What Does It Matter?

Alright, we're turning in our
Bibles to the book of Philippians. Tonight, chapter 1 of Philippians. I call this message, What Does It Matter? What Does It Matter? Now, Paul God's servant, apostle, was in
prison when he wrote these words. He was rising to the church at
Philippi, his friends, people to whom he had ministered the
gospel. Church at Philippi. You remember the Philippian jailer?
You remember Lydia? people at Philippi. And Paul
was being treated as an outcast. He was being abused, and persecuted,
and despised, and treated by people as a common criminal. And the charge against him, and
the only charge, was the gospel he preached. He preached a gospel that glorified
God. He preached a gospel that put
man where man really is, dependent on the mercy of Christ. And because
of that, he was hated and despised. Now get this. He writes this
epistle because the Holy Spirit inspired him to. He writes these words because
the Spirit of God instructed him to write these words. Now don't turn to this, let me
read it. Knowing this, that no prophecy of the scripture is
of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in
old time by the will of man, Paul didn't write this epistle
to the church at Philippi because he judged it the thing to do.
Or because it seemed reasonable to him to write at this particular
time on this particular subject. That's not the chief reason.
He wrote it because the Holy Spirit inspired him to. You understand
that? That's what that's saying. The
prophecy came in old time by the will of man. Not by the will
of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy
Spirit. The prophecy, the word of God, this epistle didn't come
because it was the will of Paul, but it was the Holy Spirit that
led him to write it. But from his direction, he wrote
this epistle because he felt a real need for this epistle. See that he did, from his direction,
he wrote it to encourage these brethren. He wrote it because
he wanted to. But the Holy Spirit inspired
him to write it. It's the same thing that I seek
the Lord, but he led me to seek him. I choose Christ, but he
led me to choose him. I repent, but he gave me the
will to repent. I believe, but he gave me the
faith to believe. So Paul sat down and wrote this
epistle. Yes, because he wanted to. Because
he willed to. Because he felt that the church
needed this epistle. But that was all the Spirit of
God inspiring his heart and mind to do it. And God gave him the
words. The words. You see, the reason
for this is is Paul wrote to encourage these brethren in their
trials and he wrote to explain to them some of the difficult
times and troubles and trials through which they were going
and through which he was going and which they didn't understand. Trials and troubles in the flesh
were their lot. They were having troubles. Persecution
from their religious neighbors came upon them because of the
gospel they believed. Their leader and teacher, Paul,
was in prison and kept from them, and despised and hated by the
religionists. That was difficult for them.
Not only that, but there was some friction and division among
them. You'll read that as you read
the this entire epistle, there was some friction and trouble
between them and between the preachers of the gospel. And
they knew about this. Bad feelings among the preachers
and between the people. All these troubles. So the Spirit
of God led Paul to write this. But Paul, also in wisdom and
understanding, knew it was needed. Now let's look at some of these
verses. Start in chapter 1, verse 1. Paul and Timothy. Timothy
was with him. The servants of Jesus Christ
to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi with the
bishops and deacons. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God
upon every remembrance of you. He loved these people. He was
grateful to God for all of them. I thank my God every time you
come to my mind. I thank God for you and always
in every prayer of mine for you all making requests with joy. For your fellowship in the gospel
from the very first day, the first day that I came down in
that town and inquired of someone, where do the believers meet in
this town? Where are people meeting to worship
God? Well, down by the river, there's
some people meeting, some women. Paul went down there and sat
down, preached to them, and God opened Lydia's heart. From that
first day, he said, from the first day until now, I thank God for you,
And being confident, I'm confident of this, of this very thing,
that He, our Father, our God, which hath begun a good work
in you, He hath begun the work. He began it, it's a good work,
and it's in you. As Brother Keehan pointed out
in the message this morning, it's not only the work of Christ
for us, it's the work of Christ in us. God revealed His Son in
me. And He, Almighty God, according
to His purpose and grace in Christ Jesus, not because of our works,
but according to His own purpose and grace, which he gave to us
in Christ before the world began, hath begun a work of mercy and
grace and salvation in you. And watch it. And he'll perform
it. What's that word perform mean?
