Thank you, Robin. Alright, go
back to Philippians chapter 4. Not a more excellent passage,
more needful or helpful passage in all of God's Word than this. And our Lord tells us through
Paul in verse 7, that there are several things to consider that
will give us the peace of God that passes all understanding,
that will keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus, through
thinking on Him. And then He gives us several
things to think on, to keep in mind, meditate on, that our mind
set on, and He said these things These things are in us, the God
of peace. And verse nine, the God of peace
shall be with you. That's the subject and the title
of this message. Peace of God and the God of peace. Peace means end of conflict. No more conflict, no more war. Remember, James said, from whence
come wars and fighting among you? come from within, from your
own lust. No more war, that is, but rather
peace. No more hiding. No more struggle. No more conflict. Peace means
no fear of the enemy. Oh, I'd like to have that, wouldn't
you? No fear of the enemy. No fear of things that disturb
us or upset us. Fears that make us full of anxiety
and care. Full of being careful. Peace
means being free from those fears. You need that? Oh, my. Freedom from being upset. That's peace. Tranquility. Peace and quiet. Still. Be still, myself. We sing that
song. Well, he tells us here some things
that give peace. Peace of God. Keep your minds
from being too upset. Keep your heart. Steal your heart. Do this. Think on these things.
You have the peace of God, the peace that our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself had, who was beset behind and before by nothing but troubles
and enemies and all that, but Scripture says He committed Himself
to the judge who doeth all things faithfully, had perfect peace. The peace of God which our Lord
Jesus Christ had, trusting in His Father, that enabled Him
to sleep perfect rest in the midst of the worst storm. I mean
that. Peace of God. And then the God
of peace, He said, will be with you. God of peace will be with
you. I want God to be with me, don't
you? Alright, let's look at it. That's what this is all about. Several things we're told to
think of, keep in mind, take to heart, which give peace. Let
me just tell you for what it's worth what made me think of this. Mindy and I were headed to the
church house Sunday morning, and somebody in front of us had
on their license plates one word. Think. Remember that? Think. And I thought, I said
to Mindy, I wonder what she wants us to think on. I thought she
was probably a school teacher, you know, probably. But I immediately
started thinking on this matter, where the Lord said, think on
these things. I said that to you, didn't I,
Mindy? I said, I wonder if she thinks. on these things, whatsoever
things are true and just and so forth. What I want you to
do is think. You've got to think. Whatever runs through your mind,
it needs to be these things. Peace. We have peace. Alright, verse 4. Here's where
we begin. He says, Rejoice in the Lord.
We're talking about peace. Rejoice in the Lord always. And
again, I say rejoice. So he'd already said this in
chapter 3, didn't he? Rejoice. Finally, my brethren, rejoice
in the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. And again
I say, again and again I say, rejoice in the Lord. Now, we
ought to listen to Paul. We've said that over and over
again. And he said always, at all times, whether it's good
or bad, or up or down, or whatever it may be you're going through,
rejoice in the Lord. We ought to listen to this man
who said that because at the time he wrote that, he's in prison. He's chained to a guard. And
it's not a pleasant place these minimum security prisons today,
a dungeon. I was just reading today what
all he went through. He listed those things he went
through. And when he talked about our
afflictions, he said they're life compared to the glory that
shall follow. So he says rejoice in the Lord
always, at all times, at everything. There's peace for rejoicing in
the Lord. If you want peace, rejoice in
the Lord. Find something to rejoice in
the Lord about, and you'll have peace. There's peace in believing
that He is Lord. And if He's your Lord, oh, my,
thou wilt keep Him in perfect peace, Isaiah said. His mind
is stayed on thee. For in the Lord Jehovah's strength,
the Rock of Ages, their rock's not like our rock. And if we'll
consider, keep in mind that He is the Lord who reigneth, who
ruleth, the Lord who is in absolute control. He's not a figurehead
like people say, Lord, Lord, today, and He's not really Lord.
