We'll look at the first few verses. We'll just go down through here
and just make a comment here and there. It doesn't need much
commenting on this. If we're supposed to have favorites,
and I'm not sure we are, but this is one of my favorites.
It's certainly my favorite epistle. And the reason is, Paul doesn't
have to bring the rod out and discipline these people. This
church is like this church. It's a church full of people
that know something about the grace of God that's in Christ.
And it's evidenced in their walk and in their talk, conversation,
communication with one another. This is just a dear, precious
letter from Paul who's now in prison. Now, you know the background
of this church, the beginnings of this church. Paul was in his
travels and the Lord appeared to him in a vision and said,
come over here and help us. And Paul immediately left and
he traveled to Macedonia. And he came to this particular
place. And there was no door open. Paul was there for a period
of time. And it just didn't seem that there was a door open. He
was there for a couple of weeks probably. And there was no place
of worship in that big metropolis, Philippi, which is certainly
a picture of our day. It's a dry and thirsty land in
our day. And on the Sabbath day, after
he had been there a while, Paul went out of town with him and
those traveling with him and walked beside the river and come
upon a group of ladies, a group of dear ladies that was worshiping
God. And he joined himself to them and he preached the Gospel
to them, told them about Christ, who He was and what He did and
what He came to do. And the Lord saved those women
and saved Lydia's whole household. And that was the beginning of
that church there that now he's writing this letter to. He left
there and he went, and that young woman that was possessed with
that evil spirit that brought her or handled her as much gain
by her ability to see things in the future, Paul cast that
demon, that evil spirit, out of that young woman. And they
brought Paul and Silas before the magistrates, and they beat
them people. They beat Paul and Silas and threw them in prison.
They put them in jail in the innermost part, the roughest
part of the jail. They had been beaten about midnight. Oh, how encouraging this is.
In times of trouble, in times of deep distress, Paul and Silas
were singing psalms to the Lord, praising His name. And God shook
that place. He shook that place and those
doors flew open and the chains that bound them flew off. And
that jailer sprung in with his sword drawn to take his own life.
Paul said, we're all here. You don't need to worry. And
he said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And Paul preached
the Gospel. He preached the Gospel to that
man. And God saved that man. And that man, look at the difference.
This man went to work on midnight. He worked the midnight shift
down at the jail. He was the jailer. And he was hard. He was
a cold, mean man. And he handled Paul and Silas
in a rough way. And then after that experience,
after the Lord crossed His path and done a work of grace in his
heart, you see that man now, that old tough jailer, that man
that, oh, he's seen it all and done it all. And he takes Paul
and Silas, takes them to his home and dresses those wounds
and feeds them. Paul, they preach the gospel
to his whole family. What a blessing it is when God
is pleased to save a whole family. Chose mercy. Don't ever give
up hope. Don't ever give up hope. Pray for them. Pray for them
you love. Pray for them nearest and dearest to you. God's able. He's able to cross their path
like He crossed your path. And that church was established.
Paul left town. And now it's been some years
and he writes this letter. Sends this letter back by this
man, Epaphroditus, who the old writers seem to think is their
pastor. And he goes up there to Rome with some gifts and some
help and assistance for Paul and those up there with him.
And he comes back. And he comes back, like this
morning. He comes back and the church is gathered. All those
believers that love Christ and look for His return, their hope
and rest is in Him. And Epaphroditus gathers the
church together. And there they all sit, right
on the edge of their seat and their eyes wide open. And Paul
said, I've got a letter. I've got a letter for you. The
papyrus says, I've got a letter for you. And that's what I'm
telling you all here this morning that know the Lord Jesus Christ,
that trust in Him and your hope and confidence and comforts in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Not in anything we do, but in
what He's done for us. We've got a letter from Him through
this man Paul. All Scriptures given by inspiration
of God. And it's profitable. This is
a profitable letter. It's written to us in our day.
