Make sure this thing, I have
to cut it on. Okay, I did. There we go. If you take your
Bibles and turn with me back to Philippians chapter 1. Philippians
chapter 1. We'll be looking at the first
11 verses of this chapter this morning. The title is Prayer
and Love. Prayer and Love. Now, Paul wrote this letter while
he was in Bons in prison in Rome. He was in prison because he had
preached the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ without fear or
consequence of what men would do to him. As a matter of fact,
it was a fulfillment of what the Lord told him. He would preach
the gospel unto kings. And he did. The Apostle Paul
did preach the gospel through his bonds, and in his bonds,
he remembers to write this church at Philippi. Now, we are able
to see that this church was very dear to the Apostle Paul. If you were to go back and read,
don't do it now, but go back and read Acts chapter 16. In
Acts chapter 16, you'll read of the woman Lydia. who was of
the city of Thyatira. And she had traveled from that
city in Asia over to Macedonia, to this city of Philippi. And at the same time she has
traveled over from Asia over to Macedonia, a great distance,
the Apostle Paul was planning to go into Asia. He was planning
to spread the gospel eastward. And Thyatira was one of those
cities that was eastward. But, see the providence of God
forbidding the Apostle Paul from going east. Why? Could he not go east? Well, one
reason was because Lydia wasn't home. She wasn't in Thyatira. She was in Philippi. And God
sent the apostle Paul to this city, this city in Macedonia,
because there was a woman there that was his elect. It was God's elect child was
there. And there was also another man,
a jailer. Jailer is usually one of the
most, he's probably more crooked than the crooks that they put
in the jail. Usually that's what happens.
The jailers are more crooked than the crooks. This crooked,
wicked man was in Philippi watching other crooked, wicked men. And
the Lord sent them to Philippi to meet that man in a dungeon.
See, Paul never would have met those two had it not been the
Holy Spirit in providence moved him to Macedonia, to this city. See the greatness then and the
power and wisdom of God to accomplish His will. God does all things after the
counsel of His own will. Which one of us did God ask concerning
creation or salvation as to how it would be? Did God have counsel
with us? Were we His counselors? No. God is so holy and perfect that
only His counsel is worthy to be listened to. And so, He listens
to His own counsel. He does whatsoever He pleases.
God rules over the affairs of men to accomplish His sovereign
will. Realize this. Stop and think. You are not here by accident. You are not here to hear this
message this day by chance or happenstance, or even because
you wanted to. You are here because that was
the will of the sovereign Lord God of heaven. No other reason. How many times are you determined
to do things during the day and never get it done? Well, that's the will of God,
too. That's the will of God, too.
Everything that's done is done by the will of the Almighty God. And in providence, He rules and
overrules the wills of men. To accomplish His sovereign will,
especially His great love and care, He directs the paths of
His preachers and the hearers of the gospel. This is His special
Providence. You've got to watch. The only
important thing that you know are the hands, right? You don't
see the gears. You don't see how they move.
Matter of fact, you don't care how they move as long as they
move and keep track of time. Friends, God uses this whole
world in the background to work together for his church. That's it. That's all the kings
and governments and things are set up for are for the good of
his people. They're set up to bring his preachers
to his people, and that's it. You want to boil down why we
exist is for this purpose, that God would send his man to his
person and they would meet together at the appointed time and that
person would hear the gospel and believe. Simple, that's it. There's no other reason for living.
None. You try to find it in anything
else, you are struggling in vain and you will be sad and empty. Our God works all things. In
Ezekiel, you remember the vision that was given to Ezekiel when
he was called. It was called, and he saw these
creatures, these four creatures, and they had four faces, and
they had four wings, and their feet were like calves' feet.
It was a strange-looking creature. And beside them were wheels that
were spinning. There were two wheels, a wheel
within a wheel, and each wheel had eyes. This is nothing more than to
picture God's preachers. That's what it takes. It pictures
God's preachers. And wherever these preachers
went, Ezekiel noticed that they didn't turn to the right or to
the left. They went straight ahead. Until they were taken
up. You see, God's men are on a path
and that path is set by God, and we turn neither to the right
hand nor to the left. We've only got one gospel. We
preach only one Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We preach one means
of hope for sinners, and that is the crucified and risen Jesus
Christ. And friends, the eyes of the
wheels that guide us is the providence of God. The providence of God
is straight. It never makes a mistake. It's
always moving in the right direction. It doesn't turn to the right
or to the left. It goes exactly where the Spirit goes. You read
that prophecy. You read that vision in Ezekiel.
