So good to be here today. What
a blessing. I had a great blessing putting
this message together. The name of the message is the
advance of the gospel. Advance of the gospel. And today
we'll look at how Paul looked at all the sufferings and all
the trials and tribulations that he went through. He looked at
them, his imprisonments, his suffering. He looked at them
as all for the advancement of the gospel. everything he went
through. He had such a wonderful perspective
of the sovereignty of God that he looked at everything he went
through as all for the advancement of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Paul's writing from Rome to the
Philippian church, he's prayed for them to grow in love and
knowledge and as we saw a few weeks ago, discernment when it
comes to the teaching of the true gospel and the false gospel.
But he's praying for them to grow in the love that they have
for one another, the love that they have for the Lord Jesus
Christ, and that they would have increase in knowledge of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And we know that all comes from
God the Holy Spirit, right? We can't increase our own, but
we are to study to show ourselves approved, right? A workman that
needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. So
that's what we are to do. So when a man stands up before
you, we're to divide the truth. Okay, is he speaking the truth?
Is he speaking about Christ? Or is he speaking about himself?
And as I said, we will use ourselves sometimes in illustrations. But
the focus is not to be ourselves. The focus is to have you look
to Christ. Because we all experience things, right? In our walk with
the Lord. And when we're telling people
about what we've went through, Our focus should always be on
Christ the King, right? As I said last week, he gets
all the glory, honor, and praise. It all goes to him. And remember
that at this time, the Judaizers are peddling a false gospel.
They're saying you have to be circumcised to be saved along
with faith in Christ. Or you've got the Gnostics who
say we are the keepers of all the knowledge. You have to come
to us to get the knowledge. So there's different, and you
know what? Remember this. Antichrist is
not a man. Antichrist is a spirit. It's a spirit. John wrote in
the epistles, Antichrists are already here. Gil, I found out
Calvin, Gil, Spurgeon, they all believe that Antichrist is the
spirit. It goes against man. So anything
that exalts man over Christ is Antichrist. Anything that exalts
itself over Christ is Antichrist. Always remember that. That's
what the Greek word underlying means for Antichrist. It means
against Christ. Isn't that incredible? So I line
up, and I know Henry believed the same way, but I don't believe
that just because they believe, I believe that from studying.
It's a spirit. And it goes against Christ. Religion
nowadays in this world that are not preaching the true gospel,
that are teaching something that we have to do, Brother Brian,
that's anti-Christ. You see? Makes sense, doesn't
it? Oh my. So, he's praying that
they would be given discernment to know the difference between
true preaching And that which is false. That which is false. See, we
can agree with folks when they say, I believe that salvation
is through Christ alone and by grace alone. I can fellowship
with people like that, can you? We might have differences on
eschatology, we might have differences on some other things, but the
gospel is what's most important, isn't it? That's what's vital. Christ is the one who saves us.
Let us always remember that. And we know from studying the
epistles, studying Galatians, Colossians, 1st Peter, 2nd Peter,
1st John, 2nd John, 3rd John, we know from all those books
we've went through, James, they've all pointed us to Christ, haven't
they? They've all pointed us to Christ. My oh my. So remember this too. The church
at Philippi, not only were they facing contention or persecution
from without by their own countrymen, right? But they were facing persecution. They were facing persecution
from within too by the Judaizers who'd crept in. And we're gonna
see Paul mention them, not the Judaizers, but mention those
who are preaching, preaching just to stir up people against
Paul. So with that, let's read our text here. Verses 12. Last week we looked at verse
11. Let's read from verses 12 to 20. We'll read a portion here
so we can see the context, the context of our verses, one verse
today. But I would ye should understand,
brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen
out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. In the Greek,
that word furtherance is advancement. The advancement of the gospel.
