Okay, well, we come back to Philippians,
and this will be the last message from Philippians in this current
series. I can't remember how many it
has been, but it's been quite a few. So we come to Philippians
chapter 4, and our text is verse 19, according to his riches in glory
by Christ Jesus. And you'll notice that the hymns,
that one particularly that we've just sung, The Lord Shall Provide
is the theme of it. The title is Needy People and
Their Bountiful God. Paul the apostle was Saul of Tarsus, now Paul
the Apostle in the final two years of his life in Rome, writing
this letter under house arrest to the beloved brethren at Philippi
in Greece. He's writing this letter and
he's conscious of the fact that he's near his journey's end.
Which journey am I talking about? I'm talking about the journey
from when he knew the Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ was revealed
by God in his heart, to when he'll be taken to be with him.
He's conscious that he's near his journey's end. Hear what
he says from the same situation in that house arrest in Rome.
He says it to Timothy whom he dearly loved. In chapter 4 of
2 Timothy and verse 6 he said, I am now ready to be offered
and the time of my departure is at hand. They're going to
kill me is what he's saying. I have fought a good fight, I
have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there
is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day, and not to me
only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. He knows
that this is very close to the end of his life. That letter
to Timothy was written, I think, around the time of his second
trial before the emperor Nero. You look at Roman history, Nero
was an evil, cruel man. And he knows he's going to die
for his faith, just at the whim of that man. In Philippians chapter
1 he says he knows that it's getting near to the end. In verse
21 he says, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain. You know, to live is only worth
doing if I have Christ, but to die is gain, is better. for me. He says, if I live in
the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor, yet what shall I
choose I want not, for I am in a strait betwixt two. I can't
decide which would be better. Having a desire to depart and
to be with Christ, which is far better, nevertheless, to abide
in the flesh for ministry, for you, is more needful for you.
He's got the celestial city in clear view. He can see, that's
where he's going. But for now, he has to continue
in the flesh. And we have to continue in the
flesh. Are you a believer? Still alive
in this flesh? You're still in a sinful body.
Until you leave this life, until this body dies, you will continue
in this flesh. Oh, the Lord comes again to take
us. We have needs in this situation.
Paul had needs. Even though he wanted so much
to go, he had bodily needs. And the Philippians had given
of their substance, of their income or whatever else it was,
they'd given for his support. Look in chapter 4 and verse 10. He says, I rejoiced in the Lord
greatly, that now at the last your care of me has flourished
again. wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity. Before
they were not able physically to send him anything, but now
they've had an opportunity. I think it was Epaphroditus coming
back to Paul from them, Epaphroditus the pastor of the Philippians
church. And in verse 14, notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did
communicate with my affliction. You've given towards my situation
to keep me, to support me, to feed me, to clothe me. He was
in his own rented house. Who paid the rent? These people
paid the rent. Verse 18, But I have all and
abound. I am full, here it is, having
received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you.
they'd given a gift. An odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice,
acceptable, well-pleasing to God. Who was it of the Philippians
that had given? Well, I'm sure all of them, but,
you know, we can remember Lydia, Acts chapter 16, Lydia, the seller
of purple, that cloth, and she was a businesswoman, and she
was resourceful, but she was seeking God, and she heard Paul
preached and it says that the Lord opened her heart. Lydia,
she was an open-hearted, warm-natured woman. Grace made her warm-natured. She'd opened her house for the
people to meet there. It was the church that was meeting
in Lydia's house. A businesswoman of certain means,
no doubt she had given, right the way down to others much poorer. The jailer, where in Philippi,
Paul and Silas were in the jail when there was an earthquake,
and that hard, cruel man, because he had to be such to do the bidding
of his Roman masters, that jailer was converted. What must I do
to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
you and anybody else in your house. And many of them were
baptized that night. Again, we read in Acts chapter
16, he was hospitable to Paul and Silas, bathed their stripes,
their wounds, fed them, gave them hospitality. There was no
welfare 2,000 years ago in these days, there was no state welfare,
and there was little sympathy or help for the poor. The Roman
society was generally speaking quite cruel-hearted towards those
who were poor. There was only the charitable
generosity of individuals. You know, it is a gospel precept.
Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 28, Paul says, let him that stole
steal no more. Don't get your goods and your
prosperity from what you steal from others, he said, but rather
work that you may have to give to him that needs. That's a good
gospel precept. So in our text in verse 19, my
God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory
by Christ Jesus. What Paul is saying is, just
as God has, through you Philippians, provided for my needs, so shall
he by Christ fill up your needs with the things that you have
need of. Note, it's needs, not wants. It's needs, not wants. We have
physical needs for our bodies of flesh. We need air to breathe. We need food and water to drink.
We need comfort and shelter. We need clothing. But we have
spiritual needs also, as creatures made in God's image. We need
interaction with Him as our Creator. But Paul says, Whatever our needs
or emptiness, whether they be physical, in the body, or spiritual,
he says, God shall fill up that emptiness, that need, with his
bountiful provision. So the first point I have is
this. As believers, here we are, Paul is asking us, or inviting
us, to set out the empty vessels of our needs to be filled up
by God. You see, he's talking about God's
people, those who believe the gospel of saving grace. Those
to whom, if you believe those who believe, to those who believe
Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, is precious, is precious. Compared to the things of this
world, to have Christ is the most important thing. We sung
it in that hymn at the start. He is the needful thing. All
else can pale into insignificance. We need Him. We're people who
look for His return to take us to eternal glory. That's what
it is, to live. For to me, to live is Christ,
said Paul. And to die is gain, when that
longing for Him to come, looking for that glorious hope and appearing
of our God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Having their needs filled
up by God. The scripture is so good, it's
such a glib thing to say, but it's a principle that is illustrated
in scripture. The one Holy Spirit inspired
all these things. Turn with me, if you will please,
to 2 Kings chapter 4. I want to show you something
here in 2 Kings. chapter 4, and this is in the days of Elisha,
not Elijah, Elisha, the one that followed Elijah and took up his
mantle, his coat, that's what he prayed, that the mantle of
Elijah would be on him. And here we are in chapter 4
of 2 Kings, And let me just read these first seven verses. Now
there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the
prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead,
and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord. And the creditor
is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. And Elisha
said unto her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast
thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid,
hath not anything in the house save a pot of oil. Then he said,
Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty
vessels, borrow not a few. And when thou art come, When
thou art come, thou shalt shut the door upon thee, and upon
thy sons, and shalt pour out unto thee, into all those vessels,
and thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went from
him, and shut the door upon her, and upon her sons, who brought
the vessels to her, and she poured out. And it came to pass, when
the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, bring me yet
a vessel. And he said unto her, there is
not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. Then she
came and told the man of God, and he said, Go, sell the oil
and pay the debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.
It was a time of great poverty. And this woman was one of the
wives, the widow in fact, of one of the sons of the prophets.
They were in the school of the prophets to teach the people
the things of God. And her husband had died and
there was a debt. And the creditor, the one who
was owed the money, came. And how was the debt to be paid?
She had nothing. She had no money, she had no
resources, but she had two sons. Right, I'll have your two sons
and they will work as slaves for me. They will be bondmen. I will have their time and their
work and their effort to pay your debt. So she calls for Elisha. What can I do for you? She's
not got anything. She's got one thing in the house,
a pot of oil. So he says, go and borrow. Borrow
empty vessels. Set out your empty vessels. Take
your one pot of oil and fill up the empty vessels. There won't
be enough to go around. Just fill up the empty vessels.
