The passage that we'll be looking
at today is in Philippians chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2, we'll
be beginning at verse 14, where the Apostle Paul, as he was inspired
by the Holy Spirit, exhorting believers. Now an exhortation
is an encouragement in the grace of God. And he says in verse
14, do all things without murmurings and disputings, without complaining,
without arguing, that you may be blameless and harmless. That
word harmless can be translated sincere. The sons of God, that's
what we are by the grace of God, without rebuke, that means in
no need of correction, yet we do need correction, don't we?
But our goal ought to be is to be as without that as much as
we can. In the midst of a crooked and
perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world. And what I want to talk to you
about this morning is believers shining as lights. Shining as
lights in this dark world. I had Brother Richmond read that
John chapter one portion. because it speaks of the Lord
Jesus Christ as being the light of the world, and he is. And
the summation of everything that we are as light is summarized
in him. He is the light. Whatever light
men and women have ultimately comes from him, either as the
creator or as the redeemer. There's a light that's given
to every man. It's the light of conscience. The light of the
law, the light of creation. Sometime when you get a chance,
read Psalm 19. That speaks of the light of creation.
And yet that light is not enough to enlighten sinners to salvation. And essentially what the Bible
teaches us is that by nature, as we are left, as we are born
naturally, The light that we have by nature, which is the
light of conscience, some the light of the law, the light of
creation, if left to ourselves, apart from the grace and the
power and the goodness of God, we'll turn that light into darkness. Now Romans chapter one speaks
of that. When it talks about in verse
18, when it talks about the truth that people have by nature, they'll
turn it into idolatry. worship the creature rather than
the Creator. But even that natural light is
given by Christ as the Creator. That's why He said, all things
were created by Him and not without Him. But then there's the light
of the Gospel. We read it in 2 Corinthians 4
and verse 6 there. of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And that word face there involves
his entire person and his work. The face is that which identifies
us. When you see a familiar face,
you know who it is. And this is what it means when
it talks about the face of Jesus Christ. When we see him as he's
described by the light of the scripture in the power of the
Holy Spirit, we know who he is. We know who he is not. You go
into some churches and they talk about a Christ that we don't
recognize. Either in his person or in his
work. But when we hear of Christ preached,
we recognize him. That's his face. Speaking symbolically
or metaphorically. But this is the light that he's
speaking of here in Philippians 2. that lightens the people of
God in the power of the Spirit through the preaching of the
gospel. The Bible says the gospel is the power of God and the salvation
to everyone that believe it. If you believe, God has shown
that light of the knowledge of his glory in Christ to you. He's
revealed it to you in the preaching of the gospel, and he's revealed
it in you by giving you new life, a new heart, a new mind, new
knowledge, and making you willing to receive him and to believe
him. That's the new birth, and that's
what was spoken of in John 1, 12, and 13 there, when he said,
you're not born of blood, that is physical descendants. Descendancy. You're not born
of the works of the flesh and you're not born of the will of
the flesh. You're born of God. Born from above. And so in essence
we could say what's happened to us, God's turned on the light.
We've been delivered from the power of darkness, Colossians
1 says, into the kingdom of God's dear son. And so we know now
what we did not know before. We know, for example, the issue
of sin. What sin really is. We didn't
know that before. All we knew before is that there
were bad people and there were good people and God's going to
smile on the good people and he's going to punish the bad
people. But we didn't really know what goodness and badness
was until that light shone on us in the light of God. who requires
a perfection of righteousness and goodness that can only be
found in Christ. And that anything less in God's
sight is sin. Now people look at that and they
say, well that's unreasonable for God to do that. That's not
fair. My friend, God can only do that because He is God. He
can require no less than He Himself is. And He's a holy God. He's a righteous God. He cannot
accept anything less. And it's not unreasonable, it's
not unfair, and I'll tell you why. Because He has provided
a way of goodness and righteousness for anybody who wants it. Problem is, man by nature doesn't
want it. That way is the way of Christ,
who said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. If you want it, you can have
it. But if you want it, there's something that we know that other
people don't know. If you want it, it's God who
made you want it. He makes his people willing in
the day of his power. And so what we're talking about
here is believers shining as lights in the world. There's
an outer light, which is the testimony of the gospel and the
life lived in the gospel. And then there's an inner light.
