The Fruits Of Righteousness

Philippians chapter 1, and we're going to read from verse 7 through to verse 11. Verse 7 to verse 11. The Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Philippi, and this is what he says. 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 defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers of my grace.

For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. that ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. Amen.

May the Lord bless this reading to us today. Well, the title of today's sermon is The Fruits of Righteousness. And I want to draw your attention to this delightful little phrase. We read it here in verse 11. The Apostle Paul writing to the Philippians says in verse 11, he speaks of the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ. And I think it is indeed a lovely little phrase and one that I hope to return to in its proper place in verse 11 as we work down through some of the verses today. So we'll come back to it at the close of our sermon.

But I'm going to talk about it now as well in my introduction because I want to draw it to your attention here at the very start while we're all still alert so as to fix it in your mind in the hope that you might remember it and Roll it over in your mind a few times in the coming days and as you begin your week. The fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ. Here's what I want to say about that.

From the fall of Adam, Wise men have inquired how sinners can be righteous in God's sight. They asked the question, how then can man be justified with God? Or we can use another word, it's the same thing because we are justified by righteousness, how then Can man be righteous with God? It amounts to the same thing. How then can man be justified? How then can man be righteous with God?

And Enoch and Noah, and Abraham and Moses and Job all wrestled with sin and struggled with the effects of sin in their lives. And they wondered how man could ever please God. Then as the scriptures were unfolded over the years and over the centuries, the revelation of God became clearer. the types and symbols of sacrifice and blood revealed that God had a purpose to redeem his people from their sins. That God had a purpose, a covenant plan, if you like, to send his own son into this world to save fallen sinful creatures from death and from judgment. God had a willingness to make sinful men right with him and reconcile them to himself. And all those that I mentioned, Enoch and Noah, Abraham and Moses, Job, learned in some small way and in some gradually extending ways that one would come to earth to deliver his people and make them righteous, make them righteous with God.

Indeed, Jeremiah, one of the later prophets, he prophesied in chapter 23, verse six of his book, these words. In his days, that is the days of the Messiah, the days of the coming of the Son of God into the world, in his days, wrote Jeremiah, Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby he shall be called the Lord of Righteousness. Now, we understand, of course, that there is a breadth to this reference to Judah and a breadth and extensiveness to this reference to Israel, because Jeremiah was not simply speaking here about that group of people that comprised Judah, the tribe of Judah, or that group of people that comprised Israel, the 10 tribes of Israel. He was talking rather about God's true people, God's people of faith that were scattered in the whole world.

And that in his days, in the days of the Messiah, the days of Christ, there would be salvation and there would be safety because Christ would come who would be called the Lord our righteousness. And down through the ages, faithful men and women looked for the coming of the Messiah who would deliver God's people out of the hands of our enemies that we might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. Those were the words of Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist in Luke chapter 1 verse 74, as he anticipated the arrival of the Messiah following the angel's revelation to him that Jesus Christ was about to be born.

And this is what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross. He accomplished the making of his people righteous. He died to take away our sin, the taking away of our sin, and to giving of us a righteousness which we could not have by ourselves. Forgiveness and righteousness were the work of Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ did not come into the world to make it possible for us to be righteous. If we in some way proved worthy to receive his righteousness, he came to really make us righteous, to make us holy in him. which he did, which he accomplished. Christ made all for whom he died righteous and holy by his death, even though many of us were not born yet. Yet God imputed righteousness to us, applied that righteousness to our account upon the merits of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 30, But of him are ye in Christ Jesus. who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that Christ is made to his people righteousness, holiness, and we stand righteous and holy in the sight of God upon the merits of the work of Jesus Christ.

Later in the book of Philippians, we'll get to it in a few weeks, God willing, the Apostle Paul will speak of his own personal experience of God's grace in his life and that righteousness coming to him. Remember that the Apostle Paul, or Saul of Tarsus as he then was, was a Pharisee who had lived and grown up under the demands of God's law. But this is what Paul says about this matter. He tells us his own experience, tells us what it means, listen, to be found in him, that is in the Lord Jesus Christ, to be found in him.

To be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. That's chapter 3 verse 9, as I say we'll get to that. But here the apostle is telling us that what man could not accomplish by his own strength, that is, attending a righteousness by obedience to the law, the Lord Jesus Christ secured for us. So we do not stand before God in any righteousness of our own accomplishment, the righteousness of our works or righteousness of our obedience, but we stand before God righteous in Christ by faith.

