Alright, brethren, Philippians
chapter 1. Now there in verse 6, Paul said
he was confident of this very thing, that he which had begun
a good work in these Philippian brethren would perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ. Christ must begin the work. And
where He has begun the work, He will finish it. He will finish
it. Then he declares why he thought
this. Why he thought this about them.
He said, even as it is meet for me to thank this of you all because
I have you in my heart. I have you in my heart. God had
laid them on his heart. He had put these brethren in
his heart. They were in his heart. The work
that the Lord does in his people is a heart work. especially if
he sends his messenger to minister to some that Christ redeemed.
The Lord puts them in his servant's heart so that he'll labor for
them and he'll to get a message from God and he'll pray for them
for God to bless it. They're in his heart. The Lord
has put them in his heart. And these brethren were in Paul's
heart. And that's so of every messenger
the Lord sends. Listen to David. You know the
house that was built, it's a picture of the Lord building his house
with his people. And listen to this prayer. In
2 Samuel 7.25, he said, Now, O Lord God, the word that thou
hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his house, establish
it forever. Do as thou hast said, and let
thy name be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is
the God of Israel. And let the house of thy servant
David be established before thee, for thou, O Lord of hosts, God
of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build
thee a house. Therefore hath thy servant found
in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. Because the Lord has
promised he'll build the house, because the Lord's promised his
servant he has some sheep in this place. The Lord knits the
heart of his servant with those to whom he ministers. You're
in my heart. That's what makes me labor to
get a word from God. That's what makes me pray for
you. That's what make me want to stay up a little longer and
study a little more is because God put you in my heart. And
that's what, Paul, that's something serious. That's real. And that's
something that that Paul said, I know the Lord's begun this
work in you and I know He'll finish it because He's put you
in my heart. He's laid you on my heart. Here's
proof that they were one, right here. He said, verse 7, Inasmuch as
both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel,
ye all are partakers of my grace. In the gospel of Christ, They
were one, and they were one by Christ of the gospel. In the
gospel, by Christ of the gospel, they were one. They were one,
one in heart, one in purpose, fellowship of heart, one man
to glorify God. Now, Paul was in prison for preaching
Christ. That's where he's writing from. And these brethren had also suffered
very much from the magistrates at Philippi, from the powers
that be at Philippi, they had suffered greatly too for preaching
Christ. Imagine if the police were storming
here right now and arrest some of us for preaching the gospel.
And these brethren at Philippi had seen that happen and they
had experienced it. And Paul's in prison because
of that. And yet by the Spirit of God, by the grace of God,
they continued steadfast in the Gospel. They continued assembling
together, believing in Christ, spreading forth the Gospel of
Christ. And they stood with Paul when
everybody, a lot of brethren, forsook Paul. And these Philippians
sent a brother to Paul with some gifts they sent to minister to
him in prison. They stood with Christ, they
stood with Paul, and they couldn't be turned. They couldn't be turned. And they stood in the defense
and confirmation of the gospel. They weren't backing up on the
truth of the gospel, no matter what opposition they faced. They
assembled together, they continued together. Look at 2 Timothy 1. They did what Paul told Timothy
to do. They did what Paul told Timothy
to do. This is what the Scriptures teach you and me to do, right
here. And this is what these brethren had done. Listen to
this, 2 Timothy 1, look at verse 11. Paul said, I'm appointed
a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. For
the which cause I also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I
am not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed,
and have persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've
committed unto him against that day. The Philippian brethren
had that same mind. That's what Paul's saying. They
had that same mind. They were steadfast, trusting
Christ. And they did what Paul told Timothy to do, verse 13.
Hold fast the form of sound words. Hold fast to the gospel of Christ,
which thou hast heard of me, in faith and in love, which is
in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed
unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost, which dwelleth in us. In the
face of all opposition, By the Holy Spirit, these Philippian
brethren continued in the faith, in love, in Christ, and in love
to one another. And they didn't do what many
had done. Look what Paul said here. Verse 15, This thou knowest
that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me. of whom
are Phygelus and Hermogenes. Paul named the men who turned
away from him, who encouraged other brethren to turn away from
him. He named them. He named them. But instead, these
Philippian brethren, they did what Onesiphorus did. Look what
he did, verse 16. The Lord give mercy to the house
of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed
of my chain." That's why those others turned away. They were
ashamed of Paul. They were afraid if they associated
with Paul, it would make them look bad. It would make them
look good if they would have. Because they would show they
stood with Christ, just like these Philippians did, and they
couldn't be turned away. That's what they did with Paul.
