Now if you'll turn back with
me to Philippians chapter 4, I wanted to bring a message on this verse and not include it just in my
Sunday school lesson alone. So I decided just to have the
lesson leading up to it and then have this verse. So this will
finish our study in Philippians. And I searched for a message
this week to encourage those of you who truly do believe,
those of you who truly do trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
I am hopeful. I am hopeful at the same time
as I encourage you that others, by the grace of God, will see
Him in His glory. Now, that preacher who preached
to me when I heard the gospel, He wasn't preaching at me. He prepared that message for
that church. I'd never been to that church.
Hadn't been to that church in 30 years. Didn't know anything
about that church. But I was there that morning.
And as he encouraged those people in that church, I saw the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ in the message. I saw it. I saw it. And so I'm hopeful
that as I encourage you, that others by the grace of God will
see Him in His glory and commit their souls unto Him. I want
to speak to you this morning who are in this place who are
of full age. You're of full age. You've been
on this way for a long time. You've been through trials. You've
been through separations. suffering. You suffered for the
name of Christ and His kingdom. And now your bodies begin to
break down and you hurt all over. It's awful, but you get up in
the morning and it's normal to hurt. Normal to ache and hurt
all over. You can't sit in the car for
20 minutes and get out. Boy, I used to look at them old
folks and they'd get out and they couldn't hardly get going,
you know. They'd stand there by the door and I'd patiently
be waiting on the parking place and they'd stand there by the
door and won't move, you know. Couldn't figure out why. Boy,
I know why now. You don't just jump out of that
door and take off anymore. You hurt. You ache. It's almost
normal to wake up with those things. And you're limited in
your diet and exercise and you're limited in your income. Your
income's low and prices are going up. You need some encouragement,
don't you? Huh? Boy, I do. I need some encouragement. And then I want to speak to you
young men here. Men who are in their prime. You
know what that is? That makes you a prime target
for Satan. That's what that prime's all
about. You struggle with pride. Solomon said, a man's pride shall
bring him low. That's what's going to bring
him down, his pride. Pride goeth before destruction
and a haughty spirit before the fall. And a man in his prime
thinks he can overcome every obstacle by hard work and tenacity. And while this might be a good
principle as it's applied in business, it's got no place in
the realm of faith. David said, the Lord is my strength
and my shield. My heart trusted in him, and
I'm helped. Therefore, my heart greatly rejoiceth. And with song, I praise him.
He said this. He said, the Lord is their strength.
And He is the saving strength of His anointing. Psalm 28, 7
and 8. And then some of you here this
morning might still be children in the faith. You are full of
life and full of energy and full of expectation. But I am going
to tell you something. Children are not children very
long. They are not children very long. And then the responsibilities
of life comes on you, seem like all of a sudden, with all of
its problems, and their childhood soon forgotten. And that's the
way it is in the family of faith, too. It works the same way. All
of a sudden, these problems. You don't have a care in the
world when you first believe and trust on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Nothing can faze you or touch you. You're ignorant of it. And
then one day you experience it. And boy, it pulled in every which
direction. And all of a sudden, these responsibilities
and these experiences and that childhood of faith is gone. It's
gone. What can I say to lift up and
encourage every believing soul in this place? Well, I believe
I found something here in these last verses of Philippians chapter
4, verses 19 and 20. Paul said, but my God, the God
in whom I believe, the God in whom I trust, my God, shall supply
all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. And unto God, and boy I love
this, and our Father, be glory forever and ever. Amen. I have five things I want you
to consider in these two verses. Five things that ought to lift
up and encourage every believing soul that's here today. First
of all, I want you to see that these verses speak to the needs
of chosen sinners and not to their wants. It speaks to their
needs. They're not a more needy creature
in all this world than a fallen son of Adam. I tell you, when
it comes to spiritual things, I need everything. Don't you?
I need everything. I need understanding. I need
wisdom. I need strength. I need encouragement. I'm just one big need. I'm just
one big need. Kathy said one time about the
kids around dinner time, she said, they're like a bunch of
birds. As soon as it gets close to 5 o'clock, all them mouses
are up and waiting. That's the way I am. I'm just
one big need. One big thing. And there's not
a more needy creature in this world than a fallen son of Adam.
