or the scripture that I'll bring
to your attention this evening is found in Philippians chapter
4 and verse 13 Philippians 4, 13 I can do all things through
Christ which strengtheneth me and I hope that this might prove
to be an apt follow on as it were from
our pastor's ministry last Lord's Day in the evening I can do all
things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Well this verse is of course
connected to the previous two verses. Verses 11 and 12. Not that I speak in respect of
want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased
and how to abound. everywhere and in all things
I am instructed, both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound
and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ,
which strengtheneth me." Now Paul is speaking here of
Christian contentment and of submission to the will of God
in all the dispensations of providence and the word instructed there
in verse 12 I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry that
word instructed in the Greek is a word which is related to
the word mystery now a mystery is a truth which can only be
known by divine revelation so what Paul is saying here is that
he has been initiated as it were into this secret that he has
been taught by the Holy Ghost I am instructed the father in
his wisdom had brought Paul into both straight and circumstances
and easier circumstances the Apostle had experienced both
poverty and plenty and the Holy Ghost had taught him in each
of these conditions both his danger and his deliverance the
secret of contentment in all life's changes and of continuance
in duty in spite of all life's difficulties is to live upon
Christ and upon the strength which he gives I can do all things
through Christ which strengtheneth me this is what Paul had learned
experimentally by the Spirit's teaching Now, the Apostle Paul
is set forth as a pattern to believers. An example. He was
so in his conversion. 1 Timothy 1.16, Howbeit for this
cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might
show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on him, to life everlasting. Paul was a
pattern in his conversion but he was also a pattern in his
conversation we read that in the previous chapter in Philippians
3 at verse 17 Brethren, be followers together of me and mark them
which walk so as ye have us for an ensemble Paul was an ensemble
to the flock in his conversation, that is, in his Christian walk,
and in his manner of living. You see, all of God's people
must be initiated into this secret, just as Paul was. They must all
learn experimentally by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, where their
true strength lies, that it is not in themselves, but in Christ. when Oliver Cromwell's daughter
was sick he spent 14 days by her bedside he could perform
no public duties and he remained at her bedside until she died
and when she died he was crushed in his spirit he called for a
Bible and he read these words in Philippians 4 verses 11 and
12 not that I speak in respect of want for I have learned in
whatsoever state I am therewith to be content I know both how
to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere and in all
things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both
to abound and to suffer need he cried out in the anguish of
his soul it's true Paul you have learned this and attained to
this measure of grace but what shall I do and he then went on
to read the 13th verse I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me and then he felt Christ's omnipotence
in his own soul and he declared out loud yes I feel it I see
it he that was Paul's Christ is my Christ too that's what
Oliver Cromwell was brought to and that's what everyone of the
elect must be brought to Well, as we come to the words of our
text this evening, we must understand in the first place that Jehovah
does promise strength to his people. Indeed, he is the strength
of his people. Trust ye in the Lord forever,
for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. We'll see the promises
God makes to his people. For example, in the Psalms, In
Psalm 29 and verse 11, the Lord will give strength unto his people.
The Lord will bless his people with peace. And again in Psalm
68 and verse 34, Ascribe ye strength unto God,
His excellency is over Israel, and His strength is in the clouds.
O God, Thou art terrible out of Thy holy places. The God of
Israel is He that giveth strength and power unto His people. Blessed be God. We see these promises in the
prophets too for example in in Zechariah chapter 10 and verse
12 and I will strengthen them in the Lord and they shall walk
up and down in his name saith the Lord who are those who are
thus strengthened? well they are those who are effectually
called as you see from verse 8 of that chapter I will hiss
for them and gather them that is I will whistle for them And
so He summons them, they are those who are effectually called.
And who are they who are effectually called? Well, they are those
who are redeemed. I will hiss for them and gather
them for I have redeemed them. These are those who are strengthened
in and by the Lord so that they are enabled to walk up and down
in His name. Even those who are redeemed and
called by almighty and efficacious grace. it is to the elect that
all the promises belong and I will strengthen them in the Lord and
they shall walk up and down in his name saith the Lord and then
the second thing that we need to understand in consideration
of this text is that the strength that is promised to the people
of God is laid up for them in the person of the Son of God
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Paul says here, I can
do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. All that
is needful for the salvation of the elect is laid up for them
in Christ. Do they need righteousness? He
is Jehovah to it, can you? The Lord our righteousness. Do they need atonement? for their
many transgressions of the law of God. And He is the propitiation
for our sins. Do they need peace with God?
