our
religion if there's nothing of Christ in it? You need to have
that blessed experience to be those who see Him as all our
salvation, all our desire, those whose trust is entirely in him
we have nothing of our own all our salvation is there in him
in his person and in his work and in his work there must be that experience
in the soul of the sinner I think last week I quoted those words
of the great reformer Luther when he says, not reading and
speculating but living and dying and being condemned before God
makes a real theologian. You see, something must be felt
in the soul. Something must be accomplished
in the soul. And we see this in the ministry of Paul. here we have him in this epistle
writing to the church of the Philippians and we have the record
of course in Acts chapter 16 of the ministry that he exercised
there in Philippi and how costly it was you know there in Philippi
together with Silas he experienced cruel persecution He tells us,
or at least Luke tells us, Luke the author, the human author
of the Acts. Verse 22. The multitude rose
up together against them, and the magistrates went off their
clothes and commanded to beat them, this is Paul and Silas
there at Philippi. And when they had laid many stripes
upon them, They cast them into prison, charging the jailer to
keep them safely, who, having received such a charge, thrust
them into the inner prison and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas
prayed and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard
them." Oh, here they are in the midst of sufferings, singing praises,
praying unto God, and it is not in vain, because suddenly there
was a great earthquake. The foundations of the prison
were shaken, the doors were opened, everyone's bands loosed. And
the Lord heard their prayer and answered their prayer. All what
was Paul doing, you see, his very life, His life is bound
up with the Lord Jesus Christ. He fills up the measure of the
sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he writes here in
the opening chapter of the Epistle, look at what he says there at
the end of chapter 1. Unto you it is given in the behalf
of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for
His sake. Remarkable words. It is given.
Faith is given. Faith is the gift of God. It is only God who can give us
faith. It is only God who can work faith
in the soul of the sinner. It must be faith of the operation
of God. There is no place for human endeavours, no place for
duty faith. Unto you, you Philippians, it
is given in the behalf of Christ Not only to believe on him, but
where there is saving faith, there will also be the trying
of the faith. Not only to believe, but also
to suffer. Or how that faith will be tested
and tried. And what does Paul go on to say?
Having the same conflict which he saw in me, and now here to
be in me. This was Paul's experience, you
see. All the time. He has to live
the gospel. That's his experience. For me,
to live, he says, is Christ. And to die is gay. His whole
life is taken up with the Lord Jesus. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me,
and gave himself for me." His whole life, all together
bound up in Christ Jesus. And all the conflict that that
entailed. Going to the Corinthians he can
say, without were fightings, within were fears. This is the
life of faith. It's the life of conflict. And
how he deals with these things so fully there in that third
chapter, as I said, if chapter 2 is the doctrine of Christ,
chapter 3 here is the experience of this man Paul. And what is
his great desire? He says there at verse 9, to
be found in Him, to be found in Christ. not having mine own
righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that
I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the
fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His
death." Oh, he wants to die. He wants to die to sin. He wants
to be mortifying all the deeds of the flesh. He wants to be
living to Christ. This is the experience of Paul. And we felt it. We had the sentence,
he says, the sentence of death in our sounds. That we should
not trust in our sounds, but in God. The rise of the dead,
who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver, in
whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. It is constant experience. Well, what do we know of the
experience of the Lord Jesus? Surely, when we're first brought
to saving faith, we have an experience, we have a tale to tell. We can give a word of testimony
as to how the Lord has begun with us, but it doesn't finish
there. We must have a daily experience,
a living faith. This is what Paul preaches, you
see, those things which he has both learned and received and
heard and seen in man. They have seen the manner of
his living, not just what he preached, but he lived the Lord
Jesus. But then, as I said, it's an
all-round ministry. There's doctrine, the doctrine
of Christ, there's the experience of Paul, but then also there's
that that is is practical, the living, the life of obedience
to all Christ's holy commandments and precepts. You see, doctrine
felt and experienced in the soul must lead to godly living. Doesn't the truth, as it were,
come from the head, to the heart, to the hand? Oh yes, we need
a sound mind, and we need to meditate on the great glorious
truths of the Gospel. We need to be clear with regards
to our understanding of the doctrines, to be precisionists, that's what
the Puritans were. And I think valuably, they saw
the importance of sound doctrine. And we need to sometimes stretch
our minds, wrestling with these great truths of Scripture. But
it must go from the head to the heart. We must have the experience
of those truths that we're meditating in. And then it must come from
the heart to the hand. There must be that practical
aspect, that doing. He says it here in the text.
Do those things which you have both learned and received and
heard and seen in me. Do! Or there's something to be
done. It has been rightly observed
that gospel practice is the only proof of gospel faith. James says it. I will show thee
my faith by my works. Gospel practice. There's the
proof of gospel faith. One thing to say, I believe,
quite another thing to live the life of a believer and desire
to practice that godliness. It's here in this final chapter
of course that we have these various exhortations and commandments. And he does it time and again
in the various epistles Exhortation upon exhortation upon exhortation,
all in the imperative, precepts, commandments. Look at what he
says previously. Here's the motivation to be doing
these things. In chapter 2, he says, fulfill
ye my joy. that ye be like-minded, having
the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done
through strife or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind. Let
each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man
on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Or
do we have the mind of Christ? Or do we desire to have that
mind of the Lord Jesus Christ? If so, we will be doers of the
Word. We'll be doers of the Word. We
won't be partial. We were looking at that passage
in Malachi, only last Thursday, there in the second part of the first chapter
and again in chapter 2 the prophet Malachi is reproving and rebuking the priests and
what does he charge them with? well he charges them with the
sin of partiality there in chapter 2 verse 9 he says you have been
partial in the law. We're not to be partial when
it comes to Holy Scripture. What do I mean by that? Well,
it's quite natural, I suppose. We love the promises. Oh, how
precious the promises are, how encouraging the promises are.
