I'd like for you to take your
Bibles this morning and turn with me to the book of Philippians. Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4 and verse
1. Therefore, my brethren, dearly
beloved and longed for, my joy and crown. So stand fast in the Lord, my
dearly beloved." Now, my text begins with a therefore,
as so often it does. Therefore. Therefores and wherefores and
whereunto's are like couplings to me between train cars. That's
what I like in these things. You see each car and they're carrying
something a little bit different. Got coal on one and look over
here and this one over here got It's a boxcar, it's got something
inside, and then you look to the next one and it's got pipes
and things on it, and all of these essential things, and they're
all coupled together, but all of them together are one train. They form one train. Brother Mahan used to tell us,
when you see a therefore, he said, go back and see what it's
there for. So that's why I read chapter 3 to you. I want you
to know what it said before. And this particular, therefore,
has to do with everything that is said in the previous verses
all the way back to chapter 2, verse 12. Now how do I know that? Because I go back there and I
find a wherefore. Finding that wherefore, then
I go back again to verse 9, and there's another wherefore. And
then I go to verse 1, to a therefore, and that's the beginning of the
book. You see what I'm saying? There's
a continuity in the Scriptures that surpasses all other writings. There's nothing else like it.
Nothing else like it. Brother Barnard said one time,
y'all just take your Bible, Go out to the shed and come in about
a half inch from the binding and take a drill and just drill
a hole all the way through it. And then take a piece of red
thread and twist it together with a piece of white thread
and poke it down through that hole and tie it on. So every
time you turn a page, you'll be reminded of the blood and
righteousness of Christ in that text because it flows from one
end of this book to the other. I don't care what page you're
on, we need to be reminded of that continuity. And there is
a continuity that flows all the way through the book. And it
has a bearing on every subject. I don't care what the subject
is. Well, what do you all do over there when it comes to works?
What do you teach men over there about works? Well, I teach them
Christ. That's what I teach them about
works. As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in
Him. That's what the Bible says. And
so we find this continuity of Christ's righteousness and blood
and the theme of this book, redemption, on every page, every prayer. Therefore, he says, my brethren,
dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown. The apostle
Paul loved those he preached He loved them. He loved them. He loved to see their faces.
You know, you get to see mine and I get to see yours every
week. And I long to see you. I do. When I come here on Sunday
morning and somebody's not here, I miss them. I miss them. And
I long to see them. And sometimes I come to visit
you at your house. I long to see you. That's what
Paul is telling these folks. And then I go up to the Bible
conference and there are folks up there I haven't seen for a
year. Some of them I haven't seen in five or six years. But I still long to see them.
I love them. I love these people. These people
have been a part of my life. These people have been a part
of my ministry. And I love these people and I
long to see them. And that's what Paul is saying
here. He was not a hireling. He was a true under-shepherd.
