I invite you this morning to
turn back again with me to Philippians chapter 2. The book of Philippians, which
is actually a letter, is considered to be what the old writers called
the prison epistles. This is one of those letters
written while Paul was in prison at Rome. And the reason for his
writing this epistle was because he cared for this little church.
He cared for them. They had a pastor. They were
doing alright. But he cared for them. He cared
for them. His heart was involved in their
good. And he saw himself as their spiritual
father, so to speak. He was the one who established
that church that God used to establish that little church.
And then he wrote to them because their pastor, Epaphroditus, came
and brought gifts to him from the church while he was in prison. And also because he desired their
spiritual well-being. But mostly, I believe, because
he wrote to them because he received much comfort when he thought
about them. Comfort. I had nothing to do with the
formation of the church in Danville, Kentucky. I had no part in their
conversions and very little to do with their spiritual growth. But I had known something of
their kindness and generosity and graciousness. And it's a
comfort to me to think on that. I have a picture of all the saints
at Danville gathered on the front steps of the church. That church
has, I don't know how many steps there is, but quite a few going
up to the front door. And they were all gathered on
that front porch and all down those steps and on the sidewalk
at the bottom. And every now and then, I just
look at that picture, and it brings me comfort to think on
them. And that's why Paul wrote to
these people. It was comforting for him to
think on them. And especially down in that prison,
what a comfort it must have been to know that these false accusations
and these false charges by which he was in prison had something
to do with them and these other churches that God established
through him. That he was suffering these things
not in vain, but that he was suffering these things for the
gospel of Christ. and for the good of the saints
of God. And I'll say this to you that
are here this morning. This church occupies my thoughts. It occupies my thoughts. And
it occupies my thoughts most of the time. It's not a wearisome
thing for me to think on you. It's comforting. It's comforting. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt
that God sent me here. He's proved that to me in so
many ways I couldn't begin to express on. And it's not worrisome for me
to think on you or pray for you or desire your well-being. And
so I can relate with this heavy-hearted evangelist who was seeking nothing
from them except that which was for the good of their souls and
that which would benefit their everlasting soul. Now let me
say this. And I must emphasize this because
without this, the rest of it has no meaning. Paul was a gospel
preacher. He was also an apostle. He was
a writer of scripture. But chiefly, he was a preacher.
He was a missionary. He occupied a lot of the offices. He was an evangelist. But in
all of those things, there was one thing required to be, and
that's a preacher. And that's what he was. He was
a preacher. And those he wrote to made up
a gospel church. Now my friend, you can't take
the affections and promises and things that are revealed in the
Word of God and make some kind of a universal application to
them to all men. Paul wasn't down in that prison
thinking about those men who stoned him and hired thugs to
beat him up. He was down in that prison and
his affections was for that church. It was for the children of God.
You can't take these things out here and have no interest in
the gospel, don't know any gospel preachers, never heard one, wouldn't
listen to one if you did, and then try to take comfort in these
comforting words that these men wrote to their churches. They
were writing to gospel churches. And these men were gospel preachers.
He writes in chapter 1 in verse 5 there in our text here in Philippians. Chapter 1, verse 5, that he was
thankful for their fellowship in the gospel from the first
day until now. These men knew the gospel. They
loved the gospel. They cherished the gospel. They
fought for the gospel and they suffered for the gospel. And
he said, I'm thankful. I'm thankful to know you and
I'm thankful for the fellowship that I had with you. Verse 6,
and he had counted that God Himself was responsible, not only for
the beginning of the work, but for the preservation of that
work. What God started, He said, He
is going to perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. And then in verse 27, that they
would stand fast in one spirit, with one mind,
the mind of Christ, striving together for the faith, now listen,
of the gospel. That's where faith comes from.
Did you know that? True saving faith is faith of
the gospel. It says that over and over and
over in Scripture. Faith of the gospel. And you can't have true
saving faith and be ignorant of the gospel. It's an impossibility. Ephesians 1.13, it said, in whom
you trusted after you heard the word of truth. The gospel of
your salvation. In whom also, after that you
believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession unto the praise of His glory. We strive together
for the faith of the gospel. We feed upon it. Do you feed
upon it? Do you get hungry to hear the
gospel? My soul, sometimes I'm just starved
to death to hear the gospel. to hear it. We feed upon it.
