Alright, let's turn to the book
of Philippians. Philippians chapter 1. We're
going to look at verses 8 through 12. Philippians chapter 1 on
this subject, distinguishing grace. Listen to this here now
in verse 8. how greatly I long after you
all in the bowels of Jesus Christ." Now this is an expression that
Paul uses to emphasize his sincerity and his love for this church.
And he'd suffered greatly that this church come to pass, that
this group of people, I know it was purposed of God and I
know that The work was of God, both in Paul and both in them. But when God works in us, sometimes,
not sometimes, all the time, there's going to be suffering
involved. And he suffered greatly that this little church be established. You remember the Philippian jailer?
Well, Paul was in prison. He was in jail. And that jailer
had been given a charge to keep him in the inmost prison. And
that charge evidently also included his life if they
escaped, because that jailer, he was frightened after Paul
revealed himself to him and so on, and he was ready to take
his own life. So evidently he'd been charged with a pretty serious
charge to watch over these men. So there was suffering all around
involved in this church, and there always is. There always
is. So this is an expression that
Paul uses to emphasize his sincerity. Well, what about you and I? Just
pause and think about this for a minute. How far are we willing
to go to promote the gospel? Huh? This man was willing to
lay down his life for these people. This man was willing to give
all that he had and did. that this church be established
and that their welfare be seen to and that they have a pastor
and be taught and be matured in the gospel of Christ. And
I ask myself this question because I am a pastor. How far are you
willing to go? How much are you willing to suffer?
We get our feelings heard if somebody calls us a name. This
man was taken out Beaten two or three times within just an
inch of his life and just left there. Exposed in the wilderness,
just left there. Been shipwrecked day and night
in the deep. He suffered. Paul said he had
renounced. Listen to this. He said, I have
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. not walking in craftiness
nor handling the Word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation
of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in
the sight of God. And then again, he said this,
we're not as many which corrupt the Word of God, but as of sincerity. But as of God in the sight of
God, speak we in Christ. Believers are men and women who've
been led of God to face the truth. The truth. I don't care for stories
about men's experiences. What I want to hear is how God
dealt with you in truth. Because that's how God saves
sinners. He teaches them and tells them and reveals to them
the truth. They know what they are and they're
ashamed of it. They know what they are and they
turn from it. And they know what they are capable
of And they guard against it. And they know, as Paul said,
whom they believe. His work in us, in us, makes
us sincere and makes us genuine. We don't put on airs. We don't
put on airs and pretend to be something we're not. Those Pharisees,
they had special uniforms they put on and special marks that
they did and made broad deflectories and they did all these things
and I'm told by some of these old writers who read these Jewish
historians that they had special markings, just like a military
uniform, and those who wore them could distinguish immediately
what this man had done or how high of a point he had attained
to and how long he'd been instructed and so on, how many years he'd
served. All these things. They could
just look at them and tell. Just look at them. Believers
don't put on airs. They don't try to pretend to
be something they're not. Paul said, we are what we are
by the grace of God. And what we are is sinners being
saved by grace. That's what we are. We're sinners. Sinners. We who have been on this way
for a while, we get shocked by what men say. We oughtn't be
shocked. Paul said, such were some of
you. They got a little high point. They were standing on this Corinthian
church, and he said, such were some of you. But God intervened. God interrupted. God provided for us a messenger,
provided for us a substitute and a redeemer. God sent to us
His Holy Spirit. I'm telling you, if He don't,
you'll never change. You might change some outward
habits, but your way of thinking will never change. You'll just
continue on walking in the vanity of your mind. Well, I'm pretty
good, you know, as far as that goes. You know, I'm not like
everybody out here that I see. I'm not like some. Old fella,
he was in his late seventies mowing grass for us down in Ball
one time. I went out to take him a drink
of water. Got talking to him and he said, well now, he said,
I ain't always done the right thing, but he said, I have one
thing I can say. You still got that? You still
got one thing you can say? Believers don't. God had taken
away everything they had to say. They sat quiet, guilty, guilty,
sinners saved by grace. Everything we have has come to
us by the free and sovereign grace of God, and as a result
of this grace and these gifts, by the mercy of God, we have
a common union with all of God's elect. We have a common union,
and that union is that we are all sinners saved by grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. A fellowship, Paul calls it. He says here in verse 5, a fellowship. He said, I thank God for this
fellowship in the Gospel that we have. And we long for that
fellowship. We prize this fellowship. And
it's sincere and it's genuine. John said, everyone that loveth
him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him. I honestly believe this. One
of the things that's going to make heaven heaven is the fellowship
of Christ and His saints. You know, when our Lord said,
I go to prepare a place for you, why did He do it? You remember
what He told them why He did it? Everybody knows and quotes
that scripture. Well, He went to prepare a place
for us. He said that where I am, there you may be also. That's
why. Well, where is He? Where is He
right now? Where is He? I know he's seated
at the right hand of God, but where is he in this world? He's
in the assembly of the saints. Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there I am in the midst. And I'll tell you this, Paul
didn't mention his undying love for his kinsmen, though we know
from the Scriptures that he had one. He did love his kinsmen. He did want them to be saved.
