Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Philippians chapter 2. The name of the message today
is the Word of Life. The Word of Life. Do you know
that the Bible tells us to hold forth the Word of Life? That's
Christ. Hold forth the Word of Life to
this lost and dying world. It's wonderful. Remember the
context of the portion that we're looking at. So important to keep
bringing this forth. The context of the portion that
we're looking at is that Paul is talking about unity within
the body. unity within the church. And
remember, a couple weeks ago, we found out that murmuring and
disputing, right, will cause disunity, won't it? It's the
opposite. It'll cause disunity. And Paul
has warned us about that in the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit has
warned us by the hand of Paul not to murmur and dispute. Again,
that's within the body. But also, we shouldn't murmur
and dispute We all do it though, don't we? I told you guys the
story about me cleaning the stairwell and I was murmuring away, but
we all do it. We all do it. I was murmuring
again yesterday. So, but this is, this murmuring
disputing is within the context of the church that we're not
to be murmuring about each other or about what's going on. So with that, in mind let us
again remember that this again is an exhortation to the saints
there was some contention had sprung up we found that out from
verses one to four and paul told them to have the mind of christ
which is a mind of humility and he gave us an example of how
the lord humbled himself god became a man and was obedient
unto the cross and then is back up in glory And so let's read
the context of this, verses 12 to 18, and Lord willing, Lord
willing, we'll look at verses 15 and 16 today. Wherefore, my
beloved, as ye have always obeyed, Not as in my presence only, but
now much more in my absence. Work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling. Remember that had nothing to
do with our salvation in Christ, right? Nothing at all. For it
is God which worketh in you, worketh in you there, energizes
us. Right? And you, both to will and to
do of His good pleasure. That's amazing all on its own,
isn't it? Do all things without murmurings
and disputions, that you may be blameless and harmless. Remember,
this is in the context of the church again, in the world looking
at us. That you may be blameless and
harmless the sons of god without rebuke in the midst of a crooked
and perverse nation Among you you shine as lights in the world
lights. There is luminaries in the greek. It's like the moon
and the sun So we shine in this world Remember the only reason
we shine we're we reflect christ's light, right? We're like the
moon. We have no light of our own.
We just reflect it right It's it's only in christ Now look
at this, holding forth the word of life that I may rejoice in
the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored
in vain. Yea, and if I be offered upon
the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy and rejoice
with you all. For the same cause also do you
rejoice and rejoice with me. So we see in these verses that
Paul exhorts us to Christian unity by sincere love and humility
with one another and caring concern for one another. Remember in
Galatians, he told us to bear you one another's burdens. So
we're family, we're family. And just as we care for our family
members, we care for the church of Christ. Oh my. and all things which accompany
salvation, whether it be civil, moral, or spiritual, no matter
how disagreeable to our flesh, we're to do these things without
murmur and dispute. Now that's fighting the flesh,
isn't it? That's fighting the flesh. Because again, we have
a natural tendency to murmur. I do anyway, so even I'm a saved
man and I still murmur. And not necessarily at God, but
about things going on. But ultimately, when you even
look at, you know, I don't murmur about the weather anymore, because
I got real convicted about that. Because it's the Lord who gives
us the weather, isn't it? Some people say, oh, that's taking
it pretty far. No, I don't think it is. I don't
think it is. now. My God does whatever he
wants, doesn't he? And we just, we get to live in
this wonderful world. Think of that. Isn't that wonderful?
So let's look at verses 14 and 15 together. We'll look at the,
look at this. Do all things without murmuring
dispute, that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God,
without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation,
among whom ye shine as lights in the world. Again, the lights
there, Lights there is luminaries. So we shine as lights. And then
see the words, that you may be blameless and harmless, the sons
of God, in verse 15. Now that's in reference to the
sight of man, beloved. That's not in the sight of God.
We're already blameless in the sight of Christ, or in sight
of God because of Christ. Isn't that amazing? So this is
talking again about the context of the church, Brother Charlie.
