Well, last week we looked in
chapter three of Philippians, the second half of it, at what
I called progressive apprehension, meaning progressively learning
more and more of the gospel of grace. Gospel understanding is
what Paul is talking about. He's laid a very, very clear
foundation as to where believers stand in the gospel of God's
grace. These people who believe the true gospel and not the false
gospel of religion, they truly are the only ones who worship
God in the Spirit. Whatever else you see going on
that calls itself worship, that's not worship. It's the true people
of God that believe the gospel of His grace, that truly worship
Him. Only them. They're the ones who truly rejoice
in Christ Jesus. That's why they're rejoicing
it, as Paul keeps telling us in this epistle, to rejoice,
as we'll see again shortly. They rejoice in Christ Jesus.
and their confidence in Him alone, not in the flesh, not in works,
not in religion, not in family, not in tradition, not in any
of these things that we by nature in the flesh cling to, but only
Christ. Only Christ. Only in Him is the
confidence of His people. And the gospel of God's grace
is not something that teaches us how to get to heaven. The
gospel of God's grace is what declares to God's people that
Christ has accomplished everything that will bring them, surely,
to heaven. So that the hope that they have
is not a, I hope it might happen, but a certain hope, a certain
looking forward to that which is guaranteed. Who has guaranteed
it? You get a guarantee for certain
things, but there's no certainty that it will not break. You know,
when they give you a guarantee, they're not saying it's certain
it won't break, they're saying if it breaks, we'll fix it for
you. That's not like the hope that God has given in the gospel
of His grace. Everything is accomplished. Nothing is left to be done. All
of His people who are written in the book of life will be there
in glory. They don't need to do anything. In fact, the very opposite. We
just look to Jesus, who has done all, who has finished everything.
And this progressive apprehension is what Peter calls growing in
grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
That's what we're to do as believers. As we live in the flesh and we
progress towards eternal glory, grow in grace, abandoning every
temporal, timely, fleshly support, and totally looking and relying
on our Lord Jesus Christ. He, in the gospel of His grace,
has apprehended His people. He's arrested His people, like
a police officer apprehends a criminal. Christ has apprehended His people
in eternity when His Father chose His people in Him before the
foundation of the world. He has come in time to apprehend
His people by paying their debts on the cross of Calvary. And
His Holy Spirit comes and apprehends His people who are living like
everyone else, children of wrath even as others, and the Holy
Spirit comes and makes them willing in the day of His power to believe
the preacher that He causes to cross their path in whatever
way it might be. It might be in a meeting, it
might be by listening to something online, but He causes that person
to cross the path of a preacher. And by the foolishness of preaching,
it pleased God to save, to confirm the salvation to that one that
Christ redeemed on the cross of Calvary. And it's increasingly
apprehending these things that the second half of Philippians
chapter 3 is about, with the promise held out in verse 21,
that when we get to the end of this life, whenever that will
be, We don't know when it will be, but when we get to the end
of this life, and we cast off this body of flesh and of sin,
which as Paul said, him who said, I am the chief of sinners, when
he was closest to death in his writings, the chief of sinners,
This is a faithful saying, Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners, of whom I am chief. He said, in me that is in my
flesh, the great apostle Paul, there dwells no good thing. Not progressively getting sanctified,
but he says this, that when we get to the end, our Lord Jesus
Christ will change our vile body, vile body, Job, when he saw what
he was really like, that man who eschewed evil, who God said
to Satan, have you considered him? There's none like him. And
when Job saw himself in the light of the glory of the sinless holy
perfection of God, Job's verdict on himself was, I am vile. I abhor myself. I repent in sackcloth,
in dust and ashes. No, he will change this vile
body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.
It does not yet appear what we shall be, says John. You know,
we're heading somewhere. If you're a believer, you're
heading somewhere. It doesn't yet appear what we shall be or
what we shall be like, but this we know. When we shall see him,
we shall be like him. Is that not a glorious prospect?