He made the statement in Romans that he was willing to take their
place, substitute himself under the wrath of God for his kinsmen
according to the faith. But he didn't talk about his
undying love for his kinsmen, but for that fellowship and for
that love that he had for the church of the living God. He
said, I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ. And
then here in verse 9, Philippians 1, 9, And this I pray, that your
love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all
judgment. What makes love abound is knowledge. Knowledge. I tell you, the more
I know about the Lord Jesus Christ, and the more I know about the
living God that I see through His person and His sacrifice
and His appointments, the more I understand something about
the love of God. Knowledge. That's what makes
love abound. It's knowledge. You know, I give
this example one time that I was just a little fellow. We were
going to school. I was probably in the second
grade. sidekick of mine. We got to be friends and we were
both kind of new in that school. And he found something on the
school bus. And he come and he told me that
we went up sharpening our pencils and he come up there and he said,
we're rich. And I said, what do you mean we're rich? He said,
we're rich. And then at recess he showed
me, he had this little brown paper sack like a lunch sack.
And it had money in it. And I said, where'd you get that?
He said, I found it. I said, you found it? He said,
where'd you find it? He said, I found it on the bus.
So we didn't know any better. And we took that thing. Boy,
after school, we went down to, had a little store downtown.
We went down there and bought the office, a bunch of stuff,
cowboy stuff, guns, I don't know what all we had. Come home. Mom said, where'd you get all
this stuff? Well, I said, he gave it to me for my birthday.
She said, it's April, honey. Your birthday's in December. Well, we had to fess up. And
then we found out this was money that the cheerleaders had raised.
And one of them had dropped it on the floor, and he found it.
So we had to go to their house. And I'll never forget. They probably
had it made up. I don't know. But this fellow
was really getting on me. I mean, he made me think I was
going to jail. Boy, the big tears was rolling.
I was shaking in my shoes. I remember my dad taking his
arm like that and pushing me behind him. And he said, whatever's
owed, he said, I'll pay it. I'll pay it. See, that's how
you learn the love of God, the love of Christ. We learn that. through that substitutionary
work that He has done through our Lord Jesus Christ. We see
that love. That love is manifested. It is not so much the compiling
of facts, but the experiential knowledge of Christ. The experiential
knowledge of God and of Christ is what the Scripture calls eternal
life. And the knowledge of God is experienced
in the soul. His love, His grace, and His
mercy It comes in such a way as to be felt. I'm not trying
to push folks to an experience, but I'm telling you this. Without
an experience, without any experience at all, you just have dead letter. That's all you've got. Now, if
all you have is an experience alone, then you have no knowledge.
But I'm telling you, this knowledge is experiential, and it can be
felt in the soul. You think, oh, Oh, who was it? I can't even
think now. Barabbas, sitting down in that
old prison cell. And they come down and they told
that old hardened criminal who thought he was going to die,
he thought this was his last trip down the hallway. And those
soldiers come in and led him out and when they got out there
into the daylight, they turned him loose. They said, you're
free to go. And he probably thought, oh, this is a trick. This can't be true. And they
said, another's been chosen to die in your stead. That wasn't
just facts, was it? That wasn't just facts. This saving faith is not something
that leaves men unaffected. When a guilty conscience is purged,
there's rejoicing in the soul. When that conscience, Henry used
to say this, he said, I don't need a birth certificate to prove
I'm alive. Do you? I hear folks all the
time trying to justify the fact that they're alive by this and
that and something else. I don't need a birth certificate.