You have to let Him be Lord. He just wants to be Lord. That's
not the Lord God to give you peace. It's the one who is Lord
and just lets you know it. It's the one who worketh all
things according to his sovereign will and purpose. All things,
be it good or bad, good or evil. The one who worketh all things
and everything that he worketh, worketh together for the good
of his people. Now there's peace and trust in
him. The one who restraining all things. There's lots of evil in the world,
isn't there? Well, the Lord said, the wrath of man shall praise
Him, and the remainder of wrath He'll restrain. Whatever doesn't
work His purpose, He'll restrain it. Whatever will, He allows
it to happen. He works it together. This is
the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice
that the Lord reigneth. He reigneth. The One who keepeth
you. The Lord that keepeth us. There's
peace in rejoicing that the Lord reigneth. Rejoice in the Lord,
our righteousness. Now, we hear this a lot. I venture to say every grace
preacher says this about at least every other message. Something
about the Lord, our righteousness. But people, there are many millions
of people the world over who never hear this. who don't know
what that means, who are going about to establish their own
righteousness. Well-meaning, sincere, religious
people who don't know where righteousness is, who don't know what it means
to be righteous before God. But you do, don't you? There
are two sorts of people in the world. God has everyone in two
categories, the wicked and the righteous. Who are the wicked? They say they're murderers and
rapists. It can be religious people. Religious
people. The Lord calls them workers of
iniquity that do things for their own glory and their own honor
who are going about establish a righteousness to please God. And in the end, there will be
millions standing before the holy God pleading what they have
done, only to hear Him say, depart from me, you workers of iniquity.
I didn't know you. Wicked. But the righteous, who
are the righteous? What does it mean to be righteous?
How is a man or a woman made righteous? That righteousness is given them,
is imputed them, is charged to them by the Lord Jesus Christ. God hath made Him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. God gives His people the credit
for everything Christ did and gave Christ the blame for everything
they did. We are made righteous through
Jesus Christ. Now, we know that, don't we?
Rejoice. We're not righteous. We don't
have to try to be righteous. Oh, my. Christ is our righteousness. Rejoice. We hear that a lot.
Don't take it for granted. Think on this. Listen to Isaiah
45. I read this again today. Surely
shall one say... Actually, the word one is in
italics. Surely shall some say, and the Lord have our righteousness
and strength. You know, if you stand in the
judgment someday, and if the Lord were to ask you if... He's
not going to, but if He were, what right do you have to be
in here? What would you say? What would
you say? Why should I let you in my holy
hill? Why should I let you in my heaven?
What would you say? You know, if your answer was
like old Roland Hill, he had that dream. Roland Hill said,
I don't have any right to be here at all. He said, I'm here
on the rights of another. Jesus Christ. He said, come on
in. Everyone, no matter how sinful,
that pleads the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Surely shall
one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Here's one. Anybody
else? And it says, In the Lord shall
all the seed of Israel be justified completely from all things. In
the Lord our righteousness. There are thousands, even millions
of men and women who call themselves Jehovah's Witnesses that encompass
sea and land to establish proselytes. go from door to door to talk
about Jehovah that they don't know. The Lord Jehovah Sidkeneth. But you know who that is, don't
you? You know who that is. That's the name we bear. Jehovah
Sidkeneth. The Lord our Righteousness. Oh, my. Rejoice in the Lord. In the Lord our Shepherd. I've
got to go on. The Lord our Shepherd. If the Lord is your Shepherd,
you shall not want for anything. Shall not want. He shall not
fear. He's with us. He shall not want
for anything. Surely goodness and mercy will
follow you all the days of your life. If the Lord is your shepherd,
rejoice, because it's all good. It's all good. And you will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever. You have your Lord's word on
you. Rejoice. That will give you peace.
If the Lord is your shepherd, He is watching over you. And
if the Lord is your peace, Jehovah Shalom, Jehovah Shalom, He said,
Peace I leave with you. And the gifts and calling of
God are without repentance. Peace I leave with you. My peace
I give unto you. And He says do this always, at
all times, whether times are good or times are bad. Up or
down. Whatever it may be. Rejoice in
the Lord. And again I say rejoice. Verse 5. Let your moderation
be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Now the
Lord is not changing subject here. He's not talking about
food or drink here. Although we should be moderate
in those things. But he's talking about character
and conduct here. The word moderation here means
gentleness. It means kindness. Let your moderation
be known as Christ was known for His kindness. The Lord is
at hand. The Lord is near. The Lord is
at hand. The Lord is observing. Sunday morning, Lord willing,
we're going to look at Genesis 17. Bible study where he told
Abram, he said, walk before me and be perfect. Look at what that means. The
Lord is at hand observing. Go to Titus chapter 3 real quickly. Titus 3. This is a good commentary
or companion verse with this moderation. Titus chapter 3.
