Let's turn to the book of Philippians
and look at verses 12 to 17 to find the context of our verses.
Last week we marveled at how the gospel had been preached
and by Paul, and Paul was chained to a guard, different guard every
four hours, 24 hours a day. And how those guards were the
Praetorian guards, the palace guards, but they were the only
soldiers in uniform that were allowed to be in Rome. And we marvel at how the scripture
tells us that the gospel spread like wildfire through them. Isn't
that amazing? Isn't that absolutely amazing?
It was manifest, the reason why Paul was in bonds was because
he was preaching the gospel. And I imagine those fellows thought,
what's the gospel? Who's Christ? And one of them
might have said, well I've been chained to Paul, he was talking
to this fella, I don't know who he was, Paphroditus, oh that's
who he was, Paphroditus, and he'd been talking about this
fella Christ and says, He came to die for sinners. Oh, don't call me a sinner. Well, he says we're all sinners. And then, you know, hey, it says
it all. It was known to the whole Pretorian
guard why Paul was in prison. So when someone would ask who's
Christ now, if the Lord saved someone, and I believe he did,
they'd say, well, he's the savior of sinners. He's the only, this
Paul fellows, he's saying, I've been chained to him for multiple
times this month. He was there for two years, multiple
times this month. He talked about this crisis who
can save sinners, even us. Oh my, isn't God wonderful? So
we see the big picture now, don't we? And Paul did too, when he
said, I'm here for the furtherance of the gospel. He saw the big
picture. He saw the reason he was in prison was for the advancement,
furtherance, advancement in the Greek, the advancement of the
gospel. And we marveled at that, didn't
we? And open doors would have opened for these guards who profess
Christ. Open doors would have opened
when their fellow soldiers said, who's Christ? How is he different
than the gods we worship? Well, he's the one true living
God. Oh my. And remember, these guys
were steeped in paganism. Rome had multiple gods that they
served. God for fortune, a God for war,
God for love, all these different, all these different gods. But
they weren't true gods. Let's read verses 12 to 17. It
says, but I would ye should understand brethren, Paul's writing to get
into the Philippian church, they're concerned about him. And so he
says that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather
unto the furtherance of the gospel. so that my bonds in Christ are
manifest in all the palace, in all other places through Rome.
The gospel was spreading like wildfire through Rome. This is
amazing. And many of the brethren of the
Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to
speak the word without fear. So they had been silenced by
persecution, And now they're much more bold to preach Christ.
Because they see Paul in prison, they see him set for the defense
of the gospel, and they're encouraged by that. They're emboldened.
And who does that? Well, the Holy Spirit's emboldened
them, hasn't he? To talk about Christ. And it
says, without fear. Now there's two parties here,
and we're going to look at them today. We're going to look at
one of them today. We'll touch on both of them,
but But 14 and 15 will be our verses today. And then I want
to preach a message on actually verse 17. Look at this. Some indeed preach Christ even
of envy and strife. That seems strange when it comes
to the gospel, doesn't it? But you know what? We're all
men and women, and we're sinful. And even as brethren, we can
be envious of somebody's position, envious of their success in the
ministry, even though none of my success that I even know of,
I don't even know of. I just come preach gospel to
you all, and the Holy Spirit makes it effectual, right? But
somebody asked Henry Mahan one time, what's the secret of the
success in your ministry? He goes, repetition, repetition,
repetition. Meaning Christ, Christ, Christ. That's all he preached. Right? And that's all Paul preached.
And all the success comes from God, doesn't it? It doesn't come
from man. We're just mouthpieces. Oh my. Some indeed preach Christ even
of envy and strife, and some also of goodwill. The one, being
the ones who are preaching of envy and strife, preach Christ
of contention, not sincerely. What are they seeking to do?
