Right, we come back to Philippians
and Philippians chapter 1. This epistle is an epistle of
very, very warm fellowship between Paul the Apostle, who is under
house arrest in Rome, and these people in Philippi in northern
Greece, where Thriving church had grown up because of the preaching
of Paul. He'd gone there and Lydia, the
seller of purple, and her household had heard him preach, and it
says the Spirit of God opened the heart of Lydia. And she believed,
and many in her household believed, and they were baptized. And Paul
and Silas were put into prison. And in the night there was an
earthquake, and the Philippian jailer, a rough man. What shall
I do to be saved? He cries out. Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved. You and your household,
not him on behalf of his household, anybody in his household who
would believe and be baptized shall be saved. Absolutely clear. Not might, shall. Shall be saved. A thriving church, but it's a
church where between them and the Apostle Paul, there were
great bonds of love. There were great bonds of fellowship.
They didn't see each other often, but they were greatly united
in bonds of love and fellowship. And some people, although Paul
himself couldn't travel, some, like Epaphroditus and others,
traveled between the two places and conveyed messages, conveyed
letters, conveyed The sentiments of love and of true fellowship. What a wonderful thing is true
Christian fellowship. True Christian fellowship. There's
so much calls itself Christianity, but it isn't really. It's false,
because it doesn't believe the truth of God. You know? It's
what believes the truth of God. Not what believes the doctrines
of man, not what believes the creeds of man, not what believes
the creed of this Puritan or that one, whatever that might
mean. There are some who would bow to that rather than Scripture.
No, what saith the Scripture is the test. What saith the Scripture?
And that is the thing which binds them together. He said we have
the mind of Christ, and together the people of God have the mind
of Christ. And what a lovely, warm, thing
it is, what a comforting, consoling thing it is to have fellowship
in the Gospel of Grace. Because when you come across
the world and numbers of unbelievers, as we do all of the time, but
we did particularly this week, you come across such ignorance
of the things of God. You come across such superstition. You come across lives that are
based on... they have hopes to do with the
afterlife, but they're baseless hopes. They have no foundation.
Yet here is truth. Here is truth. Here is the message
of salvation. Let me read this to you. It's
from Ezekiel chapter 33 and verse 11. Say unto them, this is God
via the prophet, saying, As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no
pleasure in the death of the wicked. It doesn't satisfy God's
justice, doesn't the death of the wicked. But that the wicked
turn from his way and live. Turn where? Turn to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Turn to the salvation that is
in God. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil
ways. What are your evil ways? Your
ways of unbelief, the unbelief of God. Turn from that to belief
of God, to the truth of God. For, listen, it's as simple as
this, why will you die, O house of Israel? Anybody listening,
why will you die? When the gospel is so clear,
when the salvation of Christ is accomplished, and it's there,
and he says, call on me, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
you shall be saved. In Luke chapter 18 and verse
8, Jesus said this, When the Son of Man cometh, as he surely
will, shall he find faith on the earth? Shall he find faith?
In other words, don't be surprised that today there is so little
knowledge of the true God and the gospel of his grace. There
is so little knowledge and interest in the kingdom of God. There
is so little desire for salvation. There's ignorance. Men's minds
are darkened. Jesus said it would be so. Little
flock, he called his people. Little flock. Nevertheless, wherever
you are, you might appear as though you're just part of a
little flock, as a group of believers, or even as one on your own. Nevertheless,
The Scripture assures us that in this evil world of Satan and
the beasts, the beast from the sea and the beast from the earth,
nevertheless, that's Revelation chapter 13, making it increasingly
difficult for those that do not conform to the kingdom of Satan,
the kingdom of the dragon of this world, nevertheless, read
on one verse, chapter 14, verse 1 of Revelation. There's the
144K, 144,000. It's a symbolical number, but
it's the people of God on earth. I believe it's the people of
God on earth at any one time. And where are they? They're standing
on Mount Zion with the Lamb of God, with the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when you look in Revelation 7, you see the 144,000 described
as 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. symbolically, symbolically, but
then you read on in that chapter and there's, I beheld and there
was an innumerable multitude in heaven of every tribe and
tongue and kindred. This is the kingdom of God, replete,
filled with justified citizens. justified citizens, citizens
who are just, citizens who have been made just, they've been
made the righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. These
are sinners deserving of hell who have been saved from that
condemnation, for there is therefore now no condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but
after the Spirit. This is the people of God, His
innumerable multi-ethnic multitude, for whom The destiny, the hope,
the certainty is eternal communion between God and his people. Believer,
if you are amongst that number, and you know you are because
you believe the gospel of God's grace, you don't necessarily
get everything right, but when it is pointed out to you, thus
saith the word of God, thus saith the scripture, ah, I bow to it. That's my God. If he says it,
that's it. That's it. Don't fear this world. Don't fear the satanic forces.
