Now, my message to you this morning
is about striving together for the faith of the gospel. The Apostle Paul spent his life
as an evangelist, going as far as the providence of God would
allow him to go, teaching and preaching the gospel
of Jesus Christ, his Savior and his Lord. This book of Philippians,
when he first went to Philippi, there was nobody there. He didn't
want to go there. He wanted to go somewhere else.
The Spirit of God shut him up to go to Philippi. So he did. And he got there, and there was
no buildings. There was no established church
there, nobody. But he heard about a group meeting
down on the river, and he went down there, and there's a group
of women meeting down there. They gathered together for prayer
down on the river. This river run right through
the heart of Philippi. And this place where Paul wanted
to go, there was a lady there in Philippi who lived in this
place where Paul wanted to go, but she wasn't there, see, she
was here. And she belonged to God. And
God was getting ready to call her out of this world. called
her out of her darkness into his marvelous light and he sent
Paul down to Philippi and Lydia was down there with him. And
he preached the gospel and Lydia believed. Isn't that something? She believed. And her whole house. So Paul began a little journey
around Philippi and there was this sorceress that followed
him around and she kept saying, these are the servants of the
great high God, these are the servants of the great high God.
And just being a pest and finally he turned around and he cast
out the demons that was in him and when he did, their masters
who made much gain from it got angry at him and had him locked
up in jail. But they sang hymns and glorified
God. And at midnight, the cell doors
opened. And they could have walked out,
but they didn't. They just kept on singing. And the magistrate
who was given charge, his life was threatened if these men were
to escape. was getting ready to kill himself,
and they hollered at him out of darkness. And they said, now
wait a minute. We're still here. And he said, well, I may have
lived here a little bit, but he said, maybe I ought to listen
to these fellas. Maybe I just ought to. It don't
cost me anything. Why don't I just sit here and
listen to what these men have to say? And he did. And God saved him
and all his house. And thus began the church at
Philippi. Everywhere the Lord was pleased
to raise up a church, he would continue there until they were
grounded and settled and established in the faith. He would appoint
pastors, deacons if it was necessary, And then continuing on, he'd
receive correspondence from those churches, and he'd write to them
and they'd write to him, and he'd monitor their growth and
spiritual conduct. And this letter that we have
open before us is one such letter in which the apostle encourages
them to strive together for the faith of the gospel. And before
I go any further, let me read my text. here in these three
verses, Philippians chapter 1, beginning with verse 25. Philippians
1, 25. And having this confidence, I
know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance
and joy of the faith, that your rejoicing may be more abundant
in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. Only let your conversation, let
your behavior, your walk, be as it becometh the gospel of
Christ. That whether I come and see you
or else be absent, that I may hear of your affairs, that you
stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together
for the faith of the gospel. And a careful reading of the
following chapter will tell you what that mind is. Let this mind
be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus our Lord. Being in one mind, having the
mind of Christ. Now let's begin here. What is
the faith of the gospel? Huh? What is the faith of the
gospel? Well, the faith of the gospel
is that which is born of gospel preaching. A man hears the gospel and the
Spirit of God convinces him that that's the true gospel. The Spirit
of God convinces him of his sin and of his righteousness in Christ
and of a satisfied justice in the judgment of God of Christ.
It's the gift of God's sovereign grace, and it's dispensed to
God's people by the Holy Ghost, who brings the gospel of Christ,
not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit.
When God saves a man, he enters in the man. The man is born of
God. He's not just convinced of a
doctrine. He's not left one system of religion
to adapt another system of religion. It's a new birth. God enters
into him. A new man is created within him. Something that wasn't there before. The power of God gets hold of
him. opens his mind, gives him a new
heart, takes away that stony heart. You can't talk to a stony
heart. A loving mother in tears can't
soften a boy's heart that's gone awry. Can't do it. That had no
effect on him. The best preaching in the world
can't affect a stony heart. God himself must give that man
a new heart. a heart of flesh, a heart to
feel, a heart and a mind to see and be able to understand. Oh, he brings the gospel not
in word only. It comes in word. It comes in
doctrine, but not doctrine only. It comes in the Holy Ghost. It
comes with the power of God Himself. What is the faith of the gospel?
