In the book of Philemon, if you'd
like to turn back there with me. Philemon was a resident of Colossae,
and he's mentioned in the book of Colossians in chapter four.
He was a wealthy man because he had slaves. That's indicative
of wealth back then. He would have had much. Those that didn't have much didn't
have slaves. Philemon is the smallest letter
written by Paul in any of the scripture. It's the smallest
one, 25 short verses. And the reason for this, we know
in reading it, because Paul had a very specific message for Philemon. Paul was writing Philemon to
encourage him to receive a man named Onesimus. And I've misspoke
already. It was not Philemon that was
mentioned in Colossians. It was Onesimus that was mentioned
in Colossians 4. So forgive me. That's strike one, right? Paul's writing to Philemon to
encourage him to receive Onesimus. Onesimus was Philemon's slave. He was Philemon's slave and wronged
Philemon. Philemon would have given him
responsibility over whatever duties, responsibilities he had,
but he ended up stealing from Philemon. Onesimus stole from
Philemon and therefore became in danger of death. That was
the penalty for that. And so he flees. He runs to Rome. And it's amazing to me to see
the grace in this account that's given. And this really happened.
He flees to Rome, and Paul is being made prisoner in Rome for
preaching the gospel. He's getting locked up. And by
God's divine, glorious purpose, Onesimus comes into contact with
Paul and hears the gospel and believes. The Lord saves him.
Now, Paul, he gave Onesimus, the Lord gave Onesimus repentance,
and Paul's sending him back to Philemon. And that's what this
letter's all about. He's saying, receive, receive
Onesimus. He's a brother, and the Lord's
given him repentance. Receive him, forgive him. Paul
makes this statement, and we're gonna look at this Sunday, Lord
willing. He says, and whatever he has done wrong, charge that
to my account. Whatever he's done wrong, he
said, I'll pay it. I'll take care of it. That's the glorious
surety and substitution picture of our Lord, isn't it? We'll
look at that more in depth on Sunday. And I wrestled with trying
to figure out which message to bring, because it's all glorious. I was nervous when we first started
looking here, 25 verses. I thought, man, in my unbelief,
Lord, how are we going to have three messages from about Philemon
when it's just 24. The Lord does, every single word
is wrote about him, isn't it? The Lord will reveal his face
to his people according to his purpose. And that's what I hope
that we're able to see tonight is his face. And for tonight,
I just want to look at the first seven verses. Let's read that
again. Philemon, verse one, Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ and
Timothy, our brother, unto Philemon, our dearly beloved and fellow
laborer, and to our beloved Apahia, and Archippus, our fellow soldier,
and to the church in thy house." Something I failed to mention
earlier is the church at Colossians, the church at Colossae here,
they were meeting in Philemon's house. This would have been,
I mean, how big does your house have to be in order to have a
congregation? Well, we don't know how many people were there,
but this is what he's telling, to the church that's in thy house.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my
prayers, hearing of thy love and faith which thou hast towards
the Lord Jesus and toward all saints, that the communication
of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every
good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. For we have great
love and consolation in thy love because the bowels of the saints
are refreshed by thee, brother. Now my thought that the Lord's
given me, and I never just wanna preach a thought, but the Lord
showed me something here at the end of verse six. He says, or
let's just read verse six again. The communication of thy faith
may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing. He says,
every good thing, which is in you, in Christ Jesus. In you, in Christ Jesus. That's what I've titled the message,
is in Christ Jesus. Very simple message, but it's
great comfort to the Lord's people, Christ in you, the hope of glory,
us being in him and him being in us. He says this in John 17,
speaking to his father when he was praying the intercessory
prayer for his people, he says, the glory which thou hast given
me, I give, I have given them. Talking about his people, that
they may be one, even as we are one, I in them, and thou in me,
that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may
know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them as thou hast
loved me." Understand, being in Christ means that you are
justified. Being found in Christ means that
you're sanctified. It means that you have been made
holy. How holy? As holy as he is. That's what being in Christ is.
Is being as holy as he is, redeemed. That's all our salvation is being
found in Christ. Means that the very glory of
God is in us. The very glory of God is in his
people. Right now, as I mentioned Sunday,
we're not going to be, Tim James said it, you're not going to
be any more holy than you are right now, if you're in Christ.