That's what Onesiphorus did. It says, he was not ashamed of
my chain, but when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently
and found me. The Lord grant unto him that
he may find mercy of the Lord in that day, and in how many
things he ministered to me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well.
So that's what they did. That's what these Philippian
brethren did. They did that same thing. And so Paul says, it's
me, for me to thank this of you all, for you're all partakers
of my grace. By the grace of God, Paul and
these brethren were of one mind, trusting Christ as all their
righteousness, all their holiness, all their redemption. By the
grace of God, they were of one mind toward one another and fellowship
with one another. They stood fast in the face of
all opposition, trusting Christ, preaching the gospel, assembling
together, couldn't be turned away. Brethren, we might face
something like this. If we do, it'll be because God
providentially brought it to pass. And I'll tell you this,
knowing God will provide, God will sustain you. You say, I
don't know if I could have the faith to assemble with knowing
that I could be arrested. All these wicked things happened
to me. God will give you the faith to do it. That's the only
way these Philippian brethren did it. By the grace of God.
That's the only way Paul was sustained. He said, you are all
partakers of my grace. See, their bonds were more than
a carnal chain. They were bound to Christ. And
their bonds with each other and with Christ was what Scripture
calls the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That's
what bound them. That's what bound them. Now verse
eight, he says, for God is my record, how greatly I long after
you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ, in the mercies of Jesus
Christ, and this I pray. He gave four things he prays
for right here. That your love may abound yet
more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. Number two,
that you may approve things that are excellent. Number three,
that you may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ.
And number four, being filled with the fruits of righteousness,
which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.
My subject is growing in love. Growing in love. The believer's
growth in love is by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he
said there. It's by the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so, therefore, We give all the praise and all the glory
to the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't glory in ourselves,
we glory only in Him, because any growth is by the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, the first thing I want us
to see here is we grow in grace the same way we begin in grace.
We grow in grace the same way we begin, by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how we began, that's how
we're gonna grow. That's why in verse nine, Paul
said, this I pray. He couldn't make this growth
happen. Those Philippian brethren couldn't make this growth happen.
Only Christ, and so he said, this I pray. I cast myself on
the mercy of the Lord to work this in you. How do we begin? How's a sinner made a saint?
How are you made holy? Righteous. Christ declared that
we must be born again of the incorruptible seed, that's by
the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Must be
born again of the living word. Incorruptible. If it's incorruptible,
what you think it's gonna produce? It's gonna produce a new man
that's incorruptible. Peter called that new man created
within the hidden man of the heart which is not corruptible.
That's what he called the new man in the heart, not corruptible. Christ declared we must be born
again by the Holy Spirit of God. We have to be born by the Word.
Through the preaching of the gospel, we have to be born of
the Holy Spirit. This is a must, brethren. Christ
the life enters in. And there is a new man created
within these who were before spiritually dead sinners. There's
a new man created. And that new man is holy. He's
made righteous before the law by what Christ did for us. And
the holiness of the new man is Christ in you. Christ in you. Ephesians 4.24 says, it's the
new man which after God in the image of God is created. It's
a new creation, entirely a creation of God, created in righteousness
and true holiness. And the righteousness and holiness
is Christ. We didn't produce it. It's Christ. It's Christ. Christ justified
His people at Calvary, made us righteous, therefore we must
be born again. Everybody He justified must be
born again. And when they're born again and
Christ is formed within, there is a new holy man created within. Turn over to John 15. John 15. I want to get to this part on
growth, but I've got to preach the gospel to you, and I need
to show you this. Somebody might hear this, never
heard the gospel. Listen now, John 15, three, whenever
Christ speaks affectionately the Word. He's the Word, the
living Word. And He speaks the Word. And the
Spirit of God gives the new birth. This is what He said. He said,
we're sanctified when that happens. We're clean. We're holy. Look
at this. John 15, verse 3. Speaking to His apostles, He
said, Now you are clean through the Word which I have spoken
unto you. You're clean. You're holy. You're
pure. Now hold your place right there
in John 15, just a minute. Listen, having been already created
a new holy, a new holy man created within, then in that state of
holiness, Christ grows us the same way that He began the work,
by the word, by the preaching of the gospel through the Spirit
of God. Paul said, this I pray that your love may abound yet
more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. He said in Colossians
