I invite you to turn back with
me to Philippians chapter four. I don't always know when I have
a message that's gonna bless your heart. Whether I have, whether
I know it or not, I labor to have a message. and I'm gonna
preach Christ to you. But every now and again, the
spirit of the living God will give me a message that I sense will be a blessing
to you. And I hope that this one will.
And the message is, I've taken out of verse 13 here in Philippians
chapter four, I can. I can. The salvation of God's
elect is described in the scriptures as coming, he uses that word,
coming and going and doing and hearing and seeing and walking
and running and bowing and discerning and believing and persevering.
And in every one of these things we are told how utterly impossible
it is for natural man to do any of them. They watched that rich young
ruler walk away and they looked at each other and they said,
who then can be saved? To them he was the prime candidate
He was successful, he was smart, he was religious, he lived a
good, clean, moral life. He had everything going for him,
they thought. And the Lord sent him away with
his tail tucked between his legs and they looked at each other
and they said, who then can be saved? Who can? He said, with
man, it is impossible. It is impossible. In this wonderful and gracious
chapter in the scriptures, Paul speaks of the gracious work of
God in us, enabling us to do what others cannot do. Do you know that only a believer
can love God? God enables him to love him. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. It won't bow to God's authority
in anything. Not in the law, and especially
not in any of the means ordained to salvation. The natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, their foolishness
to him. And if you could sum up the life
of every believing soul, I think this is what they would say.
I can't. Oh, thank God. I can't. I can't. When I think of the
absolute and total depravity of man, his cursed estate, his
helpless condition, without me, our Lord said, you can do nothing. You couldn't have a good thought.
You couldn't have a clean thought. Man's absolute helpless condition
and the great and fierce enemy of his soul takes men captive
at his will. How great these words sound to
me. I can't. I can't. Let me give you four
things I see in this. wonderful verse of scripture
here, four things I think will help cheer you up in these critical
times. First of all, I want you to see
and consider the measure of this promise. He said, I can do all
things. What's that include? All things. What troubles you? In keeping with the immediate
context, he's talking about his endurance of trials. He said,
I know. I know how to be content. I can
be content in whatever state I'm in. I can't. I'll tell you this.
Not everybody can. Oh, my soul. They're gliding
along on easy street, and then comes hard times. What happened? Where did their
contentment go? It went out the window. Paul said, I can endure these
trials, trials of poverty and trials of plenty. I'm going to
tell you something. Plentiness is a greater trial
than poverty. It is. Trials of good health and trials
of infirmities and trials of acceptance and trials of rejection. Trials of peace and persecution. I can endure these things. I
can, Paul said, do that. Now that's the immediate context
of the verse. But I'm gonna tell you something. Anything that you can do spiritually
includes everything. And Paul knew that. He knew that. Somehow we categorize things
in our thoughts and we see this and we say, I can do that. But
we see something over here, I can't do that. If you can do this,
you can do that. Because you can't do anything
unless God works in you. Apart from his assistance, that's
what he said. Without me, you can do nothing. And then secondly, I can perform
all duties. When God commanded Israel to
cross the sea, there was no supposing on his part about whether or
not they were going to do it or whether or not they could
do it, was there? The only supposition was on the
part of the people who had to cross the sea. There was no supposition
on God's part. He led them there fully intending
to split that sea, manifest His glory, and walk them across on
dry ground. If God issues something for us
to do, He'll see to it that we can do it. And then thirdly, I can overcome
all enemies. Is there a Goliath in the path?
I can put a pebble in a sling and bring him to his knees. Huh? Are there giants in the land? That's what the spies said. There's
giants in the land. Caleb was so old. He was so old. He was getting close to 100 years
old. And when they took that last country, that's where the
Giants was, Caleb said, that's mine. That's mine. I'll take care of them Giants.
They've caused enough trouble. And he did. The Anakin's. Oh, the measure of this promise.
I can, through my Lord, serve him in whatever state I'm in. Our Lord said, my grace is sufficient,
my strength is made perfect in weakness. In fact, Paul knowing
this said this, I will glory in my infirmities that the power
of Christ may rest on me. Where is the obstacle that this
promise is not considered? Even heaven, even eternity, Even judgment. Is there anything that this promise
is not considered? Paul said, I can do all things.
All things. I find this promise a wonder
when I consider the measure of it. And then, no matter what
the difficulty is, I can do all things through Christ. which
strengtheneth me. And then secondly, I want you
to consider how personal this promise is. Paul said I. Now he didn't say that much.
But when he was talking about something he knew from his own
personal experience, he used the word I. He didn't say we,
though there is an application for we if you talk about his
church. or his elect, or believers. But how comforting it is to read
that word, I. And I'll tell you something about
faith. We like to read these things, 3,000 souls was added
to the church that day. Well, let me tell you, he saved
each one of them individually, all 3,000. He did a work in every
heart. It wasn't a blanket That kind
of thing. It was individual. Individual. Faith comes to each one of us. We're each one born of God. We each receive the Holy Spirit.