Yes, We enjoy our time here, we have relationships, we have
families, we have things around us, we have ambitions, we go
places, we see things, we have wine to gladden the heart and
oil to make the face shine, all of these things in this life,
but the believer is heading for eternal bliss. And there's one
thing above all else, to see our Lord Jesus Christ as he is,
to be like him, to be free of the taint of sin which corrupts
everything that we think and do. Everything, the very best
things that we think and do are corrupted by sin. That's why
it's a vile body, but he will fashion it like unto his glorious
body according to the working whereby he is able He's able
to save to the uttermost those who come to God by Him. He is
able even to subdue all things to Himself. This is our God.
This is the basis of our hope. This is it, to apprehend increasingly
what he has finished and accomplished. And we're walking with fleshly
fallibility in this body, but there's a new man now inside
for the believer, a new man who is learning and growing into
that glorious body which he will make us at the end of time. And
knowing those things, there are some further exhortations. in
this passage. So in the first nine verses of
chapter four, we have exhortations. And they may look a little bit
random, but what I've called this message is peaceful living. Is that not what we all want?
Do we not want, you know, some of you say, I want a bit of excitement,
but really, ultimately, peaceful living is what we want. Peaceful,
peaceful living. So there are some exhortations,
but who are the exhortations to? The exhortations are to the
new man of the Spirit of God, not to the old man of the flesh.
You cannot reform the old man of the flesh, you can subdue
him, you can put him off, because the Holy Spirit says to us, put
off the old man with his works. and put on the new man who is
renewed in knowledge according to our Lord Jesus Christ. No,
it doesn't speak to the old, only the law speaks to the old
man and the flesh, the old man, cannot do what the law says because
it's weak, because of the weakness, because of the sin that is in
it. But the new man, the new man sees the things of the Spirit
of God, loves the things of the Spirit of God, desires the things
of the Spirit of God, and by the grace of God has the power
and the ability to subdue that old man. He does. I'm sure that's
what the scriptures are telling us. So then, what looks like
some random points, but in actual fact, it's all about peaceful
living as believers in the light of that which Christ has finished. Look at verse one of chapter
four. Therefore, my brethren, you know, whenever Paul says
therefore, you know, what do they say about the word therefore
in scriptures? Every time you see the word therefore,
you need to understand what the word is there for. Why is it
there? It is saying, because of what's
gone before, now do this. Therefore, because of what I've
told you about where you are, complete in Christ, that's what
he tells the Colossians, you are complete in him. In Him dwells
the fullness of the Godhead bodily. You are complete in Him. Oh,
you need to be doing, you need to be doing. No, you are complete
in Him. So he says, therefore, my brethren,
dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast
in the Lord, my dearly beloved. Standing, standing in the good
of what we've just heard. Standing in the good of what
Christ has accomplished. And look at this, I just want
to note this as we're passing. You know, I don't really have
a lot of time for apologetics. The thing of apologetics is persuading
human wisdom that the gospel of grace is true. You know, you
put reasonable arguments to people, they're bound to believe it because
they can't handle the logic of it. Well, man is fallen, so,
you know, the natural man cannot receive the things of the spirit
of God. They're foolishness to them. But if it was the case
that things, you know, arguments could persuade people into the
Kingdom of God, you know, one of the most powerful arguments
I can think of is the conversion of the Apostle Paul. It really
is. The change in the Apostle Paul,
I think, is one of the most staggering things in Scripture. which attests
to the truth and the power of the gospel of grace. Do you remember
this man as Saul of Tarsus, as a Pharisee, of a Hebrew of the
Hebrews, an Israelite, circumcised the eighth day, of the tribe
of Benjamin even, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, they couldn't
accuse him As far as what they could see in the flesh, they
couldn't accuse him of anything wrong. And he despised the church
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He despised the gospel of God's
grace. He went about seeking to imprison
those that proclaimed it and believed it. to put them to death. He was the one who was consenting
to the death of Stephen, the first martyr, when they stoned
him to death for his faith. He hated breathing out fire against
them, going to Damascus to bind them. And he stopped in his tracks
by the Lord Jesus Christ. And people that he once went
about to kill, and to imprison, and to stop from believing, look
what he calls them now. Look what this same man, this
soul of, look what he calls them. My brethren. Gentiles, not Jews. My brethren. My brethren. Dearly beloved. You know, you
can feel his heart. yearning for them. My dearly
beloved and longed for. Oh, how he longs for their presence.