That's something that we know. And the question is, then how
do we shine? Somebody says, well, we don't
always shine. Well, there are times we don't shine, you're
right. But how do we shine? What are the ways in which the
Bible teaches that? Well, here's the first way. We
live our lives by his power, God's power, and God's grace. That's number one. We live our
lives by God's power and God's grace. Now, that's an inner light.
You can't watch me do things whether it's in giving things. And we ought to be people who
are givers and not receivers. We ought to be. But you can't
watch us do that and determine that we're living by God's power
and God's grace. But we know it's so. Look back
at verses 12 and 13. I preached on these last week.
Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in
my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out
your own salvation with fear and trembling. Now he's not talking
about working for salvation. He's not talking about works
aimed at making us righteous. Because we know better. Now how
do we know better? Because we have an inner light
that's taught us better. We have a knowledge that God
has given us. And here's what it is, verse
13. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do
his good pleasure. We know the reality. I know that
when I do good, I'm not the source of it. I'm not the power of it. God through Christ is the source
and the power of it. Now you can't tell that by looking
at me. So how am I going to shine forth
in a dark world In that sense, well, that comes through preaching
the gospel. That comes through preaching
the gospel. Over in Matthew chapter 5, you know what this says in
verse 16. Let your light so shine before
men that they may see your good works. Now, sometimes you cannot
hide your good works from men when you're kind to somebody.
when you forgive somebody, when you are an obedient person, a
responsible citizen, when you keep the speed limit. Things
like that. We're to be law-abiding citizens,
did you know that? Grace does not give us a free
way to break the law. I had a fellow one time that
got involved in some things that he could, he's a believer, I
believe a brother in Christ, got involved with some things
he shouldn't have gotten involved in and he got put in jail. And
he got mad because other believers wouldn't bail him out. And I
told him, I said, well, they don't need to bail you out. You
need to be where you are. Why? Because you broke the law. Believers aren't above that. And you need to pray for forgiveness.
You need to make amends, all of that. But now if you say,
and he did that, and if you saw him doing that, you wouldn't
know that that's by the power and the goodness and the grace
of God. So he says, let your light show shine before me. The
light is not our good works. He says that men may see your
good works and what? glorify your Father which is
in heaven. This verse here applies to two
aspects of that shining light. And here's what it is. The gospel
is the light that does two things. It reveals God's power and grace
in the lives of his people. That when you do good, it is
good works, not because it's perfect, because it's not. Not
because it makes you righteous, because it doesn't. Not because
it saves you or washes you away from your sins, because it doesn't.
Because it's to the praise of the glory of God's grace. It
points to Christ. And the only way that men and
women can know that is as you preach and witness the gospel
of God's grace. That's the light. Now, it also exposes the dead
works of unbelievers. John wrote about that in John
3, 19. He says, the light has come into the world and men loved
darkness and hated the light because their deeds were evil.
If a person is trying to do good, which all people should, but
if that's aimed at salvation, my friend, it's evil in the sight
of God because it denies his glory. It denies Christ. Paul wrote in Galatians 2.21,
if righteousness come by the law, Christ died in vain for
nothing. It exalts the sinner instead
of the Savior. Our lives shining forth in this
dark world should be exalting Christ, not us. Now men may give you the key
to the city. And they may sing your praises, but that inner
light, you know the real story, don't you? You know better. God be merciful to me, the sinner. That's that inner light. Another
way we can let that shine forth is in the gospel. And that's
what he says, that they may glorify your father, which is in heaven.
It's all to his glory, not our own. There's nothing wrong with
a person trying to establish a good reputation around town
as an honest person, a fair person, a giving person. But we know
the real story, don't we? We're like Paul Harvey, we know
the rest of the story. We know that were it not for
God's grace, were it not for the righteousness that we have
in Christ, we would be doomed forever. Based on our best works,
living in the power of His grace. Paul wrote, finally, my brethren,
in Ephesians 6, 10, be strong in the Lord and the power of
His might. That's our strength. Our strength
is not our own. That's why Paul, you know, when
Paul, you know, he had that thorn in the flesh, and it caused him
to suffer. I don't know what it was. There's
different speculations about it, but the Bible doesn't tell
us, so that doesn't matter. We know that he had a problem
physically, I think, And when he prayed the Lord, I think he
said he prayed what, three times that the Lord get rid of it?