I know. I know. I've experienced these things
in my soul. I know I'm alive, I can see, I can hear, I can
touch, I can feel. Paul's desire was for that love
which came by the experiential knowledge of Christ to grow and
abound and mature. And then listen to this in verse
10, that you may approve things which are excellent, that you
may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ. Believers
do not disapprove of the ways and means of God. They approve. That is what Paul is saying here.
That is what he is talking about here. That you might approve
of these things. They do not disapprove of the
fruit of the Spirit. They do not disapprove of the
doctrines of Christ, the messengers of Christ, or the message that
these men preach. Paul prays for these Philippians
that God will give them a discernment To choose that which is more
excellent than that which is produced by the false prophets
and produced by this world. To know the difference between
the false and the true. To know in their hearts the difference
between earthly things and heavenly things, spiritual and carnal
things. To know the difference between
law preaching and gospel preaching. to know the difference between
the doctrines of devils and the doctrines of Christ. To be able
to approve those things, to see those things, and understand
those things. One of the preachers from the
Jehovah's Witness down in Sarepta came in my driveway yesterday
and had a little pamphlet and invited me down to the Civic
Center down there where evidently they meet every so often. And
I told him I wouldn't be interested. He said, you're not interested
in the Word of God? I said, oh, I'm very interested
in the Word of God. Well, you're not interested in
heaven? Yeah, I've got an interest in heaven. But I said, let me
tell you something. I've been studying the Bible
for 30 some years. And in studying this Bible, I've
also studied what you people believe. And I don't believe
anything that you believe. Not anything. Not what you call
heaven. Not what you call regeneration.
Not what you call... I don't believe any of those
things. And I said, I don't want to hear it. And I don't want
the folks that I shepherd to hear it. And I don't want my
neighbors to hear it. And I'm not going to stand here
and argue with you about it or debate about it. And I said,
best thing for you to do is get your pamphlets and go on down
the road. I'm not interested. I was able, by the grace of God,
to approve the things more excellent. That's what Paul said here. That
you're taught, that you're taught by a faithful pastor to the point
where you can understand the difference. You can see the difference.
Hopefully, you'll be taught of God as this pastor teaches. And you'll be able to approve
of these things and to know the difference in your heart. And
then he tells us that they might be without offense till the day
of Christ. Now, he's not talking about living
a sinless life here. That's not what he's talking
about. Paul didn't believe that, and we don't believe that either.
What does he mean by that statement? Well, he means, first of all,
that we might walk in the righteousness of Christ by faith. We walk in
that righteousness. If we walk in the light, As He
is the light, then we have fellowship one with another. And the blood
of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin. We walk in that
righteousness of Christ. And then secondly, in our behavior,
that though we offend in many things, yet we not be guilty
of any gross sins. That we not be found doing something
like David did. Or things that Solomon did. These men, all these things happened
to them as examples unto us. We're told that over and over.
That we don't fall into those same errors. These things which
offend God and offend our brethren. And then they do irrefutable
damage as far as your ministry and even the ministry of this
church in that community. Verse 11, being filled with the
fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ unto the
glory and praise of God. What is he talking about here?
What is a fruit of righteousness? Now, I know what the fruit of
the Spirit is, but what is the fruit of righteousness? Well, one of those fruits is
a clear conscience before God. When a man is enabled of God
to believe God concerning that righteousness of Christ, concerning
His death and the putting away of our sin, that atonement, when
a man is enabled of God to believe those things, the Holy Spirit
of God purges that guilty conscience and he sees his sins put away. That's the fruits. of righteousness. Listen to this Scripture. There
is therefore now, right now, no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit. They walk in the righteousness
of Christ. They walk with the mind of Christ. The Pharisees brought before
the Lord a harlot. They said she was taken in the
very act. There is no dispute here over
her guilt. She was taken in the very act.