Every day in our news, we're filled with messages of fear. The oil's going to run out. There's
not going to be any electricity this winter. We're all going
to freeze to death. Oh, the food supplies have dried up because
of Russia invading Ukraine. Oh, this, that, this, that, and
the other. Terrible thing. Oh, the next pandemic's coming.
The next virus is coming along. Oh, the world is full of evil
stories, of things to make people fear. Child of God, do not fear. Because all of it, all of it,
is on God's chain of restraint. It can go so far, but only as
far as He allows it. and he will not allow anything
to pluck his people out of his hand. He said that, he said that. You're safe in him. So we pray,
thy kingdom come. And we look for his kingdom to
come. And we watch and we wait patiently, seeking to maintain
a demeanor of life which is compatible, which goes along with the gospel
of God. For you know it's God's gospel
is this. Romans 1, it's the gospel of God. We do that until He gathers
in His eternal harvest of souls. You know, He's coming again.
Read Revelation again. He's coming. There's going to
be a harvest of souls, of the ones redeemed by the blood of
the Lamb. Remember what the Gospel objective
is. The Gospel objective is the Kingdom
of God, triumphant. And Christ alone is the gospel. It's not that he's concerned
with the gospel, or it's about him. He is the gospel. Christ
is the good news of God. Because in Christ, we are justified. In Christ, we are redeemed from
the curse of the law. In Christ, we are made the righteousness
of God in him. He, Christ, is his people's righteousness. He is his people's sanctification. their holiness. He is their redemption
from that law's curse. He is the surety, the guarantor
of his people's eternal destiny. He is the sin-bearer who has
borne the sins of his people in his own body on the cursed
tree, that that sin, they bear it no longer. They don't bear
it anymore, it's taken away. The sins of Judah and of Israel
were sought and they were not found, says Jeremiah 50 verse
20. That's yours and mine if we're
in Christ. Divine justice has been satisfied
in Him. God is pleased. God is pleased. He is pleased. He has no pleasure
in the death of the wicked, but oh, He has pleasure in the death
of His Son, because that death of His Son has satisfied His
justice, and in Him, His Son, God is manifested to us. Paul's
sole objective, the Apostle Paul, his sole objective, remember
who he was, he was Saul of Tarsus, the Pharisee, the student of
Gamaliel, the Hebrew of the Hebrews, of the tribe of Benjamin, everything
right, as far as men could point and accuse, he was blameless
against the law of God, yet, he going to destroy this church
to Damascus, with letters from the high priest to bind and to
kill and to bring captive any he found who professed this faith.
On that road was arrested by the Lord Jesus Christ. He saw
this shining light, and he that was so determined one way, his
life was entirely changed. Is that not one of the most powerful
testimonies to the truth of the gospel that we preach? His sole
objective was to preach Christ crucified. That which he sought
to destroy, it was his one sole objective. In 1 Corinthians chapter
2 and verse 2, he says, I am determined to know nothing else
among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He said, he
told the elders on the beach at Miletus, I have preached the
whole counsel of God. What is the whole counsel of
God? Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. He was determined to preach it.
