Thank you David and Jill. That's
a great song. It has so many things there.
Not the labors of my hand. We can't do anything to secure
our own salvation. It talks about clinging to the
cross and that's definitely what we've got to do there. It's just
such a great song. Okay, I'm going to be talking
about Philippians chapter 4 verse 8. That's the verse we're going
to be going through. So I'll let you turn to there. It's so
good to be here, as always. Okay, Philippians chapter 4 verse
8. Finally, brethren, whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things
just 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. And 1
Timothy 4.15 says, Meditate upon these things.
Give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear
to all. Thy profiting may appear to all.
I'm going to be looking at eight words in this first verse here
from Philippians. take them one at a time. The
first word is truth. Whatsoever things are true. The gospel of Christ is unquestionably
true. There's just no doubt when we
look at the Bible that it is filled with truth. In the words
of the gospel, we have the truth declared about sin. So let's
turn to Romans chapter 3. I'm going to read verses 9 to
23. And this has so much truth in
these verses here. Romans 9, or Romans 3, I'm sorry. Starting at verse 9. What then,
are we better than they? No, in no wise. For we have before
proved, both Jew and Gentiles, that they are all under sin. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no not one. There is none that understandeth,
There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher.
With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps
is under their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing
and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. and the way
of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. Now we know that what things
soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the words may become
guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for the law is
the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and
the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. For there
is no difference for all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. And stay in that chapter there. We'll be coming back to that
here in just a couple of minutes. It tells us here that we're all
sinners. We've come up short of the glory of God. One of the
people that I work with, his pastor suddenly decided that
he was no longer a sinner and that he could not preach to the
congregation any longer because he said he couldn't preach to
a bunch of sinners. But he has it so mixed up. Fortunately for
them that they were able to Get rid of that pastor. But for somebody
to declare that they're not a sinner, it's just kind of mind-boggling
because we're all sinners. And that's who Christ preached
to. He came here for the sinners. And that was His whole mission. It tells us that we're all sinners
and come short of the glory of God. We are all under sin. It's part of our nature. We do
not seek out righteousness on our own. Only when the Holy Spirit
opens our eyes and ears to the truth that we know that we are
not worthy in ourselves. We cannot do anything to save
ourselves. We can never be good enough to
be in the presence of God on our own, unless God chose us.
And He chose us before the foundation of the world. That's told to
us in Ephesians 1.4. And have redemption through His
blood, the forgiveness of sin. And that's the blood of Christ.
And that's in Ephesians 1.7. The truth declares salvation
in 2 Timothy 1.9. Who has saved us and called us
with a holy calling? Well, who has saved us is Christ
and who called us is the Holy Spirit. Not according to our
works, because our works are useless. It is only the work
of Christ that can save us, but according to His own purpose
and grace. It's all of Christ. It's His purpose to bring our
salvation to us. We have no say in it. Which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world.
And we were chosen before the foundation, before any of us
were even born, so how can we even begin to do anything for
our salvation when it's already been taken care of? Acts 4.12
Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none
other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved. And that is the name of Christ.
He is the one and only way that we can have salvation. Salvation
is all of his grace to us. It's his grace. Grace is something
that's given to you that you don't necessarily deserve or
anything else, but it's given to you as a gift, nothing that
we have earned. Christ paid for our salvation
with His blood on the cross. We have no way to pay for our
sins because we're all bankrupt sinners. There is nothing that
we can offer to God that, you know, we can't walk in the aisle.