So he's saying, whatever happened to me, it's happened for the
advancement of the gospel. And that gospel is only about
Christ, right? It's the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. and salvation in and through him. So that my bonds
in Christ are manifest in all the palace and all other places. We'll look at that verse next
week and it's something very interesting there. When it says
in all the palace, it's talking about the guards. The guards in Rome, see the regular
legionaries weren't allowed to go in as a whole unit into Rome
unless they were having a triumph. The guards in the city of Rome
were what are called, you probably heard this, Praetorian guards.
They were the elite of the elite. They were the guards who guarded
the emperor. But they also guarded prisoners.
They were chained to prisoners if they were under house arrest.
And here's a little something for you to think about. Every
four hours, there was a new guard. Paul had a constant audience. And see where it says here, where
it says, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the
palace and in all the places, amongst the Patorian guard. The
imperial guard, they're called. Oh my. We may have some brothers
that are of the imperial guard, beloved. And many of the brethren of the
Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to
speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ of
envy and strife. So there's the ones preaching
against, preaching but preaching to add strife to Paul. Those
are the enemies within, the Judaizers. Not sincerely supposing to add
affliction to my bonds, but the other, or sorry, the one preached
Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to
my bonds, but the other of love. There's the true preachers. Oh my, knowing that I am set
for the defense of the gospel, Paul was ready to defend Christ
and him crucified. What then, notwithstanding every
way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached, and
I therein do rejoice, and will rejoice. For I know that this
shall turn to my salvation through your prayers. He's already a
saved man, though. He's not saying that he's going
to be saved by something they do. No. It doesn't have anything
to do with that. We'll look at that when we get
there. And through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit
of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and my
hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all
boldness, as always, so now also Christ be magnified, shall be
magnified in my body, whether by life or death. So this letter
to the Philippians was delivered by Epaphoditus. He was a faithful
preacher. to the church at Philippi. Now
Epaphroditus had come to Rome with financial help from the
church at Philippi. The Philippians were concerned
that the persecution that Paul was facing and the trials and
temptations that he was going through were hindering the gospel. But Paul has, in this letter,
said to them, it's not being hindered. Everything I've went
through is for the furtherance of the gospel. Do you see how
that ties in now then? They were concerned about him. They were concerned about his
well-being. But Paphroditus had been sent, turn if you would
to chapter 2, chapter 2. Paphroditus had been sent from
Philippi to Rome to give Paul this financial aid for the missionary
work. Look at this, Philippians chapter
2 verses 25 to 30. Yet I suppose it necessary to
send to you Epaphroditus, my brother. So he's going to send
them back with this letter. And companion in labor and fellow
soldier. You know that we're all fellow
soldiers in Christ's army? You ever think of that? That's
not just the preachers. That's all of us. That's all
of us. My, but your messenger, and he
that ministered to my want, so he was actually a blessing to
Paul. He came, but look at this, for he longed after you all and
was full of heaviness because that ye had heard that he had
been sick. Now I was reading this thinking,
my oh my. God in his providence knew Paul
needed encouragement. Epaphroditus gets sick, and we're
gonna see it's a serious illness. And he has to stay in Rome. Well, he'd be visiting Paul,
wouldn't he? When he could. He'd be an encouragement to Paul,
right? This is all falling out. According to the providence of
God, beloved. Look at this. For he was indeed
For indeed he was sick, nigh unto death, but God had mercy
on him, and not only on him, but on me also." God's had mercy
on Dan and Kathy, right? But he's also had mercy on us.
