In our Bibles again today to
the first chapter of Philippians. This morning we are looking at
the last four verses in this first chapter. Philippians chapter
1 beginning in verse 27. Only let your conversation be
as it becometh 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." Last week we saw that the
Apostle Paul, as he was writing this letter in chains of some
kind, that he found himself, or he confessed himself, to be
in a strait betwixt two alternatives. One was to depart, to die, whether
by martyrdom or however, to depart and to be with Christ, which
he confessed he knew would be far better. And that is true
for every child of God, for every child of God. When we leave this
world of sin and sorrow and everything that's connected with it, though
we weep when our loved ones leave us, yet we know to be with Christ
is far better. Far better. But another alternative
for Paul was to remain. And he indicates that he was
convinced that he would remain because he knew it would be well
for the believers in Philippi as in other churches. Look back
to verse 23. For 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 fatherance
and joy of faith. Now I mention this not only to
give us some context for the verses today, but I believe that
this explains the first word in our text, the word only. Only. The apostle is saying whether
I am released and visit you again or not. This is what I desire,
that your conversation be as it becomes the gospel of Christ. The word conversation has evolved
since the translation that we use was made. Today it means
specifically our speech. But at that time, it referred
to our behavior, a person's behavior, or maybe we may say the lifestyle. And a sinful lifestyle does not
become the gospel of Christ. The gospel of Christ is a holy
making gospel. And a sinful lifestyle, sinful
behavior does not become the gospel of Jesus Christ. It might become some messages,
a sinful lifestyle, but it does not become the gospel of Jesus
Christ. You remember Paul writing to
Titus, he said this, the grace of God that bringeth salvation,
and God's grace brings salvation. It doesn't offer salvation, it
brings salvation. And Paul says, the grace of God
that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men, that is,
Jews and Gentiles, to all men, teaching us. This is the gospel
of the grace of God that appears to God's people, teaching us
that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. So Paul
is telling or writing these believers in Philippi, whether I depart
and be with Christ or remain, only I have a desire that I would
hear that your conversation, your manner of living, your behavior
becomes the gospel of Christ. Now that conversation that I've
just mentioned, that is our outward living in this world, is dealt
with in many other scriptures. But in this particular place,
the conversation, the behavior that the Apostle Paul refers
to, concerns the saints and their behavior one toward the other. Remember this was a local church. Just like our church is a local
church. John Gill gave an alternative
translation. He said it could be translated,
behave as citizens worthy of the gospel. And a church is like
a city. And you know the whole church
is pictured to us in the Word of God as a city coming down
from heaven. coming down from God out of heaven,
the Jerusalem, the New Jerusalem, with the 12 gates and the 12
foundation stones. But a local church also may be
considered like a city. And in every city there are,
as John Gill, and I'll quote him, he says, the illusion is
to cities which have their peculiar laws and rules. The city of Houston,
for instance, has its own laws. Other cities have their laws,
and they may differ. The laws are peculiar to the
city to which the citizens are to conform. Now, if you are a
member of that city, or citizen, rather, of that city, then your
conduct, your behavior, should conform to the rules, the laws
of that city. and such as behave according
to them act up to the character of good citizens." Now if you
are a citizen of Houston and the laws are such and such and
you disobey those laws, then you are not a good citizen. Now think of that in relationship
to a local church. If you are a member, a citizen
of a local church, a city-state, And there are certain rules and
laws, and you don't live up, you don't follow those rules
and laws, and I hate to use the word rules and laws, but I don't
know of any other words to use. But there are just certain things
when you join a church, when you become a member of a church,
that you agree to conform to as part of the church. And that's
the point that the Apostle Paul is making here to the church
at Philippi. They were members of the same
church. They were members of the body
of Christ. They were members of one another.
And to be good citizens, they should behave according to the
rules of the city, of the church. Now this will become relevant
as we look at the three things that he mentions. And that's
what, that's my outline today. First of all, that you stand
fast in one spirit. Now that's one of the rules.