The gospel is the product of the new birth. Except you be
born again, you cannot perceive the kingdom of God. And no amount
of teaching and preaching and talking to a lost sinner, no
amount of it, without the mighty working of the Holy Spirit in
him, convincing and convicting and persuading, can persuade
that man of anything. It will have no effect on him
whatsoever. What is the faith of the gospel?
It's the fruit of gospel preaching. It's the fruit of the new birth.
And thirdly, it's trusting in God who has appointed for us
an all-sufficient Savior. It's trusting God. Believing
God. How do I know there's such a
thing as a Savior? How do I know that this man,
Jesus Christ, the son of Mary and Joseph, Born in Bethlehem,
laid in that manger, sang about for years, promoted and preached
for years. How do I know He is a Savior? How do I know He is the Savior? Because God told me. That's right. He tells us in His Word who He
is. Who is this man? That's not what
religion is preaching today. Religion is talking about you. Talking about you feeling better.
Talking about you believing in yourself. Talking about you rising
up in your own power. Glorifying man. Building a bigger
church. Filling the church up. Filling
the pews up. That's not what John the Baptist
preached. There was a whole crowd of men coming out to hear him,
and he said, well, you vipers. He said, who's warned you, huh?
We don't need you in this congregation. Who warned you to flee from the
wrath of God? You go back home and bring meat for repentance,
and then we'll talk about you coming here to worship with us.
You hear that being preached today? Come on in. Come on in. Oh, my soul. It's trusting in God who's appointed
for us an all-sufficient Savior, one who came into this world
as a man, a representative man, and wrought out a righteousness
for us, which is able to present us before God spotless, without
blame. Oh, unblameable, he said, and unreprovable
in his sight. And God has made Him to be unto
us wisdom. If you have any wisdom, you have
it in Christ. He's our wisdom. And He's our
righteousness. I don't have any righteousness
apart from Christ. And He's my sanctification. You
can talk about progressive sanctification until the sun sets. It's a bunch
of malarkey. My sanctification is in Christ.
He has sanctified us by that one offering once for all. I'm
sanctified. And then fourthly, the faith
of the gospel is that which shuts us up to Christ alone. Christ
alone. Not Christ plus. Christ alone. Listen to this. In Him, Paul
said, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In Him. And you are complete in Him. In who? Christ alone. And Christ, I'm telling you,
Christ, by the Spirit of Christ, is able to make you a new creature.
But your salvation and redemption has already been accomplished,
and it was accomplished by Him. And in him, by way of union with
him, we're seated with him in glory right now, already accepted
of God, already seated. Only thing he lacks is coming
back and raising these vile bodies from the dead and taking them
home to glory. Listen to this, the faith of
the gospel is not Christ plus, but Christ alone. Neither is
there salvation in any other, for there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. If
you're going to be saved, you're going to be saved in Christ or
you're not going to be saved. That's what that scripture says. His representation is sufficient
for the Father who chose him and ordained him to that position.
When God put us in union with Him, He trusted in Christ. And He trusted all things. He
trusted our eternal salvation, our inheritance, and His glory
all in His Son. And it's sufficient for the Father
who chose us in Him and ordained Him to that position. And His
union as God and man in one body is sufficient for His coming
into this world. God and man in one person. I
can't imagine. My mind just can't, it can't
conceive. I know it's a fact, but I can't
conceive of God who's everywhere present. God in whom we live
and move and have our being. God the creator and man in one
person. Those men walked and talked with
God. Huh? Did they not? Isn't that
what they called Him? God our Savior? This is God. But they couldn't wrap their
mind around it either. And one of them said, well, show
us the Father and it'll suffice us. That'll be it. Just show
us the Father. He said, have you been so long
time with me and have you not seen the Father? I am the Father. I am the Spirit. Everything we
know about God, we know from Christ. His union as God and man is sufficient
for His coming into this world, and His life under the law is
sufficient to clothe us with a perfect righteousness. His
death is sufficient to put away our sin. His resurrection is
sufficient to justify us. His acceptance into glory is
sufficient to declare our acceptance in the blood. His intercession
for us in glory is sufficient to intercede on our behalf, and
His sitting at the right hand of God is sufficient to rule
over all things, and arrange all things, and make all things
work together for our good and His glory. My friend, He's able to save
to the uttermost those who come unto God by Him. And then I tell
you this about the faith of the gospel. It's a living, vital
principle which God creates in the heart and it lives and it
grows and it perseveres and it's tried and it's successful and
it's kept to the coming of our Lord. He didn't say faith came by hearing.