It said wherever the Spirit went, that's where the creatures went. That's where the wheels went.
Wherever the Spirit went. God's men are set to preach the
Gospel message. And although we are not all the
same, Messengers are different messengers. I know many great
messengers. And I love them dearly. But one thing about these creatures
was amazing to me is that their wings were joined together. You see. My wings are joined
together with every other gospel preacher. From Abel. To Moses, Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, all the men that God had called to witness of
His gospel, we are all joined together and we all preach the
same gospel. The same gospel. We preach the
same Christ. Our hearts are set. Our hands
are set to the plow. And there's no turning back. Do you ever wonder at the providence
of God that brought you under the sound of the gospel? Is it not amazing how many? I was raised under the gospel.
I sat under it all my life. And so did every other of my
peers. They sat there with me. They
heard the same messages. They heard the same word over
and over again. We mocked it together. And yet,
here I am. And where did they go? The providence
of God. The amazing, sovereign grace
of God that opened my ears to hear and believe. Our God overrules all things.
Just as He did to bring Paul to this town of Philippi. Our Christ, our Lord, rules over
all things. And I give thanks unto our Lord for
his great providence to bring us together. And that's what
Paul here in the beginning is doing, is he is giving thanks
to God for bringing the church of Philippi and himself together. He's giving thanks. for the mutual
love and affection that they have with Him in Christ. Mutual love and affection. I
give thanks to God for you. Redeemer Baptist Church, you
who are believers in Christ, I give thanks to God I love you. And I'm so thankful that God
in providence has brought us together, united our hearts in
the gospel, because we believe in the same Lord. We're saved
with the same salvation. And this was the heart of Paul's
letter, the heart of a pastor to his church. Second of all,
notice that this letter says it's not only written to the
saints in Jesus Christ that are at Philippi with the bishops
and deacons. It's not only written to the
saints, but to the bishops and deacons. Now, the word bishop
is an elder or pastor. Paul was writing to the pastor
of that church. at Philippi, the one who was
preaching to them, and he was writing to the deacons, those
that the church had called in, the pastor had approved. These
were men that were chosen for an office. But yet he's writing
to them as well. Why is that? Well, because preachers
and deacons need the same thing as you. Preachers and deacons,
we need to hear the gospel just like you. We need to be reassured
of the things of God. We're no different than any other
servant of God other than the office to which we're called. Pastor, I realize this only because I
am one. I don't think I ever fully realized
it until God called me to be one. That the pastor is not all
of a sudden elevated to a place where all the cares and struggles
of the world disappear and all I do is sit around and read the
gospel with great clarity No, I struggle in prayer, I struggle
in reading, I struggle in witness just like everyone else. I am just like you. The only
thing that is to be honored is the office that I hold. But truly,
I need this message just like you do. There's no difference.
I'm a sinner saved by the grace of God, just like you. And Gil, that includes you. This is to the deacons. These
are to the men that God has given a special place to help. And truly, I'm thankful for them. I'm thankful for Gil and all
the other men that helped me, that helped me so that I can
give myself to the ministry. But we all need to hear the word
that we have all been saved by the same free and sovereign grace
of God. We need the grace of God that
brings our hearts, the peace of God that passes understanding. Do you need peace? Because I
do. Do you need assurance? Because I do. Do you need faith? I do. So this is written to both of
us. This is written to us all. Grace is what men need. And grace is not by merit, but
it's free. You know, you give somebody a
free toaster and they'll kill each other to get to it. I mean
it. The first time I went to one
of those sales at the store, and I mean they had cops everywhere.
Somebody was giving something away for a few dollars less,
and they would all rush in there to get that thing. They didn't
care who it bothered or who it offended. When it comes to this
matter of salvation, though, people will not accept free. They don't want free. They want
to add their own works to it in some way. And when they do, it's no longer
free. God's grace is free. God gives
it to whomsoever he will, and it's free. God freely chose a people for himself from
eternity. In Romans chapter 4, in verse
3, the scripture says, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for
righteousness. Now to him that worketh, the
reward is not of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith
is counted for righteousness. You see, this is all our experience. I am not coming to Christ. I
am not being saved by one work of this flesh. Not one work or
merit is ever going to be found in me. It's all by the grace
of God. It is all by the faithfulness
of Christ. who has finished the work of
salvation. Paul goes on to say in Romans
4, verse 14, he says, For if they which are of the law be
heirs of faith, faith is made void, and the promise made of
none effect, because the law worketh wrath. For where no law
is, there is no transgression. It is a faith. That by grace. To the end, the
promise might be sure to all the seed to all the elect. It
is by faith in Jesus Christ. Do you believe? On the son of
God. That faith is not an act or a
merit or a decision. It's not something that we can
earn or do. It is something that is given.