And so we preach, verse 23 of 1 Corinthians 1, verse 23, so
we preach Christ crucified. We preach Christ crucified. Because,
why? Look back two verses, verse 21
of 1 Corinthians 1. It pleased God. Through the foolishness
of preaching. What's foolish? Well, it's what
the fallen world regards as foolish. A message of substitutionary
atonement? That's foolish. Of God becoming
man to save people? It's rubbish, it's nonsense,
it's ridiculous. It pleased God. Through that
message that the world counts foolish, being preached, being
declared, being proclaimed, it pleased God by it to save from
their sins those who believe. Do you want to be saved from
your sin? It's appointed to man to die
once and then the judgment. To be saved from your sins, to
be saved from that condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus. And thereby, by that preaching,
the gospel and the accomplishment of its objective of the kingdom
of God triumphant, it is furthered. We saw that last week in verse
12 of chapter 1, that the things which happened to me have fallen
out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel, the furtherance
of it. Do you believe this? Do you believe
this message? God's true people do. It's the
center of their life. It's the center of their life.
It's their philosophy. It's their motivation for daily
living. For, as he says in verse 21,
for me, to me, in my opinion, to live is Christ. And to die,
well that's gain, because I'm going to be with him. Oh, that
I might know him, said Paul in verse 10 of chapter 3 of this
epistle. Oh, that I might know him. Don't
you know him? Yes, of course he did, but know him more, that
I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. What riches the true people of
God have. What comfort, what assurance,
what hope. What contentment in a world of
such turmoil, and fear, and uncertainty, and all of it, is entirely, it's
entirely of grace. It's entirely the gift of God.
It is nothing whatever to do with what the believer does.
It's nothing to do with what we do in terms of works. It's
not of works, lest any man should boast, because being people of
flesh and blood, we surely would boast. We'd boast of how much
better we're getting than we used to be. So, No response is
required of its recipients. Is that right? No response whatsoever
is required of its recipients. Ah, not according to Paul. Look
at verse 27 of chapter 1. Only let your conversation, your
lifestyle, the way you live, let the way you live be as it
becometh the gospel of Christ, as it is compatible with it,
as it fits in with it, so that whether I come and see you or
else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast
in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith
of the gospel." Christians, true Christians, this is Paul's prayer,
this is Paul's exhortation that we live in accordance with the
gospel we profess to believe, that we stand fast and moved
in it, and that we strive together for that very gospel faith. So I've got three points. Control
your conversation, stand fast, and strive together for the faith
of the gospel. First of all then, control your
conversation as it becometh the gospel. It's becoming. You know,
they say that people of a certain shape shouldn't wear certain
clothes. You know, if you're going to wear stripes, and you
want to look taller and thinner, wear vertical stripes and the
other way around. It's clothing that becomes what
you're like. Well, this is a life that becomes,
is in accordance with, is compatible with the gospel. Let the way
you live match the gospel you profess. God allows no excuse
for lives dishonouring to the Gospel. God allows no excuse. You know, people will say, oh
I couldn't help it, oh I fell into that thing again. You know,
I'll give you an example. In 1 Corinthians 14 and verse
32, speaking of the abuse of the charismatic gifts, Paul writes
to the Corinthians that the spirits of the prophets are subject to
the prophets. Oh, I had to say this, I just
couldn't help it, I just blurted. No, no, no, no, no. The spirits
of the prophets are subject to the prophets. You're in control
of your own self. You can't say, I couldn't help
it. You cannot say that. It's not right. It's not true.
It's not compatible with the gospel. The Gospel calls us,
Paul is calling for us, to promote the new man and to demote the
old man of the flesh. The new man is that new man that
is born of God's Spirit on conversion, when the Holy Spirit comes and
quickens and makes alive so that we see and hear and sense the
things of God. He gives that gift of faith,
that sight of the soul to see the truth of God. and we're exhorted
in other epistles to put on the new garments, as if it's like
taking off a dirty, scruffy old jacket and putting on a nice,
new, clean one. That's the gospel of grace. Consciously,
he's calling for us to choose the one over the other. Now,
you say, oh, you're sounding like a legalist. No, I'm not.