They're supposing to add affliction to my bonds. But the other, of
love. The love we have within this
body. The love of God shed abroad in
our hearts, that foreign love, right? That's not natural to
us and God sheds it abroad in our hearts. It's wonderful. That's
why we have such love and care for each other and concern for
one another. You know, if we weren't saved,
we might never even be together and talk. Matter of fact, none
of you would probably want to talk to me in my unregenerate
state. I'm telling you. My oh my. Before I was saved, Vicki says,
I wouldn't have had nothing to do with you. No, you wouldn't have. Oh my. But the other of love,
knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. So last
week we looked at verses 12 and 13. Today we'll look at verses
14. to 17, just lightly, I'm just
gonna lightly touch on verse 17, just lightly. I like to do
a whole message on that verse, because the defense of the gospel
is wonderful. So let's read verse 14. And many
of the brethren of the Lord waxing confident by my bonds are much
more bold to speak without fear. Again, the gospel advanced through
the Praetorian guard, by the power of God, the Holy Spirit.
We always have to remember that it's all by the power of God,
the Holy Spirit, right? We seek to give God all the glory,
don't we? It's all by him, all by our great God, God, the Father,
Son, and the Holy Spirit. And let us never forget when
we're reading the scriptures, This was occurring, this was
literally occurring at a time when Paul had been taken prisoner
and brought to Rome. But it was all according to God's
sovereign will. See, we reading it now, we see
as Paul saw that it was all according to the will of God. The church
at Philippi, they thought, oh my gosh, why is Paul going through
this? They were very concerned for him. But this is where he's
going to focus their eyes on Christ, isn't he? He's going
to focus their eyes on God's sovereignty. And we see in verse 14 that the
Christians had broken their silence. Persecution had come to by the
Roman authorities and so they'd been quiet. But now again we
see the gospel spreading through the Praetorian Guard and spreading
through Rome. It's amazing. It's absolutely
amazing. And don't forget too, this is
what, let's really bring it down to an incredible point. These
Praetorian guards and the people in Rome had an appointment when
they would hear the gospel. So God in his sovereign will
moves Paul by being arrested to Rome. And those Praetorian guards who'd
never heard the gospel before Isn't this just, it's amazing. And you know, he's done the same
for every believer. He brings us right to where we will. Brother,
you were brought to hear the gospel in the sky. At the exact time the Lord revealed
himself to you. Isn't that amazing? Revealed
himself to you. Oh my. Look at verse 14 again. And many of the brethren in the
Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to
speak the word without fear. See the words waxing confident
there in the Greek means to persuade. They were preaching the gospel
seeking to persuade, but knowing that it's only God the Holy Spirit
that can do that. But it also means to be confident
of preaching Christ by a fearless example of Paul, who's in Rome. So they became bold in proclaiming
Christ. They were resting and trusting
in Christ. They were in a settled state
of confidence. Oh, may God give us the grace
to be there in a settled state of confidence. I told Vicki yesterday,
I said, I am so happy here. I am so content here. I've never
felt this content in my life to be here with you guys. Isn't
that amazing? It's wonderful. And God's done
that. God's done that for us to want
to come here, to want to continue to come and hear the gospel. But it's wonderful. What did
Sister Marshall say yesterday? Family helps family. Something
like that. Family helps family. It's amazing. And you guys are my family. And
God's made me totally content here. I'll tell you. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that amazing? So let us
together rest and trust in Christ in a settled state of confidence.
You know, this week there was an event that happened that we,
that someone had been in court and all that. And when I heard
what happened, I'm not going to dabble in politics, but when
I heard what happened, to get this, I got upset. I did. I got upset. And then, you know what happened? Then I started thinking about
some stuff, and I was like, well, this is the will of God. Why am I getting upset? See,
I got my eyes off Christ, beloved. I'm just like y'all. We're all
the same. We're all the same. And what happened was, I got
my eyes off Christ, and then the Lord refocused me on Him,
and I thought, you already know who's going to be in charge.
I don't have to worry about that. Like I tell you guys all the
time, I preached back to myself. And you know what happened? I
had such peace and I pilled my head that night and slept like
a rock. See, we can put our heads down and rest in Christ knowing
that whatever's going on. Now we're concerned about sin
in this world, of course we are. We're concerned about sin in
our own lives, aren't we? We sin more than we want to.
But we confess to our King, don't we? We're new creatures in Christ.
