Well, welcome, everybody. If I appear nervous up here,
it's because I'm not a preacher. I'm just a member of the church
here that Wayne asked me to stand in for him while I was out. And
it makes me nervous not to speak in front of people, but to speak
about our holy God and Christ. It gives me a great appreciation
for what Wayne does every week for us, delivering messages. takes hours or at least took
me several hours to put this message together. It's not a
very long message, not compared to Wayne, but it's something
that, you know, I want to be careful about what I say up here,
you know, because I am talking about God and I don't want to
say something wrong. So I hope I, with God's help, I won't say
anything that's wrong. But last week I talked about
creation and how you look around and see all this that God has
created. But there's something else that
I've got to think about that we take advantage of every day
but don't think about. And that's the air that we breathe.
We can't actually see it, but we have to have that air to live. And it's just part of God's creation. This week, I had to fly down
to North Carolina for work and back to West Virginia and stuff.
And one of the things we've done, We flew down there, and if it
wasn't for the air that puts that airplane up in the air,
to keep it up in the air, that's all part of God's creation. And
that's God's creation that he gave man the ability to create
an airplane, to be able to fly down there. But one thing about
being up there at 25,000 feet looking down over the Smoky Mountains
and the Appalachian Mountains, huge this country is, or how
huge this world is. From here we look around, we
might be able to see a mile or so, but down there you're looking
across those mountains and all those trees, and you see the
cities and all that, and yet you look down there and you can
see cars maybe scurrying around and We are so small in comparison
to the world. We're like tiny little ants,
but we are still God's creation. And even though we're so small,
and this world is so small compared to the universe, we look at our solar system,
it's huge, but compared to the universe, we are just a little
speck in the universe of all his creation. And yet, he seemed
fit to pick us out of all that space and time and creation to
make us his adopted children. He'd done that before the world
was even begun, and that's just mind-boggling to me. We're just
a tiny little speck of dust in creation, but he took his time,
and he's washed away our sins, and it's just mind-boggling.
So anyway, I'll quit rambling. The name of the message is Think
on these things. And I'm gonna be looking at Philippians chapter four, verse
eight. And that'll be the verse that
we'll be studying today. Philippians four, chapter eight.
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things
are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are
pure, whatsoever things are lovely, Whatsoever things are of good
report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think
on these things. And that's what I want to do
is to break this down. There's eight things that he broke down there. And I want
to look at each of these. And the first one is, whatever
things are true. And this is all described in
the gospel, these eight things. Whatsoever things are true, the
gospel of Christ is unquestionably true. We have the truth declared
about sin in Romans chapter three, verse 23. For all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. We are all sinners ever
since Adam fell in the Garden of Eden. We have the truth about
salvation. Second Timothy talks about that
in verses one to nine. Who has saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, Because we can't
do anything to save us. And who saved us was Christ on
the cross with his blood. And who called us was the Holy
Spirit. According to his purpose, and that's truly his purpose,
not our purpose, and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. And he was thinking about us
before we were even born. And Romans 4.12 tells us, neither
is there any salvation in any other, for there is none other
name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Christ is the only way that we can have salvation. There is
no other. Man's created their own gods
throughout history and stuff, but none of them can really save
us, or can save us, period. God is the one and only. The
truth declared about God in Isaiah talks about 45 verses 21 and
22, the Bible declares, there is no God else besides me, a
just God, a savior. There is none beside me. Look
unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For I
am God and there is none other. Man has always made his own gods,
just like the golden calf that Aaron fashioned together. you know, they took gold and
fashioned it together and tried to create, or call that a god,
but it may have had eyes, but it could not see, may have had
ears, could not hear, had a mouth, but could not speak. They could do absolutely nothing
for you. It doesn't matter what religion it is, if you don't
believe in Christ, you know, that God's not going to help
you. The ancient Greeks had all their gods, Zeus and all these,
and they were false gods. You know, they could not help
you. You know, God is, or Christ is the only way. Truth will set
sinners free in John 8, verse 32, and you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free, the truth that only Christ
can free us from our sins by his blood, a free grace that
he gives to undeserving sinners. We do not deserve it. We can't
do anything to gain that favor of Christ, or God, and it's all
of him. He gives us the Holy Spirit,
opens our eyes and minds to what he'd done for us, makes us believe,
and that's the only way that we're going to be saved. The
second word in this group is honest or honorable. Whatsoever
things are honest, the gospel of Christ is indisputably honest. God justifies a sinner through
the blood of Jesus Christ. In 1 John 4, verse 10, herein
is love. Not that we love God, but he
loved us, and he sent his son to be a propitiation for our
sins. I looked up the word propitiation
to see what it actually meant. And that means to appease or
to satisfy God. And we cannot do that on our
own, only that was done on the cross by Christ. The blood had
to be shed. Before Christ, in the Old Testament,
they would take the blood of lambs and spread that over doorposts
and different things like that for their sins. But that was
only a temporary thing. But Christ shed his blood, and
it was the permanent blood. No other blood has to be shed.