You know, like the widow's cruise in... And by cruise, I don't
mean a ride on a ship, I mean the vessel of oil. In Elijah's
day, that widow, with her son, he was told to
go there, and she was going to bake a cake, and they would eat
it, and then they would die of starvation. But it didn't ever
run out, for God replenished it. And God made this one vessel
of oil that the woman had fill up all the empty vessels that
she'd borrowed. and she sold the full bottles
of oil to her neighbours and got the money whereby she cleared
the debt. You see, the Lord provided for
her. Her husband had been in the Lord's
service, the Lord provided for her. It was a miraculous provision
of the widow's needs. The same God who fed 5,000 people
And more than that, it was 5,000 men. 5,000 men to the full, and
they collected up the fragments. There were 12 baskets of fragments,
and what did he use to feed them? Five little loaves and two little
fishes, fed 5,000 plus all the ones that were with the 5,000
men, so that there were 12 baskets of fragments left over. This
is the God of bounty that we're dealing with. So needy child
of God, This is the lesson. Set out your empty vessels for
God to fill them up. Is that not what we were just
singing? Is that not what we were just singing in that last
hymn? You know, though troubles assail
and dangers affright, though friends should all fail and foes
all unite, yet one thing secures us, whatever be tied, the scripture
assures us, the Lord will provide. He provides for the needs of
his people. Set out your empty vessels for
God to fill them. For, as Paul says, my God shall
supply all your need according to his riches in glory. You have
empty vessels of a bodily, fleshly sort. You need the resources
for life. Give us this day our daily bread.
The Lord taught his disciples to pray. Give us this day our
daily bread. We rely on the Lord for our provision,
and we should be thankful always for what He gives us. We should
be thankful for everything He sends our way, for health, for
family. for things present, for things
future, as you grow older, especially as you grow older. You know,
I keep saying, don't I, that some would still regard us as
relatively young, but you know, when you look back, the vast
majority of the lives of Christine and myself have now passed, and
the reality of Ecclesiastes 12 starts to draw on more and more.
You know, Ecclesiastes chapter 12 talks about remembering your
Creator in the days of your youth, before things start to go bad. Before the bones start to tremble,
before the muscles the strong men bow themselves, before the
grinders the teeth wear out, before the windows the eyes become
darkened, seeing becomes harder, and the doors be shut in the
streets, the mouth all the physical problems of advancing age. He talks about all of those things,
when the almond tree shall flourish, the hair grows white and grey,
the grasshopper shall be a burden, there's weakness, great weakness.
All these things come on with older age. We have bodily, physical
needs. That's the reality of things.
So that when, as it says there in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, Remember
your Creator in the days of your youth while you can, because
the ways are coming, the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say,
I have no pleasure in them. My body aches. I can't do the
things I used to do. All of that is going to hit you
if you live long enough to do that. Physical needs increase
with age, just as physical strength diminishes. Set out before God
your empty vessels of physical needs. Not your covetous wants,
not the things that you want to titivate the senses, your
needs, set out your empty vessels, your needs, he promises to fill
them up, as he did for Paul, as he does for all his blood-bought
people. Think of this, if you're a child
of God, if you've come to know that Christ died for you, that
he paid your sin debt to the broken law, to the justice of
God, God Romans 8.32 tells us, he that spared not his own son. God did not spare his darling
son, the Lord Jesus Christ. What did he do? He delivered
him up for us all. He delivered him up to die and
shed his blood. to pay the price of our redemption,
that we might be cleansed from our sin, that our sins might
be paid, that we might be qualified for eternal glory. He that spared
not his son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not
with him also freely give us all things? This isn't a ticket
to health, wealth, and happiness. Don't think that. No, but he
provides all our needs, set out the empty vessels, of your needs,
as that widow was told to set out the empty vessels in which
to pour the oil that she had left, and God caused it to overflow. Not just bodily needs, but soul
needs too. What do we need? What do we need? Bodily needs and soul needs.