This is not legal ordinances. This is not a moral duty. But
these are gospel precepts. You know, legalists abound all
around us in what's called the Church of Christ, in this country
at any rate, and I believe most other places as well. And one
brand of it is particularly strong, that the Mosaic law, they say,
the law of Moses, the Ten Commandments, that's the believer's rule of
life. You know, we're saved by grace,
we're justified by grace, but you live as if you're under the
law of God. That's not what the Scripture
says. The scripture says you're not under law, but under grace.
Ah, but, but, but, but, no, no. The scripture says you're not
under law, but under grace. So what are you going to believe?
What are you going to believe? You know, they say, oh, our church
proudly, proudly, they say our church conforms to the 1689 Baptist
confession of faith. Our church conforms to the Westminster
confession of faith. Oh, these wonderful documents
are held up as so definitive. Do they accord with the scripture?
You who are so keen to uphold them as the standard, have you
compared them with the Scripture? There was an excellent sermon
by Don Faulkner a few years ago, you'll find it in amongst all
of his writings online, and there he takes the Westminster Confession
of Faith and quite frankly takes it apart. I've seen others do
exactly the same very well. Because it doesn't accord with
the Scripture, it does not. As far as the law and legalism
is concerned, it doesn't. We need to be like the noble
Bereans, you know, in the Acts of the Apostles. They searched
the Scriptures daily to see whether what Paul was preaching to them
was correct. They didn't say, ah, this other
person says this and that. No, search the Scriptures to
see whether these things are true. You see, legalism Legalism,
and what I'm calling for is not leganism, let your conversation
be as becometh the gospel, that isn't legalism. Legalism fosters
self-righteousness. It fosters pharisaic pride. It fosters so-called believers
to think that they're doing better and getting themselves more and
more prepared for heaven, and therefore they're progressively
sanctifying them, progressively making themselves more holy as
they learn and as they subdue the flesh more and more. No.
Beware of it. It's poisoning pure gospel grace
doctrine. It will do that. Beware of it.
With your company of believers, beware of allowing it in. Reformed
Baptist legalists, or any legalists of any other type, they're not
allies of the faith of God's elect. They're not, because it's
not in accordance with Scripture. They seek only to bring you again
into religious bondage. God's people, Christ's body,
His true church, those people, you and I if we're members of
it, are free, says the Word of God. We're free in the liberty
wherewith Christ has made us free. Galatians 5 verse 1. These
legalists, they practically deny what we read in Acts chapter
13 verse 38. Acts chapter 13 verse 38. Be
it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren. This is preaching
that's going on to a gathered company. Be it known to you,
therefore, men and brethren, that through this man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him, by Jesus Christ,
and what he's done, all that believe are justified from all
things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. They're justified from all things
from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. You see
the law will neither justify you nor sanctify you because
God only accepts one standard of sanctification And that's
the sanctification which Christ is made unto His people. Oh,
where'd you get that from? 1 Corinthians 1.30, Christ is
made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification. Wow, so it's not down to me and
my law works. No, it's not, because the Bible is not legalism. The
gospel is free grace. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith
Christ has made us free. This is the gospel. This is the
gospel. The gospel is the message of
scripture. Redemption accomplished. Not
so far and then it's over to you. Redemption accomplished. Sin debt cancelled. Not part
paid for and now you've got to do your bit. No. Well surely,
surely you make the righteousness of God, the law, you make it
void through this thing you call your faith. Ah, Paul addresses
that too, Romans 3.31. Do we make the law void through
faith? Do we make the righteous objective of the law void through
what we call our faith? No. The righteousness of the
law is established through faith. Through faith, that which is
the ultimate objective of the law is established through faith
in Christ. How is it done? By Christ and
all that He did for His people. We read in the Scriptures that
Christ loved me and gave Himself for me and for all of His people,
for that multitude which no man can number. Christ loved me and
gave Himself for me. We read in Psalm 85 at the start,
verse 8, I will hear what God the Lord will speak. What will
God the Lord speak? For He will speak peace unto
His people. Peace? To those who were by nature
enmity with God, the enemies of God, sinners, deserving of
His wrath, He will speak peace. And how do we find that peace?
