in our Bibles today to the letter
of Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4 and we
will look at the first nine verses in this chapter. Therefore my
brethren dearly beloved and longed for My joy and crown, so stand
fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. I beseech, Iodius, and beseech
Synthic, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. I entreat
thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored
with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow
laborers whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the
Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice. Let your moderation be known
unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful
for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. And the
peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your
hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things
are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of a good report, If there be any virtue,
and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things
which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in
me do. And the God of peace shall be
with you. The title of the message this
morning is This Do. This Do. Taken from Paul's word
in verse 9 when he said, do, do, this do. I'm sure that almost
everyone here this morning is familiar with the story, a true
story of the child of God who told a man one time that his
religion, this man's religion consisted of earning salvation,
meriting salvation. In fact, I believe he was a preacher
who preached that salvation comes by works, by what we do. And this man told him that his
religion was missing two letters, two letters. He said, what do
you mean? He said, yes, you need the letter
N and you need the letter E. Because what you preach is due. And you need to add those two
letters and preach done. The Lord Jesus Christ from the
cross said, it is finished. What was finished? The work which
the father gave him to do. And what work was that? It was
to save his people. It was to do everything that
the law of God requires in order for God to be just and the justifier
of the ungodly. He finished the work. And salvation,
we know, is not by something we do, something we earn, something
we merit. If God gave you a thousand years
of life, you could never in a thousand years merit eternal life by all
of your so-called works, good works. You just couldn't do it. And thank God the scripture says,
the gift of God. The gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. He's that one mediator between
God and man. And God deals with sinners in
and through his son. No man should ever dare attempt
to approach unto Almighty God apart from Jesus Christ. Because
to do so, we'll find God to be, as the Word of God declares Him
to be, a consuming fire. That is pure holiness. We need a mediator in which to
come to God. And thank God we have one in
Jesus Christ our Lord. Now notice in this passage that
Paul is addressing brethren. He uses that term two times. In verse 1 we see, therefore
my brethren. And then again in verse 8, finally
brethren. Now they were not his brothers
in the flesh, but they were part of the household of God, of the
family of God. And they were dearly beloved.
That's the way he addresses them. Therefore my brethren, dearly
beloved. Not only Paul loved these brethren. Paul loved these brethren in
the church at Philippi. But more importantly, God loved
them. Christ loved them. They were
loved, all of God's children, all of God's elect, all of those
who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Each
and every one is loved with an everlasting love. Brethren, Now my message has
two parts. First, Paul begins his list of
things to do by giving us a motive. Giving us a motive. You notice
the word therefore. Because this is true of you,
then do these things that I'm going to mention. Now what is
the motive? The motive for serving Christ
is not to earn salvation, it's not to earn more rewards in heaven. The motive is, in this case,
it's twofold and it is what we looked at last week. If you look
back into chapter 3 and verse 20, our citizenship is in heaven. For our conversation, our citizenship
is in heaven. We are citizens of heaven, being
children of God. If you look back just a few pages
into Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2 and verse
18 and 19, the apostle said, For through him, Who does that refer to? You know,
don't you? Christ. Christ. Through Him, we, Jew and Gentile, we both
have access by one Spirit. Who is that? That's God the Holy
Spirit, isn't it? Unto the Father. Don't you love
the passages of scripture which speak to us of the three persons
and the blessed Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And you
see here the order is the Son, the Spirit, and the Father. And
that just reminds us of the equality. The Father is
not more God than the Son. The Father is not more powerful
than the Holy Spirit. The Father is not more knowing
than the Son. Equal in eternity, in every attribute,
every characteristic is true of each one of the Blessed Trinity. Notice again. For through Him,
through Christ our Lord, we both have access, both Jew and Gentile,
by one Spirit unto the Father, Now therefore, you, you Gentiles,
are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens." Our citizenship
is in heaven. We are, not only our citizenship,
but he goes on there to say, fellow citizens with the saints,
That is the saints of old, Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, all of the saints
of God. We're fellow citizens with the
saints of God. One is not above the other. We're
all saved by the same blood. We're all justified by the grace
of God. We're saints. We're set apart
by God Almighty. Fellow citizens with the saints,
and notice, and of the household That is the family of God. He's addressing brethren. And
brethren, therefore, because first of all, our citizenship
is in heaven. And then second, in that third
chapter of Philippians, he goes on to say, who shall change our
vile body. Here's the second motive. We
look for Christ to come again. And when He comes again, and
it could be today, it could be today. No man knows the day nor
the hour. That time is set, it's fixed
on God's calendar. And when that clock strikes that
hour, Christ is going to come. And when He does, He's going
to change our vile body, the Apostle Paul tells us, that is
this body of humiliation, and he's going to give us one like
unto his glorious body. Therefore, because we are citizens
of heaven, and because we have this great and blessed hope before
us of the coming of Christ, and us receiving a glorified body. He said this to the church at
Corinth, for we know that if, if we could change that to when,
for we know that if or when our earthly house of this tabernacle
were dissolved, we have a building of God, and house not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens. Doesn't that thrill your heart?