If we're born of God's Spirit, We need, like newborn babes,
Peter says, we need the sincere milk of the Word, that we may
grow thereby. If ye have tasted that the Lord
is gracious, yes, we need that. Lord, give me more insight into
your Word. Otherwise, we're dead spiritually
if we have no hunger for that milk of the Word, that sincere
milk of the Word. We're dead spiritually. We're
mere professors of religion. But if we're real, We need it. We need that Word of God. We
need that spiritual food, that manna from heaven. Oh Lord, give
us more of that. This is our need. Set out that
vessel, empty vessel. You haven't enough of it. Set
out that empty vessel and watch God fill it and supply all your
need. In these days, you know, where
in this country it is so difficult, almost you would say impossible,
to find a church building with a genuine group of the Lord's
people meeting and being ministered to by a past ascent of God. It's
almost impossible to find it. I don't say impossible, but it's
well near impossible. And most believers in this country
do not live near a building that they can go to. But look what
God has done, how he's provided via the internet, via these means.
How long, much longer? We don't know. But while he does
it, we rejoice in it and we're thankful for it. No, He gives
us the things we need. We need pardon and forgiveness. We need mercy. You know, what
was it that the tax collector cried out for that Jesus told
about? God, be merciful to me, the sinner. We need pardon and forgiveness.
It's an empty vessel that we need constantly to be filled. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst for righteousness, righteousness without which no
man shall see the Lord. Blessed are they which hunger
and thirst for that righteousness, said Jesus in the Sermon on the
Mount, for they shall be filled. The empty vessel shall be filled. As that widow's empty vessels
were filled with that overflowing bottle of oil. We need wisdom
from God. We need righteousness. We need
sanctification. We need redemption. We need all
of these things from God. We need strength to go on believing
and resisting temptation, the temptation to disbelieve above
all else. We need that strength from God.
God, give us faith, we pray. Father, give us that faith to
go on believing You. Did God spare not His Son for
you? Don't just think, oh well God
did it for everybody anyway. That's not the gospel. That's
falsehood. That's a false gospel. God spared
not His Son for every one of that multitude that He chose
in Christ before the beginning of time. And if you're amongst
them, God spared not His Son that you might be saved and qualified
for heaven. And if He did, how shall He not,
with Him, freely give you all things, all things, all things
that you need, to redeem you from sin, to make you the righteousness
of God in Him? Which of your needs will He not
give? We need to grow in grace and
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul himself, in this last two
years of his life, surely he's got nothing more to have. No,
he says in verse 10 of chapter 3, oh that I might know him.
What does he mean? He does know him, doesn't he?
Of course he knows him, but he means know him more fully and go on
growing in grace and the knowledge of our God and Saviour Jesus
Christ. Know the power of his resurrection, the fellowship
of his sufferings, be made conformable to his death. We need that fresh
supply of Holy Spirit oil in our lamps. You know the parable
of the ten wise and the ten foolish virgins waiting for the bridegroom
to come, talking about the return of the Lord Jesus Christ in picture.
And 10 were wise because they had oil. They were ready. They
were on the tiptoe of faith. They had the oil of the Holy
Spirit's presence in them, looking, watching, waiting. But the others
were lax and careless, and let the things of this world distract
them. And the bridegroom came, and they were not ready, and
they didn't have oil in their lamps. We need that Holy Spirit
oil in our lamps to watch and wait for His return in triumph. So set out. your empty vessels,
as Elijah told the widow woman, set out your empty vessels that
God might fill them up, not with the objects of idolatry, which
is covetousness, which is the things of this world, but with
what we need to live in and for our blessed God. You know, it's
not wrong to have things. I've said many times that Job
was rich in the things of this world. Abraham was rich in the
things of this world. Lydia, no doubt, was a woman
of material means from her successful business in Philippi. It's not
wrong to have things, it's wrong to covet things, because that's
idolatry, that's idolatry. So then secondly, who does the
filling? Who does the filling? Paul says,
my God shall supply all your needs. Paul's God, Paul's God,
the apostle Paul, who had supplied all of his needs, and the more
needy, the more God met that need. The more God took away
the gnawing emptiness, the more needy, the more God met that