We can't put more money in the offering plate or, you know,
make sure we attend church every Sunday. Those things will not
get you your salvation. It is all of Christ. Christ tells
us in John 8, 32, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth
shall set you free. We've been set free from our
sins by the blood of Christ. It is the only way that we're
going to get there. The second word is honest. Whatsoever things
are honest. The gospel of Christ is indisputably
honest and honorable. God justifies a sinner through
the blood atonement of Jesus. 1 John 4.10 tells us, Herein is
love, not that we love God, but that He loved us, and He sent
His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. I looked up the
definition of propitiation, and that means to appease a God,
and that's to appease Him for our sins. And Christ done that
on the cross. He shed His blood to pay for
our sins. He did not have any sin. But
he paid for our sins through his grace. We have nothing that we can even
begin to offer. Isaiah 42, 21 tells us, Lord
is well pleased for his righteousness sake. He will magnify the law
and make it honorable. And God tells us that this is
my son. I am well pleased. what it says, but he is pleased
with his sacrifice and his offering that he made with his blood. In Psalms 111 verse 3, his work
is honorable and glorious and his righteousness endures forever. His righteousness was there from
the very beginning before the foundation of the world. It's
there at the beginning, it's there when He was here on earth
and it's here now and it will be until every last one of his
children are saved. All the sins have been paid for
and then he will still be there. The third word is just. Whatsoever
things are just. The gospel of Christ is undeniably
just or righteous. God always justifies the ungodly
in his described ways that honors his holy law and satisfies his
righteous judgment. The question of all questions
How can God be just and justify the ungodly? The only right answer
is found in the gospel of grace. And if you're still in Romans,
look at Romans 3, verses 24 and 26. Being justified freely by
his grace, that is God's grace that is given to us, not for
anything that we've done. Through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, whom God has sent forth to be of appreciation
through faith in his blood, to declare the righteousness for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God to declare. I say at this time his righteousness
that he might be just and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus." So we are justified by the blood of Christ. It is
all of him and that he freely gave it to us because he loves
us, his children, that were given to him before the foundation
of the world. Christ did not justify everyone, but only the
elect. That's not a very popular thing
with a lot of people. But his elect were not only the
ones that were alive at the time of Christ on earth. Christ was
only on earth for 30 some years. But when he sacrificed himself
on the cross, he sacrificed himself for his children that were alive
at that point, the ones in the past plus the ones that are here
today. It was a sacrifice for Altan
for all his children. That includes the elect today
and tomorrow until the very last sheep is justified. He will not
lose a single soul that belongs to him. That is how great his
love is for us. In Isaiah 45, 21, and 22, it
tells us, there is no God else besides me, a just God and a
Savior. And there is none beside me.
Look on to me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For
I am God, and there is none other. Every civilization down through
time has had their own gods. The Greeks and Romans were probably
the most well-known gods to most people. The Greeks themselves
had something like 62 gods that they prayed to. Some of them
were Apollo, Atlas, Poseidon, Zeus, with just a few of them.
The Romans also had their gods, Apollo, Cupid, Diane, Mercury,
Neptune. And all these gods were only
the imagination of men. They weren't true gods. And when
you look at them, each of these gods only had supposedly control
over certain things. Like one had control over the
seas, another one had control over the thunder and lightning. But none of their gods was truly
a god at all to start with. But God takes care of everything.
I mean, if you're God, you have total control. And these gods,
none of them did. They were just, like I say, man's
imagination. They had no power, and they could
do nothing for your salvation. As I just read, there is no God
else besides me. I am God, and there is none else. So there is only one and only
God. Next word is pure. Whatsoever
things are pure. The gospel of Christ is irrefutably
pure and perfect. Nothing but the blood of Christ
can cleanse us from our sins. 1 John 1, verse 7 tells us, the
blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. The
blood of Christ is pure and perfect. If it wasn't pure and perfect, our salvation would not be complete.
We would have no hope for salvation, but His blood is pure. So it
washes us completely of our sins. You know, they talk about being
washed in the blood of Christ and you're turned white or your
sins are just totally washed away. So if that blood wasn't
pure, that wouldn't happen. He did not miss any of the sins. In Hebrews 1.3 it tells us, when
he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high. Why did he sit down after he
got to heaven? Well, on the cross he proclaimed,
it is finished. That's in John 19.3. That's because
he had completed the sacrifice. So his job was, he completed
the work that he was sent here to do. He secured our salvation
at that time. And how amazing is that, that
he took care of us over 2,000 years ago, and yet that salvation
secures our salvation, even 2,000 years later, and everybody in
between. Proverbs 30, verse 5 tells us, every word
of God is pure. And then Psalms 12, 6 says the
same thing. The word of the Lord are pure
words. And to me, that means that the whole Bible is pure. It's pure truth. And that's,
you know, the word of the Bible is inspired by God himself. Not
only his words are pure, but so are his commandments. Psalm
19, 8, the commandments of the Lord are pure. So what would
we expect anything less than pure perfection from God? I don't
think so. You know, if he wasn't perfect
and excellent and everything that he does, would he actually
be God? But fortunately, he is. The fifth word is lovely. Whatsoever things are lovely,
he is altogether lovely. Songs of Solomon 516. His mouth
is most sweet. He is altogether lovely. This
is my beloved and this is my friend. We often hear the term
that God is love. That's in 1 John 4.19 tells us
we love him only because he first loved us. God does love his people,
but that does not mean that he loves everyone. He's got a chosen people and
not everybody in the world is chosen. Turn to Romans chapter
9 and we'll read verses 13 to 18. That brings out this point. As it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. Right there it just tells you
that God does not love everyone. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose
have I raised thee up, that I might show my power to thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath
he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. God has compassion and shows
mercy on whom he chooses. He doesn't do it for everybody.
