In Philippians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul says, Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. And you may be seated. You know, there is a little quip that I'm sure that we've all heard. Life is hard, and then you die. What a cheery thought, right? Not exactly a slogan for the Optimist Club, is it? But my point this morning is that you can't just dismiss it as the inconsolable musings of some old, curmudgeonly pessimist. Because if you think about it for a moment, it rings true, doesn't it? Life is hard. And barring Christ's return in our lifetime, the end of our earthly pilgrimage, we find the grave waiting for us all. Now, I think you'd have to say that the quip is true as far as it goes. And I say as far as it goes because it is not the whole story. For those who die in their sins, this is the sad part. Actually, the worst is yet to come. A far greater incomprehensible misery awaits them beyond the grave. Those who die in their sins will long for the problems they had in this life. They will long for the pain they suffered here, for what they face is an eternity in the presence of God's outpoured wrath. This is what the scripture calls hell. It's the biblical definition of eternal death. On the other hand, on a happier note, for those who go to their grave in Christ, though they die, yet shall they live, live forever in the bliss of God's eternal and glorious presence. That's the promise from Christ himself. And that being said, however, for the Christian, there's not only more to this story after we die, there is a profound difference in how the story plays out in our lives here and now. Now, I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm saying because I'm not suggesting that life here is easier for the Christian than for the unbeliever. In some ways, we can expect our lives to be harder after coming to Christ. First of all, this is a world of pain and sorrow. It's a world of trials and troubles. It's a world corrupted by sin. And all of humanity experiences that corruption in varying degrees. However, because we serve the God with whom this world is at war, we endure additional adversities. We face opposition from this rebellious world, as well as targeted attacks from the evil one. Whenever we come to Christ, we're conscripted into battle, spiritual warfare, as the scripture defines it. But the point is, despite what we experience in this life, we have enduring hope. Through faith in Christ, we have been reconciled to God. We're now at peace with our Creator and our Redeemer. And it's not some momentary peace, it's an eternal peace. We belong to the sovereign God of all creation, and no power on earth, no scheme of the evil one can ever snatch us from his hand. And so no matter what we face in this life, we have every reason to rejoice, for we are more than conquerors in all these things through Christ Jesus our Lord. And this is the blessed hope of the Christian. We look forward to his return and know that he is sustaining us until that day. This is the eternal hope that makes it possible for us to meet the days ahead with inexpressible joy and a peace that does indeed surpass all understanding. But of course, the unbeliever has no such hope. Any joy they find is quickly overwhelmed by the harsh realities of this corrupt world. But that's the only kind of joy this world has to offer, a joy that is tied to the ever-changing circumstances of this life. Any sensation of peace that they might procure is soon vanquished by hope-crushing anxiety. Oh, the world holds out the promise of peace, but just whenever they think it's in reach, they find that it's nothing more than an illusion. Emily Dickinson understood this, and she mused about it in a poem. I many times thought peace had come when peace was far away. That's the world. Your anticipation of peace, you think it's close at hand, But it's out of reach, always out of reach. And so just as with circumstantial joy that the world affords, this elusive peace, that's the only kind of peace the world can afford. It is a weak and a superficial peace. It's a house of cards that can't withstand the gentlest puff of wind from a very stormy world. And yet, as we've said before, the unbeliever still senses that life could be lived in joy and peace. Why does he sense this? Because he was made in the image of the God of joy and peace. But of course, that image has been shattered in him. And so therefore, this is why many within the world find themselves in this perpetual cycle of quest and futility, quest and futility, quest and futility. ever seeking but never finding. Others resign themselves to the depressing reality that it just will not be obtained. But none in this world experience the joy and peace that belongs to those who are in Christ. You know, James Montague captures the frustration of this world in a poem he wrote entitled No Hope. And let me just read you a stanza from that. This is the world's experience. He says, "'Twas ever thus since childhood's hour I never had a joy, that some malign superior power did not e'er long destroy. To gain some joy from this I try, though life is hard and rough, yet I suppose that I shall die if I live long enough. No, indeed. Life is hard, and then you die. But there is so much more to the story for those who are in Christ because the trials and the hardships of this life aren't arbitrary. They're not pointless. They serve an eternal purpose. As the writer of Hebrews tells us, God is using them to discipline us, to train us, to conform us to the image of Christ. And the writer of Hebrews says, yes, I acknowledge this for the moment, discipline, no discipline, no training. It doesn't seem pleasant, it