Alright, we're going to be in
Philippians, Philippians chapter 1 this morning. And we're going
to begin this new series now in Philippians, a letter by Paul. And I had preached the first
message from Philippians back in 2017, in June, before you
brethren even called me here. And you can go back and listen
to that. It was called The Servant's Thankful Heart and Prayer. But, yeah, there's a serious
echo going on. But I am going to... I'll begin
in verses 1 again, verses 1 through 7 this time, so what I covered
back then is just a little different than what we'll look at this
morning. Now, what I want us to see as
we begin here in this text, verses 1 through 7, is what it means
to be a servant of Christ. And then we'll look at the fellowship
that believers have and the confidence that we have in Christ to save
his people. We trust Christ. We preach Christ
because we trust. We're entrusting our very souls,
our life, our eternal life to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
why we preach him. servants of Christ. Paul begins this letter in Philippians
1. He says, Paul and Timothy, the
servants of Jesus Christ. And it is addressed to all the
saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi with the bishops
and deacons. Now Paul is the one who wrote
this letter. All the scholars agree that this
is Paul who wrote it alone and yet we see him here including
Timothy and The reason why he included Timothy is because he
planned to send Timothy to these brethren. He was going to send
him there to minister to the brethren there, and he refers
to them both as servants. He says there, the first phrase,
Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ. And it's very
gracious for Paul to do this. It's wise. It's wisdom. He's
shown wisdom in doing this. What we see is he's not exalting
himself over Timothy. He's the older one, the wiser
one, he's the eminent apostle that the Lord has raised up to
minister to all these Gentile churches, and Timothy's a young
man and he's been called of Paul, and yet Paul counts them both
as servants, and it's very It's a sweetheart that the Lord gave
him. And the reason why, one of the reasons why, there's a
lot of reasons that you can see why the Lord did this, but one
of the reasons here that we're looking at is he wanted them
to receive, he wanted these brethren at Philippi to receive Timothy
that he was going to send to them, so that when they received
Timothy, it was as if they were receiving Paul himself, that
they would be as respectful and receptive to what Timothy would
be saying and teaching to these people. And you see here that
it reveals the kind of heart that the Lord himself works in
his ministers, so that it's not a jockeying for position and
preeminence among others in their minds, but it's a He thinks of himself as a servant,
that he's a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you can see,
if you remember, this is the man who wrote to the Corinthian
church in 1 Corinthians 13.4 where he said, charity or love
suffereth long and is kind. charity envieth not, and love
vaunteth not itself, it's not puffed up." So he lived that
which he preached, and he understood this to be so. So Paul, in love,
in love to Timothy and in love to these brethren, he's careful
not to sow any discord. also to the Corinthians, he had
to deal with the fact that some exalted Apollos, and some listened
to Cephas and respected him more, and some more to Paul, and Paul
didn't want any of that among these dear brethren who are clearly
very dear to him and on his mind. And so he doesn't even mention
the fact that he's an apostle. And he almost always mentioned
the fact that he's an apostle because he was dealing with errors
in the church that were coming in and so he was making it known
that I am an apostle called of Christ to minister to the church. And he didn't do that here. And
it also testifies just how much love and respect they had for
Paul. He didn't even have to do that. They didn't challenge
or question what Paul was saying. In fact, they're the ones who
initiated the gift of reaching out to Paul. And so you see a
lot of reasons why he didn't even mention the fact that he's
apostle and so he just calls them both servants or bond slaves
and that's what the word means. Now you can see this humble attitude
of these servants of Jesus Christ and you look there in Philippians
chapter 2. Philippians 2 and go to verse
19. And he begins saying, and this is what I was saying, how
he's going to send Timothy to them. He says, but I trust in
the Lord Jesus to send Timothy. So that we see here, first just
note, it's God that puts a man among the brethren. And you're
starting to see how how the Lord works this in the hearts of his
servants. And so it's God who puts a man
there, and Paul didn't even trust himself, but he says, I trust
the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you. I'm trusting that this
is the will of God. I'm not sending Timothy to you
