Philippians 1, we're going to
continue our study through Philippians. And considering the conference
this past weekend, I can't think of a better text for tonight. Our text is going to begin in
verse 7, but let's start with verse 1 and read down to it.
Verse 1 says, Paul and Timotheus. the servants of Jesus Christ,
to all the saints in Christ Jesus, every sinner that God put in
Christ, every single sinner that God chose and immersed in the
blood of Christ, all saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi
with the bishops and deacons, grace be to you. God's grace
be to you and peace. From God, our Father, and from
the Lord Jesus Christ, I thank my God upon every remembrance
of you. Always in every prayer of mine
for you all, making request with joy for your fellowship in the
gospel from the first day until now. being confident of this
very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. There are not many things
in this life that I can be confident of. Not many. Not many at all. Will there be a tomorrow? One of these days there won't
be. Right? Will there be a tomorrow? I don't know. I really don't
know. We all have plans, don't we?
We all have plans. We're all making plans. We're
marrying and giving in marriage. Will there be a tomorrow? I don't
know. God knows. Will God call out any more sheep
in Kingsport? Are there any more souls that
belong to him in Kingsport, Tennessee? I don't know. I don't know. God knows. God knows. I can tell you this, though.
I'm confident in this. If God begins a work, God will
finish it. If God begins a work, God will
finish it. God never leaves any of his works
undone. Isn't that good news? Never. He never leaves any of them undone. If God has begun a work of grace,
God will finish that work of grace. If he ever calls a sinner,
if God ever truly calls a sinner, God will keep that sinner. God will keep that center. Every
single one of us can rest in that. We can just rest in that.
We can be confident in that. And Paul says to every saint
that is in Christ Jesus, if that's all our hope, I've got one thing
that I can hold on to, Christ Jesus. That's it. Every saint
who says this is all I have, this is all I have, Christ Jesus. Every sinner who has received
grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
every sinner that God chose to cover in that blood, every single
one, he said, I thank my God for you. I thank God for you. And he said, I pray for you with
joy for your fellowship in the gospel, having all confidence
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what's going to keep
this fellowship? This is a wonderful fellowship. I love this fellowship. We had wonderful fellowship this
weekend. We're having wonderful fellowship
right now. And you know what I'm confident in? If God has
begun grace in this fellowship, God will keep grace in this fellowship.
If it's going to stay, God is going to keep it. It's the only
way. And Paul said, I thank God for you, I pray for you, for
your fellowship in the gospel, and I have confidence in the
Lord Jesus Christ and his ability, what he's going to do to finish
the work he started. Now verse 7 says, even as it
is right for me to think this of you all. The word meet means
right. It means innocent. It means holy. even as it is holy and innocent
and right for me to think this of you all. This feeling that
I have is right, good and right. Verse 7 says, because I have
you in my heart. And I love the margin right there. If you have a center margin in
your Bible, it says, you have me in your heart. He said, because
I have you in my heart. And that also translates, you
have me in your heart. We have each other in our hearts,
don't we? That love that Christ gives for
his people, it's all the way deep in the heart, isn't it?
I have you in my heart. And you have me in your heart.
And that love is a strong evidence That's what it is. It's a strong
evidence. God has put you in my heart. God has put me in your heart,
and that's a strong evidence. Paul said, it's good that I think
this of you. It's wonderful that I feel this
way about you. It's a strong evidence. Turn
back a few books to 2 Corinthians 3. 2 Corinthians 3 verse 1 says, Do we begin again to commend
ourselves, or need we, as some others, epistles of commendation
to you, or letters of commendation from you? He said, You are our
epistle, written in our hearts, known and read of all men. For as much as you are manifestly
declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written
not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not in tables
of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart." He said, you are
written right here. And such trust have we through
Christ to God. Not that we are sufficient of
ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiencies
of God. He said we didn't do anything.
God did all this. God did this. God moves on the
heart. Verse six, who also hath made
us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter,
but of the spirit. For the letter killeth, but the
spirit giveth life. That spirit in a believer, the
spirit of Christ in a believer gives life. The love of God in
his people is the evidence of the love of God to his people.
