We'll bow together for a word of prayer before we read the Scriptures and come to the Lord's message. Let's all pray. Our Heavenly Father, we rejoice today in the free pardon and in the full forgiveness found in our Lord Jesus Christ and obtained by faith alone through resting in His work. And we thank Thee for all here who are pardoned, and who are rejoicing in the forgiveness of their sins. And we pray, Lord, that Thou wilt bless others also with this greatest blessing of all, even this very Sabbath morning. May there be that work of grace done in some sinner's heart. Bless us here as we turn to the Scriptures. May the reading of them and the preaching of them redound to Thy glory. For we pray this in our Savior's name and for our Savior's sake. Amen and Amen. Returning to Philippians chapter 4, let us read the Word of God right there in that chapter, beginning to read at verse 4. Philippians chapter 4, reading from verse 4. Let us hear the Word of God. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, If there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things, 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. And God will add his blessing to the reading of his infallible word. One of the marks of being a true child of God is to enjoy spiritual enlightenment. That is the evidence of having come to know the Lord. There is an illumination of the understanding. In false religion, we find that spiritual illumination does not exist. Indeed, it is true to say that false religion can only survive when the minds of its adherents are kept in darkness and do not have spiritual illumination. It is through spiritual blindness that false religion is able to prey upon its victims. But with the coming of the gospel, there is, of course, gospel light and gospel understanding brought to the soul and all the fetters of darkness and blindness are broken, and that individual comes into the glorious light and freedom of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is also true to say, moreover, that the mind of the Christian, having been spiritually enlightened in the new birth, needs to be enlightened more and more and develop in its understanding of things that have to do with the gospel and with the truth. You will notice, therefore, in the final words of verse 8, which is our text, there is commanded by the Apostle Paul the injunction to the believer to think on these things. The Christian is to think. he is to use his mind, think on these things. The original word for think actually means to reckon, and it's translated in that way in a number of verses. The idea of the word is that of taking account of a certain subject, of a certain matter, and thoughtfully considering what is before the mind and reflecting in your mind and in your heart on what you have just read. So these words, think on these things, do set before us the posture of the child of God exercising his mind and his heart with regard to the truth and the revelation of God in Holy Scripture and through the Lord Jesus Christ. The things on which we are commanded to think, as far as our text is concerned, are sixfold. This text speaks of things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report. All these, of course, are qualities of great spiritual and indeed moral value. They are of tremendous worth and we are to think upon them, we are to dwell upon them and they should occupy our minds. But you see, these six things of which we read in this verse They find their fullness in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Christ who is pre-eminently true and honest and just and pure and lovely and of good report. It is in Him and in all the attributes that pertain to who He is and to what He has done that we find these six qualities in all their fullness. and in all their power and in all their beauty. And therefore, when the Apostle actually commands us, for this is a command, think on these things, when he commands us to think on these six qualities that are listed here, he is really urging us to meditate upon the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. It is Christ, as we have said, who is all this. And therefore, we are not to think that we are to sit as it were, and dwell upon moral qualities that are described here. That is, moral qualities or spiritual values. No, we are to think on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how to understand what Paul is saying here. They're all gathered up in Christ. They're all embodied in Christ. They are all found in Christ in their perfection. and in their fullness. And therefore, when he says, think on these things, he is really saying to us that we are to dwell upon our Saviour. Now, the question then arises, what will be the result of the believer thinking on these things? That is, meditating, dwelling upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, notice with me how the verse begins. It says, Finally, brethren, Then he goes on to give these six qualities and encourage us to think on them. Notice the word, finally. Now, it does not mean that Paul has come to the end of the epistle, because as we can see, he goes on here to write a few more sections after this particular verse or two that we're looking at today. So he hasn't come to the end of his epistle. But when he says, finally, in verse 8, We must understand that he is connecting what he says in verse 8 with what he has just said in verses 4 through to 7. In verses 4 to 7, the Apostle Paul is addressing the situation where the believer is facing certain difficulties, certain trials, causing for him great