But again, this goes back to the ones that were chosen at
the foundation of the world. Christ is lovely to believers,
but not to others. And 1 Peter tells us in 2 Peter
7, unto you therefore which believeth, he is most precious, but unto
them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed,
the same is made the head of the corner. Christ is lovely
to believers, but is rejected by unbelievers. The sixth word. It's actually two words instead
of one, but they go together. It is good report. Whatsoever
things are of good report. The gospel of Christ is obviously
good report or good news. All the news agencies, whether
it's radio, TV, internet, or print, they report on the news
every day. But the news doesn't last very
long. What is news today is old news
tomorrow. All the news agencies move on
to whatever is next, so the news doesn't last very long. But the
news of the gospel is not just good news, but it's great news
for believers. It is the greatest news of all time to the children
of God. It is news that has lasted for thousands of years and is
just as important today as it was in biblical times. The Bible
is the greatest news story ever written or ever will be. Guess
who has the byline? The byline is the person who
writes the story. in journalism, but God himself
is the author of the Bible. He inspired the writers to write
down the Bible, so God himself is actually the author. He inspired
men to write the entire Bible. It has been translated into virtually
every language, and there are more copies than any other book
in history. I found a figure from 1995, that was the newest
figure I had, and there was five billion copies of the Bible in
circulation at that time, and that was 25, 28 years ago. How many more in circulation?
That's over 5 billion. No other book has ever sold even
1 billion, so it is by far the most widely published book of
all time. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation to everyone that will believe it, Romans 1.16.
Salvation is for believers, and it is indeed good news. Romans
5, 6, Christ died for the ungodly. We are all ungodly, but God justifies
the ungodly. In Romans 4, 5, we were justified
by Christ on the cross where he shed his own blood for his
people, so he justifies us with his own blood. 9, 13, Christ says, I will have mercy
and not sacrifice for I have not come to call the righteous,
but sinners to repentance. The Bible is full of this great
news that Christ, what Christ has done for us. You know, like
I say, he didn't do it for everybody, but he'd done it for his people
and that it's complete work. The seventh word is virtue. If
there be any virtue. I looked up the definition of
virtue, and it can be a pretty broad description. It can be
moral excellence, doing the right thing, love, patience, diligence,
humility, gratitude, faith, hope, and charity. All of these fit
our Savior. He has more virtue than we can
even begin to imagine. He was without sin, but he was
full of virtue. One of the greatest virtues is
love. I always heard the term God is
love. And in 1 John 4, verse 7, for love is of God, and everyone
that loveth is born of God, knoweth God. God is just pure love. But virtue goes well beyond that. Grace is another thing that could
be considered a virtue. And Christ gave their grace to
us. And that is a tremendous thing
that we can't begin to earn. Isaiah 35, 2, they shall see
the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God. And excellence is another virtue. If God wasn't perfect and excellent
in everything that he does, he wouldn't truly be a God. Like
I said, grace. can be a virtue and that was
given to us freely. Philippians 4.19 tells us, but
my God shall supply all your needs according to his riches
in glory by Jesus Christ. And this shows his charity. He
gives it to us freely and supplies all our needs. You know, we don't
think about a lot of things on a daily basis, but just like
driving here this morning, he protected Karen and I on the
way here to avoid an accident, and that's all part of his guiding
hand, and he provides that for us. The eighth word is praise,
if there be any praise. The gospel of Christ is absolutely
worthy of all our praise and glory to God alone. After all,
he has done everything for our salvation, even though we are
not worthy. In the book of John, it says
it's best, Latcheth, I am not worthy to loosen. None of us
are worthy to loosen the shoes of Christ. But only after his
sacrifice for us do we become pure enough to even be in the
presence of God. In the Strong's Concordance,
there's over 100 verses that give praise to the Lord. I'll
read you a few of them here. Now that I praise the Lord, I
will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel. O God, we thank
Thee and praise Thy glorious name. I will praise the Lord
according to His righteousness. Yea, that fear the Lord, praise
Him. Of Thy praise all the day long.
In God will I praise His word. Let the people praise Thee, O
God. I will praise Thee, O Lord my
God. I will praise Thy name forever
and ever. Praise ye the name of the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.
Praise God with a loud voice. Praise the name of the Lord your
God. Think on these different words this week and everything
that God has done for us. All the different words there.
Virtue, praise, truth, loveliness. All the different words there.
And meditate on them too. Of what Christ has done for us. At this time I would like to
Have Brian close us in prayer.