Paul is just expressively saying
things, sharing things, living out his faith. And yet, from
what he says in general as a witness or a testimony, we, as the church,
can see deep theological truths. So here is, in some sense, a
way for us to understand that there's ways that the Bible teaches
without teaching directly. There's a way to learn about
who God is without somebody in the text writing, and this is
how God is. Because Paul, what he's doing
is he's beginning to express himself in a way that is personal. Paul is imprisoned. He's being
reached out by the Philippian Christians for support and prayer.
He is confident of things. He's certain of things. He's
most importantly joyful in all things. And that is the theme
that will run throughout Paul's testimonies. Throughout Paul's
letter here, there's the theme of joy that comes through Christ. But see, Paul in some sense doesn't
give this this lecture on theology, about who Jesus is, and how God
has saved Him, and how specifically His joy works within the Trinitarian
understanding of God's persons. He doesn't give all of this.
This is not a seminary exposition, but rather a personal letter
written from the heart of a man who is led and directed by the
Spirit of God in all things. And let me expressly help you
understand. So let me let me help you. Let me express something
to you for a second. Because of this, we who are the
children of God, when we hear the witness and the testimony
of God's people, the spirit that is inside of them is the same
spirit that is inside of us. And because of that, we can then
also partake in the same things. specifically as the Philippian
church partakes in in grace. And Paul says that you are partakers
with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and the defense
of the confirmation of the gospel. so that as I suffer in my imprisonment,
God's grace is with me, I have overwhelming joy, and I understand
the reason for my imprisonment, and it gives me even more joy.
You are suffering with me, therefore you are partakers of grace. My
imprisonment is a gift of God. Grace. And also you partake of
grace, not just through my suffering and my imprisonment, which is
a gift of God, which is for my joy, but also you are partakers
of grace in the defense and the confirmation of the gospel. For,
as he says, God is my witness, I have long, deep, heartfelt
affection and the love of Christ Jesus for you. God has established
this love for you. It is here and it is joyful to
me because he's already said that you make my prayers joyful
when I remember you. It is with joy that I pray for
you. It is with joy that I suffer in this way. And because of that,
I am content. I'm satisfied in Christ in this
circumstance. And so Paul doesn't explain all
that. He doesn't say, see, because
the gospel does this for us, then the gospel does this for
us. It's not like the letter to the Romans where Paul really
gets into some theological issue. Now he's going to get into some,
but right now Paul is expressly sharing his heart. And out of
the sharing of Paul's heart, we can see the doctrine of God.
We can see theology. We can see the teaching of scripture.
We can see the gospel centrality, not just in itself in an academic
way or a learning way, but we can see it at work in Paul. So it's not just the fact that
Paul could have said, yeah, I'm miserable, but let me teach you
some doctrine. Paul lived it. He lived it in His words and
He lived it in His life. He lived it in His heart and
His mind and His soul. So much so that He told the Romans
in chapter 12 to make your bodies a living sacrifice as an offering
of worship through the transformation of the gospel by the renewing
of your mind, the knowledge of God, theology. Knowing God is eternal life,
Jesus said. So Paul is fully equipped by
knowing God through the face of Christ that he is able to
stand in this way in the midst of what most of us would be in
great despair. So there's things that we want
to see here, and this sermon may only take 10 minutes, but
this is what I call a sort of a segue. And then we're going
to stop in there because there's two things that I want to go
through in the next two weeks. One of them is I want to really
focus a whole sermon. I want to focus a whole sermon
on Paul's words where he says this. But that with, in the latter
part of verse 20, he says, but, as it is my ear expectation,
and I hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with
full courage, now as always, Christ, here we go, will be honored
in my body. whether by life or death. And
then verse 21, I want to focus on exclusively, though it goes
with what we're doing today and we'll share it, I want to really
expound upon it, for to me to live is Christ and to die is
gain. I want to take the next two weeks
and focus on those two things. Though they are a part of today
and they're a part of this, really they're a part of the rest of
this, I think that we would do We would do an injustice to Paul's
writing. We would do an injustice to God's
intention if we didn't spend some time contemplating on these
things. Because I want you to know, how many of you have ever
heard, don't raise your hand, but how many of you have ever
heard a sermon on Philippians 121? A lot of people would say,
never. But how often do we hear it?
