Philippians 127, and I wanna read through chapter two, verse four.
Let's start at Philippians 127. Only let your conversation or
your conduct be as it becometh the gospel of Christ. That's what will govern and inform
in the way you act, the gospel. That's what he's saying, let
that be so. That whether I come and see you or else be absent,
whether I'm with you or not, whether the Lord providentially
allows me to visit you or not, even if I'm not there, I want
to hear of your affairs and hear that you stand fast in one spirit. That becometh the gospel. That's
what becometh the gospel of Christ. unity, with one mind striving
together for the faith of the gospel, and in nothing terrified
by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition,
but to you of salvation and that of God. For unto you it is given
in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to
suffer for his sake. having the same conflict which
you saw in me and now here to be in me. And that may be as
far as we get today, but I want to read a couple of verses in
chapter two that are just a continuation of that thought regarding your
conduct. Your conduct as it is governed
by the gospel for the good news that Christ is the sovereign,
successful, merciful savior of sinners. That's how we should
act according to Paul and according to God. If there be therefore
any consolation in Christ, any comfort, any rest in Christ,
if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if
any bowels and mercies, we've talked about how they use the
word bowels as the belly, it was an even deeper seat of emotion
than the heart. It's where your passions and
your desires come from. If there be that, if God has
given us that and blessed us with that, fulfill ye my joy,
that you be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord,
of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife
or vain glory. Aren't we prone to that? It's
always something, isn't it? But in lowliness of mind, let
each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man
on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. For this entire passage of Scripture
and beyond, in all through chapter two as well, Paul talks about
and elaborates on that one subject, conduct becoming to the gospel
of Christ. That means conduct, as we talked
about last time, becoming his sovereignty. Christ is on the
throne. He does what he will, when he
will, with whom he will. Act like it. Honor him that way. Our brother read, to him be glory
and power. He prayed that, power and dominion. That's in the book of Revelation.
That's attributed to him because that's who he is. He's sovereign. That's conduct becoming his electing
grace. He said to his disciples, you
didn't choose me, I chose you, act like it. As the elect of
God put on these things, he says in our church. It's conduct becoming
the redemptive glory of Christ in redeeming us with his precious
blood. By nature, religious man reduces
the the redeeming love and power of Christ on the cross, Paul
said, we preach Christ crucified. Everything, the whole universe
revolves around the cross. But we, by nature, in our free
will, our anti-Christ religion, everybody's religious. Paul said
of the Jews in Romans chapter 10, they have a zeal of God,
but they don't know God. That's the religion of this world
by and large. They don't know God. So we reduce
the very redeeming power of God in Christ crucified to God just
kind of taking a shot at it, you know, giving people a chance. The scriptures deliberately say
that from the beginning, we've always chosen wrong. We've always
chosen ourselves. In the garden, we did. And now
that we're fallen, do you think we're gonna do something right?
There is none that doeth good, no, not one. God looked down
from the heavens to see if there were any that did seek after
God, any that did hear and obey and seek after God. And you know
from the scriptures what he saw, that not one, no, not one, not
one. That's why salvations of the
Lord, the Lord comes. where the good Samaritan comes
where the man is and pours in oil and wine and picks him up
and carries him to the end and pays his way. Our part in salvation
is that we need it. That's it. Salvations of the
Lord. And can we act like that? Does
that affect everything you do and say and think? It had better. It had better. It should, it
will, if you're His. So now we have from the Lord
in these next verses more specific instruction with regard to things
we are to give particular attention to in honoring Him in this life. To act in a way that becomes,
the title of the message is Conduct Becoming. You've heard of conduct
unbecoming. This is conduct becoming the
gospel And we're given some more specifics. Let's look at the
last part of verse 27 to start with, as we already briefly mentioned. He says in the beginning of chapter
one, I fully intend to come visit you and preach to you and learn
of you and get to know y'all better and all that. But even
if I don't, I wanna hear about you. And here's what I wanna
hear, that you stand fast in one spirit. To stand fast is
a determination. The scripture talks about endeavoring,
and I believe we're gonna read this in a minute in Ephesians
4. Endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit. The easy thing
for us is to get mad at one another, to be proud, to be selfish. That
just comes naturally. It takes an endeavoring to keep
the unity of the spirit, does it not? Have we not found that
to be so? And that's what he said, I wanna
hear, with one mind striving together for the faith of the
gospel. The gospel is our motive, conduct
becoming the gospel, and the gospel is the result of what
we do. Because the gospel, you see,
is Christ. The word of Christ that is able
to make sinners wise unto salvation, Paul said to Timothy. Unity of
heart. Unity of purpose, unity of action,
striving together. What is it that will inspire
us to not be the backbiting, divisive, prideful, selfish little
wretches that we are by nature? The gospel. The gospel. What is it about
