Philippians chapter 4, read verses
10 and 11. We left off after verse 9. He says, I rejoiced
in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me had
flourished again, wherein you were also careful. That is full of care for me,
he's saying. Remember, Paul's in prison. He said, but you lacked opportunity.
But not that I speak in respect of what I have learned in whatsoever
state I am. Bear with to be content. I wish
someone else were teaching this, because I haven't learned this
yet. But someone would like to step
up here, someone who's learned in whatever state, whatever situation,
whatever circumstance, whatever the Lord sends your way, to be
content. Paul was sitting in prison, and
do you know what all he had been through up to that time? Read
it for yourselves, all that he went through. More than any of
us, and yet he said, I'm content. I'm content. I haven't learned
that yet. I haven't learned. We must learn. We will learn. All of God's people
will learn. He said his children will all
be taught of God. And he teaches us in a way that
we wouldn't do it that way. I'm going to quote a poem to
you in a moment. But I need to learn contentment.
You do too. Ironically, this passage came
up after my wife and I just purchased something new. Are you like me? Surely you're
like me when you're getting ready to get your mind on something
you're going to buy and you can't hardly get it off your mind.
I mean, it can be anything. It can be a new car, a new house.
It can be a new pair of socks. And you're consumed with it until
you find it. Right? Anybody. I'm guilty. And then
when you find it, after you've had it just a few minutes, what
does it turn out to be? Well, why was I so taken with
that? You'd laugh, a pair of socks.
I was looking for the right pair of socks to match these pants
I have on. Well, I looked and looked and
looked and, you know, TJ Maxx, Marshalls, you know, name it.
I looked and I couldn't find them. Couldn't find them. Getting
upset. Finally found them, Dan. Steinmark, brought them home,
didn't match. I know it's foolish, but that's
how foolish we are, isn't it? We get the slightest little thing
on our mind and we're not content until we get it. Paul, look at verse 12. Paul
said, I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. I don't even know if I know how
to abound. How about you? When I'm abounding
with things, I forget the Lord. When I'm abased, don't have whatever,
going through troubles, I'm full of bitterness. Anybody? Fretful, complaining. I have
a lot to learn. So I need this. If you don't
need it, I do. But you're not in your head,
and I believe you are. You do need it. Listen to this
proverb. This is so good. Brother Bruce
Crabtree wrote an excellent article on this verse. Proverbs 30, verse
8. This is the wise man. He says,
remove from me vanity and lies. What's that? Vanity of vanities. The things of vanity, the deceitfulness
of riches, it lies, it lies to you. Give me neither poverty
nor riches. Feed me with food convenient
for me, necessary, just what I need. Lest I be full and deny
thee and say, who's the Lord? You forget the Lord. That's what
the children of Israel did and Moses warned them. You're going
to build houses and you're going to forget me. And I'm going to
have to send things, troubles, to remind you. And don't let
me be poor, though, and I'll steal and take the name of my
God in vain. Guilty. Guilty. All right, go
back to verse 9. Paul said this, he said, the
things you've both learned and received and heard and seen in
me do. He's seen these things in me.
He just said, and you've heard this, he just said, I've learned
whatsoever state I am to be content. I'm afraid that we emulate or
take the example of those that are bad examples. We follow their
example. We see people taking liberties.
We see people doing things and say, well, he did it. He's a
believer. That's not the one to follow. Follow a man like this. All right,
verse 10. We didn't deal with this. He
said, I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at the last
year care of me hath flourished again. You were very careful. You were full of care for me,
but you lacked opportunity. Go back to Acts 16. Acts chapter
16. He's writing to the church at
Philippi. I love, love, love this story
of how the church at Philippi started. Most of you know it.