How he loves them, like a parent longs for a dearly loved child
or, you know, a dearly loved relation. You know, that kind
of thing. My dearly beloved and longed for. My joy and my crown
for. He says, what is my crown? What's
the crown of reward that I'm looking forward to? Well, he
knows God's is exceeding great reward, but he says this, it's
you in his presence. You, to whom I've preached the
gospel of grace. I'm not being rewarded for preaching,
but that's the thing that's made all, every effort worthwhile
is to see you in glory. He says, you are my joy. People
who he once went about to try to kill. You are my joy and crown. So, stand fast in the Lord, my
dearly beloved. My dearly beloved. He loves them. He loves these people. As all
true believers love one another. My dearly beloved, he says, stand
fast. Be anchored. You know Paul again
in Hebrews, I'm sure it's him that wrote it, in Hebrews chapter
6 and verse 19 he says, this hope we have as an anchor for
the soul. You know what an anchor does?
It stops the ship from moving. You throw the anchor down and
you try and get it to catch onto a rock so that when the storm
comes and the waves, it won't move, it stays more or less where
you've put it. He says we have this hope anchored
as an anchor for the soul to keep us. There are winds and
storms of doctrine, of different teaching, of different philosophy
coming along, but he says we have an anchor for the soul.
There's that hymn based on that verse, we have an anchor that
keeps the soul. Steadfast and sure where the
billows roll. We're anchored. And what is it?
It's the hope. Now what's the hope? It's the
certainty. of salvation completed. That's
the anchor that keeps the soul, the hope, which is the certainty
of salvation completed. It's the knowledge that if God
has begun a work in you, you know what he says, if he has
begun a work in you, he shall complete it. God doesn't start
anything and fail. God who has begun a good work
in you shall certainly complete it. We have this hope of the
finished salvation of our Lord Jesus Christ. We look back to
it. We don't hope for any more to
be completed to get us to glory. We know it's done. When we partake
of bread and wine in the communion service and we remember the broken
body and the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, it's looking
back to that which he has finished and is therefore the solid ground
of our hope. There is no doubt That's a place
to stand, isn't it? Isn't that a place to stand fast?
When the trials and the storms of life disturb you, when they
upset you, when changes happen, when things come along, when
threats come along, when circumstances change, when material loss happens,
we're not tossed to and fro, but we stand fast on that hope,
on that anchor of gospel salvation, completed. Finished. Accomplished. It's certain. It's absolutely
certain. We're peacefully anchored. Peaceful
living. Standing fast. Peacefully living. We know that we're saved by the
blood of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's how he saved
us, through the blood of his cross. He's paid the price. The
debt is cleared. There's that certain hope, and
we stand fast in it. That's what we think of. The
blood has been shed. This do in remembrance of me.
We remember it. It's certain. Stand fast there. It's an anchor for the soul.
So he says, my dearly beloved, with those longings and yearnings
for these people who are Gentile believers, who he once went about
trying to destroy and to kill, therefore my beloved, stand fast
in the Lord, my dearly beloved. Then going on into verses two
and three, look at these two verses. I beseech you Odius,
and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord,
and I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women
which laboured with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and
with other my fellow labourers, whose names are in the book of
life. He's talking about unity. There's been a lot of talk in
religion over the last 50 years about unity. You hear of the
ecumenical movement. That's got nothing to do with
this scriptural unity that Paul is talking about here, being
of the same mind. He's talking about two women,
particularly, in the church, who, we don't know the details,
maybe they had fallen out with one another, or maybe they had
got into some doctrine which was different to the doctrine
of the church at Philippi. But he says that they be of the
same mind, either that they agree with one another or that they
agree with the doctrine of the church in the Lord. I beseech
them, I beseech them, I encourage them. Be of the same mind, be
unified. Because you see, as long as we
live in the flesh, flesh will disagree with flesh. Fallen man
will disagree with fallen man. You know, we love the brethren
in the Lord, but that isn't necessarily the same as liking people and
what they do. Different people do different
things, have different characteristics, and some things, some of us find
likable and others find dislikable. But in the Lord, we love one
another. But what's the reason given by
Paul for unity, for peaceful unity? What's the reason that
he gives? Look at the end of verse three.
whose names are in the Book of Life. Their names are in the
Book of Life. There are some books. There are
some eternal books. The end of Revelation 20 talks
about the books. It talks about the Day of Judgment.
