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156.
Blessed God and our loving Father, we give thanks again this afternoon. We thank Evad uh, thou has given us yet another opportunity here with thy words open before us and knowing that to the spirit guiding uh, that how as we would desire to ask teach us more of God bless wage and surely we have been reminded how we are to live uh, with the as our life.
And we know thou has been the greatest example for us, and we know too that that has exalted us to, uh, as I would say, let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus. So we look to the this afternoon, we look to thee for help that that would help us to seek thy mind and that we would desire, uh, to be, uh, like they and walk in a way pleasing to thee. So we look to the aim. We think of many, uh, uh, people here this afternoon. We think of many of the little ones. We think of the young people.
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We think of uh, uh, uh, all of us here with various needs and as we're reminded too of trials and tribulations, how we all have different burdens before our heart. So we look to the and we ask that that would fill our needs. And now we commit this meeting into thine hand looking for help once more in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Amen.
First seven maybe?
Philippians chapter one beginning at verse 7.
Philippians One, verse 7.
Even as it is need for me to think this of you all because I have you in my heart. I'm sorry because.
I have you in my heart in as much as falls in my bonds, and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel, yet ye all are particulars of my grace, for God is my record. How greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ, and this I pray that your love may have found yet more and more.
In knowledge and in all judgment, that ye may approve things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense, till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. But I would ye should understand, brethren.
That the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places. And many of the brethren in the Lord waxing confidence by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the Word without fear.
Some indeed preach price even of envy and strife, and some also of goodwill. The one preached Christ of contention, not sincerely supposing to add affliction to my bonds, but the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the gospel. What then, notwithstanding?
Every way, whether in pretense or in truth.
Praise is preached, and I herein do rejoice, yeah, and will rejoice, for I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness.
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. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor. Yet what I shall choose I watch not, for I am in a straight betrayed too, 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 be ABI. I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith. That you're rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.
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Only let your conversation be as it becomes the gospel of Christ.
And whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one's 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 He saw in me, and now here to be in me.
Thinking in relation to the last few comments then.
There's such a thing as a saved soul and a lost life. A saved soul and a lost life, Umm.
It tells us in First Corinthians 3.
That if our work is burned up.
Yet he shall be saved yet so as by fire.
So, umm, we should have in view, uh, judgment seat of Christ. When our lives will be reviewed, all our motives will be manifest, our works, whether they have been in accordance with the the word of God, the mind of God and there will be a reward or there will be lost.
The law is a prime example. He he lived for present advantage.
You live for this world and for, uh, advancement here in this scene.
He nearly lost his life. We're gonna meet Lot in the glory in heaven. He was a righteous man who vexed his soul every day with the filthy conversation of the wicked in Sodom, where he should not have been.
But his works will be burned up and.
This is, uh, not a very happy prospect. So, uh, the apostle.
Wanted the Philippians to live in view of that day.
When, uh, everything would be manifest and.
That their fervor in the gospel was an encouragement to Paul even though he was in prison.
You see a real love for the brethren, don't you, in the Apostle Paul and how his heart longed for them?
And longed for their blessing. We didn't mention it this morning, but it's interesting to note when Paul prays for the Saints, as he, as we have in this epistle and in many of the other epistles, those prayers for the Saints, it's not usually in connection with some circumstance in life, some problem or difficulty or health issue. No doubt Paul prayed for his brethren when there were problems and difficulties and health issues and so on.
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But the prayers that are given to us in the various epistles more often than not have to do with the spiritual well-being of the Saints, that they would go on individually for the Lord and for His glory, and that they would go on collectively. Which I believe was perhaps more on his heart in writing to the Philippians, as the enemy had been bringing in this little wedge to seek to divide and weary the Saints that here at Philippi so that they wouldn't go on together.
And give collective testimony. And so Paul had this desire. You know, it's interesting that before Paul was saved as Saul of Tarsus, his whole Benton energy and Paul was a man of energy and focus. But his whole bent and energy and focus was to stamp out the name of Christ, to hinder the gospel from going forth and to persecute and have killed the believers, those who belong to the Lord Jesus.
And after he got turned around on the Damascus Rd. he still had the same energy, he still had focus, but it was completely different. His whole Benton energy after his he was saved was that the gospel would go forth. Souls might be saved, but it didn't end there. As we've already alluded to in these meetings, his desire for those who were saved was that they would go on and that there would be spiritual growth.
In their lives collectively, individually and collectively. And that's what you see here. And you see Paul's heart coming out here in these verses. He longed for them, His bowels yearned for them. He desired their spiritual blessing. And brother, and I believe that's something good for all of us to covet as well. Do we really long for the spiritual blessing of our brethren? You know, sometimes when I come to prayer meeting, and again, don't misunderstand me. This is right and proper in its place. But sometimes.