We live upon it. Paul said for me to live is Christ. We walk in its light and we hope
for its end and we bathe in the mercy presented in the gospel
of Christ. This was a gospel church and
Paul was a gospel preacher. Let me give you just a few things
I know about gospel preachers. A gospel preacher has behind
him the very power of God's throne. Is that saying too much? Let
me tell you what our Lord told His disciples. He said, all power
is given unto me in heaven and earth. How much power? All power. Well, that's not talking about
evil spirit. It's talking about all power. Well, that's the old English.
Let me tell you something. All meant all then and it means
all now. All power is given unto me in
heaven and earth. I am about to ascend. This man
that you see before you, I am about to ascend unto the throne
of glory. I am going to sit down at the
right hand of God. And all power is given unto me. Now, go ye therefore and preach
my gospel. Now, I'm telling you this, and
you better listen to me. That man who preaches the gospel,
that man whose sin of God has the power of God's throne behind
him. He has the power of God's throne
behind him. All power, he said, given unto
me. And then secondly, I'm going to tell you this. That man's
sin of God, if he's a gospel preacher, he has in his grasp
The wisdom of God. The wisdom of God. I'll never
forget the first time I heard Henry Mayhem preach. I thought
that was the smartest man I ever heard in my life. And it didn't
have anything to do with how smart he was. He was a smart
man. I won't take anything from him. But that's not where I seen
it. I seen it in what he preached.
how he could take the Word of God and those things that are
locked up in mystery that I've read a hundred times and didn't
know what they meant and just present them to you as a 12-year-old
child could receive. Illustrated. He could just grab
an illustration, seem like out of the air, and give it to you. You know why? Because he had
the wisdom of God in his grasp. And then thirdly, I know this
about Gospel preachers. They bear by the gift of God's
sovereign grace the very treasures of heaven. The very treasures
of heaven. Listen to these scriptures. Our
Lord told His disciples, those that He was about to send out
and preach, He said, A good man out of the good treasure of his
heart bringeth forth good things. He said, Every scribe which is
instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like a man that is
a householder which bringeth forth out of his treasure things
new and old." He can go back in that Old Testament and he
can see Christ there as good as he can see it in Colossians
chapter 2. He can take out of that treasure
that God has given him He can take those things out of Leviticus
and out of Exodus and out of Genesis, and He can present those
things as clearly to you as if He was reading John 3, 16. Paul said, we have this treasure
in earthen vessels. What do you have? Treasure. Whose
treasure? God's treasure. God's treasure. And what is this treasure? It's
Christ. Colossians 2, verse 3, it said,
In Him is hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. God's preachers have the power
of the throne behind them. They have the wisdom of God in
their grace and the treasure of heaven within them. And then
fourthly, Their course is set and maintained by the omnipotent
God. How shall they preach except
they be sent? I'm not talking about every man
stands behind a pulpit, but I'm talking about if that man is
sin of God, if that man is God's preacher, his course is set by
the omnipotent God. God sent Paul to Lydia. And now what Scripture said?
He sent him. God took Philip and sent him
to the Ethiopian Union. And God moved his son to go to
Samaria, didn't He? And save that Samaritan woman
at the well. His course is set by the Omnipotent
God. Wherever they go, they manifest
the purpose and will of God in their going. And everywhere they
don't go, they manifest the same. And I'll tell you this, that
man or woman to whom God has sent his preacher bearing the
good news of Christ, he cries from his very heart to God. He said, how beautiful are the
feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad
tidings of good things. They come bearing treasures,
treasures beyond our wildest dreams. Whoever thought that
I could stand before God, unblameable and unreprovable in His sight?
In all of your lifetime, have you ever had that thought? Not
one time. Fact is, what you thought was
how in the world can such a worm as I have anything to do with
God? That's the treasure. That's the treasure. Whoever
thought they could stand before God in the full favor of all
His perfections? It must be perfect to be accepted.
Ain't that what the Scripture says? He don't want your best
efforts. He don't want the best you can
do. It has to be perfect to be accepted. And we're accepted in the blood.
That's where my perfection is. That's the treasure. That's the
treasure. unblameable, unreprovable in
His sight. Whoever thought that the eternal
God would have made provision for him from all eternity. And
I tell you, if you've got a handle on this, I just don't know what
to think about it. Whoever thought that God could
love him from all eternity. Love him. Love him in particular. have I loved? Huh? Oh my soul,
I understand why he hated Esau. I don't have a bit of trouble
with that. I don't care much for Esau myself. Read his story. Read what kind of a man he was.