3.10, the new man is renewed in knowledge after the image
of Christ that created him. This renewing, we're regenerated
one time, but He continues to renew the new man day by day. And you're renewed in the image
of Christ, in the knowledge of Him. Now, Paul prays for fruit
in them. That's what he's praying for,
for fruit. Now, how's fruit produced? Well, a grape is a fruit. A grape's
a fruit. How's a grape produced? The vine
produces branches. And from the vine, all the sap
goes out into the branch and a cluster of grapes form. The
branch didn't create the fruit. The vine created the fruit. The
branch bears the fruit, but the vine created the fruit. Now look
what Christ said. He said, verse 3, now you're
clean through the word which I've spoken unto you. He said,
now abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit
of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except
ye abide in me. I'm the vine, you are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I
in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me you
can do nothing. You see that? If we're going
to grow, we have to stay in the vine. You know how you're going
to abide in Christ? It's through the preaching of
this word, so you're going to have to abide under the preaching
of the gospel. He said do that. I've heard men,
well, he also, he said where two or three are gathered together,
that's where I am. So men use that as an excuse
not to assemble with God's people. And they say wherever we're assembling,
if there's two or three, he's there with us. And so they'll
use that excuse to go to the ball field or go to the deer
stand or just not assemble and assemble somewhere out in the
wilderness with two or three, whatever it is. You know, when
the Lord made that statement, He was saying, when you go to
speak, when you go to speak to brethren, a word of correction,
that's what he was talking about. I'm with you. And the point he
was making is what Paul is going to make in Philippians 2, where
he says, knowing Christ is in you, in your midst, working His
will and good pleasure in you, do everything without murmuring
and disputing. In other words, Christ is standing
right there the whole time. And so act like it. Act like
you know that. He wasn't talking about going
out here and just assembling wherever you please and expect
Christ to be with you. That's not even the context of
what he was talking about when he said that. If you're going
to abide in Christ, you're going to have to abide on the gospel.
That's how it pleased him to save. He might not like it, but
that's God's word and that's how he saved. Look here now back
at Philippians 1. Paul prayed to the Lord because
those Christ-as-made saints, they're going to grow only by
Christ divine. Verse 11 says, being filled with
the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the
glory and praise of God. So we pray to Christ for this
growth, and when He produces growth in our brethren, we thank
God for it. We praise Him and glorify Him
for doing it. Paul said, I planted a pile of
water. You need the Word now. You're
going to have to hear the Word. He's not saying that the Word's
not necessary. He's just saying the preachers
didn't cause the growth. He said, but God gave the increase.
Alright, now secondly, let's consider what Paul prayed for.
These are four necessary things to pray for right here. This
would be good for each of us to pray for one another. One,
verse 9, This I pray that your love may abound yet more and
more in knowledge and in all judgment. Those born again love. Now these brethren loved. Paul
just stated that. They were full of love. And they
loved the Lord and they loved Paul and they loved their brethren.
And they were willing to be harmed, physically harmed, to minister
to Paul. That's how they loved him. Look
over at 1 John 4, this is what he said about that. 1 John 4,
God is love and so those that are born of God, they're going
to love one another. They're going to love Christ
and they're going to love one another because it's of the Spirit of
God. Look here, verse 12, 1 John 4, 12, No man hath seen God at
any time. If we love one another, there's
just one reason. God dwelleth in us. That's why. God dwelleth in us, and His love
is perfected in us. That simply means His love has
accomplished what He sent it to do. It's made you love one
another. It's come to that end. It made
you love one another. Look here. Hereby know we that
we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He's given us of His
Spirit. Look at verse 19. Let's just read verse 14. We've seen and do testify that
the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. See,
it created faith in us. We've seen and we testify. And
whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God
dwelleth in him, and he in God. You only believe God and confess
Him and testify of Him if God dwells in you. And we've known
and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love. And he that dwelleth in love
dwelleth in God, and God in him. He that dwelleth in love dwelleth
in God, and God in him. Now look down at verse 20. Or verse 19, we love Him because
He first loved us. That's why we love Him, because
He first loved us. If any man say, I love God and
hateth his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
In this commandment have we from Him that he who loveth God love
his brother also. It's chapter 5, verse 1. Who,
sir, believeth that Jesus is a Christ, is born of God, and
every one that loveth him therebeget loveth him also that is begotten
of him. That's a fact. That's just going
to be true. That's going to be true. But
spiritual love grows. It's going to be grown by Christ.
