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Isaiah chapter 57.
And verse 15.
Isaiah, 5715.
For thus saith a high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy.
I dwell in a high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble.
And to revive the heart of the Contrite 1.
Philippians.
In Philippians 2 and verse 8, Christ Jesus.
Being found in fashion as a man.
He humbled himself.
And became obedient unto death.
Even the death of lacrosse.
In first Peter.
Chapter 5 and verse five beginning with the second clause. Yay, all of you be subject.
One to another and be clothed with humility.
For God resisteth the proud.
But giveth grace to the humble one last person. Second Corinthians. Second Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 9.
And he said unto me.
By Grace.
Is sufficient for the for my strength?
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Is made perfect weakness shall we pray?
Unto God, most loving Father.
We are so grateful and thankful to be here this morning.
We recognize thee are God as the source of all our blessings and the giver of all good.
We thank you that thou does not spare thy son, but thou hast deliver him up for us all. Thou shall be not with him all freely give us all things.
We thank Thee to know that Thou art so ready to bless us.
That we realize too, that blessing can only be obtained from the through deep humility, we thank the blessed Lord Jesus.
That thou didst humble thyself.
And become obedient unto death, and become a man, and become obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
When we think of who thou art, blessed Lord.
The almighty Creator of the universe.
The God of all overall.
Lasts forever.
To see thee become one of us because of thy great love.
We might well see.
Lord, who must have leave of the soul, thirst the satisfied exhaust. Let's bring the waters free. All other streams are dry.
We thank thee that we have an exhaustless thing.
Uh, stream to draw from this morning.
And we just pray that that was pour out the blessing upon us.
We thank the.
The weekend ask of thee our God, and know with assurance that thou ours past heard us. Now we pray that we may be in a state to receive from ourselves. We ask of the our God as we give thanks and praise in the name of the Lord Jesus name and Amen.
I'd like to suggest for reading the third chapter of the Book of Philippians that.
Christ before us as our object.
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you, to me indeed as not previous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath, whereof he might trust in the flesh. I more circumcise the 8th day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin.
And Hebrew of the Hebrews.
As touching the law, a Pharisee.
Concerning zeal persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless. But what things were gained to me? Those I counted loss for price you ain't doubtless. And I count all things but lost for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and to count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death.
If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already attained either, we're already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do for getting those things which are behind, and reaching forth under those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded, and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.
Brethren.
The followers together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example, for many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you, even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working, whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.
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While it's often been pointed out that in the book of Ephesians.
We are seeing in Christ, and positionally we are seen as seated in heavenly places in Christ. That's our place. Positionally in Colossians. We're still here in this world, but it's Christ in you, the hope of glory. But in Philippians we have what we might say is the wilderness epistle. We're here in this wilderness world amidst the trials and difficulties, and the apostles sets before the Saints.
Christ in various ways as the resource and the object for the pathway through the ups and downs of the believers life. And brethren, we've already been reminded in the things that have been brought forth in the prayer meeting that there are lots of ups and downs in the believers life and we're still here in this world. We're on our way to glory at the end of this chapter brings before us and we need to keep that before our souls. The end of the story is what's going to encourage your heart and mind to press on.
But in the mean time, we have a tremendous resource in the Lord Jesus. We can go on in the joy of the Lord, We can rejoice in him. We can press on in the past and the race that, uh, he brings before us with Christ as the resource. Before we comment on this chapter, I'd just like to take a moment and give a very, very brief outline that's helped me in taking up these four chapters. In the book of Philippians, we often say that wherever we read in the word of God, be it the Old Testament or the New Testament.
The subject is always Christ, and it's I believe we really get the blessing when we take up Scripture in that light. Yes, there's much practical instruction and so on, but the subject is always Christ, Be it the types and shadows in the Old Testament, be it his life in the Gospels, be it the fruition of the truth and the Epistles, be at the end of things in Revelation. Whatever it is, it's always Christ. But Christ is brought before us in four very precious and unique ways.
In these four chapters, and maybe I'll just say this too, that when you take up a chapter or a book or a portion from Scripture, it's helpful to 0 in on a key verse or portion, something that ties the whole chapter or the book together, something that in a sentence or two gives an outline of the, uh, of the context. And let's just notice very quickly 4 Scriptures in these four chapters that give us an outline of the four ways that Christ has brought before us.
In chapter one, perhaps the key verse or a key verse would be verse 21. For to me to live is Christ. And so we might say in this first chapter, we have Christ as the believer's life. You know, the athlete says for me to live is sports. The entrepreneur says for me to live is business. The student says for me to live is study or whatever it might be. But brethren, can we truly say like Paul, for me to live as Christ?
That was Paul's whole desire and energy after he was saved on the Damascus Rd. was to live Christ. And no matter what other aspects of practical life we take up, there are students here, there are business people, there are people who enjoy sports. Nothing wrong with that. But over and above that can we write for me to live is Christ. So we have Christ as the believers life. Then in the second chapter he says in verse 5.
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. We might say this chapter brings before us Christ does the believers example because the verses that follow, we often read them on Lord's Day morning and the breaking of bread and rightly so. But in their context, it's let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus and he gives us the perfect example of the Lord Jesus who became a man and humbled himself and so on. It's here as an example for you and for me.