Doesn't that excite you to know one day that all of God's children,
according to His purpose and grace which was given unto us
in Christ Jesus before the world began, we've all been predestinated
to be conformed to the image of His Son? And what a beautiful
image that is. Holy and pure and righteous to
be conformed to the image of Christ. Now because these things
are true of every child of God, then brethren, here's some things
to do. And that's the second part of
the message. And Paul names five things. First, Do this, stand fast in
the Lord. Notice that in verse 1. Therefore,
my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown,
so stand fast in the Lord. Now several of the writers suggest
that this might be better understood as stand fast by the Lord or
in His strength. You know, in the Scriptures we
have examples of some of God's children who failed to stand
fast. Now, because they were children
of God, they failed. But they did not fall out of
grace. They did not fall out of being
a child of God. They did not fall out of God's
love. That's impossible, because the
apostle said nothing, nothing, I don't care what it is, nothing
shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord. That's just not going to happen
to a child of God. But yet, we have examples in
the scripture of some who did fall. They did not stand fast. And what a reproach they brought
upon themselves and upon Christ and upon the gospel. And no child
of God wants to do that. Stand fast in the Lord. And we have examples of a number
of people who stood fast. Stood fast in the wake of danger,
great danger. I think of those three Hebrews. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
when the furnace was heated seven times hotter. And Nebuchadnezzar
the king said, You're going in if you don't bow to my idol. And they answered, Be it known
unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship
the golden image which thou hast set up. They would not bow, and
they did not burn. When Nebuchadnezzar, remember
how it is written there in the book of Daniel, when he looked
into that furnace, and those great men, his soldiers who threw
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the fire, some of them died
just from the heat But he said, didn't we throw three men in?
Oh, yeah. But I see four men. I see four
men. And one is like unto the Son
of Man. Oh, they went into the fire.
But they did not go into the fire without Christ, did they? He was with them. And that's
His promise. I will never leave thee, nor
forsake thee. Stand fast in the Lord. I thought about this matter of
standing fast and how that to stand physically, to stand fast
physically, if there's not some analogies that we might could
draw. And I thought of these. First
of all, To stand fast physically, we need a solid footing. Solid footing is very important. And to stand fast in the Lord,
our feet must be firmly planted upon the rock, upon Jesus Christ. There must be no wavering. Remember
in his message, he said, The one man built his house upon
the rock, and the winds came, the rains came, the waters rose
on the house built on the rock as well as the house built on
the sand. But the house on the sand was
taken away, wasn't it? It did not stand. but the house
that was built on Christ. Other foundation can no man lay
than that which is laid, Jesus Christ our Lord." Don't build
your hope of salvation on your decision, on your faith, on anything
other than Jesus Christ. He is the Savior. He is the solid
rock. Stand fast, therefore, in the
Lord. Have your feet firmly planted, your faith firmly planted in
Jesus Christ. Don't be double-minded. To stand
on slippery ground is not easy. Stand upon the rock. And another
thought that came to me, to stand fast physically, we have to have
a sufficient amount of strength. That's important, isn't it? physically
to stand. If we're weak, then we may be
easily bowed over. But stand fast in the Lord. He is our strength. In all of
these three things, Christ is the rock upon which we are to
stand, and He's our strength. We need strength to stand. That's
what David said in Psalm 27 in verse 1. The Lord is the strength
of my life. And I pointed this out recently. He didn't say the Lord gives
me strength. He said the Lord is my strength. And there's a difference. There's
a big difference. The Lord is my salvation. And the Lord is my strength. He not only gives me strength,
that's true, but He is my strength. I'm in union with Him. I'm trusting
in Him. I'm believing Him to give me
the power to stand. And a third thing, be watchful. You know, if you're standing,
someone can come up and blindside you and push you over, shove
you over, something like that. And that's the reason the Apostle
Paul said, In another verse of Scripture, watch ye, stand fast
in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Be strong in the grace
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Stand fast in the Lord. Stand
fast in Christ without wavering. The faith which has once been
delivered unto the saints, the Apostle Jude tells us, we are
to earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered
unto the saints. Our faith is not changing. It's
not on a scale, my friends, and according to civilization, whatever
society dictates that our faith change, no. Our faith is settled. The Word of God is settled forever
in heaven. Stand fast in the Lord. God has
a purpose. God is sovereign. We were speaking
about this earlier before the service. The truth that God is
sovereign, that He works His will in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth, and no one can stay
his hand or say, what are you doing? No man, no one of God's
creatures has a right to question God and his actions. Thank God for this truth. The
judge of all the earth who is God, He shall, He must do right. And when things happen in your