perplexity. And therefore, as he deals with that, the situation in which these Philippians were found and in which God's people still are found, and we will see that more and more when we get into this message today, and look at those prior verses. As he deals with those things, he gives this great exhortation. Now listen, here is a way in which you can overcome all that I have just been dealing with here regarding your trials and your difficulties. Think on these things. So the word finally, you see, refers us back to the previous verses. And the inference, therefore, is very, very clear. Dwelling on Christ, thinking on Christ, meditating on the Lord Jesus Christ. And we'll see more and more of what that actually is, I trust, today. But meditating on Christ or dwelling on Christ will lead to the believer overcoming in various circumstances that might even threaten to undo him and overthrow him in his spiritual walk and in his spiritual pilgrimage. That is why this verse is actually in the Bible. It is written as a final exhortation concerning what Paul has just said here in the verses that precede this text. And I want to leave this text with you as a model text for this year, 2002. Let's read it again. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true. Let's just read the qualities. Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, think on these things. Think on Christ. Dwell on Christ during the days and the months that lie ahead if we will be able to overcome that which may come against us. This is the setting and this is the plain sense of this text. in that setting, we are to think on these things that we might be overcomers during 2002. Now there are two areas which I want to bring to your attention in which the believer will be able to overcome as he meditates on the Lord Jesus Christ. There are many more areas that could be mentioned, but I want to deal with the areas that Paul mentions in the preceding verses, as indeed in our text. Two areas in which the Christian will overcome by the grace of God and the power of the Spirit as he meditates on Christ, on these things. First of all, the believer is to fill his mind with Christ in order to overcome worry. In order to overcome worry. These Philippians were very anxious. That comes out when you read verse 6 and it says, Be careful for nothing. And the word means be anxious, be not worried. Paul is saying here, in any circumstance or in any situation. Now these Philippians had a lot of worries on their minds. For example, when you read through this book, you will discover that Paul was in prison. And that was a great concern to these people. And it comes out when you read the epistle carefully. They were very worried. They were very concerned about their beloved apostle, the apostle Paul. There was that worrying them. There was also the sickness of Epaphroditus. If you look at chapter 2 and verse 27, it says, of Epaphroditus. In fact, go back a verse. I look at verse 26. He longed after you all and was full of heaviness because that ye had heard that he had been sick. These people had heard of another man of God who was dear to them and he was sick. And we are told here that he was sick nigh unto death. So that was a worry to the church in Philippi. And then when you go through the book itself and look at it carefully, you'll find in regard to internal things in that church, there were a lot of worries, a lot of situations that caused much worry to God's people. There were divisions in that church. And the spiritual in the congregation were deeply concerned about that. Also there were the attacks that were coming from the enemy, and there were various perplexities. It's all there when you read the epistle, and therefore these people obviously were worried, and that is true. When you look at verse 6 here in chapter 4, because if there were nothing else to tell us that they were worried, these words do. Be careful for nothing. Don't be anxious. Don't be worried. That's putting it in plain language. And that tells us right away that these people were worried. They were experiencing many of the troubles and the trials that God's people continue to experience. There's nothing new under the sun, the Bible tells us. And what your worries are today, what your concerns are today, as you look into another year, remember that they have been the worries and the concerns in one way or another of the saints of God in former generations. So, the worries are always there in the hearts of the people of God. anxious, concerned and troubled for various reasons. And Paul comes along and he says to us today, don't be worried. Now, I want you to notice something. When Paul says that, be careful for nothing, he doesn't leave it there. He doesn't stop there. Have you ever noticed someone coming along and you're in trouble and they clap you on the back perhaps? Well, they do something else and they say, don't be worried. and then they walk away. And what they're really saying is, keep your worry to yourself. I don't want to know about it. That's really what sometimes we mean when we do that. Because very often we don't know what to say. We don't know how to deal with the situation. So we feel we have to say something just to pass ourselves and try to help the person We may be very sincere, but at the end of the day, we are really saying, look, well, I know you're worried and you're troubled about this thing, but don't be worried, and then off we go, because we want them just to keep it to themselves. Paul didn't do that. Paul didn't say to these people, I know you're worried, don't