We each are made meat to be partakers of the inheritance of enlightened
saints. And Paul said, I can. I can. Not we. or they or them, I can do all
things through Christ which strengtheneth me. And as a believer, it is
of little consequence to me what others can do or can't do. It's
what I can do that I'm worried about. What can I do? That's the kind of understanding
I need. In another place, he said, I know whom I have believed. He didn't say we know, although
that's true enough of believers. He said, I know. I know whom
I have believed. And I am persuaded that he's
able to keep that which I committed unto him against that day. And then thirdly, I want us to
consider the nature of this promise. It's of a spiritual nature. This is not an outward thing.
It's not something a man does by strength and stamina. It's
not something a man can do by gaining great education. It's
a spiritual work. It's a work done in you, in your
heart, and in your mind. And it's an inward strengthening,
a work on the mind and heart of men. And as believers, we're
made strong. There's weak believers and there's
strong believers. But believers are made strong.
They're enabled of God by the work of his spirit to do all
things. And that which we do requires
certain motives and certain understanding and it involves the will and
the determination of a man. God tells us my people shall
be willing in the day of my power. And they are. God gives us an understanding. And there's some things, my friends,
that we need to know about the Spirit. It is the Spirit of God
which inspired these men to write this book. This book's not like
other books. This book is written by God through
men. Through men. It's all inspired
by God. God breathed these words into
these men and these men wrote as they were moved, Peter said,
by the Spirit of God. So that no matter who's doing
the writing, I can rightly say the Holy Ghost says, and sometimes
I do that on purpose. The Holy Ghost says, and the
Holy Ghost works also in conjunction with the Gospel. Now we don't
think about that much, and in our day there's a movement that's
centered on the Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit And it's a dark
and dangerous movement. And in this movement, they have
these private talks with God. God talks to
them and tells them to do certain things and they talk to God and
they have these conversations back and forth. And they say
that this is of the Spirit. But I'm gonna tell you, the Spirit
enabled these men to write the Scriptures. He doesn't need to
talk to you one-on-one. He talks to us through His Word.
Paul had opportunity to instruct Timothy if there was something
otherwise, and here's what he told Timothy. He said, Preach
the Word. Huh? Well, why can't I preach my experience?
Preach the Word. Preach the Word. Let God be true
in every man of life. And though we preach the truth
about Christ, without the Spirit it's just dead letters. He must take it and make it live
in us and confirm it in us, press it upon our consciences. And
He alone comes in power to convince of sin and righteousness and
judgment. He alone can separate us unto
the truth. And I wonder about this. I wrote
this down in my study. I wonder, do you think about
this when I preach to you? Do you wonder about that? Does the Holy Ghost open my mouth
to my heart to speak to yours? Do you ever think about that?
Well, if I'm a minister of God, he does. And he does whether
I experience it or not. He does it whether I know it
or not. I've taken messages home and just wadded them up. I was
so, so disappointed in the way I arranged it and so disappointed
in the way I tried to tell it. I just totally, and I just wadded
up and threw it in the trash can. And Kathy would wait until
I was out in the yard and she'd go get it out of the trash can
and put it on the internet. Guess which message got all the
downloads on the internet, the one I threw away. I don't always know it, but I'm
telling you this, this is how God works. The Holy Spirit works
through the preaching of the gospel. Paul said, not that I'm
sufficient of myself to say anything about myself, but my sufficiency
is God. God, the Holy Spirit, that's
the sufficiency of the ministry. He can take a word, You think
these other churches don't open this book and read it? But they
don't understand it. It's not pressed on their hearts
and souls. It doesn't cause them to repent.
It doesn't assist them to believe. It doesn't act as that seed of
regeneration. Why not? The Holy Ghost, the
Holy Ghost. God's determined means, and he
uses those means, and he blesses those means. You ever ask yourself, has God
really arranged for me to hear this man this morning? Has God
really arranged his providence so that I could sit there? So many count these things as
random acts and efforts of men, but the Holy Ghost says, how
shall you hear without a preacher? I didn't say that, God said that. God uses the means he's ordained
to enable us to do, to be what we are and to do what we do. So much so that Paul wrote these
words. For it's God that worketh in
you, both the will and the do of his good pleasure. I heard
a preacher a few years ago said, that's not really what that means.
You reckon the Holy Spirit knows what he wants to say and how
to say it? I guarantee you he does. This
work is a spiritual work, a work accomplished by God in us. And then fourthly and lastly,
I want you to see the confidence of it. This is what the Holy
Spirit revealed to me in my study that just, man, I'm telling you,
what a time. I've said this to you often,
the Lord's already blessed me, I hope he'll bless you. And this
was one of those occasions. I sat down and I've read this
verse, I couldn't tell you how many times I've read this verse.