Do we hear it and just go, for to live is Christ. And everybody's like, Amen. What
are we amening? The words? You see, that's what's
wrong with ill-effective preaching outside the context of scripture
as it's written. That's why exposition is the
only way to thoroughly and biblically preach the Bible. If I give you
a prepositional phrase in the middle of a sentence, what good
is it to you? The Bible must be heard as the Bible was intended
to be heard, and that is word for word, sentence for sentence,
theme for theme, paragraph by paragraph, verse by verse in
its entirety. You haven't learned anything
from Philippians if you haven't learned Philippians. Now when
the rubber hits the road and we've got problems and the walls
are up and the ox are in the ditch, we have to take some time
out and we have to use the text. But as we use a text, we use
it in the context, which means that if I'm going to teach you
Philippians 4, then you need to know that I need to know what Philippians 1 through 3
are talking about. Because it's a letter. It's a letter. And Paul, in the same way, I
mean he's talking about some stuff here that really just,
it widens my scope and it narrows my scope at the same time. It
widens my scope in the sense that all of a sudden I start
to see a larger area in which the gospel has influence. Outside
the scope of me. And you, and our little fellowship. But it narrows my scope and then
I start to see the intricate ways in which the gospel works
and the minute details of our life are so important in the
face of Christ that they're not to be ignored. And you'll see
what I mean next week. That Paul, when he says that
I am eagerly expecting and hopeful that I will not be ashamed, be
put to shame or be ashamed. But, what does he say? With full
courage, now, as always, Christ will be honored in my body. Here, we see Paul's joy. Paul is expressing his joy. He's
not teaching it, he's expressing it. So everything that Paul has
ever taught, when he planted the church in Philippi, he taught
them this. He taught them the doctrines
of God. the teaching of God. He taught
them to study God through the writing of the Word of God. He
taught them that knowing God alone was eternal life and that
God was only known and completely known through Jesus Christ, His
Son, as the Word has expressly and explicitly taught Jesus Christ,
the Son. Jesus didn't come and create
addendums to God's Word. Jesus fulfilled fulfilled it. He is the fulfillment. He is
the Logos through which the universe leapt into being. The word Logos
is our translated, literated, country way of saying word in
Greek. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was God, and the Word was with God. The Logos
there, every time you hear the word Word, the Greek word there
is Logos. Or Logos for us that like to
talk like we're from here. Jesus is the Word. Jesus fully
demonstrates, fully expresses, fully fulfills, fully exposes
God in His fullness. And He came to fulfill all of
Scripture. And He has. And He will. And
Paul is joyful in the mere fact of that. Paul is overwhelmingly
satisfied with joy as his back bleeds, as his chains rattle,
as his body aches from the cold, damp prison where he sits, as
his heart longs to be outside preaching and yet he's stuck
inside writing. He is content and he has the
fullness of joy. And Paul has taught this to them.
Now he is a testimony of that which was taught. Do you see
that? And then, for the sake of the
Philippian church, Paul not only now gives a testimony all the
way through chapter 1, and then in chapter 2 he says, so, if
there is any encouragement in Christ, like all this is happening,
So there's encouragement. If there isn't any encouragement
in Christ, let what? What does he say there? Any comfort
from love, any participation of the spirit, any affection
of sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having
the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. And he
starts to teach them some things about the outcome of such things.
What God has done that he is confident in the fact that God
will continue to do in those who are his. He finds joy. He finds joy because
he is suffering to advance the gospel. This is all review. among
many things. And here Paul begins to say some
things. He talked about the fact that
he was rejoicing, that there were people who were now emboldened
to preach the gospel, who were empowered to preach the gospel,
that because of his imprisonment, because of Paul's joy in prison,
because of Paul's resolve to find satisfaction in the fact
that God gave him the gift of imprisonment. I want you to think
about that when we hear the word grace. We think we preach it
incorrectly. We apply it incorrectly. We say,
Oh God, give me the grace to deal with this. Not a bad prayer. But at the
core of that is, God, this is a gift of grace. This circumstance
is a gift of grace. This pain is a gift of grace.
This suffering is a gift of grace. This dilemma is a gift of grace. This is a gift. So if God gifts
us graciously, God will then graciously empower us to endure
the gift with joy. It's really, it makes no sense
in the logic of our humanity. But it's exactly what God...
Every bit of pain, even in discipline, Hebrews teaches, is so that God
in His precious, gracious mercy would grow us into being lovers
of Him over lovers of anything else. So that when we think,
even when we sin and God chastises us as children, it is for our
good, the chastisement, the discipline, the pruning is grace. What's the antithesis? It's letting
it go. Letting it go because it stacks
justice and judgment up upon us. If we're not disciplined,
Paul says, we're illegitimate children. Oh, I gave away something.
The writer of Hebrews says, Paul has joy that he's suffering
to advance the gospels even though some people who now preach do
it out of rivalry so that they can show Paul up one on the streets. You want to know why we believe
in open air preaching and sharing the gospel in the community?
Because it's the only way to do it. Otherwise, we have to create inventive ways
of getting people to come into the folds of the congregation,
the people of God, the family of Christ, the redeemed, and
try to intermingle them in such a way, in masses, that they want
to come see what we've got going on. And then all of a sudden,
out of the blue, then we're tending all of our worship time to lost
people. Lost people can't worship Christ.
It's impossible. It's actually a mockery. So we've got to share our faith.
We've got to share our faith. Paul is excited. He doesn't care
that these people are conniving and manipulative and hoping he'll
sit there and go, well, they're doing better than I am. We talked
about that the week before last. He's rejoicing that Christ is
proclaimed. He's satisfied in the fact that
Christ is proclaimed. He doesn't care their motives.
As long as their gospel is right, he's joyful. And then here Paul then says, Yes, I rejoice whether in pretense
or in truth. Christ is proclaimed and in that
I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice. I will continue to rejoice. I will be rejoicing when you
come to see me. If I'm by myself in the ditch,
I'll be rejoicing. And if I'm on an island in exile,
I'll be rejoicing. And when the blood spills from
my severed neck, I will be rejoicing. That's how Paul died. And they thought they had won.