lightly, but I've prayed about this, and I'm looking to the
Lord, and I'm trusting that the Lord is sending Timothy to you
shortly. The other reason is, again, he wants to make sure
that they have no doubts that when Timothy's talking, it's
as though Paul was saying the same thing, which is as though
Christ were saying these words to them. He wants them to have
no doubts or questions when Timothy gets there and begins to preach
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to them. And he says,
and also that I may be of good comfort when I know your state,
for I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your
state, for all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus
Christ's." And so that's a true mark of the servant of the Lord
Jesus Christ. They seek the things which are
Jesus Christ's. And so that begs the question,
well, what are the things of Jesus Christ? That's you, brethren. That's you. You are the things
of Jesus Christ. And he's seeking and he sends,
he raises up his ministers and his pastors to preach the gospel
to you, to seek you out, to comfort you, to draw you out of darkness,
draw you out of the dominion of sin and the condemning power
of the law that you might know him and have fellowship with
the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a sweet thing
to remember there. To religionists who think they're
something, that doesn't mean much to them. Of course, he's
seeking me out. I'm special. That's what they
think. But to sinners, to people who
know that they're sinners and that that it's a wonder to them
why God should love them. That is a dear thing to see how
Christ would send, would take a man who could do other things
but give him a heart to want to serve the Lord and be willing
to go there to where the Lord would send him and preach and
minister the gospel to you. The Lord does that. Believe it.
The Lord does that. He's the one. No man takes this
honor. unto himself, and then believe that when the man is
there, that God has put him there for a reason. Because he didn't
have to give me a heart to do this. I could have just gone
on in business and done other things, but he gave me a heart
to minister. And I didn't have to come here.
I could have gone to some other place where the gospel could
have been preached, but I'm here. And so be thankful and recognize
the Lord did that for you, for you, that you might consistently
hear the gospels, that you didn't have to pick up and go somewhere
else with your family. You could settle here and join
together and hear the gospel. And that's a sweet thing that
the Lord would do that. And he says in John 10, 14 through
16, he says, I am the good shepherd. He is good, and know my sheep,
and am known of mine, as the Father knoweth me, even so know
I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep, and other
sheep I have, which are not of this fold, them also I must bring,
and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and
one shepherd." So as Christ laid down His life for the sheep,
You can be sure that the servants of Jesus Christ, that's exactly
what they're called to do. Lay down your life for the sheep,
because other sheep I have, and them also, he said, I must bring. So he's going to provide, he's
going to ensure that the gospel goes forth to reach out and draw
his people to himself. He's going to bring them. As
he said in Luke 19.10, for the Son of Man has come to seek and
to save that which was lost. So his heart of God in going
forth and seeking out his own, he gives that heart, he works
that heart in his servants so that they are interested in seeking
out that which are the things of Christ, his people, his sheep,
and not seeking out their own. And Paul goes into this, he says there in Romans 10, he describes
this work that God does in the sinner, where the Lord draws
out his own, it says in Romans 10, 12, For there is no difference
between the Jew and the Greek. For the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And how then shall
they call on him in whom they've not believed? And how shall they
believe in him in whom they've not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? Because it's the design of the
Lord to save his people through the foolishness of preaching,
to save them that believe. That's how we're called and drawn
out, through preaching. So he's got to send, he's going
to send, because that's what pleases him. He's going to send
somebody out there to preach the gospel and cause you to hear
it. and not just one time because it's a continual coming to the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's a continual feeding upon
him because we know the hardness and the dullness in our hearts
and that's why it's such a blessing when we come here hard and cold
and dead and indifferent and yet we hear the gospel and we're
warmed again and reminded, Lord, this is exactly what where I
need to be and what I need to hear. Thank you." And so he designs