need. Paul's great need, and our great need as believers on
this journey to the celestial city is, and I think it's very,
very relevant in the day in which we live, is contentment, isn't
it? Contentment with our situation. what covetous people we are by
nature in the flesh, how we want things to satisfy us, how we
hew out broken cisterns that can hold no water and we find
great holes in them as soon as we've hewn them out. You know,
there's only the living God that can supply that water that we
truly need. He's spoken about it earlier
in this chapter, in verse 11. Not that I speak in respect of
want, listen, Listen, this isn't piety for its own sake to earn
stars with them, to earn, you know, accolades from them. He says, I've learned. In whatever
state I am, and we haven't time to look at it, but look at 2
Corinthians chapter 12, and he'll give a list of the states that
he had been through for the sake of the gospel and preaching the
gospel and for the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, whatever state
I'm in, whether I'm in a shipwreck, whether I'm being beaten with
rods, whether I'm in the stocks in a prison, whether I'm hungry
or whether I'm full. He said, I've learned whatever
state I am, therewith to be content, because he knows it's God. that
causes all things to work together for good. This isn't smug pride. This isn't like monasteries,
go and wear a horsehair shirt and live in terribly restricted
conditions and difficult for the flesh, just so that you think
that you're getting closer and closer to being acceptable for
heaven. No, not that at all. But it is
contentment in whatever God brings our way, knowing that Romans
8, 28, all things work together for good, to those who love God,
to those who are called according to his purpose. It's for our
eternal good. I'm therewith to be content. Verse 12, he says, 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. How do you do it, Paul? I can
do all things. through Christ which strengtheneth
me. It's Christ that gives the strength
to deal with every situation. Him. So nothing, you know, is
too hard. How is God going to fill up our
empty vessels? Does this God have the resources
to fill up our empty vessels? You know, set them out before
him and pray to him. Fill up these empty vessels.
Does he have the resources? Jeremiah 32 verse 27. This is
what God says, behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for
me? Of course not. Of course not.
Is there anything too hard for me? Spurgeon tells the account,
you know, when he ministered at the Metropolitan Tabernacle
at Elephant and Castle in London. And that was a thriving church
with thousands who used to attend and many hundreds of members.
And it really was. He was regarded as the prince
of preachers for his power of oratory was tremendous. But they did so much good. There
was a college for training ministers. There was an orphanage, you know,
as I said, very little state welfare in those days. And they
had an orphanage. for looking after the many orphaned
children. And, you know, don't believe
these pictures that are drawn by modern historians of how wicked
and evil was that time. I am sure that that orphanage
there at that metropolitan tabernacle was a place of great kindness
for children who'd lost their parents. And he said they had
great needs. They constantly had great needs.
Where was the money going to come from to support all these
orphans and to pay the wages of the people set aside to care
for them? And he said there were times
when there was no way of seeing where the next amount of money
that was needed was going to come from. But he said always
the Lord provided. Our God provided all the needs. They set the empty vessels out
before Him, and He provided the needs. This is Almighty God. This is all-powerful, omnipotent
God. This is the Creator of the universe. This God spoke His Word, and
it was done. Let there be light. You know
what it says in Hebrews chapter 1 and verse 3. He is the God
who upholds all things. The chair you're sitting on now,
the forces in it, the planets in their orbits. He upholds all
things by the power of the word of the God-man, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Is there anything he cannot do? Of course not. Is
there anything too hard for him? Of course not. Remember, Saul
of Tarsus was that vehement Pharisee, determined to crush this sect,
this sect of this rebel imposter, Jesus of Nazareth, as he saw
him. And in a moment, that raging
Pharisee was brought to bow to his Lord. Lord, what would you
have me to do? My Lord and my God, just like
Thomas, when Thomas, unbelieving Thomas, when he saw my Lord and
my God, is he your God? Is he your God? Is Paul's God
your God? Well, take comfort, believer,
in this word. In this world of sin and of deceit,
your God is able to fill up all your needs, physical and spiritual. You know, we look at the news,
and we look at the things that are going on behind the news,
and we think, oh, it's terrible, terrible situations happening.