Finish it. He'll finish it. What he starts,
he'll finish until the day of Jesus Christ. God has no half-built
houses. No, he doesn't. He has no half-finished
symphonies. Who was it that wrote the unfinished
symphony? Well, God's music is always finished. Everyone whom He chooses, He'll
glorify. That's right. He'll finish it.
Even as it is right, right for me to think this of you all,
because I have you in my heart. God laid you on my heart. Paul is saying, I'm a servant
of God, sent to preach the gospel. And one reason I know that God
is working for you and in you is because He's laid you on my
heart. He wouldn't lay you on my heart if He hadn't begun a work in
you. I have you in my heart, inasmuch
as both in my bonds. And in the defense and confirmation
of the gospel, you're all partakers with me of grace. Not of my grace. I don't have
any grace to give, to spare. That's just a better translation. With me, you're partakers in
the grace of God. And I know it, he said. I know
it. I don't believe, a preacher said
to me one time, I can tell you who's saved and who's not saved.
I can't. I don't believe any man can. I don't think that's
ridiculous. But you can have some strong
suspicions about some folks who are saved. That's right. Very
strong. Very strong evidences. God, Paul
says that here. I'm confident. I'm confident. My memory of you is with joy.
I'm confident that God who began the work of grace in you will
finish it, because you own my heart. You own my heart, and
you're in my bonds, and my conflicts, and my trials, and in the defense
and confirmation of the gospel, and you're partakers with me
of the grace of God, and I know it. For God's my record. I greatly long after you. That
wouldn't be in this man's heart if God wasn't in it. How long
after you? In the bowels of Jesus Christ,
in the innermost feelings and experiences of the grace of God,
you're on my heart and in my heart and in my soul. You're
part of me. That's one of the first things
that Tom learned about the pastorate, wasn't it? that those people
are not just members. They're not just members of his
body, they're members of your body. That's the first thing
you learn. That's what Paul's talking about
here. You're on my heart, you're in my soul, I long after you
in the bowels of Jesus Christ, and this I pray, that your love
may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in judgment,
in insight, in discernment, I don't want you flopping around here
not knowing who you are and where you're going. I want you to grow
in knowledge and in insight, in discernment. I want you to
be spiritually sharp and aware and aware, verse
10, that you may learn to value, that you may approve or learn
to value the things that are excellent. I want it so you don't have to
call up anybody and ask them about a message or a conflict
or a trial. That God's given you that knowledge
and that insight and that discernment and that ability to try the spirits
whether they be of God. and that you can value the things
that are excellent, that you know what you ought to do and
which way you ought to go. You don't have to check in with
the preacher. Maybe he'd better check in with
you. That's right. That's right. You've got some
discernment. You've got some insight. You're
spiritually intelligent. That's what I pray for you, that
you may be sincere. with sincere, oh, sincerity,
without offense, in the day of Christ, no hypocrisy, being filled
with the fruits of righteousness, with His love and joy and peace
and meekness and longsuffering and patience, the fruits of righteousness,
which are the fruits of Christ. The bind, not the branches, but
the branches bear them. unto the glory and praise of
God. Now watch verse 12. Here he comes
to these special, special trials. But I would that you should understand,
brethren, please understand this, that the things which happen
unto me, and there are some things that happen to He talked about
being shipwrecked. He talked about being stoned,
stoned. He talked about being scourged,
what, three times? That's humiliating. That boy
over in Singapore, was it, that was caned? Paul was caned 39
lashes. Three times. For the gospel. That's humiliating. in jail,
in prison, in bondage, in perils, not only of outside, but from
the church, from religious people, from those who ought to know
better. He said, these things have happened to me. You read
it in 2 Corinthians, the things that happened to him. But these
things have happened to me. I want you to understand this
now, so you won't misunderstand. that these things have fallen
out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel. These things that
God has brought into my life and that have happened to me
at the hands of people, circumstances, God's providence, have served
to promote and advance the gospel. See, God's ways are not our ways. The Lord has his own way to call
out his sheep. The Lord has his own way to separate
the cat from the wheat. We can't do that. This fellow
got up one morning, he looked out and saw that during the night
the enemy had sown pears among his wheat. He said, I'll go out
and tear the pears up. And the Lord said, don't you
do it. Don't you do it. You don't have that kind of discernment.