I want you to listen to something. God describes His church over
in Ezekiel chapter 16. I love a good picture. A good picture will take what
I'm trying to teach you and you can visualize it. And we're talking
about this thing of Christ supplying your needs. This is written to
chosen sinners, sinners, needy sinners. And God describes His
church in Ezekiel 16 by His prophet this way. He said, thy birth
and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan. And thy father was
an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite, and you were born in
a cursed land by heathen parents." That's what he's saying. And
when you were born, none eye pitied thee. None eye pitied
thee. Your navel wasn't cut. You weren't
washed or salted or swaddled. But you was cast out in a field
to the loathing of your person. That's his church. Unloved. Unwanted. Uncared for. Left to die in the wilderness.
Left to feed the predators and scavengers. Left to yourself
in your own weakness. That's the picture. Needy sinners. Think of how needy an infant
is. How helpless and dependent it is. You have to be careful
how you pick it up. You'll break its neck. You have
to hold its little head And you have to feed it. And you have
to wonder, what does it need? It can't tell you what it needs.
It's just one big need. It's helpless. That's his church.
That's the center. And you think of how needy an
infant is, how helpless and dependent it is. But imagine this infant
taken from its mother's arms and slung out into a field. Cashed
out into a field. Its needs now multiply a hundred
times. Now it's food for the prey. Food
for the prey. A victim for the scavengers.
A free meal for the predators. But that's not all. God says
it was cast out to the loathing of its person. It wasn't wanted.
It wasn't wanted. It was an object of wrath and
hatred, maybe born of rape or incest or whatever. It was unwanted. It was just cast out into the
field. Something horrible had happened. And it was cast out
into the field. Oh beloved, this is where God
finds His elect. Cast out. Cast out. Needy. Naked. Forsaken. Unloved. Uncared for. Left to
yourself. Left to the prey. Left to the
predators. That's this world. This is where God finds His elect,
and this is their condition, and this is how they are and
where they are. And I tell you this, a sinner
is the most needy creature in all the world. He was conceived
in iniquity, cast out from his mother's womb. Born of heathen
parents, he's a Gentile, a heathen. Without Christ, an alien from
the commonwealth of Israel. Strangers from the covenants
of promise, having no hope Listen, I'm without God in the world.
That's pretty helpless, isn't it? And some of you here today, you've
got a fear of judgment. You believe that one day you're
going to stand before God and be judged. But you're still living
in total denial that you're right now a child of wrath, even as
others. Still living in denial. But the
Scripture said, he that believeth not the sun shall not see light,
but the wrath of God abideth on him. Food for the vultures,
food for the predators, at the mercy of God's providence. I'd
like for some time one of these Arminian intellectuals to show
me in any of the types of the fallen sinner the free will of
man. Wouldn't you? Just show me in
these types. Here is a leper covered from
head to toe dead while he lives. Here is a man dead laying in
the tomb. Here is another one possessed
with thousands of demons. He is demon possessed. Here is
another paralyzed. Where is the free will of man
in those pictures? Cast out in the field. Where
is the free will of man in this little infant laying there in
its blood? It's navel not cut or anything. It was just right
from its birth just thrown into the sand. I tell you, it's about mercy. It's not about what you can do
for God. It's about what He can do for
you. And that's what our Lord told those
Pharisees, those religious, ignorant, deceived men. He said, you go
learn what this means. I'll have mercy. and not sacrifice. Oh, when I think of the sinners,
he's pictured in the scriptures, he's dead, he's demon possessed,
he's paralyzed, he's cast out into the field, sold on the auction
block, go on and on and on with the pictures. Man's will is in
subjection to a fallen nature and his affection is in subjection
to a mind that's enmity against God and his heart is a veritable
sack full of iniquity. Out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts and adulteries, and so on. You ever think about that
when you get mad? Boy, you get mad and that face
turns red, and them jaws get set, and you, boy, where does
that come from? It comes from here. Murder, adulteries. It's a veritable cesspool just
waiting to erupt. Like that, he tells us in Romans
3, that that man under sin, poison, he said, is hid under his lips
like that serpent. Those fangs lay down in that
serpent. But they come out too. Full of
venom. And then you add to that the
enemies of his soul. False prophets among the people.
