And so once again, as we turn
to the Epistle of Paul to the Philippians, this evening we'll
concentrate on just the three verses 19, 20, and 21. And we'll just read them again. For I know that this shall turn
to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the
Spirit of Jesus Christ according to my earnest expectation and
my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all
boldness, as always, so now also, Christ shall be magnified in
my body, whether it be by life or by death. For to me to live
is Christ, and to die is gain." So as the Apostle continues this
letter to the church at Philippi, we see really his great thrust,
his great theme, which of course runs through all the letters
that he writes, is that Christ might be precious and Christ
having crucified might be set before the people and that whatever
happened in whatever way the Lord would graciously bring to
pass there might be a blessing. And so we have a glorious example,
really, in the Apostle Paul. As we read through perhaps the
Acts of the Apostles and then the Epistles, we see how God
graciously and wonderfully supported him and enabled him to constantly
preach the everlasting gospel, sometimes with more success than
other times, nonetheless his great desire and his great concern
was for the preaching of the gospel. It is a very wonderful
example for all of us today. It's many years since the apostle
lived on the earth but surely those things which he wrote find
an echo today. I hope they find an echo in our
hearts because it was the preaching that these men who were not always
for him As we thought last week, not all was for him, often against
him, trying to speak things wrongly. And yet you see the preaching
of Christ, even by these men, though designed by them, to the
hurts of the apostle. Yet he knew that by the power
and grace of God, it should be made useful to the conversion
and to the salvation of many souls and that's why he's able
to rejoice in the gospel that is preached. Whenever the apostle
had the opportunity we know he declared the whole counsel of
God and that whole counsel of God always directed the people
to the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ. Well what a wonderful
blessing if that's our desire and our concern even today in
the world in which we live. And we live in a dark world.
You know, the apostle Paul, of course, was in prison in Rome. It wasn't an easy life. But you
see, he didn't rebel against it. He didn't think and complain
about it. He was willing to accept the
condition and the position he was found in, believing that
these things would work out for the furtherance of the gospel. And so of course we know they
did. He says, for I know that this
shall turn to my salvation, or it could be just translated,
for I know that this shall turn to salvation, the salvation of
needy souls. What a privilege and what a humble
condition he was in. He tells us then, through your
prayer, yes the Apostle knew the power of prayer, he knew
the essential need of it and therefore he's able to confirm
through your prayer joined with the supply of the Spirit of Jesus
Christ. This indeed would prove to be
a wonderful blessing to many souls and we're thankful to know
that it was so. We only have to read the apostles
journeys in the Acts of the Apostles to be able to demonstrate how
God was with him and how God blessed him in those times and
then he says according to my earnest expectation and my hope
the apostle was an earnest man religion wasn't something superficial
to him, it wasn't something which blew away, it was something which
was with him night and day. He lived to declare the glorious
gospel of Christ. This was his great desire, this
was his great aim, this was his great concern and so he's able
to tell us according to my earnest expectation and my hope it was
a good hope the Lord would bless his ministry and the Lord would
bless the preaching of the gospel in whatever way that was set
forth in whatever place he knew that God could bless it and it's
true today God can and God does still bless his word through
of course the wonderful medium of the foolishness of preaching
that divine way that God has appointed to bless never-dying
souls. Let us never underestimate the
truth of those words, as the Apostle so confidently wrote
to the Corinthians and spelt it out in that first chapter,
the importance of preaching the everlasting gospel. According
to my earnest expectation and my hope, yes, he had a good hope
indeed, the Lord would bless wasn't a false hope it wasn't
a vain hope it was a good hope and may we all have a good hope
and he says that in nothing i shall be ashamed well what a mercy
that is if you and i today are not ashamed of the gospel there
he was in prison he wasn't ashamed of the gospel now he wanted the
gospel to be preached and he glorified in it, may we do the
same. And then he says, but that with
all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified
in my body, whether it be by life or by death. It is a great blessing to be
favored with a holy boldness with regard to the truth of God
and especially with regard to the great and glorious and wonderful
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a mercy when God gives us
that true boldness in these things, so that we can say with the Apostle,
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Well, I hope we're
not, and I hope we never will be. And I hope the gospel may
always have the priority in our life, day by day, to rejoice
in what Christ has done, because we rely upon what he has done. We rely upon that finished work. Let us never get tired of hearing
the glorious gospel. May it be the joy and rejoicing
of our souls. And so he says, so now also Christ
shall be magnified in my body." Well, we know that the apostle
was wonderfully privileged to be caught up into the third heaven
and saw unspeakable things. The Lord gloriously privileged
him to do that, so he was a true apostle. All the other apostles
had seen Jesus, and so now Paul joined in with that favoured
company to be amongst those who had been blessed to see the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore he says, so now
also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by
life or by death. I suppose we can summing up in
these words that he knew that the method they took those who
spoke evil of him would quite contrary to their expectation
be the means of his enlargement and liberty you see people can
do things people can say things they forget sometimes the power
of almighty god how he can change what appears to be bad things
into good things, of his salvation and deliverance from his bonds,
yes, and which he believed would be brought about by the prayers
of the saints and particularly the Philippian church. We can
believe today that the blessings of God are brought about through
prayer and so we tonight favour to join together in prayer and
may it be tonight we know and feel and realize that the effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man avoideth much. What a mercy if that is so and
the apostle when he wrote to the Romans and in the 14th chapter
and the 8th verse he wrote these words when he said for whether
we live we live unto the Lord and whether we die we die unto
the Lord whether we live therefore or die we are the Lord's that's
why really We have this grand statement, whether it be by life
or by death, the Savior will be magnified in his body. And then we come down to this
21st verse, where he then tells us a grand and wonderful truth. For to me, to live is Christ
and to die is gain. Now that'll be a great and wonderful
blessing. If you and I can join in with
such a statement, it's a great truth for me to live is Christ. Living today in our little lives
is it to know, to walk with the Saviour, the wonderful, blessed
Lord Jesus Christ, for me to live. is Christ. We live on this
earth day by day. Do we walk with Christ? Is he our friend? Is he our brother? Is he the one that we converse
with? Is he the one that converses
with us? What a mercy that is so, and that these things have
a priority in our lives. Yes, every day The Lord meets
with us every day. We meet with our God. And so
this word then is wonderfully true. For to me, to live is Christ. And then he says, and to die
is gain. Yes, well, it was so really in
the game when the apostle wrote to the Hebrews in that 11th chapter,
the wonderful chapter that tells us about faith. He says this
in the verse 13, these all died in faith, not having received
the promises, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded
of them. What a blessing today if you
and I are persuaded of these great and glorious truths, persuaded
that Jesus to us is the one thing needful and we love to gather
to worship, we love to praise him, We love to acknowledge his
great goodness and mercy and above all things to consider
him. And so persuaded of them and
embrace them. They're not something far off.
We embrace them. And they, all these faithful,
and may we be among them, confess that they were strangers and
pilgrims on the earth. Well, we are. we're God's children,
it's not our home and not our rest, we are indeed strangers
and pilgrims on the earth, but one day we'll be joined to the
family of God in glory and therefore it will be to die is gain and
that is an eternal gain because that situation will never change. We shall be eternally happy the
blissful regions of glory with the Saviour and with a whole
household of faith there to praise him from whom all blessings flow
throughout eternity. Well it's a wonderful word to
meditate on, it's a wonderful word to ponder and may we do
so and may we desire that it may be the real expression of
our heart. It may not just be words, but
it may be the true expression of our heart. He says then, for
to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.