And the good news of the gospel is, is nothing can separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Nothing can
stop that or change it. We are in the Lord. The Lord
said it in John chapter 10, speaking of his sheep, he says, I give
unto them eternal life and they shall never perish, neither shall
any man pluck them from my hand. No, because we are in Christ,
we know that the goodness of God is in his people. We know
that the holiness of God is in his people. Righteousness of
our Lord is in his people. How is this accomplished? Because
we are in Christ. Because we are in Christ. And that's what he's mentioning
here. The acknowledging of every good
thing which is in you, In Christ Jesus, that's that's all of our
goodness, isn't it being in him? That's all our hope is being
in him. That's why it's Christ in us. The hope of glory. Lord's people produce everything
good in Christ, and I hope I can show us this tonight. The Lord
would be pleased. Everything that we do. Is in
Christ Jesus and therefore it is good. It is good and I. We can't see it, but the way
God sees it is how it really is. If we are in Christ, we live
and we move and we have our being in Him. Everything God requires,
He's provided in the Lord Jesus Christ all by His doing. His
substitutionary work on the cross, that's what merited our salvation. That's how we were, the Lord
put us in Christ. Recently, I think it was me and
Jonah were talking about the song that was speaking about, I can't even remember the lyrics
we were talking about now, Jonah, but that which I've committed
unto him against that day. That was the lyrics it said.
I couldn't remember. The Lord will keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. That's a song, but it's also
a verse in the scripture. What did we commit to God? Well,
if you're a believer, you committed everything to Him. But is it
our committing to Him that actually justified us or give us righteousness? No. The Lord committed our sin
unto Him on the cross of Calvary. It was our Lord being the substitute
scapegoat for His people. We had to take Him with wicked
hands and crucify. How is that possible? Our sin
was imputed to Him. That's what we committed unto
Him. But we didn't commit it, did
we? The Lord did. No, before you were in your womb, the Lord
says, I loved you before you were before the world began. He loved his people. And the
Lord said, I will take that sin and I will take the penalty of
that sin. I will die their substitute,
their surety. And we were made the righteousness
of God in him because of this. Now, I want to be clear on what
I'm talking about when I'm saying producing good. Producing good
is not something we do in the flesh. I want to be as clear
as I can be on this. Producing good is not something
we do in our flesh at any time. Nothing done in the flesh has
any bearing on spiritual matters. The flesh and the spirit are
contrary to one another. They are existent in different
realms. One is a temporal realm, one
is an eternal realm, one is in time, one is in eternity. Nothing done in this flesh can
merit anything spiritually speaking. That's why they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. What I do in my flesh does not
accomplish anything good in the sight of God. And it doesn't
matter what that is. It could be a prayer that I pray, me preaching
right now. This doesn't accomplish good
for me and merit anything unto salvation for me. No, the Lord's
looking for spiritual life in his people. He's the one that
has to do that, isn't he? Spirit and flesh are contrary. One is mortal. One is immortal. One is corruptible. One is incorruptible. The flesh is born alive unto
death. The flesh is born. The very moment
we take our first breath, we start dying. We start dying. And every second after that,
we die a little bit each day. Until one day, we finally die
altogether physically. our flesh is so of its origin
being dust, earthly, that the moment the spirit leaves, the
flesh begins to cry out to turn to dust again, and it does. It
begins to turn back to the dust from whence it came. And yet
the spirit is made alive, it's born from death, the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. The Lord says live, and
the spirit is so justified, so glorified, so righteous that
the absence of the flesh, when the spirit leaves the body, leaves
the corpse behind, it's so perfect that that moment it is revealed
that the same glory that is in Jesus Christ is in us. That's
what's revealed in that moment. I say moment. There's no time
in that. It's eternal. We can't wrap our brains around
it. That's the point. It's physical and it's spiritual. It's flesh and it's spirit. We
can't because we are in the flesh. And what does the scripture say?
