I would ask you to open your Bibles, at least to begin with, to Philippians chapter four and verse eight. Philippians and the fourth chapter. And as you're turning there, let me ask, up until before, anyway, this morning, or this first service this afternoon, do you give much thought to your thought life? Do you take steps to actually control your thoughts? Or do you just kind of merrily drift along, whatever pops into your head or however you happen to think, well just go with it. Never really thinking about it. And if that is so, is that okay? Well I hope we're agreed, no, it's not okay. For us, as the Lord's saved people, we are to have a biblical thought life. Now this is important for many reasons, and therefore it is emphasized in Scripture, even throughout Scripture. And if nowhere else, certainly so here in Philippians 4, 8, in which we are given a command to think and to think right. Notice again, verse 8 of Philippians 4. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue, if there's anything praiseworthy, meditate or think or consider these things. Well, in our first installment, the aim was to impress upon us the importance of a right or a biblical thought life, especially by noting examples in Scripture of true believers who failed to think right and then experienced various problems because of it. You've got David and his unbelief, or David and his gross sin. You've got Job and his thoughts about God and dreading even though God was so for him. You've got Jacob, left God out of the picture and all these things are against me. pardon me, you got Asa. His wrong thinking in being the wicked brought him to the brink of apostasy, almost slipped away. And then you got Peter, though given so much truth and clear headed, yet repeatedly we see Peter going wrong in his thinking. And again, these are all the Lord's people. These are not somehow, you know, carnal goats in disguise. No, And yet, they're guilty of wrong thinking, especially leaving God out of their thoughts, and that led them to further wrongs. Well, as I said earlier, I gave you a very selective list, just a very few examples, because many more could be cited from the Old Testament, and from the new. I mean, you think of Abraham, and there's a number of times that you can see this guy's not thinking right. Now, not always, but a number of times, or his wife. Also, Sarah and her thinking, again, more than one occasion. You come down and their son, Isaac, well, we can trace it out there, his thoughts about Jacob and Esau and so forth. But how about Moses? No, we can trace it out and see even some wrong-headedness at times in Moses. And how about that other great representative of the prophets, Elijah? Or what about Jonah? Or hey, let's go to the New Testament. What about the Apostle John? I mean, surely the Apostle John? Come to the book of Revelation and twice you see John ready to bow down and worship an angel. Twice. That's wrong thinking, right? Well, you get the point, brother. I think of the text in Hebrews about, what more shall I say? Time would fail me to go on and list more, all of the wrong thinking that we see. Because it's so common, even amongst the Lord's people. Now, the fact that it's common doesn't mean it's okay. In fact, that should alarm us all the more. In fact, further underscoring that it's all too common, think, of Scripture's prohibitions to various kinds of wrong thinking. Even here in our text in Philippians chapter 4, back up to verse 6. Be anxious for nothing. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Be anxious, he says. For nothing, that rules out all anxious thoughts in the sense of worry, anxiety, consuming care over earthbound matters, whatever they are, whatever gives rise to them, health concerns, job concerns, relationship concerns. Do you know anything of anxiety, being anxious about these things? Well, that's wrong thinking. We're not to allow this. We're to take clear steps to stop it or to be kept from it. In this case, he especially speaks of prayer and God himself then granting that peace that passes understanding. But this is addressed not to just one or two. You know, earlier he's got this Iodia and Syntyche that are mentioned. Okay, they've got their problems and he addresses them. But brethren, this is not just to Iodia and Syntyche. This is to all of those believers there in that very good church, Philippi, as if to suggest that at least all of them were susceptible and maybe many were guilty of this kind of anxious thinking. It's certainly not right and not for our good. It robs us of that peace that ought to be ours. You remember how the Lord Jesus addressed this in Matthew 6. Let's come there. Matthew and chapter 6. They're part of that Sermon on the Mount. We talk about worrying consuming care, anxiety, call it what you will, about the necessities of life, what to eat and drink and wear. Verse 25 of Matthew 6, therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? And then he goes into reasoning with us, not to be like the Gentiles, but rather he talks about, look at the birds of the air, how they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? He's their creator and their sustainer. He is your heavenly father. If he takes care of these mere birds, what about you? He goes on similarly to speak of, you know, consider verse 28. Why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow and they neither toiled or spin. And yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. The point is, look what God does even for that, flowers that are here and then fade away. And what about you, his dear children? You see what he's doing? He's reasoning. His concern is don't be worried and anxious. Don't be like the Gentiles. That's all they think about. That's all they live for. They don't have anything else to live for. What you eat, drink, and wear, right? That's not you. You're not to