Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the portion that we read,
Paul's epistle to the Philippians, chapter 1, and reading from our
text, verse 12. But I would ye should understand,
brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen
out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. Philippians 1
verse 12, fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. In Paul's epistle to the Romans
we have the beautiful verse in Romans 8 verse 28 we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God to
them that are the called according to his purpose and that of course
takes in all things everything and working to purposes in the
arrangement of our lives in the churches, in health, in strength,
in all things in our lives. But this text, it focuses that
all things working together for good to be for the furtherance
of the gospel, for that specific end. And of course we would remember
that Our Lord Jesus Christ sent forth his servants to preach
the gospel and to go forth, make disciples of men, and he that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not
shall be damned. They had to tarry at Jerusalem
until the Spirit was given them from on high. The gospel had
to be preached through the word, but it needed to be applied with
power. And how was it to spread? Well,
in the days of after Noah, when God said to them that they had
to spread out, they tried to keep in one place, so the Lord
confounded their languages and they had to spread out. In Pentecost,
the Lord gave the gift of languages And in the spread of the gospel,
we do need those that know the original languages, and they
are able to translate into the languages of people that they're
coming to. They've got to be people of grace,
they've got to be those that know the gospel themselves, but
also in another language. So then how are they going to
spread this time? It's not because of different
languages, That barrier is to be taken down in the gospel. So now it is, when they persecute
you in one city, then go to the next. And that's how the Lord
was going to spread the gospel round about. So immediately there's
this idea that in preaching the gospel, even in a help for it
to be spreading, there's going to be persecution. There's going
to be trials and afflictions. And this is what the Apostle
here is writing to the Philippians. Now, of course, we would remember
how this church began, and in this chapter that we've read,
we get the indication Paul is writing this from Rome. He is
a prisoner three times in this chapter. He speaks about being
in bonds. So he is writing from Rome, and
what it had happened what the occasion of this this letter
you know he had been the first preacher to the philippians he
had been the means of their conversion we'll look at those things a
little bit later but then they had heard that he was a prisoner
at Rome, so they sent their minister to him, their pastor, Paphroditus,
and sent him with provisions, with things sent, and the end
chapter, chapter four, he says it is as a sweet savour what
they'd sent to him. And really it meant more to him,
not what he was given, but the fact that their hearts were open. They loved him and they showed
it in a practical way, and so when the pastor, the minister
comes, and he relates to Paul how this church is getting on,
so he doesn't just give them a gift, but he lets them know
how the church is getting on, and so when he departs, when
he goes back, Epaphroditus brings the letter, and this then is
the letter which the apostle has design in it. Of course,
if we write a letter to someone, we usually have a design and
usually have something we are trying to convey to them. So
he expresses his love to them, his affection to them, he gives
some account of his bonds, and in the context of our text, he
is telling them that these bonds are actually working together
for good. So, in the beginning of our text,
He wants them to understand, I would that ye should understand,
brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen
out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. He doesn't want
to discourage them. He wants to encourage them. And
especially as he knows that they also will have bonds, they also
will have persecutions as well, but if they can see what's happened
to him, then they'll be encouraged in their path as well. So his
letter is to encourage them in their afflictions, in their persecutions,
and the things that they are going through. Also to excite
them to love, love to the Lord, love to one another, to unity
and peace amongst themselves. And then again to warn against
false teachers and those that are bringing false messages. So of course he closes in the
fourth chapter with thanks for the gifts that are given. So
what is upon my spirit then this evening is that specific working
for good, that which the Apostle wanted them to understand, and
that we also need to understand that the things which happen,
not just unto Paul, but the things that happen to us, things that
happen to ministers of the Gospel, Things that happen in the Church