He shed his blood for us, and there's nothing else that we
need to do. Only the blood of Christ can wash away our sins. God always justifies the ungodly
that honors his holy law and satisfies his righteous justice. Isaiah 42, 21 tells us, the Lord
is well pleased for his righteousness sake. He will magnify the law
and make it honorable. And only God can justify us. You know, we can't justify ourselves.
The next word is just. Whatsoever things are just. The
gospel of Christ is undeniably just or righteous. How can God
be just and yet justify the ungodly? In Romans it tells us, chapter
three, verses 24 through 26, being justified freely by his
grace, that's his grace, not anything that we've done, through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. He redeemed us for all
of our sins. Whom God hath set forth to be
of appreciation through faith in his blood. to declare his
righteousness for the remission of sins. It's his righteousness
that saves us and takes away all of our sins, not just some
of them, but all of them. And that includes anything we've
done in the past, anything that we do in the future. He gives
us in our heart to the Spirit not to try to go out and
sin purposely, but we are still sinners and so we are going to
continue to sin, but he does not hold us accountable for their
sins because he is already taking care of it. His righteousness for the redemption
of sin 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 he believeth in Jesus, Isaiah 45. There is
no other God besides me, a just God and a savior. There is none
beside me. Look unto me and be saved, all
the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is no other. And
that pretty well sums it up, that there is only one God, him,
and he is the only way to get there. Next word is pure. Whatsoever things are pure, the
gospel of Christ is pure and perfect. The pure blood of Christ
is the only thing that can cleanse us from all of our sins. First
John talks about in chapter one, verse seven, the blood of Jesus
Christ, his son, that's God's son, cleaneth us off from all
sins. He says his son. That tells us
exactly who Christ was, that he is the son of God. That leaves
no doubt that he is the son, because God declares that himself. Christ has cleansed us from all
our sins, not just some of them, but all past and anything that
we may do in the future. We are cleansed. We become acceptable
and purified to be in the presence of God. And that's something
that we can't do ourselves. You know, we are purified and
cleansed by the blood of Christ, only by the pure grace of Christ. Hebrews tells us, by himself,
Christ that is, purged our sins. He does not need our help in
any way, shape, or form. He is God. Next up, whatsoever
things are lovely. Lovely means beautiful or pretty.
