It has turned to the opening
verse in that portion of Scripture that we've just read. Philippians
chapter 4 and verse 1. Therefore, my brethren, dearly
beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the
Lord, my dearly beloved. with the Lord's help that we
should consider these words before we come again with our prayers
before the Lord tonight. And here the Apostle speaks of
standing fast, stand fast in the Lord. The importance then
of that steadfastness to which Paul would exhort these believers
in the church at Philippi. There are Various exhortations
in the opening part of this particular chapter, as you, I'm sure, are
well aware. You will have observed that as
we read through the verses, how he exhorts these two, Iudaeus
and Syntyche, that they be of the same mind. Then he goes on,
I entreat the also true yoke fellow help those women which
labored with me in the gospel with Clement also and with other
my fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life. He exhorts that there should
be concord and agreement amongst the the people, the children
of God, there at Philippi. He also goes on to exhort to
joy, they are to rejoice in the Lord, he says, they are to be
always rejoicing and then furthermore he speaks of the need for moderation,
let your moderation be known unto all men, he says, the Lord
Is it a hand? And then, of course, as we would
expect, he reminds them of the importance of prayer. There's an exhortation there
at verse 6, quite a striking one. Be careful, for nothing,
he says, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. He speaks
of different types of prayers, supplications, requests, thanksgivings. There are then these various
exhortations that stand at the beginning of this particular
chapter, and we know that in his various epistles Paul does
time and again give much practical advice and instruction. Yes,
there are many things difficult and hard to understand. In the
writings of this apostle he deals with the most profound of doctrines,
Think of the epistle to the Romans there in the opening 11 chapters. Watch Truths, particularly that
great doctrine of justification by faith. So much of the gospel
is to be found in those opening chapters. But then, from chapter
12 through to the end, he spells out the practical implications
of what it really means if those truths that he has spoken of
are believed and embraced. So, in the beginning of chapter
12, he says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that you present your body as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service. Be not conformed to
this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds,
that ye might prove what is that good, and acceptable and perfect
will of God." Oh, he is reminding them in the light of all these
truths what he has said concerning the grace of God, the mercies
of God. that they should be living sacrifices, their lives devoted
to the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then, again, when
he writes to the Ephesians, six chapters in all, but the first
three chapters clearly speaking of great doctrinal truth, but
then the last three chapters are the practical parts And he
begins in chapter 4, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech
you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called. If they are those who have known
that efficacious grace, the effectual call of God, then they are to
walk in a manner that is befitting, a worthy manner, as those who
profess the name of Christ. And Here also, of course, we
have great doctrinal truths set before us. Paul speaks tremendous things
in chapter 2 concerning the doctrine of Christ, the person, the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the third chapter he has things
to say concerning himself and his own experience. And then
in chapter 4 we come to what we might say is the more practical
part of the epistle, beginning here with the words that we're
considering. Verse 1, Therefore, my brethren,
dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast
in the Lord, my dearly beloved. Well, to say something tonight
with regards to this exhortation, that they are to be steadfast
steadfast believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, and dividing what
I say into some three parts. First of all, to say something
more with regards to those who are the recipients of this letter,
the recipients of this instruction, the ones that he is exhorting
and commanding. Then secondly, to look at the
exhortation more particularly, and then finally I want to say
something about the motivation, how he will move them so that
they will desire to be obedient to his instruction. First, to
whom is he writing? And it is important when we come
to the Scriptures, of course, that we understand who's being
addressed. And these epistles, many of the epistles of Paul,
of course, are actually addressed to churches. And this is the