But the Bible isn't all promise. There are precepts. holy precepts
there are commandments and the Christians should desire to walk
in obedience to those commandments the commandments of our Lord
Jesus Christ if you love me you say yes keep my commandments
are we partial? let us not be partial it was
a great sin of those priests in the days of Malachi he rebukes
them sharply for it we are to embrace all all the word of God
the doctrinal parts, the experimental parts, the practical parts those
things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen
in me do and the God of peace shall be with you well let us
finally just turn to this encouraging word that we have at the end
of the text it's a promise here we have the promise of God That
is a two-fold promise. He speaks of God's peace. The
God of peace. Previously in verse 7 he says
the peace of God. He is the God of peace. But then
in verse 7 we have the peace of God which passeth all understanding
shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Oh, what
is this piece of God? Well, remember that God is a
consuming fire. Hebrews 12, 29, our God is a
consuming fire. What does it mean? He's a holy
God. He's a just God. He's a righteous God. He's a
God of eyes too pure to behold iniquity. All those eyes are
as a flame of fire. Our God hates and abhors all
sin. Our God is angry with the wicked
every day. He will by no means clear the
guilty. And yet, here we have peace,
the peace of God. Isn't this the great work that
the Lord Jesus Christ came to accomplish by that death? that
he endured when he suffered so intensely upon the cross there
at Calvary here in Colossians chapter 1 verse 19 we're told he pleased
the father that in him that is in Christ should all fullness
dwell and having made peace through the blood of his cross by him
to reconcile all things unto himself by him I say whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven and you that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now
have he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to
present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight,
if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved
away from the hope of the Gospel." Or the blessed work of the Lord
Jesus. Why those that the Father had
given to Him, what was their condition by nature? They were
alienated from God, enemies of God, by wicked works, But the
Lord Jesus has come and reconciled sinners to God. He has made peace. Oh, He has borne all that wrath
that was the sinner's just desert. He has died in the sinner's place. That's the great work that Christ
has done. He is the propitiation for our
sins, says John. Here in His love, not that we
love God, but that God loved us and sent His Son. to be the
propitiation for our sins. This man. Oh, this man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, that the Apostle so delighted to preach, Micah
tells us, this man shall be the peace. Is he not the Prince of
Peace? Oh, He has come to make peace
through the blood of His cross. He has come to reconcile sinners
unto God, the God of peace shall be with you, he says. That
peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. But I said, it really
is a two-fold promise. It's a promise of peace. Wonderful
thing if we are those who who feel the enmity of our old nature
against God, and we kick against Him at times. And He grieves
us. But the Lord Jesus has come to
reconcile such sinners as we are to God. But not only that,
here there's a promise of God's presence as well. He doesn't
say here in the text, as it says in verse 7, the peace of God,
Though it says, the God of peace shall be with you. Oh, it's not
just God's peace. It's a very person himself, it's
God himself. And how necessary that is. You
see, but for the presence of God, we don't hear anything,
we don't receive anything, we don't learn anything. when Paul
says to them those things which you have both learned and received
and heard and seen in me? Would they know anything of these
things but for the presence of God? Oh dear old John Berridge,
how he sums it up so well in the hymn 904, I cannot pray and
feel thee near, nor can I sing with heavenly cheer unless the
Lord be nigh. or the Lord himself must come
near to us. It is the Lord himself who must
apply the word to us. We cannot do it of ourselves. We are not sufficient of ourselves,
says Paul, to think anything as of ourselves. When he says,
think on these things in the previous verse, we cannot of
ourselves think on anything, we cannot meditate upon anything.
We're not sufficient for these things. God must do it. Isaiah says, Thou also hast wrought
all our works in us. It's all of God, you see. If
you want a real religion, it's the only way to obtain it, to
look to God, to cry to God. We cannot make ourselves Christians.
Only He that made the world can make a Christian, but God doesn't.
Here is the testimony of Paul in verse 13, I can do all things
through Christ which strengthens me. There's the secret, friends.
It's all in Christ. It's all from Christ. It's all
through Christ. And so he says to these Philippians,
those things which ye have both learned and received and heard
and seen in me do. And the God of peace shall be
with you. Oh, the Lord bless this word
to us for his name's sake. Amen. Let us sing our closing praise
today, the hymn 237, the first part, the tune Zundel, 664. Let us ask the important question.
Brethren, be not too secure, what is it to be a Christian?
How may we our hearts assure? Vain is all our best devotion,
if on false foundations built, true religion's more than notion.
something must be known and felt. Tis to hear the Holy Spirit prompting
us to secret prayer, to rejoice in Jesus' merit, yet continual
sorrow bear, to receive a full remission of our sins forevermore,
yet to sigh with sore contrition, begging mercy every hour." 237.