That's good. Philippians chapter
one, Philippians chapter one, I've entitled this message, To
the Saints at Central. To the Saints at Central. A very personal message. I hope it will be a blessing
to you. Paul, in these first several verses that we read,
Paul expresses his love to the church at Philippi. And then
he utters a short prayer, or tells them he's praying for them,
some things that he wants God to do for them and in them. And this is my thoughts of you
and my prayer for you. Philippians chapter one, Paul
and Timotheus, servants of Jesus Christ. Paul and Timothy traveled
everywhere together, and they loved these people at Philippi. Both of them did, and so Paul
includes Timothy in on this letter. It's like Todd and Albert You say, who's that? Someone recently. I forget where I was, but somebody
mentioned Todd and Albert. Todd and Albert. And this fellow
said, they go everywhere together, don't they? I said, what? Todd and Albert. They go everywhere
together. Every time you mention Todd,
you mention Albert. Todd and Nybert. But Paul and
Timotheus. Paul, they went everywhere together,
and so Paul includes Timothy in on this letter. Just as if
Todd and Nybert were here, he would be saying the same things
about you. As a matter of fact, he told
me to tell you hello. All of them did, Greg Elmquist
and on and on. They love you. They love to be
here with you. Paul and Timotheus, the servants
of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at
Philippi. Philippi, you may remember the
story of Philippi, how it started. If I'm not careful, I'll stay
there. I think it's Acts 16 where the
Lord told Paul to go down to Macedonia, and there's some people
there, and he went down by the river one day. He couldn't find anybody in town,
so he went down by the river on the Sabbath day, and there
were some women down there who wanted to get together. One of
them was named Lydia, and you remember the story of Lydia.
was not from there. Lydia was out of town on business.
She was somewhere else where Paul wanted to go preach. But
God said, No, you don't go there. You go down to Philippi. Well,
this woman was at Philippi. God's elect. When his sheep wasn't
home, she was over here on business. That's where God sent his preacher,
along with some others. Then you remember the jailer.
The Philippian jailer, Paul, and Silas, who was with him,
were thrown in jail for preaching the gospel at Philippi. And there
was a jailer there, and the jailer heard Paul and Silas talking
to one another about the scriptures, about the gospel, and prayed
and sang, and the Lord broke his heart and saved him. And
this is how the church at Philippi was started. And they were very
precious and dear to Paul and Timothy. And he calls them saints. Saints in Christ Jesus. That's
what God's people are. They're saints. I think it's
Brother Nyberg that pointed this out, that that's the term that
God's people are known by more than any other in the Scripture. Saints. Saints of God. What is a saint? He uses this quite a bit. Look
at Colossians, chapter 1. Go back over to Colossians, chapter
1. In verse 2, it says, "...he to the saints
and faithful brethren in Christ." It's Romans 1, is where it is.
In Romans 1, it says, and he uses this term, to all the churches,
saints. In Romans 1, verse 7, he is writing
to all that be in Rome, beloved or foreloved of God, called to
be saints. You see that? Called to be saints. The word saint is short for sanctified,
one who has been sanctified by God, set apart for holy, to be
holy. Set apart by God. Chosen by God. Set apart by Him. Separated from
the rest. Separated from the masses. Chosen
by God to be holy. Be like His Son. To be one of
His people. To know Him. Chosen to know God. Chosen to know Christ. Chosen
to believe. Chosen to repent. Chosen to love
the truth. Chosen to be with him someday. Chosen, called saints, and God
calls them saints. Like old Jacob. You know, the
Lord changed his name, didn't he? From Jacob, which means a
sheep, to Israel, Prince with God. And the Lord changed old
Simon's name, didn't he? Old Simon, Simon, changed it
to Peter. And God calls all his people,
they're called to be saints. That's what God calls his people,
my saints. You don't think of yourselves
as a saint, do you? I've never, have you read in the Bible anywhere
a Saint Kelly or a Saint Jill? Catholicism may have one somewhere,
but Saint Teresa? Well, God does. God has those
saints, and they're right here. You wouldn't call yourself that,
would you? You wouldn't call yourself that, God does. Saint. You'd call me one, wouldn't you?