You don't have that kind of ability. You'll pull up some wheat. I'll
go out and separate the genuine from the false. I'll go out and
separate the chaff from the wheat. How are you going to do it? You
can't do it. But he can. And he has some strange
ways of doing that. And he uses some strange instruments. The hymn writer said, Judge not
the Lord by your feeble sense, but trust him, trust him for
his grace, behind a frowning providence. Looks bad. He hides a smiling face. That
should never have happened. Yes, it should, too. That's not
the way I would have done it. You're right about that. But
that's the way he did it. And he did it for a cause. He
did it for a purpose. He did it to separate the genuine
from the false, and the weak from the tired, and the chapped
from the weak. I want you to understand this,
he said. I want you to understand that
the things which have happened to me, have happened to me by the will
of the Father, and have fallen out under the furtherance of
the gospel. So that, verse 13, my bonds,
my fetters, my chains, in Christ, for Christ, are manifest in all
the palace and in all other places in Caesar's court. Listen to
me a minute. Paul was a prisoner of our Lord
Jesus Christ in Caesar's court. Oh, yes, he was there by Roman
decree. Yes, he was there because of
the hatred of the Jews. Yes, he was there because of
the hatred of the false religionists. He was there because they despised
him and fought to silence him. But he was there by God's providence
to preach the gospel to folks like Onesimus and others. He was there because God put
him there. Now, that's not our way. What
we would have done if we had been desirous of the gospel being
preached in Caesar's court, we would have saved Caesar's wife.
That's right. And let her give out tracts,
because she'd have a lot of influence. Or we would have saved Caesar's
chief deputy. the fellow at his right hand
to embrace the gospel, and he would have been an influential
man and a powerful man and a wealthy man, and he would have got the
job done. Oh, preacher, if God had saved
the chief deputy of the Caesar and made a preacher out of him,
how it would have moved the whole castle. Yes, it would have. But
how many would have been following him and how many would have been
following God? How many would have been adopting
the popular way and how many would have been laying hold of
the hated way? No, that's our way. That's our way. God's way is
to bring in a hated Jew. God's way is to bring in a man
that Agrippa said was crazy. God's way is to choose the foolish,
the despised, the base, the things that are not, to bring to naught
the upstairs. We wouldn't choose a prisoner
to preach Christ, we'd choose the warden. We wouldn't choose a prisoner
in shackles to honor Christ, we'd choose the chief guard.
But God's way, will you hear me? No, most folks don't, but
some people do. God's way is to put the treasure
in such a vessel that nobody prefers the vessel to the treasure. Nobody. Nobody. Nobody. We have this treasure in earthen
vessels that the power and the glory might be his and not ours. You'd be amazed at my friends
who don't know that. You'd be amazed at the preachers
who don't know that. Men and women who profess to
believe the gospel of God's grace and glory, who cannot get it
through their heads and understand that this very principle They
still want to promote and use that which appeals to the flesh.
God help us. That which is intellectual, that
which is recognized, that which is famous, that which is prominent,
that which is educated, that which has credentials. Yeah,
but he's somebody. Well, God won't use him till
he becomes nobody. I'm telling you the truth now.
But he's got so much natural talent, he'll lose all of it
before God will ever use him. I'm telling the truth, Tom. You
know this. You know this. You elders know
this. I'll use my skills, and you'll build your house, not
his. Not his. But I'll use my voice and my
ability and my education, my talent. I'm a doctor, you see."
Well, when you become a nurse, God might use you. That's the truth. That's the truth. I want you
to understand, he says, I want you to understand this, that the things that have happened
to me have been brought down, down, down, down, down, have happened unto me and have
fallen out rather to the futherance of the gospel. That's right. And verse 14, watch this. And
many of the brethren, talking about the preachers now, many
of the brethren, in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds,
My trials and my chains have not gone unnoticed," he said.
They haven't gone unnoticed among the preachers. Some of them, because of my suffering
and imprisonment, some of them are waxing confident by my bonds,
are much more bold to speak The word without fear. These men
see my suffering and my imprisonment. They study the life of Paul. And they have become more bold
and fearless to preach the gospel, indifferent to the consequences.
