Alright, let's turn to Philippians
chapter 4. The title to our lesson this
morning is Food for Thought. Our text down in verse 8 ends
with these words. He said, think on these things. Concentrate on these things.
Give these things some thought. Give these things some attention.
So let's begin back here in verse 1 and look at these things. which
Paul exhorts us to think about. In verse 1 of Philippians chapter
4, Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, and long for my joy
and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. Now the first word that catches
my eye is the word therefore. One old evangelist said, whenever
you see a therefore, look and see what it's there for. Look
and see what it has to say before it says it. Because that's the
meat of what's about to be said. That's the basis of what's about
to be said. And everything he's about to
say is based on what he's already said. And what he already said
is that Christ is our hope. That the whole first three chapters
of Philippians He hammers that home that Christ is our hope.
Christ is the experience of every believer. He's the foundation. He's the preeminent one of the
Father. It's through Him that we've been
made meat to be partakers of enlightened saints. It's through
Christ. Christ is salvation. Christ is
the gospel. And this is the basis of all
our hope. We have no hope of forgiveness
apart from His death. What hope of forgiveness do you
have apart from His blood? You've got no hope. You think
God's going to take that little bit of pitiful works that we
do and say, well, that's sufficient to pay for your sins, this just
and righteous God? We've got no hope of forgiveness
apart from His death, and we have no hope of righteousness
except that which Christ wrought out for us. What have you ever
done in your life that you could stand before a holy God and claim
that this was righteous? What thought, what deed, what
anything, what gift, what do you have that you would submit
to God and call it righteousness? But unbelieving men and deceived
men, our Lord said, they'll say in judgment. He said, many are
going to say unto men that day, had not we done many wonderful
works, many righteous works. He said, I don't know you. I
don't know you. Depart from me. What did He call
them? Workers of iniquity. We got no hope of righteousness. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believe it. And we have
no hope of fellowship except as we're all fellers in the same
ship. We're all in Christ. We have a communion. When they
talk about communion, that word is common union. We have a common
union in Christ. All saved in Him. All righteous
in Him. All forgiven in Him. Chosen in
Him. Redeemed in Him. Believing on
Him. That's salvation. That salvation
is to know Christ. And we have no hope of overcoming
this world, this flesh, and the wiles of Satan except by the
faith He gives us and preserves in us. That not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. It's not of works, lest any man
should boast. And we have no hope of change
except He come again and change these vile bodies and fashion
them like unto His glorious body. I don't know about you, but I
ain't getting any better. People talk about being reformed,
and they talk about being changed, and they talk about progressive
sanctification, but I don't know anything about it. I was talking
to Brother Tim James this past week, and he was telling me that
some folks were talking about being up on the mountain. I told
him, I don't know if I've ever been up on the mountain. I don't
think I've ever got up there. And so here's what Paul is saying.
Therefore, based on our common union with Christ, and then notice
the language Paul uses. Notice this. He calls them my
brethren. You know, sometimes we need to
slow up when we're reading the Scriptures. And look at the language
these men used. And stop and think about what
it is they're saying. These words were inspired of
the Holy Spirit of God. They were God breathed through
him. Paul wrote these words and he felt these things that he
expressed. But those expressions that he
had and those words that he did were breathed through him by
the Holy Spirit of God. And he calls these people his
brethren, all having the same father, and of the same house,
and all heirs together of the grace of God. My brethren, he
says. And then he calls them dearly
beloved. Loved of God from everlasting
to everlasting. Inseparable, effectual, unchangeable
love. And he says that they're dearly
beloved. God commended His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Scripture said not that we love God. Henry preached on that one
time and he stopped on there and he said, not, not, not, not,
he said, not that we love God. Let that go home. Not that we
love God, but that God loved us. He loved us. We love Him because He first
loved us. I in them, He said, and thou
in Me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the
world may know that thou hast sent Me." Now listen, "...and
hast loved them as thou hast loved Me." What a statement! A true and loving messenger of
God, He loves and cares and feels a deep responsibility for those
that come under the sound of His voice. He cares for them. They are his brethren, dearly
beloved. And then listen to this, he said,
longed for. See it there in Philippians chapter
4? Longed for. It's not a hardship for me to
meet with you and preach to you and worship with you. I long
for it. That's what Paul said. I long
for it. I long for the gathering of God's
saints together to worship. I long for the hearing of the
gospel. I long to hear these mysteries
of Christ unfolded before me. I long to see you. I long for
it. And then he says this about them.