It was started by Christ. It's going to be grown by Christ.
And it's going to be grown by the word, by the spirit, and
here it's gonna grow in knowledge and in all judgment. Knowledge
and in all discernment, giving you true discernment, and it's
gonna grow two ways. There's two ways. Now, by the
spirit, of course, but there's two chief way, by the preaching
of the gospel and by providence. God is, and the spirit's gonna
bless and he's gonna grow us in love, in knowledge and true
judgment. That's how he's going to do it.
He's given us spiritual senses. We have spiritual eyes, spiritual
ears, taste, touch, smell, all of these things now that we have
that we didn't have before. He's going to grow you in those
spiritual senses. He's going to grow you to love
and he's going to do it by providence. He's going to exercise those
senses. to grow you in knowledge and
true judgment. And that's what the Hebrew writer
said in Hebrews 5.14. Strong meat belongeth to them
that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their
senses exercised to discern both good and evil. That's what Paul
said in our tale. Pray God grow you more and more
in love and all judgment so that you discern, you have judgment,
you discern. Now let me give you some examples
of what I mean. The Lord's gonna do this by the
preaching of the gospel and he's gonna do this by providence.
He's gonna bless it by the spirit of God in the new man. You come
in here and you hear the gospel preached. We hear the gospel
declare how God loves his people. 1 John 4, verse 8, it said, God
is love, and this was manifested, the love of God toward us, because
that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might
live through Him. Herein is love, not that we love
God, but that He loved us and sent His Son, the propitiation
for our sins. We didn't love God. He loved
us. He sent His Son, the propitiation
for our sin. Beloved, if God so, if He after
this manner loved us, we ought also to love one another after
this manner. That's what He said. So you hear
this gospel and the Lord makes you to see that you didn't love
God. You did not love God. God set
His love on His elect in eternity because He would. He chose us
because He would. And the Lord chose us in Christ
and His love's sovereign, it's unchangeable, it knows no end.
No variableness with it. He never takes it back. It doesn't
change toward His people in Christ. It's everlasting. Those God loves,
He saves. And He sent His Son that we might
live through Him. Not that we just might live,
so that we shall live through Him. That's what it means. And
He sent Christ to go to that cross and bear the sin of His
people, bear the justice of God for His people, put away the
curse that we were under so that now, by what He's done, He's
purged our sin, there's no condemnation, and He's risen to God's right
hand and we're accepted in the Beloved. He's accomplished this
for His people. That's how He loved us. And He shows us by providence. He lets us see by providence
the wickedness of our sin nature that's still with us as believers.
And He lets you know, He lets you know you're, as an elect
child of God, we're more worthy to be loathed than we are to
be loved. And the Lord makes us know that.
He lets you see that about your own self. And then the Spirit
sheds the love of God abroad in your heart and makes you know
that in the face of your sin, because of Christ Jesus, our
righteousness alone, the Lord loves you. And His love hasn't
changed. He makes you know that. And then
Christ says He sends you a brother, He sends you a sister. That's
not lovable. They've not done anything to
merit your love whatsoever. And He reminds you. And I tell
you when you do this most is when you're fresh out of the
trial and you've experienced it. And the Lord Jesus will say,
now you love them after the same manner that I loved you. And
He grows you in the knowledge of His love and in true judgment
of how to love. True judgment, true discernment
of how to love. By the Gospel, the Spirit teaches
us that God gave His only begotten Son to bear our sin, bear our
justice that we deserve, and put the curse away. He makes
you see that. Because He loved us, and Christ
willingly bore our sin. He willingly took that curse
away. This is my commandment, He said,
that you love one another as I have loved you. How did He
love you? He bore your sin, took it away,
covered it, put the curse away. That's how He did it. And He
says, now you love one another as I have loved you. Greater
love hath no man in this than a man lay down his life for his
friend. We hear this preached. And then by providence, God brings
a trial. And somebody's talking about
you, people are shunning you, something like that's happening.