It's talking about how if the world sees us with contention
and murmuring, right, or even our brethren see us in contention
or murmuring about things, that we're not blameless then. And
think of this, none of us are blameless before God except in
Christ. So this is just an exhortation
for us to love the brethren, Brother Brian, and to be in unity. And it's wonderful because we've
seen when you have unity, oh my, it's incredible. what happens
within the body. It's joy and love and peace.
It's amazing. It's absolutely amazing. And turn if you would to Matthew
5.16, Matthew 5.16. So this is in reference to the
sight of man, not in the sight of God, because in Christ we're
already blameless. We're already the sons of God.
Paul's saying that our attitude in conversation and conduct before
our brethren in the wickedness of this world should be that
they cannot charge us with hypocrisy. Now, I know every one of us could
be charged with hypocrisy, couldn't we? Especially when we examine
ourselves. Other people might say, oh, look
at that fellow, look at that lady, they're amazing. But we
know what we are. But see, We don't want the world
looking at us and saying, oh, they're a bunch of hypocrites.
And that's what is being brought forth here. And this is not by
something we show and do, this is us just living our lives.
You know, like people can put an act on, right? In religion,
I put an act on. I didn't even realize I was putting
an act on, but now I look back and go, I was putting an act
on. I thought I was better than everybody else. Here I am now. I'm the worst of the worst, but
God saved my soul. Isn't that wonderful? Oh my. Look at this in verse 16. Look at this. In light of, let
us shine in the world. Matthew 5, 16. Let your light
so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify
your father, which is in heaven. Now, If we are reflecting the light,
who is the light? Amen, sister. It's Christ. It's
Christ, isn't it? It's Christ in us, the hope of
glory, isn't it? Isn't that wonderful? So we just
live in our Christian life before Christ, resting and trusting
in Christ, and we don't even know we're shining forth to the
world the hope that we have in Christ. Isn't that wonderful? We don't have to go around going,
Brother Travis and Sister Karen, let's go out with Vicki and we're
gonna show people that we're lights. It's just us living our
life, isn't it? It's just us being normal. And
people see the love that we have for one another. We even see
it amongst the body. I look at you guys, I see you
chatting and getting together, and you see the love and the
joy that's, you know, you come in, Charlie, and we're like,
hey, brother, you know, and it's real. It's not put on. It's wonderful. Isn't that wonderful? And you
know, this is why we're told not to forsake the assembling
together, because we need each other. It encourages us to see
each other. To say, Brother Charlie, my fellow
soldier, we're going through the same thing together. Right? We're having the same struggles. And then we share about our family
members and we start praying for each other's families and
friends. Isn't that amazing? It's wonderful. And it just breeds
that unity that we have in Christ. And it's genuine. So this light
is Christ shining amongst us. My oh my. Over in Romans 12.1,
turn if you want to Romans 12. So how are we supposed to speak
and live in this world? just as believers, trusting and
resting in Christ. And it's our reasonable service
just to desire to serve Christ. How do we serve Christ? Looking
to Him, resting in Him. We serve Him within the body,
either by supporting the work, right? By doing various things
within the body, helping one another out when we need help,
We find out if a brother or sister or another church needs help,
we get together and we try to help them out. Right? Look at this in Romans chapter
12. This is an exhortation, again, for the born-again blood-washed
saints of God to live as the sons of God ought. Look at this,
Romans 12.1, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that you present your bodies a living sacrifice for Christ. Just live your life for Christ. Right? Holy, acceptable unto
God. So we desire to live a holy life,
even though we're still sinners, but Christ lived that holy life
for us, didn't he? and we're just walking in Him,
beloved, and acceptable unto God. The only way we're accepted
by God is in Christ, which, look at this, which is
your reasonable service. It's reasonable for the believer
to want to walk in Christ, to desire to serve Him. Isn't that
wonderful? Brother Brian, did we desire
to serve the Lord before we were saved, when we were in our teens
and all that? Did we desire? Before you met Linda, did you
desire to serve the Lord? Not at all, did you? Neither
did I. Sister, did we, did you? Now we desire. Here we are in
church, desiring to hear the word of God, desiring to hear
the gospel preached and proclaimed to us. What a miracle of grace. And that's true for all of us.