seems painful at the moment. But if we stand fast and we submit to the work of God in our lives, afterwards it produces the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Now, of course, In order to receive that training with the right heart and attitude, we need the right perspective, don't we? So before this bit of encouragement in Hebrews chapter 12, he first of all tells us how we can meet these hardships, these episodes of discipline and training with the right heart and attitude. It's by looking unto Jesus, who is the author and the perfecter of our faith. We look unto Jesus, and this is what Paul is telling us in our passage. The Philippian saints were experiencing intensifying opposition from the world. They were facing increasing threats from false doctrine. And at this moment, the joy that they had once experienced had begun to wane. Anxiety was now overwhelming them. But it wasn't those particular external threats that had compromised their experience of joy and peace. Now, division had arisen among them, drawing their thoughts away from Christ and the gospel. This is important. Division had arisen, and that drew their thoughts away from Christ and the gospel. This is important. When we fail to keep our minds on Christ, we lose the objectivity that we need and our thoughts inevitably turn inward. We're easily consumed with selfish ambition and empty conceit. We become defensive and we either wallow ourselves in self-pity or we dig in our heels and mount a campaign to defend ourselves. It's true, isn't it? We say, I'm right and I'm going to prove it. I'm not going to give up until I make my point. I'm not going to give up until you yield to me. That's the attitude of the world. And that's the attitude the Christian has to be careful not to slip back into. Because whether you're wallowing in self-pity or whether you're mounting a campaign to defend yourself, either way, you've become a slave to pride. And when we become petty and self-centered, we need to realize that we're rebelling against God's discipline. Our joy wanes and we forfeit the experience of God's peace. But if we're truly a child of God, He will continue to pour on the heat until we finally humble ourselves and we put our trust in Him. Thanks be to God, He doesn't give up. And so this is what Paul is telling the Philippians, however, is that you're not experiencing these things because you're allowing division to cause you to be self-centered, to draw your attention away from Christ. You're no longer thinking like our Savior. You're thinking like petty, selfish people. And so indeed, he's telling them, And he's telling all of us as God's people that we have to turn our thoughts back to Christ. We have to turn our thoughts back to the glorious gospel of our salvation. And so Paul urges them throughout this letter, be of the same mind, think the same way, have agreement in the Lord. Then, after he has given that instruction, then you can rejoice in the Lord always. And when you're in the midst of anxiety-producing situations, what does Paul tell us to do? Bring those concerns to God in thankful, humble prayer, trusting Him to handle the situation. And then, then you'll be able to experience the peace of God that passes all understanding. It will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And then in this text, as we've seen, the Apostle Paul then provides us with a list of attributes that will turn our eyes back to Jesus, a list of attributes that will turn our minds to the gospel and to the holy scriptures. And these are the attributes that must govern our thought life. They're attributes that paint, first of all, a portrait of Christ, but also attributes that describe the gospel, attributes that belong to the scriptures. And so as we said last week, there is no one more true than Christ. There is no proclamation more true than the gospel. There is no word more true than the scriptures. There is no one more honorable than Christ. There is no news that's more honorable than the gospel. And there is no word that's more honorable than God's word. There's no one more just than Christ, no remedy that's more just than that which is proclaimed in the gospel. And there is no knowledge that is more just than the scriptures. There's no one more pure than Christ, no message more pure than the gospel, no word more pure than the holy scriptures. There's no one more lovely than Christ. No one more lovely than our Savior. There is no news more lovely than the Gospel. There is no revelation more lovely than the Scriptures. No one's more commendable than Christ. No remedy more commendable than the Gospel. No word more commendable than the Scriptures. And Paul sums it up, then, Christ and the Gospel and the Scriptures They're the epitome of excellence and the epitome of that which is worthy of praise. And so turn our minds to him. This is what Paul is telling us. As long as we keep our eyes on Christ, as long as we keep the gospel in the forefront of our thinking, as long as we renew our minds on God's word, then we can rejoice in the Lord always. And we can experience that peace that surpasses all understanding, peace, that he says will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Well, Paul isn't telling us anything new. You know that the early church, their Bible consisted of the Old Testament, right? That's the Bible they had at hand. The New Testament was being written at the time. And so Paul isn't telling us anything new. He is simply fleshing out what we find throughout Scripture, the principles we find established from the very beginning. Psalm 16 says, I keep my eyes on the Lord continually, and I shall not be shaken. Do you want to stand