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Now let's just skip over to the 4th chapter and then we'll come back to our chapter, chapter 4 and verse 13. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me here in this chapter. We have Christ as the believers strength. Do we feel weak in the situation brethren? Do we dread going home to certain things that we're going to face next week? If we're left here, we have an unending.
Resource of strength in Christ.
We can't do it on our own. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. Natural strength even of youth isn't enough to meet the problems and difficulties today, but we can in the strength of the Lord. But then come back to our chapter and just to go down to verse 14, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. In this chapter we're going to find.
Christ as the believer's object. And brethren, if we're gonna be encouraged to go on in the wilderness journey, we've got to have an object. And what is the object? What is the prize in the believer's life? The prize or object in the believer's life is always Christ. And that was really my thought in suggesting this chapter. We might get a fresh glimpse of Christ, that our hearts might go out more to that person, that our feet would be hastened on and strengthened in the path of faith.
Rather, I'd like to make one comment on that.
Application is the most important thing in our lives. It's not what we know is how we apply it. Now, uh, saying what we just heard, I'd like to bring before you a number of scriptures. Uh, I think the first one I bring before you is the fact that you shall seek me when you shall search for me with all your heart God wants.
R Attention. He wants our communion, He wants our fellowship. We might well ask the question, How much are we searching for God Now? It tells us without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must first believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. How much are we seeking the Lord? And I believe the application comes in.
With the one little word time.
It takes time and it takes effort. Is Christ everything to us? Now there's a person in Scripture and I believe the 2nd Corinthians. I have not seen nor have you heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love him. Now I suppose we've heard many brothers come along and comment. Oh, but you gotta quote the rest of the verse. But uh, uh.
God has revealed them to us, that's true.
But we haven't seen them yet. But what does the rest of the verse say? The rest of the Versa says I I believe that the Spirit searches all things. Yeah, the deep things of God. God has much that he wants to communicate to us. That's why he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. That's why he established a relationship with us. That's why he set in motion the great plan of salvation, that we could be reconciled and brought into fellowship and communion with himself.
God wants.
Your attention, it wants my attention. He wants us to learn more about him. Now, I think that the scripture that we was read here this morning, Maggie, uh, and I think the scripture was, uh, if I remember correctly, increasing in the knowledge of God. Are we just content? And many Christians, I believe are they're just content that they are saved, that they are not going to go to hell, that heaven is before them and they go on living that, that, that a life that, uh, is more or less catered to the world and to the flesh.
So it's on my heart just to say, are we diligently seeking the board and his great love. This is the one most wonderful thing that we on this side of the cross. When we look back and I remember Brother Smith said this morning, the fact that God became a man, the eternal God and creator of this universe. It's amazing thing that he who could have created billions of Syrians, cherubims any kind of a host, a heavenly host. He has all knowledge, He has all power. Why would he want poor man, sinful man?
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Well, we know he loves us, that's why he did it. But the point is that that we should be dedicated to live our life and enjoy the presence of the Lord and his great and wonderful love. So I, I just thought I'd bring that in, in connection with our brother said that we should diligently seek him and that God has great things for us. And are we growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ or are we the same that we were two years ago or 10 years ago?
If I want a mediocre Christianity or a status quo Christianity.
And I don't wanna read this book, do I?
And I love the language of the Apostle Paul and his desire to apprehend or pursue the things of Christ. And that's a good question for us, isn't it? Do we want to move on? Do we want more of Christ or do we just want a mediocre Christianity? So again, if, if I just want a mediocre Christianity, then I don't want to read this book. I don't want to read the book of Ephesians, but, uh, to read this chapter.
To read the writings of the Apostle Paul, we see a man who pursued reaching forth like in a race and uh, let's face it, this world will drag us down.
And we do need more Christ, don't we? We need to see him in our life. May we be like the apostle Paul pursuing, apprehending it's for all of us that are children of God. We have the Spirit of God indwelling us. We have the power of God and just the language of the apostle Paul in these prison epistles, Ephesians, Philippians, what a man of God he was. And yet what the grace of God, that same grace that can enable you and I to want more of Christ in our life. I don't want to be a mediocre Christian or do I?
The choice is ours.
The Lord, as it were, is not gonna break our arm. He can use things like that. But may we by his grace say, I want more Christ. I wanna be more like Jesus.
That should be our prayer, shouldn't it? So we read this epistle, we read these verses and uh, we see a heavenly minded man. We see a man who said, look, I was a religious man. I can, I can give you my lineage. And he says, what is it? It's nothing but dumb compared to Christ. And that's what this world is.
And all of its allurements. But may we desire, like the apostle Paul, press onward, reaching forth, realizing what we have in Christ, in glory, what a Savior we have.
What we'll make is pursue that object.
Is the apprehension of the supreme value of that object. I'd like to to, uh, compare the apostle Paul here in this chapter to Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes. Solomon had all that he could wish in any area of life, and he proved it all. And the word that comes out so frequently, I think it's 39 times in different variations.
And that book is Vanity Emptiness.
But the Apostle Paul was caught up to the 3rd heaven. He got a glimpse of Christ and glory, and from that time on he was a ruined man as far as any earthly objective was concerned. And that's what we'll do it, brethren, is the realization.