That's one of the rules of the city. That you stand fast in
one spirit. Now one of the old writers said
that this word which is here translated, stand fast, is taken
from battles, from battles, from warfare. And soldiers are commanded,
they receive a command, hold this ridge, hold this place,
whatever you do, do not fall back, do not retreat, hold. And we've all read stories of
heroic men who stood their ground, didn't they? And many of them,
we've read stories where all of them were destroyed. But they
did not retreat. They did not fall back. They
held their ground. They were commanded, hold this
ridge. Or whatever, you know. Hold this
bridge. Keep it. And they kept it. Stand
fast. You know, we can understand,
I believe, what it means to stand fast if we look at how a person
maybe would not stand fast. For instance, and let's think
of this in the light of soldiers. A soldier is given a command
to stand fast. Keep your place here. Now one
way that he could fail to stand fast is he just lays his weapon
down and goes over into the camp of the enemy. He just deserts. They have a
word for that, don't they? A-W-O-L. AWOL. He just goes AWOL. Leaves the place where he's commanded
to stand fast and goes over. Not only does he not stand fast,
but he goes over into the camp of the enemy. Now, second way,
the man might not stand fast. He's commanded to stand fast,
but he just allows the enemy to pass him on by. Just come
on into the camp. Well, he's not standing fast.
And another way a person maybe doesn't stand fast, he doesn't
keep his loyalty to his commander. Now you think of those three
things and all of them have a spiritual symbol. All of them do. Some
men who are part of a local church, and we've seen this happen, not
very many thank God, but they just go AWOL. Faithful for sometimes for years. And they just go AWOL. And you say, well, do they go
into the camp of the enemy? They do if they leave the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Where else could they be? And
then some people, we see this also, they receive as friends
those who are enemies. They just allow them to pass
by, come in. And then some lose their loyalty
to their commander. And that's the thing that concerns
me the most. When I read those letters to
the seven churches in Asia, in Revelation chapter 2 and chapter
3, the letter to that first church, you have left your first love. What an indictment. What an indictment. Stand fast, the command is. Paul said, if I hear this of
you, whether I come or I don't come, this is my desire, that
I hear this of you, that you stand fast in one spirit. Whenever I read the word stand
fast, and we see it in a couple of other scriptures, I always
think of a story I heard, and it's a true story. Years ago,
back in horse and buggy day, of the man who lived out somewhat
in the country, and he went to town maybe once a month to buy
supplies, and he had one son. And his son got up old enough,
and he wanted to go to town with his dad. You know, small children,
they just want to get in their father's boots, walk in their
steps. He wanted to go to town with
his father. I know you're too young, son. But one day, he was
old enough, the dad said, OK. OK, you can go with me. And so
the boy was so excited, and they took off to town. And the dad
had several places he had to go and conduct business. And finally, he came to a place,
and he gave his son, I think, a little money. And he said,
son, go into that store and buy you a piece of candy. And come
out and wait for me on the corner. And I'll be by and pick you up,
and we'll go home. Well, about dark, the man, he
gets home. His wife hears the buggy coming
down the road and she hears her husband out in the barn, you
know, unharnessing the horse and all of that. And he comes
into the house and she says, honey, where's our son? He forgot his son. And as quickly
as he can, he harnesses up the horse and makes it back to town.
Now this is what impresses me. There's his son on the very corner
where his dad told him to wait. And he waited there because his
dad told him to wait. God tells us, stand fast. Sometimes we all get discouraged.
Sometimes I know I do. But the Lord has told me to stand
fast. And until He gives me any other
order, by God's grace, that's what I intend to do, is to stand
fast. You notice I said by God's grace. Stand fast, Paul said, in one
spirit. Now some say that this refers
to the Holy Spirit. Stand fast in one spirit, that
is, in the Holy Spirit. We know that He is the one who
begins a good work in the heart of God's people. If you look
back to verse 6 here, Paul said, being confident of this very
thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you, who is it
who begins a good work of grace in the heart of God's people?