He said, you're my joy. You're my joy. It's a joy to
me to see spiritual gifts imparted to you. It's a joy for me to
do. It's a joy for me to see you
concerned about one of the other brethren, and to give gifts,
and to be concerned with the other churches, and to send gifts
when they're in need. That's a joy to me. It's a joy
to me to see God's work in you. God working in you both to will
and to do of His good pleasure. And then lastly, He calls them
His crown. Now Paul taught them the gospel,
and they were seals of his ministry. Now all these things considered,
Paul tells us in the last part of verse 1, So, see that big
word, boy, it jumps right out at you, don't it? So, stand fast
in the Lord. That is based on these things. Based on this foundation of Christ. Based on this salvation brought
out by this man. Christ Jesus. So, stand fast
in the Lord. Now, the word fast is a word
we use today to describe something that moves quickly, moves swiftly. But in days gone by, it was used
commonly in the English language to describe something that's
made secure, something that's fastened and made solid. And
we use this word in its compound for them all the time. You kids
in here this morning, you know what it is to fashion something.
Mom fashions them buttons on your shirts. You fashion something
to the wall with a screw or a nail. That word fashion, that's what
that means. It comes from that old base word, fast, made fast. To secure, to make one with.
And here Paul tells us to stand fast. And there's only one place
in which a believer can stand fast. Now you can stand on an
experience for a little while. And you can stand, somebody comes
in and some preacher gets you all pumped up and he's charismatic
and he's got the music going and the drums going and he can
lift up your spirits for a little while. But there's only one place
that you can stand fast and that's in the Lord. That's in the Lord. And to stand anywhere else, you'd
be blown about with every wind of doctrine. You can't stand
fast. And to stand anywhere else, you'll
find out when it's too late that you're standing on that shifting
sand. The hymn writer said, on Christ,
the solid rock, I stand. That's where you stand. Stand
on Him. Stand fast in the Lord. Paul
said to the Corinthian church, I declare unto you the gospel
which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein
you stand. Where'd they stand? On the gospel
of Christ. By which also you're saved if
you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you've believed
in vain. Well, what did he preach? What
gospel did he preach? He preached that Christ, listen
to it, died for our sins according to the Scriptures. And that He
was buried, and on the third day He was risen according to
the Scriptures. That's the Gospel He preached
to them. And He said, that's where you won't stand. And that's
how you'll be saved, if you stand fast in the Lord. Stand fast
in the Lord. Who is the Lord? He's Jehovah
Jireh. He's the Lord. The Lord will
provide. That's what that means. He's
the Lord. All through the Scriptures, He
gives us names of the Lord. These names tell us who the Lord
is. He's Jehovah-Raper, the Lord
that healeth thee. He's the Lord, our Banner, Jehovah-Nissi. He's the Lord who sanctifies
thee. He's the Lord, our Shepherd.
He's the Lord, our God and the Lord, our Maker. He's the Lord,
our Peace and the Lord, our Righteousness. And He is the Lord who is present
in every believer. He is the Lord. So stand fast
in Him. Stand fast in Him. And then look
here at verse 2. I beseech you, Odius, and I beseech
Synthetae, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. Now these
were two women in the Philippian church who had some differences.
And evidently, they were petty differences. They weren't differences
over things that will cause separation. There's points of the doctrine
that will cause permanent division. Permanent division. But these
weren't such. These were just petty differences.
And I don't care if it's men or women. There ought not to
be any divisions among God's people. There ought not to be any divisions
among the brethren that result in separation. Look at what God
has tolerated in you. Huh? My soul, look what He tolerates
still in you. Now there was a time when you
could look back and you could say, like Paul did, such were
some of you. Such for some of you. And you
can look back there and you can see why. Paul said he did what
he did in ignorance. He said, I did it ignorantly
and I did it in unbelief. I can find reasons why I did
it back then. Why do you do it now? Huh? Because sin still dwells in you. That's why you do it now. And
look what God tolerates in us every day. Every day. Well, should not I be tolerant
toward my brethren? If God's tolerant toward me and
I'm saved by grace, I don't have a hope in this world in works.