Faith. And that, that faith is a gift
of God. Not of works. That faith is a gift of God,
not of works. Why? So that salvation might
be sure. Do you need to hear that? Because
I do. I sure need to hear it. Again, and again, and again. And again, my salvation, sure,
why are you some super Christian? No, my salvation is sure, because
Christ has accomplished my salvation. Grace has brought me salvation. And I have no merit or part in
it. It's all of God, we need to hear that. And we need to
hear it constantly. I like the way that Paul put
it in Titus. He said these things affirm constantly. Constantly. Don't neglect to preach these
things over and over and over again. We who believe have the righteousness
that is promised That righteousness which Christ Jesus has obtained
by his faith and obedience to God. I have righteousness because
Christ earned it. There's no other righteousness
that I have. There is no other righteousness
I want. And Jesus Christ, by his substitutionary
death on the cross for my sins. has forever satisfied the vengeance
of God against me." That's grace. That's mercy. Do you see it's
all found in the person of Christ? I don't ever want to show you
a doctrine without showing you the person. Behold the Lamb of
God that taketh away the sin of the world. It's Christ and
Christ alone. This is the message we need to
hear. This is the message that God's
saints adore to hear. Jesus Christ, who died for my
sins, is also risen again from the dead for my justification."
You know what justification is? A very important word. It means
innocent. Innocent. Who is innocent? Who in this building is innocent? Who has not sinned against God? Scripture says we have all sinned.
and come short of the glory of God, how is it that we can be
justified? How are we declared innocent? Because I was justified before
there was ever sin. I was justified in Christ. God had already put me in Christ
before the world began in time my Savior, who had promised to
redeem me, came and redeemed me. And when he rose again, he
pronounced to the world, my innocence. My innocence. You commit a crime and somehow
you find a loophole and you get out. Or you pay the penalty or
whatever it is. How can you remove the guilt? Could you ever truly be innocent
of it? No, you didn't. But God, by Christ, has removed
not only the stain, but the guilt is gone. The guilt is gone. And because of this, because
of this, the mercies of God, you who are believers in Christ,
I tell you this, make time for prayer. Prayer is a communion with God. That's what prayer is. I love
our public prayer when we commune together with God. We commune
as one body. One man is talking to God and
we are all joining in that prayer. But I'm telling you about private
prayer. A believer in Christ Two things
are most vitally important to us. Prayer and worship. And friends,
when we try to do either, have you found it to be inconvenient? Have you found it to be inconvenient
every time you have tried to pray or come to worship? Is there not, when you go into
the closet, is it not then that the phone rings? Is it not then
that the whole world needs you at that particular time, at that
time and moment when you decide, I want to go and spend time with
my God in prayer? It's then that everybody wants
you. Friends, you never heard from
for years, call in. And what do we use? Some lame
excuse that, oh, well, the Lord understands. Does He? Or did you just spit in the face
of God for your friend? Did you just shun your God for an earthly friend? Believers, prayer and worship
are always going to be inconvenient. There's always going to be someone
or something. I'll tell you what, mark this
down, my children, Do not like homework. Do not. But the moment I began to write
the bulletin at home, or I began to pray, or I began to do anything,
if I'm talking with my wife about the Scriptures or something,
sure enough they'll want to do their homework and ask me a question
right then. Right then. It's amazing. It's never convenient. Anything
and everything will try to stop us from praying. We say, well, God will be okay
with this. He'll forgive me of my sin. He'll
indulge me this time. Oh, yes, He will forgive you,
believer. He is long-suffering with us. But if we miss prayer and worship, what did we really miss? We missed
everything. For what? A moment of joy and it's gone? We missed an opportunity to commune
with God. What did we miss when we chose
to leave our prayer or worship for the cares of men? What did
we miss when we neglect to meet together in his presence? You've
missed joy. You've missed real happiness. And believers, let us be, as we were created by the Holy
Spirit to be, a praying people. A praying people. Let me ask
you this. Do you pray on the run? You pray on the run? I do. I'm
telling you, everything's moving so fast and sometimes all I can
get out is, Lord, help! That's all I get out. David had to pray that way. He
was running for his life and he said, Lord, help. That's all
he could say while he was running. His own son trying to kill him. That's prayer. But that's not the prayer Paul
is talking about when he prayed for this church. He said in verse
3, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in
every prayer of mine for you, making requests with joy. Are we always praying on the
run? If we're praying on the run all
the time, something's wrong. When we pray, let us pray for
the church. This takes time, friends. When
we say help, Lord, usually we're just talking about us. We're
talking about ourselves. But when we spend time alone
with God, we should be concerned about the needs of the church,
the needs of God's people. Paul was concerned about the
needs of the church. He was in chains, in prison,
and he was worried about the church. He wasn't worried about himself. When we are alone with the Lord,
do we remember each other? I know that we are concerned
about our own needs and desires, and we should be. The Lord says
to bring those to Him, and you should be concerned. You should
be concerned about your soul, about your faith, about your
love, your mercy, His mercy, His grace, and all of those things.
