Our Old Covenant reading this evening comes from Psalm 33. Psalm 33, we'll be reading the entirety of this Psalm. Psalm 33, beginning in verse one. Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous. Praise befits the upright. Give thanks to the Lord with the lyre. Make melody to him with the harp of 10 strings. Sing to him a new song. Play skillfully on the strings with loud shouts. For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice. The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. By the word of the Lord, the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth, all their hosts. He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap. He puts the deeps in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spoke, and it came to be. He commanded, and it stood firm. The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage. The Lord looks down from heaven. He sees all the children of man. From where he sits enthroned, he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth. He who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds. The king is not saved by his great army. A warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation. And by its great might, it cannot rescue. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and our shield, for our heart is glad in him because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us. even as we hope in you. Our new covenant reading this evening comes from Paul's letter to the Philippians. Philippians chapter one, verses 12 to 18. This is the word of God. I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will Rejoice. The grass withers and the flowers of the field, they fade and they fall. But this, the word of our God from Psalm 33 and Philippians chapter 1, it endures forever. Let's pray together. Gracious Father, we come this evening to hear again of the glories of Jesus, to hear again of your triumphs through your grace, to hear again of all that you have for us in Christ. We ask, Lord, that by the word that you have breathed out, that you would change us, that you would shape us, Lord, that by your Spirit, you would form us into the image of Christ, our beloved Lord. We pray these things in Christ's name. We come this evening in our study in the book of Philippians to be the beginning really of the main body of Paul's letter to these saints. And what we find here is Paul beginning to provide an account of what has happened to him. The Philippians have certainly heard that Paul had been imprisoned. These Philippians had joined Paul in the fellowship of the gospel during his time in prison. They had been praying for him. They had been laboring in Philippi in defense and the confirmation of the good news, as Paul already told us at the beginning of this letter. They had been wondering what was happening to Paul as he was in prison, what was happening to him as he is in Rome and facing trial before the civil magistrate. And we find later that they even sent a gift out to Paul in order to help support him. Now, the general circumstances were known. Paul was in prison. But how has that affected him? How has that affected his ministry? How has that affected the saints in Rome, now that the apostle to the Gentile is in prison? The Philippians would certainly be eager to receive a word from Paul concerning his situation, especially given the deep affection shared between him and this church. Just think about some of the questions you would have. An apostle of Christ himself, who planted your church, he probably was the person that you first heard the gospel from and you believed. And now he's in prison. And there's all kinds of questions that could go along with such circumstances, aren't there? How will the work continue if the apostle Paul is suffering in this way? Is the Lord going to deliver him? And maybe perhaps you could drift into some questions like, has the power of the gospel in some way failed? Is the church going to lose ground? So Paul sets out in this first section of the body of this letter to help the Philippians come to understand what's happened to him. Throughout the book of Philippians, as we'll see, Paul often calls the Philippians to think differently. Think of a few verses. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. Or, whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, praiseworthy, think about these things. I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think in this way. And here, Paul's desire is that the Philippian Christians would think rightly about his current situation. The situation that involves his Christian suffering. So that in the midst of it, the saints would understand their life with the mind of Christ. Now, there's two sections in this passage that I want to highlight this evening. First is gospel progress, and second is adversity mixed with that progress. So let's start by looking at verse 12, gospel progress. Verse 12, Paul says, I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. Now, when he says, what has happened to me, he's referring to the fact that he's being confined. He's being confined to house arrest. He's being watched over day and night by Roman soldiers. He's not free to travel. He's unable to preach throughout the city as he'd like. But as he talks about his situation