Well, good evening. Turn with
me to Philippians chapter one, if you would. Philippians chapter
one. You know, I was thinking today
about this letter of the Apostle Paul to these saints. And it
is you know we'll see I trust in the weeks ahead that it's
a it's a letter that's full of joy and it's such a blessing. You know I was thinking in terms
of the great salvation that God has granted to us. David just
said it's such a blessing to be here tonight. And you know
I thought how true that was. I'm here because of God's grace
to me. And you're here because of God's
grace to you. And what rich blessings we have
in Christ. And I'm thankful to be able to
be here tonight and bring this word I trust will be a blessing
to us. So let's just read these first
11 verses of the chapter first. And we read here that Paul and
Timothy bond servants of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ
Jesus who are in Philippi with the bishops and deacons. Grace
to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance
of you, always, in every prayer of mine, making requests for
you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first
day until now, being confident of this very thing, that he who
has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day
of Jesus Christ. Just as it is right for me to
think this of you all because I have you in my heart, And as
much as both in my chains and in the defense and confirmation
of the gospel, you are all partakers with me of grace. For God is
my witness how greatly I long for you all with the affection
of Jesus Christ. And this I pray. that your love
may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment,
that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you
may be sincere and without offense until the day of Christ, being
filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, to
the glory and praise of God. Well, just I think as we read
the first part of this, the beginning of this letter, we just see the
love and the affection that Paul has for those believers there
at Philippi and that they too have for him. And I trust in
the weeks ahead, we'll be able to look at that more. But as
we begin, to look at this short letter of the Apostle Paul to
these believers, I think it's important that we note that the
scriptures are primarily historical in nature. And what I mean by
that and what I want us to see is that these are real people
in a real place, in a real time, governed by circumstances that
really did happen. It's God's will and it's God's
purpose to reveal himself in this way. And so we remind ourselves
that this letter was written in the first century. It was
written by a person, a real person, the Apostle Paul. It was written
to real people there at Philippi, which we saw or referred to as
saints to this real place in Philippi.
What we want to think about is what is God's message to these
people, these people? What is God's message to these
people in their particular circumstances in that place and time? And when
we consider it in this way, then I think we'll better understand
what the Lord has to say to you and I here in Houston, in this
place, and in this time. We can see immediately, as I
said, that the affection that Paul has for these, that Paul
has great affection for these people. And he has real joy when
he thinks about them. Now that isn't always the case,
as you know, in the letters that he writes to different churches.
I think of the Church of Corinth, of course. And yes, there was
joy, but also there was sorrow, wasn't there? But you get a different
tone in his letter to the Philippian church. And I'll tell you, that's
one of the reasons why I felt it would be good for us to look
at this epistle in the coming weeks, because I know that in
this time, in this place, I need to be reminded of the joy that
we have in Christ. I don't know about you, but I
do. And I trust that the Lord will help us in that. But we
saw, too, just in reading, that some of these themes of this
epistle are brought out right away, of the righteousness and
peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. And they're all themes of the
kingdom of God, aren't they? And that's what we would expect
when we're speaking about the saints in a church in a particular
place. And I think by God's grace, that's
true of us here, too, in Houston. So what I would like to consider,
having read that, what I would like us to think about is Paul
says there, he who has begun a good work in you. He who has
begun a good work in you. Let's consider not only these
saints in general, but how the Lord began the work there in
Philippi. The beginning of the church.
Who are these people in this city? It's a city of the Gentiles. And we know that, as Paul writes
to the Ephesians, that at one time they were without Christ,
being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the
covenant of promise. They knew nothing, nothing of
the scriptures, nothing of the true God, nothing of Christ,
nothing of the gospel, and that they had no hope and were without
God in the world. But here they are. Here's Paul
writing to them, and he writes to them as saints in Jesus Christ. And they've been brought into
the kingdom of God, into the fellowship of his dear son. Who
are these people? And how did this come about?
Well, one thing we do know, it came about according to the fulfillment
of God's purpose, which Isaiah wrote about when he says, Speaking,
the Lord speaking, I was found of those who did not seek me. I was made manifest to those
who did not ask for me. What a wonder of God's grace.