Peace through the blood of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is nothing else that speaks peace. It isn't law works of
flesh, striving for favor with God. Think about, you know, there
used to be a saying, I would rather have one volunteer than
ten pressed men. Why? Because men who are forced
to do it, do it unwillingly, whereas volunteers, they have
a heart willingly to do it. Living willingly in accordance
with gospel precepts is to be a volunteer for Christ. not pressed
men, not reluctantly compelled by legal constraint. Now then,
you might say, well, that's all well and good. And it is. When
the gospel is fresh in the heart, The precepts of the Gospel hardly
seem needed. We hardly seem to need to be
encouraged to live in accordance with the Gospel, because when
it's fresh in our heart, that from which we've been saved is
so clear that you say, well, I don't need to be reminded of
these things, and you probably don't at that stage. We're willing
volunteers, doing what we sincerely want. But remember what the true
believer is, truly. The new man of the Spirit of
God, born again of the Spirit of God, you must be born again,
but don't forget, we're still in this flesh. We are, as Song
of Solomon chapter 6 verse 13 says, a camp of two armies. One army for the things of God,
the other army of the flesh against the things of God. You see, You
might, when you first believe the Gospel, have that fresh in
your heart, and you barely need to be reminded of the precepts
of the Gospel, because you want to live in accordance with those
precepts of the Gospel. But when flesh rises up, and
causes us, as the letter in Revelation chapter 2 to the Ephesian church,
I'm somewhat against you. What? You have left your first
love. When the flesh causes us to leave
our first love, maybe those precepts are not quite so willingly observed. When the heart grows cold, you
know we read about the heart growing cold because of the flesh. When sin revives, the love of
sin revives, the flesh's weakness with sin revives. When this world
around with all its trinkets and baubles and material things
with which it seduces the believer, the world seduces and turns our
gaze away from Christ. When Satan's snares, because
be in no doubt, he prowls around like a lion seeking whom he may
devour, whom he may sweep off their feet with that flood out
of his mouth into conformance with this world. When Satan's
snares entangle us, we're then prone to leaving as it says in
Jeremiah, leaving the fountain of living waters. That's God,
and that's his truth and his spiritual life. And in place
we try to make for ourselves, we hew out of rock cisterns to
hold water of our own making, and they don't because they're
always cracked and broken, and they can hold no water. And an
antinomian, a lawless spirit, controls our life conversation.
That's when we need the reminder to let our conversation be as
becometh the gospel. This is when we need to heed
Paul's exhortation to conduct yourselves as citizens of God's
kingdom, if you are. Look at 1 John chapter 1, just
a few verses from verse 3. That which we have seen and heard,
declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with
us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His
Son, Jesus Christ. You know, that fellowship between
believers is truly with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.
And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare
unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at
all. If we say that we have fellowship
with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. But if we walk in the light,
as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all
sin. You see, That's what it is to
live as a Christian. That's living that for me to
live is Christ. Live in accordance with the gospel.
Have you experienced God's grace? Have you? Do you know what it
is to have experienced the grace of God? You, a sinner, you with
no hope of eternal life or heaven, have you experienced the grace
of God in the gospel? Well, be gracious to others.
live in accordance, live compatibly with that, be gracious to others.
Do you know the blessedness of forgiveness? Do you know what
it is to be forgiven? The forgiveness of sins, do you
know what that is? Have you experienced it, that
God has forgiven you, all your sin, justly, in Christ? Well, be forgiving of others.