And the Lord didn't. It was his prerogative. Paul
said in 2 Corinthians 12, he said unto me, here's what God's
answer to him was, my grace is sufficient for thee. He says,
for my strength, God's strength is made perfect, complete in
your weakness. That's why Paul could say, I
take pleasure in infirmities and reproaches and in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake, for when I'm
weak, then I'm strong. What is that all about? Well,
let the light shine. That means when I'm weak, you
know what? Such a pitiful person as we are,
that's when we really rely upon his strength more than any other
time. Let your light so shine. In that
passage that I read in the opening, he talked about the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ, shining in our hearts, our minds,
our affections, our will. And you know, right after that,
in verse seven, he said, for we have this treasure in weak
vessels, earthly vessels, broken pots. We're so weak, aren't we? But think about it, when does
that light shine in our lives? When we look to Him. And that's
the second thing, how we let this light shine. Living by faith
in Christ. How many times in the scriptures
do you see that phrase, the just, the justified live by faith? Now that's not the kind of faith
that the world has. The world tells you, well, if
you believe something strong enough, it'll come true. And
false preachers will tell you that too, but that's not true.
Men and women have spent their lives believing a lie and dying
in unbelief, going under the wrath of God. What is it to live
by faith? Well, who are the justified?
If the just, the justified shall live by faith, who are these
people? Well, they are those who are washed in the blood of
Christ, forgiven of all their sins. I'm confident that the
sins that I commit are put away by Christ on that cross, and
God will not hold me accountable for those sins. You say, well, if that's the
case, I'll just go out and sin all I want. Well, go ahead and
do what you want. But see, God has shown a light within us that
gives us a different want. A different desire. I don't want
to go out and dishonor Him by living an openly sinful life. Do you? Is that what you want? I don't want to go out and dishonor
my Lord who has given me everything I have in eternity. I mean this is talking about
eternal life. I don't want to spend this little few seconds
that I have on this earth going out here dishonoring Christ by
living a life with no holds barred. I don't want to do that. Now
I'm just as selfish as any of us. I love self-pleasure, self-will,
self-want. I want my way. You do too. But I don't want to go out and
live my life that way. I want to honor Him. To be justified is to know that
God will not charge me with my sins. Why? Because I'm such a
good guy? No! Because He chose me before
the foundation of the world and made Christ to be my surety and
sent Him to die on a cross for my sins. I don't want to go out and live
in the sins for which he died. You understand that? And that's why we want to emulate
him. That's another way we shine forth. I'll get to that in just
a minute. That's why we want to be like him. Forgive as he
forgave. Can we do that? I'm not saying
this is easy now. To be justified is to be counted
righteous in God's sight. based on a righteousness that
you and I had no part in producing. Richmond prayed that in his prayer.
A righteousness that we have no part in producing. Where did
I get that? God gave it to me. He imputed
it to me. And so how do I live my life?
Well, Hebrews 12, two, I quote this all the time. Looking unto
Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Living by faith in him is looking
to him, resting in him. And then here's the third thing.
Shining forth as lights in this dark world, we live by his truth,
his word. Look back at our text. Paul says in verse 15 that you
may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke
in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. That's what
our nation is, what this world is, in its religion, in everything. Among whom you shine as lights
in the world. And look at the next line in
verse 16. Holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in
the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored
in vain, that it was all for nothing. How do we shine as lights
in a dark world? We hold forth the word of life.
We stand for the truth. Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy
4, he said, there's coming a time when they won't stand for the
truth. Well, that time has come. It's
been here all along. We preach the gospel. Isaiah
said this back in his day, Isaiah 820. He said, to the law and
to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, there's
no what in them? There's no light in them. The
psalmist said, I have preached righteousness in the great congregation,
lo, I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, thou knowest. I'm gonna
tell the truth. Now certainly that applies to
the gospel. It applies to what we believe. Witnessing for Christ. Paul said,
for though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for
necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me if I preach not
the gospel. We're never to compromise this
gospel with anybody. We're to tell the truth when
it's appropriate. We need to use wisdom now. We need to walk through the open
doors that God has provided for us. But that also applies to
our everyday lives. We're to be honest people in
our businesses, in our families, in our dealings with each other.