We pray simply for the problems and difficulties, the physical maladies that we are aware of amongst the people of God, and so on.
And sometimes we pray for those who aren't attending the meetings, those who are, for we feel perhaps they're getting cold in their souls, maybe going on with something that we know will be a detriment in their Christian pathway and so on. But I had a rebuke from a sister one time after a prayer meeting. She said, Jim, why is it that we never, never or rarely hear prayed for those who are going on well and those who are out to meeting?
Again, as we said this morning.
We, if we really had that love for our brethren and to pray for them name by name, not just when they have problems or they, they're not attending the meeting, they're getting cold, but pray for those who are going on well. And so we find this with the Apostle Paul, what a yearning, what a desire he had for this assembly. And I believe, brothers and sisters, everyone of us ought to have that same yearning and desire.
While he was confident in verse six that they would continue on and that they would endure in the path of faith. And it was a pretty bold statement to make and it's written for us. And he had foundation for that statement.
And so he makes his comment in verse seven in connection with his statement, he says, even as it is me for me to think this of you all, because it really should read. Ye have me in your hearts in as much as both in my bonds and in the defense of the con and confirmation of the gospel. Ye all are partakers of my grace. So they had a real affection for Paul and it didn't dim their affection at all in connection with his imprisonment and the restriction in his movements.
Throughout the world at that time. But, and so, you know, we might ask the same question to ourselves. Do we have affection for Paul's doctrine? Do we read the epistles? And do we really have a desire to know what he taught? And then when we know what he taught to, uh, buy the truth, not to sell it. And so here the apostle makes this bold statement. He follows up, he says, I know that you have real affection for me. And they proved it time and again by their fellowship sent to him.
And also in the confirmation, the defense and confirmation of the glad tidings and that they were really partaking of the grace that was specially given to him to endure the opposition during the day that he lived in.
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And so, you know, the Lord will give us grace as we walk in obedience to the truth of God and as we seek to uphold the doctrine, Paul's doctrine, and, uh, to, uh, just faithfully uphold the doctrine that is being let go in the day that we live in, the Lord is able to give us grace, special grace that even as we might share it, as it were, the grace that was given to Paul to go on and to endure. And so may the Lord give us grace to endure in the day that we live in.
That there might be confidence, as it were, in the Lord to preserve us, and that we might just, umm, be strengthened to do to go on.
So the neutral thing then that we have here that there was.
Their love to the apostle and his love for them in the 7th and 8th verses and.
The reason for it was that they had him in their hearts, as their brother just said, but also they were going through some of the same difficulties that we have. In verse 29 it says front to you is given in behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. And so they had fellowship with the apostle and what he was going through. And it's this very point that the apostle Paul takes up in the next chapter, isn't it?
He says in verse one, if therefore be any consolation in Christ, any comfort of love, any fellowship of the Spirit, any vows of mercy, fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same love, one of course being of 1 accord in one mind. That's where the failure was. And that assembly there was an evident love for the apostle and an appreciation and a fellowship and bowels of mercies. Everything was there and it was good and it was right.
It's really divine love and action, isn't it? And so human love needs perhaps something natural to, uh, respond to, but, umm, it's really the reflection of the love of Christ for his own. And so Paul expressed it and he saw the Spirit of Christ in his brethren and he valued it.
Thank God for it. And he wasn't in the position where he could come to them and practically display it. And so he says that God is my record.
What we also need is compassion and understanding. Quite often we lack that in our so-called judgment of others. Sometimes we haven't walked into the shoe of our brother or sister in our meeting and instead of being judgmental we should be a little bit more compassionate and understanding and to.
Uh.
Feel what the other person feels. I I think with compassion and love and understanding go hand in hand.
I was thinking of, I was going to say that we marvel at the energy of the apostle here because.
You know, he had some very high.
Truths he he had revelations that no other apostle had.
He fulfilled the word of God till he brought out the wonderful truth of the church and the heavenly calling of the believer and and so on these precious truths that uh.
He rejoiced in and are the full revelation of the heart of God, but at the same time he had tremendous energy in the gospel.
Uh, you just read the book of the Acts and, uh, see the, uh, every peril and, uh.
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What he endured in taking the gospel out in Philippi here, uh.
Not, umm, restricted to divine revelations that he had received, which of course are very important, but he had a, a freshness and energy in the gospel that he's, uh, beautiful to, uh.
As he remarks here in the chapter we're reading, I believe that many of the, uh, many of the guards in Caesar's household, I think that comes out there in the, uh.