You'd think of me as a saint. I don't know why, but you do. But I think of you as one. God's people are saints, they
really are, the salt of the earth, of whom the world is not worthy.
It's all to the earth. The saints go back to our text
in Philippians. They're called to the saints
in Christ Jesus. That's how they've been sanctified.
They've been set apart in Christ. Which are at Philippi, and I
said this is to you at Central. To the saints at Central. To
all the saints, and there are many here. I'm thankful to know
you. With the bishops and deacons.
Now, we don't have any bishops. Bishop is another word for overseer,
pastor. And deacons, we do have a couple
of deacons, have three, down to two now. Faithful men, faithful
men. Verse two, he says in his salutation,
Grace be to you. If you're a saint, it's because
God has shown great grace to you. Grace be unto you. Sovereign
electing grace. God chose you. Sovereign loving
grace. God chose to love you. He didn't
choose to love me. And we love him because he first
loved us. Sovereign grace. Saving grace. God sent his son down here to
do everything for you. By grace, you say. Keeping grace. Grace to believe. Faith's not
of yourselves. It's a gift. That is the grace
of God. Grace is unto you. All grace.
Grace to endure trials. He giveth all that's needed. Enduring grace. Preserving grace.
Grace be unto you, the saints at Central. God's been so gracious
to you, to us, and peace. Grace be unto you and peace. God is not angry with you. You say, He ought to be, but
He's not. Oh, no. God's anger and wrath
was poured out on His Son, and there's none left for His people. God is at peace with His people.
And so are you with him. That's what we studied this morning,
reconciliation. Peace from God, you see. This
is from him, so by him, through him, to him, for him, from him.
From God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace
and peace. This is the gospel. Grace and
peace. Gospel, the gift of righteousness,
the gift of blood, the gift of repentance, the gift of faith.
Reserving grace will be kept by the power of God. God's peace,
at peace with us. We're going to rest in peace,
eternal peace someday. It's all of the Lord, from God
the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit's
the one who comes and tells us about it. Now, he says in verse 3, I thank
my God upon every remembrance of you. Always and every prayer
of mine for you all." Paul says this a lot. Just like you know
his letters, he says, Grace be unto you. In every letter, the
beginning of it and the end of it. At the end of every single
epistle, Paul says, Grace, sometimes mercy and peace, but always grace
be unto you. And he says this quite often.
Turn over to 1 Thessalonians over there. 1 Thessalonians.
Paul says this over and over throughout the epistle. He said
it in Colossians 1, verse 3, that we give thanks to God the
Father, praying always for you. 1 Thessalonians 1, look at verse
2. We give thanks to God always
for you all. Look at chapter 2, verse 13.
Do you have it? For this cause also we thank
God without ceasing. Second Thessalonians, over there,
the second letter to the church there. Chapter 1, 2 Thessalonians
1, verse 3. Do you have it? We are bound
to thank God always for His Chapter 2, verse 13, we're bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren. He was thankful for
these people, thankful to God for them, because it was God
who did this, God who made them His people, God who made Paul
one of His saints, God who made Paul and the people at Philippi
brethren in Christ. The only reason most of us know
each other right now is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
grace of God that made us part of his body, united together.
He thanks God for the people. He doesn't thank the people for
accepting Jesus, all that nonsense that preachers are prone to do,
you know. No, but Paul thanked God for
them, and he did thank God for them. So thankful for them. Aren't
you thankful for these people? And we really don't really realize
what we have here. We really don't. We really don't. We take it for granted. I know
we do. There's some of you who came out of religion or, well,
out of religion and were brought to this blessed fellowship around
the gospel. Who was I talking? Oh, Amy. There
you are. We were talking about this yesterday,
weren't we? This is truly a family, isn't
it? That's not just in word. There's a lot of places that
talk about how they love each other and it's a family. This
really is a family. We've been together. I've been
with you anyway. We've been together for 14 going
on 15 years now. We haven't had a problem. Really. It's just been, I told
you when I first came here, you know, there's some preachers
that warned me, well, the honeymoon, you know, there's a honeymoon
at first. Everything's just wonderful in the honeymoon, but that ends.