case here in Philippians, Paul and Timotheus the servants of
Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at
Philippi with the bishops or the overseers and deacons. So, this is a letter that applies
specifically to those who are organized in a local church there
in Philippi. See how tenderly Paul addresses
them as he comes to give some very practical advice. My brethren,
he says, dearly beloved, longed for, my joy and crowned, so stand
fast in the Lord, he says, my dearly beloved. He speaks to
them then as brethren. He is an apostle, he has all
the authority of an apostle. But he doesn't speak down to
these people. He addresses them as those who
are his brethren. They are all those who have,
of course, the same father. When Paul writes to the church
at Ephesus, he reminds them of that. There in chapter 3 verse 15,
of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. What is the
church? It is a family. It's a spiritual
family. It is God's family. They are the people of God. They
are the children of God. They are those who are the beloved
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And is it not interesting here
how twice he uses that particular word. He calls them the Beloved. First at the beginning of the
verse, my brethren, dearly beloved, and then at the end, We have
the word again, or the words again, my dearly beloved. And some might be aware that
in the original here, there are three particular words in the
Greek language that could be used to express love. And the
strongest of all those words, the word agape, is the one that
he is using here. It speaks of that spiritual love,
the highest form of love. the most intimate type of love. And this is how Paul addresses
them. They are his brethren. But they
are those, he says, who are my dearly beloved brethren. And so, not surprisingly, he
yearns over them. He longs for them. That's the
expression that he uses. And if we go back again to how
he addresses them in the opening chapter, Look at what he says
there at verse 8, God is my record, how greatly I long after you
all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. All this man was blessed and
favored with the true heart of a pastor. He only desired the
good of these churches. This is why he seeks to address
these various epistles to them. And then again he speaks of them
as my joy. Paul had such a good hope with
regards to these believers in Philippi. And we see it in the
opening chapter, verse 3, I thank my God upon every remembrance
of you, he says. Verse 6, being confident of this
very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. He has much cause to
rejoice in them and he will encourage them also to rejoice in the Lord
as the Lord had favored him and blessed his ministry there at
Philippi. We have the record, of course, of his preaching.
You can read it back in the 16th chapter of the Acts. Lydia, the
Philippian jailer. It all cost Paul and Silas a
great deal and yet that labor in the Lord was not in vain and
so he can speak of them also as my joy and crown. He doesn't only rejoice in them,
but they are such a crown to Him. He is speaking there of
the reality of their religion. They were real Christian believers. They had had a real experience
of the grace of God. And so, Verse 14, following in
chapter 2, he says, "...do all things without murmurings and
disputings, that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God,
without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation,
among whom ye 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 wrung in vain, neither labored in vain." Oh, his ministry
there at Philippi was not futile. That he experienced the opposition
and so forth, none of it was in vain. because he saw the grace
of God and this was his crown. These are the ones in to whom
the Apostle is addressing himself and giving this exhortation to
stand fast. Therefore, my brethren, dearly
beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the
Lord, my dearly beloved. Well, let us turn secondly to
say a little with regards to the actual exhortation. And what
he says before them here is clearly a duty. The expression, stand
fast, is an imperative. It's a word of commands. He's
not asking them to do something. He is telling them. how they
are to behave. All these exhortations are in
the imperative. He is speaking, of course, or
writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This is the
Word of God. This is God's command to them.
These are gospel precepts that he is setting before them. The
believer is to stand fast. What does it mean? He is to remain
true to the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the Christian's calling.
In a sense, he is only re-echoing the words of the Lord Jesus when
he says in the Gospel, "...he that shall endure to the end,
the same shall be saved." It is not enough simply to begin. There is to be that continuation,
that steadfastness, that abiding, that remaining, that persevering.