Paul was there, and actually the Lord appeared to him in a
vision in the night. The Lord does not do that anymore. He did it to his prophets and
apostles. But he appeared, and a man of
Macedonia said, come over and help us. Well, he went. And remember,
he wanted to go into Bithynia, into Asia. He wanted to preach
there, and the Lord didn't allow him to go to Philippi. There was a woman named Lydia
from Asia, Bithynia. She wasn't there. She wasn't
home. She was in Philippi. Her name's Lydia. That's the
way the Lord does it. They came down through Philippi,
verse 13, on the Sabbath we went out of the city, Paul, Silas,
Timothy, by the riverside where Prayer was what to be made. Some
seekers. We sat down and spoke with the
women there. In verse 14, a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of
purple, a businesswoman out of town in this place on business. She worshiped God. She heard,
she heard the gospel. Whose heart the Lord opened.
She attended other things, was spoken by Paul, that is Christ
crucified. And she was baptized. That's
what everybody really here does. They confessed. And her household.
Who was that? She had sons, she had daughters.
Well, whosoever believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ, whosoever
calleth, seeks the Lord, you'll find him. And if you found him,
confess him. And they did. And here's what
she said, if you've judged me faithful to the Lord, come into
my house, abide there. She constrained us. She had Paul
in her house. And from then on, every time
Paul came in that town or anywhere near, Lydia said, I got a place
for you. Please, come stay with me. And
he did. Well, there's another woman,
a soothsayer of sorts, and I believe the Lord saved her. Down in verse
25, they were put in prison, remember? This jailer, verse
24, thrust them in, like everybody else. He didn't like this preacher
getting what he deserved. And threw Paul and Silas into
jail, thrust them in there. And put these iron chains on
his legs and on his arms. There you go, preacher. Now what
do you think about that? the jailer, and he walked out. Does that man deserve a chance
to be saved? No. He deserves wrath, the judgment
of God that got him. At midnight, Paul and Silas prayed,
sang praises unto God. Verse 25, the prisoners heard
them. Suddenly, a great earthquake. The foundations of the prison
were shaken. The doors flew open, everyone's bands were loose,
and the keeper of the prison, the jailer, while waking out
of his sleep, seeing the prison doors open, drew out his sword,
because everyone that didn't keep their charge was killed. And he would have killed himself,
supposing the prisoners had fled. Paul, knowing this, cried out,
do thyself no harm, we're all here. No hurry to get out. We're in no hurry, we've had
a pretty good time while we're here. And the jailer called for a light
and sprang in, came trembling, fell down before Paul and Silas
and brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Paul said, Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and I have. And they spake
unto him the word of the Lord, the gospel, to all that were
in his house, and he took them the same hour of the night and
washed their stripes. Oh, he loves this man now. Oh,
he's not rough on him now, he's tender. In a moment, he's been
changed. Born again, and he was baptized,
remember? And all his house. So this is
the church at Philippi. That's how it began. Strange
beginnings, isn't it? That's not how we see churches
started, is it? Or is it? Or is it? And down in verse, oh, I don't
want to read it all, but down in verse 39, they brought them out of town,
the rulers, and desired them to depart out of this city. Get
out of here. And they went out of the prison.
They entered into the house of Lydia. There she is again. And
when they saw the brethren, they comforted them. Who comforted
who? Paul and Silas. They'd just been
beaten. They had stripes on them, bruises,
wounds, bruises. And they're comforting Lydia
and the jailer and all that. It's OK. God did this. I've learned,
he said, in whatever state, to be content because God's the
one that does it. And if you'll just wait, see,
the trial of our faith works with patience. You're going to
have to wait and see why. And patience works with experience. You're going to experience the
grace of God. You have to experience it. You can know it here, but
you don't really know it here and believe it until you experience
it and experience hope. Hope means whatever state you're
in, no matter how bad it may appear, is not hopeless. Not hopeless. You're saved by
hope. Going through this thing, we're
saved by hope. So Philippi, that's how it started.
Small group of people at first, very small, you saw that, very
small. They met together, Paul preached
to them, 10, 12, maybe. And they sent him away. He departed.