We're to be people of the truth. That's how we shine forth. You
remember I mentioned about old Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a publican. Now, a publican back then was
a Jew who sold himself out to the Roman government to collect
taxes for the Roman government from the Jewish people. And they
were well known to be shysters, cheats. And that's what Zacchaeus
was known as. And when the Lord saved him,
that changed, and it should have changed. It should have changed
before, but it didn't. Can false religion bring about
that kind of a change in a person? Yes, it can. And many times has. But certainly we would agree
that that kind of behavior is not appropriate for we who are
to shine forth as lights in a dark world. You understand what I'm
saying? So as this mainly applies to the gospel, it applies to
everything. We're to live in the light of his truth. The light
of his truth, especially in the gospel. Here's the fourth thing. Shining forth as light in a dark
world means to live for His glory. Now we've already talked about
that in Matthew 5. Let your light so shine before men that they
may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Not glorify me, not glorify you, glorify God. Paul wrote in Galatians
6.14, but God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and
I unto the world. We glory in the cross, we glory in Christ.
That means to boast. Everything in our salvation and
in our lives as light shining in the world is summarized here. in 1 Corinthians 1. This is 1
Corinthians 1, 29. This is kind of like a summary
of what it is to live for His glory. He says, verse 29, that
no flesh should glory in His presence. No flesh. But of Him, of God, are you in
Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom? Whatever wisdom
I have, I don't have any room to glory, God gets all the glory. It's the wisdom of God. Righteousness,
whatever righteousness I have, it's not mine, it's not in me,
it's in Christ. Sanctification, whatever sets
me apart, it doesn't glorify me, it glorifies God who set
me apart. He set me apart before the foundation
of the world in divine electing grace. He chose me, gave me to
Christ. He set me apart when Christ died
on the cross redemptively. He died for my sins. When he
died, I died. When he was buried, I was buried.
When he arose again, I rose again. He was my representative, my
surety, my substitute, my redeemer. And then he set me apart when
he gave me life from the dead in the new birth by the Holy
Spirit. It was all His work. I'm the recipient. And then redemption. He paid the price. I didn't even
pay one penny. Jesus paid it all. All the debt
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow. And it says in 1 Corinthians
1 31, that according as it is written, he that glorieth Let
him glory in the Lord. Whatever you're going to brag
about, you want to shine forth as a shining light, glory in
the Lord. And then fifthly, here's another
one, living by his example. It's sad to see that many churches
today who claim to be Christian preach Christ as nothing more
than an example, not a redeemer, not a sin-bearing sacrifice,
not a righteousness, but just as an example. Follow his example
of love and charity and forgiveness. And it's sad that some preaching
is nothing more than, but let us never forget we who know better
realize he is our example. What do you mean living by his
example? I mean this, striving to be like Christ, in our lives. And here's one thing we keep
in mind because of the light, the inner light that shines within
us. The goal of the Christian life can be nothing less than
perfection. If we're going to be like Christ,
if we want to follow his example, nothing less. Now why doesn't
that beat us down? and calls us to despair because
we know that in this life, no matter how hard we try to be
like Christ, we're not going to achieve that goal of perfection. We're perfect in Him right now.
Legally, that's what it means to be justified. I am perfect
in Him based upon His righteousness imputed. And I'm confident of
that. But I'm not perfect in myself,
and you all know that. You don't need me to tell you
that, you know that. Well, you do need me to tell you that,
because you need to know I know it. And I know you're not perfect
either. Yet we're to live as shining
lights trying to be like him. Look over across the page of
Philippians chapter 3 here, verse 14. This is right after Paul
had spoken of the fact that he wanted to be found in Christ.
Not in himself, but in Christ, not having his own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness of God by faith. And he says in
verse 14, or verse 13 rather, he says, brethren, I count not
myself to have apprehended, to have reached it, to reach the
goal. I haven't reached the goal. What's the goal? To be like Christ
in my life, in my thoughts. To forgive as Christ forgave.
