Well let us turn for a short
while to that portion of scripture that we've just read in Philippians
chapter 1. Turning again to those last three
verses that we were reading, verses 9, 10 and 11. Paul writes,
and this I pray that your love may abound yet more and more
in knowledge and in all judgment that you may approve things that
are excellent that she 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. In some ways what we have in
this passage of course is one of the prayers of the Apostle
and I want to centre what I say this evening on what Paul says
here in verse 11, his prayer for their fruitfulness, his desire
as he comes before God because he not only writes to the Philippians
but he constantly assures them of his prayer to God on their
behalf. In verse 4, always in every prayer
of mine for you all, making request with joy. And so here you see
at verse 9, and this I pray And the request that we have then
in the 11th verse is prayer for their fruitfulness. What are
those fruits that are to be understood by this reference to the fruits
of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ? Well, there is that fruit of
love, Remember our writing in the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians,
the Apostle makes it plain that that must be the principal thing.
Now abideth faith, hope, charity, he says, these three, but the
chiefest of these is charity, is love, Christian love, and
it's that word agape. Some might be aware that there
are three words that could be used in the Greek language to
express love and the love that the apostle is speaking of in
that 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians is the highest form of love,
real Christian love. It is the principal thing and
Paul himself was one who knew something of that love being
shed abroad in his own heart. Look at the context here in verse
8, he can say that God is his record. God is my record, how greatly
I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. Paul had a very
real deep love for the saints at Philippi, those whom he is
addressing in this particular epistle. And so he makes mention
here in this 8th verse of the bowels of Jesus Christ. The reference is to the inward
parts, the intestines, and really isn't that the deceit of the
emotions? That's where the emotions are
felt in the very pits of the stomach. Here then is something
that is clearly deep seated, and when Paul speaks of these
bowels, he speaks of them as those that belong to the Lord
Jesus Christ, the genitive of possession. I long after you
all, he says, in the bowels of Jesus Christ, that is, those
that belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not natural desire,
this is a truly spiritual desire that the Apostle has towards
these believers. This isn't then human, this is
something that is clearly very Christian. He can say again to
the Corinthians, the love of Christ constraineth us. how he
is constrained as he addresses himself time and again to these
various churches that under God he was responsible for the establishment
of. He speaks in here very much of
that love of the Lord Jesus Christ and that love was clearly manifest
in his own soul, the love of Christ. He says he shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. We know that love is the principal
thing when the Lord Jesus Christ himself sums up the truth that
he set forth in the commandments of God. Does he not speak in
terms of love? Love to God and love to one's
neighbor in Matthew 22. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy
mind this is the first and great commandment says Christ and the
second is like unto it thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself
and that's what he said before us actually in the writings of
Moses in Deuteronomy the very same expression is used on at
least three occasions in Deuteronomy in chapter 6 and verse 4 and
then in chapter 10 at verse 12 and again in Deuteronomy 30 and
verse 6. There is the summary then of
all the commandments of God. Love. Love is the fulfilling
of the law in the 13th chapter of the epistle
to the church at Rome. He says at verse 9 this, Thou
shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not
steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet,
and if there be any other commandment it is briefly comprehended in
this saying namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor,
therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. Here is that first
fruit then, that fruit of righteousness, which is by Jesus Christ. It
is that love, which is itself the fulfilment of the Lord. And
Christ is that one who has come and fulfilled the law, and made
that law of God honourable. And this is that love of Christ
that he shed abroad in the apostles' heart, and this is that love
that he desires to see manifested in the hearts of these believers
at Philippi. Now abideth faith, hope, love,
these three, but the greatest of these is love. Now, in the writings of John,
of course, we see in bringing forth the importance of this
particular grace, this fruit of the Holy Ghost. God is love,
and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, says John. And again, God is love. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. And there is to be that continuation,
that flowing and that growing, that's the language that he uses
here in verse 11, being filled with all the fruits of righteousness
which are by Jesus Christ. unto the glory and praise of
God. What does he say at verse 9?
This I pray that your love may abound yet more and more. He wants to see an abundance
then of this love in their lives. But then he goes on to speak
of that love in association with knowledge in verse 9. that your
love may abound yet more and more in knowledge. There is a connection here between
knowledge and love, and though that former is necessary to the
latter, the love of which Paul is speaking is not some sentimental
thing. There are those who love to cite
those words of John in his epistle, God is Love, But that love of
God that they speak of is just a mushy love. But that's not
the love that Paul has in mind. It is a love that is bound up
with knowledge. That your love may abound yet
more and more, he says, in all knowledge. Now what is this knowledge?