God has come down in the person of the Lord Jesus has died and risen again and gone back into the glory of God. And at the right hand of God sits a real living man. And that is the object that is set before us. And if we can get a glimpse of the supreme value of that object, it will fill your souls, it will draw you. And I think it is that what really makes us run.
The way we ought to when we realize the supreme value of that object.
In verse one of our chapter we have a commandment and I've often thought about it.
He says Finally my brethren rejoiced in the Lord.
He doesn't say rejoice if you feel like it, rejoice if you can. No, it's a command. Rejoice in the Lord. And that's one of the words that is used so frequently in this epistle. In the next chapter in verse four, he says rejoice in the Lord Alway, did you get that?
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Again I say rejoice.
How can you rejoice? When you're going through a world that is so full of problems and trials and afflictions and trouble and wars? How can you rejoice?
What's the secret?
A worldly pomp and glory. Your charms are spread in vain. An earth sweeter story I found it sure came. That's why that's the answer to that.
Secret is in the last word, Lord.
Everybody in this room is seeking joy tonight, unless there's something really wrong with you. Even naturally speaking, all of us are sitting here this morning with some desires in our hearts that would be of joy to us. And so we all have those things that are before us in our lives that we do, that we occupy ourselves with, with the intent that the result will be joy to us. It doesn't matter whether you're saved or lost. It's the same in that way.
And we see in the history of mankind, going back to Cain's day, that Cain wanted to be happy too, and he did it in the wrong way and he had a miserable life.
But when it tells us here to rejoice in the Lord, we if we're going to be happy, if we're going to find Him the object that this chapter tells us about, we've got to start firmly understanding and appreciating our relationship to Him.
He is Lord. It's so easy for us to say I want God to make me happy and then turn around and seek my own things for my happiness and after I do so say why didn't God make me happy?
Why am I miserable?
Why isn't it working? It must be, well, God's fault.
But God does have a pattern and a plan, for the Lord is the object of our lives. But it starts with that word Lord. He has to be recognized as the one who has supreme authority over my soul.
And if I don't recognize that relationship that I have with himself, I will not find myself happy or rejoicing in the Lord. I will be in conflict because He has his right perhaps, and I have mine. And so I'm miserable when I think He tells me to do A and I want to do B.
And so God says to us, you find your object for your joy and your satisfaction.
In that one whom I have established over you as Lord.
And if we start there, we will, because God knows how to do it. He knows how he designed us. He knows how to make us work right. And he has purposed us that that which will bring us joy and that which we can rejoice in is in the Lord himself. If Solomon had written these words, rejoice in the Lord, you'd say, well, of course, as we've been reminded, he didn't withhold himself from any pleasure. You'd say, I could understand if Solomon had written these words.
But it's Paul who writes these words. Now, if Paul had written all his vanity and vexation of spirit, you'd say, well, I could understand that too, because Paul was writing the this, these words as a Roman prisoner, as a prisoner of the Lord, as a prisoner of the Romans. He didn't have anything. And so you see how it's just the opposite circumstantially to what the world would say would create joy or happiness. Solomon said who had everything. He said it's vanity, it's emptiness. It doesn't, it doesn't fill and satisfy the heart.
The Apostle Paul, who had nothing of this world and had given it up for Christ, he could say, rejoice in the Lord. But I believe too, that these words penned to the Philippians by inspiration through the instrumentality of the Apostle Paul, had great moral weight when it was read in the assembly in Philippi because they had seen it in practice. There had been a time on a previous occasion, as is recorded for us in the 16th chapter of the book of Acts.
When Paul and Silas were cast into prison for preaching the gospel and brethren, I don't know what I would have been doing if I was there. I imagine I might have been grumbling and complaining and saying, Well, Lord, I thought you directed me by a vision to come over here and.
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To help somebody and preach the gospel. And what good am I doing now? My back is bleeding, I'm cold and damp, and my feet are fast in the stalks. But at midnight they prayed and sang praises. They rejoiced. And I've often wondered if they didn't think of that verse in the 119th Psalm that says, at midnight I will arise and sing praises unto thee because of thy righteous judgment. You know, recognizing the lordship of Christ in their lives, and that what the Lord was doing was right.
With that recognition, there was such a joy in submission to their circumstances and an appreciation of Christ in their souls that they couldn't contain themselves. And they sang praises at midnight. And what a testimony there was. But I just say when these words were read in this, from this epistle in the assembly at Philippi, I'm sure those Saints thought, Oh yeah, that has practical, that has moral weight. We know what Paul is talking about.
We've seen this exhibited in the life of Paul when he was here amongst us.
And So what weight it would have carried. And notice it doesn't say rejoice in good times.
Rejoice when things go well. But as Bob reminded us, there's a little further word added in the next chapter. Always. Now, brethren, thus speaks to my soul. I can be happy at a conference like this. I can be happy when my trip goes well. You can be happy when you get your good grade at school, when you get a little promotion or a raise in pay. Things are going well in the family. You close the deal that you were hoping to close.
But, brethren, the real test is when the adversities come and they do come, and the sorrows come. Not that we don't have sorrow, but again, Paul said in the sixth of Second Corinthians, sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. He felt sorrow and he felt great sorrows at times, but through it all, with the joy of the Lord, he could rejoice, recognizing that there was one who was Lord of his life and recognizing that whatever happened, it was the very best for him.
