if you would open your Bibles
to the book of Philippians chapter one. Philippians chapter one. Our Father, we pray that you
would grant us to understand your word and also to put it
into practice that we may live lives that please our Father.
In the name of Christ we pray, amen. Now we'll look at the last part,
beginning at verse 27. Whatever happens, conduct yourselves
in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come
and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know
that you stand firm in one spirit contending as one man for the
faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those
who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they
will be destroyed, but that you will be saved, and that by God. For it has been granted to you
on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to
suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle
you saw I had, and now hear that I still have." Now, Paul concludes
this portion of this letter to the Philippians with some exhortations
and some explanations. Now, he exhorts, and I keep trying
to find another word for exhort, but I don't know another English
word that satisfies all that that word means. Some have used
the word admonish, but admonish always has a negative aspect
to it, as though somebody's done something wrong and you admonish
them for it, correcting what was wrong and telling them to
do what's right. Well, the Philippians, to my
knowledge at this point, they hadn't done anything wrong. Certainly
not with the matter that he was speaking about here. So admonish
is not the right word. Exhort is a good word. We just
don't use it very much. But what it basically means is to
give instruction, give positive instruction with authority and
with a motivation to take action on what's being commanded. It's
not like what they call didactic instruction, which is simply
giving people facts. This is urging people to act
in a certain way. So he encouraged or exhorts the
Philippians who, just like Paul, desire that he would once again
be able to visit them. After all, this was the one who
had first come to Philippi with the gospel, and it was through
his ministry in that city that they had been called to the Lord
Jesus Christ and had been gathered together as a church, at first
beginning I believe it was in the house
of Lydia. Now, he seeks to encourage them
because there was the distinct possibility that he would never
see them again, which of course means they would never see him
again. Now, the one who first brings
the gospel to us always holds a special place in our hearts.
And added to that is one who has over time instructed us in
the gospel. In preparing for this morning's
message in the regular hour on Christ our Passover, I went to
Sermon Audio. I listened to three sermons on
that text of scripture preached by Brother Henry Mahan. Now there's
always going to be a special place in my heart for him because
of what he taught me, because of the truth he gave me. And
I learned to listen to him. You know, everybody has his own
language. You know, people talk about the
English language. Well, there's different versions
of the English language. You know, there's British English,
American English, and then even in American English, There are
lots of dialects. I once heard of a person that
worked as a dialect coach for actors. And so they were wanting to get
someone to coach this particular actor. And they found a guy who
was an expert at it. And they said, we want you to
coach them in North Carolina dialect. He said, which one of
the 35 dialects of North Carolina do you want? But the truth is,
in the United States of America, there are almost 330 million
ways to speak English, because all of us speak a little different,
and we get accustomed to the way someone speaks. And so we
have this particular affection and attachment to such preachers,
and when we discover we'll never hear from them again, it is not
only a sorrow It has almost the effect of detaching us from our
spiritual moorings. Now, we really aren't detached
from it because what is our spiritual mooring? If you don't know what
a mooring is, that's what you tie a ship to. And, you know, when they bring
a ship into port, if you look on those ports, they've got these
big posts that stick up and they throw a rope down and they wrap
it around that post and the ship is moored to land so that it
won't drift off. So our spiritual moorings are
really not the men who preach the gospel to us. Our spiritual
mooring is the Lord Jesus Christ. But we're not just spiritual
creatures, we are emotional. And our sense of stability often
gets attached to particular people. It's just like with your parents. And when your parents are gone,
you feel like your anchor, your life's anchor
is gone. Well, you feel that way about
those who taught you the gospel, and so he's wanting to prepare
them for the distinct possibility they might not ever see him again. They might not ever hear him
preach again. He is in prison. On the one hand,
he says that he fully expects to come, but fully expecting
and knowing for certain are two different things. We cannot know
the future. Today could be the last time
I ever preach to this congregation. I wouldn't be the first preacher
to die unexpectedly. So Paul says, whatever happens,
whether I am able to see you again or not, whatever the outcome
of my present circumstances is. Now, Paul had a pastor's heart,
and it is ever the concern of the pastor that he cannot be
with the brethren. Or when he cannot be with the
brethren, he wants to know how are they gonna get along. That's every pastor, I'm sure,
particularly as he nears the end of his, you know, what's
expected to be the end of his time among the people to whom
he's ministered. He wondered, what shall become
of them when I'm no longer there? When the preacher is no longer
with the people whom he has served as shepherd. And so he wants
to leave them with some words that will, or some instructions,
some exhortation that will be good for them under all circumstances
and for the rest of their lives and the lives of believers who
may yet come within that congregation. He knows that the Lord will protect
and provide for the church, but because their hearts have been
united in the gospel, as well as all the trials and tribulations
that attend the faith, he cannot help but want to know their state,
what their condition is. His desire is to be with them,
that their collective joy as a church might be abundant in
Christ. But if it's not possible for
him to be among them, he wants to give them what they need to continue
without Him. So Paul, considering that possibility
that he wouldn't see them again, exhorts them to walk in Christ
as they have received Christ by the Spirit through faith. Now, beginning of verse 27, our
translation says, whatever happens, And when you look at the entire
exhortation of Paul here, that sort of captures the meaning
of it, but it doesn't get all of it, at least not to me. It
doesn't allow you to apply it in some other ways. The word
there is simply only. Now, you know that our word only
is kind of a contracted form of onely, only. And what he's saying is that
one thing, one thing you need to do. I love how simple the
gospel is. It's one thing. Look to Christ. I love how simple the gospel
life is. Look to Christ. The commandments,
you know, to the Jews, there were the 10 written in stone
and another 600 or so that were written on paper. just, you know,
trying to address every detail of life. But the believer, when
it comes to practical laws, practical commandments, they are of the
most simple kind because they are not commandments as such
that, you know, thou shalt and thou shalt not, that sort of
thing. Rather, we are given principles concepts and we are told to walk
in accordance with these concepts. For instance, walk in love. Once you know what love is, once
you come to understand what love is, that's almost all the commandment
you ever need. Live in a loving manner. Whatever you do in your relationship
with God and in your relationship with others, whether they be
in your family, whether they be your neighbors, whether they
be your enemies, do what love demands. Now, that's not easy
to do, but it sure is easy to understand. And here he does
something similar. He's saying that he might, you
know, he expects to be able to come, but he might not be able
to. Only. Only. Here's the one thing that
must guide your actions, whatever the circumstances, whatever time. Conduct yourselves in a manner
worthy of the gospel of Christ. The church, this one here in
Philippi, and every other church throughout history is confronted
with things in this life that can easily take our eyes off
of Christ. So the solemn instruction is
to let their conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ. Now
this word worthy, I think the King James puts it
walk worthy, but that just means conduct yourselves worthy of
the gospel of Christ. Now that's going to be confusing
to us because we think there's no way we can make ourselves
worthy. He's not talking about making
ourselves worthy of the gospel of Christ. What the word means, conduct
yourselves in a manner that's consistent with the gospel. Paul uses this word a lot in
giving exhortations, instructions on conduct. In Romans 16 too,
He speaks about a woman named Phoebe, and she's going to be
coming to the church in Rome. And he says, I ask you to receive
her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints. And give her any
help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to
many people, including me. So what's he saying? I expect
you to receive her in a manner that is worthy of those who call
themselves and are considered to be set apart by God, his special
chosen people, and also to receive this woman regarding her as one
who's been set apart by God. Now, how would you treat someone
who you knew had been set apart by God and sent by God? When
we went to India and to Africa, it was almost embarrassing how
well those people treated us. In India, they have a custom
that, and you may have seen some pictures that I shared about
that, but they'll put a, well, it looks like a Hawaiian lei,
but it's a bunch of flowers on a string, and they'll put a shawl
around you. And one time, they even gave
Miles and me turbans. To be honest, I didn't like it,
because I don't like preachers being treated that way. But what
I understood was this. This is how they show their regard
for someone God has sent. It may not be the way we do it. That's the way they do it. And
when I was in Africa, the fella who would come and get us at
the hotel and take us to the church, his name was Philip,
he wouldn't let me carry anything. I had everything in my backpack.
It was easy to walk down a flight of stairs and get in the van.
No, he carried it. Why? That's to receive someone
in a manner worthy of the saints. In Ephesians 4, verses 1 and
2, therefore, As a prisoner of the Lord, I urge you to walk
in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one
another in love. Now, you and I have a calling.
Paul talks about being called heavenward in Christ. We have
a calling. We've been called to Christ.
We've been called to life. We've been called to eternal
blessings. Now, what would be considered a way of life that's
consistent with that calling? Well, it certainly wouldn't be
a life of pride, would it? Because that call is a gracious
call. It wouldn't be a life of harshness because God has treated
us with such kindness. It wouldn't be a life of being
quick-tempered and easily offended, would it? because we know how
offensive we have been to God and yet how well we've been treated.
So we walk in a manner worthy of that calling. In Colossians
1.10, He says that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and
please him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing
in the knowledge of God. You say walk worthy of the Lord?
Not, like once again, this does not mean live in a way that makes
you worthy of the Lord. Rather, live in a way that is
consistent with you calling Jesus Lord. and live in a way knowing that
he is with you at all times, and in particular, when the church
meets like this, we know that he is here. If our Lord Jesus
were to physically appear today in our worship, how do you think
we'd treat one another? I'll bet you we would be on our
P's and Q's, as the old phrase says. I'll bet you we wouldn't
have a harsh word to say about anybody, would we? We wouldn't
do anything that we thought would be contrary to what our Lord
wanted, and that's what he's saying. That's to walk worthy
of the Lord. It's sad but true that our natural
reaction to words like worthy is to think of them simply in
terms of outward visible appearances. Now religion cares a lot for
the way you look on the outside, and it cares little for the heart.
That which adorns the gospel, or is worthy of the gospel, is
the evidence produced by the gospel, and that evidence is
as singular as the gospel is. The gospel is one thing, there's
only one gospel. and there's only one sure evidence
of it, and that is faith in Christ. Paul does not leave the church
in a lurch as to what he means by conduct that's worthy of the
gospel of Christ. It has to do with the spirit,
the mind, and the faith, and not so much here as he's using
it, not so much in the sense of the individual, though each
one of us as individuals could apply it to ourselves, but in
reference to the whole body of Christ, which is individual elements
or members functioning in a singular manner for a singular purpose. So Paul says, whether I come
or not, you as a church, walk worthy of the gospel, and what
is that? All of you work together for
the fervence of the gospel, for the worship of Christ. This way
of life that becomes the gospel is to stand fast in one spirit
with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. That's what he says right there
in verse 27. Now this is what the church ought
to be doing at all times. And there's nothing that happens
in the world that should change that conduct of the church. Stand fast. Be in one spirit. There's nothing more wonderful
than a church wherein the people dwell together in peace and unity. around one Lord, one faith, one
hope, one God, one Father. When they come here, they come
here for one thing, to worship Christ. And if there be any differences,
natural differences among them, they leave them outside. And they join together. contending for the faith as though they were one person. Now, in verse 28, let's look
at that, without being frightened in any way by those who oppose
you. Paul, once again, declares that
the believers' troubles are just a matter of course, and that
they're not to be terrified by them, not by their adversaries. They're not to be overthrown
by the fact that troubles come into their lives. After all,
the Lord said to his disciples, in this world you will have trouble. So why should we expect it to
be any other way? Paul hasn't yet identified the
adversaries that he speaks about. He does that later on in the
letter. In chapter three, he calls them
dogs, evil workers, and the concision. Now, each of these descriptions
is important. Each of them denotes the character,
dogs, unclean animals. I know that we have them as pets
now and we think the most wonderful thing ever. But back then they
were just looked upon in many ways, like we look on coyotes
now and hyenas and things like that. They're scavengers. Their behavior is described as
evil workers, and their doctrine, which he calls the concision,
it's talking about the Jews trying to bring circumcision as a necessary
part of salvation. They are those who seek to destroy
the truth. Now Paul makes it clear that
these people glory in the flesh, and he goes on to describe this
flesh, what it means, by using himself as an example. An example
of the useless, false, and erroneous notion that personal merit, personal
effort, has any part in the salvation of the sinner. Now that's the
enemies of the church. I realize, even the book of Revelation
acknowledges this. There is only one enemy to the
church in particular, and that's the devil himself. And then he
has his minions in the spiritual world that work with him. He
has his agents in the physical world. But Paul says, we don't
wrestle against flesh and blood. Politicians come and go. Some
of them make it difficult for the church. Some, not so much. But they're not the enemy. The real enemy of the church,
the most subtle enemy of the church, are those who come in
not denying the gospel outright. Oh, you gotta have Christ. But
then they try to add something to that. And what they try to
add seems perfectly reasonable. And that's the danger. Remember
Satan's temptation of Eve. He, that fruit of the tree, he
said, you know, that fruit will make you wise. You'll know things
you didn't know before. After all, God calls it the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil. Looks to me like he's trying
to hide knowledge from you. And it tastes good. seemed perfectly reasonable to
Eve to eat. She was deceived by the craftiness
of the serpent, and he tempted her not with what was obviously
wrong, but what seemed to be perfectly reasonable. All those who oppose God are
enemies of the truth, but the vast majority of them are easily
found out, easily discovered, and a believer can spot them
without any special instruction to describe them. Our Lord did not speak of a counterfeit
that was so, or our Lord did speak of a counterfeit that was
so cleverly wicked that if it were possible, it would deceive
even the elect. And this brings us back to the
grace of our preservation. In our natural selves, we still
have no ability to perceive truth from error. It is only because
God who first taught us the truth keeps teaching it to us, keeps
working it in us so that we, have, as it were, a sixth sense
of what is true and what is not. Now, to be a good counterfeit,
it's got to look very much like the real thing. And that's where
the danger comes in. We call ourselves sovereign gracers.
There's a lot of people call themselves sovereign gracers.
That is, they believe that God is sovereign over His grace,
but there are a lot of sovereign gracers that have added to the
truth of sovereign grace. One of the things that some of
them have added, some of them almost innocently, if that's
the proper word to use, may have corrected themselves, but there
are some that say not only are we saved by sovereign grace,
unless you have a and astute understanding of the sovereignty
of grace, you aren't saved. Which I think is a very interesting
thing when you look at the apostolic messages recorded in the book
of Acts, and there's really not that much instruction on those
parts. They are taught in the Bible,
and they are, in a sense, the very water in which the gospel
floats. But the gospel, as one needs to understand it,
is not a matter of a complex system of doctrines. It is that
very simple thing that I've mentioned to you before. It's the knowledge
that I'm a sinner in need of a savior, and Jesus Christ is
the savior I need. But they add doctrines, just
keep piling on more doctrines, you gotta know, and this and
that. Anything that you add to simple faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ as God's appointed Savior, anything you require above that
is more than God requires. Well, why is it that our adversaries
are an evident token that our salvation is of God. It says, this is a sign to them
that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved, and
that by God. Well, this is a sign concerning
them. Paul gives the answer in verse
29. It's been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only
to believe on him, but also to suffer for him. So what is he
saying? When people persecute you for
the truth of Christ, it is one more token that they will be
destroyed and you will be saved. Because you see, that's the way
it's always been for God's people. Look at the first two men born
in the world. One killed the other over the
gospel. Now, it couldn't have been any
fun for Abel as his brother bludgeoned him to death. But you know what? It was proof that Abel was the
right one. The truth never raises a weapon, a fleshly weapon, against
error. Suffering, trials, and tests
are a given with the child of God. And the purpose of these
things is singular. They are, by design, the providential
means that God employs to bring his children, who are prone to
wonder, back to the feet of Christ. Faith and the enemies of the
faith, the adversaries, are God's gift to his children. Both of them help us. Without
faith, you can't please God. Without adversaries, you wouldn't
know you have faith. You ever think of it that way?
One of the best ways to know that someone really believes
is to see what he does in the face of the enemies of the truth. It says the righteous are as
bold as lions. I've seen people that were so timid they'd hardly
tell you their name. But you say something contrary,
you say something dishonoring to Christ around them and watch
them stiffen up. Well, he goes on to say, since
you are going through the same struggles you saw I had, and
now hear that I still have. He said, you're going through
the same kind of things I went through. You saw it when I came
to Philippi the first time. You've heard about it in every
place I go. As someone once said, Paul, when he came into a town,
didn't look for the motel. He didn't need the address of
the motel. He'd find out the address to jail, because that's where
he's eventually going to end up. And that's the way it is
with the people of God. You and I are blessed to live
in a country that so far hasn't put any real severe restrictions
on us. But the day may come. And may
we see it not as a dark day, but as a day in which God confirms
to us that we are of him. All right, you are dismissed.