Only let your conversation be
as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and
see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you
stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for
the faith of the gospel. Now, the reason Paul speaks of
whether I come and see you or whether I be absent is he's just
expressed that he has every expectation that the Lord will enable him
to come to Philippi and be with these saints there again. But his sentiment here in this
verse is that that's not what's really important. He says, whether
I'm able to be with you or not, what's important is your conversation. Whether I'm there, whether I'm
not there, only let your conversation be It becometh the gospel of
Christ So let's talk about the subject your conversation the
word conversation means your behavior as a citizen If you
look it up in Strong's concordance, that's the exact Definition of it To conduct oneself
as pledged Your behavior as a citizen citizenry implies a recognition
of authority. A citizen of the United States
pledges to obey the laws of the land and to act in the interests
of this country. I'm a U.S. citizen by birth,
as I'm sure most of you are, if not all. I'm not a citizen
because I earned it somehow or deserve to be, but because I
was born here. And so it is with the citizens
of the kingdom of God, we're citizens by birth being born
again of the spirit of God. Being a natural born citizen
of the United States of America, even if I never pledge allegiance,
if I defy that, you know, we used to pledge allegiance to
the flag when I was in elementary school, and maybe even junior
high, I can't remember. but we would pledge allegiance
to this country's flag. But even if you weren't in on
that, if you refuse to do that, if you're born in this country,
if you're gonna live here, you're expected and you're still held
to that allegiance. And the difference when it comes
to allegiance to a country and spiritual allegiance to the King
of heaven and the kingdom of heaven is that I might forfeit
my rights as a citizen of this country if I do break the laws
of this country to the extent that I become a prisoner or commit a felony or really a lot
of crimes, a lot of different crimes would forfeit some of
my rights as a citizen of this country, and rightly so. A fellow citizen of the saints,
as the scripture puts it, is one by supernatural birth, which
is of God. It's something that happens from
above, as our Lord told Nicodemus. If you're born from above, the
word again there means from above, born from above of the spirit
of God who goes where he wants to and does what he wants to.
You're born supernaturally by God and what God does can't be
reversed Faith is given by God when we're
born Into his kingdom and that can't be forfeited If it could
be we'd all we've never none of us would be saved And it's
by his obedience to the law That I'm a citizen not mine I can't
forfeit it I can't mess it up I His obedience is perfect and
his righteousness is unassailable. It's infallible. And I cannot
lose my citizenship in the kingdom of God with Christ as my surety. The law doesn't look to me, the
law of God's kingdom doesn't expect perfect obedience from
me. But there is still a question
of behavior. as we see all through the scripture. There's a question
of our conduct as citizens of God's kingdom. And notice how
it's described in our text, and this is what I wanna talk a little
while about this morning. It's behavior as a citizen that
becometh the gospel of Christ. And that word becometh means
suitable or worthy of. So we're given pretty clear direction
concerning our conversation, our behavior as a citizen, our
conduct. Remember this same word worthy
as we see the definition here of what becometh the gospel. It's something worthy of the
gospel. Listen to that. Word also used in Ephesians 4
1 and I believe this gives a little perspective on it Paul writes
to the church at Ephesus I therefore as the prisoner of the Lord beseech
you that you walk worthy of The vocation wherewith you are called
And what's the first thing he says with all lowliness and meekness? all lowliness and meekness With
long-suffering for bearing one another in love and endeavoring
to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. To walk worthy of the calling
wherewith we're called, to conduct ourselves as citizens of God's
kingdom in a way that is appropriate to the gospel of Christ is to
come down. Zacchaeus, come down. I wasn't going to use this illustration,
but I think it's beautiful. I spoke with Marvin Stoniker
yesterday, and he told me about his experience
having the stroke and what he went through and the struggles
that he experienced in that. And as he was talking about it,
he talked about having to learn And I know that he doesn't mind
me saying this, because he told me to preach. He told me to preach
a whole message on it, and I may just do that, because it's so
beautiful listening to him. He said he had to learn a lot
of things completely over again. He completely forgot how to do
certain things, because the part of his brain that was affected
caused that. And he said the reason for it
was blood that was on his brain, and he had to relearn. Much of
what he was just, we just take for granted, don't we? It's just
automatic for us. And he said the one notable effect
that that had on him is he felt like the Lord and he gave the
Lord the praise in every bit of it. It was just a wonderful
conversation. And he said, one of the things
about that is I believe the Lord's teaching me a little bit about
how frail I am, about how he reduced me to being a little
child again. And as I heard him talk about
that, I thought, Marvin, that's a beautiful illustration of the
gospel. When the Lord saves us, we have
to learn everything over again. We don't know anything. We learn
how just ignorant we are. We don't know anything. We can't
put two and two together. We have to learn how to see things
the right way and to react to them the right way and to understand
them in our mind. He gives us an understanding
and that starts from the start. And I said, what's the main cause
of that? I mean, what was the problem
in the garden? It was pride. We got lifted up, said we'll
be as God's like Satan did. But the Lord has to bring us
down. And Marvin said, he brought me down. I realized that I was
in His hands. I couldn't do anything unless
the Lord had mercy on me. I said, that's the gospel, Marta.