For He is our peace. And again, therefore, being justified
by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And again Paul says, he speaks
of Christ as having made peace through the blood of his cross
or do they need life? I am come that they might have
life and that they might have it more abundantly Jesus said
Paul speaks of Christ who is our life John says, and this
is the record that God has given to us, eternal life, and this
life is in His Son. The Son has life. And he that
has not the Son of God has not life. The Lord Jesus says, for as the
Father has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son to have
life in Himself. And that life He gives to His
dear elect. that he should give eternal life
to as many as thou hast given him all that is needful for the
salvation of the elect of God is stored up for them in Christ
who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption strength for the people of God is in Christ blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who have blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
and strength real spiritual strength is one of those spiritual blessings
and it is in Christ and so Paul says elsewhere be strong in the
Lord and in the power of His might again be strong in the
grace that is in Christ Jesus Paul's prayer for the Ephesians
is that they might be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the
inner man that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith the promised strength for the
people of God is stored up for them in the person of Christ. It's in Christ Jesus. In the
third place we need to consider how this strength is obtained
by the elect of God. How do they obtain this strength?
Well, it can only be obtained by virtue of their union to Christ. I am the vine, ye are the branches,
he that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much
fruit for without me ye can do nothing without me ye can do nothing
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me for Lord
Jesus Christ is the covenant head of the church the church
is his mystical body Paul speaks of Christ as the head from which
all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered
and knit together increaseth with the increase of God Christ
as the head of the church ministers nourishment to all the members
of his body the church is the Lamb's wife and he loved the
church and gave himself for it and he nourishes it and cherishes
it even as a man does his own body And Paul goes into these
things, doesn't he, in Ephesians chapter 5. For no man ever yet
hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the
Lord the church. For we are members of his body,
of his flesh, and of his bones. Such is the union between Christ
and his church. We are his body. It is by virtue
of that vital union with Christ that the church obtains strength
and grace from Him. In the fourth place, how is this
strength experienced in the hearts of the elect of God? Well, I
would suggest two ways. First, it is experienced in their
conversion. You see, by nature, we are those
who are without strength. For when we were yet without
strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. The fall of our first parents
rendered us all without strength. we are without any strength whatsoever
to keep the law of God we are wholly unable to do that which
is good and that which is right and that which is acceptable
in the sight of a holy God O Israel thou hast destroyed thyself but
in me is thine help the gospel of Christ is the power of God
onto salvation oh how strange are the dealings of God with
the souls of men what a mystery is true conversion when sinners
are found of God they feel their lostness when the Lord implants
the principle of life into the sinner's soul that sinner feels
his deadness spiritually when he whose priesthood is after
the order of Melchizedek puts forth his power and makes his
people willing in the day of his power or they feel their
utter weakness when the spirit of holiness,
the Holy Spirit comes into the heart of a sinner that sinner
feels himself to be most unholy Like Job he is brought to confess,
behold, I am vile! Hart says, what comfort can a
saviour bring to those who never felt their woe? A sinner is a
sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so. Now there are those who tell
us that it is within the ability of a natural man to turn to God
and to love God to turn from sin and to believe in the Lord
Jesus? Well, such have clearly never
been taught of the Spirit of God those who are dead in trespasses
and sins know nothing of the real nature of the power of sin
they don't really know what sin is because they are dead in it
and being dead spiritually they feel nothing spiritually they
know nothing of the spiritual sickness and weakness because they're strong they're
strong well they we are told are appointed
to destruction Ezekiel 34 16 I will seek that which was lost
and bring again that which was driven away and will bind up
that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick
but I will destroy the fat and the strong I will feed them with
judgment for it is our experience and it is our testimony that
we have been saved by grace for by grace ye are saved through
faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God having
been brought to an end of ourselves and of our creature strength
knowing and feeling our own utter weakness and our helplessness
and our inability we have been enabled by divine grace to believe
on Him who alone is mighty to save, even our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what strength do we experience
in our conversion? Not our own, no, not our own,
not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy Name give glory. It is that strength which comes