life and my life, we don't understand. Many times things happen. But
we have a foundation. Stand fast in the Lord. His purpose,
His purpose is right. I may not understand it now,
and I don't understand it now, but I know it's right. I know
it's right, because God did it, and God must do right. Stand fast in the faith that
was once delivered unto the saints. Be confident that God... People
think, well, this world is just helter-skelter. Everything's
going on. No one's in control. I beg your
pardon, my friends. Everything is in control. God's control. And everything
is marching as He has determined and shall continue to do so.
They will say, aren't you afraid that the Russians and the United
States, they may attack one another and send these nuclear missiles
to North Korea? I'm not worried about that at
all. Because I know that none of those
men, God has put those men in those places, and none of them
will put their finger, my friends, on that start button, or whatever
it is, unless God has determined. And if He's determined, it's
going to happen. And it is true. Just as this
world was destroyed once by water, it's going to be destroyed by
fire. However God does it, that's up
to Him. Stand. Stand in the Lord. Don't be wavered and pushed aside
by all these thoughts and the news and all the things that
disturb people. God's people, we have a firm
foundation. How firm a foundation, you saints
of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent What more
can he say than to you he has said, you who unto Jesus have
fled for refuge. We've got a firm foundation.
Stand in the Lord. This do. Do this. Number two. Do this. Be of one mind and help
laborers in the gospel. Verses two and three. He names
two ladies here, and he prays them, beseeches them, that they
be of one mind. And because he names these two,
this tells us that this should be true of the whole church.
He's writing to a local church, that we all should be of the
same mind. Now, he doesn't tell us, and
we do not need to know, if these two women had an issue, one with
the other, or if their issue was toward the church, or if
their issue was in some civil matter or in some religious matter. We don't know and we don't need
to know. Paul desires them to be of the
same mind. We should all be of the same
mind, those of us who are members of this local church. Consider
We have the same Father. We have the same Lord. We have the same Holy Spirit
living in us. You know, in the book of Genesis,
that story about Joseph, history of Joseph, there's so many lessons
to be learned by what happened to Joseph. But something that
comes to my mind, after his brothers had come down to Egypt and And
he had revealed himself unto them. And he sent them back to
get their father, Jacob. He sent them back with wagons
to bring Jacob and the young children. Sent them back with
all the provisions they would need, all the food on the journey. Everything was provided for them. And then he told his 11 brothers,
see that you fall not out in the way. Don't fall out. He just knew there's a possibility. There's a possibility, right?
Among God's people in a local church that there be some of
a different mind. Not all being of the same mind. And then Paul encourages the
pastor. He refers to as the true, my
true yoke fellow. You know, yoke A yoke is what
they used for the oxen and two oxen together, both pulling the
plow, whatever it was they were pulling. Paul refers to this
pastor, he doesn't call him by name. Many people believe he
may have been referring to Paphroditus, the man who carried this letter
from Paul back to their church. But he refers to him as a true
yoke fellow, a man who labored with him. in the gospel. And then he speaks of women who
labored with him in the gospel. Notice that I entreat thee also,
true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in
the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers
whose names are in the book of life. When he speaks of women laboring
in the gospel. We know he's not talking about
women preachers because he wrote to Timothy and he made this statement. He said, I suffer not a woman
to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. God's order does not permit women
to teach men, to usurp authority over a man. Well, how then did
they labor in the gospel, these women that he refers to here? And you can tell by his words,
he's very thankful for them. Help those women which labored
with me in the gospel. How did they labor with Paul
in the gospel? Well, they professed the gospel,
and they confessed the gospel, And they supported the gospel
financially. We know that there were several
women who financially supported the Lord Jesus Christ and his
disciples. They ministered unto him out
of their things. And so I would assume these women
did as well in his letter to Titus. But not only that, they
instructed the younger women. In his letter to Titus, he told
him that the older women should be teachers of good things to
teach the younger women to be sober, to love their husbands,
and to love their children. And to every believing mother
here today, what better lesson could you teach your child than
to Your daughter, your son also, but your daughter. Teach your
son to love his wife, when he chooses a wife, to choose one
that he respects and loves, even as Christ loved the church and
gave himself for it. And teach your daughters to love
their husbands. Who's going to teach them that,
if the mothers in the homes do not teach them? If the fathers
in the homes do not teach these things, where are they going
to be taught? And children learn by observation, too, don't they? They learn by observing the father
showing his love, his affection for his wife, and the wife showing
her obedience unto the husband. They learn that, but teach them
those things. You know, if you look over in
Romans with me just a moment, Romans chapter 16, These women labored in the gospel.
