Okay, open your Bibles if you
would to Philippians chapter one. We'll continue our study
in this wonderful book. Today we'll be looking at the
defense of the gospel. The defense of the gospel. Now
we know that there's only one true gospel, right? That's what
the scriptures declare, there's one gospel. There's one Christ,
one Savior, one faith, one faith. And all who are born again and
blood-washed saints are given that faith to believe by the
Holy Spirit of God. We didn't seek it, we didn't
earn it, and we sure don't deserve it. But God in His grace and
His mercy has given it to us. It's absolutely amazing, isn't
it? Just leaves us in awe that He saved a sinner like me and
you. We who believe, it's absolutely incredible. Now Paul wrote this letter when
he was imprisoned in Rome, the same time as we're going to see
through the book of Acts, we're going to see as we go through
the book of Acts, we're going to see this time period come
forth, but he's in he's imprisoned in Rome. He spent two years there.
He had a Praetorian guard chained to him 24 hours a day. And as
we looked at before, they were in four-hour shifts, so there
was six Praetorian guards, six different guards a day. And as
we saw in this chapter, that the gospel had spread through
the Praetorian guard. It had spread through. Think
of those guys. They'd come, and they'd come
in on their shift, and there's Paul. He's talking to someone
about Christ, and they'd hear it. But it says the gospel was
manifest all through the Praetorian Guard because of that. And again,
that's all by God's sovereign providence and decree, bringing
Paul to Rome to preach the gospel. And we know there's lost sheep
there, and the Lord will not lose one of his sheep, will he?
Not one for whom he died, he will not lose one of them. Let's
read verses 12 to 17 to see the context of our verses, which
will be 16 and 17 today. But I would, you should understand,
brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen
out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. And furtherance
there in the Greek is advancement of the gospel. So that my bonds
in Christ are manifest in all the palace. Again, that's the
Praetorian guard in the Greek. And in all other places. And
many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds,
are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed
preach Christ even of envy and strife, and some also of goodwill. But one preached Christ of contention,
not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds, but the
other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. I found it interesting as I was
looking at the Greek for this section that the word love there
is agape. Now we don't naturally have agape
love, and agape love is the love of God, the love that comes from
God, the love that God has for his people, the love that God
has for his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he loves us as his
people because we're in Christ. So that word is agape. And I
found it interesting because we know from our further studies
that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. So this
is a foreign love. This love is not natural to us. And now
we have this. We have this love. Isn't that
wonderful? Absolutely wonderful. The love of God shed abroad in
our hearts. And the book of Philippians is known for its exaltations.
So let us rejoice, as we read through this letter, let us rejoice.
Let us rejoice at the wonderful truth that's set here before
us. Now Paul, again, he doesn't chastise the Philippian church
at all. We see that as we study this book. It's a very uplifting
book. And it talks about the joy of
the spirit, too. And remember, we can't muster that up. The
fruits of the spirit aren't things that we can muster up. They come
from the spirit. They're the fruit of the spirit,
right? Again, it's like a cluster of grapes. I was looking through
Vicki's Bible, and as I preach, she draws pictures, and I can
look at the pictures in her Bible and know exactly what I preached.
And she had this beautiful, just beautiful, cluster of grapes,
and on them were written the fruit of the spirit. Love, joy,
peace. I went, oh, that's awesome. I
got to bring that forth, because it was right there. And so remember,
that's like a cluster of grapes, and it comes from the Holy Spirit
of God. It's not something we can muster up at all. And so
let us, as we're reading this, rejoice in these wonderful truths.