be that way. Why should you be that way? Look at the birds. Look at the flowers. He's reasoning. Why is he reasoning with us? So just on that occasion, those people might say, oh, I got it. No, surely it's for all of us to be reasoning with ourselves, to think right. Of course, I see what my father does for the birds. I see even the flowers that quickly fade away. This is my father. And therefore, again, what he says in verse 32, after all these things the Gentiles seek, for your heavenly father knows you need all these things. Here's what you're to do. but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you. And what's his point here? Think right so as to live right. Don't be anxious and worried and your whole life consumed with earthbound things, but rather you seek first God's kingdom and God's righteousness, and to that end, think right, consider the birds, consider the lilies of the field, et cetera, so that we might indeed not neglect seeking first God's kingdom. Well, the point I'm simply trying to illustrate is this is a prohibition of a wrong kind of thinking, worry, anxious, concern, and the corrective is He reasons with us from his word. Think this way. Let me give you another example, a prohibition of some wrong thinking. Let's come to Psalm 37. Psalm 37. Notice verse one. Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. Now we've already seen from Psalm 73 the problem with being envious of the prosperity of the wicked. Well not only are we not to envy evildoers, neither are we to fret because of such. You know what it is to fret? To be grieved, angry, vexed, When you see evildoers doing their evil, and especially when they do so with impunity, they seem to get away with it. What's a common response, a kind of anger and fretting and life is consumed with worrying about these things. Now, righteous indignation is one thing, that's suitable, but carnal anger and certainly doing wrong in response to their wrong, that is wrong. We're not to do that. And that's the point that David is here making. Notice what he says in verse 8. of this psalm. Psalm 37a, cease from anger and forsake wrath, do not fret, it only causes harm. And this is addressed throughout this letter. If you're one given to fret, maybe you're one who reacts when you see the news headlines and evil that's going on out there, or maybe you're reacting to the journalists and the evil they're perpetrating by their bias and lies and so forth. Either way, you find yourself getting all agitated and angry and ready to rip somebody's face off, come to Psalm 37. And see, you're not to do that. Rather, you're here told to trust God. He's going to bring justice about. He's going to And therefore, you can leave it to Him so you get on doing what's good. And that is the emphasis here. He will judge them, He will take care of it, and He will do us good. And therefore, reason with yourself in this way. Because that's what He's doing. God's reasoning. Think right. See the big picture, see what God is doing. Here's how we're to think about evildoers so we can get on doing good, even to evildoers, so we can get on doing that which is right, and more even so that we can get on, verse four, of delighting ourselves in the Lord, even though evildoers are doing their thing and seeming to get away with it. Perhaps related to this, scripture addresses discontent and murmuring. Which, by the way, is murmuring against God's providence, the God of providence. You know, we're told in texts like Hebrews 13.5 that we're to be totally free from covetousness, but to be content. Or Paul reasoning in 1 Timothy 6, you brought nothing into this world, you're taking nothing out, therefore having food and clothing, therewith be content. Or how Paul would appeal in 1 Corinthians 10, you remember those children of Israel, how they were always grumbling and murmuring against God, the judgment came? Don't you be grumbling against God, Paul there says. Or even in Philippians chapter 4, you're showing yourselves different, like light shining into darkness, not complaining and grumbling and disputing. No, but rather, we're to be content. Remember Paul himself addresses that in Philippians 4. But Paul had to learn to be content. It wasn't automatic. Well, you know what? I've got it now. No, in all things I've learned to be content, he says. Many fall into this. Discontent, grumbling, murmuring, even if it's not recognized as murmuring against God and his providence, yet that is what it is, right? He works all things according to the counsel of his will. Anyone here guilty of that? Repent, stop it. But then, you've got warnings in scripture. Repeatedly, old and new, against being deceived. That is to say, warnings against having our thinking influenced by that which ought not to influence us. Do not be deceived. Sometimes it's warning against people, like in Ephesians 5, 6, let no one deceive you. Other times it's simply do not be deceived by wrong thinking, like you're thinking that, well, this temptation has come from God. Do not be deceived, James chapter 1 or 1 Corinthians 6, 9. Do not be deceived thinking the unrighteous are okay, they're going to heaven. No. there's not necessarily someone else teaching this but just wrong thinking that Christians might get. Do not be deceived by these things. So whether it's overt doctrinal error or whether it's just quirky teachings like foolish disputes were warned against that, and the pastoral epistles especially, disputing over things perhaps not unlike it, of different views of prophecy and what this thing is that has hair like a woman and teeth like a lion. No, it means this, I'm going to, you know, things that are kind of religious, but really they're an aside. would throw in also beware of conspiracy theories. You know, that we can have ourselves, our minds consumed with their distractions. Their distractions. We're not to allow these. This