Bible tells us that Christ was not a beautiful person in physical
terms, at least as far as what we think of in ourselves. Isaiah
53 tells us, he has no form nor comeliness, and when we shall
see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. But Christ
is beautiful in other ways. So what makes Christ and the
gospel lovely? First Peter talks about, tells
us, unto you, therefore, which believe he is precious. And he
is precious because of what he done for us, our salvation, and
that makes Precious. The Songs of Solomon says, he
is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this
is my friend. We sing a song, What a Friend
We Have in Jesus. I haven't heard that for a while,
but that's a song that I know sung when I was younger. He is
truly our friend and our best friend. The world today, they've
got a term in society, BBF or BFF. That means best friend forever. And when people use that term,
they're talking about people here on earth. But he is truly
our best friend forever because We are going to heaven, which
is eternity, and that is forever. So when you talk about best friend
forever, Christ is truly our best friend. And when we're in
eternity, there is no end. Amazing Grace talks about when
we've been there 10,000 years, we've no less days than when
we first begun. And that's what forever means. There is no end. First John, we loved him because
he first loved us. before the Holy Spirit revealed
Christ to us that what he did, we did not love him. And because
he first loved us, we love him. We did not love him before he
loved us. You know, you can't get it backwards
that way. We had no desire to love Christ
until it was revealed to us. Word number six is good. The
gospel is all about a good report or good news. Whatsoever things
are of good report or good news. Romans 5, 6 tells us Christ died
for the ungodly, which definitely describes all of us. But God
commanded his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. We don't deserve it, but he's
still done it for us. He chose us before the foundation
of the world. If that isn't good news, I don't
know what is. We certainly can't earn it. The love of God, or
the love of God. Romans 4.8, blessed is the man
to whom the Lord will not impute sin. Once he has taken care of
our sins on the cross, when he took care of our sins on the
cross, they are never to be brought up again. He does not remember
them. He casts them as far from the east as is from the west.
And they are never brought up again. When we're here, we have
somebody maybe do something wrong to you, we kind of hold that
grudge. But we may forgive them at some point. At some point,
you may bring that back up again, you know, dig up old wounds,
as they say. But God doesn't do that. Once he's taken that
sin away from us, it's never to be brought up again. Unlike
people that will maybe wait 20 years to bring up something that
happened 20 years ago that made them angry. And, you know, that
just doesn't happen with Christ. We are truly blessed in the fact
that Christ on the cross took care of our sins. But why did
he do that for us? But that was Christ's entire
purpose. He come here to do that, and
that was his goal. And he completed that goal, to
take away our sins. He'd done that on the cross by
his blood. He bled and died for us. And
it's just mind-boggling that he'd done that for us, especially
since we're such sinners and so undeserving. In Matthew 9,
13, Christ states, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, for
I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And
that was his plan right from the start, right even before
the foundation of the world. He knew that he was going to
do that for us, because he had a chosen people that was given
to him by God, and that he was going to do that. And he did
not fail. He was not going to fail. Next
word is virtue. if there be any virtue. The word
virtue means high moral standards or excellence. What higher moral standard can
you have other than the gospel? The gospel is all about Christ
and what he did for us. You know, it's a book that, there
are several books there, that talks about what he's done for
us. You know, that in Matthew 3, 17, it says, this is my beloved
son in who I am well pleased. What higher virtue can you have
than to have God say that he's well-pleased with you? And when
we are, he was a spotless lamb of God, a perfect, sinless sacrifice
for our sins. Not everybody sins, but the sins
of his chosen people. And that makes us the adopted children
of Jesus, and what higher purpose can there be, or what can we
be, being called adopted children of God. We all love our kids, and adopted
or natural born kids, we still love them, and God loved us,
or loves us, because we are his adopted children through Christ. Like I say, mind-boggling to
me. Last thing is praise. If there be any praise, praise
is the last thing we'll think on. absolutely worthy of our
praise and glory to God alone. Revelation 5, 9 talks about,
for thou, meaning Christ, was slain and has redeemed us to
God by his blood, by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue
and people and nation. Just that alone makes Christ
worthy of our praise. He redeemed us for our sins on
the cross. He chose us before the foundation
of the world. He took us out from under the law, the law that
would condemn us, and that we could not fulfill. So all those
things are praiseworthy, and only to Him. We shouldn't be
praising men here on Earth. A priest isn't going to save
you. I'm losing the word. The head of the Roman Catholic
Church in Rome. He's not going to save you. Only
Christ can do that. He can't cast away our sins never to be remembered. Only Christ, he shed grace on
us even though we do not deserve it, nor can we do anything to
gain it. These things are all worthy of
praise. So think on these eight things.
Let me read this scripture one more time and think about these
things. Finally, brethren, whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things
are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue,
if there be any praise, think on these things. know that God is the one and
only God out there. And these are definitely things
that we need to think about, and that every one of them is
connected to the gospel and to Christ. So that's about all I
have.