It hasn't ended yet. Huh? Not to me anyway. I love you now more than I did
then. A lot more than I did then. And I don't want to go anywhere.
There's nobody I'd rather be with. Honestly, can you say that? Oh, I thank God for every one
of you, he said, in remembrance of you. When I think about you,
And remembrance should be always in every prayer of mine for you
all, all of you, all of you. There may be some
members here that you might spend a little more time with, maybe
you've got more in common with them or your schedules, whatever,
but you love them all. Wouldn't want to do without any
of them. a member of this church that is expendable? Huh? Who are we willing to do
with that? I can't think of one. Now, I
think I'm expendable, and you think you are, but you don't
think I am, and I don't think you are. For you all, all of
you, From the least, from the quietest, from the one you don't
hear much from, the one who sits in the back, the ones who sits
up front. Huh? Can you think of one that
we could do without? God's taken a few from our midst.
We still miss them, don't we? We still miss them. But for you all, in every prayer
of mine, For you all make him requests, verse 4, make him requests
with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first
day until now." Paul was in jail when he wrote this, and oh, he
wanted to be with those people. He missed them bad when he was
away. He was away, and I don't think
he ever went back. He missed them greatly. Do you
miss your brothers when you're away from them? He said, I make requests with
joy. Think about you, I just feel
glad, and he said, and I asked God that I might be reunited
with you to have this fellowship in the gospel. You see that?
That's where our fellowship is. Truly, our fellowship's with
the father and with his son, John said. That is, our fellowship
is around the gospel. This is right now, right now. What we're doing right now is
the most blessed, the sweetest, the true fellowship that we have.
We get together around the table and around the fireside or whatever.
We do things together, and that's enjoyable and all, but this is
the best. We're all really seated at the
table now. This is the best time there is. It doesn't get any better than
this, right here, what we're doing, provided God gives us
you know, a heart to worship and ears to hear and gives me
a little liberty to tell it. But this fellowship in the gospel, it's sweet. It's sweet. This is our fellowship, too.
This is what it's all about. Most religion today, and I don't
want to talk too much about religion, Most religion today is just a
social organization, and that's how they keep people interested. That's how they keep people coming
by all the activity that they provide, all of the various clubs
and activities. What do you have for your young
people? You know, this and that and the other, to keep people
coming. We don't have too much activity
here, do we? Maybe we ought to have more,
I don't know. I don't know. If you want to do something,
fine. Do it, and I'll help you. But what is it that unites us? What is it that we love to do
and keeps us coming? What really keeps you coming
here? It's the gospel. It's the gospel. You see, if that's what you have,
well, That'll keep you kept by the gospel. And if a person doesn't
have the gospel, no matter how much you do for them and how
much you entertain them, they'll grow weary of it after a while.
That's the reason people church hop. Got these church hoppers. When they get weary or, you know,
when a fella or a place can't entertain them much anymore,
they go someplace else. They're doing something over
here you don't do. All we've done from day one is what? Praise the God. And that's what
we're going to keep doing. What do you do for your children?
Barnard used to say this. They'd ask him that. And Barnard
said, I'm not trying to entertain sinners on the road to hell. I'm trying to preach the truth
in hopes that God will drive the truth home to their heart
and save their eternal souls. And that's what we're doing for
our children. That's what we're doing for our children. Fun and
games is fine. You can find that at the YMCA.
You can find it in other places. getting together and doing all
that, but that won't save their souls in all one thing it will.
And we redeem the time. Brother Stephen, as long as your
children are here, we're not going to so much entertain them
and provide fun for them, we're going to provide this word for
them in hopes. It's like, because your mother
knows it. Your father. Like Paul said to Timothy of
his grandmother, Lois, and his mother, Eunice, that they taught
them the Scriptures that are able to make them wise unto salvation.
That's what we do, and that's what we're going to continue
to do. And if God saves their soul, what else do they need? So he says, We thank God for
your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. And I was recounting to Amy.
Amy brought me home from Asheville, and we had a good time together.
And I was recounting to her the day. She wasn't here when
I first came here. Came a few years later. And I
was recounting to her the story of us coming here. And I told
her it was love at first sight. Really? You don't believe in
that, but I do. And where the saints are concerned. I really believe that. That's
the way it was. I came here. Well, it was under difficult
circumstances. It snowed ten inches. And it was in March. I came here and I stayed in Brother
Byrd's home while he was out of town. I went to Cherokee.
You all remember that? And I had no intentions of pastoring. I wasn't a candidate to be a
pastor. I was just filling the pulpit. for Jim. And we drove down to this miserable
place, didn't work, broke, got lost
in that town, snakes around like it, took the wrong turn, took
the wrong turn at Roanoke, went 220 Business, went right down
into Roanoke, following 220 Business. Where am I? Got back on, came
to Franklin County, Took the Rocky Mount, got down in town.
You know how there's snakes around. I thought, what a crazy place
this is. I still think the roads are crazy. Took, I think we went
straight to the post office, you know. Where am I? Made it
snowing, snowing the whole time. No leaves on the trees, ugly.
It's ugly everywhere at that time. I think it's the most beautiful
place on earth now. But anyway, I went to Brother
Byrd's house and checked in, just the two of us. Anyway, it snowed ten inches
that night. Woke up the next morning, Sunday morning, ten
inches of snow on the ground. I thought, why did the Lord do
this? Why did He bring me all this
way for this? A fellow named Joe Parks, never
heard of him in my life, called me on the phone. Seemed like
a nice fella. And said, what do you want to
do? I don't know what you want to
do. He said, we'll wait a while, see if the snow clears up, and
then maybe have a later service. I said, that's fine with me.
You know, all 10 inches melted by 10 o'clock. Gone. Gone. Well. So we The Saturday night or Sunday
afternoon we went to your house? Went to your house. Anyway, we
came over, had a service. Sunday morning, it was wonderful.
What a wonderful time. But nearly everybody that was
here at the time showed up. I thought, well, that's a good
sign. They'll come even in inclement
weather. They must love this gospel. Nearly everybody that
could showed up. That's a good sign. And I think
it was Sunday afternoon. went to your house for dinner
or somewhere. You, you two shook. A fellow
named Henry Soar. Seemed like a nice enough fellow.
And on and on he went. But, I mean, going home, then
it was love at first sight, wasn't it? It was love at first sight. He fell in love with these people.
It was all around the gospel. And she didn't want to admit
it, and I didn't want to admit it, that we'd like to be here. Came back another week, week
or two later, and make a long story short, you asked me to
come here and be your pastor, and I, like a love-stricken woman,
I thought you'd never ask. It's been that way ever since,
for me. I said, where were you? But it
is, it's, from the first day, Until now. And God's added many
more. Many more. From the first day
until now, I was sitting there thinking, Brother Henry stood
up and prayed. He's one of the old saints here. One of the old
founding fathers here, isn't it? Him, John Sheasley. One of
the old saints. Hodges, back there, been here
for years. Rosses. I was thanking God for him when
he stood up here, for his faithfulness to the gospel. what he means
to this church. How about you? Sitting right
there on that row, been sitting there for years. Oh, that means
something to me. From the first day until now.
Eh? I believe you'll be sitting there
until we put him in a box down front here. Because I'm confident, verse
6 says, I'm confident of this very thing. that he that hath
begun a good work in you, he's going to perform it until Christ
comes back. I'm confident. Henry and I don't
have a thing in common. He's from Corn Valley. I'm from the big city. Well,
it's big to me now. I should look. Huh? We don't have a thing in common.
He's 85 and I'm 39. Might as well be. Seriously, we don't have a thing
in common. He's from Virginia, I'm from
Kentucky. It's on and on, our differences. Different generation,
completely. Oh, but we do have something
in common. We sure do. We now have more in common. The two of us have more in common,
and I'd rather be with him than my blood-flesh-and-blood brother,
whom I saw the other day, and I didn't really want to see him. And that's something, isn't it? I told that to my wife. I said,
Can you imagine not even wanting to see your own brother? Boy,
I look forward to seeing him. I sure do. Because God hath done this work. God hath united
us. And I'm confident that he that
hath begun this good work in you, he's going to perfect it
till the day of Jesus Christ. God's the one that's done this
work. God has united these two. almost opposites, two of different
generations, two completely different personalities, brought them together
just closer than flesh and blood brothers. God did this work.
God's the one that has done this. And Paul says, I'm confident,
and I'm confident concerning nearly everyone in here, that
God has done a work. The reason—my greatest reason
for confidence is your response to the gospel. That's what everything
really is based upon. What does the gospel mean to
you? And I see that God has given you a love for the gospel. It's
a good work. It's His work. We are His workmanship. And he's going to continue this
till the day Christ comes. He's going to continue. I'm confident
of that. I've seen it grow. I've seen it grow. I've seen
you grow spiritually. I hope you see that in me. Oh,
my. Listen, I've listened to some
of my first messages. Really, buddy, it was the grace
of God that brought me here and kept me here and kept you listening
to me. I hope I've grown a little bit
as a preacher, a better preacher. But I've seen you grow in grace
and the knowledge of Christ. I've seen you. I sure have. And
we're watching each other grow older. And I'm confident that he will
finish it. The word perform means he'll perfect it. He'll finish
it, because he's the author and the finisher. of our faith. It's not left up
to us. We didn't choose to be here.
Thank God. He will. He said he will. I'm
confident. until the day Christ returned.
Verse 7, he says, it's even as it is meant for me to think this
of you all, it's fitting. The reason I think this is because
I have you in my heart. That's what he says. Here's another
reason I see the work of God in you so clearly, so evidently. And he said also, it's fitting
that I think God's done something for you because I love you. And
isn't that what Christ said? By this shall all men know you're
my disciple. And John said that. John said,
Hereby we know we pass from death unto life. We love the brethren.
I really do love that man. I really do. And we're still generations apart. But I really do. And he loves
me. That's a mark, that's a sign,
that's an evidence. God's people, you really love
them. In as much as both, he says, verse 7, in my minds and
in defense and confirmation of the gospel, you are protectors
of my grace with me of grace. In defense and confirmation of
the gospel, Paul said the people at Philippi, and they did, boy,
they stood up when he was in prison and all that. They were
defenders of the faith. of Paul. They were a dear church
to him and sent things to him while he was in jail. And you
would, too. You'd lay down your life for
the brethren, wouldn't you? For this church, you'd defend
it to the end, wouldn't you? For the gospel, you are in the
defense and the confirmation of the gospel, aren't you? Huh?
Yes, you are. Yes, you are. And your pastor
in the church, somebody bad mouth your pastor. You don't take it
with your your your brethren. That's who was it that said that
my brother, somebody came in one time was talking about today
that illustration. I forget who. Bill Parker was
talking about somebody came in and started bad mouthing One
of the members of his church, he said, wait just a minute here.
You're talking about my brother. I want to hear it. You'd defend
your brother, wouldn't you? In defense, confirmation of the
gospel, especially the gospel. You're all partakers with me
of this grace. We're all partakers of grace.
That'd been a good title of this message, wouldn't it? Partakers
of grace. partakers of his great, and partakers
of the heavenly nature," Peter said. Verse 8, he said, Now God
is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of
Jesus Christ. I told you before, don't use
God as your witness. Don't say that God is my witness.
