Turn back with me if you would
to Philippians 1. Philippians chapter 1. The title
of this message is The Joy in Looking to Christ. the joy that's in looking to
Christ. In everything that we're gonna
look at tonight, every word of this text, the theme is look
to Christ because there's happiness in it. There is happiness in
it. The Apostle Paul has just said
in verse 21, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this
is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall choose, I know
not, for I'm in a straight betwixt two, having a desire to depart
and to be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless,
To abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And I have been
reading that this week and thinking about everything we looked at
with it, to live is Christ and to die is gain. And I'd kind
of like to just preach that message again. And then he said, I'm
in a straight between the two. I don't know which one I would
rather choose. And I'd kind of like to just
preach that message again. But he said, nevertheless, to abide
in the flesh is more needful for you. Now, why did he say
that? Why did he say that? Why is it more needful for him
to abide in the flesh? The reason is because his calling
is to preach the gospel to them. That was his calling. It was
to preach the gospel to them. It's his calling to speak peace
to their hearts. Here we all come, it's kind of
like we've all been out in the world and everybody's had their
boxing gloves on and you're doing your best, fighting your way
through this world. And then we come in and it's His calling
and it's my calling to speak peace to the hearts of God's
people. Paul knew that God commanded
him. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem
and cry unto her that her warfare is over. It's over. It's all over. It's all accomplished.
Her iniquity is paid for. Whatever it is. it is paid for,
it's pardoned. She hath received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. That's just amazing. That is
just amazing. Paul said, I realize the fact
that it is needful for me to stay right here and cry that
to you. Now, verse 25, he said, in having
this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with
you all for your furtherance and joy of faith." He said, if
God has me to stay right here and preach this gospel, it will,
number one, be for our furtherance of faith. That's the reason. He said, if God would have me
to not depart and go be with Christ, if He'd have me to stay
here and preach this gospel and preach this gospel, the reason
will be, number one, for our furtherance of faith. It will
be for the purpose of strengthening our faith. That's the reason
it's more needful for Him to stay, to increase our faith. We cannot always realize this. And when I say we can't always
realize this, what I mean is we never realize this. Day in and day out, we do not
see this, especially in ourselves. But every single time we hear
the gospel, to some degree, in some way, Our faith is increased every
single time we hear the gospel to some degree. Sometimes it's
a wow moment and sometimes it's a not so wow moment to us, but
that's irrelevant. To some degree, every single
time we hear the gospel, our faith is increased. Why do we
need to hear the gospel every time it's preached? Why? The reason is because faith cometh
by hearing. It comes by hearing. If we would
like to enjoy, and I chose that word very specifically, if we
would like to enjoy strong faith, That is such an enjoyable thing.
When the bad times come and the Lord gives us the ability to
say, wait on the Lord, it's going to be all right. That's an enjoyable
experience. And if we would like to enjoy
strong faith, it comes by hearing the gospel. Now, I sit all day
long. I sit all day long. I used to
think I knew what it was to sit all day long, but I didn't. Not
until now. I sit all day long. And it's
not good for the body, I promise. You look down like this all day
long and the back of your neck goes really stiff. and your back
starts to ache and such on and so forth. You just get tired
and all that kind of stuff. So, whenever possible, if there's
any time left at the end of the day, I try to go to the YMCA
and exercise. Okay? Now, in the last five weeks,
and this is a conservative number, I think it's more than this.
In the last five weeks, I have been to exercise three times. All right, now some of you have
exercised a little bit. All right, think about that.
Five weeks, three times. Now I want to ask you a sincere
question, each one of you. Do you think that I ought to
sign up for any bodybuilding competitions? I know what it takes to physically
grow. and increase in strength. I know
what it takes. I know how to do it. Therefore,
I should not expect to increase in strength if in the last 35
days I've only been three times. Isn't that right? Doesn't that
make total sense? By the way of what we know to
be life, it's like, well, obviously, I see why you're not growing.