This is the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. Christ has made us righteous by his death and this righteousness is known and experienced by faith. It's the faith of Christ. That's what Paul tells us. It's the faith of Christ that Christ gives us the gift of faith by which When it is exercised, we experience the righteousness of God in our hearts. And he gives us that faith freely. He freely bestows it and gives it to sinners as his free gift to us. It is a righteousness that he gives, a righteousness that transforms and converts and recreates and makes all things new.

A righteousness that reconciles us to God and fits us for his worship, for his service and for his presence. It is a righteousness to quieten a troubled heart when our fears rise and when temptation rises against us and when Satan shouts and shakes his fist at us and accuses us of being sinners. It's a righteousness to rest upon when our own fleshy nature wars against God's truth. It is righteousness to enjoy and employ for the care of our brethren, for the good of the church, for the benefit of our neighbours. Christ is our righteousness and the fruits of righteousness are the effects of Christ living in us and the blessings that he brings.

I think it's little wonder that Paul rejoiced to be a preacher of this glorious gospel. I think it's little wonder that he was able to turn his back on all of that effort and that great weight of righteousness of the law in order to find his righteousness by faith in Jesus Christ.

What a blessed message he had to take to the nations of the world. What a blessed message to be able to carry to sinners. The apostle said, there is a way of salvation. There is a way of peace. There is righteousness with God by faith in Jesus Christ. And he tells the Philippians here in these verses, I shall pray to God for you, that you might be filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God.

But a little more of this later. I want to start at the beginning of our verses. And I want to, from here on in, draw your attention to what the apostle is saying to the Philippians in what is still the introduction to this letter. And we learn from these opening verses of this epistle that the apostle Paul was frequently in prayer for his brothers and sisters in Philippi. Now, I want to draw your attention to that fact of prayer and what he prayed for.

But Paul rejoiced over these Philippian believers because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul knew that they had found the Saviour. He knew because he had been there when some believed. He knew because he had visited their church and he had seen the effects of grace in their lives. He knew because they trusted in Christ. He knew that they had found Christ to be all that Paul himself had found Christ to be. And he believed and was sure that the Lord had begun a good work of grace in their souls. He was confident that this work would be continued until the day of Christ's return. We read that last week. You see, Paul believed that once saved, always saved.

And he gave thanks to God for that salvation. He gave thanks to God for the Philippian believers. And he gave thanks to God for the fellowship that he shared with them in the gospel. He rejoiced over them. He believed that they were genuinely and gloriously saved out of this world and that they would not die. And he thanked God for their testimony. And all of that is true. He had this confidence, he had this certainty, he had this assurance on their behalf. But listen, he yet persisted in prayer for them. He yet persisted in prayer for them. The Lord's people are a little flock. We're a little flock in a big world. And in this world, It is a blessing when the Lord gathers us and encloses us in a fold with a few other of his sheep.

We ought to be very grateful for our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we ought to realize as Paul realized, that he had been enfolded with these Philippians and they with him, and that he had a burden for their good. We too ought to realize that our brothers and sisters in the fold of Christ in which he has placed us struggle as we do in many ways. And our brothers and sisters are a blessing to us and we ought to endeavour to be a blessing to them. I do believe that it is a gift from God to have fellowship in this world and we ought to encourage one another in the Lord as best as we are able. We ought to carry a burden for our fellow believer.

We ought to find a brother or a sister with a heavy load and share it with them. That was the example of the apostle. That was what he did for these friends in Philippi. And it is a beautiful example for us to emulate and to copy. Let us seek to be burden bearers with our brothers and sisters in Christ. And prayer is a fine way of doing this. Praying for and praying with our brothers and sisters in Christ is a precious and an enduring privilege.

If you don't need anyone to be praying for you right now, it's because the Lord expects you to be praying for those who do. Now I've got a request for you. One of our number has had a great loss and I'm not going to name him right now, nor am I going to tell you any more. than what I've just said. But I am going to ask you to pray this week for the unknown man, as Paul did pray for his unnamed brothers and sisters in Philippi. And I'm going to ask you to pray that the Lord will be his comforter.

Let's press on. Paul had good reason to feel positive concerning his friend's spiritual state. It was meet, he says, it was appropriate, it was suitable for him to be so positive about the spiritual condition of these Philippian believers. His assurance wasn't wishful thinking. He didn't just, well, I hope they're saved. They appear to be. I think they might be.