He loved the sheep. He loved those he ministered
to. And he was long-suffering toward them. When you begin to
read and study in the book of Corinthians, and you see the
faults and the gross error that these Gentiles, these heathens,
because of their upbringing and the things that they that they
were swept into. Things that they practiced. Gross
things. And yet Paul put up with them. He put up with them. That's long
suffering. Somebody said that means putting up with. That's
what it is. He wasn't a hireling. He wasn't a hireling. He overlooked
their faults and he commended their good works. And he exhorted
them to look to Christ and to rest in Him. Preaching to him
was not just an occupation, it was a privilege. One of the young
preachers from Don's church asked me when I was up there the other
day, he said, what bears on you the heaviest, the responsibility
or the privilege of preaching? And I didn't answer him for a
while. I thought about it for a while. After the service, I
told him this, I think the privilege, the privilege. Because once God
introduces his grace into your life, once God brings you to
Christ and shows you what you are and who he is, and the multitude
of his blessings on you by his free grace, everything from that
point on is a privilege. You know, you sit down and eat
and never even think about it. Huh? Just sit down like it was
supposed to be there and gobble it up, you know, not even think,
boy, what a privilege. What a privilege. What a privilege
to take that glass of water out of that tap and it's clean. Down
in Mexico, you don't do that. You better not. You'll suffer
bad for it. I told Walter Gruber, our missionary
down there, I went down to Yucatan about 30 years ago, went out
and preached in the jungles. I said, it looks like you could
get a whale griller to come out here and drill a whale and he'd
be pumping it out so they couldn't infect the whale. He said, they'd
throw the pump away because they don't know how to use it and
they'd take a can and stick it down in the whale and the can
would pollute the whale. He said, that's the way it is
with all of you. He said, you don't want to drink anything out here
that's not boiled or sealed in a bottle. You don't want to touch
it. And so I was so thirsty and I went and this one of the bigger
Pueblos had one of these old time soft drink machines. It
had water in the bottom of it and you kind of slide the bottle
around. You remember those. And so I got one, but they had
old-time bottle caps on them. You couldn't get them off. And
I went up to the lady and asked her if she had an opener, and
she popped that top and then stuck her finger in a bottle
like that and popped it and handed it back to me once I had poured
it out. You see what a privilege we have
in this country, and what a privilege. Grace just shows you that what
has thou gotten that thou hast not received? And now I say,
what do you got that you haven't received of God? And if you got
it, why do you act like you didn't? It's a gift of God's grace. And
when you realize what a privilege it is, it makes you work harder
than responsibility. It puts a weight of responsibility
on you far more than just duty. It's a privilege. It's a privilege. Oh, what a privilege it is to
be called and enabled to preach the Gospel and to be a minister
of God. God had knit His heart together
with them, these little bands of believers, and He was willing
not only to suffer for them, but to give His life. He was
willing to spend and be spent. Lots of folks, their hand comes
up, I want to preach, I want to preach, until they find out
what preaching is. and then don't want to preach
no more. What they really meant was they wanted a nice big church
with a big congregation and a good salary and to be loved by the
people, and that's what they really want. But preaching off
time is a sacrifice, most of the time. It's a sacrifice. And
if you can't see it as a privilege, you're just not going to make
it. You're not going to make it. God had knit His heart together
with them and He was willing to spend and be spent. And then
He said, you're my joy. They're His joy. I think I can say that of you. You're my joy. It's not hard for me to come
here and preach. I go places it's hard to preach.
It's not hard to preach here. Because you're my joy. My joy. You're on my mind and on my heart
all the time. My joy. What a joy to visit with and
fellowship. Those fellows are stuck like
Joe Moore and his brother Carl out in the middle of nowhere
and Bo and Carol and some of these other ones I think about
the Englands and different ones here and there and yonder around
who write to me, and I think about them. They're all by themselves. Yeah, their sons are still their
sons and their daughters are still their daughters, but there's
no common ground. There's no joy in it, no peace
in it. There's just nothing there. There's
nothing there they can't ever go and rejoice over these things. Rejoice over Christ and eternal
life and everlasting life and just sit down and talk about
it for a minute. There's nobody there. Oh! We have a kindred spirit who've
eaten what the Lord has prepared. And we benefit from it. Peter
said, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word
that you may grow thereby, if so be you tasted, if you tasted
of it. Boy, I tell you, once God gives
you a taste, don't you want more? Huh? Oh, my soul. He opened a passage of scripture
to me up in Danville, brand new. Something in the Old Testament
that I've never seen before. Oh, what a wonderful thing it
was. But I tell you, by next morning I was hungry for more.
I wanted more, more. And what a joy it is to me to
pick up the phone and talk to some of you who are partakers
of the heavenly calling, heirs of grace and sons of the living
God. And it's a joy for me to see
your faces and hear your voice and hug your necks. What a joy.