He said faith cometh. Isn't that what he said? It keeps
on coming. It keeps on coming. It's fed, it's nourished. And
then lastly, those who have it, those who have this saving faith,
this faith of the gospel, those who have it persevere to the
end. These ones that he singled out
as examples in Hebrews chapter 11, the faith chapter, he said,
these all died in faith. All of them, every one of them.
You know, when a baby boy or girl is born, that's how it's
gonna continue until it dies. Even if it has an operation.
That's how it's gonna continue until it dies. And when a man
or woman born of God Same thing, true. We're going to continue. We're going to continue right
into glory. Listen to this, Hebrews chapter
10 verse 38, Now the just shall live by faith, that is, his life
is ordered by it, his conducts governed by it, his activities
are arranged around it, and his friends are determined by it.
The just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, go
back to the hog pen, go back to what he was, go back to his
old religion, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. Now watch
this. But we are not of them that draw
back unto perdition, but of them who believe to the saving of
the soul. Faith is the gift of God, and
if God gives it, He's going to preserve it. You know, I read you that scripture
there in Philippians chapter 1 a while ago. Paul said, I'm
confident in this. He said, by doing good work,
He's going to perform it to the end. That's my confidence. Now I'm telling you this, don't
be hoodwinked. Don't be deceived or led away
from this faith. I told you what this faith is.
Don't be led away. Don't let somebody, I don't care
how pretty they are, how wise they are, how smart they are,
or how much you love them. Don't you let them lead you away
from this faith. Christ is all, Christ is sufficient,
and He's all our hope and joy in people. And beloved, I've
been preaching to you and on the internet for years. And I
warn you, I warn you, I don't know how many studies we've had
in revelations now about the working of Satan. And I'm warning
you that the devil is a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom
he may devour. I don't know. Have you ever watched
any movies of Africa? Any documentaries on them lions?
Them lions just walk around. Walk around. They walk up next
to the water hole. Next thing you know, he's got
a wildebeest. Cut it down. It's done. It's gone. That's Satan. That's Satan. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5 verse
9, Whom resist steadfast in the faith. There ain't no other way
to resist Him. Trusting in God. Trusting in
Christ. There ain't no other way to resist
Him. Our weapons, Paul said, are not
carnal, but mighty through God. to the pulling down of strongholds,
and casting down of imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth
itself above the knowledge of Christ, and bringing into captivity
every thought to the obedience of Christ. And I'm going to tell you something
else. Preachers are not brawlers. They're
not brawlers. We must not Paul told Timothy,
we must not strive in that way, but be gentle and ready to teach, ready to
give the truth, ready to give those answers which are so vital
to the soul. Now listen, and in meekness,
instruct those who oppose themselves, If God, peradventure, if God
might. I don't know if he will. These
are evident tokens of prediction. I don't know that he will. But
he says here, if God, peradventure, will give them repentance to
the acknowledging of the truth, he might. and that they may recover themselves
out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive of him
at his will." I'm going to tell you something. I'm talking to you boys, I'm
talking to you girls. Every young man thinks he's six
foot tall and bulletproof. Every one of them. I've never
met one who didn't. Wow, that's a silly, I'd never
fall for that. I'd never fall for that. You
will if Satan gets in your head. You'll swallow it hook, line,
and sinker. You'll be out there at the rest
of this deceived mob singing, I'll fly away. Will the circle
be unbroken? You'll be out there with them
patting your foot, singing their song. Now I preach to many in here
on a weekly basis who doctrinally adhere to the fact that Satan
works in men, but who've never thought twice about Satan working
in them. Now you let that go on. You think, well I know he's working
out there. That ain't what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about him working in here. So fast, so quick, so subtle. Do you know that Adam was created
in God's image? God walked with him and talked
with him. He was a godly man. He was a
perfect man. He didn't have any sin. He didn't
have our nature to contend with. He was perfect in his nature. And one encounter with Satan,
one encounter, plunged the whole human race into total depravity. And you think you're a match
for him? You think you can keep him out? You think you can keep
from being swallowed up with those lies? Well, you got another
thing coming. And I'm telling you, if God don't
keep you, you're not gonna be kept. You're gonna be swept away.