They sent him away with gifts. What did they have to give? Well,
I don't imagine a jailer made much money. That soothsayer lost
all her living. Lydia, maybe, a woman of many. But they sent Paul away in silence
with gifts. Food, clothing, necessary things,
as they should. They should have done that, shouldn't
they? Oh my! What did the Lord impart
to them through these men? Oh my! And they were so grateful,
and they proved the sincerity of their love by bestowing upon
Paul and Silas these men that God sent their way in a most
unusual way. Sent them their way, and they
just couldn't give them enough. They did what they could. That
may be my next message for you to hear, to recommend in the
bulletin. Did you see it? I'm going to
do that every week now, and I want you to hear it. This week says,
let's talk about dying. Some of you have. Is that a good
message? Does everybody need to hear that? We're all dying. Let's talk about it. Well, the
next message may be from Brother Mike Walker. He preached a message
in Newcastle on, she did what she could. She did what she could. The woman with the alabaster
bottle, never heard better. So they did what they could.
And they were unable to do too much, very much. But now, much
later, the church has grown. The church is growing. And they
sent more things to Paul. Remember, we looked at this,
through Epaphroditus. Epaphroditus. So they were so thankful to God
for His grace. They were thankful to God for
these men. And Paul was thankful to God
for the grace of God in them and the grace of God they showed
to him. And that's what he's saying. I rejoiced in the Lord. How your
care for me is flourishing. And I do too. Paul said down
in verse 11, I don't speak in respect of one. Verse 17, I'm
not saying this because I want you to give me some more. He
said, I have enough, he said, but in this we need to abound
in whatever needs we see. Fruit, that's fruit, the fruit
of liberality and generosity and love and so forth. And Paul
said, I'm not saying this that you might give me more, but we
can all give more, can't we? And Paul said, I don't need it,
and I don't either. And I'm not preaching this to
get a raise. I don't need a raise. Don't need
a raise. No, no. Your care for me after 30 years
astounds me. And I thank you. So he said,
I'm not bringing this up for that reason. Now think of it. When Paul said
in verse 11, I've learned whatsoever state I am to be content. Think
about that. As I said, he's in prison. And
to him, when the Lord was with him, that prison, that stone
floor, was a soft bed. You remember old Jacob took the
stones for his pillar? Pillar? I preached the message. The pillar is my pillar. Country
way of saying pillow. Pillar. The pillar, the pillow,
the stone that he laid his head on and rested ended up being
a pillar, or that is, the altar upon which he offered a sacrifice. And the church is the pillar
and the ground of truth. And the stone we rest on, that's
another lesson. But the stone we rest on is Christ
himself. If he's not with us. And that's
when the Lord appeared to him. He said, Bethel, this is Bethel,
God's house. I didn't know it, God was with
me. And that stone was just a resting place. Listen to John Newton.
John Newton who wrote Amazing Grace, how sweet to sound. Saved
a wretch like me. How tedious and tasteless the
hours when the Lord Jesus no longer I see. Sweet prospects,
sweet birds and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness
to me. The midsummer sun shines but
dim, the fields strive in vain to look gay, but when I'm happy
in him, December's as pleasant as May. Listen to this, content
with beholding his face, my all to his pleasure, or his will,
resigned. No changes of season or place
would make any change in my mind. While blessed with a sense of
His love, a palace, a toy, would appear. And prisons would palace
as proof if the Lord Jesus would dwell with you there. Paul found
that out in him. I'm content. Alright, look at
this. Look at verse He said, I know
how to be amazed, I know how to be abound everywhere in all
things. I'm instructed to be full and
to be hungry. See, he sat with princes and
notable people and with beggars. And he could do with or do without.