the gospel that causes that? God's sovereignty. God's electing
love and grace towards sinners. Christ's perfect, successful
redemption of his people on Calvary. His precious blood, because Christ
is who he is, and because he did what he did for us, we determine. We're taught in Ephesians 4.1,
walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. with all lowliness
and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love,
endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace. There's one body. We're the body of Christ, the
Lord said. The church is my body. He's the head of the body. There's
one Spirit. Even as you are called in one
hope of your calling, what's your hope? Yeah, me too. It ain't
me. One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all who is above all and through all
and in you all. Christ is all. He's the gospel and he is our
common bond. He is our unity. Striving together
for the faith of the gospel. Let's talk about that part for
a minute. The gospel itself is such that we strive for the faith
of it. That is, we strive for the truth
of the gospel of faith. We're so prone to be carried
about with every wind of doctrine. We strive to be of one mind and
heart in honoring Christ as He's revealed, in obeying the truth
that He spoke, that He taught, that He wrote, not compromising
it, not neglecting it. It's a striving for the faith
of the gospel. Faith, it's a strive for truth,
of the gospel of faith as opposed to works, religion. You know,
religion loves the Roman road thing, where if you do this,
this, this, and this, you'll be saved. No, what you do is
the problem. It's not the solution. What you
need is for Christ to do something for you, and this is how he does
it. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. We're not here this
morning to try to get you to do something for God. We come,
I like the way Spurgeon said it. He said, my hope lies in
another quarter. Mine too, that God will do something
for you. And he's told us that the way
he'll do, I don't know if he'll save anybody this morning or
not, but if he does, I know how he'll do it. He told us, didn't
he? By this means, by the preaching
of the gospel of Christ, and by the Spirit giving faith in
and love for the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a faith that has one object.
Again, religion talks about faith as though it was the power of
positive thinking. If you just believe, everything
will happen the way you want it to happen. Faith is not God
doing what you want him to do. Faith is God doing what he told
you he would do. Believe God, believing God. Not believing there is a God,
Satan believes there's a God. Believe God. And faith without
works is dead. Believing on the Lord is life
changing. The Son of God is the object
of faith, and it's faith which thrives in the companionship
of the saints. You see that? Striving together
for the unity of the faith, together. This is a faith that thrives
on that. Because as we lift, turn with
me to Colossians 3, and we'll see how that's a, that's something that happens
together. This thing thrives in the company
of God's saints by God's design and purpose and bringing it to
pass, Colossians 3.12. Put on therefore as the elect
of God, again, here we go, as the elect of God, according as
God hath chosen us and we not him, according as what our brother
just read, that God, that the purpose of God according to election
might stand. Holy and beloved, bowels of mercies,
kindness, put these on. This is our conduct, our way,
humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one
another, and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against
any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. If you've got
a beef against somebody, and boy, that's so easy, there's
just always something in there, especially if you're looking
for it. Well, you won't have to look long. You know what you
need to think about? Did the son of God forgive me
freely? When he did that, why in the world would he do that?
As wretched and vile as I am, why would he do that? He's our motive again. Above all these things, put on
love, which is the bond of perfectness, and let the peace of God rule
in your hearts, to the which you are also called in one body,
and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell
in you richly in all wisdom. Is that true of us? Does the
word of Christ dwell in us richly, or do we still have trouble?
If I told you to quote 10 verses of scripture, It's not about
memorizing the Bible, it's about does the word of God dwell in
you richly? That don't happen, he doesn't
just put it in your head while you're asleep. He does give you from above,
he births you from above so that you can enter and see and understand
that by means of Studying to show yourself approved unto God.
Teaching and admonishing one another. Let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Teaching and admonishing one
another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever you do in word
or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. Giving thanks
to God and the Father by him. Is there anything unclear about
that? Oh, the Lord, the scriptures
exhort us to it, don't they? We fall so far short of this,
but that's why we come and we hear and we worship and we learn
of Him. Verse 28 in our text, and in
nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token
of perdition, but to you of salvation and that of God. We know by revelation,
and by God-given faith in the gospel of Christ that God is
on the throne, that he loved us with an everlasting love,
and here we are again, sovereign, electing grace and love and redeeming
power in the blood of Christ. We know that nobody can pluck
us out of his hand, that he laid down his life for his sheep They
hear him, they know him, they follow him and they shall never
perish because he gave himself for them. Not because they were
smarter than other people or more spiritual. There was no
difference, no difference. All have sinned and come short.