So Paul said, I'm so glad I feel this way about you. It's so relieving
to me that I love you this much. That's a good evidence. Back
over in Philippians 1 verse 7 he said, Even as it is meet for me to
think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch
as both in my bonds, And in the defense and confirmation of the
gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace. And again, if you
have a center margin in your Bible, those last three words
say, with me of grace. You're partakers with me of grace. You've stood with me. We've stood
together in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. We're all partakers
together. Moses stood up in the gate of
the city and he cried, who is on the Lord's
side? That's what he asked all the
people. Who is on the Lord's side? And Paul says right here,
it has been evidenced. That's what he's saying in this.
It has been evidenced. Joshua stood up and he cried,
choose you this day whom you will serve. And Paul's saying
right here, it has been evidenced. You know what we're saying by
being here? Whom we will serve. That's what we're saying. Paul said it has been evidenced. And he said, I thank God for
it. I do too. I thank God for it. I really
do. Choosing the way of the Lord, the salvation that the Lord has
declared, bowing the knee to his word, that's the evidence. That's what it is. That is the
evidence. Choosing him is not the cause. He stood up and he
cried, choose you who you're going to serve. How can a dead
man do that? Choosing is not the cause. Choosing
is the evidence. That old hymn writer wrote, "'Tis
not that I did choose thee for Lord," that could never be. That
could never be. Our Lord himself said, you have
not chosen me, I've chosen you. I've called you to myself. I've
called you, I have allowed you to choose me. I've blessed you with the gift
of being able to choose me. Choosing is not the cause, it's
the evidence. This love is not the cause. If you want to be
saved, then you better love God and love your neighbor as yourself. It's not the cause, it's the
evidence. It's the evidence. We love him because he first
loved us. So our choosing him is the evidence,
is the evidence that he chose us. And our standing with him,
Paul said, you stood with me. Our standing with him is the
evidence that he stood with us. That's what it is, the evidence.
Paul said, I thank God for it. I thank God. Verse 8, he said,
for God is my record. How greatly I long after you
all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. I long after you all to be in
Christ. That's what I want. And I long
after you all because you are in Christ. That's the reason,
that's what unites our hearts together. Because you are in
Christ. I long after all of us to stay
in Christ. I don't want to go anywhere.
And I don't want you to go anywhere unless it's where the gospel
is. I want us to stay in Christ.
I long after you all in the bowels of Christ. Verse 80 said, For
God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels
of Jesus Christ. Now, verse nine, he says, In
this I pray. That's the title of this message.
That's the title of this message, This I Pray. Paul says, because
of what God has done for you, and because of what God has done
in you, because God performed a good
work, and because he chose you, and because he put you in Christ,
because of all that, this I pray, four things. He gave four things
that he prays for them, and this is what I pray for us. Man, this is what I pray for
us. I mean, really, not just in a good outline, this is what
I pray for us. Individually, every heart, every
soul, God is my witness, how greatly I long after you all.