Rather, the apostles' response was a suitable response to the professed trust that these Philippian saints had expressed in the Lord Jesus. They had confessed Christ as their savior. Remember Lydia? Remember the Philippian jailer? The Apostle Paul had seen these things with his own eyes. He had heard of other things, possibly from Luke, possibly from Epaphroditus, the pastor who came and visited him.

You know, some folks like to make doubt in the Christian life into a virtue. They make doubt a virtue in order to combat presumption as they see it. But Paul was not of that sort. He was not of that ilk. Paul rejoiced in the faith of these dear souls. And don't, please do not for a moment imagine that they were all giants of the Christian faith, that they were all accomplished individuals in their Christian life and walk and conversation. They certainly were not. Their pathway was as rough as yours and mine.

Nevertheless, Paul believed, as every convicted sinner should believe, that all who come by faith to Christ will be saved, that all who come are secure in the palm of God's hand for time and for eternity. Now, let us note that the Apostle's confidence with respect to these brothers and sisters in Philippi did not rest upon the faithfulness of the believer. It wasn't because he knew that this one or that one were particularly strong in their Christian faith and therefore he could say these things with confidence and certainty. His confidence was founded upon the faithfulness of God to keep his people. And it was founded upon the deep, deep love of Jesus. What Paul here calls in our passage, the bowels of Christ. And I think it's sad that we have lost this word to anatomy.

We've replaced it with heart. We talk about love coming from our heart. Well, our heart is a muscle in our chest. Our bowels were our intestines, which are slightly below our heart. That was the core, that was the center of a man's being in this way of speaking, in this language that is used in our version of the Bible. And it is sad that we've lost this word in many ways in the way in which we speak. The bowels was perceived as being the cradle of a person's affections in the way in which our heart is used nowadays. But bowels is a fine word to describe the intimate love and yearning that we feel towards those whom we cherish with the deepest kind of love and affection. It comes from the very core of our being.

And this is what Paul is talking about. This was the reason for his confidence. It is Christ's heartfelt and tender affection for his people that promises that he will never let us go. This is the deep fountain of divine love, the everlasting love from which we may draw personal assurance, just as Paul did for his believing friends in Philippi. We may draw personal assurance for ourselves. There is no greater love than that a man lays down his life for his friends. And Paul believed Christ had died for these men and women. and his own love for the Philippians and theirs for him grew out of Christ's love for them both.

That's what he's telling us here. Brotherly love, Christian love. the love we have in us, the love we have as a gift from the Holy Spirit. It is one of the gifts of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering. These are the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

And that love, that Christian affection, brotherly love, Christian love that is the spiritual grace of the Spirit in us is a fruit of the Spirit laid up in believers' hearts by Christ himself. maybe I should say in believers' bowels, by Christ himself. And after speaking of the Lord making us the sons of God, another apostle, John, says in 1 John 4, verse 10, herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Then John continues, Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. We who are loved in the bowels of Christ are loved indeed, and we shall never be without his love, no matter what happens in our lives in the days to come.

What a blessed, motivating promise that is for a believer. And it's that that Paul goes on to speak about, that motivating love of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul goes on to say, the lives of these converts reflected the alteration that had been made in their souls by grace. the attitude and conduct of the Philippians supplied the apostle with great encouragement, indeed, great evidence for the genuine spiritual transformation that had occurred. Now, first of all, it is God's purpose, it is Christ's love, which keeps his people faithful. But then we see that that same love causes an alteration and a change in the lives of these people so that it becomes evident and it is seen and it is manifested to those around about. And this is what the Apostle is directing us to see and understand. Grace and love marked the lives of these people.

And indeed, if we note these verses, the apostle testifies with a strong oath calling on God to be his witness. He says in verse eight, God is my record. This is an oath. He is swearing, calling on God as his witness for the bond of love he felt for them and them for him as the evidence of the reality of God's grace in their lives. And let me just make a little aside simply because we've come across this as an example of the Apostle's language.

This language of Paul here shows us that taking an oath or swearing to tell the truth, for example, in a court of law, by invoking the name of God is not forbidden to a believer. Sometimes people will say we shouldn't swear by heaven or by God's name. Well, it is not forbidden for a believer to do that. There is an appropriate time and place for a believer to take an oath before God. Just don't sprinkle oaths in your everyday talk. because we should not take the name of the Lord our God in vain. But back to our subject.