And so there are, and it's right to call them out. But don't be
distressed. Nothing is too hard for our God. And He does it, look, He shall
supply all your needs. How much? How much? How much
shall He do it? According to His riches in glory. According to His riches in glory. I saw something the other day
that apparently, I might be wrong, correct me if I am, but apparently
in Finland, if you drive your car and you commit a speeding
offence, the amount of fine that you get is according to your
wealth as the speeder. If you're a rich speeder, you
will be fined a lot more than a poor speeder. They do it according
to the means of the speeder. The rich in Jerusalem, in the
days of Jesus, put visible amounts into the temple treasury. But
Jesus, watching, said to his disciples, he saw them throwing
in very ostentatiously their great big gifts, and he saw the
poor widow come up and throw in the smallest coin of the realm,
the mite, the little tiny farthing, the little worthless, more or
less. And he said, see that over there?
He said, that widow has given more than all the rest. Why?
Because she's given everything she had. They hadn't given according
to their riches, they'd given a bit out of their riches. According
means proportionately, in proportion to. Who can measure the scale
of God's riches in glory? They're infinite by their very
nature. God's riches, who can measure them? Who can measure?
Who can plumb the depths? Who can scale the heights of
them? Compare To that which sinful man counts of value, the things
of this world to be desired, to be grasped. You know, the
resources of God are so vast. God in Christ, the God-man, he
fed 5,000 on one occasion, I already said that. He fed 4,000 on another
occasion. And he fed them to the full,
so that there were fragments left over. Do you know, this
is how rich he is. In Malachi chapter three and
verse 10, He says that the people have robbed him. This is about
400 years before Christ came. And he says in verse 10, bring
ye. They say, how have we robbed
you? And he said, you've been holding back your tithes. The law said
that they had to give a certain proportion for the upkeep of
the temple and the priesthood and the Levitical order. He said,
bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse. that there may
be meat in mine house. So look after that first. And
prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts. This is what
he says. If I will not open you the windows
of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room
enough to receive it. You know, if you hold back on
the things that God calls for, He will not give of his bounty. So take comfort in that. Take
comfort that God is... is almighty. So then, has God
not blessed his people with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ, Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 3? Yes, he has. All
spiritual blessings. He's filled your heavenly account
to overflowing in the redemption accomplished for you who believe. According to his riches in glory,
by Christ Jesus. Final point, by Christ Jesus.
Never think that there is any good from God outside of Christ
Jesus. He has... He, Christ, is made
unto his people wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption. That's all that we need for eternity. We can't know God without Christ. We must have Him. All of this
is by Christ Jesus. Those who think that they can
come to God, the one God, in different ways, He is the way,
the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but
by Him. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son,
which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.
By the death of Christ Jesus, Emmanuel, who is God with us,
by His death, His people are saved from the curse of the law. How are they saved? He became
a curse for them. He bore it in their place. It's
by Christ Jesus that we have that relationship with God. It's
by that that we're qualified, made meat to inherit God's kingdom. Without Christ Jesus, We only
have the filthy rags of our own righteousnesses, as Isaiah says. We're not fit for the marriage
supper of the Lamb, that parable where somebody turned up at the
marriage supper of the Lamb without the wedding garment, and he's
cast out of there because he's not qualified, he's not made
meet, he's not made fit, he's not justified to be there. So, As those created by God for
eternal communion with him, our greatest need is our qualification
for his kingdom. It's our passport into his eternal
kingdom of righteousness and peace. Now hear what he says.
Set out this empty vessel. Set out this empty vessel. You
need that which is necessary to be in His eternal kingdom. He says, Luke chapter 12 verse
32, and with this I'll close, He says, Fear not, little flock,
for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. It's the pleasure of God the
Father. If you're His child, by grace
and by mercy and by the redemption accomplished by Christ, it's
the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Is anything
too hard for him? Is there anything that he cannot
accomplish? Will he accomplish this? Will
he accomplish this, that you will inherit that kingdom? He
has promised it, and God who promises is the one who cannot
lie. Amen.