Intro: I ve titled the message, Christ Our Strength, and I take this from the words of the Apostle Paul. (Phil. 4:13) I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. Paul was just a man like us, and a sinner. But this mere man endured hardships we cannot imagine for the sake of the gospel. (2 Cor. 11:23-28) Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. 24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. When Paul wrote these words to the saints in Philippi, he was bound in prison. But even in prison, he worked tirelessly in the cause of Christ. Through all the trials and afflictions he suffered, Paul learned to be content wherever God put him. He learned that he could do all things through Christ strengthening him. The LORD upheld him with divine strength both to will and do of His good pleasure. I have six things for us to see in this message. 1. CHRIST HIMSELF IS OUR STRENGTH Christ alone is the strength of His people. He of God is made to us Strength. When God delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage, when He led them through the Red Sea, and destroyed Pharaoh, Moses and the people sang a song unto the LORD. The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him. The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name (Ex. 15:2-3). The LORD is a Man of war. God became a man to be our Strength, to deliver us from all our enemies; from sin and Satan, from death and Hell. Don Fortner He who made man was made a man that he might be made sin to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Christ, the God-man our Redeemer, is the Strength, Ability, Power, or saving Force of His people. TURN (Ps. 80:17-19) Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself. 18 So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name. 19 Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. There are several things to see from this passage: a. The LORD Jesus is the Christ of God, the Son of man on which God has laid His mighty hand. He is the chosen One, the anointed of God, made strong by God to perform a mighty work of grace. (Luke 1:35) And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 2:40) And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. 1
(Luke 4:18-19) The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. b. God made Christ strong for Himself. The work that Christ accomplished as the Son of man, as the Representative of His people, was a work toward God. God required perfect righteousness from man. God required perfect obedience to the holy law. God required full satisfaction for justice. God supplied all these things by the doing and dying of His darling Son. In Christ God performed all righteousness! c. In Christ God reconciled His elect, so we will not go back from Him v. 18. God was in Christ, reconciling the world of His elect unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. Everything that stood against us God took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. God made Christ to be sin for us, Who knew no sin, that we be made the righteousness of God in Him. d. In Christ God gave life to His people. He quickened us together with Christ! By grace we re saved. And the result of His finished work is the regeneration of God s elect. All of His people are born of His Spirit. We call upon His Name, because God gives us life and faith through the gospel. We are quickened by His grace! (Eph. 2:8) For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: By the grace of Christ we re saved, through faith in Christ, and this is not of us. Christ is our Strength. He gives us faith to believe. He is the Author and the Finisher of faith. By Him we do believe in God. e. In Christ God turned us again. In Christ God caused His face to shine. In Christ we re saved. He is our Strength. So God comes to us by the gospel in irresistible grace, to turn our hearts back to Him, because He bought us with the precious blood of Christ. By nature we refuse to call upon the LORD. And we will not call upon the LORD until God turns us by His grace. If God leaves us alone we ll go straight to Hell. But God turned His people in Christ, and He turns us by Christ, wooing our hearts by the gospel of our crucified Redeemer. (Eze. 33:11) Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? God reasons with His people. He said, Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isa. 1:18). (Hos. 11:4) I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them. He takes away that yoke of bondage to the law. He lays before us the meat of the gospel, His broken body and shed blood, saying, Take eat. He said, Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed (Jn. 6:54-55). We take and eat by faith, trusting Christ alone. And eating His precious sacrifice we live by Him. He is our Strength. He is our Food. He said, As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me (Jn. 6:57). (Matt. 11:28-29) Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 2
Christ our Strength is Meek and Lowly, stooping down to the vilest of men. He is rich in mercy! He is full of pity to all that fear Him. (Jn. 6:37) All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Christ is our Strength by the Father s work of predestination. The Father works all things together for the good of His people. He hedges in our way. He shuts us up with thorns. He sends trouble and affliction to ours souls. He brings us to Christ, graciously forcing us to come. He makes us willing in the day of His power, or we would never come. And when we re brought willingly to the feet of our LORD, He embraces us with open arms. He will for no reason cast us out! He loves us! When we were yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly. When we were dead in sins, hating God and hating one another, God sent His Son to redeem us. So if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son. Much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Christ lives in Heaven as Head of the body His church. He is the strength of our lives. Today, if we have life and faith in Christ, we live by the faith of the Son of God. We live because He lives! And He alone keeps us alive in Him, reviving our hearts, renewing our minds, and preserving us unto glory. 