of God, that they fall out. It seems to be just by chance,
but it happens. The end result, the fruit of
it, works out to the furtherance. Instead of holding back the Gospel,
it furthers it, it helps it. And this then is my burden tonight
to to convey this to you, to have this picture perhaps of
the Lord sending out his disciples from Jerusalem, and the Word
is still going out, still going through the world, and things
that may at first seem to be against the Gospel, in the view
of this, and in view of the Lord over all, making all things work
for good, they actually work for the furtherance of the gospel
and it can be very encouraging to understand this truth, understand
the Lord, His one aim to further the gospel and to really get
a point to those all things that the Lord makes to work together
for good. So I want to look at three points
this evening. Firstly, what is the Gospel that
is to be furthered? If we are going to further the
Gospel, let's have some idea what that Gospel actually is. And then secondly, some instances
in Scripture of God furthering the Gospel, and we will begin
with that point. looking at what happened with
the formation of the church here at Philippi. And then thirdly,
how is the gospel furthered in relation to our own lives? So we want to take it from the
scriptures and think of it in our day, what should be an encouragement
and help for us. But firstly, what is that gospel
that is to be furthered? I remember years ago we had a
TVS meeting over in Australia, and it was in a church I didn't
know at all, I don't know how sound that church was, it didn't
appear to be, but before the TVS meeting, there was just a
local auxiliary, we were talking to the deacon of that church,
Something came up about preaching the Gospel. He said, we preach
the Gospel every Lord's Day. What is that? The people get
tired of that. John 3.16, every Lord's Day. That was his idea of the Gospel. John 3.16. What is John 3.16? Well, rather than quote it, let's
actually read what he thought or what he thought the gospel
should be, and it is, it's a beautiful, beautiful word indeed. It's when
the Lord was speaking to Nicodemus on the essential work of the
Spirit in bringing about the new birth in John 3, and the
Lord says to Nicodemus, And verse 14, As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal
life. For God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved." It is a good summary of the Gospel. It is
pointing to the crucifixion or lifting up of the Son of Man,
and ties in with the Apostle Paul, determined to know nothing
among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified." But the whole
of the Word of God is the Gospel. It is good news from Genesis
right through to Revelation is not just confined to one or two
verses, though they do very summarize where we are looking to Christ
and Him crucified. We have another beautiful summary
when we go to Paul's epistle to the Corinthians the 15th chapter
where he speaks of the resurrection of the dead and the resurrection
of our Lord Jesus Christ at the beginning of that chapter he
says this, moreover brethren, this is from verse one, I declare
unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, gospel means that good
news, which also ye have received and wherein ye stand, by which
also ye are saved if ye keep in memory what I preached unto
you, unless ye have believed in vain. for I delivered unto
you, first of all, that which I also received, how that Christ
died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was
buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the
Scriptures, and that He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve,
after that He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once,
of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are
fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James,
then of all the apostles, and last of all he was seen of me
also as one born out of due time." And he says how he's not meet
to be called an apostle because he persecuted the Church of God. And so in Paul's own words is
giving really a summary of what that gospel is. Of course in
Acts chapter 2 when the Holy Spirit was first given and our
Lord had said, I'll pray the Father, He will give you another
spirit which shall abide with you forever. When that was given,
then again the gospel was preached. and who's preached in such a
way as setting forth the Lord Jesus Christ, that those who
had crucified Him, they understood they had crucified the Lord of
life and glory. And we get really, even in the
presentation of what Christ had done, an illustration of our
text, because Peter says to them, 10 that was delivered by the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by
wicked hands crucified and slain." And so he has taken the terrible
act of crucifying and slaying the Lord and saying this was
actually working the purposes of God. God used your wickedness,
the same as what Joseph said to his brothers, so it was not