It says that everything that every one of us that has ever
lived, has ever done, is recorded in the books of God. It's picture
language, but how it will be, I don't know. What it means is
that God knows everything. And the law of God demands retribution
for everything that we have ever done, which has opposed the law
of God, and that means everything that we have ever done. And everything
written in the books of God will be brought to account and will
be judged, but not those, not those who are written in this
one other book, the book of life. The Lamb's Book of Life, it's
called somewhere else. It's the book of life in which
God the Father wrote the names of those he chose in Christ before
the foundation of the world. It's that book where he wrote
those names. It's that book where in the covenant
of grace our Lord Jesus Christ covenanted with his Father and
with the Spirit to pay the sin debt of those people whose names
are written in the Book of Life, the Lamb's Book of Life. Who
knows whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life? God
and Him alone. But we know this, it's a multitude
that no man can number of every tribe and tongue and kindred
in every age a multitude according to the grace of God, for God
so loved a world of his elect that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever should believe in him should not perish but
have everlasting life, and whosoever will, those that he calls. Those
that he calls. They're the ones that do. And
so fleshly disagreements, fleshly lack of peace, what should bring
it all together? It's this knowledge, isn't it?
that all of God's people, all of God's people, if you are one
of God's children, you know how Paul writes to the Thessalonians,
he knows that they're beloved of God. For God has from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit, setting apart of the Spirit, anointing of the Spirit,
setting you apart from the rest of humanity, giving you a willing
heart to believe the gospel when others won't believe it, sanctification
of the Spirit, and belief of the truth. Do you believe the
gospel of grace? If you believe the gospel of
God's grace, if that's where you're resting, if that's where
you're anchored for all of your hope, Your name is in that Lamb's
Book of Life, you can be confident of it. It's there. It's there. And being there, what possible
basis can there be for any fleshly disagreements with others? Therefore
I beseech you, Odius and Syntyche, that they be of the same mind
in the Lord. Why? Because their names are written in that same
book, by the same God who accomplishes everything that he sets out to
do. What possible cause can there
be for division? He entreats the true yoke fellow,
I don't know who that is, we don't know, it might be Epaphroditus,
it might be Timothy, I don't know who he's referring to there,
to help them in a pastoral way, to be reconciled in the gospel
of grace. All those fellow labourers whose
names are in the book of life, Because they're ordained to eternal
life. You know how it says in the Acts
of the Apostles, when they preached, those who were ordained to eternal
life did what? They believed. They believed
the Gospel. So what cause is there for division?
You see, knowing that we're in the Book of Life, where does
it turn our attention? To the one who guaranteed our
names to be there. To our Lord Jesus Christ. to
all that he has accomplished. And as we look to him, and as
we come closer to him, you know there's that lovely illustration
that fellowship is like a wheel with spokes, like a bicycle wheel,
with a hub at the center. And Christ is the hub. And the
further we are from the hub, the further apart the spokes
are from one another. But the closer we come to the
hub, the closer together we come in him. So I urge them, I urge
these people, Be one, be of the same mind in the Lord, peacefully,
peacefully, at peace with one another, without division, because
of where you've been put in the Lamb's book of life. Then the
next one, rejoice, verse four, rejoice in the Lord always, and
again I say rejoice. He's already said that in chapter
three and verse one, when he said, finally, my brethren, The
next thing he said, rejoice in the Lord. He says it again now,
for he feels it necessary to say it. Verse 4, rejoice in the
Lord always. And again I say, rejoice. Live constantly inwardly happy
at the accomplishment of Christ for your souls. That's what he's
saying. Live constantly inwardly happy at what Christ has accomplished
for your souls. You see, the hap of life, the
things that happen to us in life, can be good or can be bad. They can make us rich or they
can make us poor. They can make us well or they
can make us sick. They can unite us in relationships
like marriage, or they can separate us in death and make us widow.