I've read it to help assist me through trials, and I've heard
it preached on and applied to trials, and certainly it does
have its application there. But I read this verse, and this
is what jumped off the page at me. I can. I can. The natural man is full of can't. He's full of can't. I can't. I can't. I can't. He receiveth not the things of
the Spirit of God, nor foolishness unto him. I have not seen nor
heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things that
God hath prepared for them that love him. I know you, Christ
said, that you will not come unto me that you might have life.
None righteous, none good, none that understandeth, none that
seeketh after God. With man, Christ said, it's impossible. Man's totally dependent upon
God. It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Yet
here is one of Adam's cursed sons, and he says, I can. I can. I can do all things, now
listen, through Christ, which strengtheneth me. What can a believer do? All things. All things. How many deceived souls this
morning are out there hearing a minister and that minister
of Satan and rejoicing in a message straight out of hell? How many?
Hundreds of thousands. Deceived souls rejoicing in a
free will that they don't have and a decision that's not theirs
to make and receiving a salvation not accomplished, and a righteousness
not of God, hearing another gospel. Thousands upon thousands rejoicing
in a work salvation that's nothing but evidence of their reprobation. He can't, but the believer can. He can. He said, blessed are your eyes.
They can see. They're spiritual. They can see.
There was a time when I couldn't see anything spiritual. None of it made any sense to
me. I just figured I was too stupid to understand it. I just
went on and did what they told me to do. None of it made any
sense. You can't read those things they
preach and read the word of God and try to get some kind of harmony. There's no harmony in it. And then, he said to his disciples,
blessed are your ears for they hear what that other man wouldn't
hear. Stopped his ears, ran out the
door. Looked at you like you joined
a cult. But blessed are your ears, they
hear. They hear. They can't, but the believer
can. The believer can and is born
of God. He's born of God. The believer
can and does believe. The believer receives the things
of the Spirit of God. He rejoices in the things of
the Spirit of God. Believers can and do persevere.
We're not of them, Paul said, that draw back under perdition.
We're of them that believe to the saving of the soul. They
can't, we can. Believers can and do persevere.
through fiery trials and bitter persecution and painful infirmities. And here's our confidence, I
can do all things through Christ. Strengtheneth me. Paul said this
about his ministry. Our sufficiency is of Christ. It's of God. What can believers
do? All things. Well, what does that
mean? That means they can access the
very throne of grace. Think about that. He made a way
into the holiest of all, and you can approach that throne
of grace through him and speak directly to God. Huh? I had people call me all the
time, put my name, do y'all have a prayer wall? You ever heard such a thing?
People call me all the time telling me that. We have access to the very throne
of God and we bring our petitions to him. The believer can't, here's
something he can do, he can face death with a smile on his face. And they can live being comforted
with the fact that to be absent from this body is to be present
with the Lord. Oh, my soul. That'll make you
smile. Think of the wonder of it. Old
Blind Bartimaeus never saw anything in his whole life. He said that
the only thing he knew was sitting on that blanket and begging.
And he listened to people going back and forth. And they talk
about the color of the sky and the color of the sea. using all
that aqua this and that and blue and green and all this. He didn't
know what blue was. He didn't know what green was. He didn't know what white was.
He was blind. He couldn't see anything. He
never saw anything in his whole life and then suddenly light
and color and dimension began to fill his mind and somebody
said, Bartimaeus, can you see? I can. Now he said, I can. I can. Old Lazarus laid in darkness
for days until the Lord called him back. And as he stood there
alive and breathing, and somebody said, Lazarus, are you alive? Can you talk? Can you think?
Can you move? I can. I can. Imagine that paralyzed man after
38 years, rising up, picking that bed up in his arms and walking
away. And people that knew him looked
at him and, can you carry that bed and walk? I can. I can. Bridget, can you really read
this book and perceive its mysteries? Can you believe its promises?
I can, by the grace of God, I can. And I can through Christ, which
strengthens me. I can do all things through Christ. And what about you today? Can
you believe in the eternal God? Natural man can't. Can you believe
in the eternal God? Can you believe that God has
created a world in which to manifest His glory? Appointed His Son
the surety of an everlasting covenant of grace. Appointed
Him as the representative of His elect, the people chosen
of God. Appointed His Son as their substitute
and Redeemer and accomplished their salvation for them. manifested
his glory in their salvation, and now sits at the right hand
of God, expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. Can you
believe that? I can. I can. Oh, thank God. There was a time when I couldn't, but now I can. I can. May the Lord enable you
this morning, as he did in me, to say, I can. I can in Christ. You can't do
it by yourself, but in Christ.