They that are in the flesh cannot, cannot, cannot please God. You mean there's nothing I can
do? There's nothing you and I can do to please God. Nothing. That's why when he says right
here that we have good things in us, in Christ, there's some
hope. There's some hope. If there's
nothing I can do that's good, but yet I have good things in me,
in Christ Jesus, there's hope. See, whatever the Lord requires,
he's gonna have to provide. And he did in the person of Jesus
Christ, his darling son. If the Lord If God the Holy Spirit
doesn't say live, we will die not being found in Christ. And that's our only hope is to
be found in Christ. How are we found in Christ? Lord,
you're gonna have to put me there. Before time ever began, you're
gonna have to put me there. We can't put it, why? Because
we're flesh. We're mortal. We can't do anything
spiritual. You see what I'm saying? It's
so contrary to what religion says. Religion says do. Religion
says you must do this and you have to keep this ordinances
and you have to pray this prayer. You have to walk this out. That's
all in the flesh. It doesn't benefit at all. Lord,
if I'm gonna believe, you're gonna have to say live and then
give me faith to believe you. And that's what he does for his
people, isn't it? That's exactly what he does. Now he must put
us in Christ. He must have ordained us to eternal
life before time ever began. And those that are his elect,
those that are his people, they will be made alive in time. He'll
say live, he'll pass by us like Lazarus at his appointed time,
four days late. God's the only, I say this often,
I know I do, but God's the only one that could be four days late
by man's standards, according to the flesh, and be right on
time, according to God's. Isn't that glorious? Lord, if
you'd been here, our brother wouldn't have died. Your brother
will live again. She said, well, I know he'll
live in the resurrection. He said, I am the resurrection.
I am the resurrection, Martha. Lazarus, come forth. And he came
forth. And it says he was bound both
hand and foot. So how did he come forth? Well, God commanded
him to, so he came forth. I need an explanation. We know
he came forth. That's enough, isn't it? That's
what he does for his people. At his appointed time, he comes
by. And whether we think it's late,
or we think it's early, or we think it's, Not when we think. The problem is, is we think most
of the time, isn't it? Like Naaman did. But, he comes
at his appointed time, and he says, live. He says, live, and
we're made alive. Now, in being born again, that's
what I'm describing, the Lord told Nicodemus, the wind bloweth
where it listeth, and thou canst not tell from whether it come
or whether it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
You can't tell. The spirit does what the Lord's purposed. That
in that being born again, that means we are found in him. And
because of this, all God's people have good works. They have good works in the Lord
Jesus Christ. How? Looking to Christ alone
by faith, not looking to ourself, looking to Christ alone. What
does the scripture say about Abraham? Abraham believed God
and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. That word
account means it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. Abraham
believed God because he was made the righteousness of God in him,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, the Lord gave him
faith, told him, said to his dead bones, spiritually speaking,
live and they live. So he believed God. That's the
point, isn't it? That's the point, it's amazing
to me. Everything the Lord requires, he must provide. We know that
to be true, and he did. So what good works are we talking
about? Looking to Christ Jesus alone. In doing so, in doing
so, and to understand this, this is what the Lord showed me, this
simple truth, and yet our minds can't wrap around it, we have
to disbelieve it. In God's work, in doing so, causing us to look
to Christ, we have died to sin, we have died to the flesh, we
have died, as Paul said, crucified to the world and the world to
me. We've died to sin, died to flesh, and died to the world.
How is that possible? Well, Romans 6 says, likewise
reckon ye also yourself to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive
unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. See, when he died,
we died. And when he put our sin away,
it's gone. There is no more sin that can
be brought up unto our account. We're dead to sin. And we're
alive unto the Lord because of it. When he paid the sin of his
people, when he bore the sin of his people on Calvary, his
soul was made an offering for sin. God was satisfied with that
offering. And now when he sees us, he sees
the blood. Now when he sees us, he sees
the righteousness of God. Now when he sees us, he sees
perfect holiness because we are in Christ and Christ is in us. Therefore, we are dead to sin.