We have to learn everything over again. And what caused it? The
blood. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was applied to us,
applied to our mind and heart in such a way that we're just
little children. Nobody comes to Him except as
a little child. And he said, why don't you preach
that? And I said, well, I might just do that. But you hear what
Paul says here. Walk worthy of the calling wherewith
you're called with all lowliness and meekness. for bearing one
another in love. I suspect Marvin's gonna know
a little something by experience now too. Things he already knew,
we know, don't we? But the Lord causes us to experience
the gospel, to live the gospel. And then we really learn it,
don't we? David said, it's good for me that I've been afflicted.
Do you remember why he said that? That I might learn thy statutes,
that I might learn stuff that I already knew by experience
though, by experience. God might give me the grace of
experiencing it. Marvin said, I don't want to
go through that again. But he said, I'm glad I did go
through it. I'm glad I did. It is good for me, he said, that
I've been afflicted. But with all loathing and forbearing
one another in love, if you know you're nothing, you can sympathize
with nothings. If you're something, you know,
if you're high and mighty and you're something and you're a
little bit better than everybody else, and you look down on people,
you're not gonna have long suffering and forbear one another in love.
And notice that he says there in Ephesians four, what I read,
endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit. Let's not miss
that Paul, when writing to the Ephesian church, associated worthiness
to endeavoring to keep unity. And in our text, This morning,
when writing of worthy conduct as citizens, the first thing
he mentions is unity in our text. One spirit and one mind. One spirit and one mind. Our
conduct should be appropriate to the gospel of Christ, and
there should be a unity in that. One of the things that God hates
is that he that soweth discord among brethren. Now think about it. What behavior,
what conduct as citizens of God's kingdom would be appropriate
to the gospel of Christ? Well, what is the gospel of Christ?
Our gospel is that Christ is sovereign. We have a Savior that
does what He will, with whom He will, when He will, the way
He will. Act like it. Conduct yourself appropriately
to that. Can we do that? By God's grace. Don't you want to do that? To
bow to Him in everything, bow to His will, bow to His word.
Acknowledge that He's on the throne in all of our actions.
Even all of our thoughts. It could manifest itself in all
of our conduct, couldn't it? That Christ is on the throne.
Don't be overly sorrowful or upset. Of course we suffer in
this life, but not as others who have no hope. What is our
hope? Our Savior's on the throne. He does what he will, with whom
he will, when he will. And he that spared not his own
son gives us freely all things because
they're his to give. He owns everything and everybody,
and He runs everything and everybody. Don't lean to your own understanding,
why? Because Christ is on the throne.
He's the one that has authority to tell you what to do, how to
do it, why? And give you the grace to do
it. Is it not He that worketh in
you both to will and to do of His good pleasure? That's somebody
on the throne there. When you make that step, you're
talking about a king, you're talking about a sovereign. He
works that. So don't lean to your own understanding. His word is our command. Don't
be lifted up in pride or boastful or puffed up in the flesh. Christ
is on the throne. Conduct yourself according to
the gospel of the sovereignty of our Savior. Don't dishonor
Him. When it comes to His worship
or His honor, He's our King and worthy of all honor and glory
in all of the ways that we conduct ourselves in this world. Our gospel is that God loved
us from eternity and picked us out. He chose us. That's what the word elect means
in the scripture, chosen. He chose us in his son and he
predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his son. Can
we act like that? Is there a way to act like that?