What we've looked at so far in verses 12 to 16, we've seen the
purpose of this letter, right? Remember, the saints at Philippi
were worried because Paul was imprisoned. Some folks say, well,
as believers, we shouldn't worry. Those people are lying, because
we're all going to worry at some time, aren't we? Now, we feel
horrible after we've been worrying, because we know we're doubting
God. But just repent. Just say, Lord, I'm sorry. Sorry
I got worried. You're in control. I don't have
to worry about that stuff. So they were concerned, though,
about Paul. He's imprisoned in Rome. They're concerned for his
welfare because they love him. They love him. And so they send
Epaphroditus. to ask, how are you doing? And
Paul, remember Paul in verse 12, he said, well, I'm in jail,
I'm in prison for the furtherance of the gospel, for the advancement
of the gospel. So there we see God's absolute sovereign control,
right? Who sent, Brother Brian, who sent Paul to Rome? Amen,
he sent him there, didn't he? He sent him there. And there
he is, by the providence of God. And he's preaching the gospel,
isn't he? Oh my. So all of this has occurred according
to God's sovereign, wise decree, and all according to his will
and purpose, right? We know that, all according to
his will and purpose. So verse 12, we see the first
point. He's in prison for the advancement of the gospel, the
furtherance of the gospel. Verse 13, Paul gives the reason
that he's been in prison is that the gospel might be manifest
among the Praetorian guard. You see, the Lord had some lost
sheep there. They have to hear the gospel, right? The Lord's
already redeemed them. They don't know it. But Christ
has already redeemed those believers. Just like we didn't know he had
redeemed us 2,000 years ago, he paid for it all, right? The
work's finished. God, the Holy Spirit, he regenerates
us, gives us faith to believe, and then we look to Christ. Right? So there are some lost sheep
there. So what does the Lord do? He
sends Paul to Rome. And the method of him getting
there is he's going to go imprisoned. See, man means things for evil. Where have we heard that before?
And God uses it for good. Remember Joseph and his brethren?
Same thing here. Even Christ on the cross. Man
meant it for evil. We're going to kill him. And
Christ is there on the cross redeeming all the people that
God gave him, all the elect of all the ages. He's redeeming
them on the cross. And they said to him, save yourself. Well, he wouldn't do that, right?
He had to die, didn't he? His blood had to be shed, right?
To redeem our eternal souls. Oh, my. So that which man meant
for evil, the scripture tells us it was foreordained by God.
Purpose and plan by God. Isn't it wonderful? Oh, I'll
tell you. So he's been imprisoned and the
gospel might be manifest. Let's read verses 12 and 13 again.
But I would that ye should understand, brethren, that the things which
happened unto me have fallen out, rather, unto the furtherance
of the gospel, so that my bonds in Christ, these chains, are
manifest in all the palace, that's the imperial guard in the Greek,
which is the Praetorian guard, and in all other places. The
next point we see is in verse 14. We see that the brethren
now, here's another reason for God sending Paul to Rome, now
the brethren have waxed bold. They were silenced, remember,
by persecution? Now they're waxing bold. Now,
see, they were able to go in and see Paul. He was allowed
to have visitors. So the saints at Rome would go
in and see Paul and talk with him like you and I do. And they
wax bold. Even in his bonds he's preaching
Christ to us. He's telling us about our Savior.
So now they're waxing bold, it says in verse 14, and many of
the brethren in the Lord waxing confident, right, by my bonds
are much more bold to speak the word, what? Without fear. Without
fear. They saw Paul and how he was
preaching the gospel even in chains. And they lost their fear
of man. Who did that for them? Who did
that for them, Brother Travis? Christ did. That's right. And
he tells us, he tells us with his own words, don't fear him
who could destroy the body, but fear him who could destroy both
body and soul in hell. And so out they go. And we know,
I was reading something, they estimate that 330,000 Christians
were fed to the lions in the Roman Coliseum. That's how they estimate. That's
just an estimate. That's just an estimate, beloved.
How many? We don't know. But now they're
waxing. Even if they're going to die,
they don't care. They're going to preach Christ. So not only
now is the gospel going through the Praetorian Guard, but now
the gospel is going through Rome. You see how God, in his sovereign,
wise decree and will and purpose, has moved Paul there? And he's
only going to be there two years. He's going to get out again,
and he's going to go back and preach the gospel in other places,
too. My, oh, my. So marvel at how what man means
for evil, God has turned to good. And then in verse 18, we see
the third point, The reason why Paul was sent there was to tell
them that Christ is being preached, and he's rejoicing. So Epaphroditus,
he's writing this letter to tell the Philippians, don't be sorrowful
for my imprisonment. Look what God's doing. You see,
Paul's bound, right? Paul's bound. But the word of
God isn't bound, is it? No. No, not at all. You can bind the preacher, and
you can bind the people, right? But you can't bind Christ, and
you can't bind his word, can you? Oh my. And remember, it's God
who does the saving. Right? It's God who gives us
ears to hear, and eyes to see Christ, and faith to look to
him. We can't muster that up. And
here he is, the gospel spreading like wildfire, beloved, through
Rome. So let us marvel at the sovereignty
of God. Paul's imprisonment has turned
into opportunities for him to proclaim the gospel to his visitors,
and for them, who are born again, blood-washed saints, to go out
and preach the gospel further into Rome. My oh my. Turn if you would to
Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. This makes me
think of the scripture over in Acts chapter 2 when Peter proclaimed
in Acts chapter 2 verses 22 and 24 about the crucifixion of our
Lord. Now our Lord was on a mission,
right? He was sent to this earth. Why was he sent, Brother Charlie?