We haven't lost their presence yet. Right? Oh my. See, we grieve when loved
ones go. We grieve. We grieve. We're happy
for them. Oh, we'd never want them to come
back. But we still miss them. Irene, and I think of Irene and
Richard. We miss them. Joel and Jim and
Wayne and Marge and Louise, Calvin, Denise. We miss them. Oh, my. And look, he said, God
had mercy on the Paphrodites and him. Lest I should have sorrow upon
sorrow. I send him therefore the more
carefully that when you see him again, you may rejoice and I
may be less sorrowful. Oh my. So Paul's gonna miss him
when he sends him. So he's saying, I'm gonna send
him to you. And I'm gonna miss him. But he
says, knowing that how much joy you get from seeing him, because
he's one of them, I'll be less soulful. Isn't that amazing? That's incredible. So Papadias had become really
dear to him. Rejoice. Receive him therefore
in the Lord with all gladness and hold such in reputation Because
for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death Not regarding
his own life to supply your lack of service toward me. Look at
that My oh my so Paphrodites we see in verse 27 during his
time in Rome took ale which delayed his return home and And so he was the one who delivered
this letter then to the Philippians. He's a fellow laborer in the
gospel, we see. By God's providence, he's been
born again. He ministered to Paul, ministered
to the saints. Verse 30, we see that it was
a blessing for Paul to send him back for the furtherance of the
gospel. Oh my. So God, think of this
too, let's look at the big picture though. God in his providence
had delayed Epaphroditus from going back right away. He has to carry that letter back.
He doesn't know it, Paul doesn't know it. But he's gotta carry
a letter back. So Epaphroditus comes and he
tells Paul, the folks are really concerned. They're thinking that
your imprisonment and all this has hindered the gospel outreach. Right? And remember, Paul's a
pioneer, right? Of the gospel. And they're afraid it's hindered
that. So Epaphroditus gets sick and
has to stay there. Paul writes this letter and then
says, take this home to the brethren. And now, here we are reading
it today. Isn't God amazing? And what a
comfort it is for us. Because this book is written
to suffering saints. Saints that are living in the
world and suffering for their faith. No, it's wonderful. I'll tell you why. It's just
amazing. And Paul desired that the church
at Philippi would have an understanding of what he's going through and
how it's all part of God's plan. It's all part of his, he purposed
and planned all these things. And that would be a comfort to
them, not only with what Paul's going through, but also what
they're going through. Because remember, they're being
attacked from their own country, man. And they have things going
on within the church, too. Oh, what a comfort this would
be for them. And Paul, he desires that all
among them might be encouraged to bear with patience and cheerfulness
whatever afflictions might befall them, as well as him, for the
advancement of the gospel. And he wrote to express his appreciation
and affection for the Philippian believers. We see that in the
text already. More than any other church, the
believers in Philippi had offered Paul material support for his
ministry. Again, turn over to chapter four.
We'll see this brought forth again in chapter four. Look at verses 15 to 18. Philippians
chapter four, verses 15 to 18. Now you Philippians also know
that in the beginning of the gospel, When I departed from
Macedonia, no church communicated with me concerning giving and
receiving, but he only. So they were the only ones that
had reached out to Paul. They were the only ones that
had supported Paul. I believe the church is just
like us. Not a lot of wealthy people.
We're just normal folks, aren't we? And I believe that's how
this group was, too. Just normal people. But they
gave to support the work, just like this work here. We give
to support the work, don't we? It's amazing. For the furtherance
of the gospel. My, look at this. For even in
Thessalonica, ye sent once and again unto my necessity. So this
isn't the only time this church has done this. This church has
heard of a need and sent. Just like when we hear of a need,
we like to help folks within the body, don't we? Whether it
be here or whether it be folks in some of our other churches. If there's a need, we help. Look what happened when your
brother went over there and worked right away. And it's not just
financial, it's physical need too. People go over and help
out. Grace folks are amazing that way. There's a missionary,
when Moose Parks was in the Caribbean, I believe it was, and somebody
had found out that he had mortgaged his house in order to pay for
the work over there. Didn't ask for a cent. Well,
a bunch of churches got together and sent him money. Paid off,
I think, the rest of his mortgage. And they said, next time you
have this happen, this was before I got here, next time you have
this happen, you contact us. Tell us if you need. They found
out that one of the young preachers down in Mexico that were sitting
under Walter and Cody Grover, Grover, Grover, Grover, needed
a truck to go from place to place. And this is, again, before I
got hurt, because we would have helped out, too. They got together,
and they all sent money down, bought the guy a brand new truck.