be worried, and then leave it there. Rather, you will find that not only did he tell them they shouldn't worry and should not be anxious, but he went on to show them how to stop worrying. Now I think that if I were able today to help you to stop worrying, you might be very thankful indeed. And you might even imagine, well is that possible? Is it possible for me, with all my concerns, you might say, and all the things that are on my mind and all the anxieties that are in my heart, is it really possible to come to a situation where that worry at least will diminish? It will not be as great as it was perhaps in the year gone by. It will not be as pressing as it was formerly. You might say, well, if that is possible, I want to hear what you have to say. Well, let's look here, because Paul, in this 8th verse where he says, think of these things, is actually saying to these people to meditate on Christ. And as we meditate on the Lord Jesus Christ, it is a way, in fact, my friend, it is the only way to overcome our worries and our concerns and our perplexities in life. No matter what they are, we are to focus on the Lord. Now, we are to focus on the Lord's glorious person. And I've already said to you, when you look at verse 8 and consider what Paul says there, this list of virtues and values, we find that they find their fullness and their epitome in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is abundantly and superlatively true and honest. and just and pure and lovely and of good report. And furthermore, he is unchangeably so. The Lord Jesus Christ is unchangeably true and honest and so on. He is never going to disappoint you in any of these areas. It is impossible for the Lord Jesus Christ to be a disappointment when it comes to this matter of being true or honest or just. So, when we look at these words and they find their epitome in Christ, what we are really seeing is that the Apostle Paul is exhorting us to look at the person of our Saviour, And when we look at the person of our Saviour, because He is all this, you see, He is abundantly, supernatively, unchangeably true and honest and so on. When we look at the person of Christ, we are automatically taken to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, keep that in mind and look with me at verse 4. And notice how this little section starts out. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. And then he ended up by saying, finally, whatsoever things are true and so on, think of these things. So when you connect verse 4 and verse 8, you will see that he is pointing us to the Lord. And when he points us to the Lord, who is all this, as is described in our text, he is pointing us to his glorious person, who he actually is. But you see, when we come to the person that the Lord has indicated and we rejoice in Him Himself, we are also to see what He has done. So the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ are right here in these verses. Now verse 4 says, Rejoice in the Lord always. I want you to see that. Rejoice in the Lord always. Paul is showing us here that it is always possible to rejoice in Jesus Christ, even in the worst circumstances that you may ever face, that you may ever encounter, it is always possible to rejoice in Christ, rejoice in the Lord, always. And therefore, since we are always able to rejoice in the Lord, we are always able to rejoice in what Christ has done. I have told you over and over again in preaching that you can never separate who Christ is from what Christ has done. So when Paul says, Rejoice in the Lord, the person of our Lord, he is automatically referring to what our Saviour has done for us. And he is saying to us, listen carefully, men and women, we are not to permit our worries to rob us of the enjoyment of who the Saviour is and what the Saviour has done. But to go a step further, Paul's point here is that whatever is causing your concerns and your worries at this very moment, whatever is causing them, can't change Christ. Can't change what Jesus Christ has done for you. And that truth is designed to deliver you from your stress and your worry and your concern. Now, what I'm showing you, my friend, is a very, very practical thing, but it is inseparably connected with the gospel. You've heard me say now and then that the way to deal with every situation in life is to apply the gospel. When people are worried and concerned, God's people, What are they often told? They are often told to go to somebody and get a bit of advice. And I'm talking now about a psychologist, for example. They're told that he will help them, or someone else, or do something, whatever it might be. They're given all this advice, and the problem is that what I do not in any way disparage a man's profession or qualifications. At the end of the day, what the Christian needs is the gospel. Now that may seem very simplistic, but it's true. And that's what Paul's doing right here. He's dealing with a people who are worried. What does he tell them? He says, rejoice in the Lord. And he says, think on these things. They're all found in Christ. Here's the best psychology you could ever have. Here is the answer, my friend. Here is the way in which your worries will be alleviated. You see, when we focus on the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, remember this, that those things that are causing you to be worried cannot change the Lord Jesus. Rejoice in that. And He cannot change what the Lord Jesus has done. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, when we consider who He is, we must remember that it's all summed up for us that He is the God-Man. And that's designed to help us. That's designed to show us that He's with us. He's sympathetic. He feels our infirmities. He knows what we're going through. He is the God-Man. He's not purely and only divine, thank God. He is human. He is the One who took our humanity Just as the children, Paul says, are partakers of flesh and blood, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself partook of the same. Hebrews 2 verse 14, He took our humanity, therefore He is the God-Man. Furthermore, He took our humanity eternally. He never has set it aside. He went back to heaven as the God-Man. The disciples saw Him ascend up as a true man and yet true God. And the angels said, He is going to come back the same way. The same Jesus will come again as you saw Him go. Now, my friend, that means that right now the Lord Jesus Christ is in heaven as a man. The God-man. He is in His humanity. It is a glorified humanity. But He has His humanity. He has not changed. Isn't that good to know? The Lord Jesus Christ hasn't changed. But you see, neither has the power, the victory of the work that he did. And when the Apostle says to us here, Rejoice in the Lord and think in these things, he is bringing us to see that as we dwell on the unchanging and unchangeable Christ, we are automatically brought to dwell upon the power and the victory of the work that he has done for his people, the work of the cross. the giving up of himself as a sacrifice, the offering up of his own body to satisfy divine justice. And therefore, he's focusing us right here on all the benefits that we have from the work of Christ. That's the point that we need to get to right here. Christ is the God-man. Christ has done a certain work, the work of redemption. And as a result of that work, you and I are what? You and I are the recipients of our God's people of all the blessings and all the benefits that flow from that work. And Paul says to us here, essentially, rejoice in that. Rejoice in who the Lord is and rejoice in what the Lord has done for you. Because in rejoicing in all that, you are rejoicing in something that is unchangeable. Now, think of your own experience, dear Christian. What has God done for you through Christ? Because of who the Lord is, because of what the Lord has done, what has God done for you? God has chosen you, redeemed you, reconciled you, justified you. He is sanctifying you. He has sealed you for heaven. He will take you one day into glory. He has given you the Holy Spirit. He has gone to prepare a place for you. And the glorious thing is that whatever is troubling you today cannot change that. We can't change that. That is why the Gospel, if we apply it to our own minds and to our situations in life, it will begin to deliver us from worry. You see, what Paul is really saying is this. You can trust the Lord, or you have trusted the Lord, to do for you the greatest thing that any man could ever receive. You have trusted the Lord, the God-Man, and His finished work to save you from hell, to save you from eternal ruin. Now Paul is saying, can you not trust Him to help you overcome this difficulty, this concern, this battle that you're having, this trouble that you're going through? And of course, the answer is you can trust Him. And therefore, what you are going through right now cannot rob you of any of the blessings of the Gospel. Dear Christian, take that to your heart. Those things that are making you worried, and I'm not saying here that believers don't have worries, and I'm not saying either that the things that cause us to be worried are not real. I'm very, very aware that they are real and they do worry God's people. But what I am showing you is this, that those things that are making you worried and making you anxious and making you troubled in your heart and mind, They cannot change the Lord. They cannot change the work He has done on the cross. And therefore, they cannot rob you of the blessings that you have been given through your union with the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is essentially what Paul says here and in so many other places. Think of that great statement, Romans 8.35, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? And then Paul goes into a detailed description of potential things that might separate us from the Lord. And you read that passage from verse 35 onwards in Romans 8, and you will find that Paul, as it were, he ransacks heaven and earth and hell. And he says this, nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing, my friend, I don't care what it is, or how great it is, or how perplexing it is, or how troublesome it is, I don't care how strong the enemy might be that you're facing right now, nothing can separate you from the love of God in Jesus Christ. You're to focus on the glorious person of the Lord, then the work of our Lord, then the blessings you have from who He is and what He has done. And as you think on these things, remember that they can't be taken away from you. It is your worries, or what's causing your worries, I should say, can't take them away from you. The problem is, it's the worries that cloud our minds And we don't see the things that we have in Christ. They're still there. They haven't been removed, you see. But the worry itself draws a veil sometimes. And we're not able to contemplate the Lord. We're not able to gaze on Him. We're not able to see Him as we should. Now we have let our worries blink for us and blind us to who He is and what He has done and the blessings we have in Him. They're still there, you see. But I just