You should be concerned with those things. But I tell you,
you should also be concerned with each other. You should be
concerned with each other. How much do we remember others
in prayer? And what about the needs of our
brothers and sisters in Christ, who the Scripture says are our
own body? I'll tell you this, we can't
know the needs of others if they won't tell us. Some of us are
so proud that we just got this all by ourselves. I don't need
to tell anybody my problems because I can handle this. You're fooling
yourself. We're fooling ourselves. It's
nothing but pride if we have struggles. But if we tell our
brothers and sisters, pray for us. Then I'll tell you what,
we should be faithful to pray for them. We should remember
them. It's not easy telling people
that you have a problem, is it? That you have a concern. And
to you, the concern may not be anything, but to them it's a
big deal. You should think about them in your prayers. You should bear one another's
burden. You should bear one another's
burden. Do you bear one another's burden? See, this is why the preacher
needs to hear this as well as you. What was should we pray for each
other? Paul gives us a list of things here. First of all, continual
unity. This church is very special. It's not like any church. There's
very few churches I've seen like this, that have such unity. That don't have men clamoring
for attention or struggling with the pastor for preeminence. This
is a rare occasion here. Please don't take it for granted. Please don't be presumptuous
about this. We should pray that God continue
to give us unity. I should care for you, Cody,
like I do my right arm. That's how much in unity we should
be. When one of us hurts, all of
us hurt. I don't know about you, but when
my hand hurts, my whole body hurts. My whole body does everything
it can to get the hand well. This is the unity we should pray
for. How is this unity possible? Is
it just by caring for each other? Is that how we're going to stay
unified? Just by taking care of each other's
needs? No, we have to be unified in
Christ. The gospel is what keeps us in
unity. It's the person of Christ who
is our head that keeps the church in one mind, with one heart,
with one goal. What is that? Worship of Jesus
Christ, our Savior. I pray for you all that we would
worship God in unity, together. We would fellowship and have unity
in Christ. To be a member of a local body
means that you belong to each other. When I came here as your pastor,
I didn't come here to step up to a different, a higher level. I came here and I treat this
and still do treat this as though it were a marriage, a union. And I know this, I've grown to
love you more. More. Only because of Christ and His
grace is it possible for you to love me and me to love you. We are all part of the same church.
And you look around you, you may see people and you presume
that they are somehow great saints because they're so faithful?
No. It's the grace of God. It's the
grace of God. Pray for unity in Christ to see
that we are all given the same salvation. Brother J.D.' 's not here. I'll
talk about it. Of course, I'd talk about him if he was here.
Brother J.D., 66 years old, and confessed the Lord Jesus Christ
at 66 years of age. He believed on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Faith in Christ. You, many of
you, believe much longer than that. But do you know what? He
has just as much right to the throne as you do. Why? We have the same spirit. The
same Savior, the same privileges. This is what makes us in union.