And Paul starts out this letter. He starts it out and he says,
Paul and Timothy. Isn't that something? I've read
that for years. And finally, the Lord opened
my eyes and showed me something here. This is Paul. This is Paul
writing this letter. No one has been used by the Lord
Himself greater than He used Paul the Apostle. Paul wrote
over half the New Testament. He wrote 14 books of the New
Testament. And he went out and traveled all over the then known
world and preached the Gospel. And God blessed that preaching,
that faithfulness. And he called out men and women
all over the world and established churches. Paul was beaten and
thrown in prison and shipwrecked and stoned all for the glory
of his Lord. And now he writes this letter
and he says, Paul and Timothy, he's not puffed
up. He's not talking down to the
people. He's not arrogant and proud. He knows where He came
from. He knows what the Lord did to save Him. Just like what
He did to save me and what He did to save you. Henry used to
say, there's no big chiefs in the little Indians in the Kingdom
of God. We're all beggars. We're all sinners. Deserving
of His wrath. But because of His mercy and
grace, He saved us. Gave us faith in Christ. And
He says, Paul and Timothy. I'm just like you are. I'm just
one of you. And I thought, some of you men was with your pastor.
About three or four years ago, Tom Harding, they had that flood
up there at Pikeville. You remember? Mack was up there. I remember him being up there.
And that place, if any of you didn't go, and if these men tried
to explain the devastation up there, I'm sure the words failed
them because I'd never seen anything like it. And we were up there. A group of us went from church
back home. And we was up there and it was
filth everywhere. It was the nastiest muck and
mire you'd ever seen. And they'd pumped out the basement.
The basement was clear full. And they'd pumped it out until
it was about that deep. And that's as much as they could get. And
they brought a septic tank truck in there to get the rest of it.
And us men was all down in there wading in that muck and mire
clear up to our knees. It was just nasty. And you know
who was right there with us? Your pastor. Your pastor. He wasn't up there directing
traffic. He was down there in the mess, in the mud and in the
marsh. Paul and Timothy. We're both recipients of grace.
No proud man here in the Kingdom of God. We all know where He
found us and what it took to redeem us and wash us and cleanse
us. And He says here, look at this,
we're the servants of Jesus Christ. High potentate here. There's
no reverend. There's no Most Reverend. There's no Holy Father. None
of that foolishness. Paul says, me and Timothy, we're
servants. We're servants of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the King. And whatever it is He's called
me to do. And wherever He's placed me in His body, Lord, make me
content. make me content. I've told this
story over and over and over. Years and years ago, my dad was
a Sunday school teacher in a Free Will Baptist church. He was on
the way to school way back there in the 50s. Henry had a radio
broadcast. Dad turned that radio on. And
he heard Henry preach the Gospel. He told my mother, he said, Irene,
we're going to go over there at Pollard and hear this man.
And they went over on Wednesday night. And they continued to
go and continued to go. God saved my father. He taught
him the Gospel. And he took that message of grace in Christ, took
it back to that free will church, and they kicked him out. They
kicked him out. And him and some of those other
men, there were several of those men in our neighborhood out there,
they all left and went to 13th Street. Well, Pollard back then.
Then 13th Street left. And one of those men was a fellow
named Ray Harbolt. Ray Harbolt sat, I believe, in
the second row on that side of 13th Street. And he sat there
his whole life. And I never heard him get up
one time and read the Scripture. I never heard him publicly pray
one time. He never preached a message.
But you know what he did as being a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ?
He was faithful to be right there every time the door was open.
That's what he did. That's where he was. He was faithful.
And he loved the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's
what Paul says here. We're servants. We're nobodies.
If I know anything, it's because He showed it to me. He taught
it to me. He took me right by the neck
and pushed my head right in His Word and said, you see this?