here, he doesn't really talk about what he's facing. He doesn't talk about his discomforts. He doesn't speak about the trial in terms of going before the Roman authorities. He doesn't explain the real risk to his life and the possibility that he could be facing execution. But instead he says, what has happened to me in reality is that this situation has served to advance the gospel. When Paul recounts his situation, the best summary for this season of his life is gospel advance as he's in prison. And notice that Paul is not saying that the gospel advanced in spite of his chains, but rather the gospel advanced because of his chains. Paul's situation, which by all human wisdom should have stifled the ministry of the gospel, actually proved to be a great catalyst. So that all who guarded him, all who came to see him, all who heard from those people, have heard the gospel. His chains were an opportunity to manifest Jesus. As he says in verse 13, that his imprisonment is for Christ, or his imprisonment is in Christ. See, for the Christian, every moment is lived in resurrection life in Jesus. So that what we see is that Paul is so completely wrapped up in Jesus, United to Jesus in his death. United to Jesus in his suffering. United to Jesus in his resurrection. So that to live is Christ. And that's what Paul's going to say in the next section. To live is Christ. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. So that every step in union with Jesus is subsumed into Jesus's power and into Jesus's purposes. As Paul says in verse 16, he was put there in that moment for the defense of the gospel. Right? If the Christian life is lived to the glory of God, if the Christian's life has marching orders that proceed from the mouth of Christ, If their life is wrapped up in His resurrection life, then it is the gospel on their lips, and confirmed in their hearts, and its fruits borne out in their lives that takes precedent over everything else. If it's true that the sufferings of this present age are not worth comparing to the glory that shall be revealed, Paul in chains provides an example of such heavenly-mindedness. Eyes fixed upon the glory of Christ rather than on the chains that bind him. It seems that Paul here wants to offer an alternative picture of his suffering than what the Philippians may naturally be thinking about. Now, this is no pie-in-the-sky spirituality. This is the life of the Christian, confident in Jesus's word, confident in Jesus's power, content in the Lord's plans and provisions, and consumed with Jesus's mission and his glory. So we find that Paul's imprisonment comes to have two effects that describe the advance of the gospel while Paul was in prison. The first effect we see in verse 13. His imprisonment has given him quality time with some Roman guards. In fact, he says that the whole Imperial Guard knows the reason for his imprisonment. And since that imprisonment is, as Paul says, for Christ, all of the soldiers who have had an opportunity to spend time with Paul have had an opportunity to hear about Jesus. During his imprisonment, Paul would have been essentially under house arrest, which means that day after day, he would have soldiers particularly one soldier assigned to watch over him. And presumably there would have been some type of rotation of soldiers. It wouldn't be the same guy all day and all night. They would switch out in shifts. And so if you think about that, Paul would have had an opportunity to talk to a number of different people, share with them what it meant that he was in prison. So because of his imprisonment, Paul was able to preach the gospel to his guards, and therefore to bear his imprisonment with courage, and with joy, and with hope. Jesus told his disciples, as recorded in Luke 21, verses 12 to 13, he said, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness." So we find that Paul's imprisonment then was confirmation of Christ's words. This wasn't a surprise that these things would happen. And just as Jesus said that this imprisonment would be an opportunity to bear witness, Paul saw it as such. It was an opportunity given by the Lord for the sake of bearing witness to him. The first effect of Paul's imprisonment was evangelism, which ended up leading to the second effect, Which we find to be edification. Look at verse 14. The Christians in Rome saw Paul using his imprisonment as it was intended by Christ. And seeing that, those Christians were emboldened, and they began to speak the gospel without fear. Who were these brothers? Indeed, some of them were certainly church leaders, ministers, and elders. But surely, many of them were probably just ordinary Christians, living ordinary lives. working their jobs, caring for their families. And what happened to these brothers is that seeing and hearing of Paul's imprisonment in Christ, that this trial that Paul is facing was another testimony to the unfailing grace of God in Paul's life and in the lives of those who heard the good news, they were emboldened. Being witnesses to this, they were emboldened to be witnesses themselves. Witnesses to tell others about Christ. We see something here that we know from experience. Christian confidence is contagious. When you see your brother or your sister who is confident in the Lord as they face something that