Well as I'm sure you all know
we finished our meditation last time for our prayer meeting when
we were considering the epistle of Paul to the Ephesians and
I felt that we should perhaps now move on to the next epistle
and that's the epistle to the Philippians and perhaps tonight
just speak on the first two verses and also give perhaps an introduction
to this epistle to the Philippians. So we just read the first two
verses in the first chapter in this epistle to the Philippians. And those verses read, Paul and
Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in
Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons,
Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord
Jesus Christ. This letter that the apostle
wrote to the Philippians was again written from Rome, indeed
like the one was to the Ephesians, and we can think that it was
many years since That occasion had occurred that we read in
the 16th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. But it would
seem quite clearly that the Apostle Paul had perhaps a special attachment
to the Philippian church. Firstly, they had really an exemplary
deportment and character. were indeed different to the
churches which were at Galatia and Corinth, and so we see there
is a difference between them. The apostle here then, as he
addresses the church at Philippi, is indeed able to recognize them
as those who had received the gospel. This was the first place
in Europe that the gospel was preached. And it was quite amazing
how, as we read in that 16th chapter, the apostle was intending
to go into Galatia, sorry, go into Bithynia, but the Spirit
would not let him do so. And instead, he had this wonderful
vision that appeared to him at night when he tells us, there
stood a man in Macedonia and prayed him saying, come over
into Macedonia and help us. And after he had seen the vision,
immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly
gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto
them. And it is, of course, very wonderful
to think the Lord here called the apostle to go into Macedonia. He went there, of course, with
Silas. I think it was something about 150 miles. They had to
travel from Troas, where they were, and to go across to this
place of Philippi. But it was quite clear that God
was with them. But in this situation, although
God was with them, they still had an exceedingly difficult
time. They had encouragements, but
they had a difficult time. And it's good to consider these
things still with us in our day and age, because we might be
instructed by God, we might do God's will and purpose, but things
might not always work out as smoothly as we might anticipate. And we're told in this 16th chapter
that they arrived in Macedonia and went into Philippi, which
was the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and they abode
there certain days. And on the Sabbath, they went
out of the city by a riverside where prayer was wont to be made.
And they sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither. and there was a wonderful blessing
because there was a woman called Lydia who had worshipped God
and they heard us, whose heart the Lord opened. Well that's
a wonderful blessing isn't it, to think that Paul had been directed
to go across to Macedonia, he'd done so, he'd obeyed God, he
didn't know what the position was going to be, didn't know
what he was going to find there, yet God blessed really we might
think this opening occasion, perhaps the first set service
as it were, the first prayer meeting, and God blessed this
woman, this woman who was a seller of purple. But of course the
result was, as we read on further, she was baptized and she constrained
them to stay with her, which they were willing to do, And
then we're told, and it came to pass as we went to prayer,
a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us,
which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying. Well, we
see that that was stopped because the Lord heard the command, as
it were, of the apostle Paul, and the evil spirit came out
of her. And therefore, what happened?
where her masters saw hope of their gains were gone. What did
they do? They caught Paul and Silas and
drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers who brought them
to the magistrates saying these men being Jews do exceedingly
trouble this city and teach customs which are not lawful for us be
it to receive neither to observe being Romans. So we see here
the apostle Paul and Silas I had been able to preach the gospel,
the glorious good news, but it wasn't received and it wasn't
accepted and therefore we're told the multitude rose up together
against them and the magistrates rent off their clothes and commanded
to beat them. So what a change for the apostle
and Silas. Here they were then doing God's
will and yet you see being beaten And having received many stripes,
they were given to the Jada who cast them into prison to keep
them safely. And having received such a charge,
they were thrust into the inner prison and made their feet fast
in the stocks. Well, it's not my intention this
evening to go through all this chapter, but you can read it
at your leisure. And as I'm sure many of you know, it carried
on in this prison house There was a wonderful time when the
jailer and all his family were blessed indeed. What a mercy
then. And there was therefore a wonderful
outcome to this visit to Macedonia, a wonderful outcome to the command
of God, a wonderful outcome to the obedience of Paul and Silas. And now, after many years, we
find Paul in prison. we find Paul writing this epistle
to the Philippians and he and Timotheus would appear to be
with him in the prison, the servants of Jesus Christ to all the saints
in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi with the bishops and
deacons. So we see there have been a wonderful
growth in the church there. There we have in this 16th chapter
the first convert, Lydia, and then the jailer and his family. But now we're told there were
all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi with the
bishops and deacons and bishops, of course, were really elders. And we might say preachers of
the gospel and the deacons. So there have been a wonderful
change, a wonderful time of blessing And what a mercy that is to know
that still today the God of heaven and earth is able to do in our
day far more exceedingly abundantly than we can ask or even think. And we are still able to preach
the glorious gospel that the Apostle Paul was able to preach,
which had such a wonderful effect upon those people all those years
ago. God was with him and so we're
told then the Apostle speaks to the or rather sends a letter
to these Philippians with these wonderful words. Grace be unto
you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ
and of course we still need today the same blessings that the Apostle
desired for the Philippians. We still need these blessings,
the blessings of grace, the grace of God, the free unmerited favor,
because that grace brings spiritual life, that grace brings spiritual
blessings, that grace brings us closer to the Lord Jesus Christ,
that grace grants us union with the Lord Jesus Christ, that grace
shows us that we are strangers and pilgrims on this earth and
we are traveling through this world to our celestial city,
glory at last. Well, what a blessing for us
today then to have the evidence that we do possess the grace
of God. We can say surely in this account,
this wonderful statement of, we often refer to as sovereign
grace, And it was and it is sovereign grace. God grants this grace. He grants it today. And what
a mercy if you and I are the recipients of it. Surely there's
much reason to praise God for his mercy, for his love to such
unworthy sinners. We don't deserve the grace of
God. But what a blessing if we have
the evidence in our hearts that we have received it and then
he goes on to say and peace there is no true peace in this world
men women boys and girls strive for it there is really only peace
in the knowledge of christ and the apostle says here grace be
unto you and peace from god our father and from the lord jesus
christ This is the wonderful blessing, this wonderful favour
of peace which God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give
to his church. It's a peace of God which passes
all understanding because it transcends all the things of
this vain world. What does it do? It directs us
to Calvary and we see there at Calvary the suffering Son of
God shedding his most precious blood in order to atone for our
sins and surely we recognize the wonderful truth of those
words of the hymn peace by his cross as jesus made so my friends
tonight may we be found looking unto jesus the author and the
finisher of our faith and may it please god to bless us as
we meditate in this epistle to the Philippians in the weeks
ahead, and grant that we may indeed praise God that he has
given us such an account to encourage us. Well, may the Lord bless
us each.