Romans 3 24 says being justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. See, if we're in Christ,
we've been freely justified by His grace. We have died to the
flesh. Now, we have to continually say
how God views things is how it really is, because you and I
can't see that we're dead to sin. Matter of fact, we can't
see that we're anything but sin. That's right, isn't it? We can't
see that we're anything but sin. But faith doesn't look to self
in the flesh. It doesn't look to what we do
or what we don't do. Faith looks to the Lord Jesus
Christ, doesn't it? And when we see him, we believe
him, that he accomplished everything that he purposed to accomplish,
that he truly redeemed, that he truly justified. Therefore,
we're not looking to ourself. We've died to the flesh. We've
been made alive unto God. How is that? Well, it's all through
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's being found in him, being
found in the cleft of the rock, being found in the ark that Noah
built. It's all a picture of being found
in and safe, therefore, because when the wrath of God poured
down upon the ark, He had a hiding place. It couldn't harm anybody
inside because the word of the Lord spoke thus. It had atonement
on the side. That's what the Lord saw as the
atoning blood of Christ. And all those who were in Christ
Jesus are therefore justified freely by his grace. He's our
hiding place. He's our city of refuge. Now
we have been given everything required of God in Christ Jesus. Galatians 2.20 says, I am crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Now is that a oxymoron? It is
if you're thinking carnally. It is if we can only enter into
it through the flesh and see it through the viewpoint of the
flesh. But the Lord gives faith. We understand what it means to
be crucified with Christ, don't we? I believe when he died to
put away the sin of his people, he successfully did that. And
if I was in him when he did that, my sin is gone. That's my hope. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live, yet not I, it's not me that's living, it's Christ in
me, he says. Christ liveth in me, and the
life which I now live in the flesh, the life that you're living
right now in the flesh, you live by one reason, by one hope, the
faith, the faith of the Son of God. The life I now live in the
flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and
gave himself for me. It's how we live, it's in him
we live, it's how we move, it's in him we move, it's how we have
our being, it's in the Lord Jesus Christ. If the Lord makes us
to acknowledge every good thing in us is in Christ, then he's
given us faith to believe that. Understand that everybody in
false religion looks for some form of evidences, and even the
believer is guilty of looking or trying to look for some kind
of evidence that they're a believer. When you get afraid of, am I
the Lord's, and you start asking those questions, we look externally,
don't we? Maybe if we look back at circumstances,
we look at things going on around us, and we say, well, I'm the
Lord's because of this, and we begin to try to justify ourself
with evidences, no. No, all false religion does that.
I prayed this prayer, I've done this and I've done that. You
know what faith does? Looks to Christ. Looks to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Therefore, if the Lord makes
us acknowledge, like he's talking here in Philemon to Onesim, or
Paul's talking to Philemon here, he's saying that the communication
of thy faith may become effectual. by the acknowledging of every
good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. Why is the faith
effectual? Because that faith is real. It's
made us acknowledge that everything good in us is in Christ Jesus. And that's our only hope. That's
what he's saying. Therefore, it's been, it's effectual faith.
It actually had an effect on us. What kind of effect made
perfectly righteous? It's the evidence of that, isn't
it? It's the evidence of eternal
justification. What is the evidence? He is.
I believe him. I believe him. He's my justification.
He's my righteousness. Faith just believes him. Faith
is not based on sight in any way, shape, or form. Spiritual
things are incomprehensible to the flesh. Spiritual things are
contrary to the flesh. Spiritual things are. They're
not even flesh and spirits, not even opposite. You could say
it's oil and water, but it's more than that. It's they're
in completely different realms, eternal and temporal. We can
only enter into the temporal because that's what we are. And
yet in Christ Jesus, we've never sinned one time. We've only had
good works. Explain that to me. That's an
impossibility. My flesh can't understand it.
Faith believes it. Faith knows that the Lord Jesus
Christ was successful in redeeming his people. That's why Paul says
in Colossians 1, whom God would make known what is the riches
of his glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. And here
is the mystery. Here is the glory of the mystery.
Christ in you, the hope of glory. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
That's the mystery. Flesh says, I don't understand
that. I can't see any good thing. Faith says, look to Christ. Don't
look to yourself. Mystery can only be believed.
Mystery can't be understood. Mystery is believed and received
by one way. Faith, the faith of Christ. Because
of that faith, verse six tells us, we acknowledge every good
thing which is in us is in Christ Jesus. Every good thing. Now
it is in him we live, move, and have our being. We no longer,
did you know that we no longer walk according to the flesh,
but according to the spirit? Turn with me to Romans chapter
eight. Romans chapter eight. The Lord's people no longer walk
according to the flesh but according to the spirit. Romans 8 1 tells
us there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh but after the
spirit. Now some men would have you believe that he's saying
if you walk after the flesh then you are condemned. But if you
walk after the spirit there's no condemnation anymore. That's
not what that says. That says there's no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. Therefore Therefore they walk
not after the flesh, but after the spirit. For the law of the
spirit is the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath
made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law
could not do and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending
his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned
sin in the flesh. that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. Men say you have to walk in the
spirit. And what they mean is there should
be some physical evidences, something the flesh has to do, something
I should be able to see in order for me to know I'm walking in
the spirit. That's walking in the flesh, do we see that? If
I can see it, it's fleshly. If I can see something, it's
fleshly, it's that simple. And it's contrary to scripture.