We know that all things work together for our good. So don't
be afraid of your adversaries. What is a specific behavior that
results from that knowledge? That he's on the throne, that
he loved us with an everlasting love, that he redeemed us from
our sins with his own precious blood, and that he works all
things together for our good. What's a specific behavior? Well,
David's saying this, the Lord is my rock, whom shall I fear? That's our text. Because of who
he is, I'm in nothing terrified. Not like the world is when we're
threatened by any enemy. It's just a clear reminder to
us that God has warned that if anybody touches one of his little
ones, They just as soon tie a big rock around their neck, a millstone,
and cast themselves into the sea, rather than harm one hair
on one of his children. That's what our text says. It's
an evident token to them of perdition. God's already said, you mess
with my children, you might as well end it yourself, because
it's going to be worse. And it's a reminder to us of
how he's promised us that no weapon formed against you is
gonna prosper. Not a dog shall wag its tongue
against you. Psalm 91.1, listen, he that dwelleth
in the secret place of the Almighty, turn over there with me. I'm
gonna be brief this morning, but I
want us to read this. Think about our text. in regard
to this verse, Psalm 91.1, this passage of scripture. He said, don't be scared because
it's not becoming to the gospel to be a snowflake. We don't need
safe spaces. Our safe space is the rock of
ages. We're not afraid of what man
can do unto us. Psalm 91.1, he that dwelleth
in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow
of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is
my refuge and my fortress, my God, in him will I trust. You can trust the one that's
on the throne. If it's Jesus trying to get you to cooperate
and really wanting you to do, but he can't violate your free
will, how are you gonna trust him? Sounds like it's all up
to you. No, the one that sits on the
throne. And like David said, he's my
refuge. Whom shall I fear? He's on the
throne. I can trust him. Surely he shall
deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome
pestilence. He shall cover thee with his
feathers And under his wing shalt thou trust. His truth shall be
thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for
the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flyeth by day.
He controls all of that. Where that arrow lands, it's right where God ordained
that it would, where he controlled it to land. A thousand, listen, nor for the
pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the, this is verse six,
for the destruction that wasteth at noonday, a thousand shall
fall at thy side and 10,000 at thy right hand, but it shall
not come nigh thee. You'll still be standing because
the Lord is your refuge. The one who controls all things,
who loved you with an everlasting love, who sits on the throne,
who chose you in love, not any meanie minie mo, Jacob have I
loved, and no harm's gonna come to them. Only with thine eyes shalt thou
behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast
made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most high of thy habitation,
there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come
nigh thy dwelling, for he shall give his angels charge over thee
to keep thee in all thy ways. He said, your angels do always
behold the face of my father. They do his will. Turn over to
Psalm 27 one, and I promise we'll close with this, because we were
going to look at verse 29 and 30, but we'll talk about that
another time, because it is getting warm in here. Psalm 27 one, the Lord
is my light. and my salvation, whom shall
I fear? The Lord is the strength of my
life, of whom shall I be afraid? What did he say? Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me and find what? Rest. The more we see him high
and lifted up, the more we are able to hear with an ear of faith
of his eternal love for his own. The more precious that precious
blood that redeemed us on Calvary, the more times he brings us to
the table and gives us the grace to remember, and maybe each time
to remember a little better who he is and what he did for us.
We learn of him. What's the result? Of whom shall I be afraid? When
the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to
eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp
against me, my heart shall not fear. David learned this by experience,
didn't he? Have we? The war should rise against me,
and this will I be confident. Here's my confidence. I'm big
and bad, and they're not gonna take me. No, that's not it. One
thing have I desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after, that
I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. By God's revealing grace to my
heart, I want to see him like Isaiah did, high and lifted up. I want to see him like Paul did
when he said, when it pleased God, he revealed his son in me. I want to see him as Paul did
in Philippians chapter two and three, but where he said this, I press toward the mark, for
the prize of the high calling of God in Christ. Everything
that I'm living for, striving for, seeking, desiring, and pursuing
is a person. A person. One thing I have a
desire, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord, to behold his beauty, to see him in his
glory, in his redemptive glory, in his electing grace, in his
sovereign power and salvation. And I want to know more too.
I want to know more. Inquire. For in the time of trouble,
he shall hide me in his pavilion. Where did he hide Moses? In the
cleft of the rock. The Lord Jesus Christ, he shall
set me up, verse, end of verse five, upon a rock. That's where
we're safe. And now shall mine head be lifted
up above mine enemies round about me. Therefore will I offer in
his tabernacle sacrifices of joy. I will sing. Yeah, I will
sing praises unto the Lord. Now verses 29 and 30 are precious
too. We may look at those tonight
and finish this tonight. rather than go to Second Kings.
I have a message in Second Kings that we'll maybe look at next
time, maybe we will tonight, we'll see. But I know it's warm
for y'all, it is for me. And what better way to leave
this building thinking about the fact that because of who
he is and what he did for me, I'm safe. Safe though the worlds
may crumble, safe though the stars grow dim, Under the blood
of the Lord Jesus, I'm secure in you. That's the truth. That's just the truth. Amen.
Let's pray.