I know if I was in a, uh, burning house and the fireman is willing to risk his life to go into that house and bring me out.
And I not burn. I'm safe outside the burning house. Would I not be rejoicing? Would you not be rejoicing? Well, when we stop and think about the fact that each of us was doomed to help the lake of fire, but the Lord Jesus was willing to take up our course. And I believe at the cross of Calvary He bore that which we could not have exhausted in hell. He exhausted the judgment.
On the cross of Calvin. Now if that doesn't cause you and me to rejoice.
I don't know what would, but you know He goes far beyond that. And not only are we saved from hell, but we are saved to enjoy an eternity with the Lord of glory.
With the Creator himself.
His eternal companion is so marvelous to think about.
And I must say other side of these things and I start feeling kind of down maybe, and there are big, big problems that come. But if we get our eyes focused on the Lord, think about what he is, what he's done for us, saved us from and brought us into.
We can't help but rejoice.
I believe we can always rejoice in the world, and I like what you say about His love that I believe has designed all that takes place in our lives for our good. A perfect love casts out fear, and that's the kind of love that the Lord Jesus has for you and for me. It's perfect and even in the bad times.
These things are allowed.
Good, you're good. Bless, because he loves us. How much do you love us? Look at the cross.
The sacrifice he's willing to make. Would anybody question his love as we contemplate the cross?
Well, I think that's why you pass it for, you know, in the circumstances, you could continually speak of the joy that he had in Christ and, uh, and most in that first chapter, there were those that.
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Celsius, we're preaching crisis contention thinking to add to his body.
But it didn't matter to the apostle Paul, because he had Christ as his object. And in 18 he said, notwithstanding everywhere, whether in pretense or in truck fruit, Christ is pre, I daring to rejoice, and I will rejoice.
Lord Jesus was the Man of Sorrows, wasn't he? And.
We passed through this world.
He properly felt all the misery and the depth and the sickness and the ruin there was. He often groan, but at the same time there was that deep flowing joy in his life. I like in Luke chapter 10 what it talks about the Lord Jesus when He was rejected.
By some of those cities had done his mighty work, and he says in verse 21.
In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and has revealed them unto babes. Even so, fathers, for so it seemed good in thy sight. So God is so great, brethren, that he can take even the parts of our lives that are seemingly negative.
And turn them for our own advantage. I think that's why it says, uh. I've enjoyed 2 scriptures and other epistles. In First Thessalonians 5 we often quote that verse in everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. In everything, give thanks. But there's a little further detail in Ephesians 5 and verse.
20.
Giving thanks always.
For all things, not only in all things, give thanks, but giving thanks for all things.
Give thanks for an illness, an accident.
Those are hard things to come around to.
I still remember one time in the city of El Rudo in Bolivia, where?
I opened up my Jeep in the main flask of Oredo and found that I'd been robbed. My briefcase and some of those dear brethren and their simplicity have it a little bit over us, I think, sometimes, brother.
He says to me, let's give thanks, you know, exactly think about doing that at that time, but it was a real lesson to me Brevin and the Lord came in in a mighty way tremendous into that day. I had my brief gave back in my hand. I couldn't hardly believe it, but that's her God.
And so it's not really what we are. It's not in the circumstances we rejoice, but it's in the Lord. And how important, like Don brought out, is that we realize that it is only in recognizing His authority and making it real in our lives that there will be that ability to rejoice and to give thanks.
I'd like to just build on that a little bit. It says in the 86th Psalm, and I've enjoyed this recently myself. There's a little progression there.
In the 86 sum and verses 1112 and 13, there's a response to this command. As you say, the Lord commands us by divine inspiration and rejoice in the Lord. And he says in verse 11 of the 86 Psalm, Teach me thy way, O Lord. There needs to be a willingness on our part to learn what He has to say. And then I will walk in my truth, a willingness to know what the truth is. God is always going to tell us the truth.
And then do we have that desire to submit to that will of God into the word of truth? Unite my heart to fear thy name. And so there's a testimony in connection with the name of the Lord and the reproach. And Paul speaks of it here in Philippians in a special way in connection with the sufferings. He mentions his sufferings, I believe, four times in his epistle. And then it says, I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart. I will glorify thy name forever more.
For great is Thy mercy toward me, and Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. So there's a progression here. First we need to know Thy way and be willing to walk in it. Thy truth, then Thy name. And then we can experience something of the blessedness of being thankful for the mercies of the Lord. I'll just mention those four things that Paul mentions in connection with suffering. It's a very sweet epistle, this epistle to the Philippians. And the first time I believe he mentions it is in verse 29, chapter one and verse 29.
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He says, For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer.
For his sake, he could rejoice in his sufferings. And then a little further on in chapter 3.
And umm, verse eight, yeah, doubtless. And I count all things lost, but for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and to count them but dung, that I may win Christ. And then in verse ten of our chapter as well, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. And then the last time I believe in chapter 4 and verse 12.
Just at the end of it, it says I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
So we need to remember that it's possible for us to rejoice in the circumstances of our lives and the only time that we will have the only opportunity in this scene to identify ourselves with that blessed man, Christ Jesus, who suffered at the hands of man.
Is right now in this scene, and to identify with his name, to want his way, to want his truth, to want to be identified with him, well, it may allow for some suffering in our lives as some of our brethren in India we've been reminded of.
