Well, let me read Philippians chapter four. As you know, we're going through this tremendous little letter. We will be done probably in a month or two with the book of Philippians, and then we'll move on from there. But this has just been a tremendous study for us. Philippians four verses six and seven is where we are tonight. And I want you to know. God gives the sure cure for anxiety. The sure cure for anxiety. You might say that's a pretty audacious claim. And it were, if it were to come from Jeff Kirkland. But it doesn't. It comes from God's word. That's why we can claim it with authority. Because God's word gives us the help. So let me read our text, then I want to pray and I'll preach it and then we'll pray together. Philippians 4, beginning in 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 comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. We pray, oh Father, that you would write your eternal truth upon our heart as we would look at the precious word that shows us Christ. We want to be transformed and we need you, Holy Spirit, to unfold the meaning of the text. not only for us to understand and interpret your word rightly, but for us to apply it and implement it into our daily lives. So come true and living and eternal God and help us to know these things and to apply them to our hearts and to our lives in Jesus name. Amen. We're doing some reading this week. on the website of the ADAA website, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. One might almost become anxious and depressed going to that website and reading some of the things that you find there. But I found it interesting that in the website they say this, anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States affecting 40 million adults in our country, ages 18 and older. Or that's about 18% of the population every single year. The website goes on to say that it is estimated that 23 million Americans suffer from what they call panic attacks. Well, Where does all this come from? Where does anxiety come from? Well, the ADAA website continues, anxiety disorders develop, they come from a complex set of risk factors, including genetics, brain chemistry, personality and life events. They go on to say in the website that therapy and medication are the most effective treatments for those who suffer from anxiety in all of its different forms. That's the worldly, the secular, the medical understanding of anxiety. Now anxiety and fear and worry are all very similarly linked together and closely linked to what we might call like a debilitating fear is the response of anxiety or what we might commonly call worry in our day. Worry or anxiety often focuses on what might happen if something does occur or something does not occur. Worry is often associated with something that appears to be threatening to us, or it might appear to be threatening to a loved one, or a family, or a friend, a family member, or a friend. It might harm my safety, or maybe I want control over something, and I'm finding that I'm not in control over something, and thus, worry and anxiety comes into the picture, and hence, fear comes in. Now we all can relate to this. We all can relate to anxiety and worry and fear, every single one of us. But the fact of the matter is that when we are anxious, it shows in that moment of anxiety, it shows that we have a lack of confidence in God's care for his children. Anxiety shows a lack of faith. It shows a lack of trust. It shows lack of prayer, and it shows a lot of pride. When we are worried about the future or anxious or fearful, when we're, when we're worried or anxious about the unknown or a situation that might or might not happen, when we are fearful, it reveals pride that has taken root in our hearts. because we are not trusting in the Lord, but rather we're attempting to handle that situation on our own. Thus, that's our anxiety and our fear and our worry. And first Peter chapter five really sort of brings these two ideas together, relating pride together with anxiety because you know, first Peter five, eight, therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon him because he cares for you. So you've got a connection between humility and one who is not anxious because he's praying. But somebody who's not praying and they are filled with anxiety is somebody who is prideful. 1 Peter 5 makes that link. And there is tremendous hope for us in our text tonight. For those of us that might battle with worry or fear, or anxiety in all of its different forms. There is great hope in God's Word. There is great security in God and in Christ and in the gospel. And our text tonight, Philippians 4, is providing the sure cure for anxiety that the supernatural counsel is given. Don't be anxious. That's God's counsel. Don't be anxious. That's the God's counsel. What is the sure consequence? God's peace is going to prevail. God's peace will So what do the secularists, what do those who have no category for the Bible and God and sin, what do the professionals in the community around us, in our society, tell us about anxiety? Well, here's what they might say. Anxiety is normal and it comes from your biology or your genetics or your brain chemistry or your DNA. And second of all, it comes from your environment or it comes from your surroundings or your personality or what has happened to you in life. Solution or what's the consequence of all of that? You are a victim. You're a victim. You are a victim. You, you can't do anything about it. And how, when you look at it from that perspective, how sad. How, how hopeless, how tragic that that's the best that could be said is that you're a victim of your anxiety, but let it be said clearly and let us look into God's word and know that God has a