Phil. 4:8-23

HI 4:8-23{THE first two verses I have read are the last of the exhortation in this epistle.
We have already seen the way in which, in entire superiority to all circumstances, the Christian is to go on. All through the epistle that character of the power of the Spirit of God is brought out. In the eighth verse we get the effect of what we were -speaking of last time: " Rejoice in the Lord alway; " " let your moderation be known unto all men; " " careful for nothing; 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;" the heart is set free, for the peace of God, which is immutable, keeps the heart and mind. There is nothing new or strange to God. He is always in peace, working all things after the counsel of His own will. It is thus that the heart is to be at rest, and then it is free to be occupied with what is lovely and blessed.
It is a great thing for the Christian to have the habit of Tiling in what is good in this world, where we necessarily have to do with what is evil. We were evil ourselves once, and nothing else was in heart, thoughts, and mind; and there is still evil not only in the world, but in our hearts, and we have to judge it where it is allowed. But it will not do to be always occupied with it. It defiles even when we judge it; just as when the man had to do with the ashes of the red heifer, in the nineteenth of Numbers; he was really doing a service in gathering them up, and laying them up without the camp, yet he was unclean until even, and the same as to him who applied them. It is soiling to our minds, even to be judging
There is in some hearts a tendency to be busy about evil, but it will not do to live in. Of course I am not now speaking of living in it actually, but of even in thought judging it.
It is a great thing to have the heart toned and tuned to take delight in the things God delights in. Even in the sense of judging evil as evil, it is not happy. I am to be living now as with God in heaven, and has God to be judging evil in heaven?
We know He has not; and it is a great thing for our souls to be above with the Lord, not only doing the things that please Him, but being also in the state of mind in which He can delight. Take one day only and ask yourself, has your mind been living in the things that are lovely and of good report?. It is that the -apostle speaks of here. Is it the habit of your mind to be dwelling on what is good? Evil forces itself on us in these days, but it will not do to be dwelling on It weakens the mind; the mind gets no strength from thinking of it. It may awaken disgust where the mind is in a spiritual state, but, even judging it, we are not doing it rightly unless the heart is dwelling on what is good. We might be bringing down fire from heaven, when Christ would merely go to another village.
He walked in the full power of communion in what was good in the midst of evil, though He had to do with it; He had to say, " woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees; " and we may have to do with it too, but it is never done rightly unless we are living in what is good. There would never be softness, and by this I do not mean softness towards evil-we have to judge that peremptorily-but there would be no gracious softness. Paul had to say, " I would they were even cut off which trouble you." There is no softness here; but still even this comes out in love. Supposing we have, to judge evil, we have to do it in the power of the good that is in us. Here is the path in which our souls have to walk: " Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things " The Lord give us, beloved brethren, to remember them. God may have to judge, but He dwells in what is good.
We then get,-and what a blessed thing it is for a man to be able to say it,-" Those things which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and "seen in me, do." Mark here, that is the way of having the God of peace with us. When our cares are cast on God, he says, " The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus; " but this is more. Paul stood in a special, peculiar "place, filled by the Spirit of God, though the chief of sinners, as he says) yet "always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus;" " death worketh in us-life in you." It was a great deal to say. He had to have a thorn in the flesh to enable him to carry 'it out; it was not that his flesh was naturally any better than yours. He did not only say, I am dead, but he carried about death in the flesh, so that it did not stir. He was a chosen vessel, we know, and it was through the grace and power of Christ that he did it. But he was doing it, and so, as we remarked in beginning, there is never sin mentioned in this epistle, because it is the proper experience of Christian life; doctrine is scarcely alluded to either. Paul speaks throughout in the consciousness of his experience.
If I look to walk after Christ, I must reckon myself dead. I never say I must die, because that would be supposing the flesh there working; of course it is there, but I say it is dead. I quite understand a person passing through a state by which he learns what flesh is, and such processes are more or less long. But when brought thoroughly down to say, " In me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing," then God can say, Reckon yourself dead; do not let it have dominion over you. The spring from which all power flows is that you have died. That is the fundamental truth as to deliverance. Deliverance comes when by the power of the Spirit of God we reckon ourselves dead. It is not so but to faith. Christ is there in power, and I reckon myself dead, and then I can deal in power.