I understand why, but why in the world and how in the world
I read about Jacob Taylor. Huh? God loved Jacob. You know why? Because he wanted
Taylor. I tried. That's a treasure. That's beyond your wildest imagination. God loved you from all eternity. I've loved you, He said, with
an everlasting love. Who can separate us from the
love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord? Nothing. Nothing. Whoever thought that God Almighty,
in His divine purpose of grace, could take such a worthless worm
and make him His Son. Treasures beyond our wildest
dreams. And oh, what a shock! to find
out that this worthless maggot was an object of God's eternal
purpose of grace, and that that man now speaking to him was sin
of God to him on purpose. Huh? Treasures. Every God-called
preacher finds his direction by the eternal purpose and will
of God, and then fifthly, and this is where I've headed this
morning, The goal of that preacher, son of God, and that church to
whom he is sent, is to hold forth the Word of Life. Philippians
2.16, holding forth the Word of Life, that I may rejoice in
the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored
in vain. This is what every God-called
preacher does, and this is the result of all those who are benefited
by that Gospel. He holds it forth, and they who
receive it, what do they do? They hold it forth. They hold
it forth. Paul said to the church at Thessalonica,
he said, I know your election of God, for from you sounded
out the Word of the Lord not only in Macedonia, and Achaia,
but also in every place your faith to God is spread abroad. You took that same word that
I held forth before you and you received it. And God caused you
to receive it into your heart. And you rejoiced in it. You found
hope in it. You found mercy and grace in
it. And you turned around and you held it forth. Because there's
nothing else to hold, is there? You are not going to hold your
righteousness forth, are you? Let me give you five reasons
why we hold this gospel forth. I hold this gospel forth, first
of all, because I know that it is the seed of regeneration. Paul said to the Corinthians,
he said, I have begotten you through the Gospel. Through the
Gospel. Turn with me to 1 Peter chapter
1. There can be no life without
this seed. The new birth is not some mystical,
magical experience that comes upon the unsuspecting and then
suddenly they are just transformed. The new birth comes from the
seed of life, and that seed is a message of God's Word, the
Gospel of Christ. Look here in 1 Peter 1. Let's
back up to verse 18. For as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,
But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last
times for you, who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him
from the dead and gave Him glory, that your faith and hope might
be in God. Seeing ye have purified your
souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love
of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure
heart fervently, being born again." Being born again. Not of corruptible
seed. but of incorruptible by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is grass."
This man that we're talking about being regenerated, he's just
grass. He's nothing. All flesh is grass. All the glory
of man is the flower of the grass. The grass withereth, and the
flower thereof fadeth away. But the word of the Lord, that
precious, incorruptible seed, endueth forever. Now, are you
listening? And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you. We hold forth the gospel because
the gospel is the seed of regeneration. I use this illustration in Daniel.
These people who reject this and deny this, that the gospel
is the seed of regeneration, suppose he's sitting around in
the house stewing about his rejection of this gospel and his wife's
been out working in the flowerbed and she comes in and she says
to him, honey, I was just out working in the flowerbed and
I'm pregnant. Huh? Well, that's what he's saying.
I was just out here in the world doing this and doing that and
suddenly I was born again. No seed. I was just born again. Let me tell you what that man
do. He'd be down at the courthouse the next day filing for divorce.
And that's what you better do when people bring this kind of
nonsense to you. Divorce them. Right then, right
there. Not going to be any life apart from the seed. And the
seed is the gospel preached. That's the seed. And then secondly,
we hold forth the word of life because it's the power of God
unto salvation. Our Lord said, can the Ethiopian
change the color of his skin? Can he sit there and just, I'm
going to turn myself red? No, I'm still black. He can't
change the color of his skin. He can grit his teeth. He can
make up his mind. He can exercise his will, but
he's going to be black. He can't change the color of
his skin, and that leopard can't change his spots. He said, can
you then that are accustomed to do evil do good? Why not? Because it takes the power of
God. That's why. Why can't I do this? Because it takes the power of
God. That's why you can't do it. With men, it is impossible. We read that all the time, but
we don't really believe it, do we? With men, it is impossible. But with God, all things are
possible. Romans 1, verse 16, Paul said,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. I don't preach a gospel
and then look back in the wake of it and see a bunch of men
who hear it and hold it and aren't moved and don't do anything.