Or Paul was converted.
The Lord He had knew something of what it was, the DLL hardness to others.
He persecuted the the Saints and the when the Lord spoke to him, he said it is hard for thee to kick against the ******.
Paul was grieved.
When he's writing this first verse, he's not grieved. He's identified with the Lord Jesus.
You think of Paul writing to these Philippians, you know, he had to go to prison before he got, before he saw the first convert, as it were. And uh, he was, he was, uh, was it worth it? Was it worth going through that prison experience to Philippian jailer get converted?
He's telling us the answer is not grieving.
Now he's in another prison. This is later in Rome, and he's writing them a letter.
And he's, uh, enjoying the fellowship of his Lord.
He's rejoicing in the Lord. He had learned that perhaps the first time when he sang that night, it took him a while to sing. He didn't start out singing, but he did at midnight. He went in at 8:00. It took four hours.
Well, it's, uh, takes some of us longer than others, uh, the Lord knows how long. And, uh, it's nice to see the rejoicing going on here.
And I believe it's because it's not just rejoicing and suffering. He was learning to know the man he had persecuted beforehand.
He's learning what it felt like.
That's the beauty of it, knowing the Lord.
And we need to let it show, don't we too, Doug? Because their joy in the Lord there in the prison was what was a testimony to the prisoners. They heard it. The jail keeper, as you say, got saved. Because as another has said, our joy in the Lord is often a testimony to others. The world can rejoice and be happy when things go well. But as we were saying, as soon as you introduce something adverse into their circumstances, that happiness, that is.
Based on circumstances immediately disappears, but when the world looks on and sees a joy in sorrow and suffering and trial, they realize that the believer has something that they don't have. And I'm sure that that was at least part of what the Lord used in the blessing there in the prison in Philippi, which we know spilled beyond the jailer to form this assembly that Paul later writes to. And I've often thought of it. You know, brethren, sometimes we sing that hymn. Happy people.
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Happy, though despised and poor. And I look around the meeting room at my brethren's faces and I think, do we really mean this? Are we really? Does it really show on our faces? And if we walk down on the streets of our community and in the schools and workplaces that we operate every day, and radiated something of the joy of the Lord in our faces and in our demeanor, don't you think it would be a testimony in itself?
That we wouldn't perhaps have to say as much if our lives showed by the joy that radiates from our, just from our, our, the look on our faces. And so, brethren, I know we need to be sober. We don't wanna be giddy Christians. There's always the exhortation to sobriety and so on. But there ought to be that aura of joy that radiates from the heart. Of course, it's, it's gotta start in the heart, as we've been saying. But it ought then to radiate so that others might see it. Our brethren might be encouraged by it. And the unbeliever, it might be a testimony to the unbeliever.
Well, the real thrust of this chapter is we've had brought before us is Christ as our object, isn't it? We might also mention though, that connected with Christ as an object is energy in the Christian life.
The previous chapter, as we've had brought before us, is Christ as our pattern. It's more Christ in manhood. It's more perhaps what we might call the grace, the graciousness of the Christian life, the most necessary thing. But then in this chapter we have an object before, and an object before us gives us energy.
Something most needed today. I say it to my own heart because it seems that one of the whole.
Well, I should let me rephrase that. One of the big efforts of Satan is to demoralize believers in these last days to make them, well, they're here, but not very effective. And as we've just been hearing, yes, I may walk around, but the expression on my face says I'm just plodding along until the Lord comes and takes me home. Well, I don't want to take away from that in the sense that there is a certain amount of plotting and endurance in the wilderness pathway.
But who had the energy to walk that wilderness pathway the most? Referring to Israel's experience. Who was it? Caleb and Joshua. Why? Because they'd seen the land. They'd seen what was ahead of them. And so when Caleb gets to the end of the wilderness pathway.
He might well have looked back and said well.
What a trial that was. What did he say? Oh, he says, Moses, I'm just as strong as the day I started out. Now give me the most challenging piece of the land to conquer because I've had my eye on it for 45 years. That's the energy that God wants to see in you and me. Yes, there are negative things that have to be brought in. There are things that have to be remembered here that Paul had to say. They're a hindrance to that object.
And we get those in the next few verses. But he had an object before him, and that's what kept him. That's what gave him the energy to go on. And it's what will give you and me the energy even in all of the difficulties and problems of these last days.
Yeah, we should have really not a false problem putting on a false front and being happy. But, uh, someone said to me about a meeting one time and they said most, some of these people look like they've lost their last friend. You know, there's a little verse that I've enjoyed. Uh, the faults of the seat that you bear in your heart will not stay inside where it first got to start the sinew and blood or a thin Dale of late what you bear in your heart.
You wear on your face. So we shouldn't cause the, umm, people, uh, the impression that we're.
We just walked out of a morgue or something. I don't think I'm saying make very careful. I understand what I'm saying. I'm not saying that we should put on any kind of a false front. If there's true joy in our heart, let it be reflected on our face. The countenance basically is a reflection of what's going on inside.
Just in connection with what our brother Bill has brought before us, let's go back to a little incident at the beginning of the wilderness journey, just for a moment. So I think it's beautiful and certainly bears out what we've just heard in the 16th of Exodus.
