Philippians chapter 1, beginning
with verse 23. For I, that is Paul, I am in
a strait betwixt two. having a desire to depart and
to be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless, to abide
in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence,
I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your
furtherance and joy of faith. that your rejoicing may be more
abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. Only let your conversation be
as it would come at the gospel of Christ, that whether I come
and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that
you stand fast in one spirit with one mind striving together
for the faith of the gospel, and in nothing terrified by your
adversaries, which is to them an evident token of perdition,
but to you of salvation and that of God. For unto you it is given
in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to
suffer for his sake. having the same conflict which
you saw in me and now here to be in me. I read again this past week a
book of seven sermons that I bought in the 1960s. Paid 89 cents for
it. The price is still in the front
of the book. Seven sermons. And each of the
sermons was preached by a different English preacher. And all of
these seven men had these things in common. They were all pastors
who lived in the 1600s. They were all called Puritans.
And in the year 1662, They were all part of 2,000 evangelical
pastors ejected from their pastorates. Parliament, the English Parliament,
had passed a law called the Act of Uniformity, which prescribed
certain things. Many people believe it only had
to do with reading the Book of Common Prayer, but it had much
more than just that. It prescribed, this Act prescribed
things that they would have to do in their worship services. Things which they were convinced
did not come from the Word of God. Now our faith and our practice
must be based upon the Word of God. And that's the way these
men were persuaded. And in good conscience, they
could not agree. some of the things that they
were required to do, and as I looked over this again this past week,
it seems to me the major thing was Episcopal ordination. That is, these men have been
pastors, have been ordained, have been preaching, some of
them for years, faithful men of God. I can name some of them,
and their works are still the standard. among those who believe
the truth about God. Stephen Charnoff, his attributes
of God have never been equal, I don't suppose, in the English
language that is. But they said they had to be
reordained, and this ordination had to mean that a bishop in
their church, and they felt like they could trace all the way
back to the apostles. on down to them, and that's the
only way their ordination would be legal as far as they were
concerned. They had to have been ordained
by a man who had been ordained by a man who had been ordained
by a man who had been ordained by the apostles. wasn't true. They'd been preaching,
been pastors for years, and now they're told they have to be
reordained. And I noticed something else
that I hadn't seen before. When they, they said, sprinkled,
baptized, I'd say when they sprinkled a baby, they had to make the
sign of the cross on the head of that baby. Well, where do
you find that in the Word of God? Nowhere. Nowhere. And it was things like this.
And because of that, because they could not in good conscience
agree, they were called nonconformists. They were put out of their churches,
out of the houses that were provided for them. They lost their living.
And not only that, but they in which they had preached, in
which they had held a pastor. They couldn't live within five
miles of that town. Now, in this book, seven sermons,
most of these sermons, if not all of them, were the last sermons. The last sermons that these pastors
preached to their congregation. And some of these men, along
with their families, died in prison. So, they, as our text
here tells us here, they, it was not only given unto them
to believe on Christ, but to suffer for Christ. One sermon was preached by Thomas
Brooks, and he entitled his sermon, A Pastor's Legacy. And in part
of his sermon, he gave these six results, as he understood,
that would take place when the gospel goes, when the gospel
leaves a people. He said, these six things are
sure to take place. I'm going to read these six things,
and then on one of them, I want to kind of enlarge on what he
said. When the gospel goes, peace,
plenty, and trading, or commerce, goes. When the gospel goes. Number two, when the gospel goes,
safety and security goes. Number three, when the gospel
goes, civil liberty goes. Number four, when the gospel
goes, of the nation goes. Number five,
when the gospel goes, all soul happiness and blessedness goes. And number six, when the gospel
goes, the special presence of God goes, for that still goes
with the gospel. On that fifth point, when the
gospel all soul happiness and blessedness goes. And here was
his comment on that point. The gospel, you know, is the
means appointed by God to bring souls to an acquaintance with
Christ, to an acceptance of Christ, to an interest in Christ, to