We can think of the language of the hymn to John
Newton in the hymn 999. He says, When any turn from Zion's
way, Alas, what numbers do! Methinks I hear my Saviour say,
Will thou forsake me too? O Lord, with such a heart as
mine, unless thou hold me fast, I feel I must, I shall decline,
and prove like them at last. We can have no confidence in
ourselves, surely. We see our complete and our utter
dependence upon the Lord. And here he speaks of standing
fast in the Lord. And really, we might say there's
a sense of dependence here. Because the expression, stand
fast in the Lord, could also be rendered, stand fast by the
Lord. Stand fast by the Lord. So only
the Lord keeps us, kept by the power of God, through faith unto
salvation. The psalmist says, thy right
hand hath holden me up. Or, I'm sure we recognize that
we know of some who have fallen away and we fear lest we should
fall away. We cannot of ourselves remain
steadfast except the Lord is pleased to grant that daily supply
of His grace. What does he say back in the
opening chapter in verse 27? On the end of that particular
verse, that you stand fast in one spirit, he says. That you
stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for
the faith of the gospel. One spirit. Now, it's interesting,
Dr. Gill, in his comment on that
verse, says that one spirit may refer either to the Holy Spirit,
himself, or to the gospel. standing fast in the gospel. But surely, the obvious interpretation
is that we see there a reference to God the Holy Spirit. We live to daily prove our complete
and utter dependence upon the Lord. When Paul speaks to the
Ephesians of that armor that has been supplied, that spiritual
armor, remember the use of that particular armor, what he has
to say concerning it. There at verse 10 in Ephesians
6, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, he says, and in
the power of his might, put on the whole armor of God, that
ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we
wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, take
unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand
in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore,
But how do we stand? How do we persevere? How can
we be steadfast? It is only by the grace of God. We have to prove our complete
and utter dependence upon the Lord in all of these matters. It's very much in the Lord. It's by His grace, by His constant
enabling. We're not to be moved. We read
of some who are so unstable, so easily moved. Again, when Paul writes in the
Ephesian Epistle he says as much, Be no more children, he says,
tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine
by the sight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in
waits to deceive. But speaking the truth in love
may grow up into him in all things which is the heads, even Christ. Our believers are to always recognize
They are but dependent. We are dependent creatures, and
if we are those who know what it is to be new creatures, even
in that new creation we are constantly dependent upon the Lord. All these exhortations that we
find then scatter throughout these epistles. Again, when Paul
writes there to the Corinthian church, 1 Corinthians 16, 13,
he says, Watch ye, stand fast in the faith. And again, previously,
at the end of chapter 15, he says, Be ye steadfast, unmovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord. for as much as you
know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." Here is the
exhortation then, it's to being steadfast, to standing fast,
but it's in the Lord, it's by the Lord. But there is also a
mutual dependence upon one another. Doesn't the Lord God in his wisdom
set the solitary in families. Does he not gather his people
into local churches? And how we are to be those who
feel some mutual concern for one another's while standing
in the Lord. If we go back to those words
that we've already made some reference to in verse 27 of chapter
1 Only let your conversation be
as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and
see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye
stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for
the faith of the gospel." All that mutual striving, encouraging
one another to fight that good fight of faith. And after the
exhortation, here in this particular verse, Paul immediately goes
on to speak very personally to these two, Euodias and Syntyche,
that they be of the same mind. All believers are to stand united
in the ways of God. This is the exhortation. that
Paul is given. This is the commandment he is
setting before them, the importance of their steadfastness in the
faith of God's elect. But then thirdly, to say something
also with regards to motivation. This is gospel. It's not just
bare command that we have here. Observe the opening words, therefore
because it indicates quite clearly there's a connection. He's making
a deduction. He's saying something in view
of what he has said there in the previous chapter. Now what
has he spoken of in the third chapter? Maybe we should have
read through the third chapter. I leave you to read through that
chapter yourselves. But he speaks of two particular
types of characters. He speaks of those who we might
say are legalists, and he speaks of others who were libertines. And our believers are to be aware
of these two things. Beware of legalism, beware also
of licentiousness. Look at what he says in verse
2 of chapter 3, beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware
of the concision. for we are the circumcision,
which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh." These are those legalists. He
deals with them in some detail, of course, in the Galatian Epistle.
Those who wanted these Christian converts from amongst the Gentiles
to become sort of Jewish proselytes, to receive circumcision. But
Paul says that these are evil workers. Beware of the concision,
he says. The word concision means illegal
cuttings in the flesh, that that is forbidden in the Old Testament.