Look at verse 1. He's instructing a young preacher
named Titus. He says, put them in mind, you
have it? Titus 3.1, put them in mind,
the people in mind, be subject to principalities and powers,
obey magistrates, be submissive to authority, be ready to every
good work, and to speak evil of no man, be no brawler, but
gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. This is what he's
talking about in moderation. He says, we ourselves, like them,
like the people we are around, we ourselves were also, we were
that way, foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving different lusts
and pleasures, living in malice and envy and hateful and hating
one another. That's the world that describes
the world. So he tells God's people, you
want peace? You want the God of peace to
be with you? Then act this way. Because you remember how the
kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
His mercy He saved us? He says you do that. Peace. Let your moderation be known.
Go back to the text. The Lord is at hand. The Lord
is observing. The Lord is near. The time is
short. The time is too short to fuss
and fight. Man's state is so desperate that
there's no time to waste. That's why he said, the Lord's
at hand. And also, this means when the Lord is at hand, it
means he's near to help. He's a very present help in time
of trouble. and letting our moderation be
known, trying to be kind to all men and gentle and so forth,
and dealing with them in wisdom. The Lord's at hand. He's God
of all grace. He's very present help. Lord,
I can't deal with it. I need to know how. He's at hand. Ask. James said
he gives liberally. He may like wisdom, but he gives
liberally. Well, I need a lot of it. I thought
about this today when I was reading that. I thought, Lord, he delights
to show mercy. He delights to give liberally.
So I thought, why not ask for a lot of grace? Lord, I need
a lot of grace. Would you give me a... You reckon
he'd honor that? I need a lot of grace. Would you make me the
most gracious person ever? I've never tried that. I think
it's time. And he said, Lord, it is time.
Verse 6, be careful for nothing. Don't be full of care and anxiety
and worry. And we all are. You know, he wouldn't be saying
these things if we didn't have a problem with them. This is
written to the church. This is written to believers.
It's written to his children who are able to respond. It's
not written to the world. It's not to unbelievers. It's
not to all men. It's written to brethren. It's written to
the people of God, the children of God. They shall all be taught
of God. And here's what he's telling
us. Don't be full of care for anything. Don't be full of anxiety
and worry about anything. Well, how, Lord? How can I not
be full of care? I am. I am full of worry. I am
full of care. These things just fill me full
of anxiety, even the least little things sometimes. Cast all your
care upon Him. Well, He cares for you. He says,
in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,
let your requests be made known unto God. This is how you can
not be full of care. Cast your care on Him. Go to
Him in everything. In everything. Everything by
prayer. Big things. Especially big things,
yes. Big things. Trials. Severe trials. Great decisions. Important decisions. weighty things that we face.
But in the little things, Jerry, in the little things, everything.
Sometimes, you know, the little things are the things that give
us the greatest grief and escalate into big things, don't they?
Little things seem to agitate me as much as anything and ruin
my day. Little things, don't they? You
can just drop something or break something or lose something and
lose it. Lose your mind, that is. Lose
your patience, don't you? Blash out at somebody, and the
whole day is seen to be shodden. Little things, and everything,
and everything, he said, by prayer, calling on the Lord. Can we pray
about Trivial things. Things that seem
so trivial. Oh, I don't want to bother the
Lord with that. It's so trivial. It's so little. Can we? We should. We should. We're not sufficient to even
think the right thoughts, let alone do the right thing without
calling on the Lord. He said, without Me you can do
nothing. You can't even think right. You
can't do right. You can't react right. You can't take one step in the
right direction without Him. Yes, in everything. He said, in everything by prayer
and supplication. And I've reminded you before
how that the Lord uses prayer for several reasons. Number one,
it's to communicate with Him. In a relationship, if you have
a real abiding relationship with someone, you're talking to them.