It's wonderful. There was a time in my life when
I wanted nothing to do with God. And I thought I was okay, Brother
Charlie. I thought I was fine. I was sure wrong, wasn't I, Brother
Travis? When the scripture came to me by reading it and said,
there's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that seeketh after
God. Oh my. Now you're confronted, aren't
we? See, and this is what the gospel does. The gospel confronts
us and brings forth our sinfulness. And how we're not acceptable
to God outside of Christ. But the good news for those who
are the born-again, blood-washed saints of God is Christ died
for us 2,000 years ago and redeemed our eternal souls. Oh, it's wonderful. Oh my. Paul's talking about here
just our, the reasonable service here is just our faculty serving
the Lord with who we are in Christ. Now we have a desire to serve
Christ when we didn't before. Brother Travis, when you were
growing up and working in the speed shop and all that before
you met Sister Karen, did you ever think you'd get up and teach
a lesson about Christ? Not at all, right? It's the last
thing we thought about, wasn't it? Now, we love it. We tremble when we do it, but
we love it, don't we? Because we get to talk about
Christ. It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. So
the born-again blood-washed believer says with Isaiah, here am I,
send me. Right? Because we're new creatures
in Christ now. And we're to preach to the lost. We're to, as the Lord opens doors
of opportunities for us to proclaim the wonderful things that Christ
has done for us. That's all witnessing is. It's not some thing where
you gotta keep going up the doors and knocking on doors. It's just
in your everyday life, someone's talking to you and they have
no hope. And if the Lord opens the door, you can present to
them the hope of your life, which is Christ. And it happens. at times when
you are sometimes shocked that the Lord opens the door. Could
just be a conversation with a waitress sometimes, right? And all of
a sudden, boom, the door's open. It's amazing. But we are to be
ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within us. That's
for every believer. And it's just our reasonable
service to desire to serve Christ. He saved our souls. We're forgiven
of all our sins. It's amazing. Oh my. And think of this. Is
it not our reasonable service just to serve Christ since He
purchased us with His blood? Since He redeemed us with His
precious blood? Since he died for our sins, he's
a sinless one, dying for sinners. See, in religion, it's like,
you gotta do this, you gotta do that. In grace, it's like,
I wanna do this. He saved my soul. And again,
serving God is just being even here within the body, right? And I've told you guys many times
that I couldn't do this without you guys. So God puts us together,
right? And here it is. The gospel goes
out forth into the world. God does what he tells us. His
word won't return to the void. We trust him. And he gets all the glory, honor
and praise. And we here get to hear the gospel, get to rejoice
in the gospel, fall in love with one another. and are united together
in Christ. It's amazing. What a blessing
that we have a local body that we can gather together in and
rejoice. We're just sinner brothers, aren't
we, Brother Ryan? Saved by the grace of God in
Christ. It's wonderful. Oh my. Look at verse 2 of Romans
chapter 12. It says, And be not conformed
to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will
of God. The word world there in Romans
12.2 means the nature and character and opinions and goals and attitudes
of unregenerate man. The worldly man, think of this,
the worldly man seeks praise of man. The believer seeks the
praise of God. The worldly, the worldling cares
for the body. The believer cares for the soul. And I can tell you this is true
because I remember how I was. Just remember how we were before
the Lord saved us. The worldling only thinks of
himself, the believer considers others. The worldling looks only upon
that which is seen. The believer looks on that which
is unseen. We've never seen Christ, have
we? But yet by the eye of faith, we see him. Oh, we see him. We see through a glass darkly,
but then face to face, but oh my, we see him by faith, don't
we? Oh, it's amazing. The worldling cares for what
he shall eat, drink, and wear. The believer seeks the kingdom
of God and his righteousness. See the difference? Why are we
here today listening to the gospel and rejoicing in it? Because
God's done a mighty work in us. And now, as we saw in those things
listed there, our desires have changed, haven't they, Brother
Ryan? Sister Briar, we desire to be here and hear the gospel
preached and proclaimed. We desire the things of Christ
now. We desire his righteousness. It's wonderful, beloved. That's
a miracle of grace. Oh, it's wonderful. And the spiritual
attitude of those things, of the difference between the worldling
and us now, the only difference is you must be born again. And
God regenerated us. And we're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. We're new creatures in Christ.
