Philippians chapter 1. Paul is writing to the Philippians to encourage them, to exhort them, to remind them that the work is finished. And as I said the first hour, he is not not lightly telling them how much he loves them. He's doing it in abundance, how much he cares for them, how much he loves them, what they mean to his heart, how joyful he is on every remembrance of them, how often he prays for them. And so he's exhorting them. He's trying to lift them up, admonish them in Christ's unwavering purpose. Now, just briefly, I want to mention the history because some churches, we don't know exactly how they came to fruition other than it just by the Lord's purpose, obviously.

But this one can be found in Acts chapter 16. Whenever Paul went to Philippi, he found some women who were beside a river. And Lydia was one of those that were there that's mentioned by name. And they heard the gospel. And then Paul goes to Lydia's house and the house hears. And that was the very beginning of the church of Philippi.

But on Paul's second travel to Philippi, he got put in prison. You remember the story where the angel of the Lord came and the Lord shook the chains off of Paul and his companion and the gates all opened up, the doors all opened up. And the Philippian jailer, that's all we know his name is, that's all they call him is a Philippian jailer.

But he was thought to harm himself. He thought, they're going to kill me because the prisoners have escaped. And he said, harm not thyself, for we're all here. And I think it's amazing because they had been talking about the gospel. They had been singing the Psalms and hymns the whole time they were in there rejoicing. And here they are strapped to a wall. You know what I mean? How glorious is that? Well, he heard something because he said, what must I do to be saved? He told him, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house. And so it was, he believed by God's grace alone and his house. And so that was the, that was the adding to the church there.

Now there would have been meeting in homes, no doubt to start with and how. how many were there I'm not really sure but he does mention bishops being plural here so that means we had more than one particular church there's only one bishop per church so and you can see that in the first verse Paul and Timotheus the servants of Jesus Christ to all the saints of Christ Jesus which are at Philippi with the bishops and deacons so multiple locations.

Philippi was not a small place by any means. And so you could imagine back then they wouldn't have had cars, they wouldn't have had buggies with your carriages, things like that. They weren't going to drive an hour to get across town like we do today, because it'd only be 10 minutes for us now. And we're very, well, the Lord's been very gracious, we'll put it that way, very thankful that we can come from near and far and get to meet together.

I wanted to give us this background because as of right now, Paul's writing this. He is in Bonds in Rome, writing this to them. And there has arisen some issues with the Philippians. So I gave you the history just briefly. Now let's look at the issue. Look at verse 15 and 16.

Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife and with some also of goodwill. The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely supposing to add affliction to my bonds and look at 17, but the other of love, knowing that I am sent for the defense of the gospel. So he's, the issue he has is they're preaching in strife and not sincerely they're preaching in, uh, Envy and strife. And then he says, and then not sincerely with contention.

That contention, people do that all the time. The word, the root word there is contend. You'd imagine a contend. A boxing match is a contention match. They get in the ring and one tries to win. So what you had was you had a lot of people that were arguing or debating or going back and forth over points out of strife, out of envy, whatever it may have been.

And so Paul's writing them to establish, reestablish, or encourage them to look to Christ, look to Christ alone. Because of this particular issue that they're facing, Paul uses unique language in our texts. And it's the only place in all of scripture that this is written. The only, the only one place or only two places is in Philippians chapter one, and it is called the defense of the gospel. I just read one of them and that was in verse 17. I am set for the defense of the gospel, but the other one, We'll read in just a minute, but the question I have for us this morning, what does he mean the defense of the gospel? Does the gospel need to be defended? Are we to be contentious? Are we to debate and have, I know places that have debating teams. You won't find that in the scripture. You won't find that in the scripture. Brethren, the gospel is to be declared, is to be declared. So the question I want to answer is how do we defend the gospel this morning? I've titled this message, the defense of the gospel, the defense of the gospel.

So let's read our text Philippians one, and we're going to read one through seven, and then we're going to read 15 through 18. Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi with the bishops and deacons.

Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making requests with joy for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it into the day of Jesus Christ. Even as it is meet for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. Ye all the partakers of my grace.

Now look down at verse 15. Some indeed preach Christ, even of envy and strife, and some also of goodwill. The one preach 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. What then? I could have titled this message, What Then? What then? Notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached. And I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice."