Let me show you something here. And if He don't do that, I'll
never see it. Tim James said it's just like a fly lighting
on an open Bible and crawling all over that book and flying
away. He don't know nothing. I wouldn't either. I wouldn't
either unless He said, let me show you something. I'm just
a servant. Paul said, we're just servants.
We're servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. And who's He writing
to? He's writing to me and you. And
He says to the saints, how do you like that? How do you like
being called a saint? Paul, if you knew me like I know
me, you wouldn't call me that. No, He wouldn't call any of us
that. It's not what we do. It's what our Lord has done for
us. He it is that came down here. He it is that identified with
us. He it is that left the splendor
and majesty of the Father and glory. And He came down here
and tabernacled among men. And He took on Himself the form
of a servant and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross, for us His people. And He purchased for us that
that we could never purchase for ourselves. That that we could
never work out for ourselves. That that we could never do for
ourselves. He washed us in His own blood. And He presents us
to the Heavenly Father, holy and unblameable and unreprovable.
And we're saints. Not because of what we do. We're
not holy because of what we do. We're holy because of what He's
done. We're holy because of what He's done. And it's those that
are at Philippi, those that are at Rocky Mountain, that have
experienced the same faith, that have been given the same grace
and mercy and love in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thanksgiving to
what He's done for us and in us and to us with the bishops
and the deacons, with those that He's raised up and put in a place
of authority in the local assembly. And He goes on in verse 2 and
He says, Grace be unto you. Do we ever get past that? Do
we ever get past being in need of grace? I don't. I'm ashamed
to say, without that grace, I'd break through and run. I'd leave.
I need it every day, every day, every day. I remember reading
a book Henry gave me years ago. It was on the life of Martin
Luther. Martin Luther was public enemy number one. The Catholic
Church was out to get Martin Luther. And he hid and was in
fear of his life for years and years and years. And finally,
after many, many years, they took him off that list and they
let him alone the last few years of his life. And one of those
old men came up to Martin Luther and said, Brother Luther, what's
it feel like not to have that old pope chasing you everywhere
you go? And he said, don't you ever forget
this. What I'm fearful of is that pope that resides inside
this body. That's what I'm fearful of. We need grace. We need grace
for every day. Every day. And that's what Paul
is saying here to us that love the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, he
said, I hope grace for you. I hope grace for you. And peace.
Peace. Peace with God. Do you have that?
Do we have that because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done
for us? Yes, we do. Yes, we do. Do you
ever wake up? I do. I was telling John and
Irene this morning, I sleep horrible. I wake up every night, sometime
during the night, and I lay there for an hour and a half or two
hours. If there's any thinking that I ever do, that's when I
do it. But I lay there and sometimes I'll wake up startled. My eyes
will be big and I'll sit right up in bed and I'll question myself
and ask myself, do you really love the Lord? Can you feel the
way you feel against people and towards others and love the Lord?
Do you think the things you think? You love the Lord. And it's a
frightening time. It's a despondent time. And then
I think, wait a minute. Wait a minute. It's not what
I feel. It's what He's done. He's given
me peace. The Lord has. He's purchased
that peace for me. He's done it for me. And it's
peace with the Heavenly Father. He stood there and said, Father,
forgive them. We're forgiven. We have peace
because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. And we
have peace with one another. Don't we have peace with one
another? Isn't there peace in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ?