it to work that way. And so he concludes there in
Romans 10, 15, how shall they preach except they be sent? Except they be sent. And that's
what Paul is saying, that this is of God, so I trust Jesus Christ
to send Timothy to you shortly. Because it's God who determines
who's going to have that gospel sent to them and hear that blessed
word and be fed by it. as it's written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. Now, he takes that from Isaiah
52. Isaiah 52, verses 6 through 8,
so that you see that when a pastor or a preacher comes, he's coming
in the power and the working of the Holy Spirit. He's not
just coming of himself. And he says in Isaiah 52 verse
6, he says, therefore my people shall know my name. And that's why he's seeking them
out. He's going to bring them because it pleases the Father
that you know his name. the name of Christ, your salvation,
your Lord and your Savior. Therefore they shall know that
in that day that I am he that doth speak, behold it is I, how
beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth
good tidings, that publisheth peace. This is the Spirit of
the Lord declaring this, that bringeth good tidings of good,
that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, thy God reigning. And he says, Thy watchman shall
lift up the voice, with thee voice together shall they sing,
for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall bring again
Zion. So that if we're sent to the
Lord, then it's not just me, but the Lord has put it on my
heart to seek him forward for you, that you be fed and encouraged
and hear his voice. and he attends that word because
he's the one who sent it, and he blesses it to your heart,
opening your ear. Just as the servant who loved
his Lord and his master, if he didn't want to go out, but he
said, I love my master and I love my wife and my children, he would
go to the doorpost and have his ear opened there. He would have
a thing put through there and open up his ear, and it's the
same way. It's a picture that our ear is made open to the Lord,
and we're listening to his voice and more than happy to serve
him and do what he calls us to do. So our Lord said to these
apostles, these disciples, these early ones, he said, come ye
after me and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook
their nets, their livelihood, and followed him. Now, Paul also
wrote to Timothy of these things, and it's widely believed that
when Paul was imprisoned there in Rome, that's when he wrote
the letter to the Philippians. Well, he also sent a letter to
Timothy a little later on, in 2 Timothy 2, verses 9 and 10. Wherein I suffer trouble as an
evildoer, even unto bonds, but the word of God is not bound,
therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they
may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with
eternal glory. So we see that, how the Lord's
working, we see that tender heart of the Lord, because it's revealed
in His servants, willingly, ministering to you, which means serving you,
being your servants and laying down, sacrificing for you for
your benefit because you are the flock of the Lord. You're
his tender possession that he loves and that he shed his blood
for and he shows that. He's expressing it to you and
feeding you continuously with that gospel. So that's a real
blessing and a mercy. And then we see it's not just
for the apostles and not just for their immediate disciples
that were called out, like Timothy, but it even goes to the bishops
and the deacons throughout all the ages. As you can see it there
in his address, he says, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which
are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons. So you can see how
he's addressing to the saints. He's writing to the saints for
your benefit, brethren. Oh, and you bishops and deacons
as well who are ministering to them. So he even puts the saints
before the bishops and the deacons, just showing that you are that
precious possession of the Lord whom he loves. Paul would later
say, Brethren, in Philippians 3 verse 17, he says, Brethren,
be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as
ye have us for an example. For many walk, 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. and whose glory is in their shame
who mind earthly things." So that shows there again the difference
between one who is called and sent to the Lord, they're seeking,
they're interested in seeking out the things that are the Lord's
and seeking out his sheep and ministering to them, whereas
the false teacher and the false prophet, the liar, he's seeking
his own belly. He's seeking to minister to himself
and have himself minister to and his wants met over your wants
and they seek earthly things because they're just doing this
for earthly gain. They just think they have an
angle and they can profit from it and so that's why they're
in it to do that. there's the difference there.