Nobody's seeking preeminence because Christ is preeminent. Christ is preeminent. And when we pray for each other,
let us pray that God give us confidence. You need confidence? I do. Look at what he says. He
said, being confident. Being confident of this very
thing that he which has begun a good work in you will perform
it unto the day of Jesus Christ. What a prayer. What a prayer
for each other. To pray for comfort and assurance. That God who began the work in
eternity accomplished it in Christ. He'll finish it. The scripture
says of Jesus, he is the author and. Finish. Of our faith. Sad to say, many times we try
to take that to ourselves. We try to keep our own faith. How's that work out? I always fall on my face. But I'm confident of this, that
I'm not keeping me saved. He keeps me safe and he will
finish the work that he started. Pray for confidence, we need
confidence. We need confidence of the scripture
that says, fear not thou worm Jacob. Who is that talking to? Is there any worms in here? Am
I talking to worms? Because God says, Fear not thou
worm. Jacob, I've created thee. I've made thee. I've given Ethiopia
and Sheba for thee. What will I hold back from you?
Nothing. Glory in heaven itself is prepared
for you. Do you think God needs heaven
to be happy? Scripture says that heaven was
prepared for you. Come, you blessed of my Father,
come into the kingdom that was prepared for you from before
the foundation of the world. I need confidence. And each of us struggle with
this, then let us pray and give assurance. Pray for assurance,
not only for ourselves, but for each other. Remember each other. And pray for a heart of love. Sad I've got to pray for that.
But I do. I pray that your love for Christ,
and your love for each other, would be the same. Is that not
our commandment? Love one another. How? How are you to love each other?
What's the measuring stick? What's the measure of our love?
Even as I have loved you, so love one another. And by this,
men shall know that you are my disciples." Not by your going
out and politically being motivated and carrying signs and passing
out abortion pamphlets and things like that. That's not how you
know. You know that this is God's church
because of the love that we have for one another. That's how you
know. I pray that we would grow in
this love because I'm not there yet. I don't love you as Christ
loved the church. I won't do. Pray for me that
I would. Please. Don't forget me. Don't forget to lift me up before
our Father and ask for His prayers. I need them. I need to love you.
I want to love you more. You should remember me and you
should remember each other. Brethren, we are not to compromise
the gospel for anything. People have used this word love
for many vulgar things. Tolerance, what they call it
today. Well, I'm just going to love
and be tolerant. Of every religion, that's not
that's not. I'm not tolerant with false religion,
not tolerant at all. I don't have any affection for
them. I don't have any affection for their gospel. I care nothing
for their Christ. I care nothing for their God.
I care for you. I care for my Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, but I don't care about them. My affections are
not set on them. That's why Paul says here in
our chapter, look at this, he says, for God is my record, how
greatly I long after you in the bowels of Christ and this, I
pray that your love may abound yet more and more. In what? In knowledge and in all judgment,
that you may approve things that are excellent, that you may be
sincere and without offense until the day of Christ. Pray that we love one another,
but pray we love in knowledge and judgment. We are all prone to sin, every
one of us. Who would have thought David
in his old age would have committed adultery and murder? And yet, Gil, you know you're
capable of that? You are. We're all capable of that. And
so what happens if our brethren fall? What happens if they fall
into sin? Are we just to hold them and
embrace them with some gooey compassion? The Scripture says
no. You love them in knowledge and
judgment. How is it? Well, you love them
in the fact that you don't call them brethren. If man is living
in open sin and refuses to repent from the sin, the Scriptures
are clear. that we're not to have anything
to do with it. How is that love? It's love because
we do it to restore, not to separate. I don't want to be separated
from you. I don't want to be separated. If something's separating
us, I want to get rid of it. I love you. And if a man is truly
God's, he'll get rid of whatever it is that separates him from
the church. Separates him from the gospel. He'll get rid of
it. Isn't that what happened to the
man in Corinthians? Yeah. So we love in knowledge. Someone
comes to me and says, I'm a Christian. I believe that Christ died for
everyone, without exception. Am I to consider him a brother
and give him God's speed? No. I'm to love with knowledge
and judgment. If he is a brother in Christ,
he won't believe that. And if any one of us is taken
into a fall, how do we pray for one another? How do we restore one another? Very carefully. When I broke my leg, I was very
hopeful that the doctor would be a gentle man when he set my
leg. And friends, when we restore
a brother, it should be with all gentleness. If he desires
to come back, pray for him and receive him in love. So that we may abound in unity
together. And the point of our unity is
Christ. You want to know how to love?
Look at Christ. God, I should be willing to lay
down my life for you. That's how deep this love's got
to run. And I pray for that. I pray that
God give me that kind of love. I pray God give you that kind
of love. I pray that God bless us. This
stand will be dismissed in prayer.