don't see them at the moment. So Paul is saying to us here today, refocus. And maybe you would do well at the beginning of this new year to refocus. You have struggled during 2001, maybe the whole year, maybe a large part of it, or maybe a small part. I don't know what it might be. You have really struggled with some worry or other. And it has clouded your whole spiritual outlook and your perception of things. It has caused you to be unfocused. and you're not looking at the Lord, and you're not meditating on who He is and what He has done, on His glorious person and His work for you and all the benefits of that, my friend, I think you need to refocus. Because that's what you're commanded to do right here. Now listen to this. This is the best advice you could ever have. This is the advice of the Holy Ghost. This is God's antidote to worry. This is God's way of overcoming worry. Focus on Christ. Fill your mind with Christ, His glorious person. But then there's something more here. There's His glorious position. You see, when He says, Think in these things, He takes us, as we have said, to the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him all these graces are found in all their fullness. But when He takes us to Christ, And when he says to us there in verse 4, Rejoice in the Lord always. Where is Christ? And the answer is, of course, He's at the Father's right hand. That's what I mean by His glorious position. He's at the right hand of the Father. There at the right hand of God. Now see it this way, dear brothers and sisters. At the right hand of God today, there is a person who is absolutely altogether and without fail true, honest, just, lovely, pure, of good report. Where is he? He is at the right hand of God. He is there in heaven. He is in his glorious an exalted state. And the wonderful thing is that we are to focus on that because there He is in all these qualities and all their fullness at the right hand of God. There's His glorious possession. Now when you focus on the glorious possession of the Lord Jesus Christ, because that's involved in thinking on these things, that's involved in rejoicing in the Lord, what are you actually doing? You're being reminded that He is in absolute control of your life. Please see it that way. There's something worrying you. There's something that's really troubling you. It may be that you're not feeling so well. It may be that something has arisen in your life and you're not sure what to do and you're really concerned. What does Paul tell you to do? He tells you to fill your mind with Christ, to focus on who he is as a glorious person, but to focus on the fact of his glorious position. All that he has described here, he is in his exalted state right now, which means that he is in absolute control of the situation that's causing your concern. The thing that's worrying you. He's actually in control. He's over it. It's like that day when the disciples were on the boat. And this is a very vivid, and I believe a good illustration of the situation. Over there in Matthew chapter 14, notice with me that scene there. When those disciples were out on the boat and the storm came. In Matthew 14 verse 24, the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with the waves, for the wind was contrary. Isn't that what life is so often like? Out on the sea of life. And the storm's blowing and the little boat's tossed. And you feel you're going to sink. Isn't that how you've often felt? I mean, that's the way you feel right now. The boat's about to go down. And notice what happens here. Verse 25, "...in the fourth watch of the night..." That's the darkest hour, as we all well know. "...Jesus went unto them walking on the sea." Now, you have read that before and so have I. And we may have missed this point. That the Lord was walking on the sea while it was tossed to and fro, fuming and foaming, and threatening that boat. That's the point. He hasn't stilled the storm yet, you see. It's still raging and the billows are still overflowing the little boat and they're threatening the lives of those disciples. But the Lord comes walking on the waves that threaten the disciples. What is that? The Lord is in absolute control. Beneath His feet are the very waves and bellows that are determined to send that boat to the bottom. There is an illustration of the Lord being in control. And my dear friend, you are on the sea of life, as we have said, and you are troubled and you are concerned. But remember today that the Lord Jesus Christ is in absolute control of those things. that are causing your worry. That is a truth that's made out in the Bible everywhere. And therefore, when I think in these things and rejoice in the One of Whom they're true in that superlative way, I am focusing not only on who He is, but I'm focusing on where He is. Rejoice in the Lord who's over it all. Who's over the very things that trouble you. We are told here to focus on His glorious position for another reason. Not only because He is in absolute control, but furthermore, because He is accessible to us in prayer. Go to the next verse. That is verse 6 here in this passage. And listen to what He says. Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God. He goes on there to talk about what will happen. But look at verse 6. You see, when we meditate on Christ, on who He is and where He is, we find that the Lord is opening up to us the great door of access to Him. And when He says, think on these things, rejoice in the Lord always, we are being shown that by virtue of His glorious position at the right hand of God, we are able to come right to Him and tell Him all about those things that are troubling us. My friend, that is indeed a very simple, elementary point that's being made here. Don't worry. Focus on who Christ is, where Christ is, and go and talk to Him. Go and talk to Him. That's just how simple this is. You see, that's what we always fail to do. We let the worries and the concerns rob us of the access we have to this glorious person in his glorious position. Do you think that Paul, through the Holy Spirit, is telling us here all these things, who the Lord is, where he is, just to fill up a few lines of Scripture? No, of course not. He's telling us all this to help us. to have us go and seek this glorious person. And you see, my friend, instead of using all that energy that you consume in worry and in anxiety, instead of using it all there, why not bring your requests to God through the Lord Jesus Christ? Let me say this, and I say it kindly. If we as the Lord's people would spend more time telling the Lord about those things that are troubling us, rather than spending all that time talking about it to others, we would come out a lot better. That's what Paul's telling us here. Here's the gospel. Christ is who He is. Christ is where He is. He's the God-man. He's your Saviour. He loves you. He's your Great High Priest. He's praying for you. Therefore, you pray. Go to Him. Don't let this worry keep you from praying. That's what Paul's saying here. Brethren and sisters, in the year that lies ahead, you focus on the glorious person and position of our Christ and then go to Him and rejoice in the access that you have to Him. Look there at those words. And notice the scope that's given to us in our praying. It says here, in everything. You can tell the Lord everything. Every detail, every item that's upon your heart. Do you do that? Are you familiar with the Lord? Are you able to go and whisper into His ear and get down before Him and even weep before Him in the silent, sacred place where nobody else knows? And you'd even be embarrassed for them to have you weep in public. No, my friend, go to the secret place. Tell Him everything. That's what the Lord says. Not some things, everything. Think about that. Think of the scope that's there. You see, when we don't go to the Lord and tell Him everything, we're really saying, Lord, You can't take care of this. I'm only going to tell you a few things. You're really saying, my friend, You're in unbelief. You're saying, Lord, I don't feel that you can deal with this. I'll tell somebody else. I'll just tell you the gist of it, Lord. I'm not going to tell you everything. No. The Lord says in everything, there's the scope. There's no limitation there. Then look with me also at the submission with thanksgiving that there's a vital matter. Be anxious for nothing. Don't be worried. but in everything with prayer and supplication it says, or by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. There is the submission coming out. I'll tell you something, that's a searching piece of information or instruction. To go when you are deeply troubled and there's something stressing your soul to the point that it's about to drive you mad. And the Holy Ghost tells you to go and pray with thanksgiving about that thing that's worrying you. You might say, how can this be? What is this? My friend, it's not the Lord being hard and harsh toward you. Is the Lord just reminding you again that you are to submit to what He has sent and trust Him to take you through it? There has to be submission when we come to deal with these things. The Lord knows, you see. So the Lord has sent us to pray with submission. There is sincerity here, prayer and supplication. Why the repetition? Why the two words? The word prayer, you see, refers to prayer in general as an act of devotion. The word supplication is in reference to a special petition that you might need to bring at some particular point. And what the Lord is showing you here is, stop reciting your worries endlessly, but come to the Father's throne with them. In prayer, All those general needs you have, then supplication, the special need you have. Bring it all to the Lord. And sincerely leave it there like Hezekiah of old. Leave it there. Spread it out before the Lord. Say, Lord, here it is. I don't know what to do, but I'm telling you about it. I've access to the throne. Christ is at that throne. Christ is who He is. Christ has done what He has done. I'm His child. And Lord, now, come and help me. I'm telling you all about it. And then you'll notice what it goes on to say there in verse 7. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. When there's a focusing on the Lord's exalted position and a going to Him in prayer, what's the result? Our hearts and our minds will be kept. Now, look at the word kept there. It is a military term. It is a word that indicates the placing of sentinels right around some object. And what the Lord is showing us here is that your mind, and that's the focus right here, your mind has got to be surrounded with that which will ease the worry and lessen the concern. You know, the book of Philippians, to a tremendous degree, is an exposition of the believer's battle in the mind and with the mind. And you see, where is it that we worry? It's in our minds. So here is the Christian deeply anxious, deeply concerned, and the Lord's telling him, that he is to deal with that anxiety by going to the glorious person in that glorious position and saying to that believer, really, you are worrying because you're entertaining those things in your mind. You're letting