Even as there is among you, Peter said, who privately, secretly,
covertly, unnoticed, undetected, shall bring in damnable heresies,
even denying the Lord at bottom. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways, their destructive ways. There's a way, the wise man said,
there's a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof
is destruction. And he also says, by reason of
whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of, and through covetousness
they shall with feigned words make merchandise of you. I'm
telling you this, that a sinner is the most needy creature in
all the world. He's constantly, we're constantly
in need of his grace. In need of his grace. So that
this verse speaks to the needs of chosen sinners. And it don't
speak to your wants. This is not something to encourage
you to come to God with a shopping list. This speaks of needy sinners. Salvation is by grace, but this
grace is given to needy sinners. That's what magnifies the grace
of God. Those objects that He chose.
And He chose them just on purpose. He chose them on purpose. And
then secondly, I want you to consider the scope of God's promise
here in verse 19 of our text. He said, all our needs. All our needs. How many? All. Was that big needs or little
needs? All. Is that just some needs?
All needs. All. God is so blessed His people
and His care for them that His care for them is beyond their
comprehension. You can't comprehend God's providence
in the falling of a sparrow to the ground, can you? You can't
comprehend God's care for His people in that He numbers the
changing number of hairs on your head. At any one time, He can
tell you exactly how many hairs on your head. Does He care for
hair? Is He a hair critic? Why is that? Why does He talk
about hair and the falling of sparrows? Does God care for sparrows
or did He say that all together for His church? Because He cares
for His church. And if He don't overlook the
falling of a sparrow, you think He's going to overlook some need
that you have? He's not going to do it. He's not going to do it. God so blessed His people and
His care for them that His care for them is beyond their comprehension. David said, I've been young and
now I'm old and I've never seen the righteous forsaken or his
seed begging bread. Never. Never. And when I think of the scope
of God's blessings upon His people from everlasting to everlasting,
every need, every problem, every trouble, every pain, choosing,
Searching, finding, saving, keeping, perfecting, heirs together with
Christ, joint heirs with God. All things are yours, Paul. Can
you comprehend that? The scope of his blessings on
his church is so big you can't comprehend it. You can't comprehend
it. Paul just uses the word all. All of the apostles did that.
They just used this word all. What else are you going to use?
All things are yours. Apostles, prophets, the world,
life, death, things present, things to come, all are yours
and you are Christ's. And Christ is God's. And then thirdly, I want you
to consider the source. He said, My God! My God! It's the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. Turn with me to James
chapter 1. Let me show you something over
there. Paul said, My God! My God shall
supply all your needs. In James chapter 1 verse 17,
he says, Every good gift And every perfect gift is from above,
and it cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no bearableness,
neither shadow of turning." Nothing can hinder or cause the living
God to not bless His elect. Nothing. He'll take the torment of Satan
and bless you with it. He allowed Peter to be shifted
like wheat, didn't he? But he didn't let him fall. He
didn't let him fall like Judas. He said, I prayed for you that
your faith fail not. And nothing can hinder or cause
the living God to not bless his elect. Faith draws upon the vast
riches of the deity. See it there, my God shall supply
all your needs. It is according, the Scripture
says in our text, to the riches, His riches, in glory. How rich is God? I want you to think about this.
We are thinking about our need. We are needy sinners. And Paul
is encouraging these needy sinners to give because he knows how
the Lord is going to give to them and how He has already given
to them. How rich is God? How rich is God in His grace? How far will God's grace reach? All that rich grace, it'll reach
to the bottom of the barrel. How rich is God in his mercy? How rich is God in his love and
kindness and longsuffering? I was trying to think about this
hymn, and after about two hours of struggling, my memory ain't
what it used to be. I think I got pretty close to
how it goes. But this last verse of this old
hymn is on the love of God. He said, could we with ink the
oceans fill, and every stalk on earth a quill, where every
man a scribe by trade in all the sky parchment may? To write
the love of God above would drain the oceans dry, nor could the
scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. It's
the love of God. How rich is God in love? Huh? How rich is He in love? Is there
anything? Paul said, there's nothing can
separate you from the love of God. Where's it at? In Christ
Jesus our Lord. But God who is rich in mercy
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. And
if you'll go back there in Ephesians 2 and read those verses up above,
you'll find out what that dead in sin is all about. That's where
he found us, walking according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
who now worketh in the children of disobedience. Living out our
days in the lust of our flesh and desires of this old heart.