Be swept away. And my point is this, you and
I are not sufficient for these things, but our Lord and the
sovereign spirit of God is. So we want to look to him, don't
we? And we want to keep on looking
to him. And when somebody goes dabbling around with something
else, trying to mix it with Christ, you just turn him off. Turn him
off. Don't listen to him. Walk away
from him if you have to. Well, I don't want to offend
anybody. Well, I'll tell you who you don't want to offend is God. All right, preachers, so how
are we to strive together for the faith of the gospel? In our
text here in Philippians 127, he gives us several things. First of all, we're to contend
together. Huh? I'm not to run off there by myself
somewhere. We're contained together. How
we do that? We do that when we assemble together.
That's what we're doing here this morning. We're looking into
these things of God, and you've got somebody up here that watches
for your souls. And I'm going to tell you when
things are going on. I'm going to tell you point blank. And
I'm going to tell you who it is if they make it public. We're to strive together. We're
in this thing together, aren't we? Huh? All Noah's family got
on the same ark. They was together. And those who are in Christ are
together. They're one. And I'm telling you, all these
petty separations and all these petty arguments and ill feelings
and all this stuff, you better take it out and throw it on the
dung heap right now. Just get rid of it. Get rid of
it. It's not of Christ and it's not
of the Spirit of God. Get rid of it. And come in here
and be one. Be one. We're in this thing together. And then, think about this. He
said for us to stand fast in one spirit. Now if you look there
in my text there in verse 27, that word spirit is not capitalized. And even though he's talking
about the work of the spirit here, he's not directly talking
about the spirit. But rather he's talking about
the teaching of the spirit, the things of the spirit. And our
Lord said this. He said, when the spirit of truth
has come, he's not gonna speak of himself, but he's gonna take
the things of mine and show them unto you. These are the things
of the spirit. The word of God, the gospel of
God, and the preaching of the gospel. Those are the things
of the spirit of God. That's what he uses. And we're
to stand fast in that. We're to believe in those things.
We're to hang on to those things. And he says this about the spirit,
he's gonna glorify me for he shall receive of mine and show
it unto you. I'm gonna give him some things
and he's gonna show them to you. The believer has abiding in him
the spirit of the living God. He set up his abode, David. If we know him, if we have true
saving faith, the spirit of God abides in us. And the effects of the Spirit's
presence in us is to enable us to know the things that are freely
given to us of God. That's what He does. The Spirit
of God enters into those who are His, and what's the effect
of that? They cry, Abba, Father. Why would
they do that? Because they're heirs. How do
they know they're heirs? The Spirit of God told them. We're heirs. Make us to know his adoption,
his election, our predestination, his salvation, his redemption. God our Father. And to make us know our brethren. And believers are those made
willing in the day of God's power to receive the things of the
Spirit of God, the Word of God, the preaching of the Gospel,
and the means God has ordained. We receive those things. To stand fast in one spirit simply
means to stand fast in the faith. Stand back, don't move. Let me read you something over
here in 1 Corinthians 15. I'll just take a second here. In 1 Corinthians 15, 1, he said,
moreover brethren, I declare unto you the gospel. which I preached unto you, which
also you have received, and wherein you stand, by which also you are saved,
if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, otherwise you believed
in vain. For I delivered unto you, first
of all, that which I also received, how that Christ died for our
sins, according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried and that
he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. So we stand fast in the faith
and we stand fast in the fruit of the spirit which gives us
the proper attitude and affection to minister to one another. I know I've got an evil nature
and I know what the fruit of that nature is. But I have a
new nature. And I know what the fruit of
that spirit is too. And it's love, joy, peace, humility,
subjection. We can be taught, we can be counseled,
we can be reasoned with because we have the Spirit of God abiding
in us. And then secondly, he tells us
to strive together with one mind. Believers just have one mind,
that's the mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you which
also was in Christ Jesus our Lord. What is this mind? It's
the mind of submission. Oh my, I can't even explain something
like this. He who thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. Now listen to this. He who thought
it not robbery to be equal with God made himself of no Reputation. None. The creator of the universe
was just considered a baby that they couldn't find room for in
the end. Huh? He made himself known. We have
the mind of submission. We have the mind of condescension. Come down. Get off your high
horse and come down. He who is least among you, He'll
be the greatest. Have the mind of condescension,
the mind of obedience. Our Lord obeyed His Father, everything
He did. What is this mind? It's the mind
of love. Having loved us, He loved us
to the end, didn't He? It's the mind of purpose. I must
be about my father's will. It's the mind of humility and
meekness. My soul was an ever more meek
man than the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture said, who hath known
the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him? None, but,
he said, we have the mind of Christ. Oh, the mind of Christ. Now stand fast in that mind.