They gave Paul everything he lived for. That in my body, whether
in life or death, Christ be honored and I will not be put to shame. I will rejoice, verse 19, for. How will I rejoice, Paul says,
because I know. You see that? We could preach
a sermon on that. What does Paul know? We've already
been talking about it for nine weeks. And for probably 30 more. I know. I rejoice for I know. What is it that Paul knows? through
your prayers, Philippians, and by the Spirit of Christ helping
me through your prayers, I will be delivered. You see that? I will be delivered. All of this deals with Paul's
statement in verse 20, as it is also my eager expectation
and is also my hope. And I know that it is this way. I will not be at all ashamed. And we'll talk about that in
a minute to explain it because we're thinking of a shame in
a different way. We're thinking Paul's personally not wanting
to sort of look weak or, you know, that's something that our
mind is, we'll look at in a second. But he says, but with full courage
now, as I rejoice, and as always forever in the future, Christ
will be honored in my body, whether by death, life, or death. And
so in verse 21 when he says, for to me to live is Christ and
to die is gain, he begins to explain that prior to saying
it. And then he goes on to explain
it even more in verses 22 and beyond. And so Paul has great
joy that Christ will be magnified in him and through him. Now what in the world does it
mean to be magnified? We hear the word and go, Amen!
I want Christ to be magnified in me. What does it mean to wear
a Jesus t-shirt? Do I grow a stylish beard like Jesus had? Do I put
stickers on my car and repent and believe the gospel? Do I
act well in public and keep myself from idols? All but the t-shirt and the beard,
I mean, those aren't bad things. Christ is magnified through them,
but is that really what it's about? Is it about doing things
to give a, I don't know, a Jesus freak picture of ourselves? Is that really what being magnified
through us means? Christ is magnified in Paul. What does it mean? Well, think
about it. Let's use it in terms of just our English understanding
of the Word. If I've got something that I can barely see, and I can't read it like the
text in this Bible, what I need to do is get something that can
make it larger. Get something that can make it
more visible. Alright, you get it? Larger,
more visible, more prominent, overpowering, magnified. And what does John
the Baptist say? I must decrease that he may increase,
for the bridegroom gets the bride. And what's the response? Why
would John say that? Why would the baptizer say that?
Because his own disciples, We're coming to Him saying, look, the
people we're baptizing were going in Jesus. That's not right. And John says, the bride gets
the bridegroom gets the bride. I'm just the dude that was setting
down the reservations. I'm the guy that was setting
up the road signs, Kingdom of Heaven. I'm the voice crying
out in the wilderness, though he said he wasn't, to the Pharisees. Well, I can't say it that way.
Here are the passages. Here's the passage of the Lord.
Here comes the Christ. Behold the Lamb of God that takes
away the sins of the world, which I'm not worthy to tie the laces
of His sandals, much less walk before Him. John would say, must die so that
Christ may be made much of. That, in a sense, is where I
want you to start with our minute understanding of being magnified.
Christ basically just takes over. And people look at us, and they
know us, and they know who we were, and they know how we can
be, and they see nothing of that. And the human condition and the
human psyche and all these other words that we like to use in
our vernacular, they don't apply. No profiler can come along and
write a little expose of Paul. Well, see, now Paul is a learned
man and he's come from good birth and he's Jew of all Jews in the
tribe of Benjamin and a Roman citizen to boot. Very wealthy.
Very esteemed, so therefore he would probably be very, very
frustrated to be arrested and put inside of a Roman prison.
And because he is a Roman citizen, the way they've treated him,
he's entitled, he's going to exercise his rights to appeal.
He did. And he's going to show Caesar
just what happens and somebody's going to die for the way they've
treated Paul. That's what a good psychologist
would say. And Paul says, hey, I'm going to die for them so
that Christ may be magnified. They look at Paul. They don't
see Paul at all. They don't know Paul. They don't know him at
all. That's why he changed his name from Saul to Paul. People
say, hey, are you Saul from Tarsus? I don't know that guy. He died.
I'm Paul. Because the risen Christ met
me when I was going to kill his people. Saved me by grace apart
from my will My will was to destroy the way of Christ and Christ
met me on the path of destruction That's Paul Christ would be magnified
friends. Let me tell you something. We
can't really grasp it. I Think it should be one of those
things we just sort of wrap our arms Until they hurt then we
take them down and try it again later. I And we just keep moving
in our own lives, studying the Word of God, growing together.
And one day, one day, every one of us will be in a place where
we can apply what we see here. That Christ would be magnified
in my body. Honored. Made much of. Made to be big
that I might be nothing. And if you understand what's
coming over here in just a short time, is that Paul
says that he desires to do the same thing that Christ has done. and yet is not worthy to do that
which Christ has done because none of us are worthy of glory
and honor. But Christ, to whom all honor is due, made himself
a slave and took a death sentence that he was not guilty to take.
And in the same way, Paul then will soon instruct us and instruct
these Philippians to have that same mind, to become nothing. Paul has joy knowing, knowing,
certain that Christ will be magnified in his suffering, magnified in
his prayers, magnified in the partnership of the gospel with
the Philippians, magnified in the investment in the defense
of the gospel, magnified even in that pretense preaching of
those fools out there in the street who want to make Paul
hurt more. that Christ is going to be magnified. Christ, not
only in those things, but Christ is going to be magnified in Paul's
own physical body. Made much of. And Paul is confident He's confident
of some things, as he says. He knows that by your prayers
and the help of the Spirit of Christ Jesus, this will turn
out for my deliverance. Now, there are people who would
argue with, see, he's talking about death. It's certainly inclusive
of that. But more specifically, I'm going
to tell you, Paul is eagerly expecting to be released from
prison. But he's fine if it doesn't.