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We find here that the children of Israel have started the wilderness journey. They've been at Elam, and now the wilderness, it's before them. And umm, already there's been some things come in to discourage. But just notice the ninth verse of Exodus chapter 16. And Moses spake unto Aaron, say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, come near before the Lord, for ye have heard your murmurings. And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel.
That they look toward the wilderness and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. You know, they were already murmuring. They were already discouraged. Why? Because they were looking back toward Egypt. You know, thank God they never got back there, Steven says in his address in the 7th of In their hearts they returned into Egypt. And that was the great difficulty. That's why they were often so discouraged and why sin and murmuring and complaining.
And fault finding came in, because in their hearts they returned unto Egypt. Thank God, positionally, they never got back there. And you and I will never be part of this world again. We've been delivered from that. But in our hearts we can return into Egypt. But what was the answer here? Well, they were told to turn around. They were looking in the wrong direction. And when they turned around to look out over the wilderness, what were they to see? All the hindrances in the many miles that were between them and the promised land?
There were many miles. There were many hindrances. I've been through a good part of the Sinai Peninsula. It's not a place where I would want to be wandering on foot from day-to-day and year to year. It's just a vast expanse of sand and rock with a big hot sun and a cloudless sky blaring down, and cool nights on the desert when the sun does go down, and so on. And many dangers. But that's not what occupied with them they were occupied with. No, they saw the glory of the Lord in the cloud.
In some way, the Lord was pleased to reveal Himself to them.
And with that object, with that glimpse, they were given fresh energy and courage to press on in the wilderness journey. And brotherness has already been brought before us. That's what's going to give us fresh energy. That's what's going to give us the courage to go on and the joy to press on in the wilderness journey with Christ before our souls, with the end before our souls, with glory before us.
Again, Paul, he didn't just have a vision of what was ahead. He'd been caught up there. He saw it.
He knew what was ahead, and with that, before his soul, he could press on the children of Israel. Sad to say, they often lost sight of what had been revealed to them here in the 16th chapter, and they were often discouraged and wanted to turn back. But brethren, there is that energy given to us, but it's only in the measure in which you and I have Christ before our souls, and in the measure in which He is real and precious to us. We can be lifted above the circumstances.
To run with endurance the race that is set before us. God is not a God of mixtures. We go through the word of God. It presents itself over and over again. God separates things that differ and he keeps them separate and he doesn't mix them and one of the difficulties is seen in the verses here right after they rejoiced in the Lord Alway and the thought of setting our hearts upon the Lord Jesus is the object of our life is the danger of mixture.
We're all here this morning and we're enjoying kind of being a part in a nice setting to enjoy the Lord, to enjoy one another. And so it's not difficult for us to have in, in that way the Lord before our hearts as an object that we enjoy. But the test is Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday, because there will be then be those things which draw upon the soul seeking to make it an object.
And as such, it creates in US a tendency to mix. We want the Lord on Lord's day. We want the Lord when we have a problem. We like the Lord to make us happy, but at the same time we often go after something else as well. And so we have this conflict within us.
00:55:00
The conflict God puts there because he's not satisfied with that, It's not of himself.
It's not that which is going to produce the result that we think that will produce. And so we say, well, I want the Lord to make me happy. I wanna have the Lord as the object of my life. And, and that's the problem. We put an Ant in there and.
I'm going to enjoy this and I'm going to enjoy that and I'm going to enjoy the other and also and think it will work. So as he puts here before them, there were things they had to be aware of they had there was a danger put before them. One of them is a concision and it was a mixture of things that was not of God that had part of the law in it and part of man in it and so on. But then he says in the end of verse three, I want to make one more comment about mixture have no confidence.
In the flesh, we tend to wanna have confidence in God.
What we wanna add to it? Confidence in our flesh. There's a tendency in every one of us to think that I can do it, I can do it, I can follow the Lord, I can this, I can that. But the eye is an eye of flesh in US, generally speaking, that is saying it.
It's not I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. That is, if He truly is the source of the power, there will be power. But the moment we mix something with it, we weaken it. And the Lord, what does the Lord do? Well, he loves us, and so he loves us. And he said, well, you think you can do it? I'll let you try. And the result is we fall on our face, and if we do it again, He lets us sometimes do it again.
And we try and we fail, and we're miserable. Well, the answer is hard to come by, really, but it's simple, as it says here. And Paul had learned it, having no confidence in the flesh, having no confidence in the natural man and what it can do. And he had turned away from that. And in that, later in this chapter, we see his practical comments about death. Confidence in God is the other side of death. Confidence in God is the other side of death.
Everything that we are has to have the stamp of death on it or will never be happy. And we have to enjoy what's on the other side of natural life in the flesh before we really start to make progress. And one of the things that young or old, we've got to keep be uphold. Every conference. I think he says to to say it, to say it again and again is not bad. It's safe. Have no confidence in the flesh. Hmm.
So we see that the hindrances to what the chapter is bringing before us are brought in at the beginning here, aren't they? We see the same thing in the previous chapter.
The hindrances to having Christ as our pattern. The hindrances to having graciousness in the Christian life.
Are doing things through strife and vain glory and seeking some kind of a position for myself.