They can give us a family or not give us a family. They can
give us church fellowship or leave us on our own, physically. They can make us free, the things
that happen, They can make us free, or they can imprison us,
as it has done the saints of God in the past. Even to the
extent, in all ages, even in this age in some places in the
world, but especially in the 1500s in this country, where
the true saints of God were taken to the stake and burned at the
stake for their faith, to martyrdom. The things that happen can have
profound effects on fleshly feelings. But through it all, The testimony
of God's saints is this, none of those things that happened
to me have fundamentally altered the joy that I have in that which
cannot ever be changed by anything that happens. There are things
in eternity that cannot ever be changed by anything that happens,
or that I think, or that I do, or that people do to me. Joy
in the Lord is based on accomplished certainty. Why should you rejoice
in the Lord? Because it's accomplished certainty.
When should you rejoice in the Lord? Always. There's never a
time when this is saying you shouldn't be rejoicing in the
Lord, whatever happens in this life. He needs to repeat it,
because the flesh is so prone to depression. Again I say, rejoice. Did you not hear me the first
time? Again I say, rejoice. Peacefully joyful. Peaceful living. That's what I think these verses
are about. Peace that comes from resting joyfully, inwardly, irrespective
of the external happenings of life. that causes pain and grief
and happiness and highs and lows and all of the... Rejoice in
the Lord. Rejoice in the Lord. Then, verse
5. Verse 5. Moderation. Let your
moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Moderation. He's talking now,
you know, he's talked about interactions with fellow believers and being
of one mind because you're written in the same book of life, but
now he's talking about all men, he's talking about society in
general around us, and he's exhorting this to that new man who can
hear, who can hear the commands of God in the gospel of his grace,
and he's saying, interact reasonably, peacefully, moderately, with
all around us, believers and unbelievers, aim to be known
for your reasonable inoffensiveness. You know, there is an offence,
but we should make it our aim to live at peace with all men.
We shouldn't aim to be the cause of aggravation or the cause of
problems. We walked into the middle of Wellingarden city yesterday
afternoon and there was a big religious group that has a church
on Howardsgate that was causing extreme annoyance to an awful
lot of people, including us. They had very, very loud what
they would call Christian rock music blaring away. I mean, it
was horrible. It was just such a noise. It
was like what you would expect to hear at Glastonbury Rock Festival,
yet being done in the name of so-called Christianity. It was
an utter offence. It was a complete opposite of
what this is calling us to, to be known for reasonable inoffensiveness. That's what we should be. There
is an offence, it's the offence of the true gospel. If the true
gospel is preached clearly, and the natural man hears that it
is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God
who shows mercy, what do you mean? That's not fair! That's sobering grace! Yes, that's
exactly what I mean. The natural man is offended by
that. That is the offense of the cross.
What's the offense of the cross? Jesus died! Nobody gets offended
by that, do they, if you say Jesus died for everybody? and
then it's up to them to make their mind up. No, nobody gets
offended by that. That isn't an offensive gospel.
But this one is. Jesus didn't die for everybody.
Jesus died for those whose names were written in the Lamb's Book
of Life before the beginning of time. And for those, he perfectly
accomplished their salvation. And for them, for their sins
and their sins alone, his blood, his precious blood, paid redemption's
price. So that the debt The debt of
sin that's against them was wiped out. He's blotted it out. He's
covered it with a cloud. It isn't seen anymore. He looks
for it in his judgment and he doesn't see it. That's what they
don't like. Because it's particular. For
a particular people. For the people whom he loved
before the beginning of time. No, we should seek to be moderate
except for that offense of the gospel. If when they ask us a
reason for the hope that is in us and we have to tell them we
believe that Christ died for his people, to save his people.
And if they take offense at that, so be it. God will keep us. God
will bless. That word, He will use it. But
in every other interaction, seek to be inoffensive. Listen what
Paul says to Titus. Chapter 3, verse 2. Be ready
to every good work. To speak evil of no man. To be no brawlers, but gentle,
showing all meekness unto all men. And here's a much longer
passage from James, chapter 3, 13 to 18. Who is a wise man,
and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good
conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter
envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against
the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from
above, that lying wisdom, but is earthly, sensual, devilish,
For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every
evil work. But the wisdom that is from above
is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated,
full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without
hypocrisy, and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace to them that
make peace. Peaceful interaction. Living
peacefully. Peaceful interaction with unbelieving
society. The only offence being the offence
of the cross, when they ask a reason. Next one. Meeting trials. Be
careful for nothing, verse six, be careful for nothing. But in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known unto God and the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ
Jesus. Meeting trials, things happen.