The reason the word defense is being brought up is because some men are preaching Christ in envy, in strife, and in contention. Some are preaching in love, though. But the ones in strife and contention, they are rivals. so to speak. And we have to be silent on it because the scripture is not very clear what all they were arguing about. So we're just going to be silent on it and let it say what it says.

The word actually means competition. Competition. You ever seen that before in churches? Oh yeah. Oh, yeah. People will look down on other people and think that they're better than others because they don't do this or they do this. And you have competition for what you know or what I know. I know something you don't know. And that's what men do by nature because of our pride, because of our ego, our self-justification, as we talked about the first hour.

And it's not of the Lord, is it? No, the Lord, the gospel is to be declared. It's to be declared. How did Paul defend the gospel? That's what we must ask this morning, is how do we defend the gospel? Well, he gives us the answer in verse 18. Christ is preached. You see that there in verse 18? Christ is preached.

How is that the defense of the gospel? Well, because in the sense of defending, the gospel doesn't need to be defended in the sense of the word. The Lord's gospel will stand, sure, because it's his word. It won't return void to him. My responsibility and duty as pastor is not to get up here and defend what we believe. It's to declare what we believe. We don't defend the Lord Jesus Christ. We declare the Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn't need to be defended. He's God. I need to be defended. He has to defend me. We don't defend him. We don't defend his gospel. But what does he mean by defense then? Well, it's very simple.

If we desire to defend, we must proclaim the gospel. And I have three points for this. The defense of the gospel is to preach Christ sovereignly. That's the defense of the gospel, to preach Christ sovereignly, number one. Number two, to preach Christ simply and plainly to men as they are, simply and plainly. And the third defense of the gospel is to preach Christ as all for salvation, all in salvation. So first we preach Christ is absolutely sovereign.

Brethren, did you know that Christ is not like God? He is God. He is God. I remember people always giving Him the title, the Son of God. He is, He has that title. That's a true statement. He is the Son of God. But He is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Do we know what that means? The three parts of God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He's the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

He was as much God sleeping on that boat when the disciples said, Lord, you're not afraid that we're going to perish? As he was when he said, peace, be still, all the wind stopped. He was just, that's amazing because he was so much man, he had to sleep, but he was so much God that the wind ceased when he spoke. Isn't that glorious?

He's a hundred percent man and a hundred percent God. God manifest in the flesh. This is who he is. He's absolutely sovereign as God. We can never preach man low enough and God high enough. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. He's totally other than what we are. He's completely sovereign.

He reigneth over the inhabitants of the earth, over the inhabitants of heaven, over the inhabitants of hell. He owns the keys of death, hell, and the grave. He created all things for His glory, for His purpose, by His power, even the salvation of His people.

He was all by His purpose, not ours. Wasn't by the will of blood, wasn't by the will of man, nor by the will of mankind, the scripture tells us in John chapter one, but of the will of God. That's how we were born, if we're born again, all by His will, all by His purpose.

The Lord said this in Revelation chapter one, verse eight, I am alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord, which is, which was, which is to come, the Almighty. That's Jesus Christ. Do we see that? That's him, the Lord Jesus Christ. So he's author of salvation. He's finisher of salvation. He's the alpha, first letter of the Greek alphabet. He's the omega, last letter of the Greek alphabet. He's everything in between, everything in between. Scripture tells us that he's first and last. His name is called Faithful and True.

I love when he prays in John 17, he says, you have given power to the, he's praying to the father and he says, the father to the father, he says, thou has given him, Christ, him, the Lord Jesus Christ, all power, all power, both in heaven and in earth, gave him all power. Now he has all the power. How much power do I have? Well, I don't have any. That's a simple calculation, isn't it?

He sovereign. Scripture tells us that He was the sovereign creator and sustainer of life. In John chapter 1, we heard this the first hour as well, all things were created by Him, the Word of God. It says, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God, it was Jesus Christ. And He said all things were made by Him, without Him there was not anything made that was made. Jesus Christ made everything for the purpose of God's salvation for His people all for His glory.

So how do you defend him? How do you defend him? Well, in the sense of the word, you don't. He don't need defending. The good news is you can't offend him either. If you're his, you're in Christ. But he doesn't need defending in the sense of the word. Now, if I was being attacked by someone and you saw the need to help me out, you would come to my aid and you would try to defend me from receiving harm.

Who's gonna harm him? Who's gonna stay his hand? Who's gonna question him? What doest thou? None can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? Hath not Potter power over the clay to make one lump of honor and another to dishonor? Who art thou, O man, that replied against God?