We know that it is God the Holy Spirit. He comes seeking and
finding His sheep. And we are to stand fast in one
Spirit. That is, some believe it refers
to the Holy Spirit. We're to stand fast in the Holy
Spirit. He's the one who began this good
work in you. And you stand fast. You continue
looking to Him and trusting in Him to give you grace and strength
for each day as you go along. We should present our bodies
as living sacrifices, holy, acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable
service. And those who believe that Paul
is saying, stand fast in one spirit, and he refers to the
Holy Spirit, they point to the fact that we are told in two
other places, and grieve not the Holy Spirit, of God, whereby
you are sealed unto the day of redemption. Grieve, stand fast,
and do not grieve God the Holy Spirit. He's the one who began
this good work in you. You keep looking to Him, trusting
in Him, believing that He will give you grace each day. But others, and I'm one of the
others, I do not believe that Paul is referring to the Holy
Spirit here. Now that's true. Nothing I've
said about the Holy Spirit is not true, and we should continue
to trust and believe that He lives in us, that our bodies
are His temples, and we should not grieve Him. But I believe
the spirit that the Apostle Paul has referenced to here in our
text is the unity, the spirit of unity, love, and peace in
this church, the church at Philippi. Look with me, turn over back
a few pages to Ephesians chapter 4, just a couple of pages back. In chapter 4 and verse 1, I therefore
the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith you are called, with all lowliness and meekness,
with long-suffering. Now notice, forbearing one another
in love. Endeavoring to keep. Endeavoring. This church, there's so many
things. Different personalities. Different
quirks, as we would say. And we all have some. I know
we think everybody else has a quirk, but we all have them. Endeavor
to keep the unit. Endeavor. Stand fast in one spirit. Endeavoring to keep the unity
of the spirit in the bond of peace. Don't let anything or
anyone keep you from maintaining the spirit of unity and love. Paul said, whether I come or
I do not come, that I might hear this, that your conversation,
your behavior becomes the gospel of Christ, the gospel of Jesus
Christ. Stand fast in one spirit. And when I think about the unity
of believers, the unity of brothers and sisters in Christ in a local
church, I always think about that psalm that speaks about
The oil that was poured upon Aaron's head, remember, who was
the first high priest and a type of God, of the Lord Jesus Christ,
that spirit that was poured upon him, that oil was poured upon
Aaron and it ran down, got on his beard and ran down, got on
his clothes, his garments, the Holy Spirit. is poured out upon
Christ our head, but upon us who are members of his body.
And that psalm goes on to say this, how good, it's good, it's
good. And the opposite's not good.
