The psalm that we read just a
few minutes ago, Psalm 47, we were all exhorted to sing, sing
praises unto the Lord. What a blessing it is to come
together and to worship the Lord in song. What a blessing it is
to praise God from whom all blessings flow. If you will tonight, look
with me in your Bibles to Philippians chapter four. Philippians chapter four. I'll begin reading in verse number
four. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. Let your moderation be known
unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful
or anxious 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. 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 a good report, if there be any virtue
and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things
which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in
me do, and the God of peace shall be with you. But I rejoiced in
the Lord greatly that now at the last your care of me hath
flourished again, wherein you were also careful, but you lacked
opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of
want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased
and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things
I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound
and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ
which strengtheneth me, notwithstanding you have well done that you did
communicate with my affliction. Now, you Philippians know also
that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from
Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving
and receiving, but you only. For even in Thessalonica, you
sent once and again unto my necessity, not because I desire a gift,
but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. But I have all. and abound. I am full, having
received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you,
an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to
God. But my God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Now
unto God and our Father be glory forever and ever. Amen. I have another of God's promises
for us to look at tonight. It is found in verse 19. We just
read it. My God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. I'm going to mention three things
about this promise to us. First, this promise is given
in a passage of giving thanks. That is, the Apostle Paul is
thanking this church at Philippi, the members of this church, for
their consideration, for their communicating with him. Remember
in Acts chapter 16, we learned that God directed Paul and Silas
to Philippi. a man of Macedonia, in a vision
in the night said, come over and help us. And as they went
to Philippi, we're all familiar with the story of Lydia, how
in God's providence, she was a lady who sold purple. She was from Thyatira. And on
business, we assume she was in Philippi. And she gathered together
with others there. There was no synagogue there,
obviously, because that's where Paul always went when he would
visit a city. If there was a synagogue, he
would go there on the Sabbath day and they would invite him
to speak. And he always had an opportunity
to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. But there was no synagogue
at Philippi, so he went out to where some women gathered for
prayer, the scripture says, by a riverside. And there was Lydia. We say God's providence in bringing
one of his sheep to hear the gospel under the sound of the
gospel. And the scripture says God opened
her heart. Another evidence, another confirmation
to you and I who know that salvation is of the Lord. No man can open
his own heart to attend unto the things of God, but God opened
Lydia's heart so that she attended unto the things spoken by Paul
to the gospel, and God saved her. And then we know that Paul
and Silas were beaten, and put into prison, and an earthquake
came in the middle of the night and opened the doors of the prison,
and the jailer and his house were saved. And when the authorities
of Philippi were told that at least one of them was a Roman
citizen, that is Paul, we know, I don't know about Silas, But
Paul was a Roman citizen, and you could not beat a Roman citizen,
according to the law, without a trial. And they had beaten
Paul, laid many stripes upon him, and so they sent word unto
Paul, why don't you folks just leave town? And he wouldn't do
it. Remember, he said, they've put
us in the prison, they need to come and conduct us out of the
prison. And he went to the house of,
I believe it was Lydia, and they stayed there for some time. And
then they left Philippi and ended up in Thessalonica. Left Greece and ended up into
Thessalonica, which is a city of Asia Minor. Paul wasn't there long. He wasn't
in Philippi long, maybe a few weeks, I'm not sure. But he was
there long enough in Philippi. He wasn't in Thessalonica long. But he was there long enough
for this church, for the members of the church at Philippi, to
send to communicate with him, is the way it reads in our scripture.
That is, to send an offering, a help to him, two times to help
him in preaching the gospel. And look at what Paul says about
the offering. They sent it by this man Epaphroditus,
one of the Philippians. Notice what Paul says about this
offering in verse 18, when he says, having received, about
halfway, having received of Epphoditus the things which were sent from
you. Now notice, an odor of a sweet smell. The priest, remember,
when they would go into the tabernacle, when they offered sacrifices,
they burned incense. They burnt incense, and Paul
is likening this communication, this offering that they had sent
to him. He calls it a sacrifice. It was like an odor of a sweet
smell. In other words, in the nostrils
of God, what they had done, it's just a way of showing how God
approved, approved of what they had done. An odor of a sweet
smell, a sacrifice, acceptable. And we know it was acceptable
through Jesus Christ. Only through Christ are we accepted,
that is God's people, and only through Christ are the sacrifices
that we offer acceptable. You remember a couple of Sundays
ago on Sunday morning, we looked at the fact that all believers
are made priest. The apostle in 1 Peter chapter
2 calls us a kingdom, a royal priesthood, a holy priesthood,
that every child of God is a priest. And we mentioned or looked at
three sacrifices. A priest, what does a priest
do? He offers sacrifices. And we saw three sacrifices in
the word of God that we are to offer. And one of them, let's
look at that again. Hebrews chapter 13 and verse
16. Hebrews 13 and verse 16. But to do good and to communicate. That's the same word, isn't it,
that Paul used. You communicated with me three
times. to do good and to communicate,
forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. And this church had communicated
with him, and Paul refers to it here as a sacrifice, as a
sweet smell, a sweet odor, and a sacrifice unto God, acceptable,
well pleasing to God. So this promise that we're looking
at tonight, for my God shall supply all your need according
to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. The first thing about
this promise I mentioned is that it is given in a passage of giving
thanks. And as Paul is thanking this
congregation for their offering, for what they had done. The second
thing I mention is this promise is given through his servant
Paul. It is Paul who writes, my God
shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ
Jesus. You know, this is the third promise
that we've looked at in three Wednesday evenings. The first
one was given by his servant Paul in 1 Corinthians 10, 13.