you that sent me hither, but God, to save your lives by a
wonderful deliverance." So the gospel, when it was preached
there to them, they, like Joseph's brothers, they thought Joseph
would be very angry with them, that he would deal hardly with
them, and they could hardly believe that He was kind to them, that
He wanted to have them near Him and provide for them and look
after them. And when after Jacob died and
they came begging really forgiveness again, He wept. And the Lord
is the same and was the same through Peter for those who had
crucified Him. Even on the cross our Lord says,
Father forgive them, they know not what they do. And when they
were pricked in their hearts, when they were convinced, then
Peter exhorted them to repent, to turn from that wickedness
and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to be baptized in
which they were. Change sides, the same as what
Paul did. Change from being the persecutor
to being the one that was persecuted. One that was a believer and one
that was showed mercy by the Lord. And so we read then in
that chapter that there was many added unto the church. Thousands were added as the good
news of the gospel was sent forth. One way I'd like to really describe
the gospel, it is so different than the law. The law commands
but it does not give any help or any strength. The gospel is
not to be handled like the law. It always upsets me to hear ministers
saying, now is the day of salvation, if you don't believe today then
you're going to perish. They're getting a great big stick,
they're using the beautiful gospel and they're making it sound like
the law. you must do this, and this word
must comes up right through their sermons, you must do this, you
must believe, you must repent, you must embrace Christ, he's
offered to you, you must embrace him, and it's all put as a work
of man to do it, instead of the Lord Jesus Christ being exalted
to give repentance and remission of sins unto Israel. it is vital
that we are brought to repentance and where we see like Paul saw
those at Mars Hill going after idols and worshipping everything
other than the Lord is it right in our day too to point those
that are not looking for salvation in Christ to point them to look
for it in Christ and to turn from what they are doing to looking
for it in Christ But it's a very different thing, I believe, to
pointing a soul to the right place and the right way and looking
for salvation, and telling that soul, you can save yourself at
your time and your will and in your way. Because that is not
the gospel. The gospel is good news for sinners
who cannot help themselves, who cannot believe, who cannot repent,
who have a hard heart, You have no hope. If it's said that it
is by their works or by their efforts or by their deeds, I
say we have no hope. But the Gospel says there is
hope. Because in the Lord Jesus Christ, in His time and way,
He will give faith. He will give it through the preaching
of the Gospel. He will give that understanding. He will draw His people to Himself. He will do that work, and that
is good news. for sinners. We should never
make us be fatalistic and of course if we are convinced of
our sin, if we know what that sin deserves and that if we are
not brought to faith in Christ we shall perish eternally, then
we won't be just fatalistic and just come to and fro to the house
of God, well if I'm saved I'm saved, if I'm not, I'm not. We
won't be fatalistic in that way. But the gospel is very different
than the law. In Hebrews 12 we have, ye are
not come unto the mount that might be touched, that burned
and smoked with fire, ye are come unto Mount Zion. The law
is the remedy. The law is the pouring in of
the oil and wine. Sorry, the gospel is the remedy.
It is a pouring in of the oil and wine. It's like the Good
Samaritan going right where the one that was fallen and one that
was wounded and picking him up and lifting him up. It is a remedy
for sinners. It is the help that is needed.
Help laid upon one that is mighty. Help laid upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. So the Gospel is not only Good
news in that what Christ has done, His sufferings, His death,
is putting away our sins through the sacrifice of His own self. It is also setting forth a righteousness
which is not ours, but is made ours. It is Christ's righteousness,
His perfect life and obedience imputed to us. That is good news
of the Gospel. It is also As Paul says in Romans
5, if while we were yet enemies we are reconciled to God through
His Son, how much more being reconciled we shall be saved
through His life. If the Lord has passed by us
when we have been dead in sin and quickened us into life, how
much more, now that we love Him, serve Him and desire Him, will
He help us and save us from our sin. His name of Jesus, He shall
save His people from their sins. When we believe, we don't cease
being a sinner, but we have the law to subdue our sins, forgive
us our sins, keep us from sin, deliver us, make those things
work for good, and save us from the power and dominion of it.