But then the hindrances to having Christ as an object is another aspect of the same root, a Judaizing influence that brings Christianity down to the level of this world and ultimately, as Dawn has brought out, makes an admixture of Christ as an object but confidence in the flesh. It won't work. And it has been the vein of the Church's existence all down through the ages because it started right here at the beginning. Where?
Many, sad to say, sought to bring Christianity down to the level of the world, to take away from its heavenly calling, to give some confidence in the flesh, to say to man, yes, you have to do your part as well as God doing his part.
Can't live the Christian life like that. It must be Christ now which one of us does it perfectly? Who would stand up and say, yes, I'm there? Oh no, we wouldn't want to do that. But at the same time, Paul warns them here about.
Those Judaizing influences that dogged his footsteps and destroyed the ultimate truth that Paul was trying to bring out.
Someone is well said. You tell me what kind of books you read, what kind of music you listen to, who your friends are and how you spend your time. And I can have a handle on just about who you are. I don't know what measure we can do that, but I think that's a really what I was mentioning before, what I mentioned the two words time and application. Uh, we have to take time, make time, establish that as a priority.
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The Lord should come first.
And we, we've heard, we've heard that saying, I suppose the board first, uh, my wife second, other people, myself last or something. But the board has to come first.
Those two words, uh, in the end of verse two and the beginning of verse verse 3.
Concision and circumcision, I think it's helpful to understand and I like to think of it in a simple way that concision is.
Cutting at the flesh, circumcision is cutting off the flesh. Circumcision means all the way around. You don't leave any place for it, uh, like it says at the end of the verse, having no confidence in the flesh. But if you put rules and regulations, you are in effect, uh, recognizing the flesh as a place and therefore you need to control it with these rules and regulations.
No, we're to beware of the concision. We are the circumcision. This is real Christian ground.
Dead, buried and written with Christ. Death is behind us. What place does the flesh have? It's it's back behind it's it's gone as far as God is concerned. And we need to think with not giving a place to the flesh. It's.
Always there, but we should not give it a place. I'd like to hear some thoughts too about dogs. What is he talking about dogs? Do you wear dogs?
I noticed a little, uh, reference in my Bible to Galatians 5 and 15. I think perhaps there's something there to be learned. He says that the Galatians, if you bite and devour one another, take he that ye be, not consume one of another.
Brendan, I think there's a real lesson for us here to be careful how we talk about each other.
Are we fighting?
And devouring one another. It's so easy to speak negative about other people.
And I don't know brother and I think it's something we really need to be exercised about. Don't give place to that kind of activity. Sometimes it may be necessary to speak about something that is negative in seeking to be a help and some brother.
That I like to think of.
Moses when Miriam and Aaron speak against him.
And the Lord.
Was displeased and smoked Miriam with leprosy. I don't know why he didn't smite Aaron. I suppose it might have been Miriam that started the bad talk, who knows, But whatever it was.
What did Moses do? He prayed for him. And brethren, if it's necessary to say or speak anything negative, let's try to pray with an honest desire.
For the good and blessing of that person, Let's not be dogs. Let's not give place to dogs. Somebody comes and starts talking, bad mouthing some brother or sister. Let's not give place to that kind of thing. Seek to cut it off. It's not the place of a believer. If there is some real need of help in a particular area, let's go in all humility of mind and seek to be a help to them.
But just talking for talking sake, we need to be aware of dogs. I suggest that I don't know, there might be other thoughts. I believe the Lord here brings before us the boldness of the flesh and the subtlety of the flesh. So here you have the boldness of dogs. It's really, uh, perhaps someone has said shameless evil. It's a shameless, uh, and uh, there's umm, a boldness in that shame.
And going forward and and Wicca and wickedness, and so beware of dogs and then beware of evil workers. So there are those that would do a work that is not according to the mind of God. Be aware of that work that's not according to the truth of God and the Word of God. And then the subtlety of the flesh is concision. It's subtle. So the flesh is bold, but it's also subtle. And so he says beware, beware and beware. In the French translation, it says it means to set a guard.
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Set a guard.
Against dogs, set a guard against evil workers and set a guard against the concision. That's really the thought of self seeking too, isn't there? Because that's what the flesh does. The flesh seeks only for itself. I say that because if you go back to a reference to dogs in the book of Isaiah, I think you have it borne out in Isaiah chapter 56.
I'll start reading at verse 9. Isaiah 56 and 9. All ye beasts of the field come to devour. Yeah, all ye beasts in the forest. His Watchmen are blind. They are all ignorant. They are all dumb dogs. They cannot bark. Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yeah, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough. They are shepherds that cannot understand. They look to their own way. Everyone for his gain from his quarter.
And so we find here that a dog and a dog, I know we can train dogs and they can be wonderful, uh, companions and faithful to their masters. But the really underneath the nature of a dog is he looks out for himself. He's self seeking. And so these Watchmen that should have been caring for God's walk in the Old Testament, they were doing it, but only for, to get something for themselves. And we know in the days of the Lord Jesus.
He rebuked them because they were looking for the praise of man, Some pat on the back, some gain, even a monetary gain for themselves, and they were dumb dogs seeking for themselves. And brethren, we need to be careful of that too. Appreciate what Brother Bob said about biting and devouring, and that's certainly a part of it. But we can fight. And why do we bite and devour? Well, it's really to put ourselves up, isn't it? It's really to put the flesh forward. If I can put someone else down and get you to think that that person isn't really what they are and get you to think bad by what I say about them, well, that puts myself in a better light.