very different solution. God, God has a far better, a far deeper, a far more lasting and a far more comforting solution than what the world could offer someone. And yet, if you look, look in your Bible at the very end of verse seven, here's the key of the whole thing. The key to what we are going to say tonight is that it is for those who are in Christ Jesus. This is biblical counseling 101 for those who are worried and anxious and fearful tonight, for those who are Christians, for those who are in Christ. What does that mean? You've been changed in your heart by God, that you have the power, you have the ability to obey God and to follow His ways. You believe in the authority of God's Word. You're surrounded by the local church. You've got men and women around you to hold you accountable and lift you up in prayer. That's a Christian who can do this. You say, well, what about a non-Christian? What about a non-Christian who suffers from panic attacks and worry and fear and anxiety and all the different forms? Here's the answer. It's not giving them a whole bunch of principles from the Bible that he commands believers to follow. Rather, the answer is the gospel. The answer is the gospel. Until God changes the heart and then they are enabled to follow God and obey God and live by God's commands. So the question for us, even as we begin, is are you in Christ Jesus? Have you been united to Christ Jesus? Are you trusting in him? Are you depending upon him? Is he your righteousness? Is all that he is yours by faith and faith alone in this great and sufficient Savior? If so, then these verses are the sure cure for anxiety. that God has for every one of us who are Christians. So, we are here in Philippians 4. Paul is giving his concluding words to the congregation that he loves in the city of Philippi. Remember in verse 1, he poured out his heart and he said to the believers, I want you to stand firm in the Lord. Remember that? In verse 1, stand firm in the Lord. Verses 1 through 7 really sort of paints all of the ways that believers are to stand firm in the Lord. And we've looked at that the last number of weeks. Tonight, what I want to do is finish that in verses six and seven, talking about killing the sin of anxiety with constant prayer and resting confidently in the protective peace that God gives. You say, Jeff, so what's the sure cure? It's all around us, anxiety and worry and fear. It's all around us. It's one of the most common quote unquote mental illnesses in the United States, according to the worldly standards. So what is the sure cure for this? Well, Paul's going to give it to us to kill the dragon of anxiety. We must expose it. We must exterminate it. We must exchange it and we must expect peace. We're going to look at all four of those as we go through tonight. This is kind of an outline that is really sort of shaped by a biblical counseling worldview. What does that mean? That God not only says, here's what you don't do, but he tells you what to replace bad habits with. And that's what we're going to look at tonight. Expose the sin, exterminate the sin, exchange the sin, and then expect God's Really, quite simply, if I could just say this, the way to be anxious about nothing is to be prayerful about everything. The way to be anxious about nothing is to be prayerful about everything. Or, you could say, turn your anxious thoughts or anxious worries into thankful prayers. Might sound simple, but let's go through this together. Now we have to look at first, we want to expose the sin of anxiety. That is to say, we got to just call it what it is. We have to call it what it is because the world calls it a mental illness. The world calls it a disease, a condition, a problem, a disorder, an identity dysfunction, a normal reaction, an inevitable consequence of genetics or brain chemistry. And that's what the world defines anxiety as. But God has a very different title for it. He calls it sin. God calls it sin. Why? Look at verse 6. Be anxious. for nothing. It's an imperative. It's a command. God isn't asking us. He's not trying to make a bargain with us or compromise with us or lay forth his opinion to us. He gives an imperative. He commands believers to not be anxious. That means it's a moral issue. And it comes from our hearts. Anxiety is in a person's heart. Proverbs 12 verse 25 tells us. Jesus said in Matthew 6 verse 25, do not be worried. It's a command. And then in Matthew 6 34, do not worry about tomorrow. And then in another place, Luke 12 verse 22, do not worry about your life. Don't worry. So as long as somebody might see their anxiety or their fear or their worry, and yet they refuse to call it a sin, there's no real solution and there's no real, real hope. But if we agree with God that this is a moral issue, it is a sin against God, then there is hope. Why? Because God is a God who forgives sinners and God is one who offers help and he offers hope and he offers grace and mercy to sinners. But if we don't call it, if it's just merely a disease, if it's a condition, if it's something that you're a victim by, what hope is there in that? But if we say, here's what God says, it's sin, but here's the forgiveness that God offers. And here's the hope that God has and offers for change. You see, we have to call it what it is. And that's the first step in exposing the sin of anxiety. It's not a mental illness. It is not a disease. It is not a disorder. It is not an identity dysfunction. It is not an inevitable consequence of genetics or brain chemistry. God calls it sin. Well, okay, so, Jeff, what do we do? Number two, we expose this thing. Now, number two, we must exterminate it. We must kill it. We must slay it. We must strangle it. We must put to death the deeds of the flesh, Colossians 3 says. Look at what Paul says in verse 6. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Be anxious for nothing. We don't tickle a predator, nor do we ignore it or pretend that it's not really that big of a deal. We are commanded in Romans eight and Colossians three to wage war with our sin, to put to death the deeds of the flesh. And God tells us to be anxious for nothing. It's a command for us all. And it's a command for us, verse seven, who are in Christ Jesus. And here's the good news. I know it sounds maybe a little bit lofty. How could I, how could I not be anxious? But here's the good news. You can do it. You, you can obey God. You can live an anxiety free life. It's possible. It's possible because we are in Christ. You see, we become worried. And people become anxious and fearful quite simply because we're not trusting God's wisdom. And because we're not trusting God's power or we're not trusting God's goodness. And it's one of those three. It's either God's wisdom or His power or His goodness or it could be all three that we're not trusting. Well, maybe we fear in the moment that God is not good enough, or we might fear that God is not wise enough, or we might fear that He's not strong enough to prevent disaster. But the answer to the sin of anxiety and worry is not inaction. And it is not apathy. It's not denial. It is not substance abuse. It is not alcoholism. It is not therapy. It's not behavioral modification, nor is it environmental change or medication. The solution to anxiety is prayer and a confident trust in God. It is prayer and a confident trust in God. Or to say it again, the way to be anxious about nothing is to be prayerful about everything. We want to turn our anxious worries into thankful prayers. What do we learn about this? How is this said to be true in the Bible? Remember in Luke chapter 10, when Mary and Martha were there having Jesus over for a meal, remember that? And Mary was seated at the feet of the Lord, listening to his word and receiving the word. And Martha was so busy with all the preparations. And Jesus said to her, Martha, Martha, here's our word. You are worried and you're distracted by so many things, but only one thing is needed. You see, what happened to Martha was that her worry, her anxiety kept her from serving the Savior. Or we read in Proverbs 28 verse 1, the wicked flee when no one is pursuing. That's what fear and worry and anxiety will do to you. You flee when nobody's pursuing. It's like you're chained. It's like you're enslaved to anxiety and panic and worry. Jesus told a story in Luke chapter eight about a man who would sow seed and one of the hearers were those that because of the worries and the anxieties of life choked out the word and it did not bear fruit. That's the power of anxiety. That's the power of worry and the power of fear is that it can choke out the word for someone who hears the truth but does not believe. Proverbs 15, 15 says, all the days of the afflicted are bad. It's just that bad to be afflicted with worry and anxiety. Proverbs 12, 25, anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down. Where does anxiety come from? God says it comes from the heart. It comes from the heart. In Psalm 38, David is praying. And in Psalm 38 and verse six, he says, I am bent over and greatly bowed down. I go mourning all day long. David is in great trouble in Psalm 38 verse 18. He says, I confess my iniquity. I am full of anxiety because of my sin. Maybe you can relate. You say, I just feel like I'm full of anxiety. I just can't get over this. David said it's because of my sin. He has enemies, he's being wrongly accused. What does he do? At the very end of the psalm, he goes to prayer. Don't forsake me, Lord. Oh my God, do not be far from me. Make haste to help me, oh Lord, my salvation. What's the sure cure for anxiety? It's prayer and confident trust in God. The way to be anxious about nothing is to be prayerful. about everything. You say, Jeff, it's one thing for you to say that. But what about a doctor? Well, look in your outline, medical doctor Robert Smith. medical doctor's desk reference is the book where this came from. He says, quote, anxiety is primarily a problem of the heart and the mind, which sometimes produces problems in the body, no doubt. But as the Lord has been showing me in the past few years, anxiety and the depressive tendencies that often accompany it are often directly linked to thought patterns, negative ways of thinking that we have unknowingly trained ourselves in throughout our lives. Thankfully, though, he says, the Bible not only acknowledges the problem of anxiety and its prominence in our lives, but it provides the key solution, which is prayer. But not merely prayer. but a specific kind of prayer, an ingredient in prayer, which keeps prayer God-centered rather than the self-centered recitation of our wish list. What is that key ingredient? It is thanksgiving in prayer. Now, let's go to number three in your outline. So we've exposed the sin. We've got to exterminate the sin, put it to death. Well, what do we do now? If we are not going to be anxious, what do we do in its place? exchange it. We want to replace it with thankful praying. This is, this is God, the perfect biblical counselor offering help to hurting and anxious and worried Christians. The Bible challenges us not only what we should not do, but the Bible also tells us what we should do in its place. And practically what that means is that when we encounter stressors in life, moments when we are tempted, we should exercise emotional and cognitive and behavioral self-control and make ourselves deliberately think about what an appropriate biblical response would be in that moment. So instead of impulsively