How good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in
unity. Stand fast in one spirit. Number two, with one mind striving
together for the faith of the gospel. Let me hear this too. Let me hear this about your conversation,
about your behavior. Not only do you stand fast in
one spirit, but you strive together in one mind, striving together
for the faith of the gospel. Now the faith of the gospel,
listen to me, the faith of the gospel is the gospel. The faith of the gospel is the
gospel. Remember Jude in his very short
letter, he said, writing to believers, that you should earnestly, earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints. You see, the faith, the gospel,
it doesn't continue changing. It doesn't evolve. The gospel,
the faith, the Lord Jesus Christ is the author, the finisher of
our faith. Both our objective faith, what
we believe, the gospel, and yes, our subjective faith. He's the
author. He's the finisher of our faith. striving together for the faith
of the gospel. And this just reminds us, when
Paul writes this, that the gospel always has many enemies. And those of us who believe the
gospel, we must strive for the truth, for the gospel. Do you
know how many generations it takes, evidently, to lose the
gospel? Do you? One or two, three generations
and the gospel is gone. That's just so, friends. You
take a field, you don't cut that field, it doesn't take long,
my friends, till it becomes a jungle. And the gospel of Jesus Christ,
we must earnestly contend for the faith which has been delivered
unto us. We want our children. We want
our grandchildren. We want our great-grandchildren,
right? To have the gospel. Well, you
just be lazy about this and the gospel will be gone. I wrote
an article in the Bulletin today about what happened in England,
my friends. Some of the greatest stories
I've ever read about the gospel and the power of God and calling
God's people and building up God's people concern the nation
of England. But you go there today and you
will be hard pressed, my friends, to find a place where the gospel
of the grace of God is proclaimed. There are some places, but it's
sure not like it was in the days of Spurgeon. and even before
that. Strive together, because the
gospel always has its enemies. We think of those who rail against
the truth concerning the Trinity, that God, there's one God, and
yet in the Essence, in that one essence, there's three persons. The Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. And this is part of the gospel
that we might know the true God. Contend for this. I'll tell you,
there's groups of people within a radius of 30 miles of our building. And you'd be surprised in how
many of those places They have already chunked in the truth
concerning the Trinity of persons and the Godhead. How many we think about who once
professed and believed church buildings where the truth was
proclaimed that Adam was the first man? Not a metaphor. This is actual
history. Adam was the first man. And you
let that go, my friends, and embrace this teaching called
evolution, and what do you have? You have no gospel. It's gone. Why? Because the gospel is all
about the fact that Adam, as the first man, represented all
men, and all men fell in Adam. And in the second Adam, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the last Adam, all that he represented are saved. In Adam all die, even so in Christ
shall all be made alive. Earnestly contend for the faith. Paul says that you strive together
for the faith of the gospel. There's always an attack on the
person of Jesus Christ. Always. That's where Satan, he
really aims his weapons against the truth concerning the person
of Jesus Christ. That he is one person and yet
he has these two natures. He's God and he's man. The God man. The glory man. And that in Him, God chose a
people before the foundation of the world. People say, you
believe that? I believe it, my friends, because
it's the teaching of the Word of God. It's what God declares. And it's not hard to understand. People say, that's a hard...
No, it's not hard to understand. It's hard for natural man to
accept. that God is sovereign and God
works His will among the children of men. It's not hard to understand
what the Bible says. It's hard for lost, proud, rebellious
man to accept, to believe. Strive together in one mind,
striving together for the faith of the gospel. There's always
an attack upon imputed righteousness. One man, I could call his name,
many of you would recognize it, he said, imputed righteousness,
that's imputed foolishness. That's what he said. But that's
not what the Bible says, my friends. A man who said that, of course,
he believes in working for your salvation. I like what J.C. Philpott wrote about three righteousnesses. Inherent righteousness. Inherent. We have none. We have none. Imputed righteousness. That is,
the righteousness of Christ is imputed unto us and therefore
God declares us just and imparted righteousness. And those that
he saves, he puts a new nature, new heart. And we begin to live
a life different from that old life. Someone said, well, when the
Lord saved me, He just completely changed me. He does everyone
He saves. But this person went on to say,
he said, I never, he said, I used to speak profanity, and from
the time God saved me, I've never said another profane word. Well,
you never said one, but did you ever think one? I remember a story of a man,
preacher, he was talking to this other man who talked like that. That's the way he talked. That's
the way he lived. He just had curse words all the
time. That was his conversation. And
this preacher said, well, would you like to pray with me? He
said, yeah, I would. And he started praying, and he
used some curse words in his prayer to preach. No, you can't
say that. You can't use those curse words
when you're talking to God. But that's the way the man spoke.