We're transformed, not reformed. Right? People can reform, can't they?
They try to reform people in prison all the time. Some people
change. but they can quickly go back
into what they were doing before. The believer, we're sinners still. I'm not saying that, but we're
saved now. We're transformed now. We're
new creatures in Christ now. We have new desires now. We look
at things from the point of view of God being the creator and
God being in charge of all things. We didn't look at that before
like that. It's amazing, beloved. It's amazing, so you must be
born again. And think of this, in contrary
to the nature of flesh, as old leaves drop off trees to make
room for new ones, so the renewing of the Holy Spirit of God in
our minds and hearts pushes out pride, envy, contention, malice, covetousness,
We don't desire those things anymore. We desire the furtherance
of the gospel. Isn't that amazing? Now look
at verse 16 here. Look at this. What are we to
do as believers then? So he's exhorted us not to be,
have murmuring disputing, right? Which is wonderful. Then he's
told us to be blameless, which is in front of the world, and
even our brothers and sisters in Christ, right? That we won't
be called hypocrites by the world. And then look at this, what are
we to do? So people always say, well, what's the will of God
for my life, right? Well, look at this. Just hold
forth Christ. Can we do that? Yeah, because
then we just boast in Him, don't we? So when we tell people the
great things the Lord done for us, we're just holding forth
Christ. Do you know that? People get, they get all wound
up, you gotta do this, you gotta do that, you gotta do, look how
simple this is, look at this. This is amazing, look at this.
Holding forth the word of life. Why? That I may rejoice, Paul
speaking, in the day of Christ, that I've not run in vain, neither
labored in vain. So as we're holding forth Christ,
we're showing that we're born again, we're new creatures in
Christ. Because we didn't hold forth Christ before we were saved. No, we ran the other way. Isn't
that wonderful? So we're just to hold forth Christ.
To who? To this lost and dying world. We, do any of us know
who God's elect are? None of us do, right? So we hold
forth the word of life. We hold, and that's Christ. That's
Christ. We just hold him forth. It doesn't
say we have to do anything. We're just holding them. Look,
look to Christ and be saved. Right? We don't say, look to
Christ and do this. No, no. Look to the word of life. Look to Christ and him alone.
He can save you. Someone says, oh, I'm such a
sinner. I'm so, my sin's so dark and
black. Well, Christ saved me. He can
save anyone. Is that not what we say as believers? And I mean, you know, we know
he saved to the uttermost all to come to God through him. Well,
that includes me. Does it include you? Praise his mighty name. Isn't
that wonderful? We're living proof that Christ
saves to the... I'm living proof that Christ
saves to the uttermost. Isn't that amazing? And so what
do we do? We just hold forth Christ, don't
we? We just hold him forth. And verse 15 tells us we're luminaries,
right? We're lights shining in this
world. Again, we reflect the light. The light doesn't come
from us. It's Christ in us, the hope glory,
right? But we're luminaries. We're like
heavenly bodies. Last night I went out and although it was bitter
cold, I took the dog out to go do his thing. And it was bitter
cold. And I looked up though, the sky
was so clear. One of the clearest nights I've
ever seen. And you see the stars, and I'm like, oh my, look at
those stars. Shine like that. This world is black. Darkness. And we shine like a
light like that. But remember, it's Christ in
us, brother. The hope of glory. Isn't that
amazing? And you get a cluster of stars.