22nd verse of the last chapter Salute every St. in Christ Jesus.
Brethren which are with me greet you. All the Saints salute you chiefly they that are of Caesar's household.
For many of those guards and.
Those that were in the prison where he, uh, he was incarcerated or brought to fights, I'm sure that, uh, he saw much fruit, though he was, uh, hindered in his movements.
So we have this little prayer beginning in verse nine again he said, and his prayer is that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment, that you may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ, and so on. And so again, what he desired was that there would be growth, that there would be growth in their love for one another, that that love would deepen and grow. But he immediately says.
In knowledge and in all. Notice Mr. Darby's translation intelligence, because there are many who say, well, all we have to do is show love. Well, that's wonderful. To show love and divine love is a wonderful thing. And we have a nature that loves all the people of God, but it has to be with knowledge and intelligence. That's why in Ephesians he's abounded to us in all wisdom and prudence in the King James. But again, Mr. Darby translated intelligence.
Christianity is marked by intelligence in divine things.
And so there has to be knowledge and then the ability to take that knowledge and to use it intelligently according to God's ways and purposes. And so that again in Second Timothy where he's writing of the last days and so on, he says that we are to follow righteousness, faith, peace, love. Now if I was writing that list, I would have written love and peace and maybe forgot about righteousness and faith. And that's what many.
Want to do today? Just let things go, Let Doctrine slide.
I've heard Christians say doctrine doesn't matter. It, it, it's irrelevant, it's, it's down the list or whatever. But the Apostle Paul says no, yes, we're to love, but it must be on the basis of truth and not it must be on the basis of knowledge and with wisdom and intelligence to go on in the way God intends us to. And so these Philippians, they were to love one another, They were to get along, but it had to be one mind.
In the Lord, not just one mind, we can all agree to disagree and get along, but thus compromise. And compromise is never justified in our Christian life.
Here in Philippians, don't you think that it's perhaps really divine love that is, uh, really the inaction? And as a result, there's, uh, knowledge, not only knowledge, but there's discernment, as you say, intelligence. And so there could be cold, hard knowledge. You could know things, the things of God, you could know Paul's doctrine. But I believe what really endeared, endeared, uh, these Saints to the apostle Paul is the love and affection that they had for one another, the love and affection that they had for him.
As they held the truth and they walked in discernment because of it. And so we need not only to have, uh, the knowledge of the truth, but to hold it with affection for one another. And so really there's going to be fruit for God if we love one another and we see, uh, we really earnestly desire that we go on in the truth.
And we do have the ability to prove the things that are excellent and pure, don't we? Again, as we mentioned in a previous meeting, we have all things that pertain on the life and godliness and, uh, thinking of what Paul says to in Romans chapter 12.
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When he exhorts us to present our bodies a living sacrifice in verse one, he says wholly acceptable unto God, which is your intelligence service. We have an intelligent service to render to him. We we don't just grow far away in the dark in Christianity, whether it's our service, whether it's how we meet as believers, whether it's how we encourage one another in the Lord, whether it's going out in the gospel or whatever it is.
We don't just grope our way along and hope we get from point A to point B. We often do that on a dark night or we the lights go out in our house and we grow up our way along and hope we don't trip over something. But no, there's light for our pathway and we can prove what is acceptable. We've been given an intelligent service. And that's what he's telling the Philippians. Yes, the motive is love and it always in Christianity, the motive is always love. But then when that motive is in place.
He says, Now I'll give you light and instruction, I'll give you discernment, I'll give you divine intelligence as to how to act in the motive of love.
I'd like to connect, uh, a passage that we're thinking of here.
Improving the things that are excellent.
Umm, Hebrews 5. I'll read.
This hurting that's for everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he's a faith the small meat belonged to him that are of full age, even though they're still by reason of use after extensive exercise to discern both good and evil.
You might say, well.
You don't need too much intelligence.
To see that somebody who is mean is the medieval for somebody who steals or hurts other people's committed evil. So how come it needs it for those who are full age to discern that which is of which is good and evil?
Because there are some things that are harder to approve, things that are excellent, and there are things that the religious mind tends to.
That.
Are evil and that they're not good for you? It doesn't. And then you might need a little discernment if you're considering dietary things. What's good for you and what is it so good for you?
And if you ask the child what's good for you, they'll say a candy bar. If you ask somebody older, they're not likely to say that. Uh, and so the same thing is true in spiritual matters. There is that, which is.
Attractive to the spiritual mind that is not mature.
We look for we look for sandwiches, miraculous sandwiches, sensational, that which sets dates for certain things to happen, a reason aired in death in the past and.
There is that in the spiritual mind that tends to keep him law, and there's that in the spiritual mind that can make us want to punish ourselves rather than enjoy that which God has provided for us.
And there's that in the spiritual mind which wants to organize everything here on earth instead of having that which is outlined in the scripture heavenly. And so there is need for the.
Mature, recognize and to endorse.
Or think well of that which is excellent and be able to.
Draft wreck that which is not so healthy spiritually that we can fall into so.
It says when I say Singapore, all that the heavens would run.
And in carefulness.
Well, because they walked with divine love in the expression of divine love for one another.
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And divine love for the apostle Paul, they really did have the ability to, uh, approve those things were that were morally excellent. And so this world, uh, has a changing standard.
In connection with moral values and those things that have to do with God, even in the Christian testimony.
Umm, the appreciation of divine things fluctuates, but the word of God is, uh, sure and it's certain. And, umm, so the Lord, the apostle here inspired of God desires that they would go on consistently knowing what was morally excellent and, uh, without and be that you may be sincere without offense till the day of Christ. And so that he was really counting upon God's grace and favor.
Mercy.
That they might not have a fall. And as our brother Jim's mentioned before that, uh, sometimes, uh, we don't pray for those that are going on well, as we ought to. I was just say this, that the Apostle Paul never ceased to pray for them. He says that in this epistle and in every prayer of mine, verse four for you all making requests with joy. We know that there were some things that he dresses later on in the epistle.
But umm, he desired that there wouldn't be any fall morally, that there would be no offense to the cross of Christ, No, umm, fall, no trip. And umm, how we ought to rejoice in righteousness and rejoice to, uh, encourage our brethren to walk in the paths of righteousness that there might not be a fall.
He really wanted them to have a full reward, didn't he? He didn't want anything to come in that would would hinder that. And so the apostle Paul at the end of his life said henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. And what is the crown of righteousness a reward for? I believe the crown of righteousness is a reward for living righteously in an unrighteous world. And so if you and I seek by the grace of God to go on and live for his glory.
To not compromise, there's a full reward at the end. There's a crown of righteousness. Paul in his life saw a lot of unrighteousness, the rise of unrighteousness in every level of society and even in the Christian testimony. But he said at the end of it, Timothy, if you live righteously, there's a crown of righteousness laid up for him. For Paul, yes, but not for him only, but all those that loved his appearing. And really, again, it's a very unselfish mode of, isn't it? You think of athletes going out to run a race. Paul was running a race. He speaks of it later on.
But when, when, when 20 athletes go out to run a race, they really run it selfishly because everyone wants to get the reward. Everyone wants to come in first.
But the apostle Paul didn't have that spirit and attitude. His attitude was that whether it was the Philippians, the Thessalonians, whoever it was that they would run so that they would get a full reward. And Paul said to the Thessalonians, that's my crown of rejoicing When I see you get a full reward, that's reward enough for me. Again, I think good for us all to covet that, to see in our bread, to have a desire for our brethren to get a full reward, that we might rejoice at their reward.
In the day of Christ, we have to be reminded of the acrostic for joy, don't we? In this book, so simple, but it's so powerful. And that, of course, is Jesus first, others next, in yourself last. Very simple. But that's the secret here, isn't it? And a mature Christian acts that way. And that's what he's speaking to. He's speaking to those who he desires to see their growth in the Lord and, uh, uh, in the Lord Jesus. And, uh, that's a good desire for all of us, but that's a great test for us, isn't it?
Do we really put the Lord first?
Do we put others next ourselves last? That's a real That's a tough thing a lot of times, isn't it? But that's the secret of joy.
I might mention, I, I've enjoyed a thought. I, I think, uh, it's often been mentioned that, uh, Philippians is a wilderness book and I believe that's correct. But I think it's also helpful to see that there's progression in the wilderness. And, uh, it's been very helpful to me to see where the different epistles fit into the different parts of the wilderness journey. Of course, uh, before the wilderness journey is what we have in the book of Romans.
In the Passover and in the Red Sea, that's salvation. That's our new position that we spoke about, uh, this morning. But now it has to do primarily with state and there's four stages. And I believe Philippians really is in the fourth stage of the wilderness. Umm, there's many other epistles that are in the first stage, For instance, when they first crossed into the wilderness, crossed over the Red Sea, It was grace that was the great lesson of that first stage of the wilderness from the Red Sea to.
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Sinai, they had to learn that God was sufficient to meet all their needs. So when they needed water, he gave it to him. He didn't rebuke them. He gave it to him. When they needed, uh, other things, he gave it to him. And so that's perhaps the first lesson a new Christian learns is that God is gracious. His resources are sufficient to satisfy all of our needs. He's in all the way home Savior, as we sometimes hear. And I believe there are certain books that correspond to that, For instance, the book of James.