You remember hearing about that? Did you hear about that? Yeah.
Isn't that amazing? It's just how graceful folks
are. And Paul's having this happen
here. He didn't know the Philippians
were going to send him another love offering to help for the furtherance
of the gospel. Look at this. Not because I desire
a gift. He wasn't looking for it. But I desire fruit. More important
to him than financial aid was fruit in the believer. That's
what's the most important thing. That God the Holy Spirit would
teach us and have us grow in Christ. You know what Norm said?
We preachers, I told this to Brian and Zane on Friday morning. We preachers, Norm Wells said,
we're just preparing folks for the graduation. Because we're
all gonna graduate one day, right? We're all gonna go home to be
with the Lord one day. And we just keep setting Christ
before you Right? And set in Christ before you.
One old preacher was asked by a dear brother who was dying
in the hospital. He asked the brother, he said, well, are you
ready to die? It was Henry Mahan. And the guy
said to Henry, he said, well, if you told me the truth, I am. Well, I'm going to tell you the
truth. Salvation's only in Christ. It's not by any human labor.
Not by any human work. we are saved 100% in and by the
Lord Jesus Christ and by his perfect work and through his
shed blood. And that's the only way for a
sinner to be saved. And I'm just gonna keep telling
you that. We're gonna look at different
scriptures, but I'm just gonna keep telling you that. Isn't it wonderful? And we wanna
hear that, don't we? We wanna hear that. Look at this,
not because I desire a gift, but I desire fruit that may abound
to your account, that you might grow in Christ. But I have all
and abound, but I have all and abound. I am full, having received
of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you in order of
sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. So look
at Paul, he just turns it right to the Lord. It's well-pleasing
to God, glory be to God. Give him all the glory. And Paul
knows how to abound whether he be, he said, I know whether to
abound whether I be in a good situation or what the world would
call a bad situation, rich or poor. You know why? Because his focus wasn't on financial
things. His focus was on Christ. Spurgeon said this one time.
You guys take good care of me. He said, if you want to get rich,
don't be a Baptist preacher. I was telling some folks yesterday,
this week, I said, I used to be a pretty successful salesman
in top 200 nationwide, and I said, if I wanted to make more money,
I would have stayed in that job or stayed doing that kind of
stuff. But God called me to preach. And this is the most important
thing in my life. Being with you. You know? This is wonderful. And I've told
you guys many times, if it ever came to where you guys couldn't
support us, I'd get a job or start selling stuff on the side.
It's how it is. You know? The Lord's good though,
isn't he, to us? He's wonderful to us. See, the
preaching of the gospel is the most important thing, more than
anything, more than anything. So now let's read verses 12 and
13 together. 12 will be our, finally, it's
here, it's 10 after 10, I'm getting to the verse we're gonna look
at today. Oh my. Verse 12, and we'll read verse
13 along with it. But I would, you should understand,
brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen
rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. So I've already,
we've already been talking about that too, haven't we, that Paul
said, hey, everything I go through is all for the furtherance of
the gospel. So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all
the palace and in all other places. Now Epaphroditus had told Paul,
again, that the church at Philippi were very concerned for him.
very concerned about his imprisonment, very concerned that he was now
in Rome, and that this imprisonment was hindering the missionary
work. So Paul pens these words here,
but I would, that you should understand, brethren, that the
things which happened on me have fallen out rather into the furtherance
of the gospel. Again, the furtherance there
is advancement, the advancement of the gospel. See the word would in verse 12? This speaks in the Greek of the
desire that has purpose and intention behind it. He has purpose and
intention. He's trying to bring forth that
the purpose and intention of his imprisonment is for the furtherance
of the gospel. See, Paul's looking at things
how we should look at things. And Lord willing, he keeps giving
us those eyes, because I get my eyes off his sovereignty and
looking at the world sometimes like everyone else. But Paul's
looking broadly, isn't he? He's looking at the whole picture.