To love as Christ loved. To obey as Christ obeyed. I count
myself not as I've apprehended, but this one thing I do, I'm
just gonna throw up my hands and go home and let it all go
to pot. No. He said, this one thing I
do, forgetting those things which are behind, now that's a big
step. Can I forget those things which are behind? I think, I
don't know if I may have written this and put it in the bulletin
today, but things that I remember just plague the heck out of me.
Things in my past. That's why I'm so thankful that
God says I'll remember them no more. For getting those things
which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which
are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus. Well, look at verse 15, this
is important. Let us therefore as many as be perfect, complete.
Well, wait a minute, you haven't apprehended now, Paul, but now
you're saying you're complete? I'm complete in Christ. I have
the full measure of blessings and benefits of salvation by
virtue of the merits of Christ, His righteousness alone. So let
as many as therefore be perfect be thus minded, and if in anything
you be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
Nevertheless, whereunto we've already attained, let us walk
by the same road, let us mind the same things. And he says,
brethren, be followers together of me and mark them which walk
so as you have us for an example. Follow Christ. Look to Christ. Strive to be like him. Paul said,
once be ye followers of me, even as I'm also of Christ. Go back
to our text and I'll hurry. Look at Philippians 2. He says in verse 17, yea, and
if I be offered, Upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I
joy and rejoice with you all. For the same calls also do you
joy and rejoice with me. That's living in the joy of Christ. That's the fifth one. Live in
the joy of Christ. Rejoice always, the Bible says. We can look within ourselves
and we look at the world and there's a lot to be down about,
isn't there? Lot to cry about. Lot to fuss about. Lot to argue
about. But if we're gonna live as shining
lights in the world, let's be people who joy, rejoice in Christ. He'll never let us down. Has
never and will never. We can let each other down sometimes,
can't we? But Christ will never let us
down. And that's what Paul's saying, if I live or if I die,
rejoice in Christ. If it's His will that I be offered
up as a drink offering, I'm acceptable to God in Christ, rejoice. Again,
I say rejoice. Look at verse 19, but I trust
in the Lord Jesus. Now he talks about Timothy. Timothy
was a student of Paul. He said, I want to send Timotheus
shortly unto you that I also may be of good comfort when I
know your state. For I have no man like-minded
who will naturally care for your state." That's sad, isn't it?
Paul didn't have anybody else like-minded with him, but Timothy
was the only one. And he sent Timothy to the people
of Ephesus. Sent Timothy elsewhere. You can
read the books of 1 and 2 Timothy. And how Paul instructed Timothy.
He says in verse 21, For all seek their own, not the things
which are in Jesus Christ. Isn't that sad? all seek their
own. He's talking about people who
had been with him at one time in the gospel, in the ministry.
They're all seeking their own ways, their own glory, not the
things of Jesus Christ. That's a sad situation, isn't
it? He says, but you know the proof of him, that is Timothy,
that as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the
gospel. And him, therefore, I hope to
send presently, so soon as I shall see how it go with me. But I
trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly." It's
good to see the people of God working together in the cause
of the glory of God in Christ. That's a joy. That's an encouragement. And that's what we're to be to
each other. living as shining lights. And then he concludes
this part by mentioning a man named Epaphroditus, who was probably
one of the elders at the church of Ephesus, who Ephesus had sent
to Paul in Rome with a gift. And he says in verse 25, he says,
yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my
brother and companion in labor and fellow soldier, but your
messenger and he that's ministered to my wants, he brought things
to help him. For he longed after you all,
and was full of heaviness, because that you had heard that he had
been sick. Now this Epaphroditus got sick. For indeed he was sick
nigh unto death. This was a serious disease. But
God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also,
lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I send him therefore
the more carefully, that when you see him again, you may rejoice,
and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the
Lord with all gladness, and hold such in reputation, in honor,
because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding
his life, to supply your lack of service toward me. There's
another issue of a true child of God, a brother in Christ,
working fervently with Paul in the cause of God, the glory of
God and his truth. Epaphroditus, that's a joy. Shining as lights in a dark world.
Okay.