Uh, something in a way that's for new believers, if Romans is the book of justification by faith, justification before God, James is the book of justification before men. So there's a little different thought there, isn't there? And then the books of first and 2nd Thessalonians, perhaps we can say fit into that. He gives them the fundamentals of Christianity in those two epistles and some warnings in the second epistle. But then the second stage is Sinai.
Sinai to Kadesh Barnea and uh, at Sinai, they were given the law and the Christian is not under law, but we're under the government of God. And I've often mentioned that at a man's table, uh, we might have, uh, children of different ages and the youngest child would be sticks his fingers in the food. We think it's funny, but if a 10 year old child does that, we're not very happy about it. There's responsibility with maturity, isn't there? And that's the government of God whatsoever a man soweth.
That Shelly also reaped that's positive and negative. And so the Christian is under the government of God. We get that, for instance, in first and second Peter. I think that's very helpful to see that first Peter, particularly the government of God in respect of his people. If they do good, who's going to molest them? And second, Peter, uh, the government of God and respect of the wicked, they're going to come under judgment. But then when they got the cadish Borneo, we remember what happened.
There was they despised the pleasant land, as it tells us in Psalms, and as a result they had to wander for 38 years until that whole generation died off. Those are the years of wandering, we might say. Perhaps that's corrective.
Like we have in the book of Galatians and perhaps even in the book of First Corinthians. They anticipate better things, but they're mainly corrective epistles. But that's the third stage. It's been noted that there was no real progress made those 38 years. They wandered till they died. And that's the government of God too, isn't it? Umm, it's a thing that should touch our consciences. Are we wasting our lives and just wasting it until we die?
Or does God have a do have we taken hold of the purpose of blessing that God has for us? But then when we get to the fourth stage of wilderness, and I believe that's where Philippians fits because he already, uh, I thank my God upon every remembrance of you always in every prayer of mine for you making all, making requests with joy. These weren't the Thessalonians. These weren't new Christians. These weren't wandering Christians like the Galatians in the Corinthians.
But they were in that four stage, which I believe, uh, we can call preparation for entering into the land of Canaan, which was their proper inheritance. That speaks of heavenly things and so Philippians.
Point them to those things that are characteristic of a mature believer. And so that's true with the book of Hebrews. I believe it's true of the book of Second Corinthians. It's a restorative epistle after the corrective epistle of First Corinthians.
And perhaps that's a little bit of a help. Uh, this is the 4th stage of the wilderness. They're being prepared. The new generation now is being prepared to enter into the land of Canaan. And of course we have other epistles that correspond with that Colossians.
Passing through the Jordan and Ephesians, of course, in Canaan and I believe first first Timothy, uh, Titus, no doubt also arcane and epistles in many respects. But I think it's helpful to see that Philippians is really written to mature police people in many respects and Paul speaks to them in a mature way. And again, the great secret of joy is that acrostic Jesus first, others next yourself last. I may have lots of knowledge.
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But if I don't walk in the truth of that, I'm really not a mature Christian, am I?
There was no hypocrisy with the Apostle, and he was, uh, sincere, uh.
And there was a little fence over the Day of Christ when there's, uh, transparency with Him.
And that's an important lesson for us that, uh, we don't, uh, put on a exterior of godliness and there's not the reality, but with the apostle, although he was.
Not blameless in all his actions. He was blameless as to his motives and uh, we, uh, we need to judge our motives too that, uh.
We have the the glory of Christ to be for us and.
To be sincere, to walk in reality before the Lord and before our brethren.
Well, if there are any fruits of righteousness, there's any practical righteousness exhibited in our lives, anything for his glory, uh, in our lives, we're going to recognize in the coming day that it was nothing of ourselves. And so he says, being in verse 11, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ under the glory and praise of God. And think I thought of it this way, brethren, when we get to glory and we stand at the judgment seat of Christ.
And He gives rewards for any faithfulness down here. We're going to to recognize, perhaps like never before, the import of the verse in the next chapter, that it was God that worked in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And I sometimes illustrated it this way. If you give a cup of water in the Lord's name, which the Lord said would not lose its reward, when you get to the judgment seat of Christ and He goes to reward you for it, you're going to realize first of all that He provided the cup of water.
Secondly, He provided the opportunity to give it. Thirdly, He put the motive in your heart to give it. Well, brother, no wonder we're going to recognize it was all by Christ Jesus and all for the glory of God. And that's why I believe in the end of Revelation 4, we take those rewards, the four and 20 elders take those rewards that are given for faithfulness, and they cast them back at His feet and they give Him all the praise and all the glory because we're going to realize that whether it was our salvation.