How does Paul know that he is going to be released from prison?
Probably the same way that he knows that he was going to be
put there. How is Paul confident of imprisonment? What does he
tell the elders? Is it Ephesus? All I know that awaits me is
prison. I know nothing. Spirit of God
has given me the desire to go there. And the only thing I can
expect, because they're probably saying, what's going to be like,
Paul, what's your plan, Paul? What are you going to do, Paul? He's
like, I'm going to go to town and say, Jesus, and they're going
to lock me up. And then my ministry is going to start. That's how
it's going to work. So I'm not going to even get
my foot in the door until I go to jail. And then when I go to
jail, then I'll have an office to work out of. I mean, that's
sort of the way Paul saw it. So Paul knew from the very beginning
of his salvation that he would suffer for the sake of the gospel,
that he would suffer for the name of Christ because Christ
sent the prophet to tell him. Christ sent the messenger to
tell him, you will suffer greatly for my name. And Paul knew it. The same spirit that gave Paul
life is the same spirit that gave Paul direction, is the same
spirit that gave Paul courage, is the same spirit that gave
Paul suffering. The same Spirit that gave Paul
understanding of what was to take place in his life through
suffering is the same Spirit that gave him the confidence
to know that this moment he would be released from prison. But
only because God's Holy Spirit pressured in the sense that I'm
trying to say pressured, maybe that's not the right word, but
purposed. But it goes beyond that. The
Spirit of God presses in our hearts that we pray for people.
And we go, oh, I need to pray for people. And then we pray
for people and that same Spirit that purposes and presses us
to pray answers the prayers that He tells us to pray. Romans 8. And when we're unable
to pray in our weakness, the Spirit prays for us. And that's
difficult. There's a lot there that I still
have yet to really fully How when I'm on the floor crying,
am I praying? Because I'm not. But if we are filled with the
Spirit of God, we are the children of God. God intercedes. Christ
intercedes. Who interceded for Christ? How
was Christ able to pray at the Garden of Gethsemane? How was
Christ able to pray when the very core of His inner three
fell asleep? when he says to them, I am in
anguish to the point of death. Have you ever had somebody knock
on your door and say, and they're just, they're bleeding, they're
sweating blood, and they say, I'm about to die, and you go,
I gotta eat. Hold on a minute. You shut the
door. I'm really tired. Can you come
back tomorrow? That's sort of what his, that's
what his brothers did. They fell asleep. Jesus said, the spirit is will
and the flesh is weak. But Jesus went to the garden
and in all of His humanity, He prayed to God. How did He do
that? By the Holy Spirit. How did He
have confidence to know that what He was facing in His mind
and in His flesh at the moment that gave Him great fear, death
and judgment, Separation from what He knew as glory. This is
difficult. We can't answer these questions.
We can just ask them. For Him to say, Father, if it
be Your will, take this cup from me. Let it pass, but Your will
be done, not mine. And what was the will of Christ?
To do that which the Father had sent Him to do. Paul is joyful that he will be
released from prison because the Spirit that ministered to
Christ is ministering to him and teaching them to pray for
his release. Don't ever underestimate prayer.
You know why our prayers aren't answered? Because we don't pray. You ever been to the end of your
rope and wringing your hands about a situation? Even if it's
simple. Even if it's a problem. It's not directly affecting you,
but you're concerned for others. What if it is in your life? You
ever been to the end of your rope and you're just going, what
now? What am I going to do? I've thought of everything. I've
gone everywhere. I've tried everything. How am I going to get them to
see this, especially in salvation, especially spiritual issues where
people are just, there's no fruit or evidence of their lives being
transformed by the gospel. And you're thinking, what can
I say? You know what you can say? Dear Father, dear Father, pray. You can pray first and finally. We can pray to our Father in
heaven because Christ has given us direct access to Him through
His flesh. He has removed the veil. And
the Spirit of God that is filling all of us every moment of our
lives and dwells in us and teaches us how to pray, and we pray.
Paul knows that these prayers will result in his deliverance. And what's strange is it's not
necessarily what Paul wants, is it? There's a need there. Lord, you know I could do so
much if I weren't arrested. So let me out. But if you don't,
I'm satisfied to stay because this is more your will is is
wiser than anything I could consider. See how that looks. The Philippians
pray, Paul was confident, but understand that his joy did not
come from the knowledge of knowing he would be delivered from prison.