That's our little church. A cluster of stars in the night
sky. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, it's
beautiful, beloved. It's beautiful. As the moon reflects
light from the sun, so where to be lights in this world? Reflecting
Christ, who is the light of the world, the light of life. How do we do that? How do we
reflect Christ? By resting and reposing in him.
by trusting Him, by living like those fellows I like to listen
to, by living an ordinary Christian life, resting in Christ. Isn't that freeing? Isn't that
liberating, beloved? It's wonderful. And in doing
that, we hold forth Christ. He saved my soul. He saved my soul. My, oh my. Where's the night? Where's the
light needed? Where's the light needed? Well,
the place for light is in the darkness. Isn't it? You ever wake up? Vicki bought
me a little light at night now, and she taps it before she goes
to bed, and it lights up the room. So when I come in, I'm
not walking over the dog and tripping over a cat and poking
or hitting my foot against something, right, and waking her up. Now
there's light in the darkness, and I can see exactly where I
go, right to my side of the bed. Isn't that wonderful? But without
that light, as I got older, I can't see as much. Has that happened
to you? You ever walk into a door in
the middle of the night? Yeah. Doesn't feel very good, does
it? So that light in the darkness
helps us see, doesn't it? Oh my, my oh my. All right, and
think of this now. Think of that in light of this.
God hath commanded the light to shine out of darkness. It's
shined in our hearts, scripture says, to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
We were in darkness, and God commanded the light to shine
in our hearts, Brother Brian. We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. Now we shine. We don't think we shine very
much, do we? Because we know what we are, but we do. We're
luminaries. Isn't that amazing? And it's
nothing in us, it's Christ in us, the hope of glory. Again,
we're like the moon, we just reflect light. See, religion
says, you gotta be a light, you gotta do this, you gotta do that.
No, I'm like the moon, man. I just reflect the light, that's
all. Isn't that wonderful? Hold forth the word of life.
Christ is the only savior of sinners. The only way a sinner can be
saved is through Christ and Him alone. Paul wrote this in 2 Corinthians
4, verses 5 and 6. He says, for we preach not ourselves,
but Jesus Christ, our Lord, and ourselves, your servants, for
Jesus' sake. So let's look at verse 16 again
with that in mind. holding forth the word of life.
Paul said, for we preach not ourselves, but Christ, holding
forth him. That's what he was doing, right?
He's holding forth the word of life. That's what gospel preachers
do. And that's what we as believers do. We hold forth the word of
life to a lost and dying world. And think of this, when Paul's
saying that, he's saying, I don't preach my opinions. You know, I think, now, you don't
wanna know what I think, because what I think doesn't matter.
What does the word say? That's what Paul's bringing forth.
Gospel preachers don't preach our opinions, our philosophies,
nor do we preach to promote ourselves, right? Or supply ourselves with
life's necessities. It's all in God's hands. You
know, when I send out the short gospel messages to the groups
and stuff, I'm doing that so that you guys can listen to it,
if you didn't listen to them, for the glory of God, and I hope you get a
blessing out of it. What a blessing. I get a blessing studying for
them, I get a blessing preaching them, and then I hope the Lord
blesses you with them. As with any message that comes
forth from here, whether it be by Travis or I or visiting preachers,
we desire that God would be glorified and magnified. And we preach Christ, the Lord.
We preach Christ, the Messiah. We preach Christ, the prophet.
We preach Christ, the priest and king. We preach Christ, the
fulfillment of every Old Testament type and picture and promise. We preach Jesus, the son of man.
Jesus, the man of souls. Jesus, numbered with the transgressors.