You've only been three times. How does a man increase in physical
strength? How does a man increase in physical
strength? He exercises, and he exercises, and he exercises,
and he exercises. That's one week. That's one week. One week. All right, well surely he doesn't
have to go next week. Next week comes, and he exercises, and
he exercises, and he exercises, and he exercises. Well, yeah,
but it's the same thing. It's the same thing. He goes
and he does the same thing over and over again. You know that?
It is literally just the exact same thing. He just goes and
he does the exact same thing. He exercises and he exercises
and he exercises and he exercises. And one day it said of him, man,
he's really grown. Couldn't necessarily see it every
day when he came home. But you turn around and look
back and say, wow, he's really grown. Now, how does faith grow? We hear and we hear and we hear
and we hear. And that's one week. Bible study,
Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night. Why do we have
all these services? Isn't it a bit much? That's one
week. One week! Why don't you guys
have this conversation with each other? I never hear anybody having
this conversation. Which service are you going to, first service
or second service? That's what everybody else does.
Well, we didn't, yeah, well, I didn't see you there. Well,
we went to first service. One week, well, surely I don't need
to go next week. We hear and we hear and we hear and we hear.
Well, yeah, but it's the same thing. I mean, it's the same
thing. Every time it's the exact same
thing. Jesus Christ crucified. Did anybody come here expecting
to hear anything other than Jesus Christ crucified? We all came
here to hear the exact same thing. We hear, and we hear, and we
hear, and we hear, and then one day it's said of us, he's really
grown. He has really grown. I couldn't
see it necessarily day in and day out, but you turn around
and look back and he's really grown. I love what Brother Joe
Terrell said about his experience in the Lord revealing the truth
to him. I believe the situation was he went to college near Ashland,
maybe Huntington, West Virginia or something. And a man from
his hometown said, when you get there, where are you going to
go worship? And he said, I don't know. And he said, well, you can look
up a guy named Henry Mahan. I think you'll like him, 13th
Street. You can go listen to him. So
he did, and he sat and listened to him for the first year. And
then when the year was done, he went home, and that guy asked
him, did you look up Henry Mahan? He said, yeah, I'm sitting under
him. And he said, what do you think of him? He said, well,
he's all right. He repeats himself a lot. So the next year he went back
to school and he sat there under Henry for another year and then
he went home and that guy said, you still sitting under Henry
Mahan? He said, yeah. He said, what do you think of him? He
said, well, he repeats himself a lot and I'm starting to get
it. We hear and we hear and we hear. Verse 25 right here says, having
this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with
you all for your furtherance and joy of faith. The happiest thing that we can
do in this life is look to Christ. Nothing is happier than that.
Nothing. Nothing. That's what faith is
and that's what faith does. It looks to Christ. It stops
looking down here. Daily we look down here. Daily. It stops looking right there. And it stops looking right here
and it starts looking to Christ. That's what faith is and that's
what faith does. Looking to Christ is the most
joyful thing that we'll ever do in this life. Looking to Christ
and seeing what He has done for us. Really entering in to everything
He accomplished for us. Looking to Christ and seeing
Exactly what He spared us from. Do you want to know what He spared
us from? Look to the cross. If it hadn't been Him, it would
have been me. Look into Christ and see in everything
that He has prepared for us for all eternity. There's a lot of
joy in that. Sincerely, there is a lot of
joy in that. If we want to be happy, all we
need to do is look to Christ. That's all we need to do. Well,
you know, I don't have a whole lot going for me down here. I
know you don't. But you have a whole lot going
for you up there. A lot. Oh man, I'm just a mess. My family's
a mess. Everything's a mess. I know.