That's not where the joy comes from. There's some doctrine there
for us to understand the effectiveness of prayer. For us to understand
that even in the small needs that we pray for, that God gives
us the answers for. God, I need food. God, I need
money. God, I need healing. Good. Ask for those things. God
will answer those prayers in His time as He wills. For our
good. Even when it's no, it's for our
good. But getting or not getting those
things have nothing to bear on our joy. Nothing. Because Jesus even teaches to
his disciples after the rich young ruler walks away dejected
that it is impossible for a rich man to go and enter the kingdom
of heaven for he loves the world. And most of us say, well, we're
not rich. Yes, we are. You take the poorest of the poor
in this country and throw them in an impoverished nation? They're
mega millionaires. The clothes on our body cost
more than the average income annually in the world. It's impossible. for us to love
the world and love Christ. It's impossible for us to seek
the world and seek out the answers that the world would provide,
even when we give credit to God. God, if I could just get this
meal before me, then I'd be joyful. When the gospel says, and Paul
teaches here, I'm joyful when I starve to death. But if I could
get a meal, oh, thank you. this joy that he has. Look. And I will rejoice for I know
that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus
Christ this will turn out for my deliverance as it is my eager
expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed. Think
about it. As it is my eager expectation
and hope I want you to think about it for a second in the
context of those words. You say, well, it doesn't say
it is my joy that I will not be ashamed. Do you begrudgingly,
eagerly expect something? I just can't wait. What is eager?
I cannot wait. This is coming for me and it
is going to be great. Is that not joy? Is hope the
opposite of... Have you ever had a depressed
hope? No, usually hope is what lifts
us out of depression. Depression is hopeless despair.
The opposite of that is joy that comes through hope, that comes
through an eager expectation that Paul says he would not be
ashamed at all. He would not be ashamed. This
joy is right now. What does that look like? What
does it look like for Paul to talk about not being ashamed
and has the joy now? Here's what it looks like. This
that I'm experiencing and all that God has purposed for it,
no matter the outcome, is for my highest good. Hallelujah! And friends, there is nothing
on the canvas of our biography that does not fall into that
category if we are in Christ. Nothing. Dilemma, despair, death, divorce,
nothing. It's for our highest good if
we are in Christ. And so when it rolls our way
and we go, wow, that looks dark, we can say, hallelujah. Because
I have an eager expectation and hope. I will not be ashamed.
What's Paul talking about? Have you figured it out yet?
I will not be ashamed. What would he be ashamed for?
What was he being mocked for? Paul, you are a fool. You sit
here, you work this Jesus stuff, you write these people, you preach
this stupid stuff. Look at you. Look where you've
come from. You were in the Sanhedrin for crying out loud. You ruled
the nation of Israel. You centered their focus on God. And look at you, in prison, in
chains, laughed at, mocked, scoffed, made fun of. And the garbage
that you're spewing, people are dying because of it. They are
going and leaving their homes and losing their property. They
are losing their children to prison camps. And you are going
nowhere. You are a joke, Paul. See? And Paul says, I will not at
all be ashamed. What is he going to be ashamed
of? He's not going to be ashamed because he will not stop believing
in Christ. He will not be ashamed because he will never let up
on his hope that comes from Christ. He will not be ashamed because
no matter how hard it gets, his joy will be full. He will never
stop rejoicing in the centrality of Jesus Christ and the good
news that God has saved him in Christ alone. My hope is found. Period. And he will not be ashamed. He will not be ashamed, but will
have full courage now. And as always, Christ will be
honored in my body. See why I've got to spend some
more time with that. Whether by life or death. So Paul then says these words,
this that I experience right now is for my highest good and
I will not be ashamed because my faith is true and certain. Because God's faithfulness is
true and certain. And even if I die, I will rejoice
and will not be ashamed. I will not lose. Does it sound familiar? When
they took Jesus and arrested Him and found Him innocent in
two courts of no wrongdoing. And the people cry out, crucify Him. Pontius Pilate thought,
what am I supposed to do? He's done nothing wrong. If I lock Him up one more
minute, I'll go to the cross, Pontius would say, Pilate would
say. What do you want me to do with him? Crucify him. Crucify
him. You've spoken. I'll wash my hands. He washed his hands physically
right there. I'll wash my hands of this man's fate. You've spoken. But I cannot,
I cannot just kill him. I cannot just kill him. He must take the place of someone
who is guilty. What shall I do? Give us Barabbas. Let the man who murder people
on our streets go and kill this man. That's what the people said. And he spoke not a word. And they whipped him and they
beat him. And the Bible says that he was not recognizable
as a man. That there was not a point on
his body where his flesh was not ripped. And they lined the streets and
they threw stones at Him. They pulled out the hair of His
face, of His head. They put a crown of thorns into
His scalp and pierced His body. Mocked Him. And dressed Him in
robes, calling Him the King of the Jews. Look at your King now. Look at you now. And they nailed
Him to a cross and they hung Him up. naked, bloody, innocent, and
he spoke not a word in his defense. And they called him names, and
they made fun of him, and they cast lots for his possessions, and he died. And he was not ashamed. He was not ashamed. He would
not at all be ashamed. For God raised him to life. Vindicated the very essence of
his being. Vindicated everything he'd ever
said as truth, as power, as holy, as divine. And He is alive today
and all who are in Christ, though they suffer for the gospel, will
never, ever, ever be ashamed. What a transformation the gospel
makes. That when Adam and Eve hid from
God, they did so because they were naked and ashamed. And now
in Christ, who bore our shame on the cross, says that we shall
never be ashamed. We'll never be ashamed of Christ.