kind of thing is really prohibited. Anything that would deceive or distract from the truth. What about over attachment to this world? Happens in various ways. First John chapter two, you know, don't love the world, the things in the world, lust of the eye, lust of the flesh, pride of life, these things are the world, they're all passing away, not to do that. Though it's talking about worldlings that don't know the Lord, yet that word of warning is written to us as the Lord's people. those who do the will of God and abide forever, but we must be told, guard against those kind of wrong desires, which is a love for this world, where earthbound matters have a place in our hearts that they ought not, and therefore they have a place in our thoughts. That's not healthy, to say the least. and even things that are legitimate in themselves. Yet, you remember how the book of Hebrews talks about running the race? Everything that impedes your running, every weight, that's in distinction from the sin. Lay aside the sin and the weight. Whatever the weight is there, it's not sin. Lay it aside. Maybe it's those who, maybe you've seen this, people that are just consumed. with their hobbies or their entertainments or one thing or another, an over-attachment to the world in that way. Some thoughts are sinful in themselves. Notice the language of Mark chapter seven, verse 21. Mark seven, verse 21. For from within, Out of the heart of men, and notice the first thing on the list, precede evil thoughts. And he goes on to say adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covenants, et cetera. But these are thoughts. They're only thoughts. Yeah, but it's thinking that is evil in itself. Some of those things are listed right here. He goes on in verse 22 to speak of pride. That's an evil thought. by way of thinking too highly of ourselves, that exaggerated self-esteem. He also, verse 22, makes reference to covetousness. That's a sinful thought, right? You shall not covet. How do you covet? What do you covet with? Your arm? Your foot? No, we covet with our heads and hearts. It's strong desires that are wrong desires especially in our thought life. We're thinking on these things and therefore desiring these. Brethren, those are sinful thoughts, right? Coveting. Now there are other thoughts that lead to sin, like toying with temptation. Here are some temptations presented itself to the mind and you begin entertaining it and maybe even thinking of ways to make provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. Toying with that temptation, well, That may not be sinful in itself, though I suppose that's debatable. But remember how James says, first, yeah, every man's tempted when he's drawn by his own lust, and when lust is conceived, he gives birth to sin. Well, okay, so here we are, we begin thinking, no, that's forbidden thinking, right? But then there are some thoughts, that are in themselves sinful, and they easily lead to more and to worse sin. You remember Achan there in Joshua chapter 7? Achan's a guy who took this beautiful Babylonian garment, gold and silver, and hid it, even though they were prohibited from so doing. Yet, oh, I saw. But he said, I saw it, I coveted it, and I took it. Well, he should have stopped at coveting. No, that's wrong, I can't desire that. But he didn't, and it led to the worst, that is taking that which was forbidden. Or what about sexual lust? Fantasizing. What about that? Well, that in itself is wrong. You remember the Lord Jesus talked about the one looking upon a woman with that kind of sexual, sensual desire? That in itself is committing adultery. You've already consented to the evil. That's wrong thinking, but if it goes from there, where does it go? Well, you understand, it goes from bad to worse. Or how about people who are harboring ill will? They've got an unforgiving spirit. That's sinful thinking, right? But then it leads maybe to even seeking out revenge, or at least withholding good to those to whom it ought to be given, or relishing thoughts of getting even. These are all evil thoughts, and they lead to overt sins, worse sins. Then we've got that prohibition, I guess I could have put this under over-attachment to the world, to conformity to the world, especially to thinking like worldlings think. Romans 12.2, do not be conformed to this age. We'll be looking at that, God willing, in days to come. Do not be conformed to this age. Okay, what's the remedy? will be transformed by the renewing of your mind, i.e., reprogram so you're not thinking like the world, because they think in a way that's not. Interesting, the very next verse says, do not think more highly of yourself than you ought to think. Again, it has to do with how we think, how we view ourselves. Because what goes on in our head has direct bearing on how we live our lives, what we do. Isn't it so? And isn't that why God in his word gives so much attention to our minds, our understanding, our mental workings, the whole workings of the inner man. Well, brethren, there's more in scripture than we're going to be considering in these days as we're looking at this. But aren't we aware of the correlation? How you think, how you live. Well, how many of our problems, our struggles, our sins, are directly related to our thinking, to your thinking? How many? Well, again, the purpose of today's studies, I'm just trying to show the importance of this subject, of this matter. Has strong impression been made upon your thinking, that you must control your thoughts, that you must seek to develop a biblical thought life. Brethren, we can't just drift. There's no area in the Christian life where we can just drift. Let her rip, let it go. Let our minds go wherever they will, no. Yeah, I'd say even for the unsaved, you dare not do that. But certainly for the Lord's redeemed, a biblical thought life is vital to living the Christian life. And