an assurance that He is theirs and they are His. Now when this
goes, happiness and blessedness goes. Now, in these messages, the pastors
were exhorting their congregations to do basically what the Apostle
Paul, writing from prison, exhorted this congregation at Philippi
to do when he said in verse 27, in one spirit, with one mind,
striving together for the faith of the gospel." It's interesting
to take your concordance and just look up the word, stand,
and see how many times there's a reference when Paul was writing
to the various churches when he exhorted the believers to
stand. To the church at Corinth, he
wrote, watch ye. stand fast in the faith. Now,
this insinuates, if nothing else, that Satan is always attempting
to steal the faith, the gospel. Always attempting to take away
the gospel from the people. Watch ye. Be on your watch. Be on guard. Recognize that we
live in a world that we have an enemy, Satan, that will do
anything and everything he can to take the gospel from us. Watch
him stand fast in the faith. To the churches of Galatia, he
wrote, stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us
free. And then to the church at Ephesus, with truth. And then to the Thessalonians,
therefore, brethren, stand fast. Stand fast. In our text, verse
27, we are admonished to both stand and strive for the faith
of the gospel. That's an exhortation to me,
and that's an exhortation to you. If you profess to be a child
of God, this is the Lord speaking to you, and He's speaking to
me through His Word. That's the way He speaks to us,
isn't it? And the exhortation is to stand and strive for the
faith of the gospel. Now, I'm not going to try to
speak or even to name all that would be included in that statement
in the faith of the gospel. You can read John Gill and see
how many things he included in the faith of the gospel. What
I'm going to do tonight, I'm going to borrow a preacher's
outline that I heard many years ago. I think he entitled his
message, Five Stubborn Statements. And then I heard some pastors
add a sixth and entitled their message, Six Stubborn Statements. And I'm going to add a seventh,
Seven Stubborn Statements. The first statement is this. things, or He is not." Now, that's just so. You can't
have it both ways. God is absolutely sovereign in
all things, or He is not. Now, my Bible tells me that He
is. For instance, in Isaiah chapter
46, God said, My counsel shall stand. My counsel shall stand. You say, what if man doesn't
agree? What if man doesn't cooperate?
No, God said, my counsel shall stand. Man will cooperate. Man will perform. Yes, my counsel shall stand,
and I will do all my pleasure. When Nebuchadnezzar, full of
pride, was sent out live like an animal seven years, and then
God in mercy caused him, or caused his reason, his mind, to return
unto him. One of the things that he proclaimed
was, he, that is God, doeth all according to his will in the
army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And
none can stay his hand. None. No one can stay God's hand. Now, he's not God if that's not
true. That's so simple, isn't it? If man can somehow thwart
the will of God, the purpose of God, then God's no longer
God. Whatever has power over God is
stronger than him. God is, that's a stubborn statement. Fight it if you will, rebel if
you will, but that's just a stubborn statement. God is absolutely
sovereign and all things are He's not. And here's a verse of scripture
we all love. And many professing Christians,
they love to quote this verse. They love to use this verse.
It's on many sympathy cards, and it's spoken to other people
quite often. For we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. And many people quote that verse
and use that verse, never stopping to realize That verse cannot
be true if God is not absolutely sovereign in all things. There's
no way that can be true if He is not sovereign, absolutely
sovereign in all things. The second stubborn statement
is man is either deprived, depraved, spiritually dead when he comes
into this world or he's not. It's not like that man, that
preacher who said, well, he's dead, but he's got a little life.
No, dead is dead. That's a stubborn statement.
Man is either depraved, spiritually dead when he comes into this
world, or he is not. Now, my Bible tells me that he
is. He is dead in trespasses and
sins. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
him. Neither can he know them. The natural man, neither can
he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. And if
a person is not born again, quickened by the Spirit of God, he has
no life, and he cannot understand the things of God. The Lord Jesus
Christ said, no man can come to me. He didn't say no man may
come to me. He said no man can come to me
except the Father which hath sent me draw him. Some people have the idea that
that somehow means that God the Holy Spirit is wooing people,
wooing people, and they are able to resist that. everyone to his son, Jesus Christ,
who he came to save, who the Father gave to him in that covenant
of grace. Arthur Pink said, and this is
a very important statement, total depravity. That's what I'm saying. This is a stubborn statement.