"This is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." But is that all.? No. For supposing life is there, and that the old nature is still alive, there is nothing but conflict between the two, and, unless I have the power of the Spirit of God, no settled freedom from sin; and supposing I have, still there is conflict. Only if I say I am dead really, my deliverance from the working of the flesh is fully realized. The apostle says, in the power and being of this life, I am dead; and when he comes to carry it out it is, " always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus." I have received Christ as righteousness before God,, and as life in me, and I treat the old thing as dead. It is not only that I have life, but I have died, go if is not an even chance between the two which shall have the upper hand. It is the way till I am brought to the discovery that -there is no good in the flesh, and that I have died in Christ. Then I learn that not only I have done bad things, but that the tree itself is bad, and that Christ, who is our life, has died. to sin, as well as for sins; and, when I reckon the old thing dead, I find liberty.
I do not say forgiveness, but deliverance. " The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free." Of course I may fail, and may be brought under the power of sin for a moment, but I am not-a debtor to it any more. How has He condemned the flesh? In death. Then I am free-in the fact of life treating the old thing as dead. We are always to manifest this life of Jesus. Keeping in faith this dying of Christ, I have got the cross for the flesh. The apostle says, The death of Christ works in me, old. Paul, and so nothing but the life of Christ flows out for you; and he says, Go you and do like me; "those things which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.." He Himself will be then present with you.
What a wonderful thing it is, beloved brethren! The life of Christ given-the flesh reckoned dead-and we walking accordingly. Is God- then going to keep Himself separate from you:? NO. " The God of peace shall be with you."
It is wonderful how often He is called "the God of peace," while He is never called the God of joy. Joy is an uneven thing. Joy gives us the thought of hearing good news, and sorrow may be there too. There is joy indeed in heaven over one sinner.. that repenteth, for that is good hews there; but it is not God's nature like peace. It is an emotion of the heart. Man is a poor, weak creature. He hears good news, and he has joy; he hears sad news, and he has sorrow. It is the ups and downs of a creature nature. But He is "the God of peace." It is a deeper thing. Look at the world and the human heart; do you ever see peace there? Joy we do see in the animal nature even; as in a beast let loose. And we may see a kind of joy-in the world, but there is no peace; the heart of man is "like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest." Incessant harassment for amusement, and they call that joy. The world is a restless world, and if it cannot be restless in activity to get what it wants, it is restless because it cannot. We never find peace in this world except when Geld gives it.
If we are walking in the power of the life of Christ, the God of peace is with us. We have the consciousness of His presence. The heart is at rest; there is no craving after something we have not got. Even among Christians we see persons who have no peace because they are craving after what they have not got. That is not peace. But enjoying what is in Him, though surely craving to know Him better, is blessed rest of heart;-it is peace. It is a blessed thing to have such a sanctuary in this world-" the God of peace" with us.
We then see how Paul is superior to all circumstances. He had been in want, though in a kind of free prison, and his heart, felt it. " I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again." He says, " now at the last," as if they had been a little bit careless. But there is a gracious delicacy towards them; he at once withdraws what he had said, by adding, "but ye lacked opportunity." There is never insensibility in the Christian's superiority, else it is no superiority. In all circumstances the heart is free to act according to the grace of the Lord-Jesus Christ, and He was never insensible. We steel ourselves against circumstances; our poor selfish hearts like to get away from suffering. But He was always Himself in the circumstances. So, as has been said, there was no character in Christ. He was always Himself. Perfectly sensitive to all things, but never governed by them; always in them in the strength of His own grace. We never find Him unmoved. When He saw the crowd He was "moved with compassion towards them; " and when He saw the bier which carried out the only son of the widow He had pity on her; at the grave of Lazarus " He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled "-a strong expression, it is, He troubled Himself inwardly. The power of death in the people around Him pressed on His spirit. No matter where he was, He was never insensible, but was Himself in grace for that. He was sensible of. On the cross, He had the right word for the thief. Even when He had to say, " How long shall I be with you, and suffer you? ' He immediately adds, " Bring thy son hither." He was perfectly sensitive, as we are not, with His grace always ready to be called out. What shows itself in Christ is what we should seek to be; being perfectly sensitive to all circumstances, but that they should meet Christ in us, so as to draw Him out.
We have seen how Paul corrects what he had said, "at the last your care of me hath flourished again," by adding, "ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity." We never find the Lord correcting Himself. Paul was a man of like passions as we are. At Troas he could not stop, though a great door was opened to him for preaching the gospel; he had no rest in his spirit be-Cause he did not find Titus. In Macedonia too his flesh had no rest. And he says of that epistle, which gives us inspired directions for the assembly,
(we could not do without it,) that he was not sorry 'he had written it, though he had been sorry; and yet, he had been inspired to write it. His heart 'had sunk below the place he was in, when he thought all the Corinthians had turned against him. It is blessed in one sense to see that, though he was an apostle, he was so like us; but we would not see it in the blessed Lord. Perfect sensitiveness, but perfection in it, is what we see in Him; while we see the apostle was a man, though it is interesting to see him feeling in that way.