If you don't, you don't. If you're not close, you're not
talking. So this communication, number
one. And make us conscious of the
Lord. Conscious. If good things happen, let's
say good things happen, and we didn't ask the Lord for it, we
didn't pray about it, and this is what the world does. They
attribute it to luck. They attribute it to chance. good karma. They attribute it
to themselves. They did well or their wisdom
or their industry or so forth and so forth. But now he says
to his people in everything, you pray. You pray. And then when God grants that,
you'll give Him the glory for it. He says you'll give Him the
glory for it. The rain. And we do, don't we? We go through dry periods and
we pray for rain. And the Lord sends it. Let me
say, the world says, oh, well, these clouds got together. That's
what they say. And when it thunders, they just
say it thunders. But we know what the Lord is
saying, don't we? You with me? In everything by
prayer. I need this. Everything by prayer. Big thing. Little thing. It's
communication. It's confession. Prayer is confession. Everything. It's unburdening
ourselves. under the law. We need to unburden
ourselves to Him in everything by prayer and supplication. Make your request known to God.
Yes, make your request known. He knows what you want. He knows
what you want before you ask Him. That's what Psalm 139 says.
Not a thought in my head you don't know what to borrow. Not
a word in my tongue that I'm going to say you don't know before
I say it. Tell Him. Why? If He already knows it,
why? Because He said so. And it'll make you think about
it. It might make you pause, give you pause and think, Lord,
I need... Maybe I don't need this. Lord,
You know I want this, but I don't know if it's good for me. I want
this, Lord. I can't get it out of my head.
Your request. This is what I want. But nevertheless,
not my will, but Thy will. And every time. Every time. with
thanksgiving. With thanksgiving. Always with
thanksgiving. You know, most of our prayers
are gimme, gimme, gimme. Just like children. Just like
the children that we are. Gimme, gimme, gimme. Help me,
help me, help me. Have mercy on me. Do this, do that, do that.
I need, I need, I need. With thanksgiving. Oh, may we
give just half as much thanks as we do requests. Oh my, Thanksgiving,
how much we have to be thankful for. Verse 7, and he says, the
peace of God. The peace of God that passeth
all understanding. Keep your heart, still your heart,
settle your mind. And I quoted that Isaiah 26. I will keep him in perfect peace.
His mind is stayed on Thee and the Lord Jehovah, the Lord. Think on Him. Keep thinking about
Him and calling upon Him, and He will be on your mind and in
your heart. And He, the peace of God, knowing
Him, believing Him, trusting Him, will keep your hearts and
your minds through Christ Jesus And it's a peace that will pass
understanding. It will pass your own understanding,
so that when you go through the severest trial, the Lord who
said, My grace is sufficient, will get you through it. And
when He does, you say, You were true, weren't you? You were true. And you go through something
that you don't think you can get through, And that He gives
you that peace. Passes your own understanding.
We have all been through, all believers have gone through trials
that you didn't know how you would get through them. Haven't
you? Every believer. And the Lord's
given you peace to go through that trial. And it was beyond
your own understanding You got through it, but you know it was
the Lord. We've observed many in our midst, and He's given
me that peace at times that passes understanding. Verse 8 now. It says, Finally, brethren, and
he lists several things to think on. And he said in verse 9, the
God of peace shall be with you. Now he's talking about this mind
that he's talked about in chapter 2, let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. Because this is how our Lord's
mind worked. This is how his mind worked. This was the direction in which
his mind went at all times. I want this mind in me. He had
perfect peace. And the God of peace. He said,
I do all the ways, those things which please my Heavenly Father.
And the Father was with Him all the time. Gave Him perfectly.
Undergirded Him. As a man, I love to think about
our Lord's humanity. I love to think about it. As
much as I like to think about His divinity. I really do. He
gives me comfort. He trusted in His Heavenly Father. And He tells us, to let this
mind be in you. All right, brethren, finally.
Whatsoever things are true, think on these things. Think on these
things. What does the Scripture say?