Grace that extends even to you and me. Well, Turn over to Acts,
Acts chapter 16, and we'll spend most of the time there as we
consider the beginning of this church at Philippi. Acts chapter 16, and we'll begin in verse six, but
it's interesting, I believe, Of all the churches, we're given
remarkable detail about the inception of this church at Philippi. In
this portion of scripture here in Acts, we read about the salvation
of the first believers of this church. At least to me, this is a blessing.
When I look at Ephesians and when I preach Philippians and
when I preach from Philippians, I think of these people. that we're told of in Acts 16.
And it makes the epistle of Paul so much more rich, at least to
me. And I hope it does to you too.
But here again, we think too that it's speaking
about the salvation of the Lord's people. And I don't
know. To me, it's always a blessing
to hear when someone speaks about their salvation and how the Lord
worked and how the Lord moved and brought them to himself. And I think that's true in this case
too. As we read about the Lord coming
to these people to save them, that it's a blessing. And I know
that in the work in New Guinea, the people there just, they just
love to speak about how the Lord saved them. They just do. And when they're sitting around
the fire at times, between meetings or after services, they'll often
share how the Lord saved them. And they just delight to hear
the testimony of other believers. And why is that? It's because
there's that rejoicing in spirit, isn't there? When you hear the
grace of God manifest to his people. Well, let's begin there in verse
six of Acts chapter 16. And we read, now when they had
gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatian. And this is speaking about Paul,
Silas, Timothy, and Luke, the writer. And so they've gone through
Phrygia and the region of Galatian. They were forbidden by the Holy
Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to
Messiah, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did
not permit them. So passing by Messiah, they came
down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul
in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying,
come over to Macedonia and help us. Now after he had seen the
vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding
that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them." Now,
right away, this is amazing, isn't it? This is amazing. The Holy Spirit forbids Paul,
Silas, Timothy, and Luke to preach the gospel. We would never expect to read
this, would we? Ever, in any word of God. But here we're told
this was the case. They're forbidden of the Holy
Spirit to preach the gospel. Faithful ministers of the gospel,
one an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're forbidden to
preach the gospel in the Roman province of Asia, and when they
try to go into the region of Bithynia, the spirit did not
permit them. Well, aren't these people, people
in Asia and Bithynia, aren't these people in great need? Never
heard the gospel? Aren't they sitting in darkness
in the shadow of death? But you see, the Lord has something
to teach us even from this, doesn't he? God is giving us insight
into things which normally we don't have any insight into.
We're commanded, we know, to go out into all the world and
preach the gospel. And we do, by God's grace we
do. But what we don't see is that
God orders all things for the salvation of his people and the
preaching of the gospel is never sent indiscriminately from God's
standpoint. Do you see? We just read when
he sends forth his word, it doesn't return to him void. Why? because
it accomplishes what he purposed for it to accomplish. And this
is true everywhere, in all places and all times. Yes, we go forth
to preach the gospel in obedience to our great God and Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, but still, underlying that, the Lord is
directing perfectly exactly where his gospel is going to be preached
and to who it's going to be preached to. And why is that? Because
he has a people that he's going to save. And his interest is the salvation
of his people. Always, always. In the dawn of
eternity, as we know, God chose a people to himself. And he sent
his love upon them in his son. These are things that delight
our hearts and give us great assurance of faith, don't they?
That God has elected a people to himself. And not only that,
that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit agreed together
in that great covenant the covenant of grace that they would accomplish
the salvation, the entire salvation of these people and provide everything
necessary for their good and for their eternal life. But these are people too that
God knows. This wasn't, again, an indiscriminate
salvation, and by that I mean and as if his salvation was given
to a people that he'd chosen out without his personal interest
in each one of those people. The word of God shows us that
he knows each one. He's known each one from eternity.