And that is all part of the gospel, and we have how it was set forth
by our Lord to Peter, the Lord's commission to Peter. Interestingly,
though he did of course preach the gospel of salvation in Christ
alone, our Lord's commission to Peter, feed my sheep, feed
my lambs. There's the gospel as well, there's
a good news of provision. of giving to the people of God. God's people have a fullness
in Christ that is given to them through the preaching of the
Gospel. Also, another word, again, given
through Peter, when Peter denied his Lord those three times, Satan
hath desired to have thee, to sift thee as wheat, that I have
prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, another aspect of the
Gospel, and advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous,
a voice that speaks for us in heaven's high court for good,
appearing in the presence of God, I prayed for thee individually,
Satan sought to have all of the people of God, but whenever his
people have need, we may be assured of that intercession for each
one. I prayed for thee in that time
and hour of need. But then our Lord said to Peter,
when they are converted or when they are restored, strengthen
thy brethren. That's another aspect of the
gospel, isn't it? To be strengthening the brethren. Strengthen the weak hands. Strengthen
the weak knees, the feeble knees. Comfort, that's another aspect. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Going back to Isaiah, the gospel
of Isaiah. and we think of Isaiah 53, all
the aspects of the Word of God that are pointing to mercy through
blood, the provisions of health, and the whole Gospel is a Gospel
of free and sovereign grace. It is a complete contrast to
work. St. Paul says this in Ephesians,
that we are saved By grace, you say, through faith, and that
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Faith is the gift
of God, that is given by God in the new birth, right at the
very, very beginning. So when we say the gospel is
to be furthered, then we are looking that men will be convicted
of their sin, they'll be brought to need, the gospel, they will
be brought to hear the good news, and to believe and to receive
it, and that they'll be strengthened, strengthened in their faith,
they'll be comforted, they'll be instructed, just like Paul
says here, I would have you understand, remember when our Lord rose from
the dead, appeared to his disciples, we read, then opened he their
understanding, that they would understand the scriptures. You think of how the gospel began
to be preached to the eunuch. Understandest thou what thou
readest? How can I except some man guide
me? Here was the gospel. God sent
the minister to open up that passage and to show Christ in
that passage. The gospel to those on the way
to Emmaus. Christ drew near to them. There
they were sorrowful. They were trouble, we trusted
it should have been He that should have redeemed Israel, and the
Lord opens up in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. And there is the Gospel, the
comfort, the light shone upon the Word, and shone upon the
Lord Jesus Christ, and that came through the sufferings, the death
of our Lord. though the Gospel is to be furthered,
all of these various aspects, right from the knowledge of it,
receiving of it, and all that follows, this is what it actually
comprises. He says, have fallen out rather
unto the furtherance of the Gospel, he doesn't say fallen out to
add a few more believers to the church, he uses it in the term
gospel that embraces all of these things that we've tried to just
briefly mention under this head of the gospel. And this is why
it's necessary to realize this so that we can watch and can
be comforted and reassured when we see the furtherance of the
gospel, not just with a small lens looking at, well, how many
are in our church, or how many are made believers, but are God's
people being comforted? Are they being instructed? Are
they being built up? Are they continuing in spite
of the persecutions? So, what is the gospel? In that way, that's how I'd set
it. before you. But secondly I want to look at
some of those examples from the scripture. In the Word of God
it's not just a book with just cold doctrine. The Real People's
Lives is a history book as well as Being the inspired Word of
God, we can trace it right through as history as well. And in Necessary
Peter, he says that we have not followed cunningly devised fables
when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ. Some were accusing them of that.
Just fables, just making a fiction book of it all. And that's why
you go back to the Old Testament and you get chapter and chapter
and there's just names. You think, why waste part of
the inspired Word of God by lists and lists of names? Because it
gives the stamp of being the true history of the children
of Israel and the line right through to Christ. And it undermines
every accusation of it just being made up. is not made up, it is
designed by God, and in our text here we in effect have. This
is a design by God that through troubles and persecutions that
good news of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ shall be
furthered, not hindered, it shall be a blessing. Well let's think,
how did the church at Philippi, how did they begin? Paul, he
tried to go to Bithynia, to Asia, and the Lord at that time said,
no, you're not going, shut doors there. But then he had the vision,
come over into Macedonia and help us, and he felt that they
should go, they went. Then they find the women by the
Riverside, praying, Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened, and then
they had the lady following after them, and the things that happened
that resulted in them being cast into prison. And there in prison
is the jailer, and they, in the midst of their trials, they sing,
they sing praises unto God, the prisoners, they hear them, Then
at midnight there's an earthquake and the doors all open and the
jailer thinks they've all fled and he's going to be killed because
he's let his prisoners go. And Paul says, do thyself no
harm, we're all here. And he springs in with the light. His question says, what must
I do to be saved? By an inquiring soul, that answer
still must be, by any who know the gospel, where one asks that
question who has been alerted to their trouble and to their
need, the answer is the same. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. That is what message they gave
and that is what we give to everyone convinced of sin. But God brought
them there and what seemed to be and was a very hard path,
path of imprisonment, a path that at first seemed like, well
this is not further into the gospel, how are they going to
preach into prison? That's not a very good start
here at Philippi, but how God turned it about, how he changed
it about, and not only the jailer, but all his house heard the word
of God and were baptized. And so this is how how it was
when they came. You can read that in Acts 16. The Lord turned it about for
good. So really what he is saying,
if they were to think back to their own history, they would
realize that they had already seen this. That those things
had happened unto Paul when he came to them first. had turned
to the furtherance of the gospel. We think of the case of Ananias
and Sapphira. When the church was first blessed,
then many that believed, they sold their houses, they sold
what they had, and gave to those that had not. And Ananias and
Sapphira, they wanted to appear as if they were religious, as
if they were saved, and so they sold their land and made out
that they were giving the whole amount to the church, or to the
poor, when in actual fact they were only giving half. If they
had come and said, well here is the money from the land, we're
giving half to the church, we're keeping half for ourselves, that
would have been quite alright. But as Peter said, they had lied
to the Holy Ghost, and both of them were found to be complicit
in that deceit, and both of them were struck down dead. And we
read that there was then great fear came upon the church. Really, wherever there is a increase,
wherever there is a blessing of the gospel, there'll always
be the fear of the Lord. Remember what he said, God is
greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, to be had in reverence
of all them that are about him. When you go into a church, if
you go into a strange church, if you're going on a holiday,
if you're going to a new place, you think, I'll go to this church.