One seeks what Christ is after, the other one seeks what their
own belly is after, how they might satisfy themselves. So,
relating to this topic, we see in Luke 22 verses 24 through
27, we find there that there was a strife, Luke
22, 24, there was a strife among the twelve, which of them should
be accounted the greatest. And Christ said unto them, The
kings of the Gentiles, verse 25, they exercise lordship over
them, over their subjects, they exercise lordship, they're the
top dog there, and they that exercise authority upon them
are called benefactors. So the factor of your good, they're
saying, is my goodness. I'm the reason why you're benefited. I'm your benefactor. That's what
the Gentiles do. they treat their people that
they're serving. It's all about them, and so they're
saying, you're only benefited, you only have good because of
me, because I'm willing to be good to you. That's what they
say. But Christ says in verse 26,
ye shall not be so, but he that is greatest among you, let him
be as the younger, and he that is chief as he that doth serve. For whether is greater he that
sitteth at meat, or he that serveth, is not he that sitteth at meat,
but I am among you as he that serveth." So Christ is saying,
I'm Lord of all, and yet I'm among you as a servant. And that's
what he did, right? All he did was minister to the
wants and the needs of the people, and healing them, and going non-stop,
and praying for them, and feeding them, and going from this place
to that place, to this place to that place, non-stop they
saw Christ. He even washed their feet. Because
he was picturing that washing in his blood, that he laid down
his life, the Master, the Lord, laid down his life for his people,
for his sheep, that they would be washed and cleansed in his
blood, and not fear to die, but know that they are accepted of
God, because they come washed in the blood of Christ, trusting
his righteousness, not looking to their own works, and trying
to have confidence in those things. And that stuck with Peter, because
Peter would later say in 1 Peter 5 verses 1-3, The elders which are among you
I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings
of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed,
feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight
thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre,
but of a ready mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage,
but being examples to the flock. So the Lord's pastors and his
preachers, they're servants. They're servants sent of God
to minister for your good and for your benefit that you would
be comforted and encouraged in the Lord Jesus Christ and what
he's done for you. fear, and doubt, and become afraid. He's provided all these things
for you. He'll continue to provide all these things for you. So
you just be thankful and rejoice in what the Lord has done. Now
next we see this fellowship of believers. The Lord provides
fellowship. We'll read verses 2 through 5.
Philippians 1, 2 through 5. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God
upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine,
for you all making requests with joy for your fellowship in the
gospel from the first day until now. So that part of the labors
of the pastor is to be moved in prayer for the people. He's
thankful to the Lord for the people that he's placed under
his care and so he remembers them in prayer and their needs
and their struggles and the trials and afflictions that they're
going through, they pray to the Lord and the Lord uses that and
he blesses you and is kind and merciful. I don't understand
it fully, but the Lord calls us to pray one for another, and
so I believe in that, that he blesses his people and uses that. Christ is the righteous man,
and it says the prayer of a righteous man availeth much. So we're looking
to Christ and trusting him in our prayers because he's the
one who's interceding for us before the throne of God, before
his Father. And yet he moves us to be part,
to partake in that. And it's an odor of a sweet smell,
it says, when you read Revelation and you see those vials of the
prayers of the saints that rise up before the Lord. And so he
calls us to that and to have that fellowship with him and
to serve one another in that capacity. You know, Paul says, I thank
God upon every remembrance of you, and it's a testament to
Paul. What he's doing there is he's
remembering what he is, what a hard, cold, dead religionist
he was, and that God saved him out of that dead religion, and
he's thankful because It's not just him, but that's all of us.