Well, there must be that knowledge of God. It's the God who is love
that we must know. If this love is going to be evident
in our lives, Remember again the words of the Lord Jesus in
his great high priestly prayer in the 17th of John. He tells
us there what life eternal is. This is life eternal that they
might know there. The only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. There must be a knowledge of
God. There must be some understanding
of who God is. And there must be some understanding
of that revelation that God has given of himself ultimately in
the person and the work of his only begotten son. There must
be that knowledge of God and that knowledge of Jesus Christ
whom God has sent. And what has God done in sending
his son is that not the execution of the great covenantal purpose
of God? It's the outworking of that counsel.
between the Father and the Son. This is the manifestation then
of the love of God. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten Son. And that world that God loves
of course is the world of the election of grace. It embraces
the Gentiles as well as the Jews. But there must be this knowledge
of the God who has revealed himself to us here in Scripture. when
Peter speaks of growing in grace. Does he also not remind us how
that growth in grace is bound up with knowledge? Grow in grace,
he says, and in the knowledge of our God and Saviour, Jesus
Christ. Well, this is what the Apostle
is praying for, not some sloppy, sentimental sort of lovely feeling. but that love that is rooted
and grounded in the knowledge of God who has revealed himself
in Christ, in the great fulfillment of the eternal counsel of God,
the manifestation of that eternal covenant as we see it set before
us in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul, remember,
in this very epistle goes on to speak of his desire to know
the Lord Jesus Christ, the third chapter. Remember, he was one
who had a great deal that he could boast of with regards to
his pedigree. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He was of the tribe of Benjamin. Remember, after the division
of the nation, In the days of Jeroboam, Solomon's son, it was
only the little tribe of Benjamin that remained true with the tribe
of Judah to the house of David. The other ten tribes rebelled
and chose Jeroboam. Well, this man belongs to that
tribe. He's a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He'd been circumcised on the
eighth day. He was a Pharisee. He was the
son of a Pharisee. He lived the life of a Pharisee.
as touching the Lord, and he says he was a Pharisee, he had
great zeal, he persecuted those who were the followers of the
Lord Jesus Christ because he felt this sect of the Nazarene
was some evil thing. But what does he come to? There
in verse 8 of chapter 3, I doubtless, he says, and I count all things
but loss for the excellence in the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord. for whom I have suffered the
loss of all things, and who count them but dung, that I may win
Christ. All else is loss, all else is
dung, except this one thing, and he speaks of it, it's lovely
Pauline language, isn't it, the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus, my Lord, not just the knowledge of Christ. or the
excellency of it. This is what Paul desires to
know more and more of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 10 there,
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. What is this knowledge then of
which Paul speaks as he makes this prayer for the Philippians
that they might be filled with the fruit of righteousness by
Jesus Christ. It's love that is bound up with
such a knowledge of Christ that your love may abound more and
more in knowledge. It's not just speculative knowledge that
he is speaking of here. It's not just a knowledge of
the the letter of the word of God, it's an experience, that's
what he is expressing his desire for there in chapter 3. He wants
to experience these things. He wants his love to be shed
abroad in his own heart and he wants his love also to be shed
abroad in the hearts of those that he is ministering to as
he writes this particular epistle. So this fruit then, it's love
that he desires, it's knowledge, but he also goes on to speak
of judgment and in all judgment we read at the end of verse 9. Now the margin interestingly
tells us that the basic meaning of the word used is sense. There is to be then a knowledge
in all sense. He's referring here is he not
to to the senses, we can think of the senses of the body. The
five senses of the body, do they not have some spiritual significance? Think of those senses, a sense
of sight. Well, in scripture we have a
reference to that sense of sight in looking to the Lord. The words
of Isaiah 45, look unto me. And be ye saved, all the ends
of the earth, for I am God's, and there is none else. All the
ends of the earth, isn't that a reference in the context there
to the Gentile nations? All this gospel you see goes
to Gentiles as well as Jews, but can we not also understand
it in a spiritual sense that sometimes God's children feel
themselves to be at the ends of the earth, so very far off.