If it is, there's no fear of God before their eyes. If they're
light, they're trifling, they treat the Lord's house just like
a social club, there's no fear of God there. Here, with Ananias
and Sapphira, they had very high views of God that was able to
strike one. dead in a moment and yet the
church it didn't you didn't find people saying well this is the
type of God I'm having nothing to do with him and they all go
away the church grew and it's the same when David years before
thousand years before Christ they brought up the ark of God
and they copied the practice of the Philistines by putting
it on a cart, and that was not how it was to be. It was to be
on the shoulders of the Levites. And when the oxen shook it, and
Uzzah put forth his hand to steady the cart and the ark, then he
was struck down dead. And David greatly feared. He
said, how can I bring the ark up? And he sent the ark to the
house of Obed-Edom. But then the Lord blessed the
house of Obed-Edom, and so David then felt he was able to bring
it up to Jerusalem. Again, God didn't think, well,
these people are all happy, they're joyful, they're playing before
the art. Let's just ignore the fact that it's on a cart. We'll just let that slip. No,
He didn't. He marked it. Their worship,
The way that they acted had to be according as he showed it,
not how the Philistines were trying to do it. And it's a very,
a thing to really watch today. I know he's right when we have
new technologies. You think of years ago when you
started instead of handwriting out the text, then it was printed.
People had to accept that's still a printed word. And we have the
means tonight that we're using of transmitting the word, but
it's still preaching the word. We might think of those times
that we use the, from our homes or from the church with a video. Are we using another card? Is it something different? But
actually we are still preaching the word. But as soon as you
go away from the preaching the word, that is the commission,
preach the word. a person, a minister of the gospel,
one that is sent to preach the gospel, that is what the Lord
will own and bless, not all lots of other types of gimmicks and
ways. We do need discernment. We do
not just follow the world to the latest thing thinking, well
this might be a good idea of getting people in and attracting
people and filling our churches. Only that which God has instituted
will be blessed and will further the gospel. But I digress a bit. What I wanted to say was when
the Lord would give a revival, there will always be the fear
of the Lord. There will always be a realization
that we are dealing with the God of heaven and above, who
is not to be trifled with. You go back to even in the wilderness,
and you see Aaron, and he holds his peace while two of his sons
are burned to death by fire from God. Why? Because they were taking
strange fire, fire that they had kindled instead of the fire
from heaven that kindled the altar, and they should have used
that fire, but they weren't. And again, God marking where
there is a digression away from the true worship, away from the
right way. So that with Ananias and Sapphira,
that with David as well, it worked further into the Gospel in bringing
a people to stand in awe and reverence and fear of God. And those terrible things that
happened, the Lord used those to bring about that end. May
we see that in the case of Ananias and mark it for our day too as
we look later. Then we have the case of Peter
who was imprisoned and that followed the taking of the life by Herod
of James. God saw it fit that the church
was to be reminded that There were those times that their
lives would be taken, they would be martyred, and yet with that
backdrop, Peter was wonderfully delivered and brought out of
prison. At the end of that account, we
read of Herod how that he was giving a narration, taking all
the glory to himself, they said, is the voice of a God, not of
a man. And the Lord immediately smote
him with worms and he died. But at the end of that account,
end of the 12th of Acts, you read that the church grew and
multiplied. After all that had happened,
after that imprisonment and the wonderful deliverance, In the
end, it was for the furtherance of the gospel, but walking through
it must have been a great, great trial. Then we have the case
with Elymas, the sorcerer, in Acts chapter 13. We have a man that was trying
to stop others from believing, and in a way that's a thing that
is often replicated, and yet God overruled that for good. We read that when they had gone,
in verse 6 of chapter 13 of Acts, when they had gone through the
isle of Paphos they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a
Jew, whose name was but Jesus, which was with the deputy of
the country, Sagius Paulus, a prudent man, who called for Barnabas
and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas,
the sorcerer, for so is his name by interpretation, withstood
them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul, who also is called
Paul, filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, and said,
O fool of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil,
thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert
the right ways of the Lord? Now behold, the hand of the Lord