Save us from our sins, amen. So he's on a mission, isn't he?
He has to go to Jerusalem. Scripture in Isaiah says, he
set his face like a flint to Jerusalem. And that's like a
stone in the Hebrew. That's immovable in the Hebrew. So he's like a stone that you
cannot move, and he says, I must go to Jerusalem. Why? To save his people from their
sins. To save all that the Father gave him in eternity. Remember,
believers were given to Christ in eternity, right? Ephesians
1.4, chosen in him, in Christ, before the foundation of the
world. If we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world, does that mean we have anything to do with our salvation? No. Now, do we look to Christ
and do we run to Christ? Absolutely. But the scripture
says we're made willing in the day of God's power. See, salvation's
of the Lord, Jonah 2.9, salvation's of the Lord. And that's from
beginning to end, right? He's the Alpha, which in the
Greek is the beginning, and he's the Omega, which in the Greek
is the end. And he's everything in between, too. It's all him. Salvation's all of the Lord.
And we marvel as receivers of that grace and mercy. We say,
why me? Remember we looked at that on
Wednesday night? The cause of our salvation, the cause of our
redemption, it's God and God alone. Because it pleased, now
think of this, and let us ponder this week, this. Why me? Because it pleased God to do
so, the scripture says in Ephesians. It pleased God to save us. He
could have left us where we were. but it pleased him to save us.
You've heard me, many of us. I'm the only one in my family
who the Lord saved out of my whole family. Why me? Because it pleased God to do
so. I just marvel at you. Now, do we pray for our family
members still? Of course, yes. Keep praying. Pray for them until
the day they breathe their last breath. We do not know who the
elect of God are, but God knows. And the reason he sent Paul to
Rome, there's some elect there, there's some sheep there. And
we see him moving through the Praetorian Guard now, moving,
the Holy Spirit moving through the Praetorian Guard, moving
now through the city of Rome. Look at this, Acts 2.22, look
at this. See, the crucifixion was all
planned and purposed by God. And this is so brought forth
right here, look at this. He met Peter speaking to them
on the day of Pentecost. You men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, so he was a real man, a man, approved
of God. This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. He's fully God and fully man,
right? Approved of God among you by
miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst
of you, as ye yourselves also know. Him, Christ, being delivered
up, look at this, by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. He was delivered up by God for the sins of all those whom God the Father
gave to Christ. Look at this. You have taken
and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. So man, man did what
man will do, right? They killed the prince of life.
But did it catch God by surprise? No. It was all according to the
determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. Now think of this. If
Christ hadn't died, we'd not be saved. We'd still be dead in our sins. But Christ died 2,000 years ago
to save us from our sins. Wonder of wonders that he'd save
a sinner such as I. My. I know my past. You all do, too. You know your
past, right? And God save us? I'm telling
you, I'm going to be, I'll praise his name until the day I die
for saving my soul. My, oh, my. Look at this. Whom
God hath raised up, so God delivered him by his determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God. And man did what man would do.
They killed the prince alive. Right? Whom God hath raised up.
Now he raised up, right? Remember in Romans we've read
he's raised for our justification so that we can stand before God.
The only reason we can stand before God is because Christ
was raised for our justification and now we're clothed in his
righteousness, right? We can't be saved by anything we do, but
Christ as our substitute lived and died the perfect life in
our room and place. Isn't that wonderful, sister?
That's wonderful. That's the most wonderful news
I've ever heard, this old sinner's ever heard. I'll tell you one.
Look at this, having loosed the pains of death because it was
not possible that he should be holding of it. Now, death couldn't
hold him. You know why? Because he's sinless. He's sinless. He died sinless. And he rose
sinless. He lived sinless, never had a
sin thought. Remember who he is. He's the
word of God incarnate. He's God the Son in the flesh. And it says in Acts, that God
himself with his blood redeemed us. God? Blood? He became a man. He became that
which he was not, so that he could redeem we who are humans.
He became flesh and blood, and yet still fully God. The sinless,
spotless sacrifice, it's wonderful. The cross is the ultimate instance,
I believe, of what man meant for evil, God used for good.