But Paul said that, and he's under inspiration, and he meant
it. But now, every one of us can
truly If this love is there in our heart, we can truly say from
the heart, from the heart, God is our record, that we love his
people and long for them. I was gone for a week. I was
with other believers, but I wanted to be right here. Right here. Wednesday night's my favorite
service. Right here. All right. And this I pray. Now, Paul says
this is what I'm praying for for you. Verse 9. This I pray,
that your love may abound yet more and more. You do love one
another. You do love the gospel. But he says, I want it to abound
more and more. In knowledge and in all judgment. Very quickly, would you turn
to Ephesians 3? He says that your love may abound
in knowledge. Ephesians 3. You know this verse
by heart, but I want you to look at it. Ephesians 3, Paul says,
I'm praying to God that he will make your love abound in knowledge. This is a good commentary on
that. Verse 18, now this is another
prayer. Paul says that you may be able
to comprehend with all the saints the breadth, the length, the
depth, the height to know the love of Christ. which passes
knowledge, filled with the fullness of God. Oh, Paul says, I pray
that your love for God, for Christ, for the gospel may abound the
more you know it, the more you hear it. The more you hear the
gospel, the more you'll love it. The more you hear of Christ,
the more you'll love it, the more committed you'll come to
it. And love for one another. that it may abound. The more
you know, and I've told you this before, and I'll tell you again,
get with one another. Have one another in your homes,
because the more you get to know somebody, the more you love them. Kind of out of sight, out of
mind is the old statement, and that's a little bit true, sadly. But so, these are people we're
going to spend eternity with. So, he says that your love, I
pray that God will make your love abound more and more in
knowledge, love for God, love for one another. The more you
know him, the more you know each other. In all judgment, that
your love, you might have good judgment, good discernment. Your love might abound in discernment
and judgment. What's you to do for your brethren?
What's you to do as a member of the body of Christ? That you
may abound. The older you get, the more mature
you get, the more responsible you should get, that your love
would abound in judgment, understanding, hey, this is my reasonable service.
This is my family. I've got to take care of it.
Alright, read on. He says, I pray that you may
approve things that are excellent. Verse 10. Approve things that
are excellent. Then Margin says, try things
that differ. approve things that are excellent.
What we're doing here is excellent. This is an excellent thing. And I'm not lifting up this church.
I'm sure I'm not lifting up myself. But I'm telling you people, what
we're doing here is better than what anybody else has got, what
most people have. There are churches, true churches,
that have just what we have, but this is so much better than
religion. This is what we're doing here. This is excellent. This is wonderful what we're
doing here. Studying God's Word like this,
our children hearing it, being taught, fed, fellowship around
the gospel, what we're preparing ourselves for eternity, all that
you might approve of. You do, don't you? You approve
of it. Things that are excellent. It also says try things that
differ. And I hope you I hope you do that I hope you do that. And I said this to you once before.
If you get to taking this place for granted go someplace else. Just go someplace else. On a
Sunday morning. I don't care. I really don't. You'll come running
back here. I know you will. I know you will. I've eaten in a lot of places.
But I go back home. Always come home. That's where
I get the best food. That's where they are that really
love me. That's my family. And try things that differ. Go ahead.
I'm not afraid for you to watch TV. I'm not afraid for you to
listen to tapes. I'm not afraid for you to read
things. I'm not afraid for you to hear preachers. I'm not afraid
at all. Some preachers are. You know
that? Some preachers are. They limit what the people can
hear and who they can hear. I'm not afraid at all. I guarantee
you'll come running back. Try this other step. If the gospel
is really the thing you need, you'll come running back. Try
things that differ. Read on. He says, I pray that
you may be sincere. That you may be sincere. Paul's prayer
for the church at Philippi was that they might be really serious
about this. And they were. And you are too. You know, we get taken up with
other things. We do get sidetracked. I said
before that when the weather warms up, sometimes our enthusiasm
and all cools down. Other things, you know, we get
sidetracked by other things. Well, I hope the older we get,
the longer we go, the more sincere and serious we'll be about this
gospel. Yeah. And it'd take a earthquake to
keep us from it. It's coming to a close. And it
says that you may be without a fence till the day of Christ.
Without a fence. I was talking to someone. Let me see if I can remember
where this is. Over in First Peter, I think
it is. That's one of them. That's not
the one I wanted. I was talking to someone about the liberty.