Paul was certain that these brethren were partakers of the same grace that he possessed. and that they were laboring in the same work. They were supporting and defending and affirming the same gospel. And they were bound to the same Lord and united in the same cause. Paul had this unity with these brothers and sisters in Philippi. And this is what he is speaking about. They were one. They were together. They were in union with Christ as the body of Christ.

And what Paul speaks about in his relationship with these Philippians, he could enlarge upon and speak about with all believers, because this is the nature of that union that we have in Christ. Paul is being specific here, he is being explicit with respect to the Philippians, but it is a union that exists amongst the whole of the Lord's redeemed people, the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And see what it inspired in Paul?

He prayed. He prayed for these people. Knowing that this was their state, knowing that this was his confidence, knowing his assurance in their spiritual standing, what did he do? He prayed for them. Because these men and women were his brothers and sisters in Christ. Because he was confident of their spiritual standing. And because in Christ he loved them in all sincerity.

He prayed for their practical needs and for greater spiritual growth. He prayed that their love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in judgment. He prayed that their special knowledge of Christ would deepen as they learned more of Christ and his great work. He prayed that their judgment might develop, that their spiritual senses might be sharper, more attuned to discern and promote the truth.

Believers have knowledge of God beyond what can naturally be known of God. And what Paul is speaking about here is this special knowledge, this spiritual knowledge, this gospel truth, that he prayed that the Philippians' awareness of these divine truths, gospel truths, might be enhanced and developed and enlarged.

That's a fine prayer for us to pray for one another and for ourselves. Carnal men and women, that is worldly men and women, do not possess this special knowledge, this spiritual truth. They do not possess it, nor do they share in the affections that it inspires. We love the Lord because He first loved us. We desire to serve Him because we see what He has done for us. As we understand more and more of what God has done for us, what Christ has done for us, so our love for God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is drawn out and intensified. The carnal man does not understand that.

They cannot understand it. For them, Christ is offensive. He becomes offensive to them. The knowledge of God is a challenge. It's a threat. It provokes animosity. It provokes enmity in the heart of the natural man. But believers have the knowledge of the truth, knowledge of Christ. as a spiritual experience.

And sometimes that is beyond words. Sometimes it's beyond reason because it's born of faith, which is a spiritual experience. And Paul prays that this knowledge, the spiritual knowledge might flourish. that their spiritual senses might be sharper and their spiritual appetites might grow. Again, these are beautiful prayers for this man with respect to his brothers and sisters.

Because this is how believers develop in their Christian life. Some preachers speak about getting holier and more sanctified, but it's poor theology. It's wrong theology. Rather than comforting the saints in their times of trouble, such talk often leads to greater distress when the wars of the spirit and the flesh are in full flow in our lives. Rather, rather, as Paul does here.

He wants that knowledge to be enhanced. He wants that experience of the Lord to flourish and grow. And our knowledge and judgment of spiritual things grows when we learn to love the Lord more. and we learn to love the Lord more and to trust him more when we find him to be our strength and help through the trials of this pilgrim journey. We could say, in a sense, that when the Apostle Paul is praying that the Philippians' knowledge and sense and experience of the Lord might grow, that he is well anticipating that this growth will be through trouble.

But so it is for the believer. And then another thing that the Apostle Paul prayed for was that the Lord might enhance the ability of the Philippians to approve things that are excellent. It's a spiritual mark of maturity to be able to discern between right and wrong, good and bad, and to be able to distinguish between such things as prosper our soul and those that will hinder our Christian walk and testimony. And it is as we mature in the Christian life, as we learn to approve things that are excellent, that we are able to distinguish between that which is prosperous for our soul and that which hinders the well-being of our soul.

And the apostle asks that that might be the lot of the Lord's people. He's going to return to this thought later in chapter four when he encourages the Philippians to think on such things as are honest and pure and virtuous and of good report so that their lives may be sincere and without offense towards God and men.

But here he is, just as it were, touching upon it briefly and acknowledging that this is his prayer on behalf of his friends. And I think there's a little application here too, because this is a lovely thought. What Paul is, well, let me say it this way.

Some people imagine that setting down or trying to abide by a list of do's and don'ts is sufficient to live a godly life. But Paul knew that being able to approve that which is excellent was the true sign of spiritual maturity and familiarity with the Lord Jesus.