is really, really hard, it often is an encouragement to the rest of the body. As we see the Lord carry our brothers and sisters through great adversity, the result is that our own faith is often strengthened. Christians saw Paul's suffering and they heard Paul's message and they became much more confident in the Lord. So that his imprisonment had the effect of igniting the witness of the saints as they told the world about Jesus. We find here that they are built up regarding this confidence. The confidence that Paul says is in the Lord. Paul's example is pointing them to the Lord Himself and His unfailing power that is made perfect in weakness, so that they could be reassured that the Lord is indeed strong when they feel weak. They were also built up in terms of the manner of their service. They began to demonstrate increased boldness, accompanied by a fearlessness, like that of David in Psalm 56. In God I trust, I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? They were built up in terms of the message of their service. They became confident, bold, fearless in speaking the word. They weren't proclaiming themselves. They weren't proclaiming their increased confidence. They weren't talking about Paul, and they weren't talking about his trial. They weren't trying to convince people that Paul was innocent, and trying to get him out of prison. The focus amid suffering was not on the sufferer, but upon Christ, whose glory transcends the light and momentary afflictions. Just as Paul had no interest in detailed explanations of his situation, so these saints find nothing worth proclaiming but the Word of God. Paul's suffering stimulated the saints' witness. And together, in recounting the effects, Paul's trial in terms of his ability to share the gospel and in terms of the emboldening effect on others, we find that what Paul is doing in the book of Philippians is intending to stir up that same encouragement, stir up that same desire to witness. Because as he's going to go on to say in verses 28 to 30, Philippians are in for suffering for Christ's sake, just like he is. So he's going to go on to instruct them. He's going to say, Now listen to verse 30. engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had, and now hear that I still have." And it is this example of Paul's suffering resulting in gospel progress that is to give the Philippians a renewed understanding of Paul's situation in particular, but of their own in general. that being in Christ, all that the Christian faces in the progress of the gospel results in God's glory. Gospel progress. Now, the fact that the gospel is advancing does not mean that that advance is not without adversity. And that's what we find as we look at verses 15 to 17. Verse 15, we see that there's another group of people who are emboldened to preach the gospel. Not those who became more confident in the Lord, but those who, as Paul says in verse 15, preached out of envy and rivalry. That was their motivation for preaching the gospel of Jesus. These people who see Paul's imprisonment as an opportunity to step into the public eye for their own sake and for their own ambitions. Paul doesn't give any specific reasons for this, but it can be imagined that there may have been some in Rome who are jealous of Paul's prominence as an apostle. Who are hoping to make a name for themselves now that Paul is not around. Part of their motivation also was to not only surpass Paul, but Paul even says here that they intended to afflict him. They wanted to hurt him. As they're free to preach while he's confined in house arrest, they're hoping that he would see them and he would be provoked to anger, or that he would be provoked to discontent. It is a sad state of affairs that Paul needed to give attention to these pretentious preachers. But amid the adversity, Paul is not distressed by any means. Look at verse 18. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. These preachers, preaching out of envy and rivalry, seeking to provoke and to hurt Paul, how does Paul respond to the preaching of those who seek to cash in on his sufferings? He responds, What then? Or as we might say, So what? So what? If Paul were in it for himself, then such pretentiousness would be infuriating. If he was worried about his own reputation and worried about his own glory, then he wouldn't be able to stand these people preaching the gospel and making him look weak. But as we've already seen in this passage, what concerns the apostle most and what should concern us the most is Christ and the word of the cross. The gospel of Christ and its advances is of highest importance and highest value, no matter where that gospel preaching is coming from. You see, what wins the day is not the suffering. It's not the rivalry. But the glory of Jesus in the good news that's proclaimed. The word goes forth and that's what matters, whether in pretense or in truth. Paul here is not talking about the truth of the message. When he says in pretense or in truth, he's not talking about the truthfulness of the words that they are saying. It's not about the truth of the message of the gospel that they preach, but the motive for the gospel being preached. The falsehood is not their preaching, but it comes in the inconsistency between their message and their motive. And in