our Bibles this morning to Philippians
chapter 2. I think we had good services
last night with the brethren in the Philippines. I continue to pray for that work.
I pray the Lord is blessing those brethren and will continue to
keep us together. Let's go to our Lord before we
begin. Our Holy Father and our God,
thank you for this morning. Thank you for gathering us here,
giving us the privilege to assemble together in your name to worship
our Redeemer. Thank You for this place. Thank
You for providing, brethren. And we pray, Lord, You would
indeed give us worship this morning in our hearts. Make us truly
hear Your Word and receive it and believe on You and Your Son. In Christ's name we ask it. Amen. Alright, Philippians 2. Verse
12, Paul says, Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed,
not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is
God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good
pleasure. Do all things without murmurings
and disputings, that you may be blameless and harmless, the
sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and
perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.
Holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day
of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.
Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of
your faith, I joy and rejoice with you all. For the same cause
also do you joy and rejoice with me." And we came to these verses
at the end of the message Thursday night. Everybody was a little
tired, I think. And I touched on some things
rather quickly. And I want to go back and look
at these verses again and look at these things that I mentioned
Thursday night more in depth. I intend to preach the same message
I preached to you Thursday, but I want you to see what I was
saying when I got to these verses. Now, you know that when the Lord
says here, work out your own salvation, He's not talking about
your eternal salvation. Wheel worshipers love to jump
on that verse. They love any verse that makes
them think they can work for salvation. I preached on that
back in September from that verse. I encourage you to go listen
to that message. But you're familiar with our
Lord's word from Matthew 18 and verse 20. He said, where two
or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the
midst of them. Now, you've heard it preached
from that verse, how that when Christ does the gathering, When
he's done the gathering, and he's gathered his people together,
and he's established his gospel, whether it's a few in number,
Christ is there in the midst of them. And that's true. That's
true. And then others have used that
verse, individuals have used it to justify not assembling
where God has established the preaching of the gospel, And I've heard men use it to
justify going to the lake. I've heard them justify going
to the duck camp or the deer camp or whatever. And we're two
or three together, Christ is there. Well, neither of those
interpretations is the context of Matthew 18 where our Lord
made that statement. Neither one of them. Now, the
first is true. If the Lord has done the gathering,
He's there. But that's not the context of
what the Lord was teaching in Matthew 18. What our Lord was
teaching in Matthew 18 is just what the Lord was teaching through
Paul right here. They had this problem with these
two sisters in the church that were not of the same mind. And
the Lord is telling them, work this out with fear and trembling. Because this risen Redeemer that
you just heard Him declare, that exalted God to the highest, and
now He's exalted with a name above every name. This risen
God, this risen Savior is in your midst. He's in your midst,
and He's working His will and His good pleasure. So do everything
without murmuring and disputing. That's the context of Matthew
18. So through Paul, that's what
he's declaring here. Work out your own salvation.
That means work out your daily affairs and dealings with one
another in the church. Particularly he's talking about
this issue with Euodias and Syntyche. Work this out, he said, with
fear and trembling, for it's God which worketh in you." Your
sovereign God and Savior is right there in your midst. And He's
working in you both to will and do of His good pleasure. When
He says, work out your salvation, look back to Philippians 1 and
look at verse 27. Only let your conversation be
as it becometh the gospel of Christ, your conduct, that whether
I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs."
That's what he's saying. I'm going to hear of your affairs,
how you're working things out amongst yourselves in the church.
That you stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together
for the faith of the gospel. That's what he's saying in our
text. That's exactly what he's saying.
Now when he says here in verse 12, work out your own salvation,
your daily affairs with fear and trembling. Fear and trembling
is knowing you have no ability in yourself to work anything
in your brother or sister. It's distrusting yourself and
trusting the Lord. Do you remember when Paul came
to Corinth? He said, I was determined to know nothing among you save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you. He said,
in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the spirit and power for this reason, that your faith might
stand not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. And
this fear and trembling is from knowing we can't work anything
in our brother or sister, but it's from also knowing that the
Lord Jesus is present. He's present. He's in your brother
and your sister. He's in you. He's in your midst.