He then goes on to show, that he was superior to all these circumstances. "Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." " I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Power has come in for us, beloved friends. People say, Oh! we can do all things through Christ, as a kind of absolute truth. I say, Can you? You cannot Oh! you' say, a person can. And that is perfectly true as an absolute statement, but that is not what the apostle meant. He meant that he could do all things. He had learned it. It was a real state for him, not an abstract proposition. " I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry." If full, He keeps me from being careless, and indifferent, and self-satisfied; if hungry, He keeps me from being cast down and dissatisfied. With Lim it was not a man can, but I have found Christ. so sufficient in every-circumstance that I am under the power of none. He had been beaten of rods; five times he had received of the Jews forty stripes, save one; he had been stoned, and he had gone through all sorts of things; but he had found Christ sufficient in them all.
And do not say, Ah! that was when he was a mature Christian; it was very well to say it at the end of his life. If he had not found Christ thus sufficient from the beginning right through to the end, he could not have said what he did at the end. It is that faith reckons on Christ from the starting-point of Christian life. It is the principle I was referring to in the twenty-third Psalm. When the Psalmist had gone through everything, he says, " Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever." Full or hungry I shall always find that He is enough. But to be able to experience this at the end it must be experienced by the way.
Do not say, Oh! he was an apostle! he was a wonderful, blessed man, far above the evil that is torturing me!-No such thing! He had a thorn in the flesh while he was writing; and though that was not power, it put him into nothingness where the power could come in. The Lord would not take it away when Paul besought Him " My grace is sufficient for thee," was His answer. It seemed a hindrance; but, when he preached, Christ's power was seen, not Paul's. I refer to it so that you should not say that he was free from the difficulties and snares of the flesh. God had put him in danger of being exalted above measure by taking him up to the third heaven, and He sent him a thorn to make nothing of him, and then His strength was made perfect in weakness. Divine strength cannot be where human strength is.. If it had been human strength, Paul's converts would have been worth nothing; but God's converts were worth eternal life. It is a great thing that we should be made nothing of. If we do not know how to be nothing, God must make us nothing. A humble person does not need to be humbled.
Paul was dependent upon Christ-absolutely dependent on Christ-and we find the infallible faithfulness of Christ to him. But, I repeat it, he could not have said it at the end, if he had not experienced it by the way. It is a blessed testimony. He is sufficient for us where we are; but He must bring us to the point of uprightness. The soul must be in the truth of its state before God. Till the conscience gets into the place where I really am—till it gets the consciousness of distance from God, and unfaithfulness to Him-it is not upright. But, when it gets there, Now, says God, I have got you right; I can help you. Job said, " When the ear heard me, then it blessed me, and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me; because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help." I did this, I did that -That will not do, says God; that is all me, me, me. So he lets the devil loose upon him till Job curses the day in which he was born, and till he says, "Now mine eye seeth Thee; wherefore I abhor myself." - That will do, says God; now I can bless you. And He did bless him.
God would have us 'not merely holding our heads above water, kit going on in the strength of His grace.
"Now ye 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 ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity." Love is never forgetful; it treasures up acts of service. And the apostle treasured up in memory the things, wherein he had been cared for. God delights in service clone to His saints; even what is done to the world He delights in too.
" But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Mark the intimacy there is in "nay God." It is emphatic. It is saying, I know Him; I can answer for Him; I have come through all kinds of things, and I can answer for it that He never failed me. I know the way He acts even in the small things of every day life.
It is a great thing to trust God daily and hourly; not thinking we can provide for ourselves, and secure ourselves against the power of evil, but to trust God thoroughly. And what is the measure of the supply? Nothing short of "his riches-in glory by Christ Jesus." He must glorify Himself-even in the falling of a sparrow -for there is nothing great and nothing small with God. He thinks of what His love must glorify itself in.
" My God 'shall supply all your need." How could Paul tell that? He knew Him. Not that he had not been in a condition of want, but he had felt the preciousness of being met in it by God. Things may look very dark, but we have always found that, if He led us by the wilderness where there was no water, He brought water out of the stony rock for us there. He always exercises faith, but He always meets it. Their coats even did not grow old for forty years. This is a blessed result.
" My God shall supply all your need." He was counting on blessing for others. What a comfort! Instead of walking by sight, to be passing through this world in the blessed consciousness of what God is for oneself, and so able to count on Him for others. We find ourselves sometimes almost dreading to press a person into the path of faith; but we should not dread, but count on grace for them. Faith is always triumphant.
The Lord give us to count on Him always, and we shall then say, " I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."