That promise you remember is, there hath no temptation taken
you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who
will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but
will with a temptation also make a way to escape that you may
be able to bear it. What a promise is that? What
a wonderful promise to know as we go through this life, the
trials, the difficulties, yes, even the temptations to sin.
There's no temptation that will ever take us, that God will ever
allow us to be tempted with, that he will not make a way of
escape, that we may be able to bear it. And then we looked at
that promise in Hebrews 13, and here his servant Paul quoted.
He quoted this promise from the book of Joshua when God told
Joshua, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Now this one,
again, is given through his servant Paul, inspired by God the Holy
Spirit. My God shall supply all your
need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. The third thing about this promise,
this promise like all of the promises is given to encourage,
to comfort God's people. When he said, comfort ye, comfort
ye my people. When he said that God will always
make a way of escape, from every temptation. How is it we will
escape? Through the promises, by believing
the promise, hearing the promises and believing the promises, appropriating
the promises to ourselves. I was thinking as I prepared
this message, we're talking about these promises, but let's remember
how important faith is. Not only to hear the promise,
but to believe the promise. You know, you could have all
these promises, and there's hundreds of them, no doubt, in the scriptures.
You could have them all memorized, and you could have them at your
fingertips, so to speak, to repeat. But unless we have faith to believe
them, they're not going to help us. We must believe. Him that cometh to God must believe
that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them who diligently seek Him. We must believe the promises. Now the scripture tells us, faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. That's another
reason why we need to be faithful in the services, in the preaching
services, to hear the word of God, in the Sunday school classes
to hear the word of God, and in our homes to read the word
of God. and to meditate upon the Word of God, to hide the
Word of God in our hearts. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. We have these promises, but they
will do us no good unless we believe the promiser, believe
the promise that God has given us. And this promise tonight
is given to comfort, like all the others, to comfort and to
encourage God's people. My God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. How are we going to consider
this promise? Well, I want us to consider it
in the three tenses, past, present, and future. That's the way we
will look at it. First, God has, past tense, God
has supplied all our needs. The greatest need that every
person has is the Savior. That's our greatest need. And
God has Supplied as this scripture says my God shall supply all
your need According to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus God
has supplied Has supplied past tense our greatest need He has
supplied the Savior We needed cleansing from the
filth of sin He has provided a fountain filled with blood,
which is drawn from Emmanuel's veins. We needed healing from
the disease of sin. He is the great physician. Christ
is. You think of sin as a disease,
I think about the fact that, you know, some diseases, we talk
about heart disease, kidney disease, or a disease that only affects
one part of your body. But sin is a disease that is
spread all over, all of us, all over our soul, our body. Sin
is that disease. And we needed a physician who
could not only diagnose the problem, but had a remedy. Actually, he
is the remedy. We needed a savior, and God has
provided. God has supplied all our need. We needed reconciliation to God
because of our sin. Sin had separated us from God. We were estranged from God. We
had no peace with God. And you look at this passage
we read here again in Philippians when it speaks about the peace
of God in verse seven. The peace of God which passeth
all understanding. You know, another verse tells
us that Christ, he is our peace. He is our peace. And the peace
of God passes all understanding. The world cannot understand how
it is that we may have peace with God. But it has been revealed
to us, hasn't it, in the gospel, therefore being justified by
faith. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. That peace passes all understanding,
the peace of God. And it is promised to garrison,
to keep your hearts like a fort. We might think of it, this garrison,
like a fort. You know, we used to see these
old cowboy movies and they'd have a fort they were building
and the Indians would come and attack and people would, they
would get in the fort. And that's a picture here, this
piece of God, it garrisons our heart so that when we are attacked
by the enemy, we are safe. Garrisons our hearts and our
minds through Christ Jesus. We needed forgiveness for the
offenses, not the offense, but the offenses we had committed
against God. And notice again the promise,
God has, past tense, has supplied all our need according to His
riches. According to His riches. How
do you measure His riches? He's infinite. His riches cannot
be measured. And there's an abundance. He's
full of grace and truth. That is the Lord Jesus Christ,
full of grace and truth. His riches cannot be measured,
and according to His riches in glory, and always by Christ Jesus,
always through Christ. The psalmist wrote, let Israel
hope in the Lord. Let Israel, that is God's people,
the Israel of God, let Israel hope in the Lord. For with the
Lord there's mercy. There's mercy. And with him,
now listen, plenteous redemption. Not just barely enough, not just
barely enough, no, plenteous redemption. Redemption to save,
to cleanse the vilest of the vile. Now the fact that he has,
past tense, supplied all our need, encourages us concerning
the present and the future. Like Paul wrote in Romans 8,