Like it was happening to Paul. And the Lord used these Philippian
brethren, sent them to Paul to minister to him. What were those
brethren doing when they sent that brother down there with
those gifts for Paul? What were they doing? What were
they doing? The Lord teaches you and me.
He'll send a brother or sister to you when you're in that position,
and maybe you've sinned, you've done something that was wrong,
and you already feel horrible about it. The Lord's already
just broke your heart over it. And He sends a brother or sister,
and they bear your sin. They bear it. They just put up
with it. And they put it aside. And they cover it. They don't
talk about you. They don't shun you. They put
away the cursing. They put it away. They don't
curse you. They don't condemn you. They don't judge you. They
come and they love you. They speak this good news to you.
And the Lord uses it to restore you. And then the Lord will send
somebody in your life that's in the same place you were in.
and they need you to bear their sin. And the Lord says, now you
love them as I've loved you. And He teaches you to go forth
and bear their sin, put it away, cover it. Love covers a multitude of sins.
Love thinks no evil, thinks the best. Love doesn't judge and
condemn one who Christ justified. Love takes away the curse. Why?
Because you see, that's what the Lord has done for you. When
you just fell on your face and He could have condemned you,
and He showed you that all over again. That's how He's growing
us, brethren, in the knowledge of Him, of His love, and giving
you discernment on how to love. By the Gospel, the Holy Spirit
teaches us more when we sin, that we have a great high priest
in the glory, that He's ever living to intercede for us, that
He's our advocate with the Father, our righteousness with the Father,
and so the Father receives us. He shows you that. And He keeps
showing you this over and over, that His love is unchangeable,
and then by providence He exercises your senses. He puts you in a
trial where you need brethren to intercede for you. You need
brethren to stand with you just like Paul did. And that's what
they do. They pray for you. They intercede
for you. They stand for you. And the Lord
makes you see what He's doing for you in glory using His brethren
who are doing it in a far more failing way than He does it,
but they're doing it. You see it. And you're touched
with it. You feel it. You see it. You
smell the fragrance of His love. And taste that the Lord is gracious. You understand it. And you grow
a little bit in it. And then He gives you opportunity
to do the same thing for a brother or sister in need. For a brother
or sister in need. And Christ says to you, now you
love them as I've loved you. You intercede for them as I'm
interceding for you. You stand for them as I'm standing
for you as your advocate with the Father. and He exercises your senses.
You see, you learn it by the Gospel, and you learn it by Providence. It's why He saves through the
preaching of the Gospels. It's why He's put us together.
It's the wisest thing there is. And all this is by the Gospel. The Spirit grows you in knowledge
that our Master has all power in heaven and earth, and He's
able to make His servants stand. You know how He makes you know
that? because He brings you into providence. You're taught this
in the gospel. You have it in book learning. You've heard it. You believe
it. Then He's going to put you in the clinical. He's going to
put you through the providence and make you see your total weakness
that you can't stand. And He'll send a brother to you
that will speak the word, speak the gospel to you, and Lord,
will bless it to your heart. And the Lord Jesus alone gave
you faith to stand by blessing that word. And you see, this
is all by the gospel. And you know, He didn't make
you stand. He didn't bless that word by
somebody came whipping you with the law. He didn't bless that
word to you. That crushed you down more. He blessed the Word
that came declaring, Christ put away your sin. You don't deserve
one mercy from Him. You don't deserve any grace He's
given to you. You see it, don't you brother?
You see it. That's what they said to you. You see this. But
look what Christ has done for you. And that's what breaks your
heart. And that's what Christ blessed
to turn you. And so you know what happens?
Because He grew you in this knowledge and this spiritual discernment.
The next time, then He'll bring you in providence. He'll bring
you to a brother who's fallen and they're weak and they can't
lift their head up. And you'll go to them with this
gospel. And you'll remind them through this gospel. And then
you'll pray to the Lord to bless the Word of their heart. And
you'll wait on the Lord to bless the Word of their heart. And
when He does, you'll glorify Him for doing it. This is how
He's exercising us. All this growth in love and in
knowledge and judgment is through the preaching of the gospel.