and emotionally reacting, In the moment when we, when we are sensing fear and worry and anxiety, we ought to say, what would God have me to do? How should I biblically respond to this situation? Turn, turn to your Bible with me briefly to Psalm 77. Psalms, let's do a little survey as we go through a couple of Psalms here very briefly. And I want to show you just for instance, how we can exchange anxiety with a godly prayerfulness and trusting God. So Psalm 77 verse 4, you have held my eyelids open. I am so troubled that I cannot speak. You ever been there? It's like I can't even talk. I'm so overwhelmed with trouble and fear and worry and anxiety. Notice verse eight, wait, has God's loving kindness ceased forever? Has his promise come to an end forever? Has God forgotten to be gracious or has his anger withdrawn his compassion? What does he do? He goes through the rest of the Psalm, remembering who God is, the character of God. And he praises God and he worships God and he exalts in God's name. Turn ahead to Psalm 91. We see here in Psalm 91, we read it earlier. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. What do you do when you're worried and fearful? You go to God. You go to God and you say, God, I'm going to dwell in your shelter. I'm going to abide in your shadow. You are my refuge. You are my fortress and my trust. Look at verse five, you will not be afraid of the terror by night or of the arrow that flies by day. Verse seven, a thousand may fall at your side and 10,000 at your right hand, but it will not approach you. Why? Verse nine, you've made the Lord my refuge, even the most high your dwelling place. No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent. What does God say in verse 14? Because he has loved me, therefore God says, I will deliver him. I will set him securely on high because he has known my name. He will call upon me and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him with a long life. I will satisfy him and let him see my salvation. Or Psalm 92, verse one, it is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to your name, O Moth Thai, to declare your loving kindness in the morning and your faithfulness by night. Verse four, for you, O Lord, have made me glad by what you have done. I will sing for joy at the works of your hands. What does Isaiah the prophet say to people in Isaiah 35, verse four? say to those with an anxious heart. Now, what would, what would God say? Isaiah 35 verse four, say to those with anxious heart, Isaiah 35, four, take courage. Do not be afraid. Behold, your God will come with vengeance. The recompense of God will come, but He will save you. What does that mean? The way to fight anxiety is to remember who God is and to remember that God saves us. Jeremiah 17 verse 8, blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. whose trust is in the Lord. He will be like a tree planted by the water that extends its roots by a stream. He will not fear when the heat comes and its leaves will be green. It will not be anxious in a year of drought. What is he saying? When we are trusting in God and when we are relying upon God, the Bible says we will not be fearful and we will not be anxious. So that's what Philippians says, be anxious for nothing, but in everything that is in every single circumstance, let your everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known to God. Now back to Philippians 4, he's going to bring out four words for prayer right here. Prayer, supplication, requests, and then thanksgiving. And it all emphasizes the supremacy of prayer. The priority of prayer. And notice what is to saturate it all. Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. It speaks of specific prayers. that are thankful prayers and not, not vague generalities or hurried blessings. God bless me and do this for me and fulfill this for me. And, but, but very specific pouring out of the soul to our father who sits on heavens throne. Is there an anxious situation that is in your future? Is there something that is uncertain in your future? Is there a loved one that you want to come to faith? Is there a parent or a child or a relative or a neighbor? Is it finances or hardship or illness or health? What is it that could bring anxiety to our hearts? God says, pray about it and be thankful to God in your prayers. That's the sure cure. for anxiety. It's an interesting phrase in verse six, let your requests be made known. Interesting way Paul puts it, make it known to God. It's a way of saying, it's a way of saying full self-disclosure to God, full self-disclosure and total dependence upon God in prayer. You say, Jeff, okay, I get what you're saying. I get what you're saying, but practically help me out. How do I exchange my anxiety for thankful praying? Your outline gives you three thoughts. Number one, choose to see and view everything through the grid or the framework of the sovereignty of God. God is in control. He's the king. He's the ruler. He's the monarch. He's good. He's wise. He's powerful. But second of all, we must deliberately choose to thank God for His power, for His promises, and for His watch care over us. And third, we want to survey scripture, and we want to think and act upon what God wants us to do. So, we want to think and act obediently, rather than react emotionally or impulsively. Or simply, remember God, thank God, and then third, obey God. And that's verse six in our text, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And then, if we expose the sin, we exterminate the sin, we exchange the sin, and now, fourth and finally, you can expect something. I think this is like the Lord giving a warm fatherly comfort to us. This woos us, this draws us to himself. This is God full of tender