And this I pray, number one, verse nine, this I pray, that
your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in
all judgment." That's the first thing. That your love may abound
more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. Knowledge of
what? The Lord Jesus Christ. Do we know enough? I got it. See you later. Do we know enough? Man, one of these days we're
going to know as we have been known. He said, I pray that your love
may abound in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the knowledge of
His Word. He didn't just pray that they
might have love. They already have love. If they didn't have
love, they wouldn't have Christ. Love is the evidence. And He
did not just pray that their love may abound. He said, I pray
that your love may abound more and more and more and more. in the knowledge of Christ. The
more that we know of Him, the more we love Him. You know that? The more we know of Him, everything
we hear about Him causes us to love Him more. The more we know,
the more we love him. We meet together service after
service after service. Sunday morning, Sunday night,
Wednesday night. And it's not enough. It's not enough. Spurgeon had
a Monday night prayer meeting in addition to their Wednesday
night service. I bet you that was special. Wouldn't you love
to get together with those men just for prayer? Brother Henry, during the years
of his preacher's class, had a Saturday night service. The men in the preacher's class
were able to preach in a Saturday night service. So they started
Sunday morning with Sunday school, Sunday morning worship, Sunday
night worship. Wednesday night worship, Saturday
morning preacher's class, Saturday night worship, and then they
started it all over again on Sunday morning. But we come here
service after service after service to abound. That's why we come. To abound. Not just to know Him. to abound in knowing Him. I want to abound in knowing Him. Not just to know His love, but
to abound in His love. Verse 9 says, This I pray, that
your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in
all judgment. The word judgment means sense. What is a sense? The human body is supposed to
have five of them. Five senses. Paul said, this
I pray, and this is what I pray. I pray that we might see Christ
more. I want to see him more. I have
not seen him enough. I'm not done seeing him. Can you imagine in glory taking
your eyes off of Him? People wonder what are we going
to do and what all is going to be there and will there be buildings
and are we going to this and are we going to that? We're not
going to be able to get past taking our eyes off of Him. I want to see Him more. I want
to see Him more. I want to see His beauty more.
I want to fall in love with Him more. I want us to hear His voice more. I don't want to meet here in
Bain. I don't want to do my duty. I went. When I come here, I want
to hear His voice. I want Him to speak to me more. More. Bless me more. Talk to
me more. I pray that we might smell Last weekend, three men came
to us and they clearly preached Jesus Christ crucified. Can't we say that? Can't we say
those men preached Jesus Christ crucified about as clearly as
you can preach Him? They brought to us the sweetness
of His sacrifice. It was so sweet to me. We smelled
it. We smelled it. I pray that we might smell it
more. Smell it more. That he would, entering into
the fact that he would come here, suffer for us, die for us, take
our sin upon himself, love us to the end. I want to smell it more. I pray
that we might feel his touch. Don't you love it when you read
those scriptures when he says, I'll hold your right hand? Okay. John was on the Isle of
Patmos and the Lord came to him and he said, it felt like a trumpet
was talking to me. It was just so bold. And he said,
I turned around and when I saw him, I fell at my feet as dead. And he laid his right hand on
me and he said, fear not. I'd like to feel that more. I do not want us to abound in
an understanding of dispensationalism. I want us to taste how good he
is. That's what I want. I want us
to taste how good and how sweet He is. That's the first thing
that Paul prayed for them. Here's the second. Verse 10 says, that you may approve, and that
word approve means try, examine, test, things that are excellent. And the word excellent means
different. He said, And this is what I say,
I pray God would give us the discernment to see the difference. That's what I pray, the discernment
to see the difference. There is a difference. There's
a difference in what this world says and what this word says.
There's a difference. There is a difference in the
works of the law and the works of grace. There's a difference
in there. Can we see that difference? There's
a difference in works in order to be saved. And works because
we have been saved. I remember it was such a revelation
to me the first time I realized I believe in works. I do. And I preach them just not to
be saved. There's a difference. There's
a difference. There's a difference in trying
to establish our own righteousness and clinging to His. There's
a difference. There's a difference in man's
lies in God's truth, false preachers and true preachers. It breaks
my heart to hear people lump all preachers into the same category.
They're all just good men trying to do the best they can, trying
to teach people right. They're all saved, trying to
win souls. Bless the preacher's hearts.
That's just not how it is. There's a difference. There's
a difference. Now, listen to this one. Listen
to this one. I pray the Lord would still teach
me this. I believe he has shown me this. I pray he'll show me
more. I want to abound in this right here. There's a difference
in preaching about Christ and preaching Christ. And the difference
is so subtle, if it were possible, even the very elect could be
deceived. There's a difference. This article blessed me so much. It was so wonderful to me. I put it in
the front of my Bible, and I've read it to you before. But it's
called The Difference Between Preaching Christ and Preaching
About Christ. And the man who wrote it said,
years ago, I read the following quote by an unknown author. I
can appreciate the ability of the learned botanist a plant
scientist. I can appreciate the ability
of the learned botanist to give me the scientific name of a rose,
the origin of it, the various types of roses, how and where
they grow, and the number of petals, thorns, and leaves to
expect on a genuine rose. I can appreciate that. But he
said, too often those who become overly entangled in these things
somehow lose the most important things, the beauty and the fragrance
of the rose. I hope in our teaching, preaching,
and witnessing concerning the gospel of our dear Savior, we
do not become more concerned with the system more than the
sweetness, with the mechanics rather than the mercy. with the
right terminology rather than the right spirit and attitude.
You will soon weary my head if you don't warm my heart. While
I'm eager to learn more of how, why, and when I came to Christ,
I would like to rejoice and enjoy my relationship with him now.
He is my Rose of Sharon, which brightens my life and sends his
sweet fragrance through my soul. One can preach about Christ and
not preach Christ, just as we can know how God saves sinners
and not be a saved sinner. Oh, the wonder of it all, just
to think that Christ loves me. There's a difference. There's
a difference. Men can know how God saves sinners
and not be a saved sinner. There's a difference. Paul said,
this is the third thing I pray. The middle of verse 10, he said,
that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ.
What is the one true offense that will send a man or a woman
to hell? What is the one true offense?
It's unbelief. I pray that Christ might keep
you and keep me looking to Him. And I mean this more so than
when I wrote it yesterday. I pray Christ will keep us looking
to Him and hoping in Him and trusting in Him and waiting on
Him all the way up till the time that He comes back. No matter
what means he deems necessary. No matter what means he deems
necessary. Why can't this life be easy street
for us? Really, why does it have to be
so hard? The reason is because if it was,
we would not spend it looking. If life was good, money was good,
everything was good, relationships were good, how much time would
we spend digging a trench in the Word of God? How much time? We wouldn't spend it looking.
We would not spend it hoping. We would not spend it trusting,
waiting. Go with me quickly to Colossians
1, over one book. Colossians 1, verse 19 says, For it pleased
the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. And having
made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile
all things unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you that were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now
hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to
present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight
If you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be
not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have
heard and which was preached to every creature which is under
heaven, whereof I, Paul, am made a minister." Now, if we are going
to do that, that if is a big if, isn't it? If we are going
to be kept, how are we going to be kept? By the power of God. If God keeps that faith in us,
God has to keep that faith in us. By the power of God, the
hand and the work and the means of God. And wouldn't we rather
us be under whatever means he sees fit to keep us there than
to give us easy street Off we go. Off we go. The good news
is he's faithful and he'll do whatever he has to do to keep
us. He's faithful. So back in our text, Philippians
1, here's the fourth thing, last thing. Verse 11 says, I pray that you might be filled
with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto
the glory and praise of God. The fruits of righteousness.
John Gill said the fruits of righteousness are good works. I pray you might be filled with
good works. You tell the truth to a sinner. Especially
one who's been under the bondage of religion. And he's been set
free from all that mess. First thing he says is, I don't
want to hear anything about good works. Don't tell me anything
about good works. But then once Christ reveals
to that sinner, there's a difference. There's a difference. The Lord said, and Paul says,
and I say for every one of us, I pray that we might be given
over to good works. That conference last weekend
was work. I mean, buddy, it was, I crashed
Sunday afternoon. It was work all week long. It was hard work, but it was
a good work. It was a good work. It was a
work of love. It was a joyful work. And I pray
we all might abound in that work. Don't you want to do that again?
I want to do it again and again and again. Serving in the ministry,
the work of grace, love, kindness, hospitality, may we abound in
that. It's the fruit of righteousness.
And in doing that, we give God all the glory for it, don't we?
I'm not going to have you turn, but our Lord said in John 15,
let me read this one verse of scripture to you because it's
so true. He said, I am the vine. You are the branches. He that
abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit
for without me, you can do nothing. And don't we all say amen to
that? Without me, without him, we can do nothing. He starts
all the work. He performs all the work. So who gets the glory for it?
He does. He does. Verse 11 says, being
filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto
the glory and the praise of God. To God be the glory. Amen. All
right, let's stand together.