How can you have an unforgiving spirit to others? Jesus taught
this in the parables. The one who was excused an enormous
great debt and then went straight out and somebody who owed him
a little bit tried to extort it from him with threats and
menaces. And how angry was the message
of Christ about that situation. Have you seen the humility of
Christ? Look at these verses that Peter
read earlier to us in verse 5 of chapter 2. Let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form
of God, the very pinnacle of the universe, thought it not
robbery to be equal with God. He was God, but God made himself
in Christ the man of no reputation, They despised him when they looked
on him. The Pharisees despised him. They had no respect for
him. They hated him. He took upon
him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men,
and being found in fashion as a man, exactly, in the flesh
of man, but without sin. He humbled himself, and this
is how far, he became obedient unto death. Oh, that's a long
way. Ah, which death? The death of
the cross. Even the death of the cross.
God, who is at the pinnacle of the universe, humbled himself,
wherefore God also hath highly exalted him. Now then, If that's what he did, if that
was the mind that was in him, if you've heard these things,
have you seen the humility of Christ? Well, imitate his mindset. Not to earn favor or reward,
but to avoid shaming the gospel in the eyes of others. We're
taught in one of the other epistles, the epistle to Titus, to adorn
the doctrine of our God and Savior in all things. To adorn it, to
decorate it, to color it, to pattern match it, with our lives,
to not do anything that will cause this world around to despise
the Gospel, or pour scorn on the Gospel, or disrespect the
Gospel of God, but to adorn it, adorn the doctrine of God our
Saviour. What? In going to church? No,
in all things, in the way you behave at work, in relationship
to colleagues, to family, to friends, to neighbours, all around
us, in this world, in society, as we brush shoulders with them,
adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. How can
we do it? Well, we study. This is why reading
the Word is so important. We study. We meditate upon what
we read. We pray about what we read. We
encourage one another. Fellowship, this is why fellowship
is so important. It's so important. We lovingly
restrain the straying brother. When we see one straying from
the path of righteousness in Christ, we lovingly restrain
and seek to put back on that path, that narrow way towards
the celestial city. So then, he then says, that I
may hear of your affairs, whether I come to you and see you, or
else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast
in one spirit. And I'm going to be brief with
these last couple of things. In one spirit. Same mind. With ranks, you know, imagine
the picture of military personnel, but their strongest formation
is one in ranks, tight-formed, braced for attack. Armoured with
the armour of God, you know what the armour of God is, it's in
Ephesians chapter 6, Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 13. Let me just turn over there.
Take unto you the whole armour of God, that you may be able
to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth,
the truth of God. is armour, having on the breastplate
of righteousness, that's armour against the evil of the devil,
your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, the shield
of faith wherewith you'll be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked, the helmet of salvation to protect your
head, the mind, the sword of the spirit which is the word
of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication. This
is what we need to take, armoured with the armour of God. You see,
the wind of error blows to and fro. You know, like on a gusty,
windy day, you never quite know which direction the wind's coming
from. The wind of error blows to and fro. But what are we to
do? We're to always ask the question. It's from Romans 4 verse 3, and
I won't diverge into what Paul's talking about in Romans 4 verse
3, but in making a point he says, what saith the Scripture? What
does the Scripture say? What does the Scripture, because
this is our standard, this is our creed, this is our confession,
it's the Word of God. You know, you say, ah, but where
do you stand on such and such a thing? And I'll say, well,
what saith the scripture? What does the scripture say?
There are those who would say, I am a hyper-Calvinist. Well,
If what men call hyper-Calvinism is the doctrine of this book,
I'm a hyper-Calvinist, and I'm not ashamed of it, because that's
what God says. If that's what God says, I don't
bow to what this theologian or that theologian says. What saith
the scripture? And that we might stand fast,
united in gospel truth, as it's revealed in God's word. You know
what I've just been saying about legalism and about, the precepts
of the gospel, not being legalistic precepts, that we stand united
in gospel truth as it's revealed in God's word, not in the creeds
of men. How practically in these days, when we're physically so
much separated, especially in this country, it was just ones
or twos gathering together, just small companies and mostly over
means like this, over the internet. Well, We have the internet. We
have email. Email, communicating with one
another, staying in touch with one another, has never been easier,
has it? Never been easier. So why not
do it? Why not do it? Exchanging spiritual
nourishment, the things that we've found beneficial to us.