Because how many people are the elect? We don't know. It's a
number that no man can number, right? So we preach the gospel
to everyone, don't we? And God does the saving. But
we know this. It's a number that no man can
number. We're going to be in glory when
it's all over. Well, as soon as we die, we'll
be in glory. But when all the elect of all the ages are gathered
together, it's going to be a number, brother, that no man can number.
Sisters, we're going to be praising God. we're going to see his wounds
and know that he that that happened for us for our sins and we'll
praise him forever won't we sister barb we're going to just we're
just going to be overwhelmed my oh my and so one thing that
we see here clearly is god's sovereign God's sovereign power,
right? We see the fact that God's in
control. And what we're going through
here, what Paul's talking about is happening in Rome. And the doctrine of God's sovereignty
insists. You can't believe in God's sovereignty
unless you believe he's in full control over everything. Right? He's not the cause of
evil, is he? What's he gotta do for a man
to go to hell? Leave him alone. What's he got to do for us to
go to heaven? Everything. Everything. Right? Oh, my. So the overlapping doctrine
of God's providence teaches that God is good, wise, and purposeful
in his sovereignty, and his plan is for our good and for his glory. Isn't that amazing? Even all
the bad stuff we went through. Even before we were saved, He's
watching over us in love. Watching over us in love. And
when that time of love came for Him to reveal Himself to us,
we were born again just like that, weren't we? Washed in the
precious blood of Christ. The work had already been done.
It's finished. I preach a complete finished
work. There's nothing for man to do. except look to him and
live. We're like this, we're not looking,
and then the Lord regenerates us, we're born again, given faith,
and we go, oh my, what a Redeemer, what a Savior is Jesus Christ
my Lord. So Paul's imprisonment is an
example of how Man means it for evil, and God means it for good. He's overrode that which man
has purposed for evil. And remember, Christ's crucifiers,
they plotted, right? But they plotted in vain, didn't
they? You ever think of that? They plotted, we're gonna kill
that Christ, we're gonna kill that Jesus. But God had already
determined that he would die. And remember they couldn't kill
him before his time. Remember they wanted to toss
him over the, I think it was over a cliff or something, and
he walked right through the midst of them? And they never touched him. Because
it wasn't his time to die. He had an appointed time, didn't
he? Calvary's cross. To redeem his people from all
their sins. My oh my. So marvel at how our
great God shows us that the things that we're going to go through
and the things that we do go through are all for God's glory
and for our good. And we don't see that all the
time, do we? No, not when we're in the midst of a cloud. But
it's true. Turn, if you would, to 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. This also shows us the power
of God the Holy Spirit. to bring supernatural joy through
spiritual realities. Paul would not normally be joyful,
a person would not normally be joyful in prison, but Paul's
joyful. He knows that, and I'm not talking
the fake joy that you see out there, people trying to muster
up, I'm talking about deep down inside, the peace that passes
all understanding, right, the joy of the spirit, the joy of
the spirit. Look at this in 2nd Corinthians.
I was thinking about this this week. You know, sometimes something
will happen and I'll be like, oh man. And something happened
last week and I was walking back across the road and I was kind
of down and this verse right here came to
my mind. 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 17. Look at this. for
our light affliction. Now remember, Paul's been beaten,
what, nine times within inches of his life. He's been shipwrecked. He's been stoned. He calls it light affliction.
Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, right? It really
isn't that long. Our life's like a vapor, scripture
says. Worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal way to
glory, where we look not at the things which are seen, but at
the things which are not seen. See, we've never seen Christ,
have we? And yet we believe in him. We've never seen an angel,
and yet we believe in him. We can't see the Holy Spirit
or God the Father, but we believe in Him. We are. It didn't before, did we? Before
we were saved, Charlie, we didn't at all. No, no. Look at this. For the things being seen are
temporary, but the things not seen are eternal. Vicki and I
were talking to a gentleman at McDonald's this morning. We went
over and had a little bite to eat before service. And him and
I got talking, and I said, you know, everything we see is temporal.
Everything. Everything. This world is temporal.
We are temporal. We've all got a date with death.