We were all born dead in trespasses and in sins. We all come forth
and have done that which earns us. We've earned the wages of
sin, which is death. We deserve that. There's none
of us here that is here because we're good and righteous and
special. Every person saved is a sinner
saved. by grace. Every person saved
is a sinner saved by grace who's delivered his chosen people. God has chosen out his people
and he's given them life by the Holy Spirit. He's called them
into Christ And Christ washed us in his blood because we ourselves
are filthy and guilty and we're not here because there's something
good or precious about us, but it's the Lord that makes us so. So every person saved is a sinner
saved. And unless you're a sinner, you
have no part in Christ. Except you be washed, Christ
said, you have no part in me. because we've all got to understand
we're coming to him as sinners, not because we're something and
somebody to be recognized and praised. Our prayers aren't perfect. and weak, and yet the Lord, He
makes His desire known in His people for one another. And so
He says in verse 2, Grace be unto you and peace from God our
Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. So that we want to see
the Lord's grace and mercy shower down upon his people. And so in grace he feeds us with
Christ because Christ is our very peace and reconciliation
with the Father. We're not here because of our
strong, good religious works. We're here because we're sinners
washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ who laid down his
life for us. All right, let me move on a little
further. Our fellowship, we have fellowship
in the gospel because we understand that, we unite in that fellowship
that we're all, each one of us is a sinner in need of his grace
and so he's feeding us with that and making that known and that's
why Paul is thankful because all others forsook him, but he
had the fellowship of the brethren in that. Because of this, because
of this work that we see in the Lord, what the Lord is doing
in providing for us and drawing us together under the blood of
Christ, therefore the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ have
confidence. They have confidence in Christ. They have confidence
that this is his work, doing this here. So you think about
it, we labor, the pastors and the preacher, they labor in hope,
Paul said. We labor in hope, trusting that
there's going to be fruit to reap, that the Lord is going
to bring forth fruit from his flock, that he's going to do
that work and he's going to bring it forth. And so Paul says in
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. So that good work that's done
in you, that's worked in you, that's wrought in you by the
power of God, It's the witness that we have that the spirit
is doing this work, that he's the one bringing forth these
fruits unto the praise of his name, because you believe. You
believe in Christ. Not because you're anything special,
but you believe because he's the one who has provided the
salvation for you, and it's an evident token of God's grace. Remember, you don't believe Christ. You're not looking to Christ
for all your hope and all your salvation. because it's some
product of your flesh. Because as Paul wrote to the
Thessalonians, he said, all men have not faith. So it can't be of our flesh. True faith is not a work of the
flesh, but that faith that we have, it testifies It's testified
to in our continuance in Him so that we're not turned back
to the works of the law. When we sin or when we see our
filthiness, we don't go back into religion to straighten that
out and then to start walking on that path. But the Lord turns
us from those fleshly thoughts and brings us to Christ to see
that we're washed in His blood and we cry out to Him for forgiveness
because we know there's nothing I can do that's going to right
this wrong that I just committed. I can't do anything. I can't bring about anything
to cause God to forgive me. It's only Christ. It's only for
His blood, for His sake. that God forgives us and restores
us again in that fellowship and the joy of his salvation. And
we're not turned back to the love of this world. He keeps
us from going off and saying, I'm done with this. Like Demas
who forsook the body, having loved having a love for this
world and and we see that we see the draw and we see the hardness
of our hearts and we see that those desires but the lord keeps
us walking in faith and and he even though it's weak and when
we see it we're not impressed by what we bring forth And yet
the Lord keeps us. He keeps us coming to Him. So
we see it's His work and not a product of the flesh. If it
was of the flesh, we'd either go off into dead religion or
we'd go off into the love of this world and just pursuing
that with vigor. So the Lord does that, and Paul
says in Romans 6, verses 17 through 18, he says, but God be thanked
that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from
the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being
then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. So there's that fellowship that
we all are brought to in Christ, we're all servants of His righteousness. That is, walking in Him, trusting
that He's delivered me from the condemnation of sin, He's delivered
me from the condemnation of the law, and He's delivered me from
the dominion of sin ruling and reigning over me because He's
given me His Spirit so that I keep looking to Him and I keep walking,
looking to and trusting in this work which He's begun in me. And so you see this confidence
of the Brethren. There's a confidence in preaching
Christ. If I'm trusting that it really
is Christ that saves, then I'll continue to preach Christ and
exalt Him and lift up Him and show forth His glory in laying
down His life there on the cross. But if I don't trust that it's
all of Christ, That's when I begin to preach law and begin to preach
works and begin to whip and beat the brethren because now I've
lost confidence that it's his work and I'm looking to the flesh
to do the work that he must do for his people. He's the one
who's got to do that. Paul said, it's meat for me to
think this of you. Why? He goes on to say, why?