Our lives as believers, there is a freedom. There is a freedom to enjoy life, to appreciate all that this world has to offer, all that God has created with His good hand and the blessings of this world. There is a freedom for believers to enjoy these things. Our lives ought not to be a catalogue of what we don't or can't or are not allowed to do, but rather a leaning into those things which are better, those things which are exemplary, those things which are excellent, those things that in doing them will enhance and enable our experience to praise the Lord and to serve the Lord and to do so with kindness and love to our brothers and sisters and to our neighbors. This is the role of a believer in the world and Paul speaks of it in the context of being able to approve those things which are excellent.

This is the fruit of righteousness that he has been speaking about, or that we spoke about, that he now speaks about, we spoke about at the beginning in the introduction. This is the fruit of righteousness that he has been leading to. Or rather, it's the fruits of righteousness, because they're in the plural. And these are what Paul was praying for. He asked the Lord to fill his brethren with the fruits of righteousness, that their lives might be characterized by generosity and filled with a bounty of kindness.

These are exemplary qualities. These are beautiful characteristics. When we encounter generosity and kindness in men and women, We're drawn out to such personalities. And this is what the apostle is speaking about in the lives of these people. Not through mere altruism or the philanthropy of rich people that are looking for opportunities to, I don't know, get their name chiseled on a piece of granite at the top of a hospital because they've funded millions into this good work. No, it's not that. It's our Christ-inspired ministry and service, that there's a bounty of kindness, that there's a harvest of good works in this fruits of righteousness. First to the Lord's people and then to our neighbors. It is literally the fruit of God's righteousness in the soul of a believer.

And it's not airy, fairy, nebulous stuff. It's not esoteric stuff. It's practical. It's where the rubber hits the road. It's about being there and helping. It's the fruit of righteousness. It's the working out the life of Christ in our own life for the glory of God and the good of those around us. It's kindness without, inspired by Christ within.

When the Lord Jesus makes a new creation in the soul of a sinner, we discover that God has imputed his righteousness to our account. That's what we discover when we get saved. We discover that God has imputed his righteousness to our account. And that's the reason for our joy and our happiness and our peace and all those things that we speak about when a person is converted. We learn that the Lord has imputed his righteousness to our account, declared us to be righteous and holy in his sight, prepared us fit for his presence. He sees us in Christ and he attributes all Christ's blessedness to Christ's people.

And this is a wonderful truth. It's a wonderful truth, imputed righteousness. But it isn't all. It isn't the whole of the story. The Lord also imparts righteousness and holiness to his people. The Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit of Christ indwells us.

The nature of Christ becomes our new nature. The life of Christ becomes our newness of life. Paul says, as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. So as Christ was raised up, the resurrection is the foundation of our new life in Christ, and we walk in that newness of life, Christ living in us. Romans 6 verse 4. and those who walk in newness of life exhibit the fruits of righteousness.

The transformation of heart and soul spills over into the principles we live by, the attitudes we express, the service we aspire to, the rule by which we live. Now that is not to say that we always maintain these lofty standards. But it does mean that we wish we did. And it does mean that we regret when we don't. Paul tells the churches in Galatia, for in Christ Jesus, we are a new creature. We are a new creature and as many as walk according to this rule. What rule? The rule of the new creature, the rule of Christ in us. Peace be on them and mercy and upon the Israel of God.

Galatians 6, 15 and 16. So that in the very opening of this epistle, Paul sets out his wishes and his prayers for his friends in Philippi. You see, at heart, the old evangelist, though he is in prison many miles away, he's still their pastor. His prayers are for their good, both physical, both spiritual and physical, both spiritual and practical. because the one begets the other. Good works are the fruit, not the source of righteousness, the fruits of righteousness. And Paul prayed for these things out of a sincere love and a desire for the spiritual good and well-being of his friends in Philippi. But ultimately, as he tells us here in our final verse, Paul prayed for them, for the greater glory of God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God's grace, God's gifts to his people motivate and facilitate our service for the cause of Christ. They inspire love in us. and from us to our neighbours for the glory and for the praise of God. In Christ, we are sons and daughters of a King. We are heirs and joint heirs with our Lord. We are rich in grace and heirs of the righteousness which is by faith. Let us live as such, as unto the Lord, exhibiting and enjoying the fruits of righteousness for which the apostle prayed. May the Lord bless these thoughts to us. Amen.

The Fruits Of Righteousness

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The Fruits Of Righteousness

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