That was the way he talked. Our conversation. There are things
that we work out, right? We grow in grace and knowledge
of the Lord. And there's a growth. Some people
are against this teaching. They feel like that when a believer
is saved that he's as grown as he's ever going to be. That's
not so. Just like a baby that is born
into this world has all its members when it's born, but he's going
to grow, she's going to grow. Notice these words the apostle
uses, striving together. All believers are to strive together. It's not just the work of the
pastor. You say, that's why we pay a
preacher. Oh no, it's not. Don't ever be guilty of saying
that. Or at least don't ever let me hear that. This is the
work of everyone who professes to believe the gospel. We all
have a part in this. We are to strive together for
the faith of the gospel, strive together, prayer, attendance. Have you ever noticed what the
Bible says about Peter on the day of Pentecost? We talk about
Peter preaching that day, and yes, he did preach, but the scripture
says Peter standing up with the 11. Yes, he's the one who stood
up and evidently, as always, he was the spokesman. But I tell
you what, he had the other apostles alongside of him. Right? And
in every church, it's not just the pastor. People say, well,
that's a one-man ministry. There never has been a one-man
ministry except the Lord's ministry. Every other preacher, he wouldn't
be worth His salt, if He didn't have men and women to stand with
Him, pray for Him, encourage Him, faithfully attend. I've often wondered what a person
would think if they visited our church service on Sunday morning
and such a good group of people here, they might go away saying,
boy, that's a good group of people that believe in God's sovereign
grace. and come back on Sunday night.
I wonder what they'd think. I wonder what they'd think. We
are to strive together. Notice the last thing he said,
and nothing terrified by your adversaries. In this world, all
of God's true people have adversaries. The devil is one, Paul in as
much says, don't be terrified by him. He's a defeated foe. Christ is greater than him. Resist
the devil and he'll flee from you. The world is another, but
remember Christ's words to his disciples, in the world you shall
have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. John wrote, this is the victory
which overcometh the world, even your faith. Don't be terrified
by your adversaries. Keep this in mind. Your adversaries
may kill the body, but they cannot touch the soul. In preparing
my message for tonight, I went back and read a portion concerning
the English reformers. I think I mentioned that last
Sunday in the message. But I read about a man by the
name of Hugh Latimer. I've never read his biography,
but he's always intrigued me. He was a bishop, I believe, in
the Church of England. And when he was burned at the
stake, This is what he said. He and a man by the name of Ridley
were burned together. One was tied on this side of
the stake, one was tied on this side of the stake. And Hugh Latimer,
he was 70 years old, and this is what he said. Courage! Courage,
Brother Ridley! We shall light such a candle
this day. as by God's grace shall never
be put out in England. And the reason I'm always impressed
with that, I just wonder if Brother Latimer could come back and see
what's happened in the land of England. The world does not change the
church by its opposition. The gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. But I'll tell you how the world
changes the church by coming in. One of you told me recently
you were talking or heard a lady talking and you said, well what
church do you go to? And she told him the name of
the church and this is what she said. She said, they've made
our church a six flags. What did she mean by that? She
meant they've turned it into an amusement park. That's what's
happened. Their pastor, and don't ever
worry about this happening here because it's not going to happen,
but their pastor came in on one of these zip lines to the pulpit. You who know me
know I'm never going to get up high enough to get on a zipline.
But can you imagine the foolishness that has been brought into the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ? This is my desire, Paul said,
that you stand fast, that you continue. Conversation becomes
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Whatever suffering Christ, whatever
suffering for Christ God's people experience in this world, we
remember it is under His control. And if He's ordained that you
suffer two weeks, 14 days, you're not going to suffer 15 days.
That's what he means here when he says, for unto you it is given
in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, he's the one
who gave us faith if we believe on him, but also to suffer for
his cause. May the Lord bless this word
to all of us here today. I want to stand fast, don't you?
By God's grace, I want to stand fast. I want to be like that
boy. who stood right there where his dad told him to stand. I
want to be where Christ has put me when he comes back. God give us grace to be faithful.
Let's turn to this hymn, Am I a Soldier of the Cross, number 414. 414. And let's stand and sing
and we'll be dismissed.