Jesus, tempted in all points, but yet without sin. We preach
Jesus, very God of very God, King of kings and Lord of lords. and we are your servants for
his sake. As I've said many times, Travis
and I and Brian and Dan, we are servants of the church. Any man
in a position of a deacon or a preacher, we're servants first
and foremost of Christ, and we serve the church. That's so vital. That's so vital. Think of this, too, again. I'm
going to read 2 Corinthians 4, 6 again. It says, For God, who
commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in
our hearts to give the light of knowledge of the glory of
our God in the face of Jesus Christ. In the creation of the
world, God made something out of nothing, didn't he? He commanded the light to shine
in darkness. So in a new creation, You must
be born again. So in the new creation, God makes
something out of nothing and commands the light. Commands
the light. And Christ is a light to shine
into our darkened hearts and to give us a true knowledge of
God and his glory. Isn't that wonderful? That's
wonderful. As light was the tint production
in creation, so the light of Christ is the first thing in
the new creation. conviction of sin, the honoring
of the law, the satisfaction of God's justice and faith are
all accomplished in the sinner in relation to Christ Jesus.
He did it all for us, beloved. And even our spiritual growth
is in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Lord. We
got nothing to boast in, do we? We boast in Christ, nothing in
ourselves. Look at this verse again. Let's
look at this verse again. Holding forth the word of life,
that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run
in vain, neither labored in vain. Holding out and offering to men
the word of life, the gospel of our Lord Jesus. Paul's bringing
forth that our conduct and character reveal that we are one with Christ,
sons of God. in the fact that the born-again
blood-washed believers is burdened and concerned with
the souls of others, our family members, our friends. We desire
them to come to know Christ. In love for Christ and love for
others will constrain us to please him and to evangelize them. Listen
to this in Matthew chapter 22, verses 36 to 40. I mean, Master,
what is the great commandment in the law? Someone asked Christ.
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. We can
only do that in Christ, can't we? But he's done it for us,
didn't he? This is the first and great commandment. And the
second is like unto you, thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Then let's look, okay, now let's look at our verse again. In light
of that, holding forth the word of life. We hold forth the word
of life. We love our families and our
friends, don't we? So we hold forth the word of life to them. That's Christ, that I may rejoice
in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored
in vain. See the words holding forth there? It's a translation
of the Greek word used in secular documents of offering wine to
guests. Here you go. Hold it forth. Hold it forth,
right? Of offering wines to guests.
It means to hold forth so as to offer. So we see here an exhortation
by the Holy Spirit of God for us believers, right? Because
this is written to us too, isn't it? Oh yeah, that our attitude
as born again blood washed saints are to hold forth the word of
life, which is Christ. And we're to hold forth Christ
to a lost and dying world. is the only Savior of sinners.
Salvation only comes through His perfect work, His redeeming
blood. He's the Word of Life. The Lord
Jesus Christ is called the Word of Life. He's the essential Word,
right? He's the Word of God, whom life
was and is, and who is called the quick or living Word. He's
the Word of Life because all life is from Him. Saved and lost. He has divine
life in him, doesn't he? He's God incarnate in the flesh.
He's the living God. He's the living God in the flesh. And it's given to him, he has
all powers, we see in John 17. He has all power to give eternal
life to as many as thou has given him, he said, of the father.
Father gave him all power to give eternal life to as many
as the father had given him. That's his people, those are
the ones he died for, right? Oh my. He's the mediator for all his
people. And he ever lives to make intercession
for us. He's also the author of life in every sense. Natural
life to natural man, or spiritual life. It all comes from Him,
doesn't it? He's the giver of life. When
the gospel is preached, there's a general call. Goes out to everyone. Flee to
Christ. Come to Christ. He's the only hope of sinners.
He's the only hope. So we're holding forth the word
of life, aren't we? Isn't that wonderful? That's
what we're called to do, just present Christ, brother. Hold
him up, like you're offering me a drink. Hold him up. Here. Our natural tendency is to go,
I don't want that. But by God's grace and mercy,
he makes us willing in the day of his power, and we say, oh,
thank you. See, God's held forth Christ, isn't he? He's the gift
of eternal life. Oh my, and he's a gift of grace,
not of works, lest any man should boast. It's wonderful, beloved. So let us, as the Lord opens
the door, proclaim the word of life. The only savior of sinners,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who shed his blood to ransom our eternal
souls, beloved, to pay everything God demanded for the salvation
of our souls. Praise his mighty, mighty name. Brother Travis, can you close
us in prayer?