He will never be ashamed of us. I think that's what Paul is arguing
for here, very quickly in his testimony. And it's all for the glory of
Christ, that even though he dies, he will not be ashamed, for he
will receive the crown of righteousness. He tells Timothy that. When you
read Paul's letters to Timothy, they ought to break your heart. Because he writes these things
to a man that he loves and mentored to continue to suffer for the
gospel well after his days are over. And Paul writes his last
words to Timothy and he says to him, I am done. I have run
the race. I have run and finished and ready
to receive the prize. Come to me. Bring this stuff that we were
writing, the books, the tablets, my cloak, I'm cold. Bring it
to me. Bring John Mark with you. He's
important to me. There's a lot to talk about that.
In the book of Acts we see Barnabas and John Mark leaving Paul. And they plant a Philippian church
after that. He says, I've done and I've won. I'm in prison and I'm going to
die, but I've won because Christ is victorious. He was never vindicated on the
public square. The disciples were never vindicated. Their shame was never countered
in history, never will be. If you read a history book about
the people of Scripture, they're just foolish, zealot, loving
people who died for a good cause. A plus for them. Is that really
something to be proud of? Yeah. It's good to die for a
good cause, but there's no eternity in that. Paul knows that this will also
lead to a salvation, all for the glory of Christ. He understands
in review that the Spirit of God will purpose His people to
pray and the Spirit will work according to these prayers for
Paul's good. Paul knows this. He knows this
because He has received the grace of God just as we heard about
the cross of Christ, the grace of God given to Christ to endure
the cross. It's the same grace given to
Paul to endure the chains. It's the same grace given to
us to endure whatever, whenever comes our way. The question is, do we know it? Most specifically,
do we know Christ? Paul knows this, not just because
he's received this grace, but he has seen this grace at work.
He's seen it. He's a personal witness. Not just himself, but others,
but most specifically, Jesus. I'm telling you. Because what
he goes into over in the latter part of this of this chapter
is he starts to show us that his confidant comes and that
he has experienced what he's already witnessed. And what the
apostles, what most people would argue about the Galatians, the
true apostles, witnessed firsthand. That which we have seen, that
which was from the beginning, which we have touched with our
hands and heard with our ears. concerning the Word of Life that
was made manifest to us and now we proclaim to you the eternal
life. Paul has effectively experienced
the grace of God. The same grace given to his Savior
is given to him. How do we know Paul has this
great confidence? How do we know Paul is expressly
talking about this grace? Because he's already said it.
He's already testified to it. He's already said he has great
confidence that the work of God will continue. He has great confidence
that nothing will fall away. No one who is truly in Christ
will fall away. He has great confidence that
the work of the church in Philippi will stand its ground until the
day of Christ's return. Now think about that. I mean, if you were the leader
of a movement and then all of a sudden you're gone or you're
incapacitated through imprisonment, wouldn't you feel like, wow,
I'm not out there to really keep going? Who's going to keep the
church in Philippi going? Who's going to keep the church
in Rome that I didn't even have a part in planting? Who's going
to keep this moving. Who's going to keep the church
in Galatia going? Who's going to keep those silly
little Corinthians in line? Paul didn't worry about that.
Paul knew that the power of the gospel through the Holy Spirit
of God by and through the prayers of God's people would effectually
bring the outcome that God desired. And he was confident in that.
Are you confident in that? Let me tell you something. Worry
and burdened frustration, we ought to have burdens, but there's
a place for them. Hopelessness is not from God.
Never has been. Except you not be in Christ and
He shows you the hopelessness of your condition. Then that's
conviction of the Holy Spirit. God may be doing a work in you
to bring you to salvation. But what am I going to do? What
am I going to do? What can you do, really? What can we do in
circumstances that we can do nothing? Wring our hands and
contemplate or be at peace with joy knowing that God's got it. What do you do when you're falling
from the sky at 40,000 feet? And then the plane shakes and
the stuff falls down. I think if that ever... I've
had a shaky plane and I've been in a place where a stewardess
ran for her life and screamed, buckle up now! And sits down
and rocks back in two and stuff. And luggage has just fallen out.
But never did the oxygen mask come down. I think if the oxygen
mask had come down, I'd have died. You know? That's the line for
me. But what are you to do? And in
that brief, what, 60 second experience, we had all of our kids and Jacob
goes, weeeeee, because I mean, we dropped like, pfff. I just
turn around, hold my wife's hand, I said, just keep on laughing.
What do you do? Try to jump outside the plane,
push it up? You can do nothing. Paul could do nothing. What do you do? Call in the militia? We've seen what armies can do
against the power of God. Nothing. Pharaoh and all of his soldiers
couldn't catch the Israelites. What do you do? Moses, what am
I going to do? Pharaoh changed his mind like he didn't think
he was going to. That was naivety. They're going to slaughter us
here at the sea. What am I going to do? You think
he worried about that? No, he just turned around and
went, there's water. God did tell me to take this
stick. Nah, he was led by the Holy Spirit of God. He just trusted. What did Abram do when he was
told to leave earth? Just left. Didn't know where he was going.
Didn't know what he was going to be doing. But then at some
times he didn't trust God. David, a man after God's own
heart, zeal, passion, wanting to chop off heads and take names
when people are blaspheming God, and then he gets hooked by a
woman taking a bath. God is fateful. What are we going
to do in these situations when we can do nothing? We have to
resolve to know that we have confident hope and great expectation
that even if we die, it is for the greater, higher good of our
own soul. What do we want? Do we want a
passive, feel-good, Americanized, suburban life that just seems
like we just grow old and die? Is that what we think joy is
all about? I'm going to tell you, I don't know
too many people following Christ who have that. And we got it
in seasons. The barbecue grill comes on in
seasons and then all of a sudden it just gets filled up with spiders.