Men misconstrued the Bible because it's a spiritual book, not a
physical book. Now I wanna explain something to us that I hope this
is encouraging to you as much as it was me when I saw it. Scripture
is written, all of scripture is written in that scripture,
facts are declared. All scripture is written with
facts, not formulas or recipes for physical responsibilities
for salvation. Scripture is written with facts
of what God has done for his people, not a formula that you
must do, not a, uh, Not a recipe for physical responsibility
and salvation at all. Paul's saying you've been crucified
in Christ Jesus, therefore you walk according to the Spirit.
You do, not that you're going to. You do right now, how? By the faith of the Lord Jesus
Christ that looks to him. That's how we do it, in him.
You are now in him. Because of this, you walk after
the Spirit. See, the righteousness of the law has been fulfilled.
There's no condemnation. The righteousness of the law
has been fulfilled in God's people. How? We're in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and he fulfilled the righteousness of the law on the
cross of Calvary. And when we were in him, and
he was offered up, the father was pleased with the sacrifice
of his son, putting away the sin, and we have now been made
the righteousness of God in him. That righteousness of the law
has been fulfilled in the Lord's people. Therefore, we're free
from the law of sin and death. Death cannot say that death can't
speak anything to the believer. Death has no claim on the elect
of God because they died in Christ. Justice cannot be executed multiple
times. It was executed once and God
was satisfied. Being in Christ means that we
walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. It's that simple. How do I know that I'm walking
in the spirit? Well, do you hope anything in your flesh for your
justification before God? Do you hope in anything that
you've ever said, anything that you've ever done, anything that
you've never not done as your justification for God? Because
if you are, you're walking according to the flesh. But if you're walking
according to the spirit, You're looking, you're hanging your
entire hope of salvation on the finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ, on his sacrificial death unto his father, knowing that
it's his blood alone or I have no hope at all for justification.
That's walking according to the spirit. Now we believe he justified
his people, don't we? Look at verse 10 here in the
same chapter we're in. If Christ be in you, the body is dead because
of sin. But the spirit is life because
of righteousness. I love that he says because.
That's the cause and effect we talk about so many times. The
spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by his spirit that dwelleth in you. The body has died because
of sin. Death is, there's a sentence
of death upon every person that's ever born. We're born spiritually
dead and there's a death sentence on our head for physical death.
But because we are in Christ Jesus, we've already died in
him. We've already died in him. That sin has been put away by
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, we have been declared,
therefore we have righteousness. It's been imputed because of
what he's done. Let me see if I can explain that.
He talks about the spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. And
the Lord said he would not let his Holy One see corruption.
You know that verse? The Lord said, I will not let
my Holy One see corruption. The Lord had to be resurrected.
Why? Because he was righteous. Did you know that it's the same
spirit that resurrects the Lord's people from the dead, had his
responsibility and obligation to what the Lord Jesus Christ
did on the cross of Calvary. He will not let his Holy One
see corruption. Therefore, he will not let his people see corruption
for the same reason. If you and I are in Christ Jesus,
it's a done deal. It's finished. We're going to
be made alive. We're going to be born again,
according to his spirit. I've been made alive because
of righteousness imputed. Because our life is hid with
Christ in God, he will not let his holy one see corruption,
he will not let his people Go to hell to endure the wrath that
Christ Jesus endured for them. We are alive in Christ Jesus
right now. Paul said, the life that I now
live, I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me and
gave himself for me. We walk by the spirit, therefore.
You understand walking in the Spirit? Scripture talks about
walking in the Spirit. It says living according to the
Spirit and living by the faith of Christ. It's all the same
thing. It's all the same thing. Walking in the Spirit, living
according to the Spirit, that's all looking to Christ. We see
that by faith. That's what that is. We've been
given the fruit of the Spirit. We've been given the fruit of
the Spirit. Now understand something. In religion, men say, you better
have the fruit of the Spirit as evidence of your salvation.