Romans 14. That's where it is. Turn over
there. Romans 14. Liberty. Liberty that we enjoy. It's wonderful. If you take for granted what
we have here, you go someplace else and that puts you under
bondage. You'll be in the midst of, most
places you'll be in the midst of a people who are self-righteous,
judgmental. You'll feel uneasy around them,
all these holier-than-thou super-Christians. You'll just... Amongst God's people, though,
you never feel like they're judging you. You never feel like they're
looking down on you. They're all a bunch of, they're
all the chief of synod. And they all think you're better
than they are. And you never feel like they're
judging you. And you have such liberty, don't
you? The liberty we enjoy in Christ,
we take it for granted. We don't realize just how wonderful
it is. We really don't. But Paul warns
us, and I warn us, that this liberty, these liberties we enjoy,
be careful. Be careful about them. There
are some brethren might get a little offended by
some things that we have total liberty about. Might get a little
offended. We need to be careful. That's
what it says, that your love may abound in knowledge and judgment,
that you might know and understand who you're with and what you
can and cannot do and how and so forth. You understand? Romans 14, Paul says in verse
14, I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus That there's nothing
unclean of itself. Christ is the one that said,
nothing that goes in this mouth will defile you. Nothing. Christ
did not prohibit anybody from anything. Touch not, taste not.
No, sir. No, sir. Christ turned to his
people and said, you listen to me. I don't care what these Pharisees
say. You listen to me. Nothing going in here can defile
you. You don't do what they tell you. But now, he says in verse 14,
some that one that esteemeth a thing unclean, to him it's
unclean. Verse 15, if your blood be grieved with your meat, or
whatever it is, you're not walking in love. You're not walking in
judgment. He said, besides, the kingdom
of God is not about what we can do, what we, with liberty. Verse
17, meat and drink. Righteousness, peace, and joy.
And so down in verse 20, he says, for meat, or that is
for your liberty, whatever you allow yourself, whatever you
do, meat, drink, whatever, don't destroy the work of God. Verse
21, it's good neither to eat flesh, drink wine, or anything
whereby thy brother may stumble or be offended. If you have liberty,
have it to yourself, he said in another play. Be careful. Be careful. Be careful, and so
that's what he's saying, that you not be without offense, not
only out in the world, not only in the world. Witness a good
profession before unbelievers, but among one another. Do not
offend somebody. Use good judgment about it. Give
you a good illustration, all right? There's nothing wrong
with smoking. smoking cigarettes is not going
to send anybody to hell. Never has, never will. Can a
believer smoke cigarettes? Certainly. Our Lord says nothing that goes
in the mouth will defile your soul. It can't touch your soul. It might ruin your health. Might
be a good thing to quit. If you do it too much, at least
do it in moderation. Might be a good thing. But it's not going to damn you.
It's not going to damn you. There's nothing evil about it.
Isn't that what Christ said? All right. But now, I've been
to Bible conferences. I've been to places where right
after the service, about five people, six people, smokers,
would head outside and stand right in the front door of that
church house. Just firing those cigarettes up, you know. And it's a grief to the pastor
and the church, and it's just not a good testimony. Go behind the building. You see,
that's just a simple illustration. Whatever it is, it be without
offense. All right? And he said that especially
to preachers. Me, when 2 Corinthians 6, don't
turn there. He said, give him no offense
at anything that the ministry be not blamed. I allow myself liberty for certain
things, but I try to be careful when I'm out in public, from the way I dress to whatever.
It's just wise. I don't want me to be the offense.
If the gospel's an offense to him, fine, but I don't want to
be the offense. So, back to the text, he says
that you may be without offense to the day of Christ and filled
with the fruits of righteousness, the fruit of the Spirit, love,
joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance, and so
forth. Fruit of the Spirit, fruit of
righteousness, where does it come from? It's by Jesus Christ. He's the vine. Then you say,
I'm the vine. You're the branches. Without me, you can do nothing.
You can't bear fruit. I'm the one you get your fruit
from. And how is this fruit going to grow on us? It goes right
back to where we started, this fellowship of the gospel. This
fruit, this knowledge, knowledge is a fruit. It would need to
be filled with it. The older we get, the smarter
we have to become for the glory of God. It's all by Jesus Christ. It's all by the gospel. It comes
by hearing the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.
It's all into the glory and the praise of God. To the glory and
praise of God Almighty. That's why He saved you. That's
why this church is here. This is not just so we can, you
know, have a clubhouse and do what we... No, it's for the glory
and praise of God. Oh, we have joy. We enjoy one
another, but this is for the glory. of God, the praise of
God. OK, to the Saints at Central. All right, let's sing