That's what Paul, he was down in prison. He was telling them
what a joy. That was his joy, sitting down
there in prison. He could sit there and think
on these folks that he'd ministered to. That God, they were true
heirs and sons of God, and he could sit down there and think
about them and picture their faces. I tell you to see, the least
effort as God works through us to their good and His glory will
be a crown. That's what He told me. He said,
you're my crown. My crown. His brethren of like
precious faith, His dearly beloved of a kindred spirit, His joy
and His crown. And here's what He tells these
people. Here's what he tells them. He'd already preached to
them. They knew the gospel. They rejoiced in the gospel.
They loved the gospel. Well, what will this man now
down in prison, what's he going to tell them? What's he going
to tell his folks he loved? I'm talking about a personal
relationship here from his heart to theirs. What's he going to
tell them? Here's what he tells them. He said, stand fast in
the Lord. Stand fast. Here's my text. Here's my outline. Here's my doctrine. Here's my
message. First of all, he said, stand.
Stand. Paul exhorts his beloved children
to stand. You know, there's a country and
western song that went up to the top of the charts a few years
ago. And it says, you have to stand for something or you'll
fall for anything. There's a lot of truth in that,
but especially in spiritual things. The word stand is not alone in
the verse, but preceded by, therefore, and a personal declaration of
Paul's affection. Some of you folks here this morning,
maybe. And I'm saying maybe. I'm not
pointing at anybody. I'm not sticking my finger in
anybody's face. But I know from history, I know
from my 30 years experience, I know these things to be so.
And so I say that some of you that are here this morning have
been on your way for a while. Been on your way for a while.
But you don't know what it is to stand. To stand. That's what he tells these folks.
Stand. That was my story. That was my story. I was told
the truth and gave assent to it. I could recite it in argument
or witness. I could answer correctly when
a question was asked, but I didn't know what it was to stand. To
stand. That word stand here is not referring
to your posture. It's referring to an inward work
of grace on the heart. To stand in the Lord is to step
out of this flesh. It is to disregard this flesh
totally. It is to stand out of this flesh
and out of this visible world and stand in Him who is invisible. By faith, it said, Moses chose
to suffer affliction with the children of God rather than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. He esteemed the reproach
of Christ's greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. For he
forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, and endured
all. He endured all of this as seeing
him who is invisible. He stood in him who is invisible. That man who will not stand in
faith is a man who has no faith. And that's exactly what I discovered
of myself. Do you recall the story of Elijah
when Jezebel was after him and sought for his head? Found himself
down in a cave crying out to God saying, I'm the last one.
Ain't nobody else. Nobody else. I'm the last one. Just take me on. Be with me,
Lord. And the Lord said, Elijah, I've reserved to myself 7,000
men, now listen how he describes them, who have not bowed the
knee to Baal. They stood. They stood. They stood when others bent the
knee. They stood. They stood when others
denounced the faith. They stood. You remember John
said they went out from us? Why did he say they went out?
They were not of us. For if they were of us, they
no doubt would have continued with us. No doubt about it. No
doubt about it. Why? Because they stood. They
stood. They all stood in the faith of
God's elect. And then over in the book of
I Corinthians chapter 16, Paul said in verse 13, he said, Stand
fast in the faith. Quit ye like other men and be strong. Quit ye like men. Quit doing
that. Quit acting that way. Quit walking
that way. Quit thinking that way. Stand
in Christ and in Him and be strong. And then in Ephesians chapter
6 he tells us to take unto ourselves the whole armor of God that you
may be able to withstand any evil day and having done all
to stand. And now he says stand. Stand
therefore having your loins girt about with truth. Stand, having
on the breastplate of righteousness, and stand with your feet shod
with the preparation of the gospel of peace. And stand and take
the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked. And stand, taking the helmet
of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. And then, having
done all, stand." And then again, he tells us in
Thessalonians, for we live, he said, we live, our very being,
our very life, we live if you stand fast in the Lord. My exhortation to you this morning
is that you stand. Stand in the faith you profess.