Things happen in our lives, in these lives in the flesh. Things
happen with our jobs, with our families, with our finances,
with our health, with old age, with the need to make provision.
with the prudent use of resources, with provision for future loss,
all sorts of things happen. And when Paul says, be careful
for nothing, he's not meaning be irresponsible with those things
that you need to make provision for, that you need to make prudent
use of, that you need to think about the future. No, he's not
saying be irresponsible, not at all. But what he's saying
is don't be distracted with cares and worries about things that
you can't control. Don't be over-anxious. Don't
be burdened in your mind. Do you remember Mary and Martha? Mary sat at the feet of Jesus
and heard his words. She chose the better part. But
Martha? was much encumbered with serving. She was aggravated because
she was trying to be a good hostess and give a good meal to everybody
that was there. She had a burdened mind. She
was overanxious. Jesus said, Mary's chosen the
better part. Why should we not be anxious?
Why? Because we know the end of the
book. You know when you read a book and you wonder, you're
dying to turn to the last page to see, well I wonder how it
actually turns out in the end. I wonder what happens. We know
the end of this book, don't we? We know it. God has told his
people what the end is. He is saving his people. He is
taking his people to eternal glory. When things arise, You
know, don't be over-anxious, don't be irrationally anxious,
but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God. In everything. When things arise,
in everything. In everything. What's he saying?
Living peacefully in everything, use the believer's hotline. Excuse
the expression, but you know, You know, that line, you know,
they used to talk about the hotline to the President of the USA,
you know, it's a line where a world leader must talk to the President,
what? For the believer, prayer is a
hotline to What scripture calls it? The throne of grace. Come
boldly to the throne of grace. Come confidently. Come without
fear to the throne of grace. In everything, use the believer's
hotline to the throne of grace. Now why? Because he controls
everything. He is able. He is sovereign. He is all-powerful, omnipotent. He knows everything. He is all-wise. He causes all things to work
together for good to those who love God, who are called according
to his purpose. He controls all things. To whom
should I appeal? Say in a matter of natural thing
to do with work or government or whatever it might be, to whom
should you appeal? You appeal to one who's able
to do something about it, don't you? It might be a matter and
you appeal to your MP to help you because you can't think of
anybody else in a more powerful position. You appeal to one who's
able to do it. Prayer is taking your requests. Making your requests known unto
God by prayer and supplication. Prayer is talking to God. It's presenting issues to God.
It's like a child, you know how a child asks you for things and
it's quite amusing at times, it's the stumbling and imperfect
language and the confused, it's very amusing, very sweet, very
cute. The Spirit intercedes for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered. The Spirit intercedes for us
in our fallibility, in our weak and feeble praying. He intercedes,
but prayer is talking with God. It's seeking His counsel. It's
seeking His wisdom. If anyone says, James lacked
wisdom, let him ask God. Let him ask God. Give me wisdom,
Lord help me. Inquiring of the Lord. Again
and again we read in the Old Testament about somebody, he
inquired of the Lord. But then in other situations
where they did that which was wrong, he inquired not of the
Lord. And he paid the consequences
for it. God says to his people in Ezekiel 36-37, I will be inquired
of, of the house of Israel, they will pray to me, I will have
them pray to me, because I intend to do it for them. But I won't
do it without them praying for it. I will be inquired of by
the House of Israel to do it for them. That's prayer. And
there's supplication. That's stronger than prayer.
It's earnest pleading. It's the cry of, O Lord, help
me. This is supplication. It's with importunity, with persistence,
coming again, like Hezekiah did. when Sennacherib was such a threat,
such an alarming threat, which caused their hearts to melt with
fear as to what would happen. Why were they fearful? They'd
seen what he'd done to the other nations. He'd destroyed them.
He'd chewed them up, he'd done what he wanted with them. And
they had this letter that was so threatening. And what does
he do? Supplication. He goes to the
house of the Lord. And what does he do? He spreads
it before the Lord. Look, look Lord, what he's written.