See, he's sovereign. The gospel is to be declared simply and plainly. And Jesus Christ is to be declared completely sovereign. Completely sovereign. He just needs to be preached as the sovereign King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Our successful Redeemer is seated in the heavens. Men preach a weak Jesus that doesn't exist. He's to be preached. as high as we can possibly preach Him. And it still isn't high enough. Still isn't high enough.

I love the first hour we talked about being conformed to His image. One day, we'll be able to praise Him perfectly. Does that cause you to rejoice? That causes me to rejoice. I'll be able to praise Him the way that I want to. I'll be able to worship Him the way that I want to. I'll be able to bow before Him the way that I want to, being in His likeness.

No, brethren, he doesn't need the help of man. He doesn't need us at all. Get in mercy. He chose to save his people from their sin. He chose to elect and redeem and regenerate. I love the thought that he has been sovereign. Always because he can't change. And some of these, we heard the first hour in some ways, so I hope you don't mind if I repeat it. He was sovereign before time. He created time. And most churches, somehow they forget that very important detail that time is not a factor to God. It doesn't change him.

And we can't really understand that because every time we, how do you talk about God being everywhere all the time? How do you talk about God being, knowing everything all the time? How do you talk about the Lord never changing? But that's what the scripture says clearly. I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.

So if the Lord never changes and he's sovereign, it means he's always been sovereign. Do we see that? Always going to be sovereign. What do I mean by sovereign? I mean that everything is exactly as he has purposed it to be and nothing, not even one stick is out of place outside. Everything is where he has purposed before time ever began.

Every hair of our head is numbered. In false religion, they used to say, well, that means he loves you so much that he's counted the hairs of your head. No, you don't understand. He chose what number would be on your head before you were born. And he put that on there, numbered your hair, numbered your hair. And not one hair falls that he didn't purpose.

I mean, this is our God. This is how Christ is to be preached. This is not the puny baby Jesus in a manger that's meek and mild, that's accepted by most churches. No, he's the one that John saw. His eyes were a flame of fire. His hair was as wool. And he says in wrath, he'd make war.

He's not, this is the lion of the tribe of Judah. This is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the lamb of his elected people, but he's the lion of the Lord as well. He's not weak. He's not puny. He humbled himself. He condescended and became a man by choice, by determinant counsel, by God's purpose and God's will. And he humbled himself to death, even the death of the cross that we might be redeemed. That didn't make him weak. That didn't change anything that he was. No, as a matter of fact, it just revealed his isness, the glory that we have been given in him in salvation and the depth that he had to go to in order to give us that. He did this all and remained sovereign the entire time.

Pilate was mocking our Lord in the hall. They were questioning him and he said to him, don't you know that I have power to release you? And I have power to crucify you. And I just, we look at that and we cringe because we're thinking you're talking to God and you don't even know it. You're talking to God. And what would we have said? Probably the same thing if we were in the position, if Lord left it to ourself. What does the Lord say? He doesn't say, actually, I have all power, Pilate. No, he says you would have no power at all lest it was given to you of my father. But we know from John 17 that he had already received all the power from the father. Why?

He was God. He was sovereign. He could have destroyed the entire world at that moment, not even been difficult. He created it by speaking it into existence. What would happen if he unspoken into existence? You understand what I'm saying? This is God. He's not a baby. He's not weak. He's not pitiful. He's not begging men to do anything. He is absolutely holy and sovereign and different than we are in every way. With that being said, he was sovereign in redemption. He didn't just make a way so you and I could choose. He chose to redeem because he is the way. He said, I am the way, the truth and the life.

He didn't say, um, You'll never find in scripture where it says give your heart to Jesus. It never does say that. It never does say that. The Lord doesn't want our heart. It's deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. If God wants something, he's gonna have to provide it because you and I are wicked, desperately dead dog sinners.

He gives a new heart, one that's like his in faith that looks to Christ alone, the sovereign Lord, as everything. If I am to defend the gospel, I must declare the Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely sovereign. I must declare the Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely sovereign. So what I'm saying is, is that the Lord defends himself.

This, preach the word Timothy, be instant in season out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine for the time will come when men will not endure sound doctrine, but they'll heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and shall turn away from the truth and shall be turned to fables. That's what Paul told Timothy. We preach Christ, Sovereignly. And the second point is we preach him simply and plainly.

