Well, we're going to continue
in the epistle of Paul to the Philippians this morning, and
I want to look at the section that Peter read to us earlier
from verse 12 down to verse 26, and I've entitled it, The Furtherance
of the Gospel, from the words that are in verse 12 at the end
of it, The Furtherance of the Gospel. You know, anybody living
in the United Kingdom will rarely, I don't think ever, have lived
through such a week of chaos in politics, in the leadership
of our country. Absolute chaos, absolute chaos. Turmoil all around, uncertainty,
fear, genuine fear on the part of many because they see their
living standards rapidly being eroded and the prospect of worse
to come. But you know, this is a letter
that was written from Paul the Apostle 1,962 years ago, give
or take a year. And this letter, even though
it's that old and so remote from the turmoil that's going on in
the world, provides such calm to God's believing people today,
such a message of calm to God's believing people. You see, these
words, although they're a letter, it's the letter of the Apostle
Paul, 1962 years ago, it's actually Scripture. It is the Word of
God. We know this because Peter, the
Apostle, says that the writings of Paul are hard to understand,
but they're the Scriptures. and those who disbelieve, they
twist them as they do the other scriptures, meaning this is scripture.
This is scripture. What does that mean? It means,
although it's the characteristics of Paul who wrote it, it's inspired
by God the Holy Spirit. This is the message of God to
his people. It's mediated by the apostle
Paul, messenger, apostle, messenger, who was in a perilous situation. You know in the latter days perilous
times shall come. Well he was in very perilous
times for himself. He would be dead within two years.
We don't read about his death but we know that that was the
case. And yet he's still able to write such a comforting letter
that speaks to us today because it's Holy Spirit inspired and
by the Holy Spirit applied to us today. We watch the TV, you
read the news, you read, you see things online, comment programs,
none of it gives any comfort. There's some that speaks more
sense than others, but none of it gives any comfort, because
none of it, none that you watch commentating on the chaos in
this country's politics today, none of it brings this message,
the message of this epistle, of eternal certainty in a world
of sinful chaos. What is Paul's theme in writing
this letter? Paul's theme is the Gospel. And
the theme, the subject, the object, the centre, the core, the absolute
everything of the Gospel is Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. And who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
He is God. He is very God of very God. He
is God manifested in the flesh to sinners. Christ is the manifestation
of God. Show us the Father and that will
suffice us, said Philip to Jesus. And he said, Philip, have I been
so long with you and you have not known me? He who has seen
me has seen the Father. Christ is the center of the gospel.
The gospel isn't just about Christ, it is Christ. Christ is everything. Christ is everything. Your eternal
peace is entirely in Christ. And Paul writes this letter from
house arrest in Rome. Just look at the last two verses
of the Acts of the Apostles. Acts chapter 28 and verse 30.
Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received
all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching
those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence,
no man forbidding him." He was awaiting trial by Caesar. Nero at that time. He was facing
certain death because of who Nero was and his characteristics.
And he was writing this letter to the church, the gathering
of believing people at Philippi in Greece. And he The relationship
between him and them, the Philippian Christians, was one of deep love
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It was one of fellowship, the
things that they shared in common, the truths that they believed
in common. You know, the Scriptures speak
about the common faith, the faith that we hold together, the same
common faith in Christ, the same themes of salvation, the certainty
of salvation. The hope, which is not a, oh
I hope it will be, but it might not be. No, it's certain. It
is a confident hope. A confident hope. As he says
in verse 6 about them, he says, I'm confident of this, verse
6 of chapter 1, being confident of this very thing, that he which
hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ. Who began it? Who began the work?
God did. God, in the trinity of His persons,
before the beginning of time, began a good work in these Philippians
as He does in all believing people, and He will complete it. He doesn't
start that which He fails to finish. He will complete it.
He will take those people on whom he set his heart of love
before the beginning of time. I have loved you with an everlasting
love. He will take them to eternal
glory." Is that not the objective? Is that not what you've seen?