Do you profess faith in standing? Do you profess faith? Live that
way. Do you profess faith and treat each other that way? Love
that way? Live that way? Stand. Stand in the Christ you confess
and stand in the spirit you claim to have and stand in the gospel
you believe. So that's his first word of exhortation
to those he loved. He said, stand. That's what I'm
doing down in this jail. I'm standing. I'm standing. And he knew both how to be abased
and how to abound. He said the Lord taught him both
things. But he was blessed. He stood. He stood. And then
secondly, the Holy Spirit adds another word. Stand fast. That don't mean how quick you
get up. That's not what that's talking
about. The word fast is not talking about speed. It's not exhorting
them to stand quickly, but to stand securely. stand securely. To make something fast is to
bond it to something, to nail it or bolt it or in some fashion
secure it, to secure it, to fashion it. And in this particular place,
I believe he's talking about a spiritual union with Christ. He's talking about a union of
Christ in us by faith. Believers are with Christ. were
with Christ. They were chosen in Him before
the foundation of the world. And as they were chosen in Him,
so He was chosen for them by the Father. Chosen as their representative
and substitute, as the one mediator between God and man. Chosen as
our high priest to make intercession for us in things pertaining to
God. Chosen as our King, all power
given unto Him in heaven and earth. So He could give us the
eternal life. So here's the confession of faith
to His own Master. And now it says over there, where
is that? Romans 13, where it says, to His own Master He standeth
or falleth. Yea, He shall be holding up,
for God is able to make Him stand. Stand. Why? Because He's in Christ. He's in Christ. A believer is
one with Christ by the gracious gift of faith. That's the fruit
of regeneration, and only a man born of God can repent and believe. You must be born of God. He says
it twice in John chapter 3. Every natural son of Adam is
a slave to his own nature and a servant of sin, and a servant
to the prince of the power of the air. To stand fast is to
stand totally dependent on one's union with Christ. That's it.
Nothing else. Nothing else. You can't hold
on here and hold on to Christ. You either hold on to Him or
you got to hold on to nothing. Nothing. But maybe a false refuge. We hold to Him. Hold to Him. Totally dependent on our union
with Him. God outside of Christ is a consuming
fire. He's a consuming fire on religious
folks who had no hope in Christ. He's a religious fire to the
heathen. It doesn't matter. God outside of Christ is a consuming
fire. It don't matter if you're moral
or immoral. He's a consuming fire. And this
world outside of Christ is nothing more than Sodom and Gomorrah.
Religion outside of Christ is idolatry, and those who practice
it are children of the devil. You go over there in Isaiah chapter
1 and read through that chapter. And the Lord tells them that
from the top of their head to the tip of their toes, there
are just wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. And then He
starts telling them. He said, when you come in to
worship Me, you come into My house. He said, who hath required
this at your hand? Well, now wait a minute. God
did, didn't He? Sure He did. And He said, your oblations you
bring. I don't have them. They're an
abomination to me. Now wait a minute now. God told
them to bring those things. And they lifted up holy hands.
Well, God directed them to do that in the Old Testament. What's
the problem? What's God so upset about? They're
doing everything he told them to do. Wasn't even Christ in
it. Wasn't even Christ in it. They're
just going through the motions. They're just bringing sheep and
calves. They had no idea what that slain lamb represented. They had no idea what they were
doing. They were in there waving hands. Folks go to church and
wave their hands back and forth. They ain't got a clue what they're
doing. Making them feel good. Wasn't any Christ in it. Sometimes
you hear me mock religion the way I just did and you wonder,
well, why does he got to say all those things? I'm trying
to wake you up to the fact there's no Christ in it. And if there
ain't any Christ in it, it's an abomination to me." That's
what he told them. He said, your holy days and feast
days, he said, I cannot away with it. Get it away from me. Why wasn't there any Christ in
it? God outside of Christ is a consuming
fire. And religion outside of Christ
is idolatry. And those who practice it are
children of the devil. He told those Pharisees, he said,
ye are of your father the devil. That's what he told them. Faith
is the work of God the Holy Spirit in us, and it binds our hearts
and minds to Christ. And we don't just stand, but
we stand fast, fast in union with Him. We stand in Him. And then thirdly, he tells us
this, in the Lord. in the Lord. Paul told the Philippians,
he said, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. Philippians
1, 4, always and in every prayer of mine for you all, making request
with joy for your feathership in the Gospel from the first
day until now, being confident of this very thing that He which
hath begun a good work in you. Who did that? God did. God, in the Lord, will perform
it unto the day of Jesus Christ. There it is, in the Lord. You
can't stand by yourself. You can't do it. Some of you
here are still trying. You can't do it. You can't do
it. There's only one way to stand
in Him. In Him. Paul points us back to that wilderness
journey of Israel and reminds us of God's judgments that fell
upon the congregation. They sat down to eat and drink
and rose up to play, he said. They committed spiritual fornication
and fell in one day 23,000 at God's hand. They tempted the
Lord and were destroyed by the fiery serpents, so many thousands.