God's gospel is not complicated. God's gospel is, uh, I mean, we can understand if I was to say to you, God elected a people, the Lord Jesus Christ redeemed those people, the spirit regenerates those people. And we're kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be rebuilt at the last time. And he's coming back for his people.

I can understand that information. I can say, okay, I understand that. But did you know it's impossible to believe unless the Lord gives faith? It's impossible to believe it. The flesh cannot and will not believe that. No, the flesh will say there has to be something else, something else I must do. And rather than preaching Christ simply and plainly, most people err at this point and they say, okay, so I have to do this or I have to do this and have to do this.

No, everything God requires, He provides because He only accepts what He provides. he provided his son because he was well pleased with the Lord Jesus Christ. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And all of those who are in Christ Jesus, he is well pleased with them as well. Why? Because the same glory wherewith he had with the father, he's given unto the son and unto his people. The Lord sees the blood when he sees his people. The Lord sees his son when he sees his people.

That's not, that's simple, isn't it? He doesn't see me any longer. He doesn't see my works. He doesn't see my trying. He doesn't see my effort. He doesn't see my life. He sees that my life is hid with Christ and God. That's the good news. No, the flesh is dead when it died in the, the flesh had, When the Lord Jesus Christ died, Paul said that we were reckoned to be dead under the law. That's what he was talking about there. The Lord doesn't see, it's in him we live, move, and have our being. It's not in us anymore that we live, move, and have our being.

Somebody said, well, that doesn't sound too simple. Well, It's simply declared. It's not complicated to declare it. We declare that it's his life, not mine. It's his death, not mine. It's his burial, his resurrection, not mine. But I was in him when it happened.

That's the hope. That's the simplicity of Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ. The glorious substitution where he took our place and he gave us his righteousness. The gospel's impossible to believe by our own choice. God's gotta give faith. He's gotta give faith.

Jonah didn't cry out, salvation's of the Lord, till he was in the belly of the well, desperate, desperately needing help. And he said, salvation is of the Lord. That's simple, isn't it? You wanna sum it up? Salvation is of the Lord. Christ is all in salvation. Salvation is all of grace. Salvation is of the Lord. Christ is all in salvation. Salvation is all of grace. That's simple, isn't it? So that's not a complicated message.

If you want to complicate it, start adding something in I must do. Yeah, but you have to come to the front and shake the preacher's hand, or you have to eat. They actually, well, communion, we take communion, but people actually believe that that's part of their righteousness, that act. I'm doing that, so I'm good to go. Churches everywhere. No, brethren, it's not that. believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, so I have to believe. Yes, here's the problem. You can't on your own. The Lord has to give us grace and faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Faith is not something that we come up with or we do on our own. It's not a choice that we make. It's not something that's given to us when we are born.

The Lord has to say, live gives faith in the inward man, a new heart that looks unto him and believes on him. If you find yourself believing, it's not because you chose to believe, it's because God chose for you to believe. John chapter one tells us this pretty clearly. I said this the first hour too, I think. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

The simplicity of Christ is that salvation is of the Lord, all of grace. All of grace. For by grace are you saved through faith in that not of yourself. You didn't do anything to earn it. You didn't do anything to deserve it. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

Men will take this simplicity, though, and they'll try to add to it. And anyone that adds to or takes away the words of the book of this prophecy, Revelation chapter 22 verse 19, I will add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. Anyone that adds to the words or anyone that adds to the words of the book of this prophecy, I'll add to him the plagues that are written in this book. Anyone that takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, I'll take his name out of the Lamb's book of life.

God's very serious about his gospel. We don't add to it, and we do not take away from it. We preach it simply and plainly. And in doing so, we're declaring his truth. To preach Christ plus anything is to deny his sovereignty. It's to deny his sovereignty. It's to deny his right in salvation, to deny that he did all the work. If I complicate it by adding anything to it, it's to deny his finished work entirely. It's a metaphor. We metaphorically say, we don't intentionally say it, but what we're saying is, is God needs my help to save me. We don't say that. God does what he wants to do, how he wants to do it, and when he wants to do it.

You know, it's interesting enough, as a dad, and some of you all have children, which is very relatable, We all have had children. Some of them are more rebellious than the other one. Some of them are more passive, whatever it may be. But one of my favorite things that I could say as a dad to my children is, because I said so.