He's the head. We're the body. Lord, let me
have peace with all believers, all my brothers and sisters in
Christ. Any of you here ever had a kidney stone? I hope not,
but I think everybody ought to have one kidney stone in their
life, just to be thankful for the good days. But that kidney
stone that's in the body, it destroys and damages and upsets
every part of the body, every part of it. There's no rest,
there's no peace, there's no comfort when that kidney stone
is throbbing every heartbeat. Lord, give me peace in the family
of God. Don't let me be a kidney stone
in this body. Don't let me be out of harmony and out of fellowship
and out of communication and love with my brothers and sisters
in Christ. You stamp that out of me, Lord,
because I can't do it. My old man, he's big, he's strong
and powerful. But Lord, You're able to give
me this love and this peace with my brothers and sisters. And
here's where it is. It's from God our Father. It's
not something we conjure up. It's not something we turn over
a new leaf and say, today I'm going to be good to you. And
I'm not going to have a bad thought about any of those that's crossed
my path. See how long that works. But if it's from Him, if it's
from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, He'll
carry us through the day. He'll give us that harmony, that
love, that fellowship with our brothers and sisters. And listen
to this, verse 3. Paul goes on and he says, I thank
my God upon every remembrance of you. Isn't that something? Isn't that sweet? And I think
if Paul If Paul had been at Hurricane Road Grace, if Paul had been
there, and been there for a period of time, and walked among the
people there, and talked with the people, and been in their
homes, and got to know those people, and then he left, would
he write this letter back to me? Would he say, Dale, I sure
thank God forever remembers of you. Every time I think about
you. Every time I think about you.
There's those here that I know better than others. There's those
here that the Lord has crossed our paths for a number of years. And I can honestly say, honestly
say, when I think of you, I thank God for you. For remembering
you and your faithfulness and your support and your love for
the gospel and defense of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm thankful for you. I'm thankful for your pastor
here. I watched him grow up. I watched him grow up. I watched
him grow up as a young man, just a child. And watched him grow
up to be a young man. I watched the Lord do a work
of grace in his heart. And the Lord brought him over
here. I thank God for him. When I think about him, I thank
God for him. And I don't know him nothing like near what you
all know him. But I thank God for him. For the defense of the
Gospel that comes from this place. Every time he stands here, I
thank God for him. Paul, would you say that about
me? He should. He should. I know where he found
me. And I know what price he had
to pay to redeem my wretched soul. I ought to be a lovely
person. And whoever crosses my path,
when they think about me, they ought to thank God. I remember
him. I know what he's about and what
he stands for. Verse 4, always in every prayer of mine for you
all making requests, when we think about one another, we pray
for one another. There are periods of time when
we don't hear anything from our brothers and sisters. We don't
hear anything about them. There's a great distance between
us. And then we do hear something. Or the Lord brings you to mind.
And this is the grandest thing that we can do. Pray for one
another. Pray for one another. Pray for one another. Making requests. You see that? With joy. It's not something
that's difficult to do. It's not a duty or a chore or
something that's difficult to do. This is something that a
believer loves to do. I love to enter into the presence
of the Heavenly Father because of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord,
if You be pleased, will You raise Brother So-and-so up? Will You
return him to the worship service? Will You restore him, if it be
in Your will? because you're able. Pray for
them. Pray for your children. Pray for these little ones. I
don't think there's a service go by that we don't publicly
pray for the little ones back home. I want them to have a good
job. I want them to have a good education.
I want them to marry well. I want the children and the grandchildren
and the little ones of our number, I want them to marry well and
have a home where the Lord is taught and loved and mentioned
to the little ones. Oh, but chiefly, chiefly what
we pray for those that we love. Lord, save them. Save them. Pray for them. Pray for them.
He hears. He knows. Pray for them. And I make this request with
joy. It's just easy. It's just easy. And he says in verse 5, for your
fellowship. I thank God for remembering you.
Every time I remember you. And one of the reasons is for
your fellowship in the Gospel. From the first day until now.
You see that faithfulness? You see that sticking to the
gospel? Not swerving to the side, but
staying right in that straight and narrow path? You see that?
From your first day. When the Gospel first crossed
their path and the Lord used Paul to bring the Gospel to them,
he was bruised and beaten all over. He had knots on his head
and his back and he was cut and lacerated and the marks of the
chains were still on his hands. And everybody in town hated him,
but these people didn't. They stood right beside him. When you want to know where your
friends are, You let controversy come. And that one that walks
right up beside you and throws his arm around you and said,
we're right here with you. We're right here. Whether you're
standing, walking the streets in applause, or whether you're
dressed in rags and shackled, your brothers and sisters in
Christ are right there with you. And that's what Paul said, I
thank God for thinking about you. You stood with me in the
good times and the bad, in the mountaintops and in the valleys.