2. WHAT KIND OF STRENGTH IS CHRIST MADE TO US? There are two kinds of strength. There is natural strength, or strength of body, and there is spiritual strength, which is in the soul of a man. Certainly, it is true that all power comes from God. If we have strength of body, God gave us strength. But all men in time shall have bodily strength taken away. It s appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. And who shall be able to stand in God s holy presence? Christ is the spiritual strength of His people. He is the Strength of our souls before God. (Ps. 138:3) In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul. Spiritual strength is that strength of the inner man. Though our outward man perish, for the children of God, our inward man is renewed day by day. Christ is our Strength that never fails, in the inner man. 3. WHAT NEED HAVE WE OF STRENGTH? a. That which needs strength is weakness. In ourselves we are weak. Without Christ we are weak. Without Christ we can do nothing. We are impotent and helpless. We cannot please God. Nothing in and of ourselves is acceptable to a holy God. We have no strength to obey the law, or satisfy the demands of justice. Without Christ we re condemned. We cannot be of any profit to God or our fellow man. We are together become unprofitable. Without Christ we re useless. We cannot save our souls. We have no ability to redeem ourselves. Without Christ we re lost. Our weakness is universal weakness. We are weak all over, in the inner man; spiritually weak. (Isa. 1:6) From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores 3
b. We are weak headed. We have no ability to understand spiritual things. Without Christ we re fools. Christ is our Wisdom. We need Christ to open our understanding to understand the Scriptures. Christ is the Strength of our minds. Every time we open our Bibles to read, or listen to the preaching of His word, we need Christ to give us strength to both hear and understand. Our Lord tells us, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you (Luke 11:9-10). c. We are weak in the heart weak hearted. God says in Ezekiel 16:30 How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman; Our hearts are the heart of an adulterous woman, chasing after her lovers. Our hearts are idolatrous by nature. We love to worship and serve ourselves. The heart is the will and affections of a man. Our hearts by nature are utterly weak and incapable of any good. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? We re strong to do evil and strong to refuse that which is good, but we have no strength to do or embrace that which is good. How weak we are in spiritual matters, in warring against sin. We yield to temptation and are overcome immediately, and so easily, at the first onset of it. Christ is the Strength of our hearts. He creates in us a clean heart, and renews a right spirit within us, for His Name s sake. David said, My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever (Ps. 73:26). So we are exhorted (Col. 3:1-3) If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. d. We are weak in the hands weak handed. The hand of faith which we must have in order to be saved, and to receive all things from Christ, is but a weak hand. Our faith is so weak, as the Lord told the disciples, O ye of little faith. We are weak to believe until the LORD works in us to believe. Christ is the Strength of faith, the Author and Finisher of it. He gives faith and He maintains our faith, like He told the man with the withered hand, Stretch forth thine hand. He couldn t but he did. The hand is that which lays hold on Christ, when we have received Him. But suppose a man lays hold on Christ, a good firm grasp, a justifying hold, a saving hold. Can he keep that hold by any of his own strength? No, he cannot, except as Christ is his Strength. It s His hold on us that saves us! With the hand we work. This is the work of God, that you believe on His Son. There is the work of faith in repentance, the work of faith in obedience, and the work of faith in prayer. Faith works by love, but are we not weak in all these things. We are backward to it, awkward in it, and without strength to perform it. But Christ is our Strength to serve God willingly. He gives us repentance! He teaches us to obey! He puts prayer in our hearts! He makes us willing to serve our God! (Heb. 9:14) How much more shall the blood of Christ purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? e. We are weak in the back and shoulders. We cannot bear or hold up under any trial of faith without Christ our Strength. We buckle under the weight of feathers. But through Christ we can endure 4
anything, being Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness (Col. 1:11) f. We are weak in the feet. We cannot stand without Christ upholding us. We stand fast only in the LORD, in the power of His might. He alone is able to keep us from falling. David said, Thou LORD only makest me dwell in safety. What ability do we have to walk? We re suppose to walk by faith, and not by sight, in the way of our Savior s commandments, and in our privileges and duties as believers. But oh how weak we are to walk. We have weak eyes. We see dimly. Thank God we see, but we see very little. We are weak footed. We trip and stumble over the smallest things. Every little thing offends us, and turns us aside. We re slow paced in our walk. If we saw the glory of Christ, we would run through this life and not grow weary. Instead we linger, like Lot lingered in Sodom. We can t hold out. Even after we re revived with new strength from the LORD, we re easily wearied and ready to faint. If not for the LORD s mercies, which endure forever and are new every morning, we would faint and quit. Great is His faithfulness! 4. WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF HIS STRENGTH? a. His Strength is divine strength. Anything less than divine strength will not do a divine work of grace. We need the strength of God to take hold of God, to wrestle with God, and to walk with God. Faith is the work of God and needs the strength of God. We must be strengthen with all might, with His glorious power, with the power of His resurrection! (Eph. 1:19-20) And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead b. His Strength is daily strength. We have need of Christ every day, and His strength is ready for us each day. (Isa. 33:2) O LORD, be gracious unto us; we have waited for thee: be thou their arm every morning, our salvation also in the time of trouble. Christ is our Arm of Strength every morning. Remember this when you wake up in the morning. Every day there are: New temptations to resist, which we cannot resist without Christ. We re powerless against sin without Him. But temptations lose their power when He s near. New afflictions and trials to bear. Man is of few days and full of trouble. We cannot bear them without Christ. Can you even imagine this life without Him? New responsibilities or duties to perform toward God, toward the people of God, toward family, and toward our own spiritual growth in grace. We re exhorted to set our hearts on Christ, to serve God and one another, to lead our families, and to desire the sincere milk of the word. In every act of faith, Christ is our Strength. We need His strength day by day. 5. HOW IS THIS STRENGTH COMMUNICATED TO US? 5
Christ is right now the Strength of His people. He redeemed us from all iniquity. He delivered us from this present evil world. Together with Him we are seated in glory! So how is His Strength communicated to us, in us? a. By the immediate influence of His Spirit, strength is given to God s people. (Eph. 3:14-19) For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Christ is the strength of our souls by His Spirit dwelling in us. He works all our works in us. (Isa. 26:12) LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us: for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. God s elect were created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature or creation. In Christ God wrought for us, and by Christ God works in us; to believe the gospel, to obey His word, and to love one another. God works in us to mortify the deeds of the body. By the power of His Spirit we put to death the flesh. We are crucified with Christ. If we re the sons of God, we are led by the Spirit of God. Grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. Repentance is God s work of grace in us. By the Almighty influence of His Spirit we confess our sins, and He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Christ put away all our sins by the sacrifice of Himself. Prayer is the work of God s Spirit. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered (Rom. 8:26). b. The Strength of Christ is communicated to us by the ordinances of divine worship. If a man is born of God, the word of God strengthens his faith. Christ is the living Bread on which we feed. We re strengthened through reading God s word, meditating on His word, and through hearing His word preached by the gospel. We re fed with knowledge and understanding. Faith, hope and love is strengthened by the living word. And by remembering our Savior in observing His table, we re comforted and strengthened. We remember His body that was broken for us, Who bare our sins in His own body on the tree. We remember His blood that was shed for many for the remission of sins. c. In the grace of Christ we re made strong. Paul exhorted young Timothy, Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 2:1). The Strength Christ gives is all of grace, without the works of the law. We were chosen by grace, redeemed by grace, justified by grace, sanctified by grace, regenerated by grace, and we shall be saved by free grace. Be strong in the grace of Christ. It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace! 6. WHAT SHOULD WE LEARN FROM THIS? a. To you that are lost and without faith in Christ, understand this, that except you believe on the Son of God, you shall die in your sins. You cannot stand before God s infinite justice and truth. You have no strength. You re guilty. No sinner outside of Christ shall stand in God s terrible presence. All men 6
outside of Christ will tremble and weep in the dust before His majesty. Take sides with God now and fall down now at the feet of Christ. Beg God to show mercy and give you faith in His Son. Hear the gospel and wait on the LORD to show mercy. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Christ is your only Strength, and His word of promise is strong consolation to the guilty. (Isa. 55:3) Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. b. To you that believe, let me ask us a few questions. When are we weak, and when are we strong? When we walk in our own strength we re truly weak. When we think we re strong and have need of nothing, we re actually ready to fall. Let him that thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall. (Rev. 3:17-18) Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. When we re weak in ourselves, when we re wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked, we rely entirely upon Christ alone as all our Strength, and then are we strong. EXAMPLE: Peter s denial. Peter thought he was strong, and denied the Lord three times. After he was converted, he stood up as an utterly weak man in the strength of Christ alone and preached the gospel at Pentecost. Later he was beaten for the cause of Christ and went away rejoicing! (Col. 2:6) As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: AMEN. 7