You better have love, joy, peace, and all these things. No, we've
been given the fruit of the Spirit in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
His fruit. It's not my fruit. And yet, by
glorious imputation of the work of our substitute, He has now
imputed the fruit of the Spirit to His people. The fruit of the Spirit is of
the Spirit, and it's accomplished one way. The fruit of the spirit
in the Lord's people is accomplished one way, looking unto the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look, he's the source of love.
You and I didn't know what love was until we met him. He's the
only source of peace. He's the only source of joy.
He's the only source of all of the fruit that he mentions about
the spirit. And now he's given that to his people in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So I can give you this as an
example. Whenever You and I are born,
we're born spiritually dead. Think about an old stick on the
side of the road that used to be part of an apple tree, but
it broke off and it's been dead a long time. And does that apple
tree stick have any hope of having any fruit whatsoever that it
can bear on its own? No. It's not part of the trunk
anymore of the apple tree, is it? There's no life in it. So
what did the Lord do? Well, when he passed by and he
saw a bunch of dead sticks on the side of the road, he picked
us up and he grafted us into his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And now everything that he requires, it comes through and by the trunk,
through and by the vine. The Lord said, I am the vine,
ye are the branches. That's what he done for his people.
Everything required, and you know, A tree doesn't work to
produce fruit, does it? What does the tree rely on? It
relies on rain. Well, is that not the washing
of water by the word? And it relies on sunshine, evaporation. Is that not the glorious sun,
the Lord Jesus Christ shining upon us? And as he comes searching
for fruit, how is it that we bear fruit? Looking to the glorious
vine, the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't work. No, it's finished. And yet everything he required,
he put in his people by putting us in Christ. I in him, and he
in me. We've been grafted into the vine.
We're no longer a dead stick on the side of the road. We're
part of the vine. We're part of the tree, the apple
tree. Now an apple tree can't produce oranges, can it? An orange
tree can't produce apples. You can try all you want to,
but that's a great example in flesh and spirit. Flesh can't
produce anything spiritual and the spirit will do anything that's
contrary to the flesh. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. So we're going to have to be grafted in by the
Lord's doing. He's going to have to do it.
He's going to have to do all the work and he did for his people
from the very beginning in Genesis. From the very beginning in Genesis,
the Lord said that he planted these certain trees, and the
tree brought forth fruit of its kind. And what does the Lord
say about his people? They are born from above. They
are born spiritually, and therefore you produce spiritual fruit,
being born of the Lord Jesus Christ, being grafted in him. And everything he's required,
he's given you. He's given you. How do I produce this fruit?
Well, number one, you don't, and I don't either. The Lord
did for us, though. There's only one way, there's
only one way that this fruit is produced. It's looking to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything God requires, he must
provide. The only things that God is pleased with is what he
provides. He won't accept anything we bring.
In my hand no price I bring, simply to the Lord Jesus Christ
I cling. In closing, go back with me to
our text, Philippians, I'm sorry, Philemon chapter, well it's only
got one chapter. Look with me at verse six one
more time. That the communication of thy faith may become effectual
by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in
Christ Jesus. We don't see the fruit, brethren.
We look to Christ. We don't see, we don't look,
am I living a spiritual life? Am I walking according to the
spirit? Well, that's looking to the flesh. We look to Christ. Looking
to Christ is walking according to the spirit. Faith is made
effectual, not because of us acknowledging. We acknowledge
because faith has been made effectual, because it's origin. Faith comes
from the Lord, faith unto faith. He has to give his faith that
confesses any good thing in me is the Lord himself. We believe
he is the only source of any good thing. Do you agree with
that? He's the only source of any good thing. If we are able to be seen, or
if we are to be seen as having any good thing, well, what's
the good thing that he says is in you? But he says all, all
the justification is in us because Christ is in us. All the redemption,
all the wisdom. Why? Because of Christ in us,
the hope of glory. Now the good thing is that we
have been justified and sanctified, we've been made alive. We know
the truth, don't we? We must be found in the Lord
Jesus Christ, otherwise we have no hope. Otherwise we have no
hope, but thank God He chose to put his people in Christ Jesus.