It's by the providence of our God. There's nothing in our life
happening by accident. Not a thing. Not a thing. And by the Spirit, He's blessing
it to our heart. He's exercising our senses. He's teaching us to love one
another, to preach the gospel to one another, to wait on Christ
to bless the Word. Now let's look at the next thing
Paul prayed for, and I'll go more quickly. I wanted to really
dwell on that, but here's the next thing. Paul prayed for this
growth in love and knowledge and judgment for this reason,
that you may approve things that are excellent. I'll give you
one example. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 12. This is the best example I know
of. The Corinthians had so much division and they were arguing
over spiritual gifts. And some were boasting they had
more gifts than others. Now let me tell you this. You
know this wasn't happening. You know that brethren weren't
standing up in the church saying, well, I've got more spiritual
gifts than you have. That's not how they were boasting
they had more gifts than the other. They were condemning their
brethren as not having any spiritual gifts and not having any fruit
of righteousness, being sinners, holding them in doubt and questioning
them. That's how they were boasting
in themselves. making themselves a little taller
by standing on their brother. And Paul came to them, and the
truth was they were all guilty sinners involved. Paul said they
were all guilty sinners involved. And he came to them at 1 Corinthians
12.31, and he says here, He says, covet earnestly the
best gifts. Indeed, do that. Ask God to bless
you for gifts. Covet the best gifts. But I'll
show you a more excellent way. Isn't that what our scripture
said? The Lord's doing this so you may approve things that are
excellent. He said, I'm gonna show you a
more excellent way than all these, you know, looking at the fruit
and being fruit inspectors. I'm gonna show you a more excellent
way. Though I speak with the tongues
of men and of angels, and have not charity, I become a sounding
brass or a tinkling cymbal. Though I have the gift of prophecy,
understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have
all faith so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity,
I'm nothing. Though I bestow all my goods
to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,
and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. All those things
are things that we associate with fruit that the Lord produced. All those things. And if we have
those things, they are fruit the Lord produced. But all those
things are what we associate as fruit that the Lord produced.
But the most excellent fruit This is what Paul is saying,
the most excellent fruit, and this is what needed to be said
at Corinth, the most excellent fruit is to love your brother
or sister when they appear to have no fruit at all. That's what he's saying. It doesn't
matter how God loved you, not that we love God. We loved Him
when we were ungodly. How many times since He called
you and has exercised your senses in this process, how many times
has He shown you He still loves you despite the fact you still
have sin dwelling in you and you still sin? Here's the more excellent way
that he's teaching us to approve. Charity suffereth long and is
kind. Charity envieth not. Charity
vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly,
seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth
not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. beareth all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Here's what all of that means. Here's what all of that means.
Charity never faileth. That's what it all means. Charity
never faileth. The love of God never lets anything
stop His child from loving Christ and loving our brethren. Oh,
we may get mad and we may part like Paul and Barnabas did. But
by the end of their lives, you read in the scriptures, and Paul
is speaking highly of Barnabas in his writings, that love was
still there. When preaching's not needed,
when faith and hope are not needed, when Christ has brought us into
glory, when we see perfectly, when we are perfect, when all
these childish things are put away, and we're perfect with
Christ in glory, love will remain between Christ and His people.
You see why it's the excellent way? Love was never going to
end. You're not going to have husband
and wife in glory. You're not going to have physical
father and mother, sister, brother, natural. None of that's going
to exist in glory. We're going to be all brethren
in Christ in glory. And that love is what unites
us right now, that bond, and that never changes. It'll never
change. That's why it's superior to all.
The more we experience the evils of our own heart, and yet, behold,
God continue to love us and keep us, and that's how He grows us,
brethren. That's how he makes us discern
and makes us approve that the more excellent way is to love,
think the best, put the best construction on what somebody
said about you. Try to endeavor for peace with your brethren.