John saw Him walking in the midst of the seven candlesticks. He's
present. And what's coming to pass is
going to be by His will and it's going to be His good pleasure.
So do everything with fear and trembling. That's who's working
it. Do it all without murmuring and
disputing. Stand fast in one spirit with
one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. Now,
Matthew 18 and Philippians 2, 1-18 shed light on one another. This is an example of Scripture
shedding light on Scripture. And so the first thing I want
to do this morning is I want to compare the Lord's Word right
here in Philippians 2 with what He said in Matthew 18. I want
to begin here in Philippians 2 and review with you what we
saw Thursday. He began there and he said, if
Christ has truly made you one with Him, verse 1, if there be
therefore any consolation in Christ, He's the consolation,
the comfort of Israel. If He's comforted you, consoled
you, any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit,
if any bowels and mercies. He said, if you've experienced
the power of God to work that in you, then you know what He's
talking about. You know only He can work. He's the power of
God into salvation. If you've experienced that power
and have been brought into union with Him and union with your
brethren, fulfill ye my joy, now watch very carefully what
He says, that you be like-minded, having the same love, being of
one accord, of one mind, He's saying what He says in verse
5, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. Now
here it is, verse 3, He said, do everything in humility and
meekness. Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind. That's humility. Esteem
other, esteem your brother, your sister better than yourself. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. Now I want
you to see this. Now hear what he said there.
Do everything with humility, not striving, not disputing. He's steaming your brother better
than you. And looking on their need, and
when you see that need, you know there's only one that can meet
the need of His people, that's Christ. What He's going to use you to
do is hold forth the Word of Life. He's going to use you to
hold forth the Gospel of Christ. That's how He's going to meet
the need. So now let's go see how our Lord what he was teaching
in Matthew 18. I want you to see how this started
in Matthew 18. Verse 1, At the same time came
the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven? Uh-oh. Our Lord said through Paul, Don't
do anything for vain glory. And they come to our Lord and
that's what they're seeking is vain glory. Who shall be the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Now listen to what Christ said.
Jesus called a little child unto Him and set him in the midst
of them. The greatest was in their midst, as humble as a little
child, Christ Jesus. But He brings this little child
and He sets him in their midst and He said, Verily I say unto
you, except you be converted. Now they believed Christ. They
were converted. That's not what he's talking
about. He's saying, except you be converted from this seeking
vain glory, I want to be the greatest. And become as little
children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever
therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same
is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive
one such little child in my name, receiveth me. He's talking about
his saints. He's using a little child to
illustrate the humility. Our Lord's speaking through Paul
in Philippians 2. And our Lord said, do everything
in lowliness of mind. And He's talking about His saints
here, humbled like a little child. And He says, when you receive
that saint, that humble little child, He said, you receive in
Me. That's what Paul's saying, Christ
is in that brother or sister. When you receive them, you receive
Me. But now watch, but whoso shall offend one of these little
ones which believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone
were hanged about his neck, that he were drowned in the depth
of the sea. And so the Lord says, you cut off your hand, you cut
off your foot, you pluck out the eye, whatever it is that
would offend one of My saints, your brethren. He said, whatever
you've got to do not to offend them, don't offend them. And
here's his point, down in verse 10. He says, take heed that ye
despise not. That word means, take heed that
you contemn not, take heed that you disdain not. One of these
little ones, talking about their brethren, talking about our brethren. He says, for I say unto you that
in heaven there angels do always behold the face of my Father
which is in heaven, for the Son of Man has come to save that
which was lost. Brethren, each of you who believe,
have an angel in heaven waiting on the Father at all times to
give Him charge to come and protect you from whatever danger, lest
you dash your foot against a stone. And not only that, but the sovereign
shepherd was sent forth by the Father to save all his lost sheep. And Christ says, so don't despise
one of these. Now, why would anybody, why would
a brother or sister offend by despising a brother or sister? What would make them do that?