If you believe the gospel of grace, you've seen this, that
there is eternity, there is bliss in the presence and fellowship
of the God who made you. and He will take you there, He
will complete it. And Paul goes on, he relates
his prayer that we looked at last time, two weeks ago, for
them in verses 9 to 11, and basically, that they might grow in grace,
and as Peter says, grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that they might grow in that grace of God, and
knowledge of Him, into fruitfulness in Christ, bearing the fruit
of the Spirit of God. But now, in these next verses,
he addresses the anxiety of the Philippians for his own, Paul's,
welfare. He seeks to calm their concerns
and encourage rest in the certainty of God's kingdom, whatever earthly
life might bring. Get that? the certainty of God's
kingdom, whatever this life might bring for us. So, first of all,
the outworking of things which happen. Look at verse 12. He
says to them, I would you should understand brethren. He calls
them his brothers, his brothers, you know, we're members of the
family of God. Brothers, I would you should
understand brethren, that the things which happened unto me,
and From your ears, from where you are in Philippi, you've probably
heard news that it's a perilous situation that he's in. But they've
fallen out, rather, unto the furtherance of the Gospel. You
would have thought they would have stifled the Gospel, he's under
house arrest. But no, they've fallen out to
the furtherance of the Gospel. The outworking of things which
happen. The Philippians clearly loved
the Apostle Paul as he loved them. and they were anxious for
his welfare. They were concerned about him.
They had heard news of his situation. He, in his travels, you can read
about it in the Acts of the Apostles, he had appealed to Caesar. The
mobs in Jerusalem were going to lynch him, but he'd appealed
to Caesar because he, Paul, was a Roman citizen in actual fact.
So he'd appealed to the highest judiciary in the realm of Rome,
which was to appeal to Caesar, which every Roman citizen had
the right to do. And so, even when, was it Felix
or Agrippa or one of them said, we could have let this man go,
but he's now appealed to Caesar, so he has to go to Rome. And
when he got there, They didn't lock him in a dungeon. In the
providence of God, they put him in a house, his own hired house,
where he was able not to freely go wherever he wanted, but to
have people come to him. And he was able to have people
come to him to whom he would preach the gospel of grace. He
had a perilous prospect of trial by the Caesar who was Nero at
this time. And we know from history that
Nero was a cruel enemy of God's people. He loved nothing more
than to sit in the Colosseum in Rome and watch believers be
thrown to be torn apart by lions in the arena there. So Paul writes, to calm the fears
of the Philippians and to affirm and to encourage absolute confidence
in the eternal purposes of God. Because you know, things don't
just happen. I remember years and years ago,
Christine and her friend used to sing in meetings and one of
the songs was, things don't just happen, everything by God is
planned. Some of you will probably know
that song. They don't just happen. The things that have turned out,
the things that have happened to me, the things which happened,
they don't just happen. It's not just the chance occurrence
of things. They're ordained by God towards
one eternal purpose. This creation is the canvas on
which God paints his sovereign grace salvation of his people. So that this life, This stormy
sea, as it would appear at the moment, and at various times,
I mean, we think it's turmoil now, what must it have been like
80 years ago, in the middle of the Second World War? Personal
issues arise, health problems arise, family concerns arise,
work situations, finances, In this life, people are always
seeking a peaceful haven. You know, Jesus told the account,
the parable, of the man who had a bumper harvest, and he had
so much he didn't have room to store it. So, I know what I'll
do, he said. I will tear down my existing puny barns, and I
will put magnificent great big ones in their place, and I'll
fill it, and then I'll take my ease, because I'll have everything
I need for a long and happy life, and I'll fill my barns with this
bumper harvest and I'll never want for anything again. And