We see that when he speaks. about the great shepherd of the
sheep who knows his sheep, and he calls each one by name. And
that's, I think, sometimes we forget that, don't we? But he
knows us, each one. And he knows before we were ever
brought to salvation. And he cares for us, and he's
ordering all circumstances for his people from before time,
before the world began, before he ever sent his word to do that
great work of salvation that we're gonna read about tonight. Because in that time, what does
he do? In that time that he has appointed,
he'll deliver each and every one from the power of darkness
and translate them into the kingdom of the son of his love. And what do we have here? This
is the appointed time we know for this seller of purple named
Lydia, and for a jailer, and for all their households. That's
why the Lord hindered them from going into Asia, isn't it? That's
why the Holy Spirit forbid them to preach the gospel in Dithynia
because the Lord had his people in Philippi and it was the time
appointed in his eternal purpose to save these souls and bring
them to himself. And so a vision appears to Paul,
a man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him saying, Come
over to Macedonia and help us. Well, what help do they need?
What help do they need? That's the vision. Come over
to Macedonia and help us. Well, what help do they need?
How would you answer that? Well, shortly, I would say the
answer is they need God's help, don't they? But you know, you
look at Most mission organizations and what they're doing today
and their answer is all sorts of things. They need help. They need help. They build schools
and hospitals to provide education and medical care. And there's
all sorts of programs to provide food and clothing and housing. And there's just no end to Christian
help ministries as they're called today. And I'm sure you've all received
these things in the mail, a picture of a suffering child from the
sub-Saharan region or something like that. And the child is emaciated
and suffering, severely malnourished, and these large eyes. And you look at this, and your
heart Your heart is broken. It breaks your heart, doesn't
it? It truly does. Well, they need help. They need help. But think for
a minute. How much help does this child
need? How much will truly help this
poor child? Let's just say that you could
give the whole world that you could give the whole world and
all the riches of it to help this child? Would that be enough? Would that be enough? That's
a good question. Well, here's the answer given
to us by the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, for what profit is it
to a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what will man give in exchange
for his soul? Even the whole world is not enough. Really, that's not what the child
needs. That's not what any man needs
most of all. And you know I'm not advocating
for not helping, not helping the poor, not helping people
in need. Every believer just desires to
do that. We do, don't we? No, but what
does the word of God call us to focus on? The help that every
man needs. The only help is Christ, isn't
it? He's our help and he's all our salvation. And we must never
lose sight of this and allow other things to crowd this out.
In history, this has happened over and over and over again.
The help that's needed is the gospel message. The help that's
needed is a knowledge of God. The help that's needed is the
salvation which is found in Christ. And when Paul receives this vision,
what do we read? After Paul had seen this vision,
immediately they sought to go to Macedonia. Why? Because what did they conclude?
Concluding that the Lord had called them to preach the gospel
to them. That was the obvious conclusion
for Paul and these men, wasn't it? When they heard, come over
and help us, what did they understand? Come over and preach the gospel
of God's grace to us. This is God's help to his people. Think about that. That's what
we're interested in, isn't it? God's help to his people. And it's the gospel of his son. Well, read on, verse 11. Therefore, sailing from Troas,
we ran a straight course to Semothrus, and the next day came to Neopolis,
and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that
part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city
for some days. And on the Sabbath day, we went
out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily
made, and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. Now
a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple
from the city of Thyatira who worshiped God. The Lord opened
her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. And when she
and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, if you
have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house
and stay. So she persuaded us." Well, just
as we read up to there, we could ask the question, well, who's,
we're speaking about the beginning of the church at Philippi, remember?
Well, who's establishing this church? God is, isn't he? Everything that matters with
respect to establishing the church here is being governed by the
will and purpose of God. And if that's the case, then
is it gonna happen? Yes, it's gonna happen. And so
he sends these preachers to preach the gospel. And not only that,
he opens the heart to hear and receive that gospel that's preached. We know that. And so, of course,
they come. And they come to this place,
unconscious, of course, of exactly why they're there. But they come
to this place where prayer is customarily made near the river.
