Well, am I pleased the Lord to
help us once again as we return to the first epistle of Paul
to the, sorry, to the epistle of Paul to the Philippians and
the first chapter. This evening we'll read verses
10 and 11. The first chapter of the epistle
of Paul to the Philippians and reading verses 10 and 11. that ye may approve things that
are excellent, that ye may be sincere and without offence till
the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness,
which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God. Well, we see how the Apostle
is continuing his exhortation to the church of Philippi. And as we said previously, quite
clearly, the apostle had a special affection for the church because
of how the Lord had blessed him there and also how they had been
very gracious and very kind to the apostle himself. Really, these verses direct us
to this simple statement that they show us how, by the grace
of God, we should live. And so the Apostle follows on
from the ninth verse, which we considered last time, which said,
And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more
in knowledge and in all judgment. And so he now comes and says
that ye may approve things that are excellent. Really to prove
excellent things really means that we are to try these excellent
things and to prove them. They might be tried and proved
so that we might be established in the faith, established in
our knowledge and the grace of God. So here we have this important
statement as he goes on from the ninth verse that ye may approve
things that are excellent." Well, there are so many excellent things. When we consider the Lord God
Almighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and we consider
the great plan of salvation, we consider the wonderful work
of creation, we consider how the Lord is gracious to his people,
gracious to his church and the Lord does hear and answer prayer
surely these are all things which are truly excellent and is it
not therefore our blessing to be able to approve that they
are excellent and we shall be able to do that if by the grace
of God we have proved them in our own lives so then they are
approved because we're able to trace out the goodness of God
who has granted to us, we might say, a revelation of these things. Because what has occurred, things
which on the surface may appear dark, when the Lord shines into
our heart the glorious light of the gospel, what a difference
and what a glory it makes and how thankful we should be. when the Apostle wrote the first
chapter in his epistle, the Apostle John wrote, and he wrote these
words in the 16th verse, and of his fullness have all we receive
and grace for grace. There is a fullness in Christ
that ever abides to answer our needs. So therefore whatever
situation you and I find ourselves in, as we travel through life,
as we travel through this world, there will never be a position,
a scene, that the Word of God will not meet. And there will
not be an answer to the situation we find ourselves in, so that
we may truly be able to approve the things that are excellent,
And then he goes on to say that we may be sincere. We may be sincere. What a good thing that is. That
really means in our thoughts, in our conversation, and in the
words that we therefore utter, that we should be sincere or
put it another way, we should be pure in our desires. And there should be those words
which come from our heart, not just things that we thought up
in our mind, or something which might be appropriate to say,
but that which the Lord has put into our heart. You see, this
will indeed be a sincere word then, that we may be sincere
And then he says, and without offense to the day of Christ. And that really means that we
should not cause offense. Again, we need grace, don't we? In our daily walk and our conversation,
not to cause offense. It's so easy to cause offense
to people, sometimes unknowingly, sometimes knowingly. But here,
The Apostle directs us to do these truths and tells us that
we should be without offense to blessing, therefore without
grace, to walk in this way. And then he says, till the day
of Christ. Well, there will be a day of
Christ that will either be when you and I are called to leave
this earth, when time will for us be no more, or in that great
day when the Lord returns, either will be the day of Christ. What a blessing for us, therefore,
if you and I have been able, by the grace of God, to follow
the pattern, follow the words which the Apostle gives to the
Philippian church, and of course the Lord gives to the whole church
of God, that ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may
be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ." It's
a high standard, but the Word of God is a high standard. We should never think, well,
I can never possibly attain unto that. We should remember again
what the apostles said later on in this same epistle, I can
do all things through Christ. strengthens me. Well that's a
great blessing if you and I are able then to do all things through
Christ that strengthens us. And then we come on to this 11th
verse and he then says being filled with the fruits of righteousness
which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. Well there's very much of course
that might be said here in this verse to be filled with the fruits,
the fruits of the Spirit, which are generated by the blessed
righteousness of our God. We might say none but a tree
of righteousness can bear fruits of righteousness in a spiritual
sense. Those unrighteous thoughts, those
unrighteous words, cannot bring forth righteousness. And so how
good it is if we are blessed with this desire, and then the
ability, not in ourselves, because we know, as the Apostle said
in me, that as in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, but to be able
to look out of ourselves to the righteousness of Christ. And
if we are blessed, and wonderfully blessed it is, to have this righteousness
given to us, imputed to us, then we might indeed be filled, being
filled. It's a great statement, isn't
it? It's not just the odd fruit, but you see, it's being filled
with the fruits of righteousness. And we have a list, of course,
in the epistle, which gives us what these fruits are. And it's
a wonderful thing, therefore, if we're able to follow that
list and to desire that we might indeed evidence this fruit, because
the Word of God tells us it's by our fruits we shall be known. If there's no evidence of fruit,
there's no sign of grace, there's no sign of being born again.
If we are born again, If we are blessed by the Lord then there
should be the evidence of it set forth in fruits. What a blessing then if we are
filled with the fruit of righteousness and of course they emanate from
the Lord Jesus Christ which are by Jesus Christ. There's no other
way. Yes our fruit is in him, in Christ. What a mercy then to be found
there today, because if we are, the apostle goes on to tell us
unto the glory and praise of God. We read together in the Gospel of John and the
15th chapter about fruitfulness really, and the illustration
there was the vine. And John said, As he wrote that
15th chapter, the words of the Saviour, I am the true vine,
and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in thee that beareth
not fruit, he taketh away, and every branch that beareth fruit,
he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Well, what
a blessing, therefore, if the Lord deals with us as sons and
daughters, of the most high God. And then another illustration
in the epistle of Paul to the Romans, where he uses the illustration
of an olive tree. And he says this in the 11th
chapter, the 24th verse, for if thou were cut out of the olive
tree, which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to
nature into a good olive tree, how much more shall these which
be the natural branches be grafted in to their own olive tree, speaking
of course about the Jewish people, but also it has an application
to us today. So what a mercy it is if we are
fruitful in the things of God, because if we are, it'll be for
God's honour and glory, and it will bring forth praise to God,
and that of course is the whole purpose, the whole reason for
our little life on this earth to bring praise and glory to
God. Well, may these words of instruction
that the Apostle wrote to the Philippians so many years ago
have a very true and good application to us today. We might indeed
desire to follow this path and therefore to be those who try
and prove these blessing words that we're sincere, we're pure
in our desires, we're not causing offence, we're filled with the
fruits of righteousness and the reason for the praise and glory
of God. Amen.