is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun
for a season. And immediately there fell on
him a mist and a darkness, and he went about seeking some to
lead him by the hand. But when the deputy, when he
saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine
of the Lord. And we have then a starting off
with one trying to undermine. And you can easily picture this
happening today. Whereas one is interested, one
wants to hear the Word of God, but someone else is there undermining,
ridiculing, trying to turn away that person, and yet even that
worked for the furtherance of the Gospel. Yes, it was through
the miracle that was wrought with the blindness, and the end
result was that the deputy did believe. Instead of being turned
away from the faith, instead of it being undermined, he was
brought to believe. Then we have the case of Onesimus. In Philemon, we have a runaway
slave. His master, Philemon, was a friend
of Paul. But he runs away, and where does
he run? He runs and he ends up with Paul. And you have a situation where
a slave couldn't abide being a slave, he wasn't content with
being, serving his master, but where does he run to? And he
finds Paul in bonds, and he finds Paul submissive to the will of
God in his bonds. What a contrast, that slave must
have thought, here am I, and not happy in where I am, But
here is Paul, and he is content in his bonds. But the Lord used
that for good, and the Lord blessed him, converted him under Paul's
ministry, and he sends him back to Philemon, and he says, now
no more a servant, but a brother beloved. And how that worked
for good. How Philemon must have thought
at first, here is my slave, I've lost him. He's run away, he's
gone. And then he hears he's been converted
and the Lord has blessed him. If you went back to the church
here at Philippi and how it came that Paul and Silas were there,
remember that there was a real contention that was between the
apostles. You might think, how can that
be? How can there be a real contention between the Lord's people? But
that is recorded here. And it was because of John Mark,
because of how he'd gone back and left them in the work. And
so you read in verse 36 of Acts 15. Some days after,
Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren
in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see
how they do. And Barnabas determined to take
with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not
good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia,
and went not with them to the work. And the contention was
so sharp between them that they departed asunder one from the
other, and so Barnabas took Mark and sailed into Cyprus, and Paul
chose Silas and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto
the grace of God. And so then eventually they come
to Philippi, and it came about by that dissension, by that contention. You think, how can that work
for good? And yet we have this word, I
should have you understand, brethren, that the things which happened
unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel.
There's nothing so painful as to have falling out and contentions
between brethren, between ministers, But when you read this account
here, you think there's one over that. There's one over it that
says, no, I want this minister in this place and that minister
in that place. How am I going to split them?
They want to stay together. They want to be together. And
the Lord uses their own sin, or loses means, so that they
are sundered apart, or one works in one place and one in the other. and the Gospel then is furthered,
as we had with Philippi. Things that we are to understand. I hope we can bring this to our
own lives, and I want to just look then lastly at how we can. But I'm sure even with these
examples from the Scriptures, we've had those times. where
we have had strains between us in the ministry, where there
has been things that make it hard for us to go and minister
or worship in one place and we've had to go to another, but the
Lord uses that. He uses it to the furtherance
of the gospel, bringing the word where otherwise it would not
go. So looking at our third point,
how the gospel being furthered in relation to our own lives. The first thing I notice is that
providence and grace, they work together. Things that actually
are happening in our lives, they tie up with grace, with spiritual
blessings, and we need to remember that. Watch providence, things
don't just happen by chance. Another thing is that when we
or others are brought through affliction or tribulation, to
be open to hear the gospel. Most people, especially if things
are going well, they say, why do we need the gospel? Everything's
well. But when the Lord brings, like
he did in Elijah's day, three and a half years famine, when
he brings things like COVID, when he brings job losses, when
he brings trials that come, then often the Lord, it doesn't automatically
happen, but the Lord often uses it to make that person receptive
to the gospel, so they're ready to hear it. Many times I try
and speak to people in Cranbrook, though some I know, some new
people I don't know, And the wall goes down. They're just
not receptive. They do not want to hear anything
about the things of God. You can't even get an opening.
