For the message today, we will be turning in the Epistle of Philippians, and Philippians chapter 4, verses 1 through 9. I apologize for the little slip in the bulletin. It was not my intention, but we know that all things work together. for good to them that love God. So, trust that even that mistake will be used for God's glory. But anyway, we'll be reading from Philippians chapter four. We'll begin in verses, verse one, we'll end at verse nine. This is the word of God. Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. I beseech you, Odius, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labor with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers, whose names are in the book of life. 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." I would like to focus today on verse eight and how we must keep truth preeminent in our minds as we seek to battle the battles that we face in our days and our day-to-day lives. So, with God's word open before us, let's pray one final time before we get into the word. Our dear Lord, we pray that you would bless us today and that you would teach us from your word. Lord, I pray that you would fill us with your spirit and guide us into all truth Lord, I pray that you would keep your servant from error. Lord, I pray that I would speak a word and season to those here and to those who will listen online. Lord, I pray that you would guide us and draw us near to you today. We pray this in our son's holy and precious name. Amen. If there is one need for the Christian in America, it is the need we expressed here in this passage of keeping our minds fixed on the truth. There's so much that is false, so many fables being put out there that are being stated as truth. There really is no shortage of people putting their opinions out there, and to be honest, a few of them are fairly convincing, and maybe even somewhat close to the truth, but it still is not truth. And it can be fairly easy for us to focus on what they're saying, And even though we might not actually accept what they're saying as truth, like they say it is, our perception of the world around us could be very easily shaped by what they're saying. Not only that, but there are also tons and tons of outlets for information available to us, such that we are bombarded by everything that's going on in the world, along with everything going on in our own lives. And we may get distracted from what is really true in this world. We might have a constrained view of everything that's going on. and we would get distracted from the truth. And that truth maybe gets supplanted by a lie. The truth should be at the forefront of our minds. And one important thing to grasp about this passage before us is that proper mindfulness of the truth is the means towards being grounded in the peace of God. Because verse 8, if you look down there, which commands us to have proper mindfulness on things that are true, pure, honest, and so forth, is couched in between verses 6, 7, and 9, which show how we will have the peace that passes all understanding and how we will have the God of peace with us. So if we aren't thinking on these things then that's removed. The foundation for how we will have peace is removed and we will not be careful for nothing and we are not going to be doing those things which we have learned and seen in God's word. Proper mindfulness is key to proper living and true peace. If you think about it it's kind of like certain machines and instruments that require regular calibration. Otherwise, they'll give very faulty results. I can remember back when I used to work in a chemistry lab, there was this balance, or I guess scale as some might call it, and it was right next to this big glass door and this walkway. And whenever anyone would open that door or walk by, the wind from outside would gush in and it would cause the balance to get offset in the weight that it was reporting. Also, sometimes people would walk by and even the footsteps would cause the balance to give a faulty reading. And then on top of that, there were some people who were not as meticulous in keeping the balance clean as they should have been. And so there would be plenty of chemical residue left on the balance so that it could be even more off. So we would regularly have to set it to zero to tear it, as they say, and also to bring out the calibration weights and recalibrate the instrument to the proper standards. And in a way, the same is true for us. We need calibration and the standard we must use is God's word. Whenever we find ourselves being unsettled or distracted, we must just step back and identify what has supplanted the truth in our minds and readjust our mindset to line up with the truth. So today I would like to speak on keeping truth prominent. And this is going to be a real small snippet of everything that this passage entails because really the truth is just one small part of this passage but I think it is foundational to the rest of it. So today I want to focus on what it means and how do we keep truth prominent. So I have two simple points for this sermon and the first is identifying the lie and the second is pursuing the truth. So firstly we have identifying the lie. Now, I say lie because whenever we aren't thinking about what is true, the only thing left is really a lie or a lessening of the truth. And whenever you have a little bit of truth and a little bit of error, it's still error. So even if you aren't thinking about anything at all, I think at some level there can be a lie that we are being influenced to accept. And especially when we're thinking about something that makes us worried or anxious, there is certainly some lie that we have accepted. But one thing that is extremely important to grasp about this whole concept of thinking on the truth and rejecting the lie is where the whole conflict comes from. Because at the heart of it, what is in play is a conflict between two natures. On the one hand, there is the nature of God who embodies and is the source of all truth, the foundation of it. But on the other hand is the devil who is a liar from the beginning and is the father of it. So the first thing in identifying the lie is the source of the lie, which as I'm sure you can see is rooted in the nature of the devil. Turn with me to John 8 verse 44. Here we have Jesus speaking to the Pharisees who are obviously constantly spouting out lies at Jesus and are attempting to deceive him and others around him. But one thing that this passage points out is that the reason they are this way is because they are of their father, the devil. And it's here that Jesus shows that it is in the devil's nature to lie and deceive, for he has been doing it from the beginning with Adam and Eve in the garden. So John 8 verse 44, which reads, ye are of your father the devil. He's talking to the Pharisees and he