Can our speech be seasoned with his sovereign grace? Can we acknowledge
that salvation is of the Lord in what we say? Can our speech
be seasoned with the distinguishing love of God? Can we sing with
enthusiasm that electing love and grace deserves? Can we be
careful to give God all the glory in salvation as well? as in creation
and providence. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
three. I believe this will help us in this thought. Can the fact
that God chose us from eternity to salvation, should that affect
how we are, how we act, what we do, what we think? Colossians
3.12. Put on, therefore, as the elect
of God. As a person that God, like the
good Samaritan, he came where we were and did everything for
us and paid our way. As the elect of God, holy and
beloved, put on bowels of mercies. Oh. The affection of mercy, kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness, long suffer. You see the same things mentioned?
Conduct yourself, put this on, wear this, present yourself this
way, forbearing one another and forgiving one another. If any
man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so
also do ye. And above all these things, put
on love, which is the bond of perfectness, and let the peace
of God rule in your heart, so that which also you are called
in one body." Unity again. Meekness, humility, and unity. Pride is what causeth disunity. They go together. And let the
peace of God rule. Verse 16, 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. All the things we talk about,
all in everything, that you conduct yourself in this world, in the
worship or wherever you are in this world, do so as the chosen
of God. That informs all of our behavior,
that God picked us out. It's pretty easy to be humble
when you didn't have anything to do with it, that God just
came where you were. Not easy for us, but it ought
to be, right? It ought to be easy to be humble
when you were in a ditch, half dead, and we were in the spiritual
ditch, spiritually dead, and the good Samaritan came where
we were. As Paul said in Ephesians chapter
two, how much glory is there in that for us? It is excluded. No boasting. in whatsoever you do in word
or deed. Even when you're singing verse
16, let's look at verse 16 a little bit again. Singing with grace
in your hearts. You know what grace is? It's
electing grace as the elect of God. People sing about grace,
they use the word grace, but singing as the elect of God says,
you know something about grace. You've experienced God's grace.
You know what grace really is. and that should affect how you
sing even. Verse 17, and whatsoever you
do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus for
his sake, for his glory, giving thanks to God and the Father
by him. Our gospel is that God chose
us, we didn't choose him. and God give us grace to act
that way. Our gospel is that God's son
saved us, redeemed us, made atonement for us on Calvary with his precious
blood. We were talking about yesterday
how that some churches only use the New Testament. They consider
the Old Testament obsolete. And I thought, how are you gonna
understand? Well, there's a lot of things just on the face of
it you're not gonna understand. When the Lord refers to Isaac
and Ishmael as the new covenant and the old, you're gonna have
to know something about what happened with Isaac and Ishmael.
But just beyond even just what's on the surface, if you're gonna
know anything about atonement, what happened when atonement
was made for the people of God? No wonder that when left to their
own understanding and to be foolish enough to just dismiss half of
the word of God, that people think that the atonement was
just a crapshoot. You know, the Lord just, he's
just doing his best to save everybody, you know. No, go to the Old Testament
and see what atonement means. It was made for a specific people
and it was made for them. They didn't have any decision
to make in the matter, did they? It wasn't, you know, if anybody
wants to come get atoned, you know, come on down. No, that's
not what atonement is. And so if we want to understand
what Christ did and what's recorded in the New Testament that He
accomplished, go to the old. So we need to understand that
God's Son redeemed a people. He saved them. He didn't make
an effort. Having loved his own, he loved
them to the end. And he loved his own. Jacob have
I loved and Esau have I hated. We love him because he first
loved us. He doesn't love everybody and
then we get to choose whether to love him or not. His love
is the cause of our love. Herein is love that he loved
us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. If you have Christ as the sin
offering for your sins, you are acceptable in the sight of God,
period. He is that for his people. No decision necessary. Now, will this aspect of the
gospel of Christ have anything to do with the way that we conduct
ourselves in this world? I won't have you turn here because
we quote this so much, you're gonna hear it in your head as
I read it. Listen, 2 Corinthians 5.14. Does the precious blood
of Christ actually redeeming us from our sins? Does that affect
our behavior? For the love of Christ constraineth
us. Because we thus judge by His
grace, we understand that if He died for us, then that's because
we were dead. And that He died for all that
they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto
Him which died for them and rose again. If Christ just gave it a shot,
and salvation's up to me, I could probably live for myself. I mean,
I'm the one that decided my eternal destiny, but if he bought you, if he bought you with his precious
blood, you are bought with a price. Therefore, what does it say? Give yourself. Will we, because
of that gospel, The gospel of the sovereign, successful, sacrificial
lamb of God. Will that bring about in us what
Paul prays for in the latter part of verse 27? Oneness, oneness. Conduct ourselves as citizens
of his kingdom, fellow citizens of his kingdom. He says, when
I hear about you, I wanna hear that you have one spirit and
one mind. Consider that for a second. If
Christ is sovereign, if he has chosen us, if he laid
down his life for us, then what else would our purpose be? If
your purpose, And if the focus of your heart and
your voice and what you do is to honor him and we're fellow
citizens in his kingdom, what would mine be if it's different
from yours? There is no other. If that's what happened, if he
is who he says he is and he did what he said he did, then how
can we not be? united in this, if there's ever
anything that we purpose to do or say or even think about that
he cannot be honored in it or by it, then let's put it away
from us. Let's put it away from us. That
which becomes the gospel is if that gospel is that Christ
is exalted and he's our sovereign king, then our resolve must be to serve
him, to honor him, to glorify him. That's what people do when
there's a king, a perfect king, especially the king of glory.
If he truly is the one who said in Isaiah 46, nine, remember
the former things of old, for I'm God and there's none else. I'm God and there is none like
me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times,
the things that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand. And I will do all my pleasure. That's free will. and that's
not you, it's not me. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country,
yea, I have spoken it, I'll also bring it to pass, I've purposed
it, I'll also do it. And notice he said, I control
all of the world. If one of my birds is off doing
what he does and I want him to do something for me, I tell him
to do it and he does it. If one of my men, he's sovereign,
who hath resisted his will? We use the words that were misused
in Romans chapter nine. You're not gonna resist his will. He tells the birds what to do. He controls this universe and
everything and everybody in it. And he moves men and women King's heart is in his hand as
the rivers of water, he turneth it whithersoever he will. I have purposed it, I'll also
do it. We're not like that. I purpose
it and then don't do it a lot of times. But not him. Let's don't ever think of him
that way. Like we do by nature. our religious nature is that,
well, God purposed all this, but we've got to help him out.
Nope. He says, where were you when
I laid the foundations of this earth? Is Christ the one that
David wrote about in Psalm 115, when he's cried, not unto us,
O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy
and for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? but our God is in the heavens.
How are you going to describe him, David? He hath done whatsoever
he hath pleased. That's who my God is. Pretty clear in the scripture,
isn't it? If that's the case, if he is who he says he is and
who all of his people say he is, then let's walk as becometh,
as is appropriate. to his majesty. Is salvation of the Lord? Is
his kingdom made up of those that choose him, or does he compel
the chief of sinners to come in? What about you? What's your
testimony in that? Is it true what's written in
2 Thessalonians 2.13, but we are bound to give thanks always
to God for you brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation. through sanctification of His
Spirit and belief of the truth. What did He do? Because He chose
you, what were the means that He used with regard to those
that He chose? He set them apart by His Holy
Spirit from everybody else. And He gave them faith in His
Son, belief of the truth. Whereunto He called you by our
gospel to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. He called you to the obtaining
of it. Did the Savior love Jacob and
hate Esau before they were born or had done any good or evil?
And did he say in Romans 9 that the purpose of God according
to election might stand, Jacob have I loved and Esau have I
hated? Did the great shepherd say in
John 10, I lay down my life for the sheep. They hear my voice. I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish. Did he say that about his sheep?
Then let's walk in gratitude constantly that our gracious
redeemer hath chosen the weak, the base, the foolish, the chief
of sinners, the despised, so that no flesh should glory in
his presence. Let's say with Paul and live
this way, when it pleased God, he revealed his son in me, when it pleased God, were we redeemed not with corruptible
things, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot. then let's sing the song of glory
even now. There's a song that they're singing
in heaven even now. Could we join in on that? You
know why they're exalting him there and why their most glorious
occupation is to exalt the Son of God? Listen to the song of
glory. They sung a new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book
and to open the seals thereof for thou was slain. and has redeemed
us to God. By thy blood out of every kindred
and tongue, people and nation, you're worthy because you redeemed
us. May we have that song in our
soul as we do everything that we do. As we say everything that we
say, as we form every thought in our
minds and every desire of our hearts, worthy is the lamb. He was slain and he redeemed
us. Amen. Let's be dismissed in prayer.