And then he says we are the circumcision, the true circumcision are a spiritual
people. They worship God in the spirit,
they rejoice in Christ Jesus, they have no confidence in the
flesh. He's dealing with this problem
that was so evident at the time amongst those young Christian
believers. And as I said, it's really in
the Galatian epistle that we find Paul dealing with this problem
in some detail. He says there at the beginning
of chapter 5 in Galatians, Stand fast therefore, Again, you see,
speaking of steadfastness. Stand fast, therefore, in the
liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage. Now, in Christ they are free
from all the condemnation of the law. They are free from all
the dominion of the law. Why doesn't Paul say in the Roman
Epistle that Christ is the end of the law? the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth." And here the
exhortation is, stand fast in the Lord. All that is stand fast
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now look at what he says in Galatians
3, Oh foolish Galatians, who have bewitched you, that you
should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath
been evidently set forth, crucified among you. This only would I
learn of you, receive ye the Spirit by the works of the law,
or by the hearing of faith. Are ye so foolish, having begun
in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" There
were those, you see, who wanted to bring these believers back
under the law. They knew the ministration of
the law. That law which is good if a man uses it lawfully, it's
not made for the righteous man, but for the ungodly, for sinners,
the disobedient. But these were those who were
wanting to bring them back under the law as we sang in our opening
praise, the gospel is the law of the
Lamb. The gospel is the Lord of the Lamb. That's one of our
articles of faith, of course, that the believer is not under
law but under gospel. That doesn't mean that the believer
is lawless. We're under gospel precept. But
what motivation, what gracious motivation there is to obedience
when we come to consider these precepts of the gospel. And we
have such a remarkable evidence of that with what Paul says at
the end of Ephesians chapter 4. There at verse 31 he says, let
all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking
be put away from you with all malice. Negative statements,
what they are not to do. And then positive, be ye kind
one to another, tender hearted. forgiving one another. Wasn't
Paul so tender in the way in which he addressed the Philippians
in the words of our text, as we said at the beginning, those
who were the recipients of his letter? Be ye kind one to another,
tender-hearted, forgiving one another, and here is the motivation,
even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Be ye therefore
followers of God as dear children, and walk in love, And then the
motivation again, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given
himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling
savour. But fornication, and all uncleanness,
all covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as become
as saints, neither foolishness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting,
which are not convenient, but rather giving of thanks. All
these exhortations, bound up with a
wonderful motivation of the gospel, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and that one sacrifice that He has made for the salvation of
His people. The motivation is, don't be like
the legalists. You don't want to bear law of
God. You have the precepts of the gospel, you have Christ,
you have that liberty that is in the Lord Jesus Christ, but
then Don't abuse that liberty. Don't abuse it. And he says that
also in chapter 3. Look at the language there at
verse 18. Many walk, he says, of whom I
have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they
are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction,
whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who
mind earthly things." All believers are not free to indulge all the
lust of the flesh. No, believers are to be those
who only desire the mortification of the deeds of the body. Again,
the language of Paul when he writes to the church at Rome
there in chapter 6, verse 11, he says, No more are they subject to the
dominion of the law, under the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,
but that does not mean that they are to behave in any antinomian
way, and not to live loose and wanton lives. Now what does Paul
say? Again in chapter 3, And verse
17, Brethren, be followers together of me, he says, and mark them
which walk so as ye have asked for an ensemble. To the Corinthians
he can say, Be ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ. Always to follow in that way
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul, you see, as he gives
these practical instructions and these exhortations, he doesn't
just tell them what to do. He heeds his own words. And so he can say in verse 9,
those things which ye have both learned and received and heard
and seen in me do, and the God of peace shall be with you. All the practical part then of
these epistles, how important these things are. We are to live
as those who are truly believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We
are to attend to the manner of our daily conversation, the way
in which we conduct ourselves. Our citizenship is not in this
world, our citizenship surely is in heaven, where Christ is,
at God's right hand. Therefore, my brethren, dearly
beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the
Lord, my dearly beloved." May the Lord grant us all needed
grace and bless His Word to us. Now let us sing the hymn 182. The tune is stellar. 797. If ever it could come to
pass that sheep of Christ might fall away, my fickle, feeble
soul alas would fall a thousand times a day. Were not thy love
as firm as free, thou soon wouldst take it, Lord, from me.