he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Number two, God does present. present tense, God does supply
all our need. Now, Paul, as I said just a few
minutes ago, God has given us this promise through his servant,
Paul. Paul gives us this promise by
experience, by experience. Look back to verse 11. Verses 11 through 13. Not that
I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever
state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased
and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things
I am instructed, both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound
and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ. which strengtheneth me. Paul
wrote this promise, wrote this official from prison. He was
a prisoner when he wrote this letter. And is there any reason to think
that what James wrote about Elijah was not true of Paul? Remember,
James said this about Elijah. Speaking about him being a man
of prayer that he was, but he said he was a man subject to
like passions as we are. The Apostle Paul. Is there any
reason we shouldn't think that he too was a man just like you
and I, subject to like passions? Do you think he knew something
about being impatient? You think he knew something about
being disappointed? You think he knew something about
being betrayed? You think he knew something about
being abandoned by friends? We know he did. We know he did,
as you read through the book of Acts. He was a man of like
passions as we are, and we know that he experienced many of these
things that that we experience in this world. But he wrote here that he had
learned. He had learned in whatsoever
state, whatsoever circumstance, I am. Look at that. Look at the
way he wrote this. I have learned, verse 11, I have
learned in whatsoever state I am. And then in verse 12, everywhere
and in all things, I've learned in whatsoever circumstance I
am, everywhere, no matter where he went, preaching the gospel,
traveled all over the known world at that time, pretty much in
every state. What are some of the circumstances
that he tells us he was in? In 2 Corinthians 11, he named
several. I'm not going to name all of
them, but he tells of several circumstances. He was beaten,
39 strikes save one on more than one occasion. He was beaten with
rods. He was stoned. He suffered shipwreck. He knew what it was to spend
a night in the sea. Untold journeys. And if you look
at a map, and I encourage you to do that, if your Bible has
a map in the back, it usually has one of the travels, the missionary
journeys of Paul. Just look and remember, he didn't
fly from place to place. He didn't even ride on a camel.
He walked from place to place preaching the gospel. That's
what he says, everywhere. Every circumstance that I am,
everywhere, everywhere I go, and in all, in all things. He knew something about hunger.
He said, I know what it was to be hungry. I know what it was
to suffer pain and all kinds of perils. He knew what it was
to be in peril, to be in danger in a city. He knew what it was
to be in peril and danger in the country. Perils from his
countrymen, that is from the Jewish nation. He knew these
things. He mentions many of them. He
knew what it was to be cold and to be naked, he says. But look at that word instructed
in verse 12. I know both how to be a base
and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things. I am instructed. I am instructed. That word tells us that he learned
by degrees. That all of his experiences,
they all contributed to this learning process. And one thing we see, about Paul
as you read what is recorded about him, his life changes.
His life, it knew ups and it knew downs. He knew what it was
to be full. He knew what it was to be hungry.
He knew what it was to be on one occasion to be, have everything
to abound and then the next day to have nothing. You know, that's
one thing that all of us, we, We settle into a routine, don't
we? We have our lives planned out,
our jobs, our families, and we like everything just to run along
smooth, and change disturbs us. Well, Paul knows something about
change, doesn't he? But he said, I'm instructed.
All of these things that he experienced, all these life experiences, instructed
him so that he learned by degrees to the place that he was able
to say, I can do all things. He didn't put a period there,
did he? He didn't say, I can do all things,
period. Oh, no. I can do all things through
Christ Jesus, which strengthens me. Paul gives us this promise
by experience. My God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. The grace Paul needed and the
grace that we need in every circumstance, God has promised to supply, and
he does supply. One place he wrote, having food
and raiment, Let us therewith be content. The third, the future, God will,
future, will, God will supply all our need. You know, there's
a promise given to God's people in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah
33 and verse 16. It goes like this. He that is
a believer shall dwell on high. His place of defense shall be
the munitions of rocks. Bread shall be given him. His waters shall be sure. The psalmist David, he was able
to testify to the fact and say, I have been young and am now
old. Yet have I not seen the righteous
forsaken nor his seed begging bread. He will. He has, He does, He
will supply all our needs. When it comes time for us to
leave this world, we know that the time will come, or the Lord
will come. If He comes first, we'll all
leave together, but if He doesn't, when the time comes for us to
leave this world, God will supply the dying grace that we need. And he will not only supply the
dying grace that we need, but he will receive us into everlasting
habitations, into those mansions that the Lord has prepared for
us. This is a wonderful, wonderful
promise, like all the other promises as well. May the Lord bless it
to each one of us, and may we have faith to believe God. believe
these promises were not given just for those folks, those early
Christians, but they're given for us today, that we might have
hope and assurance and confidence. May the Lord bless His word.