He said, I'm not ashamed of this gospel. This gospel doesn't leave
me ashamed. That's what he said. I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto
salvation to everybody that believes. We've got no power to rise above
this fallen nature. Paul said, as is the earthy,
such are they also that are earthy. You're born of Adam. You've got
His nature. You've got His mind. You've got
His potential. You've got His sin. You're under
His curse. You're not going to break free
from those bonds. Sin entered and death passed.
And what's the evidence of it? All have sinned. And he said,
sin reigns unto death. Preacher, I'm not buying this
thing of total depravity. That ain't what you're preaching,
are you? You're preaching the imputed sin of Adam. You're preaching
total depravity. I just don't buy it. Well, you just need to take your
Bible on your way to hell and throw it in the wastebasket because
this is exactly what this book teaches. The total depravity
of men. Total depravity. His righteousnesses,
the best he can produce, are filthy rags. And I won't make
you sick by telling you what that is. You don't believe this book.
Galatians 3, verse 22. He said, but the Scripture, the
Scripture hath concluded all under sin. Now you reject that
depravity, you reject that all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God, you reject that, you just threw this book
out the window because the Scripture has concluded all under sin. Who concluded it? The Holy Ghost,
the author of that book. And you can't break the bonds
of that depravity, but the Gospel brings life to the dead. Can
these bones live? I don't know, Lord. You know.
Preach to them. Do what? Preach to them. Preach
to them. What are you going to tell them?
Live. Live. All the power of the risen Christ,
all the power of the Lord of glory comes with the Gospel when
it lands upon the ears of one of God's sheep. When He calls,
they hear. Huh? There was a lot of folks
mourning out there at Lazarus' tomb, wasn't there? Oh, how they
wanted him back. They loved him. They loved him.
His two sisters loved him. All of his neighbors loved him.
They loved him. They wanted him to come back.
And Lazarus just laid in there and all he could do was stink.
That's all dead men can do. Stink. Until the Lord of Glory
came up. And He said, Lazarus, come out. Nobody else came out, just Lazarus. Why didn't the rest of them hear?
Because he wasn't speaking to them. Paul said, I know your election
of God, for our gospel came not unto you in word only. It wasn't
just another doctrine. It wasn't just another teaching.
It wasn't just another school of thought. It came not in word
only. leaving them where they were,
leaving them where God found them, leaving me like it found
me, leaving me under the influence and intimidation of this world.
But it came in power, and it came in the Holy Ghost, and it
came in much assurance. And you become followers of us
and the Lord. Paul said, when you received
the Word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as
the Word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which
effectually, effectually, can you hear what I'm saying? Effectually
worketh also in you that believe. And then thirdly, we hold forth
the word of life because it's through this gospel that the
revelation of God comes to chosen sinners. This thought came to me this
morning. Paul tells us in Romans 1 that the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men. He revealed
that wrath from heaven when he flooded this world. He revealed
that wrath from heaven when He killed 70,000 in Israel. He revealed
that wrath from heaven in every curse and every plague that's
ever hit any country in this world in all the history of it. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all unrighteousness and all ungodliness of men. But
not His mercy. Not His mercy. And you can look
around here at creation. You can look at all the rocks
and the flowers and the trees and they are magnificent. Absolutely
magnificent. Stand on the edge of that great
canyon and look out there and see all those colors and all
the wonders of God's creation. And Paul said you can know His
power. You can know something about
His power when you look out here at creation. the power of His
Godhead. But you can't know nothing about
His mercy. There's only one place where the whole character of
God is revealed. The whole of His character. And
that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him is justice, righteousness,
the wrath of God, the mercy of God, the love of God go on and
on and on. in Him alone. That's where that's
known. Peter, whom do men say that I
am? Well, somebody said you're Jeremiah. Somebody said you're
Elijah. Elijah is supposed to come in
the last day. Certainly one of the prophets. He said, who do
you say that I am? Thou art to Christ the Son of
the Living God. Peter saw God in Him. Blessed art thou, Simon, by Jonah. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
this to you. But my Father which is in Heaven. Where did He reveal
it? In His Son. In His Son. To know Him is to
know the Father. To fellowship with Him is to
fellowship with the Father. God's character is in Him, and
it is in Him to manifest to men. Listen to this scripture, 2 Timothy
1, verse 9, God hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
began. But now it's manifest by the
appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ. It manifests. The Gospel of Jesus Christ sets
forth the love of God. God commendeth His love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
The very righteousness of God. He said, therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. And Christ crucified,
he tells us in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, is the wisdom and
power of God. Isn't that what he said? God's
mercy, he tells, he paints that awful picture there in Ephesians
chapter 2, of those whom God had quickened from the dead,
being dead in trespasses and sin, walking according to the
course of this world, according to the prince and the power of
the air, That same Spirit that even now worketh in the children
of disobedience. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead in trespasses and sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ. And justice, being justified
freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness, that God might
be just and justify all who believe. We hold forth the word of life
because through His gospel comes the revelation of God. Listen to what Paul said, that
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give
unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge
of Him. And then fourthly, we hold forth
the Word of Life because it's the light by which we walk. We walk in the light. We're not
children of the night anymore. We're children of the day. We
walk in light. What light? Christ. As you have received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk ye in Him. He's the light. He's the light. John said if we walk in the light
as He is the light, we have fellowship one with another. Boy, you won't
have it anywhere else. I'm going to tell you that. But
you walk in the light as He is the light. You'll have fellowship
one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ,
God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. And then last of all,
we hold forth the Word of Life because this is how our faith
is maintained and preserved. Paul said, looking, looking,
not having looked, looking. Looking, that's a continual thing.