Not one. Not because the works that's
commanded in God's law are holy and just and good. There's nothing
wrong with the works. The problem is I don't have the
tools to do it. I can't satisfy a holy God. But
Christ can. And if He satisfied God on my
behalf, then I ought to be happy with you. He tolerates me and
saved me by grace. I ought to be able to tolerate
you. Huh? We're so quick. Somebody does
something, don't stack up with us, boy, we ready to cut his
throat. Cut his throat. That's sad. We're saved by grace. Saved by
grace. Saved by the mercy of God. He
told those old Pharisees that was their hope in their works
of righteousness. And he just cut them off right
there in Matthew. He cut them off and he said,
now listen to me. You go learn what this means.
I'll have mercy and not sacrifice. For I'm not come to save the
righteous. I'm come to call sinners to repentance. David said this. In a prayer
back in the Psalms, David said, if the Lord shouldest mark iniquities,
O Lord, who shall stand? Who shall stand? But we don't
stand on that. We stand in Him. In Him. Paul said in Romans 5, being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace
wherein we stand. And petty differences are produced
by pride and envy and self-righteousness. That's where they come from.
And these things are not conducive to love and fellowship and the
gospel we profess to believe. And I entreat thee, verse 3,
look back here in Philippians 4, verse 3. And I entreat thee also, true
yoke fellow, help these women which labored with me in the
gospel with Clement also and with other my fellow laborers
whose names are in the book of life. Paul's in treaty here. is to
those people that he calls yoke fellas. That's not a term we
use today, is it? But you know what he's talking
about. You know what the picture here is that Paul's trying to...
And they knew exactly what it was back in that day. They were
talking about broken beasts. Oxen. And they were yoked with
a yoke around their neck. And they were yoked together
as a team. And they pulled a heavy load.
And Paul calls them yoke fellas. We're all under the same yoke. Our Lord said, take my yoke upon
you, learn of me. Take my yoke. And we're yoked
together in Christ. His yoke is easy, he said, and
his burden is light because he himself carries the load. And
my friend, if you're a believer, then we're yoked together. We're
not pulling that load by ourselves. We're yoked together. We're yoked
together with the Lord. And brethren are yoked fellows,
and it just makes it unbearable. Think about this. My dad used
to tell me, I don't know anything about this, but I just know what
I was told by my grandpa and my dad. But he said if you got
a team of unruly mules or oxen and you got them yoked together
and one trying to pull one way and one trying to pull the other,
he said they were useless, just useless. But you get a team in
there whose nature it was to pull together and they just get
in there and he said they could move just about anything. We're yoke fellows. Help each
other, and in so doing, the work's not so laborsome. And then notice
these words which Paul uses on their account. He said, whose
names are written in the book of life. Boy, what a statement that is.
These people he so loved, he saw these evidences in him, he
said, your names are written in the book of life. But Paul
had strong evidence as he was the one under whom they were
converted. And he preached the truth to them. And the Holy Ghost
applied it to their hearts. They were broken by the power
of the Holy Spirit and brought down. And they were convinced
of sin and righteousness and judgment. And the Lord was revealed
to them. And they bowed to Him and received
Him and committed themselves And Paul wasn't ready to treat
any of these people in whom he'd seen evidence of the work of
Christ in them. He was not ready to treat any
of them as castaways over some petty differences. And he just
says, settle it. Get it settled. Don't carry it
around. Just get it settled. Get it out
of the way. Every name written in the Lamb's
Book of Life. was written there before God
ever laid the foundation of the world. That's when those names
were written. And those names are revealed
in time as they are called by His irresistible grace and brought
to repent and believe. Paul told the Thessalonians,
he said, I know your election of God. I know. What he was telling
them is, I know that your name is written in the Lamb's Book
of Life. I know your election of God. Because my gospel came
unto you in power. And I saw the evidence of that
power in you. The hard shells believe that
those written in the book of life are saved no matter what.