mercies speaking to every one of your hearts tonight as believers in Christ. Look at what he promises you in verse 7, and the peace of God. which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Again, it's only a promise for a believer in verse 7. You've got to be in Christ Jesus. But he promises the peace of God. And because the war with God is over, or maybe we ought to say God's war with us is over, In the doctrine of justification, having put our faith in Christ, we are saved and the war with God is over. God now promises the peace of God, His very own peace. It's a tranquil calm in the heart. Think about this. God is a very unworried God. He's a very unhurried God. God never gets stressed out. He's a happy God. And He gives this peace to us in our hearts. Isaiah 26 says, it is a confident calm that God gives to His people. Psalm 29, the Lord will bless His people with peace. Jesus said in John 14, peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. Don't let your heart be troubled. The peace of God, you say, Jeff, that's, that's, that's pretty amazing. Well, look at the next phrase, which surpasses all comprehension. What does that mean? It's supernatural. And I bet every Christian in this room can testify to that. You could raise your hand and you could, you could go for testimony after testimony and say, I don't know how God gave me peace in that situation, but he did. That's what this is talking about. and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension. It's supernatural. It's unfathomable. It's ultimately unexplainable, but it's from God and it gives us a peace in the midst of the storm. It surpasses all comprehension. Notice the promise. It will, verse seven, it will guard. It will guard. Now, this is neat. If you're living in ancient Philippi, this has a special significance for you. Why? Because you're living in a Roman city, a Roman colony in the Roman Empire. What does that mean? You've got Roman military soldiers all around you keeping guard. And that's the military nature of this word. God's peace is like a military guard. It's like watchmen that are sitting high and above and they're standing alert and they're watching a citadel to guard the citadel from all invaders. So God's peace keeps us, holds us, guards us from all harm. That's the point of verse seven. And notice what it does not promise. It doesn't say, and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, it's going to get you out of that hard situation. It doesn't say that. It doesn't say that it's going to evaporate the trouble or eliminate the problem. No, no, no. What it does say is that God will give you his own perfect peace, even while the problems are surrounding you. He guards your heart. That's where anxiety takes root in the heart. God guards our hearts. The very seat of all of our affections, the origin of all of our affections and our minds, how we think and how we comprehend our worldview. God guards us. Again, all this though is for those who are in Christ Jesus. Do you hear all of the tender comforts that God promises to his people? Oh, it's a bold command. Be anxious for nothing. That's, that's bold. That's big. That's huge. But yet God is so full of tender comforts and safe securities. When he says, you give everything up to me in thankful prayer, you rely on me, you trust in me, and I will give you my own peace to guard you, to help you, to watch over you. to help you, to sustain you. And as I, as I was thinking about how this practically, practically can help us as we, as we take these principles of exposing the sin and then we exterminate the sin and we exchange it and then we expect God's peace. So what do you do when you begin to get worried tomorrow or you begin to become fearful tomorrow or anxiety wells up in your heart tomorrow? What do you do? Well, Maybe you can write out a few things and reflect on these and pray on it. In your outline, I gave you a bunch of check marks there just as a way of getting you started. And really, this is kind of a guide for us in our prayer time tonight. We are to pray with thankful prayers. So thank God for his character, love, mercy, holiness, sovereignty, eternality, compassion, On and on you could go. His creation, your conversion, His church, His continuance, that is His sustaining power, His control, His kingship, His compassions toward us, His communication, that He's given us the Bible, His changelessness, that He never changes all of the comforts that God gives and His certainties, that is the promises that God gives in the Word. We can turn all of our anxious worries into thankful prayers by writing out these different ways that we're thankful and then rehearsing them and then meditating on them again and again and again and then rejoicing in who our God is. And the more that we trust in him and pray to him and thank God, that is the sure cure for anxiety. In your outline said at the very beginning of our time, the way to be anxious about nothing is to be prayerful about everything. May the Lord help us to do that even tonight as we pray. Father, thank you for the guidance in your word for us who are believers. Lord, for nonbelievers, the best and most loving and surest hope that we could give them is that there is a savior who is willing to forgive all of their sin if they would humble themselves and repent and come to you. But for those of us who are in Christ, those of us that are united to Christ, oh, we pray that we would heed this divine counsel. And that we would expose sin, that we would exterminate the sin of anxiety, that we would exchange it with thankful praying. And that we would expect your peace and that we would bathe in the comforts of your peace to guide us through life in Jesus name. Amen.