Well, let's read on. After he'd said that, Christ
says, I came to save my lost sheep, and then he gives an illustration
of a shepherd going to bring back one of his sheep that went
astray. A shepherd going to bring back
his sheep that went astray. And here's his point, verse 14,
Even so, it's not the will of your Father which is in heaven
that one of these little ones should perish. Now let's think
about what the Lord is doing here. He began, they came and
they said, who's the greatest in heaven? And our Lord knows
where that spirit will lead to. He knows where that spirit will
lead to, especially when their brother or their sister goes
astray and sins and falls on their face. They'll despise that
one and think they're better than him. And so the Lord says,
you be as humble as a little child. Be as humble as a little
child. Don't offend by despising that
brother or sister that follows. Don't offend by despising them,
because God our Father has chosen His people, and He sent forth
our Great Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ, and it's not the
will of the Father that one of His elect shall perish, and they
won't. Christ is going to save them.
Christ came to save His lost sheep. And you that He has saved
and He has called, when you stray and you fall, Christ is not going
to lose His people. He poured out His precious blood.
He justified His people. He has come and filled you with
His Spirit and sanctified you and created a new man in you,
and you may be overcome by your flesh, and you may fall, and
you may sin, and you may go a long season in it, but Christ is going
to save you if you're His. You just mark that down. And
that's what He's declaring to them right there. He's not going
to lose one, but He's also declaring this. The glory to save them
is His glory, not mine and yours. It's not mine in your glory,
it's His glory. Now He'll use you, but how's
He going to use you? He's going to humble you first,
so that you esteem your brother better than yourself. You mean
the one that's fallen in sin? Yeah, that one. And if He uses
you, He's going to make you see yourself as the chief of sinners.
Take it from me, that's what He's going to do. And He's going
to use you to go in fear and trembling and do nothing, but
remind that brother and that sister of Christ and Him crucified. You see, that's how He saved
you in the first hour. That's how the Lord keeps saving
His people. That's where true discipline
is, is in the forgiveness of God. That's what disciplines
God's people more than anything else. They brought that woman
caught in adultery, and the Pharisees thought they really had the Lord
trapped. The Scripture says, stoner to death. What do you
say? And our Lord, He stooped down, pictured how He came down
into this earth, and then He stood up, pictured how He went
up on the cross. And He stooped down again. Picture
now, he went down to the grave on behalf of his people, and
then he stood up again. And I don't have a doubt that
the Lord Jesus was standing between them and that woman. And he said,
whichever one of you is without sin, you cast the first stone.
They're going to have to hit Christ before they can get to
her. And that's so of everybody Christ died for. That's so of
everybody Christ died for. And that forgiveness If the Lord
marked iniquities, who could stand? But there's forgiveness
with thee, what? That thou mayest be feared. And
it's forgiveness. It was Him turning to her and
saying, Woman, where are your accusers? They all went out one
by one. He said, Where are your accusers?
And she said, There's no man, Lord. And He said, Neither do
I accuse you. Go and sin no more. That broke
that woman's heart. That woman went away there a
different person. And that's what the Lord has
done for you. Isn't that what He did for you in the first time?
Made you see what a sinner you are. Made you hear the law wanting
to throw stones at you and kill you and destroy you. But He made you see Him stand
between you and that law. And He made you see Him bury
your sin and your curse. And He made you see that He put
your sin away. And He said to you, I don't forgive
you, you are forgiven. And what happened? He broke your
heart. That's what he's going to do if he uses you or me to
recover a brother that's gone astray. So Christ gave instruction
on how to work out your own salvation in Matthew 18. He said, you go
to your brother alone. And you're trying to gain your
brother. What are you going to go to him and speak with him?
He says, go and tell him his fault between you and him. Does
he mean go there and just tell Him how He's trespassed against
you. Is that all Christ did for you when He saved you? No. He came and told you, He made
you see your sin, but what did He do? He told you what He'd
done for you. How did Nathan deal with David? He went to David
and he told him that story about the rich man. He had all these
lambs and yet he went and took the one little poor man's lamb.