We don't seek to go out and sin. We don't seek to go out and do
vile things, do we? No, we seek to live a life honoring
to God, but knowing that we're sinners saved by the grace of
God, right? Oh my. So let us rest in a confident
assurance, no matter what happens. In a confident assurance that
our King is in full control. See, these brethren who had been
quiet are now being bold. Because they're resting in a
sure confidence, and that's Christ. The Roman government hated Christians. They tolerated them for a while,
then the persecutions came. If you want to hear it, and it'll
make you weep, the Colosseum and the people being thrown into
lions and eaten by, those are our fellow brothers and sisters. Just for believing on Christ.
Because you see the Roman Emperor counted himself as a god. And if you were, if you said,
well Christ is God, And that goes against their system. Right
away. Into the Coliseum. And you know
those people? They just, they, even when they
were being attacked, their confidence was in Christ. They can destroy
the body, can't they? But they can't take the soul,
beloved. And so now these people are waxing
bold. Now they've got confidence, Brother Charlie, to preach the
Gospel. To proclaim it. Oh my. So by the power and might of
God, and only God, they will speak boldly the word of God
and proclaim that Christ is Messiah. He's Messiah. And that he died
as a substitute of sinners. And we believers can say, he
died for me. He died for me. His blood was shed for my sins.
Hallelujah. All our sins are forgiven. My, what joy and peace that can
bring us. Now, since we're new creatures
in Christ, we don't just go, well, I can go out and do whatever
I want now. No, that'll never happen to a grace believer. We
mourn over our sin, don't we? Oh, my. But praise God, it's
all forgiven. Just keep that in your head.
Praise God, it's all forgiven. It's washed clean. Oh, my. Live in that liberty, right?
Paul said, stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath
made you free. Do you know we're free from the
power of sin? It doesn't have the hold it wants
to have on us. We're free from the consequences
of sin. Christ paid our debt. Right? We're free from the penalty of
sin, sister. Our sins will never be charged
against us, because they were placed on Christ. And then one
day, brother Brian, we'll be free from the presence of sin.
Brother Wayne, he's free from the presence of sin. Brother
Jim, free. They don't have sin anymore. It doesn't bother them anymore.
They're worshiping and adoring all the saints who went before
us. I think of Brother Calvin, Brother Newell, Sister Marge,
Sister Sylvia, although I never met her, but I heard she was
wonderful. I think of all these saints that went ahead. Sister Denise, and Brother Richard,
and Sister Irene. My, they're not struggling with
sin anymore. They're beholding the King. Diane,
your mom and dad? They're beholding the King. And here's something that they're
not worried about us. You know that? They're so enamored with Christ
that they're not worried about us. And one day, I believe we're
going to know each other in heaven. One day we'll see him again.
If we're believers, we're going to see him again. Just like we
see each other. We were talking, Vicki and Karen
and I were talking yesterday about how right now we see through
a glass darkly, right? But then face to face, like I
see you brother Travis right here, we're going to see Christ. He's real. He's risen. And we are going to see him like
we see each other. That's incredible, isn't it? We're going to look,
Sister Diane, we're going to look and we're going to see our
Savior. We're going to see the nail prints
in His hands and His feet. The wound in His side and know
that He was pierced for our transgressions. He was wounded for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace is upon Him. And with his blood,
we're dipped in that fountain of blood, aren't we? Oh, sister,
we're in that, we come out whiter than snow. Dipped in there, just double-dyed
red, sinners coming out, whiter than snow. By the precious blood of Christ.
All by him. All by what he's done. So the
question is, have you trusted Christ? Anyone who's listening
here and anyone who will listen, have you trusted Christ? Have
you trusted him? Who is he to you? You ever think
of it? Ponder that. Who is he to you?