They perished. They murmured and was destroyed
by the destroyer. Now listen, 1 Corinthians 10,
11. Now all these things happen unto them for examples, and they
are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world
are come. Wherefore, are you listening?
Let him that thinketh he standeth take care lest he fall. In the Lord. That's how you stand. In the Lord. We can't stand on
our own. We stand fast only as we stand
fast in the Lord. And He said to these beloved
Philippians, take my teaching, and take my preaching, and take
Christ as I've declared Him unto you, and work out your own salvation
in fear and trembling. For it is God that worketh in
you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. His thing
of salvation is the work of God. God created this world, He condemned
Adam's race, and He's the author and finisher of the salvation
of His elect. Paul tells us God was in Christ,
Russell, reconciling this world, a world of lost sinners, unto
Himself. This verse we're looking at here
this morning is a little more particular in its meaning. I
believe it has to do especially with the risen, victorious, reigning
Lord of glory. You stand in Him. We don't stand
in the poor, defeated reformer. We stand in the risen Lord of
glory. That's where we stand. There's
no standing in the Jesus preached by modern religion. He can't
do anything. He's dependent on you. He's got
no eyes but your eyes and no hands but your hands and no feet
but your feet. You can't stand in hell, but
you can stand in the Lord of Glory. He sits on the throne. He said, who's going to defeat
him? Who's going to separate you from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord, reigning in glory? Things present,
things past, what's going to separate nothing? Nothing. We can stand in him. And I tell
you this, to stand fast in the Lord is to stand fast in the
Lord alone. Alone. And I'm going to tell you something.
If you won't now, you won't then. You won't then. Stand fast in
Him alone. He that loveth his life, he said,
will lose it. And he that hateth his life in
this world shall keep it unto life eternal. And he said, he
that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of
me, and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not
worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross
and followeth after me is not worthy of me. Listen to this. This is in Matthew
10, verse 39. He that findeth his life We'll lose it. You'll lose it. You find that glitch. You find
that job. You find that communion with your family. You
find whatever it is you find. You find your life. You find
it. You find that job you've always
wanted. You find that security, that
bank account. You win the lot. Whatever it
is, you find your life. You find your life. You lost
it. You lost it. Why? Because Christ is your life.
He's your king, your priest. Christ is your bread and water.
He's the air you breathe and the path you walk and the power
that enables you to do it. Are you standing? Am I standing? Stand fast in the Lord. How does
a man stand in the Lord? He stands there spiritually,
doctrinally, practically, experientially, and singularly. That's how he
stands. He stands in Christ in his doctrine. He stands in Christ spiritually. That's his hope. That's his hope. Practically,
that's the way he lives. Experientially, that's the very
experience of grace within him. And singularly, he stands in
Christ alone. And Spurgeon said this, without
wavering, wandering, wearying, or warping, he stands in Christ. Caught up in the Spirit, John
saw the Lord sitting upon the throne, and a great white-robed
multitude standing before the throne. And I looked at that,
and what I took away from that is this. It was His sitting that
enabled their standing, and their standing that glorified His sitting. Stand fast. That's what he says.
Stand! Stand! Fast in the Lord.