speak to these women who are gathered there. And they find
Lydia. They find Lydia. And we're told that she worshipped
God. She worshipped God. But we're
also told that the Lord opened her heart. And so what do we
conclude from that? That she worshipped God, but
didn't know God. that her heart was closed. It
was closed to the truth, closed to the light, closed to understanding,
closed to the righteousness of God, closed to salvation, closed
to everything that mattered. And yet, as Hall spoke to her,
preached the gospel, what happened? The Lord opened her heart. And she heard those words. She
received those words. That's right. In a sense, we
could say this is the prerequisite for church membership, isn't
it? That the Lord opens the heart. And he opens the heart of Lydia. And as Paul spoke to her, she
heard like she'd never heard before. You know what I'm talking
about, don't you? The word of God came to her in
power. And the light was open for her
eyes to understand this truth that Paul is speaking about. And this work, it's so powerful.
and so mysterious, this work of God in the heart, to open
the heart, it's likened to the creation of light in the creation
of the world. You know, that verse, we just
delight to quote, don't we? And well, we should, because
it means so much. For it is the God who commanded
light to shine out of darkness. There in that creation of this
world. It's the God who commanded light
to shine out of darkness, who has shown in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. And that's what was happening
with Lydia. Here she is, a new creation,
far surpassing the greatness and the glory of the old creation. This is a new creation in Christ
Jesus and it's a glorious creation. This is the power of God. This is what it takes to save
a sinner. And this is what it takes to
establish a church. If there's anything that's humbling
to any minister of the gospel, that's it. That's it. This is what it takes to establish
a church. And the fruit of God's grace
is Lydia, the first member of the church at Philippi. In fact,
she was the first believer in Europe, I believe. Yeah. Well,
so look there in verse 16. We'll continue there. You know,
if you're Paul, Timothy, Silas, Luke, At this point, things are
going well, aren't they? I mean, I've had this experience
before. I know David has. I know anyone
in the ministry has. Things are going well. And we're
just so encouraged, and we're rejoicing in the Lord. And what
do we read? Now it happened, in the next
verse. Now it happened. As we went to prayer that a certain
slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us who brought
her masters much profit by fortune telling. This girl followed Paul
and us and cried out saying, these men are the servants of
the most high God who proclaim to us the way of salvation. This
she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned
and said to the spirit, I command you to come out in the name of
Jesus Christ, to come out of her, and he came out that very
hour, but when her master saw that their hope of profit was
gone, they seized Paul and Silas, dragged them into the marketplace
to the authorities, and they brought them to the magistrates
and said, these men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city,
and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being
Romans, to receive or observe. Then the multitude rose up together
against them, And the magistrates tore off their clothes and commanded
them to be beaten with rods. And when they had laid many stripes
on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer
to keep them securely. Having received such a charge,
he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the
stalks. Now, whenever the Lord is going to
do a work, it's inevitable that there'll be spiritual opposition.
How do I know that? Because we see it all through
Christ's ministry. We see it all through the word
of God. And not only that, Christ warned his disciples that this
would be the case. He said, they hated you, they
hated me, and they'll hate you also. And this is always true,
in every time, in every place, in every generation. Ultimately, it's rooted in the
hatred of the world to Christ and to his gospel. And so we
should fully expect it and not be surprised. At times, the persecutions
we know have been intense. We don't know anything of suffering.
I don't, I don't, for the sake of the gospel. In Hebrews, we read of some.
And this was just the first century, I think, of everything in between. The martyrs
of the Reformation burned at the stake, praising God as the
flesh was burned off of their bones. But we read in Hebrews,
others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, listen to this,
not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings
and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned,
they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They
wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute,
afflicted, tormented, of whom the world is not worthy. But
here's the question. Has any of this hindered the
purpose of God. Has any of this hindered the
work of Christ in the gospel in any way? Ever? Ever? Well, read on, read on. Look at verse 25. But at midnight,
Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the
prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly, there was a great earthquake,
so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, And immediately
all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed.