Don't hunt for another mind. Don't hunt for another reason.
But stand fast in that one mind. Believers are all in one mind
and one spirit and their focus is to strive together, not against
one another, but strive together for the faith of the gospel. The Spirit of Christ is not self-exalting. It's condescending. It's willing
to come down. Willing to come down. And my
friend, we're in this together. You need my help and I need yours.
We're in this together. So don't imagine that you can
just nonchalantly skip your way into glory. It ain't gonna happen.
I think the most shocked Israel ever was is when they come up
to Canaan. He did those other men who were
hoodwinked by the spies and caused them to have to go back into
the wilderness for all those years until their bodies just
fell over and was buried in the wilderness. When those young
men come up and got ready to go into the promised land, the
Lord said, strap on your sword. And they said, what? We didn't
wear no sword when we come out of Egypt. Well, you're going
to wear one now. Why do we need a sword? Because
you're going to fight the enemy. Our Lord doesn't tell us in vain
to put on all the armor of God, does he? He says, get your sword,
get your shield. We're going to battle. Now, don't
think when we go to battle We're going to win because of you.
I'm going to be with you. And you're going to know it.
Because there ain't going to be but a handful of you against
1,000. And there's no way when you come out of that thing victorious,
you're going to say, boy, look what we did. No, you're going
to say, look what the Lord done with us. Isn't that something? Don't you imagine you're just
going to skip your way into glory. This faith we have is the gift
of God and it's preserved by God. But we're going to strive
together for it. How do we strive? Well, we strive
by taking advantage of the means God has ordained. Forsake not
the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some
is. Don't do that. Don't do that. How many times have I told you,
don't do that? Yes, but no, ain't no but. Don't
do it. Just don't do it. Forsake not the assembling of
yourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one
another, and so much more as you see the day approaching. Consider one another to provoke
unto love and good works. And Paul said to Timothy, till
I come, he said, you give attention to reading. How we gonna strive? We're gonna read. We're gonna
find out what God says. And when I quote a scripture
up here, if I don't give you the text, you ought to be able
to know where it is. And you will if you read. Give
attention to reading, and give attention to exhortation, to
preaching, and give attention to your doctrine. Study to show
thyself approved of God. Commit these things to memory.
Meditate on these things and give thyself holy to them. And
then last of all, pray. Pray. I fear that's something
we all lay aside. Paul said, having a high priest
over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in
full assurance of faith. We have access to the holiest
of all. And we don't go there. How foolish
is that? And then we wonder why people
just snatched away. That's why. Take advantage of
the means. Forsake not the assembling of
yourselves together. Read and pray. And when you hear
a message, like I'm preaching this morning, go listen to it
again. It's on the internet. You can
download it. Listen to it again. Sit down in the privacy of your
home and go through these scriptures and look at them that I gave
you. And see if what I'm preaching is not the word of God. And then lastly, he said, having
done all. We haven't done all yet. But
having done all, he said, stand. Stand. All you need to do. Israel, shut up in that box canyon
against that sea and mountains on either side and Pharaoh behind.
They could hear them chariots coming. They could hear the shout
to those drivers and those horse hoofs on the ground. And there
they said, and they said, it'd been better for us to die in
Egypt than come out here and die. Moses said, God, what am I going
to do? He said, why are you calling on me? Go forward. Moses turned around, he said,
now you stand still. I haven't done all, just stand,
just stand. He said, now you watch this.
And God parted that sea, and there they went across on dry
land, and they looked back, and there's Pharaoh and his army
and the waves clashing in on top of them. We'll see that one
day. We're still crossing right now,
but when we get to the other side and we look back, you'll
see all your enemies disappear under the wrath of God. They'll
all be gone. May God give you some understanding
of what I'm telling you this morning.