Everything. is temporal. And that's what
the scripture tells us here, right? But the things which are
not seen are eternal. We're going home to see Christ,
sister, when we die. Isn't that wonderful? And he's
eternal, isn't he? And he gives eternal life, doesn't
he? And see, eternal life is in Him. That's why it's called
eternal. That's why we can't lose our
salvation. It's in Christ. He's the holder of it. He's the
giver of it. If we could lose it, it's not eternal salvation,
then, is it? Right? It's not at all. If my salvation is dependent
upon anything I do, I'm in a heap of trouble. But praise God, my
salvation is dependent upon Christ. Is yours? Isn't that wonderful? So we rest and trust in Christ
and his finished work, don't we? People say, well, how will
people, will they desire to live a holy life? Of course they will.
Because we look back and look back and see what Christ's done
for us. Right? Does that not motivate us to
serve him? Right? To do what we do for him? Yes. Oh my, now let's look at verses
16 and 17. Oh, I did it again, I don't have
much time. 16 and 17, it says, the one preached
Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to
my bonds, but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the
defense of the gospel. I found this quite interesting
that in the Greek literal Bible, verses 16 and 17 are swapped
in order. I'll read it to you from the
Greek literal Bible. For some, even from envy and strife, are
proclaiming Christ, but some also from goodwill. That's verse
15, and then verse 16 and 17 in the Greek literal Bible. The
ones, indeed, out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense
of the gospel, but the others are proclaiming Christ out of
selfish ambition, not purely supposing to add tribulation
to my chains. So the verses are switched. I
found that really interesting. Same message, just that they're
switched in the Greek. So verse 17, let's look at that.
For the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense
of the gospel. In verse 16 and 17, we see two
different groups, don't we? Two different groups. One preaching
Christ out of envy and strife, which we heard in the Greek there
was selfish ambition, supposing to add affliction to Paul's chains. And then the other, out of love. That's agape love. That's the
love of God shed abroad in our heart. The foreign love that
we don't have naturally when we're born. But when we're born
again by the Holy Spirit of God, now we have that love shed abroad
in our hearts, right? It's a miracle, isn't it? God's
grace is a miracle. I'll tell you why. We're walking
miracles of God's grace, beloved. We're trophies of his grace.
Do you feel like a trophy? Well, you are. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, my. My, oh, my. So the brethren in verse 17,
they're preaching for the glory of God. They preach Christ out
of love, the love of God, love for Paul. First and foremost,
love for God, love for Christ, love for the gospel, love of
the scriptures, and love for Paul. Isn't it amazing that the
one who once persecuted the believers Now they love him. We're going
to look at that this morning. Now they love him. The persecutor
is now a preacher. And God's people love him. You
know why they love him? You know why? Because they know what sinners
they were. We know what sinners we were. I know what kind of
sinner I was and still am. But by God's grace, all my sins
are forgiven. They knew that now. They knew that Paul had
been forgiven of all his sins, that the blood of Christ had
washed away all the penalty, right? The power. But not the presence, right?
One day, do you know, the presence of sin is going to be gone for
us. We'll never sin again. So they knew. They knew he was
born again. How many of us here can say,
we were blasphemers? When you go through that list
that Paul writes, man, that was me. Was that you? But now look
at us. We're born again. We're new creatures
in Christ, the scripture says. And so Paul here, he's a new
creature in Christ. He's preaching the gospel now
that he once hated. And so these folks love him.
And they're waxing confident again. They're becoming more
and more bold by seeing him face to face, going into heaven to
visit with him. Now they know him personally. Now they know
him personally. And so these brethren preach
Christ of the love. And Christ is now even more exceedingly
precious, altogether lovely to we who are believers, isn't he?
He wasn't like that before we were saved. Christ wasn't... Was Christ precious to you before
you were saved? He wasn't to me. But I tell you,
He's sure precious now. Isn't He? It's wonderful, isn't
it, sister? Oh my! It's absolutely wonderful. My, oh my. They now see by faith
We actually now see by faith, and so did these believers, that
Jesus Christ is the chiefest among 10,000 to our souls. Oh, and their heart burned within
them now. You ever be with believers and
your heart just start burning within you? Or hearing the gospel and
your heart just start burning within you? Oh, it's wonderful,
isn't it? That's the Holy Spirit working
in us, beloved. My, oh, my. And they speak, they're
now preaching the gospel out of love. Out of love. They're not afraid anymore, are
they? No, they're boldly proclaiming Christ. They're born again. I ask of you, are you born again?