continues, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own for he is a liar and the father of it. And he is still constantly at this work of being a murderer, being a liar. And he is constantly attempting to get all people and including all of God's people to believe the lie that he is throwing out there. It is in his nature to destroy and seek to bring all he can into death and hell. So out of this nature to deceive and destroy is the purpose to deceive and destroy God's people. It's not just his nature, but he has a purpose, an aim. And we see this very clearly in the life of Job. You see in the beginning of Job, chapter 1, verses 9 through 12, where he comes and he gets permission to put Job through all of these things, and he's attempting to get Job to believe the lie that God is against him, that all of these things are coming because Job has done something wrong. He's trying to get him to curse God as it were and then you see in Job 2 and verse 9 where Job's wife even comes and tells him just finish it all and curse God. You see there he's trying to get Job to believe the lie that it's easy to just finish it all and just get it all over with. And then with Job's friends, if you can call them that, they're again trying to get Job to believe a lie that God is against him. But notice where all of this began with. It began with the devil's purpose to destroy Job, and he's attempting to do this through lies and deceit. And so he's constantly at work planting lies and fables. The sad truth about this, however, is he really doesn't have to work all that hard to make people believe the lie. because the nature of man is also deceitful. Jeremiah 17 verse 9 says, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? It doesn't take much from the devil, only a tiny suggestion of a lie, and our hearts just run with it. But lies still very much do originate from him. Lies such as, God is not with you, or the lie that you are the center of your life and happiness is the main goal for your life. Or maybe God is not in control. Or I guess what I would call the small perspective lie, which is where we only see a small perspective of everything that's going on in this world and we forget the big picture of what God is doing. These are only a few of the hundreds and thousands of lies that the devil tells. But rather than continue with that list, I would like to see the symptom of the lie that comes about when we accept it. So the symptom of the lie. This helps us in identifying the lie. So there's two symptoms that I think jump out from us in the text here and they are distracted living and distraught living. We see each of these amplified in the lives of the lost but we do see them at times in the lives of the believer. In verse 9 of Philippians 4 the apostle draws a connection between thinking on all of these things and doing them. If we are thinking on those things that are true, pure, honest, and so forth, then it should follow that we will also do them because as Christ tells the Pharisees in Matthew 15 verse 18, but those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man. for out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witnesses, and blasphemies. So if truth is not present in our minds, along with all the other things listed, we will be distracted away from doing what is true. And we see this, don't we, in the lives of the lost who live after anything but what is the true purpose for their lives. Christ boils the purpose of all of humanity down to two simple things of loving God with all of our heart, soul, and mind and loving our neighbor as ourselves. And of course, one of the greatest consequences of living out that purpose of loving others is to give them the gospel. But that's everything but what the lost are doing. But we see sometimes this in the lives of God's people as well. We can become distracted by even things that are good, like our job or our family and our ministries. And we forget that we are here for that purpose of loving God and loving others. And I place myself in there too, obviously. we all fall into being distracted. And when we do this, we can often fail to give God glory in our lives and fail to give the gospel to the lost. But the second symptom that I mentioned is that of distraught living. Because proper mindfulness of the truth is also key to having peace. If we only have a small picture mindset, as I mentioned before, of everything going on around us, then we will not have the peace of God which passes all understanding because it will inevitably cause us to be careful for everything, as you might say, and we will be distraught. You see this in the lives of the lost, like I said before. They have no hope and no meaningful lasting peace. It might have short-term peace, but it will not be lasting and true peace. And again, we see this in our own lives. We get caught up with everything in our lives and forget that God still reigns over everything. One of the greatest lies I think we are told, especially in our day, is that we are to put ourselves first. And even if we do not actively believe that, we may act in such a way that we functionally believe that. We think where I is the common word and me is a common word, but where God is not the focus, there is going to be a loss of peace. And this shift, this can happen imperceptibly and almost instantaneously in our lives that we hardly notice it until we see the symptoms. We are distracted from our calling and we get distraught. So I would like to ask any of you, are you there today? Have you believed any of the lies that the devil spouts out? It happens to us all. But whenever it does happen, what we must do, as I said before, is recalibrate our minds to align with the truth and we must pursue it. We must pursue the truth. let go of the lie, identify it, and then turn to the truth. And so secondly for today I have pursuing the truth. Similarly to how in identifying the lie, we notice the source of it that has supplanted the truth. So in pursuing the truth, we must see the source of all truth. And the source of all truth is, of course, our Lord Jesus Christ. As John 17, 17 says, thy word is truth. His word is the only source of absolute truth in this world, so it should be the foundation for all that we do and think about, in the regular parts of our day-to-day lives, in worship and in prayer, and especially in times of trials and temptations. Things that are true should be our meditation. But what about the Lord particularly should be our meditation? Well, what could be more fundamental to the topic of truth than the nature of God? Because that's the foundation for all that is true in this world. It is because God is truth that there is any truth in this world. So, and also in In this world, all that is going on funnels down to what is God's overarching purpose. So we have these two