alone from Christ who is our only Saviour. Let others declare
their offers and their duties. We will declare the free grace
of God in Christ. As Augustus Toplady says, thou
must save and thou alone. As God himself declares in his
holy word, I, even I am the Lord and beside me the promised strength which is
laid up for the elect in the person of Christ is experienced
in the hearts of the elect in their conversion to Christ. And
secondly, the elect of God continue to experience this strength in
their hearts as they continue to walk by faith in Jesus Christ. We must not be so foolish as
to think that having begun in the spirit we are now made perfect
by the flesh. The church is portrayed in the
Song of Solomon as a bride leaning upon the arm of her beloved. Who is this that cometh up from
the wilderness leaning upon her beloved? Dr Gill in his commentary
on that verse he says that, and I quote, the Septuagint render
it strengthening herself upon her beloved. that is being conscious
of her own weakness and ability to perform the duties of religion,
withstand the temptations of Satan, escape the snares of this
world, and hold on and continue in her Christian race, she applied
herself to Christ in whom she saw both righteousness and strength
for her, and from whom she received both. Is it not the case with
us who know our own selves and who know the Lord, that we are
conscious of our own weakness and inability to perform the
duties of religion, to withstand the temptations of Satan, to
escape the snares of this world, to hold on and continue in our
Christian race. What else can we do but apply
ourselves to Christ surely shall one say in the Lord have I righteousness
and strength even to Him shall men come oh we have been brought to that
haven't we? surely in the Lord have I righteousness and strength
we've been brought to say it by a gracious experience we may
have to be brought into adverse circumstances that we might learn
this secret Paul knew much opposition there
were those who withstood him there were those who forsook
him but he could say in writing to Timothy notwithstanding the
Lord stood with me and strengthened me cross providences will produce
a cry in the hearts of God's children and this is often the
means by which they are brought to experience strengthening grace
in the day when I cried thou answerest me and strengthenest
me with strength in my soul oh what weakness Samson was brought
to when his hair was shorn and his eyes were put out oh but
what prayer issued from his lips and not from his lips only but
from his heart and Samson called unto the Lord
and said O Lord God remember me I pray thee and strengthen
me I pray thee only this once O God but I may be at once avenged
of the Philistines for my two eyes and Samson took hold of
the two middle pillars upon which the house stood and on which
it was borne up of the one with his right hand and of the other
with his left and Samson said let me die with the Philistines
and he bowed himself with all his might and the house fell
upon the Lord and upon all the people that were therein so that
the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which
he slew in his life oh how he was strengthened when he cried
to Jehovah his strength There were those who opposed
Nehemiah in his work and made the Jews afraid. For they all made us afraid,
saying their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not
done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands. And we see how the Lord answered
that prayer. So the wall was finished in the
twenty and fifth day of the month. Eloth in fifty and two days and
it came to pass that when all our enemies heard thereof and
all the heathen that were about us saw these things they were
much cast down in their own eyes for they perceived that this
work was wrought of our God. We'll see Jehoshaphat's prayer
when a great multitude The confederate forces of Ammon, Moab, and Malthusia
came against Judah. There in 2 Chronicles 20 verse
6, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? And
rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And
in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able
to withstand thee? Oh, he acknowledges God's strength. And he confesses his own and
his people's weakness. in verse 12 of that chapter O
our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we hath no might against
this great company that cometh against us neither know we what
to do but our eyes are upon thee then we read later in that chapter
of how the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon,
Moab and Mount Seir which would come against Judah and they were
smitten for the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the
inhabitants of Mount Seir utterly to slay and destroy them and
when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Mount Seir
everyone helped to destroy another in other words they set about
killing each other and the children of Israel did not have to lift
a finger all they had to do was take the spoil and they were
three days in gathering of the spoil, it was so much It is in our weakness that Christ's
strength is proved and made manifest. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions,
in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then am I
strong. and in the fifth place and finally
what are the all things that Paul is speaking of here? I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me well it is not to be understood in an
absolute sense Paul is not made omnipotent it is only the Lord
God who is able to do all things in an unlimited and absolute
sense for with God nothing shall be impossible no these words
are to be understood in a limited sense Paul is enabled as Christ's