Others you will see, they do have an opening. They are receptive.
And quite often there's a reason. Because of some affliction, some
illness, some trial, the Lord has used something to open their
ear and make them ready to hear. If you use your illustration,
if you're trying to talk to someone about a wonderful surgeon up
in London, and they say, well, I don't know, I'm healthy, I'm
strong, I don't need to know about this man. But if you had
something wrong with you, then someone said about a surgeon
that could answer your need, immediately you would listen.
And the Lord uses that same way Another way that the gospel is
furthered is when the Lord, through providence, and it may be some
insignificant thing at first, it brings together a preacher
and a people. We're told very clearly how it
was that Philip came to the eunuch, and how vital that meeting was,
but sometimes it can be in a way that And certainly I've been
blessed in this way, I've gone to a special service and I thought
a particular minister, well he's the one that was advertised and
we've sat down in the seat and we think, that's not him in the
ball pit. And the minister's taken ill, so we've got someone
else. And that minister, his ministry
was really blessed to me and to my wife in that time that
I'm thinking of. and we actually thought we were
only going to stay for one service we ended up staying for both
and got the people looking after the children to look after them
a bit longer and it was a double blessing because that minister
was there because the other was laid aside sick and these things
happen the Lord ordering that this minister is to be in this
place and this is the message he must pray. And it's further
and further into the Gospel and you say, yeah but it might have
been an accident, a road accident or a sickness or it might have
been something that seemed to be completely perplexing and
against a minister and the Lord has used that for good. The more we can realize this,
it'll stop us fretting, or stop us being crossed with ourselves,
or upset because of things that have happened, and we think in
the short term, well, this is a disadvantage, this hasn't worked
for good, but in the longer term it may have worked for good,
and actually be used as a blessing. The gospel is furthered when
God's people are fed, when they are strengthened through the
word, or encouraged through the word, and sometimes it can be,
and I was struck recently, we were down in Salisbury, I'm part
of the fraternal down there, and of course there's a mix there,
there's some big churches, some small churches, but one of the
brethren there, he said, we only had eight at our service the
other day, he turned to me, he said, Roland, he said, you are
such an encouragement to us, to all of us small churches because
you keep going and you keep spreading the gospel though you're so small.
And I thought, wow, who knew this, that we try to keep going
and you don't realize how many other small churches are looking
at us unencouraged because of what we're doing. And the Lord
uses this to further the gospel And yet we might just look at
our little thing and think, how can this be good at all? We'd
much rather a real full church and a blessing and fruitful and
used in that way. But the Lord says, no, I can
use you better in other ways and to encourage many others. We spoke about the case with
the split there with the ministers. And the Lord would have his ministers
spread out. We would be like them at Babel,
we'd like to all stay together, but the Lord says, no, I want
different ones. And sometimes they're painful
things, why the Lord does that. Also with personal witness, and
like Peter says, to be able to give a reason of the hope that
is within us, sometimes it can be real questions, or really
antagonistic things that are asked of us. But the gospel is
further, in this way. I'll close just with this thought,
in John 16 verse 33, the Lord says that in me you shall have
peace, in the world you shall have tribulation. Now, there's
a link between the two, isn't there? The peace in Christ, the
tribulation in the world, and very often the church prospers,
and prospers more when it is the church in tribulation and
trial. I've heard it say by those in
Sri Lanka or those in areas where they're persecuted for the word
that they will say, we are praying for you because you are in more
danger than us because you have prosperity and ease and worldliness
and that's more danger to you as a church than our persecutions
and our trials. The furtherance of the gospel
often is through these trials and through these tribulations.
Well, may the Lord bless this word. May we be able to understand
and look at those things that we go through or may be called
to walk through. But I would, ye should understand,
brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen
out rather unto the furtherance.