Are you born again? Does your heart burn within you
when you hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Oh, may God and the Holy Spirit
make it so if you don't know Christ. He's the only Savior
of sinners, isn't He? There's no other Savior. I'm
not here to tell you what to do. I'm here to point you to
Christ. Now, we're going to come at it
from all different scriptures, beloved. But that's... I play a one-string
fiddle. Christ and Him alone. It's wonderful. How can you exhaust Christ? How
can you exhaust He who is God in the flesh? How can you exhaust
that? You can't. You can't. In my world, these are former
pagans. I was a pagan? These are former pagans. They're
idol worshipers. And God saved them. And now they
know the one true living God. And they're rejoicing. They're rejoicing. They're now
preaching Christ is the only way of salvation, that there's
no other way. And they now know that Paul was
in prison simply for preaching the gospel. That's why he was
in prison, for preaching Christ. My, oh, my. And so out of love
for Christ, they now join him. We're going to preach Christ
now. My, oh, my. Knowing, too, that it would bring
great joy to Paul, right? They're not just preaching for
that, but they did know that it would bring great joy to Paul
to know that the gospel is now going through Rome. Could you
imagine him hearing that? And having the brethren come
in saying, oh, man, we're preaching Christ all over the city. And
Rome was a great city. It was huge. My, oh, my. Let's close with a psalm that
comforted our brethren in old days, days of old. Now remember,
remember this too. Paul and these saints, they don't
have the New Testament. What are they preaching out of?
Old Testament, sister, amen. They're preaching Christ out
of the Old Testament. There's no New Testament yet.
And they're proclaiming Christ out of the scriptures. So I found
out this week that this Psalm 2 brought great comfort to the
saints of old. Because it brings forth the promise
of human opposition to God, right? That's going to happen. That's
going to happen. The Lord said, marvel not that
the world hate you, it hated me first. Right? Don't, you know, the servant's
not above the master. We're gonna face persecution.
It may come in a thousand different phases. But we're gonna. Some of us have faced persecution
from our family. Some of us have faced persecution
from friends. Some of us have faced persecution
from people we work with. But remember this, God's on the
throne. He's on the throne. So this psalm, this psalm tells
us about the reign of the Lord's anointed, which is the Messiah.
Right? The Messiah. That's who Christ
is. He's the Messiah. He's the long awaited Messiah.
That's who he is. My. And it also tells about the
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the true appointed, anointed
Messiah and King. Results in both, now what does
that result in? Both the salvation of God's people
and opposition occurring to them in this life. Now let's finish
with this. Look at this. Why did the heathen
rage? And the people imagined a vain
thing. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers
take counsel together against the Lord. That's Jehovah in the
Hebrew there. That means the self-existent
one. He needs no one. He's the self-existent
one. And against his anointed saying,
let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from
us. Now look at this. Now here's the sovereign God.
People say God's up there wringing his hands. That's not what the
scripture says. This is our God right here. He
that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them
in derision. Confusion in the Hebrew. This
is God. People say, I don't believe in
God. He just laughs. My oh my. Then shall he speak
unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
You see, God will never speak to us in his wrath. You know
why? Because Christ exhausted God's wrath against his people.
We will never come into judgment. Therefore, there is no condemnation.
I keep repeating that, right? In the Greek, that's therefore
there is no judgment. We will never be judged again. That's
comforting, isn't it? His wrath will never fall upon
us. It fell upon Christ in our ruined place. Then shall he speak unto them
in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have
I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. Remember, Zion is the
church in the Old Testament. I will declare the decree Jehovah,
the Jehovah, Jehovah has said unto me, thou art my son, this
day have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I will give thee
the heathen for thine inheritance. That's me. Are you a Gentile? We're all Gentiles here, right?
We're the heathens, beloved. Isn't that wonderful? We're some
of the, we're some of the inheritance from the, from the heathens.
I love it. I love it. This is wonderful.
And the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. The
gospel's spreading like wildfire all over the world, isn't it?
Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance,
and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou
shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in
pieces like a potter's vessel. Now, here we say, be wise now,
therefore, O ye kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the
earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and that's not a slavish fear,
that's reverent fear. That's reverent fear. Oh, my. With fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son. Oh, He's so wonderful. Christ
is so wonderful. He's the Savior of sinners. Lest
He be angry, and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled
but a little. Look at this. Here we go. Look
at this last little verse. Bring such comfort to believers.
Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him. Can we say
amen? And amen, don't we? Oh, my. Brother Jim, would you close
us in prayer?