firm and faithful in the midst of trouble? Do you want to be steadfast through your trials and your tribulations? Do you want to remain confident no matter what you face? Well, keep your eyes on the Lord. As the psalmist goes on to say, when he keeps his eyes on the Lord, not only is he unmoved by the troubles of this life, he says, my heart rejoices. It's joyful. My whole being rejoices. Why? Again, he tells us, because in God's presence, there is fullness of joy. At his right hand are pleasures forevermore. So the psalmist says, keep your eyes on the Lord. You'll stand fast and unshaken, and you will rejoice. There will be joy in your heart. You will rejoice in the midst of those things that would otherwise shake you to the core. You will rejoice in the Lord, and you will know the joy that is in his presence. So it doesn't matter what trials may come our way. Happy are the people whose God is the Lord. You know, this was the experience of Habakkuk. He lived in perilous times. There was violence, injustice, inequity throughout the land. But in the midst of such tribulation, he says, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation, for the Lord God is my strength. In the midst of such a world of turmoil, you think ours is bad? Go back and read about the conditions of Judah before they were taken into captivity. See Israel before the Assyrians invade at the hand of God. Oh, there's a long way yet to go before we have faced such things. And yet it's in that situation that he says, I rejoice in the Lord. I take joy in the God of my salvation. He is my strength. And Nehemiah says much the same thing to a suffering people. He says, go your way rejoicing for the joy of the Lord, joy in the Lord, that's your strength. You know, the word strength there could be translated citadel. The joy of the Lord is like a place of refuge, a fortress for his people. As Psalm 118.6 says, there is no reason to fear what man may do for the Lord our God is on our side. And so you see, we can rejoice in the Lord always when we keep our eyes on the Lord, when we fix our gaze upon our creator, our deliverer, our redeemer. In Isaiah 26.3, we find that keeping our eyes on God not only results in a rejoicing heart, it also results in the experience of peace. This is a familiar passage. You may not know the number, but I'm sure you will recognize it. Many learned this as a memory verse in Sunday school, a familiar promise. You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. Now again, you have to remember this promise was given in the context of difficult days. Isaiah had been lamenting the state of affairs in Judah. He lived among a people laden with iniquity, a people who called good evil and evil good, and times were going to get far worse before they ever got better. Judgment was coming. But despite these days of affliction, here we find this promise of peace. It's not the peace of trouble-free days. It's peace despite this coming turmoil. It's transcendent peace, peace that surpasses all understanding. This is peace with God. It's the peace that God imparts. You know, earlier in Isaiah, we learn that this specific peace is the work of Christ. It's the peace of Immanuel, God with us. Remember what the scripture says? He's prince of peace, he's everlasting peace. So God promises to keep his people in perfect peace if we keep our minds stayed on Immanuel, God with us, Jesus Christ, God incarnate. And the language of this promise is quite profound. Our translations say perfect peace. The Hebrew simply says peace, peace. I will keep in peace, peace those whose minds are stayed on me. It's the Hebrew word or Hebrew way of expressing a superlative thought. This is supreme peace, matchless peace, a peace like no other. So it's complete peace. pure peace, absolute peace, perfect peace. And the word keep means to guard. Sound familiar? That's what Paul says in our passage, isn't it? Our experience of peace is that it will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. So this profound peace stands guard over our hearts and minds. And then that word mind, it refers to the shape of our thoughts, the way we look at life, our mindset. And in this context, the word stay means to fix steadfastly upon someone without deviating. is to lean upon someone, to depend on someone, to be supported by someone. And so if we would experience this peace, our thoughts must be shaped by a steadfast dependence upon God as he has revealed himself to us in scripture. Our mindset must be one that is inclined to trusting in the Lord. Our way of thinking must be shaped by complete confidence in God and his promises. This is how we experience transcendent peace. Well, this is what Paul has been telling us. If we're to rejoice in the Lord always, our minds must be occupied with the character of Christ and the gospel and the scriptures. If we're to experience God's peace, we must fill our minds with those things that reflect the nature and purpose of God. In other words, we must keep our eyes on Christ and look for godliness wherever it may be found. This is what must occupy our minds. And this principle is not only found in various promises and declarations throughout scripture. It's illustrated in the lives of God's people. You know, for the sake of time this morning, I'm just going to give a single example. But when you read the events of Scripture, look for Christ in them. Look for the message being conveyed in them. Sometimes we just read too quickly past certain events, and we fail to see the depths of truth they convey. You have to remember that nothing Jesus did was ever random or arbitrary. Now every word and every deed was filled with meaning. Do you remember when