What if I lose my life? That's all right. What if I'm
hated? That's all right. What if I'm
despised? That's all right. Paul is my
example. His courage and his willingness
to die for the gospel encourage me. That's what he's talking
about there. Many of the brethren. Waxing
bold. Waxing bold. Confident in my
bonds. Much more bold to speak the word
without fear. If he can do it, I can. If he can do it, I can. If God
can use him, he can use me. That's what they're saying. If
he's willing to preach this message, regardless of the consequence,
I am too. If he'll stand like that, I will
too. But there's another thing here. Watch verse 15. Some indeed preach Christ even
of envy and strife, some of goodwill. Those who preach Christ out of
envy and strife, verse 16, preach Christ of contention. They are
not sincere. They are supposed to add affliction
to my bonds, but the other of love, knowing that I am set for
the defense of the gospel. What is he saying? Here is what
he is saying. Some of the brethren, see my boldness and courage,
hear my message, and they're encouraged. And they're wax confident because
they see my example. And they're more bold to speak
the gospel without fear. They're bold. But all the preachers
were not friendly to Paul. All the preachers didn't love
Paul. All the preachers were not admirers
of Paul. You say, I'm surprised. Well,
don't be. Preachers aren't all that they profess to be. And
he says, all of them don't preach out of the proper motive. Some
of them preach out of envy and strife with a party spirit, hoping
to annoy the apostle, to trouble the apostle, and intimidate the
apostle. He's in jail. We're not. His
message got him in jail. We're free to preach. He's too
hard. He's too strong. He's too forceful. That's what got him there, if
he'd just skirt around it a little bit. Maybe not say some of the
things he said. Maybe not be so bold. Maybe not
be so plain. Maybe just ease up a little bit.
It's helped us. hoping to add to my bonds and
my afflictions. But, he says, others preach Christ
out of love and goodwill, and they recognize God's hand where
God's hand is revealed. I'll tell you this, in 1994,
it's tragic that the greatest trouble in the churches, and
I'm talking about in what we call sovereign grace churches. And I know as much about them
as anybody preaching today. I've been in as many of them
as most men. But the tragedy is that the preachers
generally are the promoters of the strife. That's right. Trouble is not in the pew, it's
in the pulpit. And the trouble is over envy
and strife And the confusion and the trouble that's brought
upon the sheep with their conflicts and their differences is because
the preacher is the troubler in Israel. Turn to Acts 20. Let me show
you something. Acts chapter 20. And that's what
Paul says about these fellows here in Philippians 1. He said
they envy and strife and contention. And Paul talked about him before
he left the elders at Ephesus in Acts 20. He talked about him
in verse 29. He says, I know this, I know
this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in
among you, not sparing the flock, also of your own selves, of your
own selves, not only these outside, but of your own selves shall
men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples
after themselves." Brethren, we don't want disciples. We want to teach God's disciples. We want them to follow Christ,
not us. But then verse 18, here's where
I got this title for the message, what then? What does it matter,
he said. What does it matter? What does
all this matter? What does it matter? Notwithstanding
every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached. What does it matter? What does
it matter what men think of us? What does it matter? What does
it matter whether we're in prison or out of prison? What does it
matter? Christ is preached, and listen,
and I therein do rejoice, and I will rejoice. I will rejoice, I do rejoice
that our Lord Jesus is preached and the gospel is proclaimed,
and listen, And verse 19, And I know that
this shall turn to my salvation. What's that word there, salvation?
My deliverance. Right in that word, deliverance.
Same word over here in chapter 2, verse 12. Look at chapter 2, verse 12.
He says, Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not
in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work
out your own deliverance. Out of your troubles. and your
conflict and your divisions and your strife, work out these problems,
your own deliverance with fear and tremble, for it is God that
worketh in you both the will and the do of his good pleasure.
So I do rejoice, he said, and I will rejoice that Christ is
preached, the gospel is preached, and through your prayers and
a bountiful supply of the Spirit of our Lord, I know that this
shall turn to my deliverance through your prayers and the
supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and I shall be delivered."