You remember that analogy I gave you guys? I got it from an old
preacher, and he said, When you're watching a parade, we're on street
level. That's where we are. We just
see the little sections that come in front of us, right? But
God sees the whole overhead. He sees the beginning of the
parade over here, and he sees the end of the parade over here.
He knows everything that's going to happen. He knows the beginning
from the end. Isn't that incredible? Paul is
getting a little glimpse of that. And that's what we get when we
start to see God's sovereign over all things. We're getting
a little glimpse, just a little glimpse of that whole overarching
picture. We don't fully understand it.
I don't think we ever will. But each time we learn more about
his sovereignty, we hear more about how he's in control, the
more comfort and peace it brings to our souls. the more joyful we become in
Christ. Oh my. So he says here, wood
with a desire and intention behind it, it brings forth will with
determination. Will with determination. And
then comes the word understand. This is from the Greek word meaning
to acquire knowledge by experience. The only way we can learn about
suffering is not just talking to people who are suffering,
not just talking to people who are, well, we can have empathy
with them, but when we go through it, we can really have empathy
with them. When we've experienced loss, when we've experienced
sorrow, we can have empathy with people who've experienced sorrow
and experienced loss, right? Isn't that amazing? We can actually
relate to what's going on. I was thinking about this too.
We can actually relate to what was going on in Galatians and
what was going on in even Philippi with stirring up within because
we went through that ourselves four years ago. Isn't that amazing? So we know the pain that brings. But we also know the joy afterwards
as the Lord just strengthens the body and builds us back up
again. Yeah. Freed abounding in the
Holy Spirit of God, right? Oh my. Paul desired that the saints
would learn something from the experience that he's going through
the imprisonment and all that, being for the advancement of
the gospel, and also the things that they're going through, that
they would also be comforted. Because Paul knows what they're
going through, doesn't he, Brother Brian? He knows the experience
that they're going through. And he's telling them, you know,
we can learn things. I told Drew sometimes a long
time ago when all that stuff happened, I said, what I'm asking
the Lord is what are you trying to teach me here? So in every
situation we go through, beloved, we can stop and say, Lord, what
are you trying to teach me? Because he's teaching us something.
He is. He's pruning away. He's chipping
away. Stone's being made ready, remember?
He's chipping. Oh, that hurt. But it's always
done in love, isn't it? Oh, my. It's wonderful. So Paul desired that the saints
would learn something from his experience. The words, the things
that happened unto me are literally the things dominating me in the
Greek. What's he dominated with? Who's he dominated with? Someone
tell me. Amen. He's dominated with Christ. That's who he's dominated with.
No wonder he wrote, he's our all in all. Christ is everything to him.
Just like he is for every believer. And he's dominated by him and
his work and service. He desires now to serve the Lord.
And when we tell people that they're sinners and that there's
salvation in no other but Christ, Jesus, the Lord, who came to
save sinners, then man's pride gets offended, doesn't it? But
does that stop us from telling them the truth? No. Do we seek to offend them? No. But the gospel offends. You've
experienced that, Sister Marsha. The Gospel of Faith has done
that. When we tell people the truth, they get bent out of shape. They get bent out of shape, I'll
tell you. But we must not compromise the message. We must never compromise
the message. My, oh my. We being redeemed. And we must tell folks that salvation
only is in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. And that the only
way we believe is by the regenerating power of God the Holy Spirit.
My, oh, my. We've been redeemed, beloved,
by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we can't help but say salvation
is only in Christ and not by any works we do because that's
the truth. We're not going to lie to those
we love. We're not going to lie to our friends. If the Lord opens the door, and
that's the key, don't shove your foot through the door, but if
the Lord opens the door, then tell them. I've seen a lot of
people shove their foot through the door. I used to do it before
when I was in religion. Try to, what do they call that? Buttonhole people. It don't work, but if God opens
the door, And you get to testify about Christ? Oh, my. It fills your heart with joy,
too, just talking about Him. Just telling others about Him.