Yeah, I know. I'm right there with you. But
this is what David said. Although my house be not so with
God, Yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things, ensure." No matter how bad it was, David had that
to hold on. Whether he's talking about his
family or this house that Paul's talking about, you know, if I
move from this house to the next house, although this house is
just ruined, God still made a covenant with me. He still made a promise
to me. Even though this world may be absolutely fallen apart
around me, God picked me. God picked me. You know, I think
about You know, I don't want to be silly about this at all,
but you think about people crying, pick me, pick me. God picked
me. He picked me to wash my sin away
in the blood of His precious Son. He chose me. While multitudes
and multitudes of people are going to meet God, carrying all
their sins with them, trying to get all their sins up there
before the judgment throne, God picked me to wash mine away in
the blood of His precious Son. The Lord Jesus Christ has declared
His love for me. as a husband loves a wife. He
has declared his love for me. God's Holy Spirit has spoken
peace to my heart through the promise of this word right here.
He has given me much peace through this word. And even though I'm
going to leave this world, I'm going to leave this world and
I'm going to lose everything it has to offer me, in Christ
my God, in Christ my King, my Savior, my friend, I'm going
to inherit all things. I am going to inherit all things. I mean all things. That is faith. That's what faith is. Faith looks. It's the evidence of what you
cannot see, what I cannot see. It looks to Christ. It believes
His word. It believes His promise. And
it's the happiest thing that could ever happen to a senator.
The happiest thing. Somebody pointed out to me a
few days ago that this is the, there are fewer campaign signs
in people's yards than they'd ever seen at a presidential election.
And I got to thinking about it. That's true. I've never seen
so few campaign signs. I think everybody's embarrassed
to say who they're voting for. And I get it. I get it. But, and I'm prepared, you know,
I'm trying to be prepared for whatever the outcome is. But
do you want to be happy in this election? Look to Christ. Don't look to either candidate.
Nothing in this world and no one in this world will ever provide
us peace, safety, happiness, rest, relief, No one, no one,
that only comes by looking to Christ only. Verse 26 right here
in Philippians 1, it says, that your rejoicing may be more abundant
in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again and preaching
him to you again. Only let your conversation be
as it becometh the gospel of Christ. Stay on the gospel of
Christ. Think about the gospel of Christ. Talk about the gospel of Christ. Stay right there. Dwell on who
he is. Dwell on who he is. Just think
about who he is. That is God Almighty. This one
that we're clinging to and we're espoused to and we love him and
he loves us, this is God Almighty. Dwell on who he is and dwell
on what he has done. He fought for us. He won. Dwell
on where he is now. He is seated in the heavens hoping
the presidential election turns out like he would want it to
go. That's not what he's doing. He is seated in the heavens doing
as he pleases with whoever he pleases. If we'd like to get
a boost, a little boost in joy, you know how sometimes you can't
put your finger on it, I'm just having a bad day. I don't know
why. Sometimes you can't put your finger on it, I'm having
a great day. I don't know why, but if you want a boost in joy,
let's let our conversation be on that. The things that become
the gospel of Christ. Look with me at chapter three,
Philippians chapter three. Verse 20, it says, for our conversation
is in heaven. From whence also we look for
the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body
that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. according
to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things
unto himself." That right there is one happy conversation for
two believers to have. He's going to change this vile
body, everything about us, and he's going to fashion it after
his own glorious body. We don't know what we shall be,
but we know it's going to be just like him, just like him. Back over in chapter 1, verse
27 says, Only let your conversation be
as it becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and
see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you
stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for
the faith of the gospel. God gives his people one spirit
and one mind. They have one heart. one heart. They all say the exact same thing.