God said to him, Thou fool, this night your soul shall be required
of you. And whose will these things be
then? A question we all need to think
about very carefully. People seek a peaceful haven,
and in the things of this world, there are fleeting bursts of
happiness and good experience, but no, there are no peaceful
havens. The only certainties, as one
wisely once said, are death and taxes. They're the only things
you can be sure will happen to you. But to the eye of faith,
the eye of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, there's the rock-solid
certainty of God's kingdom. the rock-solid certainty. This
is what Paul's trying to say to these Philippians and to us
today. Don't be bothered about the bobbing up and down in the
waves of this life, things will come and go. They're not just
happening, God is ordaining them all. But what if Paul is taken? What if Paul is taken? What will
become of the church then? The church of the Philippians
and the wider church. What will become of it? What
if Paul is taken? Surely he's crucial. What of
the remaining believers? Paul was the greatest evangelist. He travelled all around the Mediterranean
countries. He was the leading shepherd of
the church. He wrote these letters from his
house arrest in Rome and other places as well. He is a writer
of scripture, a gospel preacher, an apostle, a church planter,
a pastor. What peril if he is lost? That's
what they must have been thinking. Surely it's all up for us if
we lose Paul. How can things continue if we
lose Paul? And in our day, we see great
preachers rise up. who have a powerful message to
the church for their day, and then we're almost bewildered
as to why God takes such useful servants. And in the flesh we
struggle to understand, but they are, they've been raised up and
they've gone. I'm not going to mention any names, but you know
you can all name some. Surely all of this diminishes
the church, doesn't it? Paul being taken, or in our day,
great preachers being taken. Surely this diminishes the cause
of Christ. What's going to become of the
cause of Christ, the church of Christ, the objective of the
gospel, which is sinners, love from before the beginning of
time, taken, qualified for eternal glory. What's going to happen?
Jesus told us in Matthew 16 and verse 18, he said, I will build
my church. And the gates of hell, they're
pretty powerful, they're pretty strong. The gates of hell shall
not prevail against it. God said, the risen Lord Jesus
Christ said to the Apostle John in Revelation chapter 3, in one
of the letters, I think it was to Philadelphia, wasn't it? I think. He said, I open doors,
and no man can close them. If I've opened a door, nobody
can close it. And I close doors, and if I've
closed it, no man can open it. The absolute sovereignty of God. is the greatest comfort to his
people. He who has begun a good work
in you shall complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. He shall
not fail. It says that in Isaiah 42 of
Christ. He shall not fail. He shall accomplish
his sovereign eternal purpose. You see, everything that we see
going on all around is all in the purposes of God. There's
a verse in Amos, the prophet Amos, chapter 3 and verse 6,
where the prophet speaks God's word and he says this, shall
there be evil in a city? And the Lord has not done it?
Shock! You mean God does evil? No, but
it's all under God's control. Shall there be evil in the city?
And it is not at the behest of God. Why would God allow evil? Because of that one overriding
objective. of the people of God, saved from
their sins, taken out of this world into the kingdom of God
in eternity. You see, all things, as Romans
8, 28 tells us, we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to those who are called according
to his purpose. All things, all things. Ah, but
such and such a dreadful thing happened to me yesterday. You
wouldn't believe how bad it was. Oh, yes, I would. And it was
one of the all things that God permitted. And in our weak, puny,
sinful flesh, so often we lose sight of that, and we despair
at it. But that is the truth. The Lord
orders all things for the good of his people, for his church.
All things work together for good to those who love God, the
called according to his purpose. Do you believe that? Examine
yourself, whether you be in the faith. Is that what you believe?