I liked that. My children would say, dad, can I do this? I said, no. Well, why not? Because I said so. And that was my, because of my position as dad, I had the authority, right? And so everybody in the house kind of fell in line to that authority. What makes us think that the creator of the universe, the one that's absolutely sovereign, the one that's purposed all things, would bend to my will or to my choice or to my anything just because I tried to get him to do something?

No, it's because he said so that I'm saved if I'm saved. It's because he said he did it. He did the work. It's not what I did, it's what he did. He's God. Even in our fleshly minds, we think about being parents and talking to our children, saying, I've said so. But how much more is our Heavenly Father with all authority? When he speaks to us, he says, it's not by works of righteousness that you have done, but it's according to my mercy that I saved you. It's by grace alone. This is simple, isn't it? It's simple. God doesn't need my help to save me. That's the lie. Mankind wants to be God. That's the problem from the beginning. That was the very first sin.

Lucifer said, I will rise above the heavens. I will ascend to the most high. I'll sit on his throne. He wanted to be God. I love the thought. It says he fought with Michael in glory. Lord didn't have to even move. I mean, I love that, you know, just the idea of that, but we can't dethrone him.

But that's what men try to do to get glory for themselves. Brethren, to defend the gospel is just to preach Christ plainly and simply. If I am to defend the gospel, I preach Christ sovereignly and I preach him plainly and simply. And lastly, to defend the gospel is to declare Christ as all in salvation.

That he's all? He is all in salvation. Scripture tells us Acts 4, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name given under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved. There's no other name. So when I say salvation's of the Lord, there's no other name that is salvation. It's his name. He is. He's not a part of salvation. He's not a piece of salvation. He is salvation.

If you remember in Luke chapter two, when Simeon saw the Lord, you remember Simeon, the priest, whenever Joseph and Mary took him to the temple, as it was accustomed to do by the Jews, Simeon saw a baby. Now think about this. Talk about faith. The Lord gave him faith to see who this baby was.

He says, Lord, now let us thy servant depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. He is salvation. He is, he's not part, he is salvation. Seeing him as Isaiah did, high and lifted up and seated, seeing him like that is something God must cause us to do. Seeing Christ as God is salvation. This is the gift of God given by faith, by God's own power.

Preaching Christ is all in salvation is preaching that when he died, I died. That's my only hope. When he lived, I lived. When he was risen, I was risen in him. When he ascended into glory, he took me with him. And when he presented his blood, the father was pleased with his son. He's all in salvation.

We had no part in it whatsoever. We have no choice to make no work to do. Salvation has been accomplished for the Lord's people. We preach Christ simply and plainly, and that Christ is all in salvation. To preach Christ is all in salvation is to declare the glorious substitution of our savior. that how are you going to explain? So if we're talking about defending, then we'd have to be explaining.

You don't explain it. It's declared and received and believed by faith alone. That's the mystery. That's what we cannot understand until the Lord causes us to see is I must have faith for without faith, it's possible to please God. For he hath made him to be sin who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. What does that mean? It means what it says. How do you explain that?

I don't have to. We declare him simply and plainly and that he is all in salvation and whatever went on between God himself on the cross of Calvary, the father and the son doing business, whatever took place on that guaranteed the righteousness of God's elect. I can tell you that. We don't have to debate it. We don't have to dig into it. We can simply declare it as the Lord has declared it and say what he says in his word. Brethren, when God saw the travail of his soul, he was satisfied. Christ said it is finished. He's not looking to me as any part of my salvation. He's not looking to me for evidence of my salvation. He's looking to the Lord Jesus Christ alone for my salvation and for your salvation.

He purged the sin of his people by his own blood and he sat down. He alone is the successful redeemer of his elected people. The defense of the gospel is to preach Christ completely and absolutely sovereign. Completely and absolutely sovereign. It's to preach him plainly and simply as he is to men and women as they are. And it is to preach him as all in salvation.

The declaration of the gospel says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but we have not the ability, we must be given faith. So when I say come to Christ, it's the same exact thing. We have not the ability, don't move a muscle, come to Christ. If we can, he's given us faith to come to Christ.

He is all in salvation, salvation is of the Lord. All of grace. The defense of the gospel is to preach nothing but him. Nothing but him. Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would bless this, our understanding, all for your glory. Thank you for your glorious gospel. In Christ's name, amen.