And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing
the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew
his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul called with
a loud voice saying, do yourself no harm, for we are all here. Then he called for a light, ran
in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought
them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? So they
said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved,
you and your household. Then they spoke the word of the
Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them
the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately
he and all his family were baptized. Now when he had brought them
into his house, he set food before them, and they rejoiced, having
believed in God with all his household. Well, here Paul and Silas. had been
harassed by this demon-possessed girl. They'd been hounded by
a mob, brought before magistrates, their clothes stripped off of
them. They were beaten with rods. And we're told they received
many stripes. These beatings pulverized the
skin. broke the flesh, bruising and
splitting it open, and these beatings caused excruciating
pain. They were put into prison, and
their feet put into painful stalks. And where was home? Home was
a long way away. They were in a foreign land. Far from family, far from friends,
far from help. Think of that. And it's midnight. And what would
we expect after all of this in that day? We would expect to
find Paul and Silas disheartened, discouraged, fearful. exhausted
emotionally and physically. Can you imagine all that had
occurred to them? And here it is midnight. And
how do we find them? We find them praying and singing
hymns. Hymns to God. And the prisoners
were listening to them. These were men of God, weren't
they? Men of faith, men of great faith. and men of formidable
character. Why? They're just like us. Men just like us, aren't they?
Why? Because they believed God. They
trusted God. They knew they were there according
to God's will and God's purpose. They didn't have any doubt about
it. They believed in a sovereign God. They knew that all that
had occurred that day was not out of his control, not out of
his will, not out of his purpose. They didn't understand it, no
question about that, but they trusted God. And what can we do? Pray for more
faith. Isn't that right? Isn't that
what the Lord tells us? Pray for more faith. Paul could later speak with authority. when he wrote from prison, once
again, this epistle to the Philippians. He could speak from authority
when he writes to the saints in Philippi and he says, but
I want you to know, brethren, that the things that have happened
to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. So that it has become evident
to the whole palace guard and to all the rest that my chains
are in Christ." Think of the meaning those words would have
had to the church of Philippi. Isn't that right? Because their
church had started in similar circumstances. They'd seen the
furtherance of the gospel through an imprisonment of Paul. And
so now he's in Rome and he's imprisoned again and he writes
to them. Wouldn't those words have been
a blessing to them and an encouragement to them? I know they would have
been to me. I know they were to them. God's
purposes will stand. His word will not return to him
void. Why were Paul and Silas in prison?
For the furtherance of the gospel. Why did this great earthquake
occur? And why were the prison doors open? And why were the
chains loosed from all the prisoners? Because God had purposed to save
the Philippian jailer. That's the reason for all that
occurred. But did the jailer know this?
No. No. Here he is at the end of that
day. He receives Paul and Silas and he puts them into the deepest
prison and no doubt had something to eat and went to sleep. There
in the prison it seems. And suddenly there's this great
earthquake. That's what the word of God says.
And so I have no doubt that this was an incredible earthquake. A great earthquake. And I don't
know if any of you have been a severe earthquake, but it's terrifying. I have. It is
terrifying. New Guinea is in the earthquake
belt, and it has earthquakes all the time. But there's this
one that I was in when I was a kid. You can see the ground
like moving, like rolling. And the thing that is supposed
to be the foundation is unstable. And huge trees sway like they're
reeds in the wind. It is terrifying. And the word says that there
was this great earthquake. You know, and I thought, God will shake heaven and earth
to save his people. Isn't that true? Both physically
and spiritually. The foundations of the prison
are shaken and the jailer awakens. And he's in fear because of this
earthquake going on. And he sees that all the prison
doors are open. And then he's in even greater
fear because he thinks all these prisoners have escaped. And this
region of Philippi, Macedonia, was under Roman rule, a colony
of Rome. And all of the laws of Rome were
instituted and in place in this colony. The people were under
these laws, and that was a great privilege and honor for them
to be. But one of those for without question was if you're, if you
have prisoners and the prisoners escape, your life is forfeit.
And this, and the jailer knew this. And so he sees, he's sure
the prisoners are all gone. Why wouldn't they be? This is
a, and this would be a large jail in this city. And he's sure
they're all gone, that they fled. And he takes his sword to kill
himself. because he knew that this would
have meant shame, humiliation, and certain death anyway. And
so he takes his sword and he's about to kill himself and Paul
calls out, do yourself no harm, for we are all here. Now that's
a greater miracle than all the earthquake and the chains and
anything else, isn't it? That he just closes those men
from moving, even though they're free to go, but the Lord, by
His will alone, keeps them all there. And Paul, when he says, do yourself
no harm, for we are still all here, look, there in verse 29,
watch. This is when the Lord causes
the heart to quake, the heart of this man to quake, in a way
that only he can. Look there in verse 29. Then
he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before
Paul and Silas. Now you would think hearing that
all the prisoners were still there, his fear would fade, and
he'd breathe a sigh of great relief, and he'd run to those
cells, and he'd lock all those prisoners back in, and go to
sleep for the night thinking, whoa, that was a close call. But what does he do? He doesn't
do that at all. In fact, he completely forgets about these prisoners
and he calls for a light and he runs in and he falls down
before these servants of the Lord. Why? Because the Lord has shaken
him in his heart. He's shaken him to his core.