Looking unto Jesus, the Author, and finishing. of our faith. We are kept, Peter said, by the
power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed
in the last time. And then listen to this one.
He said, let's consider Christ the Apostle and High Priest of
our faith. And then he talks about Moses
being the head over all his house. God set him over all Israel,
the head of his house, and he was faithful in all that he did. But he said, Christ as the son
over his own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence
and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. And then Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians
15, he said, you received the gospel which I preached unto
you. And by this same gospel is where
you stand right now. And he said, you'll be saved
if you keep in memory what I preached unto you. Otherwise, you believed
in vain. So what's the conclusion of all
this? Well, let me just wind this thing up with a warning
and an exhortation. First, let me give you a warning.
Be sure what you're holding forth is the gospel. Men are quick to hold forth their
judgment. Don't hold that out. Men are
quick to hold forth their understanding. Put that down. Men are quick
to hold forth their righteousness. look down their nose at you. Hold forth the gospel. That's
where the light is. Be sure what you hold is the
gospel. Be sure what you're telling men. Those Pharisees were absolutely
convinced that they were saved, that they were sons of God, absolutely. And they'd come to sea and land
to make one proselyte like unto themselves, and when they'd made
him, he was two-fold more the child of hell than they were.
Why? Because they didn't have the
Word of Life. Be sure what you hold is the Word of Life. When
you're sure, here's the exhortation, hold it forth. Hold it forth. Don't hesitate. Don't sleep as
one in the night. Hold it forth. Put your energy
there. Hold it forth. Moses held forth the rod of God. That's a picture of the Gospel. That's a picture of Christ. He
held forth that rod. What happened? The sea split. The sea split. Do you recognize
anybody in that congregation that thought that rod had anything
to do with splitting that sea? No. They knew God worked through
that rod to split that sea. And that's the way it is with
the Gospel. Moses held forth the rod of God and the seed parted.
And Aaron and Hur sent Moses upon a rock during a battle one
time. Moses held that rod up. God said,
as long as that rod's up, you're going to defeat your enemies.
But Moses couldn't hold it up. His hands got heavy. And that
rod began to come down. And when that rod come down,
they began to be defeated. And Aaron and Hur ran up there,
the high priest of God and his brother, and they grabbed ahold
of Moses' hands and held back up, and they defeated their enemies.
And that's a picture of the church of the living God. When they
hear the gospel, they hold it forth. How do they do that? By
supporting their preacher. That's how you do it. How do I get this gospel to my
relatives and to my friends? You get behind your preacher
and you say, here's a tape. Here's a CD. Here's a booklet. Here's a bulletin. Come and hear
him. Come and hear him. That's just
holding my hands up. That's what that's doing. That's
holding this gospel up. I can't preach without you. How
am I going to preach without any support? You see what I'm saying? This
is how God works. Now, I don't know. Satan works
all kinds of ways. He's got a thousand things he
does. But this is how God works. And this is how God saves sinners.
And Paul's sitting down in that prison, that old cold, damp prison,
sick. Their pastor came down there
and he was sick nigh unto death to bring him those gifts from
that church. But sitting down there in his
sickness and his illness and all of those things in that old
dark prison. Paul thought on the work of God. And it brought comfort to him.
And I do the same thing.