Or whether it was any motive of love, any act of kindness, any, any practical righteousness exhibited in our lives, we're gonna realize that it was nothing of ourselves, that it was all His work, not so much for us, but in us. Is what we have here the work of God in us? The work of Christ in us? But it was, it's all Him and it's all going to be in the end for his praise and glory. You know, when athletes we had Olympics this summer and when athletes get those medals, why? It's for the glory of the athlete and the country they represent.
And they stand on the podium and they get the glory. But that's not the way it's going to be with our reward, is it? No, we're going to recognize it's all for His glory. He's going to get all the glory in the end. And brethren, when we think about it, ought to really motivate our souls if it means more glory to Him in the end. Don't we want to live for Him now? Don't we want to exhibit practical righteousness in our lives now, knowing that in the end it's going to be for His praise and glory?
Yeah, He loves to give us the credit, doesn't He? Well done, thou good and faithful servant. That's the grace of the Lord Jesus. But it is he who put that desire in our hearts, as you mentioned. But he loves to give the credit to us.
Might be good to read it in Mr. Darby's translation. It's a little more accurate there being complete as regards the fruit of righteousness, which is by Jesus Christ to God's glory and praise.
He wanted them to have a full reward, didn't he? Nothing missing complete.
Only the Lord Jesus could say it is finished.
But uh, there is such a thing as uh, uh, falling short of what we should really bear as far as fruit the Lord Jesus could look in a future day. He speaks prophetically. He says, uh, he shall see of the fruit of the travail of his soul should be satisfied.
But in your life and mine, our responsibility to bear fruit, the fruit is not ours. The fruit is his. And so he wants the reward to be complete and that there would be a full glory, a full display of that glory in that day of manifestation.
00:50:12
Let me read a verse in Second Peter in that regard, because we're not talking about our entrance into heaven. This has nothing to do with our entrance into heaven, nor does it have anything to do with our enjoyment of heaven. And that it.
There's a verse sometimes we've misapplied in first a second Peter chapter one. I'll read verse 10 and then it's really verse 11 I'm thinking of.
Second Peter one verse 10 Wherefore the rather brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you shall never fail. Now notice this first. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly, not into heaven, but into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We're all going to have an abundant entrance into heaven based on the finished work of Christ and faith in him. But.
What Peter is talking about here is the Kingdom. It's the full reward that Robert has spoken of. He wants to be able to say instead of over beat out over 5 cities, he wants to say be thou over 10 cities. He wants to give a full reward. So it's an abundant entrance into the Kingdom. Rewards always have to do with the appearing. It has to do with the Kingdom because we've talked a great deal of the judgment seat of Christ. Another thing the judgment seat of Christ does is establish our place in the righteous reign.
Of the Millennium. And so our faithfulness now, those righteousnesses, those practical things we do for His glory now.
Are establishing our place in the Kingdom and the rewards in that day have to do with our entrance into the Kingdom, not heaven. But he wants us to have an abundant entrance.
It's easy to sometimes confuse about Jimmy and, but if we think of it this way, it might be helpful.
In a certain aspect.
The Kingdom is related to responsibility, but the deal is it's related to our responsibility. What is eternal and what is in the eternal state. Connection with God is in connection fully, excuse me, with Christ.
Responsible, he was the responsible one who has secured salvation and eternal salvation. He is the one that brings us into that eternal glory. And so if we just think of it as help me at least to think of it in connection with responsibility, yes, we know it's Christ working in us, which well, as you mentioned it really it's his work that has been given us reward in the Kingdom times that in eternity.
Is fully his work. It's the work on Calgary's cross which brings each of us into the eternal glory of God.
Well, he changed his gears a little bit in verse 12, doesn't he? Very interesting that he never speaks of his own circumstances till the 12 first. Now if I was writing a letter and I was in a difficult circumstance like Paul was, I would probably have brought this out first and asked for the sympathy and prayers of my brother. But how different When Paul writes by inspiration, his first and foremost concern was for his brethren.
And to pray for them. And they're going on and continuing in love and spiritual growth.
He gets that all off his heart and then he says, well, I'm going to have to tell you a little bit about my circumstances. But again, he doesn't do it right away like perhaps I would, I would have done. But he does go on then to speak in these next few verses of his circumstance because he wanted the brethren to understand really what the Lord had allowed in his life and that there was no bitterness in Paul as to what the Lord had allowed. He understood very clearly that it was for a purpose and for for a purpose, a blessing.
He's going to bring out some of that that purpose. And brethren, if we can get ahold of that in our own soul, I believe it gives us real peace in the circumstances of life. Sometimes we say.