Is that what you believe as the waves toss up and down all around
us? So, things don't just happen,
everything by God is planned, for the furtherance of the gospel,
at the end of verse 12, the furtherance of the gospel, all things work
together for good, eternal good, for the salvation of his people,
to qualify for eternity and the kingdom of God, the people God
loved. What does it mean, the furtherance
of the Gospel? What is the Gospel? What is the
Gospel? What is it? There's so many people
claim to preach the Gospel, but what is the Gospel? It's the
Gospel according to this book. It's the gospel of God. It's
the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, revealed by his apostles,
revealed throughout the scriptures. It's the gospel of God. It's
God's gospel. It's God's good news. Good news. The night when Jesus was born
in Bethlehem of Judea, a great company of angels appeared to
the shepherds, and they sang, Glory to God in the highest,
and peace on earth, good tidings of great joy. A Saviour is born,
a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. good tidings, it's the
gospel, good news, great, great tiding, good tidings of great
joy, a saviour, a saviour, oh how we need a sinful creatures,
a saviour from our sins, because God in his essence, in his nature,
cannot overlook sin, he must punish it, he must exact its
price, a saviour which is Christ the Lord, Christ is God incarnate,
the promised seed of the woman, who would come and reverse that
which Satan had accomplished at the fall. He is God manifested,
made known to us. God come to satisfy justice,
the offended justice of God. He comes and satisfies it. How
does he do it? By redemption, by paying the
price. How does he pay the price? Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made a curse
for us. For he bore the sins of his people
in his own body on the cursed tree, and God deserted him there. God turned his face away from
him there. God poured out the just wrath
of the justice of God on him there, that for the people of
God who are in him, their price, their debt to the law of God
is paid in full. So that God can justly take a
multitude of hell-deserving sinners to eternal bliss in his presence,
because he's made them no longer hell-deserving sinners, he's
made them the righteousness of God in Christ. Look at verse
20. Paul says this, according to
my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall
be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also
Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life
or by death. In nothing shall I be ashamed.
You see, come the day of judgment, there will be great shame. There
will be great shame. There will be shame which is
dreadful, which is the separation from all that is good in God. But for the believer, we shall
not be ashamed, we shall not be ashamed, because Christ has
taken away the cause of our shame. That's the basis of the believer's
hope and confidence. But how is the Gospel furthered? These things have turned out
for the furtherance of the Gospel. What do we mean by furtherance?
Made to prosper. Made to succeed. Made to go on
and abound. Answer? How? How is it furthered? By preaching. by preaching. It's the preaching, it's the
proclamation of the message of God, the gospel of God. That's
how the gospel is furthered. Why? Because that's the means
God chose, to call out people that He's going to take to eternal
glory. And the completion of that kingdom
of God in eternal glory is the object of the gospel. It's the
purpose of the gospel. You could say it's the purpose
of the whole of creation. 1 Corinthians 1.21, after that,
in the wisdom of God, God's planning and God's purpose.
The world, by its wisdom, knew not God. The world tried to work
it out, what's the meaning of life, and came to futile conclusions. They didn't understand it. But
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. He sets up men and gives them
a message to proclaim the truth of this book, and the Holy Spirit
applies it to the ones he's calling out. So that in Acts chapter
13 verse 8, we read that those that were ordained, they preached,
they preached as widely as possible. And those that were ordained
to eternal life believed it. They believed it. So how has
what happened to Paul fallen out unto the furtherance of the
gospel? Surely, as I said earlier, surely
it was the opposite of that. He's in prison, he's under house
arrest. His journey can no longer do his missionary journeys that
he did, he can no longer visit the churches, he hopes to, he
keeps on saying he wants to, but how has it turned out for
the, fallen out for the furtherance of the gospel? Well, In Acts
28 that we looked at earlier, verses 30 and 31, he was able
to preach. He was able to preach to those
that visited him. In Philippians 1, verses 13 and 14, he says,
so that my bonds in Christ my imprisonment for the cause of
Christ and his gospel, are manifest. They're obvious in all the palace. What's the palace? It's Caesar's
palace. It's the palace of the Roman emperor, and in all other
places. And many of the brethren in the
Lord, those who are believers, waxing confident by my bonds,
seeing that Paul's imprisonment hasn't prevented the news of
Christ getting out, but much more prospered it, they are much
more bold to speak the word without fear. Unimagined opportunity
to preach the gospel. We wouldn't have had these epistles
had he not been confined for those two years. He's ministering
in a hired house to lots of people who came to him. Look at the
end of Philippians, in Philippians 4 and verse 22. All the saints
with him in Rome, is what he means. All the saints in Rome,
the set-apart ones, the believers in Rome, salute you, greet you. Chiefly, they that are of Caesar's
household. Amongst the servants of Caesar
in his household, there were many who had believed the gospel.
because Paul being imprisoned there for the cause of the gospel
and having opportunity to preach, that preaching had borne fruit.