Man, I ain't turned this thing on in ages. I ain't cut no grass
in a month. Because other things happened.
And that's just stuff. What about Paul's suffering?
It was for the sake of the gospel. Do you think your suffering is
not for the sake of the gospel? It is. It is. Because as you rejoice and share
the gospel and proclaim Christ in the midst of this, the world
looks on and goes, Oh, poor them. Look what they've experienced.
Let's go see about them. You know, I think a lot of people
go see about us because they're nosy. You ever done that? And I'm not putting people down.
I appreciate ministry and benevolence. But some people just want to
see how it's going. I wonder if he's wallowing in
the floor and in pity. I wonder, you know, people that I know who have been
married many, many years and their spouses died and, you know,
four months later, well, how's so-and-so doing? I don't know.
Has he remarried? Is he looking? I'm going to go
check on him. I bet you will, madam. No matter what their intentions
are, they go and everybody wants to look and see just how broken
we are. That's why people buy tabloids. That junk is not even
true, but it's made up enough. People buy tabloids because they
want to see how broken people are. I think that's part of our
sinful condition. We're thinking, man, my life
is terrible, but look at theirs. Wow! Elvis is still alive. He's 485 years old, you know.
Looks great, but living in there with Bigfoot. In the magazines,
it's all the same stuff. We like, in our sinfulness, like
to see other people in worse states than we are. And then
when we show up to people's homes, and we show up into people's
lives, and we know they've had a horrible... Because what do
we do? Oh, you're going to sue that
company? You're going to sue that builder
because your house burned down and killed your sister? You're
going to sue them, aren't you? You're going to get a bunch of
money, aren't you? And then we say, not at all. I've offered
to pay for the repairs out of my pocket. Why? Because Christ paid for my sin
on the cross. If I can't forgive then do I
want to ruin all these lives just because I love? Why should
we all suffer? You see what I'm saying? That's for the advancement
of the gospel. That's the defense of the proclamation of the gospel.
Not in planting churches, but in everyday life. It happens. Paul Paul knows that the Holy Spirit's
at work. Paul has certain faith in the work of Christ, even in
the circumstances of his own life and the life of those who
belong to Christ. And I believe this. Listen, let
me hear this. I want you to hear this, church.
I believe that this reality, this thing that we've been talking
about for the last 40 minutes, is the core of what it means
to do life together as a church. When we hear fellowship, that's
what it is. Are we in fellowship in the gospel? If we are, we're in fellowship
and partners with each other's suffering and with each other's
ministry and with each other's rejoicing. We are partners. We are in, as the word we like
to use, Paul uses the word partnership. We use the word covenant because
it sounds spiritual. It's the same thing. We're in
partnership together with the gospel as a family, each to another. Paul has great confidence in
the fact that Christ will be glorified in his suffering. And his eager expectation is
that he will not be put to shame. And the reason that he expects
that is because Christ is alive. And more importantly, it's not
for Paul's It's never been for Paul's reputation, is it? It's for Christ's reputation.
Because if Paul is put to shame over this stupidity of Jesus
and this resurrection and this God coming to earth stuff, then
Christ is made low. And Christ is put to shame. But Paul knows that Christ will
not be put to shame. So see, it's not really about Paul at
all. I will not be ashamed because I am exalting Christ. Christ
cannot be ashamed. He's already subjected Himself
to public shame. Paul says, my faith will prevail
and my God will keep me in His loving hands. And Christ will
be honored in my body, whether in life or by death. Christ will be honored in my
body. And let me give you just a few
things to think about for next week. Paul's body is the fullness
of his being, the whole of him. His heart, his soul, his mind,
his strength, wellness or his sickness, what he says, what
he does, what he loves, his affections, all these things, as we'll see
next week, constitute his body. Christ will be honored in his
body. Christ will be honored in his life. And Christ will
be honored in his death. And in short, what he's meaning
here is that in my life, as I live, as I breathe, as I suffer, as
I serve, as I preach, I do it all joyfully with great expectation
that Christ will be honored in these things. When I'm hit in
the back of the head with just something I did not see coming,
I go, Hallelujah. Christ be honored
in that blow to my life because it is for His good and my good
and His glory that it has come. Therefore, I rejoice knowing
that the outcome of whatever this is going to be is in the
hand of my God who proved Himself faithful through the resurrection
of Christ from the dead, who has not been put to shame, neither
shall I. So therefore, Christ is glorified
in my life. Paul teaches this to other places. In all that you do, in word or
in deed, do it for the glory of Christ. Whether you eat or
drink, do it for the glory of God. And then he summarizes it in
verse 21. For to me, to live is Christ. And to die is gain. So for Paul to live, that means
every ounce of blood in his body, every molecule of his being exists
and holds together for the sake of Christ. Wow, that's a... I'm going to say something that's
going to put us all in a place that we don't want to be today.
But most of us say, wow, that's an extraordinary Christian. That's
a zealous, just over-the-top, wow. No, that's normal. You see, we don't like that.