Everything in our lives is allowed for a purpose, but that statement falls a little short of what we really have here. Yes, everything in our lives is for a purpose, but it's more than that. It's for a purpose of blessing. You know, we might have a purpose in the family. I might, as the head of my home, have some purpose. But in the end, it might be just a selfish motive. Maybe it's really just to get something for myself, for some credit for myself.
00:55:20
But God's purposes in our lives are not just for a purpose. The things in our lives are not just for a purpose. They are for a purpose, a blessing. You know, the enemy might have thought, well, I'll get Paul locked up. I'll get him chained in his own hired house. He won't be able to go out preaching the gospel. He won't be able to go around and encourage the Saints of God. So that'll hinder the work of God. You know, the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath thou shalt restrain. It says in the 76th Psalm.
In Corinthians it says we can do nothing for the against the truth, but for the truth. What was what was the result of Paul being in prison? Why we have one of these epistles in our hand. So the enemy thought, well, Paul won't be able to orally preach the gospel and encourage the Saints, But the Lord had something far, far more, far greater and far reaching in mind. Some of the epistles that Paul wrote were written while he was in prison by divine inspiration.
Not just for the blessing of the Philippians and others at that time, but for our blessing and our learning. So the enemy might have thought he got a bit of a victory, but God had a far greater purpose. And Paul understood this very clearly.
It's really the Spirit of Christ coming out in his ministry, isn't it? I often think that perhaps Philippians is perhaps the sweetest epistle that we have, that Paul wrote his sweetest ministry. And under those, uh, circumstances in which, uh, the Philippine Saints could look at him and say, well, things may not ever be the same. It could, maybe we'll never see Paul come to the assembly in Philippians in Philippi again, but it really brought out the sweetness and for the furtherance of the gospel, it just point out, and perhaps you've, uh, noticed in Genesis chapter 45, you have the spirit of Christ in connection with the.
Uh, Joseph and he speaks to his brother and he says in verse 5 Now, therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that ye sold me, hit her for God did send me before to you before you to preserve life.
For these two years has the famine been in the land? And so he had really suffered for 22 years. I don't think Paul really was imprisoned that long. Perhaps, uh, two years and then, uh, two years in his house, uh, his own hired House of perhaps four years in his first imprisonment. But, uh, the word of the Lord was not bound. And so there is a practical application for ourselves and when the Lord hems us in.
And, uh, he stops up our way and he hinders our movements. Perhaps there is, uh, little benefit if we submit to it. And so there's fruit for the Lord in it. He said it was furthering.
The Gospel.
And stirring up the Saints of God too. So these two things you have in verse 12.
13 And 14, Paul recognized that at least part of the purpose of him being imprisoned was for the furtherance to the gospel, as you say. And then the Saints would be stirred up, and they were. And some of them waxed bold because of Paul's, Paul's bonds. And Paul was thankful too. For anyway, the gospel went out. You know, Paul might have said, might have been complaining and saying, well, I love to preach the gospel and I was given a special Commission and so on. And now I can't. What good am I doing here?
No, he says, as long as the truth is going forth. In fact, he even says, whether in truth or pretense, Christ is preached. And I therein do rejoice, Shay, and will rejoice. So on the one hand, the Saints were being genuinely stirred up to be bold with the gospel. They were saying, well, Paul can't get out and preach, but we'll carry the torch. We'll, we'll, we'll take it up and we'll get the gospel out. On the other hand, some were saying we're preaching out of contention because they were hoping that they would make things worse for Paul.
But again, you see the Spirit of Christ in Paul, whether it was for our genuine motive or whether it was to make his situation more miserable. Also, that's OK as long as the Word of God is going out.
I'm content. I can't spread it like I, I was, but that's OK. Again, I, I think I say again, I, I've said it two or three times, brethren, as we go through these verses to see Paul's spirit and attitude and how the spirit and attitude, as Robert has said, of Christ comes out. We ought to really covet that for our own souls. If we can get this out of this chapter in these readings, that practical application for our own soul, that there might be that spirit of Christ in us as it wasn't Paul, then I believe we can leave these meetings with benefits.
01:00:29
It is encouraging to see the purpose behind various things that are recorded in Scripture and one of the portions that I find.
Very.
Precious is reading the 11Th chapter of John's Gospel.
Connection with the death of Lazarus and.
The Lord is rebuilt, so to speak, for not getting there sooner. But in verse 15 he says, And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there to the intent.
Ye may believe, nevertheless, let us go to Him while there was a purpose behind the Lord's delay, wasn't there? And that would be, uh, bringing glory to God the Father.
They they would witness something that they had not witnessed before.