Man is either totally depraved dead when he comes into this
world, or he's not. Arthur Pink said, total depravity
does not consist in what a man does, but what he is in himself. Not what he does, you know, people
say, well, we know some people that are very good, and obviously
they are considered in relationship to others. Although the scripture
says there's none good, no not one, but I mean some people have
high moral qualities, some people are kind to other people, and
some people are not. Some people are immoral, very
immoral, very unkind. And so they say, well, everybody
can't be totally depraved because not everyone is a Hitler. Not
everyone is a total depravity is. It's not
so much what a person does as what he is. And I'd say this,
and I believe this from the Word of God, that every person has
the seeds in himself, herself, when we come into this world,
that we could be another Hitler. Every one of us. We don't like to think about
that, do we? That's the reason men of old,
these Puritans especially, they would say, there goes John Bradford,
but for the grace of God. He left, his house was on the
road from what I read, where prisoners who were going out
in England to be executed, and they were guilty of a crime,
capital offense. And they were going out, and
they were carried out in a wagon, drawn out in a wagon, and they
would pass by his house. They had to pass by his house.
And that was his comment. There goes John Bradford, but
for the grace of God. But for the grace of God. And
God has restrained men, all of us I would say for the most part,
The families we have lived were raised in, the society we were
raised in, the education we were given. God's restraining grace
has kept us from maybe going as far and deep in sin as we
are capable. But it's God's grace. All men are totally depraved,
or they're not. That's just a stubborn statement.
In the fall, in the Garden of Eden, when Adam disobeyed God,
he either became dead like God told him he would die if he disobeyed,
or he didn't. Scripture says he died. The third stubborn statement
is, God the Father either chose a people in Christ or He didn't. And my Bible tells me that He
did. According as He hath chosen us, this is the words of the
Apostle Paul. According as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be
whole and without blame before Him in love. He didn't choose
us And you've probably done this,
but if you haven't, take your compartments sometime and just
look up the word predestinate. And when you see what God has
predestinated people to be, you can't find any fault with that.
To be conformed to the image of His Son. You find any fault
with that? be predestinated to be like Jesus
Christ our Lord. That's our desire, isn't it?
That's what we want, to be like Him. But that's a stubborn statement.
His sovereign election was not based on full knowledge of what
man would do or not do, but according to His purpose. The fourth stubborn statement
is God, the incarnate Son, either redeemed His people or He didn't.
Don't talk about a redemption that doesn't redeem. Don't speak about blood that
doesn't save. This is the blood of the Son
of God. In John chapter 10, he said,
I lay down my life for the sheep. Paul, speaking to the elders
of the church in Ephesus said, take heed therefore unto yourselves
and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you
overseers to feed the church of God. Now listen, feed the
church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. Husbands,
love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and gave himself
five. I heard this illustration the
other day of a young boy, and he was handy with tools, and
he made himself a little boat, a little boat, a little sailing,
put a sail on it, and he was so proud of it, And he took it
to the lake and a family outing. And they put the boat in the
water. And sure enough, it sailed. And,
you know, sailed just like he imagined it would do. It did. And that was interesting for
a while. And he got distracted. The family got distracted. It
was a picnic type of deal. And before long, they had left. And he had forgotten his boat. And so he went back. Parents
took him back there, and he searched along the shore and looking out
in the water, and sure enough, he couldn't find his boat. Gone. One day, he was with his mother.
They were in town, and he saw in a... I want to say a hawk
shop. What do you call those things?
Pawn shop. A pawn shop in the window there.
There was his boat. This is! He made it! He goes
in. The man said, yes. He said, you
can have that boat, but here's the price. Here's the price. Well, he didn't have the price.