Because I have you in my heart. It's a testimony to me that God
is working among you because I have you in my heart. And I want to show this. If you
go over to 2 Corinthians 3, but he says, I have you in my heart.
And he says, in as much as both of my bonds and in the defense
and confirmation of the gospel, y'all are partakers of my grace. So the very fact that you, brethren,
too, it's not just witnessed in me by my preaching, continuing
to preach the gospel, but the very fact that you continue to
walk by faith and not turning to works to supplement this righteousness
that Christ works in you, because you're not turning back to supplement
by the works of the law, you're also saying, I stand with you,
Paul, You, Paul, who are bound in chains, because remember,
Paul was there because they accused him of being an antinomian. They
accused him of being against the law because he so lifted
up and exalted Christ in his preaching and said, you're not
saved by the law, and the Lord isn't looking to you're doing
this or that in the law, he's looking 100% to the blood of
his son, Jesus Christ. That's what God's doing. And
so I'm showing I have confidence in that work by preaching it,
and you show you have confidence that you are standing in defense
and confirmation of the gospel by continuing in Christ. That's
what Paul's saying, is you're standing with me, Philippian
brethren, because you're continuing in the faith. you're not being
turned back to dead works. You're continuing in that faith
of Christ. So there's a sweet thing there. And look, he says
the same thing to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 3, verses 2
through 6. And he begins it right here.
He says, Ye are our epistle written in our hearts. And that's what
he said there in verse 7. I had you turn now. I shouldn't
have had you turn away. But in Philippians 1, 7, he says, Because
I have you in my heart. It's the same language. He's
saying it to the Philippians. He's saying it to the Corinthians.
I know you're the Lord's. He keeps you in my heart and
praying for you and ministering and serving you brethren, which
is known and read of all men for as much as you are manifestly
declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us. And
think about what he's saying there. We're so confident that
it's Christ who saves that we're going to just preach Christ.
I'm not going to whip you and beat you with the law and turn
your eyes back to the law. And so you're the epistle of
Christ. You're not the epistle of the
law. If you're looking to the law, you're looking to Moses,
you're the epistle of Moses in the house that he built, we're
looking to Christ in the house that he built. We're entrusting
you, I'm entrusting your very life to Christ, that he's going
to save. And so that's what he's saying,
he's saying, written not with ink, verse 3, but with the Spirit
of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables
of the heart. And look, such trust have we
through Christ to God." It says, he said in verse six, 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. That's what
he's saying, there's such confidence that we have in Christ, to God,
we're entrusting our very hearts and souls, our lives, our children,
our wives, our brethren, to the Lord that we're preaching Him. And when you go out there into
the world, you're an epistle of what Christ has done for you.
And you're either going to show forth works of the flesh, or
you're going to show forth that work that He is your Lord and
your Savior, and that you're trusting everything to Him. Not
that we are sufficient, verse 5, of ourselves to think anything
as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. who also hath made
us able ministers of the new testament, not of the letter,
but of the spirit, for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth
life. And so, that's what he's saying,
it's not, if we had confidence in ourselves, we'd talk about
the law, and talk about what you can be doing more of. Do
this, stop doing that stuff everybody, and start doing more of this.
We'd put it all on you, but we're saying, nope, we're going to
keep preaching Christ, because it's Christ that saves, He gives
His Spirit, He's going to teach you, He's going to lay it to
your heart, He's going to open your ears, He's going to give you
understanding, He's going to grow you in grace, He's going to grow
you in knowledge,