And they roughly cast her down before Him and they said to our
Lord that under the Law of Moses, the Law of Moses says that she
is to be stoned. What do you say? You know what
He said? Nothing. But He stooped down and began
to write in the sand. And after a few moments, he stood
up and he said, all right. He said, he that's without sin
among you, let him cast the first stone. And he bent back down
and began to write in the sand again. And when he looked up the next
time, they were all gone. And he looked at the woman and
he said, woman, where art thou, thine accusers? Where'd they
all go? And she said, they're all gone. He said, neither do
I accuse you. Neither do I accuse you. Go your
way and sin no more. My soul, the fruit of righteousness
is a clear conscience before God. That old red heifer. Do y'all know the story of the
red heifer? I ain't got time this morning
to take you through it. But that red heifer had to do with the
purification of the flesh. And Paul says in Hebrews 9, if
that old red heifer sanctified to the purifying of the flesh,
how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit, who offered himself without spot to God, purge your dead
conscience? If that old red heifer could
make you clean, what about this sacrifice? How much more? And nothing more strongly sheds
abroad in the heart the love of God and influences men and
women to live uprightly before God and serve Him in sincerity
and honesty than a knowledge of the free justification of
Christ by the grace of God." A clear conscience. A purged
conscience. And then there's a consciousness
of debt. Paul said he was a debtor. I'm
a debtor. Are you? Boy, I am. I'm a debtor. These old hymn writers, people
sing these songs. I'd listen to the First Baptist
Church. They put them in a new bell over there and then it'll
ring on an hour and a half hour and then in the mornings it plays
hymns and in the evenings it plays hymns on that thing. And
they were playing this one and I know that they sing it. But
they never listen to the words. Listen to these words. But drops
of grief can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe. Here, Lord,
I give myself away. It is all that I can do. All
that I can do. All of this spiritual fruit is
by Jesus Christ and it's all unto the glory and praise of
God. And then another fruit of this righteousness is fellowship.
Fellowship. We have fellowship one with another. All believers have the same faith,
the same God, the same experience, the same spirit, the same gospel,
and the same hope. And you can't walk in this light
and not have fellowship with one another. Paul said this,
who maketh you to differ from another? Boy, I'm not guilty
what he is. How come? How come? Something you did? That due to
some personal right? No. Who maketh thee to differ
from another? Are we not all recipients of
the grace of God? Does anybody here this morning
feel like they deserve the gospel? That they deserve the sacrifice
of Christ? Deserve His grace? Deserve that
substitutionary work? God forbid. Grace tears down all the petitions,
and grace puts us all on one foundation. And everybody that
God saved from the flood, they entered into the same vessel.
Entered into the same vessel. And they went in and came out
by the same door. And they are preserved by the
same God. And then verse 12, But I would, you should understand,
brethren, that the things which happen unto me have fallen out
rather unto the furtherance of the gospel, so that my bonds
in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places. Just as God used His imprisonment
at Philippi to begin the church, so too He was using His imprisonment
at Rome to the same end. His gospel was being spread even
into the king's palace. And this much I'll tell you,
our trials and persecutions will go a lot smoother if we can get
a hold of what Paul is saying right here. All of these things. Nothing happens to you by accident.
It happens on purpose. God left us here to preach His
gospel and give His testimony before men and nothing can prevent
that from happening. Everything that happens just
helps to further it. God's purpose of grace in the
preaching of the gospel is like some huge unstoppable force that
just engulfs everything and uses everything to that end. Nations,
Roman power and reign had no effect on the spreading of the
gospel. It just helped it. It just helped it. And economies. What about religion? Those Jews
rejected Paul's message and all it accomplished is to fulfill
the will of God toward the Gentiles. Isn't that what he said? Disease. Old John Housam up 13th Street
had multiple sclerosis. And he'd get up sometimes and
be talking to us after the service and he began to cry and he said,
I just thank God for MS. He said, if it wasn't for MS,
I'd have never heard of God. enemies of God. It was the enemies
of God. I want you to think about this.
It was the enemies of God that drug that young harlot and brought
her to Christ. Huh? The enemies of God. They can't prevent these things.
They don't even know they're being used. That's the last thing
in their mind was being used of God. And they brought one
of God's elect to Him. And it was the enemies of God
that God used to crucify His Son. They did what they did by
God's counsel and God's hand. All of them together. Brethren,
that old Paul, he's down here in a jail cell. He can't move.
He can't walk more than 20 feet. He's in this prison going back
and forth. And God just ministering to him,
bringing him everything he wants. The church is bringing it to
him. communicating with them and he's telling them that this
imprisonment is nothing to be ashamed of. That God's using
his imprisonment. And he said he's already taken
his gospel right into the king's palace. And it had never got
in there any other way except through that prison. Through
that prison. But God's using all those false
accusations and all that thing to his own glory. God help us
to have an understanding of it.