I'm so glad when I receive things from people, which I often do,
and thank you for it. Thank you for considering me.
And likewise, to one another. Food. spiritual food for meditation,
things to encourage one another, to continue in the faith, help
to one another. These are all the things in which
we stand fast, united in gospel grace, in gospel truth, in things
that, a lifestyle that becomes the gospel of Christ. And then
he says, finally, striving with one mind for the faith of the
gospel, for its truth, for its power of God. You know, the Gospel
is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. That's
Romans 1 verse 16. The dynamite of God, standing
for that, standing with one mind for its power, united in doctrine. Because as we saw a few weeks
ago in the prophecy of Amos, Amos 3 verse 3, can two walk
together except they be agreed? They need to be agreed. We need
to be agreed. We need to be agreed on what?
Oh, do I have to think exactly like you? Well, if you're a Christian,
you'll believe according to this book. And if you see something
that you think I'm not right on and you can point it out to
me from this book, then please do so, and vice versa. We need
to be united, we need to be agreed on the gospel of grace. You know
how damaging disunity is, you know, we see it in political
parties. The biggest threat to political parties, whatever their
name, is disunity amongst the members. Well, so much more amongst
the true church of God. It's unbecoming of the gospel. It's dishonouring of the Gospel.
Why? Because disunity speaks of my
rights at the expense of the others. Look at Philippians 2
and verse 2. Fulfill ye my joy that ye be
like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of
one mind. Like-minded. The same love, based
on the same salvation, of one accord, of one mind. We have,
says Paul in 1 Corinthians 2.16, we have the mind of Christ. Oh that we all, believers, professing
believers, truly might have the mind of Christ. One mind, subdued
self for the good of others, for the good of the whole body.
Because, why, look at verse 1 of chapter 2, if there be any consolation
in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the
Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, what he's really saying there,
it's not, it's not, is there possibly, what he's saying, as
there is consolation in Christ, there is, it's a hypothetical
question, if there be any consolation, well of course there is. As there
is consolation in Christ, as there is comfort in Christ, so
should you all. Do one to another. Copy the example
of Christ. Here is consolation in Christ,
not in self. Here is the comfort of love,
not in self-attainment. Here is the fellowship of the
Spirit. Will it all be easy? No, of course not. Look at verses
29 and 30 of chapter 1. For unto you it is given in the
behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer
for his sake, for in this world we will suffer as believers.
In this world, this world and this kingdom of Satan will seek
all it can do to make it difficult for the profession of faith in
Christ to be continued, having the same conflict which he saw
in me, and now here to be in me. It's given. It's given. It hasn't just happened. It's
given in the behalf of Christ, by grace, not only to believe,
but to suffer, as did Paul. For flesh always opposes the
Spirit. Your own flesh, the flesh of
others, the world around, knowing it, expecting it, unsurprised
by it. Not terrified by the adversaries,
verse 28, in nothing terrified by your adversaries, because
there are plenty of them, which is to them an evident token of
their lostness, their perdition, but to you of salvation and that
of God. Principalities as well as flesh,
because your response, your response, that of the new man, that of
the new man is their perdition. their perdition and your salvation
from God. That's what that verse says.
So, so let your conversation be, only let your conversation
be as becometh the gospel of Christ. Flesh can't do it. Flesh
can't inspire itself to do that, but there is a new man in every
believer who John tells us cannot sin. And it's Christ who lives
in me. I am crucified with Christ, says
Paul in Galatians 2.20. I am crucified with Christ. I
am dead with Christ. This flesh is dead with Christ.
Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in
me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. He is given power to subdue the
flesh, and in Him so are we. For to me, to live is Christ,
and to die is gain. Amen.