Oh brethren, we need to be very careful of these things. And brethren, do we really seek the good of others? What are you and I seeking to today? Is it the good and blessing of the flock of God and of our brethren?
Or is it really something for the flesh? We need to be aware of those dogs and they can be in everyone of our lives.
And the Psalms concerning the Lord at the cross and the dogs compassing him, it was a Gentile that was in view. And the Gentiles were those that had no relationship to God. And there's a character that has just been described to us about the the accurately, I believe, describes the working of the flesh in man who does not have a relationship with God.
And it has a tremendous tendency to pull on us when we go to school.
And when we work because we're constantly being exposed to those things which man in the flesh goes after and in the business world even uses expression dog eat dog. It's that tendency that I want for myself what I'm going to have. And so it we're told be aware of it because it affects us even as the Lord's people. But I'd like to go on to the other side of it, which is seen and saw Per or Paul personally.
When and the verses which follow, when he says, Well, have no confidence in the flesh, but look at me. And then he describes himself and says, if anybody ought to have the chance to have confidence in the flesh, it's me. And he tells us about himself.
But the point of it is.
It's religious manifestation of the flesh, and in the Old Testament we have Saul.
And in the New Testament we have Saul, this Saul who has now become Paul, and both of them are set before us by God to show us that when the flesh manifests itself in relationship to God, it takes man farther from God than any other activity. Consequently, it is true that Saul was the chief of sinners, and he was the chief of sinners precisely because his flesh took him farther from God and yet in outward relationship to God.
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Than any other man in the whole of the Bible. And we see in him the grace of God which took the worst. That's the worst Sinner. It's not the man that's committed murder, it's not the man that's committed adultery and so on. That's as bad as they are to our eyes, but to God's eyes. It is that which takes the man farthest from himself. And that was Saul. And in the Old Testament we have the example of Saul. He was everything that man amount among men looking for.
It was the exaltation of man in the flesh. He stood head and shoulders above his fellow man. He had courage. He went out to war just like Paul. We see a natural zeal in Paul that to the natural flesh is admirable.
And we would have looked at Paul as in a religious sense and said nobody's like him, nobody was. And that's precisely what made him the worst center that God had to say. This is the chief of sinners. And so, brethren, to the tiniest degree in which the flesh is given place in us, it'll manifest itself like the dog or it'll manifest itself like salt. And in either case, it totally takes us away from.
Having Christ.
As a pure object before the heart.
So just as you cannot mix boiled water.
Cannot mix confidence in the flesh with confidence in God.
Either one or the other, but the world promotes, uh, self-image.
And.
There was a popular evangelist that found fault with suggesting that a person is a Sinner, but to pray Sinner because he says this is destructive to a person's ego and oneself image supposed to be an evangelist preaching the gospel to God. But you know when I look in the word of God, I see that those who God used he brought them to a sense of their.
Littlest and their weaknesses, uh, joke, you know he was, uh.
A righteous man, but he comes to the point where he says people I invite and now my ICC he's got. He says I for myself.
And repent and dust and gnashes.
Joke got a real blessing in his soul when you come to that point. Gideon was another one. The word wants to use Gideon, but he says, you know, my family is so poor and I'm the least in my father's family. Isn't that very good self-image there, you know, but God used it.
And there's other examples, even Solomon comes.
And of course, it comes to the New Testament. We have Paul here, and he speaks to himself, you know, it's the least of his brethren. And uh, of course he's referring to himself as the chief of sinners when he was committing those deeds.
Persecuting the church. I'm sure he thought he was a great person, he had great self-image, but really it comes to the point where he finds against God.
And he says, he says I'm the chief of sinners.
Alright, it's quite a thing to say when Paul.
Could speak of all these things that naturally speaking were promoting him in this world, but that's where God would bring us, I believe, before he uses us for his work, His blessing to others.
The time is about up. Maybe we could send 309?
Jesus, before by phase two fall our Lord, our life, our hope, our all. For we have nowhere else to believe, no sanctuaries. Or let's see, 309.
We introduced her blah blah blah umm.
So.
I'm sorry.
And ourselves, our loving God and our Father, we thank thee for our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus. We thank thee for that object, bright and fair to fill and to satisfy our hearts in this scene while we wait for the blessed Savior to come. We thank you that thou art our sanctuary in this scene as well. What rest we find in my presence as we have thy word open and we think of how we've had this portion before us. We thank Thee that uh, for the exhortations that we have when we know that Thou does delight to have a happy people.
And we know that there are hindrances.
And the flesh will hinder, and the flesh is bold in each one of us, and ignorant. And we just ask thee, our God, for grace to judge the flesh unsparingly, that, uh, we might be characterized as those that are of the circumcision.
Then it might all be cut off. And uh, so we just asked you for thy blessing upon my precious word as it's been ministered here this morning. We pray that there might be fruit in our lives and just before we see the blessed Savior, just before we're called home.
To see the that we might have our highs, our eyes set heavenward and gazing upon Thee in glory as we just about to see the blessed Savior. We thank Thee for that blessed hope and we look to Thee for Thy blessing now on the fellowship, after the meal and during the meal. We thank Thee for this occasion together and we pray for Thy blessing upon it in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. Amen.