That's normal. That's normal. And I'll be honest with you,
church, part of the holiness of the church, part of us pressing
in together, If we can't give 90 minutes together for the sake
of growing in the faith on the Lord's Day, how in the world
are we ever going to be there in other times? If we can't pray for one another
on a daily basis, why would we ever expect to have an effective
prayer life when crisis comes? And when we start to look at
what God has said in Ephesians chapter 1 and other places about
the church, the purpose of the church is to the praise of His
glorious grace in which that grace effectively what? Has predestined
and elected us to be in the image of His Son, holy and blameless
and spotless. So part of what we see here next
week as in our body, in life, we all need to take a hard look
at where we spend our time and what we're building. And I don't want to get into
my dissertation on this issue, but the rewards of heaven are
real. And the rewards of heaven are
Christ. And if we love Christ with everything
we are, then we work to the end of receiving Him with all the
fullness of our affection as an honorable act of worship,
knowing the will of God. Friends, we've got a long way
to go. We've got a long way to go. Why we gather on the Lord's
Day every week is to press into that reality. And it's not legalism, it's worship. And if that's the case for Paul's
life, how in the world does he say that death is better than
that? Because death is gain. What we press into here is impossible
for us to ever see in fulfillment until we die. that we might be
raised again. And I don't know. I don't know
how that's going to affect you. I don't know what it's going
to do in your heart. But I know what it does for me. And I can
do one of two things. I can make a list of things I'm
going to work on or I can just fall in love with Christ more
and more and more and He will work. I can put to death the
body that has been put to death in Christ or I can continue to
make excuses for why I can hold on to these things. Holiness. gain is far better because He
knows with great detail what is still not fully known. And
when He dies, He will have all that He eagerly awaits to know
in His face. He says to the Corinthians that when we see Him, we will
see Him face to face. So, in the end, Paul's actions,
Paul's writing, Paul's expressions are the reality of his teaching.
So, right doctrine, what? Produces. Remember this when
we looked at Jude? Produces, or Titus, right living. Learning rightly creates living
rightly. Paul is living rightly. He's
not acting. He's not a hypocrite. He taught
them these things. Now he's living them out. It
proves who he is. It proves who his heart belongs
to. Paul knows why he lives. Paul
knows why he suffers. Paul knows for whom he lives
and suffers. Paul knows the joy of it all. And he proclaims now what he
had always proclaimed because he is confident in Christ. Are you confident in Christ? Is Christ the fullest answer
to your deepest hunger, to the deepest thirst? And I'm going
to tell you, church, you can't just go, I'm going to make him
that. This is where application gets
raw. You can't leave you out of this door and say, I'm going
to hunger for Christ now. That's not a problem, do I pray you
have that heart. But your hunger for Christ is
not going to give you a hunger for Christ. Your hearing of God's Word will
create a conviction and a void in you that at the end of your
rope, For this moment, instead of wringing your hands, you will
hope in Christ. And the Spirit of God will purpose
for you to pray for you to hope in Christ. And you will share
your faith with this body of believers as you hope in Christ. And all the while, you'll begin
to be made alive as Christ comes to you. as Christ fills you. Well, how do I start? Get in
His Word. There's nothing else for me to tell you. See if indeed
Christ is in you. Test yourself to see if you are
in the faith. Put yourself in the mirror of
God's Word and measure. And when you find yourself wanting,
then you just run to the cross. And the full effectiveness of
your faith is seen only when Christ comes to you through His
Word. You cannot come to Christ without His Word. You cannot
believe without His Word. You cannot, as we like to say
in our world, receive Jesus without being in His Word. It is there
that Christ is seen and received. And it is not a work of man.
It is not a decision that you make. It is not a purpose that
you claim. It is not a life that you live. It is God's gracious, effective
work in you as you hear the gospel and the Holy Spirit of God comes
inside of you and makes you alive. And it's evidenced by being able
to resonate with what Paul has taught us today. Being able to
say, wow, that gives me life. Let's pray. Lord, at every moment of our
lives we, most of us, many of us, have prayers in our hearts
for people. who have not come to realize
that their sin has separated them from You. There are prayers
in our hearts for people where we cry out to Your throne to
transform them, to save them, to help them understand and see. Father, would that prayer be
the same prayer in our own heart? Father, would You just continue
that which You've promised to continue? We ask that sometimes
and feel silly asking You to do what You said You would do.
It's, in some argument, a little prideful. I'm not going to pray
because He said He would, but Lord, You purpose in us to pray
for that which You have purposed. So Father, we pray now that You
would become really alive in our lives. really alive in our
hearts and souls as we focus on Your Word together, as we
dive into the Gospel and as it manifests in us in such a way
that You are magnified and we are minimized, that You are made
alive and we die. And God, I praise You for Your
faithfulness. I praise You for Your protection
of this flock and of their ears and hearts. Father, for the protection
of my mind as I prepare to preach and teach, Lord, that Your Word
be made much of and that error would never be a part of it. Father, if we ever get too proud
that we have it, I know You will allow us to walk off the sidelines
of that path, only to bring us back with scars for our good. But Lord, we pray we won't walk
that path. hide in us and in our hearts
Your Word, that we would not sin against You, that we would
walk in the path of righteousness in the light of Christ and so
prove that our election and salvation is certain. We pray these things
in the name of Christ our King. Amen.