Is he just someone I hear about on Sundays? Who is he to? You see, to we believers, he's
our all in all, isn't he? He's everything to us. So think
about it. Who is he to you? If you do not
know him, who is he to you? Is he just a mere man? Or is
it true that he was God in the flesh as he claimed to be? You see, before I was saved, I didn't want to even know about
him. But now, we want to hear about him all the time, don't
we? Do you know he's the lover of our souls? Do you know he's
the fairest of 10,000, Solomon wrote, to our souls? Do you know
why he's so wonderful to the believer? Because he did something
we could never do. He saved us from our sins. Perfectly. So perfectly that God won't require
anything of us. Praise his mighty name. And all
who trust in him. You know that famous verse? that
famous verse. Zana and I were talking about
this the other day, and man, he just, you know John 3, let's
actually turn there. John chapter 3, let's turn there.
Folks always use, right, John 3, 16, and they say, see, Christ
died for the world. But even within the verse, we're
gonna see something here. And remember, John is discording,
or Christ is all through this chapter discording with Nicodemus.
Keep that in mind. A Jewish leader. Look at this. See the Gospels in verse 14.
Look at this. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
There's the Gospel. Remember, brother, when the snakes
were going through and biting all the Israelites and Moses
lifted up that serpent in the wilderness? That was a foreshadowing,
a picture of Christ being lifted up. And all who look to that
serpent, they didn't die from the bites. All who look to Christ,
we don't die from the bite of sin. Right? Sin causes death, doesn't it?
The wages of sin is death. Now we die physically, but we're
not going to, we're going to live eternally in God's presence.
But look at this. As Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
Now look at this. That whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have eternal life. Have you believed in Him?
See, all who believe in Him, look at what happens. All who
believe. There's the clause, right? There's
the key. Does everybody in this world
believe? No. But all who believe in Him shall
be saved. See, people fail to read 14 and
15, which is vital. Context, context, context, right? It's so important. And then look
at verse 16. Now here, oh, look at this. For
God so loved the world, and we know that that's not everyone
because not everyone's saved, is it? Do you see in the Roman times,
do you know what the Israelites called all the other nations? The world, just Gentiles, just
dogs. And the Romans, the Romans believed they were the one civilized
group, and they called everybody else the world, outside the empire. Isn't that amazing? And for God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever what? Somebody tell me that. Whosoever
what? We are. Does everyone believe? No. But those who were ordained
to eternal life believe, right? Those who were chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world believe. Isn't that beautiful? There's the clause, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, praise be to God, but have everlasting
life. So we preach the gospel to everyone. The gospel, I don't hold back
with the gospel. Whosoever believeth will have eternal life. Whoever
doesn't will not. It's right there. So if someone
brings up John 3, 16 to you, and with grace and love, take
them to 14 and 15 and 16. Read the context of it with love.
We always have to remember that we don't need to get mad at folks,
right? We don't mean to be mean-spirited. We just have to present. The
truth's right there, isn't it? And only God can give us, only
God gave us eyes to see, didn't he? And so we see in our situation
that God had made these folks bold to preach the gospel. They were empowered by God the
Holy Spirit, right? The only way we can live a Christian
life is to be empowered by God the Holy Spirit, right? See,
religion's got the cart before the horse. They say, you gotta
do this. No. We will want to. We don't want to. We don't want
to go out and go crazy. We desire to live a life for
Christ. But God is working in us, isn't he? It's wonderful.
It's absolutely wonderful. What people call sanctification,
I call growing in grace. Because we're sanctified in Christ.
We're already holy in Christ. But we grow in grace all through
our walk through this world. Some people call it progression
of sanctification. I call it growing in grace. We grow in grace, don't we? Do
we grow in holiness? No, we feel like we're worse,
don't we? Right? The more we grow in grace, the
more sinful we realize we are. And the more desire we have to
go home to be with the Lord. But, I understand this now. I
read a really good part when Paul said, but, It's more beneficial
for me to be here with you. See, every believer desires to
go home. But it's beneficial for us to be with the body of
Christ until that day of appointment. You know why? Because I get a
blessing from all you guys. Isn't that amazing? Just our
fellowship together. But there will be a day when
the Lord will take us home. And we don't know when it is.
But we can confidently, in Christ, look to him and rest in him,
by his grace and by his spirit. So the saints at Rome preached
and proclaimed Jesus as God in the flesh, the only savior of
sinners. Turn with me, if you would, to Mark chapter two. Mark
chapter two. We'll look at a portion over
here. Mark chapter 2. And we're going to read verses
15, or verse... Oh, I got us going too fast. Yeah, no, Mark, no, that's right.