strength is imparted to him to endure all things to bear any
trial to suffer any reproach for the name of Christ to perform
any duty towards the church see his testimony there in 2 Corinthians
11 verse 23 in labors more abundant in stripes above measure in prisons
more frequent in deaths oft of the Jews five times received
I forty stripes save one Thrice was I beaten with rods, once
was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day
I have been in the deep, in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in
perils of robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen, in perils
by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness,
in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. in weariness
and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst,
in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things
that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care
of all the churches. How could He bear all these things
and do all these things? How could He endure all these
things and yet still carry on the work which the Lord had called
him to do surely the answer is in the words of our text I can
do all things through Christ which strengthens me this is
how we are to understand this verse surely in spite of all
adversity in spite of all prosperity too which brings with it its
own dangers Paul was enabled by the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ to submit to all the dispensations of providence and to be content
therein and to perform the ministry into which the Lord had put him
notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthened me that
by me the preaching might be fully known that all the Gentiles
might hear he said Now Paul was, as we have said
before, a pattern to them which should hereafter believe. He was so in his conversion and
he was so in his conversation. Brethren, be followers together
of me, he said. And again, in this very chapter,
in Philippians 4, he says in verse 9, those things which he
hath both learned and received and heard and seen in me do. and the God of peace shall be
with you now if we are Christ's then we
are not under the law for ye are not under the law but under
grace Paul says in Romans but if ye be led of the Spirit ye
are not under the law he says in Galatians it's quite clear
isn't it we are not under the law but we are under grace we're
not antinomians we are under the gospel which is the law of
the Lamb the gospel is our rule of life and as many as walk according
to this rule peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel
of God and there are certain duties enjoined upon every believer
under the gospel certain precepts which are to be kept and observed.
I like the question and answer in William Gadsby's Catechism.
Is the gospel, in all its branches, a sufficient rule of life to
a believer in Christ? Yes. For through the life-giving
power of the Spirit, faith lives upon Christ. The living head
and gospel precepts are the believer's rule in the world, in the family,
in the church, and in case of personal offenses. How can we
walk according to the precepts of the gospel? How can we fulfill
our duties and obligations in the world, in the family, in
the church, and in case of personal offenses? There is so much that
is against us, is there not? There are hard providences and
there are easy providences. opposition from the world and
the world's smiles and approval too what a snare that is opposition
from indwelling sin and from self and opposition from the
evil one for we are not ignorant of his devices there is the trial
of our faith for unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ
not only to believe on him but also to suffer for his sake Oh, how can we endure all these
things? How can we fulfill all our obligations and all our duties
in the world, in the family, in the church? And in case of
personal offenses, well, we have Paul for an example. I can do
all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. I can do all
these things. I can bear all these things.
I can endure all these things. not trusting to my own strength
or abilities not looking to anything in myself but looking unto Jesus looking to Him to afford all
necessary strength and grace I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me or in the words of the Psalmist I will
go in the strength of the Lord God I will make mention of thy
righteousness, even of thine only. Again, David says, it is
God that girdeth me with strength and maketh my way perfect. Is that not the same as Paul
says here? I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth
me. In conclusion, what a gracious
word of promise that is in Isaiah towards the end of Isaiah chapter
40 verse 28 hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the
everlasting God the Lord the creator of the ends of the earth
fainteth not neither is weary there is no searching of his
understanding he giveth power to the faint and to them that
have no might he increaseth strength even the youth shall faint and
be weary and the young men shall utterly fall but they that wait
upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up
with wings as eagles they shall run and not be weary and they
shall walk and not faint." Or may we know each one of us here
the gracious experience of it and may we know Paul's Christ
to be our Christ too and so may we each be enabled to say with
the Apostle I, yes even I weak and feeble though I am in myself
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me Amen. Well, before we come to prayer,
let us sing the hymn number 326. And the tune is Mainzer 364. Let me but hear my Saviour say,
Strength shall be equal to thy day, Then I rejoice in deep distress,
leaning on all sufficient grace. Hymn number 326.