It says, Let God be true, and every man a liar. Whenever we
start listening to the men and women of this world, It gives
us unrest. It gives us anxiety. It gives
us trouble. It troubles us. Did you hear
what they said? Yes, I did. But you can't believe them. It
doesn't matter what it is. Let God be true though. You can
believe Him. You can trust Him in everything
He says. You ought to. You ought to believe
Him. You ought to trust Him because
God cannot lie. You ought to be suspicious of
what the world is saying, because they can't tell the truth. We
ought to believe the Lord, because He can't lie. He can't lie, especially
when it comes to salvation. He said, God that hath promised
us, God who cannot lie, hath promised us salvation. For what,
Kenneth? Believing. Well, I do believe. Then what are you worried about? Once everything is true, now
first is God, the true and living God. Think on Him. Think on Him. His Word is true. His Word is
true. The truth will settle you. The
truth will still your heart and your mind. The truth. Not man's
lies. They disturb us. And you know,
this whole thing is about thinking. Thinking. What do you do when
you think on things? It's not a passing thought. This
means to meditate on, consider, to meditate on, to ponder, to
quietly reflect on and really think about. Our Lord said, let
these sayings sink down deep in your ears. Everything he had
to say to us was full of truth and full of goodness and mercy
and grace and meant for our good, both temporal and eternal. Everything
he said. He said, if you know these things,
happy are you if you do them. Oh, Lord. Oh, don't let me adhere
to the Word and not do wrong. Think on these things. Keep in
mind, meditate on these things. Meditate on them. Think on them.
Think before acting. Think before responding, before
getting bent out of shape. Think. Is this true? Is this true? Do you know how
many calamities and things have gone on throughout the world? The people of God in Egypt, all
those plagues, those were devastating plagues, weren't they? Huh? Devastating
plagues. And they went through them all
in a fairly short period of time. Now, if they had stopped and
thought, the Lord said they were coming. And He said they wouldn't
come to us. That we're coming out of here.
It's not going to destroy us. We're coming out of this plague.
Come what may. Whatsoever things are true, he's
true. And this means, too, what our
Lord said in 1 Corinthians 13 about love, which is the bond
of maturity, perfection, that Paul talks about so much here
in this book. Love rejoiceth not in iniquity,
but rejoiceth in the truth. You know, Satan is the father
of lies, and Satan is also the one who loves to cause discord.
Don't believe him. He's the accuser of the brethren.
Love rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. Is
it true? Remember that threefold criteria
about saying anything, repeating anything? Is it true? Let's get
to the bottom of the truth here. Is it kind? Is it necessary?
Peace is sown in peace by them that make peace. Look at the
next thing. Whatsoever things are honest,
honest. He said in another play, lie
not to one another. We use a term, it's a good term,
be transparent. Be transparent. When somebody
looks at you, when you talk to somebody, Why do you think hidden? Be honest. Be true. Be open. Be truthful. Without guile, like Nathaniel. No guile. Not keeping anything
back. Not a hypocrite. Don't say one
thing, mean another thing. That's being a liar. That's being
dishonest. That's being deceitful. That's
being a hypocrite. Our Lord was completely Open
and honest. What he said, he meant. He meant
honest. Be honest. Open. Truthful. Just. Look at the next
thing. What sort of things are just? The word is right. The
word is fair. The word is equitative. We're full of inequity. We don't
do the right thing. We don't think the right thing.
We don't act the right way. We've got a lot of wrongs about
us. A lot of inequity. be equitous, just, right. Our God is just. Don't think
of God as being just, as being simply or only that He punishes
sin. When Abraham was pleading for
Lot that the Lord would save some people out of Sodom, this
is what he pleaded. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? That is, He's just. He'll do the right thing. And
He does. And that gives great peace. Our
God will do... He's just. He says, you be just. You be right. You be fair, like
Him. You want peace? You want Him
to be with you? You do the right thing. Be just. unto the Lord His just due. Thanks. Praise to God. But Mindy
and I were riding over here. And beautiful summer day, you
know, and people are out there cutting their yards and tending
to their lawns, and everybody is so busy about doing whatever
they do. And the Lord has provided it
all. He's given such wonderful rains. Grass is growing. Crops are growing. And flowers
are growing. And everybody is enjoying such
a wonderful summer, And they're out there doing things, and the
worship of God is the farthest thing of their mind. It is His just due for us to
come here. God deserves this. To stop in
the middle of the week and give Him His just due. Just an hour
out of our busy day to give Him thanks. Just. Whatsoever things are just,
right. And unto others, treat others as you would have them
treat you. That's the just thing to do. That's the just thing to do.