Mark chapter 2. I'm sorry. I got ahead of myself. Verses 15 to 17. And it came to pass that as Jesus
sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners also sat
together with Jesus and his disciples. For there were many, and they
followed him. Mark chapter two, verses 15 to
17. And look at this. So he's sitting there with publicans
and sinners. He'd be sitting there with you
and I. I'm a sinner. And look at these religious fellows
in the next verse. They hate it. You know why? Because
they look down on these folks. Republicans were tax collectors
for Rome. They hated them. And when the scribes and Pharisees
saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said to his disciple,
how is that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? And
I'll tell you, they said it with a snarl in their voice, I believe.
They were just, they were looking so down on our king. So the Messiah
is right in front of them and they don't even know it. They're
so consumed with their hate. When Jesus heard it, he said
to them, look at this, they that are whole have no need of a physician. See, when we're not sick, we
don't go to the physician, do we? Except for a checkup, but
I'm not talking about that. But usually, we don't go. We're
like, no, I'm OK. But when we find out there's
something seriously wrong, then we go to the doctor, don't we,
sister? Then we go and we seek the doctor's advice and to help
us, right? Look at this. They that are whole. have no need of a physician,
but they that are sick. I come not to call the righteous,
see the whole are the Pharisees and scribes who in their own
self-pride and self-righteousness think, I don't even, I listened
to a Jewish Christian interviewing a Jewish rabbi this week. And
this Jewish Christian said, you break the law all the time. He
goes, I don't break it at all. Remember what Paul said? When
he was a Pharisee, he said, when I was a Pharisee, I was blameless. I thought I was blameless before
the law. Blind, beloved, just like we were. Blind. But this fellow said, I'm not
a sinner. I don't break the law, Moses. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Look at this. So he didn't come
from the whole. He didn't come from the self-righteous. But
they that are sick, sin sick. Are you sin sick? Has God revealed
to you that you're a sinner? Still even as a believer, has
God revealed to us that we're sinners and we need Christ desperately? See, the Holy Spirit reveals
to us we're sinners. We don't think we are in our
natural state, just like that rabbi. We know sinners, don't we? Did
you know a few really bad sinners before the Lord saved you that
were? And then we found out, didn't we, Brother Charlie? This
is the guilty one. And we do, you know what? Let's
be honest. We still, we still struggle with
pride, don't we? And self-righteousness. We still
do. But have you ever noticed when
it happens that you confess it? You never would have done that
before. You cry out to Christ. Isn't it wonderful? It's wonderful.
I come not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Hallelujah. Born again, blood-washed sinners
that turn from their sins and rejoice in Christ. And even though
we're still sinners, we're saved sinners now. Isn't that wonderful? He's sitting with the outcasts. I know what that's like. I hung
out with a group. No one wanted to be around us. They were outcasts. Republican
sinners are outcasts. By who? By the religious Pharisees. Aren't you glad God came to save
rebels like us? outcasts, sinners, to the core. Oh, I love these verses. When
I read these verses about him sitting with publicans and sinners,
it makes my heart just, just cry out in joy. Our King came to save the worst
of the worst. And we can testify of that, can't
we? Before we were saved, we didn't think we were the worst
of the worst. But now, does sin bother you? Does it bother you? It does, doesn't it bother Travis?
It bothers us. My oh my. You'll be driving in the car,
somebody cuts in front of you, you get mad. And then you feel
bad. You're like, oh my lord, why
was I like that? Why was I like that? You know. Some guy cuts in front of the
line at a grocery store way ahead, and you're like, where are you?
Oh, man. Or something that's famous in
Michigan, right? There's a construction site,
and everybody's merging left, and these guys are flying down
the left side. You know what I love about Michigan?
These trucks pull out there and say, you ain't going nowhere.
You ever notice that? It's awesome. I never saw that
before. I'm thinking, this is great. We should publicize this
all across the US. But don't you get mad when those
guys fly by? And then you realize, what am I doing? See how quick we can, our flesh,
we're sinners. And we confess to the Lord, oh
Lord, I'm sorry, I did it again. Please, I know you forgive me
for all my sins, but I want to confess it to you. I don't want
to be like that. I don't want to have that spirit.
Right? But see, that's the war between
the flesh and the spirit. And our king ate and drank with
publicans and sinners. See where it says, when Jesus
heard it, he said unto them, they that are whole. Whole there
in the Greek means to be strong. To be strong. Oh my. And see the words they
that are sick in the Greek? It means to be bad, to be evil,
to be diseased. That's who Christ saves. Isn't
that amazing? Remember he called in Romans
the Holy Spirit, as Paul penned, that we are the ungodly. Christ come to save the ungodly. But now we're in Christ. It's wonderful. And it's all
according to God's will and providence. Oh my. Literally, they that are
sick means they who are having it bad, physically, in the Greek. You ever got so sick you think
you're going to die? It's like that. Just sinners
to the core. That's who Christ comes to save.
See, if you don't think you need to be saved by Christ, then you're
just like these Pharisees saying, I don't have no need for that. And that's a bad place to be.
That's a bad place to be. My oh my. And the Greek order
of words shows the emphasis placed in the thought of our Lord saying,
no need have those who are strong for a doctor, but those who are
sick. That's another Greek version
of it. The whole don't think they have
need for a doctor, do they? But the sick run to a doctor,
don't they? My oh my. In these words is found
the reason why Jesus was in this motley group. This motley group. He came to save sin sick sinners. And see this gospel of that fact
is now spreading through Rome. It's like a wildfire. Let's look at verse 15 now. Some
indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife and some of goodwill. Noted in the words there, even
of envy, that seems awful strange to go with the preaching of the
gospel, doesn't it? It seems awful strange. But the real problem with those
who were preaching Christ of envy and strife was that they
are jealous of Paul's influence. That's what it was. They wanted
to be the preacher. Always beware someone who wants
to be the preacher and God's not called them. Beware of that. They were jealous of Paul's influence,
not knowing that the gospel only advances not due to Paul, but
due to the God of the Holy Spirit. That's all. And we see in verse 15, after
telling the Philippians that the result of this imprisonment
was to advance the gospel, now we see the gospel going forth.
in power. And verse 15 now speaks about
two groups who were divided. Two groups who were divided. Some indeed preach Christ even
of envy and strife and also some of goodwill. Some sincerely,
some just to add to Paul's bonds. Now the word of in our text is
a preposition and it is a translation of the Greek word meaning because
of. Because of. Some preach Christ, some preach
Christ even because of envy and strife. Oh my. See, Henry Mahan brought
this out too, that whoever these men were who preached out of
envy and strife, we see that they truly preached the gospel,
otherwise Paul wouldn't have agreed with it, would he? Because
over in Galatians, like we studied in chapter 1, verse 8, it says,
but though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel
unto you, that which we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed. So if they were preaching a false gospel, he wouldn't have
rejoiced that the gospel was going forth. So they were teaching
the true word. They were envious of Paul's gifts,
Paul's position. And they thought the success
of his ministry was because of his own power, but it wasn't.
Just like any gospel preacher. Brother Travis, we know, we stand
up and tremble. And it's God, the Holy Spirit,
who takes those words and comforts God's people. Yeah, oh, okay. I do have to read. I'm going
to read. I'm going to read. We're going to have to go back
and listen. But listen to Weiss, the Greek
scholar, his translation of verses 14 to 16. I'll close with this.
This is amazing. Says, in fact, certain ones,
even of envy and rivalry, but also others, because of goodwill,
are proclaiming Christ, some indeed out of a spirit of love,
knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel, but
others out of a partisan, self-seeking spirit. They were desiring preeminence. announcing Christ, not with pure
unmixed motives, but insincerely thinking to make my chain gall
me." Heavy. But praise be to God, right?
Our God is in control, isn't he? And Paul eventually was released
from that imprisonment and went on to preach the gospel in other
places. Isn't that wonderful? Brother Travis, can you close
us