that case, Paul is unconcerned by the motives of those who seek to make him jealous. Now, that's not to say that Paul doesn't care about motives or that motives don't matter. Maturity in faith requires an increasing correspondence between the message of the gospel and the life of the believer. Right? Which, if you remember, is exactly what Paul prayed for for the Philippians in verses 9 to 11. He's not saying that such pretense is acceptable among ministers of the gospel. The character qualifications of those who administer the gospel would exclude these pretentious preachers. What Paul is saying is that their selfish motives cannot stop the power of God working through the pure message of the gospel of Jesus being preached. That's yet another reason why purity in doctrine is so important. Now, it's interesting here if you contrast Paul talking to the Philippians about what's happening in Rome, as these people are preaching the gospel out of envy and strife. Contrast that with what Paul says to Peter in the Galatians. Right there, he confronts the apostle Peter, who is no doubt more sincere, who is no doubt much kinder than these pretentious ones, than the hypocrites in Rome. But what allows Paul to rejoice over the advancement of the gospel through those who preach in Rome, but brings a stiff rebuke to Peter in the Galatians, is the content of the gospel message itself. What is of most importance is the purity of the message, not the vessel through which that message comes. The gospel of Christ is itself the power of God for salvation. Its power is not dependent upon the person who speaks it. Now, if we think about church history, you just think back to the early church and the persecutions that came to town. And it was often the preachers who'd be the ones that were facing persecution, and it was often the preachers who'd renounce Christ to save their skins. They'd deny Jesus and then get in the pulpit the next week and try to preach to families whose husbands and fathers were just martyred the week before. Well, they just denied Christ and went on living their normal life. And some questions begin to arise in the congregation when your pastor has just renounced Jesus, but then he's back up there the next week preaching Jesus. What's going on here? Was everything that guy said wrong? Was our baptism effective? Was all of his ministry a lie? Now, we don't really have to look all that far back to ask those same questions, do we? What about those pastors who fall into grievous sin and demit the ministry? What about those who deny the faith? And not just pastors, what about fellow brothers and sisters who are used of God to minister to us? How do we come to terms with that? The people who counseled us through the hardest things that we faced, they helped to strengthen our faith. Yet they have no faith. What of that? See, what we must know is that the efficacy of the Word is not dependent on the means by which it goes forth. The Word of God is not somehow less effective because of the person who proclaims it. See, their words ministered to us because God was at work. Isn't that the beauty of the Gospel? But if the message of the gospel is corrupted, then there is no ministry. But if the message comes in truth, purely to us, then we hear the very word of God, even if it comes from the lips of hypocrites. So that even as these hypocrites in Rome preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, Paul can rejoice because they're preaching Christ. And the success of gospel proclamation is not tied to the motives of the messenger, but the surety of the message itself, founded upon the person of Christ and his finished work. So that as Calvin said, God sometimes accomplishes an admirable work by means of wicked and depraved instruments. As you consider Paul's rejoicing, even though some of that is on account of these selfishly motivated preachers, we must know that where the gospel is faithfully preached, We can rejoice. Where the gospel is faithfully preached, we can rejoice. Because where the word of God goes forth, so goes his spirit to work in the hearts and the lives of his people. Even to change the hearts of hypocrites. Even to give us cause to rejoice in the midst of grievous trials. What makes rejoicing possible here The Word of Christ prevails. The Word that speaks of mercy and of grace. The Word that speaks of Jesus' blood spilled for the forgiveness of sins. The Word that speaks of eternal life by faith, coming by the power of the Spirit of God. The Word that speaks of the progress of Christ's kingdom, even when the gates of hell are trying to prevail against it. Beloved, let our minds be fixed upon the sure Word of Christ, the sure progress of His grace, and the sure promise of His salvation. And there we will find an unassailable hope, a hope worthy of our rejoicing. Let's pray together. Lord, we thank you that your word is living and active. We thank you, Lord, that you have determined to minister your grace to us by that word. And Lord, we can have hope that your purposes Your gospel mission is never sidetracked, is never thwarted. So, Lord, we pray for the purity of the gospel message, that it would go forth, and that we would be emboldened to speak the truth of our Lord. We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen.