Philippians 2 is what we're going
to look at, but it goes together, so we're going to read a couple
of verses. As you know, this wasn't written
in chapters and verses. Paul said in verse 29 of chapter
1, unto you it is given, speaking to the saints, unto you it is
given in the behalf of Christ. not only to believe on Him, but
also to suffer for His sake, for His glory, His honor, His
name's sake. Having the same conflict you
saw in me. Paul suffered greatly, didn't
he? And he said, I'm willing to,
he said, I would be honored to die for Him. And he said, you
saw it in me, and you now hear it to be in me. If there be therefore. any consolation in Christ, if
any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels
and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having
the same love, being of one accord and of one mind. Now, we just
looked at two words, well, four words, the conversation of the
believer, the conflict, And a consolation. There be any consolation in Christ.
Any comfort of love. The prize. The consolation prize,
if you will, that believers receive is a high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. As we said, it's no second-rate
prize. It's first. A high calling of
God in Christ. To be with Him someday. What
a consolation we have through all this we go through. This
is nothing. The light affliction, he called
it a light affliction compared to the eternal weight of glory
that we shall. In fact, our Lord said it's going
to be so glorious that the form of things won't even come to
mind. No matter how much pain, no matter how much suffering,
how many tears, no matter how much sorrow, no matter how much
sin, you won't even think about it. You'll be so overjoyed. You know, our troubles and sorrows
right now seem to outweigh our joys. It seems like they override
our joy. But not then. There won't be
any remembrance of the former thing. That's consolation. Look at Revelation 2. Revelation
chapter 2. I'm sorry, 7. Revelation 7. This
is the end. Revelation 7, that's the radio
message. Oh, that they were wise to consider
their latter end. Teach us to number our day. In a few short years, we're going
to go the way. And here's where we'll be. In
Revelation 7, look at verse 9. After this I beheld, and lo,
a great multitude, which no man could number. So why not me? Why not you? You afraid you won't
be there? Why? I'm too sinful. Oh no. Ask the thief on the cross.
You're not too sinful. Ask Mary Magdalene. She'll tell
you. Ask Rahab. She's right up front. Her and
Mary are right up front. No. There's no such thing as
being too sinful. He's able to save the other mother.
And they're all sinful. And he said, I saw a great multitude
which no man could number of all nations and kindreds, families,
people, tons, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed
with white robes and palms in their hand, and cried with a
loud voice. Now this is not a voice of woe,
this is a voice of victory, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth
upon the throne. and unto the Lamb. And all the
angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders,
and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces,
and worshipped God, saying, Amen. Blessing, and glory, and wisdom,
and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be unto
our God for ever and ever. Amen. One of the elders answered,
saying unto the beast, What are these which are arrayed in white
robes? And whence came that? I said unto him, Sir, now I knowest. He said to me, These are they
which came out of great tribulation. They all did, every one of them.
And have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood
of the land. They are before the throne of
God, and serve him day and night in his temple. And he that sitteth
on the throne shall dwell among them. Happy people. That's our consolation. Look
at Revelation 17. Look at that. The world, false religion, the
woman, Babylon, made war with the Lamb. It was that war with
the Lamb all their days. All their days on earth. That's
what Paul said. This conflict. This warfare. Right? It's real. You know it.
You experience it. You shall be hated. Well, they
made war with the Lamb, but the Scripture says previous to this,
they overcame by the blood of the Lamb. And verse 14, These
shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them.
He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and they that are with
Him. Is this you? Called? You see you're calling,
brethren? Not many wise men of the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble. Base things, things that are
gnarled. Huh? Nobodies from nowhere. Nothings
and nobodies. Sinners. Is that your calling?
You'll be with Him. You're going to be with Him.
Chosen. What do you think about election? The elect say, if there's no
election, I won't be there. And faithful. Full of faith in
the Lamb. Loyal to His cause. true to His
cause. Where is the consolation? We're
going to be with Him. And in our text it says, if any
comfort, and I want to emphasize this word, any. Do you find any
consolation in Christ? I mean, a little bit? That's
better than nothing. And some people don't give Him
a thought. Some people aren't the slightest bit interested
in God and Christ and eternity and sins forgiven in this gospel. Some people are not interested.
You got any? If you got any, it's a gift from
God. If you have faith, you say, I
have such small faith. Well, is it just the grave of
a mustard seed? That's faith. Any? You find any
consolation? Any comfort? of love? Comfort of love? His love? God's
love for His people? Christ's love? Our Lord said,
the world will hate you. Paul said, they hated me. Well,
what was His comfort? God loves me. No one loves me. One time Paul said, well, in
the next chapter he bemoans, he said, I have no man Like minded,
another place, he said, everybody in Asia left me. Well, like David
said, my father and my mother may have forsaken me, but the
Lord take me in. Does that give you any comfort?
He said, nobody loves me. The only one that matters does.
You know that? The only one that matters. The
world may hate you, but God, if you're in Christ, God loves
you. So here's the comfort. And there's comfort and the love
of the brethren for us. Look at 1 John 3. 1 John chapter
3. There's comfort in the love of
the brethren for us and our love for them. There's comfort there.
By this we know we've passed from death unto life. Look at
verse 1 of chapter 3. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us. Chapter 4, it says, And this
was the love of God toward us manifest, and God sent His only
begotten Son into the world. Here's love. Not that we love
God, but He loved us, sent His Son to be the propitiation for
our sin. If God so loved us, we ought
to love one another. Well, God's people do. Look at
verse 1. It says, Chapter 3, What manner
of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called
the sons of God. Verse 14, we know we've passed
from death unto life because we love the brethren. Do you love these brethren? Look
at chapter 5. Can you not say from your heart,
these are my brethren, my true brethren, my real family? Can
you? You say that my love is so weak and so faint and so poor. Do you have any? Any? There was a time that these weren't
the people I wanted to associate with. Would you? They told me,
you're going to go spend, that these are going to be your constant
companions. Nobody else. Not me. See, I was too cool. Too proud. Chapter 5, Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is Christ, that Christ is born of God. Simon
Peter said, we believe. No, we're sure. And everyone
that loveth him that begat, that is God, loveth him that also
is forgotten of God. By this we know. We love the
children of God. We love God. This is the love
of God. Do you? Any? Any? And if you love, you don't want
to leave. You don't want them to leave you. You don't want
to leave them. That's love. Any? Do you have any love? All right,
look at the next sentence in our text. Ecclesiastes 2.1. If any fellowship of the Spirit. Any fellowship of the Spirit. The title of this message is
subject. Fellowship and feelings. Fellowship, feelings, and mercies.
These are three different things. Fellowship of the Spirit. If
you have any fellowship. If you have any fellowship. Now
true fellowship is spiritual between brothers and sisters
in Christ. The Word, and I marvel at God's
providence in creating the English language, which is the language
which the Gospel is most spoken in. It's not the leading language
on earth. I think it's Hindi is the leading language. speak
that language, but they don't speak the truth in that language.
The truth is spoken, preached, and declared mostly by English-speaking
people. Okay? And more people are learning
it every day. English. And that's by design.
That's God's purpose. And in His purpose in creating
the English language, there's so many words that people came
up with that were derivatives of this and derivatives of that,
but God See, the lot is cast in the lake. What are we going
to call this work? With the whole disposings of the Lord. What
are we going to call this that God's people have around the
gospel? Fellowship. And that's exactly what it is. It's fellows in the ship. The word fellowship in the dictionary
means relationships. We all are saying relation. Related in Christ. It means companionship. There's always a ship. Are you
with me? Do you understand that God made
the English language like that? That big ball in the sky, what
are we going to call that in the English language? The Son? Fellowship, companionship, relationship. The dictionary says it's a condition
or relation of being fellows. A fellow. That is what you would
call Christ's chosen disciples. They're His fellows. He chose
them. And you ladies, you're a feller.
It's fellows in the same ship. It's a precious word. It's a
term reserved for this precious and blessed thing and relationship
we call the church. And worship, worship, that's the scriptural meaning
of the word. God's chosen, God's children,
God's believers, when they get together, Look at Luke chapter
6. God brought them together and
they have this relationship. They have this companionship. David said, I'm a companion of
them that fear Thee. They have this fellowship. It's
called the fellowship of the mystery. It's only when it revolves
around the gospel worship. That's the only time you can
apply this. Eating, drinking, all that's just socializing.
But around the gospel, it's called the fellowship of the mystery,
the fellowship of the gospel, the fellowship of His suffering,
the fellowship. Fellows in the ship, like fellows
in a ship are their life, their conversation, everything from
the time they wake up. I've been in a ship. for a long
period of time. My father was in a ship for months
at a time. There's not a waking day that
you don't think about the ship. Your life is that ship. Everybody
in that ship has one concern, that that ship make it. If the ship goes down, they go
down. They work, they serve, they clean,
they cook, they do all this in the ship for one another. That's
good. illustration of this, the church,
this fellowship. You're not in the ship. You're
not a fellow in the ship. And you can't have fellowship
with those outside the ship. Does that make sense? How can
light have fellowship with darkness? They're poles apart like two
things, a magnet. They repulse each other. How
can Christ have concord with Baal? Luke 6, look at this. Now, in
Mark's Gospel, it says, verse 12, he went up into a mountain
to pray, continued all night in prayer, and when it was day,
he called unto him his disciples. Mark's Gospel says, He went up
into a mountain and called unto Him whom He would. He went up
into a mountain and called unto Him whom He would. And they came.
They came. He chose them. He called them. He went up into a mountain. And
they came to Him. And boy, were they glorified
in Him to see His glory. Alright, now look at it. And He named them. And come down
to verse 17, it says, and he came down with them. He came down with them and stood
in the plain and the company of his disciples. The word companion
comes from company. Company. Who did he keep company
with? Who did he visit? Who was his
companion? Those he called. They were his
companions. He came down. He was high on
a mountain. And he came down and stood with
them in the plain. A plain man, a plain brown rapper,
but always anything to play. Isn't that a blessing? Words. I love
words. I love God's word. Fellowship. Fellowship. Do you have any? Is this not, you fellows in Christ,
is this not your greatest joy? Is this not your life? Is not
Christ your life, His people? If it's not, you don't have life.
Hmm. It's often written, it's fellowship. Any? Have any? Any fellowship? You know, growth and grace should
produce more comfort, more consolation, and fellowship. You should find
yourself and joy in God's people more than ever. That's growth
and grace. Realizing these are my true companions. And I'm going to be with these
people forever. I look at the next word in our
text. Verse 1 of Philippians 2. Now, fellowship of the Spirit.
Let me say this. Of the Spirit. A lot of talk
about the Spirit today in religion. What does the Holy Spirit do?
And I'm going to talk more about it in the next message. The Spirit
is called the Spirit of Truth. He's called the Spirit of Christ. And Christ said, He'll take the
things of mine. He was talking to His fellows.
He was talking to His chosen fellows. Peter, James, Simon,
James, John, Bartholomew, he was talking to those fellows.
Talking to other people. Talking to them. Private message
in John 14, 15, 16. And in a prayer he prayed for
his fellows. But he said, he's going to take the things of mine.
I'm going to send the comforter. He's going to come to you. And
he's going to take the things of mine and show them to you.
Because I'm leaving. And you're going to have sorrow.
But the comforter is going to take the things of mine. And
you're going to have fellowship around me. That's the Spirit. That's the fellowship of the
Spirit. Those who have this in common,
this relationship in Christ. And the word also means the same
taste. Fellowship has the same taste, same likes. Alright, look at the next word. You notice, and mercies, that's
something in addition to any bowels. Now, this is another
biblical term that's not used in modern day. It's indicative, very indicative
of the words that they remove. I looked at the New King James
and I took it out. The New King James says, what
does it say? It said, affection. Effectual. This goes deeper than that. There's
a reason why the Lord used this word. I think you'll rejoice
when you hear it. Balance. It's significant. Now,
here's something to think about. When man gets further and further
from the truth, the more he changes and perverts and corrupts God's
Word, the more people, when they hear words like this, when they
hear the original, when they hear the truth as it is, As it
was written, they're going to say, what is this strange doctrine? It's going to become so strange. Man has such refined tastes now
that we've gotten away from that. In fact, you won't hear the word
blood in modern religion. Let's not think about that. No,
let's think about it. Because that's what they're talking
about and singing about in glory. Most people think these words
are strange. I'm going to tell you what it
means, okay? This is a wonderful word. There's nothing unclean
of excel. Balance. God created everything. Everything
good. Everything marvelous. Everything
needful for His glory. Everything. The basic functions
of our body are wonderful. Marvelous. Yes they are. There's nothing unclean. You
ladies, when your children were small, all of these things that
they, you know, did, was that unclean to you? Was that despicable
to you? Was that, oh, this is awful.
Let's not deal with it. No. It's just a part of life
and you're glad it's working in order. Alright, this word bowels. Man
being so sinful. Man is so sinful, he's made something
dirty and filthy out of everything. Scripture calls it bed. It's
undefiled. In marriage, outside of marriage,
it's abomination. It's fornication. But man is
taking something clean and giving bad words for it. Dirty words
where it's just filth. He's making it filthy. Right? Our Lord was here on earth as
a man. Nothing was unclean or filthy to him. Man is so simple. There's a great
depth of meaning in this word. The word comes from the Hebrew
word, mayah. And it includes everything. Listen, you're going to get a
blessing out of it. The vital organ, when it talks
about the bowels, the scriptures talk about the loins, down deep
within. This is the, if you get, the
old cowboys used to call it, if you get shot, forget it. Forget
it. It's over. They just let you
die. The bowels, the loins, this down
in here, this is all the seed of life. Okay, everything in
here. It has to do with the soft organs. The soft organ, vital
organs in the abdomen, the intestines, the stomach includes the uterus,
the womb. Oh, what a marvelous creation
that is. The belly, the word implies softness as in something
very sensitive. The word sympathy comes from
this word, all the soft tissue, tender to sensitive. Is there
any tenderness, any sensitivity, any softness in the vital parts
of your being? You know, these organs within,
down in our bellies and bowels and loins and all that, they
produce feelings. Emotional feelings can produce
feelings down here, don't they? Always, always. We talk about
having hunger, pains. My wife, she says, if I don't
get something to eat, I'm going to die. I tell her, no you're
not. But she has such a yearning. Down deep in her belly. Do you
have that for the gospel? If any. Any. There was a time you didn't
have any. Deep down within you. You know, shame and guilt. It creates down deep within you
a hollow feeling. Have you ever had a hollow feeling?
You can't put it into words, it's down in your bowel. Heartbreak. Sorrow. Have you
ever felt like there's a hole in your heart that will never
be filled? A deep down ache that can't be
put into words. A bowel ache. If you get scared, these all
produce fear down deep. It affects your bowels. This
is not unclean. It's a wonderful work. It's far
more descriptive than what men think. It's a new man
inside that God's created. Like these organs down deep within. The child of God, the lover of
Christ, the Gospel, they yearn for Him. They have a hole in
their heart. Their heart is broken by the
Lord. They have hunger, pain. They have guilt and shame within
them that leaves a hollow, empty feeling down deep in their bowel
that only Christ and the Gospel can fill. You know what I'm talking
about. Joseph. It goes way back to Genesis. Joseph, it says, when he saw
his brother Benjamin, his bowels yearned for him. The Shulamite maiden was asleep
and she heard her beloved put his hand in the door. She woke
up and was ashamed that she was too busy to go answer the door
to her beloved. And she says, Her bowels moved
for him. What's wrong with me? Oh, I've
lost him. I'm not going to get him back.
And she went looking for him. Can anybody tell me where he
is? She said, I'm sick of love. Any? You had any of that? It's a good sign. The word bowels, as I said, includes
the uterus and the womb. That's a marvelous thing, and
that's where life begins, doesn't it? You ladies have had the privilege,
the blessing of experiencing that. Tell me, there was a time
when you felt that first little flutter. Huh? You remember that, ladies? I
don't remember, because I've never felt it. These men can't
enter into that. But you ladies, that first little
time when you felt this, you wondered, am I pregnant? Am I
pregnant? Flutter. How'd you react? I'll never forget one minute.
It moved! Just a little, just a little
flutter. Any? Does your heart flutter when
you hear the gospel? Isn't this right now? Any? Isn't that a
good description of life? New life? Flutter when your heart? It begins to flutter. It was
hard. That's been softened. You've
experienced these bowels. And mercy. That's a separate
word. And mercies. Oh, don't you love
the word mercy? How's that sound to you? Can
I talk too much about God's mercies? You know, it's of the Lord's
mercies that we're not concerned. You know, His mercies are new
every morning. You know, His mercy endures forever. David loved it so much, in one
psalm, he said it in every single verse. 26 times, I believe it
was. His mercy endures forever. What
do you think about that? Have you experienced any mercies? Have you felt or experienced
some mercy of God that would make you grateful and humble
and amaze you? Any mercy? Any mercy? And that produces feelings of
mercy for your brethren. Do you have any feelings of mercy
for your brethren? Any? As I said, there was a time
when I didn't care for God's people. I didn't worry about
that. I didn't lose any sleep over
God's people. It's of the Lord's mercies that
you've experienced mercy. If so, so he says, if so, and
this actually will be Wednesday night's message, the mind of
Christ. Verse 2, fulfill my joy that you'd be like-minded, having
the same love, being of one accord and one mind. Paul said this
would fill me with joy and it would fill you with joy. We're
going to look at it more Wednesday. It will fill you with joy. It
will be like-minded. I like the word accord. I like
that. I love singing with Brother John. Sometimes the Lord really blesses
it. And we can enter into the song and I just love you standing
there beside me and we're singing in harmony. It's a beautiful
thing. when it harmonizes in it. And even though... Mandy, bless her heart, she loves
to sing, but we start singing and I'll start singing a harmony
with her and she just loses it. She doesn't know, you know. But
that's alright. But isn't a quartet or a duo
or a duet or a trio or a quartet singing in perfect harmonies
or anything more beautiful? The human voice is the most beautiful
instrument on earth. It really is. And for like two
people to be singing in harmony, three people, four people. I
remember one conference, we had four of us. Two of our ladies
and me and another singing, nearer my God to thee. Oh, bless me
so much. We're all singing, nearer my
God to thee in perfect harmony. Boy, it's bad if somebody gets
out of sorts here and messes everything up. He
says, fulfill my joy. Let this my be one accord, one
purpose, one desire, love and accord and harmony and unity
and the cause of Christ standing in defense of the gospel. Thank
you very much.