That's a lie. That's just not so. My neighbor
came over. He's in his eighties and he can't
think or talk too clear. He's had a stroke and different
things. But he came over and I guess him and you used to have
some conversations years ago. And he said, so what y'all believe
is that God has a people and he's going to save them no matter
what? I said, no, I don't believe that. I believe God chose a people. I believe in the election of
God, the scripture states it over and over and over. But I
don't believe they're going to be saved no matter what. I believe
God's ordained means. I believe the Holy Spirit calls.
I believe that these men are regenerated by the Spirit. I
believe these men hear the Gospel. There's a lot of things. It's
not no matter what. That's a denial of the Word of
God. And it's a lie, and it's contrary
to the Word of God. We're chosen. Here's how the
Scripture says it. We're chosen unto salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. That's how this election runs.
It's unto salvation. Election's not salvation. It's
unto salvation. And there's some things involved
between election and salvation. God has ordained those things.
He has ordained it. Listen to how Peter says it.
He said it is according. You are elect according to the
foreordination of God the Father through sanctification of the
Spirit unto obedience. There is some obedience mixed
in with this stuff. And the sprinkling of the blood
of Jesus Christ. And all whose names are written
in that book should be taught of God. They are all going to
come to Christ. Persevere in the faith of God's
elect. Speaking of the spirit of Antichrist
and that great beast of false religion who reigns under his
power, John says over in Revelation 13.8 that all that dwell upon
the earth shall worship him. Talking about that old beast
and that old dragon. They are all going to worship
him. Now listen, whose names are not written in the Book of
Life. Every name written in the book
of life is going to know the truth. And the truth is going
to set them free. Every one of them. They are all
going to hear the gospel. They are all going to know the truth
about sin and righteousness and judgment. And they are going
to know something about the wiles of the devil and these false
ministers of the gospel. And they are not going to follow
them. But all the rest of the world will. All follow Him whose
names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. And then he tells us here in
verse 4, Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Now you can't know the Lord of
glory and not rejoice. You just can't do it. You can't
do it. You think old Ruth, you think
she mourned when she found out who Boaz was? Boaz had an interest
in Ruth. And then Ruth didn't know who
he was. And her mother-in-law said, well,
that's Boaz. That's your kinsman redeemed? And she found out who Boaz was.
You reckon she mourned? I don't think so. I don't think
so. You think Esther? Mourns when
her husband, the king, stretch forth that scepter in her direction?
Granting her favor, granting her that access to the throne to tell
the king her problem. You think she mourned when she
found out who he was? How could any heir of God not
rejoice? How could a man or a woman discover
so great a deliverance and then mourn about it? You don't mourn
when you find these things out. You rejoice. You rejoice. The true circumcision, Paul said,
they worship God in the Spirit. Now listen, they rejoice in Christ
Jesus. They find joy in Him. And they've
got no confidence in the flesh. Alright, verse 5. Let your moderation
be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Now moderation here is not talking
about drinking and eating. That's not what he's talking
about here, although this too is taught in the Scriptures.
But what this verse is teaching is to live and to walk daily,
that both those who are in the church and those who are out
of the church can recognize your humility and your selflessness
and your consideration and forgiving spirit. That's what he's talking
about here. Let these people know this. Let them know this. Verse 6, Be careful for nothing,
but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
let your requests be known unto God. And what this verse is talking
about is mourning over and being filled with anxiety and worry
over things which are beyond your control. You know, I told
you about that hitchhiker one time. This fella picked him up
in a rainstorm, and he had a big old pack on and everything, and
they picked him up, and it was dark, and he got in the car,
and the guy wasn't looking at him, he was looking to see if
any cars was coming. He heard that door shut, and
he went to pull out, and he looked, and the guy still had his pack
on. He was sitting there in the car like this. And he said, just
take your pack off, and throw it in the back seat. Oh, he said,
you was kind enough to pick me up. I'll carry my own pack. That's
what it is when we try to carry these burdens that's beyond our
control. He's carrying you and the pack.
You might as well lay the pack down. Just lay it down. And that's what Paul's saying.
And then he tells us, he said, now think on these things. Think on these great and precious
privileges that God has given to you. You want to think about
something during the day, think on that. Think on that. Thank you.