Honor. Render honor to whom it's due. Gratitude to any who serve
you in any way because we're not worth it. Whatsoever things
are pure. Whatsoever things are pure. Think
on the true, honest, just, and pure thing. You know, all of
this could be summed up in a name, the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything
about Him is true, honest, just, and pure. It's just, pure, and
lovely. That's the next one, lovely.
Everything about our Lord Jesus Christ is pure. Think in your
mind, that's how I want to be. That's how I want to be. David
said, he said, I'm going to behold your face in righteousness. I'm
going to be before you because of your righteousness. I'm such
a sinner. David said, my sin is ever before
me, but your blood is before the Lord. I know that. And that's
my plea. And he said, I'm going to behold
your face in righteousness, not my own, but yours. And I'll be
satisfied when I awake with thy likeness. And I'm not satisfied
now. I'm altogether dissatisfied with
myself. Oh, Lord, whatsoever things are
pure, make me like the pure and lovely Lord Jesus Christ. Pure
in thought, pure in word, pure in deed, pure in motive, pure
in heart. So is that possible? The Lord's
at hand. The Lord said, hey, with man
it's impossible. Would you think of the Apostle
Paul or somebody like that as being a man that liked Christ?
That what he told you, you could believe? That his thoughts were
honest? That his motives were pure? Would
you? Why? He said, those things you
see in me and hear in me, this is what I do. He said, this is
what I do. Look to him. Think on these things. Thoughts? Pure. Oh, Lord. You
know, grace poured from our Lord's lips. Lord, that's why I want
to pour from my lips. My mouth is too full of cursing
and bitterness. And I thought about this, you
know, about thinking on things. Whatever we look at and listen
to a lot is what fills our thoughts and our minds. Whatever we look at and listen
to is what is in our mind and in our heart. And this is why
he said in places like, and he said it in several places, speak
into yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs instead
of the trash that we listen to that fills our hearts and minds. The things we look at, the things
we listen to. All the more reason to start
our day, the first fruits, unto the Lord with His pure and holy
Word. Think on that. We're going to
go out in this world and have our minds bombarded with the
filth of this world. All the more reason to start
today. Lord, fill my mind and my heart with things above. Give
me grace for the day whatsoever things are Sure, but look at
the next thing. What's everything? He's a lovely.
He's altogether lovely. He was lovely in speech, wasn't
he? No man speak like this. Let me speak like that. And lovely
in character, lovely in conduct, lovely in mercy, lovely in grace,
lovely in compassion. It says he looked out over the
crowd. Everybody that came to him said,
and compassion on all of them. They'd be like that. Don't let
me get mad at people. Let me consider my own self. Remember what we just read? That's
the way you were when the kindness and mercy of God tied us together.
Remember that? We just read it. The kindness and mercy of our
Lord appeared unto us. We were once foolish and just
like that. Well, let's treat them like our Lord treated us.
And God will be with you. Peace with God. Be with you.
You say it's impossible. No, the Lord's at hand. The Lord's
at hand. Somebody treats you ill. They treated the Lord ill, they
did. On every hand. What did he do? He said when
he was reviled, what did he do? Reviled not again. Committed
himself. He says pray without ceasing. He was in constant contact with
his Father. All the Lord's at hand. That's
that blessed promise. We need this. I need this. Whatever
things are lovely. He's lovely. He's altogether
lovely. And, oh my, many lovely things he's
given. And whatever's a good report.
What sort of things are good reports? Let me give you a good
report, okay? I've got good news for you. I've seen you now. There's lots of evil in this
world, isn't there? Lots of trouble in this world. In this world
you shall have tribulation. Trouble. Man that is born of
woman is a few days and full of trouble. Troubles. Tomorrow
is going to be trouble. Going to be trouble. Maybe our
worst trials are yet to come. But here's a good report. I've
got a good report for you. You've seen me now. Christ is
coming. He's near. Your salvation is
nearer than when it first began. Our redemption draws. Lift up
your head. Our redemption draws. That's a good report. What's
the weather? What's the forecast for the future?