them fill your mind. And you're not letting Christ fill your mind. So he's saying, fill your mind with Christ. I tell you, this is a world where it's very hard, in fact, impossible to find a person who is perfectly true, honest, pure, just, etc. Isn't it? It's impossible to find that person. That's why it's Christ who's in per se. And the Lord's showing you that you are to go to the Lord Jesus Christ. And those things that you're worrying about in your mind They're there in their dominance because you're not focusing on the Saviour. The control of the mind, you see, is essential to overcoming stress and worry. That's what He's saying to us. So what do I do? I don't go. to the man who tells me he can cure my mind. No, I go to the Lord Jesus Christ in whom there is a fullness of grace and power and beauty and loveliness. And I tell him all about it. And he says to me, the peace of God. And what is the peace of God? That is gospel peace. The peace of God shall keep your hearts in might, stand guard around your mind. My dear friend, You will overcome your worry when you look down every morning and you plead the precious blood. You plead the finished work of Christ. You say, Lord, You love me enough to shed Your blood for me. You love me enough to die for me. Therefore, Lord, this thing that's worrying me, may it be overcome in my mind when my mind is filled with You. That's how to pray. You're applying the gospel in prayer. You're looking at who Christ is. You're filling your mind with that. And you'll find that worries begin to diminish. Overcoming worry by thinking in these things. The last thing I want to say, the second thing I want to say is this. We overcome wickedness by thinking on these things. Fill your mind with Christ and you'll overcome wickedness. Now let me tell you something. I want to say to you this morning that these are the two areas where a Christian will have the greatest battle in the year to come. Worry and wickedness. Everything else that we face to a great degree is all summed up here. Worry, that takes in so much of daily living. concerns and so on, that then there's wickedness. And you see, whenever Paul says here in verse 8 that these qualities are found in the Lord Jesus Christ in all their fullness, he's really saying to us when he says, think on these things, he's saying to us, be like Christ. That's really what he's saying. Think on these things. That is, be like the Lord Jesus Christ. Because when you look at those six things in verse 8, the opposite of them is found everywhere, all around us. Things that are untrue, dishonest, unjust, impure, unlovely, a bad report. It's all around us, men and women. We're facing it every day. And it's wickedness all summed up in the negative right here. We look at it this way. We've just done that. So how are we going to overcome that? Think on the positive. It is on Christ who is true, pure, lovely. I tell you, my dear friend, if you are dwelling in Christ, if you are in touch with Christ, if you are living in focus on His glorious person and His finished work, you will overcome wickedness. Meditation on Jesus Christ will make you a holier man, a holier woman. Meditation in Christ will deliver you from a world that is about to swallow you up. If you are meditating on the Saviour and on all these areas that are mentioned here, then, my dear friend, you will not be meditating upon that which is untrue, dishonest. Why is it that so much of the visible church today is swamped and overcome, it seems, with the wickedness of a corrupt world is because God's people are filling their minds with filth. That's why. Can you imagine for one moment that you can really pray that you're going to ever overcome in the Christian life if you're sitting hour after hour in front of the television filling your mind with that which is rotten? Then you wonder why you can't pray. And you wonder why lust runs rampant in your heart. And you wonder why you're such a weakling when it comes to the presentation of temptation. And you're filling your mind with that which is untrue and dishonest and rotten and filthy. And then you wonder why you're so weak spiritually. You're sitting watching a soap opera, a God delivery, how anyone, and I don't have the TV's, I don't know what the soap operas are, but I know they're rotten! And you're filling your mind with filth, and maybe reading books that are impure, and listening to music that's of the world, and you wonder why you're the way you are, why you're not overcoming in the Christian life. Oh, my dear friend, Paul says to us here, think on these things. If we're really focusing on the Lord Jesus Christ, we will not be focusing on the filth of an evil world, but rather we'll be overcoming that world, walking with God, living the way we should live, not grieving the Holy Ghost, not doing despite to the Spirit of Grace. Thank God there is a way to overcome. And I must close, overcoming worry, overcoming wickedness. I think, dwell, meditate on these things, and then you'll be in victory. and God will take you on. And may He do that for us this year. Let us bow together as we come to the end of our service. Lord, we pray that Thou wilt take Thy Word and use it, and write it on every heart. O God, deliver us, we pray, from those things that would trouble us. And, O God, we pray that we will know what it is to focus on our Savior and on His work and what He has done for us. Lord, help us to overcome a wicked world. Help us, Lord, to walk with Thee day by day in the power and liberty of the gospel. We pray in our Savior's name and for our Savior's sake.