Paul, in writing to the church at Rome, he names a woman in
particular by the name of Phoebe. Romans chapter 16. He said, I
command unto you, Phoebe, our sister, which is a deaconess,
a servant of the church, which is at Centuria. that you receive
her in the Lord, as becometh saints, and that you assist her
in whatsoever business she hath need of you. Now notice this,
for she hath been a succorer of many. She's helped many, many
of God's children, many believers, many pastors and preachers. She's
been a help to many. And so yes, Paul says these women,
who labored with me in the gospel, help them, and with Clement also. And then he says, other my fellow
laborers whose names are in the book of life. When, let me ask you this question,
when are people's names placed in the book of life? Well, the
scripture is very clear if people would read the Bible. Our names,
the names of God's children were inscribed in His role of election
from before the foundation of the world. I listened to a man
recently at a service and he preached and he gave people what
he felt like they needed to do and then he said, if you did
what I just told you, your names were written in the Lamb's Book
of Life. And I looked at that man and I thought, at his age
he's still telling that lie? Shouldn't he know? Shouldn't
he read the Bible, which clearly tells us that our names were
written in the Lamb's Book of Life from the foundation of the
world? How did Paul know their names
were in the Lamb's Book of Life? When he was caught up to the
third heaven, did he see that book and look in it and go through
the list and see, here's these people in Philippi? No. He knew,
He trusted their names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life because
He observed their conduct, their faith, their confession. Just
like I would say of people in this congregation today, your
names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. How do I know that?
Because I have observed and because of your testimony and your witness,
your names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Now here's the third thing. Do
this. Number one, stand fast in the
Lord. Number two, be of one mind and
help those who labor in the gospel. Number three, Rejoice in the
Lord always. Verse 4. I'm not going to say
much on this point because I dealt with that several weeks ago.
Because this is the second time in this letter that Paul has
said rejoice in the Lord. And rejoice in the Lord always. Every day, every hour, every
minute. We always have cause, those of
us who know Christ, we always have cause to rejoice in Him. If a person finds his chief joy
in his family, that may dry up. If he finds his chief joy in
his occupation, his job, his profession, that may be replaced
by a robot. If he finds his chief joy in
his riches, they may take wings and fly away. No, Paul says,
rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. Rejoice in Him, in His characteristics. Think about Him. Meditate upon
Christ, His person, that He's both God and man. His purpose
in coming into this world. This is the Father's will which
hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose
nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. Rejoice in
the Lord. And then number four, do this,
live in moderation. And I'll just say because of
the time, he is encouraging us not to be anxious. Not to be
anxious and he's dealing especially with things like food and raiment
and things that our bodies need in this world. He says the Lord
is at hand. He's always with us and he's
promised to always meet our needs. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added
unto you. Be anxious for nothing. And number
five, do this. Think on these things. He mentions
things that are true, things that are honest, things that
are just, things that are pure, things that are lovely, things
of good report, things that are virtuous. Think on these things
and think what it will be like when we or with the Lord in glory,
in a place where all of these things will be true of everyone
and everything. And notice this wonderful promise,
the God of peace will be with you. The God of peace shall be
with you. Aren't you thankful today for
this title, this name of God, the God of peace? And isn't it wonderful today,
those of us who know Christ as our Lord and Savior, that we
have peace with God. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Well, I pray that the Lord would
bless this message to all of us here today.