And David said, who is he? We're going to pour out the full
justice of the law on him. You know why David was so eager
to condemn whoever that man was? Because David knew he was guilty. That's why. Men that know they're
guilty are ready to throw the first stone. Mark that down. And the guiltier, the more of
that stone they want to throw. And Nathan said, David, you're
the man. But immediately, He said, your sin is forgiven. Could
you have told David that? David committed adultery with
a woman and then had her husband killed. Could you have told David,
your sin is absolutely, totally forgiven? And believed God and
trusted Christ to deal with your brother. Could you have done
that? Only by faith. Only by faith. You see, faith
believes Christ is the master. Faith believes Christ is able
to make my brother stand. Really is. That's what a work
of faith is. That's a work of faith that justifies
a man's faith as being genuine faith. What justified Abraham's
faith as being true faith given of God? When God said, go sacrifice
your son Isaac, your only son Isaac. Abraham went believing
God was able to raise him up even from the dead. It takes
faith to trust your brother to Christ, and it takes faith to
forgive your brother. After the Lord told him to go
and speak to your brother, that's where he said in verse 20, he
said, where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them. And he's telling them the same
thing Paul's saying. Now, you work out your salvation, you
work out these things between each other with fear and trembling,
because Christ is in you. He's right there in your midst,
working His will and His good pleasure. But then I want you
to see this. We saw how this thing began,
with Christ saying, you're going to have to become as a little
child first, and not despise your brother for their sin. And
then see where He ends this thing. Peter says, Verse 21, then came
Peter to him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin
against me and I forgive him? Until seven times. Jesus said
to him, I say not unto thee until seven times, but until seventy
times seven. Look at the bookends here. At
the beginning is be as humble as a child. Don't despise your
brother. Believe that God's will is to
save his lost sheep and his straying sheep and that Christ will do
it. And it ends with, ìAnd forgive your brother without limit.î
And in the middle, Christ says, ìAnd while youíre working it
out with each other, remember, Iím right there working the will
of the Father, saving my people.î You get the picture? You get
the meaning? Thatís the meaning. So, go back
with me to Philippians 2. And I want you to just not, don't
even hear Paul as the one writing this, because it's Christ who
gave Paul these words to write. Christ is saying this. And it's
the same thing he told his apostles. Back up there in the first two
verses, he says, if you really know me, if you've experienced
my consolation and my comfort of love and my fellowship, verse
3, let nothing be done through strife or vainglory. Humble yourself
like a little child in lowliness of mind. Don't despise your brother
when he's falling. Esteem him better than yourself. Look not on every man on his
own things, but also on the things of others. Look on his need and
know Christ is the only one that can meet that need. Let this
man be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. He's God, not
robbery to be equal with God, but he made himself of no reputation
and took upon him the form of a servant. That's what Christ
is teaching us, serve, become a servant. And he was made in the likeness
of man and been found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself,
lowliness of mind, became obedient unto death, and he even died
the the cross. That's how obedient He was and
humble He was. But now He's risen. He's risen. He has a name above every name.
He has all power in heaven and earth. And Ephesians 1 at the
end tells us He's the head of all things to the church and
it's Christ working in you both to will and to do of His good
pleasure. He filleth all in all. And so he says, wherefore, verse
12, wherefore my beloved as you have always obeyed not in my
presence only but now much more in my absence. You work out,
you work this thing out. That's what he's telling them.
He knows about Geodius and Syntyche and he says you work this thing
out with fear and trembling. For it's God, that same God who
laid down His life, is now risen. And it's God working in you,
both to will and do of His good pleasure. So you do all things
without murmuring and disputing. Now, child of God, I want you
to think about how Christ did this for you. Just think about
it. He looked on your need, fallen
in Adam, ungodly, Everything he despises, everything that
is totally contrary to the holy nature of God is what you and
me were. And he looked on our need. Did
he despise you? No, he came down and made himself
no reputation. And he humbled himself, and he
humbled himself, and he humbled himself. all the way to the cross. And He bore our shame and our
curse, and He put our sin away, justified us, made us eternally
righteous by His obedience. And then He sent a preacher to
you, preaching Him, just preaching Him. And Christ came forth through
the Spirit of that, and in the Spirit He came forth and He established
every word in your heart. Do you just reckon, now let me
ask, do you just reckon, since that's how Christ saved you and
me, sent a man to you, to tell you your sin and tell you what
Christ did for you. Do you just reckon that's what
he was telling his apostles to do when he said, go and talk
to your brother between you and him alone? Don't you just reckon
that's what he meant? I know that's what he meant.