It's good. The report is good. It is good. Whatever's good report. Think
on the good report. Not the evil. Not the evil. Oh, my. Good news. Sin's gone.
Christ is near. Eternal rest is soon. Rejoice
in the Lord. And again, I say rejoice. In
context, he says, we've obtained a good report by the grace of
God in Christ. Remember Hebrews 11, the elders
obtained a good report. Abraham was a failure, but he
obtained a good report. Jacob was a scheming connivant,
but he obtained a good report. All of them. No, our boy, he
fell off with it, but he obtained a good report, the Lord, through
His righteousness. Well, if that is what the Lord
has done for us, if the Lord, the report He gives
on us is nothing but good, if you would ask the Lord about
one of His children, He'd tell you nothing but good about them. And you'd give the same report
about your brother. Nothing the Lord hates worse
than him that soweth discord. It's an abomination to Him. Give
a good report. A good report. If there's any
virtue, look at this. If there's any virtue. Any virtue. Virtue means any quality, any
value, anything of virtue. Think on it. Anything of virtue. There's not much of any virtue
out there in the world. Not many people of any virtue
are there. You know, you women should read
often Proverbs 31. It says a virtuous woman who
can find it. All of us need to read that because
we're all the woman. We're all the bride of Christ.
We all need to read that. But it speaks of women, their
role and their place. And he says a virtuous woman,
hard to find. It's getting harder and harder
to find today. Any virtue? The word also means manliness. Valor. Manliness. What is manliness? If there's
any virtue, think about it. When a situation arises. When
something happens. Someone, you're treated this
way or whatever. What's the virtuous thing to do? What's the manly
thing to do? Is it more manly to forgive or to fight? Is it
more manly to pardon or to lash out? What does it mean to be
a man? A man is like our Lord. It's a virtue of a man to pardon.
The strength of a man, the wisdom of a man to pardon a transgression
like our Lord, especially from a guilty party. Virtue. Think on this thing. Think about
it. Is this the virtuous thing to do? Is this the virtuous way
to act? And if there be any praise, any
praise, any praise. Do we have anything to praise
God about? Yes, we have trouble. But like
Paul said, and I reminded you what he'd been through, he said,
Rejoice in the Lord. Again, I say rejoice. In everything.
We have everything to praise our Lord about. We're not in
hell. Barnard used to say, anything this side of hell is mercy. We've
got a lot more than just that, don't we? Now, he hath not dealt
with that. Brother Mack read Psalm 103,
and it's such a blessing to me. That wasn't it, brethren. It
was worth coming here just to hear that. Psalm 103. He says,
He hath not dealt with us according to our sins. My, my. Praise the Lord. O my soul, all
that is within me, bless His holy name. And any praise, anything
praiseworthy in our brethren? Anything praiseworthy in our
brethren? Can you believe that the Lord is someday going to
say to all of His children, Well done, thou good and faithful
servant. Do you think the Lord will say that about you? Huh? I don't. But He will. Do you? About your children? When you
find the least little thing that they do right, huh? If they do the least little thing
right, what do you do? You praise them. You praise them. Good job. He says, you be that way. with
everybody, with the Lord, with one another. Praise. For there
to be any praise, anything praiseworthy in your brethren, then thank
them for it. Praise them. Praise them. Esteem them better than yourself.
My, my. My, my. We've signed the slightest
virtue of praise. Let's think on that. We all have,
in many things, James said, we offend all. In many things we
all offend, is what he's saying. Every one of us. In word, in
deed, in many things. Not just a few things. We don't
just have a few flaws. We have a lot. All of us. Starting
with me. In many things. He says if there's
some praise and some virtue, some good rapport, if there's
something Find it and forget the rest. That's exactly what
our Lord Jesus Christ does. Forget the rest. If you don't, the God of peace is not going
to be with you. Oh, He delights in peace. He delights in peace. He's ordered it. Peace. Think
on these things. And the God of peace shall be
with you. The God of peace. Smile Him.
Give Him more peace. giving more grace. That's what
I want. All right, we're going to sing
in closing number 333. 333. This hymn goes well with
what we just looked at. 333. May the mind of Christ my Savior
live in me from day to day. by his love and power controlling
all I do and say. May the word of God dwell richly
in my heart.