Didn't matter. Didn't our Lord say that only
two things, we only need two things, you remember? food, and
what? Raymond. Therewith, he said,
be content. If your belly is full, even if
it's not, our Lord didn't, he went to bed quite often with
an empty stomach. God was not his belly. He didn't sit down to eat and
drink and rise up to play. He rose up long before day to
pray, not play. Was he content? Oh my, what was
he facing? Oh Lord, let me learn this. He said, I've learned how to
abound to suffer need. I, verse 13, can do all things
through Christ which strengthens me. What a verse. You like that verse
John Senior? He always tells me it's one of
his favorites. I'm afraid though that we really don't believe
this. I don't. Too often I think sin is going
to get the best of me. Satan has got me. Self and the world is going to
overcome me. And all of this, and what I'm
saying by unbelief, is all more powerful than my Lord. Our Lord said, sin shall not
have dominion over you. Didn't it? I wrote an article,
or I didn't write an article, I put it in a bulletin. Someone
else had it first. You may remember, the subject
was about this eagle that came down, swooped down and grabbed
this badger and took off with it. And the badger latched hold
of that eagle's breast. The eagle had hold of it and
the badger had hold of it. And the badger was sucking the
life out of that eagle. And finally that eagle fell to
the ground and died. And the lesson was, one sin, and this is true, One sin held
on to, embraced, held on, may be the
death of us. It'll certainly be the death
of our spiritual life. It'll suck the spiritual life
out of us. You know that's so. Paul, David
said, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord won't hear
me. It was a good article and it
was repeated by many. One preacher said this, you give
people no hope with that. That is one sin is going to be
your undoing. No, men give people no hope when
they say you have no hope against those sins. You have no hope
against sin. That's no hope. You have no hope
to fight it. You have no hope to mortify it.
You have no hope to not be overcome with it. You might as well just
go ahead. That's no hope. I need hope that
sin's not gonna have dominion over me. I need hope that there
is a way to mortify these memories. Our Lord said so. Paul said,
I can do all things. Now I know religion loves this
verse. Religion loves this verse. I
hear, you hear, I can do all things. You know what they're
saying. I can do all things. And they brag about it. I did
this, I did that. And what I don't do, they brag
about what they don't do. I quit this, I quit that. What's
wrong with you? Aren't you as strong as me? I can do all things. Know the emphasis is through
Christ which strengthens me. You see, without Him we can do
what? Nothing. but with Him, by Him, through
Him, looking to Him, pleading with Him, calling on Him, looking
to Him, listening to Him, all that. Now that's hoping. I can't mortify one sin. Scripture says, they that are
Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections thereof. I want to know what that means. Well, Paul said, one time Paul
said, I keep my body in subjection. Remember that? Now you know he's
not saying, I do this. He's saying through Christ. He
said, the life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God.
That's not only looking to Him, but the same faith which Christ
lived by. Faith of. He lived by faith. Our Lord, as a man, had to look
to His Father for all of His needs. I can do all things through Christ,
which strengthens me. Oh, my. I want to know something
about that, don't you? I may have several more years
to live. What's my hope in fighting this
battle, in this struggle? Not to give up. It's to look
to Him. Call upon Him. And let me remind
you, our Lord, Paul just said, the things you've seen and heard
in me. Isn't it? If you be willing and what? Obedient. You'll eat the good of the Lamb.
Our Lord said, if you know these things, after He washed their
feet and gave them an example of what He said, if you know
these things, happy are you if you... That's my problem. Anybody? That's
my problem. Disobedient. Well, I need to
listen to him. No, no. I need to do what he
said. He's not bringing us under law. as a way to earn heaven,
we all fail. He's just saying, do what I say and it'll go well
with you. Maybe this, you know, I started
to say earlier this is not a how-to message, it's a who-to, who to
look to. But maybe it is a how-to. We
need to look to, call upon the Lord. You know how to resist,
how to fight, how you can do all things? Number one, look
to the Lord. Call upon the Lord. Don't take
a step without Him. Because you'll fall. You'll stumble.
Look to the Lord. You won't overcome sin. You'll
be overcome by it. You can't overcome one temptation.
Not one person in here, starting with me, can resist one temptation
if left to ourselves. Ask Simon Peter. Ask David, the strongest man,
one of the strongest men ever lived. One temptation, one idle
day, sitting on his roof. And he never got over it. Now
who am I? Who are you? Without him, we
can do nothing. But by him, with him, through
him, looking to him, you can overcome the strongest temptation.