Go tell him what Christ did for him. Remind him. And He gave you faith in Him,
and there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit. So now, when we have a need, here's what our Lord
Jesus is teaching us. When we have a need, let's say
you're the one that's fallen. You're the one that's fallen.
You've failed miserably, you've fallen, you've sinned, you deserve
nothing. And Christ sends a brother to
you to speak to you, not to condemn you, to unite you, to use that brother
to speak the truth, the gospel to you, so Christ will unite
you in one spirit with your brethren. Now there you are. You've sinned.
You're guilty. Think how much better it will
be. How would you regard this? This brother
comes to you and he comes to you in the spirit of a little
child. Humbled like a little child. We walked in here this morning
and Kezia had come running. Just happy little child. And that brother comes to you
and he really and truly, it's obvious from his heart that he
lets you know he esteems you better than himself. What does that sound like if
somebody was telling you they esteem you better than themselves?
Paul said, I could wish myself accursed in the place of my kinsmen
in Israel. He esteemed them better than
himself. That's the spirit Christ had. That's the spirit of Christ
in Paul. This brother comes to you and
he's made it clear to you, I would rather suffer in your place than
to see you suffering what you're suffering. And he has compassion on you. And from the very inward bowels,
his inward man, he's merciful to you with deep affection for
you. And he's doing this in fear and
trembling. He distrusts himself and he knows
he can't work anything in you. He's just afraid that you're
going to reject him. He's afraid you're not going
to hear him. He's just afraid because he knows he can't make
this word effectual in your heart. And he's trusting Christ to bless
it. And He speaks to you of what
Christ has done. And He prays for you. Asks you
to pray with Him. And asks Christ to bless the
Word to your heart. Cast all His care on Christ. Trust in Christ to bless you.
Trust in Christ to grant you repentance and faith and whatever
it is you need. He does it all without murmuring.
He does it all without disputing. He just simply holds forth Christ
Jesus, the Word of Life to you. Now, will the Lord bless that
spirit to melt your heart? Or the spirit of, well, the law
says stoner, what do you say? Which spirit do you think the
Lord will bless? Our Lord is telling us Isaiah 57, verse 15, He said,
Thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity,
whose name is Holy. You want to know what real holiness
is? Here's the one whose name is Holy. I dwell, He said, in
the High and Holy Place with Him also that is of a contrite
and humble spirit. Why? To revive the spirit of
the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. He comes to you and says, if
you're laboring and you're heavy laden, come to me, take my yoke
upon you and learn of me, because I'm meek and I'm lowly in heart. If you're going to come to Christ,
This is so of every one of us. If you're going to come to Christ,
you're going to have to come down to get to where He is. You're going to have to come
down to get to where Christ is. Christ's best gifts and His treasures,
they're not up high on a shelf somewhere. They're way down low. You're going to have to go way
down to get them. He's meek and lowly in heart.
And He revives us by consoling and comforting us with the good
news that He has forgiven us and God the Father has blotted
our sins out and He will not remember them and He will not
lay them to our charge. And when you know what a sinner
you are and you've seen it, you've fallen on your face, you didn't
want to do it but you did it, you did it with your eyes open,
you did it willingly and you know you did it. And yet He forgives
you. That right there is how He revives
you, makes you know you're forgiven, and keeps you walking, looking
to Him, trusting Him alone. Christ knew. He knew these two
sisters at Philippi were not of the same mind. He knew that. And that's Christ telling Paul
to tell the brethren there what Christ would bless to give them
unity again. That's Christ declaring what
He would bless to give Him unity again. I pray God make us speak
His Word as little children and trust it all to Him knowing He
is right there working in the midst of you. Cast it all on
Him. Amen. Our God and our Father,
we thank you for this word and we pray, Lord, you'd bless it.
Make us to hear it. There's not any of your children
at any time, at any point, that do not need to hear this. We
all need to hear it continually. Pray, Lord, You'd keep us humble,
keep us looking to Christ, make us use Your Word, make us depend
upon You, keep us ever knowing You're in our midst. And, Lord,
we ask You, bless the Word, make us of one mind and one spirit,
and forgive us, Lord, of our murmuring and disputing. For
Christ's sake, for His sake alone, we ask You to do this. Amen.