And then there was another purpose too, is that they might feel his sympathy in this situation. It's recorded that Jesus wept. They know oh how he loved them and so.
That perhaps would not have been manifested had the Lord gotten there right away. And.
Did not delay as she had done.
Is it normal for a Christian to suffer?
It's normal, isn't it? You know, the prophetic Scriptures, and Peter refers to it in his epistle. In the first epistle, he says he speaks of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. And the, uh, Jews, uh, sought to erase, uh, in their mind, as it were, they couldn't see the sufferings of Christ and that Christ had to suffer. He speaks of that in Luke's Gospel, chapter 24. To those that were on the road to Emmaus, he spoke to them of all the scriptures. He brought all those things out.
The sufferings of Christ 1St and the glory that should follow. Well, is it any different for the disciples?
For you and I.
No, the OP opposition of the enemy is a very real thing now. Paul felt it and the disciples at that time felt it. And we may feel it a little more as, uh, if the Lord tarries yet a few more days and uh, the opposition politically, the climate in this country begins to change and umm, the apostasy, the spirit of apostasy develops. We may feel a little more of what this is. And so instead of it making.
Paul bitter, it made him sweet. And so it was really as we have in the Old Testament, uh, Moses cast that tree into the waters and the waters were made sweet. And so he brings this out in connection with the furtherance of the gospel and he speaks of the positive elements and verse 13. So my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places. He said it was a public testimony. And so how a Christian suffers.
Before.
That day of glorification is a testimony to this world, and may we seek grace to suffer in the right way.
When Paul was in, uh, Philippi the first time the Silas, they were cast into prison as malefactors.
And it cast a bad light on what they had been preaching. And so after the earthquake and the salvation of the Philippian jailer and so on.
They had the magistrates of the city realizing they had unjustly treated.
Paul and Silas sent in a quiet way to try and in the hushed way get them out of jail. And Paul. Paul said no, let them come and get us out because he wanted that slight taken away from the gospel.
01:05:03
And so it was. He wouldn't kind of quietly sneak out of the city. It's the same thing again here. Here he was a prisoner. He's been arrested. In the eyes of this world is a malefactor. And that had affected the believers. And how refreshing to him that this care package comes from the Philippian Saints while he's a prisoner. And it shows to him the continuation of the work of God. In their hearts. They had him in their hearts.
And what he stood for the defense of the gospel and they were still standing for it. Paul's gospel and he's encouraged that leads them into prayer that they would grow, that they would learn more of God's purpose and counsel in Christ and that the things that were not in accord with that knowledge of Christ would drop out of their lives. They would approve the things that are excellent and that they would have the whole.
Produce department, so to speak, of righteousness. It's the fruit, singular.
The whole thing would be produced in their lives that they would go on in a path, and it's the only sanctioned path in the scripture. For the child of God is a path that goes on without a slip or a stumble all the way to glory. He doesn't sanction any other path. Thank the Lord that he doesn't, otherwise it would be discouraging. There's one sanctioned path for the believer, and that is to go on without offense till the day of Jesus Christ. And now he explains.
Though there were those that were accusing him of being a malefactor and a wicked man, and that's why he was on bonds. No, he was. It was bonds in Christ. And that was becoming manifest right there in Rome and all the Palestinians, becoming evident that he was a prisoner, not because of some wicked thing that he had done, but for the gospel of Jesus Christ. And there were those who were getting confident about that.
That it wasn't that he was a malefactor. They were getting confident that those bonds were really in Christ, not because of some wicked thing that he had done, and they were going out to step into and fill his shoes in his absence in the defense of the gospel. And so he's now explained that was the same thing that had happened in a certain sense before, but now it was the work of God, not the magistrates coming and pulling him out in that way.
Manifesting that his bonds were indeed in Christ, not the bonds of a malefactor.
231.
Nsnoise.
Our loving God, thank thee for our Lord Jesus Christ, we thank Thee that in a very soon day, blessed Savior, that thou shalt present thy Bride to thyself without spot, without blemish. We marvel that such words could be written.
But we just seek now in the day of our pilgrimage, as we've just sung. We're in this wilderness scene. We don't belong here. And help us to walk by thy grace for thy glory, and that there might be a full.
An abundant fruit for the blessed Savior. And so we pray that for each one here in this audience, our God, we pray among our for our young, our children, our young people. We pray that that would preserve them spirit, soul and body, and that there might be an abundant entrance for each one.
Or our God, we thank Thee that they were able to work for thine own glory in each one of our lives. So we ask thee for this. We commend ourselves to thee. Now ask thee that thy word might have free course be glorified, and that there might be indeed an abundance of fruit in each one of our lives. We ask it and give thanks in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.