But he went home, got him a job doing something, chores or whatever,
and earned enough money that he could purchase, redeem, really,
redeem. The man did give him a ticket.
And he went back. and redeemed his little boat.
And on the way home, he looked at it, and he said, Now you are
twice mine. You are twice mine. And God's
children are twice his. He chose us, he gave us unto
his Son, and his Son redeemed us with his blood. Don't talk
about a redemption that doesn't redeem. What kind of redemption
is that? Fifth, God the Holy Spirit either
quickens the redeemed or He doesn't. My Bible tells me that He does.
For the promise is unto you. These are the words of Peter
on the day of Pentecost as he was preaching. He said, for the
promise is unto you and to your children even to as many as the Lord our
God shall call. To as many as received Him, to
them gave He power to become the sons of God, which were born,
as the Scripture tells us there in 1 John, not according to the
flesh, not by blood, not by the will of man, but of God. Thy people, the Lord said unto
my Lord, set thou at my right hand, while I make thy enemies
thy footstool. And then thy people shall be
willing in the day of thy power. The sixth stubborn statement
is simply all of God's chosen, redeemed, and called people will
all be preserved, or they will not. And my Bible tells me that
we shall be confident of this very thing, that he which hath
begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ. Those are six stubborn statements. And I want to add a seventh tonight. Man is a responsible being. I read a book several years ago,
and I had been somewhat familiar with the author. I didn't know
a whole lot about him, but it was a book on the attributes
of God. And this author had such a way
with words, and as he spoke about the various attributes of God,
it was such a blessing. I was thrilled. My heart was
thrilled. reading what he had to say about the attributes of
God, until I came to the last chapter. And then I was very
disappointed. I was disappointed because he
tried to explain God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. And
that cannot be done. That cannot be done. The Bible
tells us clearly that God is absolutely sovereign and that
man is a responsible being. It's a mystery. It's a mystery
beyond our ability to explain or comprehend. When I was younger,
I remember reading the illustration of a railroad track where these And the man at that time said,
somewhere in eternity the two parallel lines are going to come
together. But I say unto us tonight that
there is no way any of us, any man, can explain the sovereignty
of God and the responsibility of man. But I know these two
things. I'm just as confident of this
as I'm standing before you tonight, that those who are saved, everyone,
everyone that God saves will have God to thank, and only God,
and praise him forever and ever. for saving your soul. And those who are lost will only
have themselves to thank. Only have themselves to thank.
Now, I cannot comprehend that, I cannot explain it, but I know
it is so. Now the enemies, those who deny
these very facts that I've mentioned here tonight, they present those
of us who preach the gospel of God's grace as somehow teaching,
well, you folks teach that here's a person who wants to be saved,
truly they want to be saved, but God won't save them. I defy
anyone to show me any sovereign grace preacher. has ever preached
such a thing. We know that when a person desires
to be saved, it's because, I mean truly desires to be saved, it's
because God in mercy has worked in the heart of that individual,
giving them that desire. No one has that desire by nature. that no one will ever be able
to say unto the Lord. And that's the way those false
teachers, they make caricatures of those of us who preach the
gospel. And of those Puritans, they suffer
much along this line. being hard-hearted, cruel, uncaring
men who presented God as if He refused to save those who sought
salvation. My Bible tells me, call upon
me in the day of trouble and I will answer. That's what my Bible says. And be ye saved, all ye ends
of the earth. For I am God, and there is none
other." The thing that we confess is
simply this, salvation is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. Well, I pray that the Lord will
bless this Word and more than bless us to to contend, earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
The faith is not something that's continually evolving. With each
generation, people learn more and come up with new ideas. No,
no, the gospel is the same gospel. The gospel that saves is the
same gospel that Abel believed. It doesn't change. God doesn't
change. Christ doesn't change. He's the
same yesterday, today, and forever. Let's sing this hymn number 279,
A Child of the King.