Onesimus was one. You know in Philemon, Paul sends
Onesimus with this letter back to Philemon, who as his slave
he had robbed and fled from, but in Rome we believe he'd come
to be taken by another refuge from whatever, to hear Paul preach. And he believed him, and he counted
Onesimus as one of his strongest brethren in the Lord. Onesimus,
and no doubt many more. So just apply it to us today.
The visible church today, in this country, in the United Kingdom,
might not be quite so bad in the United States, but here,
the visible church is in total disarray. We are, as Revelation
11 depicts us, the two witnesses of God, the church, its ministers,
its people, are lying dead in the streets, and the world is
rejoicing over the fact that this annoyance of the gospel
of God's grace and his restriction that he puts on what people want
to do. Revelation 11 is where you'll
read it. You know, they're rejoicing over it. They're giving one another
presents. They're having a great time because the things of the
gospel of God are not restraining what they want to do anymore.
They do what they like because this church is dead. But what's
happened? in these last few years. And
I mean very last few years. God's given us the internet.
Oh, you say, the internet, that's an evil thing. It's like cars,
you know, cars are a wonderful thing. Oh no, they're not, they're
evil. Cars are more used in crime than, you know, they're the greatest
enabler of crime. And the internet, that's the
greatest enabler of crime. But no, the same means that's
used for evil by Satan, widely, is used by God for gospel proclamation. How can we do this now? Just
a handful of us here in this room, and yet there are many
more, I hope the thing continued to work, out there listening
and watching now. And if not, then it's being recorded
on here and it will be up on Sermon Audio shortly. It's more
widely accessible than ever before. The true gospel of grace is more
widely accessible than ever before. I remember Many years ago, we
as believers, we tried to be part of a church, and the pastor
didn't preach the gospel clearly at all. But we had no alternative,
you couldn't go anywhere else. And then people started passing
around cassette tapes, you know those C90 cassette tapes, and
we started to get something from that in the 1980s. But look at
how it is now. As soon as this is over you can
go on the internet and you can get no end of excellent teaching
from God's servants, God's preachers, from this book. Are these things
that just happen? No. They're all in God's unchangeable
purpose for His kingdom to triumph. Whatever man might do, whatever
those professing faith in Christ might do also, God will accomplish
His purposes. Because you know, that leads
me on to my next point. There is religious strife. Look
at verse 15. Some indeed preach Christ, even
of envy and strife. He said because of his bonds,
many are emboldened to preach. And some indeed preach Christ,
even of envy and strife, not with good motives. And some also
of goodwill. The one preach Christ of contention,
not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds. The other
of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel.
What then? Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense or in
truth, Christ is preached, and I will therein and do rejoice."
He rejoices. Amongst the things that happen
in this sinful world, those who claim to believe the same truth
act as if they were enemies of the people of God. Because of
Paul's situation, there was much discussion, some for him, some
against him. He was confined for the gospel,
he was locked up for the gospel, for preaching it, for the cause
of Christ. So these things were discussed
widely. He wasn't just locked up, he
was locked up in Caesar's palace. He was under house arrest there.
Some were for Paul, others were against him. But Christ was lifted
up. It must have been the true gospel
that even his enemies, those that were preaching out of contention,
it must have been the true gospel. Why? Because Paul rejoiced in
it. Think about the false gospel that the Galatians were being
persuaded by. That was no gospel at all. He
said, you've gone to another gospel. It's no gospel at all.