how many of our battles with sin and with Satan especially are lost or won right here in the mind. Right with regard to our thinking. and thought life, so many ways. In Romans chapter 7, Paul calls his delight in God's law in the inner man, the law of my mind. Here's the law of my mind. I delight in that. And yet there in Romans 7, he speaks also of remaining corruption as a contrary law, a principle that's very active in his members? And does that language not point to the mind, the inner man, as being very much the battlefield? Where battles are won or lost, where the struggles take place in our thinking. Do you find it to be so? Thoughts that are evil, sinful in themselves? Some things that may not be evil in itself, but it leads to sin, or some that are sinful in themselves and lead to worse sin. You know what it is to struggle with these things. Well, God willing, we'll be addressing that, but I just, a few questions to further drive home the importance, brethren, of controlling our thoughts, of having a biblical thought life, thinking biblically. First this, you know the answer. Are sinful thoughts truly sinful? Truly sin before God against God? Are they? And do you see them as such? Do you so see your sinful thoughts as sin against God? Back in that Mark 7 passage, if you've, perhaps you're still there, notice what is said in the broader context. This is, you've got these Pharisees, very religious people finding fault because Jesus' disciples were eating without having first washed their hands, and it wasn't that they were all that concerned about hygiene. Oh, that's dirty. You've got to wash your hands, boy. It wasn't about hygiene. It was that ceremonial defilement. You know, you touch something in the marketplace that some Gentile dog might have sneezed on, and now then you're polluted. Oh, how dare you then. Well, our Lord's pointing out, look, it's not what goes in that defiles the man. It's what comes out that defiles a man because of whence it comes. You'll see our Lord dealing with this, well, verse 20 of Mark 7, what comes out of a man that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, all these evil things. come from within and defile a man. Is there a reason you think evil thoughts is listed first in the list here? I think so. Because that usually precedes the actual doing. Evil breaks out by way of adulteries and fornications and murders and thefts and the like. But even if it's only in the thought life, it's still sin. And the point is, Jesus says these things, even pride and the like, even envy, these defile. That is, they make people unclean. That's obviously so in the case of the unconverted, right? They are not just ceremonially, but really defiled before God as an abomination to God in their sin throughout life. Everything they do, even their mind and conscience is defiled by sin. The picture from the Old Testament, somebody who is ceremonially unclean, they touch say a clean offering and lo and behold you just polluted it. Well so it is with the unsaved. They themselves are unclean, defiled before God in their sin and everything they touch they defile. They can't make themselves right with God no matter what they do because They're touching everything they touch. They pollute. Their sin defiles it. But you know, there's a sense even for believers, though we've been cleansed, yet we still need to be cleansed. That is to say, our sins, if I use the word, are dirty, defiling before God by way of impacting our fellowship with God. And that brings me to a second question. Does God know? Does God see our thoughts? All of our thoughts? Indeed he does. Jeremiah 17 and verse 10, I the Lord search the heart, I test the mind. Hebrews 4.13, no creature is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. The words of the Lord Jesus in Revelation 2.23, even as proof of his deity, I am he who searches the minds and hearts. And you remember how John 2, he doesn't need anybody to testify, he knows what's in man, all men. Or how at times... when the Pharisees and others would be thinking evil in their hearts toward him. How dare this man speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sin but God? Or, oh yeah, he's casting out demons by the power of demons. He's in league with the devil himself. And we're taught Jesus knew their thoughts. It must have been a bit spooky. When they're just thinking these things, and suddenly Jesus addresses them as one who sees their thoughts. Well, the point is, he is aware. He does know our thoughts. And how aware are you of this? How aware are you that God knows your every thought? And do you care? Do you care? If sinful thoughts are truly sinful and God sees our thoughts, what are we to do? Well, surely that means to treat our thoughts accordingly. Deal with our thoughts. Repent of sin. Stop it. Seek to have and ever maintain a biblical thought life, even that of Psalm 1914, let the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight." The aim of that men's conference was, and I quote from their advertisement, to have a thought life which is aligned with God's word, which is pleasing to God, and which will enable us to live to the glory of God. Brethren, let's never forget what is to be our aim. Notice 1 John 2. 