Now watch it. I shall be delivered to either
preach Christ again or to go into His presence. So what does
it matter? You see what he's saying? This all is going to work out.
It's all going to work out. It's all going to work out for
my deliverance. I'm going to be delivered from these bonds
and delivered from these chains and delivered from this oppression
to preach Christ again. For I'm going to be delivered
into his presence. That's right. That's verse 20 now. How do you
know he's saying that? I'll show you. According to my
expectation. According to my earnest expectation,
this is my expectation, this is my desire, the expectation
of my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed. I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed of these bonds.
I'm not ashamed of these chains. I'm not ashamed of the harassment
and the persecution. I'm not ashamed of this gospel
of God's grace. I'm not ashamed. I'm not afraid
to die. I'm not ashamed. You know, over there in Philippians, where was it in Philippians,
over there, verse, where he says, I know how to be abased, and
I know how to abound. Yeah, over here in Philippians
4. Listen to this. Verse 11. Not that I speak in
respect of want. I've learned in whatsoever state
I am therewith to be content. What does it matter? I know how
to be abased. I know how to serve time in jail. I know how to be hated and despised. You do too. I know how to abound. I know how to be prosperous.
Everywhere in all things I'm instructed both to be full and
to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. And I can
do all things through Christ. would strengtheneth me." I want
you to understand. You see, the Holy Spirit is leading
him to write this for all believers, but he is filling this church
in, explaining and helping them to understand some of the immediate
conflicts in which he is involved and they're involved. So verse
20, look at it again. I'm going to close in a minute.
According to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I
shall be ashamed. I shall not be ashamed, I'll
not be put to shame. But with all boldness, no change
as always. As always. That's the way I started
and the way I'm going to wind it up, as always. Anybody's changed his message,
didn't have it before, maybe he doesn't have it now. Message is the same, as always.
So now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by
life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ,
and to die is gain. For me to live, to me to live
is Christ. He's the giver of life. He's
the author and finisher of life. He's the sum and substance of
life. In Him, life has purpose. All things work together for
good to them who love Christ. In Him, life has peace. Therefore,
being justified by faith, we have peace. In him life has joy. I write to you that your joy
may be full. To me to live is Christ. He's
the giver of life. He's the author and finisher
of life. He's the sum and substance of life. He's the hope of eternal
life. Christ in you is the hope of
life. This life is not a doctrine.
I didn't come to the doctrines of grace. I came to Christ. Not
a creed. It's person. To me, to live is
Christ. His friends are my friends. We love him who begat and those
who have begotten. His friends are my friends, and
those who love him, I love and rejoice with them. His enemies
are my enemies. That's what David said, Do not
I hate them that hate thee, O Lord? My delight is in his word, in
his presence, in his promises. My interest is his kingdom. My
concern is his gospel. My family is his family. He's
my life. To me lives Christ. My life has
been purchased by Christ. You're not your own. You're bought
with a price. I'm his servant, his bond slave. If he's pleased
to exalt me, I'll praise him. If he's pleased to abase me,
I'll praise him, because all of this will work out to the
furtherance of the gospel. To be to live is Christ. Now,
to die is gain. Somebody said a man lost his
life in the war. No. No. A believer never loses his life
because Christ is his life. If he's a believer, when he died
he lost nothing. He gained everything. To die
is gain. We leave pain and suffering,
we lose that and gain eternal happiness. We leave old age and
weakness and gain eternal youth and strength. We leave mortality
and gain immortality. We leave corruption and gain
incorruption. We leave fear and doubt and gain
glory and peace. We leave ignorance and gain knowledge.
We leave conflict and temptation and gain eternal joy. To me, to live is Christ. Whether
in prison or out of prison, whether on this earth or in glory, and
the dyes gain. The hymn writer said this, Lord,
you know, in the spirit of prayer, we long thy coming to see. We are resigned to the burdens
that we bear, but we long to triumph with thee. "'Tis good
at thy word to be here, "'tis better in thee to be gone, and
see thee in glory appear, and rise to share in thy throne.'" What does it matter? What does it matter to me to live as Christ and the
die is gained. So what does it matter? All right,
let's turn to Ahilam number 266.

What Does It Matter?

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What Does It Matter?

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