And that's what the Lord's people, they're faithful people. They're
faithful people. And verse 6, being confident
of this very thing. Are you confident? Are you confident? I'm confident in some things.
I'm confident in some things in the flesh. I've done some
things in my life. I've been able to do some things.
And when the kids come to me and they'll say, Dad, what about
this or that? Can we do that? And I'll say,
oh yeah, we can do that. I'm confident we can do that.
I've done it twelve times. I know exactly how to do it.
I've got some confidence about things in the flesh. Oh, but
so much greater than that, I'm confident of this one thing.
You see that? I'm confident. I mean, I'm steadfast
in this. I'm rock solid. I'm as sure as
I'm standing here and breathing God's air. I'm sure of this.
I'm confident of this thing, that God Almighty, you see that? Which hath begun a good work
in you, in you, in you, in you. That's a great point of debate
in our day. A great point of division in our day. This thing
really takes place. This new birth really takes place.
It's a real thing that God does. In the heart of a dead sinner,
He gives life. He breathes life into that dead
sinner. You remember there in Ezekiel
that little infant girl that was thrown out to the open field?
She was dying. She didn't have a chance. Oh,
the soul winner walked by and said, if you'll just make a decision.
She ain't going to make no decision. If you'll just clean up your
life. She ain't going to clean up her life. She's gasping her
last breath. And that's what we are. That's
a picture of us. And the Lord walked by. And you know what
He said? Liz! And she lived. And she lived. And I'm confident of this. If
He's ever done that to you, He'll perfect it. He'll perform it
to the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. Till His return. I'm
confident of that. You know something about His
grace? I sure do. You know something about His
calling you through the preaching of the Gospel? I sure do. I heard
it from the time I was five years old. I heard the Gospel with
these ears. And then one day, He crossed
my path. And He spread His Spirit over
me. And He said, live. And I'm alive. And I'm confident
that He's going to keep me until He returns, whenever that is. Because it's His work. It's His
work. Verse 7, even as it is meat for
me to think this of you, It's proper for me, it's right for
me to think this, because I have you in my heart. I have you in
my heart. I love you people by His grace. I wouldn't love you outside of
Christ. I wouldn't love you in the old man. What does he say
in 1 John 5? Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ. Do you believe that? Do you believe
Jesus is the Christ? That bloody, beaten man that's
hanging on that cross over there, dying at the hands of that lynch
mob. Do you believe that that's God Almighty in human flesh?
I sure do. I sure do. Do you believe that
little eight-day-old baby that his earthly mother and father
brought into that temple? Do you remember that old man
Simeon? He run over and got that baby. That little old baby about
this big. Any little babies back here about
this big. He said, Lord, let me depart.
Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." It's Him. This is who the whole
Old Testament has told us is coming. And now He's here. And
He was born into a family that had nothing, humanly speaking.
Had nothing. He worked with His Father in
that carpenter shop. He cut His thumbs and fingers
and mashed them. And then when He was 30 years
old, He began to go out and preach. Began to go out and preach salvations
of the Lord. I'll call my people, my people
that my Father gave me, and I'll do for them what they can never
do for themselves." And everybody hated him. Henry used to say
everybody was anybody. Thumbs down on him. But not his
people. Not his people. They loved him.