Faith draws upon the infinite wealth of deity, infinite love
and infinite mercy and infinite grace, inexhaustible, unchangeable. My God shall supply all your
need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Alright,
here's the fourth thing. The means. The means by Christ
Jesus. That's the means. Paul tells
us in Ephesians 1, 3, and 4 that all spiritual blessings were
given in Christ and according as we were chosen in Him before
the foundation of the world. God outside of Christ is a consuming
fire. God outside of Christ is filled
with a righteous hatred for sin. He hateth all the workers of
iniquity. The soul that sinneth shall surely
die accursed is every man who continueth not in all things
written in the book of the law to do, and by the works of the
law shall no flesh be justified in his sight." Mercy is in Christ. Love is in
Christ. We're predestinated to the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father, according
to the good pleasure of His will. And then he tells us we're accepted
in the beloved. Huh? You don't feel accepted, do you?
Huh, boy? Just think about what you are.
Just think about this morning. Wipe out the past. Just think
about this morning. What have you done this morning
that you would bow your head before God and say, accept me
on this basis? You can't even feel acceptable,
can you? Can't even feel acceptable. We're accepted in the beloved. Oh, my soul, when I think about
how he feels toward his son, how he loves his son, he tells
us in the scriptures, I believe it's in John 17, he tells us
that, Father, he said, as you have loved me, you love them. My soul, accepted in the beloved. in whom we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of His grace. God abounds through Him to us
in all wisdom and prudence, makes known unto us the mystery of
His will. Christ is the means. He is the
means of God's blessing. And there is nothing outside
of Christ but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery
indignation. Over there in Hebrews 10, He
says, If we sin willfully, having received the knowledge of the
truth, there remaineth. What is He talking about? He
is talking about if we take that sacrifice that He declared in
the first part of chapter 10, And that teaching of the Holy
Ghost, and we wouldn't have any of it. We set that aside. There's
nothing else. There's nothing else out there
but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation. Everything a guilty sinner needs
is made accessible to him in Christ. What does the guilty
sinner need to do? He needs to go to Christ. I tell
you that every week. Look to Him. Go to Him. Believe
on Him. Trust in Him. In Christ, you have a high priest
to intercede for you. In Christ, we have an advocate
before the bar of God. In Christ, we have a perfect
righteousness. In Christ, all of our sins have
been put away. In Christ, our Lord, we have
one up on the throne to make certain the salvation of our
soul in Christ, all the promises are yea and amen. I heard a man
say one time at a Bible conference, he was talking about that word,
if. That might have been the title of his message, if. But
he said, at the end of his message, he said, if you'll take all those
ifs and put them on a silver chain and just hang them on the
neck of the Lord Jesus Christ, they're all yea and amen. Just
take all those ifs and put them on Him. Christ is our wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Christ is the
way. Christ is the truth. Christ is
the life. Christ is the shepherd. He's
the bread. He's the water. He's our God. Our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And in this matter of blessings,
Christ is all. In Him are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. All these things are in Christ.
He that hath Christ, he that hath the Son, he hath life. And
he that hath not the Son of God, whatever else he has, he don't
have life. And then, fourthly, Christ is
the means whereby chosen sinners receive God's rich mercy. That's their supply. And then
lastly, I want you to consider the certainty of this promise. The certainty of it. Paul said,
My God shall. Don't you like that word, shall?
He shall save His people from their sin. He shall. There's
nothing iffy about that, is there? My God shall supply all your
need in Christ Jesus. Paul said the God who was revealed
to him in the gospel was a God who finishes what he starts.
That's what he told his Philippians. God's going to finish what he
started in you. And when God revealed to his
prophet Jeremiah what he would do in the last day, the prophet
said, O Lord God, behold, he said, you've made heaven and
earth by thy great power and stretched out arms. and there's
nothing too hard for thee." Huh? Oh, He can't save me. You can't,
but He can. He can. And my friend, what God's
purpose to do, He will do. And what He's begun, He will
finish. Who's gonna stop Him? Oh, you might put a stop to me,
but you ain't gonna put a stop to Him. You know, put a stop
to Him. Who's going to stop Him? Is there somebody out there stronger
than He is? Is there another out there wiser
than He? Where else will you go? Who else
can you trust? The Lord Jesus Christ is God
our Savior. He's God our Savior. And He shall. supply all your needs according
to the riches of His glory by Christ Jesus. Our Father, we thank You this
morning for this opportunity to gather here, open this book of treasures,
this book of mysteries, this book of glory, and look and see
our Savior and to see God's glory in His face, to see Him as our
supplier, the supplier of needy sinners. And oh, our God, how
needy we are. Be pleased this morning to use
this message to strengthen and to establish and to give hope
to needy sinners. We ask it for Christ's sake. Amen.