His only thought up until then had been the loss of his life,
his temporal, his earthly life. But in that moment that Paul
spoke, he turned and his whole concern became his soul, his
eternal soul. Suddenly his whole perspective
changed. The eyes of his spiritual understanding
were opened. And he knows that it's God that
he's dealing with. He's in the hands of a holy God. And when God is dealing with
a man in this way, he can't think of anything else. And that's
where the Lord brought this man. And so he forgets the jail, and
the prisoners, and the earthquake, and everything that's occurred.
And his whole concern is what? What must I do to be saved? He can think of nothing else. You know, you think. Had he heard
Paul and Silas had been preaching the gospel for many days, we're
told, in the city. And it's possible that he heard
them preaching the gospel. And these words were words that
the Lord used, the Holy Spirit used, as all of these circumstances
are happening and impressed upon his mind. But the word of God doesn't tell
us. But what it does tell us is that Paul and Barnabas were
praying and singing hymns in the prison. And I don't know
this for sure, but I'm inclined to think that the jailer was listening to those
prayers. And he was listening to those
hymns like the prisoners. What would he have been hearing?
He would have been hearing the gospel of God's grace. And when
the Lord brings him to this place, all these things flood in on
his mind. As I said, a work that only God
can do. And he knew that he was in trouble.
This warder, and I think you've heard messages many times from
this passage, and we know that these were hard men. This is
no snowflake. But he's afraid. Now he knows that he has God
to deal with. And he has only one concern. What must I do to be saved? And he may not know much, but
he knows he needs a savior. And he knows that these prisoners
know the way of salvation. And that's why he flees in there.
He runs. You see the urgency. And the Lord has sent these men
to Philippi for this purpose alone, exactly this purpose,
hasn't he? They have a message for him.
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. This
is the help the Philippian jailer needs. And we read, he took them
that same hour of night and washed their stripes and immediately
he and all his house were baptized, and when he had brought them
into his house, he set food before them, and he rejoiced, having
believed in God with all his household. Now, listen, there
are two families. These two families were the families
that laid the foundation of the Church of Philippi. Lydia and
her whole household, and this Philippian jailer and his whole
household. Isn't that wonderful? What a
wonder of God's grace. We're told one thing about Lydia
and one thing about the jailer following their salvation. Luke
writes that Lydia begged them to come to her house and stay.
She loved the truth and she had this love for these ministers
of the gospel that had brought her the truth. And we read that
the Philippian jailer rejoiced Can you imagine being saved and
your whole family? I mean, the joy, the joy. The Philippian jailer rejoiced. He rejoiced in the God of his
salvation. And so it's no wonder. I think
the love and joy are two of the main themes of the letter that
Paul writes to that Philippian church. It's a blessing to see
how these fruits of grace flourished in the succeeding time as the
Lord added to that church, and I trust that by God's grace we'll
be looking at this in the weeks ahead. But just in closing, turn
back to Philippians. Turn back to Philippians in closing. And let me just read just three
verses there that I read at the beginning. And I think, I hope
that you'll find these words have more weight and more significance
and more meaning to you than they did initially. I pray that's
the case. But just look there. Again, Paul
in verse three, Paul says, I thank my God upon every remembrance
of you. always in every prayer of mine
make a request for you all with joy for your fellowship in the
gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this
very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete
it until the day of Jesus Christ. Just as it is right for me to
think this of you all because I have you in my heart, inasmuch
as both in my chains, And in the defense and confirmation
of the gospel, you are all partakers with me of grace. For God is
my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection
of Jesus Christ. Amen. Okay.