It was a false gospel. It was a gospel of works. He
said, that's not the gospel. But this, whatever these people
who were not on his side were preaching, was something in which
he could rejoice. Even preaching motivated by envy
of Paul, by strife, by contention, will enable some to hear the
name of Christ, and to inquire further, and the Holy Spirit
will give them faith. The Kingdom of God will be prospered. Please, please, people observing
the Church of God and the Gospel of Christ, don't judge the Gospel
and cause of Christ by the fallen, sinful nature of many who profess
belief. Today, even, some preach the
same gospel that we seek to preach from here, and yet they avoid
any contact with us due to what I'll call denominational differences. Whether you wear this thing or
you don't wear that thing, whether you do this with your assembly
or you don't do it, just secondary things. The core of the gospel
is the same, but they won't have anything to do with us because
of those things. Well, So be it. So be it. We just continue
while God gives us strength to do so. Because the end objective
of God's triumphant kingdom is unchangeable. Whatever men and
women do, it's unchangeable. So then, finally, the believer's
dilemma and confidence. In verses 21 to 26, you see,
he said all these things about his situation in prison. and
how there are those, you know, the gospel is prospering, even
though he's in prison, the gospel is prospering. So he then says,
for me to live is Christ and to die is gain, but if I live
in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall
choose I want not, I can't make up my mind, for I am in a strait
betwixt two. I'm sitting on a fence between
two sides, having a desire to depart to heaven, and to be with
Christ, which is far better, nevertheless, to abide in the
flesh and minister to you, that's necessary too. And having this
confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all
for your furtherance and joy of faith, that your rejoicing
may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to
you again." He thinks he's still going to visit them, of course
he doesn't. Life in this storm-tossed sea is meaningful only with Christ
at its center. For me, to live is Christ. For to me, my opinion, to live
is Christ. Whatever political, financial,
providential ups and downs, Christ is the Great Unchangeable I Am. He is God manifested to us. He is the same yesterday, today,
and forever. The Great Unchangeable One. Without
Christ is to be without hope in this world. Without any hope
in this world. You think about how quickly ten
years passes. The younger you are, it seems
a long time, just ten years. The older you get, the shorter
ten years appears, because it's a smaller proportion of your
life. If you know Him, Christ, trust Him. Walk with Him. Life is meaningless without Him.
You won't find any meaning in science, astronomy, literature. Yeah, you'll find good things
there, because they're all created by God. They're all part of His
creation. The marks of man being made in
the image of God, who is Creator, are everywhere. Yes, you'll find
things like that, but ultimately, as all the philosophers found,
without Christ, life is meaningless. With Christ, He is your peace. He is the reason for your hope,
as long as you draw breath. For to me to live is Christ,
said Paul. Is that not the case for you?
To go on living in this world once you've known Him, once you've
known Him, how empty, how futile, how pointless, how bankrupt would
life be without Him? For to me to live is Christ.
And then, when you leave this life, When you go from this life,
when you put off this body, when this body drops into the grave,
when you leave this life, today, to be with Him in paradise, which
is far better. That thief on the cross, the
penitent one, the penitent one. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. And what did Jesus say to him
there? in his dying words, verily, verily, I say unto you, this
day you shall be with me in paradise. What a blessed and glorious truth. Today, with him in paradise,
I'm in a strait betwixt two, a desire to depart and to be
with Christ, which is far better, but I must abide for now. I must
abide. It's needful for me now in sinful
flesh and for the service of God and the care of his sheep,
but all the while longing to be with Him, without the encumbrance
of fleshly sin, in glory. But you know, it's not for the
believer to decide the dilemma. It's a dilemma. What should I
do? I want to be with Christ, which is far better, yet there
are ones here that need me and I want to be with, and in the
purposes of God, He'll keep me here. It's not for the believer
to decide the dilemma. God will. In his perfect time,
he will decide. As with those servants of God,
we thought we could never do without. You know, some of the
ones I mean. He took them to himself. And
one day, and it might not be very long, one day, he will take
each one of us. But he has promised that meanwhile,
I will never leave Thee, nor forsake Thee. He will keep us
until He takes us to be with Him in Paradise. Amen.