They looked for him. Been looking a long time for
him. And he went to the cross and died. Whosoever believes
that that man is the Christ, is the Christ of God, believe
that. I believe it because He opened my eyes to see. Well,
He's born of God. He's born of God. And whosoever
loveth Him that begot. You love Him? You love God for
this that He's done? He reached and plucked you? Oh
no, it was just like everybody else in His day. But He found
grace. He found grace. And we do too. And you love Him for what He's
done? Whosoever loveth Him that begot. We love who's begotten. This is our family. This is it. This is my brother, my sister. It's right for me to think this
of you because I have you in my heart. I have you in my heart. And as much as both in my bonds
and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel, you're all partakers
of my grace. It's evident. It's evident in
this place. God's done a work of grace in
this place. Done a work of grace in this place. And verse 8, he
says, God's my record. And I'm saying this to me, and
you're listening in. Dale, you be careful when you
say this, because it's absolutely true. If I say God's my record,
I better be real sure of what I'm saying. I better be real
careful of what I'm saying. But he says before God, he's
my record. He knows my heart. He knows everything
about me. God, I love these people. I long
after You in the vows of Jesus Christ. I long to be with You
because of Christ. Because of what He done. What
He done for me and in me. And He done the same thing for
you. We're going to spend a long time
together. We're going to spend a long time together. I long
after you. I long after you in the bowels
of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love
may abound more and more. Don't ever quit being what you're
being. Don't ever quit doing what you're doing. In knowledge
and in all judgment. And there is knowledge involved
in this. We know some things. We know God's sovereign. And
we know we're awful and ugly. We know that God gave Christ
to people in that covenant of grace before the foundation of
the world. And in time, Christ came and died for those people.
And those people only. And then He sends out men like
the man that He's raised up here in your presence. And He preaches
this same message. This same message that He's used
to save His people and call them out forever. There is knowledge involved.
But this is also a work in the heart. There's a love. There's
a tenderness. There's a joy in the heart. It's
not just theology and doctrine. It is. But it's a work of grace,
too. It's a tenderness and a love. I pray that your love may abound
yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. That you
may approve things that are excellent. Discern. That's probably a better
word. Discern things. I remember hearing a message
once, and they told about old Spurgeon. Spurgeon said, I couldn't
play the piano worth a lick. But he said, I could listen to
somebody else. And he said, boy, they'd be playing along. And
he said, all of a sudden, Ed hit a clinker. That didn't sound
right. Everything else was so smooth
and soft, and then all of a sudden, there's that sour note. Well,
the Lord's given me to know some things. And I know when I hear a sour
note, He's giving me discernment. There's something just not right
about that. And I may not even be able to put my thumb on it,
but something's not right about that. Something's not right about
that. That you may discern things that
are excellent. That you may be sincere. Are
you sincere? Am I sincere? I looked this word
up. Do you know what one of the definitions
was? Listen to this. This is beautiful.
Sincere. found pure when unfolded and
examined in the Son's light." Huh? Are you sincere? Am I sincere? Am I pure when I'm unfolded and
examined in the light of the Son? Well, Paul said, strive
for that. Strive for that. And without
offense, until the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits
of righteousness. Where do those fruits come from?
From our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's not just one fruit.
Adam and Carrie, our son and daughter-in-law, they've planted
some little fruit trees, little dwarf trees. Planted them two
years ago. They're not much more than that.
Last year, one of them pear trees had one little old pear about
as big as my thumb. It was an awful looking thing. You know,
this year, there's 27 pears on there. And they're that big. That little old tree is just
bent down almost to the ground. It's not just a fruit. It's not
just one thing. It's a multitude of things. It's certainly here in your love
towards Christ and your thanksgiving to the Father for crossing your
path with the Gospel and thanking Him for raising up a man in your
midst, a faithful man. But it's out there on the job
too. It's fruits. It's everywhere you go. It's
out there on the job. It's down there in the grocery store. Over
there at the ball game. It's fruits. It's everywhere
you go. It's evident. I've been to Calvary. I've seen
the Lord. It's evident in our walk. Filled
with fruits of righteousness. And they're all by the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it's to everything we do, everything we say, it's
under His glory. And it's to praise His matchless
Name. That's a good letter. That's my letter. That's your
letter. Go home and read the rest of
it. It's good from beginning to end.