What do they say? Look with me at Matthew chapter
6. Matthew chapter 6 and look at
the middle of verse 9. Our Father which are in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead
us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the
kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Is that right there not the heart
he gives every child of God? Thine is the kingdom, thine is
the power, thine is the glory forever. Amen. Forever. Now hold your place right here
in Matthew and look back at the text. Philippians 1 verse 27 says,
Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of
Christ, that whether I come and see you or else be absent, I
may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit,
with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel,
and in nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them
an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation and that
of God. There are people who hate Christ. There are whole nations of people
who hate Christ and they hate His followers. What are we going
to do if they rise up against us? Think about this. Just think
about this. What if the Lord was on the earth
right now? What if the Lord was on the earth
right now? What if we lived in a time when
the Lord was on the earth? There were some disciples before
us who actually lived on the earth at the same time as the
Lord. What if that was us? And what if they laid hold of
our Lord and crucified him right now? What if we saw every bit
of that happen? We congregated with Him just
like they did back then. Everywhere He went, they followed
Him. They stayed with Him. We left this and we congregated
outside and they came in and grabbed the one that we believed
was God. They totally looked to Him. We're totally looking to Him. And what if they came and grabbed
the one that we believe was God and put him on a cross and crucified
him and he died? And we saw it. Can you imagine
how much fear that would strike in us? Well, unlike the apostles and
the disciples that actually saw it happen, we have the promise
of his resurrection. We see the end. They didn't see
it. We know what happens and we know
why it happened. And we have nothing to fear.
We have absolutely nothing to fear. Look back at Matthew chapter
10 this time. Back in Matthew chapter 10. Verse 28, the Lord said, Fear
not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the
soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul
and body in hell. He said don't fear them. If you
fear God, don't fear them, any enemy of Christ. What if they
do kill the body? What if that is of his will. What if he allows them to kill
the body? We just read to die is gain. To die is gain, right? To be
absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. What if
he does use someone as opposed to a cancer cell to
kill the body? If that's his will, so be it.
If that's his will, so be it. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done. Whatever it is, thy will be done.
It's all good in the end. It's all good. He said, don't
fear your enemies. If they hate you because of Christ
and because of his word, that is your evident token that you
belong to God and you're eternally safe. Now hold your place in
Matthew, look back at the text one more time. Verse 28, he said, and in nothing
terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token
of perdition, but to you of salvation and that of God. For unto you
it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on
him, but also to suffer for his sake. having the same conflict
which you saw in me and now here to be in me. God's people all
go through the same conflict. They all go through the exact
same conflict. They go through the same things.
Sometimes the circumstances are a little different. The circumstances
may be just a little different, but we all endure the same inner
conflict and persecution and sufferings. We can all relate
to each other. And sometimes, most times, we
get a little down. I'm the only one that ever goes
through this. I promise we're not alone. We
are not alone. Look with me one more time in
Matthew. This time go to chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5 verse 10 says,
blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake. For theirs
is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men shall
revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil
against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad,
for great is your reward in heaven. For so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you." They all went through the same thing,
that same persecution, that inner conflict that we have over our
sin. That outer persecution over the
gospel of Christ is common to every believer. There are sufferings
that we all must endure to be disciples of Christ. Our Lord
says over and over again, but the Apostle Paul said those sufferings
ought to bring joy to our hearts. They ought to bring joy because
it's our token that we are in the fellowship of Christ. It's
our token that we're all fellows in the same ship. And God is
gonna put his people in a place where they have to cry out for
help. They have to. He's gonna put them in a place
where they must cast their all on him. And again, that's called
faith. that crying out to him and that
casting it all on him, that's called faith. That suffering
is going to bring faith and that faith is going to bring joy.
And I'm going to close with this. I'm not going to, you just listen
to it. You don't have to turn. This is one of my favorite verses
over in Acts chapter five, the apostles were put in prison and
they were beaten. Okay. Like they usually were.
They were put in prison and they were beaten and it says in Acts
chapter 5 verse 40, to him they agreed and when they had called
the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should
not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. And they departed,
the apostles departed from the presence of the council rejoicing
that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, And
in every house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. They cried to everybody. They
beat those men. They beat them to a bloody pulp.
Sent them out and said, don't you preach this man anymore. And they went out so happy, smiling,
rejoicing. Thank God we were counted worthy
to suffer for his name. And they ran everywhere they
could telling everybody, look to Christ. You look to Christ. There's happiness in it. They'd
grab him again and beat him again. And they'd run out crying, you
go look to Christ. Oh, the joy of looking to Christ.
Let's all stand together.