People have. People have. And listen to. Look to and listen to. Do what
He said. Do what He said. Do what He said. Alright? I can do all things. Look at
verse 14. He says, Notwithstanding. Notwithstanding. You have done
well. You've well done. That you did communicate with
my affliction. Oh my. We started late, didn't
we? Yeah, we did. You've done well,
he said. You've communicated with my affliction.
And you Philippians know also in the beginning of the gospel,
verse 15, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated
with me as concerning giving and receiving but you only. They
looked to his needs. They sent paproditus. And even when he was in Thessalonica,
you remember the Lord raised up a church there, were the people
at Philippi. Lydia, I believe Lydia was behind
it. I could give you so many examples
of Lydia's. Now, one is on my mind right
now. It's not in here right now, but my, my, my, how that woman
has done for the church. Paul said, you sent once and
again to my necessity, verse 16. But I'm not saying this,
verse 17, that I desire a gift, but I do desire fruit. that you
may have bound to your account. And another place Paul said,
to the Corinthians it was. He wrote a great deal about giving
to the Corinthians. Why? Because apparently they
weren't doing it. And they had all kinds of troubles
because of it. You know that? It was a very worldly church
full of trouble. And they didn't learn this. And
Paul wrote a lot about it, about giving to them. But Philippi
was so bountiful. Verse 18, he said, I have all
and abound. I'm full. I received of Epaphroditus
the things sent from you. He says, an odor of a sweet smell,
a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. The Lord said, this is
what Paul wrote in to the Corinthians, the Lord loveth a cheerful giver. He loveth. Well-pleasing to God. One time I observed a young lady,
young girl. She was given some money for
her birthday. We had a birthday party for her.
We gave her a good bit of money, all right? And then she was out.
We were out shopping with them later on. She had all that money.
I'll spend it everywhere. Her little sister was with me.
You know what she did? I saw this. I saw her do this. She took half of her money and
gave it to her little sister. She didn't see me see that. That
thrilled me. You know what I did? I gave it back to her with interest,
with a little bit more. I said, I saw that. Oh, with
such things, God is well pleased. In the Lord's parable of the
talents, those who received talents, one received ten, five, one. He commended those that had done
with their talents. He said, well done, good and
faithful servant. And over in Hebrews 6, it says,
God is not unrighteous, He is righteous. He's not unrighteous
to forget. I don't want to misquote it.
Here it is. It says, He's not unrighteous
to forget your work and labor of love which you've showed toward
His name. And you've ministered to the saints and do minister.
It's a sweet smelling savor to Him. Cold water. A lady did something
for Mindy, very generous to her one time years ago, and Mindy
was thanking her, and she said, it's just a cup of water. Yeah,
but it'll receive a disciple's reward. And he said in the three Hebrews,
I desire, we desire that every one of you show the same guilt.
That's what this is about. Cause, verse 19, because my God
shall supply all your need. Not want, although He pretty
much gives us what we want. But He will supply all that we
need. We don't need to worry about
needs. He feeds the sparrow, He clothes
the lily, Are you not worth much more? He'll supply all your need
according to His riches. Now, have you ever noticed how
this is worded? His riches in, it doesn't say
grace, it says glory. Have you ever misquoted that? It's His riches in glory by Jesus
Christ. Because what are true riches? What is it we really need? One
thing is needful. We need to behold His face. The light, we need the light.
We need the gospel, which is the light, the knowledge of the
glory of God. And my God shall supply it. If
that's what you need, you're going to get it. And be multiplied
to you. You're going to see His glory.
Because this stuff, whatever it is, it comes, goes in, goes
out the drain. And whatever it is, thieves and
rust and moths corrupt it and we get upset. We came into this
life naked. It's certain. We can take nothing
with us. We're going to go out naked. And one thing, David, and my
God shall supply all your need according to His riches. Where
is it? In the glorious Son of His love,
the Lord Jesus Christ.