things of keeping our minds focused on the truth of God's nature and his purpose. So we must identify the lie that the devil throws out there and forget it, call it the lie that it is, and keep our minds stabilized on the truth of God. But first, in considering pursuing the truth, I'd like us to see the nature of God. and what specific things we must keep our minds focused on. For this, I'd like us to turn to Exodus chapter 34, verses six through seven. This is where God is revealing himself to Moses on Mount Sinai and it's here that we have one of the greatest self revelations of God in the Bible. It gives us a perfect summation of the nature of God that we are to keep our minds fixed on. And we read in verses six through seven, and the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth generation. And those things about God's nature, first his name, Lord God, exemplifying his eternality and unchangeableness, and then his mercy being one who does not give this judgment that has been earned by all people and then his graciousness of giving us things that we do not deserve and then being long suffering of being one who does not come to a point to where he says, okay, now I'm done with you. You sinned too much. That's not him. He has long suffering and he is abundant in goodness and truth. And then he's also just. He will by no means clear the guilty. He will not just forget sin in such a way that he does not deal with it. He forgets sin in a way that is properly dealt with because it is dealt with in his son Jesus Christ on the cross. And it is these things that we must fill our minds with and keep focused on. But there is also the purpose of God. I think my time is running out. So the purpose of God, there is this overarching purpose in our lives. And for this we'll turn again to another passage, Mark chapter 4. Mark chapter 4 and verse 35, this is where Christ and his disciples are in the boat going across the sea and a storm arises. And in verse 37, it says, and there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they wake him and say unto him, master, carest thou not that we perish? It's interesting about this passage because it shows us a bit about the purpose of God at times. Because what had Christ already told him? He told his disciples that we're going over to the sea, we're going across. And everything that his disciples had seen by that point should have told them, okay, yeah, we're going to be able to make it across whatever comes. But then they get to the storm, and they say, Master, carest thou not that we perish? They were doubting what God's purpose was. And yet, there they are, as it were, believing the lie that Jesus did not care for them. And you see that in what they said about Christ not caring that they were supposedly going to perish. The purpose of God is truth. The reason that we can have peace in this life is because God will accomplish and is accomplishing his purpose, regardless of what we see going on. Christ had the purpose of going to the other side of the sea so they would cross over, but he also had a purpose of trying their faith. And if they understood and kept these purposes in their minds, they would have had no reason to be afraid. It's interesting to see also how they did learn this though. They did learn to keep their minds fixed on the truth of Christ's word. Take Peter's example when he was imprisoned in Acts 12 by Herod. He is set to be executed and is in between two soldiers and yet he's sound asleep in peace. I think somewhat similar to how Christ was asleep on the ship when it was tossed by the waves. Peter learned to think on things that are true because Christ had told him how he would die and it wasn't by that. So what are we to think of but the nature of God and the purpose of God for our lives? God is still the same and his purpose is still the same. For in our day with everything going on, the Lord is above it all, working it to his own glory and to the salvation of his people. So we should never get caught up in that small picture mindset where we are at the center. See the big picture of God's purpose across time to redeem a people to himself and to to try the faith of his people, see the ongoing purpose of God in redemption, in sending his son Jesus Christ to this earth to redeem his people. And that purpose is still going on, maybe in small numbers at times and in different places. and where the lost are seeing the truth revealed to them, the truth that sets them free. Where once there was a distracted and a distraught life given over to sin, there is now a life given to seeking the Lord. And we are to have a part in bringing about God's purposes and in giving the truth to the lost, because that is what they so desperately need. They need an unshakable foundation, which is the perfectly truthful nature and purpose of God. But with that in mind, how can we allow our focus to get on things that do not encompass all of what God is doing in this world? How can we fill our minds with what is not perfectly truthful? We must keep our minds focused on the truth, and one must at times see the lie for what it is, but run towards the truth. The forces of darkness are always seeking to undermine the truth and convince anyone of the lies of the devil. But the truth of God stands like a rock, unshaken, like a mighty fortress, sheltering all those inside. So let us run to it, abandoning the lie. I can remember hearing once that from that word, from that hymn, A Mighty Fortress is Our God, that one little word that shall fell the devil is just a simple word, liar. Because that's what he is. And that's what he tells people, lies. But what the Lord gives is truth and a foundation on which we may plant our lives and weather all the temptations and trials that we come across in our lives because he is perfectly truthful. And may the Lord write this on our minds. Let's close in a word of prayer. Our Father in heaven, Lord, we thank thee that we can have a sure word of truth for our lives that guides us throughout all of our lives and that no matter what we may come across, we may know that you are truthful. Lord, I pray that you would help us to to see the lies of the devil and help us to run from them. Lord, I pray that you would help us to run to you and to run to the truths that you have set forth in your word. Lord, I pray that you would help us to see you for who you really are and to see your purpose in our lives. Lord, I pray that even if we might not see your exact purpose in everything, Lord, help us to see that your purpose is to bring about victory. Lord, I pray that you'd guide us today, prepare us for this next week, bring us again here this evening. Lord, I pray that you would bless us as we go back to our homes. Lord, I pray that you'd guide us and draw us near to you. We pray this in my son's holy and precious name.