Not compromising on the gospel of Christ. We're not talking
about compromising on the accomplished redemption of God's particular
people by our Lord Jesus. We're not talking about that
at all. We're not talking about the necessity of the new birth or
His preserving grace or anything of the gospel. We're not compromising
on the gospel. As long as a brother or sister
wants to sit and hear the gospel preached, and they're not disrupting,
and they're not trying to hinder the gospel going forth, that's
the best place they can be, is sitting there hearing the gospel,
because this is how God's going to save them. 3, Paul said that you may be sincere
and without offense until the day of Christ. That's what he
prayed for, that you be sincere and without offense. Sincerely
believe in God and without offense. Now, some believers hear this
and they'll say, well, I've already blown it. I've offended. Is there anybody here that's
not offended somebody since you've been a believer? Is there anybody
here that don't have any offenses since you've been a believer?
Are you without offense since you've been a believer? So you've
blown it then. If that's what this means, you've
blown it, haven't you? Well, that's not what this means. You
know what it means? It means continue trusting Christ
alone until the end. Because the only way you're going
to be presented to God blameless is by Christ and in Christ. I
can prove that to you. Go to Colossians 1.21. You that were sometimes alienated,
enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled
in the body of His flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable and unreprovable in His sight, if you continue
in the faith grounded and settled and be not moved away from the
hope of the gospel which you have heard. He said in verse
27, which is Christ to you the hope of glory. Paul said, I'm
praying that you're sincere, that you believe Christ to the
end, and that you don't offend by turning from Him and trying
to make yourself to be spotless by what you've done. Trust Him.
Trust Him. Don't be offensive. We don't
want to be offensive. But if you're going to stand
before God without offense, it's going to be in Christ only. It's
going to be in Christ only. Continue to believe in Him. And
then lastly, this is the fourth thing he prayed for. Verse 11,
being filled with the fruits of righteousness. That means
good works. That's what it means. Good works,
which are by Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.
What's a good work? Let me give you four things real
quick. Number one, a good work has got
to be what the Lord Jesus required. not what men made up. There's
a bunch of man-made doctrines that men have accused men of
and condemned men for that Christ never did require. It's a good work when it's required
by the Lord Jesus. It must be done in faith. Whatsoever
is not of faith is sin. Cain was rejected because he
didn't come by faith. Abel came by faith. That's why
he came with blood. Three, it must be done for the
glory of God. Whatsoever you do, do all to
the glory of God. The Pharisees did everything
to be seen of men and praised of men. Whatever you do, do it
for the glory of God. even if men don't ever see it
or recognize it. Do it for His glory only. Number
four, you must be motivated by the love of Christ only. Not
because you're fearful of men, not because you're trying to
please men, not for any other reason, because you're constrained
by the love of Christ only. Faith which works by love. It's
got to be by faith, got to be love in the heart, constrained
by love. Oh yeah, one more thing, and
it must be from a willing heart. a willing heart. And that's what
Christ gives you, a willing heart. You want to serve Him. You want
to do good. You want to do what's pleasing
to Him, don't you? Because He saved you. He justified
you. And Paul said, I have all confidence
in Christ that He'll produce His fruit. He'll do all this
work in you because that's what He's promised to do. He's begun
the work in you. I've got every confidence and
I have that confidence in you, brethren. I can say what Paul
has said here about you. Toward me, toward Christ, about
the gospel, through suffering, through all these things, I can
say it about you. I have you on my heart, and I believe what
God's begun, He'll finish. And we have this promise. He
said, the righteous shall flourish like the date palm tree. He shall
grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the
house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They
shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat
and flourishing. I know God's people stumble and
they don't all go at the same pace and they don't all have
the same fruit produced in them and all of that. But I'll tell
you this, Christ produces it. When He's begun, He finishes.
And in the end, they're going to still be under the gospel,
still be looking to Christ, trusting Him only with their brethren,
loving their brethren. That's what Christ, because it's
all of Christ, and we're going to praise Him and give Him the
glory. Father, we thank you for this word. Pray, Lord, you bless
it. Pray that you work this work
in us. Lord, we pray that you increase
us in love, in knowledge, in discernment. Pray, Lord, that
you would make us to approve things that are excellent. Make
us love one another. Pray, Lord, you'd make us sincere.
Trust Christ alone that we might be found in him without offense
in the day of judgment. And we pray, Lord, that You'd
fill us with good fruits, good works. We praise You and we glorify
You for that which You have already done. And we pray, Lord, You
finish the work. In Christ we ask it. Amen. All right, brethren. Brother
Greg.