You who can do something about this, you alone who can do something
about this. He spreads it before the Lord.
Do you have a case that you can do nothing about and only God
can deal with, be careful for it. Be not careful for it, be
not anxious for it, be not overburdened with it, but bring it to the
Lord and leave it with him. Spread your case before him,
as Hezekiah did, and look at the promise that came back. He's
not going to get his way, I'm the God of heaven. He might be
a powerful king, but he's puny and insignificant in the sight
of God. And do it all with thanksgiving,
Everything, everything, seemingly good or bad, all works together
for good. Does this not all lead to contentment
with our lot? Godliness with contentment is
great gain. I have learned, said Paul, in
whatever condition I am, whether in riches or in poverty, whether
in warmth or in cold, in whatever situation I am, if I'm in the
Lord's will therewith to be content. O Lord, make me contented. Make
me peaceful with where you've put me. The result? The peace
of God. The peace of God, the peace of
God, you can't fathom it, you can't get to the bottom of its
depth. The peace of God, because He
is, as he says later on, the God of peace in verse 9. He's
the God of peace. He shall keep your hearts and
minds. He shall anchor your hearts and
minds. He shall fix you. It's beyond
your ability to understand, but He will do it. He does do it. Look back at the history of those
that have gone before. Look back at the history of those
that suffered imprisonment and martyrdom. Look at the anchoring
of the soul that they had, the peace of God in those situations. God's peace will keep your hearts
and minds, your affections and your thoughts unmoved, anchored
through Christ. We must hurry and finish. Right.
Next point, finally brethren, verse 8, 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. Managing the
thinking for peace. thoughts in the flesh, they wander
off like sheep without a shepherd, don't they? Your thoughts in
the flesh, if they're left to their own devices, will wander
off like sheep without a shepherd, and get into all sorts of situations.
But the new man is told to shepherd the thoughts. You know, the shepherd
shepherds the sheep. The shepherd leads the sheep
into good places. steers the sheep away from bad
places, leads the sheep to where there's good food, causes the
sheep to avoid bad, poisonous food, leads the sheep to still,
clear waters, avoids that which is poisonous. The new man is
told to shepherd the thoughts, to lead them into good things,
to avoid bad things, for as Proverbs tells us, 23 verse 7, about a
man, about the man, as he thinketh in his heart, So is he. As Jesus said in the Sermon on
the Mount, and it's saying essentially the same thing, if thine eye
offend thee, pluck it out. Steer the thoughts away from
those things which are of the flesh, which are unhelpful, which
are positively sinful and defiling. Don't allow the thoughts to stray
into bad places. Peace, he's talking about. Peaceful
thoughts. Having your thoughts in a good
place under the direction of the new man. And finally, verse
9. Those things which ye have both
learned and received and heard and seen in me do. You think
he's bragging, don't you? I'm the perfect example of what
to do. Do those things. No, he's not.
He's not. Look at chapter 3 and verse 17. Brethren, be followers together
of me and mark them which walk so as you have us as an ensemble.
He's saying follow my example. Follow good examples. Imitate
good examples. Not of perfect men, because none
are perfect. Not even Paul, for he said he's
the chief of sinners. But this. this. He said, this
is what I do, I'm heading in the right direction, doesn't
he? I press toward the mark. I'm going in the right direction,
and the God of peace will be with you. Walk the path I am
walking, says Paul, as the apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ to his
people. Walk the path that I am walking, looking unto Jesus,
and the God of peace will be with you. You'll experience peace
because God is with you, and he is the God of peace, and his
peace is the peace of God, and he'll never leave you or forsake
you. The God of peace is with you.
I know I mention him so often, I hope you're not tired of me
mentioning him, but you know, this is the piece of Happy Jack,
you know, very uncomplicated. I'm a poor sinner and nothing
at all, no confidence in the flesh, none whatsoever, only
striving in the flesh, but Jesus Christ, he is my all in all,
and I'm peaceful in him. I'm confident in Him. I'm happy
in Him. O Lord, keep us looking more
and more to our Lord Jesus Christ and resting in Him. Amen.