the disciples were trying to cross the Sea of Galilee in the middle of the night? They weren't making much headway because the stormy winds had begun to blow. They rode and rode, but they were going nowhere fast. Tumultuous waves, the scripture says, were battering the boat. And as they struggled with the oars to try and keep control of the boat, they saw Jesus coming to them walking on the water. Now, what was Jesus doing? If he was coming to just rescue them, he could have simply stood on the shore and commanded the storm to be stilled, couldn't he? And Jesus never did anything just for dramatic effect. Everything had a purpose. And John's account actually provides a little insight for us here because he is the only gospel writer who refers to this Sea of Galilee on which Jesus walked, he refers to it by its alternate name, the Sea of Tiberias. Tiberius was the current Roman emperor. He was the mightiest ruler of the day. And so by walking on the water that bore the name of the emperor, Jesus was demonstrating his supreme authority over all power. And it's also important to remember the condition of the water. Jesus wasn't walking on calm, still water. You know, I've seen these little memes that people post on the internet where a pond is frozen over and they're walking on the water, they say. That's nowhere close. I mean, even if it wasn't frozen and they were able to walk on that, that's not what Jesus was doing. He was walking on a stormy sea. And while the disciples had their boat and their oars, they couldn't make any headway. They had all of the tools afforded man at the time, but they couldn't make any headway. The storm was getting the better of them. And I want you to think about the stormy sea as the trials and troubles of this life, because in Scripture, the sea often represents the chaos and peril of this fallen world. While the disciples were exhausting their strength, just trying to maintain, Jesus wasn't struggling at all. He was unaffected by the storm. He made his way from the shore all the way to the center of the Sea of Galilee, walking on turbulent waters and through the fierce winds. Now here are the disciples rowing with all of their might against the waves, and they're not getting anywhere. And here comes Jesus, walking on the stormy sea, past the winds, and nothing can stop Him. Folks, we learn from this, we can put our trust in Christ. He has complete authority over everything and every situation. He transcends the storms. So who do you want to trust when you're in a storm? Now, I want you to notice what happens with Peter, too. You're familiar with the story, I'm sure. The disciples were frightened when they saw Jesus. They wondered, are we seeing a ghost? I mean, for one thing, to be able to walk toward, they can't move, and for Jesus to be able to walk to them, unimpaired, on the stormy sea, against the winds, is this just a ghost? No. Jesus says, no, it is I, he says. And so the impetuous Peter speaks up and said, Lord, if that is really you, bid me come to you on the water. And Jesus said, come, come. And as Peter stepped out of the boat, if you'll remember, he begins walking on that water just as Jesus was. But then something happened, didn't it? Peter took his eyes off of Christ, and he turned his attention to the raging storm around him. And what happened? he began to sink. And at that very moment, he turned his eyes back to Christ and he cries out, Lord, save me. And Jesus simply reaches out his hand and catches the sinking disciple. And the Bible says when they had climbed in the boat, the storm subsided. Notice that. The storm didn't subside until they climbed into the boat, showing that the boats and the oars had nothing to do with their safety. It had to do with the presence of Christ. And so you see, as long as Peter had his eyes on Christ, he was courageously walking on the water. He had courageous peace. He was able to step out of the boat and to trust a far greater protection than the boat. Jesus is a far greater protection from the storm than any tool of man, than any refuge of man. And so indeed, he stepped out of the hands of man and into the hands of the Savior. So trusting in the boat doesn't afford much peace. Boats are often overwhelmed by the sea and they sink. So Peter made the wise choice not to trust in the boat, but to trust in Christ. but his mistake was taking his eyes off of Jesus. And he began to focus his mind on the wind and the sea, and then he panicked. His courage vanished, and he was overwhelmed with anxiety. The storm began to overtake him. He was only saved from certain death by turning his attention back to Christ. And so truly, he will keep us in perfect peace if we keep our eyes on the Savior. If our minds are shaped by the Word of God and they're oriented toward trusting in Him, there is no value in trusting this world. So keeping our eyes on Christ, keeping the gospel in the forefront of our minds, renewing our minds with the Word of God, this will alter the way we see people, It will alter the way we see the world around us. It will change the way we think. It'll change how we think about our circumstances. It will change what we think about the world around us. And it will change what we think about our brothers and sisters in Christ. Whenever we put our eyes on Christ, whenever we orient our minds to the gospel and to the scriptures, then it will only seem natural to rejoice in the Lord always. That's when we will experience the peace of God that the world just cannot comprehend. So may God give us the grace to lay hold of his wondrous promise. He will keep us in perfect peace if our minds are stayed on him. and to him be all glory forever and ever. Amen.