But there is that precious sight of faith, that looking to the
Lord, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. When we feel our faith is failing
us, when we feel God is at some great distance from us, we're
to look. We're to look. There is to be
that exercise then in that sense of spiritual sight. But besides
the sense of sight, there's also the sense of hearing, and that's
taken up in a spiritual manner, is it not? In Romans 10, Paul
says concerning faith that it comes by hearing. Or we're to
be hearers of the Word of God. And this is why, of course, we
have the ministry of the Word, the preaching of the Gospel,
because God Himself has given us this particular ordinance.
It's what the Lord Himself has ordained that there should be
preaching and where there is the preaching there is not only
the speaking of the word of God there is the hearing of the word
of God and God is pleased to own his word and by the Holy
Ghost there is that application, faith comes faith is worked into
the soul and there is that feeding upon the word of God there is
then that sense of hearing to be exercised bound up with that
saving faith. But then also there's a sense
of smell. When he writes in chapter 4, he speaks of their
ministry to him. The things that he had received
from Apathroditus. This expression of their loving
interest and concern for him. And he says that these Gifts
are as an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable while
pleasing to God. All that that they ministered
then, it was as a sweet smell, it had a savour to it, an odour,
it was an expression of their true conversion, that they desired
to minister to the saints, they ministered to Paul, they ministered
to one and another, but then also of course there's that sense
of tasting. The invitation of the psalmist
is so taste and see that the Lord is good. Are we those friends
who can say we have tasted of these things, we've tasted something
of the gospel and it's good, or taste and see, David says,
that the Lord is good, blessed is the man, that putteth his
trust in him. There's a connection there between
the tasting and the trusting because that's the parallelism,
is it not, of the Book of Psalms. It's that peculiarity of Hebrew
poetry where the same truth is stated in parallel statements. And so there in the 34th Psalm,
the tasting is trusting. Are we those who are tasting
the Lord, trusting in the Lord, resting in the Lord? as we come
before Him, as we wait upon Him. Here is Paul then as he prays
for them, prays concerning the fruits of righteousness all by
Jesus Christ. There is to be that, that fruit
of love, that fruit of love that is bound up with the knowledge,
the saving knowledge of God revealed in the face of Jesus Christ.
There is to be that judgment, which is referred to in the margin here
as sense involves the totality of the man really all the senses
are to be involved in this knowledge but that word judgment also brings
us to the fourth thing that we can speak of and that is discernment
isn't this an important proof really The spirit of discernity
continues in verse 10 that ye may approve things that are excellent. Again, it is useful sometimes
to refer to the marginal reading because in the margin we see
that the word approve has this idea of trying, that ye may try
things that are excellent. There are things that differ,
are there not? And we have to try the things that differ. We
have to be discriminating. We have to see that there is
a difference. There's a difference between law and gospel. There's a difference between
morality and grace. Paul makes that so plain in Romans
chapter 11 when he says of salvation that if it's by grace it is no
more of works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be
of works then is it no more of grace otherwise work is no more
work we have to distinguish we're to see the the difference we're
not to legalize the gospel and there are those who do legalize
the gospel when they speak of duty faith and duty repentance
isn't that a sense in which the gospel is being legalized If
it is of grace, it's altogether of grace. It's not by the works
of men. And we are to make this judgment
then. We are to try those things that
do differ. How different are the opinions
of men and the true doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's
people should desire a spirit of discernment. It is the mark,
is it not, of the man who is truly the spiritual man. In 1
Corinthians chapter 2, remember how Paul speaks of the natural
man, who does not receive the things of the Spirit of God.
He cannot receive them, he says. Verse 14 there, the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth
all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. Here is the
mark then of a spiritual man, he judgeth all things. Again, John says we are to judge
not according to the outward appearance, but we are to judge
righteous judgment. There is a place for judgments. So many, of course, appeal to
the words of the Lord Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount where
he condemns that judgmental spirit which was so evident amongst
the Pharisees. He says in the opening verses
of Matthew 7, Judge not that you be not judged. For with what
judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure
ye meet, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest
thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest
not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say
to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye, and
behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast
out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see
clearly to cast out the moat out of thy brother's eye." The
Lord is not saying here that all judgment is wrong. No, the Lord is condemning the
spirit of the Pharisee, that hypocritical spirit that wants
to pick faults in others but never examines self. Oh, this
is the spirit of the Christian, is he not? He has that spirit
of discernment. And he examines himself and he
proves himself and he knows himself. That's his desire. That Jesus
Christ must be in him except he be reprobate. There is a place then for judging
himself. And then when he's done that
he is fit to help his brother. Isn't that what the Lord says?
First cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt
thou seek clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's
eye. There is a need for a spirit
of discernment, and it is one of those fruits of righteousness
which are by Jesus Christ. John says, Beloved, believe not
every spirit, but try the Spirit, For many false prophets are gone
out into the world. How important it is, friends,
that we're those who are able to judge righteous judgment. This is why, you see, we must
have that knowledge of God, as He has revealed Himself here
in His Word, as He has revealed Himself ultimately in the Lord
Jesus Christ. But then, He speaks also here
of sincerity that she may be sincere and without offence till
the day of Jesus Christ. Sincere, literally pure, unalloyed, not
an alloy that is made up of different metals but that that is a pure
metal. To be sincere is the main thing,
it has been said. How important it is. Isn't that
the mark of the true Israel of God, the spiritual Israel of
God? Remember what the Lord Jesus Christ himself said concerning
Nathaniel, that he was an Israelite indeed. And what was the mark
of him who was an Israelite indeed? He in whom there is no guile.
For there was nothing of guile there. that man was sincere. And how important it is, friends,
that we are sincere, that our religion is real, that our seeking
after God is wholehearted, that we come in that blessed simplicity
which again is the mark of the Christian. This is how we are
to examine ourselves. We want to know that this is
true of our religion. Search me, O God, and and know
my heart says David try me and know my thoughts and see if there
be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting it
is God who must come then and search us and this is how we
are to come under the word of God that God would as he were
come and by his word search us and sift us and separate us from
all that is false were it to be those who with Paul can say
that we would have always a conscience void of offense before God and
man. Here then are some of those blessed
fruits of righteousness. It is principally to be that
fruit of love, that love that is bound up with the knowledge of God in Christ
Jesus. It involves all of the man, all
the senses of the man are bound up in this. The man is one who
has that spirit of discernment. He can try things and approve
things. He is one who is sincere. And in all of this he is a man
who is feeling his complete and his utter dependence upon the
Lord. Look at the words here in verse
11 then, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which
are by Jesus Christ. They're all by Christ. They're
all those that's come from the Lord Jesus Christ and so they're
all unto the glory and praise of God. Nothing is self. Of him
are ye in Christ Jesus, says Paul, who of God is made unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
that he that glorieth must glory in the Lord unto the glory and
praise of God. All this fruit then comes from
the Lord Jesus and only from the Lord Jesus Christ. From me
is thy fruit fowl, he says in Hosea 14. If we would be fruitful,
if we know what it is to be filled with fruits of righteousness,
we must see from whence those fruits are found. Remember the
teaching of the Lord Jesus in the 15th of John, where he speaks
of himself as the vine. I am the true vine, he says.
Ye are the branches. What does he go on to say? The
branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine.
No more can ye except ye abide in me. Without me ye can do nothing. Oh isn't that a precious fruit
when the believer feels that he can do nothing without Christ.
He's complete, he's out of dependence. That's the life of faith. He
must cast himself upon the Lord, he must trust in the Lord, he
must look to the Lord for everything. That's that fruit of righteousness
then. One of that fruits which is by the Lord Jesus Christ. These, friends, are the fruits,
are they not, of a man who has a real religion, a living religion. This is what Paul is praying
for then. This I pray He says that your love may abound yet
more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that ye may
approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere and without
offence till the day of Jesus Christ, being filled with the
fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the
glory and praise of God. May the Lord grant to us such
fruitfulness. Let us leave the matter there
and before we turn to prayer we'll sing the hymn number 30
and the tune is Evan 136. Hymn number 30. The soul that
with sincere desires seeks after Jesus' love, that soul the Holy
Ghost inspires with breathings from above. Let us sing from
the second verse, number 30. Blessed are the meek in like degree,
The Spirit of God receives The Christian often cannot see His
faith and yet believes So gentle sometimes is the flame
That if we take not heed, We may unkindly quench the stake,
We may thy presence indeed. This God that warns in fiery
times, They turn in open view Come visit every heart that longs
To entertain thee too And though not like a mighty
wind Nor with a rushing noise, May we thy calmer comforts find,
And hear thy still small voice. Not for the gift of tongues we
pray, Nor powerless sick to heal Give wisdom to direct our way
And strength to do thy will We pray to be renewed within
and reconciled to God to have our conscience washed from sin
in the Redeemer's blood. We pray to have our faith increased
And, O celestial dawn, we pray to be completely blessed with
that rich blessing, Lord.