Listen to this in verse 12 and 13 in the Greek literal Bible.
I thought this was interesting. I want you to know, brothers,
that what has happened to me has really served to advance
the gospel. So everything that's happened
to Paul has happened to advance the gospel. So that it has become
known throughout the whole imperial guard, the Praetorians, and to
all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. The Praetorian
guards, this guy's, this guy's been, he's been in prison for
preaching Christ. Who is Christ? Well, I don't
know, but he keeps talking about him and saying he's God. And
that he's the only savior of sinners. And he keeps telling
these visitors that everybody's sinners. That's you and I, too. And maybe one guy says, ah, I
don't believe that. And the other guy goes, well,
I'm listening even more. You don't know, right? He'd get chained to a fellow
for four hours. He got a different audience every four hours, beloved. Oh my, it's awesome. I love how
the Lord works that way. See the words, which happened,
they're italicized in our Bible. That means they're not in the
original Greek. Remember, nothing just happens to God's people. See, when it says, which happened,
nothing just happens to God's people. Everything is planned
and purposed by God. Oh my. Everything is planned and purposed.
So those words should not be, they're not in the Greek, they're
being added by the translators. So let's read verse 12 without
those words. But I would, you should understand,
brethren, that the things happened unto me have fallen rather into
the furtherance or advancement of the gospel. So it's not by chance that these
things are happening. Oh, everything that happens to
the saints either come directly from God or they reach us by
his permissive will, right? He allows things to happen in
our lives. But overall, he's in full control. Having have fallen out, the words
in that text have fallen out, is literally have come to result
in the Greek. Come to result. The word furtherance
is from the Greek word which means to cut before, like wood
Basically what it's used for is back when they would send
an army of pioneer woodcutters to somewhere, and they would
cut before the army came. So the army would have a, if
they were going to go through a certain part of woods and stuff,
they would have woodcutters go before them and chop down trees
so that they could go through. They were pioneers. That's what
this is talking about. Paul's like a pioneer for the
gospel. Isn't that amazing? And then what follows? Well,
he preaches the gospel and the Holy Spirit just, whoosh. Remember Philip in Acts 8? Whoosh. Saving folks. Oh my. The use of the word rather tells
us that the Philippians were thinking that Paul's ministry
was being thwarted. And in furtherance, of course,
brings forth, to cut before, to advance in that Greek literal
Bible. I want you to know, brothers,
that that which has happened to me has really served to advance
the gospel. Advance the gospel. Turn, if
you would, to Acts chapter 8, quick. We're going to close with
this because we will see what's happening in this text here. We've already studied this portion,
but I'd like us to read it again. Acts chapter 1 verses 1 to, or
Acts chapter 8 verses 1 to 8. And Saul was consenting unto
his death, that's Stephen's death, and at that time there was great
persecution against the church, which was at Jerusalem, and they
were all scattered abroad toward the regions of Judea, Samaria,
except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen
to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As for
Saul, he made havoc, that's destroyed, havoc of the church, entering
into every house and hailing men and women and committing
them to prison. Therefore they that were scattered
abroad went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down
to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them, and the people
with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake,
hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits,
crying with a loud voice, came out of many that were possessed
with them, and many taken with palsy, and that were lame were
healed. And there was great joy in the
city." There was a common saying in primitive times that the blood
of the martyrs was the seed of the church. John Gill bought
that forth. The blood of the martyrs was
the seed of the church. And we see in our text that the
gospel has been confirmed. They've embraced it. Paul desired
that they would be even more established in it. And that now
he's given them a look according to the sovereignty of God how
his sufferings and theirs are all for the advancement of the
gospel. Isn't our God amazing? Now bring it home. Everything
that's happened in our life as a believer happened to bring
us to where we were to hear the gospel. And now we're taking
part in the advancement of the gospel, all of us. Isn't that wonderful? God's truly
amazing. Brother Brian, can you close
us in prayer?