1 John 2. Verse one, my little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. Wow, there's nobody who, that's not the point. Here's the aim. Because we think, no, it's my aim to sin as little as possible. Yeah, you're aiming too low and we're gonna sin a plenty. No, the aim is this, 1 Corinthians 15, 34 says the same thing. Awake to righteousness, do not sin. That is to be our aim, to be holy as God is holy. Well, does that not include our thought life? That's not sinning against God, even with our individual thoughts? Brethren, that should impress upon us, we need help. We need help. In your heart of hearts, don't answer out loud, but in your heart of hearts, do you really want help? You really want to be helped? That your thought life is pleasing to God, enabling you to glorify God? Well, might God grant that indeed? And might he use these studies to that great end? And so by way of application, please pray. Pray for each of us. Pray for me in the preaching of it. pray for me in the living it, and pray for you, that we will be helped to develop a biblical thought life. And as you come, come for real help. Come wanting to be truly helped by God's word. What does he say on this? But also come expecting it, because God's word's sufficient. He has spoken to it. But now also this, if sinful thoughts are truly sinful, and we're all guilty, indeed far more than we know, What hope is there? I mean, how many sinful thoughts in a single day? Well, back to 1 John 2, 1, my little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, notice what John said, we. have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He himself is a propitiation for our sins, not for ours only, but also for the whole world. He is the one who suffered and died and paid the debt for sin. We have one who pleads his own blood and righteousness before the Father on our behalf. Brethren, if these are truly sinful, we need to treat them as sin. And that means we ever need to be going to the advocate. ever need to be looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And in that connection, notice verse nine of chapter one. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Those sins, including sinful thinking, that we recognize, then confess them right then. Father, forgive me, I have sinned. Immediately. But this is all part of trusting Christ as our hope, trusting his blood and righteousness, that we stand justified in him. But also, there's this ongoing cleansing from him. Back to verse seven, but if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin. Walking in the light doesn't mean walking perfectly, it does include living by God's word, but it means dealing transparently with God about our sin, confessing and forsaking our sin. But notice it doesn't say, and those sins you confess, those will be washed away. You'll no longer be defiled by those sins. You'll not have that fellowship with God defiled by those sins, the ones you confess. That's not what it says. You confess, but the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all unrighteousness, all sins. Even those that we fail to recognize. Even those things that doesn't even register, but how many ways we all offend. No, these two, cleanse from these so that we might have that ongoing blessed fellowship with God. That's part of walking in the light. Fellowship with God as we're dealing honest with him. Lord, you see my sin. Yes, but I see my advocate, Jesus Christ who bore the wrath, who cleanses. The question is asked in Psalm 130 in verse three, if you mark iniquity, who could stand? The answer is no one. But verse four says, but there's forgiveness with you, that you should be feared. Not that kind of cringing, quaking fear, because forgiven. but that we might know God, that we might truly know God, even as His beloved children, and walk with Him with a good conscience, being cleansed by the blood of Christ as we deal honestly with our sin, all because of Christ our Savior and His perfect atonement for the likes of us. Brethren, think on these things. Bless God for cleansing blood, right? If you're here without Christ, what hope for you? You don't have Christ. What hope for you? Even if you're outwardly moral, God knows your heart and your thoughts. And don't your thoughts testify to what's going on in your heart, what kind of heart you have? And remember Mark chapter 7 talks about these things defile. It's only thoughts. These defile. They make you dirty, defile before God. What hope for you? How can you hope to escape condemnation for all of your sins? How can you know God? There's an answer. His name is Jesus. Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. The one who suffered on that cross, the just in place of the unjust. To bring us to God. the one who came that we might know God, the one who ever lives to save all who come to him, the very one who's rich to all who call upon him. Full pardon for all your sin, a new heart, new mind, that new covenant, the law being written on your heart and mind. Full acceptance with God in Christ right now and forever. That's what's held out to you in Christ and the gospel. So what will you now do? Will you have Christ? Will you trust in him? Will you turn from sin to God through him? Or will you go on? Isaiah chapter one, God himself says, come, let us reason together, though your sins, though your sins, like scarlet, white as snow, red like crimson, white like wool. What will you now do? Flee to Christ. all sin forgiven, life in him. May God grant mercy. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we do thank you for so great salvation and such a glorious savior. Lord Jesus, we thank you that you would bear our sin, our guilt in your own person on the cross, that very anathema of God, that you exhausted the wrath of God in our place. We thank you, Lord God, that there is forgiveness with you, that you should be feared, that you should be known, that we should rightly regard you. Well, we would ask for grace, Lord, that you would help us, that the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts would be well-pleasing in your sight. Help us to control our thought life, to think biblically. And Father, grant even that this small series of studies would be an aid to that end. as it is our burden, our desire to glorify you and to do that which is pleasing in your sight, not only in our outward deeds, not only in our words, but in the meditations of our hearts. Please grant us grace to that end. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.